The Cross and the Judgment — John Murray

O Thou that dwellest on high, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, and doing wonders, before ever Thou hast formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, Thou art God, the same yesterday, today, and forever.

We acknowledge unto Thee, O Lord, with thanksgiving the great privilege Thou dost bestow upon us, that we may come into Thy courts, that we may come into that place where Thy name is made known, and where the institutions of Thy grace are observed.

Make us, O Lord, deeply aware of the inestimable grace that Thou hast bestowed upon us, for many prophets and kings and righteous men have desired to see the things that we see, and have not seen them, and to hear the things that we hear, but have not heard them.

Thou hast cast our lot in the consummation of the ages, and do Thou grant that we may know that in this perspective Thou hast given us the privilege of that revelation which has been hid from ages and from generations, but which has now been revealed by the appearing of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

We confess our sin, O Lord, our blindness, the hardness of our heart, the unresponsiveness of our will, and how we miss are the conceptions that we entertain of Thee, the living God. Do Thou cleanse our minds from that corruption, and deliver our hearts from the deception of the evil one, from the imaginations of our own evil part, so that we may come into Thy presence with a true realization of Thy great majesty, and bow before Thee in the deepest recesses of our spirit, acknowledging Thee the only true God, and realizing that it is only through the mediation of Thine own Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, that we may draw near unto Thee.

Do Thou, O Lord, deliver us from the sacrifice which is an abomination in Thy sight. Create within us a clean heart, O God, and renew our right spirit within us, so that each one of us may offer unto Thee sacrifices acceptable, well-pleasing unto God through Jesus Christ.

Do Thou, O Lord, confront us this night with the reality of Thy deeds, with the reality of Thy judgments, with the reality of the verities Thou hast revealed unto us in Thy Word, so that we may stand in Thy very presence and realize that we are Thy creatures, that to Thee we are responsible, that upon Thee we are dependent for every breath we draw.

And enable us, O Lord, in spirit and in truth, to worship Thee in the beauty of holiness. Blessed forever be Thy great and holy name, that it is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, and we in all our destitution would come to that inexhaustible fountain of grace and of truth out of His wholeness, in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

We would draw out of His wholeness. We would receive grace for great. And do Thou satisfy us with Thy mercy, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. Grant unto us, O Lord, Thy holy spirit. How marvelous it is that we should be able to plead the promise which Thou hast given, that if we being evil know how to give good gifts unto our children, how much more shall the Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him?

And may we, O Lord, know the presence and the communion of the Holy Spirit, because He glorifies Christ in our understanding, in our hearts, in our wills. O grant that Christ may be precious to us in all the glory that is His, as our wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.

And enable us, O Lord, to live in this world as those who are the trophies of His redemption, that we may gird up the loins of our minds, that we may be sober and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto us at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Constrain, O heart, to that commitment unto Jesus Christ in all the extent, in all the length and breadth and depth and height of His love. And do Thou, O Lord, grant not only unto us, but to all Thy people to the ends of the earth, on which measure of Thy grace we would remember that Thou hast redeemed to Thyself a people out of every nation and kindred and people and tongue.

And may we realize more and more the preciousness of communion with the Savior, communion with Thy people unto the ends of the earth, and our communion not only with those who are here on earth, but with that great company who are gone to be with Christ.

May we realize our communion with the Church of triumph, and enable us in the fellowship of the Body of Christ to have long consolation. And let us have that faith as the anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast.

Blessed, O Lord, the preaching of the gospel unto the very ends of the earth. May the Word have free course and be glorified so that it may come in that irresistible power, that mysterious, transforming and converting power, so that sinners may be translated from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God.

To Thou, O Lord, grant that with us this night there may be Thy abundant blessing, so that Thy doctrine may drop as the rain and Thy feast is still as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender fern and the showers upon the grass.

Grant us, O Lord, a realization that we are in Thy presence and that it is Thee and Thee alone that we worship. For Jesus' sake. Amen. And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment, so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many, and unto them that look for Him shall He appear the second time without sin unto salvation.

