Judgment and 1844
Jer 2:19
"Your own wickedness will correct you, And your
backslidings will
rebuke you. Know therefore and see that it is
an evil and bitter
thing That you have forsaken the LORD your
God, And the fear
of Me is not in you," Says the Lord GOD of
hosts."
We have spent three
weeks discussing the topic of Judgment.
Last week we saw
that for the righteous, judgment is a very
positive thing.
The week before we reviewed how the day of
atonement was a
day of solmnity and joy, because the service
pointed to a substitute
for us in the judgment. We saw a
similar thing when
we looked at the sin offerings.
Today I want
to put this together as we look at the concept of
the investigative
judgment.
As you may
know, this doctrine has been the focus of much of
the discussion,
and even dissention in Adventism. I believe
that most Adventists,
however, have lost a correct view of this
belief.
Perhaps there
are two reasons. The doctrine grew out of the
great disappointment
that Christ did not return in 1844. As
they went back to
the scriptures, the Adventists finally came to
the conclusion that
the earth was not the sanctuary that Christ
was going to cleanse
at the end of the 2300 year prophecy.
Somewhere along
the line, the concept of judgment as
deliverance was
lost, and the fear of judgment took over the
thinking of the
people who had been so eager for it before.
Adventists
began to see the cleansing of the sanctuary in
Daniel 8:14
as the antitypical fulfillment of the Levitical Day
of Atonement.
But what is atonement? Is it not God's act of
saving a human being?
Is it not God's work in for us? "But God
commendeth his love
toward us, in that, while we were yet
sinners, Christ
died for us" (Rom. 5:8). Is that not atonement?
How is atonement
achieved? It happens only one way: through
blood.
"For the life
of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it
to you upon
the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for
it is the
blood that maketh an atonement for the soul" (Lev.
17:11).
Because of
this it seems to me that any day dedicated totally
to atonement_God's
work for us_must be very good news. How is
it, then, that we
have turned the antitypical day of atonement
into bad news?
Let's review.
Who is it that accuses in the judgment? (Satan)
What does
he use to accuse us? (The records of our lives.)
Did you ever stop
to think that Satan and his demons are keeping
records of your
life? Now I can't prove that from the Bible,
but it is only logical
that if he is going to present a case
against us that
there is evidence to draw from. And BTW, don't
get hung up
on the concept of books. I rather imagine that
there are few actual
books used for record keeping now, since
most things are
computerized. But we use the term books to
refer to the records
in whatever format they appear.
Anyway in the
judgment, when names of God's people come up,
Satan accuses them
before the Father. He points to the record
of their lives,
to the defects of character, the unlikeness to
Christ and all the
sins that he has tempted them to commit.
What happens
then? Jesus does not excuse their sins, but shows
their penitence
and faith, and, claiming for them forgiveness,
telling the Father,
Isa 49:16 "Behold, I have graven (them)
upon the palms of
my hands;.....
It doesn't
matter if this happens when we are alive or dead: if
we are converted
Christians, we are covered by Christ's blood.
Well, what
about (Eccl. 12:14) "For God shall bring every
work into judgment,
with every secret thing, whether it be
good, or whether
it be evil".
Of course,
the wonderful, liberating news of Christ as our
substitute in the
pre-Advent judgment never implies that
obedience to the
law is unimportant. Righteousness through
Jesus Christ, merely
frees us from the bondage and futility of
trying to be saved
by the law.
No matter
how adamant they were about justification by faith,
no matter
how they emphasized that we cannot save ourselves by
our works, the New
Testament writers were just as adamant about
obedience and a
righteous life.
Lets check
that out. "Little children," wrote John, "let no
man deceive you:
he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even
as he is righteous"
(I John 3:7).
"And they
that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the
affections
and lusts. If we live in the Spirit, let us also
walk in the Spirit"
(Gal. 5:24, 25).
"Do we then
make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea,
we establish the
law" (Rom. 3:31).
Don't
be under the delusion that righteousness by faith
doesn't require
honoring God's commands. Those who will not
honor God will one
day find themselves crushed by these words:
"I never knew
you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity
[lawlessness]"
(Matt. 7:23).
Christ, our
substitute in the judgment, doesn't do away with a
judgment by works,
either. On the contrary, works show that we
have a saving faith.
"Even so faith, if it hath not works, is
dead, being alone.
Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I
have works: shew
me thy faith without thy works, and I will
shew thee my faith
by my works" (James 2:17, 18).
Travis observes
correctly: "Paul's focus on relationship to
Christ is not in
conflict with his affirmation of judgment
according to works.
For he understands people's deeds as
evidence of their
character, showing whether their relationship
to God is fundamentally
one of faith or of unbelief.... At the
final judgment,
the evidence of their deeds will confirm the
reality of this
relationship."
As we see that judgment looks at our response to God's love
for us, I find it
unfortunate that for more than a century the
investigative judgment
has been twisted and even used as a
disciplinary tool!
As a result, instead of teaching the
pre-Advent judgment
as the climactic application of Calvary in
our behalf, many
Adventists have put the judgment in tension
with, and even in
opposition to, the cross. When salvation
should have been
rooted in what Christ has done for us,
investigative judgment
has been so taught that we have focused
attention upon ourselves
and how well we perform, a hopeless
prospect for even
the holiest and most sanctified Seventh-day
Adventist Christian.
No wonder
so many Adventists don't have assurance of
salvation. Far from
doing away with the gospel, however, the
pre-Advent judgment
_ when taught in relationship to the cross _
affirms that our
salvation comes only from faith in what Christ
has done for us,
and nothing else. Too bad many Adventists have
missed this crucial
aspect of the plan of salvation.
And by the
way, nothing in a Christian's faith can be taken
seriously without
the cross.
The question
naturally comes, though, why does God wait until
1844 for the judgment?
In the daily services of the earthly
sanctuary, the forgiveness
of the sinner was effected
immediately when
the sacrifice was killed. The blood was
effective immediately.
The sinner did not remain guilty until
the Day of Atonement.
But the result of the sin, death
symbolized by the
blood, stayed in the tabernacle until the Day
of Atonement.
Using this
as a model, judgment in a sense did not wait until
1844. In the
1500's when a sinner accepted Christ as their
savior and turned
to him, that sinner's sins were immediately
forgiven.
They were judged in Christ and found righteous by the
righteousness of
Christ. We can take it even further and say
that judgment was
completed as far as God was concerned at the
cross. Jesus
experienced the judgment for all of us there. Yet
the results of that
sin, the death of Christ, remained in the
heavenly sanctuary
in the form of records. And by the way, I
believe that the
very presence of Christ in heaven now is a
record of forgiveness
of sins.
Now God does
not need those records, for he knows everything.
He already knows
who will be in heaven and who won't. So any
records cannot be
for God's use. And Jesus does not need the
records, for he
knows what God knows. So what or who are the
records for?
I want to paint
you a picture, which is probably not exactly
how things happen,
but maybe we can use it as a model to help us
understand.
In this concept you need to remember the
requirement in the
Bible that condemnation must come by at least
two witnesses. Try
to picture it this way. The records are used
to plead our case.
Not in the terms of begging, as we mentioned
before, but in the
legal sense of entering a plea. Satan
presents his evidence
against all people. As the heavenly
records of the sinner
are examined, it agrees with the records
that Satan presents.
Therefore, the only plea that can be
entered is "Guilty
as charged." This person has confirmed by
their lifestyle
that they do not care for Jesus.
Then Satan
brings up the record of the righteous. His records
show sins, faults,
and backslidings. But The Lamb of God,
brings out His record,
and there is a page with one thing
written on it.
Saved by the Blood of the Lamb. Saved at the
cross of Calvary.
No other record. Therefore the plea "Not
Guilty" must be
entered. No judgment. No condemnation.
So in the practical
sense for you and me, and I presume I am
speaking to the
saints now, when does judgment come? Jesus said:
John 9:39
"And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this
world, that they
which see not might see; and that they which
see might be made
blind."
In other words,
Jesus is saying that in His life, death, and
resurrection judgment
HAD come.
Our judgment
hinges on what you do with Jesus Christ. The Jews
at Jesus trial before
Pilate were asked. Mat 27:22 .........
"What then shall
I do with Jesus who is called Christ?" They all
said to him, "Let
Him be crucified!""
Who really judged the mob and the leaders at Jesus' trial?
25 And
all the people answered and said, "His blood be on us
and on our children."
Who really
judges us? Remember the Hebrew concept of judge?
The one who was
to take the side of the accused unless it could
be proven by two
witnesses that the person was guilty? Who
accuses us.
