...In the September 95 issue of THE WATCHMAN, (bro. George Booker, editor)
bro. Alan Hayward wrote a short article on "The Judgment Seat: An
Unresolved Problem." He raised a question about the phrase "to meet..,"
quoting Acts 28:14,15; 1 Thes. 4:16,17; and Matt. 25:6,10, and asked, "So
what are we to make of all this? Does Scripture intend us to regard the judgment
seat as real in essence, but symbolic rather than literal in its nature? ...Or
is there some other explanation that fits the facts better?"
...Without
disagreement, in reply in November 95, bro. Duncan Heaster wrote about "real
time" as opposed to "collapsed time."
This exchange intrigued me to inquire further into the Scriptures, and into EUREKA for JT's thoughts about "the judgment seat."
Below are some of John Thomas's observations, but nothing conclusive, it seems to me, can be drawn from what he has written. Along with JT's comments, I have included (below) all the NT references to judgment, judge and judgment; krima, krino, and krisis, respectively. ...Anyone care to tackle this question about the judgment seat, or to offer further comment concerning the time and place of the judgment seat?
One of the beliefs of Christadelphians is that there is an actual earthly judgment seat to be faced when Christ returns. What do the Scriptures teach about the time of the individual's judgment? Second, aside from the *judgment* references as addressed in THE INDEX TO EUREKA, John Thomas provided no definitive study of "the Judgment Seat" for us to follow - which, I think, is why we have questioning about the subject today.
Article XIV-XV of Robert Robert's Statement Of Faith leaves the question hanging in the air.
The prophecy of the Lord's apocalypse in the book of REVELATION is a pretty straightforward account of the last 1,260 days of time, days which climax with the complete restoration of the kingdom to Israel and under's God rule. Despite John Thomas's extrapolation of these "days" into "years," there still is truth in his literal interpretations of the Old Testament Scriptures which relate to these "last days."
Re Revelation 10:1: Vol. ii. 538-539; "The point of time when the Spirit is not clothed... is from his first touching ground at his coming to the completion of the judgment of his household. How many months may be occupied in this judicial cleansing of the house, I am not prepared to say. In ch. xi. 18, it is styled, "the time of the dead that they should be judged;" but *how long the time* of their judgment may be, is not revealed. It will not be the work of an instant; for the dead in Christ have first to be brought out of their graves; and then gathered by angelic agency from one end of heaven to the other -- Matt. xxiv. 31. After this "gathering together unto the Lord Jesus Christ" -- 2 Thess. ii. 1; the risen dead and the contemporary living, of the household, have all to give account of themselves to the Deity -- Rom. xiv. 12. This is "the dead, small and great, standing before the Deity; and being judged out of the things written in the books, according to their works" -- ch. xix. 11"
[Vol. iii. 384]: "Hence the *standing before* the Judgment Seat of Christ (Rom. 14:10-12 [Isa.45:23; Phil. 2:9-11]; 2 Cor. 5:10-11; Gal. 6:7-8) precedes the *standing with* the Lamb on Mount Zion. The judgment of *the household* of Christ intervenes between the resurrection and the ascending of Yahweh's Hill," (Psalm 24).
Although "not prepared to say," about "the completion of the judgment of his household," JT nevertheless does 'say' the following: [Vol. iii. 403-404]: [Long quote - reader should consult Eureka here]. Beginning p. 403 at "As to *how long the period of proclamation* will continue..." through p. 404 to "...Forty years of judgment are consumed in preparing the millennial reign of peace and righteousness; which, as the chapters indicated show, will not be introduced and established by clerical preaching, nor by "the benevolent institutions of the day," but by "judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries," Hebrews 10:27.
A period of 40 years hardly fits into the last 1,260 days of time, and the reader ought to be aware of JT's penchant for extrapolation in his areas of uncertainty. Within this quotation, the reader must note that - a contradiction of sorts - JT makes these forty years to be "*after* the manifestation of the Son of David and his mighty ones on Mount Zion..."
[Vol. iii. 406-408]. Matthew 25:32, JT interprets "*the judgment*" as applying to the nations, but primarily, the European... "*But before the proclamation* (Rev. 14:6-7) begins there is also judgment. This, however, is not national but "individual" - - a judgment having relation to the ancient apostolic proclamation." [See Vol. iii. 374's summary].
My own comment: But *the proclamation* (of Rev. 14:6-7) precedes the resurrection of the dead, (Rev. 14:13-16). How can there be an "individual" judgment before the individual's resurrection?
There is a confusion here with JT's logic, because those being judged cannot at the same time be the judges at their own resurrection. When the individual stands on Mt. Zion with the Lord, he is already judged and rewarded, is he not?
The "judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries," Hebrews 10:27, are surely those judgments against "the adversaries" which are meted out by the "two witnesses" (who are killed and resurrected to go up into the Cloud - of Rev. 11:3) during the 1,260 days of the trampling of the holy city. The O.T. quotes in Hebrews 10:30-31 are conclusive that the judgment to be meted out is the judgment reserved by the LORD for exercise in His "day," and is certainly the "judgment having relation to the ancient apostolic proclamation," and therefore speaks about the judgment upon "the adversaries" of Israel's hope, whether the adversary is a Jew or a Gentile enemy.
