The Destruction of Sin by A. T. Robinson

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Dec 4, 1913

The Destruction of Sin

By A. T. Robinson

(Concluded)

A. T. ROBINSON

That the presence of the holy God consumes everything with which sin is connected is clearly shown by the following passages: “And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him [Moses] in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt. And when the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses, . . . draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.” Ex. 3: 2-5.

Had Moses disregarded this merciful warning and carelessly approached the burning bush, he would have been quickly consumed by the glory of the divine presence. “And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took either of them his censer, and put fire therein, and put incense thereon, and offered strange fire before the Lord, which he commanded them not. And there went out fire from the Lord, and devoured them, and they died before the Lord.” Lev. 10: 1, 2.

God’s presence with the Israelitish hosts during the wilderness wanderings was manifested by a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. “And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and night.” Ex. 13: 21. The consuming power and glory of the divine presence was manifested in awful grandeur at Mt. Sinai. “And Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet with God; and they stood at the nether part of the mount. And Mt. Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly. . . . And the Lord said unto Moses, Go down, charge the people, lest they break through unto the Lord to gaze, and many of them perish. . . . Let not the priests and the people break through to come up unto the Lord, lest he break forth upon them.” Ex. 19: 17-24. “And the glory of the Lord abode upon Mt. Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days. . . . And the sight of the glory of the Lord was like devouring fire on the top of the mount in the eyes of the children of Israel.” Ex. 24: 16, 17.

The glory of the divine presence witnessed by Moses in the burning bush; the revelation of that glory in awful grandeur when the Lord came down and abode for a time on Mt. Sinai; the manifestation of that glory in the destruction of Nadab and Abihu and of the two hundred and fifty princes, men of renown in Israel, who offered strange fire before the Lord, will be manifested in all its consuming power and splendor at the second coming of Christ, and every person who is then found with sin upon him will be consumed by the spirit of his mouth and destroyed by the brightness of his coming.

For the same reason that the burning bush was not consumed by the glory of God’s presence; for the same reason that Moses “endured, as seeing him who was invisible,” the one hundred and forty-four thousand will be able to endure the matchless glory and splendor that will be revealed when he shall come “in his own glory, and in his Father’s,” “and all the holy angels with him.” Luke 9: 26; Matt. 25: 31.

The apostle gives us a vivid description of how the second coming of Christ will affect both classes who will be living and witness that sublime event. “And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power; when he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe.” 2 Thess. 1: 7-10. “But who may abide the day of his coming?” asks the prophet, “and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner’s fire, and like fullers’ soap: and he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver.” Mal. 3: 2, 3.

When the church of Jesus Christ shall have put on the wedding garment, the robe of Christ’s righteousness, when she shall be in readiness to meet her returning Lord, the sinners and hypocrites will have left the church. The prophet, foreshadowing that time, says: “The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites.” Inspiration has put this solemn question in the mouth of God’s people at that time: “Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire [the glory which devours the wicked]? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?” Isa. 33: 14.

When sin shall have been eradicated from the lives of God’s remnant people, “when the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof by the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of burning,” there will then be so much of the divine presence in the church of Christ that it will not be a desirable place for sinners and hypocrites, and no longer will church discipline be needed to get them out.

God has many faithful men and women in his church today who are so fully walking with God that he could trust them with the fulness of the outpouring of his Holy Spirit. This great promised blessing, which is due in this time is withheld from the church, first, because of those who are “at ease in Zion” (Amos 6: 1), and secondly, because of wicked men in the church who are practising iniquity under a cloak of falsehood. Jer. 5: 24-26. Men may be as corrupt as Satan himself among the nominal professors of religion without their iniquity coming to light, but not so under the blazing light of that message which is to prepare a people to “stand when he appeareth.” The fact that such cases occasionally come to light is an evidence that we are nearing the time when the power of God’s presence in his church will be so manifest that the sinners in Zion will be afraid, and fearfulness will surprise the hypocrite.

When the power of the Spirit of the living God comes into his church as it will come before the work closes, it will be as it was in the time of Ananias and Sapphira, when “great fear came upon all the church, and upon as many as heard these things. . . . And of the rest durst no man join himself to them.” And when that blessed state is again

reached by the church, it will be as it was then, “and believers were the more added to the Lord, multitudes both of men and women.” Acts 5: 11-14. The prophet foresaw such a time, and gave utterance to these inspiring words: “Awake, awake; put on thy strength, O Zion; put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city: for henceforth there shall no more come into thee the uncircumcised and the unclean.” Isa. 52: 1.

Dear reader, before you and I can live a sinless life in the flesh, the dominion of sin in our lives must be terminated. Sin must come to an end in our lives. Actually come to an end — cease. There will still remain the “motions of sin,” striving for the mastery, just as the “motions of sin” did strive for the mastery in the “sinful flesh” of Jesus Christ, but —

“As surely as he overcame And triumphed once for you, So surely you who love his name Shall triumph in him, too.”

College View, Nebr.