The Revelation of Jesus Christ - The Herald

the Man Christ Jesus, the expositions of this vision offered by many of the commentators
are entirely unreasonable and inadequate, and come far short of the Scriptural ideal. These
explanations ignore entirely the plain Scripture statements that Christ's sacrifice secured
for all a release from Adamic condemnation. The great masses of mankind, who have
never even heard of Christ, have according to these expositors no part or benefit in His
sacrifice. One of these commentators has thus explained the vision:
"The earth and heaven are here said to flee from the face of the Judge; the locality,
therefore, appears to be some point in space apart from our globe. . . . All subjects of this
judgment are raised from the dead for this purpose. . . . The sea, death, hades, deliver up
their dead, thus defining the fact of the body, though mortal and corrupt, having in it the
seed of the resurrection body, and the spirit, though separate for a time, re-united to the
body of shame and death."
Referring to the "books" that were opened, this writer says:
"A special carefulness is manifest in this scrutiny, the most solemn and awful ever
witnessed in the universe. . . . Such painstaking accuracy can never be questioned
throughout eternity. Never will there be found a mistake in the books of God. The
sentence marks this as a distinct and final judgment. There is no arraignment and no
pleading. It is in fact an ex-ecution of the sentence before declared [at death] but now
made public in presence of the whole universe. The confessions of the guilty by their
speechlessness when confronted with all their misdeeds--not one forgotten--will be the
most eloquent though silent vindication of the purity and holiness and eternal justice of
God."
The punishment administered is stated to be to suffer the vengeance of eternal fire, which
the writer explains to be eternal torment. He further goes on to say that the reason for this
is because they were not among those who were foreordained to be saved from before the
foundation of the world. His words to this effect are: "The book of life containing the
names of all given in covenant before the foundation of the world, and therefore called the
'Lamb's book of life,' is searched for the name of every one condemned by his works, to see
if by any possibility that account can be found." He adds that none were found.
What a vast difference between this expositor's view and the Scriptural hope held out for
all the dead, whose redemption has been arranged for in the death of the Son of God. Yet
the interpretation presented foregoing is a sample of nearly all who have attempted to
expound this vision. It is a most remarkable illustration of the effects that Satan's lie, "Thou
shalt not surely die," has had upon the reasoning faculties of the human mind! A search
through all the writings of commentators for twelve centuries will discover none that is
wholly reasonable and Scriptural. Some from whom we have quoted in these expositions
have evidently seen the unreasonableness of their conclusions, and not understanding
clearly the Plan of the Ages, they have been compelled to remain silent, making no attempt
at an interpretation.