Our Saviour and Lord by George W. Reaser

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Sep 3, 1912

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 39, No. 34.

Our Saviour and Lord

By George W. Reaser

Christ as Our Judge

A CAREFUL Bible student can readily discover three general judgments brought to view in the Word of God. Two of these are investigative and decisive, and one executive. The first of these in point of time, mentioned in Dan. 7:9, 10, takes place before the close of probation, and has to do with the members of our race who, having once been converted, have had their names registered by their guardian angels in "the Book of Life." Luke 10:20; Phil. 4:3. The second, briefly described in 1 Cor. 6:1-3 and Rev. 20:4, immediately follows the close of probation, and deals with the cases of wicked men and fallen angels, its session lasting a thousand years. The third and last is prophetically mentioned in Jude 14, 15, and consists in the execution of "the judgment written" (Ps. 149:9), upon the finally unrepentant and incorrigible.

The first two of these, or the courts of judgment, are held in heaven; the third—the execution of judgment—upon the earth. The latter really constitutes the work of gathering out of Christ's kingdom "all things that offend, and them which do iniquity," and casting them into a furnace of fire, to prepare for the setting up of His eternal kingdom in our world, when it is purified and cleansed from sin. The fact that the earth purified will be the eternally blissful home of the redeemed, and that the execution of judgment upon the wicked will take place in the earth, explains the statement recorded in Prov. 11:31, employed by some to prove the unscriptural doctrine of universal salvation. The text reads, "Behold, the righteous shall be recompensed in the earth: much more the wicked and the sinner."

In speaking of the premillennial judgment upon the cases of those whose names have been registered in the Book of Life, Paul informs us that some men's sins go beforehand to judgment, while other men's sins follow after (1 Tim. 5:24); and Peter states "that judgment must begin at the house of God." 1 Peter 4:17.

A few moments' reflection will show the wisdom of holding this judgment session before probation closes and Christ comes the second time. When He appears, it is not to hold a session of judgment to determine who are worthy to be the happy subjects of His eternal kingdom. Consider what that would mean. Suppose, reader, that you and I, living near the close of time, as we undoubtedly are, should be called personally before the court of heaven, and there, for a period of years, or until all previous cases from the foundation of the world had been decided, were compelled to wait for our names to be called up in chronological order. Can you imagine anything that would produce more excruciating mental anxiety? Can you think for a moment that the Lord will cause His people to pass through such a painful and unnecessary ordeal? The rejection of many as candidates for eternal life would make the mental strain tremendously more tense upon those who would still be in waiting for the reading of their names. How each one would tremble when his name

should be called by the court crier, lest he should be weighed in the balance, and be found wanting!

Be assured that Heaven has a better, a wiser, a more humane way of conducting the court investigation upon judgment-bound mortals than the one just described. As a matter of fact, none whose cases are pending will be physically present to respond to their names, nor will they know when their individual cases are tried. The great majority, having passed off the stage of action, will be sleeping in their graves while the judgment is in session; and many of those who have been registered as children of God out of the very last generation before the coming of the King, will be living and going about their regular avocations while their lives are passing the final searching test during "court week" in heaven.

The Purpose of the Pre-Advent Judgment

What is Heaven's better way of conducting judgment? This question will be answered by a consideration of the purpose of the judgment in the cases of those whose names have once been recorded in "the Lamb's Book of Life."

The fact that some "who were once enlightened," who had "tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost," and had "tasted the good Word of God, and the powers of the world to come," have fallen away beyond the possibility of being again renewed to repentance, is too patent to require proof. The names of such, altho once written by the recording angels in the Book of Life, will not be retained therein, but instead, will "be blotted out of the book of the living, and not be written with the righteous." Ps. 69: 28. While, on the other hand, those who fight the good fight, finish their life course victorious over sin, and keep the faith till the end, will retain their places, the registration of their names in the Book of Life.

Luke informs us that some will "be accounted worthy to obtain" homes in the future sinless world. Luke 20: 35. The judgment work is the accounting process by which the decision is reached concerning the righteous dead, that they are considered "worthy" of a part in "the first resurrection" (Rev. 20: 6), which is the resurrection to "life." John 5: 29. At the close of this investigative judgment, Christ will be escorted by the angels before the Father, to receive His kingdom. Dan. 7: 13, 14. How inconsistent, unthinkable, it would be to deliver to Him "the Book of Life," the register of the subjects of His kingdom, and some names still be found therein who had not been "accounted worthy" to receive eternal life! Heaven will not engage in any such procedure as that. The subjects of His kingdom will all be made up while He still acts in the capacity of intercessor and advocate for His disciples. And when the register, "the Book of Life," is delivered to Him after the declaration of His kingship, there will be no more names to be effaced from it. Coincident with His taking His kingdom, human probation closes, and hence a time of trouble for the children of men; but "at that time thy people [the subjects of Christ's kingdom] shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book." Dan. 12: 1.

