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The Investigation
As expressed yesterday, unless you believe that once a person is "saved,” that person can never fall away, it's hard to imagine that God wouldn't have a final separation between those clothed in His righteousness and those just claiming to be. That’s essentially what this parable is about. Again, for a religion based, not on our own works but on someone else’s works for us (which we claim by faith), how could there not be this final divine separation?
Read Ecclesiastes 12:14 and 1 Corinthians 4:5 in light of Matthew 22:11. What’s the one point that they have in common, and why is that important?
As Seventh-day Adventists, with our understanding of the great controversy (Rev. 12:7–9, 1 Pet. 5:8, Job 1, 2) and the interest of the entire universe in this great controversy (Dan. 7:10, 1 Cor. 4:9, Eph. 3:10), we easily can reject the argument—taken from 2 Timothy 2:19, “the Lord knoweth them that are his”—used against the idea that an investigation of works is biblical. The Lord does know them that are His, but the rest of the universe, ourselves included, don’t.
It’s so important that we keep the big picture in mind: the interest of the whole universe in what is going on here with sin, rebellion, salvation, and God’s plan to deal with everything in an open, just, and fair way.
The very idea of a judgment of any kind presupposes some kind of investigation, does it not? Look at Genesis 3:9–19: from the first moment after sin entered, God Himself got directly involved, asking questions to answers that He already knew. Just as this “investigation” wasn’t for Himself (it helped Adam and Eve understand the gravity of what they had done), the same can be said of the “investigative judgment”: it doesn’t reveal anything new to God; it’s for the benefit of others.
Just as in this Genesis judgment, where God’s grace overruled the death sentence (see Gen. 3:15), His grace does the same for all of God’s true followers, now and in the judgment—when they need it the most!
An investigation of your works? Is there any wonder that you need to have Christ’s righteousness covering you at all times, or that salvation has to be by grace and not by works? What hope would you have if—when all your works were investigated—you didn’t have Christ’s robe covering you?
| THURSDAY | June 9 |
As expressed yesterday, unless you believe that once a person is "saved,” that person can never fall away, it's hard to imagine that God wouldn't have a final separation between those clothed in His righteousness and those just claiming to be. That’s essentially what this parable is about. Again, for a religion based, not on our own works but on someone else’s works for us (which we claim by faith), how could there not be this final divine separation?
Read Ecclesiastes 12:14 and 1 Corinthians 4:5 in light of Matthew 22:11. What’s the one point that they have in common, and why is that important?
As Seventh-day Adventists, with our understanding of the great controversy (Rev. 12:7–9, 1 Pet. 5:8, Job 1, 2) and the interest of the entire universe in this great controversy (Dan. 7:10, 1 Cor. 4:9, Eph. 3:10), we easily can reject the argument—taken from 2 Timothy 2:19, “the Lord knoweth them that are his”—used against the idea that an investigation of works is biblical. The Lord does know them that are His, but the rest of the universe, ourselves included, don’t.
It’s so important that we keep the big picture in mind: the interest of the whole universe in what is going on here with sin, rebellion, salvation, and God’s plan to deal with everything in an open, just, and fair way.
The very idea of a judgment of any kind presupposes some kind of investigation, does it not? Look at Genesis 3:9–19: from the first moment after sin entered, God Himself got directly involved, asking questions to answers that He already knew. Just as this “investigation” wasn’t for Himself (it helped Adam and Eve understand the gravity of what they had done), the same can be said of the “investigative judgment”: it doesn’t reveal anything new to God; it’s for the benefit of others.
Just as in this Genesis judgment, where God’s grace overruled the death sentence (see Gen. 3:15), His grace does the same for all of God’s true followers, now and in the judgment—when they need it the most!
An investigation of your works? Is there any wonder that you need to have Christ’s righteousness covering you at all times, or that salvation has to be by grace and not by works? What hope would you have if—when all your works were investigated—you didn’t have Christ’s robe covering you?
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