SECTION V. The Glorious Consummation.
V. The conflict now waging between good and evil, or holiness and sin, will finally issue in the complete triumph of the good, and in the utter discomfiture and extinguishment of all evil of every sort. "And there shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain ; for the former things are passed away."
There is a beautiful correspondence between the opening and closing portions of the Divine Word, which no careful reader can have failed to notice.
In the beginning, we are told how God made all things very good, and last of all, man, the best of all earthly creatures; how He placed him in a beautiful garden, and surrounded him with every earthly good — "with every tree that was pleasant to the sight, and good for food ; and a river went out of Eden to water the garden," "and there was gold there, and bdellium, and the onyx stone," "and the tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and also the tree of the knowledge of good and evil."
Then we learn, how the brightness of this fair morning was eclipsed by the coming in of Satan, and sin, and shame, and sorrow, and death.
The pages of the Inspired volume that follow, are occupied with a development of God's plan of recovering grace with precepts and exhortations, and threatenings, and promises, and words of cheer, and examples of folly and of faith, and with the many checkered scenes of gladness and of woe, of hatred and love, of fear and hope, of good and evil, as one generation after another comes and goes, groping their way down to the dust from whence they were taken.
The time may seem long to God's waiting weary people. It is but one day in the counsels of Him, "with whom one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day." It grows brighter and brighter, as we wait, and the words of the prophet that, "at evening time it shall be light," are fast fulfilling before our eyes. As the sun shines out at its going down, and all the brighter for the clouds that had concealed it, giving promise of a fair day on the morrow; so, in the closing chapters of this book of Revelation, there is pictured for us by the pen of the Seer, the glorious closing of this long and cloudy day, and the ushering in of that beautiful morning, that shall grow brighter and brighter, unto the perfect day that shall never end. He shows us another paradise, infinitely more glorious than the first, like a holy city coming down from God, out of heaven. Its streets are of gold; not only bdellium and the onyx stone are there found; but its walls are of jasper, and its foundations are garnished with all manner of precious stones. There is a pure river, of no common water; but of the water of life, as clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. And again, the Tree of Life is there, bearing twelve manner of fruits, and yielding her fruit every month. The holy happy dwellers there are not naked, or tempted as before; but clothed, and in white robes, and nothing that defileth, or that can harm them, is permitted to enter. The great adversary of God and man has spent his power, and been foiled, and crushed and destroyed utterly and forever; and the victorious Son of God is with them, as their ever-living Savior and Friend.
The Word of God furnishes us abundant material for drawing out in detail the contrast between the first Adam, by whom came sin and death, and the last Adam, by whom comes the resurrection from the dead, and life forever more ; between the natural birth, and the spiritual birth; between the natural man, and the spiritual ma; between the life that now is, and that which is to come ; but our present purpose is to consider the final issue of the plan of redemption; and it is to this that we will now direct our special attention.
We are so accustomed to the mixture of good and evil, in this imperfect state, that it is difficult for us to conceive of the one without the other. Holiness and sin, joy and sorrow, life and death, light from above, and darkness from beneath, mingle together in this mid-way sphere. Everything that is true, and bright, and lovely has its counterpart in that which is false and dark and hateful. It has always been so in our experience, and we naturally come to feel that it must always continue to be so; or, if these extremes do not meet and mingle in the same scene or person, they must somehow be perpetuated as cotempoary with each other, and necessary to a complete universe. It seems unnatural, from our past experience and training, to think of a heaven without a hell somewhere ; of the King of glory with His holy angels, without thinking of the devil and his angels, also; of the ransomed of the Lord, rejoicing forever in the kingdom of light and life, without thinking also of the lost, suffering and wailing forever in the kingdom of darkness and death. The idea that the time ever will come, or can come, or ought to come, when there shall be no sin anywhere, no sorrow, no death, no darkness, no devil, no hell, but one complete rounded uni verse of holy, happy creatures centering in God, and revolving around Him, as the source of their life and all their blessedness, seems so strange and extravagant, to those who have been trained to regard eternal sin and suffering as an integral part of the universe, that they are afraid to indulge it. They look with suspicion upon any one who ventures to express the hope of such a consummation, as though he were giving up an essential part of the orthodox faith. To most Christians, evil seems to be as permanent a part of the universe as good; the eternal existence of Satan the destroyer, as certain and logically necessary as that of Christ the Savior. Theologians have under taken to show that this perpetual antagonism, or antithesis, is necessary in the very nature of things, or, at any rate, the continued existence of sin, with its consequent suffering, is necessary to the maintenance of the holy obedience and blessedness of God's loyal subjects.
Zoroaster and his followers held, that there are two eternal principles; the one good, and the other evil; both without beginning, and both without end, eternally in conflict with each other: the one they called Ormuzd, the other Ahriman. But these Christian theologians, less consistent than they, hold, that, while there are now two such principles at war with each other, it is the good only that had no beginning, and is eternal in the past; evil dates its origin in time; it has intruded itself into that which was once very good; but now that it has come in, it must forever remain to mar the beauty of this otherwise perfect system. God Himself either cannot, or will not, eradicate it so that it shall cease to exist.
But we, in opposition to both these teachers, hold to the Scriptural doctrine of the eternity of good alone, both a parte ante et a parte post. Evil is transitory in its very nature. It is but an Episode in the development of God's perfect plan; as it had a beginning in time, so it shall have an end in time; that, however necessary it may be to this incipient, and preparatory stage of our existence, however useful as a foil or background to the picture yet to be, or as a means for the display of the riches of God's grace; however necessary night may be, to the introduction of day, or the knowledge of evil, to the more perfect knowledge of good, or the experience of death, to the enjoyment of life eternal, or of sin, to the " bringing in of everlasting righteousness;" it is but incidental and temporary after all, and not integral and perpetual, and the time will come when having fully subserved its purpose, whatever that purpose may be, it shall pass away. "What is the chaff to the wheat," that it should be garnered and preserved forever? Why should the staging used in the erection of an edifice be suffered to remain forever, after the building is finished, to disfigure its beauty? Of what value are the chips and the debris, but to be destroyed? Why should the fogs and mists that usher in the coming day, remain forever to obscure the light of the risen sun? Why should the Almighty be beholden to the devil to aid Him in sustaining and perpetuating His righteous government over His holy and blessed subjects?
We believe that the devil and all his works shall be utterly destroyed; that death shall be abolished, and swallowed up of life; that all evil shall give place to good, and that the time will come when sorrow and sighing shall be unknown, and there shall be no more pain; that the victory which the Son of God shall gain over all His enemies and the enemies of His people, will be complete, and that He shall gather together in one all things in Christ," and that in the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth, and that every tongue shall confess that He is Lord to the glory of God the Father.
To us, this glorious consummation seems essential to the idea of a perfect Deity; one who is perfect in goodness to desire, perfect in wisdom to plan, and perfect in power to execute all His benevolent purposes. But we believe it, mainly because this is what He has told us in His Word. We believe it in spite of Manichsean or Grecian philosophy; we believe it in spite of scholastic theology and traditionalism. —"Let God be true but every man a liar."
