Jesus Christ was judged by the highest ecclesiastical court on earth, and in the highest civil court—but in both cases condemned unjustly. He could not have righteous judgment in this world; but, when the unrighteous sentences were passed upon him, and he had yielded to the penalty, and his body was consigned to the prison-house of death, while his spirit was in the unseen world, he appealed the case, and had it referred to the high, the holy and inflexible court of heaven, where the case was tried righteously. When this was done, the former decisions were condemned, as partial and unjust, and Jesus was “justified by the Spirit,” or, as Peter expresses it, “he was quickened by the Spirit.” The decision in the case was not only reversed, but the penalty, which had been executed, and was beyond the power of those who inflicted it to reverse it, was reversed by the great and righteous tribunal to which Jesus had appealed. He was justified from the guilt of their decision, when the Spirit of God condemned their sentence as unjust, and justified from the penalty when he was “quickened by the Spirit,” or raised from the dead. When justified, he breaks forth in most triumphant language: “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty; I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold! I am alive forevermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and death.” He had been condemned unjustly, but had gone to a righteous judgment, where the decision was changed, and he was justified; the penalty of death was removed, and he was made alive forevermore; hence, “he ever liveth to make intercession for us.” He had obtained justice. In this case, we have an assurance of a day being appointed in which God will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained. If God, after the death of Jesus, judged in the case of the great leader of all christians, and changed the unrighteous sentence previously passed upon him, and justified him, why may we not expect him to judge all the world after death; and, where the righteous have been condemned, as has frequently been, and as will be, the case in this world, reverse the decision, and justify them; and, on the other hand, where the guilty have been justified, the decision changed, and they condemned.