p. 4 | J. N. LOUGHBOROUGH by John Norton Loughborough

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jul 28, 1910

J. N. LOUGHBOROUGH

By John Norton Loughborough

The Two Thrones—No. 8

J. N. LOUGHBOROUGH

HAVING seen from the Scriptures that the earth is to be desolated at the coming of Christ, and that the wicked will not live again until the end of the thousand years, it is evident that there is no basis for the claim of a probation on earth during that period, and that every such claim is in opposition to the facts, the whole theory being based only on inferences from certain Scriptural expressions. As before stated, to draw inferences contrary to plainly expressed facts is not a proper way to use the Bible.

As an illustration of this way of drawing inferences by Age-to-come reasoners, we will note one of the cases which they cite. They refer to Christ’s words concerning Tyre and Sidon: “Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works, which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment, than for you. And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shall be brought down to hell: for if the mighty works, which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I say unto you, That it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for thee.” Matt. 11: 21-24.

The advocates of this theory claim that this “toleration” means salvation. Let us see what the Lord himself has said with reference to the extent of toleration in the execution of the judgment: “And that servant, which knew his lord’s will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes.” Luke 12: 47, 48. The wages of sin is death, but the suffering preceding that death is graduated according to the magnitude of the guilt of the individual.

As to the case of Sodom, the apostle Peter says: “Turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an example unto those that after should live ungodly.” 2 Peter 2: 6. How this will be fulfilled is very plainly stated by the prophet Malachi: “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, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.” Mal. 4: 1.

Being defeated at this point, the Age-to-come advocates quote Ezekiel’s testimony respecting Sodom, Samaria, and Jerusalem: “When I shall bring again their captivity, the captivity of Sodom and her daughters, then will I bring again the captivity of thy captives in the midst of them.” Eze. 16: 53. How one can call captivity probation and salvation, we can not comprehend. The second captivity of these mentioned must be at the second resurrection, at the end of the thousand years, when they are raised from the dead, and with all the wicked meet the doom so vividly portrayed by Malachi.

But, ask the defenders of the theory under consideration, does not Ezekiel say they will be reinstated when he declares, “When thy sisters, Sodom and her daughters, shall return to their former estate, and Samaria and her daughters shall return to their former estate, then thou and thy daughters shall return to your former estate”? Eze. 16: 55. But in Jeremiah’s illustration of the potter’s bottle, the Jewish people were never to be made whole again. The “former estate” of Sodom was “pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness, . . . neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and the needy.” Verse 49. When raised to life again, the thoughts of Sodom’s inhabitants will doubtless be the same as in their “former estate.” There is no resurrection promised to the wicked until the end of the thousand years; and those then raised will meet their doom in the fire coming down from heaven upon them, as foretold in Rev. 20: 5, 9.

Some of the advocates of the future-probation theory next quote and apply to that time the words of Zechariah, when speaking of the house of David: “And they shall look upon me whom they have pierced.” Zech. 12: 10. But the prophecy declares of that time: “In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness.” Zech. 13: 1. That fountain was opened when the blood of Christ was shed upon the cross. John, the evangelist, in recording that event, positively declares that this prophecy was then and there “fulfilled.” “These things were done, that the Scripture should be fulfilled, A bone of him shall not be broken. And again another scripture saith, They shall look on him whom they pierced.” John 19: 36, 37.

Others call our attention to the words of the prophet Isaiah: “It shall come, that I will gather all nations and tongues [the work among the Gentiles]; and they shall come, and see my glory. And I will set a sign among them [see the words of Simon to the mother of Christ respecting the sign. Luke 2: 34], and I will send those that escape of them unto the nations, to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, that draw the bow, to Tubal, and Javan, to the isles afar off, that have not heard my fame, neither have seen my glory; and they shall declare my glory among the Gentiles.” Isa. 66: 18, 19.

One of the Age-to-come advocates said to me, “Here is a positive proof that the gospel is to be preached in the future age to those here mentioned.” He was somewhat baffled, on comparing an ancient and a modern map, to find that the very countries here mentioned were the exact locality of the labors of Paul and the apostles, and that Great Britain was Javan. The language of the text is a direct prophecy of the gospel age instead of a future age.

We may now say, in concluding these articles, that a theory based simply on inferences, speculations, and conjectures, especially when it is contrary to plainly stated facts and principles of the gospel of Christ, must be of the character which the apostle Paul, writing to the Ephesians, called “every wind of doctrine.”

Lodi, Cal.