The difference between us and our adversaries in this discussion, consists really in the different ideas we entertain of the perfection of our Leader. Our arguments have been directed sometimes to one subordinate point, and sometimes to another, but, in reality, the question in dispute is: "What think ye of Christ? What think ye of His promises? As an Almighty Sovereign and Leader, what does He desire to do ? What has He undertaken to do? What can He do? Is there any limit to His goodness and power? or any such limit as hinders Him from destroying the devil and all his hosts, as He has threatened to do, and of making all things new as He has promised ?
Our opponents believe, that the natural life, which was given to man in the beginning, was an immortal life, and subject to no conditions for its endless perpetuity. We, on the contrary, believe that it was made conditional, in the very outset, and liable to be forfeited and lost; and with no guarantee of its perpetuity, excepting as he should show himself worthy of immortality and fitted to enjoy it.
They believe that, "all mankind, by their fall, lost communion with God, are under his wrath and curse, and so made liable to all the miseries of this life, to death itself, and to the pains of hell forever;" and all this as a natural inheritance from Adam. We believe the consequences of the fall to be, according to God's Word: "Cursed is the ground for thy sake, in sorrow shall thou eat of it all the days of thy life. Thorns and thistles shall it bring forth to the thee. In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground. For out of it wast thou taken. For dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return."
They believe, that God will punish the unsaved children of Adam, in another life as well as in this, and eternally punish them, as well for the sin of their progenitor as for their own sins. We believe He will punish no man in a future state but for his own sins.
They believe that their future punishment "will consist in intensity of suffering," and that this suffering will never, never cease. We believe that this punishment will consist in such suffering as each individual sinner deserves — no more and no less — and that beyond the Second death there is no sin nor suffering.
They believe that the chief end which Christ proposed to Himself, in the struggle in which He is now engaged with Satan in this world, the very object for which He came down and died, is to get back as much as possible of the territory He has lost, and to recover as many of the human race as He can, from the power of His adversary, and to make them pure and blessed forever in heaven; and then, as for the rest, to get them, with their leader, safely under lock and key, where He will torment them unceasingly forever. We believe He had an end infinitely higher and more glorious in view, in His humiliation and death for man; He came to die with man, and for man, the just for the unjust, and then to raise him again from the dead, and, by a new birth, to give him a new life, a higher, purer life, a spiritual life, like His own, that shall never end, and to introduce him into His Everlasting Kingdom; and that He will do this for all who will accept of Him as their Savior, and submit themselves to His heavenly discipline. As for the rest — alas, that there should be any such! but those that are found unworthy of Eternal Life cannot have Eternal Life — their names must be blotted out of the "Book of Life." "He shall send forth his angels and they shall gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity, and shall cast them into a furnace of fire, and they shall be utterly destroyed;" and there shall henceforth be "one fold and one Shepherd."
It is not according to the Divine method to reveal truth in logical propositions, nor to reveal it all at one time, but only so far and so fast as man can receive and use it. To the most enlightened of the Old Testament saints, many of the facts and principles of the Gospel, that are now clear to the child, were revealed only in the most dim and shadowyoutline. Our Lord said to those who were under His more immediate tuition ; "I have yet many things to say unto you, but you cannot bear them now." We must not expect, even under the clearer light of these "last days," to be able fully to understand and describe that which is peculiar to the dispensation yet to come — the dispensation of an immortal and spiritual life — or to be able to fix the precise and definite meaning of all the many allusions to it in the Scriptures. The inspired writers themselves did not fully comprehend the import of the language they used, and surely, it was not the intention of the Spirit that inspired them, to give to us, even had it been possible, a literal, definite and accurate account of the spiritual and eternal world that lies before us. All we can hope for now, is to be assured, as we are, of its actual existence, to know what are our present and practical relations to it, and to get such glimpses of its excellence and glory, as shall stimulate us to wise endeavors, and cheer our hearts and strengthen our faith in that Adorable Leader, who has undertaken to bring us thither. All this we have in the Word of God. It gives us every assurance we need, of His wisdom, goodness and power ; of the complete victory He will gain over all His foes and our foes, and of the glorious consummation that will finally crown His self- sacrificing work of love.
The celestial Paradise, with its spiritual beauties and glories, and "filled with the fulness of Him that filleth all in all," so graphically described in the closing chapters of the Apocalypse, was typified, and as we believe, meant to be foreshadowed, in the terrestrial Paradise described in the beginning of Genesis, with its earthly beauties and pleasures, where everything according to its nature was very good. The enigmatical address of God to the serpent that had seduced our first parents from their allegiance to Him, we understand to be prophetical of the issue of the struggle he had challenged: "I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed, and it shall bruise (or crush) thy head and thou shalt bruise his heel." His brief career of apparent success, was to be followed by a complete overthrow and utter extinction. The head is the citadel of life; a crushing blow here, as the word implies, is surely fatal, but an injury to the heel may be repaired.
The many promises that God made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, concerning their posterity, and the extermination of all their enemies, and especially the solemn oath He made to Moses: "As surely as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of God," are to be taken, as we believe, in no partial, restricted, temporal sense, but as giving the assurance, that not merely the surface of the earth shall be cleansed and become the habitation of a holy people, but that it shall be cleansed in every part, and that there shall be no dark hadean depths within, its bowels, into which the miserable victims of His wrath shall be thrust, to sin and suffer forever. The book of Psalms is full of promises, more or less explicit, of the glory to come under the reign of Christ. We understand them, not as simply predicting a millennial period that will endure only for a time, but the, establishment of a kingdom that shall never end. His name shall endure forever," "All nations shall call Him blessed," "Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, who only doeth wondrous things; and blessed be His glorious name forever, and let the whole earth be filled with His glory. Amen and Amen." Many of the prophets, especially Isaiah and Ezekiel, describe, in the most glowing terms, the completeness of the victory over all evil, and the fulness of the glory of His universal and perpetual reign. There shall be nothing to hurt or destroy throughout the length and the breadth of His Universal Kingdom; "The ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads; and they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away." "The mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees shall clap their hands." "Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree; instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree; and it shall be to the Lord for a name, and for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off."
The Old Testament closes with a description of the gathering in of God's people, as jewels into His kingdom, and the utter destruction of all the wicked. When He cleanses His threshing floor, it will not be to gather the good wheat into His garner, and to heap up the rubbish that remains, in some dark corner, there to be left to rot and give forth its pestilential stench forever, nor will He cast it into a fire that shall smoulder and fume and smoke, but refuse to consume it. But the day cometh that shall burn as an oven ; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be as stubble; and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of Hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch;" and we believe it.
More especially, in the New Testament this is declared to be the express object of Christ's coming to earth; "that, through death, He might destroy [not imprison and torment — but destroy] him that had the power of death, that is the devil." "For this purpose the Son of God was manifested that He might destroy the works of the devil." What are the works of the devil, but sin, and sorrow, and death? Indeed, Satan is now destroyed in every other sense but that of His personality; what further destruction remains for him than the destruction of his very being? The demons themselves were conscious of their impending fate and cried out, when they saw Jesus: "What have we to do with thee, Jesus thou Son of God ? Art thou come hither to torment us [to bring us to trial and punishment] before the time?" (Matt. 8 : 29); and again, changing the words, but not the thought, "Art thou come to destroy us?" (Luke 4: 34). Peter and Jude both assure us, that they are even now kept in everlasting chains — or chains from which there is no escape — under darkness, unto the judgment of the great day — that day in which they shall be surely and finally destroyed.
