Judgment

When Tacitus is writing the tribute of biography to the great Agricola all he can finish with is an “if.”

“If there be any habitation for the spirits of just men, if, as the sages will have it, great souls perish not with the body, mayest thou rest in peace.”

“If” is the only word. Marcus Aurelius can say that when a man dies and his spark goes back to be lost in God, all that is left is “dust, ashes, bones, and stench.” The significant thing about this passage of Hebrews [9:23-28] is its basic assumption that a man will rise again. That is part of the certainty of the Christian creed; and the basic warning is that he rises to judgment.
(ii) With Christ it is different—he dies and rises and comes again, and he comes not to be judged but to judge. The early Church never forgot the hope of the Second Coming. It throbbed through their belief. But for the unbeliever that was a day of terror. As Enoch had it of the Day of the Lord, before Christ came: “For all you who are sinners there is no salvation, but upon you all will come destruction and a curse.” In some way the consummation must come. If in that day Christ comes as a friend, it can be only a day of glory; if he comes as a stranger or as one whom we have regarded as an enemy, it can be only a day of judgment. A man may look to the end of things with joyous expectation or with shuddering terror. What makes the difference is how his heart is with Christ.

From William Barclay, “The Letter to the Hebrews” Page 111.

The cartoon is from www.churchlaughs.com
The cartoonist is: Dik LaPine