understand the height of the Christian’s privilege. He opens before them,
in the most comprehensive language, the marvelous power and knowledge that
they might possess as sons and daughters of the Most High. It was theirs
“to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man,” to be
“rooted and grounded in love,” to “comprehend with all saints what is the
breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of
Christ, which passeth knowledge.” But the prayer of the apostle reaches
the climax of privilege when he prays that “ye might be filled with all
the fulness of God.”(823)
Here are revealed the heights of attainment that we may reach through
faith in the promises of our heavenly Father, when we fulfil His
requirements. Through the merits of Christ, we have access to the throne
of Infinite Power. “He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up
for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all
things?”(824) The Father gave His Spirit without measure to His Son, and
we also may partake of its fulness. Jesus says: “If ye then, being evil,
know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your
heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him?”(825) “If ye
shall ask anything in My name, I will do it.” “Ask, and ye shall receive,
that your joy may be full.”(826)
While the Christian’s life will be characterized by humility, it should
not be marked with sadness and self-depreciation. It is the privilege of
every one so to live that God will approve and bless him. It is not the
will of our heavenly Father that we should be ever under condemnation and
darkness. There is no evidence of true humility in going with the head
bowed down and the heart filled with thoughts of self. We may go to Jesus
and be cleansed, and stand before the law without shame and remorse.
“There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus,
who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”(827)
Through Jesus the fallen sons of Adam become “sons of God.” “Both He that
sanctifieth and they that are sanctified are all of one: for which cause
He is not ashamed to call them brethren.”(828) The Christian’s life should
be one of faith, of victory, and joy in God. “Whatsoever is born of God
overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world,
even our faith.”(829) Truly spake God’s servant Nehemiah, “The _joy_ of
the Lord is your strength.”(830) And Paul says: “Rejoice in the Lord
alway: and again I say, Rejoice.” “Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing.
In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus
concerning you.”(831)
Such are the fruits of Bible conversion and sanctification; and it is
because the great principles of righteousness set forth in the law of God
are so indifferently regarded by the Christian world, that these fruits
are so rarely witnessed. This is why there is manifest so little of that
deep, abiding work of the Spirit of God which marked revivals in former
years.
It is by beholding that we become changed. And as those sacred precepts in
which God has opened to men the perfection and holiness of His character
are neglected, and the minds of the people are attracted to human
teachings and theories, what marvel that there has followed a decline of
living piety in the church. Saith the Lord, “They have forsaken Me the
fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns,
that can hold no water.”(832)
“Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly.... But
his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in His law doth he meditate day
and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water,
that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not
wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.”(833) It is only as the law
of God is restored to its rightful position that there can be a revival of
primitive faith and godliness among His professed people. “Thus saith the
Lord, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is
the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your
souls.”(834)
28. THE INVESTIGATIVE JUDGMENT.
[Illustration: Chapter header.]
“I beheld,” says the prophet Daniel, “till thrones were placed, and One
that was ancient of days did sit: His raiment was white as snow, and the
hair of His head like pure wool; His throne was fiery flames, and the
wheels thereof burning fire. A fiery stream issued and came forth from
before Him: thousand thousands ministered unto Him, and ten thousand times
ten thousand stood before Him: the judgment was set, and the books were
opened.”(835)
Thus was presented to the prophet’s vision the great and solemn day when
the characters and the lives of men should pass in review before the Judge
of all the earth, and to every man should be rendered “according to his
works.” The Ancient of days is God the Father. Says the psalmist, “Before
the mountains were brought forth, or ever Thou hadst formed the earth and
the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, Thou art God.”(836) It is
He, the source of all being, and the fountain of all law, that is to
preside in the judgment. And holy angels, as ministers and witnesses, in
number “ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands,”
attend this great tribunal.
“And, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and
came to the Ancient of days, and they brought Him near before Him. And
there was given Him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people,
nations, and languages, should serve Him: His dominion is an everlasting
dominion, which shall not pass away.”(837) The coming of Christ here
described is not His second coming to the earth. He comes to the Ancient
of days in heaven to receive dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, which
will be given Him at the close of His work as a mediator. It is this
coming, and not His second advent to the earth, that was foretold in
prophecy to take place at the termination of the 2300 days in 1844.
Attended by heavenly angels, our great High Priest enters the holy of
holies, and there appears in the presence of God, to engage in the last
acts of His ministration in behalf of man,—to perform the work of
investigative judgment, and to make an atonement for all who are shown to
be entitled to its benefits.
