The Necessity of a Definite Judgment
By J. O. CORLISS
The Final Adjustment of Human Awards—No. 1
The Necessity of a Definite Judgment
WHILE the Bible is the highest standard of appeals in morals, and of appeals in morals, and the forecaster of man’s inevitable destiny, there is one thing it does not attempt, and that is to pronounce the final sentence, by which individual recompense is bestowed. The Bible points out that which is sure to follow certain conditions, but the results are applied only through the decisions of Him whose warning words, and leading power, are contained in the written Word. No pre-judgment of men’s cases would accord with the complete integrity of God’s being. It is therefore absolutely necessary, even though the Bible reveals and discriminates between that which is condemnable and that which is not, for him to have an appointed time, when all cases may be impartially heard, and settled according to their actual merits. Several cogent reasons might be offered in behalf of such an arrangement, two of which will suffice in this connection. To be worthy the name, the judgment must be carried on with discrimination; that is, the difference in men’s culpability must be discerned, and sentence rendered according thereto. This is in harmony with God’s instruction on the point. Through the apostle he says: “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. 5:10. Again we have the record that God “will render to every man according to his deeds.” Rom. 2:6. Another text there is, which seems stronger than these: “That servant, which knew his Lord’s will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes.” Luke 12:47, 48. Some men’s deeds are more potent for good or evil than are others’. For instance, take a case like that of the noted Thomas Paine. The evil of his deeds was not finished with the close of his life. Though dead, through his books of infidel sentiment he still disseminates unbelief in the atonement of Christ, thereby turning men against God. Such a man could not possibly reap according to his sowing until the last man has lived who could become affected by the infidel sentiments he proclaimed. Let us also look at the reverse side of this proposition. No man like Wesley could be rewarded “according to his deeds,” until the effect of his godly life upon the human race can be fully estimated. Were men of these types to be judged at death, and enter immediately upon the award such judgment could give, how inadequate would its decisions prove. These considerations go to show that the final judgment is a definite time set apart in the closing up of human affairs, wherein the cases of all who have ever lived shall be permanently adjusted for eternity. This thought was in the apostle’s mind when, at Athens, he viewed the senseless idolatry of its inhabitants. After tracing before them the effects of their heathenish veneration, he said: “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.” Acts 17:30, 31. This brings us to the consideration of the second reason for a deferred judgment. The honor of Jehovah himself is involved in this tremendous issue. To see just how this is, it will be necessary briefly to review the nature and history of sin. When man, made in the image of God, was placed in Eden, he was forbidden to meddle with one certain tree in the midst of the garden, the taste or touch of which would entail death. Coming to the woman in the garden, God’s enemy saluted her with the invidious question, “Hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?” Gen. 3:1. Not knowing anything of evil, and so being unsuspecting of intended mischief, the woman remained to render the innocent answer: “We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.” Quick as thought, the reply came: “Ye shall not surely die: for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened,10and ye shall be as God, knowing good and evil.” Fateful tarrying indeed! By it there were sown in the woman’s mind the seeds of suspicion that God was withholding from her something that she should have to make her equal with himself. She had not long to wait for the evidence to corroborate her suspicion. It was soon proved to her that God had actually deceived her, and so shown himself false to her best interests. Being therefore constrained to eat of the forbidden tree, she and her husband immediately saw the folly of the move they had made, but it was too late; the die was cast, and the sentence of death must follow their posterity to the latest generation. The inquiry is now in order, Why did not God destroy them, then and there, and create another pair who would learn the lesson of righteousness from their predecessors, and so escape their fate? That could not possibly be done, for the reason that sin, having entered the world, would taint whoever might come in contact with it, and so any race placed on the earth would be fatally affected through it. But there is another reason why this was not done, and it has its foundation in the motive which prompted God to let Satan live after his rebellion in heaven. The incitement of that first rebellion was the cherished thought by Lucifer that God was withholding from him a promotion due on account of his exceeding beauty of person and superior endowment of wisdom. Eze. 28:12-19. Wrought up to the highest pitch of indignation through nursing his ill-begotten idea, he said, “I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: . . . I will be like the Most High.” Isa. 14: 12-15. Had God destroyed Lucifer then, before he had fully developed his propensity for vicious revenge, all the other intelligences of the universe might have found occasion to question the integrity of God in so doing. As it is, an appointed day of judgment in the end of this world and its reign of sin, will give ample data by which to condemn Satan and his followers, and will justify God for the part he may act in the transaction. God is not the only one to be satisfied with the results of the judgment. He alone might have been satisfied had he ruthlessly crushed the first sin out of existence at its inception; but that might not have met the minds of other intelligences. Besides, to crush out the first appearance of sin without the whole universe having opportunity to see every reason for such a course, there would have been no assurance that sin would not again lift its hydra head for another crushing, until Jehovah would have been accounted tyrannical in his rule, while posing as a God of love. It is therefore evident that God himself is on trial before the universe, and so is willing to wait until sin and its results shall appear so heinous, even to wicked men, that every knee will at last bow, and every tongue confess that “Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Phil. 2:10, 11. In that time all, both good and bad, of every age and clime, will unite in declaring God to have been right, and Satan wrong, in the great warfare of sin from the beginning. So, then, in having a final tribunal for both good and bad, God, as the embodiment of all that is good, will be no exception to the general rule. But to be “justified” in his sayings, and to “overcome” when he is judged, as the apostle says he will be (Rom. 3:4), his case must be decided after, or at the time of, his disposition of the world’s wickedness. It seems as if every candid mind ought to be able to see that the unity of minds in the eternal world depends on a final adjustment of every being’s doings. A following article will deal with the nature of such judgment.