LIFE AND DEATH EVERLASTING.
By W.
WHEN we read the words of the Lord concerning the wicked, "For the Lord God of hosts shall make a consumption, even determined, in the midst of all the land;" "for yet a little while, and the indignation shall cease, and mine anger in their destruction" (Isa. 10:23, 25), and say that the Lord never designed to keep the wicked alive to all eternity suffering torture, we are told that if we limit the suffering of the wicked we have no assurance that the righteous will have everlasting happiness. This idea is based upon the erroneous idea of what is to constitute the reward of the righteous and the punishment of the wicked. It is true that the wicked are to suffer torment, and the righteous to have fullness of joy evermore at the right hand of God; but neither of these constitute the reward promised to the two classes. All that is promised to the righteous is life. Said Christ, "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly." John 10:10. "Ye will not come to me, that ye might have life." John 5:40. "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." John 3:16. "Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, according to the promise of life which is in Christ Jesus." 2 Tim. 1:1. To the wicked, death is threatened. "The wages of sin is death." Rom. 6:23. "But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and424all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone; which is the second death." Rev. 21:8. "I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live." Deut. 30:19. "For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die; but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live." Rom. 8:13. We find that everywhere the choice is between life and death. The reward of the righteous and the punishment of the wicked are exactly opposite. As we said, all that is primarily promised to the righteous is life, but that comprehends everything else. The man who has unlimited life may have all things. Then, too, that promised life is really life. It is not partial life, as is our short life, but perfect life in every organ, so that there will be no sickness to interfere with plans. Therefore we say that this promise of life comprehends all blessings that may be desired. But how long will it last? To all eternity, for the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. "But," says one, "you limit the punishment of the wicked, which the Bible declares will be eternal, and why may you not as well limit the reward of the righteous?" That is a mistake; we do not put a limit to the punishment of the wicked. It will be everlasting, that is, without end. It will be just as long as the reward of the righteous. "These [the wicked] shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life eternal." Matt. 25:46. But this does not say that the wicked shall be in eternal torment. As we have seen, the punishment of the wicked is not primarily suffering, but it is death. They will suffer torment, and doubtless for a very long time, but until death shall have ensued they will not have received their punishment. Since their punishment is death, and it is also eternal, it follows that the punishment of the wicked is eternal death. And this agrees exactly with the words of Paul, who says that they "shall be punished with everlasting destruction." 2 Thess. 1:9. There is no life except in Christ. The righteous have the promise of life which is in Christ. Their life is hid with Christ in God. And when they, in common with all men, are redeemed from the death which came upon them as the result of their inherited mortality, they will live as long as Christ does. The wicked, however, after having their mortal life restored to them, shall be punished with death for the sins which they have committed, and when they go down to the grave the second time there is no way by which they can be rescued, and they "sleep a perpetual sleep."