Hartland Summer Campmeeting 2017: Abiding in Christ

<p>Preparing to meet Jesus in the endtimes.</p>

<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

Hartland Institute of Health and Education

Stephen Bohr

The Good News in the Time of Trouble- Part 1

Father as we open your word this afternoon we ask for the presence of your spirit, we ask that you will open our minds and our hearts that we might be able to understand and receive what you have for us, and also that you will empower us to share this message with others.

We thank you Father for the privilege of prayer, we know that you have heard this prayer that you will answer because we ask it in the precious name of Jesus, Amen.

The Seventh-day Adventist Church holds some unique beliefs as compared with other Christian denominations.

Probably the belief that stands out the most as being different from the Christian world is the idea of what we call the investigative judgment, the investigative pre-advent judgment, and basically I'd like to begin by describing what the pre-advent investigative judgment is.

Basically God's judgment follows the same sequence as judgments or trials that take place in the United States of America today.

In other words judgment in the eyes of God is very similar to the idea of judgment that we have in the US and also in many other countries, And that view is that basically the judgment is composed of 3 stages, the judgment is composed of 3 stages.

I want you to imagine a judgment scene in a court in the United States of America, You have an individual who was accused, you have the district attorney who is accusing the person, and you have the defense attorney who is defending the person who is accused.

What is the first thing that is done in a trial in the court system of the United States.

First of all, you have an investigation of the evidence.

You examine everything that happened with relationship to the case.

The district attorney presents his case against, the defense attorney presents his case in favor, and then after the investigation is finished, after all of the evidence has been seen by the jury, then the jury deliberates and the jury pronounces the verdict.

So the first stage is the investigation, the second point is the verdict or the sentence, And then based on the sentence comes the time when the sentence is to be executed, in other words where the judgment is implemented and the person is either punished or the person is rewarded.

And so basically you have 3 stages to the judgment.

Stage number 1, an investigation of the evidence.

Number 2, the judgment verdict or sentence.

And number 3, the implementation of the sentence.

Now most Christian denominations their concept of the judgment is very limited because they don't really believe that there's going to be an investigation of each person's case and that a verdict will be given in a heavenly judgment before the second coming of Christ.

You see for most Christians the judgment takes place when you die, If you were connected with Christ when you died you go to heaven, if you were not connected with Christ when you died you go to hell, and with some Christian denominations particularly the Roman Catholic Church if you were half good you go to purgatory, or if you were not good enough you go to purgatory for a while.

So basically the idea of judgment of the Christian world is that judgment takes place when a person dies, So there would be no reason to have a judgment where you have an investigation of the evidence and then you have the sentencing before a heavenly jury and then finally an execution of the sentence, because all of that takes place when a person dies.

God knows if the individual didn't connect with Jesus, well God knows he's gonna send him to hell, and if the person was connected to Jesus then God knows he's gonna take that person to heaven.

There's no need for a trial because God knows everything according to this point of view.

But the Seventh-day Adventist church believes that the judgment transpires in 3 stages.

The first 2 stages occur in heaven, the last stage or the last part of the judgment occurs on earth.

Now what I want us to do is go to Daniel chapter 7, and we're going to look at the judgment scene there in Daniel chapter 7.

And let me just mention that usually when we study Daniel 7 we study all about the beasts, but somehow I haven't found as much emphasis on the judgment scene of Daniel chapter 7.

We talk about the lion and I don't think I even have to review that, the lion which represents Babylon, the bear which represents Medo-Persia, the leopard Greece, the dragon beast Rome, the 10 horns the divisions of Rome, the 3 horns that were uprooted are the Heruli, the Vandals and the Ostrogoths, and then the little horn the papacy rules for 1260 years.

We're very well versed with that aspect of Daniel 7 but we don't dedicate as much time to study the judgment scene of Daniel 7.

You see after the little horn rules 1260 years you have a judgment scene, and what I want us to do is look at that judgment scene so that we can see the 3 stages that we talked about, the 3 stages are not an invention by the Adventist church, the 3 stages are there found in Daniel chapter 7.

So let's go to Daniel 7 and we're only going to read certain verses, we're not going to read all of the verses, just enough to get the idea.

The little horn is ruled 1260 years, those years end in 1798, so what we're going to read now happens sometime after 1798.

I watched till thrones were put in place, and the ancient of days, who is the ancient of days?

So if he was seated was he seated there before?

No, he must have been some other place before because it says that he was seated.

Let's continue reading it'll become clearer.

I watched till thrones were put in place, and the Ancient of Days was seated.

His garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool.

His throne was a fiery flame, its wheels a burning fire.

A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him.

A thousand thousands ministered to him, 10000 times 10000 stood before him.

The Ancient of Days is sitting in heaven, some place, actually the most holy place.

And then the last part of verse 10 says the court was seated and the books were open.

The record, the evidence, yes, because all of God's people are accused by Satan.

And so now God is going to court and He's going to lay out all of the evidence to the view of the entire universe, the records are going to be examined, this is the examination stage of the judgment.

It continues saying, and now we're going to read verse 13 and verse 14.

I want you to visualize this, the father he moves, He comes into the most holy place, He sits on His throne, the books for the judgment are open, now the evidence is going to be examined, and then in verse 13 we find another person that comes into the picture.

I was watching in the night visions, and behold 1 like the Son of Man, who would that be?

Jesus, He constantly referred to Himself as the Son of Man.

It says, 1 like the Son of Man coming with the clouds of heaven, what are the clouds?

Notice it says there, Coming with the clouds of heaven, he came to the ancient of days, where is the ancient of days?

In the vision, in heaven, on his throne in heaven right?

Does He come to the earth or does He go with the angels to where the Father was?

To where the Father was, very very important.

So it says, He came to the ancient of days, and they brought Him, who brought Him?

And they brought Him near before Him, that is near before the Father.

Now the question is why does Jesus go to where the Father went in heaven?

What is the purpose of Jesus going to where His Father was?

No, the Father is going to give something to Jesus as a result of the books being open.

It says, Then to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom.

Why does Jesus go to where the Father went?

It continues saying that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him.

His dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away, and His kingdom the 1 which shall not be destroyed.

Now a little bit later on in the chapter in verse 18 we find an amplification of what we just read in Daniel 7 and verses 9 and 10 and 13 and 14.

But the saints of the Most High shall receive the kingdom, now wait a minute we just read that who receives the kingdom?

Back to Menu

The Good News in the Time of Trouble- Part 1

Transcript

Description

Parent Conference

Sponsor

Recorded

Sound Doctrine