FOREVER AND EVERLASTING.
By A. SMITH
These terms, according to Webster, are synonymous, and signify, primarily, endless duration. This is their meaning in Matt. 25:46. Eternal conscious suffering, however, is not a necessary concomitant of everlasting punishment. The criminal is terrified, not so much by the prospective pain of dying, which is not nearly so great as what he might suffer and live, as by the thought of being deprived of all the pleasant experiences and associations which he might enjoy during the remainder of his natural life. Fire is an eternal element; its latent energies pervade all nature, and may be called into requisition by a combination of circumstances and conditions ever at the command of God, and, in a limited extent, at the command of men. Such was the fire that destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. Jude 7. To make this text harmonize with modern theology, it should read, “Eternally suffering the vengeance of fire.” But, bad for the theory, the Sodomites were reduced to ashes, and the fire ceased to burn. All the unjust may expect a like fate; for this incident is given as an example to all such. It was in this sense that Luther, the great reformer, understood the term. When burning the popish decretals at Wittenberg, he would take up a volume, and after saying, “Thou hast tormented the Lord’s holy one; may the everlasting fire torment and consume thee,” would throw it into the flames, where it soon shared a fate like that of the Sodomites, save the pain of dying. These books were reduced to ashes, and existed as books no more forever. These terms have also a secondary meaning, signifying a comparatively long, indefinite time. God commanded the Israelites to observe the ordinance of the passover forever, and yet it was only designed to continue till the coming of Christ. See Ex. 12:24, 14, 17; 1 Cor. 5:7. In Ex. 21:6, it is shown how a man might be made a servant forever; yet both master and servant died in process of time, and the service ended; thus proving that his everlasting servitude was limited to the remainder of the servant’s natural life. Christ is declared to be a priest forever after the order of Melchisedec, Heb. 6:20, yet his priesthood is to end with the cleansing of the heavenly sanctuary. This shows that no other priesthood should succeed that of Christ; the term “forever,” therefore, in this instance, signifies a limited period of duration. It is said of the devil that he shall be tormented day and night forever and ever, Rev. 20:10; yet the following scriptures prove that he is finally to be destroyed: Eze. 28:16-19; Heb. 2:14; Mal. 4:1. The term forever and ever, therefore, signifies a long, but indefinite, period, from the time he is cast into the lake of fire, until he is finally consumed. A. SMITH.