ABOUT THE JUDGMENT

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Oct 15, 1901

ABOUT THE JUDGMENT.

On this stupendous subject there seems to be a degree of perplexity in some minds on account of the variety of statements that are made concerning it. There are diverse scenes involved in the judgment, and different agents have a part to act therein, and the problem seems to be to locate these different divisions of the work, and identify the agents who carry it forward. Summed up to one point, the query is, Who is, or is to be, our judge?

For instance, we read in Acts 17:31: “Because He [God] hath appointed a day, in the which He [God] will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom He hath ordained; whereof He hath given assurance unto all men, in that He hath raised Him from the dead.” This would suggest the idea that the world in the day appointed is to be judged by the Father. But we read again in John 5:22: “For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son.” Comparing this with Ps. 50:6, we have this statement: “And the heavens shall declare His righteousness: for God is judge himself.” A scene opened to the prophet Daniel represents God, on a certain occasion, acting as judge. The scene is one of unparalleled sublimity, and must powerfully impress every one who, with a reverent spirit, reads the description: “I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of Days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of His head like the pure wool: His throne was like the fiery flame, and His wheels as burning fire. A fiery stream issued and came forth from before Him: thousand thousands ministered unto Him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened.” Dan. 7:9, 10.

This passage, if we mistake not, furnishes a key to the solution of the main difficulties of the situation. Here is a judgment connected with the opening of the books. The Ancient of Days, God the Father, presides in it. There are over one hundred million heavenly intelligences engaged in it. “Ten thousand times ten thousand” are a hundred million, as we compute numbers, and besides these there are “thousands of thousands.” These are not the great multitude of the denizens of this world assembled to be judged, but those who minister unto the Ancient of Days, in this work. This applies to a time when the great plan of salvation is unfolding and closing its vast movements. The thrones which are here said to be “cast down,” so rendered by the translators, who evidently supposed them to be earthly thrones of human government, which are to be overthrown in the last day, are not such thrones, but thrones connected with the judgment; and the words should not be rendered “cast down,” or overthrown, but established, or “set up.” What thrones, or seats of judgment, are to be set up when the judgment scene opens? The time is when “judgment is given to the saints of the Most High” (verse 22); and where are the saints when judgment is given to them, not judgment of them as accountable beings, but judgment for them to exercise over others? John saw the whole situation right in connection with this very time. He says, “And I saw thrones, and they [the saints] sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them.” Rev. 20:4.

Right here the subject of the sanctuary throws its all-penetrating search-light on this subject. Jesus Christ is the mediator for men, and a priest of God after the order of Melchisedec. Heb. 5:5, 10. It appears from this testimony and from Acts 17:31 that He has been appointed, or ordained, to that position: “Because He [God] hath appointed a day, in the which He will judge the world . . . by that man whom He hath ordained: whereof He hath given assurance unto all men, in that He hath raised Him from the dead.” It is appropriate that that one who is the mediator for the world should have a part in the general judgment of the world, so the testimony is that God “hath appointed a day, in the which He will judge the world . . . by that man [Christ] whom He hath ordained;” and He has given assurance unto all men that this period of judgment must pass upon all men, because He hath raised Christ from the dead. That is the pledge of that work. One can go back and undo the resurrection of Christ as well as to think of escaping the test of judgment.

The plan of Christ’s office as mediator, and its modus operandi, was doubtless all arranged in the beginning of His work. And while God has ever held the general management of the affairs of this world, and has often let loose judgments upon sin, as in the case of the antediluvians, the Egyptians, the Sodomites, etc., to which cases Ps. 50:6 would apply, there are different divisions of the judgment work which must all have their place, and be considered in their relation to one another and to the work as a whole. This distinction is seen even here in human courts. There is, first, the investigation of the case to determine the degree of guilt of the parties, and fix the punishment; and secondly, the execution of the sentence. And in its general phases divine justice must be administered on as equitable basis as this. And this is just the method pursued in this work, according to what is revealed. It is all contained in the prophecy of Dan. 7:9, 10. We think in this stage of the progress of the Third Angel’s Message we are justified in assuming that the reader understands something of the sanctuary and its ministration. The sanctuary, where the plan of redemption is carried forward, was a building, or tabernacle, located in the midst of the camp of Israel, as a dwelling place for God. Exodus 25. There was the law, the priesthood, the sacrifices, the symbols of pardon and forgiveness. There the penitent came confessing his sins, and sending them, through the blood of the victim and the ministration of the priest, into the sanctuary. There the atonement was made, and sins, in figure, put away.

