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Overland Monthly / OV037 - The Divine Program (VII. The Judgement Scene Before the Great White Throne)
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OV37 THE DIVINE PROGRAM VIII—THE JUDGMENT SCENE BEFORE THE GREAT WHITE THRONE
BY C. T. RUSSELL PASTOR BROOKLYN TABERNACLE
ST. PAUL DECLARES that Christian
believers, when they receive the Holy Spirit, "Receive not the spirit
of bondage and fear, but the spirit of a sound mind." For the long
centuries of the dark ages, however, Christianity was merely a nominal
affair, except with the very few. Instead of the Holy Spirit, instead
of the spirit of love and of a sound mind, the world was at that time
dominated by a spirit of fear. To some extent this is still true.
Nevertheless, increase of knowledge is taking some of the shackles of
fear from off of the intellects and permitting us to look at everything
more honestly, more logically, more with the spirit of a sound mind
than ever before.
We are glad of this, and purpose now to
examine our subject in the light of the Scriptures and with the spirit
of a sound mind, divesting ourselves, so far as possible, of the "fear
which bringeth a snare." The Day of Judgment, or, as it once was
called, Doomsday, had an awful significance to our forefathers. To them
it brought pictures of Christ upon his throne of judgment surrounded by
myriads of holy angels intent upon executing his decrees, good or bad,
and to the vast majority of those decrees were supposed to mean eternal
torment. A once famous preacher of this famous city of churches
pictured the Judgment scene most grotesquely as represented in the
public prints of about thirty years ago. He pictured the Second Coming
of the Lord Jesus in his power and great glory, seated upon a cloud in
mid-heaven, surrounded by angelic hosts. Before him appeared the world
of mankind, brought back from heaven and hell and the dust of the
earth. In grandiloquent language he pictured the earth turning upon its
axis during a period of twenty-four hours, so that the entire worldful
of people could see the Judge on his cloud-throne. The Judgment picture
was a mere farce, for the Judge merely said to those who had come from
heaven, Go back. Resume your crowns and harps. And he said to those who
had come from hell, Go back to your eternal torment. This and other
very similar misrepresentations of the Day of Judgment have so repulsed
the intelligence of many as to turn their minds away from the Bible
toward Agnosticism. It is our purpose on this occasion to, if possible,
set forth the Bible presentation of Divine Truth on the subject of
GodÂ’s Judgments so clearly, so self-evidently, that none possessed of a
sound balance of mind could possibly object thereto.
A Judgment Day in Eden.
A totally wrong thought seems to have
gotten possession of all of our minds in respect to the meaning of the
Day of Judgment. It is generally understood to signify a day of
condemnation. However, the expression in the Scriptures really
signifies a day of crisis, a time of decision, a period of trial; —not
a day of inflicting punishments for crimes previously adjudicated. The
Greek word crisis translated judgment has been so frequently used in
our English language that it has become an English word as well. Hence
its meaning, the same in the Greek as in the English, is well known to
us all. For instance,
OV38 if in our home we have a patient who
has taken the fever and a doctor calls, we may inquire how soon
recovery may be expected. The doctor asks the date the fever began, and
answers that its crisis will come on the seventh, fourteenth,
twenty-first, twenty-eighth, or some other day a multiple of the
seventh day from its commencement. His meaning is, that then the
testing will come, the trial, the determination whether the person will
sink into death or recover from the fever. This gives us the proper
thought connected with this word crisis or judgment; the proper
thought, therefore, connected with the expression, Day of Judgment. For
instance, there was such a Day of Judgment in Eden when God forbade our
first parents to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. At
that moment their testing, their trial, their judgment, began—to
demonstrate their obedience or disobedience, and thus in turn to
determine their worthiness or unworthiness of life eternal. In that
Judgment Day, as we have already seen, our first parents were
disobedient and a death condemnation came upon them, which has been
inherited by all of their children in a natural way. Partaking of their
flesh and blood, we partook also of their weaknesses, mental, moral and
physical; hence we are a dying race—dying because our first parents
failed in the first Day of Judgment or trial.
