“For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God; and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?” 1 Pet. 4:17.
It is at once evident that Peter was not very well versed in modern theological phrases; for if he had been, he would have asked, not, “What shall the end” of the wicked be? but, “What shall their future life be?” for theologians now tell us that the wicked will never have an end, but will live on to all eternity. But it seems never to have entered Peter’s mind that the wicked would have no end. His only inquiry was what that end should be.
We might turn to Heb. 6:8, or Phil. 3:18, 19, and answer his question directly; but would the people receive it? No; they would evade it by saying that it was to be taken figuratively or spiritually. I am sometimes tempted to liken this generation to a flock of wild sheep. If you boldly approach them, to salt them, they will immediately become frightened, and run off. You must first build a fence on two sides of a field in the form of a triangle, drive them into it, and then close up behind them. Now you can feed them your salt, and finally tame them. So it is with the people. It will not avail anything to come up to them squarely, with a “thus saith the Lord;” for they will spiritualize it if you do. You must lay out your arguments so as to get them to yield point after point, till they find themselves in a corner; then you can array the truth before them, and they cannot dodge it. Let us try this course on the question before us. The first side of the fence which we will build, is,
*I. That the wicked do not receive their punishment till the day of judgment.** Peter declares this when he says, “The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptation, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished.*” 2 Pet. 2:9. This is plain and to the point. It leaves no place for a quibble. The wicked are reserved to the day of judgment to be punished. Then they are not receiving their punishment in hell now. Again, he states the same fact in chap. 3:7. After saying that the old world perished by a flood, he says: “But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.” Here we learn again that at “the day of judgment” will be “the perdition of ungodly men.” Job bears the same testimony. He says: “Have ye not asked them that go by the way? and do ye not know their tokens, that the wicked is reserved to the day of destruction? they shall be brought forth to the day of wrath.” Job 21:29, 30.
Peter and Job both agree that the wicked are “reserved” to the day of judgment or destruction. But where are they kept in reserve? The Catholic would answer, “In purgatory,” a sort of antechamber to hell. The Protestant, ridiculing the idea of a purgatory, is compelled to contradict the Scriptures just as far, and say that the wicked are not reserved at all, but go directly into hell when they die. But we see that they are reserved; and now the question is, Where are they kept? Job continues: “They shall be brought forth to the day of wrath.” Yet shall he be brought to the grave, and shall remain in the tomb. The clods of the valley shall be sweet unto him, and every man shall draw after him, as there are innumerable before him.” Job 21:29–32.
Thus we see that the wicked are reserved in the tomb, to be brought forth at the day of judgment. This agrees with the testimony of Jesus: “Marvel not at this; for the hour is coming, to the which all that are in the graves shall hear His voice, and shall come forth.” John 5:28, 29. In Rev. 20:12, we have a description of the judgment; and verse 13 says: “And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell [grave, margin] delivered up the dead which were in them; and they were judged every man according to their works.” Thus the fact is taught throughout, that the dead are in their graves till the day of judgment. So Dan. 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.”
In Rev. 20, we learn that there are to be a thousand years between the resurrection of the righteous and the wicked; and also that the wicked do not receive their punishment till after their resurrection at the end of the thousand years. Thus, “they [the saints] lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.” How is it with the wicked? Where are they? The next verse tells: “But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection; on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.” Here, then, we see that the rest of the dead, i. e., the wicked, are not alive during the thousand years; but are, as Job says, “remaining in the tomb.” At the end of that thousand years comes their punishment. “And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle; the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city; and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.” Verses 7–9.
Thus I think that we have proved conclusively that “the unjust are reserved unto the day of judgment to be punished.” 2 Pet. 2:9. Where is it said to the contrary235? When is the text that says sinners are punished before the judgment? Not an intimation of that kind is anywhere given. Indeed, it would be unreasonable to punish men thousands of years before they were judged. Hence this part of the fence is firmly built. But if any should deem it not strong enough yet, it can be strengthened to any required degree, from Matt. 13; 2 Thess. 1 and 2; Mal. 4; etc., etc.
