THE THREE ANGELS’ MESSAGES

4. THREE PHASES OF JUDGMENT

JUDGMENT: A PROCESS; NOT AN EVENT

REVELATION 12:7, 8And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven.

• Does God require a judgment to determine who’ll be saved or lost?

PSALMS 149:9To execute upon them the judgment written: this honour have all his saints. Praise ye the LORD.

A UNIVERSAL CONTAGION

Sin is a cosmic pandemic. And if the problem of sin ought to be eradicated, it ought to be done universally.

DESIGN MALFUNCTION

EZEKIEL 28:13-19 [Lucifer’s fall from heaven.]

GENESIS 3:4-6And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. And when the woman saw that the tree [was] good for food, and that it [was] pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make [one] wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.

ANY WITNESSES…?

1 CORINTHIANS 4:9For I think that God hath set forth us the apostles last, as it were appointed to death: for we are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men.

COLOSSIANS 1:19, 20For it pleased [the Father] that in him should all fulness dwell; And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, [I say], whether [they be] things in earth, or things in heaven.

WHO IS THIS VILLIAN RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS MISERY?

EZEKIEL 28:16-18By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire.Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffick; therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee.

THE FATHER OF LIES

JOHN 8:44 Ye are of [your] father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

ISAIAH 5:20Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!

WHAT DO THESE PHRASES MEAN?

1. “Multitude of thy merchandise”

2. “Multitude of thy iniquities or traffick”

LEVITICUS 19:16

Thou shalt not go up and down [as] a talebearer among thy people: neither shalt thou stand against the blood of thy neighbour: I [am] the LORD.

EZEKIEL 22:9

In thee are men that carry tales to shed blood: and in thee they eat upon the mountains: in the midst of thee they commit lewdness.

PROBABLE REASONS FOR GOD’S THREE PHASES OF JUDGMENT

1. The eradication of sin once and for all

2. To satisfy and convince both witnesses that God has dealt fairly with everyone

3. To universally clear God’s name

4. To establish credence that God is sovereign throughout eternity

FIRST PHASE OF JUDGMENT: PRE-ADVENT OR INVESTIGATIVE PHASE

REVELATION 14:6, 7

And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.

QUESTIONS: PRE-ADVENT OR INVESTIGATVE PHASE

1. Is mercy’s door still open?

2. Does this judgment begin at the proclamation of the first angel’s message?

3. Does the first angel proclaim his message before the second coming of Jesus Christ?

PRE-ADVENT OR INVESTIGATIVE PHASE BEGINS:

• Before the second coming of christ

• At the proclamation of the first angel’s message

• Before probation closes

WHERE DOES JUDGMENT TAKE PLACE?

DANIEL 7:9, 10I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment [was] white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne [was like] the fiery flame, [and] his wheels [as] burning fire. A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him: thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened.

TWO IDENTICAL BEASTS REVELATION 13:2

And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as [the feet] of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.

REVELATION 14:9, 10 And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive [his] mark in his forehead, or in his hand, The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:

HOW MANY MUST APPEAR BEFORE GOD’S JUDGMENT?

2 CORINTHIANS 5:10

For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things [done] in [his] body, according to that he hath done, whether [it be] good or bad.

• How can we appear before God’s judgment in heaven while living on earth?

WHAT HAPPENS IN THE INTERIM?

REVELATION 22:11He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still.

• Judgment comes to an end• The verdict is given• Time passes on...• Sentence is carried out• Life goes on as usual

WHAT VERDICT IS PRONOUNCED?

REVELATION 22:12

And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward [is] with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.

MATTHEW 16:27

For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works.

IF YOU’LL PUT HIM FIRST, THEN HE’LL RAISE YOU FIRST.

1 THESSALONIANS 4:14-17For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive [and] remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive [and] remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

PAUL’S VIEW OF GOD’S JUDGMENT REWARD

2 TIMOTHY 4:6-8For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished [my] course, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.

MUST THERE HAVE BEEN A PREVIOUS JUDGMENT…?

...For the hour of his judgment has come

REVELATION 20:5But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This [is] the first

resurrection.

HEAVEN’S DREAM TEAM

MATTHEW 24:31And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

2 THESSALONIANS 2:1, 2NOW WE beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and [by] our gathering together unto him, That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.

HOW CAN YOU BE PART OF THIS DREAM TEAM?

MATTHEW 5:5Blessed [are] the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.

REVELATION 21:1And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.

• This is the culmination of the pre-advent or investigative phase

SECOND PHASE OF JUDGMENT: THE MILLENNIAL PHASE

REVELATION 20:4, 5And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This [is] the first resurrection.

WILL GOD’S ELECT JUDGE THE REST OF THOSE WHO ARE DEAD?

1 CORINTHIANS 6:1-3

DARE ANY of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unjust, and not before the saints? Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters? Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life?

REVELATION 20:14, 15And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

REVELATION 21:8But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.

REVELATION 6:16And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb:

THIRD JUDGMENT PHASE: THE POST MILLENNIAL PHASE

REVELATION 20:11, 12And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is [the book] of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.

1. The books [plural] were opened2. Another book [singular] was opened

WHAT DO BOOKS AND BOOK RECORD?

• Books: Deeds [Transgressions] Sinful acts

• Book: Names of the saints

If your name [.........] is in the Book, then your deeds or transgressions are not found in the Books; but if your deeds or transgressions are found in the Books, then your name is not in the Book [Book of life].

HERE’S BIBLE PROOF…

REVELATION 20:13-15

And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And Whosoever was not found written in the Book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

WHY IS THE BOOK OF LIFE BROUGHT TO VIEW?

• The Book of life is brought to view to show that the names of the wicked-dead are not there

• Why? It’s because their sinful deeds were found in the Books

DOES THE BIBLE MAKE MENTION OF THESE THREE PHASES OF

JUDGMENT?1. Pre-advent or Investigative Phase

• REVELATION 14:7

2. Millennial Phase • REVELATION 20:4

3. Post-millennial Phase • REVELATION 20:11-15