INVESTIGATIVE
JUDGMENT
A Seventh-day Adventist term for the
preliminary phase of the great final judgment by which God intervenes in human
affairs to bring the reign of sin to a close and to inaugurate Christ’s eternal
reign of righteousness (see Dan. 7:9, 10, 13, 14). This opening phase is
called an investigative judgment because it consists of an examination of the
life records of all who have ever professed to accept salvation in Christ and
whose names are therefore inscribed in “the Lamb’s book of life.” Its purpose
is to verify their eligibility for citizenship in God’s eternal kingdom. At the
close of the investigative judgment the sins of those who have endured to the
end are “blotted out” from the books of record and the names of all others are
stricken from the book of life (Ex. 32:32, 33; Rev. 3:5; 20:12, 15; 22:19).
Seventh-day Adventists teach that in view of the fact that at His second coming
Christ rewards “every man according as his work shall be” (Rev. 22:12; cf. Rom.
2:5–11), it is evident that this investigation of the life record takes place before
He returns to earth to gather the elect. The divine proclamation “Fear God,
and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come,” is specifically
presented as preceding the Advent (Rev. 14:7; cf. v. 14).
To be sure, God
does not need to investigate the records in order to learn or to determine who
is eligible to be saved. It is for the benefit of all created beings that the
facts with respect to each person’s fate should be known, as an assurance to
all that justice has been done and as a guarantee of the eternal stability of
the divine government. The Bible writers speak of “books” in which God keeps a
record of character-of good and evil deeds as measured by a person’s knowledge
of, and voluntary relationship to, divine grace and God’s revealed will (Ex.
32:32; Mark 16:16; Phil. 4:3; James 4:17; Rev. 20:12, 13; 22:11, 12).
The doctrine of
the investigative judgment is an integral part of the sanctuary doctrine, and
relates especially to the fulfillment in antitype of the ancient Day of
Atonement service. In brief, the Day of Atonement consisted, in figure, of a
review of the individual records of God’s people-of their personal relationship
to God through the sanctuary ministration. At the close of the special service
of the day a final disposal of all sins that had been confessed, forgiven, and
transferred in figure to the sanctuary during the preceding year was made; the
sanctuary was “cleansed” of the record of these sins removed (see Lev. 16).
Persons whose sins
were included in this work of cleansing were released from further
responsibility for their past record of sin, and their status under the
covenant relationship was revalidated. Those no longer eligible to continue in
the covenant relationship were to be “cut off” from Israel. The ancient Day of
Atonement was thus a day on which the eligibility of each individual Israelite
to continue under the covenant relationship was reviewed, and it was therefore
a day of judgment (see SB, Nos. 111–118; SDADic, “Atonement, Day of”).
Development of
Seventh-day Adventist View. William Miller based his 1843/1844 message chiefly on
the text (Dan. 8:14) “Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the
sanctuary be cleansed,” holding that the period of time here specified
terminated in that year (see Sanctuary; Twenty-three Hundred Days). He
understood this cleansing of the sanctuary to involve a work of judgment and to
consist in the purification of this earth by the fires of the last day, at the
second coming of Christ in power and glory. When, after the disappointment of
1844, those who later became Seventh-day Adventists reviewed Miller’s
interpretation of Dan. 8:14, they became convinced of the validity of Miller’s
exposition of the time period, but concluded that the sanctuary here referred
to is the sanctuary in heaven, mentioned in the book of Hebrews, where Christ
now ministers as our great high priest. Inasmuch as the earthly sanctuary and
its services were types of the heavenly sanctuary (Heb. 8:2, 5; 9:6–9, 23; cf.
Ex. 25:8, 9), as the earthly sanctuary was cleansed on the ancient Day of
Atonement (Lev. 16), and as the earthly sanctuary ceased to exist in A.D. 70,
early SDAs concluded that the cleansing of the sanctuary foretold in Dan 8:14
must refer to a counterpart of the ancient Day of Atonement to be conducted in
the heavenly sanctuary. The SDA understanding of a cleansing of the heavenly
sanctuary, of a great antitypical day of atonement, and of an investigative
judgment is based on this analogy drawn in the book of Hebrews between the
earthly and heavenly sanctuaries.
The view that the
sanctuary to be cleansed in 1844 is the one in heaven was first written out by
Owen R. L. Crosier, in the Day-Dawn in 1845 and in the Day-Star Extra
of Feb. 7, 1846. Crosier emphasized two aspects of the antitypical
cleansing-the blotting out of sins and the disposal of sins by placing them, in
figure, on the head of the scapegoat. This he based on Acts 3:19: “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.”