Who defends us? Who makes the final decision?
What about
the text in 1 Pet 4:17 "For the time is come that
judgment must begin
at the house of God: and if it first begin
at us, what shall
the end be of them that obey not the gospel of
God?"
Peter is saying
that in his day, the time IS come. The sense
of the original
language is that judgment began in the house of
God at a point in
the past (from Peter's time) and continues on.
It begins
first, which can mean in time, or in importance, with
God's people.
After all, those who profess to know Christ are
the beloved in God's
sight.
If it begins
first with God's chosen (or those who choose God),
we have Peter contrasting
that with last, or the end in which
the focus is on
the wicked. That by which a thing is finished,
its close, or
the end to which all things relate, the aim,
purpose.
This happens
to those who 1) do not allow themselves to be
persuaded, who refuse
to believe, and who refuse to obey.
And I bet you didn't know that text was telling us all of that.
But going on,
Acts 24:25 records Paul's meeting with Felix:
And as he reasoned
of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to
come, Felix trembled,
and answered, Go thy way for this time;
when I have a convenient
season, I will call for thee.
You see in
this ruler the truths shared with us by Peter. He
put off salvation.
He did not allow himself to be persuaded.
Another thing
that I see in this text is that it speaks of a
judgment to come.
So how should
the Christian view the judgment to come? Surely
not as Felix who
trembled.
As we wrap
up the discussion of Judgment in the Bible, perhaps
we need to clarify
a few things about judgment.
There are and
have been judgments that God allows or even
causes down through
time. We have mentioned some. The flood.
Adam and Eve banished
from the garden. The punishment of Korah
Dathan and Abiram.
Sodom and Gomorrah. Ananias and Sapphira.
I am sure that some
have happened after Bible times, but we have
no divine record
of them.
Then there
was the judgment of the world. That was the
crucifixion of Jesus
on the cross. There the potential for
forgiveness for
all the sins of the world took place. It is a
point in time.
Then the Bible
tells us of a judgment where books are opened
and records are
compared. This takes place before the second
coming of Jesus.
In this process, the righteous are sealed for
eternity.
At the point when Jesus comes, it can be truthfully
said, Rev 22:11
"He who is unjust, let him be unjust still; he
who is filthy, let
him be filthy still; he who is righteous, let
him be righteous
still; he who is holy, let him be holy still."
This has to
be true because when Jesus comes, there is no doubt
as to who is righteous
and who is wicked. Not in the mind of
God. Not in
the mind of the wicked, who cry for destruction.
There is more
to the judgment of the wicked. Paul tells us in
1 Cor 6:3
"Do you not know that we shall judge angels? How much
more, things that
pertain to this life?"
The angels
here are obviously the wicked angels. And the lost
of the earth, I
believe will be judged by the righteous in the
same way.
This will take place during the millennium. We might
in our terminology
refer to this as an appeals court. The
decisions each person
has made will be made plain to the saved.
Then there is what some call the great white throne judgment.
Rev 20:11
Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on
it, from whose face
the earth and the heaven fled away. And
there was found
no place for them.
12 And I saw
the dead, small and great, standing before God,
and books were opened.
And another book was opened, which is the
Book of Life. And
the dead were judged according to their works,
by the things which
were written in the books.
13 The sea
gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades
delivered up the
dead who were in them. And they were judged,
each one according
to his works.
14 Then Death
and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This
is the second death.
15 And anyone
not found written in the Book of Life was cast
into the lake of
fire.
This describes
the final two phases of the judgment. With
every person ever
to live on the earth watching, God causes all
to see why the wicked
are not fit for eternal life. Keep in
mind that the righteous
have already been judged in Christ. The
execution of their
judgment has already begun, having been in
heaven for 1,000
years.
Now it is time
for the execution of the judgment upon the
wicked. But
one more thing must happen first. The wicked must
agree that God's
judgment is just. This passage tells us that
every knee bows,
righteous and wicked, and declare that God is
just.
Then the wicked,
having not changed a bit, charge the city to
take it from God
and the saints. Then God brings about the
final judgment of
the wicked, hell fire.
At that point
judgment is finished except for the righteous who
experience the judgment
of God on their behalf for eternity.
I can live with that kind of judgment, can't you?
Listen to
the words of Jesus. John 5:24 "Most assuredly, I
say to you, he who
hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me
has everlasting
life, and shall not come into judgment, but has
passed from death
into life.
