Probably the most refreshing text in the Bible for me is John 3:17–21. Surely, these verses provide the clearest insight into how God deals with human beings. They are the words that I read first to a stumbling sinner who has given up hope.

Think about it! God does not condemn sinners! He came to save them, using all the wisdom and winsome power that a Creator God has as he speaks to everyone wherever born. He doesn’t want anyone to miss his offer of eternal life.

So, why bring up judgment talk? Because some will condemn themselves! How do they do that? By rejecting the light (however dim or bright) that the Holy Spirit beams into their neural receptors.

Most English translations miss the point of what John is saying. It is far more than "believing" or not "believing" something (the Greek word translated "believe" would be better translated "have faith.). Those who are condemned choose not to trust God, to have faith in his faithfulness. They reject Jesus at their Lord as well as Savior.

And it is more than a mental decision. Men and women reject Jesus as Lord because "their deeds are evil." Psychology precedes theology. Self assumes priority in life’s decisions. People don’t reject biblical truths because they are irrational or ridiculous; they reject them because they "hate the light" and they do not want their "deeds.…exposed" (verse 20).

How does all this relate to the judgment? We all are determining the verdict every day by resisting or following the increasing light by which the Spirit leads us along. John is saying that "he who makes a life habit of following the light" will make it clear to the universe that he can be entrusted with eternal life, for "it will be clearly seen that his deeds have been wrought in God." It is hard to find anywhere else, in words so few, a more lucid overview of the plan of salvation.

But how does John 3:17–21 relate to the pre-advent judgment? In God’s grand design, something very significant happened in 1844. Worlds afar were focused on Planet Earth. God kept his appointment with his people. For fifteen hundred years before Jesus was born, God was teaching his special people in a sandbox illustration how he wanted men and women to relate to him. He was teaching the big picture as to how rebels on earth could eventually live forever. And part of that picture was the truth taught in the symbolism of the Day of Atonement.

On that special day once a year, each Israelite was to reassess their commitment to the wonderful Lord who had been caring for them throughout the year. It was a solemn occasion. Everyone could evaluate how faithful he or she was to Israel’s faithful Lord. Everyone was participating in his or her own judgment.

In Revelation 14, God’s significant moment is broadcasted to the world by three angels with awesome messages. The first angel gets our attention with electric words: "Fear [respect] God for the hour of his judgment has come.…" The Bible has been talking about judgment since Genesis. Now we are told "judgment has come." Part of the drama is revealed in chapter 13, where the "beast" power exercises its ferocious power on those who remain faithful to their faithful God. But God will have the last word through his last-day loyalists. The judgment session that will finally take evil off the face of the earth is now in session.

In a few words: during this judgment time, the beast power will mount his final assault on God’s loyalists, unleashing the hate built up for millennia, hoping at last that God’s professed people will buckle under the unprecedented terror of the last days. But God tells the world that he will have a people who will remain loyal under the worst of conditions. They will prove to the world that no evil can cause them to flinch or crumble for they have the endurance of the saints (RSV); they have learned how to lean on the everlasting arms of God, proving the holding power of commandment-keeping and their faith in Jesus (14:12).

At the end of the judgment, the universe will see two groups—God’s loyalists who endured the worst of evil and those who hate the light of truth, "lest their deeds should be exposed" (John 3:20).

But there is something also very important regarding the awesome, worldwide Day of Atonement. In the Israelite annual Day of Atonement, the priests continued to perform their daily duties, even on the big day—regular morning and evening rituals, and so forth. Even so, when Jesus came to his Father at the beginning of the antitypical Day of Atonement (Daniel 7:13), he did not stop his intercessory ministry.

The call to full commitment to the Lord of the universe continues throughout the world, some hearing of it for the first time, even as the landscape darkens. The message of Revelation 14 calls for people everywhere to make a life habit of following Jesus, no matter how old they may be when they hear his invitation. They will rejoice in the faith of Jesus because it is the same kind of faith that kept Jesus from sinning and loyal to his heavenly Father.

For the Israelites, the serious, honest-in-heart, knew that the Day of Atonement meant life or death for them. For last-day followers of Jesus, it surely is also life or death. Decisions made today directly affect how we will make decisions tomorrow. For everyone, time is running out. Those who are making a habit in their neural pathways to say Yes to the Light as it leads them along are indeed settling into the truth. The time will come when God and the angels will say that they are so settled into the truth that they will never again be moved to distrust God or to act out selfish desires.

They will have participated in their own judgment.

Visit Spectrum’s Message Board for an ongoing discussion of this quarter’s subject, "The Gospel, 1844, and Judgment"

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