The Jewish Judgment Day.
While God foreknew that the Law Covenant
made with the nation of Israel through Moses would not effect a
deliverance of the nation from the effects of original sin, he
nevertheless, for good reasons, gave that nation a trial or judgment or
testing under the provisions of that Law Covenant. It was a life or
death agreement. Any who could keep the requirements of that Law
Covenant might under it claim eternal life. Whoever failed of keeping
the requirements of that Law Covenant would die.
This trial or test came upon that nation
at the time of its deliverance from Egypt, when they passed through the
Red Sea and were baptized into Moses in the sea and in the cloud—the
sea on the one hand and the cloud overhead. They were baptized or
buried into Moses. For nearly fifteen centuries that nation was on
trial or judgment, yet the results of the judgment were not decreed
until our LordÂ’s Second Advent, when he was declared of the Father to
be the One, and the only One born under the Law Covenant who inherited
its blessings of eternal life by absolute obedience to its every
requirement. Not only so, but the remainder of that nation were all
adjudged unworthy of any further trial, as our Lord himself expressed
the sentiment, saying: "Your house is left unto you desolate. For I say
unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is
he that cometh in the name of the Lord—at his Second Advent.—#Mt 23:38,39.
The Apostle Paul, reviewing the results of those fifteen centuries of
their judgment or trial, tells us that the Law Covenant made nothing
perfect; that it merely showed to be perfect the Perfect One who had
left the heavenly Courts and become a man, in order to redeem Adam and
his race. St. Paul, however, shows us also that, throughout that Jewish
Age of trial some were found possessed of faith far beyond their
fellows. He enumerates many of these, and then calls attention to the
fact that they died without having received the things promised to
them, but that they did receive Divine approval in that the Lord
declared that they pleased him—not by perfection of works and obedience
to the Law Covenant, but that he was pleased with their faith: they
demonstrated that if they had been free from the blemishes of the
fallen condition, blessed with perfect bodies and minds, they would
have delighted to have kept the Law perfectly.
Spiritual IsraelÂ’s Judgment.
The Gospel Age is represented as an epoch
of trial or testing or judgment for the Church of Christ—the Body of
Christ—those to be joint-heirs with Christ in his nature and his
throne—"the Bride, the Lamb’s Wife." The Scriptures point out to us
that during this epoch God is drawing and calling from the world of
mankind a "little flock," and that he is permitting the way of response
to his call to be made a narrow one and a very difficult one. This
OV39 is to the intent that the class that
will hear, obey and walk in the footsteps of Jesus in this narrow way
may be a very special class, a "little flock," each one of them copies
of GodÂ’s dear Son, the dear Redeemer. It will be seen, then, that in a
very special sense there is a trial, a testing, a judgment, in
progress—not a judgment in respect to the world, but of those who have
accepted the "call" and made living sacrifices of themselves in the
LordÂ’s service, to the knowing and doing of the LordÂ’s will. These are
required to make their calling and election sure by demonstrating their
loyalty to the Lord and his Word and the brethren, under various trying
conditions, of which the Apostle Peter says, "Beloved, think it not
strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some
strange thing happened unto you." (#1Pe 4:12.)
The trials are necessary for the development of character and for the
proving of the faithful ones; hence the overcomers in this trial must
be found faithful, not only in reaching the mark of perfect love, but
in maintaining their stand there, resisting the various attacks of the
flesh and of the Adversary. Such "conquerors" will be granted "the
crown of life," which God has in reservation for them that thus love
him. With the end of this age, the trial or judgment will be completed,
finished. The "little flock" of overcomers will receive the reward of
joint heirship with their Lord and participation in Divine nature;
while those not counted worthy of this glory, yet faithful in many
respects, will receive blessings of spiritual nature without the
"crown." Others still, failing entirely in the trial, will be accounted
unworthy of eternal life on any plane, and will die the Second Death,
as says the Apostle: "For it is impossible for those who were once
enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly.gift, and were made
partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good Word of God, and
the powers of the world to come, if they shall fall away, to renew them
again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God
afresh, and put him to an open shame." (#Heb 6:4-6  .)