Death as God’s Appointment and the Finality of Lost Opportunities

It is quite obvious that there is a certain comparison drawn in this text. On the one side is the fact that it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment, and on the other side there are the facts that Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many, and unto them that look for Him shall He appear the second time without sin unto salvation.

And there is a comparison instituted between these two series of facts. And the truth expressed turns on that comparison. And it is well for us to observe the likeness that there is between the appointment of men to death and the judgment on the one hand, and the offering of Christ when He's appearing again the second time without sin unto salvation on the other.

And so there are just these two main considerations in this text. First, that which is appointed for men, and second, that which pertains to Christ. And so first of all there is that which is appointed for men.

And it is appointed for men to die. Now that is not without any exception. Enoch was translated that he should not see death, and he was not found because God had translated him. Those who will be living at the second coming of Christ will not die.

They will be changed. But these, of course, are exceptions. And the general rule for humanity, the general rule of God's providence throughout the whole history of the world, is that it is appointed for men once to die.

Now why do men die? Of course it is quite proper to say that men die by natural process. Oftentimes their body is attacked by disease, and that disease is too powerful for their life, and consequently there is a necessity, a physical or a biological necessity, that they should die.

For God has so constituted men that there are certain forces which are too strong for the life which He has given men in this world. And sometimes men, of course, are the victims of assault, and so they are killed.

A force that is extraneous to themselves and too powerful for them as it will wrest life from them. But these facts of providence do not explain the reason why. Why is it so arranged in the providence of God that men should die?

And the only answer to that question is that death is the wages of sin. The only ultimate reason why men die is that men have sinned, and because all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God. Since the wages of sin is death, therefore it is appointed for men to die.

The emphasis, however, in this particular text falls upon the fact that it is appointed for men once to die. There is a certain finality attaching to death as death, and it is to that particular fact that our attention is drawn in this text.

There is a finality to death as death, and to the issues that are bound up with death. And there are certain respects in which we may quite profitably reflect upon that fact, that it is appointed for men once to die.

And the first respect in which we may think of it is the respect of warning, of unrestricted warning. When we die, we are not brought back again to this earth to remedy the opportunities that we have neglected or the privileges that we have squandered in this life.

We are not able to come back again to redeem the time that we have squandered. There is no work, nor device, nor wisdom, nor knowledge in the grave whether we are going. And you remember very well how in the Old Testament you have these eloquent words, there is hope of a tree if it is cut down, that it will sprout again, and that the tender branch thereof will not fail.

But man dies and gives us up the ghost. Yea, man wastes away and gives us up the ghost, and where is he? There is a finality to death, our death. And it is not for us to waste, as it were, the proper, the precious opportunities that are given to us.

You remember in that chapter where I read, the man who had received one talent went and sped his lord's money in the air. What is the indictment against that particular man? Well, it is just this, that he did nothing.

And you know we don't need to do a great deal in order to squander our opportunities. We just need to do nothing. And you see how eloquent is the indictment that was brought against him by his lord when he returned.

He said, Thou wicked and lustful servant, wickedness and slothfulness lie together. And slothfulness is wickedness. It's the great lesson of that particular parable, and it's the great lesson of this text in respect of warning, that we cannot redeem lost opportunities.

The Powerlessness of Earthly Tyrants Before Death

We cannot redeem squandered privileges. Now is the exception. Now is the day of salvation. The second respect in which we may properly think of this truth, that it is appointed unto men once to die, is one of both warning and consolation.

There have been men even in our own time who have made the earth to tremble. And some of you remember very well how these men made the earth to tremble. Less than twenty years ago you could hear the voice of Hitler all over the world by radio, and it certainly made the earth to tremble.

We have had other men who in their time, even in our generation, have made the earth to tremble. And where are they? I saw the wicked in great power, and spreading himself like a green bay tree, yet he passed away.

