Participants: Shelley Quinn
Series Code: 13SCM
Program Code: 13SCM000004
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00:31 Well welcome to 3ABN 2013 Spring Camp Meeting.
00:37 And hello to you, Richard. 00:39 I just wanted to ask you: did you all notice 00:42 on that open at the end where the little yellow fish 00:46 jumps up out of the water? 00:48 You know, some people think that we added that 00:51 by some kind of video magic, but it's not true. 00:55 Tom Mann took that picture - he was filming that - 00:58 at his own back pond, and just as he was finishing up 01:03 this big yellow koi jumps up and flops back down 01:07 into the water. And we thought "How perfect is that? " 01:09 God is so nice. 01:11 Well, we are so excited. We want to welcome 01:14 the viewers from around the world who are tuning in 01:17 for Camp Meeting. We had a great start to Camp Meeting 01:19 last night and have some great programs for you. 01:23 We're going to be worshiping in the Word. 01:26 And this morning we will be talking about 01:29 The Joy of Investigative Judgment. 01:34 Now when I have shared that title with many people 01:39 their reaction is often: "Hmmm! 01:43 The Joy of Investigative Judgment? " 01:46 And I have to tell you: there are many, many wonderful 01:50 teachers on 3ABN who teach on prophecy. 01:55 And they have such experience and they're so good at it. 01:59 I'm not one of them. 02:01 I have only taught on the Investigative Judgment once 02:05 in my life. 02:07 And this isn't what I intended to do for Camp Meeting. 02:10 But just at the last moment when we had to give a title 02:16 on what we were going to speak on so it could be printed 02:19 in the bulletin, I thought I knew what I would talk on 02:22 and suddenly the Lord impressed me to speak on 02:25 The Joy of Investigative Judgment. 02:28 So that's what we're going to do today 02:31 and I'll have the pleasure of bringing you a Bible study. 02:33 But before we do that we have with us today 02:36 Celestine Berry, who is one of our locals. 02:41 She goes to the Thompsonville Seventh-day Adventist church. 02:44 She has a beautiful voice... a gift from the Lord. 02:47 And she's going to be singing "Forgive Me. " 02:51 And her husband, Michael, will be accompanying her 02:54 on the piano. 03:11 Like many waterfalls I cried, 03:18 like something deep inside has died. 03:25 All the hurt, the guilt, the pain 03:32 to know I broke Your heart again. 03:39 Like a hurricane that blows 03:46 A thunder storm inside my soul. 03:53 And can You speak into the wind 04:00 and renew my life again? 04:05 Forgive me, I have sinned, 04:09 I am guilty of the nails that pierced Your hands. 04:16 Oh, I'm crying now. 04:21 Purify, 04:23 rid me of this guiltiness I feel inside. 04:30 I'm begging: please forgive me. 04:38 I can't describe what's in my soul. 04:45 I feel ashamed to let You know: 04:52 all the burden all the weight 04:59 that I've carried from that... that day. 05:06 But You were there... You saw it all: 05:13 every deed tho' great and small. 05:20 And yet You love me just the same 05:27 'cause You remind me that You came. 05:32 And Lord, You came to forgive me. 05:36 'Cause I have sinned. 05:38 I am guilty of the nails 05:42 that pierced Your hands. 05:46 Oh, I'm crying now. 05:51 Purify, rid me of the barrenness 05:56 I feel inside. 06:00 I'm begging please 06:04 create in me a clean heart; 06:10 renew my spirit, too. 06:17 Restore to me 06:19 joy with joy 06:23 makes me more like You... 06:26 more like You. 06:29 Yes, forgive me. 06:32 I have sinned. 06:34 I am guilty of the nails 06:37 that pierced Your hands. 06:41 Oh, I'm crying now. 06:46 Purify, 06:47 rid me of this brokenness I feel inside. 06:53 Oh, I'm begging this. 06:58 Forgive me; I have sinned. 07:01 I am guilty of the nails 07:05 that pierced Your hands. 07:08 I know I'm guilty... I'm guilty. 07:11 Oh, and I cry out: 07:13 Purify and heal me 07:16 of this brokenness I feel inside. 07:22 In faithfulness 07:25 You hear my pleas. 07:29 In faithfulness 07:32 You forgive me. 07:36 Jesus 07:39 You forgive 07:42 me. 07:51 Oh thank you Celestine. 07:54 Well once again good morning 07:56 and if you're tuning in late welcome to 3ABN's 2013 08:01 Spring Camp Meeting. We are coming to you live 08:04 from Thompsonville, Illinois. 08:06 And it's just a joy to be here. 08:09 I have to tell you first and foremost 08:12 that I love you. 08:14 I may not have even met you 08:15 but... this is no credit to me... 08:18 this is something that before I speak I pray and I ask the Lord 08:23 to fill my heart with love for my brothers and sisters. 08:27 And that's the only way we can love one another 08:29 as we love ourself is to open our heart up 08:32 and let God to do an action in us. 08:35 Is that not correct? Amen. 08:37 Well this morning as I said we're going to be speaking on 08:40 The Joy of Investigative Judgment. 08:42 And this lesson I'm just going to tell you 08:47 I didn't study all the way through on judgment. 08:50 A couple of days ago was studying this out and thought 08:54 I knew which direction I was going in. 08:56 And then it got switched up, and what I'm going to do 09:00 is I'm going to make you a pledge. 09:03 Normally I come out here and I know I've got x amount of time 09:06 to get something done and I just go for it 90 miles an hour. 09:10 Today we're going to slow down 'cause I want you to look 09:13 in the scriptures with me. 09:14 And because I have part 1 and part 2 that will be 09:18 finished up tomorrow afternoon 09:19 then we're just going to go till we run out of time today, 09:23 and then whatever we don't finish we'll do tomorrow. 