Adam Clarke on Acts 10:42

And he commanded us to preach - By thus assuring them that Jesus Christ was appointed to judge the world, he at once showed them the necessity of subjection to him, that they might stand in the day of his appearing.

The Judge of quick and dead - The word quick we retain from our ancient mother tongue, the Saxon, to live, and from this our quicks, quick-set hedges, fences made of living thorns, etc. By quick and dead we are to understand:

1. All that had lived from the foundation of the world till that time; and all that were then alive.

2. All that should be found alive at the day of judgment, as well as all that had died previously.