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Pastor Nathaniel's Blog September 11, 2024
"Investigative Judgment 1"
Have you heard of the investigative judgment? Adventists have a wide spectrum of reaction to the investigative judgment. Some wholesale embrace the doctrine, others feel various forms of discomfort with pieces of it, a few quietly reject the idea, and the vast majority appear to be unaware of how the doctrine applies to them. But the end of Hebrews 9 provides a good explanation of the investigative judgment that addresses all the aforementioned situations, and it does so by looking at the concept through the lens of Jesus' humanity.
This week we'll look at what Hebrews 9 says about the investigative judgment and Jesus' incarnation, and next week we'll look at what it says about the investigative judgment and Jesus' second coming. Hebrews 9:25-26 says, "Nor did he [Jesus] enter heaven to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own. Otherwise Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But he has appeared once for all at the culmination of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself" (NIV).
These verses make two points by comparing Jesus' ascension into heaven with the Jewish high priest's entrance into the earthly tabernacle/temple on the Day of Atonement. First, Jesus entered into the heavenly sanctuary with his own sacrifice and death, while the Old Testament high priest entered into the earthly sanctuary with someone else's blood and sacrifice - namely, that of a sacrificial animal. Second, Jesus only had to do this once (regardless of whether Hebrews 9 has in mind Jesus' sacrifice, ascension into heaven, or offering of his sacrificial death in the heavenly sanctuary), while the Old Testament high priest had to keep doing this in the autumn every year.
It's because of these two points that Hebrews 9:26 can claim that Jesus "has appeared once for all at the culmination of the ages." The word for "appeared" is used several times in the New Testament as a specific term for Jesus' incarnation: God becoming a human and being born as Jesus of Nazareth. Hebrews 9:25-26 begins discussion of Jesus' ministry in an investigative judgment by referring all events surrounding it - Jesus' cross, suffering, death, new life, ascension, ministry as celestial high priest on our behalf - to his incarnation and birth. In this way the passage indicates that the Jesus who was born and died is the same Jesus who ascended to heaven and has offered himself for us - namely, a loving Savior who cares for you and me.
Friends, take comfort that the God of the investigative judgment is the Savior who came as a baby, died as a man, and currently ministers in heaven for us.
God bless,
Pastor Nathaniel Gamble
