EXPLORING YOUR BIBLE by Rose E. Boose

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California, U. S. A. · Sep 9, 1930

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 57, No. 35.

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EXPLORING YOUR BIBLE

By Rose E. Boose

with the guidance of an expert Bible teacher

Miss ROSE E. BOOSE

The Judgment

IN THE ancient tabernacle, when the gospel was preached to the people in type, the Ten-Commandment law was given on tables of stone, as the rule of righteousness. Violation of any of its precepts was sin, and required an offering to be made. (Leviticus 4:1-3.) On the day of atonement, the priest made atonement over the broken law of Ten Commandments, which were in the ark (Deuteronomy 10:1-5), and according to the standards of that law they were judged.

After reviewing the giving of the law, Moses said, “These words the Lord spake unto all your assembly in the mount out of the midst of the fire: . . . and He added no more. And He wrote them in two tables of stone.” Deuteronomy 5:22. “The Lord commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God, for our good always, that He might preserve us alive, as it is at this day. And it shall be our righteousness, if we observe to do all these commandments before the Lord our God, as He hath commanded us.” Deuteronomy 6:24, 25.

JUDGED BY RIGHTEOUS LAW

To-day, as then, transgression of the holy law of God is sin. “Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.” 1 John 3:4. “All unrighteousness is sin.” 1 John 5:17. The breaking of that law is sin; the keeping of it is righteousness. Paul says, “The law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good;” and adds later, “We know that the law is spiritual.” Romans 7:12, 14. The psalmist tells us, “The law of the Lord is perfect,” “the statutes of the Lord are right: . . . the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes.” “Moreover by them is Thy servant warned: and in keeping of them there is great reward.” Psalm 19:7, 8, 11.

By this righteous law man shall be judged. James 2:8-12 tells us, “If ye fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, ye do well: but if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors. For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. For He that said, Do not

commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law. So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty.” Jesus said, “If any man hear My words, and believe not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. He that rejecteth Me, and receiveth not My words, hath One that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.” John 12:47, 48. Paul, the great apostle to the Gentiles, tells us, “God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel.” Romans 2:16.

The law of God is a transcript of His character; for we read that it is perfect (Psalm 19:7); it is the truth (Psalm 119:142); and it is holy (Romans 7:12); and spiritual (Romans 7:14). It is a law of love. (Deuteronomy 6:4, 5; Leviticus 19:17, 18; Matthew 22:35-40.) This law is to last forever. There can be only one perfect standard of righteousness. It is stated in Psalm 111:7, 8: “The works of His hands are verity and judgment; all His commandments are sure. They stand fast forever and ever, and are done in truth and uprightness.” Jesus confirmed this statement when He said, “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in nowise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.” Matthew 5:17, 18. “It is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail.” Luke 16:17.

STANDARDS ACCORDING TO LIGHT

In this law is summed up all of man's duty. “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.” Ecclesiastes 12:13, 14.

Man sets a standard for himself, which will also be considered in the judgment. This standard is according to the light he has, and very often that amount of light is best revealed by the judgment he passes on his fellow man; therefore we read from the

Sermon on the Mount, “Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.” Matthew 7:1, 2. Again it is said, “Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things.” “And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God?” Romans 2:1, 3. When Eli’s sons had sinned, God sent this message to him, “I have told him that I will judge his house forever for the iniquity which he knoweth; because his sons made themselves vile, and he restrained them not.” 1 Samuel 3:13. One more text dealing with this thought: “To him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.” James 4:17.

God is very merciful to those who sin ignorantly. Paul testifies to His wonderful love thus, “I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that He counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry; who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief.” 1 Timothy 1:12, 13.

GOD'S STANDARDS ARE HIGH

It is a solemn thought that every one must meet the high standard of God’s perfect and holy law at the judgment bar of God. We cannot but ask the question, “Who shall be able to stand?” Revelation 6:17. The word of God tells us, “All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” “There is none righteous, no, not one.” “Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.” Romans 3:23, 10, 19.

If man were left to appear in the judgment on his own merits, there would be one sentence for all, and it would be death. “All have sinned,” and “the wages of sin is death.” Romans 3:23; 6:23. But God again meets the need of humanity and provides a perfect substitute, One whose life was in perfect accord with the law of God, One “who did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth.” 1 Peter 2:22. “What the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” Romans 8:3, 4. Jesus Christ lived a righteous life; when we accept Him, His righteousness is imputed, or turned to our account; and when our lives are placed in the balance in the judgment, the righteousness of Christ meets every demand of the law of God. In Christ we are accounted righteous. We read, from the Twentieth Century New Testament, “The judgment, which followed upon the one man’s sin, resulted in condemnation, but God’s gracious Gift, which followed upon many offenses, resulted in a decree of righteousness. For if, by reason of the offense of the one man, death reigned through that one man, far

The Judgment

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more will those, upon whom God’s loving-kindness and His gift of righteousness are lavished, find life, and reign through the one Man, Jesus Christ. Briefly then, just as a single offense resulted for all mankind in condemnation, so, too, a single decree of righteousness resulted for all mankind in that declaration of righteousness which brings life.” Romans 5:16-18.

DO NOT DESPISE PROVISION MADE

This righteousness that Christ gained for you and me is ours if we will accept it. Christ lived the perfect life for us, as verily as He died for us. When we accept it by faith, then it can be said, “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” Romans 8:1. Let us not despise this wonderful provision, as did Israel of old, of whom it is said, “They being

ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.” Romans 10:3. Only as we “submit” and accept this righteousness, shall we be able to stand in the time of judgment; and God has made every provision for us to stand complete in Christ Jesus.

In our next study we shall learn of the glorious consummation of the plan of redemption, in the return of our Lord Jesus Christ.