Page:The Judgment Day.pdf/188

 judgment, but the Lord Jesus Christ repeatedly declares the same thing; "The Father," saith he, "judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son;—and hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man." (John v. 22-27.) Is this supposed only to mean, that a sort of judgment was then to be passed upon the Jews in this world, the destruction of whom, as a nation, did speedily follow? This interpretation of the words is guarded against by its being added, "Marvel not at this; for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in their graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good to the resurrection of life, and they that have done evil to the resurrection of damnation." (Ver. 28, 29.) These words relate not to any resurrection of the body, (as has been shown above,) but to certain operations, attendant upon the Judgment, in the spiritual world, which he was then about to perform, while, as to his natural body he was yet in the natural world: hence he speaks of it as being just about to take place—"the hour is coming;"—and to prevent any from imagining, nevertheless, that it was a distant judgment of which he was speaking, he makes the declaration more explicit still two or three verses previously: for he there says, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God." (Ver. 25.) Plainly enough, then, the whole passage relates to a judgment he was then about performing; and it is here described, in such figures as are often used when this subject is treated of, as a resurrection of the good to life eternal, and of the wicked to damnation.

But if we were to dwell particularly on all the passages in which the Lord himself speaks of the judgment which he was engaged in performing, in the spiritual world, at the same time that, as to his natural humanity, he appeared in the world of nature, this discussion would be protracted to a great length; I will therefore only mention, very briefly, one or two more. We find him, then, in another place saying, "For judgment am I come into this world." (Ch. ix. 30.) And again, most explicitly, "Now is the judgment of this world; now shall the prince of this world be cast out." (Ch. xii. 31.) It is acknowledged by all, that by the prince of this world is in Scripture meant the devil. Now it is very remarkable, that a casting out of Satan is elsewhere spoken of when the subject is respecting a General Judgment.—Thus, in reference to this very judgment performed by the Lord while in the world, the prophet speaks of the falling of Lucifer from heaven. (Isa. xiv. 12.) To the same effect, in