25 "Most assuredly,
I say to you, the hour is coming, and now
is, when the dead
will hear the voice of the Son of God; and
those who hear will
live.
26 "For as
the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted
the Son to have
life in Himself,
27 "and has
given Him authority to execute judgment also,
because He is the
Son of Man.
28 "Do not
marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all
who are in the graves
will hear His voice
29 "and come
forth; those who have done good, to the
resurrection of
life, and those who have done evil, to the
resurrection of
condemnation.
Now
let's deal with perhaps the second most quoted text in
Adventism, and try
to get a careful reading of it.
Rev 14:6
Then I saw another angel flying in the midst of
heaven, having the
everlasting gospel to preach to those who
dwell on the earth;
to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people;
7 saying with
a loud voice, "Fear God and give glory to Him,
for the hour of
His judgment has come; and worship Him who made
heaven and earth,
the sea and springs of water."
Any of you
learn to diagram sentences in grade school? Let's
try to do that with
this passage. John in vision saw an angel
flying in heaven.
The angel had what for the world (gospel,
good news).
He was presenting this message loudly. That
message is what
I want to look at.
Fear God, can
mean fear in the usual sense, but here means to
reverence, venerate,
to treat with deference or reverential
obedience.
It can also mean to be amazed.
Then we are
to give glory. What does that mean in a practical
sense? In
the NT to give glory always means to give a good
opinion concerning
one, resulting in praise, honor, and glory.
Now for you
English majors, we have a dependent clause. "For
the hour, (or definite
time) of his judgment (opinion or
decision given concerning
anything esp. concerning justice and
injustice, right
or wrong) is come."
But listen
here. Is judgment the message? Or is it part of
the message?
The way my
Bible reads is that it is a footnote in the message.
And what is
that message? Fear God, give glory to him, and
worship him because
he is the creator of all things.
And as we read
on down, we find that this creator of all things
is planning a wonderful
recreation, and he has chosen to start
with his people.
As in the beginning when God created mankind
and said that it
was very good, so in the cross of Christ God
recreates mankind
and says that in Christ, man is very good.
Yes, there is a fearful judgment at the end of time.
2 Tim 4:1
I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord
Jesus Christ, who
shall judge the quick and the dead at his
appearing and his
kingdom;
Acts 10:42
And (Jesus) commanded us to preach unto the
people, and to testify
that it is he which was ordained of God
to be the Judge
of quick and dead.
In the book
of Hebrews, that book that depicts Jesus as our
merciful high priest,
we read:
Heb 10:27
But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and
fiery indignation,
which shall devour the adversaries.
28 He that
despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or
three witnesses:
29 Of how much
sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be
thought worthy,
who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and
hath counted the
blood of the covenant, wherewith he was
sanctified, an unholy
thing, and hath done despite unto the
Spirit of grace?
30 For we know
him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me,
I will recompense,
saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall
judge his people.
31 It is a
fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living
God.
That passage
presents a view that reflects the judgment that
the wicked will
experience, and why they will experience it.
Zep 2:3
speaks of a judgment as seen from the eyes of the
righteous. "Seek
ye the LORD, all ye meek of the earth, which
have wrought his
judgment; seek righteousness, seek meekness: it
may be ye shall
be hid in the day of the LORD'S anger."
Psa 7:10
"My defence is of God, which saveth the upright in
heart."
11 "God judgeth
the righteous, and God is angry with the wicked
every day."
But perhaps
it is best summed up in Jeremiah 23:5 Behold, the
days come, saith
the LORD, that I will raise unto David a
righteous Branch,
and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall
execute judgment
and justice in the earth.
6 In his days
Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell
safely: and this
is his name whereby he shall be called, THE
LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.
In summary,
I believe that 1844, as it relates to judgment and
this earth, , is
the beginning of the end time when God's people
are called to preach,
teach and most importantly live, the good
news of the gospel.
To show by their lives that they have
experienced the
peace, joy, and deliverance that come in Christ
and worshipping
the Creator God. To demonstrate that in Christ
they have been judged
and acquitted, and live in response to
that good news.
1 John 4:17
"Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have
boldness in the
day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in
this world." 18
There is no fear in love; but perfect love
casteth out fear:
because fear hath torment. He that feareth is
not made perfect
in love.