IN DEFENSE OF THE FAITH
The
Truth About Seventh-day Adventists
A
REPLY TO CANRIGHT
by
William
H. Branson
THE CLEANSING OF THE SANCTUARY
Daniel 8:14 introduces
us to a work called the cleansing of the sanctuary: He said unto me,
Unto
two thousand and three
hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed. In Hebrews 9:6,
7, Paul
mentions the fact that
in the sanctuary service on earth the priests served daily in the first
apartment, but
that the high priest
went into the second apartment only once each year. During the daily
ministration in the
first apartment the
sins of the children of Israel accumulated in the sanctuary. The
arrangement was that
when one committed sin
in the camp of Israel, he should bring a lamb or other sin offering,
place his hands
upon its head, and
confess his sins over it. Thus the sins of the individual were in type
transferred to the
sacrifice. Then the
animal was killed, and a portion of its blood put on the horns of the
altar of burnt
offering. The rest of
the blood was poured out at the base of this altar, and the flesh was
taken into the holy
place of the sanctuary,
where it was eaten by the priest. This service typified the transfer of
the sin from the
individual to the
sanctuary, and thus the repentant sinner went away free. This slaying of
the sacrifice
prefigured the death of
the Lamb of God, who was to be slain for the sins of the world. The
bringing of sin
offerings to the
sanctuary continued for the whole year, until the tenth day of the
seventh month. On that
day the sanctuary was
to be cleansed.
The book of Leviticus,
chapter 16, tells about the cleansing of the earthly sanctuary. Full
details
are given here as to
what happened on that day. Two goats were brought before the priest, who
was to cast
lots on them, thus
choosing one to be the Lord's goat and the other Azazel's. (Azazel is
the enemy, or
adversary.) In other
words, one goat was to represent the Lord, and the other God's
adversary, Satan. When
the lots were cast and
the Lord's goat was selected, it was slain, and the priest carried its
blood into the
sanctuary, beyond the
second veil, into the most holy place. Verse 15 says that he was to
sprinkle the blood
on the mercy seat and
before it, and this was to make an atonement for the holy place,
because of the
uncleanness of the
children of Israel, and because of their transgressions in all their
sins: and so shall he do
for the tabernacle of
the congregation. Verse 16. Thus this special service was a cleansing
service. It was
to accomplish the
cleansing of the holy place from the sins of the people.
This is further
emphasized in verse 19, where we read: He shall sprinkle of the blood
upon it with
his finger seven times,
and cleanse it. The cleansing, then, was accomplished by the
sprinkling of the
blood. But from what
does he cleanse it? He shall cleanse it, and hallow it from the
uncleanness of the
children of Israel.
Verse 19. So the cleansing of the sanctuary was a cleansing from sin.
This is definitely
established. It was not
a cleansing from physical, but from spiritual defilement.
If, as is argued by
some, the cleansing of the sanctuary consisted only in the removal of
idols
brought into it when
Israel was in apostasy, that could have been done with men's hands. No
blood would
be necessary for such a
work; but this cleansing of the sanctuary was accomplished with blood.
He shall
sprinkle of the blood.
. . . and cleanse it, and hallow it. Now the priest could not have
removed the idols
out of the sanctuary by
simply sprinkling blood on them. The only uncleanness that can be
cleansed by
blood is that of sin.
Therefore the cleansing of the sanctuary that is brought to view here is
a spiritual
cleansing from the sins
of the people which had been received there.
The transfer, in
figure, of the sins of the people went forward day after day during the
entire year,
until the Day of
Atonement. Thus there was a constant accumulation of sins in the
sanctuary, and by these
sins it was defiled.
For this reason the cleansing, or purging, of sin from the sanctuary
became necessary.
Thus the Lord said:
He [the high priest]
shall make an atonement for the holy place, because of the uncleanness
of the children
of Israel, and because
of their transgressions in all their sins: and so shall he do for the
tabernacle of the
congregation, that
remains among them in the midst of their uncleanness. Leviticus
16:16.
