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THE JUDGMENT OF THE GREAT DAY

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Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Tuesday, February 17, 1885

FromThe Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, Vol. 62, No. 7

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THE JUDGMENT OF THE GREAT DAY.

(Continued.)
As we turn to this branch of the subject, namely, the nature of the work involved in the cleansing of the sanctuary or the investigative Judgment, another class of declarations which we find in the Scriptures at once suggests itself.
In Acts 3:19, 20 we read: “Repent ye therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; and he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you.” The original admits of a little different translation. Thus, Mr. Wesley, in his notes on the New Testament, reads the passage: “Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, that the times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and he may send to you Christ Jesus, who was before appointed.”
Speaking of these two translations, Albert Barnes, in his notes on the Acts, says: “The grammatical construction will admit of either.”
So far as the point now under notice is concerned, it matters not which one of these is adopted. One represents the blotting out of sin to be when the times of refreshing arrive; the other makes the blotting out of sin to be the cause of the coming of that refreshing. But neither of them gives the idea that this blotting out of sin takes place when the sinner turns to God. Both of them locate it in the future; and both of them represent it as just preceding the second coming of Christ. And this is especially true of the latter translation which follows the original in using a conditional verb respecting Christ’s advent; not as though that were at all a doubtful event, but rather as if his coming to the personal salvation of the ones addressed, depended upon their having part in the promised refreshing, and as if that refreshing was to come in consequence of the blotting out of sins.
The relation of this work of blotting out of sins to the second coming of Christ, determines when it must take place. It just precedes that coming: but the last work Christ does before his coming, is to make the atonement in the most holy place of the heavenly sanctuary. This, therefore, must be the time when and the place where this work is done. But if sins are to be blotted out, they must somewhere be written; and before they can be blotted out, the books which contain those records must be examined. On this point the Scriptures are very explicit. Thus, the Lord says by Jeremiah: “For though thou wash thee with nitre, and take thee much soap, yet thine iniquity is marked before me.” Jer. 2:22. By Moses the Lord speaks as follows: “Is not this laid up in store with me, and sealed up among my treasures.” Deut. 32:34. In precisely the same manner speaks the apostle Paul: “But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who will render to every man according to his deeds.” Rom. 2:5, 6.
Such expressions as these—“iniquity marked,” “laid up in store,” “wrath treasured up,” etc.—can mean nothing less than that God takes notice of men’s sins, and that every one is accurately marked before him. All the texts which speak of the blotting out of sin must have reference to the same great fact. David accordingly prays that God would blot out his transgressions. Ps. 51:1, 9. Nehemiah prays respecting certain ones that their sins may not be blotted out. Neh. 4:5. David and Jeremiah make use of similar language. Ps. 109:14; Jer. 18:23. In Isa. 44:22, 23, the prophet speaks prophetically of the blotting out of sin, connecting it with the new creation and final redemption, but using the past tense for the future as is common in prophetic language. And in the previous chapter (43:25) he speaks of this blotting out of sins as being necessary in order that they may be no more remembered.
The existence of these books of record, and the use that is made of them in the great work of Judgment, are matters of the most explicit revelation. In that awe-inspiring view of the Judgment given to the prophet Daniel, he says: “The Ancient of days did sit. . . . Thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him: the Judgment was set and the books were opened.” Dan. 7:9, 10. John also saw the books in connection with the Judgment work. He says: “And I saw the dead small and great stand before God; and the books were opened; and another book was opened which is the book of life; and the dead were judged out of those things written in the books, according to their works.” Rev. 20:12. Thus it is evident that the sins of all men are entered upon the unerring heavenly records, and that the time is coming when the sins of all those who have repented and been converted, will be blotted out.
But there are other books besides the one from the records of which judgment is meted out to the wicked, as in Rev. 20:12. In Mal. 3:16 we read: “Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another; and the Lord hearkened and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon his name. And they shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them as a man spareth his own son that serveth him. Then shall ye return and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not.” Nehemiah offered this prayer to God: “Remember me, O my God, concerning this, and wipe not out my good deeds that I have done for the house of my God, and for the offices thereof.”
The book here referred to seems to be written for the righteous only, and hence to be designed to record their endeavors in the cause of Christ. No names would be recorded therein except the names of those who enter the service of God. But the Scriptures assure us that not all who enter upon this service will persevere and prove overcomers at last. This book will therefore show just how far they advanced in the work of overcoming, and how and when they failed. The object of this book being to contain only the good deeds of the righteous, such as they have endeavored to perform in the name and for the sake of Christ, it must show all their acts of obedience, sacrifice, self-denial, repentance, confession, and other efforts in the Christian life. When their life record is finished, if they have kept the faith and overcome, then this book will show, when the time comes for the examination of the books in the Judgment, that they are prepared for the ordeal and are entitled to a favorable decision. From the records of this book their destiny must accordingly be determined, and this is the book that is to show them worthy of a part in the first resurrection, and in the world to come.
