The Last Judgment

The last judgment is the fixed future day when God through Jesus Christ will judge every person who has ever lived. It matters because it reveals God's justice, silences every excuse, and gives believers a sure hope of final vindication. The authors gathered here agree that this judgment is certain, universal, and perfectly righteous, though they emphasize different aspects of its terror for the impenitent and its comfort for those in Christ.

The certainty and scope of the judgment

Matthew Henry insists that there is a fixed day appointed for a general judgment of all people (Romans 2:16). This is not a vague possibility but a settled appointment in God's purpose. The whole world in every age stands guilty before God, as Charles Spurgeon puts it, with nothing to say in its own defense (Romans 3:19). Henry adds that all people everywhere are proven guilty before God and liable to punishment, because all are sinners by nature and practice (Romans 3:19).

Spurgeon stresses the universality of this guilt. Outward character matters, and God will punish the more guilty more severely than the less guilty (Romans 3:22). Yet no one escapes the judgment by relative decency. The whole world stands guilty before God with nothing to say in its own defense. Henry explains that God stops every mouth both in justifying and condemning: the justified have their mouths stopped by humble conviction, and the condemned will be silenced and sent speechless to hell (Romans 3:19).

The justice of the judge

A central concern for these authors is defending God's righteousness in judging. Henry argues that if God were not infinitely just and righteous, he would be unfit to judge the world, so his role as judge silences all doubts about his justice (Romans 3:6). The fact that God judges the world should forever silence our doubts about and objections to his justice and equity (Romans 3:6). When people presume to quarrel with God's proceedings, the verdict will always go on God's side, for the Lord is righteous in all his ways (Romans 3:4).

Spurgeon makes the same point from a different angle. God will be shown to be just when he judges and condemns the ungodly at the last day (Romans 3:4). Even if God overrules a person's sin for His own glory, the sinner is still responsible and will be judged for that sin (Romans 3:5–7). This means no one can excuse sin by claiming it served a good purpose. Henry agrees, saying that those who deliberately do evil so that good may come from it will not escape judgment by that excuse; rather, their sinning on such a pretext makes their damnation just and them more inexcusable (Romans 3:8). Sin committed with a deliberate will to choose evil and a clever wit to cover it with a pretended good purpose shows great guilt, and no such excuses will stand in the day of judgment (Romans 3:8).

The standard of judgment

Henry is especially careful to explain the standard by which God judges. God will judge Jews and Gentiles by the same standard of justice, not with the partiality the Jews expected (Romans 2:1–16). God's judgment is always according to truth, based on the heart and works, not outward appearance or favoritism (Romans 2:2). No one can escape God's judgment by outward religious pretense while continuing in sin (Romans 2:3).

Henry explains that God's judgment is equitable because the rule of man's obedience is the rule of God's judgment, and three degrees of light are revealed to mankind (Romans 2:12–16). Gentiles who did not have the written law of Moses will not be judged by that law, but by the law of nature they did have (Romans 2:12). Those who sinned while possessing the law of Moses will be judged by that law, and their punishment will be greater because they had its clear light (Romans 2:12). Conscience acts as an internal witness that approves what is well done and reproaches what is done amiss, testifying even of the most secret things (Romans 2:15). Because the Gentiles had the light of nature and conscience as a law to govern them, they are left without excuse when they sin against it (Romans 2:14–15).

The Jews' greater privileges will not excuse them from punishment for ill-doing, nor will the Gentiles' lack of privileges bar them from the reward of well-doing (Romans 2:9–11). In fact, the obedience of Gentiles who had less means and profession will aggravate the condemnation of Jews who had greater privileges but transgressed (Romans 2:27). Those who condemn sin in others while committing the same or worse sins themselves will face severe judgment (Romans 2:21–23).

Judgment according to works as evidence

Jonathan Edwards offers a careful distinction about the place of works in the final judgment. He argues that at the final judgment God will judge by works as evidence, not because he needs to learn the truth but to declare and manifest what is right (Romans 2:5). Works do not earn acceptance, but they serve as the visible proof of what is already true in the heart. Scripture sometimes uses 'justify' to mean vindicate or manifest as righteous, as when Jesus says people will be justified by their words (Matthew 12:37). Words cannot be the basis of acceptance before God because God judges the heart, so words justify only as evidence of what is in the heart (Jeremiah 11:20, Psalms 7:8–9).

Edwards adds that obedience is the way to salvation, the necessary preparation for it, and the evidence on which justification in our own consciences and at the last judgment depends. This does not make works the ground of justification, but it does mean they have a necessary role in the final verdict. Henry agrees that God will judge every person according to their deeds, showing impartial justice to all (Romans 2:6).

The terror of judgment for the impenitent

Spurgeon speaks with particular vividness about the fate of those who refuse Christ. At the final judgment, those who refused Christ will face terrifying condemnation with no advocate (Romans 5:8). God will reject those who rejected his call, and their judgment will be eternal (Romans 5:8). The cross itself is a warning signal that if God did not spare his own Son, he will not spare those who continue in sin (Romans 5:6).

