Reserved For the Day of Judgment.

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Act 24:15  And have hope toward God, which they themselves also allow, that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust. 

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(EXCERPT)

The unjust will be resurrected, though some object to this truth. The article we've been studying is vindicating the truth of the resurrection of the unjust- scripturally, logically. 

A Vindication of the Doctrine of the Resurrection of the Unjust

By J.H. Waggoner CONTINUED HERE…

"Every soul of man" is a very comprehensive expression; Jews and Gentiles are both included in it-not by implication, but-by direct and express statement. Both are referred to in verses 11-15, and verse 16 is directly related thereto. This speaks of "the day when God

shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ." Not of one generation of men-but of men; all to whom he has previously referred in the same argument; every soul of man, both Jews and Gentiles; and here I note another point in the argument. 

4. Jesus Christ will be judge in that day. This is strongly confirmatory of the view that this is a future judgment-a day appointed in the which he will judge, as in Acts 17:31, when he who is now the Advocate will take judgment into his hands. The Saviour himself, in John 5:26-29, closely connected his "authority to execute judgment" with the resurrection of evil-doers. Woe to the soul that is  unreconciled to God in that day, when "the wrath of the Lamb" is manifested-the wrath of that Lamb of God that has long been pleading the merits of his own blood in behalf of the very ones on whom he will take vengeance in the day of

wrath. These statements of the Saviour and his apostles give us a clear understanding of Job 21:30, concerning which there has been much needless dispute. 

Eld. Curry, in his discussion with Eld. Grant, after criticising this text gave the following rendering: "The wicked is kept in the day of calamity, and brought on with funeral pomp in the day of death." This rendering is certainly forbidden both by the context and by the harmony of the Scriptures. 

Job 21 verses- 19 and 20 say, "God layeth up his iniquity for his children; he rewardeth him, and he shall know it; his eyes shall see his destruction, and he shall drink of the wrath of the Almighty." That this does not refer to the event of natural death, is evident from verse 23: "One dieth in his full strength, being wholly at ease and quiet." "Tribulation and anguish" have not yet been his portion. But they shall be, in that "the wicked is reserved to the day of destruction; they shall be brought forth to the day of wrath." This agrees with Peter, who says the unjust are reserved to the day of judgment to be punished; and he further says that that day of judgment is that day in the which the heavens and earth shall be melted by fire. "And they shall be brought forth to the day of wrath." Paul shows that this

day of wrath is the day of judgment, in which Jesus Christ shall judge the secrets of men-even every soul of man that doeth evil, Jew and Gentile. Brought forth from whence? Not brought forth to burial; but they who die at ease, and in peace, and in full strength, are brought forth to the day of wrath, and to that day they are "reserved," and Peter says "to be punished." Of course they are brought forth from the grave-from death; for this is the statement of Job: 1. He dies in ease and quiet. 2. He is reserved to the day of destruction. 3. He shall be brought forth to the day of wrath. And that day is a definite, appointed day, clearly marked in the Scriptures. Job 21 is, beyond all contradiction, describing the awful destiny of the wicked the wrath that awaits him. But what is his terrible destiny, according to the criticism and rendering of the opposer of the resurrection of evil-doers? It is this:

He shall be kept in the day of calamity, die in ease and quiet, and at last have a splendid funeral! The subject is altogether too solemn and important to admit of criticisms and "renderings" which are a mere burlesque of the threatenings of God's wrath upon evil-doers. The same idea presented by Job is again brought to view in Isa. 24:21, 22: "And it shall come to pass in that day that the Lord shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth. And they shall be gathered together as prisoners are gathered together in the pit; and shall be shut up in the prison; and after many days they shall be visited." Peter speaks also of the "spirits in prison," to whom the Lord by his Spirit preached in the days of Noah. They were not in prison in Noah's day, in the time when they were preached unto; but they are now in prison. This determines what Isaiah meant by the prison in which they shall be shut up "many days;" there they await the day of

wrath, when they shall be visited, brought forth to be punished. Our examination thus far aids us in determining (if any such aid is needed) the meaning of Jude 14, 15. The Lord, when he comes to execute judgment, will convince all of their ungodly deeds, and of all

their hard speeches which they have spoken against him. This will be fulfilled when he judges the secrets of men-"of every soul of man." To convince all the ungodly of their ungodly deeds and words, they must be in a state or condition to be convinced, which they will be when they are brought forth from their prison to the day of wrath. But another fact is stated by Jude which has a most important bearing on this question. He affirms that "the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness, unto the judgment of the great day." Verse 6. This language is unmistakable in its import, and cannot possibly be evaded, or made to refer to anything but a future judgment. Peter said, "God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment." 2 Peter 2:4. They were not spared-they were cast down; but they are reserved unto judgment, the judgment of the great day. This is "the day of judgment" unto which the unjust are reserved to be punished. The day is the same; there is but one great day of wrath or judgment; and the terms used are the same concerning the fallen angels and unjust men. Both are reserved to be punished in that day. To that day and its events Paul refers in 1 Cor. 6:2, 3: "Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? . . . Know ye not that we shall judge angels?" And this judgment is contrasted with judgments pertaining to "this life," showing it to be that future and eternal judgment unto which both the angels and unjust men are reserved. Paul says we shall judge "the world;" that is, the world of the ungodly. Not a particular class of the world, but the world, and as this is not in "this life," it must be beyond the judgment and resurrection or translation of the saints, who are raised or translated one thousand years before the resurrection of the unjust. It is impossible to show that any one part or generation of "the world" have a special or exclusive interest in "the judgment of the great day;" while every scripture evidence shows that all classes and ages of the unjust, both of men and angels, are reserved unto the day of judgment-the great day-to be punished. 

Much more might be produced on this point, but I do not deem it necessary. Enough evidence has been given from the word of God, it seems to me, to convince every one of the fallacy of the expositions and conclusions of those who, to avoid the truth of the resurrection of the wicked, endeavor also to disprove a general judgment. I leave it, to examine another point. 

TO BE CONTINUED