EVERLASTING PUNISHMENT by C. A. Wyman

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Dec 17, 1896

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 22, No. 50.

EVERLASTING PUNISHMENT.

By C. A. Wyman

Objections.

AGAINST the positions before taken the objector will doubtless urge that the parable of "the rich man and Lazarus" teaches that there is now a literal burning hell, into which the wicked pass at death, and are "tormented."

Since this is seized upon, with a few other texts, to sustain the "eternal torment" theory, we will briefly examine it in the light of God's plan, as revealed in his word.

The Human Mind the Place of Error.

The word of God can not teach contrary doctrines, neither will the Spirit of God, which uses the word, speak "yea and nay" to the same things. The human mind is the place of confusion and contradiction, and Satan having sown the error of "inherent immortality" in all the earth, it is not strange that the doctrines held by the mass of mankind are opposed to the word of God. Where error is tenaciously held, the truth is neither sought nor desirable. The field first occupied by the foul seed offers no good ground for the tender plant of truth.

What Has Been before Proved.

That the devils are not in torment. Matt. 8:28, 29; Luke 8:26-28.
That the place of hell is this earth, where devils are. 2 Peter 2:4; Rev. 12:7-9.
That the time of torment is at the close of the thousand years succeeding the second advent of our Lord. Rev. 20:9.
That the duration of punishment is limited. Mal. 4:1; Rev. 5:13.

When the Reward Is Given.

With the punishment still future it follows that the general interpretations of the parable controverts the Scriptures. This will further appear from the fact that if the scene presented in Luke 16:19 actually transpires, then the reward comes to each one at death,—a doctrine wholly opposed to the plainest teachings of the Bible. The Saviour declares by the Revelator, "Behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be." Rev. 22:12. Paul preaches:—

"But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasures up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God; who will render to every man according to his deeds." Rom. 2:5, 6.

"Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts." 1 Cor. 4:5.

"The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished." 2 Peter 2:9.

The Judgment Must Precede the Reward.

"Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? . . . Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life?" 1 Cor. 6:2, 3.

"And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them; and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshiped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years." Rev. 20:4.

"And I saw a great white throne, and Him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works." Rev. 20:11, 12.

Thus the judgment of the wicked, preceding their punishment, is a work that is still future; and those who participate in it must be "brought up out of their graves," which alone takes place at the resurrection when Jesus takes his people to himself. 1 Thess. 4:16, 17.

And since "the harvest is the end of the world" (Matt. 13:39), and only at that time do these "go away into everlasting punishment," it follows that the general interpretation of the parable of the rich man and Lazarus is contrary to the Scriptures, in that the sentence is executed before the judgment is in session. And further, as the wicked only awake at the resurrection of the unjust, to damnation (John 5:29), it follows that by the whole tenor of the Scriptures there is no torment till that time. All, both fallen angels and wicked men, are reserved unto the day of judgment, to be punished.

When the Lord comes, the living wicked are slain "by the brightness of his coming" (2 Thess. 2:8; Ps. 50:3; Isa. 24:1-6), and live not again till the thousand years are finished (Rev. 20:5). Therefore it again follows that the interpretation is contrary to sound doctrine.

More than this, the error places Abraham and Lazarus in heaven in a state of bliss without a resurrection, when Paul tells us that if there be no resurrection "then they which have fallen asleep in Christ are perished" (1 Cor. 15:18), and contradicts the statement that the ancient worthies should not be made perfect without us (Heb. 11:39, 40).

If's, Why's, and What's.

If the righteous dead are in heaven enjoying life and immortality, will some objector tell us what the resurrection is for?

If these two transcendent gifts are inherent in man, why should the Scriptures, line upon line, exhort us to seek for them, and show that they are given only at the resurrection of the just? Rom. 2:7; 1 Cor. 15:53.

If Abraham and Lazarus were praising the Lord after they were dead, and before their resurrection, why should the psalmist exclaim, "The dead praise not the Lord, neither any that go down into silence"? Ps. 115:17.

If death is the gateway to "life and bliss," why should Job exclaim: "All the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come?" Job 14:14. And, "If I wait, the grave is mine house; I have made my bed in the darkness." "And where is now my hope?" "They shall go down to the bars of the pit, when our rest together is in the dust." Chapter 17:13, 15, 16. But knowing that his Redeemer lived, and that he would raise him from the dead, he looked forward to that time alone when he would "call" him to himself. Chapter 19:25, 27; 14:15.

If the mind lives on in happiness or misery, why should David exclaim of man, "His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish?" Ps. 146:4.

If death is "swallowed up in victory" when the eyes of the faithful are closed to earthly scenes, why should Paul tell us that it is at the resurrection there comes to pass the saying that it is written, "Death is swallowed up in victory"? 1 Cor. 15:54.

And if Abraham, Lazarus, and all the other saints were in heaven, having received their reward, why was David not there? "For David is not ascended into the heavens." Acts 2:34.

To such lengths of confusion does the common interpretation of the parable lead, that the justice of God, the judgment, and the resurrection are made void. It places the sinner at once in the torments of hell, and yet Satan, his persecutor, is free. Thus the wisdom, mercy, and justice of God are impeached, and all because some one has said, "Ye shall not surely die." Gen. 3:4.

The same lie that caused the fall of our first parents, the destruction of their home and us, Satan still uses as his master speech of deception, whispering in the ears of earth's teeming multitudes, "Ye shall not surely die." Your body may die, but you, you can never die. Albeit God has said: "Ye shall surely die;" "The soul that sinneth, it shall die." Eze. 18:20.

Inasmuch as the righteous are recompensed "at the resurrection of the just," it follows that the doctrine of rewards and torments is without foundation in the word of God, as pertaining to the present.

(Concluded next week.)