During the Middle Ages there was a strong tendency to portray God as a severe, punitive Judge. Today the tendency is to describe Him as a loving, permissive Father who never punishes His children. Yet, love without justice will turn into chaos and lawlessness, and justice without love will become oppression and subjugation. God’s judging process is a perfect blend of justice and mercy, both of which derive from His unconditional love.

The executive judgment is God’s final and irreversible punitive intervention in human history. Limited punitive judgments occurred, for example, in the casting out of Satan and his rebellious angels from heaven (Revelation 12:7-12), the driving out of Adam and Eve from the garden of Eden (Genesis 3:1-24), the Great Flood (Genesis chapters 6-8), the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 19:1-38, Jude 7), the death of the firstborn in Egypt (Exodus chapters 11-12), and the death of Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5:1-11).

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So it is no surprise that there will be an executive judgment of the wicked also at the end of human history.

Read 2 Peter 2:4-6 and 2 Peter 3:10-13. How do these texts help us understand the nature of the final executive judgment? How do they imply the idea of the completion of judgment as opposed to its going on forever, which would be a perversion of justice and not an expression of it?

“God’s goodness and long forbearance, His patience and mercy exercised to His subjects, will not hinder Him from punishing the sinner who refused to be obedient to His requirements. It is not for a man — a criminal against God’s holy law, pardoned only through the great sacrifice He made in giving His Son to die for the guilty because His law was changeless — to dictate to God.” — Ellen G. White, Manuscript Releases, vol. 12, p. 208.

All that God could have done to save humanity from being eternally lost He did, even at a great cost to Himself. Those who are lost ultimately made choices that led them to this unfortunate end. The idea that God’s judgment on the lost, even the annihilation of the lost (as opposed to eternal torment), goes against the character of a loving God is simply wrong. It’s God’s love, and God’s love alone, that demands justice, as well.

<–Tuesday Thursday–>

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/wednesday-executive-judgment/

The Bible tells us that at the Second Coming 1. both the living saints and the resurrected saints will “meet the Lord in the air” (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17); 2. all the saints will be taken to heaven to abide in the heavenly “dwelling places” that He Himself has prepared for them (John 14:1-3, NRSV); and 3. only at the end of the millennium will the New Jerusalem come down to this earth and become the everlasting home of the saints (Revelation 21:1-3, Revelation 21:9-11). So, during the millennium, while this earth remains desolated, the saints will reign with Christ in heaven (Jeremiah 4:23, Revelation 20:4).

Read 1 Corinthians 6:2-3,  and Revelation 20:4-6, Revelation 20:11-13. Why should the saints participate in the millennial judgment?

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The whole judgment process is intended 1. to vindicate God’s character against the accusations of Satan that God is unfair in the way He treats His creatures; 2. to confirm the impartiality of the rewards of the righteous; 3. to demonstrate the justice of the punishments of the wicked; and 4. to dissipate all doubts that could lead toward another rebellion in the universe. In the pre-advent investigative judgment of the righteous, only the heavenly hosts are involved (Daniel 7:9-10). But during the millennial judgment of the wicked and the fallen angels, the saints themselves will also participate (1 Corinthians 6:3, Jude 6, Revelation 20:4-6).

The pre-advent investigative judgment began in 1844 when “thrones were put in place. … The court was seated, and the books were opened” (Daniel 7:9-10, , NKJV). The millennial judgment, however, will start after the saints are taken to heaven and sit on thrones, and the judgment is committed to them. Then, once more, the heavenly books are opened, and the dead are “judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books” (Revelation 20:4, Revelation 20:12, NKJV). This process provides an opportunity for the saints to evaluate the heavenly records and to see God’s fair treatment in all cases. He not only rewards all human beings according to what they deserve based on their own decisions, but also explains to them why He does so.

<–Monday Wednesday–>

Amen!(0)

Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/tuesday-millennial-judgment/