Daniel 12

DISCOURSE: 1141
DIFFERENT STATES OF MEN IN THE LAST JUDGMENT

Daniel 12:2. And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever.

THE immediate connexion of the text would lead us to expect something which shall take place when the Lord Jesus Christ shall come to destroy all antichristian powers, and to establish his kingdom throughout the world. Of that period St. John speaks, as “the first resurrection [Note: Apocalipse 20:5.].” But at that time the saints alone shall rise (whether really or mystically, we stop not to inquire): but at the time of which my text speaks, the wicked shall rise to shame and everlasting contempt. The prophet, therefore, must be understood as passing over the intermediate space between the destruction of Antichrist and the final judgment; and as speaking of what shall take place at that awful day, when Christ shall come to judge the world. In this way our blessed Lord introduces his description of the same awful period. He predicts the approaching destruction of Jerusalem, and then almost blends with that the general judgment; so that it is not easy to determine with accuracy the precise point of his transition from the one event to the other. In truth, he seems in one place to quote the words of my text as referring to the last day; saying, “The hour is coming, when all that are in the grave shall hear His voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good to the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil to the resurrection of damnation [Note: João 5:28.].” Nor can we doubt but that the Jews in general understood Daniel as speaking of that period; and grounded chiefly upon his authority the belief, that “there should be a resurrection both of the just and unjust [Note: Atos 24:15.].”

Assuming this, then, to be the import of my text, I shall proceed to consider,

1. The different states of men in that great decisive day—

It cannot be, that all should receive the same doom at the hands of a righteous Judge—
Some will awake to everlasting life and honour—
[To the souls of men there is no death. The very instant they are separated from the body, they are transmitted to a place of happiness or misery, and receive a portion at least of that recompence which awaits them at the final judgment. In the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus this is strongly intimated. It appears also, from the promise made to the penitent thief, that on the very day of his crucifixion he should be with his Lord in Paradise. The body, in the mean time, will sleep in the dust. But at the sound of the trumpet in the last day, that also shall be raised; and, in a state of union with the soul, be made a partaker of the doom which the soul had before experienced. It once bore its part on all that was transacted by the soul: and all its powers shall at that day be so strengthened, that it shall be able to sustain its part also in all the blessedness or misery to which the soul has previously been consigned. The body will then be a spiritual body: and in it, no less than in his soul, shall every saint enjoy an eternity of bliss.]
Some, on the other hand, will arise to everlasting shame and contempt—
[The wicked, whilst in this world, so resembled the righteous, that there could not be a separation made between them. But at the last day, the tares and the wheat will be as easily distinguished from each other as goats from the sheep; and no longer will they grow together. “The ungodly will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.” The wicked will then be disowned by all. The Saviour, who once laid down his life for them, and, during a long course of years, followed them with invitations and entreaties to accept of mercy, will then turn from them with disgust, and say, “Depart from me: I never knew you, ye workers of iniquity.” The angels too, those benevolent spirits who once would have been glad to minister unto them as their attendants, will engage in dragging them from their retreats, and will “bind them up in bundles, to burn them.” To all their former friends also, who once laboured for their welfare, will they be objects of abhorrence [Note: Isaías 66:24.]: yea, to the devils themselves will they be objects of malignant triumph and reproachful exultation, as doubtless our first parents were after their fall; in that they were so foolish as to believe the lies of Satan, in preference to the truth of God.]

But let us mark especially what is spoken of,

II.

The peculiar felicity of the saints—

They are here characterized as wise in their conduct, and as useful in their generation—
[“They were once perhaps derided and despised as fools.” But “they chose the better part,” and therein approved themselves truly wise. “The fear of the Lord is the very beginning of wisdom:” and all are wise in proportion as they are regulated by it. But those who are “wise for themselves” will not be content to leave others in their folly, or to go to heaven alone. They say to God, “Draw me, and we will run after thee:” that is, Draw me, and I will bring all I can along with me. This will be the endeavour of every soul that truly turns to God; and God will bless these labours of love, in whomsoever they may be found. If all are not called to speak in public, all have a sphere in which they may exert themselves to advantage: and all who are upright before God will employ their talents, whether in visiting the sick, or in the education of children, or at all events in instructing their own households and their more immediate friends. Activity in the cause of God is inseparable from true piety.]

And inconceivable will be their bliss—
[Perhaps the idea of our Lord’s transfiguration may assist us a little in forming some faint conception of the appearance of the righteous in that day. We know that “their bodies shall then be changed like unto Christ’s glorious body;” and in their souls also “they shall be like him:” and in all their powers, whether of soul or body, shall they be “filled with all the fulness of their God.” The souls also, to whom in their day and generation they were useful, shall then be as jewels in their crown, and sources of augmented bliss and honour to all eternity.]

Address—
1.

Those who are regardless of that day—

[Think, I pray you, what your feelings would now be, if all the evil that has ever passed in your hearts were made known to your fellow-creatures, I fear there would be very few of us that would not veil our faces with conscious shame, and be glad to hide ourselves in any distant retreat where we might escape the eyes of those who knew our guilt. What then will be your feelings in that day, when every abomination, with all its attendant aggravations, shall be exposed before the whole assembled universe? Now you may be able to glory in your shame; or may possibly be hardened into utter insensibility: but it will not be so then. Your sensibilities will be as quick and vivid, after millions of years, as at the first moment of your exposure; and your conscious desert of all the shame and contempt be as pungent as ever — — — Oh that I could prevail on you now to humble yourselves [Note: Jeremias 3:25.], that then you may be exalted; and now to clothe yourselves in the robe of Christ’s righteousness, that then “the shame of your nakedness may not appear [Note: Apocalipse 3:18.]”

2. Those who are living in a state of preparation for it—

[Possibly at this time you are objects of reproach to an ungodly world. But this, methinks, should be a small matter in your eyes. O, think what a change will take place in that day, and how the very people who now pour contempt upon you will envy your state! Think how God is now glorified in you; and how he will be glorified in you in that day, when all your sins, “if sought for, will not be found;” and glory, and honour, and immortality will be awarded to you, as your portion in the immediate presence of your God. Be daily preparing for that day; and in the full expectation of all this blessedness yourselves, be labouring with all your might to bring as many as possible to a participation of it.]

END OF VOL. IX