Christ as Judge – Some Lessons¹

Thomas Boston

1. Labour to get a firm persuasion of this great, solemn truth. Alas, the greatest part of mankind are so busy with the affairs of this present life that they do not remember the future. These awful words – death, judgement, and eternity – make no more impression on their hearts than if they had no meaning. This is a truth of the greatest importance, and therefore clearly and plentifully revealed in Holy Scripture. Listen then to the voice of this heavenly oracle, and believe the truth about this solemn day and tremble at it.

2. Think frequently on this terrible judgement, so that the belief of it may be powerful in your hearts and lives. One great cause of men’s woeful neglect of duty is the lack of serious thoughts about Christ’s second coming. This renders them lazy and over-confident, so that they make no provision for it; but where it is firmly believed and duly thought upon, how active and diligent it makes them! It had this effect on Paul (2 Cor 5:9,10,11). Many put this day far away; they set it at a remote distance from them; and this makes them foolish and careless.

I have read of a minister who described, in a sermon, the last judgement in all its terrors and with such forceful words that his hearers broke forth into passionate cries, as if the Judge Himself had been present to pass the final sentence on them. In the height of their commotion, the preacher asked them to stop their tears and passions, for he had one thing more to add, the most moving and astonishing consideration of all – namely, that within less than a quarter of an hour, the memory and impression of what so touched them would vanish and their affections return to their worldly objects in their usual manner. To neglect to consider things seriously makes even the doctrine of eternal judgement have no effect. It is therefore necessary that the belief of this truth be so firmly seated in the heart that it may engage the attention of

¹An edited extract from a chapter on Christ’s exaltation in Boston’s Works, vol 1.

the thoughts and have a royal power over the will and affections – so that our lives may be ordered according to its rules.

Serious thoughts about this solemn day would prove the most effective restraint from sin; in particular it has a notable effect in keeping men back from secret sins and deprives the devil of one of his greatest advantages against men: their secrecy. It would be a powerful remedy against sensual temptations, which so easily ensnare the hearts of men; and it would change the thoughts of the mind, alter the taste of the desires, and make the most enticing and irresistible lusts the objects of our greatest detestation.

1. We should fear and tremble at the thoughts of this solemn day. The great ones in the world, who are most powerful and unruly, may hence see that there is a power above them. Many oppose Christ and His interest now, saying, “Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us” (Ps 2:3). But they should remember that “He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision”. The day is hastening on when He shall “speak unto them in His wrath, and vex them in His sore displeasure”. He shall “break them with a rod of iron” and “dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel”. The day is coming when He shall appear in His power and great glory, and all the opposers of His cause and interest shall be called before His throne and hear this dreadful sentence pronounced against them: “Those Mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before Me” (Lk 19:27).

2. This should make the saints patient under all their trials and sufferings. They have no reason to be ashamed of suffering disgrace for Christ, for He will abundantly reward them at the great day. Whatever injustice they have received from men, they will have righteous judgement from God. This should make them despise the reproaches and censures of their most malicious adversaries. There is a day appointed wherein oppressed innocence shall obtain the noblest victory, and disgraced godliness the most public, highest honour. They may suffer under the tyranny of time, but they shall reign in the kingdom of eternity. The belief of this is enough to make them glory in the sharpest tribulations and to triumph joyfully over Satan and his perverted malignant world (Heb 11:25,26. 2 Cor 4:17, 18).

3. Make the Judge your friend in time, by receiving and embracing Him as your only Saviour, offered to you as such in the gospel. And give all diligence that you may be found in Him, clothed with His righteousness, in that terrible day. There will be no standing before His solemn tribunal unless you are clothed in the garments of your elder brother; and there will be no access into the guest-chamber unless you have on the wedding-garment of imputed righteousness. Therefore kiss the Son and be reconciled to Him, and so you

shall not appear before Him as your Judge at the last day. “Acquaint now thyself with Him, and be at peace; thereby good shall come unto thee” – particularly that of a solemn acquittal in the last judgement.

But if you will not now submit unto the sceptre of His grace and righteousness, and subject yourselves to Him as your only rightful Lord and Sovereign, willing to have Him to reign over you and to be ruled by His laws, you shall not be able to stand in judgement but be condemned with His enemies and have your eternal habitation in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone. “Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord”, be persuaded to flee from the wrath to come; “so iniquity shall not be your ruin”.

Union with Christ¹

John Newton

The union of a believer with Christ is so intimate, so impossible to alter, so rich in privilege, so powerful in influence, that it cannot be fully represented by any description or comparison taken from earthly things. The mind, like our sight, cannot grasp a great object without viewing it on different sides. To help our weakness, the nature of this union is illustrated in Scripture by four comparisons, each throwing additional light on the subject, yet all falling short.

(1.) In our natural state, we are tossed about by the changing winds of opinion and the waves of trouble, which every hour disturb and threaten us on the uncertain sea of human life. But faith, uniting us to Christ, fixes us on a sure foundation, the Rock of Ages, where we stand immovable, though storms and floods unite their force against us.

(2.) By nature we are separated from the divine life, as branches broken off, withered and fruitless. But grace, through faith, unites us to Christ, the living Vine, from whom, as the root of all fulness, a constant supply of sap and influence flows into each of His mystical branches, enabling them to bring forth fruit unto God, and to persevere and abound in doing so.

(3.) By nature we are abominable in the sight of a holy God, and full of enmity and hatred towards each other. By faith, uniting us to Christ, we have fellowship with the Father and the Son, and joint communion among ourselves – even as the members of the same body have each of them union, communion and sympathy with the head, and with their fellow-members.

(4.) In our natural state, we were cast out naked and destitute, without pity and without help (Ezek 16); but faith, by uniting us to Christ, gives us an in-‘Letter to a Christian friend; taken, with editing, from Newton’s Works, vol 1 (1985 reprint).

terest in His righteousness, His riches and His honours. Our Redeemer is our husband; our debts are paid, our settlements secured and our names changed.

Thus the Lord Jesus, in declaring Himself the foundation, root, head and husband of His people, takes in all the ideas we can frame of an intimate, vital and inseparable union. Yet all these fall short of truth, and He has given us one further similitude, of which we can by no means form a proper conception till we shall be brought to see Him as He is in His kingdom: “That they all may be one, as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee; that they also may be one in Us” (Jn 17:21).

Well may we say, What hath God wrought! How inviolable is the security, how inestimable the privilege, how inexpressible the happiness of a believer! How greatly is he indebted to grace! He was once afar off, but he is brought nigh to God by the blood of Christ; he was once a child of wrath, but is now an heir of everlasting life. How strong then are his obligations to walk worthy of God, who has called him to His kingdom and glory!