This we understand to be the burden of the preaching of John the Baptist, as he went forth, saying, "Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." "And now the axe is laid at the root of the trees, therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire. Whose fan is in his hand and he will thoroughly purge his floor, and gather the wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire."
This is what our Lord Himself taught in His sermon on the mount, and by such parables as that of the tares and the wheat, the drag net, the talents, the weddhig garment, the wise and foolish virgins, and in the scenic representation of the last judgment, when He welcomes into His everlasting kingdom only those who are worthy of eternal life, and consigns the wicked to everlasting punishment, which, we are elsewhere told, is the punishment of "everlasting destruction when the Lord shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ."
Nowhere, in all the Epistles, is there any hint that the conflict now going on between Christ and Satan shall issue in anything short of the complete and utter destruction of this great adversary of God and man, "whom He shall consume with the Spirit of His mouth, and destroy with the brightness of His coming."
Paul, after drawing a parallel between the first and second Adam in the Fifteenth Chapter of First Corinthians, and showing how that which is base must come before that which is pure, and that which is natural, before that which is spiritual, and that which is temporal before that which is eternal, speaks in glowing language of the glorious consummation, when that which is imperfect is done away and that which is perfect is come. In describing the resurrection of the righteous and the glorious bodies they shall take on, his mind is so filled with the theme, that he quite ignores the resurrection of the wicked, which is elsewhere foretold. "Then cometh the end, when He shall have delivered up the kingdom to God even the Father ; when He shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. For He must reign till He hath put all enemies under His feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death."
Peter, in his first Epistle, Chapter 3, describes the com ing of the last day, and the complete destruction of all the wicked in that general conflagration, "when the heavens, being on fire, shall be dissolved, and the earth shall melt with fervent heat," and then he adds, "Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for the new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness." Jude informs us, that even Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these things.
But it is reserved for the last book in the Bible, as we might naturally suppose, and especially for the concluding portion of it, to give us the fullest description of the closing scenes in this earthly drama, and the most perfect picture of the world to come. We will not attempt to follow the course of this wonderful vision, through its scenes of conflict and carnage, and fire and smoke, in which our Lord, now as "the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the Ending, which was, and is, and is to come, the Almighty," and now as "the Lamb of God, which was slain from the foundation of the world," and now as a glorious, conquering "Prince," is described as waging war with the many protean forms of evil, personified under every actual or imaginable symbol or image. The grotesque imagery of beasts with many heads and horns, of dragons belching forth floods of water, of horses breathing fire from their nostrils, of locusts with scorpion stings, of angels flying through the air with vials of wrath, or with sickles, with which to reap the harvest of the earth, which the Seer employs; the impossible figures he introduces, the extravagant language he uses, are such as to defy all logical analysis, or definite and precise application. Nor is this at all necessary to a most clear understanding of the object for which he employs them, and of the truths he intends to express, and of the certain results towards which they all point us, namely: the overthrow and abolishment of all evil and of all opposition, whatever form it may assume, or, however strongly it may be entrenched, and the ultimate reign of righteousness, peace, and love throughout the universal kingdom of God.
We see how the mystical Babylon that had so long held sway is overthrown and consumed by fire, like Sodom of old; how the Beast and the False Prophet, whatever forms of organized evil they may be held to represent, are unceasingly tormented, and then destroyed in "the lake of fire and brimstone," and how, finally, the great Head Center of all this apostasy and iniquity, the Arch Enemy of God and Man, is first bound, for a season, and then when his time is fully come, is judged and destroyed in the same lake of fire with the Beast and the False Prophet.
"Then cometh the end.” The Judge is seated upon His great white throne, and before His face, heaven and earth flee away; the dead, small and great, stand before Him, and the books are opened, and every one is judged according to his works. And another book is opened, which is the book of Life, and whosoever is not found written in the book of life, is cast into the lake of fire prepared for the devil and his angels. This is the Second Deaih. And Death and Hell also are cast into this same all consuming lake of fire, and the old earth itself, with its Sheol, its Hades, its Gehenna, its Tophet, its Tartarus, or by what ever name the place of the abode of the wicked, here confined may be known, is consumed with the visible heavens, in one general conflagration; and the curtain falls upon time and Eternity begins.
Once more, for a little season, it is lifted, and we look in, for a moment, upon the glories of the celestial and eternal world. We see a "new heaven, and a new earth ;"for the first heaven and the first earth are passed away." We see the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, with its jasper walls, and its golden palaces, its- crystal streams, and its trees bearing all manner of precious fruits, and in the midst of all, the Tree of Life again. We see the celestial and glorified inhabitants, clothed in white, with crowns on their heads, and harps in their hands, singing praise unto God. "There shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain, for the former things are passed away." "The Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and lead them unto living fountains of water, and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, and there shall be no night there, and they need no light of a candle, either light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light; and they shall reign forever and ever."
"He which testifieth these things, saith, Surely I come quickly, Amen. Even so come Lord Jesus."
SECTION VI. Misinterpreted Texts; or, Texts Supposed to Teach the Doctrine of Immortality in Sin and Misery.
It would be strange, if among all the many passages of Scripture relating to sin and its fearful consequences; the miseries it brings in this life, and the certain ruin to which it leads, and, especially, those that depict the remediless condition of those who reject the Gospel, some might not be found that could be interpreted so as to seem to favor the doctrine of endless suffering — provided one brings with him to the search, the foregone conclusion that all sinners are immortal. The character of the teachings of the Bible is such; its utterances are expressed in such a variety of ways and connections, and they are so scattered through out the whole volume, that, by taking isolated passages here and there, it is not difficult to make out a plausible case in behalf of any proposition one may wish to argue. Hence, there has never been any notion so wild and misleading, or so contrary to the spirit and tenor of God's Word, that it has not been able, by seeking for it, to find some apparent encouragement in that Word, and to cite its proof texts.
Now, if you grant to the partisans of any doctrine, the license to change the meaning of words that contradict their theory, and to read their own ideas into passages, that do not otherwise express it, and to teach others to do the same, their case must be a very weak one, if they can not build up a Scriptural argument in support of it.
It is admitted by all Biblical scholars, though by many of them with much evident reluctance, that the doctrine of the natural immortality of man is nowhere categorically asserted in the Bible. It must also be admitted, that death is the common lot of all men since the fall, and that the Scriptures most positively'declare, in a great variety of ways, that sin leads inevitably to death; that all sinners shall be destroyed unless they repent; that they shall be punished with everlasting destruction; shall be blotted out of the book of Life, and that the righteous shall have Life everlasting.
