Judgment "Is Come."

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Mountain View, California · Nov 23, 1904

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 30, No. 46.

Judgment "Is Come."

"And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting Gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His judgment is come; and worship Him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters." Rev. 14:6, 7.

THE solemn announcement contained in this Scripture is to be made to all the world just before the coming of the Lord. Compare verses 14 and 16. The "everlasting Gospel," the Gospel of the ages, is to be heralded everywhere in view of the fact that "the hour of His judgment is come."

The reader will notice a few scriptures showing the force of the announcement and appeal, as it is found in the text. The Lord, by Solomon, says: "Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil." Eccl. 8:11. How often we see this verified. Men do evil, and because God's judgments do not follow at once, they soon become almost, and finally fully, abandoned to wickedness. This condition became general in the world in Noah's time. See Gen. 6:5: "Every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." And thus the Saviour said it would be in the days just preceding His second coming. See Matt. 24:37-39; 2 Tim. 3:1-5.

Since it is the natural tendency with men to follow the bent of their hearts toward evil, and more and more since judgment is not meted out when the offense is committed, it follows necessarily that with the preaching of the Gospel there should be held out the certainty of coming judgment. This would have as great effect as any other thing could to hold men and women in restraint from doing evil. "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad." 2 Cor. 5:10. What we have done will determine our destiny. This is the only equitable basis upon which judgment could be reasonably passed in the case of morally responsible creatures.

The office work of the Holy Spirit is to keep the certainty of judgment before the minds of men, as well as to convince of sin and of righteousness. John 16:7, 8. When Paul preached the Gospel to the Athenians, who knew not God, his appeal to them to repent was made "because He hath appointed a day, in the which He will judge the world." See Acts 17:22, 23, 30, 31. This same preacher of the Gospel reasoned before Felix of "judgment to come." Acts 24:24, 25. The effect of this preaching was that "Felix trembled." God calls upon all the people of the land to tremble, because the day of the Lord is near and hasteth greatly. Zeph. 1:14.

Paul exhorts the Gospel minister to preach in view of the judgment at the last day. 2 Tim. 4:1, 2. Solomon, after speaking of the fact of man's existence and his destiny, states the "conclusion of the whole matter" as follows: "Fear God, and keep His commandments; . . . for God shall bring every work into judgment." Eccl. 12:13, 14.

Judgment "Is Come."

And thus it has been in the past, men who have spoken for God to a world in sin, urging them to repent, have appealed in view of judgment to come. But now we are in a time when even a stronger appeal is to be made to men. More solemn than judgment to come is the fact that the great tribunal which will settle forever the destinies of men is set in heaven, and that the records of human lives are passing under the inspection of the all-searching Eye. Hence it becomes us to examine the scriptures by which it may be known that "the hour of His judgment is come."

Several lines of prophecy in the book of Daniel culminate in the setting up of God's everlasting kingdom, after the final overthrow of the kingdoms of this world. In the seventh chapter, following the history of earth's great empires under striking symbols, there is given a very graphic description of the judgment. See verses 9-11. The two following chapters deal with the chronology of that great event in a way to leave no question as to when it is that the message is due, "The hour of His judgment is come." Rev. 14:7.

Under the symbols of a ram and a goat the kingdoms of Medo-Persia and Greece are set forth, and their work described. See verses 20 and 21 of chapter 8. The Roman Empire follows Grecia, under the symbol of a little horn, that power which "stood up against the Prince of princes," the Son of God. See verses 9-11, 24, 25.

The history of Rome was one of such unparalleled tyranny and cruelty, and the duration of its bloody history was so prolonged, that a holy one, as he viewed it, was constrained to ask the question, "How long shall be the vision?" concerning the abomination which caused both the sanctuary (the ministration of our High Priest in heaven) and the host (the church of God) to be trodden underfoot. The answer immediately follows: "Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed." Verses 13, 14.

This time is more fully set forth in a previous article, entitled "An Object Lesson in Redemption." It is there shown that the cleansing of the sanctuary culminates in the blotting out of sins; or the cleansing of that place from the sins of the penitent, which have been kept there in the records of men's lives till the great tribunal should determine their destiny. See Acts 3:19-21; Rev. 20:12.

In the ninth chapter of Daniel the chronology of the 2,300-day period is fixed. The Jews were in captivity in Babylon, and their city in ruins, because of their sins. Read 2 Chron. 36:11-17. Now the seventy years of their captivity is nearing its close; and Daniel, understanding this (verses 1-3), is praying to God to remember His covenant, and in mercy to turn away His displeasure from His disobedient people. Dan. 9:1-19. The angel Gabriel comes to him with words of comfort and assurance. Verses 21-23.

Beginning his explanation of the 2,300 days, or years (see Eze. 4:4-6; Num. 14:34), the angel says to the praying prophet: "Seventy weeks are determined upon [marked off, or allotted to] thy people, . . . to make an end of sins." Verse 24. God was to give to the people, whom He had so long and so highly favored, this one more opportunity to cease from the sins which had darkened their history. If they still prove untrue at the end of the seventy weeks (490 days, or years), we will look for their rejection as a nation.

Cutting off 490 years from 2,300 we have 1,810 left. The 490 years begin with the command-ment "to restore and to build Jerusalem." Verse 25. The going forth of this decree was in B.C. 457. (See Ezra 7:7, and date in margin. See also article entitled "An Object Lesson in Redemption.") More strictly speaking, it was about 456 1/2 full years before Christ. Counting forward from this date 490 years (the seventy weeks) brings us to A.D. 33 1/2, or the autumn of A.D. 34. Subtracting as follows will make this clear: 490—456 1/2 equals 33 1/2. Thus we are brought to that eventful year—A.D. 34—when, because of their refusal to repent and to accept the gift of God in His only-begotten Son, they (the Jews) were set aside as a nation. Thenceforth the Gospel of salvation was to go to all nations without respect of persons. See Acts 10:28, 34, 35. When the Gospel of the kingdom is given to all the world for a witness, the end will come. Matt. 24:14. In the heralding of the everlasting Gospel announcing that the hour of God's judgment is come, this is done. See Rev. 14:6, 7.

Now add the remainder of the 2,300 years—the 1,810 after cutting off the 490—to A.D. 34, the year to which the 490 reached, and we are brought to the autumn of 1844. Then began the judgment in heaven to fix the destinies of men and to blot out sins forever. This mathematical calculation is so definite that all question is dismissed, and the conclusion comes with all its solemn weight to us living at this time that "the hour of His judgment is come." It gives force to the appeal which goes with the solemn announcement, "Fear God, and give glory to Him."

In the light of these things it is a fact fraught with meaning to us, that just at the time named above, at the close of the 2,300 years, in 1844, there was being heralded to the world, till every missionary station on the globe had heard it, the most solemn announcement that could be made to men: The judgment hour is here, and the coming of the Lord is near at hand. Many in America, and men in other countries in the same manner, and even children in those places where the state law restricted the freedom of the pulpit, gave this message to the world with a solemnity and power which carried conviction to thousands. The hand of God, so manifestly in that work, has led in the promulgation of this message until it is now heard in all quarters of the earth; and soon every nation and kindred shall have had the warning. Then the Desire of all nations shall come, and we shall see "the King in His beauty."

Dear reader, judgment bound with me, will you not now, if you have never heretofore given thought to it, study these great truths? The most fitting appeal that can be made in conclusion, is to quote again the words of the message: "Fear God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His judgment is come; and worship Him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters." Rev. 14:7. Amen.