THE HOUR OF GOD'S JUDGMENT
Kevin D. Paulson
The date was June 11, 1963.
President John F. Kennedy was addressing the American people on the moral imperative of civil rights. He spoke, among other things, of how this issue was "as old as the Scriptures, and as clear as the American Constitution."
But while the President was speaking, yet another cowardly and brutal act was destined to shock the nation.
Medgar Evers, field secretary of the NAACP, was shot to death in his drive way by Byron de la Beckwith, who hid across the street in a honeysuckle bush.
Soon thereafter, an all-white jury failed to convict the murderer. But 30 years later, a courageous assistant Attorney General of Mississippi was able to put the evidence together, and persuade a jury of mixed race and gender to sentence the impenitent killer to life imprisonment.
At the announcement, the streets of Jackson, Mississippi erupted in a volcano of joy, in long-delayed justice.
Byron de la Beckwith died in prison in 2001.
God's Word likewise predicts a final judgment, which at the end of human history will vindicate God's people, and condemn His enemies.
Eccl. 3:17:
"God shall judge both the righteous and the wicked: for there is a time there for every purpose and for every work."
Eccl. 12:13-14:
"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."
II Cor. 5:10:
"For 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 hath done, whether it be good or bad."
But the Bible doesn't simply tells us there will be a judgment. It even tells us when it will start.
I. The Timing of the Pre-Advent Judgment
In Revelation, chapter 14, we find the first of three angels’ messages which are to go to the world before Jesus comes back:
The first of these messages we find in Revelation 14, verse &:
“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.”
In recent messages we have reviewed the rise and fall of the great powers listed in Daniel 7 and 8, through and including the little horn power.
The listing of these powers in Daniel 7 ends with a scene of judgment:
Dan. 7:9-10:
"I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of Days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool: His throne was like the fiery flame, and His wheels as burning fire:
"A fiery stream issued and came up 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."
The rise and fall of nations depicted in Daniel 8 ends with the cleansing of a sanctuary.
Dan. 8:14:
"Unto two thousand and three hundred days: then shall the sanctuary be cleansed."
The events of Daniel 7 and 8 are clearly parallel. The judgment scene of Daniel 7 is therefore the same as the cleansing of the sanctuary in Daniel 8.
Let's look at the time prophecies again. We've established that the reign of the little horn power would last for 1,260 years.
Dan. 7:25-26:
"And he shall speak great words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand for a time and times and the dividing of time.
"But the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and to destroy it unto the end."
This time period is mentioned elsewhere in Scripture as "one thousand two hundred and threescore days" (Rev. 12:6), "a time and times and half a time" (verse 14), and "forty and two months" (Rev. 13:5).
Remember that we've established from the Bible that a day equals a year in prophecy.
Num. 14:34:
"Each day for a year."
Eze. 4:6:
"I have appointed thee each day for a year."
We saw how the 1,260-day prophecy extends from A.D. 538 to A.D. 1798.
This means that the judgment scene of Daniel 7 and the sanctuary cleansing of Daniel 8 will take place after the end of papal rule in 1798.
Daniel 8 and Daniel 9 gives us the specific date when this judgment would begin.
Dan. 8:14:
"Unto two thousand and three hundred days: then shall the sanctuary be cleansed."
When does this time prophecy start?
In Daniel 8, the angel Gabriel came and explained to Daniel most of what the symbols in this chapter mean.
Media and Persia Verse 20
Greece Verse 21
The first king Verse 21
Four Hellenistic kingdoms Verse 22
Activity of the little horn Verses 23-25
But when Gabriel comes to the cleansing of the sanctuary described in Daniel 8:14, he suddenly gets mysterious:
Dan. 8:26-27:
"And the vision of the evening and the morning which was told is true: wherefore shut thou up the vision, for it shall be for many days.
"And I Daniel fainted, and was sick certain days: afterward I rose up, and did the king's business: and I was astonished at the vision, but none understood it."
Why would Daniel get so upset about this that it made him sick? Because he understood that the 2,300 days of Daniel 8:14 referred to years.
The expression "evening and morning" in verses 14 and 26 refers to days, as we find in Genesis 1.
Dan. 9:1-2:
"In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the seed of the Medes, which was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans;
"In the first year of his reign I Daniel understood by books the number of the years, whereof the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet, that He would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem."
Jer. 25:11-12:
"And this whole land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.
"And it shall come to pass, when seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the king of Babylon, and that nation, saith the Lord, for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans, and I will make it perpetual desolations."
Daniel only knew of one sanctuary that needed cleansing. That was the temple in Jerusalem that Babylon had destroyed. God had said through Jeremiah that the Jews could go home and rebuild Jerusalem and the temple after 70 years of captivity.
Now, in the vision of Daniel 8, God appeared to be telling Daniel that the temple, or sanctuary, wouldn't be cleansed until 2,300 years!
No wonder he pled with God, begging for the forgiveness of His people (Dan. 9:3-19)!
And before Daniel’s prayer ended, the angel Gabriel was on his way to explain the prophet’s former vision.
Dan. 9:21-23:
"Yea, whiles I was speaking in prayer, even the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, touched me about the time of the evening oblation.
"And he informed me, and talked with me, and said, O Daniel, I am now come forth to give thee skill and understanding.
"At the beginning of thy supplications the commandment came forth, and I am come to show thee; for thou art greatly beloved: therefore understand the matter, and consider the vision."
What vision? Obviously the same vision Gabriel had partially explained to Daniel in the previous chapter (Dan. 8:16-26).
Dan. 9:24-25,27:
"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 He (the Messiah) 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."