The second line of fence that we shall build, is,
*II. That the wicked shall receive their punishment on this earth.*** Those who hold the doctrine of an eternal hell, are never able to give its location. Their idea of it is, however, that it is a vast, bottomless lake of fire, somewhere on the outskirts of all creation, where the damned writhe in torment and misery to all eternity, gnashing their teeth, cursing God, and sending up groans and wailings, amid the shouts and horrid yells of devils and demons.
But does the Bible leave us in all this uncertainty on so important a point as this? We think not. Thus we read in Prov. 11:31: “Behold, the righteous shall be recompensed in the earth; much more the wicked and the sinner.”
Universalists grasp at this text, and say to the orthodox, “If the wicked receive their punishment on the earth, they will certainly be on an equal footing with the righteous when they leave this earth.” With the theory that the wicked receive no punishment on the earth, except what they receive in this life, I know not how this conclusion can be avoided; for there is not one scrap of evidence that they will ever receive any punishment anywhere else.
But the statement is plain and explicit that the wicked shall be recompensed in the earth. Here we observe the same principle of justice that is carried out in worldly governments. A man is punished where he commits his crime. So with the wicked: the earth has beheld their crimes; it must also behold their reward. Peter bears decisive testimony on this point, in 2 Pet. 3:7–12: “But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.”
Here we see that Peter designates the day of judgment as the time, and the earth as the place, for the perdition (destruction, Web.) of ungodly men. In verses 10–12, he describes the condition of the earth at that time: “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night: in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also, and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?” Will the reader try to comprehend the scene here described? The heavens are in flames, the whole earth is one vast lake of liquid fire, the rocks are melting with intense heat, the mountains run down, and all the elements of the earth are dissolved like lead. Everything that fire can consume is burned up. Paul, speaking of this event in Heb. 12:25, 29, says that those things which can be shaken are removed; but those which cannot, will remain. So Nah. 1:5: “The mountains quake at him [God], and the hills melt, and the earth is burned at his presence, yea, the world, and all that dwell therein.” Also Deut. 32:22: “For a fire is kindled in mine anger, and shall burn unto the lowest hell, and shall consume the earth with her increase, and set on fire the foundations of the mountains.”
The question may be asked how this fire can be formed. In Isa. 34, we have a description of the day of the Lord. Verse 4 says that “all the host of heaven shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll.” Verse 8 says that “it is the day of the Lord’s vengeance, and the year of recompenses for the controversy of Zion.” The next verse describes the condition of the earth at that time. It says, “And the streams thereof shall be turned into pitch, and the dust thereof into brimstone, and the land thereof shall become burning pitch.” Rev. 20:9, tells us how this will be ignited; that is, that “fire comes down from God out of heaven.” That this is correct is proved from the following verse, which immediately brings to view the “lake of fire and brimstone.” Remember that we are now trying to prove that the wicked will be punished on the earth. Isa. 66:24, says, “And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcasses of the men that have transgressed against me; for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh.” All orthodox are ready to acknowledge that this is a description of their hell; for here is the worm that never dies, and the fire that shall never be quenched. Very well; verses 22, 23, locate it on the earth.
“But,” says one, “I thought that the wicked were cast into the bottomless pit.” Very well; let us see where that is. In Rev. 9:1–3, we read, “And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven [where to?] unto the earth; and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit. And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and [mark the location] the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit.” The sun is above the earth; smoke ascending from the earth of course darkens it. Air extends only about forty-five miles above the earth. So, in order that it may be darkened by ascending smoke, the smoke must arise from the earth. “And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth.” By this and what follows, it is clear that the earth is the place of its location. But Rev. 20 makes this subject definite. “In verses 1–3, we read: “And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, and cast him into the bottomless pit.” In verse 10, it is said that he is “cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are.” Then the bottomless pit and the lake of fire have the same location. The lake of fire we have shown to be on the earth; and that it is formed when “the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also,” and “the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved.”
Thus we think that we have proved beyond a doubt that the wicked will receive their punishment on the earth, where they have committed their crimes. If further testimony is demanded on this point, see Matt. 13:30, 40–43; Mal. 4; Dan. 2:35; etc.