09:26 I may not get to present everything on all the judgments 09:30 but I hope... and my prayer is this... 09:34 that when we conclude with these two presentations 09:39 that the investigative judgment will be something 09:44 that brings joy to your heart rather than dread. 09:48 Let's pray. Heavenly Father, 09:51 we come in the name of Jesus 09:53 and Lord, just come before You to surrender right now. 09:57 Father, this is something that I believe that You have led 10:02 in preparation. And I ask, Father, that You will 10:05 now anoint my lips. Help me to get out of the way 10:11 and I pray You'll send Your Holy Spirit to be our teacher. 10:14 And Father, I pray that You will give us all ears to hear 10:19 what the Holy Spirit has to say. 10:22 Help me, Lord, to make this message clear 10:26 by the power of Your Spirit. 10:28 Father, we are so grateful for Your gifts of grace. 10:32 We are so grateful for our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 10:35 We are so grateful for Your Holy Spirit and Your Word. 10:39 And now Lord, we dedicate this time to You 10:42 to bring glory to You. 10:44 In the name of Jesus, Amen. Amen! 10:48 What I'd like to do is... Why don't you open up 10:51 your Bibles to the first book of the Bible: Genesis. 10:56 Because in the opening book of the Bible 10:58 there is a pattern of God's behavior 11:03 that is established. And I want to show you several examples 11:08 and see if we can identify 11:11 what this behavior is. 11:14 Let's look at Genesis 3... Genesis chapter 3. 11:19 We're going to begin in verse 7. 11:21 This is after Adam and Eve had fallen from grace. 11:26 They had disobeyed God... 11:28 eaten from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. 11:33 And when they did the Shekinah glory - 11:37 the covering, God's light covering - 11:39 had gone away from them and they found themselves naked 11:43 in their shame. And you know what? 11:45 We're all naked before the Lord. 11:47 I mean, our sin just makes us naked before the Lord, 11:51 doesn't it? Until we get the robe of righteousness. 11:54 So after their disobedience they are hiding from God's 11:58 presence. And let's look at... actually we're going to begin 12:01 in verse 9. Genesis 3 and verse 9. 12:04 "And the Lord called to Adam 12:06 and He said to him: 'Where are you? ' " 12:09 Do you think God knew where Adam was? 12:12 "So he said... " Adam said... 'I heard Your voice 12:15 in the garden. I was afraid because I was naked 12:18 and I hid myself. ' " 12:20 And then God says: 12:22 "Who told you that you were naked? 12:25 Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you 12:28 that you should not eat? " 12:30 "And the man said: 'that woman You gave me 12:33 to be with me, she's the one that gave me of the tree 12:37 and I ate. ' And the Lord said to the woman: 12:40 'What is this you have done? ' 12:43 The woman said: 'Oh, it's that serpent 12:46 who deceived me and I ate. ' " 12:48 So the Lord is asking: Where are you? 12:52 Who told you you were naked? 12:54 Have you eaten of the tree which I commanded you 12:57 not to eat? Did God know the answers to these questions? 13:00 And then He said: "What is this you have done? " 13:03 Why is God coming to them with these questions? 13:08 He's a righteous Judge and a loving Creator. 13:12 He's testing their hearts 13:15 and He knew the answers before He asked. 13:19 And what does God do? He judges the sin 13:23 and He redeems the sinners. 13:26 He curses the serpent; He curses the ground. 13:30 But for Adam and Eve He makes a sacrifice 13:33 of a lamb so that their nakedness and the shame 13:37 of their nakedness may be covered. 13:40 Now, let's look at a second example. 13:43 Turn to Genesis 4. 13:46 We're going to try to figure out: what is this pattern 13:48 of God's behavior. Genesis 4 verse 9. 13:55 This is the story of Cain and Abel. 13:58 They both brought offerings to the Lord. 14:01 They knew about the sacrificial system. 14:04 Abel brings the offering that God asks for: 14:08 the offering of blood. 14:10 Cain? He thinks: "No, I'll worship God in my own way. " 14:13 He brings an offering from the ground... 14:17 something that he has harvested. 14:20 And the Lord knows that Cain has murdered 14:26 Abel... his righteous brother. 14:29 Because he was angry that God accepted 14:32 Abel's sacrifice but God rejected his. 14:37 So the Lord says to Cain: 14:39 "Where is Abel your brother? " 14:42 Cain says: "I do not know. Am I my brother's keeper? " 14:47 And He said... God said: 14:50 "What have you done? 14:52 The voice of your brother's blood cries out to Me 14:55 from the ground. " What is God doing here? 14:58 He presents the true nature of Cain's sins to him 15:03 in a loving attempt to get Cain 15:07 to repent and turn back to Him. 15:09 But unlike his parents who were hiding in shame 15:14 of their sin Cain has no remorse. 15:17 And so then God makes a judgment 15:22 and the curse for the first time of God falls upon a man. 15:27 Now let's look at Genesis 18 15:29 and we're going to begin with verse 20. 15:34 Genesis 18 and verse 20. 15:38 So we see that God is coming with questions 15:42 to these people. 15:43 Now this is the story of Sodom and Gomorrah. 15:47 We'll begin Genesis 18 and verse 20. 