THE SCAPEGOAT
After the atonement was
thus made for the sins of the people, the high priest passed out of the
sanctuary, bearing the
accumulated sins of the year out with him, and the live goat was
brought. Placing his
hands upon the head of
the, goat, the high priest confessed over it all the iniquities of
the children of
Israel, and all their
transgressions in all their sins, putting them upon the head of the
goat. Leviticus 16:2
1. Thus there was a
removal of sin from the sanctuary, a cleansing from spiritual
defilement. The sins that
had accumulated there
were now all disposed of as they were placed upon the head of the goat,
which was
sent away into the
wilderness to die.
Why was this second
goat necessary? Did not the blood of the first goat atone for the sins
of the
people? Yes, it must be
so. Verse 20 indicates that when the scapegoat was brought, the priest
had already
made an end of
reconciling the sanctuary. When he bath made an end of reconciling
the holy place, and
the tabernacle of the
congregation, and the altar, he shall bring the live goat. What part,
then, did Satan's
goat have in the
removal of sin? Just this: Satan is the instigator of all sin. He is
primarily responsible for
the. sins of all men,
and the death of Christ does not atone for his share of the
responsibility and guilt.
Therefore when our sins
have been atoned for by the blood of Christ, Satan must yet answer for
his part in
those same sins. That
is why they are eventually placed upon his head and he is made to suffer
for them. He
has no part in atoning
for man's guilt, but he must suffer for his own guilt in leading men
into sin.
A WORK OF JUDGMENT
This work of the
cleansing of the earthly sanctuary was a work of judgment. This is
indicated in Leviticus
23:27-30.
Also on the tenth
day of this seventh month there shall be a Day of Atonement: it shall be
a holy
convocation unto you;
and you shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire
unto the Lord.
And you shall do no
work in that same day: for it is a Day of Atonement, to make an
atonement for you
before the Lord your
God. For whatsoever soul it be that shall not be afflicted in that same
day, he shall be
cut off from among his
people. And whatsoever soul it be that does any work in the same day,
the same
soul will I destroy
from among his people.
The Jewish people
always recognized the Day of Atonement as a judgment day. Even to the
present time it
is so regarded. The
following is a copy of a statement published in a Jewish paper in the
city of San
Francisco in 1892. The
Jewish Day of Atonement was coming on, and the rabbi issued this
announcement:
The monitery sounds
of the shophar [trumpet] are to be heard every morning in the orthodox
synagogues,
advising preparation
for the day of memorial and of the final judgment of Yom Kippur
[Yom-day, Kippur
atonement]. - Jewish
Exponent_ September, 1892.
In 1902 Isador Meyer, a
Jewish rabbi, spoke of the Jew on the Day of Atonement as follows:
He is also summoned
by the voice of the same trumpet, or shophar, to scrutinize
retrospectively his
actions of the past
year, while he stands trembling before the all-seeing eye of Eternal
justice sitting on the
throne of judgment.
From this we see that
the cleansing of the earthly sanctuary on the Day of Atonement was a
work of
judgment. And the
cleansing of the earthly sanctuary was a type of the cleansing of the
heavenly. Therefore
it follows
unquestionably that the cleansing of the heavenly sanctuary is a work of
judgment also.
THE HEAVENLY SANCTUARY TO BE CLEANSED
Let us now return to
Daniel's prophecy, Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then
shall the
sanctuary be
cleansed. Daniel 8:14. The beginning and ending of the 2300 days is
made very clear in the
prophecy. In Daniel
9:24-27 this period is divided and subdivided in such a way as to leave
us in no
uncertainty whatever.
Note the words of the prophecy.
Seventy weeks are
determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the
transgression, and to
make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to
bring in
everlasting
righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the
Most Holy. Know
therefore and
understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and
to build Jerusalem
unto the Messiah the
Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street
shall be built
again, and the wall,
even in troublous times.
And after threescore
and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for Himself: and the
people
of the prince that
shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof
shall be with a
flood, and unto the end
of the war desolations are determined. And He shall confirm the covenant
with
many for one week, and
in the midst of the week He shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation
to cease, and
for the over spreading
of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation,
and that
determined shall be
poured upon the desolate.
Now we can be
absolutely certain that we have the right dates for the beginning and
ending of this
period if we begin
counting from the cross. From that as the starting point in our
reckoning, we can count
backward to find the
beginning and forward to find the close. The first 69 and a 1/2 weeks of
this period
were to reach down to
the cross. At the end of 69 and a 1/2 weeks or 486 and a 1/2 years
(reckoning a
prophetic day as a
literal year), the sacrifice and oblation was to cease (verse 27), which
signified that at
that time the earthly
sanctuary service would come to an end.