But, if those who hold to the Platonic notion of the deathless nature of man, shall be at liberty to say, as they do, that the reason why this doctrine is not asserted in the Scriptures, is because it is too self-evident to need any direct assertion, and that, therefore, the inspired writers assumed it; and if they shall be permitted to change the meaning of these words "death," "destruction," etc., which so flatly contradict their notion, and to take them in that "Scriptural sense," as it is called, which implies only "a sinful, miserable existence," "separation from the favor of God and the joys of heaven," etc., etc.; then, all the many passages that speak of the fearful death that will come upon impenitent sinners in the end of their career, of their being blotted out of the book of life, of their eternal exclusion from heaven, of their punishment with everlasting destruction, of their lamentations, when their hopeless doom shall be pronounced, become available as proof texts of their anti-Scriptural doctrine of eternal sin and suffering.
And what is more, if they shall be allowed, without rebuke, to take all the many texts which promise eternal life to the righteous, and to them only; texts in the Old Testament, in which the ancient saints expressed their hopes of a future life; texts in the New, in which life and immortality are expressly declared to be the gift of God through Jesus Christ, as so many proof texts of the immortality of all men by nature, as these advocates are in the habit of doing, no wonder if they should be able to make some show of a Scriptural argument for their doctrine.
We have already remarked at length, upon the unwarrantable practice of giving a new, "Scriptural sense" to such crucial words as "life," " death," "destruction," etc., to make them accord with this philosophic notion of the deathless nature of man. It has become so habitual and common, that it seems the proper thing to do, in reading the Bible. And religious teachers and commentators employ it, without thinking of the deception they are practicing upon themselves and others. But we cannot but express our astonishment, that apparently honest, Christian men should so deceive themselves and others, as to cite those passages that indicate this distinctive difference between saints and sinners, namely: that the one class have immortality by a new birth, and the other have it not, to prove just the contrary doctrine, that they all are immortal alike; that there is no difference in this respect. But this is what our religious teachers are continually doing. We take up for instance, Simmon's Scripture Manual, which lies on our table, and the Index under the head of "Immortality of the Soul " refers us to these three texts:
John 10:27,28. "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me, and I give unto them (my sheep) eternal life, and they (my sheep) shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of my hand."
Rom. 2:6,7. "Who will render to every man according to his deeds — to them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory, and honor and immortality — eternal life."
2 Tim. 1:10. "But now is made manifest by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel."
Not one of these passages teach the immortality of the natural man, they all actually exclude this idea, and predicate it of the saints only. The immortality of the saints is sufficiently taught in the Bible. It is given in the new birth; it is given through Jesus Christ the Savior; it is given as the special and peculiar gift of God's grace. This is the great doctrine of the Gospel. But it is the immortality of natural men, who are not born again, the immortality of sinners, who are not saved, the immortality of the soul of man whether saved or lost — this is the doctrine in question. There is nothing in the Bible from beginning to end to sustain the doctrine, unless it be perverted, misconstrued and misapplied.
When we consider the efforts that have been made by the scholastics and theologians, and by translators and expounders of the Bible, from the time when this doctrine of Plato first found its way into the church till now, to frame a Scriptural argument for it, and to show by proof texts, that the unsaved will continue to sin and suffer forever, we are astonished, that so few, so very few texts can be found that even seem to admit of this conclusion. The other false doctrines of the Papal Church, most of which we, as Protestants, have discarded, have a show of support, in certain passages of Scripture, and many of them have a much better show than this. There are not a half dozen passages in all the Bible, that would suggest the idea of endless sin and suffering to one who did not bring with him to its reading this thought in his own.mind. Nor will the very few upon which the advocates of this doctrine are accustomed to rely for support, bear a careful examination. It is only by repeating them over and over again, and by ringing changes on certain specious epithets they contain, that their cause is saved from absolute beggary.
Take for example the following familiar passage which is often quoted to help out the rhetoric of those who are trying to describe the torments of hell, and to give as lurid a glare as possible to the picture:
Isaiah 33 : 14. "Who among us shall dwell with devouring fire? Who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?"
The superficial reader may be led to suppose that it refers to the sufferings of a future life, and that they are declared to be unending. But let any intelligent person turn to the chapter from which it is taken, and he will see, that the prophet has no reference whatever to a future state, but merely to those temporal miseries which were incessantly inflicted upon his people, by their enemies. The evident answer to his inquiry even in that case would be: "No one can endure them." It is simply one of those extravagant, impassioned outbursts, of which we have many examples among the prophets of the Old Testament. Other passages might be cited of a like character, but it is not important now to refer to them.
We simply propose in this place to examine the few passages, which honest men of this school are accustomed to quote, in favor of their doctrine. We have already commented on these passages, as they have come in our way, in various places in our chapter on Bible Terminology, and to these comments we would refer the reader. But it may serve the convenience of inquirers to have them brought together here, and briefly examined again.
I.
Daniel 12: 2. "And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt."
We know of but this one solitary text in all the Old Testament, that requires notice in this category, as seeming to favor the doctrine of eternal misery, and this only, because it is mistranslated and misquoted.
This is supposed to refer to the Second Advent of Christ, immediately after "the great tribulation" depicted in the first verse, and as more fully described in Matt. 24:21-30. If so, it evidently describes the First Resurrection — the resurrection of the righteous dead, and not that of the wicked, as our version would lead us to suppose. The learned Mr. Maud, as quoted by Mr. White in his Life in Christ, says: "Dr. Tregelles, who will not be suspected of any heretical bias, with many other Hebrew scholars, translates the passage thus: 'And many from among the sleepers of the dust shall awake; these shall be unto everlasting life; but those [the rest of the sleepers who do not wake at this time] shall be unto shame and everlasting contempt.' The famous Aben Ezra, in his commentary on the chapter, quotes Rabbi Saadias as declaring, that 'those who awake shall be (appointed) to everlasting life, and those who awake not shall be (doomed) to shame and everlasting contempt.'" (p. 171). But, however this may be, the reader will notice how very careful the prophet is in the use of the epithet everlasting, not to say the very thing he is charged with saying. What is it that he declares to be everlasting? It is the life of the righteous, and the "contempt" (or abhorring, as the word is rendered in Is. 66 : 24,) with which they shall regard the memory of the wicked; but, as for the "shame," which the wicked themselves may feel, that is not declared to be everlasting. It is only "shame, AND everlasting contempt."
II.
Matt. 25: 46. "And these shall go away into everlasting punishment; but the righteous into eternal life."
(1) It is probable that Matthew originally wrote his Gospel in Hebrew, and that it was early rendered into the Greek, from which our translation is made. But in the earlier Latin versions, which were probably made from the original Hebrew, we have — not ad supplieium odernum, which answers to the Greek eis kolasin aionion, and to our English version, "everlasting punishment; but — ad ignem aternum, "eternal fire ;" and there is good reason to suppose that this is the true rendering, as this is the phrase elsewhere used. But accepting the common rendering it is to be remarked:
(2) That it is by no means certain that this scene is intended to represent the final judgment of persons, as nothing is said of the resurrection, or of the gathering of individuals, but only of the gathering of the "nations" before our Lord at His coming. It is probable that it ought to be understood, simply as the judgment of the nations at the Second Advent. But accepting it as it is commonly understood, it is further to be remarked:
(3) That the same word, aionios, eternal, is predicated, in the Greek, both of the life of the righteous, and of the punishment of the wicked, and should have been rendered by the same English word in our common version; as it indeed is, in the Revised version. We make this criticism because some are inclined to regard the word "everlasting" as having more strength and force than the word "eternal." But there is evidently meant to be a perfect parallel in the allotments of these two classes.
