The "Hour of Judgment," and the "Day of Judgment."
By J. H. W.
INSTANCES not a few have been found where brethren have made calculations on the proportionate length of these two periods, and the result has always been that they have ascertained, to their own satisfaction, just when the Third Angel's Message will close! Like the man who invented perpetual motion, they seldom stop to examine the difficulties in their way, and therefore it may be a service to them to furnish a few for them. They first take for granted that the day of Judgment is just 1000 years in length, and dividing this sum by 24, to find one hour of the day, and commencing the hour in 1844, they easily determine the time when the hour will expire. The day of Judgment "covers more than the period during which the saints assist in judging the world. It includes the execution of the Judgment, or the destruction of the wicked. This is an important part of the work of the Judgment day. On this point we offer the following extract as decisive:— "An effort has been made to maintain the Age to Come by first assuming that the day of the Lord is identical with the 1000 years of Rev. 20, and then quoting Zech. 14, to show that a certain series of events will transpire on the earth during the 1000 years, because they transpire 'in that day.' But the day of the Lord is more than 1000 years in length; it both commences before, and reaches beyond the 1000 years of Rev. 20. Peter does not give the length of that day, as has been inferred from 2 Pet. 3: 8, 9. He there refers solely to the faithfulness of God, saying that his longsuffering withholds the execution of his judgments on the scoffers; yet this is no evidence of slackness, as his promise is as sure 1000 years hence as if fulfilled to-day. With man, haste is necessary to the performance of his promise, as his life is but a hand-breadth; but not so with God, who is 'from everlasting to everlasting.' The day of the Lord commences before the second advent. It has been shown that the voice of God shakes the heavens and the earth before the Saviour comes. And Isa. 2 shows that they are shaken in that day. 'Enter into the rock, and hide thee in the dust, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of his majesty. The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day. For the day of the Lord of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up; and he shall be brought low.' Verses 10–12. 'In that day a man shall cast his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which they made each one for himself to worship, to the moles and to the bats; to go into the clefts of the rocks, and into the tops of the ragged rocks, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of his majesty, when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth.' Verses 20, 21. Also chap. 13: 6–13. The great battle is in that day. Eze. 13: 5; Rev. 16: 14. It is frequently called the day of the Lord's anger, the day of his wrath, &c. And as in the seven last plagues 'is filled up the wrath of God,' Rev. 15: 1, and the battle of that day is under the seventh plague, and the voice of God shakes the heavens and the earth in that day before the advent, it appears that that day commences with the pouring out of the plagues, at the close of 'the day of salvation.' And therefore it commences before the 1000 years of Rev. 20. "Again, the wicked are not raised till the 1000 years are finished; and Peter says the heavens and earth which are now are reserved unto fire against the day of Judgment and perdition of ungodly men; and that in that day of the Lord the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements melt with fervent heat. Thus we find that the resurrection of the wicked, the execution of the Judgment, and the passing away of the heavens and earth, all take place in the day of the Lord, but after the termination of the 1000 years. Therefore, again, the day of the Lord and the 1000 years of Rev. 20 cannot be identical. "Because Peter says a day with the Lord is as a thousand years, we have no more warrant to infer that 'the day of the Lord' is just 1000 years in length than that 'the day of salvation' is of that length; and that day has already existed nearly two thousand years."—Refutation of Age to Come, pp. 135–137. Granting that the day of the Lord is 1000 years in length, it would be easy to show that our view of the events of the 1000 years is incorrect. Then the advocates of the Age to Come would have the advantage of us. But when we prove that the day of the Lord, or the day of Judgment is more than 1000 years in length they lose their case, and our view is established to a certainty. Again, it cannot be proved that the dispensations do not overlap each other, as was the case with the past and present dispensations. We do not insist on this point, but it is impossible to show that the work of the hour of Judgment of Rev. 14: 6, 7, is not a part of the work of the great day of Judgment. Be that as it may, no one can possibly tell how long a period will transpire between the 1000 years of Rev. 20, and the entire destruction or "perdition of ungodly men." Therefore no one can tell how long the day of Judgment will be, and of course no one can tell what would be the length of one-twenty-fourth part of it. And thus we justify by the plain facts of Scripture the expression that "there is no time in the Third Angel's Message." If the oath of the angel in Rev. 10: 5–7, who swore that "there shall be time no longer," was fulfilled in the first message, and the time there referred to is prophetic time, as we all believe, that is a strong confirmation of our position. We therefore invite students and young ministers, among whom these speculations are generally found, to study more concerning the duties and the Spirit of this message, and let the time alone. The fate of other time-setters should be a warning to all the inexperienced.