The recent impeachment drama in the United States Senate, now concluded, focused to a great degree on the question of documents and witnesses. In every trial, of course, documents and witnesses—or the lack thereof—play a pivotal role. But none so much as in the eschatological judgment depicted and foretold in the inspired writings.
God on Trial
Echoing the words of the penitent David following his sin with Bathsheba (Psalm 51:4), the apostle Paul writes:
God forbid; yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That Thou mightest be justified in Thy sayings, and mightest overcome when Thou art judged (Rom. 3:4).
The first angel’s message declares: “Fear God, and give glory to Him, for the hour of His judgment is come” (Rev. 14:7). Not only are the people of God being judged, but in their judgment, God Himself is on trial.
The Bible is clear that God’s glory is His character (Ex. 33:18-19; 34:6-7; Rom. 3:23), and that His glory is destined to be revealed before all the world (Num. 14:21; Isa. 40:5). Equally clear in both Old and New Testaments is the fact that this glory will be revealed through God’s people (Isa. 60:1-3; Eph. 3:21; Phil. 1:11; Col. 1:26-27; Rev. 10:7; 14:7). The Bible even says this was the reason mankind was created in the first place:
I will say to the north, Give up; and to the south, Keep not back; bring my sons from afar, and my daughters from the ends of the earth;
Even every one that is called by My name; for I have created him for My glory (Isa. 43:6-7).
No wonder Ellen White declares, speaking of humanity’s divinely-charted destiny:
We were brought into existence because we were needed. How sad the thought that if we stand on the wrong side, in the ranks of the enemy, we are lost to the design of our Creator [1].
The following passage is even more amazing:
All heaven is represented to me as watching the unfolding of events. A crisis is to be revealed in the great and prolonged controversy in the government of God on earth. Something great and decisive is to take place, and that right early. If any delay, the character of God and His throne will be compromised [2]
According to the writings of Ellen White, God is on trial before the universe because of Satan’s accusation that the divine law cannot be kept:
In the opening of the great controversy Satan had declared that the law of God could not be obeyed [3].
On this earth, Satan sought to carry forward the work he began in heaven. He declared that man could not obey the law of God [4].
After the fall of Adam, Satan insisted his argument had been won:
Satan had pointed to Adam’s sin as proof that God’s law was unjust, and could not be obeyed [5].
After the fall of man, Satan declared that human beings were proved to be incapable of keeping the law of God, and he sought to carry the universe with him in this belief. [6].
Contrary to what some believe, Ellen White is clear that Satan’s accusation regarding the law of God didn’t concern unfallen beings only, but fallen beings as well. The following statement is one of the clearest on this point:
Satan declared that it was impossible for the sons and daughters of Adam to keep the law of God, and thus charged upon God a lack of wisdom and love. If they could not keep the law, then there was fault with the Lawgiver. Men who are under the control of Satan, repeat these accusations against God, in asserting that men cannot keep the law of God [7].
Ellen White notes how, in the period after the Fall and before the Flood, Satan was still advancing this claim:
The holy life of Abel testified against Satan’s claim that it was impossible for man to keep God’s law [8].
Satan was urging upon men the belief that there was no reward for the righteous or punishment for the wicked, and that it was impossible for men to obey the divine statutes [9].
And now (through Enoch) God would demonstrate to the universe the falsity of Satan’s charge that man cannot keep God’s law. He would demonstrate that though man had sinned, he could so relate himself to God that he would have the mind and spirit of God and would be a representative symbol of Christ. This holy man (Enoch) was selected of God to denounce the wickedness of the world, and to evidence to the world that it is possible for man to keep all the law of God [10].
In the time of Jesus this was still the issue, as Ellen White explains this was the principal motivation for Satan entangling the Pharisees with man-made addendums to God’s commandments:
Thus Satan worked to discourage the people, to lower their conception of the character of God, and to bring the faith of Israel into contempt. He hoped to establish the claim put forth when he rebelled in heaven—that the requirements of God were unjust, and could not be obeyed [11].
In other statements she is clear that Satan’s accusation regarding God’s commandments continues to this day, and that we as His people—even in our fallen state—are obligated through heaven’s power to be God’s witnesses against this false charge:
Satan represents God’s law of love as a law of selfishness. He declares that it is impossible for us to obey its precepts. . . . His life testifies that it is possible for us to obey the law of God [12].
