WHEN IS MANKIND JUSTIFIED BEFORE YAHWEH?

Question

Will the resurrected world of mankind remain unjustified before Yahweh throughout Christ's thousand-year Mediatorial Kingdom, becoming justified only after the Little Season?

Answer

No. The Scriptural order indicates that mankind must first receive an acceptable standing before Yahweh through the merit of Christ's precious blood. Christ, as Mediator, then brings the redeemed world along the Highway of Holiness, educating and developing mankind in righteousness until the purpose of his Mediatorial Kingdom has been accomplished. The perfected world is thereafter subjected to the final test of the Little Season, after which Christ delivers the completed Kingdom to Yahweh, his God and Father.

These are distinct parts of Yahweh's purpose and should not be confused:

Justification is not restoration. Restoration is not the final test. And the final test is not the means by which Christ's blood justifies mankind.

CHRIST — THE MEDIATOR BETWEEN GOD AND MANKIND

Paul establishes the arrangement:

“For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all.”
— 1 Timothy 2:5–6, LSB

A mediator stands between two parties for the purpose of bringing about reconciliation.

Mankind, condemned through Adam, cannot simply present itself before the holiness of Yahweh upon its own merit. Yahweh Himself has provided the acceptable means of approach: His Son, Christ Jesus, whose life was given as the corresponding ransom.

Paul therefore contrasts Adam's condemnation with Christ's justification:

“So then as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men, even so through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men.”
— Romans 5:18, LSB

And again:

“For as through the one man's disobedience the many were appointed sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will be appointed righteous.”
— Romans 5:19, LSB

The basis of mankind's justification, therefore, is Christ's obedience and sacrificial blood, not mankind's successful passage through the Little Season.

AN ACCEPTABLE STANDING MUST PRECEDE APPROACH TO YAHWEH

The principle was illustrated under the Mosaic arrangement.

Nadab and Abihu presumed to approach Yahweh in a manner He had not authorized:

“Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took their respective firepans, and after putting fire in them, placed incense on it and offered strange fire before Yahweh, which He had not commanded them. And fire came out from the presence of Yahweh and consumed them, and they died before Yahweh.”
— Leviticus 10:1–2, LSB

Moses then explained:

“By those who come near Me I will be treated as holy,
And before all the people I will be glorified.”
— Leviticus 10:3, LSB

They had no authority to invent their own manner of approach to Yahweh.

The lesson is solemn: approach to the Most High is upon His terms, through the arrangement He has authorized.

Under the greater arrangement, that authorized Mediator is Christ.

If mankind remained judicially unjust throughout the entire Mediatorial Kingdom and were finally presented directly to Yahweh in that unjust condition, the very purpose of Christ's mediation would remain unfinished.

Christ does not deliver an unjust world to Yahweh so that Yahweh may subsequently make it acceptable.

Christ makes mankind acceptable and completes the work entrusted to him before delivering the Kingdom to his Father.

RESURRECTION AND “HIS WORK IS PERFECT”

We must also distinguish bodily resurrection from the subsequent development of character.

Moses declared concerning Yahweh:

“The Rock! His work is perfect,
For all His ways are just;
A God of faithfulness and without injustice,
Righteous and upright is He.”
— Deuteronomy 32:4, LSB

On this understanding, mankind need not be imagined emerging from the resurrection in diseased, mutilated, decrepit bodies requiring a thousand years of physical reconstruction. The resurrection itself is the work of divine power, and:

“His work is perfect.”

The application of Deuteronomy 32:4 specifically to resurrection bodies is an inference from the principle stated in the passage; the verse itself does not explicitly discuss resurrection.

But a perfect human body does not automatically constitute a perfected and tested character.

Adam demonstrates the distinction. A physically perfect human being can possess free moral agency and can choose either obedience or disobedience.

Thus the work remaining during Messiah's Kingdom concerns mankind's education, mind, morals, character, righteousness and willing obedience to Yahweh.

THE HIGHWAY OF HOLINESS

Isaiah provides a beautiful picture of that Kingdom work:

“And a highway will be there, a roadway,
And it will be called the Highway of Holiness.
The unclean will not travel on it,
But it will be for him who walks that way,
And fools will not wander on it.
No lion will be there,
Nor will any vicious beast go up on it;
These will not be found there.
But the redeemed will walk there,
And the ransomed of Yahweh will return
And come with joyful shouting to Zion,
With everlasting gladness upon their heads.
They will attain gladness and joy,
And sorrow and sighing will flee away.”
— Isaiah 35:8–10, LSB

Notice carefully who walks this Highway.

