He that descended and subjected Himself to be judged falsely now shall return as Judge over all. With Him shall be thousands and thousands of angels. At His appearance the heaven and earth shall flee away. At His Word the dead shall rise, and with the living will appear before His throne.

If Israel trembled at the sound of the trumpet and the quaking of the mountain when God gave His law at Mount Sinai, what shall it be when the Lord comes to judge those who have broken His law - when the trumpet of the Lord shall call the dead to life, and the mountains shall flee from His presence?

The scriptural details surrounding Christ's second coming - His judgment, its execution, and the eternal places of abode are examined in Chapters 29 and 30. But two major lessons can be observed here:

1. The infinite greatness of the Judge

2. The infinite greatness of separation regarding those being judged

The greatest contrast between fear and joy, crying and rejoicing, panic and calmness; the greatest separation between rich and poor, reward and punishment, life and death, shall be witnessed in that day. No day can be compared with it. Eternal life or eternal death, eternal well or eternal woe, shall both be ushered in. The sheep shall be separated from the goats, the wheat from the chaff, those on the right hand from those on the left.

When the Angel of Judgment passed through the land of Egypt, the only safety was to be protected by the blood of the lamb - to stand behind its blood. A greater day of judgment is approaching. Are you secure behind the Lamb's blood?

The door of the Ark, Christ Jesus, is yet open. Sinners may yet enter. But once the judgment begins, the door will be shut; it will then be forever too late. "Seek ye the Lord while He may be found, call ye upon Him while He is near" (Isaiah 55:6).

Each of Christ's four steps reveals a higher level of exaltation of

And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

And He shall send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

- Matthew 24:30-31

For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in His body, according to that He hath done, whether it be good or bad.

- II Corinthians 5:10

Jesus saith unto him, Thou hast said: nevertheless I say unto you, Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.

- Matthew 26:64

So shall it be at the end of the world: the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just.

- Matthew 13:49

Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.

- Titus 2:13

Behold, He cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see Him, and they also which pierced Him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of Him. Even so, Amen.

- Revelation 1:7

The Son of man shall send forth His angels, and they shall gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity;

And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.

- Matthew 13:41-42

But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be,

For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark.

And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

- Matthew 24:37-39