Today, we discuss the fact that there are two phases of the pre-Advent judgment, as both inspiration and reason attest to. The two phases are the judgment of the dead and the judgment of the living. Obviously, if when Christ returns his reward is with Him, to give every man according to his work (Revelation 22:12), the living necessarily have been judged by the time He comes. Ellen White also attests to this fact.

It is clear that at some point, the judgment of the cases of the dead would be "all caught up" so to speak, and then the only ones left to judge would be the cases of those living. Obviously if probation closes when there are still people alive on the earth, then there is a point prior to the close of probation when the cases of the living are being judged.

Now, it is clear from Ellen's statements that although she was shown that at some point the judgment of the living would commence, she was not shown *when* it would. And considering that when the judgment of the dead commenced, God informed his people who were alive on earth at the time about this fact even though their own cases weren't under review and even though those who were being judged couldn't do anything about it since they had already died, wouldn't it be unreasonable if, at the commencement of the judgment of the living, God leaves the living uninformed? After all, their own cases will be under examination and they will be alive to actually make choices that could affect their eternal destiny and could thus benefit from knowing about their own judgment. This is not to diminish the importance of the message of the judgment of the dead, but it is just to show by reason how important the message concerning the judgment of the living is to those being judged while living.

We also discuss the parallels between Daniel 7 and Revelation 4-22, showing that both are a vision of the investigative judgment. We get into the statements by Ellen White that reveal the content of the scroll sealed with seven seals, and the symbolic key that unlocks the meaning of the first horse and rider of Revelation 6.

We believe the messages for the judgment of the living has already come. We invite you to investigate this claim for yourselves using the links provided. See:

"Do You Know About the Judgment of the Living?" https://youtu.be/ZHfjOCjnMm0

"To the Seven Churches, the Breaking of the Seven Seals," by Victor Houteff: https://www.bdsda.com/to-the-seven-churches/?highlight=to%20the%20seven%20churches

"What is the Spirit of Prophecy? SDA Edition," by Trent Wilde: http://www.bdsda.com/what-is-the-spirit-of-prophecy-sda-edition-2/

"The Idea of Present Truth," by Trent Wilde: https://youtu.be/Kone4bDjUOg

Sabbath School Q4 2022: On Death, Dying, and the Future Hope - Week 13, "The Judging Process"

A Branch Davidian Seventh-Day Adventist perspective on the Sabbath School lesson.

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Email us at bdsdalit@gmail.com for comments and literature requests.

We are going to see in this study that the term "spirit" and its variants: "spiritual," "spiritualistic," "spiritualism," and "spiritualize," have multiple different uses. And this is of course not peculiar to the word "spirit," it's just the way that all words work. People use words in different ways and understanding an author's meaning is not always as simple as we might imagine. This is especially the case when dealing with a word with a long history and we're considering it's use in writings from different times. And what complicates things even more with the word "spirit" is that when we read it in the bible, it is actually a stand-in for a Hebrew, Aramaic, or Greek word, and each of these words has its own range of meanings that isn't exactly the same as the range of meanings for the English word "spirit" nor are they the same as each other.

When you see the word "spirit" in the New Testament, it's usually a translation of the Greek word "pneuma" and when you see it in the Old Testament, it's a translation of the Hebrew word "ruach." Spiritus, pneuma, and ruach, all originally referred to breath and wind. But this similarity in basic meaning shouldn't be confused for an equivalence of meaning in every respect. Words often acquire new meanings through metaphorical uses, and different cultures use different metaphors. So in Hebrew, one metaphorical usage of ruach had to do with life, while in Greek, a metaphorical usage of pneuma had to do with the mind. As we discus, the word "spirit" is sometimes used to mean "non-physical" or "immaterial," although this usage came about around the 14th century - way after the time of Jesus and the writings of the Apostles.

We also take a look at the different ways the SDA pioneers used the word "spirit" and its variants, making special note that when they used the words "spiritualism" and "spiritualistic." to our knowledge, the early SDAs always used the word "spiritualism" to mean "immaterialism." And a "spiritualistic" idea to them was the same thing as an "immaterialistic" idea. They always used these terms to describe something they rejected.

This will hopefully be a great help, not only when it comes to understanding the biblical authors, but when it comes to understanding the writings of Ellen White and the early SDAs as well. Misunderstanding an author's writings, especially an inspired author's writings, can result in huge amounts of harm, as the history of the dark ages more than demonstrates. So, let's be careful and be attentive readers.

For further study, see:

"Materialism: Our Forgotten Foundation," by Trent Wilde -

http://www.bdsda.com/materialism-our-forgotten-foundation-2/

Sabbath School Q4 2022: On Death, Dying, and the Future Hope - Week 14, "A New Heaven and a New Earth"

A Branch Davidian Seventh-Day Adventist perspective on the Sabbath School lesson.

www.bdsda.com

Email us at bdsdalit@gmail.com for comments and literature requests.

Ellen White took note of the places in scripture that parallel the church with the bride of Christ, but she also expounded upon scriptures where the church obviously isn't the bride of Christ, but is instead depicted as the wedding guests.

We know from Revelation 21 that the bride, the Lamb's wife, is the New Jerusalem. And as Ellen White said that "in the Revelation all the books of the Bible meet and end," (AA 585) we look to find more information about this city elsewhere in Scripture. And what we find reveals the person whom this Holy City represents, and the identity of the children born by her.

For deeper study:

Holy Spirit Feminine Playlist https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLw8ykUZG-bwcHF7R6NS1bBT2DOeldsWAP

Sabbath School Q1 2023: Managing for the Master - Week 1, "Part of God's Family"

A Branch Davidian Seventh-Day Adventist perspective on the Sabbath School lesson.

www.bdsda.com

Email us at bdsdalit@gmail.com for comments and literature requests.