Satan declared that it is impossible for man to obey God’s commandments, and in our own strength it is true that we cannot obey them. But Christ came in the form of humanity, and by His perfect obedience He proved that humanity and divinity combined can obey every one of God’s precepts [13].
Christ came to the world to counteract Satan’s falsehood that God had made a law which men could not keep. Taking humanity upon Himself, He came to this earth, and by a life of obedience showed that God has not made a law that man cannot keep. He showed that it is possible for man perfectly to obey the law [14].
Those who live the life of a Christian are battling against the devil’s lie that man cannot keep God’s law [15].
Those who disobey the divine law, by contrast, are witnesses for Satan against God:
All who break God’s commandments are sustaining Satan’s claim that the law is unjust, and cannot be obeyed [16].
Exact obedience is required, and those who say that it is not possible to live a perfect life, throw upon God the imputation of injustice and untruth [17].
Therefore he (Satan) is constantly seeking to deceive the followers of Christ with his fatal sophistry that it is impossible for them to overcome [18].
Documents
The Bible also speaks about the documents that will be used, and are being used, in the proceedings that will acquit the God of heaven in the person of His human subjects. Moses is the first one in Scripture to make reference to these documents, when he entreated God on behalf of wayward Israel:
Yet now, if Thou wilt forgive their sin—; and if not, blot me, I pray Thee, out of Thy book which Thou hast written.
And the Lord said unto Moses, Whosoever hath sinned against Me, him will I blot out of My book (Ex. 32:32-33).
It is in this book, called elsewhere in Scripture the book of life (Phil. 4:3; Rev. 3:5; 13:8; 20:12,15; 21:27; 22:19). where the names of those finally saved are to be found written when they experience ultimate deliverance at the close of time:
And at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book (Dan. 12:1).
Earlier in the book of Daniel, as the investigative judgment opens, the ancient prophet witnessed the opening of more than one book as the heavenly proceedings commenced:
I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of Days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of His head like the pure wool; His throne was like the fiery flame, and His wheels as 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 (Dan. 7:9-10).
In the book of Malachi, another book—designed to record the deeds of the righteous for disclosure in the final judgment—is brought to view:
Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another: and the Lord hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before Him for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon His name.
And they shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up My jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him.
Then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth Him not (Mal. 3:16-18).
The final, executive act of these proceedings, when the ultimate separation of the righteous from the wicked at last takes place, is depicted in the book of Revelation. Once again, heavenly documents are produced and consulted:
And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. . . .
And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire (Rev. 20:12,15).
The book of Revelation is clear as to the conditions for being retained in God’s book of life:
He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment, and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess His name before My Father, and before His angels (Rev. 3:5).
Ellen White makes the following solemn pronouncement regarding the judgment process and the record found in heaven’s books:
As the books of record are opened in the judgment, the lives of all who have believed in Jesus come in review before God. Beginning with those who first lived upon the earth, our Advocate presents the cases of each successive generation, and closes with the living. Every name is mentioned, every case closely investigated. Names are accepted, names rejected. When any have sins remaining upon the books of record, unrepented of and unforgiven, their names will be blotted out of the book of life, and the record of their good deeds will be erased from the book of God’s remembrance [19].
Thank God for His pardoning and empowering grace, the only means whereby any of us can endure the scrutiny of the great heavenly tribunal.
Witnesses
Jesus, through His sinless life and sacrificial death, became the ultimate Witness to God’s justice and the fairness of His requirements, setting the template by which all overcomers thereafter would be able to do as He did:
By His life and His death, Christ proved that God’s justice did not destroy His mercy, but that sin could be forgiven, and that the law is righteous, and can be perfectly obeyed. Satan’s charges were refuted [20].
Satan declared that human beings could not keep the law. Christ proved this statement false [21].
Then why, some may ask, has the controversy continued? Why weren’t Satan and all his followers destroyed when Jesus’ earthly work was finished? Ellen White tells us:
Yet Satan was not then destroyed. The angels did not even then understand all that was involved in the great controversy. The principles at stake were to be more fully revealed. And for the sake of man, Satan’s existence must be continued. Man as well as angels must see the contrast between the Prince of light and the prince of darkness. He must choose whom he will serve [22].
