by Rev. Mark Creech
RevMarkCreech.org
It is said that what stirred William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army, to become such a fiery evangelist was the challenging indictment of a lecturer known for attacking the Christian faith. The lecturer said:
“If I believed what you Christians say you believe with reference to the coming judgment and day of reckoning, with the resultant eternal lostness of the impenitent Christ-rejectors, then I would crawl on my bare knees on crushed glass all over London, England, night and day, telling men and women to flee from the wrath to come.”
Throughout my ministry, I have not neglected to proclaim God’s coming judgment. Yet I am certain I have never adequately conveyed how terrible that scene will be for the unbelieving. And that scene, mind you, ought to stir within us the utmost urgency to prepare for its coming.
The Judge who is coming is Jesus Christ.
The apostle Paul declared that God “hath appointed a day, in which he will judge the world in righteousness” (Acts 17:31).
Perhaps we have made Jesus too comfortable in our minds.
We picture the infant lying in Bethlehem’s manger. We see Him surrounded by little children. We hear Him say, “Come unto me.” We follow Him to Calvary, where He hangs bruised and bleeding between two thieves.
All of these pictures of Christ are true, but they are not the whole picture.
The Jesus who came the first time in humility will return the second time in unimaginable majesty.
Recently, I came across an old sermon by Gilbert Tennent from the 18th century. Tennent, along with George Whitefield, is often credited with sparking the First Great Awakening in America. In some places, including Boston, his preaching drew crowds that rivaled – and at times exceeded – those of Whitefield.
In his sermon, “The Solemn Scene of the Last Judgment,” Tennent sought to impress upon his hearers the overwhelming majesty of Christ’s return and of the final coming judgment.
In slightly modernized words, he so eloquently said:
“The eternal Son of God shall descend visibly from the heavenly paradise, that throne of majestic beauty and radiant glory, accompanied by every display of power and inconceivable grandeur. He will come guarded by an innumerable host of mighty angels. He will come surrounded by a vast and glorious company of perfected spirits. These will attend the great Judge of Heaven and Earth, the descending God, through the regions of the air to the seat of judgment, to grace that magnificent and solemn occasion with glorious majesty!
“These holy and mighty angels will doubtless serve as ministers of justice and mercy on that great day – summoning the guilty before the judgment bar, executing their dreadful sentence, and gathering the elect and accompanying them to their blissful mansions. No doubt these nobles of the court of Heaven will appear in their brightest robes.
“And we are told that our great Lord Himself will be revealed in flaming fire. When the Law was given by Moses on Mount Sinai, the mountain trembled and was wrapped in fire and smoke, and a voice spoke from the midst of the flames, striking the whole host of Israel with great fear and astonishment.
“Now, if the Lord appeared with such majesty and terror when the Law was given, how much more when He comes to avenge its violations? When He comes as Judge, He will assume a splendor and greatness befitting the glory of His deity and the dignity of His character. The face of the heavens will be convulsed into a flaming scroll, and the deep foundations of the earth shall shake, while its surface, torn by earthquakes, shall send forth rivers of fire!
“His throne is said to be great and white – pure and spotless, stately and magnificent – and from it proceed thunderings and voices. So terrible and overwhelming will be the majesty of the Judge seated upon His throne that the heavens and the earth are said to flee from His face!
“Then the proudest monarchs, the shrewdest politicians, and the boldest heroes, stripped of the insignificant symbols of their present rank and greatness, will forget their former power, courage, and grandeur and cry to the mountains to hide them from the face of the Lamb who sits upon the throne. They will be forced to bow before that Savior whom they once despised and to implore His favor – but in vain. He will not answer their untimely and sorrowful cries.
“Their lamentations over sin and their pleas for mercy and pardon might, in this life, have brought them salvation; but then it will be too late! Too late! The Master of the House will rise and shut the door of mercy and salvation against those who willfully refused to repent.”
To modern ears, preaching like this may seem too severe, too disturbing, perhaps even unworthy of serious consideration. We have grown accustomed to sermons that comfort, encourage, and reassure. Too often, preaching today sounds more like a motivational talk than a summons to reckon with eternal realities. We are far less comfortable with messages that compel us to contemplate judgment, eternity, and the state of our own souls. Yet that very discomfort is precisely why such preaching is so desperately needed.
Charles Spurgeon, the famed 19th-century British Baptist preacher, once told of a man who walked out before one of his sermons was finished and later confessed, “If I had stayed there another five minutes, I should have been converted.” He fled because the truth was pressing too closely on him. There are truths we would rather avoid, yet sometimes the very truths that disturb us most are the ones we most desperately need to hear.
If these truths trouble your soul, do not turn away. Christ came to save sinners. Repent of your sin and place your faith in Him – in His death for your sins and His resurrection from the grave. Receive Him now as Savior and Lord while the door of mercy is still open.
Many years ago, my wife and I visited Niagara Falls with a married couple from our church. The wife handed out Gospel tracts to tourists as they passed by. One man took a tract from her, glanced at it, and when he realized what it was, threw it contemptuously to the ground.
She was visibly shocked and disappointed. Then, as though a holy resolve had risen within her, she called after him, “Your blood is not on my hands!”
I have now told you of something that is coming, whether you believe it or not. What you do with that truth is now between you and God.
You may rejoice at the coming of the Judge because your sins have been forgiven through faith in His grace, or you may face His coming with fear because you know you are not ready.
But you cannot claim you were never warned.
Source Note: The excerpts from Gilbert Tennent’s sermon, “The Solemn Scene of the Last Judgment,” are taken from Valiant for Truth: A Treasury of Evangelical Writings, compiled and edited by David Otis Fuller, D.D. (Philadelphia and New York: J.B. Lippincott Company).
