THE truth about the judgments has been obscured to the confusion of those who have failed to rightly divide the Word. The Word of God classifies the judgments so that perplexity, uncertainty, and doubt need no longer annoy the mind of God's child. The Word of God deals with six kinds of judgments:

1. There are seven Dispensational Judgments.

2. There is one National Judgment.

3. There are five Individual Judgments.

4. There are two Judgments of the Spirit Beings.

5. There are two Earth Judgments.

6. There is one Universal Judgment.

If the passages concerning these judgments are mixed, the most inconsistent and absurd teaching may be adduced. It is an unfortunate fact that in most of the Bible teaching of today passages relating to the Individual Judgments are confused with the passages concerning Dispensational Judgments, with the result that violent contradictions are produced. Young men just entering into the truth of God's Word, having minds that are quick and alert, readily detect these inconsistencies. They naturally assume that their teachers know their business. The effect upon their minds is almost inevitable. Their confidence in the inerrancy of the Word is undermined and their faith soon wrecked. Bible teaching which ignores the Right Division Principle does not commend itself to men who think nor to men of faith.

THE DISPENSATIONAL JUDGMENTS

THE Dispensational Judgments are so familiar that they do not call for a lengthy exposition. They are:

1. The Expulsion of the Race from the Garden.

2. The Flood of Waters.

3. The Confusion of Tongues.

4. The Dispersion of Israel.

5. The Confusion of Religions.

6. The Flood of Blood.

7. The Expulsion of the Unbelieving of the Race from the Earth.

These are the terrific judgments with which God marks the ends of the dispensations. It is the 'first dispensation, the Dispensation of Innocence, which is terminated by the Expulsion the mandate of God under which the original man is cast forth from the Garden of Eden. (Gen. 3:23)

The Dispensation of Conscience starts man with a clean page and the knowledge of good and evil. Within a millennium and a half the appalling fact is recorded that man was only evil continually, and God terminates the second dispensation by the Flood of Waters. (Gen. 6:5; Gen. 7 and 8)

The third principle, or dispensation, under which God tests man, is Human Authority. Within a very few hundred years man's perfidy and sin is revealed and God places His hand of judgment upon man in the Confusion of Tongues. (Gen. 11:7)

The fourth dispensation is a national dispensation. In it God chooses a family which He develops into the Nation of Israel. This nation, His chosen people, are called upon to walk in His commandments, but they are a wretched failure. The judgment which manifests God's disapproval upon them is their dispersion brought about first, through the fall of Samaria, and then the fall of Jerusalem. (Ezek. 34:6; Jer. 50:7)

The fifth dispensation is the dispensation of the Body of Christ. This is the dispensation in which we of today live, and is called by the Apostle Paul "The dispensation of grace." The appalling judgment which is prophesied as marking the latter end of this dispensation is the great apostasy, or the Confusion of Religions, This judgment is stalking in our midst at the present hour. (I Tim. 4:1-4; II Tim. 3:1-7; II Tim. 4:3-4)

The sixth dispensation is spoken of by our Saviour and specially named the Great Tribulation. The judgment which terminates this dispensation is the Flood of Blood which occurs in connection with the second coming of our Lord in the destruction of Antichrist's hosts. (Rev. 14:14-20)

The seventh and last dispensation, is the Millennium — the personal reign of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, upon the earth — the Kingdom. This dispensation shall be, indeed, the reign of peace. But man shall yield unto the Saviour Who sits upon the Throne of David, in many instances, only feigned allegiance, so that the reappearance of the devil at the end of the thousand years shall be but the signal for a general rebellion, and an army like the sands of the sea shall be formed. God's judgment upon the wickedness of man at the end of this age is the Expulsion of the Unbelieving of the Entire Race from the Earth. (Rev. 20:7-9; Rev. 21 :8)

That these dispensational judgments should be carefully distinguished from the other judgments which the Scripture records, should go without saying, but alas, many men follow an unbridled freedom in utterly disregarding the definite teaching of God's Word to "rightly divide the word of truth."

THE NATIONAL JUDGMENT

THERE is but one judgment which falls under the next classification. We have called it the National Judgment. It is a judgment which does not take place at the terminus of a dispensation but which occurs at the beginning of a dispensation—the beginning of the Kingdom. This judgment is a great assize in which our Lord Jesus decides which nations may participate in the Kingdom and which are excluded from the Kingdom, His decision being based upon the dealing of the nations with Israel. The full description of this remarkable judgment occurs in Matt. 25:31-46. A recognition of the national character of this judgment is the solution of the many questions which have been raised concerning this passage. The proof of the national character is to be found in the symbols employed by the Holy Spirit,—"sheep" standing for Israel, and "goats" standing for the Gentile nations.