15:51 "The Lord said: 'Because the outcry against 15:54 Sodom and Gomorrah is great, because their sin is very grave, 15:58 I will go down now 16:02 and see whether they have done altogether 16:06 according to the outcry against it that has come to Me 16:09 and if not I will know. ' " 16:11 What is God coming down to do? 16:13 To investigate. 16:16 "Then the men turned away from there and went toward Sodom. 16:20 But Abraham stood before the Lord, 16:22 And Abraham came near and said: 16:24 'Will You also destroy the righteous with the wicked? ' " 16:29 Ah, Abraham knew the answer to that. 16:32 A righteous God will not destroy the righteous. 16:36 But he said: "Suppose there are 50 righteous within the city. 16:40 Would You destroy the place and not spare it for the 16:43 50 righteous that were in it? " 16:45 What does God say? "Of course not. " 16:47 "I will spare it. It won't destroy it 16:49 if there's 50 righteous. " 16:51 Of course then he goes on - 16:55 Abraham - and he says: "Well what if there's 45? " 16:58 "What if there's 40? " "What if there's 30? " 16:59 "What if there's 20? " And then it comes down... 17:02 "What if there's 10? " 17:05 And God said: "I will not destroy it 17:09 for the sake of 10 righteous. " 17:11 And verse 33 says: "So the Lord went His way 17:16 as soon as He finished speaking with Abraham 17:18 and Abraham returned to his place. " 17:23 We see here that a righteous God came down to investigate 17:27 the sin and the outcry of Sodom and Gomorrah. 17:31 And what is the result? 17:34 He doesn't find 10 righteous people. 17:37 But what does He do with righteous Lot 17:41 and those who will follow Him out? 17:44 He saves them. He redeems the righteous 17:48 but He destroys the wicked. 17:51 Now we're going to stop with these three examples. 17:54 But what are these examples of? 17:58 "Where are you? " "What have you done? " 18:00 "Who told you you were naked? " 18:02 "Where is your brother? " 18:04 "Let me see if I can go down and investigate and find 18:07 even 10 righteous. " What are these examples of? 18:12 The Investigative Judgment of God. 18:16 A pattern is established 18:18 right in the first book of the Bible 18:22 and it continues... boy, just read Revelation. 18:27 It continues all the way to the end of the Bible 18:30 that God investigates the sins of His people. 18:35 And it results... God's investigation 18:39 results in redemption for the righteous. 18:43 Of course it's followed by condemnation for those 18:47 who are rebellious and who are wicked. 18:50 And it is then followed by an executive judgment 18:53 that carries out the destruction of the wicked. 18:56 But we see this pattern repeated again and again. 18:59 The investigative judgment of God 19:03 we're going to look in a moment at how He had this investigative 19:08 judgment of His old covenant people - ancient Israel - 19:14 but God also has an investigative judgment 19:18 for His new covenant people. 19:22 And I am here to assert that it absolutely 19:26 must take place before the advent of Jesus Christ... 19:32 before His second coming. 19:34 It is a pre-advent investigative judgment. 19:38 And someone who's watching might say: 19:41 "How can you know that for certain? " 19:43 I'm just going to give you one reference. 19:45 There's many... but let's look. 19:47 Turn to Revelation chapter 22. 19:51 As the time of the end is drawing to a close 19:58 Jesus has sent His angel to give John the Revelation 20:04 of Jesus Christ. 20:07 The unveiling of Jesus. And when we read Revelation 20:11 we should see Jesus on every page. 20:14 In every symbol it's all coming to that culmination 20:18 of what Christ did for us as Redeemer 20:21 and the plan of salvation by grace. 20:24 But Revelation 22... the last book of the Bible... 20:30 the angel stands up and says: "He who is unjust 20:36 let him be unjust still. 20:39 He who is filthy let him be filthy still. 20:42 He who is righteous let him be righteous still. 20:46 He who is holy let him be holy still. " 20:51 What does this mean? 20:54 The end of probation. This is where probation ends, 20:58 and it's right before Jesus comes 21:01 because now Jesus says in verse 12: 21:04 "And behold I am coming quickly 21:07 and My reward is with Me 21:12 to give everyone according to his works. " 21:16 If Jesus is bringing His reward with Him, 21:21 if He is coming down to resurrect all the righteous 21:26 in that first resurrection, 21:28 there has to be a judgment - an investigative judgment - 21:33 that has already taken place in heaven. 21:36 It's not that Jesus is in the air and going: "Eeny, meeny, 21:39 miny, mo. " 21:42 It's not that when He's coming He's saying to His angels: 21:45 "OK, gather this one, this one, this one. " No! 21:47 The ones who are alive already have the mark of God 21:51 on their forehead, right? 21:53 So there is this pre-advent investigative judgment 21:58 that happens in heaven 22:00 and then Christ comes to execute it. 22:05 Revelation 14:7- 22:08 you all are familiar with this - 22:09 this is the first angel's message 22:12 of the three angels' messages. 22:15 And I have to tell you something funny. 22:17 Recently one of the local people here... 22:20 And I confess, before I started watching 3ABN 22:24 if somebody had said three angels' messages to me 22:27 it wouldn't have made a lick of sense. 22:30 See, I grew up in the Church of Christ. 22:31 We weren't even allowed to study the book of Revelation. 22:35 And then as I studied my way out of that 22:39 there's many things the Lord taught me. 22:41 But boy I was clueless when it came to prophecy 22:44 because I didn't understand that Daniel unlocked Revelation. 