Part 41 (2/2)

”The hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear His voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of d.a.m.nation.” John 5:28, 29.

The first resurrection is that of the just, at Christ's second coming.

It is written of this:

”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 G.o.d and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years.” Rev. 20:6.

After this, the righteous return with Christ to heaven, and remain there during the thousand years. The wicked living at the time of His coming are slain by the consuming glory of His presence; and they, with all the unjust of all the ages, await in the grave the second resurrection, at the end of the thousand years.

”The rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished.” Rev. 20:5.

At the end of the thousand years the city of G.o.d, with the saved, comes down out of heaven and settles upon the earth.

Then the wicked are raised--the second resurrection. Under Satan's leaders.h.i.+p they march up to attack the city of G.o.d. How naturally, we infer, may Satan persuade the lost that, after all, he was right when he declared to Adam, ”Ye shall not surely die.” Here are all his servants of all the ages--living. Why may they not be immortal, beyond the power of G.o.d to destroy? The old battle that began in heaven is on again.

Satan, the archrebel, marshals his hosts of fallen angels and the myriads of fallen men, his legions stretching wide over the earth.

”They went up on the breadth of the earth, and compa.s.sed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from G.o.d out of heaven, and devoured them.” Rev. 20:9.

”This is the second death,” the Scripture says. Verse 14. The great day has come when the sinner receives his wages--death--and sin is destroyed.

The Punishment Everlasting

”The wages of sin is death.” And the second death is everlasting. There is no resurrection from this death. The Scriptures describe it in terms that affirm utter destruction, resulting in nonexistence.

”Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power.” 2 Thess. 1:9.

”Behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.” Mal. 4:1.

”They shall be ashes,” the third verse of this chapter says. Every expression possible to language is employed to denote utter destruction, everlasting death. That means nonexistence. Sin and sinners are blotted out. The prophet Obadiah, speaking of the visitation upon the heathen--the unbelieving--in ”the day of the Lord,” says:

”They shall drink, and they shall swallow down, and they shall be as though they had not been.” Verse 16.

This is the utter end of sin and all sinners, and of the author of sin.

Root and branch they are gone, ”as though they had not been.” All this is in the description of the last judgment, so fully set forth in the twentieth chapter of Revelation.

”Death and h.e.l.l [_hades_, the grave] were cast into the lake of fire.

This is the second death.” Rev. 20:14. Death and the prison house of death are gone forever. Sin is wiped out of a perfect universe, and not even a trace will remain of the place of the fiery judgment.

”Yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be: yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it shall not be.” Ps. 37:10.

The fires of the last day purify the earth, which comes forth in Eden-like beauty. In the whole creation of G.o.d there is no sin, no sinner, but all is harmonious again, as before sin entered the universe.

The prophet was given a view of this glorious consummation, and the triumph of the Son of G.o.d over sin.

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