Chapter Nine

THE DAY OF JUDGMENT

...AS IT IS APPOINTED UNTO MEN ONCE TO DIE
BUT AFTER THIS THE JUDGMENT
Hebrews 9:2

EDITORS NOTE - August, 2019

In 2002 I placed the following note on this chapter:

NOTE: The form in which this chapter currently exists was originally completed in the fall of 1999, and has since undergone many revisions. Even so, I am painfully aware that it still falls very short of doing justice to this most important topic of the coming judgment for mankind. I hope to, in the not so distant future post a much more detailed and clear discussion of this subject. There are also points for which my current understanding is much clearer than it was when this was originally written. I ask the reader to keep this in mind. Even so the main points and outline remain unchanged. May God bless all in your search for truth. -DJH

The promised revision was started but never finished or published.

The theme of this chapter was to prove that, 'The Day of Judgment" was not a single day, but an age; and that judgment entailed much more than the pronouncement of a guilty sentence upon the wicked. Rather, the Day of Judgment is to be the age in which all of the dead will hear the truth of the gospel and be instructed in righteousness.

These are all points that I still affirm to be true.

However, while researching and writing the revised version of this chapter, I began to question one of its major premises; namely, that the 1000-year reign of Christ (the millennium) IS the "Day of Judgment" spoken of in scripture.

Premillennialism was something that had been left over from my Baptist background and I had never questioned it. I began to waver on this position during the course of my writing, and found that this tension is not easily resolved. In fact it remains to this day.

Most who believe, as I do, and as expressed in this chapter, in a coming earthly kingdom in which Christ will reign associate this coming time period with the millennium of Revelation 20.

CONTENTS

IMPORTANT PREFACE - 2019

DEDICATION - TO MY FATHER

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER ONE - WHAT IS MAN?

CHAPTER TWO - THE LIVING SOUL

CHAPTER THREE - THE SPIRIT WITHIN MAN

CHAPTER FOUR - IS THE SOUL IMMORTAL?

CHAPTER FIVE - LIFE, DEATH AND RESURRECTION IN THE
PAULINE EPISTLES

CHAPTER SIX - A WEEKEND IN HELL OR IN THE TOMB?

CHAPTER SEVEN - HELLFIRE AND DAMNATION

CHAPTER EIGHT - THE WRATH TO COME

CHAPTER NINE - THE DAY OF JUDGMENT

APPENDIX

I strongly argue here for a literal 1000-year reign of Christ following his return, and associate that 1000-year period with the coming 'Day of Judgment'. However, some time later I came to question whether this association was correct. I began to drift towards the amillennial position based upon thee following reasoning.

A careful comparison of Revelation 19 and 20, with Ezekiel 38 and 39, and the description of the wars that end the periods described in those passages (the 'Gog and Magog' war) strongly implies that these passages are all describing the same event. The logic runs as follows:

Ezekiel 38 and 39 are describing wars that take place at the end of this current age.
Ezekiel 38 and 39 describe an outcome (a great feast upon dead bodies [Ezek 39:17-19]) equivalent to the Battle of Armageddon described in Revelation 19 (Rev 19:17-18)
Ezekiel 39 and 39 are describing the 'Gog and Magog' war. (Ezek 38:1, 39:1)
Therefore the 'Gog and Magog' war is the Battle of Armageddon
Revelation 20, the Millennium, ends with the 'Gog and Magog' war. (Rev 20:7-10)
Therefore the Millennium ends with the Battle of Armageddon.
Therefore the Millennium does not follow this current age, but is part of it.

While this logical deduction does not amount to proof, it seemed to be strong evidence that premillennialism should not be assumed. In fact, this argument stands unless one of its premises can be shown to be false. In fact, I felt that this evidence was so compelling that I updated my prophetic chart The Sure Word of Prophecy to reflect this view - a view that remains on the chart to this day.

However, a strange thing happened. After many years, and while reviewing this material for this new format, I re-examined the evidence for the premillennial position that I presented all those years ago

Adam and Eve in Eden