22:48 So if someone had said something about the three angels' messages 22:51 yes, I'd read Revelation several times, but it didn't 22:53 stand out to me. I didn't understand it. 22:56 And one of the locals recently said: 22:59 "Yeah, Danny and his two brothers started that 23:02 and it's pretty prideful that they would call themselves 23:06 the three angels. " 23:08 They didn't realize 23:11 that the three angels came from Revelation chapter 14. 23:17 But here is... When we know 23:22 this investigative judgment is beginning in Revelation 23:27 the first angel comes and he says with a loud voice: 23:31 "Fear God and give glory to Him 23:35 for the hour of His judgment has come. " 23:40 Now he's not talking about a single hour. 23:43 It's a time span. 23:45 In other words, God's judgment begins now. 23:50 And then he goes on to say: "And worship Him who made 23:54 heaven and earth, the seas and the springs of water. " 23:59 You know the Hebrew term, the phrase "worship Him" 24:04 means to have a trembling reverence for God. 24:10 A reverence that in Hebrew understanding 24:13 was expressed with loving obedience. 24:19 What did Jesus say in John 14:15? 24:22 "If you love Me you will keep My commandments. " 24:26 And the verse says... When people say to me 24:30 and sometimes people do... 24:32 You know, I teach a lot about grace 24:34 but people will say: "No, you're teaching grace plus works. " 24:37 No I'm not. Listen! 24:39 We're saved by grace alone. It isn't grace plus works. 24:43 But when we are saved by grace, 24:47 when the Holy Spirit is residing in us, 24:50 we will be anxious to please our heavenly Father. 24:54 We will love Him. We will walk in obedience 24:57 to His commandments. 24:59 In I John 2:3-4... this is an easy one to remember... 25:04 I John 2:3-4. 25:06 That's so easy to remember. 25:09 And people will say: "No, you insist on obedience. " 25:13 It's not I who insists on obedience... it's God. 25:17 And here's what John wrote in I John 2. He says: 25:22 "Now by this we know that we know Him. " 25:25 What did Jesus say in John 17:3? 25:28 He says: "Ah, Father, this is eternal life: 25:31 that they may know You and the One who You have sent. " 25:35 Know you in an intimate way, a personal way. 25:40 And he said: "Here... " John's saying: "This is 25:42 how we know that we know Him: 25:44 if... if we keep His commandments. 25:48 And he who says 'I know Him' 25:51 and does not keep His commandments 25:54 is a liar and the truth is not in him. " 25:59 But whoever keeps His Word truly the love of God is 26:02 perfected in him. " 26:04 Now we're continuing on in verse 5 here. 26:06 It says: "By this we know that we are in Him - 26:11 in Christ - he who says he abides in Him 26:17 ought himself also to walk just as He walked. " 26:22 Oh, are you in Christ? 26:27 Then God is calling you to a life of sanctification... 26:30 which is just a big word that is synonymous 26:34 with holiness... which is a word that scares some people. 26:37 But they mean exactly the same thing. 26:40 Holiness and sanctification are synonymous. 26:44 They're equal terms 26:46 and they both simply mean to be separated from sin. 26:50 Because God sent Jesus to destroy the works of the devil. 26:56 To create in us a new heart 26:58 that we might be born again as new creatures. 27:02 And yes, we may have this propensity 27:05 toward sin but ah, He is faithful and just. 27:09 When we ask for forgiveness He is faithful and just 27:12 to forgive us and cleanse us of all unrighteousness. 27:16 Hallelujah! Amen? 27:18 So basically what we are seeing is that an investigative 27:23 judgment must be made 27:26 to see who is fitted for heaven and who is not. 27:31 There are professed believers who will have no part 27:35 in obedience. There are some people 27:39 who think that all they have to do is come down front 27:42 once at an altar call and that's it. 27:45 Now they can go live like the devil because they're saved 27:47 by grace. Oh, what a dangerous lie, 27:53 a dangerous deception of Satan. 27:58 But what has to be done is to see, OK, who's wheat? 28:03 Who's tares? Who's the sheep? Who's the goats? 28:07 And then Christ will return for His people 28:11 and separate the sheep from the goats 28:13 and the wheat from the tares. 28:15 There are phases of the final judgment of God 28:20 and we have entered the first phase of God's final judgment. 28:27 Let me... I studied this out and I hope we'll have time 28:30 to look at all of these phases tomorrow. We may not. 28:34 We're just going to let the Lord lead in this. 28:37 But let me just tell them to you very quickly. 28:39 What I have identified is five phases to God's final judgment. 28:44 The first phase is the pre- advent investigative judgment 28:50 which began - and we'll prove in a moment - in 1844. 28:55 And this is a judgment in which God the Father 28:59 is the Judge. The second phase 29:03 is the enforcement of the heavenly court's judgment... 29:07 the pre-advent investigative judgment... 29:09 when Christ returns to the earth. 29:13 So it is after the first resurrection 29:17 that this is executed and the wicked are destroyed 29:21 by the breath of His mouth and the brightness of His coming. 29:25 The third phase of God's final judgment 29:29 takes place during the millennium. 29:31 It is a deliberative phase. 29:35 The judges are the saints of God. 29:39 This is when the books are opened. 29:41 And we are not judging people and fallen angels... 