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The Saviour Himself, while reproving the cities in which He had
done great works, but which had not believed, and while setting them
in unfavorable comparison with foreign cities, says, "But I say
unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day
of judgment than for you." And a little after He says, "Verily,
I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in
the day of judgment than for thee." Here He most plainly predicts
that a day of judgment is to come. And in another place He says,
"The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and
shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonas;
and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here. The queen of the south
shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn
it: for she came from the utter most parts of the earth to hear the
words of Solomon; and behold, a greater than Solomon is here."
Two things we learn from this passage, that a judgment is to take
place, and that it is to take place at the resurrection of the dead.
For when He spoke of the Ninevites and the queen of the south, He
certainly spoke of dead persons, and yet He said that they should rise
up in the day of judgment. He did not say, "They shall condemn,"
as if they themselves were to be the judges, but because, in
comparison with them, the others shall be justly condemned.
Again, in another passage, in which He was speaking of the present
intermingling and future separation of the good and bad, the separation
which shall be made in the day of judgment, He adduced a comparison
drawn from the sown wheat and the tares sown among them, and gave this
explanation of it to His disciples: "He that soweth the good seed is
the Son of man," etc. Here, indeed, He did not name the judgment
or the day of judgment, but indicated it much more clearly by
describing the circumstances, and foretold that it should take place in
the end of the world.
In like manner He says to His disciples, "Verily I say unto you,
That ye which have followed me, in the regeneration, when the Son of
man shall sit on the throne of His glory, ye also shall sit upon
twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel." Here we learn
that Jesus shall judge with His disciples. And therefore He said
elsewhere to the Jews, "If I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by
whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they shall be your
judges." Neither ought we to suppose that only twelve men shall judge
along with Him, though He says that they shall sit upon twelve
thrones; for by the number twelve is signified the completeness of the
multitude of those who shall judge. For the two parts of the number
seven (which commonly symbolizes totality), that is to say four and
three, multiplied into one another, give twelve. For four times
three, or three times four, are twelve. There are other meanings,
too, in this number twelve. Were not this the right interpretation of
the twelve thrones, then since we read that Matthias was ordained an
apostle in the room of Judas the traitor, the Apostle Paul, though
he labored more than them all, should have no throne of judgment; but
he unmistakeably considers himself to be included in the number of the
judges when he says, "Know ye not that we shall judge angels?" The
same rule is to be observed in applying the number twelve to those who
are to be judged. For though it was said, "judging the twelve tribes
of Israel," the tribe of Levi, which is the thirteenth, shall not
on this account be exempt from judgment, neither shall judgment be
passed only on Israel and not on the other nations. And by the words
"in the regeneration," He certainly meant the resurrection of the
dead to be understood; for our flesh shall be regenerated by
incorruption, as our soul is regenerated by faith.
Many passages I omit, because, though they seem to refer to the last
judgment, yet on a closer examination they are found to be ambiguous,
or to allude rather to some other event, whether to that coming of the
Saviour which continually occurs in His Church, that is, in His
members, in which comes little by little, and piece by piece, since
the whole Church is His body, or to the destruction of the earthly
Jerusalem. For when He speaks even of this, He often uses language
which is applicable to the end of the world and that last and great day
of judgment, so that these two events cannot be distinguished unless
all the corresponding passages bearing on the subject in the three
evangelists, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, are compared with one
another, for some things are put more obscurely by one evangelist and
more plainly by another, so that it becomes apparent what things are
meant to be referred to one event. It is this which I have been at
pains to do in a letter which I wrote to Hesychius of blessed memory,
bishop of Salon, and entitled, "Of the End of the World."
I shall now cite from the Gospel according to Matthew the passage
which speaks of the separation of the good from the wicked by the most
efficacious and final judgment of Christ: "When the Son of man,"
he says, "shall come in His glory, . . . then shall He say also
unto them on His left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into
everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels." Then He
in like manner recounts to the wicked the things they had not done, but
which He had said those on the right hand had done. And when they ask
when they had seen Him in need of these things, He replies that,
inasmuch as they had not done it to the least of His brethren, they
had not done it unto Him, and concludes His address in the words,
"And these shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the
righteous into life eternal." Moreover, the evangelist John most
distinctly states that He had predicted that the judgment should be at
the resurrection of the dead. For after saying, "The Father
judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son: that
all men should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father: he that
honoreth not the Son, honoreth not the Father which hath sent
Him;" He immediately adds, "Verily, verily, I say unto you,
He that heareth my word and believeth on Him that sent me, hath
everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment; but is passed from
death to life." Here He said that believers on Him should not come
into judgment. How, then, shall they be separated from the wicked by
judgment, and be set at His right hand, unless judgment be in this
passage used for condemnation? For into judgment, in this sense,
they shall not come who hear His word, and believe on Him that sent
Him.
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