The Doctrine of Christ

LESSON FIFTY-SIX The Executive Judgment

1. The Scriptures teach that the sentence against evil will be executed. Ecclesiastes 8:11. TDOC 154.1

2. The delay in the execution of the sentence is owing to the mercy of God. 2 Peter 3:9. TDOC 154.2

3. Inevitable punishment awaits a wicked world. Isaiah 13:11; 26:21; 2 Peter 2:9; 3:10. TDOC 154.3

4. The punishment meted out to unrepentant sinners is death. Ezekiel 18:4, 20; Romans 6:23; 8:13, 2; James 1:15. TDOC 154.4

5. The punishment is also called destruction. Isaiah 1:28; 13:6; Matthew 7:13; Philippians 3:18, 19; 2 Thessalonians 1:9-, 2 Peter 2:1; 1 Thessalonians 5:3. TDOC 154.5

6. The destruction which the wicked bring upon themselves is utter extinction. Malachi 4:1; Psalm 37:10; 2 Thessalonians 1:9; Revelation 20-7-9. TDOC 154.6

7. The execution of judgment is in the hands of the Son of man. John 5:27. TDOC 154.7

8. Provision has been made for shelter in the day of the Lord’s anger. Isaiah 26:20; 1 Thessalonians 5:9; Zephaniah 2:3; Matthew 3:7; 1 Thessalonians 1:9, 10. TDOC 154.8

NOTES

The wrath to come

“We all know the penal consequences which sin brings in its train even in this world. Remorse, unavailing sorrow, shame, fear, the sight of injury which we have done to those we love and which we cannot undo, incapacity for service, all these are part and parcel of the fruit which sin bears. But they are not the wrath to come. They do not exhaust the judgment of God upon evil. Instead of discrediting it, they bear witness to it; they are, so to speak, its forerunners; the lurid clouds that appear here and there in the sky, but are finally lost in the dense mass of the thunderstorm. When the apostle preached the gospel, he preached the wrath to come; without it, there would have been a missing link in the circle of Christian ideas.’ ‘I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ,’ he says. Why? Because in it the righteousness of God is revealed, a righteousness which is God’s gift and acceptable in God’s sight. But why is such a revelation of righteousness necessary! Because the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. The gospel is a revelation made to the world in view of a given situation, and the most prominent and threatening element in that situation is the impending wrath of God.” TDOC 154.9

The Son is Judge

“The risen Son is enthroned in power; he is judge of all; he died for all; he is able to save to the uttermost all that come unto God by him. To commit everything definitely to him; to leave him to undertake for us; to put on him the responsibility of our past and our future as he invites us to do: to put ourselves for good and all at his side-this is to find deliverance from the wrath to come.” TDOC 155.1

High treason

“The whole wicked world stand arraigned at the bar of God, on the charge of high treason against the government of heaven. They have none to plead their cause; they are without excuse; and the sentence of eternal death is pronounced against them.”-The Great Controversy, 668 TDOC 155.2

God’s judgments near

“Is there not enough taking place about us to show us the dangers that beset our path? Everywhere are, seen wrecks of humanity, neglected family altars, broken-up families. There is a strange abandonment of principle, a lowering of the standard of morality; the sins are fast increasing which caused the judgments of God to be poured upon the earth in the flood and in the destruction of Sodom by fire. We are nearing the end. God has borne long with the perversity of mankind, but their punishment is no less certain.”-Testimonies for the Church 5:601. TDOC 155.3

The terrors of the judgment

“God’s dealings with rebellion will result in fully unmasking the work that has so long been carried on under cover. The results of Satan’s rule, the fruits of setting aside the divine statutes, will be laid open to the view of all created intelligences. The law of God will stand fully vindicated. It will be seen that all the dealings of God have been conducted with reference to the eternal good of his people, and the good of all the worlds that he has created. Satan himself, in presence of the witnessing universe, will confess the justice of God’s government, and the righteousness of his law. TDOC 155.4

The time is not far distant when God will arise to vindicate his insulted authority. ‘The Lord cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity.’ But who may, abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appears! The people of Israel, because of their sinfulness, were forbidden to approach the mount when God was about to descend upon it to proclaim his law, lest they should be consumed by the burning glory of his presence. If such manifestations of his power marked the place chosen f or the proclamation of God’s law, how terrible must be his tribunal when he comes for the execution of these sacred statutes. How will those who have trampled upon his authority endure his glory in the great day of final retribution? The terrors of Sinai were to represent to the people the scenes of the judgment. The sound of a trumpet summoned Israel to meet with God. The voice of the archangel and the trump of God shall summon, from the whole earth, both the living and the dead to the presence of their Judge. The Father and the Son, attended by a multitude of angels, were present upon the mount. At the great judgment day, Christ will come ‘in the glory of his Father with his angels.’ He shall then sit upon the throne of his glory, and before him shall be gathered all nations.”-Patriarchs and Prophets, 338, 339. TDOC 155.5

The day of vengeance

“The day of vengeance is equivalent to the day of judgment, for men are not only judged in that day, but in that day rewards are given to all. Revelation 11:18 says the dead are judged and reward given to the saints in that time; 2 Peter 3:7 calls it ‘the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.’ This earth is reserved unto fire against that day. ‘The day of judgment’ is a period, more than one thousand years in length, how much more is not revealed, covering the judgment of investigation of the cases of all the righteous, and the giving of reward to them; followed by the further investigation of the cases of the wicked, in which the saints take part (1 Corinthians 6:1-3; Revelation 20:1-4), and their final overthrow, or entire destruction.” TDOC 156.1

The scapegoat

“It was seen also, that while the sin offering pointed to Christ as a sacrifice, an the high priest represented Christ as a mediator, the scapegoat typified Satan, the author of sin, upon whom the sins of the truly penitent will finally be placed. When the high priest, by virtue of the blood of the sin offering, removed the sins from the sanctuary, he placed them upon the scapegoat. When Christ, by virtue of his own blood, removes the sins of his people from the heavenly sanctuary at the close of his ministration, he will place them upon Satan, who, in the execution of the judgment, must bear the final penalty. The scapegoat was sent away into a land not inhabited, never to come again into the congregation of Israel. So will Satan be forever banished from the presence of God and his people, and he will be blotted from existence in the final destruction of sin and sinners.”-The Great Controversy, 422. TDOC 156.2