Notes on Important Eras of Fulfilling Prophecy
By W. A. S.
The Hand of God in History — No. 23
Notes on Important Eras of Fulfilling Prophecy
The Coming of the Judgment-Hour
With the ending of the long period of papal supremacy, events of the latter days have come crowding in. The course of sin is not to run on indefinitely. This earth has not escaped from the hand of its Maker. The end of the world is to come, with the appearance of Christ in power and glory to reap the harvest of the earth. Through all the history of earth's warring kingdoms, events have been shaping to this great crisis, now just before us. The Lord is to take the kingdom and reign eternally . This is the bright eternal purpose that runs like a golden thread through all the ages, from paradise lost to paradise restored. The living God is master of events. The early decades of the nineteenth century were running swiftly by, with the awakening and increase of knowledge that marked the new time; and just then came yet another crisis—the greatest in the fulfilment of time prophecy since the days of the Saviour's first advent. It was the coming of the judgment-hour in heaven. The Place of the Judgment
The Scriptures teach clearly that there is a work of judgment in heaven just preceding the second coming of Christ. This is the investigative judgment, and is not to be confounded with the final executive judgment upon the wicked, which is to take place at the end of the thousand years, as described in Revelation 20. When Christ appears at his second coming, it is with a consuming glory that destroys the wicked. 2 Thess. 2:8. The righteous dead are raised to life, and the living righteous are translated:— “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.” 1 Thess. 4:16, 17. The change to immortality is wrought instantly at the coming of Christ:— “We shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.” 1 Cor. 15:51, 52. There is no time there for a judgment investigation. Those brought forth to life have already been “accounted worthy.” The investigation of the accounts in the books of heaven takes place in the solemn judgment review just before the end. The investigation must necessarily begin with the records of the dead, and at the close the heavenly court must pass upon the living, until the last case is called and decided. And this takes place while men and nations on earth are pursuing their wonted course, living as if time is to go on indefinitely. In vision of the very last days, the prophet heard voices in heaven saying:— “And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth.” Rev. 11:18. The prophet Daniel was shown in vision the opening of this judgment-hour8in heaven, while still the apostasy was lifting up itself against God's truth on earth, and the world was running swiftly onward toward the final day:— “I beheld till the thrones were cast down [“placed,” R. V.], and the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire. A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him: thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened.” Dan. 7:9, 10. This was the wondrous scene that transpired in heaven when the hour of God's judgment came. And the sure word of prophecy fixes the time when this solemn work began in the heavenly temple. The Time of the Judgment-Hour
In the third year of Belshazzar, of Babylon, Daniel was shown the development of the great apostasy. Dan. 8:10–13. As he beheld its warfare against God's truth and his sanctuary and his people, and saw it prospering as though to triumph forever over the right, the prophet heard a voice asking: “How long shall be the vision . . . to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden underfoot?” And the answer was,— “Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.” Dan. 8:14. Thank God, the wrong is not forever to triumph. God gives his answer in his own good time and way. In symbolic prophecy a day stands for a year. The cry was in effect, Until when shall apostasy be allowed to work its way? When shall the Lord lift up the standard against it, and cut short its course? The reply was an assurance that at the close of the prophetic period of 2300 years there would come a work which should give God's final answer to the lifting up of error and apostasy. This long prophetic period, as we know from the seventeenth verse, must reach to the latter days; “for at the time of the end shall be the vision.” In the angel's explanation of the time feature of this vision (in the ninth chapter), this longest of the prophetic measuring lines is shown to date from the “going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem.” This commandment went forth (as was shown in the detailed study in early numbers of this series) in the seventh year of Artaxerxes, B. C. 457. Measuring from this time, 2300 full years reach to the year 1844. Then, as the sure word of prophecy declared, was to come a new development in the work of God: “Then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.” The cleansing of the sanctuary in the typical Levitical service was the last work of the yearly round of priestly ministry . Leviticus 16. Through the year the ministry was in the first apartment, the holy place, of the sanctuary. But on the last day of the service—and on that day only—the high priest entered the second apartment, the most holy place, and the sanctuary was cleansed from the sins that had been registered there by the sprinkled blood as penitents had come with their offerings day by day. It was the great day of atonement, really an annual day of judgment in Israel; for all who were not found right with God that day were to be cut off from his people. Lev. 23:29. The brief yearly round of the Levitical service was a “shadow,” a type, of the whole priestly ministry of Christ, our High Priest, in the true sanctuary above. The last phase of his ministry in the heavenly sanctuary, then, must be similarly a judgment work, corresponding to that final day of the cleansing of the earthly sanctuary. The prophet Daniel, in the words quoted from the seventh chapter, describes the transfer of the throne and the priestly ministry from the holy place to the most holy of the heavenly sanctuary. He saw the moving throne, with its wheels of flame, “placed” for the final work. “The judgment was set, and the books were opened.” A change had taken place in the work of our High Priest. It was the opening of the great anti-typical day of the cleansing of the sanctuary that the prophet here described. When this judgment work is finished, the cases of all mankind are decided for eternity. In the camp of Israel those who were not found right with God when the high priest finished that service of cleansing the sanctuary, were cut off from part with the people of God. Even so, when the solemn work now going forward in heaven is finished, those not found right with God are forever lost. Then will apply the words of Christ:— “He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still. And, behold, I come quickly.” Rev. 22:11, 12. And this judgment work that will put an end to sin will bring the great apostasy to account before the bar of God. As the angel said to Daniel, speaking of the papal power: “The judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and to destroy it unto the end.” Dan. 7:26. This judgment-hour began in 1844. As the solemn scenes of the opening judgment were transpiring in heaven above, events of deep significance in the fulfilment of prophecy were taking place in the work of God on earth.