The Great Arbiter of Life and
Death by William Nicholson from The Separation of the Righteous
from the Wicked, 1862. When the Son of Man comes in
His glory, and all the angels with Him, He will sit on His
throne in heavenly glory. All the nations will be gathered
before Him, and He will separate the people one from another,
as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the
sheep on His right, and the goats on His left. Matthew chapter
25 verse 31 to 33 There are three important days
in the existence of a man. The day of his birth, the day
of his death, and the day when he shall be judged. At the day
of his birth he commences an immortal existence. He enters
on a career which will be lengthened out through an endless eternity. At the day of his death, his
seed time, his probation, and all his works shall end. His
body shall return to the dust, and his soul pass into the world
of spirits. At the day of judgment, all his
thoughts, motives, and actions will be scrutinized by the great
arbiter of life and death, and the character of them will decide
his everlasting destiny. for we must all appear before
the judgment seat of Christ that each one may receive what is
due him for the things done while in the body whether good or bad
2nd Corinthians chapter 5 verse 10 1 the great and solemn convention
all the nations will be gathered before him 1 1. The time when this convention
shall take place, when the Son of Man shall come in His glory. 2. The grand appearance of the
Judge. He shall come in His glory. 3.
This appearance will be judicial. Then He will sit on His throne
in heavenly glory. The nations of the earth shall
be gathered before Him at His bar. It will be a judicial throne. 4. The Assembly. All the nations
will be gathered before him. What a vast assembly! Yes, all
nations, all the inhabitants of the world, from Adam to his
last born, shall be gathered before the throne. the momentous separation and
its consequences and he will separate the people one from
another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats he will
put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left 1. He will separate them into two
classes, the righteous and the wicked, saved saints and lost
sinners, the pure grain and the chaff, the wheat and the tares,
the sheep and the goats. This separation will be exact. Though the multitude will be
so vast, yet the character of each will be detected with the
greatest precision. Every thought, desire, motive,
and action will be known to the infallible judge. 3. This separation will be complete
and just. There will be no partiality.
He will make the separation in righteousness according to his
perfect law of equity. Be not deceived. God is not mocked. For whatever a man sows, that
shall he reap. The judgment will be so complete
that all will acknowledge the justice displayed in the separation. 4. This separation will be to many
most surprising, degrading, and mortifying. Then the proud and
wealthy will be humbled and brought down. Men of talent and genius,
wise men after the flesh, who received the applause of the
multitude, will descend from their pinnacle of glory to contempt
and infamy, and see the poor despised Christian infinitely
exalted above them. What mortification will the miser
feel when he finds his gold so worthless? What will the worldly
objects and pursuits of the ambitious appear then? How will the votary
of this world and the lover of pleasure find themselves undeceived
then? How will those who have rejected
Christ or denied God's existence open their eyes in astonishment?
What surprise, when they gaze on him, and hear him say, But
those enemies of mine, who did not want me to be king over them,
Bring them here, and kill them in front of me. Luke chapter
19 verse 27 Then there will be weeping and
gnashing of teeth such as the world never saw, when the rich,
the splendid, the refined, and the noble behold the Christian
pauper, beggar, and slave ready to sit down in the kingdom of
God with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and they themselves thrust
out. 5. This separation will in many
cases be awfully affecting. What a distinction will then
be made in families. Some parents themselves will
be left behind and with failing eyes and bursting hearts will
follow their children rising to the heavens and bidding them
an everlasting farewell. 6. This separation will be eternal.
They shall be divided and never come together again. There will
be no return from perdition, none from Paradise, to any common
centre where parted friends may be reunited. This separation
is not for one, two, or more years, but forever. There will
be an impassable gulf fixed. Luke 16, verse 26. Then they will go away to eternal
punishment, but the righteous to eternal life. Matthew 25,
verse 46. That word forever breaks the
heart. Thomas Watson