[Vol. iii. 630-631]: Ref. Rev. 18:2, JT writes, "This descending angel is the same of whom Paul speaks in 1 Thess. 4:16, saying, 'the Lord himself in command, with Archangel's voice, and with trumpet of Deity, shall descend from heaven.' [[Here JT omits the verse's ending, "and the dead in Christ shall rise first."]] 'But he comes not alone; for in 2 Thess. i. 7, he tells us, he will be apocalypsed, or 'revealed from heaven with angels of his power, with flaming fire, taking vengeance.' Such is the voice, with which he shouts -- the archangel's voice whose name in Dan, xii. 1, is Mi-cha-ail Who- like-Deity, 'the great prince who standeth for the children of Daniel's people.' He is in command; for he is the Commander and leader -- Isa. lv.4; and his mission is in the last of the trumpets of Deity, and in the seventh vial thereof. Paul did not specify details. He declared that he would descend from heaven with a mission against the Lawless One, the Son of Perdition; whom John connects with the Eighth Head of the Beast, that carries the Great Harlot."
My comment: But it is *not Michael, but Abaddon*, Rev. 9:11, who is associated "with flaming fire, taking vengeance" upon the unrepentant...
[Vol. iii. 608-609]: Ref. 1 Thess. 4:17 and Rev 20:11, JT writes
concerning "the air" of the seventh vial: "These will all meet
together with the Lord in the Air, as the "New Heaven," styled also "the
Heaven in ch. xviii. 20, which rejoices over Babylon in the disaster of her
fall. This New Air, I remark again, is the air in which, and for which, the
chosen saints are convened. Paul tells us in 1 Thess. iv. that when 'the time of
the dead that they should be judged' arrives, the living saints will not
anticipate the dead. That is, they will not be gathered together into the
presence of Christ before them. When Christ comes, the living will have to wait,
until the reproduction of the dead saints is complete. Be the time of this
reproduction long or short, the how long is not revealed; this, however, is
certain, that "the dead in Christ shall be restored (anasteesontai) first.'
...He then tells us what he expects to happen next.
'After that, we
the living who remain, together with them shall be hurried away in clouds for a
convention of the Lord in an air (eis aera), and so (in that Air) we shall
always be with the Lord.' Thus the dead are the subjects of anastasis, or "restoration"
to what they once were; and then, in company with their fellow earthborns in
Christ of the generation contemporary with this great anastasis, they go to
report themselves for better or worse at the Judgment Seat in Teman. All of them
who are approved, or 'accounted worthy to obtain that aion (aion, course of
things, or Air), are "clothed with the house from heaven;" and
henceforth, appointed to be with the Lord always in the Air."
My question here: Once convened in the air, [Parable of the Virgins, those who were ready immediately went into the meeting] how can the restored dead not "be with the Lord always in the Air" thereafter? ...Seems that JT is not always consistent with the timetable of the judgment events.
Again, anyone care to tackle the question of "the judgment seat" for its solution?
The following are all the N.T. references to "*the judgment*;" krisis, (literally, crisis).
Strong's No. 2920 In Mt 5:21,22 10:15 11:22,24 12:18,20,36,41,42 23:23,33; In Mr 3:29 6:11 In Lu 10:14 11:31,32,42 In Joh 3:19 5:22,24,27,29,30 7:24 8:16 12:31 16:8,11; In Act 8:33 ; In 2Th 1:5 In 1Ti 5:24; In Heb 9:27 10:27; In Jas 2:13; In 2Pe 2:4,9,11 3:7; In 1Jo 4:17; In Jude 1:6,9,15; In Rev 14:7 16:7 18:10 19:2
To No. 2917; In Mt 7:2 23:14; In Mr 12:40; In Lu 20:47 23:40 24:20; In Joh 9:39; In Act 24:25; In Ro 2:2,3 3:8 5:16 11:33 13:2; In 1Co 6:7 11:29,34; In Gal 5:10; In 1Ti 3:6 5:12; In Heb 6:2; In Jas 3:1; In 1Pe 4:17; In 2Pe 2:3; In Jude 1:4; In Rev 17:1 18:20 20:4
To No. 2919; In Mt 5:40 7:1,2 19:28; In Lu 6:37 7:43 12:57 19:22 22:30; In Joh 3:17,18 5:22,30 7:24,51 8:15,16,26,50 12:47,48 16:11 18:31; In Act 3:13 4:19 7:7 13:27,46 15:19 16:4,15 17:31 20:16 21:25; In Act 23:3,6 24:6,21 25:9,10,20,25 26:6,8 27:1; In Ro 2:1,3,12,16,27 3:4,6,7 14:3,4,5,10,13,22; In 1Co 2:2 4:5 5:3,12,13 6:1,2,3,6 7:37 10:15,29 11:13,31,32; In 2Co 2:1 5:14; In Col 2:16; In 2Th 2:12; In 2Ti 4:1; In Tit 3:12; In Heb 10:30 13:4; In Jas 2:12 4:11,12; In 1Pe 1:17 2:23 4:5,6; In Rev 6:10 11:18 16:5 18:8,20 19:2,11 20:12,13