28 . Facing Life ' s Record
" I beheld ," says the prophet Daniel , " till thrones were placed , and One that was Ancient of Days did sit : His raiment was white as snow , and the hair of His head like pure wool ; His throne was fiery flames , and the wheels thereof burning fire . A fiery stream issued and came forth from before Him : thousand thousands ministered unto Him , and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him : the judgment was set , and the books were opened ." Daniel 7:9 , 10 , R . V .
Thus was presented to the prophet ' s vision the great and solemn day when the characters and the lives of men should pass in review before the Judge of all the earth , and to every man should be rendered " according to his works ." The Ancient of Days is God the Father . Says the psalmist : " Before the mountains were brought forth , or ever Thou hadst formed the earth and the world , even from everlasting to everlasting , Thou art God ." Psalm 90:2 . It is He , the source of all being , and the fountain of all law , that is to preside in the judgment . And holy angels as ministers and witnesses , in number " ten thousand times ten thousand , and thousands of thousands ," attend this great tribunal .
" And , behold , one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven , and came to the Ancient of Days , and they brought Him near before Him . And there was given Him dominion , and glory , and a kingdom , that all people , nations , and languages , should serve Him : His dominion is an everlasting dominion , which shall not pass away ." Daniel 7:13 , 14 . The coming of Christ here described is not His second coming to the earth . He comes to the Ancient of Days in heaven to receive dominion and glory and a kingdom , which will be given Him at the close of His work as a mediator . It is this coming , and not His second advent to the earth , that was foretold in prophecy to take place at the termination of the 2300 days in 1844 . Attended by heavenly angels , our great High Priest enters the holy of holies and there appears in the presence of God to engage in the last acts of His ministration in behalf of man--to perform the work of investigative judgment and to make an atonement for all who are shown to be entitled to its benefits .
In the typical service only those who had come before God with confession and repentance , and whose sins , through the blood of the sin offering , were transferred to the sanctuary , had a part in the service of the Day of Atonement . So in the great day of final atonement and investigative judgment the only cases considered are those of the professed people of God . The judgment of the wicked is a distinct and separate work , and takes place at
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