The event which
terminated the earthly service was the crucifixion of Jesus, therefore
we know
that when Christ was
crucified, 69 and a 1/2 weeks, or 486 and a 1/2 literal years, of the
2300 - year period
had passed. We have
only to figure back 486 and a 1/2 years to 457 B.C, to find the correct
starting point;
and forward 1813 and a
1/2 years to 1844, to find the end of the period. It is clear,
therefore, that the earthly
sanctuary came to an
end before the close of the 2300 days of Daniel 8:14, and that this
prophecy could not
refer to its cleansing.
Since there were still 1813 and a 1/2 years of the 2300 year period
to be fulfilled
after the cross, we
must of necessity conclude that this prophecy of Daniel refers to the
only sanctuary that
was in existence at
that time, that is, the heavenly.
Let us take it in
another way. The period of seventy weeks, or 490 days, brought to view
in the
scripture already
quoted, is only a division of the full period of 2300 days. The seventy
weeks also had
several divisions, each
terminating with some definite event, such as the completion of the work
of
rebuilding Jerusalem,
the baptism of the. Savior, the cutting off (or crucifixion) of the
Messiah, and the
completion of the time
of the Jews. Taking the Bible method of reckoning prophetic time, i.e.,
each
prophetic day for a
literal year (Ezekiel 4:6), these seventy weeks, or 490 days, would
equal 490 literal
years, and they would
date from 457 BC., at which time the final and complete decree to
restore Jerusalem
went forth.
A THREEFOLD DECREE
We find this threefold
decree given first by Cyrus, the king of Persia (Ezra 1:24), repeated by
Darius (Ezra
6:6-12), and again
repeated by Artaxerxes (Ezra 7: 12-26). In E= 6:14 we read these words:
The elders of the
Jews builds, and they prospered through the prophesying of Haggai the
prophet and
Zechariah the son of
Iddo. And they built, and finished it, according to the commandment of
the God of
Israel, and according
to the commandment of Cyrus, and Darius, and Artaxerxes king of
Persia.
The commandment to
restore and to build Jerusalem was, then, according to the Scripture
itself, a
threefold decree, given
lastly by Artaxerxes in 457 BC. From this date, therefore, we begin to
count that
long period of 2300
years reaching to 1844. Seven weeks, or forty-nine years, of this time
were to cover the
period of the
rebuilding of Jerusalem. Forty-nine years this side of 457 BC., would
bring us to 408 BC., the
year in which the
reconstruction work was completed.
Sixty-nine weeks, 483
years, were to reach to Messiah the Prince. This would bring us to AD.
27,
and that is the year
when Jesus was baptized of John in the Jordan, upon which occasion He
was anointed,
receiving the gift of
the Holy Spirit without measure (John 3:34), and was proclaimed the son
of God, by a
voice from heaven. (See
Luke 3:21, 22; Acts 10:38.)
THE SEVENTIETH WEEK
In the midst (middle)
of the last, or seventieth, week, Messiah was to be cut off. A week
would be seven
prophetic days, or
literal years, and half a week would be three and a half years. Christ
was anointed for His
earthly ministry in AD.
27. Three and a half years later, or in AD. 31, He was cut off by
crucifixion.
The whole of the last,
or seventieth, week was to be devoted especially to the Jews. He
shall
confirm the covenant
with many for one week. Daniel 9:27. This was fulfilled by Christ's
personal
ministry of three and a
half years, and by the ministry of His apostles, who for another three
and a half
years labored almost
exclusively for the Jews. After that time the Jews were no longer to be
considered the
specially chosen people
of God.
Beginning with Christ's
ministry in AD. 27, this week, or seven literal years, would reach to
AD.
34. It was in that year
that Stephen was martyred, Paul was sent to the Gentiles, and the Jewish
nation, as
such, was rejected. In
rejecting Christ and His gospel, they had rejected the only means of
salvation, and
God could no longer
count them His chosen people. Soon after this it was boldly announced
that the
disciples had turned to
the Gentiles.