Jesus' Part in the Pre-Advent Judgment

In human courts, each person having a case pending secures an attorney, an advocate, to safeguard his interests. Frequently fabulous prices are paid to secure the best possible advocate. If the individual having a criminal case before the court is not financially able to employ an attorney, it is the duty of the state to provide a suitable counselor at law to plead the case of the accused.

Even so in the supreme court of the universe. Heaven provides the best, the wisest, the most sympathetic Advocate that it is possible to obtain. While the angels have faithfully performed their part in recording the thoughts, words, and deeds of each individual, which record witnesses either for or against the one on trial, angels could not consistently act as advocates for our race, for they were never members of our human family, having been created on a higher plane. There is but one in heaven who can consistently act as advocate for humanity. He is the member of the Godhead who was "made in the likeness of sinful flesh," who "was in all points tempted like as we are," who was in all things "made like unto His brethren," who is our elder Brother, and who paid the penalty for all pardonable sin. And so it is

written, "If any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: and He is the propitiation for our sins." 1 John 2: 1, 2. He knows by experience the terrible pressure of temptation brought to bear upon us; and having paid for our redemption from the curse of sin—from the sentence of eternal death—He gladly acts as our advocate. And if He has witnessed in us a fixed purpose to overcome sin, to develop characters like His own, He will plead in our behalf, and by His merits present us "faultless" before the Father, "with exceeding joy." The gift of His life upon the cross was an expression of His ardent desire to act as our advocate. The righteousness of His character, and as our substitute the efficacy of His blood, give force to His pleading in our behalf.

But there must be on our part a laying hold of His strength to overcome sin, as it is written, "He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment [the righteousness of Christ]; 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.

There will be no person present when the court is in session, to condemn; for Satan,

"the accuser of the brethren," was cast out of heaven after the triumph of Calvary, "and his angels were cast out with him." None of these will therefore appear in the investigative judgment. There is only one thing that will condemn; that is the unbiased record of our lives, kept by angels who were anxious for our salvation.

"What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?" "Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us." Rom. 8: 31, 33, 34. Thus it is seen that Christ acts a special part in that judgment which we have reason to believe is even now in session, at the conclusion of which the subjects of His kingdom will be made up, the door closed which no man can open, with no possibility of admittance into the redeemed family thereafter. Those who will not permit Him to reign over them, and who have not by confessing Him secured His services as advocate, will be identified with the "things that offend, and them which do iniquity," to be gathered out of His kingdom, and "cast into a furnace of fire," that there may be nothing offensive, nothing impure, nothing to perpetuate sin and misery and thus mar the happiness of His eternal kingdom.

The Post-Advent Judgment

In the millennial judgment, which deals with the cases of wicked men and fallen angels, in which the redeemed members of our human family will all sit as jurors, there will be no advocate to plead. Why then this judgment?—In order that intelligent beings may be supremely happy in the worship

of Jehovah, they must know that He is absolute perfection of character. Hence this second session of judgment. When "the books are opened," and all hidden things are brought to light, it will be perfectly clear, to all survivors of the ravages of sin, that God has dealt in absolute justice with all His creatures; and when the judgment closes, this universal acclaim will burst forth from the hearts and lips of all the saints: "Just and true are Thy ways, Thou King of saints." If there were a lingering suspicion in the hearts of any that He was not "just and true," He could not be crowned in their hearts "King of saints." But no such suspicion will survive the millennial judgment.

The Final Execution of Judgment

There is but one Being in the universe that, in the wisdom of Heaven, is perfectly prepared by experience and knowledge to execute judgment upon the finally lost.

That one is Jesus Christ. Hear Him saying that the Father "hath given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man." John 5: 27. Question: Why was not authority to execute judgment given to Him because He was the Son of God?—If Jehovah Himself should execute judgment, visit the death penalty upon lost men, there would be occasion for some rebellious voice to raise the cry of "injustice," because Jehovah has not condescended to take upon Himself human nature, and endure all of the temptations to which humanity is heir. Hence Jesus, as the Son of God, could not, in the wisdom of Heaven, execute judgment. But the charge of injustice can not be raised when Jesus executes judgment, for He partook of our nature in the fullest sense. He was made in all things "like unto His brethren," and yet He never was overcome by temptation, never yielded to sin. He maintained perfect, absolute righteousness of character while

dwelling in sinful flesh and while meeting the fiercest possible temptations from the prince of devils. He is the one member of our race who can condemn sin in the flesh. And being Himself sinless, He paid the full penalty for the sins of the entire human family, so that every one might escape condemnation in the judgment and go free. Surely He is the one best qualified, by experience, to execute judgment upon those who have spurned eternal life, offered at the price which He paid to take away our sins on the cross of Calvary.

Inasmuch as there is no true happiness apart from righteousness, no real joy divorced from the worship of Jehovah, in whose "presence is fulness of joy," at whose "right hand there are pleasures forevermore," so in the terminating of misery, rebellion, sin, the Son of Man will be the same personification of love as when, just before He expired upon the cross, He breathed the prayer for His tormentors, "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do." It is the wisest, the best, the most merciful plan in the end, to have a clean universe, no sin, no rebellion, no cursing God, no temptation, no death, no weeping.