Now we have finished the second side of our fence. Let us see what we have accomplished by it. By the first, we have shown that the wicked cannot be in hell till the day of judgment; by the second, we have got the wicked confined to a definite spot, where we can see what will be done with them.
III. The third and connecting fence that we shall build is, That the wicked shall be burned up, entirely consumed, by fire. In Matt. 3:12, we read, “Whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” Here we see that fire is introduced as the destroying agent. In Matt. 25:41, Jesus says, “Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.” Here it is definitely stated that the wicked will go into “fire.” Again: “And 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 their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.” Mark 9:43–46.
It is not only to be fire, but it will be a lake of fire. “And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell [grave, margin] delivered up the dead which were in them; and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell 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.” Rev. 20:13–15. In chapter 21:8, we read, “But the fearful and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone; which is the second death.” Chap. 20:10, also declares that “the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are.” This lake of fire we have before proved to be on this earth. Thus we see the idea that the fire is the “remorse of conscience,” is flatly contradicted by the Bible. It is a fire that “consumes,” “devours,” “burns up,” etc.
With these facts before us, let us now ascertain whether this fire that is hot enough to melt the earth, and dissolve the mountains, will burn up, consume, and devour, the wicked; or whether it will preserve them to all eternity. If the latter is to be the case, we shall expect to find the wicked compared to diamonds, granite, rocks and other substances which will endure heat the longest. But what must be our conclusion if, on the contrary, we find them compared to the most combustible materials? Certainly we cannot conclude that they will exist in a lake of fire eternally.
1. We find the wicked compared to chaff. “Whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” Matt. 3:12. Now if you want to know whether the wicked will be burned up or not, try an experiment according to the illustration here used; that is, take a handful of dry chaff, and cast it into a hot fire. What is the result? I think that I hear you answer, “It is burned up certainly.” Very well. Now if the language in the Bible means anything, we have here a good illustration of the end of the wicked.
2. They are compared to stubble. In Nahum 1:10, we read: “For while they be folded together as thorns, and while they are drunken as drunkards, they shall be devoured as stubble fully dry.” Here we have another illustration of the end of sinners. Go and set fire in your wheat stubble when it is “fully dry,” and tell me the result. You say it is entirely burned up—reduced to ashes. Then I answer in the words of the Bible, that the wicked “shall be devoured as [or in like manner to] stubble fully dry.”
3. They are compared to tares. In Matt. 13, we have the parable of the wheat and tares. Verse 30 says, “Let both grow together until the harvest; and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them; but gather the wheat into my barn.” In the explanation, Jesus says, “As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so shall it be in the end of this world. The Son of man 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; there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.” Verses 40–42.
4. The wicked are compared to dried branches. “If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.” John 15:6. Here Jesus uses the illustration of a man pruning a vine, and burning up the limbs after they are dry. This certainly conveys to our minds anything but the idea of eternal existence.
5. They are compared to fat of lambs. “But the wicked shall perish, and the enemies of the Lord shall be as the fat of lambs; they shall consume; into smoke shall they consume away.” Ps. 37:20. The illustration that David here employs is that of a burning candle. It sets on the table—we light it—it gradually “consumes away” till it is gone. Not a particle of the “fat” is left. So will the wicked perish. In Zech. 14:12, their destruction is described without any figure.
6. The wicked are compared to thorns, briars, hay, wood, etc. “But that which beareth thorns and briars is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing; whose end is to be burned.” Heb. 6:8. “Now if any man build upon this foundation, gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; every man’s work shall be made manifest; for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.” 1 Cor. 3:12, 13. If you can tell what will be the end of wood, hay, stubble, etc., when tried by fire, you can also tell what will be the end of the wicked; for both will be the same, or else the figure is not a good one.
