The Judgment Was Set by Eld. I. J. Hankins

Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, Cal. · Apr 6, 1882

The Judgment Was Set.

By Eld. I. J. Hankins

BY ELD. I. J. HANKINS.

THE work of the Judgment interests every person that lives, or ever has lived upon the earth. No one can be excluded from its searching tests, or evade its final decisions. All must appear before the Judgment-seat of Christ. Rom. 14:10. There will be no distinction made because of wealth, position, worldly honor, or rank. God is no respecter of persons, but he is a respecter of character. Peter says that in every nation he that feareth God and worketh righteousness is accepted with him. God will have a people gathered from among the different nations and generations of the earth that will be prepared to stand in the Judgment, and finally to enjoy eternal life in his presence. Rev. 5:9.

One would conclude, to observe the course pursued by the mass of mankind, that it is all of life to live; that the matter of man's responsibility and accountability, the theory of a future Judgment, and of reward and punishment beyond the grave, are simply products of imagination.

The world is rushing madly on down the current of carnal security, soon, too soon, to be dashed over the rapids into the whirlpool of despair. Could they but see the end of their course, how different would be their actions. But alas! Satan has blinded the eyes and benumbed the sensibilities, until, I fear, nothing but the terrible judgments of God will arouse men to a sense of their danger and their responsibility, and then it will be too late for them to repent. If men were rushing on thus in darkness because there was no light, and if they were cherishing sin because there was no virtue, how different would be the case. They are led to believe that as their evil works are not immediately brought into judgment they never will be, and therefore their hearts are fully set in them to do evil. Eccl. 8:11.

The wise man says, "God shall judge the righteous and the wicked, for there is a time there for every purpose and for every work." Eccl. 3:17. The time of Judgment is here spoken of in the future tense, which agrees with the testimony of Paul when he reasoned before Felix of "Judgment to come." Acts 24:25.

The question, doubtless, has arisen in almost every mind, How is the work of Judgment to be performed? How will all the vast multitudes that have lived upon the earth, individually receive an impartial judgment? Some believe that at the last great day, when Christ comes for his people, God will assemble all nations before him, bad and good indiscriminately, and that then for the first time, their cases will be examined and a division made between them. But there are some objections to this view. In every trial three steps are necessary: (1) The investigation of each man's case; (2) The passing of sentence; (3) The execution of the judgment. Now when Christ comes, the righteous receive their reward at once. Rev. 22:12. The righteous dead are raised, and the living righteous changed in the twinkling of an eye, from mortal to immortality. 1 Thess. 4:16, 17; 1 Cor. 15:51-54. Here is the first resurrection, introducing the one thousand years of Rev. 20. "Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection." It must be evident to every mind that there is no time here for an investigative Judgment; that the cases of the righteous must have all been decided previous to the coming of Christ; and that he comes to give the reward which they have been accounted worthy to receive, or to execute the decision in their cases. The very natural inquiry now arises, Where is this work of investigation performed, when did it begin, and with whom?

For an answer to the first of these questions I refer the reader to the work entitled, "The Sanctuary and 2300 Days," published at the Signs office. In this work the cleansing of the sanctuary is shown to be a work of investigative Judgment which began at the close of the 2300 days in 1844. With whom this Judgment begins is answered in 1 Peter 4:17: "Judgment must begin at the house of God;" with the righteous. Please read Dan. 7:9, 10, where is presented a view of the Judgment. God, the Judge, the "Ancient of Days," sits upon the throne; the angels are his ministers, or witnesses, and Christ our Advocate—man's attorney. But, says one, the dead are in their graves and therefore they cannot appear personally before God. True; but a record of their lives has been faithfully kept in the books of Heaven, which books are opened when the Judgment begins. "The Judgment was set and the books were opened." Dan. 7:10. The Revelator speaking of this same time and work says, "The dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works." Rev. 20:12. From these books will be revealed the "hidden things of darkness" and the "counsels of the heart." 1 Cor. 4:5; all our secret sins. Eccl. 12:14; and even our idle words. Matt. 12:36.

How many men would blush with shame to have their evil deeds published even before the eyes of their fellow-men, but how much more intensified will be their grief when the scenes of their wicked lives shall be presented before the great God and the holy angels.

The righteous have their names written in the "book of life." Luke 10:20; Phil. 4:3. Those who continue faithful in the service of God, confess and forsake every sin, and finally have their robes of character washed in the blood of the Lamb, will have their names retained in the book of life, their sins blotted from the books of record, and thus be entitled to eternal life. Those who have had their names written in the book of life, but have not made complete work in overcoming, will have their names blotted from the book of life, and their sins retained in the books of record as a testimony against them. But the wicked never having repented of sins, must stand condemned by their own record. Here, then, is the work which we understand, from a study of the Sanctuary and its cleansing (to which subject we again refer the reader), has been going forward for nearly forty years, or since 1844, viz., the investigation of the records of those whose names are in the book of life. Those who are found worthy will be saved when Christ closes his work and comes to reward his people. A little time yet remains for repentance and confession.

Reader, will the record of your life stand the test of this great tribunal?