And what wilt thou do in that day when he shall say, “Depart, ye cursed;” and when the black angel, with a countenance more fierce than lightening, and with a voice louder than ten thousand thunders, shall cry, “Depart!” and smite thee down where lie for ever those accursed spirits, bound in fetters of iron, who, long long ago, were cast into perdition Charles Spurgeon, sermon “Love's Commendation”

Henry describes the same reality in terms of wrath being stored up. Sinners who continue in sin are storing up abundant wrath for themselves, which will be revealed on the day of judgment (Romans 2:5). God's righteous judgment is now often hidden by the prosperity of sinners, but it will be openly revealed before all the world (Romans 2:5). The judgment of that day will be committed to Jesus Christ, which is part of the reward of his humiliation and brings terror to sinners and comfort to saints (Romans 2:16).

What wilt thou do when thou shalt stand before his bar before whom, in astonishment, the stars shall flee, the mountains quake, and the sea be licked up with tongues of forked flame? What wilt thou do, when from his throne he shall exclaim, “Come hither, sinner,” and thou shalt stand there alone, to be judged for every deed done in the body Charles Spurgeon, sermon “Love's Commendation”

And he shall look on thee, and say, “I called, and ye refused; I stretched out my hand and no man regarded; I also will now laugh at your calamity, and mock when your fear cometh Charles Spurgeon, sermon “Love's Commendation”

The secrets of men judged

Henry emphasizes that the final judgment reaches what human courts cannot touch. Human justice reaches only the evil act, whereas God's judgment extends to the evil thought and discerns the intents of the heart (Romans 13:4). At the final judgment the secrets of men will be judged: secret services rewarded, secret sins punished, and hidden things brought to light (Romans 2:16). This means no hidden sin will escape, and no unnoticed obedience will be forgotten.

Edwards makes a related point about the judicial nature of exclusion from Christ. Admitting a soul to union with Christ is free and sovereign grace, but excluding professing Christians at death and judgment is a judicial punishment for unworthy treatment of Christ (Matthew 10:37). The judgment is not arbitrary; it corresponds to how a person has actually treated Christ.

The comfort of judgment for believers

For believers, the last judgment is not a terror but a hope. Spurgeon says that at the final judgment, grace will clothe believers with Christ's righteousness and give them boldness to stand before God (Romans 5:21). Believers also trust God to raise their own bodies from death at the last day (Romans 4:24). Henry explains that the salvation from wrath mentioned in Romans 5:9 is the final justification and absolution of believers at the last day, together with their preparation for it. The resurrection will be the public manifestation of believers' adoption before all the world, when God openly acknowledges his children (Romans 8:23).

And when the Judgment Throne is set, Grace shall put you on the right hand; Grace shall robe you about with Jesus' Righteousness; Grace shall make you bold to stand where sinners tremble, and Grace shall say to you, "Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world Charles Spurgeon, sermon “Reigning Grace”

Edwards defines justification in a way that grounds this comfort. To be justified means God approves a person as free from the guilt of sin and its punishment, and as having a righteousness that entitles him to the reward of life. Justification means the judge accepts a person as having both a negative righteousness, freedom from punishment, and a positive righteousness entitling him to reward. The objection that justification before believing would mean an unbeliever is justified misunderstands Scripture's condemnation of willful rejecters of Christ.

Henry adds that each believer will stand or fall by God's own righteous judgment, not by the judgment of other people (Romans 14:4). Christ is Lord of the dead as well as the living, so believers should not pass censure on those who have died, since they have already given their account to him (Romans 14:9). Christians should not judge or despise one another over disputable matters because everyone will stand before Christ's judgment seat to give an account of themselves (Romans 14:10). Christ's universal dominion and right to judge all people is proven by the Old Testament prophecy that every knee will bow to him, which also demonstrates his deity (Romans 14:11).

Henry also notes that judgment has come to condemnation upon all who were made sinners by Adam's disobedience, and all mankind lies under a recorded sentence of condemnation in heaven (Romans 5:18–19). This makes the believer's hope entirely dependent on Christ. Those who resist authority will be called to account both by God and by the civil government, since rulers are a terror to evildoers (Romans 13:2–3), but the final account is before God alone.

God will also be justified when He judges and when He condemns men. When He pronounces His final sentence upon the ungodly, "Depart from Me, you cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels," He shall be justified even in that dreadful hour Charles Spurgeon, sermon “God Justified, Though Man Believes Not”

That every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. That is the true condition of the whole world—"guilty before God." This is the right attitude for the whole human race—to stand with its finger on its lips, having nothing to say as to why it should not be condemned Charles Spurgeon, sermon “God Justified, Though Man Believes Not”

That every mouth may be stopped—that all boasting may be silenced. See the method that God takes both in justifying and condemning: he stops every mouth; those that are justified have their mouths stopped by a humble conviction; those that are condemned have their mouths stopped too, for they shall at last be convinced (Jude 15), and sent speechless to hell, Matt. xxii. 12 Matthew Henry, “Exposition of the Old and New Testaments”

The judgment of that day will be put into the hands of Jesus Christ. God shall judge by Jesus Christ, Acts xvii. 31. It will be part of the reward of his humiliation. Nothing speaks more terror to sinners, or more comfort to saints, than this, that Christ shall be the Judge Matthew Henry, “Exposition of the Old and New Testaments”

The secrets of men shall then be judged. Secret services shall be then rewarded, secret sins shall be then punished, hidden things shall be brought to light. That will be the great discovering day, when that which is now done in corners shall be proclaimed to all the world Matthew Henry, “Exposition of the Old and New Testaments”