(4) The word kolasin, "punishment," means something more than simple suffering. It has an objective and administrative sense, which the advocates of the doctrine of everlasting suffering are apt to overlook. There may be the punishment of deprivation, as well as the punishment of stripes. It is the barbarian's notion of punishment to make it consist, as much as possible, in the infliction of positive pain, and of suffering prolonged to the utmost limit; and during the dark ages this was the kind of punishment which it was supposed that God would inflict, and tradition has handed it down to the present day. But under all civilized governments, now existing, punishment is vin-di-ca-tive rather than vin-dic-tive; it is not so much the object of wise and human rulers to see how much agony they can impose upon offenders, and how long they can protract it, but how they can best maintain the authority and majesty of the government. Hence, punishments consist more largely in the deprivation of privileges that otherwise might have been enjoyed, in the deprivation of rights that have been forfeited. Indeed, the highest degree of punishment, or, in other words, "capital punishment," consists in taking away the life of the criminal; and this is done in as summary and painless a manner as possible. So, under the Divine government, the sinner who is cut off from the privilege of eternal life, adjudged as no longer fit to live, blotted out of the book of life, and put to death whether by being consumed, as vile refuse in the fire, or in any other way destroyed utterly, is punished, not merely while he is undergoing the process of destruction, whether it be longer or shorter, but punished with an everlasting punishment. This is just what we understand as the meaning of the sentence here pronounced.
(5) The contrast here is not between the joys of the righteous and the sufferings of the wicked, as is so often asserted by those who hold to the endless conscious existence of both parties; but between their respective allotments; they are final, irreversible, eternal in both cases. To the one, it is the boon of Everlasting Life; to the other, the punishment of everlasting destruction.
III.
Mark 3: 28,29. "All sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, and blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme — but he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation."
(1) The Greek text of this passage varies in different manuscripts; some read aionion kriseds, others, aionion koolasios, both signifying eternal judgment, or punishment, or damnation, as in our common version; other texts which are supposed to be more authoritative, have aionion amartematos, eternal sin, and so it is rendered in the Revised version. So Tischendorf renders it — " is guilty of (chargeable with) an eternal sin." It should here be remarked, that not only this passage, but all the principal passages relied on to sustain this doctrine of eternal suffering, bear evidence of having been early tampered with. This we shall have especial occasion to notice again.
(2) Those who hold to the idea of a future probation, and the restoration of some sinners during an intermediate state, think they find an implication to this effect, in this passage, and in a few others of like import. But surely there is no implication or hint of eternal suffering here. It is not, "guilty," or chargeable of eternally sinning, but of an "eternal sin," eternal in its consequences, one that is never forgiven, but inevitably brings eternal destruction.
(3) There is another passage of somewhat similar import, to which we perhaps should refer in this connection, namely:
John 3:36. "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life; and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life ; but the wrath of God abideth on him."
That the wrath of God abideth on sinners, as long as they continue to sin, is no doubt true, and if they live to sin forever, then His wrath, no doubt, abideth on them forever. But this is just the point in dispute. There is no such assertion here, nor even an implication to this effect. It is only as one assumes that they do live forever, and reads this idea into this passage, that it seems to have any bearing on the question.
The word (meno) abide, evidently has its limitation in the object of which it is predicated. It occurs very frequently in the Scriptures — Mary " abode " with Elizabeth three months; Christ "abode " with Zaccheus over night; "Erastus abode at Corinth," — how long we are not told, but not necessarily forever. We are however told, that "He that doeth the will of God (meno eis ton aidna) abideth forever. But it is not said that those who do not believe on the Son of God abide forever, nor that the wrath of God abideth on them forever. But, on the contrary, we are expressly told, that the believers only have everlasting life, and that the unbelievers shall not have it.
IV.
Mark 9 : 43-50. " If thy hand offend thee, cut it off; it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched ; [where the worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched.] 45. And if thy foot offend thee, cut it off; it is better for thee to enter halt into life, than having two feet, to be cast into hell, [into the fire that never shall be quenched, where the worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.] 47. And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out; it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into hell [fire]. 48. Where the worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched."
(1) Before considering the meaning of this passage, it would be desirable, if possible, to but this is probably hopeless ; for this passage, like the others, that relate to the doom of the wicked, has undergone so many changes at the hands of transcribers, translators, and others, and this work was begun so early, that it is by no means certain how it originally read. But the best scholars agree in considering the clauses, which we have included in brackets, to be spurious, and they are omitted in our Revised version. These additions were made, probably with no purpose of changing the meaning of the text — nor, indeed, do they change it essentially — but with the pious (?) endeavor to make it express more fully and emphatically the sentiment which these manipulators had in their own minds. Indeed, King James' translators seem to have joined them in this effort ; for they have interpolated a little prophecy of their own into the text concerning the unquenchable fire. They have said, on their own authority, it " never shall be quenched !" The text
from which they translated' reads, eis to pur ton asbeston, into the fire that is unquenchable or irrepressible. And this is the way in which these words are rendered else
where. Asbestos is composed of two parts, a privative and sbestos from sbennumi, " to quench," " extinguish," or "repress," and it no more means never shall be quenched, than
aoratos, unseen, invisible, means " never shall be seen or be visible."
(2) The word here rendered " hell," is Gehenna, the name of that valley outside of the walls of Jerusalem into which dead carcasses and the offal of the city were cast, to be consumed by the fires that were kept constantly burning, and by devouring worms. It was not a place of torture for the living, but a place for the consumption of whatever was vile and offensive. It was not even a place of punishment, excepting so far as it was the ignominous disposal of the carcasses of those who were not considered worthy even of a burial. Hence the word Gehenna, became a synonym of the most ignominious kind of destruction — destruction by fire and by worms. Our Lord is to be understood as teaching, that it is better to part with whatever is the most dear, as regards the body, than to be led by it to utter ruin.
(3) As to " the worm that dieth not," reference is here made to the passage in Isaiah 66 : 23, 24, which we have heretofore commented on, where similar language is used with respect to the miserable destruction of the carcasses of the enemies of God's ancient people. But those who insist on using this reference, not as the symbol of the sure and fearful destruction of the wicked, but of their eternal torment, find these figures too gross and revolting for their purpose, and so they say — by whose authority no one can tell — that this unquenchable fire means a tormenting con science that is never quieted, and this worm that dieth not, means the gnawing conscience that never dies, and this conceit has been handed down from one religious teacher to another, and so often repeated, that it is regarded by many as the real orthodox teaching, of the Bible.
