A MIGHTY CONTRAST by G. B. Thompson

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Jan 16, 1901

A MIGHTY CONTRAST.

By G. B. Thompson

In Mal. 3:16, 17 the Lord, speaking of His people, those who fear Him, speak of His goodness, and think upon His name, says, “And they shall be Mine, . . . in that day when I make up My jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him.” The Lord speaks of them as “jewels,” something of value, an ornament, an object highly prized, which He will spare and shield as a father loves and cares for a son. How precious it is to be objects of such real worth in the eyes of the Most High that He can speak of us as “jewels”! It will pay to be a Christian.

Continuing, the Lord speaks of the wicked, who live for the temporal, fleeting things of this life: “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.” Chap. 4:1. Behold, what a mighty contrast! The righteous, “jewels,” the wicked, “stubble,” something dry and dead, that which remains after the harvest is past, and the grain has been gathered into the garner, fit only to be “burned up,” root and branch.

A comparison equally striking is found in Matt. 3:12: “Whose fan is in His hand, and He will thoroly purge His floor, and gather His wheat into the garner; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” The godly are “wheat;” the ungodly are “chaff.” The Saviour, at His second advent, gathers the wheat into the heavenly garner, while the unnumbered millions of the wicked are left for the all-consuming, unquenchable fire of the last day.

The same figure is used in Dan. 2:35, where all the nations of earth are represented as being carried away “like the chaff of the summer threshing-floors” at the second advent of the King of kings, to make way for the establishment of His everlasting kingdom. How utterly worthless at last will that person be who is found without God!

Another thought in this connection may be proper. If the doctrine of the eternal torment of the lost is true, then inspiration certainly chose a poor comparison to convey the thought. They are compared to stubble and chaff, some things combustible and easy to be destroyed. Another writer compares them to “stubble fully dry.” Nahum 1:10. The flame once kindled by the breath of the Almighty, this “stubble fully dry” will burst into fire “unquenchable” indeed. No power can quench it; all will be consumed, root and branch, reduced to “ashes.” Mal. 4:3. Then the entire universe will be free from sin. Every voice which is not in harmony with the voice of God will have been stilled in the realms of the second death, and one united chorus of praise will ascend to God thru all eternity. Rev. 5:13.

By this means the original plan of God concerning this earth will be carried out. He made the earth to be inhabited, not by sinners, but by a loyal race, such as Adam was when he came from the hand of God in holy Eden, at the dawn of creation. Sin for a time has been permitted to intrude its hideous form and mar the workmanship of the celestial Architect, but the original plan will prevail; for God has not changed. A way has been provided, thru Jesus Christ, whereby the original dominion given to Adam in the beginning will be restored to himself and his posterity. The stubble, the chaff, the tares, all briars and thorns, will be burned up, and the paradise restored will be given over to the jewels of the Lord.

Reader, are you one of those jewels? If not, I exhort you, ere the sun makes another circuit in the heavens, to give yourself to Him. He stands with extended arms to receive every prodigal son.

Rome, N. Y. G. B. THOMPSON.