Crosier connected
this blotting out of sins with the cleansing of the sanctuary from the sins of
the people on the ancient Day of Atonement. “A little attention to the law will
show that the sins were borne from the people by the priest, and from the
priest by the goat. 1st, They are imparted to the victim. 2nd, The priest bore
them in its blood to the Sanctuary. 3rd, After cleansing them from it on the
10th day of the seventh month, he bore them to the scape-goat. And 4th, The
goat finally bore them away beyond the camp of Israel to the wilderness. This
was the legal process, and when fulfilled the author of sins will have received
them back again, (but the ungodly will bear their own sins,) and his head will
have been bruised by the seed of the woman” (ibid. 43).
About the time
Crosier was first writing his view concerning the heavenly sanctuary William
Miller wrote a letter (Mar. 20, 1845) in which he applied the judgment-hour
message to the closing ministry of Christ in the heavenly sanctuary: “That the
prophetic numbers did close in 1844, I can have but little doubt. What then was
there worthy of note that could be said to answer to the ending of the periods
under these numbers so emphatically describing the end? I answer. The first
thing I will notice is, ‘The hour of his Judgment is come.’ I ask, is there any
thing in the scriptures to show that the hour has not come, or in our present
position to show, that God is not now in his last Judicial character deciding
the cases of all the righteous, so that Christ (speaking after the manner of
men) will know whom to collect at his coming or the angels may know whom to
gather when they are sent to gather together the elect, whom God has in this
hour of his Judgment justified? Rom. 8:33. . . . It also seems by John’s description
of this event, Rev. 19:1, 2, 11, that the scene of the Judgment begins in
heaven, and the first thing mortals on earth will see will be the messenger of
God, Rev. 20:1, who is Jesus Christ, descending from God, to execute the
Judgment written in heaven, and fulfill the decrees and promises made in heaven
by him who sitteth on the great white throne. . . . If this is true, who can
say God is not already justifying his Sanctuary, and will yet justify us in
preaching the time?” (Day-Star 5:31, Apr. 8, 1845).
Judging by their
writings, Adventists who later formed the Seventh-day Adventist Church did not
notice William Miller’s suggestion relating the judgment of Rev. 14:6, 7 to the
cleansing of the sanctuary mentioned in Dan. 8:14.
In his initial
explanation of the October 1844 disappointment, Hiram Edson had spoken of
Christ’s having “a work to perform” in the heavenly sanctuary after the end of
the 2300 days and before His return, but he gave no further explanation.
Crosier’s expanded discussion of the sanctuary in his 1846 article did not
connect the cleansing of the sanctuary with the judgment. The nearest approach
to the idea was an allusion to “the breast-plate of judgment” worn over the
heart of the high priest when he went into the Holy of Holies on the Day of
Atonement, “that he may bear their judgment” (Day-Star 9:40, Extra, Feb.
7, 1846).
He may or may not
have derived this from Enoch Jacobs, who in November 1844 spoke of the names of
the children of Israel on the “breast-plate of judgment” as typifying the
people whose sins are put away before Christ personally returns, and suggested
the possibility that on the antitypical Day of Atonement, the tenth day of the
seventh month, Jesus had begun to sit in judgment and was on His way to execute
the judgment in person (Western Midnight Cry 4:19, Nov. 29, 1844).
Neither is it
clear whether Jacobs derived this idea of the final putting away of sins from a
letter he had received from William Miller (dated Nov. 22) in which Miller,
replying to an inquiry, wrote that Christ would come as judge, to bear our sins
away; “that our sins cannot be blotted out until Christ comes to judge His
people is evident from . . . Rom. 14:10; 2 Cor. 5:10; Rom. 2:6” (ibid.
4:26, Dec. 21, 1844).
Nor is it possible
to find a connection between the SDA view and the earlier reference by Josiah
Litch (Prophetic Expositions [1842], vol. 1, pp. 49–54) to a preliminary
phase of the judgment-the examination, or trial, of every person preceding the
resurrection, and the execution of the judgment at the Second Advent. The
various elements-the blotting out of sins, the putting away of sins, the
examination of the books, the cleansing of the sanctuary from the sins-were all
present in Millerite thinking, but the synthesis cannot be traced exactly.
By 1849, when the
early Seventh-day Adventist group had well established its identity, Ellen
White wrote: “I saw that Jesus would not leave the Most Holy Place until every
case was decided either for salvation or destruction” (Present Truth
1:22, August 1849; reprinted in EW 36), yet she did not call it the judgment.
