THE JUDGMENT by John Norton Loughborough

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Aug 24, 1869

THE JUDGMENT.

By John Norton Loughborough

BY ELD. J. N. LOUGHBOROUGH.

TEXT.— “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the Judgment; so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.” Heb. ix, 27, 28.

It is one of the most plainly-stated facts of Scripture, that there is to be a future Judgment, in which the cases of all men shall be brought in review before God, and be carefully examined, and then all are to receive according to their works. It is this great and solemn day that Solomon had in mind, when, in concluding his sermon, in which, as one said, “he took the whole world for his text,” he said: “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into Judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.” Eccl. xii, 13, 14. Paul, in his plea in the court of the Areopagites, in the midst of the Athenians, who were in the depths of idolatry, says: “Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man’s device. And the times of this ignorance God winked at, but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent; because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained, whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.” Acts xvii, 29–31.

When Paul would convince the wicked Romans of the necessity of forsaking their secret crimes, he says to them, “We are sure that the Judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit such things.” He tells them the result of pursuing such a course of wickedness: “After thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous Judgment of God, who will render to every man according to his deeds.” And lest they should think that ignorance would be an excuse for them, he says: “For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law; and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law, in the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ.” Rom. ii, 2, 5, 6, 12, 16. In his solemn exhortation to faithfulness, which he gave to Timothy, he does it in view of the Judgment. “I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom.” 2 Tim. iv, 1. These, with multitudes of scriptures of a similar import, bring to view the solemn Judgment scenes. When Paul reasoned with Felix of this “Judgment to come, Felix trembled.” Acts xxiv, 25.

Well, indeed, is it for us to realize, not only while we are investigating this subject, but in all our walks in life, that we are doing work for the Judgment. And may we ever act as admonished by Peter: “But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation, because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy. And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man’s work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear.” 1 Pet. i, 15–17.

My design in this discourse is especially to call attention to the time of the Judgment. Different views are held in relation to this subject, which we shall try to notice briefly, together with the evidences on which such theories are based.

The first position I will notice on the subject of the Judgment is that most commonly entertained, that all men are judged at death. If people are requested to produce evidence of this, it is generally said that men are rewarded or punished at death, and, this being the case, of course they must be judged at death. But where is the proof that men are rewarded at death? We read of David, that he, “After he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep, and was laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption.” Acts xiii, 36. And of all the ancient worthies, who were “so many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the seashore innumerable,” we read: “These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.” Heb. xi, 12, 13. In Solomon’s testimony concerning the condition of all mankind in death, we read: “The dead know not anything, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten.” Eccl. ix, 5. Waiving the testimony drawn, by inference, from texts which do not state the doctrine, I ask, Where is the proof that men are rewarded at death? I never heard but one text quoted as positive to prove that men are rewarded at death. That is the testimony addressed to the Smyrna church: “Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.” Rev. ii, 10. This text does not state that they shall be rewarded as soon as they die, but is evidence that if they will be faithful, even though that faithfulness may cost them their lives, they shall have a reward. This text does not tell them that they shall immediately have a reward.

The time when they shall have their reward must be decided by other scriptures. We read: “Behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.” Rev. xxii, 12. According to this testimony, the reward is to be given at the appearing of our Lord. With this, also, agrees the expectation of Paul: “For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith; henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day; and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.” 2 Tim. iv, 6–8. Taking this testimony in connection with that to the Smyrna church, it would signify: Be faithful unto death, and when Christ appears, you shall have a crown of righteousness.

Then it cannot be claimed that men are judged at death, because they are rewarded at death. The only text quoted as direct evidence that men are judged immediately at death, is the text used as the introduction of this discourse: “As it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the Judgment.” Could it be shown that this text referred to all mankind, it would not prove that they were judged as soon as they die, but at some period after death.

If it should be shown that the judgment of each company takes place just prior to their resurrection, it would not disagree with the idea that “after death” was the judgment of each case.

