THE ORDER OF EVENTS IN THE JUDGMENT.
The priesthood of Christ began when he presented himself before the Father at his ascension as our Advocate. It cannot terminate till he has secured the acquittal of his people, and the blotting out of their sins in the investigative Judgment. Then his enemies, at his request, will be given him to destroy. His Father shall crown him king upon his own throne, saying to him, “Rule thou in the midst of thine enemies.” Ps. cx, 1, 2; Dan. vii, 9–14; Ps. ii, 6–9; Acts iii, 19–21; Isa. xliv, 22, 23. His entrance upon the priesthood was marked by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. John xvi, 7; Acts i, 4; ii, 1–4, 16–18. The blotting out of sins, which terminates his priesthood, brings the people of God to the refreshing, from the presence of the Father, which precedes his act of sending his Son from Heaven. Acts iii, 19–21. As a priest our Lord presents the merits of his blood in behalf of all who come to God through him. Heb. vii, 25. Even the cases of the people of God who lived during the period of the Old Testament, have to be acted upon by Christ as priest. Heb. ix, 15. They can only have redemption through his blood; and the blotting out of their sins can only be effected through his priestly work. Heb. ix and x. The whole multitude of the redeemed appear before the throne in raiment that has been washed and made white in the blood of the Lamb. Rev. vii, 13, 14. The work of our High Priest in behalf of his people involves an immense number of individual cases. He has not only borne the sin of all these, but he makes intercession for them, and finally obtains the blotting out of their sins on showing from the record that they have completed the work of overcoming. Our Lord does not continue in his priestly office to all eternity. When he comes again it is without sin unto salvation. But he does not leave his labor unfinished. He brings every part of this immense work to a conclusion before he lays it down. The following proposition is both reasonable and scriptural: There is a period of time at the close of this dispensation devoted to the finishing of the work of human probation, i. e., to the completion of Christ’s work as priest, and of his gospel as the means of salvation. Rev. x, 7: “But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets.” The mystery of God is defined in the following passages: Eph. iii, 3–6: “How that by revelation he made known unto me THE MYSTERY, as I wrote afore in few words; whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in THE MYSTERY OF CHRIST, which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit; that the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs, and of the same body, and PARTAKERS OF HIS PROMISE IN CHRIST BY THE GOSPEL.” Col. i, 26–28: “Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints: to whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of THE MYSTERY among the Gentiles: WHICH IS CHRIST IN YOU THE HOPE OF GLORY: whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.” The mystery of God is therefore seen to be the work of salvation for fallen man through the gospel of Christ. It is that which unites Jews and Gentiles in one body as fellow-heirs, having Christ in them the hope of glory. The finishing of the mystery of God is the accomplishment of the work of the gospel. This must have a two-fold bearing. 1. Upon the priesthood of our Lord, to bring it to a close by completing all its immense work. 2. Upon the preaching of the gospel to the inhabitants of the earth, in causing the proclamation of its final closing messages of warning. This work is not closed instantaneously, for a space of time is devoted to its completion. And the finishing of this work pertains both to Heaven and to earth; to the priesthood of Christ, and to the proclamation of his gospel to men. But the priesthood of Christ, as we have seen, is finished at the time when the Ancient of Days sits in Judgment; and it is while that Judgment is in session that the latest messages of warning are addressed to men. Rev. xiv, 6–14. We do therefore understand that the period of time devoted to the finishing of the mystery of God is precisely that space occupied by the Father in the work of the investigative Judgment. It is not stated that the mystery of God shall be finished when the seventh angel begins to sound; for this would denote instantaneous completion. But it is said, “IN THE DAYS OF THE VOICE OF the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound,” etc. This shows beyond dispute that a period of time is devoted to this work. The days of this prophecy are prophetic days, i. e., years, as are those of the fifth and sixth angels. Rev. ix. These years which are devoted to this finishing of human probation begin with the sounding of the seventh angel. They are the earliest years of his voice. The sounding of the seventh angel begins, therefore, with the opening of that investigative Judgment that finishes human probation, that determines the blotting out of the sins of the overcomers, that accounts them worthy of the world to come, that terminates the priesthood of Christ, and that witnesses the completion of the preaching of the gospel of the grace of God. But is not the last trumpet of John’s series of seven the same as Paul’s last trump? The reasons which forbid their identity are perfectly conclusive. The seventh trumpet is the last of a series, no one of which is literally heard by the inhabitants of the earth. It is the accomplishment of certain events that indicates the transition from one of the seven angels to another. The seventh is like each of the preceding six in that it is the trumpet of an angel, and in that it is a symbolic and not a literal trumpet. Rev. viii; ix; x; xi. But the trumpet which awakens the dead, is not blown by an angel, but by the Son of God himself. It is not a symbolic trumpet, for it is literally heard by the inhabitants of the earth. Matt. xxiv, 31; Zech. ix, 14–16; 1 Thess. iv, 14–17. It is called the last trump because that when the Almighty descended upon mount Sinai, in glory and majesty like our Lord’s second advent (Ex. xix, 16–19; Heb. xii, 18–27; Matt. xvi, 27; 2 Thess. i, 7, 8), the trump of God was heard as it will be once more when the dead are resurrected. 1 Cor. xv, 51, 52; Ex. xix, 16–19. The commencement of the seventh angel’s voice, as we have seen, is the signal for the opening of the investigative Judgment; and human probation continues for a term of days, i. e., years, after that voice begins. But the trump of God is not sounded till after that investigative Judgment has determined the cases of all the righteous; for when it is heard, every one that has been accounted worthy of a part in the resurrection to immortality, is, in an instant, made immortal. We conclude, therefore, that the seventh angel begins to sound before the advent of Christ, and that the first years of his sounding are devoted to the finishing of the work of human probation. The events under the sounding of the seventh angel, though not given in chronological order, are, from their nature, not difficult to be arranged in the order of their occurrence. 1. In the days, i. e., years, of the beginning of the voice of the seventh angel, the work of human probation is finished. Rev. x, 7. This, as we have seen, involves the closing up of the immense work of our High Priest. It also requires the proclamation of the final warnings to mankind. 2. The most holy place of the temple in Heaven is opened. Rev. xi, 19. This is the place where our Lord’s priesthood is finished, and, as we shall hereafter see, is the place where the Ancient of Days sits in judgment. 3. While Christ is finishing his priesthood at the tribunal of his Father in the holiest of the heavenly temple, the judgment of the righteous dead takes place. Rev. xi, 18. 4. The coronation of Christ is announced by the great voices in Heaven, and by the words of the twenty-four elders. Rev. xi, 15–17. This succeeds the close of his priesthood. When Christ begins his reign, he is invested by the Father with that power which Satan usurped from Adam the first. The reign of the second Adam is the re-establishment of the empire of God in this revolted province. Christ does not take his own throne to rule his enemies with a rod of iron till he has closed up his priestly office at his Father’s right hand. 6. The anger of the nations comes in consequence of the work of the unclean spirits under the sixth plague, who incite them to the battle of the great day of God Almighty. Rev. xi, 18; xvi, 13, 14; xix, 19–21. 8. The final destruction of them that corrupt the earth is at the end of the 1000 years in the second death. Rev. xi, 18; xx, 7–9. The events of the seventh trumpet do therefore extend over the whole period of the great day of Judgment. The mighty proclamation which ushers in the seventh angel and the investigative Judgment, and the work in the second apartment of the heavenly temple for the completion of our Lord’s priestly office, will be considered next.