In the same year
David Arnold (Present Truth 1:43–45, December 1849) and the next year
Joseph Bates (Review and Herald 1:22, December 1850) echoed the phrase
“breast-plate of judgment,” and carried the idea further, to equate the coming
of the Bridegroom to the wedding with the entrance of the high priest into the
Holy of Holies on the Day of Atonement, blotting out the sins of those whose
names are on the breastplate (in the antitype, the Israel of God), but neither
mentions the judgment. James White did not mention the breastplate of judgment
in his article in Present Truth 1:75–79, May 1850; and in another
discussion of the sanctuary doctrine (Review and Herald 1:29, January
1851), he mentioned only the removal of sins by placing them on the head of the
scapegoat. In 1853 J. N. Andrews wrote a series of articles on the sanctuary.
When he came to the cleansing on the Day of Atonement, he mentioned only the
blotting out of sins and the transfer of sins to the scapegoat (Review and
Herald 3:147, 148, Feb. 3, 1853).
However, in 1854
J. N. Loughborough, like William Miller in 1845, connected the cleansing of the
sanctuary as a work of judgment with the message of the first angel of Rev. 14:
“The hour of his judgment is come.” He asked: “What was that work of cleansing?
Is the work of cleansing the Sanctuary fitly heralded by the first angel’s
message? in other words, Is it a work of judgment? For light on this subject,
we shall be obliged to go to the type. Let us look at the type. See the high
priest preparing himself to cleanse the Sanctuary; almost the first thing he
did was to gird upon him the breast plate of judgment. For what does he put
that on? It certainly looks as though he was going to do a judgment work. . . .
“Now read 1 Pet.
iv. Verse 5 declares that Christ is ready to judge the quick and the dead.
Verse 7. ‘But the end of all things is at hand.’ Verse 11. ‘If any man speak
let him speak as the oracles of God.’ (Oraclesten commandments. See Acts vii,
38.) Why speak as the oracles of God? Because the oracles are the duty brought
out by the third angel’s message. Verse 17. ‘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.’ Verse 19. Commit the keeping of
your souls to God. 1 Tim. v, 24. ‘Some men’s sins are open before-hand going
before to judgment.’ We see by this what the judgment is that the first angel
of Rev. xiv refers to” (ibid. 4:30, Feb. 14, 1854).
The next year
Uriah Smith formally developed the idea of judgment, building also on the
connection between the cleansing of the sanctuary and the judgment-hour
message: “The work of cleansing the earthly sanctuary was a work of judgment.
The high priest went into the most holy place, bearing the breast-plate of
judgment, and on that breast-plate the names of the twelve children of Israel,
to make an atonement for the holy sanctuary, and for all the people of the
congregation. Lev. xvi, 33. This prefigured a solemn fact; namely, that in the
great plan of salvation, a time of decision was coming for the human race; a
work of atonement, which being accomplished, God’s people, the true Israel,
should stand acquitted, and cleansed from all sin. . . . We read in Dan. vii,
10, that the judgment was set, and the books were opened. Again
in Rev. xx, 12, the books were opened, and the dead were judged out of those
things written in the books, according to their works. From this we
learn that a record is kept of the acts of all men; and from that record, their
reward is given them according to their deserts. There is no judgment in this
sense of the term, independent of these books of record; but we read [1 Pet.
iv, 17] that there is a time when judgment must begin at the house of God; when
some men’s sins are open beforehand, going before to judgment; [1 Tim. v, 24;]
and if, says Peter, it first begin at us what shall the end be of them that
obey not the gospel of God. This must be a judgment of the same nature and can
refer to no other work than the closing up of the ministration of the heavenly
Sanctuary, hence that work must embrace the examination of individual
character; and we conclude that the lives of the children of God, not only
those who are living, but all who have ever lived, whose names are written in
the Lamb’s book of life, will during this time pass in final review before that
great tribunal. We see, therefore, how in this respect, the work of the type is
infinitely surpassed by that of the antitype. . . .
“The first angel
proclaimed, Fear God and give glory to him; for the hour of his Judgment is
come. At the end of the 2300 days, when that message closed, had that time
come? If the judgment scene which takes place in the second apartment of the
Sanctuary, to which this proclamation doubtless refers, did not then commence,
it had not come; and the first angel with his message, was too fast. But we
believe that work did there commence; that there was the time when judgment
began at the house of God, and the time came when Daniel, and all the righteous
in the person of their Advocate should stand in their lot” (ibid.
7:52–54, Oct. 2, 1855).
Finally, in 1857,
James White rounded out the doctrine, using “investigative judgment”: “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? And if the
righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear? 1
Pet. iv, 17, 18.