In the typical service, only those who had come before God with confession
and repentance, and whose sins, through the blood of the sin-offering,
were transferred to the sanctuary, had a part in the service of the day of
atonement. So in the great day of final atonement and investigative
judgment, the only cases considered are those of the professed people of
God. The judgment of the wicked is a distinct and separate work, and takes
place at a later period. “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?”(838)
The books of record in heaven, in which the names and the deeds of men are
registered, are to determine the decisions of the judgment. Says the
prophet Daniel, “The judgment was set, and the books were opened.” The
revelator, describing the same scene, adds, “Another book was opened,
which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things
which were written in the books, according to their works.”(839)
The book of life contains the names of all who have ever entered the
service of God. Jesus bade His disciples, “Rejoice, because your names are
written in heaven.”(840) Paul speaks of his faithful fellow-workers,
“whose names are in the book of life.”(841) Daniel, looking down to “a
time of trouble, such as never was,” declares that God’s people shall be
delivered, “every one that shall be found written in the book.” And the
revelator says that those only shall enter the city of God whose names
“are written in the Lamb’s book of life.”(842)
“A book of remembrance” is written before God, in which are recorded the
good deeds of “them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon His
name.”(843) Their words of faith, their acts of love, are registered in
heaven. Nehemiah refers to this when he says, “Remember me, O my God, ...
and wipe not out my good deeds that I have done for the house of my
God.”(844) In the book of God’s remembrance every deed of righteousness is
immortalized. There every temptation resisted, every evil overcome, every
word of tender pity expressed, is faithfully chronicled. And every act of
sacrifice, every suffering and sorrow endured for Christ’s sake, is
recorded. Says the psalmist, “Thou tellest my wanderings: put Thou my
tears into Thy bottle: are they not in Thy book?”(845)
There is a record also of the sins of men. “For God shall bring every work
into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it
be evil.” “Every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account
thereof in the day of judgment.” Said the Saviour: “By thy words thou
shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.”(846) The
secret purposes and motives appear in the unerring register; for God “will
bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the
counsels of the hearts.”(847) “Behold, it is written before Me, ... your
iniquities, and the iniquities of your fathers together, saith the
Lord.”(848)
Every man’s work passes in review before God, and is registered for
faithfulness or unfaithfulness. Opposite each name in the books of heaven
is entered, with terrible exactness, every wrong word, every selfish act,
every unfulfilled duty, and every secret sin, with every artful
dissembling. Heaven-sent warnings or reproofs neglected, wasted moments,
unimproved opportunities, the influence exerted for good or for evil, with
its far-reaching results, all are chronicled by the recording angel.
The law of God is the standard by which the characters and the lives of
men will be tested in the judgment. Says the wise man: “Fear God, and keep
His commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring
every work into judgment.”(849) The apostle James admonishes his brethren,
“So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of
liberty.”(850)
Those who in the judgment are “accounted worthy,” will have a part in the
resurrection of the just. Jesus said, “They which shall be accounted
worthy to obtain that world, and the resurrection from the dead, ... are
equal unto the angels; and are the children of God, being the children of
the resurrection.”(851) And again He declares that “they that have done
good” shall come forth “unto the resurrection of life.”(852) The righteous
dead will not be raised until after the judgment at which they are
accounted worthy of “the resurrection of life.” Hence they will not be
present in person at the tribunal when their records are examined and
their cases decided.
Jesus will appear as their advocate, to plead in their behalf before God.