Then Paul and
Barnabas waxed bold, and said, It was necessary that the word of God
should first
have been spoken to
you: but seeing you put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of
everlasting life,
lo, we turn to the
Gentiles. For so hath the Lord commanded us, saying, I have set thee to
be a light of the
Gentiles, that thou
should be for salvation unto the ends of the earth. Acts 13:46, 47.
This first division of
the 2300 day prophecy - the seventy weeks-absolutely confirms the fact
that
we have the correct
starting date for the entire period. Figured from the year 457 as a
starting point, every
detail of the prophecy
works out to perfection; and therefore shows beyond all doubt that the
initial date is
correct.
This evidently was one
of the reasons this subdivision of the prophecy was made. This
seventyweek
period was to seal
up (make sure) the vision and prophecy. It serves to prove the
starting point.
When we therefore take
457 BC., as the date for beginning this period of 2300 prophetic days,
or literal
years, it clearly
brings us down to the year AD. 1844. Or, to state it another way: The
first seventy weeks,
or 490 years, reached
down to AD. 34. The difference between 490 years and 2300 years is 1810,
and if we
add 1810 years to AD.
34, we have AD. 1844. The 2300 - year prophecy ended, therefore, in
1844. The
evidence of this is
absolutely conclusive, as the subdivisions of the prophecy leave no room
whatever for
doubt. But what was to
happen at the end of the 2300 years?
He said unto me,
Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be
cleansed. Daniel
8:14. The time had come
for the cleansing of the heavenly sanctuary.
CHRIST'S PRIESTLY MINISTRY
As we have already
seen, the only sanctuary of God in existence in 1844 was the heavenly
sanctuary. The
earthly sanctuary, with
its services, had passed away, having no further meaning after the
cross; and the
priesthood had changed
from the sons of Aaron to Christ. At the time of Christ's ascension He
began His
priestly ministry in
the sanctuary above as our High Priest. But this ministry was performed
in the holy
place, or first room
of the tabernacle. The second apartment, within the dividing veil, known
as the holy
of holies, was not
to be entered except on the Day of Atonement, when the sanctuary was to
be cleansed
from sin.
The time for this event
to take place in heaven arrived in 1844. In Daniel 8:17, where the angel
explains to Daniel the
prophecy of the 2300 years, he declares, At the time of the end shall
be the vision.
This expression is used
in numerous places in the Bible to designate a little period of time
just before the
return of our Lord, and
during which the final preparations for that event are being made both
in heaven
and upon earth. The
heavenly sanctuary, therefore, was to be cleansed in the time of the
end, and the
actual work was to
begin in the year AD. 1844.
This is in harmony with
the type, for in the earthly sanctuary the priest, as we have already
seen,
spent the greater part
of the year in the first apartment; and only a short time at the close
of the yearly round
in the most holy place,
where he would be engaged in the work of cleansing the sanctuary. So in
heaven
Jesus went first into
the first apartment, and served there as priest until 1844. That
corresponded to the long
period spent by the
priest in the first apartment on earth. He entered the second apartment
in 1844, in the
last end of His
priestly ministry, to do a short work, and to make an end of sin. That
work is called the
cleansing of the
sanctuary.
But it may be asked: Is
there anything in heaven that needs to be cleansed? Yes, there is sin.
As we
have already observed,
the cleansing of the sanctuary is not a cleansing from physical
defilement but a
spiritual cleansing,
and has to do with the removal of the record and defilement of sin. In 1
Timothy 5:24
we are told: Some
men's sins are open beforehand, going before to judgment; and some men
they follow
after. Those who
have through the years accepted Jesus as their sacrifice have been
sending their sins into
the sanctuary for
judgment.
The only way that sin
can get into the sanctuary is by confession and the offering of a
substitutionary
sacrifice. Therefore only the sins of those who have accepted Christ as
their Redeemer are
found there. The sins
of the wicked have never been brought into the sanctuary, and so
unrepentant sinners
will have to be judged
at a later time judgment begins at the house of God; the righteous will
be judged
first. Thus all
confessed sins are transferred to the sanctuary, and in this manner the
sanctuary is defiled.