“This text we must
regard as prophetic. That it applies to the last period of the church of Christ
seems evident from verses 5–7, 12, 13. In the judgment of the race of man, but
two great classes are recognized-the righteous and the sinner, or ungodly. Each
class has its time of judgment; and, according to the text, the judgment of the
house, or church, of God comes first in order.
“Both classes will
be judged before they are raised from the dead. The investigative judgment of
the house, or church, of God will take place before the first resurrection; so
will the judgment of the wicked take place during the 1000 years of Rev. xx,
and they will be raised at the close of that period.
“It is said of all
the just, ‘Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection,’
therefore all their cases are decided before Jesus comes to raise them from the
dead. The judgment of the righteous is while Jesus offers his blood for the
blotting out of sins. Immortal saints will reign with Christ 1000 years in the
judgment of the wicked. Rev. xx, 4; 1 Cor. vi, 2, 3. The saints will not only
participate in the judgment of the world, but in judging fallen angels. See
Jude 6.
‘Some men’s sins
[the righteous] are open before hand, going before to judgment, and some men
[the wicked] they follow after.’ 1 Tim. v, 24. That is, some men lay open, or
confess their sins, and they go to judgment while Jesus’ blood can blot them
out, and the sins be remembered no more; while sins unconfessed, and unrepented
of, will follow, and will stand against the sinner in that great day of
judgment of 1000 years.
“That the
investigative judgment of the saints, dead and living, takes place prior to the
second coming of Christ seems evident from the testimony of Peter. ‘Who shall
give account to him that is ready to judge the quick [living] and the dead.’ .
. . 1 Pet. iv, 5–7.
“It appears that
the saints are judged while some are living and others are dead. To place the
investigative judgment of the saints after the resurrection of the just,
supposes the possibility of a mistake in the resurrection, hence the necessity
of an investigation to see if all who were raised were really worthy of the
first resurrection. But the fact that all who have part in that resurrection
are ‘blessed and holy,’ shows that decision is passed on all the saints before
the second coming of Christ. . . .
“When will the
cases of the living saints pass in review in the investigative judgment of the
house of God? This is a question worthy the candid and most solemn
consideration of all who have a case pending in the court of heaven, and hope
to overcome. In the order of heaven, we must look for their judgment to follow
that of the dead, and to occur near the close of their probation” (“The
Judgment,” ibid. 9:100, Jan. 29, 1857).
Summary of
Seventh-day Adventist View. The best presentation of the investigative judgment
in current SDA literature is the chapter entitled “The Investigative Judgment,”
in The Great Controversy, by Ellen White, from which the following summarizing
sentences are taken:
“The work of the
investigative judgment and the blotting out of sins is to be accomplished before
the second advent of the Lord” (p. 485).
“He comes to the
Ancient of days in heaven . . . at the termination of the 2300 days in 1844. .
. . Our great High Priest enters the Holy of Holies, and there appears in the
presence of God, to engage in the last acts of His ministration in behalf of
man-to perform the work of investigative judgment” (p. 480).
“Jesus will appear
as their [His people’s] advocate, to plead in their behalf before God” (p.
482).
“The intercession
of Christ in man’s behalf in the sanctuary above is as essential to the plan of
salvation as was His death upon the cross” (p. 489).
“In the great day
of final atonement and investigative judgment, the only cases considered are
those of the professed people of God” (p. 480).
“Beginning with those
who first lived upon the earth, our Advocate presents the cases of each
successive generation, and closes with the living” (p. 483).
“Every man’s work
passes in review before God, and is registered for faithfulness or
unfaithfulness” (p. 482).
“The books of
record in heaven, in which the names and the deeds of men are registered, are
to determine the decisions of the judgment” (p. 480).
“The law of God is
the standard by which the characters and the lives of men will be tested in the
judgment” (p. 482).
“All who have
truly repented of sin, and by faith claimed the blood of Christ as their
atoning sacrifice, have had pardon entered against their names in the books of
heaven; as they have become partakers of the righteousness of Christ, and their
characters are found to be in harmony with the law of God, their sins will be
blotted out, and they themselves will be accounted worthy of eternal life” (p.
483).
“When any have
sins remaining upon the books of record, unrepented of and unforgiven, their
names will be blotted out of the book of life, and the record of their good
deeds will be erased from the book of God’s remembrance” (p. 483).
“When the work of
the investigative judgment closes, the destiny of all will have been decided
for life or death” (p. 490).
“When the
investigative judgment closes, Christ will come, and His reward will be with
Him to give to every man as his work shall be” (p. 485).
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