The Order of Events in the Judgment.
By John Nevins Andrews
The separation of the sheep and goats is effected by the angels. Matt. 13:49. It must, therefore, be accomplished when the saints are caught up to meet Christ in the air. Matt. 24:31. The placing of the righteous upon the right hand, and the wicked upon the left, cannot, therefore, have reference to the right and left sides of the Saviour. It must signify the exaltation of the one class in his presence, and the rejection of the other class to shame and final ruin. Even if we place the separation of the two classes at the end of the 1000 years, when all the righteous are within the city, and when all the wicked surround it on every hand, we shall still be compelled to interpret these words as above. Rev. 20:7–9. Thus we find this term used in many places. At the right hand of the Lord are pleasures for evermore. Ps. 16:11. God saves by his right hand those that put their trust in him. Ps. 17:7. The right hand of the Lord holds up his servants. Ps. 18:35. His right hand is used for his saving strength. Ps. 20:6. The right hand of the Lord gave Canaan to Israel. Ps. 44:3. Christ is the man of the Father’s right hand. Ps. 80:17. And as Christ, at the Father’s right hand, was a joint ruler with his Father upon his throne, Ps. 110:1, 4; Zech. 6:12, 13, so the saints, when they are placed at Christ’s right hand, sit down with him upon his throne, as once he thus sat down upon the throne of his Father, that they may be joint rulers with him, and may co-operate with him in the judgment. To sit at the right hand is the highest place of honor in the presence of one greater. Gresenius says: “To sit on the right hand of a king, as the highest place of honor, e. g., spoken of the queen, 1 Kings 2:19; Ps. 45:9, of one beloved of the king and vicegerent of the kingdom. Ps. 110:1.” When the saints enter Christ’s presence they are immortal. They will be like him, for they will see him as he is. 1 John 3:2. They will behold his face in righteousness when they awake with his likeness. Ps. 17:15. One of the first events that follows the entrance of the saints into Christ’s presence is thus stated:— 2 Cor. 5:10: “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.” Though our Lord comes to execute the judgment, John 5:22, 27; Jude 14:15; 2 Tim. 4:1; Matt. 25:31–46; Acts 10:42; 17:31; Ps. 50:3–5, and though he makes his people immortal before he gathers them into his presence, 1 Cor. 15:51, 52; Matt. 24:31; 1 Thess. 4:16, 17, yet it is certain that every one, even of the righteous, shall stand at the judgment-seat of Christ. Rom. 14:10. It is not, however, that their cases may be decided for salvation or for perdition, but “that every one may receive the things done in his body.” Even all the wicked shall stand thus in his presence, that they may receive for their deeds of evil, which have not been repented of; and so, neither pardoned nor blotted out. But the wicked will not stand thus before Christ till the resurrection of the ungodly at the end of the 1000 years. The righteous will appear at Christ’s judgment-seat, that they may receive the reward of well-doing; and at a later time all the wicked shall stand in his presence, that they may hear their sentence and receive their just reward. In executing the judgment, our Lord is to reward every man according to his works, Rev. 22:12; Matt. 16:27. Then the Lord, the righteous judge, will give to Paul a crown of righteousness. 2 Tim. 4:8. To all his saints he will in like manner give crowns, but of very different brightness, 1 Cor. 15:41, 42; and assign to each a reward proportionate to their labors and responsibilities. Luke 19:15–19. When the Saviour, in the work of executing the judgment, which has been already determined by the Father, pronounces the heavenly benediction upon his people, he does it in his Father’s name. Thus we read:— “Then shall the king say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was an hungered, and ye gave me meat; I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink; I was a stranger, and ye took me in; naked, and ye clothed me; I was sick, and ye visited me; I was in prison, and ye came unto me.” This plainly indicates, 1. That the record of their good deeds has been already examined. 2. That this examination has been made in the Father’s presence, by whom they have been pronounced innocent; and upon whom his blessing has been conferred. The saints will have boldness in the day of judgment, 1 John 4:17; for their sins are all blotted out before the Saviour ceases to act as priest; and they are made immortal before they stand at Christ’s judgment seat; and when they thus stand before him, it is not to have decision rendered whether they shall be saved or lost, but it is to hear the Saviour enumerate their good deeds, and to receive from him their great reward. Matt. 25:34–40. When invited to inherit the kingdom, it is said to be that prepared for them from the foundation of the world. This cannot signify that they are at once to inherit the new earth; for the new earth cannot exist till the sentence has been passed upon the wicked, and executed upon them; as the lake of fire, where the wicked are punished, is our earth in its final conflagration. 