Again, "For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the
knowledge of the Truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but
a certain fearful looking for of judgment, and fiery indignation, which
shall devour the adversaries."—#Heb 10:26-27 .
The WorldÂ’s Judgment Day.
The Apostle declares: "God hath appointed
a day, in 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."—#Ac 17:31.
It will be noticed that this cannot apply to the original Judgment Day,
in which our first parents failed in Eden; neither can the words apply
to the judgment or trial which came to Israel under the Law Covenant,
nor to the church on trial during this Gospel Age; because it is put in
the future tense. The Apostle used these words in the beginning of this
Gospel Age and the words apply beyond this Gospel Age to an appointed
day or epoch future. The day referred to is "the day of Christ"—the
Millennial Age—the thousand year day of the reign of righteousness,
when Messiah shall be King over all the earth, to rescue it from the
reign of sin and death and to bless all the captives of sin and
death—the entire human family, already redeemed by the precious blood.
The ApostleÂ’s words clearly state that he refers, not to the churchÂ’s
trial period, but to the worldÂ’s. Certain things are necessary to a
righteous judgment or trial of the world.
1. They must all come to a knowledge of the Truth. (#1Ti 2:4-6.)
They cannot be saved in ignorance and
superstition and vice. They must all be brought to a knowledge of the
redemption accomplished by the sacrifice of Christ; to a knowledge of
GodÂ’s willingness to receive them back again into his fellowship. They
must all be proffered assistance out of the degradation which came upon
them through the disobedience and fall of our first parents, in the
first trial or judgment.
2. They cannot be on trial for life
everlasting without first having been judicially set free from the
original condemnation—the original death sentence pronounced upon our
first parents in Eden and inherited by all of their children.
These conditions have not yet been met,
OV40 and hence the world is not yet
experiencing this trial or judgment or testing which, the Apostle tells
us, God has appointed for them. It will come to them, however, in the
time appointed of the father, called in the Scriptures "GodÂ’s due
time."
Furthermore, the time for the worldÂ’s
judgment or testing cannot come until the trial or testing of the
church shall have been completed and the worthy ones been found,
because it is the Church that is now on trial, and that is to furnish
the judges for the worldÂ’s trial day. Mark the ApostleÂ’s words to this
effect: "Know ye not that the saints shall judge the world?" (#1Co 6:2.)
Nor is this thought out of harmony with the other text, "God hath
appointed a day in the which he will judge the world in righteousness
by that man whom he hath ordained." On the contrary, we have already
seen that "the mystery" of this Gospel Age lies in the fact that Jesus,
the Redeemer of the world, is the Head of the Church, which is his
Body, and which is now being selected or tried or judged for its
position in glory, only the faithful receiving the reward, or
membership, in the glorious Prophet, Priest, King, Messiah, beyond the
veil.
The wrong thought respecting the Day of
Judgment has made of it the day of terrors to the Church and to the
world—all who have heard of it. It has been supposed to seal the doom
of humanity: that thenceforth the Lord will have no pity and show no
mercy. But the Scriptures, consistent with themselves, point out that
the coming Judgment Day of the world signifies, to it, a great day of
judgment, trial and blessing; just as the ChurchÂ’s judgment day
signifies a great blessing to us; the privilege of becoming heirs of
God and joint heirs with the Redeemer in his Kingdom glory. As to these
facts, notice the words of inspiration by the Prophet David.
Prophetically looking down beyond this time to the Millennial Age, the
Prophet declares: "Let the heavens be glad, And let the earth rejoice;
And let men say among the nations, Jehovah reigneth.
Let the sea roar, and the fullness thereof; Let the fields rejoice, and all that are therein.
