O then, friends! Don’t be afraid to obey Him. Don’t be afraid to confess Him here below, for you shall be acknowledged by God at the last day, and get His approbation, and that is of more worth than if you had the applause of angels, and all saints that ever lived or shall live on the earth. For even if you had these, if you lacked His, you will not partake of the joy of being acknowledged and approved of God at that day.

When the last day comes, it will expose and bring an end to all the wrongdoing and injustice and evildoing in the world, however secret, or open, or ineradicable it seems for now. It will also, at last, bring into the present the now-future ‘wrath which is to come.’ For these reasons that day is something that sinners dread and prefer not to think about. But for those who are sheltering in Jesus, whose guilt has been taken away by Him and who take His side in the controversy against evil and sin, it will be a day of astonishing blessing and honour. In the following updated extract, James Renwick identifies ten privileges which will be bestowed on believers in the day of judgment. His closing words are a plea to us to make sure now, while we still have opportunity, that we will share in these blessings on that day.

I will show you the excellency of the day of judgment by showing you some privileges and benefits that the believer shall partake of in that day.

Togetherness

The first privilege that the godly shall partake of at the day of judgment is that they shall be gathered from the four winds of heaven, and from the four corners of the earth, by the sound of the last trumpet.

O friends! There is a great scattering among believers now; some are killed, some banished to foreign lands, some dead in their banishment, and some dead in their imprisonment, and many drowned in the sea; in fact, some cast into the sea when dying on the journey, and some cruelly tortured, their bodies quartered and put into pieces.

But at that day, the Lord will gather, so that not one pile of that dust of theirs shall be lost, but with these bodies with which they endured these scatterings, tortures, or death, they shall appear, and be united to the soul again.

Reunion

The second privilege is that they shall be caught up from the earth to meet the Lord in the air. O friends! The King is coming! The great Judge is coming! He is on his way. O prepare for Him! Prepare to meet with Him, for if you are godly, you shall be caught up to meet the Lord in the air with joy and gladness.

Triumph

The third privilege that believers shall partake of at the last day is that they shall be set on the right hand of the great Judge, a place of invaluable or inestimable honour, a place of high renown.

It is true that the wicked shall be gathered, but they shall not share in this honourable privilege of sitting at the right hand of Christ with His true sheep. Nor, indeed, do I think that they shall be caught up at all, but shall remain below, and when sentenced, they shall go to hell, there to remain to all eternity.

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