WE closed in our last paper with the giving up of the kingdom to God, even the Father, by Christ, the Son. This brings us to the end of time, and the dissolution of the present condition of the heavens and the earth. For " 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 Nevertheless we, according
to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness." (2 Peter 3:10, 13.)
Another allusion is made to the present heaven and earth in Rev. 20:11. The prophet John sees "a great white throne, and Him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them." Then, and not till then, the dead, that is, all who have died out of Christ, impenitent, unbelieving, throughout the whole course of time, small and great, stand before God (or "the throne," lit.), and are judged according to their works; a perfectly distinct act of judgment from that of the quick in Matt. 25 as we have seen. Only the wicked dead stand here; the saints have already enjoyed a thousand years of bliss with Christ. Books were opened, probably the records of their works. Another, the book of life, is opened also, but only to show that there their names are not. None can escape this awful tribunal who have died in their sins: the sea, death, hades, all give up their dead; and they were judged every man according to their works. Death and hades, no longer needed, were first cast into the lake of fire; and then, when time exists no longer, their eternal doom is sealed. “Whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire." This is the second death.
God is light, as well as love. “The high and lofty One, that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy," cannot lower the claims of His holiness. "He will by no means clear the guilty," is the declaration of the Old Testament. In the New we have brought out the wondrous truths of redemption and salvation, wrought by the gift of His only-begotten Son, to die, the guiltless for the guilty. The justice of God took its course, and its stroke fell upon the Holy and the Just One on the cross at Calvary. (2 Cor. 5:21.) And God has shown His estimate of the perfect sacrifice, in that He has raised Him from the dead, and now declares His righteousness in proclaiming a free pardon to all, and in justifying every one that believeth. (Rom. 3:25, 26.)
All who reject or neglect the wondrous provision of His grace, will surely reap the consequences of their folly in eternal misery in the lake of fire. The strongest language is employed in the word of God to express the awfulness and eternal duration of the punishment of the wicked. "He that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth, on him." (John 3:36.) The rich man in hell, crying that he is tormented in this flame, finds no relief to his misery, not even a drop of water, but a great gulf fixed between himself and the place of mercy and blessing (Luke 16:19-31), and no possible means of crossing it. There shall be weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth. (Matt. 13:42; 22:13.)
Eternal fire (Jude 7); their worm that never dies (Mark 9:44); fire not quenched (Mark 9:48); everlasting contempt (Dan. 12:2); everlasting punishment (Matt. 25:46); everlasting destruction (2 Thess. 1:9); damned (2 Thess. 2:12); blackness of darkness forever (Jude 13); perdition (2 Peter 3:7); swift destruction (2 Peter 2:1); utterly perish (2 Peter 2:12); no forgiveness (Matt. 12:31, 32); and such-like terms, are surely enough to convince every honest soul of the eternal and awful character of the judgment of the ungodly. The words “perish " and " destruction " are often distorted from their obvious meaning to support the speculations and theories of rationalists, skeptics, and others, and made to mean "annihilation," whereas there is no hint of such a thing in the word of God. These very words are constantly used by us to mean otherwise. If we speak of being perished with cold, or of some furniture being “destroyed," do we mean that either we or the furniture are put out of existence? If death is ceasing to exist, how will men weep, and wail, and gnash their teeth?
“The things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen, are eternal." (2 Cor. 4:18.)
God at the first breathed into man's nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul. His life came from God, and he must spend an eternal existence in joy with Christ, or utter misery and wretchedness and anguish in hell. Rev. 14:9-11 speaks of ungodly ones, the smoke of whose torment ascendeth up forever and ever, and they have no rest day nor night. And these same words “forever and ever," or “to the age of ages," are used to denote the eternal existence of the One upon the throne in Rev. 4:9. (See also 1 Tim. 1:17; Rev. 20:10.)
Satan is sowing the world broadcast with his lie, that punishment is not eternal, and thousands are led away by this deceiver of the whole world. My reader, I warn you against it; it undermines the atonement, makes the word of God a lie, and gives a license to man's sins and wickedness. Far wiser is it to bow to and believe His word; then, as a possessor of "eternal life," the gift of God, go and tell out the glad tidings of salvation, pointing sinners to Christ and His precious blood, which alone can deliver from this awful doom.
"Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear Him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell." (Matt. 10:28.)
Following upon the judgment of the dead at the great white throne, in the first nine verses of Rev. 21 we get the fullest revelation that God has given us concerning that wonderful condition of things that shall succeed dispensations of time, “the eternal state."