Then shall the trees of the wood sing aloud At the presence of Jehovah; BECAUSE HE COMETH TO JUDGE THE EARTH.
O give thanks unto Jehovah, for he is good; For his mercy endureth forever."
To the same day the Apostle also points,
assuring us that it will be a glorious and desirable day, and that for
it the whole creation is groaning and travailing in pain
together—waiting for the great Judge to deliver and to bless the world
as well as to exalt and glorify the church.—#Ro 8:21,22. In #Joh 5:28,29,
a precious promise for the world of a coming judgment-trial for life
everlasting is, by a mistranslation, turned into a fearful imprecation.
According to the Greek text, however, they that have done evil—that
have failed of Divine approval—will come forth unto resurrection
(raising up to perfection) by judgments, "stripes," testings,
disciplines. —See the Revised Version.
The Great White Throne.
The Book of Revelation is recognized by GodÂ’s people to be a book of symbols.
One of its beautiful pictures relates to
the Judgment Day. We read, "And I saw a great white throne, and him
that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and
there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great,
stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was
opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of
those things which were written in the books, according to their
works."—#Re 20:11-13.
This is one of a series of pen pictures of the Millennial Kingdom of
Christ and the blessings it will bring to mankind—the blessed privilege
of a fresh judgment or trial for everlasting life. The first judgment
of the race in Adam resulted in failure and condemnation of our first
parents, and we were merely included in its losses, its disasters. By
Divine arrangement, our Redeemer has died, the Just
OV41 for the unjust. The application of
his merit to father Adam will extend a blessing eventually to every
member of his race, securing to them all a full release from the
original condemnation or sentence and from all of the blight which came
upon our race as a result. Setting aside the original penalty does not
give either Adam or his children eternal life, but merely provides for
all a new judgment or fresh trial for eternal life. Adam had perfection
of life and held it tentatively on condition of his obedience. The
redeemed race will come back again to AdamÂ’s position of trial and
testing, as respects worthiness of life everlasting. However, instead
of bringing mankind back by instantaneous process from the tomb and
from our present fallen condition of mind and body to the full
perfection of human nature, which Adam enjoyed, God proposes a still
better way. He will give his fallen creatures through Christ an
opportunity to climb up out of the sin and death conditions into which
AdamÂ’s transgressions brought all. Some are more fallen; some less so.
None could be recovered except by the Redeemer, whose death provides
the ladder, so to speak, by which mankind can be raised up to full
human perfection and Divine favor and all that was lost in Adam. The
opportunity for thus rising up by their own exertions and by the
assistance of the glorified Redeemer and his glorified Church will be
during the Millennial Age. That opportunity will constitute the worldÂ’s
trial or judgment.
Various offices are attributed to our
Lord, in connection with his great work for the world of mankind. Thus
we read that he is to be the great Prophet, the great Priest, the great
Mediator and the great Judge. We have already seen that the foundation
for this great Kingdom and Judgeship was laid in our RedeemerÂ’s
sacrifice of himself; but the execution of the great Plan of God, the
Divine Program, was delayed to permit the selection of the Church, the
"little flock," the Judge and associate judges. A gradual testing of
the world by uplifting processes, by the binding of Satan and the
making of the knowledge of the Lord to fill the whole earth, etc., will
be much better for all concerned than if they were instantly made
perfect and then put on trial as Adam was. The thousand years of
uplifting influences and the striving against sin and the forming of
character according to the Divine will will be helpful to the world and
enable them to overcome, in the trial which will come to them in this
gradual way. Help at each step and assistance out of every
unintentional blunder is provided until at last all the willing and
obedient shall have reached the full perfection of human nature—all
that was lost by Adam and redeemed by Jesus or, refusing it, will have
been destroyed in the Second Death. The "great white throne" represents
the powers of the Government and the purity or fairness of the trial
which will be granted to the world of mankind. When we read that heaven
and earth fled away from the presence of him upon the throne, it
identifies that throne with the end of this age, and the opening of the
Millennial Age. Present institutions are represented thus: the heavens,
the church, etc., and the earth the political and social interests of