And lo, he was not. Yea, I saw him, and he could not be found. And you don't need to be afraid that these, that these vultures are going to return to earth again. It is appointed to men once to die, and they're after all only men.

And if we have, if we are jittery, if we are overcome by an undue trepidation with respect to the boasts or the claims of any man, it's just because we forget the appointment of the living God. It is appointed to men once to die.

And once they die, all their glory descends with them to the grave. I saw the wicked in great power, yet he passed away, and lo, he was not. There is warning for the vain boast, but there is consolation for the weak of the earth.

Consolation for Believers Who Die in Christ

And the third respect, in which we may quite properly think of this text, is one of unrestricted consolation. And it is one of unrestricted consolation for the people of God. When they depart this life, they go to be with Christ.

And because they go to be with Christ, it is far better not to be wedged from the bosom of the devil. You know, we would quite properly hold our dear faithful friends and believing friends, and it is not right for us to desire otherwise.

It is right for us to pray for the recovery of our friends. That's our duty. But when God takes them, we ought to have this comfort that it is because they have gone to be with Christ that it is far better for them, and we cannot bring them back.

And it would be wrong for us to ask that the Lord would bring them back. They'll never be brought back again to the tribulations and the perplexities of this present pilgrimage. They have gone to unalloyed bliss, bliss in the presence of the Savior himself.

And that is the consolation that belongs to us as we are confronted with the death of our departed loved ones. If they are in Christ, they go to be with Christ. And if they are with Christ, they are in the presence of Him who is the Exalted, who is the Wisdom, who is the Glorious Redeemer, the Great High Priest who is passed into the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God.

And that's unrestrained consolation for those who believe in the sovereignty of the appointments of God. Yes, there is a certain finality to death as death. And there is a gravity, of course, that is bound up with this finality.

A gravity, a seriousness, that ought to make each one of us ponder what will be our situation when the fulfillment of the divine appointment arrives. But after all, death is not the end. It isn't the ultimate finality, and it is just because it is not the end that there is a gravity connected with death.

Judgment as the Final Adjudication of Human History

The very finality of death, as death, is bound up with something else, with another finality, and that is the finality of judgment. After this, the judgment, death and judgment are placed together in this particular text.

And because they are placed together in this particular way, there is a great lesson, a great truth. What is it? It is just this, that as far as decisiveness is concerned, there, these are the two determinative, decisive events.

In the matter of eternal destiny, there is no decisiveness in what will transpire between death and resurrection. There is a finality to death as death, and there is a finality to judgment as judgment.

And just because they are placed together in this way, there is no decisiveness in the matter of eternal destiny arising from what will transpire between death and the final judgment. We overlook this fact, that we are to be judged according to the things done in the body, whether they be good or whether they be evil.

Now there is a solemnity attaching to that fact of judgment, for God will bring everyone into judgment with every secret thing, whether it be good or whether it be evil. There is a great deal that will pass muster before man, a great deal that will be considered virtuous and noble before man, and it is simply an abomination in the sight of God.

But God searches the heart, and He tries the ways of the children of man. Man looks on the outward appearance, God looks on the heart, and because He judges according to the secrets of man's heart, His judgment is one of absolute equity.

And everything will come into judgment. The whole panorama of human history, the whole panorama of individual history, the whole panorama of collective history, and the whole panorama of world history will come before God for judgment.

And everything will be adjudicated with perfect judgment and equity. But it isn't simply that there is a solemnity to the fact of judgment. Oh, there is a grandeur to the fact of God's ultimate and absolute judgment.

And it is justice that God will ultimately put everything and everyone in his or her or its proper place. God is not going to leave anything at loose ends. You know when a person leaves an estate, and that person leaves no last will or testament, what trouble.

Everything is as it were at loose ends. And sometimes you find that the whole estate is consumed by litigation, and there's really nothing left. And the lawyers get all of it. Everything so sadly left at loose ends.

Everything topsy-turvy. And it's very calamitous, even in the individual sphere, in the sphere of family relationships, when people leave things as it were at loose ends. Well, that's not what God is going to do.

