A CLEAN UNIVERSE by S.

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Mountain View, California · May 10, 1905

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 31, No. 19.

A CLEAN UNIVERSE.

By S.

IT is the purpose of God to rid His universe of sin. The time will come when sin, sinners, and the originator of sin, Satan, will be no more. The prophet Malachi reveals to us the coming of a time when there will be nothing left of the wicked but ashes. He says:

"For, behold, the day cometh, it burneth as a furnace; and all the proud, and all that work wickedness, shall be stubble; 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." Mal. 4:1-3.

There is no intimation here that hell is an institution, presided over by Satan, in which he is given carte blanche to torment those committed to that region to the utmost limit of his fiendish ingenuity; no intimation that Satan is God's agent to see that all sinners are properly punished. But the teaching is as plain as words can make anything plain that every being that is practising wickedness when

that day comes, or who died unrepentant and unforgiven, is literally burned up, consumed, and exists no more. Now, it is evident that this includes Satan and all his hosts, as well as those whom he has deceived. The Lord tells us through the psalmist, "For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be; yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place, and he shall not be." Ps. 37:10. How could it be said that "the wicked shall not be," if he is actually in existence in torment, and being tormented by the chiefest of all wicked, the instigator of all crime?

Satan has nothing to do with the infliction of punishment upon the impenitent wicked; but he and they both receive their punishment at the same time and are destroyed together. The Word plainly declares this, in speaking of the work of Satan after his release from his imprisonment of a thousand years immediately following the second coming of Christ. He gathers his deceived ones together, and then it is said of them: "They went up over the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city; and fire came down out of heaven, and devoured them." Rev. 20:9. If that did not end their existence, why would Inspiration use a word that indicates to us a complete cessation of existence? It might be questioned as to whether the original word really meant what we understand by devoured. The original word from which "devoured" is translated, is katefagen, and means, ate up. The Emphatic Diaglott renders it "consumed." It is therefore certain that there remains nothing of those upon whom falls that fire from heaven. Satan does not rain that fire upon those who are rejected of God; but it is rained from heaven upon him and upon them together.

Of the end of Satan's existence it reads in another place: "All they that know thee among the peoples shall be astonished at thee; thou art become a terror, and thou shalt nevermore have any being." Eze. 28:19. To ascertain who it is that is thus addressed, read verses 13 to 19. How could even Inspiration speak more plainly than this in declaring the complete end of the author of sin?

Notwithstanding these plain teachings of the Word of God, we read in the latest issue of one of our exchanges such words as these:

The silly, deluded devotees of such superstition, such idolatry, such infamous blasphemy, . . . must all in the end, unless they repent in sackcloth and ashes, make their way down the slippery steps of time, and take their final leap at last into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the old devil will take special delight to wrap them around his fingers, gouge their eyes out, and toss them like a rubber ball around the black walls of the dark, dismal pandemonium, the sport of demoniacal millions, while the ages of oncoming eternities roll up from the dark realms below.

Now, there is not a word in all the Bible concerning any such fiendish transactions as described in this quotation; not a word anywhere to indicate that Satan has anything whatever to do with the punishment of the wicked; or that he is God's agent in any sense to execute judgment upon the wicked. To use such language is to cast reproach upon our Saviour, to pervert the teachings of His Word, and even to debase the idea of religion in the minds of thoughtful men and women. Such teachings are dishonoring to our Maker, and a plain contradiction of all He has said concerning the destiny of the wicked.

But God will have a clean universe, a praising universe. "And He shall wipe away every tear from their eyes; and death shall be no more; neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain, any more." Rev. 21:4. That is absolute. If there were to be a never-ending hell, how could this text of scripture be true? Would there not be pain? Would there not be mourning? Would there not be crying, such crying as men and women have never done in this world? A never-ending hell would make this scripture untrue. Does some one say, That scripture only refers to the righteous? The text itself does not say so; but we will read another: "And every created thing which is in the heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and on the sea, and all things that are in them, heard I saying, Unto Him that sitteth on the throne, and unto the Lamb, be the blessing, and the honor, and the glory, and the dominion, forever and ever." Rev. 5:13. How could there be an unending place of torment wherein millions were undergoing the most frightful torture of mind and body, and at the same time this text of scripture be true?—It could not be.

When God has made an end of sin, every creature that is left in existence in His universe will be praising Him. The universe will be swept clean of everything that has ever brought pain upon men and sorrow to the heart of our loving heavenly Father. No more sorrow, no more crying, no more pain, no more sickness, no more sin, no more death! What a blessed place for the occupancy of the redeemed! No ever-burning hell where our friends, our parents, or our children, writhe in agony untold. That conception is a child of paganism and superstition, born under the blighting influences of the Dark Ages. It is not true; it never will be true. In that better land is only joy and peace and praise. Blessed country! What a glorious privilege it will be to dwell therein!