WASHED FROM THE STAIN OF SIN.
THE whole universe of God will one day be clean, the last stains of sin wiped out. Sin brought the curse. But God, in His Word, tells us of a time when "there shall be no more curse." As sin brought the curse, the removal of the curse includes the removal of that which brought it. Every manifestation of nature to-day is imperfect and subject to decay. When God looked upon His finished work, He saw that "it was very good." There was no imperfection then, no wasting then, no decay then—no pale-faced death then. Into that wonderful, beautiful symphony of Love's labor came the canker of sin, and that canker has been eating out the life, the joy, the comfort of this smitten race from then till now. O the bitter dregs of misery that have been wrung out of this afflicted world since the first seeds of sin were cultivated in the heart of man by the harrow of disobedience. What a flood of tears goes 'round the world with every setting sun since men began to reap the harvest from that sowing! What a tide of blasphemy rolls around the world from day to day, where ought to be sincerest praise and worship and thanksgiving! How the towering shaft of crime rises daily toward heaven from the seething volcano of sin! Will it go on forever, this terrible perversion of God's loving design for His creatures?—"There shall be no curse any more; and the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be therein [in this earth]; and His servants shall serve Him; and they shall see His face; and His name shall be on their foreheads. And there shall be night no more; and they need no light of lamp, neither light of sun; for the Lord God shall give them light; and they shall reign forever and ever." Rev. 22:3-5. God's design was that man should possess this earth in all its undimmed, untarnished loveliness, and reign over it forever. In order to accomplish that design, He must now uproot and destroy sin, and save man from its consequences. That is the work that is going on now to its culmination. That work will never need to be done over again. The Lord declares in Nahum 1:9, "He will make a full end; affliction shall not rise up the second time." When that work is done, it will be done for all eternity. The completeness of that work is shown also in Malachi 4. "For, behold, the day cometh, it burneth as a furnace; and all the proud, and all that work wickedness, shall be7stubble; and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith Jehovah of Hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch." "And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I make, saith Jehovah of Hosts." Who are they that shall tread upon the ashes of the wicked? "But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of Righteousness arise with healing in His wings." Mal. 4:2. Again: "Blessed are they that do His commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city." Rev. 22:14. The American Revised Version has it: "Blessed are they that wash their robes, that they may have the right to come to the tree of life," etc. The thought is the same; for the washing of the robes signifies the removal of sin, and sin is the transgression of the law. The robes are washed when past sins have been removed and transgression ceases. All who are in this condition will be keeping and living the commandments of God; and it is these who are given the right to "come to the tree of life"—the right which was denied when sin came; and the right to enter the city of God—a right which man forfeited when he disobeyed his Maker. God's declaration that He will "come quickly" (His reward with Him), "to render to each man according as his work is," shows that there will be a standard in the judgment of the great day. That standard is the law of God. To the host of the redeemed God points and says: "Here is the patience of the saints; here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus." Rev. 14:12. It will be a blessed thing to be found in that victorious company. But how can those words be said of us if we have been fighting against the law of God? How can we be found washed from the stain of sin if we have been transgressing the law whose transgression is sin? Our own hearts must answer these questions. Let us do it in the light of the judgment.