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The Great Controversy
recorded. Says the psalmist: “Thou tellest my wanderings: put Thou
my tears into Thy bottle: are they not in Thy book?”
Psalm 56:8
.
There is a record also of the sins of men. “For God shall bring
every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good,
or whether it be evil.” “Every idle word that men shall speak, they
shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.” Says the Saviour:
“By thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt
be condemned.”
Ecclesiastes 12:14
;
Matthew 12:36, 37
. The secret
purposes and motives appear in the unerring register; for God “will
bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the
counsels of the hearts.”
1 Corinthians 4:5
. “Behold, it is written before
Me, ... your iniquities, and the iniquities of your fathers together, saith
the Lord.”
Isaiah 65:6, 7
.
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Every man’s work passes in review before God and is registered
for faithfulness or unfaithfulness. Opposite each name in the books
of heaven is entered with terrible exactness every wrong word, every
selfish act, every unfulfilled duty, and every secret sin, with every artful
dissembling. Heaven-sent warnings or reproofs neglected, wasted
moments, unimproved opportunities, the influence exerted for good or
for evil, with its far-reaching results, all are chronicled by the recording
angel.
The law of God is the standard by which the characters and the
lives of men will be tested in the judgment. Says the wise man: “Fear
God, and keep His commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.
For God shall bring every work into judgment.”
Ecclesiastes 12:13,
14
. The apostle James admonishes his brethren: “So speak ye, and so
do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty.”
James 2:12
.
Those who in the judgment are “accounted worthy” will have a
part in the resurrection of the just. Jesus said: “They which shall
be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the resurrection from
the dead, ... are equal unto the angels; and are the children of God,
being the children of the resurrection.”
Luke 20:35, 36
. And again He
declares that “they that have done good” shall come forth “unto the
resurrection of life.”
John 5:29
. The righteous dead will not be raised
until after the judgment at which they are accounted worthy of “the
resurrection of life.” Hence they will not be present in person at the
tribunal when their records are examined and their cases decided.