In the earthly
sanctuary service man confessed his sins over the lamb, which was slain
on his
behalf, and thus the
sins were, in type, transferred to the sanctuary. Just so, I am a
sinner; Jesus is my
sacrificial Lamb and
also my High Priest. He has died for me, but His death is of no avail to
me until I
accept Him as my
substitute. When I do accept Him I then confess my sins to God through
Him, just as the
man in Israel confessed
his sins over his offering. And thus my sins are transferred from myself
to the
sanctuary above, where
Christ ministers as priest on my behalf. He takes away my sins, and
gives me His
righteousness. But
where does He take them? He takes them to the sanctuary, where He is
ministering as
priest; and although
they are forgiven, the record of them must there remain until they are
blotted out in the
judgment.
Someone may say: I
thought that when Christ forgave my sins, He took them clear away. Yes,
He
did, so far as you are
concerned. He promises to make us as white as snow. But this does not
mean that the
sins are finally
disposed of. He takes them from us, but the record is still there. We
are free because we
have accepted Him as
our substitute and sin bearer, but the record of sin is held in the
sanctuary.
Someone else may say:
But was not the death of Christ on the cross a complete atonement for
sin?
We answer the question
by asking another: In the earthly sanctuary, when the goat was brought
and killed
in the outer court by
the altar, was the atonement completed by that act? No, the blood had to
be taken into
the sanctuary and
brought into contact with the broken law and the sins of the people.
There was a priestly
work to be performed
after the shedding of the blood.
So when Christ died on
the cross He had fulfilled the type of the Lord's goat being slain, but
the
atonement could not be
complete until the blood He had shed on the cross was offered before God
and His
broken law in the
sanctuary. Therefore the death of Christ on the cross was not the
completion of the
atonement. It was a
part of the work of atonement, but the priestly work was all to follow.
The offering of
the blood before the
law and before the throne had not yet taken place. If the atonement was
completed at
the cross, then why did
Jesus become a priest? What priestly work was there to do? There would
be none.
The fact that Christ
became a priest shows that there was a priestly service to be performed
in the heavenly
sanctuary in order to
make the work of atonement effective and complete.
It may be asked, Is it
not possible that after Christ made the sacrifice He went back to
heaven, and
immediately performed
His priestly work, including the cleansing of the sanctuary, and closed
it all zip in
just a little while?
Possibly He might have thus dispensed with the sins of those who lived
before the cross,
but if Christ finished
His priestly work immediately upon His ascension, then those born since
are eternally
lost, having no High
Priest, no Advocate, no priestly service for sins. Christ could not go
into heaven and
offer His blood to the
Father on my behalf, as my substitute, until I had decided that I wanted
Him to act
for me. His ministry in
heaven does not avail for me until I accept Him as my sacrifice and
priest. He died
for me 1,900 years ago,
but His death is not counted for me until I accept Him.
Therefore the work of
Christ in the heavenly sanctuary could not be completed until the work
of
redemption is
completed. The offering of the blood of Christ in heaven is a continual
offering. He died only
once, but every time a
sinner comes to God through Him, He pleads His shed blood on his behalf,
and in
that moment the
sacrifice of Christ becomes efficacious in that man's case.
Another may ask, Why
could not Christ have immediately blotted out the sins of the people?
Why
wait until after 1844?
We reply: There must come first an investigation of the records. That is
essential.
Here is a man who has
accepted Christ. His sins have gone on before him into the sanctuary,
but Christ
cannot blot those sins
out of the record until the man's life is finished, or until probation
closes for him.
Why not? Because he may
not continue in faith, and we are told in Ezekiel 33:12, 13, that if the
righteous
man turns away from his
righteousness, all the righteousness that he has done shall not be
remembered. If
he does not continue in
faith, all his past sins will come back upon him again. Jesus does not
plead before
the throne of God in
the final judgment for one who has died in sin. He cannot plead His
blood in behalf of
one who, though once a
Christian, refuses to continue in His grace. Thus before the Lord can
blot out the
sins from the record
books, a very careful examination has to be made to see whether those
who accepted
Christ have remained
true. Be thou faithful unto death, says the Scripture, and I
will give thee a crown
of life. Revelation
2:10. It is not the beginning of the race that gives assurance of the
crown of life; it is the
successful finishing.
