WILL THE WICKED BE ANNIHILATED?
By L. D. Santee
One whose name is well known in two continents speaks strongly in answering this question. “Of all the views held concerning the future of the wicked, the one which is utterly untenable is that of annihilation.” And by this statement he does not mean the annihilation of matter, but the end of a life of conscious misery, of those who have sinned against God. If human evidence were conclusive, then the words we have quoted from J. Campbell Morgan would settle the question, and we could say to every soul that sinneth, “Ye shall not surely die.” Gen. 3:4. But others equally learned fail to find in the Scriptures the least evidence that this statement is true. Says the eminent Rev. Dr. Kerr: “The doom of the wicked is everywhere spoken of in Holy Scriptures in terms which imply the obliteration of their entire being and existence.” Says Canon Farrar: “I can not find one single text in all the Scriptures which, when fairly interpreted, teaches the common views about endless torment.” It is easy to see, that to follow even the best men, would end in confusion; so we take the Word of God, and we ask, reverently, “What shall the end be of them that obey not the Gospel of God?” 1 Peter 4:17. It is hard for us to realize how much the future of the race is affected by the answer to this question. In nearly every home are wayward children, perhaps an unconverted companion, or, mayhap, kind-hearted but worldly parents. All are drifting toward—what? Our lives are bound up with theirs, and when they are carried out to return no more, our bosoms feel the stress and strain of heart-break, and we ask with agonizing persistence concerning their future, whether eternal agony will be theirs to suffer, or whether they will die the second death (Rev. 20:14), and after that be as insensate as the material from which they were created. God will answer this solemn question. Let us listen and believe. “The soul that sinneth, it shall die.” Eze. 18:4. “The wages of sin is death.” Rom. 6:23. “Sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.” James 1:15. Here death is three times threatened, as the punishment for sin. It is easy for us to understand the nature of death, in a land where all are dying. Webster stated an axiom when he defined “Death—cessation of life, extinction of bodily life.” And this is the punishment for sin—extinction of bodily life. But I read farther, for God has not spoken uncertainly when telling the future of the wicked. “But the wicked shall perish, and the enemies of the Lord shall be as the fat of lambs, they shall consume, into smoke shall they consume away.” Ps. 37:20. “Perish—to be destroyed, to come to nothing, to be blotted from existence.”—Webster. “For lo, thine enemies shall perish.” Ps. 92:9. Again, “For lo, they that are far from thee shall perish.” Ps. 73:27. In John 3:14–16, perish is twice used in contrast with everlasting life. God often uses the word “perish” in describing the future condition of the wicked. Turn to Nahum 1:9. “What do ye imagine against the Lord?” His statement in the lines following, in which he defines his true position, tells the subject about which they have been imagining. Can anything be plainer than his words? “He will make an utter end.” “Affliction shall not rise up the second time, for while they be folden together as thorns, and while they are drunken as drunkards, they shall be devoured as stubble fully dry.” What could be plainer than this? and the one that imagines otherwise, is imagining against the Lord, by doing injustice to His character. David says, of the workers of iniquity, “Consume them in wrath, consume them, that they may not be.” Ps. 59:13. Again he says, “Let the sinners be consumed out of the earth, and let the wicked be no more.” Ps. 104:35. Isaiah adds his testimony in the 28th verse of the first chapter, “And the destruction of transgressors and of sinners shall be together, and they that forsake the Lord shall be consumed.” In chapter 10, verses 16–18, he makes it still more emphatic, showing that the “consuming” includes both “soul and body.” We have now shown from the Word of God, “what shall be the end of them that obey not the Gospel.” If it does not teach their utter destruction, then language is powerless to convey ideas. Will the words “die” and “death” prove it? I have found them. Does the word “perish” teach that they shall come to an end? God has used it repeatedly. The prophet, inspired by the Holy Spirit, declares that they shall be consumed “both soul and body.” The doctrine of eternal torture rests upon the assumption that all these texts are not true. Dare we take that position? “He that reproveth God, let him answer it.” Job 40:2. The last notice of the wicked is when they are “ashes.” Mal. 4:3. Then as conscious beings they are annihilated. After this All John sees a universe cleared of sin. “And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb forever and ever.” Faithful, God-fearing men have voiced their abhorrence of the doctrine of endless misery, and have found it impossible to reconcile it with justice. God feels the same way. “What do ye imagine against the Lord.” Said Bishop Foster in his book, “Beyond the Grave,” page 130: “The idea of the endless conscious suffering of the wicked is the most unwelcome thought ever suggested to my mind. My whole soul revolts against it. There is no sacrifice I would not willingly make to get rid of it. It is the horror of all horrors. I do not now see either wisdom or goodness in the plan, and possibly never may.” The following from Rev. J. E. Roberts, a prominent pastor of the Baptist Church, is worthy of thought: “I have heard it declared from the pulpit, I was taught it in the seminary, and, God forgive me, I have preached it, that God would be eternally glorified by the undying agonies of the eternally lost. I affirm that this is a direct contradiction of every one of Christ’s teachings about God. It changes the Fatherhood to hatred, the compassion to cruelty, the love to anger, and banishes from the world that now is, and that which is to come, the God and Father whom Christ revealed.” We present a similar statement from the pen of H. F. Oliver, another Baptist minister, published in the Bible Banner. “I was trembling on the brink of infidelity on account of the great and terrible papal fiction—endless misery.” And still another Baptist clergyman, living in California, Dr. Frost, makes the following strong statement in the Los Angeles Evening Express: “I abhor, with all my being, the eternal conscious misery of the wicked.” A talented writer speaks as follows on this subject: “I can see how God can destroy men in love, mercy, and justice, but could never see how His mercy, love, and justice would allow Him to torment them eternally. When the wicked stand in agony at the Judgment, Mercy would say, Kill them, and put them out of misery; Love would say the same; and Justice says, They have forfeited all right to eternal life, and must die the second death and be no more.” “But,” says one, “are not the wicked threatened with ‘everlasting punishment?’” Matt. 25:46. Yes. If the punishment was suffering, it would begin when he began to suffer, and end when the suffering ceased. But the punishment is death. Then his punishment begins when he is dead, and will not end until he comes to life again. Suppose that after the wicked die the “second death” they never come to life again, how long would be their punishment? Only one answer can be given, and that is, Eternal. We will close this article by one more Scripture declaration: “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.” Mal. 4:1. Here is the truth in regard to the annihilation of the wicked.