(4) Here we cannot but notice their inconsistency in the use of this word die. They use it in two different and opposite senses in the same connection. When predicated of the worm, they give it its natural meaning, not of being miserable, but of ceasing to be; but when predicated of man, it is made to mean just the reverse, to be miserable and to continue to be miserable forever, and not ceasing to be.
This is the kind of exegesis by which these advocates endeavor to sustain the doctrine of eternal sin and suffer ing. And this they claim as one of their strongest proof texts!
V.
But the Parable of The Rich Man and Lazarus.
Luke 16 : 19-31, is their main reliance for the support of this doctrine. It enters into all their arguments on this question. It is present first, and foremost, and last, and midway, and constitutes a good part of the warp and woof of all of them. It is thought to furnish the materials for answering all objections, and silencing all cavils. It is taken for granted, by all who have been educated into this belief, that our Lord intended to teach by this parable, the doctrine of future endless torment. It furnishes the materials, by the help of a lively imagination and fervid rhetoric, for a most fearful picture of the never-ending agonies of the lost in the world of despair. It has been employed as the theme of more terrific discourses, and exhortations, and appeals, than, perhaps, any other portion of Scripture. And yet, when one carefully and honestly examines it, he can find neither in the text, nor in the context, any good reason to believe that it was intended to teach anything whatever on this subject. It had altogether another pur pose, as we shall see:
(1) That it is a parable, a prophetic parable, and not a historical or biographical sketch, is quite evident. It must then be treated as a parable, and understood as a parable. Its metaphors, its scenic representations, its personce, are not to be taken as real, but as suppositional. Much less, can one take certain portions of it — such, for instance, as may suit his purpose — as actual, and reject other portions — such as he cannot well use — as unreal. No parable can be explained in this way; or rather, if one is allowed to accommodate a parable to his purpose, by such practices, he ought to be able to prove anything he may please, by ingeniously manipulating it.
(2) The place in which this scene is laid is entirely sup positional, ideal, imaginary, and meant to be so. It is supposed to be in the Hadean world. It is not in Gehenna that place of fire into which the wicked are elsewhere represented in Scripture as being cast after the judicial sentence shall be pronounced upon them ; but in Hades, that hidden place of darkness and silence, as it is everywhere else represented to be in the Word of God, into which all men go — both the good and the bad — at death. But the parable is made to accord with the notions of those to whom it is given. They had very generally adopted the heathen notion of a ghostly state, into which all men are supposed to go at death. Our Lord constructed His parable to suit their notions as He did His other parables, without any design of endorsing or opposing them. In the parable, for instance, immediately preceding this, of the calculating, tricky steward* whose shrewdness in making friends of the "mammon of unrighteousness " his lord commended, Christ is not to be cited as recommending this sort of sharp practice, in- our business dealings with each other. It was directed to another point entirely ; and so we might say of His other parables. It is not the drapery of a parable, nor the materials of which it is composed, but the moral that is to be regarded.
(3) There is nothing in the symbolism and circumstances of this parable that corresponds with the Scriptural representations of the future state, given us in all other parts of the Bible. Nothing whatever is said of the moral character of the two principal persons in this drama — of the Rich Man, whom tradition, not Christ, has named " Dives," because he was rich, and of Lazarus, a very common Jewish name, meaning without help. It is quite common to hear the former spoken of, as proud, sensual, miserly, and every way corrupt ; and the latter, as humble, patient, prayerful and pure in heart. Indeed, it is not possible to adapt this parable to the purposes of those who use it to represent the future misery of the wicked and the future bliss of the righteous, unless the one is shown to be a very bad man, and the other a very good man. But they are obliged to draw entirely upon their imaginations for all this. They cannot find one hint in the words of our Lord, to show that the poor man was one whit better than the rich man. He was simply poor and suffering, and beggarly, and it might have been — as is usually the case — on account of his vices ; and the other was rich and supplied with every thing to administer to his earthly happiness, and, for ought we know to the contrary, as good as any other rich man.
After these two men are dead, as represented in the parable, we find them still having bodies, and this, too, with out any resurrection ; and what is more, the rich man has five brethren still alive upon the earth. Of course, this could not be after this world had passed away, and the eternal state had commenced ; and still further, Lazarus was in Abraham's bosom, not with Christ, in heaven, where the redeemed will be. Nor does it accord with the representations of Scripture, that the saved and the lost should be within speaking distance of each other. In short, it is contrary to reason, as well as Scripture, to suppose that our Lord intended, by this parable, to teach anything concerning the rewards of the righteous and punishments of the wicked in a future life. The context, as well as the text itself, shows that He had a different end in view.
(4) What, then, did He mean to teach by this Parable ? It is one of a series of parables, spoken in the hearing of ¦ the arrogant and self-righteous Scribes and Pharisees, in which our Lord sets forth the Divine displeasure towards them for their pride, ingratitude, and unfaithfulness, in view of the high and peculiar privileges they had enjoyed, and God's kind regard for those whom they despised as unworthy of their consideration.
Heavenly favors had been bestowed upon them in great abundance. They were rich in this respect, in comparison with the Gentile world around them. They looked upon the people of other nations with contempt. They called them dogs. They prided themselves as being the children of Abraham, and heirs of the promises, to the exclusion of all other people. They regarded themselves as the special favorites of heaven, and other people, as aliens and out casts, and worthy only to eat the crumbs that should fall from their tables. They supposed it would always be so. Our Lord intended to show them by this parable how completely their condition, and that of those whom they now so much despised, would be reversed. It is a Prophetic Parable, and no prophecy of Scripture has been more exactly fulfilled than this. They have died as a nation, and lost all their high privileges and possessions. The very land they once possessed has gone from them. They have no country on earth that they can call their own. They are despised, deprived of their rights, oppressed, and persecuted in all lands. No people, not even the Africans, have suffered for so long ages, in this respect, more severely than the Jews. The Gentiles, on the other hand, have taken possession of their country, and entered into their high privileges. They have inherited the promises made to the children of Abraham. They are this day, as it were, in Abraham's bosom, and in the enjoyment of ten thousand temporal and spiritual blessings. There is, as it were, a "great gulf fixed " between these Jews and all other peoples. They do not intermarry or intermingle as the people of other nationalities do. The line of separation between them and all other people, has been wonderfully, miraculously preserved, and they remain after two thousand years a distinct people to this day. They are also still obstinate in their unbelief. Missionary labors have been less successful among them, than among any other people. Indeed, it may well be said : " If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead;" for they still have Moses and the prophets; and Jesus Christ Himself, one of their own nation, and one of whom Moses and the prophets so evidently testified, has risen from the dead and they will not believe on Him.
But we need not draw out the parallel into other specifications, though it might be done. No one should attempt to extort special meanings, from all the details of any parable, after its general scope and bearing have been made manifest, as we cannot but think have been in the present case.
How long this state of Jewish wretchedness is to continue, the parable does not tell us. That it is an eternal state there is no evidence whatever to believe. This is one of the ideas which has been imported into it, by that spiritualistic theology, which would make it descriptive of the eternal separation of the righteous and the wicked in the spiritual world. But we are encouraged to believe from numerous other prophecies, that God will yet have mercy upon Israel ; that when the fulness of the Gentiles shall have come in, He will restore them to favor and abundantly bless them.
