Stephen
Terry, Director
The
Judging Process
Commentary
for the December 24, 2022, Sabbath School Lesson
"Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to
face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and
he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those
who are waiting for him."
Hebrews
9:27-28, NIV
Throughout my educational journey
different teachers have often uttered the same statement at the beginning of
the term, "You are starting this term with an 'A.' It is up to you if you keep
it." This was usually said with the intent of inspiring the students to strive
to live up to the expectations the teacher had for them. Of course, if the
teacher was grading on a curve, it would be impossible for everyone to end with
an "A" unless everyone gave the same answers for every assignment. The
slightest variation would cause a distribution of grades across a curve for the
hapless students.
In a sense though, this is how
God looks at us. The Book of Life is the tome containing the names of all of
those who are to be saved. The Bible tells us that book was written from the
foundation of the world.[i] The
Bible makes no mention of anyone being added to that book. In a sense, we are
all predestined to be saved, already written in the Book of Life. But the Bible
does mention repeatedly that individuals can be blotted out of the book. Then
when the final destiny is decided, those whose names are no longer found there
will face a fiery end.[ii]
This is problematic for
Seventh-day Adventist (SDA) dogma. In the early 19th century,
William Miller, a lay evangelist, began preaching that the Lord's second coming
was about to take place. He set a date for this return, but when it did not
happen, he recalculated and set a new date for the fall of 1844. He did this
despite Christ's statements regarding the date his return would take place. "But
about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the
Son, but only the Father." (Matthew 24:36) The people who followed Mr. Miller were
known as Adventists for preaching Jesus' soon advent. Many of these were later
to become the founders of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, incorporated almost
two decades later. However, when William Miller's second promised Parousia failed
to materialize, the event became known as the Great Disappointment. Some had abandoned
their farms with crops in the field or sold all they had since Jesus' return
was promised, making those things unnecessary. They became the laughingstock of
family, friends, and neighbors who had not been caught up in Millerism. Some
abandoned the Advent movement altogether. Others continued to meet and pray,
hoping for light to explain why Jesus did not return. The very next day after
the disappointment, lay preacher and healer, Hiram Edson told a group of
Adventists that he had a vision while walking to their meeting, and in that
vision, Jesus was not to return to take us home, but was instead entering the
Most Holy Place of the heavenly sanctuary to begin the work to become known as
the Investigative Judgment, a doctrine unique to SDAs. Essentially it states
that Jesus is involved in this Investigative Judgment and once it is completed,
he will leave the sanctuary and return for the faithful.
Unfortunately, this contradicts
the ongoing editing with a blotter in the Book of Life. It would require believing
that no one was blotted from the book until 1844, an idea not supported by any
biblical text. In effect, what the Bible says about the Book of Life, and what
Hiram Edson said about the heavenly sanctuary are in conflict, and we are left with
the choice of accepting what Edson claimed to see in the cornfield on the way to
a meeting, or what the Bible says about the judgment process. It is true that
there is an investigative judgment, else why would Jesus have his rewards with
him to give to the faithful when he returns?[iii]
But to tie its inception to the 1844 date is speculative at best and dubious at
worst. There is no need for such an understanding to be a believer in the
future advent of Jesus. It only has relevance for saving face before the
jeering crowds after Jesus failed to return. There is much about Seventh-day
Adventism that is powerful and compelling without this effort to justify what
was clearly an error. However, rather than admit the error, the denomination doubled
down on being right in their date setting.
I doubt that most SDAs could
even give a cogent explanation of the Investigative Judgment without creating
an intricate apologetic to hang it on, an effort that takes a great deal of
study and preparation not typically found in the impromptu atmosphere of
interpersonal witnessing. It begs the question whether Jesus ever intended the
salvation he so gracefully provided should be so difficult to understand. Yet,
here we are, proud builders of a complex statement of 28 acceptable beliefs
that we use to skewer one another when we find divergence in our midst. Desmond
Ford, an SDA pastor who dared to question the idea of an 1844 Investigative Judgment
was defrocked after facing the "Diet" of Glacier View in the 1980s. Defrocking
a pastor over this is tantamount to saying that the Investigative Judgment doctrine
is essential for salvation. It is not.
Peter at Pentecost gave the
simple formula for salvation: "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the
name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the
gift of the Holy Spirit." (Acts 2:38) A simple appeal like the simplicity of
the words of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount. There was no requirement to believe
that an Investigative Judgment would begin in 1844. And remarkably, even though
there were disputes over doctrine in the early church, even with Paul and Peter
locking horns over how they were to relate to the non-Jews among them, no one
defrocked either of them for these disputes. They approached it as though it
was "iron sharpening iron."[iv]
Our denomination has trouble with this. They need to repent for their treatment
of Ford. They need to admit their error in making salvation dependent on the
Investigative Judgment doctrine. In the list of sins that exclude the lost from
heaven, not believing in the Investigative Judgment is nowhere to be found. And
persecution of such individuals is not listed as a star in anyone's crown. It
is time we stopped, repented, and sought reconciliation for abuses of the past.
We are in the fourth decade since Glacier View, how much longer will our pride
keep us from seeking forgiveness from those we have wronged.
Once we can lay that hoary
controversy to rest, perhaps we can focus on the real blessings we can offer
the world with the Sabbath, the Health Message, and the loving grace of God.
There is such a joy in relationship with Jesus, there is no need to weigh it
down with esoteric, non-salvific ideas that instead of lifting our burdens add
to them. God is so much more than we allow him to be. He offers us eternity,
and we offer him a sanctuary shaped box to live in without realizing our
fulfillment of the god-in-a-box paradigm. It is time we set God free of the
need to save face for us over our error in the date setting of the Great
Disappointment of 1844. We have promoted this self-serving effort to hide our
shame for almost two centuries now. William Miller was never a Seventh-day
Adventist. His judgment will not be helped one iota by our denominational defense
of his date setting.
We tend to create God in our own
image rather than the other way around. We create intricate systems of belief
and if we cannot precisely prove them, we claim visions or dreams verified what
could not be verified otherwise. Very many times, religious sects arose not
because of need but because of a failure to be humble, admit our errors, and
reconciling ourselves to our weak human characters. We are not much different from
the holy zealots and crusaders of previous centuries, marching forward as a
conquering army and failing to live the love Jesus taught. Gamaliel told the
Sanhedrin when they wanted to punish the apostles that if they do, and the
apostles were acting in God's name, they would be fighting against God himself,
but if they let them be and the apostles were wrong, they will not have God's
support and would die out on their own. It is evident why Gamaliel was
considered a great teacher, one Paul cited as his instructor. His faith in God,
and willingness to let God rule in the affairs of humanity are an inspiration
to us today. It is time we got over ourselves and became the images of God's
love he created us to be.