There is going to be absolutely nothing left at loose ends. He is going to bring everyone into judgment with every secret thing, whether it be good or whether it be evil. And there is a grandeur to that fact.

Everything will be perfectly adjudicated with equity. We live as if bygones are bygones, that the past is gone and we have nothing more to do with it. Do we live that way? Well, what folly! What utter folly!

May be thy gone with us for the present, but God will bring every work into judgment. Something far worse than its folly, however. It's not simply the folly of living as if death ended all. It's the dishonor it does to God.

And do you know this, my friend, that if we live in this world as if death ended all, it's because we don't believe in the living and true God. Justice and judgment are the habitation of God's throne.

And our realization of that fact is bound up with our belief in the one living and true God. And if we live as if death ended all, it is just because we don't believe in the one living and true God. Justice and judgment are the habitation of His throne, and for that reason He will judge the world in righteousness and the people with His truth.

And if we are imbued with the love of Him, we shall really after all be imbued with the love of His final judgment, because it would be a hopeless and dismal outlook for eternity if there were to be no absolute adjudication of everything that transpires in the history of this world.

I say it would be a dismal outlook, but it is not that dismal outlook that there is presented to us, because God is a God of judgment, and with Him He guards the path. He will judge the people with life.

Christ’s Once-for-All Sacrifice and Vicarious Sin-Bearing

Now in the second place in this text we have that which pertains to Christ. He was offered to bear sin. And again we have to ask the question, why? Why was He offered to bear sin? And because of the comparison that there is instituted in this text between death and judgment on the one hand and the offering of Christ on the other, we must discover that the same real reason underlies the offering of Christ as underlies the appointment of man to death and the establishment of the judgment.

And perhaps you wonder, the same reason. The answer to the question, why do men die? And to the question, why is there to be a final judgment? is the answer to the question, why Christ was offered to bear sin.

That may seem very strange, but it is true. What is it? Well, why are men appointed to death? It is just simply because truth must be vindicated and justice must be executed. The wages of sin is death.

The sinner must die, thus thou art, and to thus thou shalt return. And because that is the case, men must die. It is really for that very same reason that Christ was offered. Christ would not have been offered if there had been no sin.

If sin did not deserve its wages in death, He would not have died upon the accursed tree. Christ, indeed, was offered a sacrifice unto death, the death of the cross, just for the very same reason that the claims of justice must be satisfied.

In truth, God had determined the salvation of a countless multitude, and because God had determined the salvation of a countless multitude, justice must be vindicated. And it is just His vicarious death, satisfied and vindicated with a charity.

But the answer again falls upon the fact that Christ was once offered. That's the leading thought in this text. Just as the leading thought in the earlier part of the text is that it is appointed unto men once to die, and then there will be the once-for-all judgment, so He was once offered to bear the sins of many.

And just as there is that once-for-all finality to death as death, just as there is that once-for-all finality to judgment as judgment, so there is this once-for-all finality to the offering of Christ once for all upon the cross of Calvary.

And what is the great truth? It is just this. It is the truth that belongs to the very center, to the very essence of our holy faith. And it is just this, that He made an end of things, that He finished transgression, that when He had by Himself purged our sins, He sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high.

He made an end of things on behalf of His own people. And because He made an end of things, there is no need for any repetition. You see, there is a finality, there is a completeness, there is a perfection attaching to the once-for-all sacrifice, and that is something that never attached to anything else.

In the sphere of God's judgment upon sin, He made an end of sin. He exhausted the judgment of God against sin in Himself with the result that there is no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus. But again, the vicarious sin-bearing of Christ is not the end.

It isn't the final, something more ultimate in the appointment of God than the once-for-all offering of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ upon the accursed tree. And it is just because there is this finality and completeness and perfection belonging to the sacrifice of Christ that it is not the ultimate, just for that very reason.

