p. 8 | Editorial by Editor

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jul 10, 1913

Editorial

By Editor

A Day of Revelation

THE day of judgment will be a day of revelation. At that time “the Lord . . . will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts.” Man may deceive his fellows; he may pass for gold when he is but dross, for a child of God when he is a hypocrite at heart. By fair exterior he may seek to gloss his evil purposes and unholy desires, and make a pretension of devotion and piety. He may do, under the cover of darkness and secrecy, that which he would refuse to do in the light. He may deceive, believing that he will never be detected in the deception; but just as true as there is a God who takes account of all human actions, some day the record of every life must be met. “Every one of us shall give account of himself to God.”

We cannot hide from the all-seeing eye of the Infinite. God sees all and notes all. In the books of heaven, day by day, is made an absolutely true record of what we are in fact, rather than what we profess to be.

The Lord in his infinite mercy affords opportunity for the purging of that record. Hour by hour and moment by moment his Spirit convicts us of sin. The voice of that Spirit is heard sounding in our ears, “This is the way, walk ye in it.” “Turn ye, . . . why will ye die?” “Today if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts.” “Now is the accepted time; . . . now is the day of salvation.” For all our mistakes and sins we may obtain pardon, and when our cases are called at last in the hall of heavenly judgment, in the parlance of earthly jurisprudence they will be “thrown out of court,” because it will be found that we have been pardoned, that the sacrifice of Christ avails in our behalf. Our Advocate in the heavenly courts will plead our cause, and by the merits of the sacrifice which he himself has made will show reason why judgment should not be pronounced against us.

The apostle Paul speaks of this experience in the case of repentant sinners: “Some men's sins are open beforehand, going before to judgment; and some men they follow after.” It is our privilege today to send our sins beforehand to judgment, to be disposed of so that we shall not find them confronting us in the day of final reckoning. Failing to take advantage of this generous provision of the great Judge, we shall stand confronted with the record of our lives. Shame will cover our faces, and confusion will fill our hearts. No place will be afforded whither we can flee for refuge. We can neither bribe the jury nor buy off the Judge, and we shall stand without excuse because the great Judge who has called us to account provided a means of escape. We have not only done despite to his name, but we have despised as well the means whereby he sought to recover us from our rebellion.

We cannot afford today to tamper with sin. We cannot afford to run the risk of placing ourselves for one moment under its hypnotic power. One transgression, one departure from the path of rectitude, may involve in its train the lowest depths of moral degradation and separation from God at last. Our only safety is in avoiding sin's pollution. “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.”

“When the Judge shall weigh our motives For eternal gain or loss, Shall we stand as gold before him, Or as vile and worthless dross? “Shall we hear the glad words spoken: ‘Faithful servant,’ and ‘Well done,’ Or the dread and awful sentence, ‘Thou art wanting,’ sinful one? “Shall we heed the Spirit’s pleading, While for mercy we may call, Or delay till God’s handwriting Seals the final doom of all?”