VI. THE APOCALYPSE.
We find nothing else, in the New Testament, that requires notice in this connection, till we come to the book of Revelation, where, in the mystical and metaphorical description of the final destruction of Babylon, and the Beast and the False Prophet, two or three clauses occur, which, if taken literally, may be used to give an apparent support to the doctrine of endless torment.
This is confessedly the most difficult part of the Word of God to interpret and understand. It has perhaps had more commentators, than any other part of the Bible, and yet, no two of them are agreed in their explanation of its incongruous allegories ; its perpetually changing figures ; its phantasmagorical images ; its unnatural combination of types and symbols, and its intense and intentionally extravagant language. We certainly do not profess to be wise enough to tell just what and how much is meant, by all that is shadowed forth in this vision or dream of the Seer. But we accept it — notwithstanding the doubt that some have attempted to throw over its canonicity — as a part of the Divine Revelation God has given us, and as a fitting close to the whole volume of His inspired teachings. We believe it contains many truths which the unlearned may understand, and from which any teachable soul may de rive spiritual profit. But in trying to decipher the mean ing of any part of it, one should remember, that it is quite unique in its character ; it is neither sober history, nor sober prophecy ; it is neither didactic prose, nor poetry, nor was it intended to be so taken, but rather as a vision or dream, as it really is — a dramatic representation of what John saw, while in a trance in the isle of Patmos — a panoramic view of the leading events in the future history of the world, to the end of time, or rather, of the age or cycle of time through which this world is now passing, and, especially, of the great last struggle between Christ and His enemies ; and the final victory He gains over them. We contend that its imagery, of word painting and hieroglyphics, is not to be taken in the same way as we are to take the sober, plain, didactic utterances of the Gospels and the Epistles. We protest against the practice, so common with many advocates of this doctrine, of taking half an image in a figurative, and half of it in a literal sense, just because it best suits their purpose to do so ; and of
picking out here and there, from the midst of a dramatic scene, such words and sentences, and bits of sentences, as can be made to fit into their dogma, and calling them "proof texts," while their connection is quite disregarded, and all modifying circumstances are ignored.
The first passage describes in brief, the fall and destruction of Babylon and the Beast. This has generally been supposed by Protestants, to represent the overthrow of the Papacy. She had " made all the nations drunk with the wine of her wrath," and now, her votaries, in turn, are made to " drink of the wine of God's wrath."
14 : 8-11. "And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication ; and the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in hia hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixtures, into the cup of His indignation ; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone, in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb ; and the smoke of their torment ascendeth up forever and ever (eis aidnat aionon, unto ages of ages) ; and they have no rest day nor night who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name."
It should be noticed that this figurative language is apparently quoted from Isaiah 34 : 9, 10, where almost precisely the same words are used with respect to the destruction of Idumea. "And the streams thereof shall be turned into pitch, and the dust thereof into brimstone, and the land thereof shall become burning pitch. It shall not be quenched night nor day ; the smoke thereof shall go up for ever and ever ; from generation to generation, it shall lie waste ; none shall pass through it forever and ever."
In the following chapters, a more detailed account is given of the destruction of this mystical Babylon, John is shown how " her plagues shall come in one day, death, mourning and famine ; and she shall be utterly burned with fire ; and how the kings and merchants, and ship-masters, and those who have committed fornication with her and traded with her, shall bewail and lament her." Then, to further indicate the completeness of her destruction, " a mighty angel took up a stone, like a great mill-stone, and cast it into the sea, saying : ' Thus, with violence, shall that great city Babylon be thrown down and shall be found no more at all.' "
19 : 1-4. "And after these things I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, saying, Alleluia, Salvation, and glory, and honor, and power, unto the Lord our God ; for true and righteous are His
judgments, for He hath judged the great whore, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication and hath avenged the blood of His servants al her hand. And again they said, Alleluia, and her smoke rose up forever and ever (unto the ages of the ages).
Then, the marriage supper of the Lamb is described ; and after this, the Lamb, under another designation, comes riding out of heaven on a white horse, with his garments dipped' in blood. " Out of His mouth goeth a sharp sword, and many crowns are on His head. His eyes are like a flame of fire. A mighty host follow Him, all in white linen and on white horses, and He smites the nations and rules them with a rod of iron, and treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God." Then an angel is seen, standing in the Sun, and he cries with a loud voice, saying, to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, " Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God." After this John sees the Beast combining with the kings of the earth, and gathering a mighty host to make war against Him who sits on the white horse.
19 : 20, 21. "And the Beast was taken and with him the False Prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the Beast and them that worshiped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake burning with fire and brimstone. And the Remnant were slain with the sword of Him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of His mouth, and all the fowls were filled with their flesh."
The reader will bear in mind that this vision is intended to describe, in shadowy outlines, events taking place — not in some future state, but in this world, in which we now live — events occurring, perhaps, in our day, at any rate, previous to what is called the Millennium.
We have seen how complete has been the destruction of the two great evils, or organized systems of evil personified by the Beast and the False Prophet, that have withstood the progress of the Gospel. There yet remains another obstacle to be removed, before the universal reign of Christ on earth shall begin. "The Dragon, that Old Serpent, which is the Devil and Satan," must be taken out of the way, for a season, but not yet exterminated. The time for that, has not yet come. But he is to be bound ; and now John sees an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit — or rather the (abussos) abyss — and a great chain in his hand, and he lays hold of this monster, and binds him, for a thousand years, and casts him into the abyss, and shuts him up, and sets a seal upon him, that he shall not deceive the nations any more, till the thousand years shall be fulfilled ; and after that he must be loosed for a little season.
"The First Resurrection " now takes place, whatever may be understood by that. The souls of the martyrs are raised, and they live and reign with Christ on earth during these thousand years. Then Satan is loosed out of prison for a little season. There is a general outburst of wickedness. God and Magog are gathered together, in number as the sands of the sea, in battle array. They compass the camp of the saints, and the beloved city. Fire comes down from God out of heaven, and devours them — that is, all these wicked hosts; but their diabolical leader is reserved for particular wrath.
20 : 10. " The Devil that deceived them (those who have been devoured by fire), was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where are (or, where were cast before the millennium) the Beast and the False Prophet, and shall (like them also) be tormented day and night forever (unto the ages of the ages)."
It should be noted that the Greek phrases eis aidnas aimidn, rendered in our common version "forever and ever ;" but in the margin of the revision " unto ages of ages" (14 : 11), and eis tous aidnas ton aionion, rendered "forever and ever;" but in the margin of the revision, "unto the ages of the ages," in the above passage, are variously rendered in other parts of the Bible. The noun aion, occurs nearly one hundred times in the New Testament. In forty or more of these instances, il is so evidently used, in a limited sense, as a time word, that it has been trans lated "world," "this world," "the world to come," "before the world," " while the world standeth," " ages," " ages to come," etc. Five times in the Gospel of Matthew it is . translated in our common version "world," and with sun-teleia, " the end of the world," and by the Revisers in the margin, " age," " the consummation of the age." It might just as well, and better, have been so rendered in these two passages under consideration (14 : 11 and 20 : 10), for this is just what it means. It is evidently a time word, and is predicated of events that have their consummation in time, as we shall see by what follows.
