WHY AN INVESTIGATIVE JUDGEMENT?

The primary question as to why there need be an Investigative Judgement has never been adequately dealt with by the SDA Church. For whose benefit is the Investigative Judgement?

If it doesn’t benefit anybody there would obviously be no need for it. We know that it is not for God’s benefit, because he is omniscient and has always known those who are his (2 Tim 2:19). It is certainly not for our benefit because God hasn’t kept us updated with its proceedings. The reason most commonly given nowadays is that the Investigative Judgement takes place to enlighten the rest of God’s creation, i.e. the heavenly intelligences.1 In the words of the SDA twenty-third fundamental belief: ‘The Investigative Judgement reveals to heavenly intelligences, who among the dead are asleep in Christ, and therefore, in him, are deemed worthy to have part in the first resurrection.’

If the Investigative Judgement informs only ‘heavenly intelligences’ elsewhere in the universe, we can’t help but wonder why it is so important to humans here on earth at the present time, that it has to be an article of faith. Furthermore, if it wasn’t necessary for Adventists to accept the Investigative Judgement as an article of faith before 1857—the date the doctrine was properly formulated—how essential could it be after that date? Besides, are members of the SDA Church expected to believe that the Investigative Judgement is for the benefit of the ‘heavenly intelligences’ just because some SDA Scholars and Administrators assert that it is so? What biblical evidence do these church leaders have to support such a claim?

In addition, if intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe, why would God keep them waiting until 1844 to see his name vindicated, or to discover who would be saved and who would be lost? As God never had anything to hide from them, they would have kept up with the play moment by moment throughout the history of the great controversy.

Inasmuch as our legal acquittal dates back to Jesus’ death in AD30, it becomes apparent that Seventh-day Adventists, in delaying the acquittal of believers until the Investigative Judgement, are robbing AD30 to pay 1844. This assumption is confirmed by the wording of the twenty-third fundamental belief, which states that the Investigative Judgement ‘is part of the ultimate disposition of all sin, typified by the cleansing of the ancient Hebrew Sanctuary on the Day of Atonement.’

Finally, in what way does a knowledge of the Investigative Judgement make Seventh-day Adventists better Christians? Because if it doesn’t make them better people, it is a distraction that they would be better off without. My thirty-three years of experience as a Pastor in the SDA Church revealed that the ambivalence surrounding this doctrine:

A. Created division in the Church;
B. Created a corresponding ambivalence in the faith of many ministers, that weakened their ministry and the Church’s outreach;
C. Became a substitute for the Gospel, by being the root of a false assurance among tens of thousands of Adventists who believe they are God’s special people because they, and they alone, have been entrusted with this unique ‘truth’ (see Gerhard Pfandl, The Sanctuary is Still Central p.7, and the twelfth fundamental belief, The Remnant and Its Mission);
D. Is a primary contributing factor to Adventist credalism (if you can’t find solid support in the Bible for a cherished belief, then make it secure by locking it into a creed;
E. It is a principal reason why the Church has given Ellen G. White doctrinal authority which conflicts with its ‘Bible and Bible alone’ teaching.
If it is true that ‘a tree is known by its fruits,’ we would have to conclude that the Investigative Judgement is a tree with noxious fruit that is poisoning the faith of thousands.

ENDNOTES:

See Seventh-day Adventists Believe: A Biblical Exposition of 27 Fundamental Doctrines, pp. 325-6; Norman R. Gulley, Focusing on Christ, not Ourselves, Ministry, October 1994, p.30, f.n.11; Clifford Goldstein, The Full and Final Display; Ministry, October 1994, p.43; Gerhard Pfandl, The Sanctuary is Still Central; Record, October 1, 1994, p.6; and Daniel, Sabbath School Bible Study Guide for last Quarter of 2004; Martin Weber, 1844—Why it Matters, Ministry, February, 1995, p.7); and Angel Manuel Rodriguez, The Sanctuary and its Cleansing p.15, insert in the Record, February 15, 1997.