The second position we wish to examine upon this subject, is, that all men, both righteous and wicked, are raised at once, at the coming of Christ, and that, after being thus raised, they stand before God and are judged, and separated; the righteous entering upon their reward, and the wicked into their punishment. We understand the Scriptures to speak of the Judgment in connection with the coming of Christ, but do not understand that the judgment of either class, more than the execution of the judgment on their cases, is spoken of as taking place after their resurrection. There seems, also, to be some difficulty in the view of those who hold that men are judged as soon as they die; that they then enter immediately upon their reward, and are judged again after their spirits are united with their bodies at their resurrection. Have they been judged twice? Is there any possibility of a mistake in the first decision? Will this second judgment reverse in any case the decision of the first judgment? Will any of those who have been in their reward or punishment for hundreds of years, exchange places as the result of this Judgment? are questions often asked upon this topic. If it can be shown, as we think it can, that there is a Judgment in connection with the coming of Christ, we think it will be of itself proof that there has not been a Judgment previous to that, and especially as the Scriptures are silent on the subject of a Judgment at death.

This Judgment is not spoken of as a plurality of Judgments that are to sit, but “The ungodly shall not stand in the Judgment.” Ps. i, 5, see also Ps. vi, 6; Acts xxiv, 25; Heb. x, 27; 1 Pet. iv, 17; 2 Pet. ii, 4; Jude 6; Rev. xiv, 7; Rev. xx, 12, 13.

With the Scriptural view of man’s unconsciousness in death, all is plain. The dead are without reward until the resurrection, and so no judgment is executed, or set upon their cases until about the time they are to be called forth to be rewarded or punished.

Many of those even who hold to the natural immortality of the soul, have seen the difficulty of establishing the doctrine of Judgment and rewards at death, and so have taken the position of no reward till the resurrection, and that the dead are in a kind of semiconsciousness, neither rewarded nor punished, but like a prisoner awaiting his trial. Says John Wesley, in his discourse on Dives and Lazarus: “It is, indeed, very generally supposed that the souls of good men, as soon as they are discharged from the body, go directly to Heaven; but this is contrary to Scripture, for Christ said to Mary, three days after his death, ‘Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father.’”

But, we ask, where is the evidence to prove that the dead are all raised at once, and that judged and rewarded or punished? Paul’s testimony is adduced as proof of this, but, we think, does not teach it: “For we must all appear before the Judgment-seat of Christ: that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.” 2 Cor. v, 10. That this text teaches the certainty that all men will appear before Christ’s Judgment-seat, is plain. But that they will all appear there at once, it does not state. Neither does it state that they appear there for the examination of their cases, but, “to receive according to that they have done.” So far as this text is concerned, the righteous might be judged, raised from the dead, and appear to receive their reward. At some subsequent period, the wicked might be judged, raised, and appear there to receive according to their evil deeds.

Christ’s testimony is quoted to prove that all stand in a confused mass, and are then judged and separated: “When the Son of Man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory; and before him shall be gathered all nations; and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats; and he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. . . . Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the Devil and his angels.” Matt. xxv, 31–34, 41. This text, which is supposed by some to teach the doctrine of a Judgment after all have been raised from the dead, says nothing concerning the Judgment. Its testimony is concerning the final separation which is to take place between the righteous and the wicked. How is that separation to be accomplished? Are all to be raised from the dead, and then separated after they are thus raised? The Scriptures place the resurrection of the righteous and of the wicked at two different times; a thousand years intervening between them. How, then, can it be claimed that they are all raised at once, at Christ’s coming?

We read in Paul’s testimony to his Thessalonian brethren: “For the Lord himself shall descend from Heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first; then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord.” 1 Thess. iv, 16, 17. In Revelation this same event is called “the first resurrection:” “And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them; and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshiped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection; on such the second death hath no power.” Rev. xx, 4, 5. It is this resurrection to which Paul refers when he represents himself as laboring that he might, by any means, attain unto the resurrection of the dead. Phil. iii, 11. He wished a resurrection, “exanastasis, from among the dead,” (Emphatic Diaglott), or, a part in the first resurrection.

As there is a thousand years placed between the resurrection of the righteous and the wicked, of course we should not understand our Saviour as teaching that all are raised at once, and then separated. All the righteous dead are separated from the wicked dead, and the righteous living are separated from the wicked living. This, we understand, is illustrated by our Saviour by the shepherd dividing his sheep from the goats. If we give force to the illustration, it is not a decision as to which are sheep and which goats, but, it is known who are saints before they are raised, or the living changed to immortality. Probably, in these words of Christ is comprehended the whole scene of the execution of the Judgment, both the reward of the righteous at Christ’s coming, and the driving of the wicked to their doom, at the end of the thousand years.

