The Sabbath-School by Ellet Joseph Waggoner

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Feb 5, 1885

The Sabbath-School.

By Ellet Joseph Waggoner

LESSON FOR THE PACIFIC COAST—MARCH 7.

Review.

How many classes of people does the Bible recognize?
When will the final separation between them take place?
With what will the righteous be rewarded?
What will be done with the wicked?
What can you say of the comparative duration of the reward of the righteous and the punishment of the wicked?
What is to be the punishment of the wicked?
What is the agent in the destruction of the wicked?
How complete will be this destruction?
To what perishable material are the wicked likened? Quote texts.
What will be the effect of the wrath of God abiding on the wicked?
How can you harmonize the theory that you have advanced with Mark 9:43?
What is always accomplished by an unquenchable fire? Matt. 3:12.
Prove that Rev. 20:10 does not contradict the doctrine that the wicked are to become utterly extinct.
Of how many deaths does the Bible speak?
Explain the distinction between the first and the second death.
State the origin and effect of the doctrine that the wicked are not to die for their iniquity.
What do you learn from Rev. 5:13?

ALTHOUGH the lesson this week is a review, we give a few notes for the aid of those who have not had the previous lessons. However, much people may imagine that there is provision made in the gospel for people who are "as good as the average," the fact remains that the Bible recognizes only two classes,—the good and the bad. "See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil." Deut. 30:15. To be counted good, a person must keep all of God's commandments; to be among the bad requires the breaking of no more than one. "He that is not with me is against me, and he that gathereth not together with me scattereth abroad." Matt. 12:30. In the battle of life there is no intermediate or neutral ground.

THIS is also evident from the account of the final separation. "When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory; and before him shall be gathered all nations; and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats; and he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left." Matt. 25:31-33. The succeeding verses plainly tell the character of these two classes. The first class are they who have served the Lord; love for him has sanctified every effort of their lives, and they have obeyed this exhortation of the apostle: "Whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him." Col. 3:17. The other class are they who have lived for self; even their deeds of kindness have been prompted by selfishness and love of applause, and so have been nothing but manifestations of the evil in their hearts. To the first class it is said: "Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." Matt. 25:34. To the other class it is said: "Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels." Matt. 25:41.

THE comparative duration of the reward of the righteous and the punishment of the wicked is stated in Matt. 25:46. The Saviour closes his discourse with these words: "And these [the wicked] shall go away into everlasting punishment; but the righteous into life eternal." If there were no other text relating to this question, we should know that death is to be the final portion of the wicked. If it were not so, then the promise of eternal life to the righteous would not indicate any difference in the fate of the two classes. But there is a contrast. The wicked shall go into punishment, but the righteous into life. No one who regards the Bible will say that both classes receive the same award; but it is certain that the righteous are to have life. Now anything that is different from life must be death, therefore the wicked receive the sentence of death, which is executed. To show that this conclusion is sound, we have only to quote Paul's words: "The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord." Rom. 6:23. The Saviour said that the punishment of the wicked and the life of the righteous are both to be eternal; therefore we know that eternal death,—death from which there is no resurrection,—is the wages of sin. Paul says (2 Thess. 1:7-9) that the wicked shall be punished with "everlasting destruction," when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire; and both John (Rev. 20:9) and Malachi (Mal. 4:1-3), and many others state this destruction is to be by fire.

FOR the completeness of the destruction of the wicked, we can only refer the reader to a few texts, which require no interpretation. See Ps. 1:1-4; 2:8, 9; 37:9, 10, 20, 38; Isa. 5:24; Obadiah 16; Mal. 4:1-3; 2 Thess. 1:7-9; Rev. 20:9, etc. David says that if the wrath of God be kindled but a little, its effect will be to cause the wicked to "perish from the way" (Ps. 2:12); when therefore it abides on the wicked (John 3:36), they will be, as Obadiah has said, "as though they had not been." See Webster's definition of "perish."

IN Mark 9:43 the Saviour says that the wicked shall be cast into a fire that "never shall be quenched." This, instead of contradicting the above statements, is the strongest confirmation of them. The effect of an "unquenchable fire" is to "burn up" that which is cast into it (Matt. 3:12); if the wicked were cast into any other kind of fire, their destruction could not be complete. "Everlasting fire" is fire whose effects are everlasting; it is like that which destroyed the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. Jude 7. This was unquenchable fire, and resulted in the overthrow of those cities; it turned them to ashes.

WE can only refer to the texts that answer question 13. See Ex. 21:1-6, where it is stated that under certain circumstances the Hebrew servant should serve his master "forever." Of course this meant during his natural life. So, likewise, "forever," in Rev. 20:10 and similar passages, covers only the space of time that it is possible for persons to exist in "unquenchable fire." See also Isaiah 34 and 35, where, after the land is described as burning and lying waste, so that none can pass through it "forever and ever," it is described as blossoming as the rose, and being inhabited by "the ransomed of the Lord."

THIS death of which we have been speaking is "the second death." Rev. 21:8. "In Adam all die," both righteous and wicked, old men and little children; and "so in Christ shall all be made alive." 1 Cor. 15:22. Christ does this for all, because no one is to blame for being the descendant of Adam, and thus mortal. When all have been made alive, it will be seen who are worthy to have life continued to them, and those who have died in their iniquity shall die the second time. Eze. 18:26. This is the death to which God had reference when he said to Adam, "In the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die." That penalty has never been executed; through the kindness of God in Christ, the execution of the penalty was stayed, in order to give fallen man another chance for his life. Christ tasted death for every man, and those who accept his sacrifice will escape the penalty for sin, but upon those who do not, it will fall grievously.

THE originator of the doctrine of life for the wicked, as we learn from Gen. 3:1-4, was the serpent, "which is the devil and Satan." Rev. 20:2. His object in teaching it to Eve was to lead her to sin. He made her believe that if she disobeyed God she would not suffer for it, but would be the gainer by it. It was a direct lie, and it had its designed effect. Ever since that time it has been repeated, and with the same result. Thus the Lord through his prophet rebukes those who "with lies" have made the heart of his people sad, and have "strengthened the hands of the wicked, that he should not return from his wicked way, by promising him life." Eze. 13:22. Reader, do you wish to be found on the devil's side, perpetuating his falsehood? E. J. W.