29:47 We're not judging the wicked and fallen angels 29:49 to determine whether they're saved or not. 29:52 Because let me tell you something: 29:54 this is sealed. The fate of all people is sealed 29:58 during the investigative judgment. 30:00 If you miss this first part, you're out. 30:03 What we are investigating at this point 30:06 is to understand God's righteous judgment 30:12 to see... There's going to be people there that we're going 30:16 "Why are you here? " 30:18 And there's going to be people there who you're saying: 30:21 "God, why isn't my mother here? My precious little 30:26 saintly mother... shouldn't she be here? " 30:29 And God is going to open the books 30:32 and let us see the records 30:35 so that we will be totally satisfied 30:38 and recognize... By the end of that thousand-year millennium 30:42 we will recognize that God is truly righteous 30:45 and that ALL of His decisions have been correct. 30:48 Then after that deliberative judgment 30:52 then's when the New Jerusalem comes down. 30:57 There's the final battle 30:59 THEN there is the Great White Throne Judgment. 31:03 Now Jesus is the Judge, 31:06 and this is the Judge of the wicked. 31:09 This is the time when all will stand up. 31:13 All of the wicked have been resurrected in the second 31:16 resurrection and they will all be standing before the Lord 31:20 and finally see it. They will kneel down 31:24 and every knee will bow and confess 31:27 that Jesus Christ is Lord. 31:29 And the fifth phase is the implementation 31:33 of the executive judgment. 31:35 This will be the execution of the sentence 31:38 when God destroys the earth. 31:40 Makes it a lake of fire 31:42 and then afterwards re-creates the earth. 31:45 But now I've taken a long time just to set this up. 31:48 Let's get into the pre-advent investigative judgment. 31:52 Turn in your Bibles, please, to Daniel chapter 7. 31:57 Daniel chapter 7. 32:00 We see in the Bible in Daniel chapter 2, 7, and 8 32:05 gives us the history of the great powers of the world 32:10 from the beginning of Babylon then Medo-Persia then Greece 32:14 then Rome then the little horn. 32:16 And it gives us the history right up to the time 32:20 of the second advent... the time of the end. 32:26 So let's look at Daniel chapter 7 32:29 and we're going to begin with verse 9 because 32:33 here is where the investigative judgment 32:37 is prophesied. And Daniel writes: 32:40 "I watched till thrones were put in place 32:43 and the Ancient of Days... " Who's the Ancient of Days? 32:47 This is God the Father. 32:50 We'll prove that in just a moment. 32:51 We'll see it's the Father. 32:53 "He was seated... " What does it mean to be seated? 32:56 He was seated as Judge. 33:00 So God the Father is the Judge. 33:03 "His garment was white as snow and the hair of His head 33:05 was like pure wool. His throne was a fiery flame, 33:09 its wheels burning fire. 33:11 A fiery stream issued and came forth from before Him. 33:15 A thousand thousands ministered to Him. " 33:18 These are the heavenly beings, the heavenly intelligences. 33:23 So this investigative judgment takes place in heaven 33:27 in the courts of heaven 33:29 in the presence of heavenly beings. 33:33 It says: "The court was seated and the books were opened. " 33:38 Any time in the Bible that it is speaking of books 33:42 it's always referring to God's people. 33:46 There's the Book of Life, the Book of Remembrance. 33:49 These are books in which deeds are recorded. 33:53 And then he says: "I watched then 33:56 because of the sound of the pompous words which the horn" 33:59 speaking of the little horn - "was speaking and I watched 34:02 till the beast" - this government - "was slain 34:05 and its body destroyed and given to the burning flame. 34:09 As for the rest of the beasts... " 34:11 speaking of all of the rest of these powers, 34:14 these government powers... 34:15 "they had their dominion taken away yet their lives 34:18 were prolonged for a season and a time. 34:20 I was watching in the night vision... " 34:23 He's seeing God now seated. 34:25 "and behold one like the Son of Man... " 34:29 Who is this? Jesus Christ. 34:32 "coming with the clouds of heaven. 34:35 He came to the Ancient of Days 34:37 and they brought Him near before Him. 34:40 Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom 34:44 that all peoples, nations, and languages 34:46 should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion 34:50 which shall not pass away 34:52 and His kingdom the one which shall not be destroyed. " 34:57 So Daniel here is prophesying of an investigative judgment 35:02 that takes place in heaven 35:04 when the books are opened and we're going to see 35:08 that this is a time when God is judging His new covenant 35:13 people. But there's joy in judgment... remember that! 35:18 Let's look now at Daniel chapter 7 and verse 21. 35:23 He continues: "I was watching and the same horn was making war 35:28 against the saints and prevailing against them. " 35:33 So this is that persecuting power 35:35 that reigned from 538 AD to 1798 AD. 35:40 So we know this period of time. And after this war 35:45 the judgment is going to take place 35:48 because he said this war that was going on 35:52 from 538 AD to 1798 AD 35:54 he's watching it in vision. 35:56 The little horn is prevailing against the people until 36:02 the Ancient of Days came 36:05 and a judgment was made... What? 36:10 Against His people? 36:13 No? What does the scripture say? 36:15 "And a judgment was made in favor of the saints. " 36:22 Now that should strike a note of joy in your heart. 