Friday, August 16, 2019

Day of Judgment - In the Future.



Continued study from the excerpt of The Atonement…

'In Rev. 14:6, 7 is presented one of the most interesting and important proclamations found in the sacred word. It reads as follows:— “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.”

Related to the fact of this proclamation are several points of great interest to the student of the Bible.

1. By reading the chapter we discover that this message is given before the second advent, and during the probation of man. Verse 8 makes an announcement concerning Babylon, which is supplemented by another on the same subject in chapter 18. In verses 9-12 of chapter 14 is given yet another message, containing a most solemn warning against false worship, and a call to keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.

Rev 14:9  And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, 
Rev 14:10  The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb: 
Rev 14:11  And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name. 
Rev 14:12  Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus. 
Rev 14:13  And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them. 

 Of course this message

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is given before the close of probation. In verses 14-20 the second advent of Christ, the Son of man, is presented, together with the object of his coming—to reap the harvest of the earth,—and a description of the terrible fate of those who are not his. Compare 2 Thess. 1:7-10.

2Th 1:7  And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, 
2Th 1:8  In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: 
2Th 1:9  Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power; 
2Th 1:10  When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day. 

This is in perfect harmony with the view that is presented in these pages, that the Judgment must precede the resurrection; and this, the resurrection, takes place at Christ’s appearing. 1 Cor. 15:51-54; 1 Thess. 4:13-18. 

1Co 15:51  Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 
1Co 15:52  In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 
1Co 15:53  For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. 
1Co 15:54  So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. 

1Th 4:13  But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. 
1Th 4:14  For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. 
1Th 4:15  For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. 
1Th 4:16  For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 
1Th 4:17  Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. 
1Th 4:18  Wherefore comfort one another with these words. 

2 We say that the Judgment precedes the resurrection, but it does not follow that all the saints will be in the grave when the judgment of the righteous takes place; for some are found keeping the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus —that is, they are heeding the warning of the “third angel”—when Christ appears. And Paul says that “we shall not all sleep;” that some will be “alive and remain” at the coming of the Lord. Of course their judgment takes place while they are living; for as the sleeping saints are raised immortal, proving that they have been fully acquitted in the great assize (((a judicial inquest, or the verdict of the jurors involved)))) above, so the living saints at that time will be changed, translated, “in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye.” Upon them, in the same instant, will be conferred the same immortality which is given to the resurrected saints.

3. In Rev. 11:15-18

Rev 11:15  And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever. 
Rev 11:16  And the four and twenty elders, which sat before God on their seats, fell upon their faces, and worshipped God, 
Rev 11:17  Saying, We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come; because thou hast taken to thee thy great power, and hast reigned. 
Rev 11:18  And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth. 

 is shown that the dead are judged—not through the whole dispensation, but—under the sounding of the seventh trumpet. This is the last of a series of trumpets covering the whole period of the gospel dispensation. Under this trumpet the dead are judged, and reward is given to the saints. Compare Matt. 16:27; Luke 14:14; Rev. 22:12.

Mat 16:27  For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works. 

Luk 14:14  And thou shalt be blessed; for they cannot recompense thee: for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just. 

Rev 22:12  And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be. 

Under this trumpet are destroyed the wicked—those who corrupt the earth. See 2 Peter 2:9.

2Pe 2:9  The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished

Under this trumpet Christ receives dominion over the kingdoms of the earth, which is given at the close of his priestly work on his Father’s throne. Please read Ps. 2:6-9; 110:1; Heb. 10:12, 13.

Psa 2:6  Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. 
Psa 2:7  I will declare the decree: the LORD hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee. 
Psa 2:8  Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. 
Psa 2:9  Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.

Psa 110:1  A Psalm of David. The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool. 

Heb 10:12  But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God
Heb 10:13  From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. 

4 This message of Rev. 14:6, 7 is called “the everlasting gospel,” though it is different from any proclamation made in the ministry of Christ and his apostles. Paul reasoned of judgment to come; Acts 24:25:

Act 24:25  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. 

he said God has appointed a day in which he will judge the

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world. Acts 17:31.

Act 17:31  Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead. 

He did not and could not say that that day was then present—that it had come.

5. Yet it is not “another gospel,” but an essential part of the same gospel which they preached; a part which could not be preached in their day, as the Judgment had not then yet come. In further proof of this, compare Isa. 61 with the facts of the New Testament.