To sum up all these declarations and illustrations, we have the wicked compared to “chaff,” “hay,” wood,” “stubble fully dry,” “withered branches,” etc., with the positive statement everywhere made that they shall be burned up in fire. Now the question is, Do these comparisons and illustrations mean anything, or do they not? Were they given to instruct us, or to deceive us? If the wicked are to burn eternally in hell fire, then these comparisons certainly deceive us, as no such idea can be drawn from them. But if the wicked are really to be burned up, then all these illustrations are true to life, instructive, and forcible. Look forward to the time when this earth is one vast lake of fire; behold the wicked in all their natural corruption cast into this burning mass. Now answer me if they will not be burned up as chaff in a furnace. Prejudice may, with a blush for a reason, venture to assert, “No; I don’t believe they will;” but inborn common sense will promptly answer, “Yes; they will.”
We will now examine Mal. 4, and see what it teaches. “For, behold, the day cometh that shall burn as an oven.” What “day” is here referred to? It is the day that shall “burn as an oven.” Has the Bible anywhere else spoken of such a day? It has, and calls it the “day of the Lord.” “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also, and the works that are therein shall be burned up.” 2 Pet. 3:10. When this takes place, will it not burn as an oven? Most assuredly it will.
We have now learned that the day spoken of by Malachi, is the day of the Lord; and that the scenes referred to will transpire on the earth. Now what is to happen at that time? We will read on: “And all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble.” Here the wicked are again compared to stubble. Now what will be done with this stubble? Will it be preserved eternally? Ans. “And the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.” Verse 1. Thus we see that they are to be burned up, root and branch, or, as Isaiah says, “both soul and body.” Chap. 10:18. Peter says that when the earth shall melt with heat, “the works that are therein shall be burned up.” Malachi tells us that wicked men also shall be burned up. Rev. 20:9, declares the same thing: “And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city; and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.”
Now what is the condition of the wicked after they are “burned up, root and branch?” Ans. “And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the Lord of hosts.” Mal. 4:3. Here we see that the burning up mentioned, reduces the wicked to ashes. This is neither a figure, an illustration, nor a comparison, but a positive declaration of the end of the wicked. Now we can comprehend what the Bible means when it declares that the wicked shall “die,” “perish,” “be destroyed,” etc., etc.
Who, in the face of all these facts, can doubt that the wicked will come to an end? In other words, who can break through the inclosure that we have here built? But, lest some shall endeavor to climb out, we will now cover over the inclosure with timbers which cannot be raised.
The covering which we shall use is,
IV.That, after the wicked are burned up, the earth will be purified and restored to the righteous. Having proved that the wicked are burned on the earth at the day of judgment, if we can now show that the earth will be restored to, and inhabited by, the people of God, we shall have demonstrated that the wicked must cease to exist, even though the Bible had not declared it. For if the very place where the wicked are punished is finally occupied by the people of God, how can the former exist? We think Obadiah must have it right, that “they shall be as though they had not been.” Verse 16.
There are but two opinions concerning the destiny of this earth. One is, that it will be the final abode of the saints; the other is, that it will be burned up—entirely consumed, and cease to exist. It will be seen at once that either theory is equally fatal to the doctrine of eternal misery; for if the earth ceases to exist, the wicked must come to an end with it; as we have already seen that they will never leave this earth. And if the earth is inhabited by the saints, then again we must see that the wicked must cease to exist, as they cannot both occupy it at the same time.
(To be Continued.)
Enduring in the Christian Warfare
In the Christian warfare, to maintain the conflict is to gain the victory. The promise is made to him that endures to the end. The object of our spiritual adversaries is to prevent this. Every day we are kept from going back, they sustain a defeat.
Thoughts on the Book of Daniel.
By Uriah Smith
CHAPTER VIII—CONTINUED.
VERSES 9–12. And out of one of them came forth a little horn, which waxed exceeding great, toward the south, and toward the east, and toward the pleasant land. And it waxed great, even to the host of heaven; and it cast down some of the host and of the stars to the ground, and stamped upon them. Yea, he magnified himself even to the prince of the host, and by him the daily sacrifice was taken away, and the place of his sanctuary was cast down. And an host was given him against the daily sacrifice by reason of transgression, and it cast down the truth to the ground; and it practised, and prospered.
