The Destiny of the Wicked by G. B. Thompson

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Dec 31, 1914

The Destiny of the Wicked

By G. B. Thompson

(Continued)

Bible Teaching Concerning the Punishment of the Wicked

The Scriptures clearly show that the lost are not now being punished. There is a time of judgment in which every case will be investigated. Paul preached of a “judgment to come.” Acts 24:25. The judgment is the last work of Christ in the heavenly sanctuary before he lays aside his priestly garments, and closes his work as mediator for sinners. It is not reasonable then that the Lord would send the wicked into the lake of fire prepared for the devil and his angels, before they have been judged. To do this would be similar to sending a man suspected of some crime to the penitentiary, leaving him there for a number of years, and then bringing him before a legal tribunal and examining the evidence to see if he were guilty and merited the punishment which he had received. The just God does not deal with his creatures in this way. The judgment precedes the reward. The punishment in the lake of fire is but the execution of the judgment written.

The apostle Peter states this same fact when he says, “The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished.” 2 Peter 2:9. They are not now receiving their punishment, but are reserved until the judgment. This language is very clear. Webster defines “reserve,” “to keep back; to retain or hold over to a future time or place.” The apostle says further: “But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.” 2 Peter 3:7. In addition to the finally incorrigible, we are told that “the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitations, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.” Jude 6. So then neither Satan, fallen angels, nor sinners are now receiving their punishment in the lake of fire, but are reserved until the close of the judgment, when each will “receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.” 2 Cor. 5:10.

Job also bears similar testimony on this point. He says, “Have ye not asked them that go by the way? and do ye not know their tokens, that the wicked is reserved to the day of destruction? they shall be brought forth to the day of wrath.” Job 21:29, 30. They are not reserved in purgatory, but in the grave. From this prison house of the enemy they will be “brought forth” at the second resurrection, to receive the punishment which the just God in the judgment has decreed against sin.

In Matt. 25:31-46 is given a view of the judgment, and the placing of the sheep, or righteous, on the right hand, and the goats, or wicked, on the left hand. It is at this time, not before, that the wicked “go away into everlasting punishment.” It seems unnecessary to introduce further evidence to show that the lost are not now receiving their reward, as the Scriptures we have studied are conclusive on this point.

Place Where the Wicked Will Receive Their Reward

We are not left in doubt and uncertainty as to the place where the lost will be punished. In earthly governments the transgressors of the law are tried, sentenced, and punished where they committed their evil deeds. It is so here. Thus we read, “Behold, the righteous shall be recompensed in the earth: much more the wicked and the sinner.” Prov. 11:31. The apostle Peter in the scriptures already quoted bears decisive testimony on this same point: “But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.” 2 Peter 3:7. The apostle here tells us that the executive judgment is the time, and the earth is the place, for the perdition, or destruction, of the ungodly.

This fire which consumes the lost will burn and purify the earth, so that the place where sin has had its throne and kingdom becomes the home of the people of God, thus leaving no place for sinners, or an eternal, burning hell.

“But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great

noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.” 2 Peter 3:10-13.

This will indeed be “the day of the Lord’s vengeance, and the year of recompenses for the controversy of Zion,” when “the streams thereof shall be turned into pitch, and the dust thereof into brimstone, and the land thereof shall become burning pitch.” Isa. 34:8, 9. Everything that fire can consume will be burned up. In that awful hour when the Lord takes vengeance on them that know him not, the heavens will be in flames, the whole earth one vast lake of liquid fire; the rocks will melt, the mountains run down like wax, and the whole earth be devoured by the fire of his jealousy. “The mountains quake at him, and the hills melt, and the earth is burned at his presence, yea, the world, and all that dwell therein.” Nahum 1:5.

The revelator beheld in vision the awful scene here described. He saw the wicked come forth in the second resurrection, a countless throng, numberless as the sand upon the seashore, to receive their reward. He saw them go “up on the breadth of the earth,” and compass “the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city; and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.” Rev. 20:9. This text, in harmony with the others referred to, shows that the ungodly are on the earth when the fire of God’s indignation is kindled, and they are destroyed. This earth, which they have defiled, becomes the place of their punishment. We feel that this point is clear beyond all doubt to those who will allow the Word of God to settle the question. This constitutes unimpeachable testimony that the lost are not now receiving their reward.

G. B. Thompson.

(To be continued)