36:27 See, what Daniel's doing here 36:30 we're going to see he repeats and enlarges in this pattern 36:33 of recapitulation. He will repeat and enlarge 36:36 this vision. But he said: "A judgment was made 36:39 in favor of the saints of the Most High 36:42 and the time came for the saints to possess the kingdom. " 36:48 So right here there's a hint here. 36:51 We see that this investigative judgment 36:56 that he was speaking of in earlier verses and now he's 36:59 repeating this, it comes after the war of the little horn - 37:04 and we know by history and we'll look at that in a minute 37:07 that that ended in 1798 AD. 37:09 So the investigative judgment had to come between 1798 AD 37:13 and before the saints possess the kingdom at the 2nd coming. 37:17 So we've already got it kind of nailed down there. 37:20 Now turn to Daniel chapter 8. 37:23 Daniel chapter 8. 37:28 We're going to look at verse 13. 37:30 Now Daniel writes and he says: 37:34 "Then I heard a holy one speaking 37:37 and another holy one said to that certain one who was 37:41 speaking: 'How long will the vision be? ' " 37:47 How long is this war - this little horn power - 37:51 going to reign is what he's actually asking here. 37:53 He says: "How long will the vision be concerning the daily 37:57 sacrifices and the transgression of desolation, 38:01 the giving of both the sanctuary and the host 38:04 to be trampled underfoot? " 38:06 You know Daniel's having a lot of problems with this. 38:09 He's inquiring about the trampling down of the daily 38:14 priestly ministry of Jesus Christ. 38:17 Of the burnt offerings, the shewbread, the lamp that was 38:19 always lighted, the continual burning incense, 38:23 the perpetual fire on the altar of the sacrifice. 38:26 And he's saying: "How long, oh Lord? " 38:30 Now... here is the key scripture: 38:36 verse 14 of Daniel 8. 38:39 "And he said to me... " - 38:41 the angel who is explaining the vision to Daniel - 38:45 "For two thousand three hundred days 38:49 then the sanctuary shall be cleansed. " 38:53 The Amplified adds "and restored" because the verb here 38:57 expresses the idea of restoration of the order. 39:02 So this key verse here is saying 39:05 "this first part of the vision that you see 39:09 before God is seated and the books are opened 39:14 is going to last 2300 days. " 39:18 Now we see in verse 13 the daily priestly service 39:23 which the little horn attacks 39:25 but in verse 14 we see the yearly service 39:29 of the high priest... the cleansing of the sanctuary. 39:33 And when the 2300-day prophecy ends 39:40 the investigative judgment and the cleansing of the sanctuary 39:44 begin. Once a year the high priest - 39:49 and he alone - entered into the most holy place 39:55 to make atonement for the people to cleanse the sanctuary. 40:01 This was the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur. 40:05 And on this day of judgment - 40:07 it was also called the day of judgment - 40:09 he made the atonement according to the sacrificial 40:14 laws of Leviticus 16. 40:16 Now get this point though: 40:19 in this earthly scene of the sanctuary 40:22 and the Day of Atonement the judgment centered around 40:28 God's people alone. 40:31 Only God's people were judged on that day. 40:35 Non-Israelites were not included in this group. 40:41 So what happened on behalf of the congregation 40:43 on the Day of Atonement the high priest 40:46 sprinkled the atoning blood of the authorized sacrifices 40:49 on the mercy seat... 40:51 first for himself and then for the collective errors 40:56 and sins of ignorance of a nation. 40:59 Turn to Hebrews chapter 9 and let's look at that. 41:02 Hebrews chapter 9 and verse 7. 41:07 You know, the services of this most sacred of all 41:11 ceremonial days: what it represented was cleansing 41:16 from sin and reconciliation to God 41:21 through the atonement of blood. 41:24 So Hebrews 9 and verse 7: 41:26 He says: "But into the second part... " Speaking of the 41:29 second part of the sanctuary. 41:31 There was... The first part was the holy place, 41:34 the second part was the most holy place. 41:36 "the high priest went alone once a year, 41:40 not without blood, which he offered for himself 41:45 and for the peoples' sins committed in ignorance. " 41:50 So he goes in to cleanse everything from sin 41:56 and that blood reconciles people to God. 41:59 Remember... it's only God's people. 42:02 This was an occasion of nation-wide solemnity. 42:08 There was a solemn heart - a sober heart if you will - 42:13 during this time because people wanted to make sure... 42:18 it was a time of reflection. 42:20 "Am I in the Lord? " 42:24 "Am I in the will of the Lord? " 42:27 But it ended for the penitent, 42:30 for those who were trusting in God who had confessed their sin, 42:35 it ended with joy! 42:37 The Day of Atonement... Yes, it wasn't... 42:41 I mean, it was something where people were very serious 42:45 but oh, it ended with joy. 42:48 Because in God's covenant with ancient Israel 42:52 by grace - by GRACE - 42:56 the penitent received complete forgiveness 42:59 and vindication and a fresh start in life with God. 43:04 But for the rebellious Israelite who would not follow God's law, 43:10 who refused to humble themself and remain faithful to God, 43:15 the day ended in condemnation and even death. 43:19 But this earthly Day of Atonement 43:22 was nothing more than a type or a shadow 43:26 of what is going to take place in heaven 43:30 on the true Day of Atonement in the true sanctuary of God. 43:35 It pointed to Christ's atoning sacrifice on the cross 43:40 and the cleansing of the heavenly sanctuary. 