The third position I will notice on the Judgment is that held by those who admit that only the righteous are raised at the coming of Christ, and the wicked one thousand years from that time. They claim that the righteous are judged after they are raised from the dead. The very fact that every one who is raised at the coming of Christ is righteous, and that none of the wicked are raised in that resurrection, is of itself evidence that there has been a decision as to who are righteous, and entitled to eternal life before the “blessed and holy” are brought from the grave. But, to examine the position that the righteous are judged after they are raised, we would inquire, In what condition are the righteous raised? The order of events given by Paul is: The Lord descends, the trumpet sounds, and the dead in Christ arise. But in what condition are they raised? “For the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.” 1 Cor. xv, 52. Then, in the very act of being raised from the dead, the righteous are made immortal: “Behold, I show you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump.” 1 Cor. xv, 51, 52. Immortality is a part of the reward of the saints; see Rom. ii, 6, 7; and this is bestowed upon the saints in the twinkling of an eye, after the trumpet sounds. This bestowal of immortality upon the saints prepares them to inherit the kingdom of God. 1 Cor. xv, 50–54. Does a Judgment sit upon the cases of the saints after they are made immortal, and have entered upon their reward? This would certainly be inconsistent. And to try to locate the Judgment after the resurrection, before immortality is given, would be to crowd this great and solemn event into the twinkling of an eye, which would be almost equivalent to no Judgment at all.

The only view which seems to produce a harmony with all the scriptures on this subject, is that which I believe to be the truth in this matter; that the Judgment of the saints is before the coming of Christ and the resurrection. Before we pass to present direct evidence upon this point, I would examine some of those texts which speak of a Judgment in which the saints are to act a part. Paul says: “For I know nothing by myself; yet am I not hereby justified; but he that judgeth me is the Lord. Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts; and then shall every man have praise of God.” 1 Cor. iv, 4, 5. This text teaches that, although our ignorance of the purposes which actuate men, and our lack of knowledge of their deeds of darkness, may unfit us for justly condemning or acquitting them here, yet when the Lord comes, all these things shall be brought to light, and then the people of God will have some part to act in this work.

Christ’s testimony speaks of a similar work: “Then answered Peter and said unto Him, Behold, we have forsaken all, and followed thee; what shall we have, therefore? And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, that ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of Man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” Matt. xix, 27, 28. Again he says: “Ye are they which have continued with me in my temptations. And I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me: that ye may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” Luke xxii, 28–30. And Paul says to the Corinthians: “Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unjust, and not before the saints? Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters? Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life.” 1 Cor. vi, 1–3.

Albert Barnes, in his notes on this text, says: “The common interpretation, that of Grotius, Beza, Calvin, Doddridge, &c., is that it refers to the future Judgment, and, that Christians will, in that day, be employed in some manner in judging the world. That this is the true interpretation is apparent for the following reasons: 1st. It is the obvious interpretation—that which will strike the great mass of men, and is likely, therefore, to be the true one. 2d. It accords with the account in Matt. xix, 28 [“In the regeneration, ye shall sit on twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel,”] and Luke xxii, 30 [“I appoint unto you a kingdom as my Father hath appointed unto me, that ye may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel”]. 3d. It is the only one which gives a fair interpretation to the declaration that the saints shall judge angels, in verse 3.”

That this refers to the future Judgment is evident, from the fact that it is contrasted with “things that pertain to this life.” The Judgment of angels we do not suppose refers to the holy angels, but to those which have fallen, which are reserved unto the Judgment, as spoken of by Jude and Peter. Jude says: “And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains, under darkness unto the Judgment of the great day.” Jude 6. Peter says: “For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto Judgment.” 2 Pet. ii, 4.

As the saints have endured fierce temptations from these fallen angels, how consistent that they, in the Judgment, should have the privilege of bearing testimony concerning the assaults of Satan upon them. Again, as the people of God in all ages have endured trial and persecution, and even death, from the hand of the wicked, how reasonable, that they, with the records kept by angels in the books open before them, with the hidden things of darkness brought to light, should have opportunity to bear testimony themselves upon these cases. How interesting to the people of God to hear from the lips of those who have endured trials from the wicked in other ages, a rehearsal of these things. In this, there would not only be evidence against the wicked, but, when all have thus borne their testimony, the story of redemption will have been told once.

