Acts 17:31--"Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will
judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained;
whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath
raised him from the dead." Heb. 9:27. Just as it is "appointed unto
men once to die" so it is appointed unto men to appear before the
judgment. There is no more escape from the one than from the other.
It is part of the burden of both the Old and New Testament message
that a day of judgment is appointed for the world. God's kingdom
shall extend universally; but a judgment in which the wicked are
judged and the righteous rewarded is necessary and in order that
the kingdom of everlasting righteousness may be established upon
the earth.
3. THE CONSCIENCE OF ALL MANKIND CORROBORATES THE TEACHING OF THE
SCRIPTURES WITH REGARD TO THE CERTAINTY OF A COMING JUDGMENT.
This is true of both the individual and universal conscience.
The discoveries of tablets as well as the history of all peoples
establish this fact. This is enforced by Eccl. 11:9; 12:14--a
book which is in a very real sense a book of worldly philosophy,
narrating, as it does, the experiences and observations of a man
who judged all things from the view-point of "under the sun," i.e.,
without special reference to any revelation from above.
4. THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST IS A SURE AND CERTAIN PROOF
WHICH GOD HAS GIVEN TO MEN OF A COMING JUDGMENT.
Acts 17:31 (quoted above). Here is "assurance" in the sense of
proof or ground of evidence. The context is suggestive: God had
long borne with the sins of men, and in a sense, overlooked them.
Therefore men have thought that God would continue to do so. But no,
this shall not be; there is a day of judgment coming, the evidence
of which lies in the fact of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.