THE WORK OF THE INVESTIGATIVE JUDGMENT.
By J. O. Corliss
Two phases of the final judgment are plainly set forth in the Bible, and altho these are not designated by separate names, the work done under each of them is so clearly distinct, that we are justified in speaking of them as the “investigative” and “executive” parts of that decisive work. It must be apparent to all that before any intelligent creature can be brought to punishment for his misdeeds, his life-work must be examined in order to show the cause of his condemnation. This is done even in human courts of justice, and for good reason. If this order were not followed, even tho the condemnation of a criminal were really deserved, occasion would be given for a popular cry of arbitrary injustice. God, too, deals in judgment with intelligent beings, and is therefore willing that all the universe may know the reason why some are to be treated differently from others in the matter of final awards. A time must therefore be devoted by Him to the examination of all the conduct of all His creatures, prior to the coming of the Saviour to make the final awards. This work may properly be termed an investigative judgment. From the very nature of the case, such a process must go on, and the cases examined be decided by records preserved in the court of heaven itself, where God, Christ, and the holy angels shall constitute the infinite court of assize. Dan. 7:9, 10, 13, 14. In this work, it is not necessary to have present in person, those whose cases are under investigation, since the accurate records of their lives are in possession of the court, and testify more fully in each case than the interested person could possibly do. Rev. 20:12, 13. Such work could therefore begin and go forward without disturbing men’s earthly relations, since from its arrangement, the cases of past generations would naturally first come under consideration. But God could consistently announce through His prophets the time when this work would begin, that those then living might prepare for the time when their own cases would quickly come up for examination. It is true that sometime in the distant past, God set the limit for the world’s course, prior to His calling it to judgment. Nearly nineteen hundred years ago, at least, the great apostle declared that God had appointed a day in which He would judge the world in righteousness. Acts 17:30, 31. On the arrival of that appointed day, a methodical investigation of every person’s case is sure to be undertaken. This must be so from the fact that there will be brought into this examination every work, with every secret thing, whether it be good or evil. Eccl. 12:14. So, then, there must be adequate time given to consider, not only every purpose of men, and the work they have directly done, but that indirectly wrought upon the lives and purposes of others. Eccl. 3:17. All this work is absolutely necessary, when we consider the eternal nature of its results, and the unqualified holiness of the future home of the saints. No faintest taint of original sin can be permitted to enter that place again, because its complete purity must not again be sullied by such foreign matter. So every one who reaches that holy region must first be accounted worthy of such honor. Luke 20:35. Inasmuch as these worthy ones are to be raised immortal from their graves in an instant, “in the twinkling of an eye,” at the sound of the trumpet note which heralds the coming of the Lord, it is evident that their cases have been fully decided beforehand. 1 Cor. 15:51, 52. Thus it is seen that the coming of Christ to earth the second time is not to convert men, or to decide their cases for weal or woe, but simply to execute the decisions already made. Jude 14, 15. So when He appears in mid-heaven, instantly following the mighty sound of the trumpet voice, the host of angels accompanying Him are despatched to receive those who have been counted worthy to meet Him, and as these rise from their dusty beds, they are “caught up” in the embrace of their guardian angels, and borne aloft to meet the Lord in the air, ever to remain in His presence. Matt. 24:31; 1 Thess. 4:16, 17. In previous studies of this series, it has been shown from comparison of type with antitype, that the Jewish day of atonement was a yearly day of judgment, when everything bearing sin was removed from the camp and people of God. In fact, that day of atonement was entirely devoted to cleansing from the sanctuary the accumulation of sins, brought there through the year by personal confession. As the work there and then done was but a shadow of the work to be accomplished in the greater and more perfect tabernacle (Heb. 9:8–14, 24–26), so the single cleansing of the heavenly sanctuary must be the completion of Christ’s atonement for the world, when the accumulated sins thereof, lodged in the sanctuary through individual confession, shall be borne away from God’s sight,—cast behind His back (Isa. 38:17), dropped into the depths of the sea (Micah 7:19), and so removed from the individual “as far as the east is from the ‘west.’ Ps. 103:12. Thus men’s sins are blotted out (Acts 3:19), and God remembers them no more, according to the conditions of His everlasting covenant with Jesus Christ. Heb. 8:12. This cleansing of the heavenly sanctuary was to begin with the ending of the 2300 days of Dan. 8:14, which we have seen came to pass in the autumn of 1844. At that time, therefore, the closing work of Christ for the world was begun, preparatory to His coming to earth to gather His saints to Himself. More than half a century has since elapsed, and it must be, therefore, that the judgment work in heaven is nearly done, and the coming of the Master imminent. Who is ready to meet Him? Let the question be thoughtfully studied by all.