The investigative judgment, or pre-Advent Judgment (or, more accurately the pre-Second Advent Judgment), is a unique Seventh-day Adventist doctrine, which asserts that the divine judgment of professed Christians has been in progress since 1844. It is intimately related to the history of the Seventh-day Adventist Church and was described by one of the church's pioneers Ellen G. White as one of the pillars of Adventist belief. It is a major component of the broader Adventist understanding of the "heavenly sanctuary", and the two are sometimes spoken of interchangeably.
Summary of the doctrine
Biblical basis
Seventh-day Adventists believe that texts such as Hebrews 8:1–2 teach that the two-compartment design of the earthly sanctuary built by Moses, was in fact a model patterned after the Heavenly Sanctuary "which the Lord set up, not man." Hebrews 8:2 (NASB). They believe that statements in Hebrews 7:17–28 as well as statements found in Hebrews chapters 8 and 9, reveal that Christ entered the first phase of his Heavenly ministry (in the Holy Place of the Heavenly Sanctuary) as the High Priest of humanity after his bodily resurrection and ascension into heaven. According to this view the 2,300 days (years) found in Daniel 8:13–14 point to the date when Christ's Most Holy Place ministry in Heaven would start. This is the event typified by the Day of Atonement described in Leviticus 16 and in Leviticus 23:26–32. The Investigative Judgment doctrine states that in 1844 Christ moved from the Holy Place to the Most Holy Place in Heaven as described in Daniel 8:13–14, and that this began the judgment described in Daniel 7:9–10.
The main Biblical texts quoted by Seventh-day Adventists in support of the doctrine of the pre-Advent Judgment being applicable to the professed people of God in all ages, are Daniel 7:9–10; 1 Peter 4:17; and Revelation 14:6, 7; 20:12:
Adventists also believe that the Investigative Judgment is depicted in the parable of the wedding banquet, in Matthew 22:1–14 (KJV). Professing Christians are represented by the wedding guests, and the judgment is represented by the King's inspection of the guests (verses 10, 11). In order to pass the judgment, believers must be wearing the robe of Christ's righteousness, represented by the wedding garments (verses 11, 12).
Derivation of 1844 date
The derivation of the 1844 date for the commencement of the pre-Advent Judgment is explained in detail in Adventist publications such as Seventh-day Adventists believe.
Seventy "week" period (Daniel 9:24–27 (KJV)) is held to begin in 457 BC, the seventh year of Artaxerxes I. The "2300 evenings and mornings" period (Daniel 8:13–14 (KJV)) is held to commence in the same year. 2300 days are held to correspond to 2300 years (see Day-year principle) 457 BC plus 2300 years gives 1844 AD.
While no specific date is given in official belief statements, many Adventists hold October 22, 1844, as the starting date for the pre-Advent Judgment. Originally Miller set the end of the 2300 days between March 21, 1843, and March 21, 1844. In mid-1844, Miller stated "I confess my error, and acknowledge my disappointment: Yet I still believe that the day of the Lord is near." In February 1844, Samuel S. Snow began preaching the end of the 2300 days to be in the fall of 1844. He soon settled on October 22. In an August camp meeting, October 22 took hold of the Adventists in New England. Miller was one of the last to accept the date. W. W. Prescott suggested that the investigative judgment occurred in the spring, and not autumn, but his view was rejected.
The judgment process
According to Adventist teaching, the works of all men and women are written in "books of record", kept in heaven. During the pre-Advent Judgment, these books are opened (as described in Daniel 7:10 and Revelation 20:12), and the lives of all people both living and dead are examined to establish who has responded to Christ's offer of salvation. "The books of record in heaven, in which the names and the deeds of men are registered, are to determine the decisions of the judgment." "As the books of record are opened in the judgment, the lives of all who have believed on Jesus come in review before God. Beginning with those who first lived upon the earth, our Advocate presents the cases of each successive generation, and closes with the living. Every name is mentioned, every case closely investigated."