But there is still another book which is to be taken into account, called “the book of life.” Rev. 20:12. It is spoken of also as “the Lamb’s book of life.” Rev. 13:8; 21:27. Its purpose is to contain the names of all those who have become followers of the Lamb. It is a record of those who will find deliverance in the great time of trouble. Dan. 12:1. “And at that time, the people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.” It is the grand roll of honor of all those who are entitled to an entrance at last into the city of God. Rev. 21:27. But though a person may have entered God’s service, and had his name registered in the book of life, unless he perseveres to the end, his name will be blotted out of that book. Rev. 3:5. “He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment, 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.” From this declaration the opposite inevitably follows; namely, that those who do not overcome will have their names blotted out of the book of life. And the time when this is to be done is also indicated. It is when Christ confesses the names of his people before his Father, which must be in the investigative session with which the Judgment opens, and which results in “accounting worthy” as many are entitled to eternal life.
This blotting out of the sins of the righteous is to them an event of the utmost importance; for once blotted out, these sins can never be brought against them again in the Judgment, since men give account to God only for those things which are written in the books. No individual therefore can have his sins blotted out until the close of his probation. And in order for the question to be determined whether they shall be blotted out or not, the books must be examined.
We now have before us the different books which are to be brought into requisition before the Judgment is completed. These are—
1. The books which contain the records of the sins of all men, in which the names of all men are entered, and from which the sins of the righteous will be blotted out, on their acquittal in the Judgment.
2. The books of remembrance written for the righteous only, in which their names only are entered, and which contain simply their good deeds, that is, their efforts to serve God and overcome sin. From these books all the records pertaining to those who do not succeed in overcoming will be blotted out; for “when the righteous turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, and doeth according to all the abominations that the wicked man doeth, . . . all his righteousness that he hath done shall not be mentioned.” Eze. 18:24.
3. The book of life, containing the names only of those who have made a profession of Christ, from which the names of all those who finally fail to overcome are to be blotted out. Rev. 3:5.
All these books are requisite to the opening Judgment scene described in Daniel 7:9, 10; for they each contain records which are affected thereby. The first must be opened that the sins of the overcomers may be blotted therefrom; the second, that all the abortive efforts of backsliders and apostates may be blotted from its pages; the third, that the names of this latter class may also be blotted from its record, leaving the names only of those who have overcome, and who are to have immortality brought to them at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
It is evident that the result of the blotting out work is to draw the final line of separation between the righteous and the wicked and decide all cases. But this, as we have seen, is just what is accomplished by the cleansing of the sanctuary,—the work of the atonement in the most holy place of the tabernacle on high. Such, then, is the nature of the work of the investigative Judgment. It consists in the examination of the books, the blotting out of the sins of the overcomers, and the erasing from the book of life of the names of all who have failed to overcome.
As the object of the investigative Judgment is simply to decide who are Christ’s that they may be “at his coming” (1 Cor. 15:23), it is evident that the only cases which come up for examination in this division of the Judgment with a view to determining whether they are the Lord’s or not, are those who have at some time made a profession of the same. For those who have never made a profession of the service of God, have already decided for themselves the only question which it is the object of this investigative Judgment to determine, that is, to which class, righteous or wicked, they belong; for by their course of life they have proclaimed themselves his enemies, and on that question there is nothing further to be decided in their cases. Nor would there be anything further to be decided in case of professing Christians, if it were a fact that all who enter the service of Christ are absolutely sure of overcoming. But all do not hold out to the end; hence the necessity of examining their cases to ascertain who have done so and who have failed.
It follows, therefore, that the important book—the decisive book—in this part of the Judgment, the book of God’s remembrance, containing not the names of the wicked world in general, but only those who have professed to be followers of God. These cases alone come up in the investigative Judgment; for as we have seen, there is no occasion to introduce any others at this point. The records of this book determine whose sins shall be blotted out of the book where they are recorded, their names retained in the book of life, and on the other hand whose sins shall remain uncanceled to be answered for in a future division of the Judgment, and their names be blotted from the book of life, and their good deeds from this book of God’s remembrance.
The accomplishment of this work strikes the final balance-sheet of the world. The records are all complete. The blotting out of sins and names, from their respective books, is all finished. The names then remaining in the book of life show who are to be raised from the dead, and who are changed among the living, at the coming of Christ. Let it be noticed that this branch of the Judgment work has but one specific purpose, and that is to decide the question of acceptance or rejection, or life or death for all mankind. It simply assigns them to their respective classes, the good or the evil. It does not determine the amount of the reward due to the righteous, or the amount of punishment to be inflicted upon the wicked. Those matters still remain to be settled by the record of the deeds of the wicked, not yet examined at all, and by the records of the good works of the righteous remaining in the book of remembrance, which has thus far been examined only on the question of character.
In this part of the Judgment God acts as Judge, Christ as Advocate. Here Christ confesses before his Father the names of those who have confessed him before men; and their names are not blotted from the book of life; and here he also denies before his Father the names of those who deny him before men; and their names are blotted from the book of life. Matt. 10:32, 33; Rev. 3:5. Thus the Father accepts through Christ all who are his; and this being done, his part in the work of Judgment ends. Thenceforward all judgment is committed unto the Son. John 5:22.
(To be continued.)