DRIFTING | AdventAI

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Nov 3, 1868

DRIFTING.

Such is the condition of those who are clinging to a theory which, in some of its parts, is out of harmony with the word of God. In their endeavors, when put under pressure, to make such parts harmonize with the word, they are obliged to change and modify, which throws other parts of their theory out of joint; and thus they are driven from one point to another, like a mariner drifting on the ocean without anchor or rudder.

We have an illustration of this in those who hold the view that the earth is to be renewed for the habitation of the saints, immediately on the second appearing of Christ. The difficulty involved in this view is this: The resurrection and final destruction of the wicked are placed by the Bible one thousand years after the second appearing of Christ and the resurrection of the saints. Rev. xx, 1-6. If, then, the earth is made new at Christ's second coming, we have the countless hosts of the wicked dead, slumbering in the bosom of the new earth. And how could the earth be renewed, melted with fervent heat, and made over throughout, pure and free from the effects of the curse, and the guilty dust of the wicked remain untouched? Then we have the wicked raised out of the new earth, at the end of the thousand years, come up over its fair surface like the locusts upon Egypt, drive the saints back into the city, and finally perish by fire from God out of Heaven. All this upon the new earth! according to this view. But this is a difficulty of sufficient magnitude to endanger the stability of any theory which adopts it as a component part.

That such a point could long remain without some effort at re-adjustment, so as to harmonize it with reason, if not with Scripture, was not to be expected; and the attempt has at length been made. Wm. Sheldon comes out in the Voice of the West, of Oct. 27, 1868, with an article headed, “We do not claim that the Wicked will rise out of the New Earth.” What, then, does he claim? Why, that the resurrection of the wicked is at the same time with the resurrection of the righteous, and not a thousand years afterward, as Rev. xx so plainly states. Here is a full acknowledgment of the difficulty; and such is Mr. S.'s anxiety to get out of it, that he does not hesitate to undertake to explain away one of the plainest scriptures in all the Bible, to accomplish his purpose.

He attempts to justify his present position from the declarations that the tares are to be gathered and burned in the end of this world; that the wicked are to go away into everlasting punishment when the righteous go into life eternal, and that those who know not God, and obey not the gospel, shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and the glory of his power, when he comes to be glorified in his saints. These statements, he says, prove that the wicked are punished at the end of this age, and not a whole age afterward, which would be a second punishment, and necessitate a second judgment, which is more than the Scriptures warrant. These scriptures which he quotes do not alter the testimony of Rev. xx; but if the interpretation he gives of them is correct, they prove the non-resurrection of at least a portion of the wicked. So far, then, he is simply playing into the hands of the non-resurrectionists, without relieving the difficulty of his own position. He says: “It is all clear in my own mind now, after having been befogged for many years.” We think, though he seems to imagine that now all is clear, that he is getting deeper into the fog than ever before.

We submit to the reader if the following is not more reasonable: Let the scriptures, above quoted, apply only to the living wicked when Christ comes; and this does not militate against a resurrection when the wicked are raised to answer for their own personal doings; let the earth remain desolate a thousand years, as described by the prophet, Isaiah, while the saints are in the New Jerusalem, the mansions of the Father's house above, reigning with Christ, judging the world and fallen angels, 1 Cor. vi, 2, 3; that is, apportioning the punishment due according to the record of their deeds. At the end of the thousand years the saints and the city come down, the wicked dead are raised from the earth, which has rolled on in silence and gloom for a thousand years, and come up around the city, the camp of the saints. Fire comes down from God out of Heaven, the elements, and the earth also, melt with fervent heat, the perdition of ungodly men takes place, and from the fire that destroys sinners root and branch, the earth comes forth purified, to be the eternal abode of the saints.

With this view there is nothing out of harmony, and no explaining away of scripture necessary; but we have a straightforward and natural order of events, that accords with reason, and is sustained by revelation.