A third power is here introduced into the prophecy. In the explanation which the angel gave to Daniel of these symbols, this one is not described in language so definite as that of Medo-Persia and Grecia. Hence a flood of wild conjectures is at once let loose. Had not the angel positively, and in language which cannot be misunderstood, stated that Medo-Persia and Grecia were denoted by the ram and the he-goat, it is impossible to tell what application men would have given us of those symbols. Probably they would have applied them to anything and everything but the right objects. Leave men a moment to their own judgment in the interpretation of prophecy, and we immediately have the most sublime exhibitions of human folly.
There are two leading applications of the symbol now under consideration, which are all that need be noticed in these brief thoughts. The first is that the little horn here introduced denotes Antiochus Epiphanes; the second is that it denotes the Roman power. It is an easy matter to test the claims of these two positions.
Does it mean Antiochus? If so, this king must fulfill the specifications of the prophecy; If he does not fulfill them, the application cannot be made to him. The little horn came out of one of the four horns of the goat. It was then a separate power, existing independently of, and distinct from, any of the horns of the goat. Was Antiochus such a power?
1. Who was Antiochus? From the time that Seleucus made himself king over the Syrian portion of Alexander's empire, thus constituting the Syrian horn of the goat, until that country was conquered by the Romans, twenty-six kings ruled in succession over that territory. The eighth of these, in order, was Antiochus Epiphanes. Antiochus, then, was simply one of the twenty-six kings which constituted the Syrian horn of the goat. He was for the time being that horn. Hence, he could not be at the same time a separate and independent power, or another and remarkable horn, as the little horn was.
2. If it were proper to apply the little horn to any one of these twenty-six Syrian kings, it should certainly be applied to the most powerful and illustrious of them all; but Antiochus Epiphanes did not by any means sustain this character. Although he took the name Epiphanes, that is, the illustrious, he was illustrious only in name; for nothing, says Prideaux, on the authority of Polybius, Livy, and Diodorus Siculus, could be more alien to his true character. For, on account of his vile and extravagant folly, some thinking him a fool and others a madman, they changed the name of Epiphanes, The Illustrious, into Epimanes, The Madman.
3. Antiochus the Great, the father of Epiphanes, being terribly defeated in a war with the Romans, was enabled to procure a peace only by the payment of a prodigious sum of money, and a surrender of a portion of his territory; and, as a pledge that he would faithfully adhere to the terms of the treaty, he was obliged to give hostages, among whom was this very Epiphanes, his son, who was carried to Rome. The Romans ever after maintained this ascendancy.
4. The little horn waxed exceeding great; but this Antiochus did not enlarge his dominion except by some temporary conquests in Egypt, which he immediately relinquished when the Romans took the part of Ptolemy, and commanded him to desist from his design in that quarter. The rage of his disappointed ambition, he vented upon the unoffending Jews.
5. The little horn, in comparison with the powers that preceded it, was exceeding great. Persia is simply called great, though it reigned over a hundred and twenty-seven provinces. Esth. 1:1. Grecia, being more extensive still, is called very great. Now the little horn, which waxed exceeding great, must surpass them both. How absurd, then, to apply this to Antiochus, who was obliged to abandon Egypt at the dictation of the Romans, to whom he paid enormous sums of money as tribute. The Religious Encyclopedia gives us this item of his history: “Finding his resources exhausted, he resolved to go into Persia to levy tribute, and collect large sums which he had agreed to pay to the Romans.” It cannot take long for any one to decide the question which was the greater power, the one which evacuated Egypt, or the one which commanded that evacuation; the one that exacted tribute, or the one which was compelled to pay it.
6. The little horn was to stand up against the Prince of princes. The Prince of princes here means, beyond controversy, Jesus Christ. Dan. 9:25; Acts 3:15; Rev. 1:5. But Antiochus died one hundred and sixty-four years before our Lord was born. The prophecy cannot therefore apply to him; for he does not fulfill the specifications in one single particular. The question may then be asked how any one has ever come to apply it to him. We answer, Romanists take that view, to avoid the application of the prophecy to themselves; and many Protestants follow them, in order to oppose the doctrine of the second advent.