All this Paul tells us (Heb. 9:1–7) was a worldly sanctuary under the first, or old, covenant; but now we are under a new covenant introduced by Christ, more ample and efficient in its provisions than the old, furnished with better sacrifices, even the precious blood of Christ, who pleads that blood for sinners in a more complete sanctuary, the true and more perfect tabernacle, pitched, or erected, not by Moses, but by the Lord himself. This heavenly tabernacle, or sanctuary, has two apartments, as the earthly had. In the first, or holy place, Christ, as priest after the order of Melchisedec, receives the confessions of Christians now, just as the Aaronic priest received the confessions of Hebrew penitents under the Mosaic system.

Now following the type, we easily go forward to the time when the program of the world’s redemption must close. There the scene of scenes takes place. The sanctuary must be cleansed, and sins be blotted out and put away, that they may not mar the kingdom of heaven, disturb the saints, and remain a cloud upon the memory of God.

To accomplish this, a great change is made in the heavenly courts. The second apartment of the heavenly temple, unoccupied till this change came due, was opened (Rev. 11:19); and the ministration and the ministers moved therein. The work for the world’s salvation assumed a new phase. This is noted and described in the prophecy of Dan. 7:9, 10, 13, 14. When the work in the sanctuary began, at the ascension of Christ, the throne of God, and God, at whose right hand Christ took His position, were in the first apartment of the sanctuary. Rev. 4:2, 3, 5. This is proved by the seven lamps of fire which were before the throne—antitype of the candlestick of the sanctuary with its seven lamps. Ex. 37:23; Heb. 8:1, 2. Daniel’s record here describes the change: “I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of Days, and they brought Him near before Him.” Dan. 7:13. But was not the Son of man near before the Ancient of Days when He was at His right hand in the holy place?—Very true; but the Father made a move: “I beheld till the thrones were set up [or placed in position—thrones of the four living beings and the four and twenty elders. Rev. 4:8, 10], and the Ancient of Days [God the Father] did sit.” Dan. 7:9. This affirms that God took a new position; for the words “did sit” mean, and should be so translated, that He “took a position as judge in a court of justice.” The work in the most holy place, the cleansing of the sanctuary, is a work belonging to a court of justice; for here every case that has come within the sphere of Christ’s mediatorial work is examined, and the decision made whether they have overcome, or are to be rejected. In this scene God acts as judge. Christ presents the cases before Him, pleads His blood, and God decides whether or not He can accept them through Christ. Thus God judges them by that man whom He has ordained for this work. Acts 17:31. If accepted, their part is made sure in the everlasting kingdom, the subjects of which are then being made up. This is the investigative judgment. Here the King comes in to examine the guests according to the Saviour’s vivid parable, to see if all have on the wedding garment. Matt. 22:11–13. The man who has it not on is bound hand and foot, and cast out into outer darkness, never to see the light of life again. O that men could realize what a vital interest they have in Christ at the present time!

Daniel’s record (7:14) continues: “And there was given Him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve Him.” When does Christ receive the kingdom as here predicted? Not when He enters the most holy; not till the work in that apartment is finished, and all the guests who are candidates for the kingdom have been examined and accepted. Then Christ comes with His reward, to give immortality to all who have accepted it. Rev. 22:12. Then He can send forth His angels to gather out of this earth, the place to be occupied by His kingdom, all that offend, and them which do iniquity (Matt. 13:41–43), which He will do by the seven last plagues and other judgments with which He sweeps the world of its guilty inhabitants. Rev. 19:19–21.

The investigative judgment being thus passed, and the line being drawn between the saved and the lost, an investigation of the cases of the wicked must follow; for every one who has ever been on probation must give account for the deeds done in the body. This is accomplished by the saints, in conjunction with Christ, who reign during the thousand years of Rev. 20:4–6. The saints having passed their own judgment, are at this time redeemed, and can then judge wicked men and angels. 1 Cor. 6:2–4.

This work being done, the end of the thousand years is reached; and the execution of the judgment upon all the wicked takes place. Then punishment is visited upon every sin ever committed, and every sinner involved therein. They are destroyed root and branch in the final lake of fire. Rev. 20:12–15. This fire and destruction were originally prepared only for the devil and his angels (Matt. 25:41), and the only human beings destroyed therein are those who joined the devil in his rebellion, and persistently continued in it to the close. This is the fire that accomplishes the judgment (the execution of the judgment) and perdition of ungodly men. 2 Peter 3:7. Then the last vestige of sin and sinners is destroyed. The last stain and scar of the primal entrance of evil and its curse into the universe is wiped away; the old earth, racked by convulsions and blighted by miasma and mildew for six thousand years, will be healed and made new (2 Peter 3:13); the tabernacle of God will come

down into our midst, God himself will be our companion and our God (Rev. 21:3, 4); and then will rise and fill the whole heaven of the new creation the song of jubilee from “every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, . . . saying, Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb forever and ever.” This is eternity’s amen to the work and ways of God in the salvation of men. Rev. 5:13; 7:11, 12.