p. 154 | HOW READEST THOU? by J. Lamont

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Nov 14, 1878

HOW READEST THOU?

By J. Lamont

In contending for their faith, most people have fallen into the habit of arraying one Scripture text against another. This seems to me to be a bad practice, and one that is very inconsistent in a person who accepts the Bible; for if he believes the one text, does he not the other also? The man who believes in the eternal torture of the wicked will quote Rev. 20:10: “And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night forever and ever.” But does he believe the preceding verse? No; because it says the fire devours them. Read it: “And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city; and fire came down from God out of Heaven and devoured them.”

These verses do not contradict each other. They are both right, each telling a part of the story of the fearful doom of the ungodly; and both were written by the same prophet and inspired by the same Spirit,—the Spirit of God. If there is a lack of harmony, it is in the way men understand it, and not in the word of God.

If we remember that “forever” does not necessarily imply endless duration, it will help us to see the whole matter clearly. From Ex. 21: 2-6 we learn that when the year of release came, if the servant refused to leave his master, the fact was certified before the judges, and he remained a servant forever; not throughout eternity, but during the lifetime of the servant, which might be several years and possibly only a few hours. So Satan and all the wicked will be tormented as long as they live, and then be devoured by the terrible fires.

It is said that Sodom and Gomorrah suffered the vengeance of eternal fire. Jude 7. Are these wicked cities now burning? Certainly not. They were speedily reduced to ashes. 2 Pet. 2:6. And they were set forth as an example to those who after should live ungodly.

Of the final doom of all the wicked we read: “Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.” Matt. 25:41. A minister once said, while urging the doctrine of eternal torment, “Hell was not made for man, but for the devil and his angels, and they will neither burn up, turn to ashes, nor cease to be; and wicked men will share their fate throughout the endless ages for having followed them.” But the Bible teaches that the devil will cease to be.

Friend, how are your theories? Do they allow you to believe the whole of the Bible, or only a part of it? Does God’s book tell one story, and but one, on any subject upon which it treats? or is it contradictory? How readest thou? J. LAMONT.