Thus the consummation to which the apostolic seer looked forward is reached at last. The Lamb into whose hands the dominion of all things was committed has prevailed. He has “put down all rule and all authority and power.” “He [that is, God] hath put all things under his feet.” Principalities and powers are “subject unto him.” He who was lifted up upon the cross is now on the “great white throne.” The Father, he himself had said, gave him “authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man.” The time of the fulfillment of this promise has come. Death, “the last enemy,” is destroyed. The gates of Hades have no longer power to resist the forces of the kingdom of Christ. Nothing that is hostile to him can look upon his face. Daniel’s prophecy has been brought to pass. “The iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold” are “broken to pieces together,” and become “like the chaff of the summer threshing floors;” and the wind has “carried them away,” that no place is “found for them.” The kingdom which the God of heaven has set up has consumed all other kingdoms and stands for ever (Daniel ii, 35, 44; vii, 13, 14). But there is one thought developed in the closing paragraph of chapter xx which deserves a moment’s consideration. It is that in the relation which men and things sustain to the Lord Jesus Christ lies the true test of character and the standard of future, as well as present judgment. “Set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel,” through him “the thoughts of many hearts” are revealed (Luke ii, 34, 35). He is, as has been aptly said, the touchstone of human hearts. And it will be by the “inasmuch as ye did” or “did it not” unto him that the final sentence on men will be determined.