The warfare against God’s law, which was begun in heaven, will be continued until the end of time. Every man will be tested. Obedience or disobedience is the question to be decided by the whole world. All will be called to choose between the law of God and the laws of men. Here the dividing line will be drawn. There will be but two classes. Every character will be fully developed, and all will show whether they have chosen the side of loyalty or that of rebellion.
Then the end will come. God will vindicate His law and deliver His people [23].
And the same author is clear that God will vindicate His law through the witness of His end-time saints:
If there was ever a people in need of constantly increasing light from heaven, it is the people of God that, in this time of peril, God has called to be the depositories of His holy law, and to vindicate His character before the world [24].
His heart of sympathy goes out to all earth's sufferers, and with every one who works for their relief, He co-operates. As with His blessing health returns, the character of God will be vindicated, and the lie thrown back upon Satan, its originator [25].
The very image of God is to be reproduced in humanity. The honor of God, the honor of Christ, is involved in the perfection of the character of His people [26].
The cold heart is to be quickened and glow with divine love. It is to beat in unison with the heart of the Redeemer. The honor of Christ must stand complete in the perfection of the character of His chosen people. He desires that they shall represent His character to the world [27].
New territory is to be added to God’s kingdom. New tracts of moral vineyard are to be cultivated as the garden of the Lord. The honor of the law of God is to be vindicated before the unfallen worlds, before the heavenly universe, and before the fallen world. The bitterest persecution will come, but when Zion arises, and puts on her beautiful garments, she will shine forth in the beauty of holiness [28].
Conclusion: Documents and Witnesses
We aren’t going to debate on this website the question of documents and witnesses in the recent U.S. Senate impeachment proceedings. But none need harbor the slightest doubt that meticulous records and the witness of words and deeds will determine the outcome of the great heavenly judgment now in progress.
In heaven’s judicial proceedings, God Himself is on trial. His love, His law, and His justice will be adjudicated through the practical witness of His end-time saints. The enemy’s charges against God’s character will be demolished; the cloak under which lies, injustice, and corruption of every hue seeks to hide will be torn asunder. Men and women may seem in this present life to escape the consequences of their actions. Like Asaph of old, today’s righteous often find themselves vexed by the prosperity of the wicked (Psalm 73:1-3). But ultimately, in God’s reckoning and good time, eternal justice will be done.
REFERENCES
1. Ellen G. White, Signs of the Times, April 22, 1903.
2. ----Manuscript 27, 1892.
3. ----The Desire of Ages, p. 761.
4. ----Signs of the Times, July 23, 1902.
5. ----The Desire of Ages, p. 117.
6. ----Selected Messages, vol. 1, p. 253.
7. ----Signs of the Times, Jan. 16, 1896.
8. ----Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 77.
9. Ibid, p. 88.
10. ----The Upward Look, p. 228.
11. ----The Desire of Ages, p. 29.
12. Ibid, p. 24.
13. ----Christ’s Object Lessons, p. 314.
14. ----That I May Know Him, p. 292.
15. ----Signs of the Times, July 10, 1901.
16. ----The Desire of Ages, p. 309.
17. ----Manuscript Releases, vol. 1, p. 369.
18. ----The Great Controversy, p. 489.
19. Ibid, p. 483.
20. ----The Desire of Ages, p. 762.
21. ----Review and Herald, Sept. 24, 1901.
22. ----The Desire of Ages, p. 761.
23. Ibid, p. 763.
24. ----Testimonies, vol. 5, p. 746.
25. ----Christian Educator, Oct. 1, 1898.
26. ----The Desire of Ages, p. 671.
27. ----Signs of the Times, Nov. 25, 1897.
28. ----Ye Shall Receive Power, p. 338.
Pastor Kevin Paulson holds a Bachelor’s degree in theology from Pacific Union College, a Master of Arts in systematic theology from Loma Linda University, and a Master of Divinity from the SDA Theological Seminary at Andrews University. He served the Greater New York Conference of Seventh-day Adventists for ten years as a Bible instructor, evangelist, and local pastor. He writes regularly for Liberty magazine and does script writing for various evangelistic ministries within the denomination. He continues to hold evangelistic and revival meetings throughout the North American Division and beyond, and is a sought-after seminar speaker relative to current issues in the Seventh-day Adventist Church. He presently resides in Berrien Springs, Michigan