Sabbath School Insights

IJP: Investigative Judgment Phobia

Originally Posted on Thursday, September 21, 2006

 Alex walked into the room. He heard a faint noise. Immediately, his heart started pounding faster. His face turned pale, and his forehead became shiny with perspiration. Very soon after this Alex started breathing hard and short breaths; he also started shaking. Suddenly, Alex stormed out of the room running as fast as he could. Every one in the room looked at each other all confused. You could see in their faces they were concerned. Fernando walked out of the room to see if Alex was OK, but Alex was no where to be found. What could set Alex off this way? Many things could, but in this case it was a phobia. The noise he heard reminded of him of something he feared. He reacted in the way many phobia persons react.

Phobias are defined as an intense, abnormal, or illogical fear of a specified thing. Every one of us can say we have a phobia of some kind or another. It may be some type of critter, closed or open spaces, crowds, heights, depths, strangers, etc. Some define fear as an acrostic: False Evidence Appearing Real. Their rational is that many causes of fear are truly unfounded. We are frightened of things and situations we have never encountered. We imagine the worst outcome, and of course, we end up the biggest losers. Phobias are in this category.

 Why do we fear things? Some say that one major cause is that we have no control over that which we fear. In other words, if we believed that we could overpower or had a way of escaping that which we fear we would not fear it. Could this be the reason why many fear the Investigative Judgment? The mention of an Investigative Judgment causes many to either fly away or fight (the normal reactions to fear.) Why? Why has the term Investigative been exchanged for Pre-Advent? Pre-advent sounds nice, and Investigative sounds invasive. God is going into our hearts and discovering what is there. However, God not only knows what is there, He also reveals it to us. And, this is perhaps what we fear: that we and others will know all the evil that abides in our hearts. But, this is good news! The uncovering of unknown Sin can only help us. I can hear you laugh sarcastically, while yelling out, “Yeah, right!”

 You see, God reveals Sin to us so that we can yield it to the Holy Spirit. As we yield it to the Holy Spirit, He will blot the Sin out of us. This is what King David did. David was not afraid of the Investigate Judgment. In fact, he not only welcomed it, he asked God to search His heart. In Psalm 139: 23, 24 David pleads with God,

Psalm 139: 23 Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts:
Psalm 139: 24And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting

 David understood that Sin separated him from God. HE wanted oneness with God. So he asked God – Who knows the secret of our hearts (Psalm 44:21) – to search his heart, cleanse it, and lead Him in the right way. If we pray as David prayed, then God can do this with us. God does this because He wants oneness with us and loves us with perfect love. When we accept the Lord He gives us His perfect Love. When we have this perfect love John tells us 1 John 4:17, 18 that

 1 John 4:17 Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.
1 John 4:18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.

 To many, the Investigative Judgment may give false evidence that God is against us, but as we see this is far from the truth. We have no control over the Judgment, but we do have control over its outcome. If we yield to the Holy Spirit, He will lead us to eternal life.

 Raul Diaz