We have seen that though “God wills all men to be saved,” and though Christ died for all, yet as a fact some will be saved and some will be lost. The decision of their eternal fate is given when their course is run: in the case of the individual, at his death; in the case of the human race as a whole, at the end of time. This latter, which is called the Last, or General, Judgment, is the one which concerns us here.
I. Mankind in the sight of God is not simply a number of individuals, but a great whole: one great family, having the same origin, involved in the same ruin, rescued by the same Redeemer. Although the Creator wills and promotes the good of every single creature, yet each is subservient to the good of the whole. Moreover, every man’s action is not isolated, but influences and is influenced by that of his fellow-men, whether past, present, or future. God “reacheth from end to end mightily, and ordereth all things sweetly;” nevertheless, to us who cannot contemplate the whole, “His ways are unsearchable” (Rom. 11:33). A day, however, will come, “the day of the Lord” (Joel 2:31), when all will be made clear, and His ways will be justified in the sight of all mankind (St. Thomas. 3, q. 59, a. 5).
1. In the Old Testament the Prophets speak of a great judgment which is to take place in the last days (Isa. 66:15 sqq.; Joel 2:29 sqq.; Joel3:2 sqq.; Mal. 4:1; Zeph. 1:14 sqq.). From them the Jews gathered their notion of a glorious and mighty Messias; and hence they rejected our Lord, Who came to them in poverty and in weakness. But He, referring to these very prophecies, foretold His Second Coming in great power and majesty to judge the living and dead (Matt. 13:41; 19:28; 24:27 sqq.; Matt 25:31 sqq.; Mark 13:24 sqq.; Luke 21:25 sqq.). The Apostles repeatedly preach this coming of Christ as an exhortation to a holy life, and as a consolation in the midst of sorrows and trials: e.g. St. Peter at the conversion of Cornelius (Acts 10:42); St. Paul at Athens (ibid. 17:31), and in his Epistles (Rom. 2:5 sqq.; Rom 14:10; 1 Cor. 4:5; 2 Cor. 5:10; 2 Tim. 4:1; 2 Thess. 1:5 sqq.); and St. James 5:7 sqq.
2. In all the early creeds belief in the General Judgment is professed, usually in connection with our Lord’s second coming. “Sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence He shall come to judge the living and the dead” (Apostles’ Creed). “And He shall come again with glory to judge the living and the dead” (Nicene Creed). “He sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from whence He shall come to judge the living and the dead. At Whose coming all men shall rise again (resurgere habent) with their bodies, and shall give an account of their works” (Athanasian Creed).
II. Having thus established the fact of a future General Judgment, we turn now to the various circumstances and details connected with it.
1. The time of Christ’s second coming has not been made known to us: “Of that day or hour no man knoweth, neither the angels in heaven nor the Son, but the Father” (Mark 13:32). Hence our Lord continually warns us to be on the watch, so as not to be taken unawares: He will come like a thief in the night (Matt. 24:42); “in a day that [man] hopeth not, and at an hour he knoweth not” (ibid. 50). “Take heed to yourselves lest … that day come upon you suddenly; for as a snare shall it come” (Luke 21:34, 35); “Watch ye therefore (for you know not when the Lord of the house cometh; at even, or at midnight, or at the cock-crowing, or in the morning): lest coming on a sudden He find you sleeping; and what I say to you I say to all: Watch” (Mark 13:35–37). The Apostles seem to have expected their Master’s return almost immediately: “The end of all is at hand; be prudent, therefore, and watch in prayers” (1 Pet. 4:7); “The coming of the Lord is at hand (ἡ παρουσία τοῦ Κυρίου ἤγγικεν); … behold, the Judge standeth at the door” (James 5:8, 9); “Little children, it is the last hour (ἐσχάτη ὥρα)” (1 John 2:18). On the other hand, St. Paul begs the Thessalonians not to be alarmed by those who speak “as if the day of the Lord were at hand (ὡς ὁτι ἐνέστηκεν ἡ ἡμέρα τοῦ Κυρίου)” (2 Thess. 2:2; cf. 2 Pet. 3:8 sqq.). Nor is the uncertainty removed by the various signs which are to announce the approach of the Last Day. “Wars, and rumours of wars,” “pestilences, and famines, and earthquakes in places” (Matt. 24:6, 7) are unhappily common enough; “the signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars” (Luke 21:24), are the accompaniments rather than the forerunners of the coming; the universal spreading of the Gospel (Matt. 24:14) and the conversion of the Jews (Rom. 11:26) are not sufficiently definite; while the coming of Antichrist and the return of Henoch and Elias are themselves full of mystery. Hence, even some of the Fathers (e.g. St. Gregory the Great, Hom. i., in Evang.) and other Saints (e.g. St. Vincent Ferrer) have mistaken the date of the Last Day.
2. The place in which the Judgment will be held is here on earth; for all the various texts and creeds speak of a coming or return to where our Lord was before. We must not, however, take this to mean simply the solid earth on which we stand: “They shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven” (Matt. 24:39); “We who are alive, who are left, shall be caught up together with Christ into the air” (1 Thess. 4:16). The valley of Josaphat has been mentioned by some as the exact spot, by reason of the prophecy, “I will gather together all the nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Josaphat” (Joel 3:2); but these words can have only a remote reference to the Last Judgment. The neighbourhood of Jerusalem, however, where our Lord suffered, and whence He ascended into heaven, would seem to be a fitting place for His return and His final triumph.
3. The Judge will be our Lord Jesus Christ in His human nature, as the Son of Man. “Neither doth the Father judge any man; but hath given all judgment to the Son … and He hath given Him power to do judgment because He is the Son of Man” (John 5:22, 27; Matt. 24:30; 25:31; Luke 21:27). His second coming will be the completion of the work of the Incarnation. Then it is that the prophecies which speak of His power and glory and triumph will be fulfilled. At His first coming “He humbled Himself, taking the form of a servant;” His Divinity was hidden; He came to be judged, to suffer, and to die; but at His return He will come with great power and majesty; His Divinity will shine forth in His humanity; He will come to judge the living and dead, to triumph over His enemies, and bestow eternal reward on the faithful. “This Jesus, who is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come, as you have seen Him going into heaven (οὕτως ἐλεύσεται ὃν τρόπον ἐθεάσασθε αὐτὸν πορευόμενον εἰς τὸν οὐρανόν)” (Acts 1:11).
This office of Judge, which properly belongs to our Lord, He will to some extent communicate to the Apostles and other Saints (Matt. 19:28; 1 Cor. 6:2 sqq.).
4. All mankind, both good and bad; those who shall be alive at the Last Day, as well as those who shall have died, will be judged: “We shall all stand before the judgment-seat of Christ” (Rom. 14:10; 2 Cor. 5:10; 2 Thess. 3:14 sqq.); “The hour cometh wherein all that are in the graves shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that have done good things shall come forth unto the resurrection of life; but they that have done evil unto the resurrection of judgment” (John 5:28, 29). When it is said, “Judge not, that ye may not be judged” (Matt. 7:7), judgment here and in similar passages (John 3:18) is clearly meant in the sense of condemnation (cf. John 16:11). St. Paul says that “we shall judge angels” (1 Cor. 6:3); and of the fallen angels it is said that “God delivered them drawn down by infernal ropes to the lower hell to be reserved unto judgment” (2 Pet. 2:4); or, as St. Jude says (6), “unto the judgment of the great day.” We may believe that the Angels, good and bad, will be judged either on account of their relations with mankind, or because they are subject to Him to Whom “all power is given in heaven and on earth,” Whom all the angels of God are to adore (Heb. 1:6), in Whose Name “every knee should bow, of those that are in heaven, on earth, and under the earth” (Phil. 2:10).
5. Christ will judge men according as they have believed in Him, and have kept His commandments. “Whosoever believeth in Him may not perish, but may have life everlasting” (John 3:16); “He who heareth My word, and believeth Him that sent Me, hath life everlasting” (ibid. v. 24); “The Son of Man shall come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then will He render to every one according to his works” (Matt. 16:27; cf. 25:31–46; 2 Cor. 5:10) Every deed, “every idle word that men shall speak” (Matt. 12:36), will be revealed before the eyes of all: “The Lord will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts” (1 Cor. 4:5). This manifestation is described by St. John in the words of the Apocalypse: “I saw the dead, great and small, standing in the presence of the throne, and the books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged, every one according to their works” (20:12). And not only the works of men, but the works of God also, will be manifested on that day: the acts of His infinite mercy; the hidden workings of His justice; the unsearchable ways of His providence, so that He may be justified in the sight of all. “What I do thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter” (John 13:7).
6. When “all the nations shall be gathered together before Him, the Son of Man shall separate them one from another, as the shepherd separateth the sheep from the goats; and He shall set the sheep on His right hand, and the goats on His left” (Matt. 25:32, 33; cf. 13:24–43, 48). Then will follow the final sentence of reward or condemnation:
“Come,”…..“Depart from Me,”
“Ye blessed of My Father,”….“Ye cursed,”
“Possess you the kingdom”…“Into everlasting fire”
“Prepared for you from the foundation of the world.”…“Prepared for the devil and his angels.”
“And these shall go into everlasting punishment, but the just into life everlasting” (Matt. 25:34, 41, 46).
See St. Thomas, 3, q. 59, and Suppl., qq. 89, 90, and the commentators thereon; Freiburg Kirchenlexikon, art. GÖTTLICHES GERICHT.
Excerpted from A Manual of Catholic Theology. [WILHELM, J. – SCANNELL, T. B., A Manual of Catholic Theology: Based on Scheeben’s “Dogmatik”, II, Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co. Ltd., London 1908Third Edition, Revised.]
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