3855—The Child Shall Die an Hundred Years Old, Isa. 65:20
By Editor
Will you please explain Isa. 65:20 in the "Question Corner"? The last clause reads, "For the child shall die an hundred years old; but the sinner being an hundred years old shall be accursed." I didn't suppose there would be any death or sinners in the New Jerusalem. What does it mean? G. D. C. The text and the context clearly refer to the end of sin and the entering upon the eternal inheritance. Now first, the great day of God's wrath begins with the close of probation and the pouring out of the seven last plagues of Revelation 15 and 16. 2. Under the pouring out of the seventh plague Christ comes, and all the living wicked that are left perish in the presence of His awful glory. 3. During one thousand years, the "many days" of Isa. 24:22, the earth is left desolate, the wicked are dead, the saints are in heaven with Christ. 4. At the close of the "many days," the wicked are raised, and vindicate God's infinite justice by yielding themselves once more to the deceptions of Satan, who organizes them into armies and attempts to take the city of God. See Rev. 20: 5-9; Isa. 54:15, 17. This is a little season as compared with the thousands of years of his existence, and will be about one hundred years in length, probably. 5. There will be among these wicked ones the young who have just passed the age of accountability and have rejected God, and there will also be the hardened sinner; but for that period of time, they will yield to Satan's control, demonstrating that God has justly rejected them. It is possible, for aught we know, that they may still beget and rear children. Now in the light of these facts read Isa. 65: 17-21. Verses 17 to 19 present before us the new earth and its capital city, in which crying and sorrow nevermore enter. See also Rev. 21: 1-4. The next verse gives the reason,—for before that time all the former conditions will have passed away—the premature old man, the abnormally old infant—for at the close of that little season the child of wickedness will have died a hundred years old, and the sinner being a hundred years old will have met the curse of death; for when God's glory appears above that city, they shall all perish in His presence. Rev. 20:9. The age of each is expressed by that period; their resurrection life, their experiences in sin, by the terms "child" and "sinner." We do not gather from the scripture that every responsible wicked child shall live to be just one hundred years old, nor do we believe that the reference is to antediluvian children, some of whom were reputable fathers at sixty-five; but the hundred years cover that period in which God's plan of justice will receive final vindication from all the universe, and every false theory shall be determined in its true worth, in utter emptiness and falsity. For more upon this question, see "Questions and Answers," page 228, question No. 238.