“If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the
righteous.”(853) “For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with
hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to
appear in the presence of God for us.” “Wherefore He is able also to save
them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to
make intercession for them.”(854)
As the books of record are opened in the judgment, the lives of all who
have believed on Jesus come in review before God. Beginning with those who
first lived upon the earth, our Advocate presents the cases of each
successive generation, and closes with the living. Every name is
mentioned, every case closely investigated. Names are accepted, names
rejected. When any have sins remaining upon the books of record,
unrepented of and unforgiven, their names will be blotted out of the book
of life, and the record of their good deeds will be erased from the book
of God’s remembrance. The Lord declared to Moses, “Whosoever hath sinned
against Me, him will I blot out of My book.”(855) And says the prophet
Ezekiel, “When the righteous turneth away from his righteousness, and
committeth iniquity, ... all his righteousness that he hath done shall not
be mentioned.”(856)
All who have truly repented of sin, and by faith claimed the blood of
Christ as their atoning sacrifice, have had pardon entered against their
names in the books of heaven; as they have become partakers of the
righteousness of Christ, and their characters are found to be in harmony
with the law of God, their sins will be blotted out, and they themselves
will be accounted worthy of eternal life. The Lord declares, by the
prophet Isaiah, “I, even I, am He that blotteth out thy transgressions for
Mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins.”(857) Said Jesus: “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.” “Whosoever therefore shall
confess Me before men, him will I confess also before My Father which is
in heaven. But whosoever shall deny Me before men, him will I also deny
before My Father which is in heaven.”(858)
The deepest interest manifested among men in the decisions of earthly
tribunals but faintly represents the interest evinced in the heavenly
courts when the names entered in the book of life come up in review before
the Judge of all the earth. The divine Intercessor presents the plea that
all who have overcome through faith in His blood be forgiven their
transgressions, that they be restored to their Eden home, and crowned as
joint-heirs with Himself to the “first dominion.”(859) Satan, in his
efforts to deceive and tempt our race, had thought to frustrate the divine
plan in man’s creation; but Christ now asks that this plan be carried into
effect, as if man had never fallen. He asks for His people not only pardon
and justification, full and complete, but a share in His glory and a seat
upon His throne.
While Jesus is pleading for the subjects of His grace, Satan accuses them
before God as transgressors. The great deceiver has sought to lead them
into skepticism, to cause them to lose confidence in God, to separate
themselves from His love, and to break His law. Now he points to the
record of their lives, to the defects of character, the unlikeness to
Christ, which has dishonored their Redeemer, to all the sins that he has
tempted them to commit, and because of these he claims them as his
subjects.
Jesus does not excuse their sins, but shows their penitence and faith,
and, claiming for them forgiveness, He lifts His wounded hands before the
Father and the holy angels, saying, “I know them by name. I have graven
them on the palms of My hands. ‘The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit:
a broken and a contrite heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise.’ ”(860) And
to the accuser of His people He declares, “The Lord rebuke thee, O Satan;
even the Lord that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee: is not this a brand
plucked out of the fire?”(861) Christ will clothe His faithful ones with
His own righteousness, that He may present them to His Father “a glorious
church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing.”(862) Their names
stand enrolled in the book of life, and concerning them it is written,
“They shall walk with Me in white: for they are worthy.”(863)
Thus will be realized the complete fulfilment of the new-covenant promise,
“I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”
“In those days, and in that time, saith the Lord, the iniquity of Israel
shall be sought for, and there shall be none; and the sins of Judah, and
they shall not be found.”(864) “In that day shall the branch of the Lord
be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent
and comely for them that are escaped of Israel. And it shall come to pass,
that he that is left in Zion, and he that remaineth in Jerusalem, shall be
called holy, even every one that is written among the living in
Jerusalem.”(865)
The work of the investigative judgment and the blotting out of sins is to
be accomplished before the second advent of the Lord. Since the dead are
to be judged out of the things written in the books, it is impossible that
the sins of men should be blotted out until after the judgment at which
their cases are to be investigated. But the apostle Peter distinctly
states that the sins of believers will be blotted out “when the times of
refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; and He shall send
Jesus Christ.”(866) When the investigative judgment closes, Christ will
come, and His reward will be with Him to give to every man as his work
shall be.
In the typical service the high priest, having made the atonement for
Israel, came forth and blessed the congregation. So Christ, at the close
of His work as mediator, will appear, “without sin unto salvation,”(867)
to bless His waiting people with eternal life. As the priest, in removing
the sins from the sanctuary, confessed them upon the head of the
scapegoat, so Christ will place all these sins upon Satan, the originator
and instigator of sin. The scapegoat, bearing the sins of Israel, was sent
away “unto a land not inhabited;”(868) so Satan, bearing the guilt of all
the sins which he has caused God’s people to commit, will be for a
thousand years confined to the earth, which will then be desolate, without
inhabitant, and he will at last suffer the full penalty of sin in the
fires that shall destroy all the wicked. Thus the great plan of redemption
will reach its accomplishment in the final eradication of sin, and the
deliverance of all who have been willing to renounce evil.
At the time appointed for the judgment—the close of the 2300 days, in
1844—began the work of investigation and blotting out of sins. All who
have ever taken upon themselves the name of Christ must pass its searching
scrutiny. Both the living and the dead are to be judged “out of those
things which were written in the books, according to their works.”
