A Perpetual Sleep by Editor

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Dec 2, 1897

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 23, No. 47.

A Perpetual Sleep

By Editor

No. 671. "A Perpetual Sleep." Jer. 51 : 39, 57.

DOES Jer. 51 : 39, a "perpetual sleep," mean that those who are not worthy will not have a resurrection? J. M.

It means that their end shall be everlasting destruction. The prophet looks beyond any temporary death to the ultimate punishment of the wicked, the second death, from which there is no resurrection. Rev. 20 : 14. As far as the city and the political organization of Babylon were concerned, the judgment will be true this side of the thousand years. Babylon as a city or a system or organization will be utterly destroyed. The wicked men as men will receive their full reward after the second resurrection. See Revelation 20. Isa. 28 : 15-18 doubtless refers to all those classes who, transgressing God's laws, expect to be saved by the various devices of their own, the most of whom build upon the first falsehood of the serpent, "Thou shalt not surely die."