according to what they had done as recorded in the books.” God doesn’t just wantto satisfy Himself in the judgment; He also wants to satisfy all those who witness the proceedings. Evi-denceis presented on which to render a verdict.Those nine justices on our own Supreme Court have law clerks do a great deal of research on eachcase. They want as many facts as possible before making their decisions. The same is true here: Thereseems to be a thorough work of investigation that goes on. The court is seated; books are opened. Be-forethe saved and lost are finally judged, God graciously goes over the evidence in an open and thoroughinvestigation.WHERE does the judgment take place? Obviously, in Daniel 7:9-10, the prophet was directed toheaven, to the throne room of the universe. There Daniel saw the supreme court of the universe set up inheaven’s sanctuary. The books were opened there. God’s final judicial investigation takes place in heaven.What about WHEN? When does it begin? The surrounding verses of Daniel 7:8 & 11—tell of theLittle Horn power speaking great, pompous words on earth while this heavenly court begins proceedings.And you may recall that Revelation 14:7 tells us: “Fear God and give glory to Him, for the hour of Hisjudgment has come.” Note the text doesn’t say “will come”—at some future time—but “has come.” Thesame text clearly states that before Christ returns, a message will go to all the world announcing the judg-menthour. So we must look for a type of judgment that occurs before the Second Coming of Christ.The prophet Daniel gives us the time frame in Daniel 8:14, the Bible’s longest prophecy: “Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.” What does that mean, “the sanc-tuarybe cleansed”? The Old Testament sacrificial system had God’s people sacrifice an innocent animalre...
