Revelation 20:11-15 And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away… When Massillon pronounced one of those discourses which have placed him in the first class of orators, he found himself surrounded by the trappings and pageants of a royal funeral. The temple was not only hung with sable, but shadowed with darkness, save the few twinkling lights of the altar. The beauty and the chivalry of the land were spread out before him. There sat Majesty, clothed in sackcloth and sunk in grief. All felt in common, and as one. A sense of the indescribable nothingness of man "at his best estate," of the meanness of the highest human grandeur, now made plain in the spectacle of that hearsed mortal, overcame him. His eye once more closed; his action was suspended; and, in a scarcely audible whisper, he broke the long-drawn pause — "There is nothing great, but God." I take the sublimely affecting sentence and mould it to the present theme — There is nothing solemn but judgment. The thunderstorm is solemn: when the lightnings, "as arrows, shoot abroad." But what is it to that far-resounding crash, louder than the roar and bellow of ten thousand thunders, which shall pierce the deepest charnels, and which all the dead shall hear? The ocean-tempest is solemn: when those huge billows lift up their crests; when mighty armaments are wrecked by their fury. But what is it to that commotion of the deep, when "its proud waves" shall no more "be stayed," its ancient barriers no more be observed, the largest channels be emptied, and the deepest abyss be dried? The earthquake is solemn: when, without a warning, cities totter, and kingdoms rend, and islands flee away. But what is it to that tremour which shall convulse our globe, dissolving every law of attraction, severing every principle of aggregation, heaving all into chaos and heaping all into ruin? Great God! must our eyes see — our ears hear — these desolations and distractions? Must we look forth upon these devouring flames? Must we stand in judgment with Thee? Penetrate us now with Thy fear; awaken the attention, which Thy trump shall not fail to command; surround our imagination with the scenery of that great and terrible day! I. LET US CONSIDER THE SCENERY WHICH SHALL ILLUSTRATE THIS AUGUST ASSIZE. The "throne" is the emblem of royal dignity. It is the symbol of Divine supremacy. "The Lord hath prepared His throne in the heavens, and His kingdom ruleth over all." It is "a great white throne." It is vast, shadowy, undefined. No rainbow of the covenant girdles it; no suppliants or penitents sue before it; no pardons are issued from it. It is a tribunal throne. "He hath prepared His throne for judgment." It is occupied. There is One, that "sitteth upon it." This is often characteristic and distinctive of the Father. There is no manner of similitude. Nothing at first appears to guide us in the present discrimination. There is no form. It seems essential, and not distinguished, deity. But need we be at loss? "We must all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ." He now "thinketh it no robbery to be equal with God," and as God He is "Judge Himself." "From the face" of Him who sitteth upon the throne, "the earth and the heaven flee away." Who can think of that countenance and not associate with It pensive downcast, deepest affliction, sweetest meekness? Into what expression mast that countenance have now kindled! With what terrors must it now be clothed! Things inanimate, insensible, smitten with a strange panic and with a sudden dismay, start back; and those refulgent heavens and this fair earth shrink into ancient disorder and anarchy: they rush into primeval chaos and night. Rut net so can the sinner "flee away"; rocks — mountains — cannot cover him; there is no hiding-place for "the workers of iniquity." It makes little difference whether it be the greater catastrophe or the inferior; the larger could not strike a deeper terror — the smaller could not induce a less. And why do heaven and earth pass away? and why is no more place found for them? They have realised their end. They were but as the scaffolding; the erection is complete. They are of no further use. They may be set aside. "The mystery of God" is "finished." There is "the consummation." Time, therefore, need "be no longer." II. WE NOW, THEN, TURN TO THE MULTITUDE THAT SHALL BE SUMMONED TO THIS JUDGMENT. "Death delivered up the dead which were in it." This is the power of the grave, it is the personification of death. He who burst the barriers of the tomb and made death bow before Him — He shall send forth His mandate, publish His behest; and then the vaults and the catacombs and the mummy pits and the bone-houses shall disgorge their relics. It was much for the sea to obey Him who sitteth on the throne; it was more for inexorable death — the grave — the sepulchre — to yield its victims; but "hell" — the place of departed spirits, where the disembodied soul of man is to be found, whether in happiness or in woe — hades has listened to a voice until then unknown to it. The gates of "the shadow of death" unbar, and its portals fly open. And now there come — there come — there come — clouds of spirits rolling upon clouds, in swift succession, with impetuous rush; sumless, but unmixed, but individualised; the consciousness of each distinct, the character of each defined, the memory of each unobliterated, and the sentence of each foredoomed. And hades sends back spirits to those bodies, which the sea and the grave may no more retain. "The small and the great stand before God." All who have been among the mighty, and would not "let go their prisoners," and who "destroyed the earth," and all of minor state. None are so great that they can intimidate: none so little that they can escape. And thinking of that mighty throng, there is a distinctive circumstance which must not be overlooked: "every man was judged." God can say, "All souls are Mine"; and all souls, on that day, shall pass in review before Him. Each of your "idle words," each of your "vain thoughts," each of your impure desires, every bias of your spirit, every movement of your heart must reappear. "Be sure your sin will find you out." III. LET US CONSIDER THE PROCESS WHICH MUST DETERMINE THIS JUDGMENT. When Hilkiah found the law, and read it to the people, they rent their clothes, terror-struck, that they had committed so many offences against a long-forgotten law. "Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?" He is the God of judgment. He is the God of truth. "But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth." But then that book, which is closed to so many, shall "be opened" — shall be opened in all its injunctions, all its penalties, all its sanctions. You will not then think that its bands are small; you will not then think that its terrors are weak. If the law, by one drop of its present fury, one flash of its present power, causes the stoutest heart and the most rebel conscience to quail, how will the stoutest heart be as tow in the fire, and the most rebel conscience be as wax before the flame, when this book shall be opened! — shall be opened in all its contents, shall be opened in all its principles, shall be opened in all its awards! But these "books" may refer to the discoveries of the gospel. And these might indeed cheer, and these ought indeed to fortify, if you have "won Christ and are found in Him." Yet if you are unbelievers still, if you are "enemies in your minds by wicked works," this book, the word of reconciliation, is more portentous in its aspect against you, even them the volume of the law. You will be judged "according to this gospel." All the beseechings of mercy, all the remonstrances of authority, all the pleadings of tenderness! This book shall be opened only the more terribly to convict and to condemn. Mercy will in that day be more terrible than justice. (R. W. Hamilton, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. |
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