43:44 The prophetic vision of Daniel 7 and 8 43:47 describes the investigative judgment 43:50 and the cleansing of the heavenly sanctuary. 43:53 And someone said to me just not long ago 43:57 "I don't believe there is a sanctuary in heaven. " 44:01 And I had to say: "Hmmm... have you read the Bible? " 44:07 I want you while we're there in Hebrews... let's look 44:09 at Hebrews chapter 8 because it's important we establish 44:13 where is this sanctuary. Here Daniel is prophesying 44:16 in chapter 7 and 8 about this investigative judgment 44:20 where the Ancient of Days will be seated 44:22 and he's talking about the 2300 days of the end time... 44:29 The time of the end begins after that 44:31 when this starts happening... 44:34 It takes place in front of all these heavenly intelligences 44:37 and there's going to be a cleansing of the sanctuary. 44:40 Which sanctuary is he talking about? 44:42 Let's look at Hebrews chapter 8 44:44 because it identifies the sanctuary of God in heaven. 44:50 And the writer says: "Now this is the main point 44:53 of the things we are saying: we have such a High Priest" - 44:56 speaking of Jesus Christ - 44:58 "who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the 45:01 majesty... " Where? "in the heavens. 45:05 A minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle 45:11 which the Lord elected and not man. " 45:15 This is the true tabernacle of God up in heaven. 45:20 Man didn't have any part in erecting it. 45:23 And he says: "For every high priest is appointed to offer 45:26 both gifts and sacrifices. 45:28 Therefore it is necessary that this One... " Capital O, 45:33 Jesus Christ... "also has something to offer. 45:36 For if He were on earth He would not be a priest 45:39 since there are priests who offer the gifts according to 45:41 the law who serve the copy and shadow 45:46 of the heavenly things. " 45:47 The priest who served on earth: it was a copy and a shadow 45:52 of the true sanctuary. 45:57 And he says: "As Moses was divinely instructed 46:01 when he was told about... to make the tabernacle 46:06 for God had said to him: 'See that you make 46:10 all things... ' On earth, basically... 46:13 'according to the pattern shown you on the mountain. ' " 46:17 The pattern of the true sanctuary. 46:19 Now let's look at Hebrews chapter 9 again, verse 23. 46:27 "Therefore it was necessary that the copies of the things 46:32 in the heavens... " 46:35 Everything about the sanctuary was just a symbolic copy 46:38 of what was up in heaven. 46:40 "that it should be purified with these sacrifices 46:42 but the heavenly things themselves 46:47 with better sacrifices than these. 46:50 For Christ has not entered the holy places... " 46:54 What does he mean by holy places? 46:56 The holy place and the most holy place. 47:00 "He has not entered the holy places made with hands 47:06 which are copies of the true 47:08 but into heaven itself now to appear in the presence of God 47:12 for us. Not that He should offer Himself often as the 47:16 high priest enters the most holy place every year with blood 47:19 of another. He would then have had to suffer often 47:25 since the foundation of the world. But now once 47:28 at the end of the ages He has appeared to put away sin 47:32 by the sacrifice of Himself. " 47:36 You see, Christ - the atonement of Christ - 47:41 has two stages. 47:43 First was at the cross: 47:45 the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ by which we subjectively 47:51 receive personal, daily forgiveness 47:55 when we confess our sins and repent. 47:57 But the second stage of the atonement is taking place... 48:03 Christ's work didn't finish at the cross. 48:05 He is now our High Priest, 48:08 entered into the true sanctuary of God where He's carrying on 48:12 a priestly ministry. 48:14 And there in the heavenly sanctuary 48:19 as our High Priest, when He enters into the most holy place 48:22 He will apply this true sacrificial blood - His own - 48:28 by which all record of sins is blotted out 48:31 during the pre-advent investigative judgment. 48:34 And this should cause us to celebrate 48:38 because atonement for sin can only be made 48:43 by the blood of Jesus Christ. 48:45 Atonement is grace in action. 48:49 It's reconciliation through the crucifixion and resurrection 48:53 of our Lord Jesus Christ. 48:55 Redemption of sin through His heavenly ministry. 48:59 The atonement is the good news of the gospel. 49:03 Turn to I John chapter 4. 49:07 I John chapter 4. 49:12 I John chapter 4 and we're going to look at verse 9. 49:22 "In this the love of God was manifested toward us 49:25 that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world 49:29 that we might live through Him. 49:33 And this is love: not that we loved God... " 49:36 Oh no. Our selfish nature can't even love God the way 49:39 we're supposed to unless we open up our heart 49:41 and let God fill our heart with the love of the Holy Spirit. 49:45 He says: "It's not that we loved God 49:47 but that He loved us 49:50 and sent His Son to be the propitiation... " 49:55 Very... very close to atonement. 49:59 Atonement is to apply and cover over; 50:04 propitiation is the sin covering. 50:07 He is the propitiation for our sins. 50:09 No one can stand before God 50:13 with a record of good acts for salvation. 