Lesson 9 - The Pre-Advent Judgement

• • Through this investigative judgment the true plan of salvation is established and the plan of the little horn is condemned.  The spiritual conflict between the two systems is decided and God is justified before the universe Rom 3:4.  The pre-advent judgment justifies the saints and God. 
• The passage in Daniel 7:9-14 presents three scenes:

  (a) A judgment in heaven in verses 9-10. 

  (b) The end of the fourth beast -- the outcome of the judgment in verses 11-12.

  (c) The Son of Man (Christ) who receives the kingdom in verses 13-14.
• About the Judgment:

  • The whole picture is one of overwhelming grandeur, here we see the heavenly court with God, the Ancient of Days, as supreme judge, seated on His throne surrounded by myriads of angles.
  • This judgment is not the final judgment as what we can see in the book Revelation, but a preliminary judgment going on in heaven prior to the Second Advent.
• Who is being judged here?

  1. Little Horn - for when the books are opened, the beast is judged. When the records were consulted, it was found that the beast deserved judgment.
  2. 2. God’s People - Believers are not excluded from the judgment (2 Cor 5:10; 1 Cor 3:13-17).

  • Judgment was made in favour of the saints of the Most High.
  • They must also be in some way the subject of this judgment. This fact is not recognized outside of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, though this should not surprise us
• The judgment is not, indeed, like that in Revelation 20

  the general judgment, terminating the reign of Christ and His saints on earth, and resembling in some of its features the present one. It is rather the judgment on the fourth beast, or Roman Empire, with its ten horns, or kingdoms, and more especially the, little Horn, whose pride, persecution and blasphemy are the special occasion of it. 
• When does this judgment take place?

  • While most interpreters identify the judgment in Daniel 7 with the final judgment.
  • The books in Dan 7:10, which will form the basis of the judgment concerning them. They will be judged according to their works (Rom 3:10-23), but saved according to their faith (Rom 3:24-28; Gal 2:16; Eph 2:8-9)
  • The judgment will not be just of such as are saved but will separate between the true and faithful servants of the Lord and between such as are in His service merely outwardly and abuse their trust.
• What happens in this pre-advent judgment?

  • As the books of record are opened in the judgment, the lives of all who have believed on Jesus come in review before God.
  • Beginning with those who first lived upon the earth, our Advocate presents the cases of each successive generation, and closes with the living.
  • Every name is mentioned, every case closely investigated. Names are accepted, names rejected.
• To those who rejected:

  When any have sins remaining upon the books of record, unrepented of and unforgiven, their names will be blotted out of the book of life, and the record of their good deeds will be erased from the book of God's remembrance.
• To those who accepted:

  All who have truly repented of sin, and by faith claimed the blood of Christ as their atoning sacrifice, have had pardon entered against their names in the books of heaven; as they have become partakers of the righteousness of Christ, and their characters are found to be in harmony with the law of God, their sins will be blotted out, and they themselves will be accounted worthy of eternal life (GC 483).  
• There are record "books" of some sort that are examined (vs.10). For that reason this judgment has been called an "investigative judgment.“
• The records obviously are the records of the lives of those being judged.
• This judgment is the necessary intermediate stage between the last phase of human history and the beginning of heaven's history (W. H. Shea, Daniel 7-12, 146-147).
• BOOKS OPENED – DANIEL 7:10

  1. Book of Life (Rev 21:27, Luke 10:20, Ex, 32:33).
  2. Book of Remembrance (Mal 3:16; cf. Gen 8:1; 32:13; 1 Sam 1:19 and Punishment, 1 Sam 15:2; Ps 79:8; Jer 14:10).
  3. Book of Sins (Isa 65:6,7).
• The book of life

  Only the names of those are entered in the Book of Life who at one time in their lives have committed themselves to God.
• One of the purposes of the pre advent judgment is to see whether a person has kept his or her commitment to God, and the decision is then made to either keep the name in the Book of Life or to blot it out. 
• Books are opened:

  1. Book of life

  All the names of those who have ever entered into proper relationship with God are recorded.

  2. Book of remembrance

  The good deeds of those whose names are found in the book of life are recorded.

  3. Book of Sin

  All the sins of both the righteous and the wicked are recorded.
• Does God need a Judgment in order to know human being?

  • THE ANSWER IS NO. 
  • WHY IS IT NECESSARY? BECAUSE GOD’S CHARACTER WAS IN DOUBT SINCE SATAN ATTACK HIM. 
  • THIS JUDGMENT CLARIFIES THE GOD’S CHARACTER TO THE HEAVENLY BEINGS, HUMANKIND AND THE FALLEN HEAVENLY BEINGS, SHOWING THE LOVE AND JUSTICE OF THE LORD.
• There are two sanctuaries in Scripture:

  The earthly (Ex 25:9,40)

  The heavenly (Heb 8: 1-6).
• The OT sanctuary was destroyed in AD 70.
• The only sanctuary functioning as "His sanctuary" at the time of the little horn (the papacy) was the heavenly sanctuary.
• • Every part of the sanctuary service represented Christ (DA 29).
• The furniture of the sanctuary symbolised various aspects of Christ's priestly ministry for His people after he had offered Himself as a sacrifice at Calvary (Heb 8:3; 9:14).
• • All this is part of "the continual" which the little horn would attempt to take away from the Prince of the host.
• “The Sanctuary Shall Be Cleansed”


  The essential thrust of the prophecy of Daniel 8 is that it describes, in apocalyptic symbols, a deeply religious conflict between the Prince of the host and the Little Horn.  Two rival systems of salvation have been offered to mankind, the counterfeit method offered by the Little Horn and its host from its earthly temple, and the sometimes obscured true plan of salvation offered by the Prince of the host from heaven.  Each of these plans and their leaders have had their adherents.
• “The Sanctuary Shall Be Cleansed”

  Now, after 2300 days, the time has come to make a final decision about which one really has been the true plan of salvation.  In order to do that there must be an investigation into the nature of each plan and their effects upon their respective recipients.  Such an investigation is, by its very nature, a judgment, and from its outcome the participants in the true plan of salvation are granted entrance into the kingdom of God.
• “The Sanctuary Shall Be Cleansed”

  To return the sanctuary to the Prince thus demonstrates that his once for ever sacrifice and his ministration in the heavenly temple have been efficacious for the salvation of his host.  This is demonstrated by a judgment in favor of the stars in his host for whom that continual and for whom the minister of that true tabernacle has ministered [Dan 7:22.]. 
• Why does the heavenly sanctuary need cleansing?

  1. The parallels between Daniel 7 and 8 indicate that the judgment in Daniel 7 and the cleansing of the sanctuary in Daniel 8 are one and the same event.
  2. The subjects of the judgment in Daniel 7 are the little horn (Dan 7:8-11) and the saints (Dan 7:22).