By Johnie Edwards
The advocates of the A.D. 70 doctrine do not teach what the Bible teaches about the judgment. Let’s take a look at some biblical teaching concerning the judgment:
1. All Will Be At the Judgment. The judgment scene says, “And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats” (Matt. 25:32). All means all, right? “For we must all appear the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body” (2 Cor. 5:10). Are you a part of all nations? If so, then you would have been at the judgment! Were you?
2. Every Knee Bows/Every Tongue Confesses. The judgment will find every knee bowing and every tongue confessing, as, “. . . every one of us shall give account of himself to God” and “every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God” (Rom. 14:11-12). If the judgment took place in A.D. 70 then you bowed your knee and confessed to God. Did you do that?
3. Judgment Will Be the Last Day. Jesus said, “He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day” (John 12:48). If the judgment occurred in A.D. 70, all men have been judged and days ceased then. Are days still coming and going?
4. The Crown of Life Will Be Handed Out At the Judgment. As Paul came to the close of his earth life, he penned, “Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing” (2 Tim. 4:8). Did Paul receive the crown of life in A.D. 70? Paul said his crown would be received when Christ would appear as judge. Have you received a crown of life? If not, since you, as a faithful child of God have been promised “. . .the crown of life” (Rev. 2:10). will you receive it? If the A.D. 70 doctrine be true, the crown of life has already been handed out!
5. Life Eternal/Punishment At the Judgment. Matthew 25 is a picture of judgment. The reading of the verdict of the saved and the lost reads, “And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal” (Matt. 25:46). If the judgment took place in A.D. 70, then all of us either have eternal life or eternal punishment. Do you now have either of these?
6. The End. Paul told the Romans, “But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life” (Rom. 6:22). The end will find the “kingdom” being “delivered up to God” (1 Cor. 15:24). Do you think the church has been delivered up to God? The earth will be “burned up” at the end (2 Pet. 3:10-12). Has this earth been burned up or is the earth still here? It is pretty evident that the A.D.
70 doctrine is far from the truth.