50:19 No one. 50:20 Isaiah 64 and verse 6 says 50:25 that all of our righteousness is as filthy rags before the Lord. 50:30 It doesn't matter... You know, Shelley Quinn can 50:33 be the best little girl... Well, not little at 6' tall, but... 50:37 the best girl that she can possibly be... 50:41 It doesn't matter because when I get into the brilliance 50:46 of the light of God 50:49 my sin-stained garment would show. 50:52 You know, have you ever... Especially if you're washing 50:54 something white... You're in your laundry room 50:57 and you think: "Oh yeah, that looks really good. " 50:58 And then you get it out in the sunlight and you see 51:00 there's still a spot. 51:02 That's the way it is. 51:03 There's nothing we can do to cleanse ourself. 51:07 Our righteousness is as filthy rags before Him. 51:10 We are not saved by works... we are saved by grace 51:14 when He gives us the robe of righteousness of Jesus Christ, 51:18 of His perfection. 51:22 Salvation is a gift. It is not grace + works. 51:27 Oh Lord, help us to understand that. 51:30 Help us to understand that. 51:32 But we're going to look at the fact that works 51:36 is proof of our profession of faith. 51:40 We'll look at that probably tomorrow. 51:42 But remember this: we can only stand 51:45 in the investigative judgment... We can only stand 51:50 in the righteousness of Christ for salvation. 51:55 "For God made Him who knew no sin 51:58 to become sin for us 52:01 that we might become the righteousness of God 52:05 in Christ Jesus. " 52:07 And we will be judged by our works only 52:12 as proof of our profession. 52:15 Works that are accomplished by grace. 52:19 "For it is God who works in you 52:23 to will and to do His good pleasure. " 52:26 That's what Paul wrote the Philippians in 2:13. 52:31 But we've got to remember to be "doers of the Word 52:33 and not hearers only" as James said... 52:36 deceiving ourself. 52:38 So why is the 2300-day prophecy 52:43 so important? Because there's no other time prophecy 52:48 in the Bible that is given to reach the time of the end 52:54 that begins the investigative judgment 53:00 before the second coming of Jesus. 53:03 It begins - that 2300 days - with the activity of the ram 53:08 Medo-Persia. Goes on to Greece, 53:11 Rome, Italy. 53:14 The little horn... I mean, Rome and the little horn power 53:16 and it continues till the sanctuary is cleansed. 53:20 Now we know that the timing of the divine judgment 53:22 described in Daniel 8:14 53:24 comes after the war of the little horn 53:28 that ended in 1798 AD. 53:31 And by the records of earth's history 53:35 is how we determine that period of persecuting power 53:39 from 538 AD to 1798 AD. 53:42 So the investigative judgment comes after that 53:46 but it comes before the saints of the Most High 53:50 receive the eternal kingdom at the second coming 53:55 of the Lord Jesus Christ. 53:58 So Daniel 8, 11, and 12 54:03 refers on 6 different occasions 54:06 by reference and one by inference... 54:10 the seventh by inference... about the time of the end. 54:16 Saying that this investigative judgment 54:19 IS the time of the end. 54:21 And tomorrow when you come back, I hope you'll all be here 54:25 for I think it's 2:30 tomorrow, 54:28 we're going to... I won't be in the morning slot tomorrow. 54:32 But we're going to take a look at this and we will see 54:36 how the 70 weeks are lopped off... that first 70 weeks... 54:41 with a probationary period and an investigative judgment 54:45 for... in prophecy that's 490 years 54:50 of investigative judgment and probationary period... 54:55 for God's people of the old covenant. 54:58 And so far right now we've only been less than 170 years 55:03 since 1844 in this investigative judgment 55:06 for His new covenant people. 55:08 But the thing is: we don't have the prophetic time period. 55:12 We know this is the time of the end 55:15 and the events will be rapid 55:17 so we don't have time to waste. 55:20 But what we know is that the conclusion 55:24 of the 2300 days 55:26 begins the time of the end 55:29 and it brings us to the last church age 55:34 of Revelation: 55:35 the church age of the Laodicean church. 55:39 You know what Laodicea means? 55:43 It means a judging of the people. 55:47 That's what Laodicea means. 55:50 And when this judgment begins 55:53 we know that the time of the end is at hand. 55:58 And if we can identify in scripture 56:01 when the 2300 days begin, 56:04 we can also identify the time of their ending 56:09 and the beginning of this cleansing of the sanctuary 56:14 that Daniel 7 talks about: the investigative judgment 56:18 and Daniel 8 talks about the 2300 days. 56:22 You have yet to see... 56:24 I hope you've gotten a little glimpse of the joy 56:28 of investigative judgment 56:30 because the Ancient of Days comes 56:34 and He makes judgment 56:37 in favor of His people. 56:40 See, if you are in Christ you have no reason to fear 56:46 the investigative judgment. Amen! 56:49 You have assurance of salvation 56:52 and you will only stand in the righteousness of Jesus Christ. 56:57 And just as the Day of Atonement for ancient Israel... 57:01 Yes, they were sober minded, they were reflective. 57:04 Checking themselves to see that they were in God. 57:07 Making certain that they had confessed 57:08 and repented of their sins. 57:10 But just as that day ended in joy for God's faithful people, 57:16 for the penitent, so will the investigative judgment 57:20 of God end for us. 57:23 So we encourage you to tune in again tomorrow. 57:26 Our time's all gone... it went quickly... but thank you. |
Revised 2014-12-17