You will remark that in Rev. 21:1 The prophet sees a new heaven and a new earth, but nothing is said about their being then created. Now in Isa. 65:17 we do find the Lord saying, “Behold, I create a new heaven and a new earth," &c.; but here it evidently has reference to the millennial period. This is clearly shown by the context, for the same word is used of Jerusalem, “Behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy" (Isa. 65:18), and then follows an ample description of millennial blessing, to the close of the chapter. So entirely different will be the state of things at that day, that God speaks of it as created anew. But in the eternal state there will be a new heavens and a new earth; not a fresh creation, but probably the materials and elements of the old remodeled after dissolution.
Of the present globe we find it recorded in Gen. 1 That darkness was upon the face of the deep, and that God afterward caused the dry land to appear. And we know that even then the greater part of it was left submerged by the ocean to this day; but in the eternal condition there shall be no more sea. The wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest (Isa. 57:20); and restlessness and wickedness have characterized the whole history of man on the earth; but on the globe, where sea is not, all will be stable, fixed and eternal, and righteousness shall dwell.
The Church of the living God is again brought before us in Rev. 21:2. Her thousand years of glory during the reign of Christ will have run out, but still she is seen in her distinctive glory to the age of ages. The holy city, New Jerusalem, is seen by the prophet coming down from God out of heaven, with all the freshness, beauty, and glory of the day of her espousals, “prepared as a bride adorned for her husband." A great voice out of heaven pronounces her glorious character and destiny in relation to this new and eternal scene. As the tabernacle or dwelling-place of God she is with, men, showing a wonderful connection between heaven and earth in that scene of eternal glory and joy, and also that God has destined that men should live on that new globe. We have nothing told us as to who the men are; but as the wicked on the millennial earth are devoured by fire (Rev. 20:9), and no mention is made of what becomes of the righteous, the probability is that the men here mentioned may be the millennial saints preserved for this wondrous portion by the power of God.
In Eden, when man was in innocence, the Lord God visited him; both His glory, and also the man Christ Jesus, the Son of God, have dwelt among men since; now the Holy Ghost dwells in men, the saints, and in the Church, which is the temple of God; in the coming kingdom, the glory will again dwell in the midst of God's people; but in the eternal state, the Church will be the dwelling-place of God Himself, and be with men, and that forever and forever.
“And He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God." (Rev. 21:3.) "And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; 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." Every trace of sin, and all its terrible effects, will have gone forever. God Himself will comfort all, and bless with an eternal blessing. Righteousness will no longer only reign as in the kingdom of Christ, but dwell throughout the whole scene.
"And He that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make (not create) all things new. And He said unto me (John) Write; for these words are true and faithful. And He said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end." (Rev. 21:5, 6.)
The skeptic and the infidel may doubt and deny, but God has pledged His immutable word—"God, that cannot lie." (Titus 1:2.) What He has promised, He is able also to perform; for with Him all things are possible; and “these words are true and faithful." Wondrous pledge of His love to cheer and encourage the hearts of His own.
And then, before closing this short but marvelous revelation of a glorious eternity, we have three classes of persons brought before us in view thereof.
First, His thoughts go out to the poor thirsty sinner with the precious message, "I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely." Not now merely the living streams, but let the thirsty sinner be who he may, God is ready to satisfy that soul-thirst from the fountain-head of blessing itself, and that freely. No money, no works, no religiousness of man, could purchase that priceless boon, but freely will God give of it to any and every thirsty one.
Secondly, He turns to His own loved ones, tried and tempted, harassed and perplexed, it may be, by the world, the flesh, and the devil, and cheers the drooping heart, the weary spirit, with the soul-stirring words of comfort, “He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son." Faint one, think on this precious promise; shrink not from following your blessed Master. God would have you to be an overcomer; and as thy days, so shall thy strength be. To-day may be your last here. “Our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory." (2 Cor. 4:17.)
Lastly, in one sad catalog, He classes the ungodly, " 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." The eternal judgment of the wicked is as sure as the eternal glory of the Church; “the Scripture cannot be broken." (John 10:35.)
“O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out! For who hath known the mind of the Lord? Or who hath been His counselor? or who hath first given to Him, and it shall be recompensed unto Him again? For of Him, and through Him, and to Him, are all things: to whom be glory forever. Amen." (Rom. 11:33-36.)
Rest of the saints above
Jerusalem of God,
Who in thy palaces of love,
Thy golden streets, have trod?
To me thy joy to tell,
Those courts secure from ill,
Where God Himself vouchsafes to dwell,
And every bosom fill.
Who shall to me that joy
Of saint-thronged courts declare,
Tell of that constant sweet employ
My spirit longs to share?
That rest secure from ill,
No cloud of grief e'er stains,
Unfailing praise each heart doth fill.
And love eternal reigns.