p. 5 | After the Resurrection by C. M. S.

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Tacoma Park Station, Washington, D.C. · Jan 2, 1908

After the Resurrection

By C. M. S.

The resurrection of the righteous does not complete God’s purpose concerning this world and those who have inhabited it. It is the purpose of God to rid the universe of sin. The time will come when sin, sinners, and the originator of sin, Satan, will be no more. The prophet Malachi reveals to us the coming of a time when there will be nothing left of the wicked but ashes. He says:—

“For, 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. But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of Righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall. 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: 1-3.

There is no intimation here that hell is an institution, presided over by Satan, in which he is given carte blanche to torment those committed to that region to the utmost limit of his ingenuity; no intimation that Satan is God’s agent to see that all sinners are properly punished. But the teaching is plain that every being who is practising wickedness when that day comes, or who died unrepentant and unforgiven, is literally burned up, consumed, and exists no more. Now, it is evident that this includes Satan and all his hosts, as well as those who have yielded to his deceits. The Lord tells us through the psalmist: “For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be: yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place, and he shall not be.” Ps. 37: 10. How could it be said that “the wicked shall not be,” if he is actually in existence in torment, and being tormented by the chiefest of all wicked, the instigator of all crime?

Satan has nothing to do with the infliction of punishment upon the impenitent wicked, but receives his punishment with them, and is destroyed with them. The Word plainly declares this, in speaking

of the work of Satan after his release from his imprisonment of a thousand years immediately following the second coming of Christ. He gathers his deceived ones together, and then it is said of them: “They went up over the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down out of heaven, and devoured them. And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone.” Rev. 20: 9, 10. If that did not end their existence, Inspiration would not have used a word that indicates to us a complete cessation of existence. The original word from which “devoured” is translated is katefagen, and means, ate up. The Emphatic Diaglott renders it “consumed.” It is therefore certain that there remains nothing of those upon whom falls that fire from heaven. Satan does not rain that fire upon those who are rejected of God; but it is rained from heaven upon him and upon them together.

Of the end of Satan’s existence we read in another place: “All they that know thee among the peoples shall be astonished at thee: thou art become a terror, and thou shalt nevermore have any being.” Eze. 28: 19. We learn who it is that is thus addressed by reading verses 13-19. How could even Inspiration speak more plainly than this in declaring the complete end of the author of sin?

Notwithstanding these plain teachings of the Word of God, even religious teachers are slow to learn. Not long ago we read in one of our religious exchanges these words:—

The silly, deluded devotees of such superstition, such idolatry, must all in the end, unless they repent in sackcloth and ashes, make their way down the slippery steps of time, and take their final leap at last into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the old devil will take special delight to wrap them around his fingers, gouge their eyes out, and toss them like a rubber ball around the black walls of the dark, dismal pandemonium, the sport of demoniacal millions, while the ages of oncoming eternities roll up from the dark realms below.

Now, all this is purely human imagination run wild. There is no word in all the Bible concerning any such fiendish transactions as those described in that quotation; not a word to indicate that Satan has anything whatever to do with the punishment of the wicked; that he is God’s agent in any sense to execute judgment upon the impenitent. Such language reproaches our Saviour, perverts the teachings of his Word, and even debases the idea of religion in the minds of thoughtful men and women. It is a plain contradiction of all God has said concerning the destiny of the wicked.

God will have a clean universe, not a universe marred by the eternal tortures of the lost, but a praising universe. “And he shall wipe away every tear from their eyes; and death shall be no more; neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain, any more.” Rev. 21: 4. That is absolute. If there were to be a never-ending hell, this text could not be true; for then there would be pain, there would be crying, there would be mourning—such as men and women have never done in this world. Neither could the following text of Scripture be true if the wicked were to be tormented eternally: “And every created thing which is in the heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and on the sea, and all things that are in them, heard I saying, Unto him that sitteth on the throne, and unto the Lamb, be the blessing, and the honor, and the glory, and the dominion, forever and ever.” Rev. 5: 13. How could there be an unending torment going on anywhere within the jurisdiction of the Almighty, and that text of Scripture be true?

When God has made an end of sin, every creature that is left in the universe will be praising him. The universe will be swept clean of everything that has ever brought pain upon men and sorrow to the heart of our loving Heavenly Father. No more sorrow, no more crying, no more pain, no more sickness, no more sin, no more death! What a blessed place for the occupancy of the redeemed! No ever-burning hell where our friends, our parents, or our children writhe in agony untold. That conception is a child of paganism and superstition born under the blighting influences of the Dark Ages. It is not true. In that better land will be only joy and peace and praise. Blessed country! What a glorious privilege it will be to dwell therein!

C. M. S.