Notes for those reading SoS

All notes connected to the table of contents are special notes for those reading The
Silencing of Satan. In most cases these notes will not be fully appreciated by those who are
not reading The Silencing of Satan. The following notes will be inserted into a second
edition, should that become possible.

Chapter 1: More True Than They Knew

From the beginning Adventist’s have been on the right track with their investigative
judgment doctrine. Yet, beginning early on, the investigative judgment doctrine has had a
rough ride. In the past few decades its troubles became greater. With many it has fallen out
of favor. Non-Adventist critics have multiplied. Yet, we have seen in this first chapter that
there is plenty of evidence to show that the investigative judgment is true at its most
fundamentally important level: According to Scripture, God investigates believers.

It is surprising but true that the investigative judgment is more biblically sound than our
pioneers reasoned. How can such a statement be defended? In 1980, in his book, God and
His Sanctuary, the late Dr. C. Mervyn Maxwell, while defending Adventism's investigative
judgment doctrine, stated, "Although the terms are not used in the Bible, for convenience
we can speak of phases of the final judgment that deal with 'investigation, . . . examination . .
." ( 88).

In 1993, in his book, The Sanctuary, Roy Adams indicates his agreement that there are no
Scriptures that clearly teach that the judgment is investigative in nature. Adams wrote, "It
has not always been easy to provide a straightforward demonstration of the particular
notion of an investigative judgment in Scripture." (125) He also stated, "We venture to
suggest that 'investigative’ is not absolutely indispensable" (124).

Adams suggested that there had been an unwise waste of a "vast amount of time and
energy expended in years of controversy and debate over the use of the expression
'investigative judgment'" (124). So, Adams saw new terminology as a solution to this
problem. He writes, "The expression 'pre-Advent' . . . is currently finding growing
acceptance" (124).

These two good men, loyal Adventist scholars, virtually concluded that there is not one
Bible passage stating, in language that cannot be misunderstood, that God investigates
believers. I am sure that if any Seventh-day Adventist pioneer, or if later Adventist
theologians, wrote about the investigative judgment using such a passage(s) of Scripture,
Dr. C. Mervin Maxwell, whose specialty was the study of the development of Seventh-day
Adventist theology, would have known it. And, he would not have stated that the term
"investigate" was a term of convenience. Instead he would have used such evidence to
defend the investigative judgment doctrine in 1980.

Adventist pioneers did not notice the evidence we have considered thus far–evidence that
makes the investigative judgment more true than they knew. And, more true than our critics
give credit. The following comment by a former Seventh-day Adventist minister suggests
that our investigative judgment doctrine may be more true than today’s Adventist ministry
realizes:

"Brad, I finished your book [first edition]. Obviously because I studied theology at both La
Sierra and Andrews, I am well aware of the arguments for the Investigative Judgment. In The
Silencing of Satan however, you plowed new creative ground. I found the (sic.) especially
enlightening the first chapters where you show that although the exact word 'investigate' is
not used in modern translations, there is plenty of evidence in the Greek and Hebrew that
shows that many texts in both the New & Old Testaments could be translated using the
word 'investigate.' This is new work that I have seen no where else."
Rick Kuykendall

It seems obvious then, that it is worth our while to pursue further where this new evidence
leads. That we shall do in the chapter’s that follow.

Chapter 2:

Chapter 3: Chapter 3 page 35 paragraph 1after " ... Satan who is the prime mover in the
pursuit of an investigation of the saints.":

The rabbis no doubt noted that in Job 7:18 Job wonders why God would bother to
investigate him. In Job 10:5-6 Job seems to have a hard time accepting the idea that God
inquires as to his iniquity, searches for his sin: "Are thy days as the days of man? are thy
years as man's days, That thou inquirest after mine iniquity, and searchest after my sin?"
Job is to a certain degree right in his skepticism. He is right that he is being investigated
concerning his sins and that this is not a necessary pursuit for an all knowing God. But, the
reader sees clearly that it is really a malicious devil (and his ignorant emissaries) not God,
that is testing him every moment, inquiring after his iniquity, and searching for sin in him.
Nevertheless, after reading the entire book of Job it is clear also that God does take
advantage of, if He does not cause, our troubles. By this means our moral and spiritual
faults become obvious to us, and by this God proves the integrity of our faith. Therefore,
Job is distressed and wondering why, but not denying, that God investigates man. Later he
comes to accept the idea that he is being tested and examined; for, he says, "When He
works on the left hand, I cannot behold Him; when He turns to the right hand, I cannot see
Him. But He knows the way that I take; when He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold.
My foot has held fast to His steps; I have kept His way and not turned aside. I have not
departed from the commandment of His lips; I have treasured the words of His mouth more
than my necessary food (Job 23:9-12 NKJ)." Job shows that he has come to understand
that an investigative judgment is part of each believer's experience in Job 13:9: "Will it be
well when He searches you out?"

4. God’s righteousness must be vindicated. Job’s experience in light of Christ’s ultimate
goal for Satan takes us deeper into the mysteries of the Gospel’s inclusion of believer
testing and an investigative judgment. Christ’s goal is “that through [His] death he might
destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil” (Heb 2:14). If Satan’s destruction
were simply a matter of power, God would long ago have destroyed the Devil. But it is also a
matter of God’s righteousness.