2 Pet. 3:7–13; Mal. 4:1–3; Prov. 11:31; Rev. 20:21. Indeed, the new earth can hardly be said to have been prepared from the foundation of the world. But paradise, which contains the tree of life, and is now in the third heaven, 2 Cor. 12:2–4, was prepared for mankind in their innocency when the earth itself was founded, Gen. 2:8–15; 3:1–24, and is to be given as a part of the overcomer’s reward, and will be reached by their entrance within the walls of the heavenly Jerusalem. Rev. 2:7; 22:2, 14. Paradise, the blissful abode of our first parents, and rendered infinitely more glorious by being now situated within the New Jerusalem itself, being that place from which Adam the first was expelled, will be that place to which Adam the second will first introduce the saved of the human family. The giving of the kingdom to the saints begins with the capital of that kingdom, but will not be finished till they take the kingdom under the whole heaven, to possess it forever, even forever and ever. Dan. 7:18, 27; Rev. 21. The Saviour’s act of giving the kingdom to his saints is a part of the work of executing the decision of the Father respecting his people; for it is the Father’s good pleasure to give them the kingdom. Luke 12:32. When our Lord was about to leave his disciples to go to his Father, he told them that he would go to prepare a place for them, and would then return and receive them unto himself, that where he was, they might be also. John 14:2, 3. And on this very occasion he told Peter that he could not follow him then, but should follow him afterward. That is, when he should have completed the preparation of the place, he would return for Peter and for all the saints, and they should follow him thither. John 13:36. Thus it is that our Lord is the forerunner, and his entrance is, therefore, the pledge that his people shall afterward follow him. Heb. 6:20. In this connection let us notice, 1 Thess. 4:14: “For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.” Many read this text as teaching that at the second advent, Christ will bring the souls of his sleeping saints from heaven. But let it be observed, 1. That heaven is not a place of soul-sleeping. 2. That the sleep of the saints is in the dust of the earth. Dan. 12:2, 3. That the sleeping ones cannot be brought from heaven, for they are not there when Christ descends for his people. 4. That they cannot be brought to our earth at that time, for they are at that moment asleep in its dust. 5. The one who brings the saints is God the Father. 6. To bring them, he must do one of two things: either he must come with his Son at the second advent, and take along with him as he thus comes his sleeping saints, or else he brings his saints to himself by sending his Son to awaken them, and then to take into his presence. 7. Two reasons forbid the idea that the Father brings the sleeping saints to the earth. One is, that the Father does not come to our earth, but sends his Son, Acts 3:20; and the other is, that the sleepers are not in heaven, but already within the bosom of the earth. Isa. 26:19. 8. We cannot, therefore avoid the conclusion that the act of bringing the saints is into his own presence. 9. The saints are to be brought according to a certain example, which is the resurrection of Christ. 1 Thess. 4:14; Heb. 13:20. 10. The very act of bringing the saints by God the Father, is wrought by sending his Son after them, as described in this chapter, and by this means taking them into his presence. So that this chapter brings to view the great facts taught in our Lord’s promise that he would go into the Father’s presence to prepare a place for his people, and then return after them, to take them to this prepared place. So Christ will present his saints unblameable in holiness before his Father as he bears them up with him to the heavenly Jerusalem. Compare John 14:2, 3; 1 Thess. 3:13; 4:14. That the Saviour takes his people to the house of the Father, the New Jerusalem, immediately after he has made them immortal, and invited them in the Father’s name to share Paradise with them, is further proved by what is said respecting the marriage supper. This is eaten directly after the saints are received into Christ’s presence. Luke 12:36, 37. But the marriage supper must be eaten where the bride is. The saints are the invited guests. But the bride, the Lamb’s wife, is that holy city, the New Jerusalem. Rev. 19:9; 21:2, 9, 10; Gal. 4:26–28; Isa. 54. The saints are in the Father’s presence, near the throne of God, when they eat the marriage supper of the Lamb. Rev. 19:1–9; Luke 12:36, 37; 22:16–18. Our Lord does, therefore, introduce his saints to the holy city, and to the presence of his Father, where they eat the marriage supper, in the kingdom of God. This is the grand celebration of our Lord’s assumption of his own throne and of his royal city, the metropolis of his everlasting kingdom. When this is past, the great work of the judgment upon the wicked remains to be entered upon by Christ and his saints. They are to sit with Christ in the judgment, but not to determine who shall be saved or who lost. God the Father has already pronounced the decision who shall have immortality, and the Son has executed that decision by immortalizing his saints. And thus all others are counted unworthy of eternal life, and must receive the second death as their portion. But there are degrees of punishment. Some shall receive greater damnation than others. Luke 20:47; Rom. 2:6, 8, 9; Luke 12:47, 48. Bear it in mind, therefore, that the saints have not the determination of the salvation or damnation of any one in their hands. The Father has decided this when he made them immortal and left all the others as unworthy. Also bear in mind that God keeps books of record, Isa. 65:6, 7; Jer. 2:22; Dan. 7:9, 10; Rev. 20:12, and that he weighs men’s actions, so that they are set down for their true amount. 1 Sam. 2:3. If the reader will do this, it will not seem strange to him to learn that the immortal saints, with Christ at their head, should be commissioned by the Father to determine the measure of punishment which each wicked man shall receive. As we have already shown that the final perdition of the wicked is determined by the Father before he makes his saints immortal, if we now clearly prove that the glorified saints are to sit with Christ and determine the measure of guilt of each sinful man, it will be a most convincing proof that there is to be a resurrection of the unjust, that God may inflict tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man that doeth evil. Rom. 2:5–9.