U. S.
(To be Continued.)
A Presbyterian Minister upon the Second Advent.
CHAPTER VI.
(Concluded.)
WHY I LOVE HIS APPEARING.
How strange and unscriptural the prejudice and aversion which some of our Lord’s dear people feel toward the theme of his second appearing. Paul, in his old age, writing his last letter before martyrdom, recounts his good fight of faith, and looks forward with rapt anticipation to the crown of righteousness awaiting him when the King comes into his kingdom, and awaiting “all them also who love his appearing.”
I love his appearing because we shall have a perfect model government when he comes. The Nobleman has gone “to receive for himself a kingdom,” and to return with judicial power and kingly glory. When our King comes, the kingdom for which we daily pray will come—a real monarchy, according to the analogy of the four preceding kingdoms of Daniel—an absolute monarchy, with an all-good, all-wise and all-mighty sovereign at its head; a kingdom of peace and righteousness, and one that cannot be moved. When we look out upon Satan’s empire of evil and decay; when we see the history of the nations written in blood; when we consider that man’s sway has failed to attain the good we seek, and left creation groaning and travailing in pain, why should we not love his appearing, and the manifestation of the sons of God?
“Behold, a King shall reign in righteousness, and princes shall rule in judgment. And a man shall be as a hiding-place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.”
I love his appearing because when he comes I shall get a full reward for all my services here. “Occupy till I come,” is the command. “Behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me,” is the glorious promise. When he is manifested, we shall have a family gathering, reckoning and reward. In “the regeneration” we shall be crowned with the dignity of kings, and endued with the purity of priests.
I love his appearing because when he appears I shall be like him—a perfected and glorified likeness of him who is “fairer than the children of men, and altogether lovely.” I shall have a body “fashioned like unto his glorious body.” A painless and instantaneous thrill of immortality will render this vile body incorruptible, incapable of weariness or pain, and unfettered by the laws of grosser matter. It will be animated, controlled, transported entirely at the will of the indwelling spirit, and clothed with the beauty and bloom of endless youth. My freed and purified spirit shall enter into the experience of the Saviour’s beatitude—“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”
I love his appearing because I love all those who will appear with him. The angels of light, who now watch over my waking and my sleeping hours, will then appear. I shall meet the patriarchs and prophets, the apostles and martyrs. I shall then greet the saints of all ages with transports of delight. I shall meet loved kindred, torn from my embrace by the ruthless hand of death. “Then shall the buried babe, and the slumbering boy of promise, awake from the cold, dark sleep of years, no more to writhe237under fierce diseases or to be torn from parental love. Then shall those loved forms, on which the clouds are pressing, and over whose damp resting-places many a winter’s snow has lain, and many a summer’s flower bloomed—come forth to light and life, never again to fall under the power of corruption. Then shall the broken and scattered household be regathered to separate no more.”
“Then shall be the coronation day for those that have labored and suffered for Jesus. Then shall the martyr receive his crown, and the saint his ineffable portion. Then shall tears cease to flow, and sadness to depress. Then shall the exile reach his happy home, and the toiling pilgrim find his everlasting rest. Then shall the worshiper look upon the face of his God, and the faithful servant receive the transporting commendation and welcome of his Lord. Then shall earth’s long predicted Sabbath come, and the eternal jubilee of the redeemed begin. Then shall the mystery of divine compassion be consummated, and this prodigal orb of ours, restored once more to her Father’s smiles, take her place in the sisterhood of unfallen worlds, reflecting in richer luster and celebrating in grander songs the praises of him who made it, and the mercies of him that redeemed it with his blood.” We are not in darkness; let us not be in hopeless tears.
I love his appearing because I love him who is to appear. The quintessence of our religion is love, and that love concentrates in the matchless person who has “loved us and given himself for us.” His greatest consolation for his disciples at his departure was ministered in the sweet promise, “I will come again and receive you to myself.” We naturally desire to have the object of our supreme affections near us. Written communications and mementoes are indeed dear, but only when we cannot enjoy his manifested presence. The word and seals of Jesus’ love, conveyed to our hearts by the Holy Spirit, are now inexpressibly dear, but only “until he come;” and we cannot please our absent Bridegroom better than to refuse to be satisfied with these things, except in the constant hope and prospect of his appearing in his radiant form.
