25 A WORK OF JUDGMENT

AN examination of the work called the cleansing of the sanctuary leads us into a series of subjects of the most important and timely character, subjects which explain some statements of the Scriptures which are otherwise obscure, harmonize lines of prophecy otherwise disconnected, and answer some otherwise unanswerable queries which arise concerning events connected with that crowning of all events, the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.STTHD 256.1

For instance, when Christ comes, a change passes instantaneously upon the people of God, and all others are passed by. The righteous who are in their graves are raised in power, glory, and immortality, and the rest of the dead are left in their graves for a thousand years, and the righteous who are living are changed from mortality to immortality, while the rest of the living are given over to perish under the judgments of the Almighty. And this change for God’s people is wrought instantaneously at the last trump. But before this change can be wrought,, it must be decided who are the people of God, and who are the incorrigibly wicked. This matter must be determined before the Lord comes; for there is no time then for investigation and decision of character. But this work of decision is a work of judgment; and such a work of judgment must transpire before the Lord comes.STTHD 256.2

We know of no system of belief which has a place for this preliminary work of judgment, except that held by S. D. Adventists. It has been a source of perplexity to many, and to meet it, they have been obliged to resort to such unscriptural conclusions as these: 1. That all the race, good and bad, are raised indiscriminately together; whereas the Bible plainly declares that there are a thousand years between the resurrection of the righteous and that of the wicked. Revelation 20:5. 2. That when the righteous are raised, they are raised mortal, judged, and then changed; whereas the Bible assigns no place for any such work of investigative judgment after Christ appears, and, moreover, explicitly declares that the righteous are raised in power, in glory, with spiritual bodies, and in incorruption. 1 Corinthians 15:42-44. Thus every attempt made by any other system to explain how it is that immortality can be conferred upon the righteous when Christ comes, without this preliminary work of judgment, for which we find an appropriate place in the work of the sanctuary, runs directly against the Scriptures at every step. And no system which contradicts such plain statements of the Bible can be worthy of the least credit.STTHD 257.1

The subject of the sanctuary, correctly understood, removes all these difficulties. The cleansing of the sanctuary provides the very place for this preliminary work of judgment, and brings to view a work of just exactly this nature.STTHD 258.1

The cleansing of the sanctuary is a work of judgment. A few considerations will make this proposition plain. The priesthood of Christ continues up to the time when he takes his own throne as king. He passes directly from the first position to the second; and when he takes his position as king, his work as priest is done. Now, his work as priest being for the purpose of gathering out from the human family a people for his name and kingdom, his priestly office cannot close till this result is declared. When his work is finished, it will have been decided who have availed themselves of his mediation, and have thus become his people. It is the putting away of sin that determines this; but this is the very work that Christ performs in the most holy in the conclusion of his ministry. He here puts away the sins of his people; and this is the cleansing of the sanctuary.STTHD 258.2

This involves an examination of the books; for the rule that God has laid down in this matter is that all judgment shall be rendered according to each man’s works as they stand upon the record. “And the dead,” says John, “were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.” Revelation 20:12. From the reference in this and numerous other passages, to the books, the book of life, the names or the things written therein, and the blotting out to take place, but one conclusion can be drawn; and that is that a faithful record is kept of each one’s actions, the thoughts, words, and deeds that make up the texture of his character, and the course of his life. If the person repents, all these recorded sins are to be blotted out of this book. So Peter declared, “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.” Acts 3:19. Of the same class Christ speaks in Revelation 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.” Again he says, “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.” Matthew 10:32, 33; Luke 12:8, 9. And this is when Christ is about to be sent the second time to earth, Acts 3:20, and when he is prepared to come as a thief on all them that do not watch. Revelation 3:3.STTHD 259.1

The two divisions of this great proposition are thus established: If we secure the pardon of our sins, the time comes, just before the end, when these sins are blotted out of the books, and our names are retained in the Lamb’s book of life, and the Saviour confesses our names to the Father as those who have accepted of salvation through him. Our cases are then decided, and we are sealed for everlasting life. If, on the other hand, we do not repent, our sins are not blotted out of the record where they stand, but our names are blotted out of the book of life, and Christ denies our names before his Father, as those who have slighted his mercy, and are not entitled to everlasting life through him.STTHD 260.1

Thus the cleansing of the sanctuary involves the examination of the records of all the deeds of our lives. It is an investigative Judgment. Every individual of every generation from the beginning of the world thus passes in review before the great tribunal above. So Daniel, describing the opening of this scene, calls it a work of judgment, and expressly notices the fact that the books were opened. Daniel 7:9, 10.STTHD 260.2

This work has been going forward in the sanctuary above, since the end of the prophetic period in 1844. Beginning, according to the natural order, with the earliest generation, the work of examination passes on down through all the records of time, and closes with the living. Then the sealing message, Revelation 7, will have performed its work, and all antecedent questions being determined, all cases decided, everything will be ready for the coming of the Lord.STTHD 261.1

For nearly thirty-three years already this solemn work has been in progress. How much longer can it continue? Nearly thirty-three years of this decisive work of investigative Judgment already past, and yet how few of all the masses of the earth dream of their position! O church of Christ, lift up the voice like a trumpet, sound an alarm which shall cause all the inhabitants of the land to hear and tremble; for the great day of the Lord is near, and hasteth greatly.STTHD 261.2