The word "determined" in verse 24 is the Hebrew word for "cut off." This means the 70 weeks of years found in this prophecy were cut off from the 2,300 years discussed in the previous vision.
Dan. 8:14:
"Unto two thousand three hundred days: then shall the sanctuary be cleansed."
This cleansing process would begin in A.D. 1844.
II. The Heavenly Sanctuary
But where is this sanctuary?
It can’t be the one in Jerusalem any more, because Gabriel said to Daniel:
Dan. 9:26:
“The people of the prince that shall come shall destroy this city and the sanctuary?”
But the book of Hebrews tells us about another sanctuary.
Heb. 8:1-2:
"Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum: We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens:
"A minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man."
Heb. 9:11:
"But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands."
Remember who we saw in the judgment scene of Daniel 7:
Dan. 7:13:
"I saw in the night visions, 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."
The sanctuary is now in heaven, and Jesus is now our High Priest. But the heavenly sanctuary, like the one on earth, requires cleansing.
Heb. 9:22-23:
"And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.
"It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these."
III. The Day of Atonement
How was the earthly sanctuary cleansed?
Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement)
Once a year
Leviticus, chapter 16, tells about it.
High priest offers bullock for himself and his family Verse 6
Two goats presented: one for the Lord, the other for the scapegoat Verse 8 The Lord's goat offered as a sacrifice, and its blood placed throughout the sanctuary to cancel the record of sin
Verses 15-20
The live goat, or scapegoat, taken alive into the wilderness to die
Verses 21-22
Now who does this scapegoat represent?
Heb. 9:22:
"Without shedding of blood is no remission."
The scapegoat sheds no blood. It takes the blame for causing the people to sin.
And who is to blame for sin?
Rev. 12:9:
"That old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world."
IV. The Process of Judgment
But what about the judgment of God's people during this final Day of Atonement which started in 1844?
Eccl. 3:17:
"God shall judge the righteous and the wicked: for there is a time there for every purpose and for every work."
Eccl. 12:14:
"For God shall bring every work into judgment with every secret thing, whether it be good or whether it be evil."
II Cor. 5:10:
"For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ: that every one may receive the deeds done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad."
Matt. 12:36-37:
"But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.
"For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned."
Why is this investigative judgment necessary? Doesn't God already know who are His?
Dan. 7:10:
"Thousand thousands ministered unto Him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened."
Why is the whole unfallen universe assembled here? Because they don't know our hearts.
I Kings 8:39:
"Thou, even thou only, knowest the hearts of all the children of men."
Let’s look at some Biblical examples of divine investigation into human affairs:
Gen. 3:8-9:
"And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden.
"And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?"
Gen. 11:5:
"And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded."
God opens the books of record so that all the watching universe, will understand why God has acted in the way He has. The universe wants to be sure that those taken to heaven won't start another revolution.
This investigative judgment will start with the righteous dead.
Rev. 11:18-19:
"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.
"And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in His temple the ark of His testament."
In the ancient sanctuary, the ark of God's testament was in the Most Holy Place, which was only used on the Day of Atonement (Lev. 16:2). The same is true in the heavenly sanctuary.
In Revelation we see further evidence for a judgment of the righteous dead while they are still in their graves:
Rev. 6:9-11:
"And when He had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held.
"And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost Thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?
"And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled."
The word "fulfilled" here means perfected.
We've established from Scripture that the dead are unconscious (Eccl. 9:5-6; Job 14:10-12; John 5:28-29; Acts 2:29,34). This cry for vengeance, therefore, is symbolic, as was the cry of Abel's blood:
Gen. 4:10:
"The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto Me from the ground."
Revelation is telling us that the righteous dead are given white robes, symbols of acquittal in God's judgment, while they are still in their graves, since they are told to "rest yet for a little season" (Rev. 6:11).
Dan. 7:10:
"The judgment was set, and the books were opened."
Dan. 12:1:
"And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great Prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book."
What books does the Bible describe as existing in heaven? The Bible speaks in a number of verses of the “book of life” (Phil. 4:3; Rev. 3:5; 13:8; 20:12,15; 21:27; 22:19) It also speaks of what is called the “book of remembrance.”
Mal. 3:16-17:
“Then they that feared the Lord spoke often to one another, and the Lord hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before Him for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon His name.
“And they shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up My jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him.”
Ex. 32:32-33:
"Yet now, if Thou wilt forgive their sin--; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of Thy book which Thou hast written.
"And the Lord said unto Moses, Whosoever hath sinned against Me, him will I blot out of My book."
But this leaves us with a problem. How many have sinned?
Rom. 3:23:
"For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God."
Rom. 5:12:
"For that all have sinned."
So how can any of us escape being blotted out of God's book?
Rev. 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."
Lev. 16:30:
"For on that day shall the priest make an atonement for you, to cleanse you, that ye may be clean from all your sins before the Lord."
Rev. 14:5:
"And in their mouth was found no guile, for they are without fault before the throne of God."
Let's keep in mind--we aren't the judge here:
I Kings 8:39:
"Thou, even Thou only, knowest the hearts of all the children of men."
John 15:5:
"Without Me ye can do nothing."
Phil. 4:13:
"I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me."
Matt. 19:25-26:
"When His disciples heard it, they were exceedingly amazed, saying, Who then can be saved?
"But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible."
Gov. Eliot Spitzer:
“The greatness of a man does not come in never falling, but in rising every time he falls.”
Jude 24:
"Now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy."
At last God's true and faithful, like the crowds in Jackson, Mississippi, will be joyful in long-delayed justice!