"this present evil world." As St. Peter tells us, present institutions
shall "pass away with a great noise," and instead the Lord will reveal
a new heavens and a new earth—that is to say, new spiritual powers, the
Church in glory; and new earthly powers, the new political and social
conditions—along better lines than those which now control: along lines
of Justice and Love. The judgment or trial is before God in the sense
that it will be along the lines of the Divine Law, though the Law Giver
in this trial will be represented by the glorified Mediator. The
judgment will not be along new lines, but along old lines, as our Lord
Jesus declared: "My Word shall judge you in the last days." However, so
far as the world is concerned, our LordÂ’s words are as yet hidden
mysteries, words not understood. Only the Church, enlightened by the
Holy Spirit, has been able to appreciate the Divine Word clearly. But
when the worldÂ’s judgment or trial will be on, during the Millennium,
the books will be opened—the books of the Bible—and the dead will be
judged, will be tried, will be tested along the lines of teaching found
in those books of the Bible. Those who give
OV42 heed to the message of the Lord, its
doctrines, its precepts, will make progress from grace to grace, from
knowledge to knowledge, from strength to strength. Their Restitution or
Resurrection will gradually progress as the Truth tries or judges them
and finds them responsive, obedient to the voice which speaketh from
heaven. St.
Peter tells us that it shall come to pass
that the soul that will not obey that Prophet, that Teacher, that King,
will be destroyed from amongst his people. (#Ac 3:23.)
On the contrary, all who do obey the LordÂ’s Word will, by the close of
that Millennial period, have reached a full human perfection, mental,
moral and physical. They will be as perfect as was Adam, and
additionally possess a wider range of knowledge, and many of them, we
trust, a firm texture of developed character. Still, however, at the
close of the Millennial Judgment Day a great final test will be
provided, which will thoroughly demonstrate the heart loyalty or
disloyalty of each one. And all the disloyal will be utterly destroyed
in the Second Death, without hope of recovery of any kind.
The Sheep and the Goats.
Our Lord gave one of his parables to
illustrate the worldÂ’s judgment during the Millennium, the parable of
the sheep and the goats. Its location is definitely fixed by the
context, which shows that it will find its fulfillment during the
Millennial Age—after the present age shall have closed. We read, "When
the Son of Man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with
him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: and before him
shall be gathered all nations; and he shall separate them one from
another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats." (#Mt 25:31,32.)
This parable corresponds exactly to the "great white throne" picture of
Revelation. It shows all nations, all peoples gathered before that
throne, which will be established in power and great glory. The Son of
man who will come in his glory and who will sit upon the throne has
given us numerous assurances that the elect church shall sit with him
in his throne. The church will not be amongst those sheep and goats
before that throne, but, glorified as the LambÂ’s Wife, the Church will
be with her Bridegroom in his throne judging all nations—judging them,
proving them; which are of the sheep nature and which are of the goat
nature. The former will be blessed. The latter will be destroyed. At
the end of the thousand years of the Judgment Day, the sheep found at
the right hand of favor will receive the blessing: "Come, ye blessed of
my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of
the world"—an earthly kingdom, different decidedly from the heavenly
kingdom, which will have previously been given to the church in
association with her Lord. Then the unworthy will also be dealt with.
As we read, He who sat upon the throne said to the goat class, "Depart
from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and
his angels"—his fellows, all who are of his character likeness, and who
are in sympathy with him. These will include all of AdamÂ’s restored
race who, after enjoying the knowledge and favor of God, shall maintain
any sympathy for sin and discord. The everlasting punishment, be it
remembered, will be administered; but this does not signify everlasting
torments, because the punishment for sin is not torment, but
death—everlasting death will therefore be the punishment of the goat
class with Satan the great adversary. From this death there will be no
redemption, no resurrection, no recovery of any kind. As St. Peter
declares, "They shall be like brute beasts, made to be taken and
destroyed." The everlasting fire is as symbolical, as parabolic, as the
sheep and the goats. Fire is a symbol of destruction, and everlasting
fire a symbol of everlasting destruction. An everlasting fire is one
not quenched, one which burns until it shall have accomplished its
purpose of complete destruction.
