In the great threefold message of Rev. 14: 6-12, perhaps this is the most startling statement: “The hour of His Judgment is come.”
This is given as a special reason why men should fear God and give glory to Him. Earthly courts announce the time of the opening of each session. So God intends the people of earth shall know when the great tribunal of heaven is sitting, for we read: “Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but He revealeth His secret unto His servants the prophets.” And while the secret things belong to the Lord, the things revealed belong to us and to our children.
So the great message for all the world just before the Lord comes, will contain the announcement: “The hour of His Judgment is come.” This Judgment was seen in vision by the prophet Daniel (chapter 7, verses 9 to 11). He says: “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 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. I beheld then because of the voice of the great words which the horn spake: I beheld even till the beast was slain, and his body destroyed, and given to the burning flame.”
In this scripture the prophet beholds a judgment taking place in heaven before the Ancient of Days, and while contemplating this his attention is called to the great words which were then being spoken by the little horn, which represents an earthly, blasphemous, persecuting power, as shown by verses 21, 22, 24, 25. Then following this description of the Judgment, in verse 13 the prophet sees Christ receive His kingdom which, as we have already shown, He does immediately before coming to this earth.
In this Judgment Daniel says he saw books opened, and John the revelator says that in the Judgment “another book was opened, which is the Book of Life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books.”
What Is in the Book of Life?
Speaking of a wicked power, the apostle says: “All that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.” Rev. 13: 8. Jesus said to His disciples: “Rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you: but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven.” Luke 10: 20. The apostle Paul speaks of Clement and other colaborers whose names are in the Book of Life. Phil. 4: 3. And John, in speaking of the city of God, says that nothing shall enter therein which defileth or worketh abomination, or maketh a lie, “but they which are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.” Rev. 21: 27. And again we read the words of Jesus: “He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the Book of Life, but I will confess his name before My Father, and before His angels.” Rev. 3: 5.
These texts clearly teach that only the names of those who have accepted Christ as a Saviour are written in the Book of Life and that the names of those who are unfaithful will be blotted out in the Judgment.
The Other Books.
“The dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books.” Since we are to be rewarded or punished according to the deeds done in the body, these books of judgment must contain a record of our lives.
“O wondrous books by angels writ,
What secrets do they hold!
Each man must count himself unfit
To stand thus naked-souled
When God to judge the world doth sit,
And record-books unfold.
Haste! soul, to put the garment on
Provided by God’s only Son.”
The apostle Peter, speaking to the people, said: “Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; and He shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: whom the heavens must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of His holy prophets since the world began.” Acts 3: 19-21.
Thus we see that just before God sends Jesus to this earth, He will send times of refreshing (latter rain) to His people, and while the Holy Spirit is thus poured out, Jesus will blot out the sins from the record-books of heaven, for those who have repented; and confessing each name before the Father and the angels, He will substitute His righteousness in their behalf.
“O wondrous, wondrous Saviour,
How canst Thou bear our shame,
And in Thy Father’s presence
Confess each tarnished name,
So graciously to cover us
With robes of Thine own righteousness?”
This is the judgment of the house of God, or the professed people of God with whom the work of judgment is begun, as stated by Peter, who in speaking of the last days says: “For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the Gospel of God? And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?” 1 Peter 4: 17, 18.
In this Judgment the Lamb’s Book of Life is opened, and name after name is taken up. If the individual has been unfaithful, Jesus in sorrow denies the name and blots it from the Book of Life, and the sins stand against that name in the record-books of heaven. His case is carried over to the second judgment and he is appointed a portion with the hypocrite. “There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Matt. 24: 48-51. But if the individual has been faithful, Jesus will with joy confess his name before His Father and His angels. The name will be retained in the Book of Life, and his sins will be blotted from the books of record to be remembered no more. All such shall be delivered and shall shine as the stars in the firmament forever. And with this agree the words of Daniel, for in speaking of the close of probation he says: “And at that time shall Michael stand up [take kingdom], the great Prince which standeth [ruleth] for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble [falling of plagues], such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book [Book of Life which has just been examined]. And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars forever and ever.” Dan. 12: 1-3.
But the apostle Paul says God “hath appointed a day, in the which He will judge the world,” and as we have shown that the Judgment begins with the house of God, then He must have appointed the time when He will begin this judgment of His people. But to appoint a day is to set a time, and to make that time known, for it is not an appointment until it is made known.
In the typical services of the Jews, where in the earthly sanctuary the work of Christ as our priest is set forth in types, this blotting out of sin was done on the Day of Atonement and was called the “cleansing of the sanctuary.” This Day of Atonement, which came once a year, was a day of judgment, for every soul who did not confess his sins on that selfsame day was cut off from among God’s people. Lev. 23: 27-30.
The writer of the Hebrews says: “Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum: We have such an High Priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens; a minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man.” Heb. 8: 1-3. And in chapter 9: 24, 26, he tells us that “now once in the end of the world hath He [Christ] appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself;” and in verse 28 he says: “Unto them that look for Him shall He appear the second time without sin unto salvation.” Thus just before He comes in the end of the world He puts away sin, and then comes without sin to save His people.
