p. 355 | THE JUDGMENT by J. O. Corliss

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Jun 16, 1887

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 13, No. 23.

THE JUDGMENT.

By J. O. Corliss

(Concluded.)

WHEN probation closes, the saints of God have all been sealed (see Rev. 7), and each case forever remains as it has been fixed. Rev. 22:11, 12. At this time our Lord, having received his kingdom, comes out from before the Judgment-seat and the presence of the Father; and then will be fulfilled the saying of Christ: "Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left. Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left. Watch therefore; for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come." Matt. 24:40-42; Luke 17:34-36. The following prophecy will then also meet its fulfillment: "Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord. And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, and shall not find it." Amos 8:11, 12.

As we have already seen, the pouring out of the plagues also follows the close of probation, but the plagues will not fall upon those who have been sealed prior to the time of trouble. Their safety and peace is thus described by the psalmist: "Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day; nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday. A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right

hand; but it shall not come nigh thee. Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked. Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the Most High, thy habitation; there shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling." Ps. 91:5-10. They pass safely through this trying time, because their names have been retained in the book of life. These waiting, longing ones are those who, when the opening heavens reveal the form of their descending Lord attended by all the angelic host, will exclaim: "Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us." Isa. 25:9. Seated in mid-heaven, he speaks the word that awakens the dead, and calls them from their dusty beds. At the sound of the trumpet voice, the angels go forth to every quarter and gather the saints to meet the Lord in the air. Matt. 24:31; 1 Thess. 4:16, 17.

The redeemed will then be escorted by the Saviour into the presence of the Father, in Heaven, there to sit down to the marriage supper of the Lamb. Rev. 19:9; Matt. 26:29. Just before he left the earth, our Saviour told his disciples that he would go away to prepare a place for them, after which he would come again and receive them unto himself. John 14:2, 3. In conversation with the Jews (John 7:33, 34) Christ said: "Yet a little while am I with you, and then I go unto him that sent me. Ye shall seek me, and shall not find me; and where I am, thither ye cannot come." Now as he was about to return to the Father, he said to his disciples: "And as I said unto the Jews, Whither I go, ye cannot come; so now I say to you." John 13:33. But in verse 36 he made the promise to Peter that he should follow him afterwards, and he then proceeded to comfort all the disciples by telling them, as already seen, that he would return for them after he had gone before and prepared a place for them.

Again we read: "For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him." 1 Thess. 4:14. From this it is plain that if we believe that God brought Jesus from the dead, as the apostle affirms that he did (Heb. 13:20), "even so" that is, in the same manner, will he bring with Christ them that sleep in him. God is the one who "brings" the saints to himself with Christ. But we learn from Acts 3:20 that God sends Jesus Christ. He comes to execute the decision of the Judgment, which results in bringing back with him the sleeping saints. God brings them to himself by sending his Son to earth for them. He certainly does not bring them from heaven to earth; for they are not in heaven when Christ comes, but are asleep in the dust of the earth. Dan. 12:2. They are raised from the dead after the example of the resurrection of Christ, and brought into the presence of the Father, and there presented before him, unblamable in holiness. 1 Thess. 3:13.

It is then that judgment is given to the saints of the Most High (Dan. 7:22), and it was to scenes then to be enacted that John's attention was directed when he saw the glorified saints sitting upon thrones of judgment. Rev. 20:4, 5. These saints do not judge in the sense of ruling over men who are on probation, and guiding them in their affairs; but their judgment will be rendered in the cases of sinful men and fallen angels. This will be the fulfillment of 1 Cor. 6:1-3. The work of the saints in the Judgment is not to ascertain whether the others are guilty or not, for the fact of their having been denied a part in the first resurrection is evidence that they are known to be guilty. But the work of the saints is simply to determine the amount of that guilt, that each one may receive the degree of punishment that belongs to his case. Thus our Saviour says: "And that servant, which knew his Lord's will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required." Luke 12:47, 48. See also Luke 20:47; Rom. 2:6, 8, 9.

We are told to "judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the heart." 1 Cor. 4:5. In forbidding the work of judgment "before the time," this text teaches that when the time does come, then that work will be done by those who are now forbidden to do it. It is only "till the Lord come," that the prohibition is in force. After that the people of God will not err in judgment, having been themselves judged and made immortal; besides the Lord will then bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and make manifest the counsels of the heart. This will doubtless be done by placing in their hands the books which contain a record of all the deeds of the wicked. The angels that sinned, whom God delivered into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment (2 Pet. 2:4; Jude 6), will also be judged at the same time, in order to determine the measure of their guilt. In this work all the saints will engage. This is clearly set forth by the inspired writer:—

"For the Lord taketh pleasure in his people; he will beautify the meek with salvation. Let the saints be joyful in glory; let them sing aloud upon their beds. Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a two-edged sword in their hand; to execute vengeance upon the heathen, and punishments upon the people; to bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron; to execute upon them the judgment written; this honor have all his saints." Ps. 149:4-9.

The meek are beautified with salvation when they are changed to immortality; and the change to immortality is at the sounding of the last trump, and the resurrection of the just. Those who were seen by the revelator, sitting on thrones of judgment, are those who will have come up in the first resurrection, and those who shall be translated. They are then sitting with Christ in his throne, as he had previously sat with his Father in his throne (Rev. 3:21) and he shares with them the execution of the Judgment committed to him by the Father. This is the work that all the redeemed saints have the honor to engage in, during the thousand years that intervene between the two resurrections.

At the close of the thousand years, the wicked live again. Rev. 20:5. Satan then takes his place at their head, and marshals them about the city of God, which has already descended to earth (verses 7-9), with the evident intent of capturing it. This is probably the time when the wicked see the righteous in the kingdom of God, and realize that they themselves are thrust out. Luke 13:28. Then, as for the first time, perhaps, they fully appreciate the infinite sacrifice made for them in the death of Christ, and the mercy of God they have slighted, their frames will be convulsed with anguish, and every knee will then bow in acknowledgment of God's justice in thus dealing with them. Rom. 14:10-12. Fire then comes down from God out of heaven and devours them, after the example of Sodom and Gomorrah. Rev. 20:9; 2 Pet. 2:6. In the great conflagration that follows, the earth is melted, and clean dissolved, and a new earth in which only righteousness shall dwell, will spring forth in its place. This is according to the words of Peter: "But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up." "Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness." 2 Pet. 3:10, 13. All things will then have been made new. Rev. 21:5. The New Jerusalem will be the metropolis of the renewed earth, and the glory of God will fill the earth as the waters fill the sea. Hab. 2:14.

J. O. Corliss.