Christ’s Return and the Resurrection Hope

And what is this final finality of which this particular text? Well, it is that in the latter part of the twenty-eighth verse, you will be seen again the second time, without sin, for them that look for Him unto salvation.

And it is just the finality, the once-for-all, the completeness, the perfection of the sacrifice of Christ that made so precious, and makes indeed necessary, that final consummation, that He will be manifested again the second time, without sin, unto salvation.

Now, how does that bear upon us? What is the focal point of hope and expectation for the people of God? What, after all, is it that looms highest on the horizon of our hope? You might say, well, it is the death of the Holy Spirit.

But my last end, you might say, that is what is central in my hope and my expectation. Well, may God grant that for all of you, our last end will be like that of the writing, the last end of our existence in this world.

But if that is what is central in our hope and expectation, we are completely off the track of the Christian revelation, completely off the track of the Christian hope. Do you remember what the Apostle Paul said?

Not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon that mortality might be swallowed up of life. Paul indeed did say that to depart and to be with Christ was far better, that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord, yes.

But not that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon that mortality might be swallowed up of life. For we know that if the earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in heaven.

And if it is the death of the righteous that is central and focal in your expectation, my friend, you are off the track of the Christian revelation, and you have imbibed a pagan conception. You are still, as it were, chained in the thought-forms of pagan thought.

Let us deliver ourselves from it. What is central and focal in the Christian hope is the appearing of the glory of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ. And what is it, my friends, that looms highest on our horizon as we have respect to death, to judgment, and to the once-for-all offering of the Body of Jesus Christ?

What is it? It is in that way that we shall test the reality of our Christian faith as well as the reality of our Christian hope. And what is central in the expectation of the people of God is that Christ will be seen again a second time without sin and to salvation.

Now, with reference to that, there are three things that need to be stressed. And the first is this, that Christ will be seen. He will be seen. Our version perhaps just slightly obscures that when we say that for them that look for Him shall He appear.

For it isn't the fault of the English at all, but the fault of our reflection. He will be seen with the more literal rendered. And it draws our attention to this fact that physical sense, physical sense is given its proper place and weight in the Christian expectation.

The finality for the people of God is one that gives full satisfaction to the demands of physical sense experience. The Scripture doesn't place any disdain upon the human body. God created man at the beginning, body and spirit, body and soul.

And death is an abnormality. And the normal state will not again be realized until the body will be resurrected from the dead. And the physical sense experience will be given its full satisfaction and realization in the beholding of Christ Himself.

Come again in His glorious body. I'm just trying to emphasize this, my friends, that the Christian hope is not that pagan hope of etherealized immortality. There's something very concrete, there's something very material itself in the Christian hope.

He will be seen with our physical sense. And we don't underestimate that. If we underestimate that, it is just because again we are caught in the corral of pagan thought. The body has its place, it is prophecy.

And redemption will not be consummated until the body of our humiliation will be transformed into the body of Christ's glory. And we shall see Him. We shall see Him as He is. We shall see Him in the glory of His glorified humanity.

And there will be something marvelous about that. Just as there was for Thomas when Jesus said to him after the resurrection, thrust together thy hand and put it into my pride, and thus put thy finger into the print of the nail, and be not faithless, but believing.

My friends, it's an essential ingredient of the Christian hope that we shall see Jesus in that body that was crucified upon Calvary, the cursed tree, in that body in which He bore our sins and made an end in the second world war.

And the fact that is brought to our attention in this particular text is that He will be without sin. It is not bearing sin that Christ will come again the second time. It is not so kindly as it were enveloped in the clouds of humiliation, but He will come in undimmed glory.

And there will be no shadow to obscure that matchless glory that is His as the exalted Lord, as the one who is given authority in heaven and in earth, who is given a name that is above every name, and that at His name every knee will bow and every tongue confess that He is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

And not only that He will not come bearing sin, but He will not come again the second time to lord His people with their sins. Don't you see, my friends, that that is the preciousness of the finality and the completeness and the perfection of the once-for-all offering upon Calvary's accursed tree that He made unend of sin?