It is probably this same scene of Judgment which David has in mind, when he says: “Let the saints be joyful in glory; let them sing aloud upon their beds. Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a two-edged sword in their hand; to execute vengeance upon the heathen, and punishment upon the people;

to bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron; to execute upon them the judgments written; this honor have all his saints. Praise ye the Lord.” Ps. cxlix, 5–9. This evidently does not refer to affairs in this life, for the saints are represented as being “joyful in glory” when this takes place. The “two-edged sword” in their hands, is probably the word of God. See Eph. vi, 17; Rev. i, 16; xix, 15. The time when they engage in the work, when they are reigning “with Christ.” Rev. xx, 4. Then they sit upon thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel. Then they judge the world. Then they “judge angels.” This reign of Judgment, which covers the whole period of one thousand years, closes with the resurrection of the wicked; Rev. xx, 5; and their destruction around the camp of the saints. Rev. xx, 7–9. This same fire that burns up the wicked purifies the earth; 2 Pet. iii, 7; and fits it for the eternal abode of the saints. Then comes the time that the saints “shall reign on the earth.” Rev. v, 10.

It must be evident to all, that before the saints enter upon this reign of Judgment “with Christ,” judgment must be passed upon their own cases. So we now raise the inquiry. When are the saints judged? In Rev. xiv, 6, 7, is a definite message concerning the sitting of Judgment: “And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his Judgment is come; and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.” Here is a proclamation of the definite time for Judgment to sit. It is the first of a series of three messages which carry us down to the coming of Christ. These messages follow each other in quick succession, and the third is followed by the coming of the Lord. After the message of the third angel, John says: “And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of Man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle. And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in thy sickle, and reap; for the time is come for thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe.” Rev. xiv, 14, 15. According to Christ’s testimony, in Matt. xiii, 39, “The harvest is the end of the world,” these messages carry us down to the end. The first of these proclaims the definite time for the session of Judgment. To claim that the time of this message is the actual time for Christ to come, is virtually to blot out the second and third messages, for they are placed between the first angel’s message and the actual coming of Christ. Then this first angel’s message is sounded before the coming of Christ, and that long enough for two other messages to accomplish their work, and long enough for the Judgment work herein predicted, to be accomplished before Christ comes. These angels are symbols representing messages of truth to be proclaimed by men in the closing period of the gospel age; proclaimed in the period of time when the harvest of the earth is being ripened off.

In Revelation, chap. x, is symbolized an angel with a definite message, which we think agrees with this first angel’s message, and is, indeed, that identical message. Please read the entire chapter, and notice the points of identity.

In the symbols here introduced, we understand the angel represents a class of messengers who give, from the prophetic portion of the book of God, and from the prophetic times, the announcement of their termination. John, receiving and eating that book, represents those who will hear and receive the message, which spiritual food will be a matter of rejoicing to their hearts, represented by the book’s being sweet as honey to the taste. The bitterness of the book represents the bitter scene of disappointment they meet after the time proclaimed expires, or, after they have eaten the book. The angel’s having his feet on sea and land, shows the world-wide extent of the message. The message is proclaimed from a book open, which implies that it has once been closed. By comparing this with Dan. xii, 4, 9, we find that the book containing prophetic times has been closed, and was so to be till “the time of the end.” By looking carefully, you will see that this message of Rev. x is placed between the sounding of the sixth and seventh trumpets. That inspiration placed this chapter thus to give us the time when its events are to be fulfilled, is evident from the fact that the angel of this tenth chapter points to the sounding of the seventh trumpet as an event about to take place. See verses 6, 7.

Among the events enumerated under the sounding of the seventh trumpet, we read: “And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged.” Rev. xi, 18. This also serves to identify the message of Rev. x, with that of Rev. xiv, 6, 7, as both messages have reference to the definite time of the session of the Judgment. According to the events of the sixth trumpet, it ceased to sound Aug. 11, 1840. (See “Seven Trumpets,” published at the REVIEW Office). At that time a message, based on the prophetic periods, was being proclaimed. It was proclaimed to all civilized portions of the earth. It was a time of great rejoicing among those who heard and believed the Advent doctrine, but a bitter disappointment when the time passed. According to Rev. x, that message was to be proclaimed from an open book. The message, and especially the time, of 1844, was given from the book of Daniel, which Daniel was commanded to close up till the “time of the end.” Some may object to that work’s being regarded as the fulfillment of this message, because the Advent people met with a disappointment; but a disappointment is in the message of Rev. x. When the message of Rev. x is given, that people suppose that their work for the world is done; else why are they told, “Thou must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings.”