Isa 61:1  The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; 
Isa 61:2  To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn; 
Isa 61:3  To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified. 
Isa 61:4  And they shall build the old wastes, they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the waste cities, the desolations of many generations. 
Isa 61:5  And strangers shall stand and feed your flocks, and the sons of the alien shall be your plowmen and your vinedressers. 
Isa 61:6  But ye shall be named the Priests of the LORD: men shall call you the Ministers of our God: ye shall eat the riches of the Gentiles, and in their glory shall ye boast yourselves. 
Isa 61:7  For your shame ye shall have double; and for confusion they shall rejoice in their portion: therefore in their land they shall possess the double: everlasting joy shall be unto them. 
Isa 61:8  For I the LORD love judgment, I hate robbery for burnt offering; and I will direct their work in truth, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them. 
Isa 61:9  And their seed shall be known among the Gentiles, and their offspring among the people: all that see them shall acknowledge them, that they are the seed which the LORD hath blessed. 
Isa 61:10  I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels. 
Isa 61:11  For as the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeth the things that are sown in it to spring forth; so the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations. 

The first two verses of that chapter of the prophecy read thus:— “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn,” etc. Jesus went to Nazareth, and, “as his custom was,” he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up for to read. The book of the prophet Isaiah being given to him he turned to chapter 61, as the book is now divided, and read the words quoted above as far as to the sentence, “to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord,” and abruptly stopped, not reading the words which follow—” and the day of vengeance of our God.” As Christ sat down, he said to the people assembled: “This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.” That day the acceptable year, or season, or time, of the Lord was preached to them. Paul made the same declaration in 2 Cor. 6:2: “Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” This was as far as Jesus could read in the prophecy and say it was fulfilled in their ears; this was all that the apostle could declare. The “time accepted” (2 Cor. 6:1) had come; it could be then proclaimed; the day of vengeance—the day of Judgment—had not come; it had to be reserved for a future proclamation. See our text, Rev. 14:6, 7. The day of vengeance is equivalent to the day of Judgment, for men are not only judged in that day, but in that day rewards are given to all. Rev. 11:18 says the dead are judged and reward given to the saints in that time; 2 Peter 3:7 calls it “the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.” This earth is reserved unto fire against that day. As “the day of salvation” or “the accepted time” has now continued nearly two thousand years, so “the day of Judgment” is a

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period more than one thousand years in length— how much more is not revealed,—covering the judgment of investigation of the cases of all the righteous, and the giving of reward to them; followed by the further investigation of the cases of the wicked (in which the saints take part, 1 Cor. 6:1-3; Rev. 20:1-4),

1Co 6:1  Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unjust, and not before the saints? 
1Co 6:2  Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters? 
1Co 6:3  Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life? 

Rev 20:1  And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. 
Rev 20:2  And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, 
Rev 20:3  And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season. 
Rev 20:4  And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. 

and their final overthrow or entire destruction. There are two thoughts, of solemn importance which present themselves on this subject:— (1) This message must be given before the second coming of Christ. If it were not given, then the Scriptures would fail; the word of the Lord thus far would not be fulfilled. But sooner would heaven and earth pass away than one jot fail of the word of the Lord. Many prophecies point to the fulfillment of this message. See the following:— “Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, sound an alarm in my holy mountain; let all the inhabitants of the land [or the earth] tremble, for the day of the Lord cometh, for it is nigh at hand. A day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains.” Joel 2:1, 2. Other scriptures to the same intent might be quoted, confirming the truth that a warning will be given to the world before the day of the Lord, or the time of the Judgment, commences. (2) As this warning is called “the everlasting gospel,” being a part of the gospel which the Saviour was anointed to preach, it must be heeded. It makes not a particle of difference when or by whom it is proclaimed; for whosoever proclaims it does it under Heaven’s sanction and supervision. That it will be opposed, and even by the professed servants of Christ, is also a matter of prophecy. The “evil servant” will say, “My Lord delayeth his coming.” But he cannot stay the message of warning, nor hinder the coming of that day. His opposition will only work ruin to his own soul, for Jesus said: “The Lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of, and shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites.” It will avail him nothing that he has been called as a servant of the Lord, or that he has confessed or claimed that the Lord is his Lord. The prophecy is given

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by inspiration, and he who turns away from it or neglects it does so at his own peril. But, in order to sound the alarm effectively, or to so proclaim “the hour of his Judgment is come” that it shall produce the desired result, they who preach it must be able to determine when it is timely; when the proclamation ought to be made. If they could not know, the trumpet would  give an uncertain sound, if, indeed, it were sounded at all.

(To be continued)

(Excerpt from-) THE ATONEMENT PART SECOND:
THE ATONEMENT AS REVEALED IN THE BIBLE
  (1884)

BY   ELDER J. H. WAGGONER


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