| . |
Ángel
Manuel Rodríguez
Does
the final judgment begin before or after the Second Coming?
Christians
disagree concerning the timing of the final judgment. Adventists believe
that it begins before the second coming of Christ. Interestingly, this
is a common idea among Roman Catholics and many Protestants.
In
addition, Catholic theology teaches that there are a particular judgment
and a general judgment. The particular judgment
takes place immediately after death, and determines whether the soul will
experience heaven, purgatory, or hell. Obviously, this judgment takes
place before the return of Christ and is necessary because of the doctrine
of the immortality of the soul. The general judgment takes place
at the return of Christ, is universal, and includes righteous and
wicked.
Dispensationalists
teach that there are several judgments. The first one is the judgment
of the church that takes place in heaven after the rapture and before
the Second Coming. One wonders,
Why is it necessary to judge believers who have already been raptured?
Other
Christians prefer to describe the judgment as a single universal event
that takes place at the second coming of Christ, when the general resurrection
of all—wicked and righteous—occurs.
That position seems to ignore the fact that Christ comes a second time
to save those who are waiting for Him, not to determine whether they should
be saved (Heb. 9:28). Neither does it take into consideration a millennial
and postmillennial judgment (Rev. 20).
According
to Hebrews 9:27, 28, the final judgment takes place after one dies, and
the next eschatological event is the second coming of Christ. Those who
are alive at the close of the
great controversy will be judged while they are still alive (1 Peter 4:5).
During
apostolic times the judgment of the dead was still in the future; it did
not occur at the moment the person died (2 Tim. 4:1; 1 Peter 4:5). To
argue that the judgment takes place at the Second Coming, when the final
verdict is assigned to everyone, is a partial explanation of the biblical
teaching. At His return Jesus does not come to deal with sin, “but
to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him” (Heb. 9:28,
NIV). At the return of Christ each one receives a reward that was apportioned
to him or her according to what he or she has done in this life (Matt.
16:27). This is not the moment when the Divine Tribunal will judge every
person, but the moment when the
reward is handed out.
If
the reward is given at the coming of Christ, then the judgment began
before His return. This is what Paul indicates in Romans 2:5, 6: “You are storing up wrath against yourself for the day
of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed.
God ‘will give to each person according to what he has done’” (NIV).
Notice
first that there is a time when the “righteous judgment of God” (verse 5) is hidden to human sight. The righteous judicial
decision is made before the Second Coming because it is at Christ=s coming that it is manifested/revealed to humans. So
the final judgment begins before the return of Christ (see Dan. 7:9, 10,
26, 27).
Second,
Paul refers to the basis upon which that judicial decision is made: “‘According
to what he [the person] has done’” (verse 6, NIV). The works
of every individual are examined and evaluated to determine the proper
legal sentence that actually will be granted to them at the return of
Christ. This process of investigation and evaluation is part of the judicial
process in the heavenly court.
Summarizing,
the last judgment is a judicial process that includes (1) a pre-advent,
investigative judgment (Dan. 7; Rom. 2:5, 6); (2) a millennial judgment
(Rev. 20:4; 1 Cor. 6:1-3);
and (3) an executive judgment after the millennium (Rev. 20:11-15; Matt.
25:31-46). Therefore, the final judgment begins before the Second Coming
and includes the judgment of the saints and the judgment of the wicked
during and after the millennium. Adventists have incorporated
into our understanding of the final judgment all the biblical evidence
available, including the timing of the different aspects of it.
10/11/01
Copyright © Biblical Research Institute General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists®
|
. |
