That at the appearing of Christ prior to the establishment of the Kingdom the responsible (namely those who know the revealed will of God and have been called upon to submit to it) dead and living obedient and disobedient will be summoned before his judgment seat to be judged according to their work and receive in body according to what their have done whether it be good or bad. Article XXIV
When we turn to the the New Testament we find the same clearing teaching regarding one’s responsibility to God. The principle that understanding is the basis for resurrectional responsibility is stated successfully in several places as the following text illustrate. For until the law sin was in the world but sin is not imputed where there is no law (Rom 5:13). Therefore to him that knoweth to do and doeth it not to him it is sin”. (James 4:13)
One is held accountable for his sins only when the law or will of God is understood. The refusal to comply with the commandments of Christ when they are beloved constitutes a sin of the nature, James speaks about, The degree of understanding necessary to bring one forth from the dead to stand before the tribulation Christ is offcourse only known to God. The principle however is plainly taught and finds great magnification in the teachings of Jesus.
“This is the Condemnation”
The 3rd chapter of John the Lord states the basis of resurrectional judgment of it is plainly as we shall find anywhere in the bible.After pronouncing condemnation upon those who disbelieve(rejected) His teachings the Master then proceeds to declare the basis of their judgment. And this is the condemnation that light is come into the world and men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil for everyone that doeth evil hateth the light neither cometh to the light lest his deeds should be reproved, But he that doeth truth cometh to the light that his deeds may be manifest that they are wrought in God (v19-21). The phrase “This is the condemnation refers back to the preceding verse as a way of explaining why those who reject His work are condemned already, Good speed renders this part of V. 19, And the basis of the judgment is this Light is expressive of enlightenment or understanding and constitutes the principle by which men and women become amenable to judgment. He who does evil hateth the light because his deeds will be reproved (disclosed discovered) and he will be condemned. The condemnation of evildoers will take place at the same time as the manifestation and salvation of those who do truth.
When Jesus healed one who was blind from his birth. He made known to him that he was the Son of God and that His mission was both to make the blind to see and the seeing blind some of the Pharisees who overheard His words asked Him Are we blind also? The Lord;s reply once again revealed the true basis of responsibility. If ye were blind we should have no sin but now ye say we see therefore your sin remaineth’ (Jo. 9:40-41). Later, in peaking to His apostles about the Jews who refused to accept His claims, Jesus declared, “If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloak for their sin” (Jo. 15:22).
“The word that I have Spoken”
The Lord’s remarks as found in the 12th chapter of John, reveal the certainty of the judgment of those who reject His teachings: “And if any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, hut to save the world. He that rejecteth me. aad receiveth not my words hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day. For I hvse not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak. And know that his commandment is life everlasting: whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the Father said unto me, so speak” (V47-50). The supposed conflict between verses 47 and 48 concerning the Lord’s judging of those who “believe not” (or reject—it carries the same idea) is dispelled by remembering that it was not the purpose of His first advent to judge (see Jo. 3:17). The fine distinction between the nature of His two advents was maintained by Jesus in a synagogue in Nazareth. When reading from the scroll of Isaiah, the Lord stopped in the middle of verse 2 of chapter 61, because what followed belonged to His second coming (Luke 4:16-19). Jesus will indeed judge His people, as He stated in John 5:22 (see also Acts 17:31). What He was saying in the 12th chapter was that He would not immediately judge them. This would await the “last day” when “the word that I have spoken will judge him.” That is, they would be judged on the basis of the words or message He was then speaking.
Christ was and is the prophet which God had declared he would raise up, like unto Moses, who would speak only those words which were given him of the Father. “I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth: and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command. And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I require it of him”
(Deut. 18:18-19). Jesus must surely base had this prophecy in mind when addressing the chief rulers and Pharisees in John His insistence that He had not spoken of Himself, but had rather related only those words and thoughts given Him by His Father, made the judgment of those who heard Him certain. It will be remembered that His remarks were addressed to the chief rulers, who, whole believing Him, refused to become His disciples for fear of the Pharisees, and because “they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God” (Jo. 12:42-43).
The “last day” in which their judgment is to take place, refers to the time of the and when the resurrection will take place (see Jo. 6:38-40, 11:24) To suppose that it required the personal presence of Jesus and the audible word to make our resurrectionally responsible is fallacious. If His words, recorded in the Scriptures, not only in the Gospels, but also in the epistles written under the influence of the Holy Spirit, are incapable or making our responsible to His judgment seat, neither can they sufficiently enlighten one for salvation!
“The Saviour of Death unto Death”
We base an example of the foregoing in the Acts of the Apostles, chapter 3, on the occasion when Peter healed the lame man at the gate of the temple. When the Jews witnessed this miracle, “they were filled with wonder and amazement.” Peter grasped the opportunity to speak of Jesus, through whose power the healing had been effected. After relating the Jews denial. of “the holy One, and the lust” and their subsequent killing of “the Prince of life,” the apostle told them that he knew “that through ignorance ye did it, as did also your rulers” (V10-17). Peter then made known to them the opportunity they now had of repenting that they might find forgiveness for their sins: “Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you” (V19-20). To reinforce his reference to the coming Messiah and the judgment which would follow, Peter quotes the prophecy found in Deut. 18:15,19; “For Moses truly said unto the fathers, a prophet shall the Lord our God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you. And it shall come to pass, that ever) soul which shall not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people” (V22-23). Here, then, is a compelling example of the principle of resurrectional responsibility in action. Should these Jews, who, through ignorance, had crucified the Lord, and who, now, at the preaching of Peter still refused to repent, they would be “destroyed from among the people,” when the “times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord.”
The words spoken by Jesus, which had their origin in God, were just as capable of bringing men and women to an understanding of the gospel when administered by the apostles and those who learned the truth through their written account. The Word today, is the only communication from God we have in our possession. Its powerful message of hope is not only “the savor of his knowledge” to those who arc to be saved, but, as Paul declares, For we are unto God a sweet savor of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish: To the one we are the of death unto death: and to the other the savor of life unto life” (2 Cor. 2:15-16).
“For as Many have Sinned without Law”
Paul’s remarks in the 2nd chapter of Romans concerning those who refuse to be led to repentance clearly show that enlightenment of the Truth will indeed bring one to accountability before Christ. Tho those who felt that they would “escape the judgment of God,” the apostle writes, “Or despiseth thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and long-suffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leaded, thee to repentance? But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God; Who will render to every man according to his deeds: To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life: But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile . . In the day when God ‘hall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel” (V 4-9, 16). Since they have refused to be led to repentance (expressed in baptism), they 11.1)e ‘sinned without law” (i.e. outside of Christ), and their doom is to “perish.” Those who have “sinned in the law” (in Christ) shall be judged, with the hope of eternal life, glory and honor: both groups in the day of Christ.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One