The Sabbath-School by Ellet Joseph Waggoner

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Jan 1, 1885

The Sabbath-School.

By Ellet Joseph Waggoner

LESSON FOR THE PACIFIC COAST—JAN. 17.

Punishment of the Wicked.

How many classes of people does the Bible recognize as existing in the world? Matt. 13:24, 25.
What are these classes? Verse 38.
How long do they remain mingled together? Verses 28-30.
When is the harvest? Verse 39.
Is there any class between these two? Matt. 12:30.
Can one be in both these classes at the same time? Matt. 6:24.
When will the separation between the two classes be made? Matt. 25:31-33.
Briefly describe the character of the two classes? Verses 34-45.
What will finally become of them both? Verse 46.
When it is said that the righteous shall go into "life eternal," what is meant? Luke 20:35, 36.
Define the words "everlasting" and "eternal."
How much difference in duration will there be between the reward of the righteous and the punishment of the wicked? Matt. 25:46.
What is to be the punishment of the wicked? Rom. 6:23.
Since their punishment is to be everlasting, or eternal, what can you say of the death which is the wages of sin?
What is said of the punishment of those who do not obey the gospel? 2 Thess. 1:7-9.
From whom does the apostle say the everlasting destruction comes?
What is it that comes from God and destroys the wicked? Rev. 20:9.
Will any wicked person escape the wrath of God? Nahum 1:3.
How many of earth's inhabitants have never sinned? Rom. 10:23.
Then how will it be possible for anybody to escape eternal death? 1 John 1:7.

THERE are innumerable classes of people in this world, according to human reckoning, but according to God's standard—the Bible—there are only two. These are the righteous and the wicked. God made man upright, and designed that he should remain so; but the enemy came in and marred the handywork of the Creator. Since the fall of Adam there has not been a time when there have not been wicked persons on the earth. Indeed, so great has been the contamination that there has been no man since that time who was not to a greater or less extent a sinner. It is evident, then, that if at that time the tares—the wicked of earth—had been plucked up, there would have been no wheat left. Both are to grow together until the harvest—the end of the world. Then a separation will be made by the only one who is able to distinguish between the good grain and the worthless matter.

FROM these facts two things are evident. 1. There are only the two classes. There is no middle ground. Christ said: "He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad." Matt. 12:30. There is no provision made for people who are "as good as the average." To be only as good as the average of mankind, is to be very bad. The standard is—good. Anything different from that is bad. 2. None receive their reward until the Lord comes. In the end of the world—the harvest—the Master sends forth his angels, and they "sever the wicked from among the just." The farmer does not reap one portion of his wheat-field in the spring, another in midsummer, and still another in the fall. There is a special harvest-time, and then all his grain is reaped. So the Lord has not been all the time gathering from his field that he has sown, but has "appointed a day in the which he will judge the world." "The harvest is the end of the world," not the beginning, middle, and end.

FROM Matt. 25:34-45 we learn that the Lord weighs not only actions but intentions. Those to whom the king says, "Come ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom," etc., have not an exalted opinion of their merit. They have had such exalted ideas of right that their humble deeds seem as nothing in comparison. But love to Christ is the mainspring of all their action, and that glorifies every deed however small. Christ identifies himself with his people so closely that whatever is done to them is accounted as done directly to him. On the other hand, we learn that no act, however worthy in itself, is of any value in the sight of God unless done for love to Christ. The heathen did many good things. Their philosophers taught what they called "virtue," some things in which were really good. But all their boasted virtue was only for the exaltation of self. Selfishness was the motive that prompted all their deeds; and since a fountain cannot send forth at the same time both sweet water and bitter, neither can good come from evil, it follows that even their seeming good deeds were really evil. On this same basis, whatever is done "in order that we may have eternal life," with the idea that good deeds are going to make one worthy of the reward, is all in vain. Love must be the ruling motive. If we serve God because of gratitude to him for his love that has already been manifested to us, his love will be still further manifested in giving us eternal life. His love will always be as much greater than ours as he is greater than we; consequently the utmost efforts that our love can prompt will fall infinitely short of compensating for his benefits to us.

"AND these [the wicked] shall go away into everlasting punishment; but the righteous into life eternal." Matt. 25:46. The words "eternal" and "everlasting" are from the same word in the original, and mean the same. We know that in this case they mean "without end," for Christ tells us that those who obtain that world, cannot die any more (Luke 20:35, 36); hence eternal life means life without end. Then eternal or everlasting punishment means punishment without end. This will be the fate of the wicked. But mark; this verse does not tell the nature of the punishment; it only tells us that the punishment will be inflicted, and that it will last eternally. Rom. 6:23 tells us what the punishment is to be: "The wages of sin is death." Then Matt. 25:46 might very properly be paraphrased thus: "And these—wicked—shall go away into eternal death; but the righteous into eternal life." This is exactly what the text teaches. In harmony with this Paul says of those who know not God, and do not obey the gospel, that they "shall be punished with everlasting destruction." This cannot be the case if they are never destroyed. The agent of this destruction is to be fire, which is to come "from the presence of the Lord." See 2 Thess. 2:8; Rev. 20:9.

"THE Lord is slow to anger, and great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked." Nahum 1:3. No guilty person can escape the wrath of God. How then can anybody escape eternal death, since "all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God"? Only by having their guilt taken away by the blood of the Lamb of God. If we do not come to Christ, we can never have life; but if he is "made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification," he will also be unto us "redemption."

IT was a very pretty reply made by a little girl, to the statement that our Saviour was never seen to smile: "Didn't he say, 'Suffer little children to come unto me?' and they would not have come unless he had smiled."