THE INVESTIGATIVE JUDGMENT
The cleansing of the
heavenly sanctuary necessarily is a work of judgment, just as was the
cleansing of the
earthly. When this work
is completed, probation will close and Christ's priestly ministry on
behalf of
sinners will cease.
There are two phases to
any work of judgment. One is the trying of the case, the searching of
the
records, the hearing of
the witnesses, and the pronouncing of the sentence. The other is the
work of
executing that sentence
after the case has been fully tried and the decision rendered. The first
is the
investigative judgment;
the other, the executive judgment.
When God's judgment
begins, it begins with those who have at some time in life accepted the
plan
of salvation, and have
been numbered with the household of God. Their names have been written
in the
Lamb's book of life,
and the judgment determines whether their names should be eternally
retained there, or
whether they should be
blotted out from the book of life. Thus Peter declares: The time is
come that
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 of
God? 1 Peter 4:17.
This phase of the
judgment work-the investigation of the records of the righteous-is
carried on
while people still live
on the earth, and while the call to repentance is still being sounded
throughout the
nations. Thus we read:
'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. Revelation 14:6, 7.
Here is a solemn
announcement that is to be carried to all nations and kindreds and
tongues, and
the burden of the
message is, The hour of His judgment is come. It is a warning
direct from heaven that
the judgment has begun,
and that men should hasten to worship God and give glory to Him. Since
it would
begin first with those
who lived in Adam's time, and who are now dead, there would yet be time
for those
still living upon the
earth to make their peace with God, and hence the final appeal from
heaven for men to
prepare for that great
and solemn hour when their own names would be called in review before
God. This
message, announcing
that the hour of God's judgment is come, was due to go to the
nations in A.D. 1844,
for that is the time
pointed out by the prophecy as the starting point of the judgment, and
it was in the year
1844 that the pioneers
of the people who are now called Seventh-day Adventists discovered this
mighty
truth and began to
herald it to the world. They believe, therefore, that they are literally
fulfilling this
prophecy of Revelation
14:6, 7, and that they have as solemn a commission from God as did Jonah
when he
was sent to warn
Nineveh of its impending destruction.
The opening of the
judgment in the heavenly sanctuary in 1844 is graphically described by
the
prophet Daniel. Said
he: I beheld 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: thousands of
thousands
ministered unto Him,
and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him: the judgment was
set, and the
books were opened.
Daniel 7:9, 10, A.R.V.
Thus we see that the
judging is done from books of record, in which is recorded every
secret thing, even
to every idle word that
men shall speak.
SO, then, there is a
time of judgment. It corresponds to the Day of Atonement in the earthly
sanctuary
service. And in that
day of judgment the record books in heaven are opened and searched.
After this
investigation sins are
blotted out as Jesus pleads His spilled blood in behalf of sinners who
trusted in Him
for salvation, and who
remained faithful to the end. In the cases of those who have proved
unfaithful, the
record of the sin
remains against them.
During the judgment the
names of those who were once Christians but who have given up their
faith in Christ, are
blotted out of the book of life. But the promise abides: He that
overcomes, 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. Revelation 3:5.
It is clearly stated in
the Scripture that this blotting out of sins is to take place just
before the return
of Jesus. Thus Peter
declares:
Repent you
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: whom
the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things,
which God
bath spoken by the
mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began. Acts 3:19-21.
It is to be at the time
of refreshing, which is the outpouring of the latter rain upon the
remnant
church. (See Acts 2:17;
Joel. 2:28-32.) It will be just before Jesus comes. It will be just
before the
restitution of all
things. Therefore it will be in the very last days of the world's
history, and this blotting
out of sins is the
result of the investigative judgment, and constitutes a work of
cleansing the heavenly
sanctuary, where the
record of all the sins of God's people has been kept.
The mere fact that one
at some time in life has become a Christian and has united with the
church,
is no guarantee of his
final salvation. Said Jesus, He that shall endure unto the end, the
same shall be
saved. Matthew
24:13. And again we read: Be thou faithful unto death, and I will
give thee a crown of
life. Revelation
2:10.
