We must here, however, avoid confounding the substance with the form,--the idea with the temporary clothing which the prophet puts upon it, in accordance with the nature of prophetic [Pg 300] vision, in which, necessarily, all that is spiritual must be represented in outward sketches and forms. This form is as follows:--In the place nearest to the temple, and which was able to contain a great multitude of people, in the valley of Jehoshaphat, all nations are gathered. (The valley very probably received its name from the appellation which, in the passage under consideration, the prophet gives to it, in order to mark its destination; for Jehoshaphat means, "the Lord judges," or "Valley of Judgment."[1]) The Lord, enthroned in the temple, exercises judgment upon them. In this manner--in outward forms of perception--the idea is brought out, that the judgment upon the Gentiles is an effect of the kingdom of God; that they are not punished on account of their violation of the natural law, but because of the hostile position which they had occupied against the teachers of God's revealed truth,--against the Lord Himself who is in His Church. Every violation of the natural law may be pardoned to those who have not stood in any other relation to God, even although they should have [Pg 301] proceeded to the most fearful extent in depravity. They who were once disobedient, when the long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah, were not as yet given over to complete condemnation, but were kept in prison until Christ came and preached to them. "This was the iniquity of Sodom: fulness of bread, and abundance of peace, were in her and her daughters; yet the hand of the poor and needy they did not assist; but they were haughty and committed abomination before the Lord: therefore He took them away as He saw good." But, nevertheless, the Lord will, at some future time, turn the captivity (the misery) of this Sodom and her daughters, and they shall be restored as they were before,--not corporeally, for their seed is utterly rooted out from the earth, and even their place is destroyed, but spiritually; compare Ezek. xvi. 49 ff. But, on the other hand, far more severe punishments are inflicted upon those who have rejected, not the abstract, but the concrete God,--not the God who is shut up in the heavens, but the God who powerfully manifests Himself on earth, in His Church. It is true, that as long as this revelation is still an imperfect one--as it was under the Old Testament dispensation--and hence the guilt of rejecting Him less, mercy may still be shown. External destruction does not involve spiritual ruin. Moab, indeed, is destroyed, so that it is no longer a people, because it has exalted itself against the Lord; yet, "in the latter days I will turn the captivity of Moab, saith the Lord," Jer. xlviii. 47. But when the revelation of the grace of God has become perfect, His justice also will be perfectly revealed against all who reject it, and rise in hostility against those who are the bearers of it: "Their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched, and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh," Is. lxvi. 24. These remarks contain the key to all which the Lord declares as to the future judgment which, in its completion, belongs only to the future world. It is not the world as such, but that world to which the Gospel has been declared, and in the midst of which the Church has been founded, which forms the object of it; compare Matt. xxiv. 14.