GOD’s ways of government with men have an end. Over and over again the Scriptures refer to the time when the history of man upon the earth will come to its close. God set man upon the earth to live in paradise; man gave heed to Satan, and by the art of the enemy both sin and death entered the world. Evil grew, and it seemed as if the purpose of God in man’s joy and blessing on the earth was frustrated, but God allowed man and Satan their course, in order that His ways might be developed and fulfilled, and that in the end He might bring into everlasting blessing in Christ, all who trust in Him.
Christ will come to this earth, and set up God’s kingdom on it. Christ’s reign will be the earth’s sabbath of rest, and during His reign Satan will be bound and shut up in the bottomless pit, “that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled.” (Rev. 20:2, 32And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, 3And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season. (Revelation 20:2‑3).) Man will then be under the scepter of Christ, the King, directly responsible to obey Him, and without the influence of the Tempter to draw him into rebellion. Man will be, therefore, tested by God in a way different from any other way since the fall. What will be the result? Will men retain their allegiance to the King? “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,” and he will succeed―men will give heed to the enemy, and will seek to overturn God’s King! The end of this rebellion will be summary judgment “fire...from God out of heaven” will come down, and devour the multitudes of Satan’s host.
The character of Satan, in his persistent efforts in deceiving men to rebel against God, and man’s ingrained opposition to Christ, will be proved unchanged. The one thousand years’ imprisonment in the bottomless pit will in no wise alter the nature of Satan. How marvelous it is that men, both in heathen and Christian lands, should teach that a period of future punishment will change and purify men, and make sinners fit for God in glory!
The Deceiver, the originator of the misery on the earth, he who has been the might: mover of men’s minds towards idolatry, rebellion against God, and subjection to his own evil spirit, will be cast into the lake of fire―the place of everlasting punishment―not to be there, as pictured by the heathen the king of woe and the tormentor of men, but, shorn of his strength, himself “tormented day and night forever and ever.”
The end of God’s ways with men stretch beyond death and the grave. The faithful among men, from the days of Abel, will have their lot in the first resurrection, the resurrection to life (John 5:2929And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation. (John 5:29)). “Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection; on such the second death hath no power.” They passed from death unto life, upon their reception of Christ the Life, and life will be their everlasting portion.
But those who shall rise at the resurrection of judgment (John 5:2929And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation. (John 5:29)) ―the rest of the dead, who live not again until the one thousand years are finished (Rev. 20:55But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. (Revelation 20:5)) ―will come into the judgment of the great white throne; small and great they will stand before God, and will be judged according to their works (vv. 11, 12). Such as on earth were saved by grace through faith, will not be judged according to their works, but all who died without Christ will be judged according to their deserts. And the result of this terrible judgment of the just God can only be the everlasting punishment of the sinner. “Whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.”
Life and death meet us in the last pages of the Book of God. That which was inscribed upon the early record of Genesis is to be read again in the Revelation. The Paradise of God—brighter and more blessed than that which Adam saw— will be the eternal portion of God’s people; and from its— gates Satan will be eternally shut out. The tree of life, with its varied fruits for all to eat, will be there; and all will be made perfect in knowledge, being new creatures, formed like Christ, the ascended Son of Man, who is the beginning of the creation of God.
It has not been possible to do more than touch upon some of the more evident parts of the ways of God with men, in the papers which have appeared in our Magazine on the subject this year. We trust our readers, who have followed us, may be stirred up to search the Scriptures upon the important truth, and above all, we hope that we may all be found “in all holy conversation and godliness, looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God.”