Sins that have not been repented of and forsaken will not be pardoned, and
blotted out of the books of record, but will stand to witness against the
sinner in the day of God. He may have committed his evil deeds in the
light of day or in the darkness of night; but they were open and manifest
before Him with whom we have to do. Angels of God witnessed each sin, and
registered it in the unerring records. Sin may be concealed, denied,
covered up from father, mother, wife, children, and associates; no one but
the guilty actors may cherish the least suspicion of the wrong; but it is
laid bare before the intelligences of heaven. The darkness of the darkest
night, the secrecy of all deceptive arts, is not sufficient to veil one
thought from the knowledge of the Eternal. God has an exact record of
every unjust account and every unfair dealing. He is not deceived by
appearances of piety. He makes no mistakes in His estimation of character.
Men may be deceived by those who are corrupt in heart, but God pierces all
disguises, and reads the inner life.
How solemn is the thought! Day after day, passing into eternity, bears its
burden of records for the books of heaven. Words once spoken, deeds once
done, can never be recalled. Angels have registered both the good and the
evil. The mightiest conqueror upon the earth cannot call back the record
of even a single day. Our acts, our words, even our most secret motives,
all have their weight in deciding our destiny for weal or woe. Though they
may be forgotten by us, they will bear their testimony to justify or to
condemn.
As the features of the countenance are reproduced with unerring accuracy
on the polished plate of the artist, so the character is faithfully
delineated in the books above. Yet how little solicitude is felt
concerning that record which is to meet the gaze of heavenly beings. Could
the veil which separates the visible from the invisible world be swept
back, and the children of men behold an angel recording every word and
deed, which they must meet again in the judgment, how many words that are
daily uttered would remain unspoken; how many deeds would remain undone.
In the judgment, the use made of every talent will be scrutinized. How
have we employed the capital lent us of Heaven? Will the Lord at His
coming receive His own with usury? Have we improved the powers intrusted
us, in hand and heart and brain, to the glory of God and the blessing of
the world? How have we used our time, our pen, our voice, our money, our
influence? What have we done for Christ, in the person of the poor, the
afflicted, the orphan, or the widow? God has made us the depositaries of
His holy word; what have we done with the light and truth given us to make
men wise unto salvation? No value is attached to a mere profession of
faith in Christ; only the love which is shown by works is counted genuine.
Yet it is love alone which in the sight of Heaven makes any act of value.
Whatever is done from love, however small it may appear in the estimation
of men, is accepted and rewarded of God.
The hidden selfishness of men stands revealed in the books of heaven.
There is the record of unfulfilled duties to their fellow-men, of
forgetfulness of the Saviour’s claims. There they will see how often were
given to Satan the time, thought, and strength that belonged to Christ.
Sad is the record which angels bear to heaven. Intelligent beings,
professed followers of Christ, are absorbed in the acquirement of worldly
possessions or the enjoyment of earthly pleasures. Money, time, and
strength are sacrificed for display and self-indulgence; but few are the
moments devoted to prayer, to the searching of the Scriptures, to
humiliation of soul and confession of sin.
Satan invents unnumbered schemes to occupy our minds, that they may not
dwell upon the very work with which we ought to be best acquainted. The
arch-deceiver hates the great truths that bring to view an atoning
sacrifice and an all-powerful Mediator. He knows that with him everything
depends on his diverting minds from Jesus and His truth.
Those who would share the benefits of the Saviour’s mediation should
permit nothing to interfere with their duty to perfect holiness in the
fear of God. The precious hours, instead of being given to pleasure, to
display, or to gain-seeking, should be devoted to an earnest, prayerful
study of the Word of truth. The subject of the sanctuary and the
investigative judgment should be clearly understood by the people of God.
All need a knowledge for themselves of the position and work of their
great High Priest. Otherwise, it will be impossible for them to exercise
the faith which is essential at this time, or to occupy the position which
God designs them to fill. Every individual has a soul to save or to lose.
Each has a case pending at the bar of God. Each must meet the great Judge
face to face. How important, then, that every mind contemplate often the
solemn scene when the judgment shall sit and the books shall be opened,
when, with Daniel, every individual must stand in his lot, at the end of
the days.
All who have received the light upon these subjects are to bear testimony
of the great truths which God has committed to them. The sanctuary in
heaven is the very center of Christ’s work in behalf of men. It concerns
every soul living upon the earth. It opens to view the plan of redemption,
bringing us down to the very close of time, and revealing the triumphant
issue of the contest between righteousness and sin. It is of the utmost
importance that all should thoroughly investigate these subjects, and be
able to give an answer to every one that asketh them a reason of the hope
that is in them.