They are called “the redeemed” and “the ransomed of Yahweh.”

They are not walking the Highway in order to acquire the ransom. The ransom has already provided the basis for their redemption.

They walk the Highway of Holiness.

Thus the Highway depicts a process: mankind advances under Messiah's righteous government, learning the ways of righteousness and holiness.

Earlier in the same prophecy we read:

“Then the eyes of the blind will be opened
And the ears of the deaf will be unstopped.
Then the lame will leap like a deer,
And the tongue of the mute will shout for joy.”
— Isaiah 35:5–6, LSB

And Isaiah elsewhere states:

“For when Your judgments are in the earth,
The inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.”
— Isaiah 26:9, LSB

That is the great educational work of Messiah's Kingdom:

The inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.

THE PURPOSE OF CHRIST'S REIGN

Christ's Mediatorial reign has a definite purpose and a definite conclusion.

Paul writes:

“For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet. The last enemy to be abolished is death.”
— 1 Corinthians 15:25–26, LSB

The word “until” is important.

Christ reigns until the work is accomplished.

He does not relinquish the Kingdom while mankind remains judicially condemned, morally unfinished and unprepared to stand before Yahweh.

His reign brings the work entrusted to him to completion.

Only then:

“Then comes the end, when He hands over the kingdom to the God and Father, when He has abolished all rule and all authority and power.”
— 1 Corinthians 15:24, LSB

THEN COMES THE LITTLE SEASON

After the thousand years comes the final test:

“And when the thousand years are finished, Satan will be released from his prison, and will come out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth…”
— Revelation 20:7–8, LSB

The Little Season therefore does not provide Christ's ransom.

It does not supply his righteousness.

It does not accomplish mankind's resurrection.

And it should not be confused with the thousand-year process of learning righteousness upon the Highway of Holiness.

Rather, the Little Season exposes the freely chosen allegiance of mankind after experiencing the righteous government of Christ.

Those who deliberately choose rebellion are destroyed:

“And they came up on the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, and fire came down from heaven and devoured them.”
— Revelation 20:9, LSB

The final test therefore demonstrates loyalty; it does not purchase justification.

Christ's blood has already supplied the judicial basis for justification.

THE KINGDOM IS DELIVERED TO YAHWEH

At last Messiah's Mediatorial purpose is complete.

Paul gives us the magnificent conclusion:

“And when all things are subjected to Him, then the Son Himself also will be subjected to the One who subjected all things to Him, so that God may be all in all.”
— 1 Corinthians 15:28, LSB

This is not Christ handing an unfinished creation back to Yahweh.

The Son completes the work assigned to him.

The ransomed have been raised.

The redeemed have traveled the Highway of Holiness.

Righteousness has been learned.

Mankind has been brought to perfection of mind and character.

The final test has revealed the heart.

Rebellion has been removed.

Death—the final enemy—has been abolished.

Then the Son delivers the Kingdom to his God and Father.

THE SCRIPTURAL ORDER

The sequence may therefore be expressed simply:

ADAMIC CONDEMNATION

↓

CHRIST'S PRECIOUS BLOOD AND RANSOM

↓

JUSTIFICATION — AN ACCEPTABLE STANDING BEFORE YAHWEH

↓

RESURRECTION IN PERFECT HUMAN BODIES

↓

CHRIST'S MEDIATORIAL KINGDOM

↓

THE HIGHWAY OF HOLINESS

↓

LEARNING RIGHTEOUSNESS — DEVELOPMENT OF MIND, MORALS, CHARACTER AND WILLING OBEDIENCE

↓

PERFECTED HUMANITY

↓

THE LITTLE SEASON — THE FINAL TEST

↓

THE REBELLIOUS REMOVED; THE FAITHFUL PROVEN

↓

CHRIST DELIVERS THE COMPLETED KINGDOM TO YAHWEH

↓

“THAT GOD MAY BE ALL IN ALL.”

— 1 Corinthians 15:28

The distinction is therefore essential:

Christ's blood provides the justification.

The resurrection provides perfect human bodies.

The Highway of Holiness provides the course of instruction and development in righteousness.

The Little Season supplies the final test of allegiance.

And Christ presents to Yahweh a perfected and proven humanity—not an unjust mankind still awaiting acceptance.

HaliluYah! Praise Yahweh, the Most High God, through His Anointed Son, Christ Jesus. Amen and amen.