And although He will come to judge, He will not come to lord His people. No, not at all. And although there will be judged, although even their sins will be judged, it is not to lay upon them the guilt, and it is not to burden them again with the grief that is entailed in that sin and guilt.

There will be unalloyed joy for the people of God, even if I lay to them on each white hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. And the third point to be noted in this connection, that it is unto salvation that Jesus will come.

He will be seen again the second time for them that without sin, for them that look for Him, unto salvation. And you must note that quite often in the Scripture, that word foundation is used of the perfection of salvation, the transformation of salvation.

When salvation will be complete, and the body of our very family is born into the likeness of the body of Christ's glory, then the people of God long for it. They long for that salvation in its completeness, in its paroness, in its all-inclusive, when the whole redemptive purpose of God will reach its final realization in the completion of the salvation that was once for all purchased by Christ when He offered Himself without thought to God, when He purged our sins and sat down in the right hand of the Majesty of Heaven.

The Final Judgment and the Sheep and the Goats

But I tell you this, my friends, that although it is the salvation that they long for, the salvation that will surpass all that has been told them, you remember in that passage I was reading to you, that most graphic passage in describing the final judgment, when Christ will come and sit upon the throne of His glory, and when before Him will be gathered all the nations, and He shall separate them one from another, as the shepherd separated the sheep from the goats, and He will set the sheep on His right hand and the goats on His left, and mark it.

Then shall the King say unto them on His right hand, Blessed of my Father, the inherited kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. And what a surprise they will then be. He will say, For I was hungered, and He gave me food.

I was thirsty, and He gave me drink. I was a stranger, and He took me in. I was naked, and He clothed me. I was sick, and He visited me. I was in prison, and He came unto me. Then shall the righteous answer Him, saying, Lord, when saw we the unhungered, and fed thee, or thirsty, and gave thee drink?

And when saw we the stranger, and took thee in, or naked, and clothed thee? Or when saw we the sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? And the King, remember, the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, I have done it unto you less than two months ago, it was my sad duty to come to these parts of the country, to bury our very highly esteemed and beloved friend, and your highly esteemed and beloved pastor.

A Pastor’s Faithful Service and the Meaning of Christian Love

Well, it was a painful journey, but I considered it one of the greatest privileges that was accorded to me in this life, that it should have been possible for me to come, to pay these last respects of honor and esteem to my dearly beloved friend.

I considered it one of the greatest honors that God in His mercy and providence has bestowed upon me in connection with that type of thing. And I went back to Philadelphia, and the next Sabbath afternoon I was reflecting, and I was studying this particular passage.

I was reading this particular passage, and I never realized in my life before, as I realized then, how precious He is, and how appropriate to that person to whom we had committed to His life, as we are now speaking, just a few days before.

How appropriate. I never saw them with such appropriateness in my life before. Let me read them to you again, and just think. Then shall the king say unto them on his right hand, Come ye, blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

For I was on hunger, and ye gave me. I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink. I was a stranger, and ye took me in naked, and ye clothed me. I was sick, and ye visited me. I was in prison, and ye came unto me.

And you can testify to the reality of that in his particular case. And then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee on hunger, and fed thee, or feshed thee, and gave thee drink?

When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in, or naked, and clothed thee? For when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? And the king shall answer, marketh it is the king, he shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it.

And all that had been so magnificently illustrated in our Lord Jesus Christ, he loved the humblest of the poor, and the most of whom he recognized to be the blood-purchased person of Jesus Christ. It was not from the great ones of the earth that he as it were poured out his blood.

He did it unto one of the least of these. And let us come back to our theme. What is it? It is this, that when Christ will come in his undimmed glory, and when he will just bend to all those who look for his appearing, that final salvation, it will surpass all their conceptions, all their expectations.

And how glorious, my friends, is the prospect! How grand is the assurance that is ministered unto us, that Christ will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first.