How soon, or how long after the Beast and the False Prophet and the Devil were cast into this lake of fire to be tormented to the consummation of ihe ages, the second or general resurrection and the judgment take place, we are not told. But this consummation, or end, is to come. Barnes says, in his notes on this passage : " It is possible that there will be a long period of continued prosperity and peace between the events stated in verses 9 and 10, and the final judgment as described in the verses immediately following."
Now we have the final act in this great drama:
20 -. 11-15. "And I saw a great white throne, and Him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was no place found for them. And I saw the dead small and great stand before God, and the books were opened ; and another book was opened which is the book of life ; and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades delivered up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every man according to their works. And death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the Second Death. And whosoever was not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire."
Thus, as in a panorama, the closing scenes in this earthly drama have rapidly passed before us. First, that great city mystically called Babylon is overthrown, and, with her votaries, tormented as with fire and brimstone through out the long ages, like Idumea of old, whose burning it was said "should not be quenched night nor day, and the smoke thereof shall go up forever and ever;" and like "Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them ; which are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire," (or rather "as an exa;riple of eternal fire, suffering punishment ") Jude 7. But the final destruction is so complete, as we are afterwards told, that " she is utterly burned with fire," and "shall be found no more at all."
Then the Beast and the False Prophet — whatever organized systems of evil they may represent — " are both taken and cast alive into the lake, burning with fire and brimtone." And the Remnant " — Who are they ? — "are slain with the sword of Him that sat upon the horse," "and all the fowls are filled with their flesh."
After this, Satan, alias the Devil, alias the Dragon, alias the Old Serpent, is seized and bound and locked up in the abyss for a thousand years.
Then comes the First Resurrection, which is followed by the happy reign of the saints with Christ on the earth during all this period. But at the end of this millennium, Satan is again loosed for a little season, and, as he gathers his hosts to wage war with the people of God, "fire comes down from God out of heaven and devours them." But Satan himself is reserved for a more fearful destruction. Like the Beast and the False Prophet a thousand years before, he is cast into the lake of fire and brimstone to be tormented for long ages — even, as it would appear, to the consummation of the age.
And now — after how long an interval, we cannot tell the last great act in this earthly drama is shown us. The Judge appears seated on His great white throne; the books are opened ; the dead are raised and judged according to their works ; and all whose names are not written in the "Book of Life " are cast into the lake of fire. Death and Hades also, are cast into the same lake of fire. This is the Second Death. The earth and the heavens flee away, and there is no place left for them.
It would seem to be impossible in any form of language, or of figure, to describe, or affirm more positively, the complete and final destruction and extermination of all evil, and all systems of evil, and of all evil agencies, than is foretold in these closing chapters of this Divine Revelation. Why ! not merely Satan, the great (anthrdpoktonos) man-killer, but all his works, and death itself, and the very prison house in which he and his hosts have been confined — for there is now no more use for it — are all destroyed, burned up with fire, and this old earth, which has been the theater of the fall of man, and of his redemption, 'and of the long struggle between good and evil, and the victory, too, of the Son of God, now passes away, and gives place to the new heaven and the new earth, where neither -sin, nor sorrow, nor death shall ever be known, " for the former things have passed away."
This same great consummation is vividly described in 2 Pet. 3 : 7-13. " But the heavens and the earth, which are now, are kept in store reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men — in which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat ; the earth also, andthe works that are therein shall be burned up. Nevertheless, we, according to His promise, look for new heavens
and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness."
We need to be at no loss to understand the general truth taught by this book. That it was given to comfort and encourage the hearts of the people of God, during the many trials that would come upon them, during this long struggle, and to assure them of the glorious issue of all these conflicts in the complete triumph of Christ and Hia followers, and the final destruction of all evil, is quite evident. No doubt, it was given in the form best adapted to all the purposes for which it was intended. It was not designed to be a didactic or doctrinal treatise, like some of the Epistles, or the discourses of our Lord. It was not intended that we should reduce its language to logical proportions, or define with precision its dramatic imagery, and bring all the details of this panorama into place, as we would the events of sober history ; certainly not, while in the midst of the scenes it is describing to us, no man but a fool is wise enough to do this. Nor will any sane man (unless he has a theory to maintain, and then it is impossible to say what he will not do) think of analyzing the wine of wrath, that is said to be poured out, or of inquiring as to the shape of the cup, into which it is said to be poured, or the quality and cut of the robes which Christ and his followers are said to wear, or of criticising the anatomy of the grotesque figures that appear in these scenes. No sober man will undertake to prove from the language here employed, that our Lord actually rides on a white horse, with a sharp sword in his mouth, or that an angel stands in the Sun, or throws a great stone into the sea, or that there is, somewhere, a bottomless pit fitted with lock and key, and that an angel will bring the key in one hand, with which to open the door, and a chain in the other, with which to bind the old serpent, that he may cast him into it and lock him up for a thousand years, or that there is an actual lake of fire and brimstone, where there are myriads of millions of human beings writhing in torture without being consumed, in the presence of the holy angels and the Lamb, while the smoke of their torment ascendeth up before them forever and ever — not merely to the end of time, but throughout all the eternal future.
And yet, strange to say, we find pious, and otherwise rational men, so blinded by this dogma, and so pressed for arguments to support it, eagerly catching up such figures and phrases of this vision as will suit their purposes, and parading them as so many proof texts of the doctrine of eternal sin and misery. They freely allow the unreal character of most of these images and phantasms — those for which they have no special use — but they hesitate not to pick out the "fire" and "brimstone," and the "smoke" and the " torment," and the words " forever and ever " (erroneously translated) from the mass of other symbols, and apply them to — what ? not merely to the personifications of evil described, but to living men, women, and children like themselves. They insist that all other texts occurring in the didactic, doctrinal and legal parts of God's Word, which speak of " Life " ahd " Death," etc., should have a metaphorical and not a Uteral sense 'given to them ; but now, when they come to that part of His Word that is altogether metaphorical, they insist on giving a strictly literal sense to such fragmentary portions of it as will suit their dogma. But what is still more strange and inconsistent, they are not content with giving them a full and literal application to the things of time and sense, to which they belong — for they are evidently used with reference to events transpiring on this earth previous to the consummation of all things — but they must wrest them from their terrestrial and temporal connection, and carry them over into the spiritual world, where, the Scriptures tell us, there are no such material agencies, no more succession of day and night, no more pain, no more death, in order to prove that there is pain there, and death, and a lake of fire and brimstone, and that the wicked are still writhing there, and will writhe, in unutterable hopeless agony, having no rest day nor night ; while the smoke of their torment ascendeth up before the eyes of the redeemed forever and ever!
We believe that a more entire perversion of God's Word, a more complete reversal of its decided and uniform testimony, from beginning to end, could not be perpetrated.
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