People do not generally think of the Lord Jesus Christ in terms of being a judge; He is a Savior and is meek, full of patience with men and compassionate to people’s misery. All of these things are wonderfully true, yet the Scriptures show He will be the Judge “of the living and the dead.” This term occurs three times in the New Testament: Acts 10:42, 2 Timothy 4:1, and 1 Peter 4:5. The “judgment of the living” will begin in the Great Tribulation and will culminate when Christ sits on the “throne of His glory,” judging the nations (Mt. 25:31–32). There will be no dead people in that judgment. Christ calls this “My throne,” but the saints will be with Him in this judgment (Lk. 22:29–30; Mt. 19:28; Rev. 20:4). When preaching to the idolatrous Athenians, the apostle Paul warned them, “[God] has set a day in which He is going to judge the habitable earth in righteousness by the Man whom He has appointed, giving the proof of it to all in having raised Him from among the dead” (Acts 17:30–31 jnd). The Risen Man will judge the living nations.

The second of the two great judgments is the “judgment of the dead”; the administration of this solemn judgment has been committed to the Lord Jesus: the Father “has given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man” (Jn. 5:27). The Son of Man will exercise this judgment because the One who has suffered for men has the authority to judge men. He will sit upon the great white throne to judge the dead, both “small and great” (Rev. 20:11–12). He will judge the “secrets of men.” It is said that we cannot judge people’s motives because we do not know their hearts, and this is true. But Christ knows their hearts. May these considerations stir our hearts to bring the gospel of grace to all men!