Yes, I confess that, with Paul, I love his appearing. Enoch and David, Abraham and Lot, Peter and John—all the glorious throng of inspired worthies—loved his appearing, and prophesied or sang of it with rapt emotion. Oh yes, there is reason enough why we should love his appearing, and daily pray with increasing faith and hope, “Thy kingdom come.” I dare not say exactly how near this glorious consummation is, nor dare I say how far off. If the primitive saints had some reason to expect it in their day, how much more have we! I know that it is nearer every day. When I read the crowning promise of Jesus, “Behold I come quickly,” and study the signs of the times in the light of prophecy, I find strong reasons for believing that many who read these lines will never taste death, but be thrilled into immortality. Let us watch unceasingly, and wait patiently for his appearing.
Justified Without the Law.
By Uriah Smith
It is considered a very foolish fish that will bite a bare hook. But how must the enemy of all truth regard those whom he can lead to oppose the law of God, on the ground that Paul says that we are justified by faith.
A person writes to have his paper stopped, and quotes this text: “Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. Rom. 3:28.” Then he adds, “As we see the day approaching, why cause a division among those who are looking for his second personal coming?”
The utter misapprehension, both of our position, and the meaning of the apostle’s language, revealed in these lines is marvelous indeed. Who claims that we are to be justified by the deeds of the law? We certainly do not. Justification by faith is our sole dependence, and ever has been. But, on the other hand, who can take so superficial a view of Paul’s language as to suppose that when he says “without the deeds of the law,” he means that we are at liberty to do those things which the law prohibits. Friend, do you believe you have liberty now to commit any of the sins forbidden by the ten commandments? You do not; neither do we. Would you expect to be justified by faith while living in the commission of those sins? You would not; neither would we. This is the real question in this matter; and in this we are agreed. The difference arises from your misapprehension of our position.
Why make a division? What a question is this to come from an Adventist! It might be used to gag down any truth that was ever introduced into the world. The Jews opposed our Lord himself with it; and he met them by saying that he came not to send peace on earth, but a sword, not union but division. Romanists tried to block the wheels of the Reformation in the same manner. Away with such a question when raised in opposition to the truth. Truth has claims paramount to all others in this world; and the divisions which the truth makes are not to be laid to its charge. The trouble is not with the truth; that is only bringing men back into the right path and into union with Heaven; but the trouble is with error which has led men away from God and the right path. That division which the Bible condemns is the division which error makes in leading men away from the right; and this division, once made ought to be undone as soon as possible. Error having secured its victims would no doubt be glad enough to have no further division made. But truth is bound to get them back if it can. Don’t make God the author of the work of the enemy. Ahab charged Elijah with being the troubler of Israel, but Elijah, under the impulse of a divine indignation against the insult thus offered to the truth of God, retorted, “I have not troubled Israel; but thou and thy father’s house, in that ye have forsaken the commandments of the Lord, and thou hast followed Baalim.” So now the trouble is not with the truth, but with error which has drawn men away, and rendered it necessary that there should be a division if any would be saved; for the masses are going down to ruin; and they who would gain eternal life must tread another path from which they are following.
Why, then, make division among those who are looking for the Lord? Because but few who profess to be looking for him, are ready for his coming. They are in error on a vital point of that law of liberty by which we are all to be judged. Their practice must be reformed. The idea that God’s people in the last days are coming up to the second coming of Christ to be translated, while not conforming to the whole law of God both in theory and practice, is preposterous. No; the distinguishing characteristic of these, as compared with other religionists, will be their keeping of all the commandments of God, as brought to view in that message in Rev. 14, which last precedes the appearing of the Son of man on the great white cloud.
Very indifferent views must we have of the importance of truth, the danger of error, and the value of eternal life, who can complacently fold his hands and say, The coming of the Lord is near; so let us not have division, but if we are wrong, let us all go to perdition together.