The Advent people rejoiced, like the disciples before Christ, when he rode into Jerusalem, yet, like them, were filled with sadness and gloom when disappointed in their expectations. The disciples, with wrong ideas in their minds as to the nature of the event coming, fulfilled scripture, and so did the Advent people. The Advent people proclaimed the termination of prophetic times. In this, as can be shown, and as even their opponents admitted, they were not mistaken. They proclaimed the “hour of God’s Judgment come,” but, having the common view of the Judgment, and supposing that Christ was coming at the termination of those periods, they met with a disappointment in the manner of the fulfillment of the message they proclaimed. As before shown, this Advent proclamation was made in the very time marked in Rev. ix, x, xi, for such a message to be given. As it would be folly to admit of a false fulfillment of prophecy, in the very time of a true fulfillment, we claim that the message given was right in its fundamental features, and that it was the message bringing the people of God up to the time of the session of Judgment on the righteous dead, which, as we have before shown, is to take place before the actual coming of Christ.

As to the time the Adventists proclaimed, even Prof. Bush, who never believed the Advent doctrine, wrote to William Miller as follows: “I do not conceive your errors on the subject of chronology to be at all of a serious nature, nor, in fact, to be very wide of the truth. In taking a day as the prophetic time for a year, I believe you are sustained by the soundest exegesis, as well as fortified by the high names of Mede, Sir Isaac Newton, Bishop Newton, Faber, Scott, Keith, and a host of others, who have long since come to, substantially, your conclusions on this head.” The great point in the theory of the Adventists in 1844 was that these prophetic days of Daniel were a day for a year, and that the longest of those times would come to a terminus in 1844. That those times did thus terminate can be clearly established. The period of twenty-three hundred days of Dan. viii, which is explained to Daniel in chap. ix, by the angel, is shown to apply partly to his people, the Jews, and partly to some other people, the Gentiles. Part of it covers the time of the destruction of his city and sanctuary, Jerusalem, and the remainder must apply to the sanctuary of the gospel dispensation. This time, commencing with the decree respecting Jerusalem, which went forth 467 B. C., would end A. D. 1844, to complete twenty-three hundred full years. The event to transpire is connected with the sanctuary in which our high priest, Christ, ministers.

Again, taking the times of Dan. xii: Two powers are presented which are to war upon God’s people, and one is to be taken away to set up the other; meeting its fulfillment in the Pagan and Papal Roman persecutions. From the point where the first of these powers is taken away to set up the other one, thirteen hundred and thirty-five days carry us to an important event, or to a time when those who come to it will be blessed. The Pagan religion of the Roman empire was abolished by law in A. D. 508. Thirty years saw a transfer of power to Papacy, which held the dominion for twelve hundred and sixty years, making the twelve hundred and ninety. Thirteen hundred and thirty-five from the first event given (the “taking away of the daily,” Paganism), carry us to 1843, the very time when God pronounces a blessing upon those who come to that time. He then declares that at the end of the days; that is, all the days, or times, of Daniel,—and the twenty-three hundred come down the farthest of any—Daniel shall stand in his lot. The nature of the work in the service of the sanctuary, where Christ ministers, we think will shed light on the nature of the event to take place at the close of the twenty-three hundred days, as well as reveal the fact as to how the Judgment of God’s people is accomplished. As the angel in Revelation commands John to measure the temple of God after the disappointment there presented, so the explanation of the sanctuary, or temple in which Christ ministers, will shed light on this all-important matter.

It is said that Daniel shall stand in his lot at the end of the days. Some suppose this to mean that he should enter his reward; but when we look at the words rendered lot, we find that there are two Hebrew words which are rendered lot in the Old Testament. One is goh-rah, the other is gheh-vel. The latter is the term used when speaking of the lot of an inheritance, or a region of country. The former occurs, as may be ascertained from the Englishman’s Hebrew Concordance, seventy-six times in the Old Testament. It is the word used in Dan. xii, 13. From its use in all the other cases in the Old Testament, we see it has the one signification of “The determination of Providence,” or “The decision of one’s case.” With this view of the matter, then, the angel tells Daniel that his case shall be decided, or judged, at the end of the days.