More and Less Tolerable.
Our Lord had considerable to say about
this great Day of Judgment, by and through which, in the FatherÂ’s Plan,
he was to extend the blessings of his sacrifice to the entire race.
Jesus upbraided the people of Bethsaida and Chorazin, declaring that
Sodom and Gomorrah would have represented with contrition in sackcloth
and
OV43 ashes, if they had enjoyed their
opportunities. He assured them that, in the Day of Judgment, the day of
trial, the day of testing, the Millennial Judgment Day, matters would
be more favorable for the Sodomites than for the people of Chorazin and
Bethsaida.—#Mt 11:21-24.
This may give a new thought to some—that the Divine arrangement for
dealing with the Sodomites during the Millennium will be quite
tolerable—less severe, less of an ordeal than for some of the Jews who
lived in our LordÂ’s day. Nor are we to think of those Jews as being
specially wicked and reprehensible, because they crucified the Lord of
Glory. St. Peter declares, "I wot that through ignorance ye did it, as
did also your rulers." (#Ac 3:17.)
Of those same Jews we read that the Lord will "pour upon the house of
David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and
of supplications; and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced,
and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son."—#Zec 12:10.
But glance at the case of the Sodomites. Our Lord shows that he had
reference to those persons who lived in the days of Lot. He says, "But
the same day that Lot went out of Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone
from heaven and destroyed them all." (#Lu 17:29.)
Those Sodomites had no share in any day
of judgment, except in the sense that they were children of Adam, and
by heredity they were condemned in him and shared in his death
sentence. They sinned, doubtless, against a measure of light, yet not
against full light, because the Gospel lamp was not lighted and did not
shine upon any until JesusÂ’ day. Thus it is written that Christ
"brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel;" and, again,
that this great salvation "began to be preached by our Lord." (#2Ti 1:10; #Heb 2:3 .)
The death of the Sodomites, therefore, was merely the Adamic death,
hastened; not the Second Death. They would have died anyway. They were
taken in a manner which furnished an example for those who afterwards
should live in extreme ungodliness, as they did; whether with or
without the Gospel light. If we turn to #Eze 16:46-63,
we see how the Lord reproved Israel for unfaithfulness, under great
privileges and blessings. He reminds them of how, in the days of their
prosperity and pride, they disdained their sister nations, the
Sodomites and Samaritans. After telling them that they were worse than
either of these, he further informs them that when he fulfills his
promise to them to regather Israel, to restore to Israel his favor and
the light of his countenance and to make with them the New Covenant, he
then will also bless the Samaritans and the Sodomites. We read, "When I
shall bring in their captivity, the captivity of Sodom and her
daughters, and the captivity of Samaria and her daughters, then will I
bring again the captivity of thy captives in the midst of them....When
thy sisters, Sodom and her daughters, shall return to their former
estate, and Samaria and her daughters shall return to their former
estate, then thou and thy daughters shall return to their former
estate.
...Nevertheless, I will remember my
Covenant with thee in the days of thy youth, and I will establish unto
thee an everlasting Covenant."—See #Jer 31:31 ; #Ro 11:27-32.
We see, then, that a Divine Program,
which has provided that the world shall have a Judgment Day or Epoch,
as the result of ChristÂ’s redemptive work, has set apart for it the
Millennial Age, with amplest provisions that each member of AdamÂ’s race
may have a full, fair and impartial trial for eternal life or eternal
death. The Divine Program is surely a good one—ten thousand times
better than the miserably confused and confusing ideas of the Judgment
Day which came down to us from "the dark ages," filling us with fear
and dread as respects God and his gracious arrangements for the
blessing of all the families of the earth through The Christ, Head and
Body.
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