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The Great Controversy
angels. Paul points his brethren to the future coming of the Lord, when
the fetters of the tomb shall be broken, and the “dead in Christ” shall
be raised to eternal life.
Before any can enter the mansions of the blessed, their cases must
be investigated, and their characters and their deeds must pass in review
before God. All are to be judged according to the things written in the
books and to be rewarded as their works have been. This judgment
does not take place at death. Mark the words of Paul: “He hath
appointed a day, in the 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.”
Acts 17:31
.
Here the apostle plainly stated that a specified time, then future, had
been fixed upon for the judgment of the world.
Jude refers to the same period: “The angels which kept not their
first estate, but left their own habitation, He hath reserved in everlasting
chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.” And, again,
he quotes the words of Enoch: “Behold, the Lord cometh with ten
thousands of His saints, to execute judgment upon all.”
Jude 6, 14,
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15
. John declares that he “saw the dead, small and great, stand before
God; and the books were opened: ... and the dead were judged out of
those things which were written in the books.”
Revelation 20:12
.
But if the dead are already enjoying the bliss of heaven or writhing
in the flames of hell, what need of a future judgment? The teachings of
God’s word on these important points are neither obscure nor contra-
dictory; they may be understood by common minds. But what candid
mind can see either wisdom or justice in the current theory? Will the
righteous, after the investigation of their cases at the judgment, receive
the commendation, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant: ...
enter thou into the joy of thy Lord,” when they have been dwelling in
His presence, perhaps for long ages? Are the wicked summoned from
the place of torment to receive sentence from the Judge of all the earth:
“Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire”?
Matthew 25:21,
41
. Oh, solemn mockery! shameful impeachment of the wisdom and
justice of God!
The theory of the immortality of the soul was one of those false
doctrines that Rome, borrowing from paganism, incorporated into the
religion of Christendom. Martin Luther classed it with the “monstrous
fables that form part of the Roman dunghill of decretals.”—E. Petavel,