THE INDIVIDUAL JUDGMENTS

THE Individual Judgments make up the third group in the study of this subject as set forth in the Word of God, These judgments are of various characters, involving different beings and occuring at different times. They have one characteristic in common. They are all judgments on the ground of works. They are as follows:

1. The Judgment Seat of Christ.

2. The Judgment of the Believing Dead of the Non-Church Ages.

3. The Judgment at the Great White Throne.

4. The Judgment of the Believer by Chastening.

5. The Judgment of Self by the Believer.

The judgment Seat of Christ occurs at the end of the Dispensation of the Body. It is there that our Lord Jesus gives out the rewards for service. (I Cor. 3:11-15; II Cor. 5:10)

The Judgment of the Believing Dead of the Non-Church Ages occurs at the end of the Great Tribulation and is also a judgment in which rewards on the basis of works are given forth. (Rev. 20:4; Dan. 12:i-2)

The Judgment at the Great White Throne is a judgment in which only unbelievers come before the tribunal. It occurs at the end of the Kingdom age. It, also, is a works judgment. It differs from the judgments of the believing dead in that in the former judgments God has designated the heavenly degrees which have been attained by His people; whereas, in the latter, He is consigning those who have rejected the Lord Jesus to that degree in hell which their works merit. The Bible teaches degrees in both heaven and hell. (Rev. 20:11)

The Judgment of the Believer by Chastening is a judgment in which our Lord is as much the Judge as in the Judgment Seat of Christ, or the Judgment of the Believing Dead of the Non-Church Ages, or the Judgment at the Great White Throne. But in the Judgment of the Believer by Chastening, the Lord does not wait for a dispensational climax in which to manifest Himself. Instead He enters into the very events of the present hour in the believer's life, and in His love, brings to pass those testings, chastenings, and disappointments which He knows will bring His child to a closer walk with Him, increase patience, augment tenderness, and produce unselfishness and sympathy in the heart that has been self-centered, and utterly destitute of the finer sensibilities and appreciations. (I Cor. 11:32; Gen. 12:5-11)

The Judgment of Self by the Believer, like the four preceding Individual Judgments, is a judgment of works, but differs from the others in this, — the judge is the believer himself instead of the Lord. God calls every child of His to rightly estimate himself, to see his own sins and shortcomings, and as Paul puts it, judge himself that he might not be condemned with the world. (I Cor. 11:31; I Jno. 1:9)

What a pity that there is so little adequate recognition of the distinction existing between the works judgments of the Scripture! It takes but little study to reveal what hopeless confusion would be produced by applying any of these passages to the wrong judgment. God Himself has warned us of the danger in commanding us to "rightly divide the word of truth."

THE JUDGMENT OF THE SPIRIT BEINGS

THERE are two of these Judgments indicated in the Scripture and the details concerning them are exceedingly meager. One is the judgment of the angels mentioned in I Cor. 6:1-3, and the other is the judgment of the demons implied in Matt. 8:29.

THE EARTH JUDGMENTS

THE Earth Judgments occur at the beginning and ending of the history of man as connected with the dispensations. In the first verse of Genesis we find the earth after having been created perfect, plunged by God completely out of sight in the waters. This is the first of the Earth Judgments. The second shall occur at the end of the Kingdom and the instrument employed by God shall be fire. Both of these judgments are set before us in II Pet. 3:5-7.

THE UNIVERSAL JUDGMENT

ONLY one judgment occurs under the last classification. The Universal Judgment is the Grace Judgment which God hath wrought at Calvary. This judgment is a vicarious judgment in which He gathered together all of the sins of the world and caused them to light upon the innocent head of His only Son, and then the judgment fell! Judgment upon the Innocent! Judgment upon the Guiltless! A judgment in which He cries out, "All of Thy waves and Thy billows have passed over Me!" A Judgment so terrible that Jesus finds Himself hanging upon Calvary forsaken by the Father. Alas, alas, how few have entered into the mystery, the joy, and the blessings of this sacred judgment. Man's rebellious heart to the present hour opposes faith in this judgment. There is scarcely a text book on Modernism but that somewhere within its pages a disparaging thing will be said concerning the actuality and efficacy of this — the climacteric judgment of the ages. Have you, dear reader, placed faith in this judgment which God hath wrought in the person of His Son in order that you might live with Him forever? We call this the Universal Judgment because at Calvary we find Jesus "tasting death for every man." (I Pet. 3:18; Heb. 2:9)

(Copyright 1923, Clifton L. Fowler)