The doctrine of once
in grace, always in grace, will not do. There are thousands who start
well,
but who cast away
their confidence (Hebrews 10:3), and who in the final judgment
will be weighed and
found wanting. This is
clearly set forth in Ezekiel's prophecy, as follows:
When the righteous
turns away from his righteousness, and commits iniquity, and does
according to all the
abominations that the
wicked man does, shall he live? All his righteousness that he hath done
shall not be
mentioned: in his
trespass that he hath trespassed, and in his sin that he hath sinned, in
them shall he die.
Therefore I will
judge you, 0 house of Israel, every one according to his ways, says the
Lord God. Repent,
and turn yourselves
from all your transgressions so iniquity shall not be your ruin.
Ezekiel 18:24.
The idea of a final
judgment of the righteous is also conveyed by other passages of
Scripture. In the parable
of the wicked servant,
narrated in Matthew 18:23-35, the thought is conveyed that even though
one is
forgiven and accepted
of God, if he goes out from the merciful presence of his Lord, and
treats his fellow
servant unmercifully
and cruelly, he will at last find himself condemned without mercy.
In the parable a
servant who had just been forgiven a great debt by his lord, beat his
fellow servant
who owed him a small
sum, and even cast him into prison. When his lord learned of this, he
judged him
worthy of the severest
punishment, even though he had previously been forgiven all his debt;
and so
likewise, said
Jesus, shall My heavenly Father do also unto you, if you from your
hearts forgive not every
one his brother their
trespasses.
When the work of the
investigative judgment is completed, and Christ is about to return, to
reward
every man according as
his work shall be, then the divine fiat will go forth from the throne,
fixing the
destiny of every soul:
He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy,
let him be filthy still:
and he that is
righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be
holy still. Revelation
22:11.
At that solemn moment
human probation will be closed forever. The righteous will be sealed for
eternal life, and the
unjust and filthy must remain so until they receive their
just reward of eternal
death.
THE LAW OF THE JUDGMENT
Every judiciary must
have a code by which the cases brought before the court are tried.
Without
this, trial would be a
farce, and the decisions rendered, a travesty on justice. God must of
necessity,
therefore, have a law
by which He will test men's lives, a standard by, which they will be
measured; and if
so, surely in this
solemn hour, when court week has actually begun and cases are already
being tried, it
behooves every man to
inquire seriously what that standard, or code, is, and to take the
necessary steps to
bring his life into
harmony with it before his name is called.
We inquire, therefore,
What is the standard of God's judgment? What is the code that will be
used by the
Ancient of days? And
the reply comes from the Sacred Book, clear as a voice from heaven:
Let us hear the
conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep His commandments: for
this is the
whole duty of man. For
God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing,
whether it be
good, or whether it be
evil. Ecclesiastes 12:13, 14.
And again:
Whosoever shall keep
the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. For He
that said, Do
not commit adultery,
said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou
kill, thou art
become a transgressor
of the law. So speak you, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the
law of
liberty. James
2:10-12.
And the third time the
answer is given:
Blessed are they
that do His commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life,
and may enter in
through the gates into
the city. Revelation 22:14.
Could God have made it
plainer or more easily understood? The standard of the judgment will be
God's
Ten Commandments that
were spoken by His mighty voice from Sinai, of which, according to
Christ's
sermon on the mount,
not one jot or tittle has passed away. (See Matthew 5:18.) This law has
ten distinct
and definite points.
James declares that a man may keep the whole law except just one
point, and still be
pronounced guilty in
the judgment. Do not allow yourself to be deceived, therefore, into
believing that nine
points of the law will
suffice, and the Sabbath point can be dropped out as nonessential.
Mr. Canright's nine
commandment law which he tries to discover in the New Testament,
which
has no Sabbath, will
not do. It is one point short. And that one point is just what James
warns us about. We
may keep the nine
points faithfully, but that will not suffice. Whosoever shall keep
the whole law, and yet
offend in one point, he
is guilty of all. James 2:10. When our names are called before the
tribunal of
heaven, it will be a
full, complete moral code, without the change of a jot or a tittle, by
which we will be
measured. If we are
short on one point the sentence can be only, Weighed in the balance,
and found
wanting.
We must all appear
before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the
things done in his
body, according to that
he bath done, whether it be good or bad. 2 Corinthians 5:10. He
that rejects Me,
and receives not My
words, bath One that judges him: the word that I have spoken, the same
shall judge
him in the last day.
John 12:48.
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