In looking at the work of the priesthood in the past dispensation, we see that the time Israel stood in their lot, was on the last day of the yearly service, on the tenth day of the seventh month, when the lots were cast upon the two goats, one to be the Lord’s, and the other to be the scapegoat, and when the high priest, with the blood of the Lord’s goat performed a service to cleanse the Sanctuary. This work typifies that of Christ, and points us to the time when not “the patterns of things in the Heaven” are cleansed by the blood of beasts, but when the heavenly things themselves are cleansed “with better sacrifices than these;” viz., the blood of Christ. Heb. ix, 23.

But the time when Christ cleanses the gospel sanctuary is at the end of the 2300 days, which, as we have before shown, was in 1844, where the Judgment proclamation was given. As in the typical sanctuary the second apartment was opened only once, and that for the purpose of the high priest’s going in to cleanse it, so the temple in Heaven is not opened for Christ to enter it and accomplish his work of cleansing it till the seventh angel sounds. But when the seventh angel sounds it is after the time of its sounding has been proclaimed by the angel of Rev. x, 6, 7. When the time comes for the apartment of the temple in Heaven to be opened, which has the ark of the testament in it, there are voices in Heaven saying the time is come for the dead to be judged. Rev. xi, 18; thus showing that the work of Christ in that temple is a work of Judgment. But when the seventh angel sounds, and this Judgment work is going on, there is still probation, and the gospel, or “mystery of God,” is being finished.

The cleansing of the sanctuary is the blotting out of sins. These are not blotted out as soon as the sinner is converted, but just before Christ comes. Peter says: “Repent ye, therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; and he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you.” Acts iii, 19, 20. When this real work of blotting out sins is accomplished, by Christ, it does not leave those sins where, as in the type, they are remembered again “every year,” Heb. x, 3; but they are remembered “no more.” Heb. x, 17. The placing of the sins of the righteous where they are remembered against them no more, must be the decision, or Judgment of their cases. That their sins are not thus blotted out at conversion, but at some period subsequent to the close of their probation, is further evident by Ezekiel’s testimony: “When the righteous turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, and doeth according to all the abominations that the wicked man doeth, shall he live? All his righteousness that he hath done shall not be mentioned; in his trespass that he hath trespassed, and in his sin that he hath sinned, in them shall he die.” Eze. xviii, 24. It seems from this that sins which have been repented of, roll back upon the sinner when turning from his righteousness. How consistent and plain when we admit Peter’s testimony, and locate the blotting out of sins in the time Christ is finishing his work as a priest, judging his people, just before coming to reward them.

Peter, in his epistle, locates the decisive Judgment of God’s people at that time: “They think it strange that ye run not with them to the same excess of riot, speaking evil of you; who shall give account to him that is ready to judge the quick and the dead. For, for this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit. But the end of all things is at hand.” 1 Pet. iv, 4–7. That this Judgment just before the end is upon the saints, and a work deciding who shall be saved, is further apparent from the 17th and 18th verses of the above chapter: “For the time is come that Judgment must begin at the house of God; and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?”

From the comparison of these facts, it appears that we are in the period of the Judgment—a work that first commences with the dead of past ages, and is to close with the cases of the living. For upward of twenty-five years, since the expiration of the 2300 days of Daniel viii, we have been in the Judgment period. Rapidly are the moments rolling round which shall bring in review before God the cases of the living saints. As in the type it was necessary for those living in that great day of atonement to make thorough examination of themselves, and confess all their sins, so here. The law of God was brought to bear upon them to show them all their sins; so the third angel’s message bears the commandments of God to us. We want it applied, in its principles of love to God and our fellow-men, to our hearts. All our sins must be confessed if we would have them blotted out, and have our cases clear in the record of Heaven.

Oh! the solemn time in which we are living. May God impress it upon all our hearts.

“Pardon’s last hour is expiring in Heaven.”

A court is in session. If it were an earthly court, and in it our case was to be decided for life, what intense interest we would manifest. How much more interest and solemnity in this case! It is about to be decided whether you and I shall have eternal life, or whether we remain to have our lot in the second resurrection, and second death. At times I have some little sense of the solemnity of this hour. I want my sins all confessed, that Christ may plead his blood in my behalf. May God arouse us from slumber to a sense of this time. Shall we slumber and sleep in this eventful time? or shall we be active? My cry daily is, that God may, by his Spirit, arouse me, arouse us all. Let us keep awake and prepared for duty.