THE NEW TESTAMENT ON ENDLESS TORMENT by Dudley Marvin Canright

Seventh-Day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Thursday, April 15, 1880

FromAdvent Review and Sabbath Herald, Vol. 55, No. 16

THE NEW TESTAMENT ON ENDLESS TORMENT.

By Dudley Marvin Canright

BY ELD. D. M. CANRIGHT.

(Concluded)

8. “The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture 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: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.” Rev. 14:10, 11.

The whole objection in this passage turns upon the meaning of “forever and ever.” It is maintained by our opponents that it must necessarily mean unending, and cannot mean anything else. We as stoutly maintain that it does often mean a limited period of time, and we find in this case that it does not mean without end. We might quote scores of passages where the term in the English Bible and in the original is applied, as all will admit, to a limited time. We will take a few. In Ex. 21:5, 6, we have an account of a certain bondman who loved his master so much that he wished to stay with him always. In that case the Lord says that his master “shall bore his ear through with an awl, and he shall serve him forever.” We ask our opponents if the term “forever” does not here mean a limited period? It simply means that as long as the servant should live, he was to serve his master. And this is a good illustration of the equivocal meaning of that term. Now that servant might live after this fifty years. In that case the term “forever” would cover a period of fifty years. On the other hand, he might die the next day, and then the term “forever” would cover but one day. This all must admit.

Take another case. Lev. 25:30. Here the Lord says: “Then the house which is in the walled city shall be established forever to him that bought it.” That is, if a man bought a house on certain conditions, it was to be his forever. Does the Lord mean that he was to own that throughout eternity? Everybody knows better. It is to be his for his natural lifetime, and no longer.

So in the case of Jonah, who was in the whale’s belly three days and three nights, and yet when he comes up, he says: “The earth with her bars was about me forever.” Jonah 2:6. Jonah exclaims that he was there forever, and yet was there only three days. But we have another passage almost exactly parallel to that in Rev. 14, where all must admit that the same terms have a limited meaning. Let us notice the special phrase used in Revelation. The wicked are to be tormented with fire and brimstone; the smoke of their torment is to ascend up forever; they are to have no rest day nor night. Now turn to Isa. 34, where the Lord foretold the destruction of Idumea, a land near to Judea. We have these same phrases employed here. Thus he says: “The Lord hath a sacrifice in Bozrah, and a great slaughter in the land of Idumea.” Verse 6. “And the streams thereof shall be turned into pitch, and the dust thereof into brimstone, and the land thereof shall become burning pitch.” Verse 9.

When this is fulfilled, pitch and brimstone set on fire, we shall certainly have fire and brimstone, the same as in Revelation. “It shall not be quenched night nor day.” Here we have unquenchable fire, and the expression “day and night,” also. “The smoke therefore shall go up forever.” Here we have the same thing. “It shall not be quenched night nor day; the smoke thereof shall go up forever; from generation to generation it shall lie waste; none shall pass through it forever and ever.” Verse 10.

You will see that this passage is fully as strong as that in Revelation; and yet in this case it is simply a prediction concerning the destruction of all the land of Idumea. This was all accomplished ages ago, and that country was laid desolate; but is the fire now burning? No. Hence if God could destroy Idumea with fire and brimstone, the smoke of which was to go up forever and ever, and yet that be a total destruction and the fire go out, then God can do the same with the wicked. Therefore we maintain that in Revelation 14, “forever and ever” has a limited meaning. We do not know how long the wicked may be in burning up, whether it will be an hour, a day, or a year. It will be very severe and long drawn out. But we certainly know that it will not be unending; for other scriptures say that they shall “die,” “perish,” “burn to ashes,” “be as though they had not been,” etc.

But the opposer says, Then if the phrase “forever and ever” does not necessarily mean unending, how do we know that the righteous will live an unending life? How do we know that God himself will live eternally? for the same phrase is applied to the saints of God, to Heaven, and to all these things. The answer is readily given. The simple words “forever and ever” do not in themselves necessarily contain the idea of unending duration. We must look at the circumstances under which they are used, and the nature of the thing to which they are applied. In the case of the wicked, the expression is applied to that which is corruptible, mortal, hateful to God, that which is thrown into the fire, and of which it is declared it shall utterly perish. Hence in this case these words cannot reasonably be taken to mean unending. But in the case of God himself, for instance, the circumstances are very different. Other texts positively declare that God is immortal, eternal, almighty, omniscient, and from everlasting to everlasting; that he is the source of all life and strength: hence when applied to God, unlimited duration is meant. So of the saints. It is said of them that they shall be immortal, and have an endless life, neither can they die any more; and all such phrases. And then the situation in which they are placed, freed from disease, having right to the tree of life, placed in the midst of the heavenly city; they of necessity must live eternally. We think that every candid reader must see the difference. It is by ignoring such plain distinctions as these, that our opponents make out their desperate case.

9. “And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night forever and ever.” Rev. 20:10.

This is the ninth and last text for our opponents. It declares that the devil shall be tormented in the lake of fire forever and ever. Now we can answer this very briefly. The whole controversy turns on the meaning of the phrase “forever and ever,” as in the case just examined. Hence, all that we have said on that text applies with equal force to this. Notice further that this text declares that the devil is to be burned in the same lake of fire with the wicked. See Matt. 25:41: “Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.” Having previously answered this text, it answers the one now under consideration; because the devil goes into the same fire with the wicked. We admit that the expression “forever and ever” may signify a very long time. The devil is a very bold and hardened sinner. His case will be a desperate one, hence his punishment will be very severe and protracted; but it nowhere says that his sufferings shall be unending. It is never declared that he is indestructible, immortal, or anything of the kind; but Paul affirms that the devil is finally to be destroyed. Heb. 2:14. He says that Jesus Christ was partaker of flesh and blood, “that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil.”

Thus we have examined every pillar upon which this structure of eternal torment is built. We have found that they do not support the theory. Here, then, are all the texts upon which this terrible doctrine of a never-ending hell has been built. There are only nine of them, and we maintain that every one has been candidly and fairly answered. Can those on the other side answer the scores of texts which support this view of the destruction of the wicked? No; they never have, and never can.