The prophet Daniel, in chapter 8, verse 14, presents the longest prophetic period in the Bible which he tells us reaches to the cleansing of the sanctuary: “Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.” Thus the prophet announces the antitypical Day of6Atonement. That this prophecy reaches to the last days is shown by verse 17 which says, “At the time of the end shall be the vision.” The angel Gabriel was commissioned of the Lord to make Daniel understand this vision. Verse 16.
In verse 21 he begins the explanation and proceeds to verse 24, explaining the first three symbols; to wit, the ram which was great (verse 4) he says represents the kings of Media and Persia. The goat which waxed very great (verse 8) was the king of Grecia. The little horn which waxed exceeding great (verse 9) was another power which was also to stand up against the Prince of Princes. The only nation this side of Grecia which exceeded it in power was Rome, and its authority did put Jesus to death. In verse 26 the angel mentions the time symbols, but Daniel faints and the explanation is interrupted.
In the following chapter Daniel begins to pray for additional light. In verse 21 the same angel Gabriel appears to him and informs him that he has now come to give him skill and understanding, and then directs his mind to the vision by saying: “Therefore understand the matter, and consider the vision.” He then proceeds to carry out the commission by explaining the time question left unexplained in the former visit. This he does by saying: “Seventy weeks are determined [cut off and given] upon thy people.” In prophecy a day used as a symbol stands for a year of time. So the seventy weeks or 490 days (years) are cut off of the 2,300 days (years) and given to the Jews to accomplish certain things, and at the end of that time they will cease to be the especially chosen people of God.
In the 490 years the following things were to be accomplished: “To finish the transgression” (Jews to fill up their cup of iniquity), “to make an end of sins” (or sin offerings by the death of Jesus the true sin offering), “to make reconciliation for iniquity” (by the blood of Jesus), “to bring in everlasting righteousness” (the righteousness in Christ’s earthly life), “to seal up the vision and prophecy” (by the minute fulfilment of a part of it, thus making sure the remainder), “and to anoint the Most Holy” (the sanctuary in heaven or the true tabernacle). But the important thing for Daniel to know, and for us to know, the angel has not yet revealed, and that is at what point in the world’s history all this begins. Without this knowledge the prophetic period is of no value, but in verse 25 the angel locates the starting-point in these words: “Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and three score and two weeks,” or sixty-nine weeks—483 years. Then, in verses 26, 27, he says that in the midst or middle of the one week the Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself, and He shall cause the sacrifice and oblation to cease.
The word “Messiah” means “anointed,” and Jesus became the Anointed at His baptism when the Holy Ghost came upon Him. According to this, in the 483rd year from the going forth of the decree Jesus would be baptized. In three and one-half years more He would be crucified, and at the end of three and one half years more the Jews would be rejected. This would bring us to the end of the seventy weeks or 490 years cut off and given to the Jews. At the end of the whole period of 2,300 years the cleansing of the sanctuary would take place. The decree for the complete restoring and rebuilding of Jerusalem we find recorded in Ezra 7:11-26. This decree was made on the first day of the first month of the year 457 B.C. But its going forth was four months later when Ezra reached Jerusalem and began to put it into operation among the Jews and other nations in that region to whom it was addressed. So we find the decree going forth in 457 B.C. with a loss of four months or one-third of a year; that is, it went forth 456 2-3 years B.C.; 483 less 456 2-3 equals 26 1-3 or 27. Then Christ was baptized in A.D. 27, autumn; A.D. 27 plus 3½ years reaches to A.D. 31, spring. Jesus was crucified at the Passover in the spring of A.D. 31. One more date in the seventy weeks: 490 less 456 2-3 equals 33 1-3, or in the year 34 A.D. The Jews were rejected A.D. 34.
2,300 less 456 2-3 equals 1843 1-3, or 1844 A.D. Hence in 1844 we reached the antitypical day of atonement when Jesus as our High Priest began the work of cleansing the sanctuary in heaven by the blotting out of sins, and thus through the prophet Daniel God announced His appointment to begin the work of judging His people; and since the year 1844 we have been living in the time of the Judgment, and the Judgment-message of Rev. 14: 6, 7 has been going to the world. Beginning like all of God’s work in the world with a few faithful ones, it has gathered momentum with each passing year, until now there are thousands of people who have devoted their lives to its proclamation.
Now, dear reader, if you have not accepted Jesus as a Saviour, do so at once, that Jesus may present your name before the Father among His people, and let us all seek earnestly to so live that our names may not be blotted out. Let us study God’s law carefully and allow His Holy Spirit to write it for us, not on tables of stone, but upon the fleshly tables of our hearts, that the righteousness of the law may be fulfilled in us, not as changed and interpreted by man, but as spoken and written by Jehovah, that we may be of that company under the third angel’s message of which it is said: “Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus,” thus getting the victory over the beast and his image and his mark.
