The Verdict Is In

Daniel 7:21–22 NKJV

21 “I was watching; and the same horn was making war against the saints, and prevailing against them, 22 until the Ancient of Days came, and a judgment was made in favor of the saints of the Most High, and the time came for the saints to possess the kingdom.

The latest Supreme Court verdicts leave all sides of the widening political chasm simultaneously shocked and stoked. Take for instance, this most recent verdict. Dated July 10, 2020 the headlines read, US Supreme Court rules half of Oklahoma is Native American land (https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-53358330). In a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court ruled that nearly half of Oklahoma including Tulsa, it’s second largest city, is legally and perpetually tribal reservation. The practical implication of this ruling is the promise made to First Nation Peoples during the Trail of Tears move to Oklahoma has been enforced. Now, tribal members living within the nearly three million acres will be exempt from state taxes and that only offenses rising to the level of federal offenses would be brought against them, at least by the US federal government. In fact, there are indications that of the little over 1800 First Nation tribal members imprisoned within the territory on state offenses, fewer than 10% could be re-prosecuted under Federal statutes. Who knew that a verdict could have such seismic impact on a nation?

It’s important to understand the concept of judgment because though we live in the time of God’s judgment and we are tasked with proclaiming the Good News about the judgment, we have flattened the concept of judgment so much that it’s hard to find anything worth celebrating about the judgment. Judgment, like so many other concepts critical to our faith, has been flatten, reduced, caracaturized, bowdlerized, and domesticated to the point where it’s hard to find the Gospel anywhere in how we teach and preach the judgment. Every time we emphasize the judgment as condemnation for the guilty and forget that the judgment is more focused on defending the rights of the vulnerable, we chip away at the good news about the judgment. Every time we picture biblical judges as stoic, unbiased lawyers rather than passionate, advocates and defenders for a cause, we diminish the good news about the judgment.

What can we do to give dimensions to this all important and relevant topic? I am motivated today to rescue the concept of judgment from those who would obscure and rob it of its Gospel foundations. Why? Firstly, because the very existence of our faith as Seventh-day Adventists is to preach a judgment hour message and secondly because we ourselves need preparation to stand under the unwavering scrutiny of divine judgment. And if that wasn’t a tall enough order, we are all called to do this within the prism of a Gospel so everlasting that not even the horrors of God’s wrath exhausts His grace.

True, the personal dimensions of the judgment have occupied our minds since early. We know the terror that comes from know God has all our deeds written in His book, every secret thing, every idle word and that all this will come up in the judgment. But even this terror is a safe-guard that spurs us towards personal integrity, knowing that our works will be scrutinized with the utmost faithfulness. Some of us may even know that something about the judgment finally rehabilitates the God’s reputation throughout the universe. We know that in the judgment, God is declared just and the justifier, that His ways are beyond good and that all His commandments are perfect. This helps us to see behind the dark clouds of human calamity the silver lining of divine providence and to know that even in our worst situations, God works all things for our good. These two aspects - personal and divine - are amply present within our theology. And yet it is the third aspect of judgment that is so often missing in our preaching that our text seems to address today.

Our texts talks about the liberating aspects of judgment - Judgment is so revolutionary that in one declaration, ownership of the Kingdoms of this world can switch instantaneously from the dominion of the horn to the dominion of the Lamb. Who knew that a verdict could have such seismic impact on a nation? Listen to what the text says again, and you will notice its focus - the verdict means victory for the saints and that’s Good News. Can you see it? This scene is so important that it is repeated five (5) times in Daniel 7, each set in the same place but a different player introduced. Daniel 7:9-10 the Ancient of Days, Chief Presiding Justice is ushered into the heavenly courts, with His innumerable entourage. Daniel 7:11-12 introduces the Horn as the persecuting power claiming dominion over all God’s people. Daniel 7:13-14 our prosecutor arrives and approaches the bench to go over the rules of the proceedings. Daniel 7:21-22 The Holy People show up to hear the verdict. Daniel 7:25-27 lays down what exactly were written in those books - the discovery process - that ultimately influences the final verdict. It shows more than anywhere else that it is not simply the deeds of men that will be judged; neither is it the character of God that has come under question. The genius of what Daniel 7:25-27 teaches us is that what is reviewed in judgment concerning this Horn is its pride, its persecution, and its policies. And it is here that we begin to see how truly revolutionary judgment can be IF by the power of a Divine verdict beastly pride is humbled, beastly persecutions are stayed, and beastly policies are frustrated. How could we ever have missed it?