He Will Come to Judge the Living and the Dead — The Apostles' Creed, Article of Faith 7
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Editor’s note: This is the sixth installment of a series on the Apostles’ Creed. Rev. Campbell Markham is a Presbyterian minister in Perth, Australia.
“From there he shall come to judge the living and the dead.” (The Apostles’ Creed, Article 7)
The image below is the famous Dog on the Tuckerbox in Gundagai near the Hume Highway. It was unveiled by Prime Minister Joseph Lyons in 1932 and helps raise funds for the local hospital.
Editorial credit: Wozzie / Shutterstock.com
Before the days of trucks, bullock teams carted goods down the highway. The statue shows a typical bullock driver’s dog, guarding his owner’s tuckerbox. Perhaps the driver’s wife left his lunch in the tuckerbox by the roadside ready for when he passed by.
“Tucker” has been Australian slang for food since the 1850s. Food is something you “tuck away” in your tummy. Dog-tucker is fit only for the pet. Schools used to have tuckshops where you could buy your lunch.
The statue is charming in its plain Depression-era way. The faithful companion sits patiently and obediently, waiting longingly for his beloved master to return. The dog on the Tuckerbox exemplifies faith, trust, and longing.
As Christians we long for Jesus to return and free us from the scourge of sin upon our souls.
In the same way, Jesus commands his disciples to wait obediently, patiently, and trustingly for his return.
We need patience, don’t we? We look to the world and see rampant greed, arrogance, and cruelty. We look to our own nation and see our internetted children weighed down by loneliness, moral confusion, and fearful uncertainty about the future. We look to our own selves and see both our bodies aging and failing and a fierce mental and moral struggle within.
Christians long for Jesus to return, for he will banish war, famine, disease, disaster, cruelty, and evil from the world. He will put a final end to sickness and death. He will finally free us from the scourge of sin upon our souls.
There are five things we must know about Jesus’ return.
First, God has not revealed its timing.
“But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.” (Matt. 24:36)
Jesus could return at any moment, as suddenly and as unannounced as “a thief in the night” (Matt. 24:43). So we must be sleeplessly vigilant.
Second, it will be cataclysmically obvious.
“For as the lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other, so will the Son of Man be in his day.” (Luke 17:24).
For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. (1 Thess. 4:16).
You won’t need to be told. You will see him for yourself.
Third, every person who has ever lived will be called to stand before Jesus for final judgment—those who are alive at Jesus’ coming and those who died before.
“Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.” (John 5:28-29).
Fourth, Jesus will assign us to heaven or to hell for all eternity, and that will be our final fixed state for ever and ever.
Thus, Jesus described “a great chasm” separating heaven and hell, which no one can cross (Luke 16:26).
Fifth, we will only go to heaven if we have repented of our sin and put our trust in Jesus for salvation.
Those who have done this will not at all fear the final judgment, for they won’t be clothed with the dirty garment of their sin. Instead,
“They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” (Rev. 7:14)
Jesus’ sacrifice has made them clean.
Jesus will make all things right.
I finish with this beautiful picture of heaven:
And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” (Rev. 21:3-4)
Jesus will return for final judgment, and he will make all things right. We long for this, and pray with the apostle John the Bible's final prayer: “Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!” (Rev. 22:20).