Not surprisingly, the righteousness of God is the underlying issue in Job’s time of trial and
testing. The story begins with God judging Job to be, “blameless and upright, a man who
fears God and shuns evil” (Job 1:8 NIV). Satan disputes God’s judgment. He says, in effect,
“You are wrong about Job, God. You don’t have very good judgment. You are not righteous,
for your judgment of Job is not righteous. Therefore, you cannot judge anyone else fairly or
righteously.” Let us be absolutely clear about this: Satan’s indictment of God’s judgment of
Job is meant to bring into question God’s right to judge and destroy Satan and his angels. If
in the testing and trying of the saints it is shown that God has poor judgment, He cannot
rightly destroy Satan and all sin. It is not an exaggeration to say that the very government of
God and the peace of heaven hang on the outcome of the investigative judgment of
believers. Therefore, it is important to understand the step by step way the death of Jesus
vindicates God’s judgment and clears away any question about His decision to eradicate
sin and its creator.

The sacrifice of Jesus’ life for our sins, which provides us justification before God’s law, is
the first step and foundation upon which God builds the case for Satan’s destruction (Heb
2:14). For, “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become
the [vindication of the] righteousness of God” (2 Cor 5:21 NIV). So, when we receive Jesus
as our lord and savior, we are given, through His righteousness, the opportunity to be
tested (Rev 2:23) and thereby prove our loyalty to God. Our efforts to obey and our faith are
faulty, but at our request Jesus our advocate and high priest (1Jn 2:1; Heb 8:1) cleanses
them (1Jn 1:9) by His own merits and thus makes them acceptable to God. In other words, in
the judgment, Satan’s accusations against us are overcome by the “blood of the lamb [the
cleansing power of Christ’s righteousness] and the word of our testimony [the testimony of
our faithfulness]” (Rev 12:11). Our “perseverance and faith in ... persecutions and trials ... is
evidence that God's judgment is right and as a result [we] will be counted worthy of the
kingdom of God, for which [we] are suffering [for which we are being tested, tried,
investigated]” (2 Thess 1:4, 5 NIV). Settlement of the rightness of God’s judgment, through
the investigative judgment, paves the way for “... God [to] bring about justice for his chosen
ones, who cry out to him day and night ... he will see that they get justice [against their
adversary], and quickly” (Lu 187, 8 NIV). For, “... [Christ] will pay back trouble to those who
trouble [us] .... They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the
presence of the Lord and from the majesty of his power” (2 Thess 1:6, 9,10 NIV). But we will
be “rescued ... from the dominion of darkness and brought ... into the kingdom of the Son”
(Col 1:13 NIV). “Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father”
(Matt 13:43 NIV), and “receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ. (1Peter 1:11 NIV)

Therefore, in God’s plan there are four steps that culminate with the eradication of evil:
Step One, Justification: Jesus’ death provides for our justification.
Step Two, Probation: Justification allows for our probation (believer investigation) and
makes our imperfect faithfulness acceptable to God.
Step Three, Vindication: The proof of the integrity of our love and loyalty through temptation
and trial, and that of untold billions of other believers, proves the rightness of God’s
judgment and demonstrates the wicked maliciousness of Satan.
Step Four, Execution of Judgment: Proof of the rightness of God’s judgment and the malice
of Satan settles forever the question of whether God’s judgment is trustworthy. Settling the
trustworthiness of God’s judgment clears the way for: 1) The annihilation of Lucifer, his
angels, all sinners, all sin, all reminders of sin, and 2) conferring upon the redeemed all the
blessings of unending joyous life.

Chapter 4: Chapter 4 page 48, paragraph 2,
I know that this raises certain questions. Such as, “Why is it then that I do not always feel
good about doing the right thing? Sometimes I feel terrible!”

For the most part it is a true representation of our life experiences to say that we feel good
when doing good, feel right when doing right. However, misery can follow good works. And
the Devil tries to make it that way. The Devil as often as possible short-circuits the natural
progression from doing right to feeling right. At times he is able to associate hardships and
troubles with doing God’s will, great sacrifice with Christlike goodness. Paul tells us that
this is a common experience for saintly believers: “ . . . Everyone who wants to live a godly
life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.”(2 Tim 3:12 NIV)

Yes, Satan sees to it that good people are harassed and persecuted into feeling bad, even
guilty, about having done right. At times like this we may find comfort in fully depending on
the promises of God. We may also find solace from the fact that, as busy as Satan is trying
to make right living a thorny crown for the saved, God sees to it that there are enough
occasions to show us that righteous acts naturally beget satisfaction and contentment. He
wants us to understand that normally–without satanic interference–we feel right for doing
right. So, “Dear children, let us... love ... with actions and in truth. This then is ...how we set
our hearts at rest in his presence ...” (1Jn 3:18-19 NIV).

Chapter 4 page 48 latter part of paragraph 2, I would now make a new paragraph that begins
with:
Someone is also wondering, “If our doing of good and right things influences our sense of
assurance, and continues with the remainder of the text found in paragraph 2 page 48. But
changing Does to does, i.e.,
“Does does this mean that we lose assurance ....”

Chapter 5:

Chapter 6:

Chapter 7:

Chapter 8: Add to Chapter 8 page 84 paragraph 1
Critics of the Seventh-day Adventist doctrine of the investigative judgment claim that we
make two insupportable leaps of logic when interpreting Daniel 7-8. To them it does not
make sense that the Bible would jump from one subject to another. So, they ask two
questions that we can answer based on the foundation of truth that has been previously
established (the sinful abusive behavior of the little horn) to another (a judgment of the
saints). The critics suggest that it is much more reasonable to interpret the judgments
pictured in Daniel 7 and 8 as a judgment of the powers that have troubled God's people. The
critic is correct that the sins of the little horn and the judgment of the little horn are present
in Daniel 7 and 8. But based on the foundation of truth previously established in this book,
and further comparative study of related passages, we see that Seventh-day Adventist
doctrine is more faithful to the Bible than the critic's views and that it answers the critics
questions:

Add to Chapter 8 page 86 paragraph 3
Note the mention of a diagram in this paragraph. This diagram was left out of the first edition
but is available here.

Chapter 9:

Chapter 10:

Chapter 11: