p. 29 | Untitled article by R. F. Cottrell

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jun 27, 1865

The World's Conversion a Fable. No. 1.

By R. F. Cottrell

It is natural to the human heart to cherish that belief which is agreeable to its own selfish feelings and desires. That which promises temporal good is ardently desired by the carnal mind. Mankind have always loved to hear prophecies of good concerning themselves; and this demand for smooth things is the great secret of the thriving business, and unequaled success, of false prophets and teachers in all ages of the world.

The faith that a world of sinners, growing worse and worse with the Bible in their hands, and its increasing light flashing in their eyes (if they do not close them), are, in fact, growing better, and are on the very threshold of conversion to God, and that righteousness is about to run down our streets like rivers, as naturally as the waters of Niagara pour over the precipice, is a most soothing and comfortable faith to those who are disposed to be lulled to sleep in an easy position, where they may, in their pleasant dreams, imagine they witness the truth of the saying of the blind watchmen and false shepherds, "To-morrow shall be as this day, and much more abundant." Isa. lvi. Men in general desire the plan of salvation to be just wide enough to take them in without any special change; and next to the doctrine of universal salvation, as a somniferous potion with which to quiet the nerves of sinners, in the church and out, is the teaching that the narrow way to life is growing broader and broader, or that the multitude in the broad way are becoming so much better than ancient sinners were, that they are about to enter the narrow way as a matter of course.

No one should give currency to a doctrine of this nature—a doctrine so well calculated to flatter those whose affections are riveted to the present world—without the best of evidence that it is true. Yet it is taken without evidence, and handed about without any apparent sense of responsibility. The present condition of the most highly favored and enlightened portions of mankind, so far from giving signs of the conversion of the world, justify the predictions of Scripture, that "in the last days perilous times shall come," that "evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse," that "because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall grow cold," &c.; and consequently unless the conversion of the world is most clearly taught in the sacred word, it is not deserving of the least confidence.

That there is a future glory for the earth, is true. Nothing is more clearly revealed. But the question is, When? Is it before the second coming of Christ, or after? Is it before the resurrection of the saints to immortality, or after? Is it before the present earth and elements melt with fervent heat in the "day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men," or afterward? There will certainly be a time when "the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea," when the "people also shall be all righteous," and "shall inherit the land forever," and "the inhabitant shall not say, I am sick," in short, when the "tabernacle of God," having descended from Heaven, shall be with men, "and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain; for the former things" shall have "passed away." Will any of these things be realized during the present dispensation?

Ignorance of the clearly-revealed assurance that the people of God shall, in their glorified state, "inherit the earth and dwell therein forever," has led many to think that those promises of future glory on earth are to be fulfilled in the last days of the gospel dispensation. They have thought it must be so, because of the erroneous idea that after the advent of Christ and the judgment, the Lord would have no further use for the earth, but would burn it up; having transported the saints to some ethereal heaven, and consigned the wicked to an eternal hell, in some unknown part of the universe, created for the express purpose of eternal torture. Thus from ignorance of the plainly-revealed doctrine of the destiny of the earth as marked out in prophecy, making it the place of recompense both to the righteous and the wicked, the way has been opened for fables to multiply, some of which, from a false stand-point, have a show of Bible proof. Of this class is the doctrine under consideration; but when viewed from the true stand-point, it will be found to have not the slightest foundation in the word of God.

The first proof I adduce is the fact that, at the second coming of Christ, the world will be found in a condition similar to that of the antediluvian world at the time of the flood. If they were all righteous, having been converted by the labors of Noah, "a preacher of righteousness," such will be the case with those living in the close of the gospel dispensation; and of course none will flee to the rocks and mountains to hide from the presence of the Lamb. In such case it cannot be a "day of wrath," for the Lord Jesus cannot "be revealed from heaven in flaming fire, taking vengeance on those that know not God, and obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ;" because none of this evil character can be found upon earth, the whole world having been previously converted to God.

"But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be." Matt. xxiv, 37–39. "Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed." Luke xvii, 30.

This proof is too plain and positive to need an argument. Before the flood men had been going from bad to worse, till Jehovah could bear with them no longer; therefore he brought the flood, as an apostle says, "upon the world of the ungodly." These testimonies being true, the mass of mankind will be ungodly at the time of the second advent.

It may be said, in reply to this, that Satan, who will have been bound during the thousand years of the triumph of the church in the conversion of the world, will be loosed for a little season, and deceive and overthrow the mass of them that had been godly for a thousand years; and this accounts for the world's being found, at the advent, in the same ungodly state of those in the days of Noah.

Those who will read Rev. xx with care, will find that the first resurrection, in which all the "blessed and holy" ones forth to "live and reign with Christ a thousand years," takes place at the time when Satan is bound; and the rest of the dead, the wicked, "live not again until the thousand years are finished." These, being raised from the dead at the time when Satan is loosed, are the subjects of his deceptive power, till fire comes down from God out of Heaven and devours them. But this "second death hath no power" upon those that had part in the first resurrection, those who lived and reigned with Christ during the thousand years. Not one falls away from that blessed and holy number. Those that are deceived by Satan after the two resurrections, are those that were the subjects of his deceptive power in this life. Some have said that this vast multitude, "the number of whom is as the sand of the sea," are the children that will be born to the righteous during the thousand years. But it seems to me that it would detract greatly from the glory and blessedness of that triumphant period, for the people of God to know that, at its close, their children would be cut down before their eyes by fire from Heaven.

But we have seen that the first resurrection takes place when Satan is bound, at the beginning of the thousand years. This resurrection does not take place till the personal advent of Christ. "For the Lord himself shall descend from Heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first; then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord." 1 Thess. iv, 16, 17. This text, in connection with Rev. xx, proves that the resurrection, to "reign with Christ," or to "ever be with the Lord," takes place at the personal advent of Christ, when the Lord himself shall descend from Heaven. This is the time, and not a thousand years afterward, that the mass of men will be found ungodly, as in the days of Noah. And as the flood "took them all away," so these will all be slain in that great day of the wrath of God and of the Lamb, and after lying dead for a thousand years, during which the earth will be desolate of men, the saints, immortal and glorified, having been taken away to reign with Christ in Heaven a thousand years, they will come up in the second resurrection to meet their final doom in the lake of fire.

It is at the second advent that, probation having closed, the saints are rewarded with immortality. "Thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just." Luke xiv, 14. It is then that the people of God are changed from corruptible to incorruptible, and from mortal to immortal, according to Paul in 1 Cor. xv; and, having received the gift of God which is eternal life, they will be for ever safe, for ever with the Lord; first in Heaven for a thousand years, then, returning to earth, witness the final conflagration in which the wicked are cut off (the earth is "reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.") 2 Pet. iii, 7. "When the wicked are cut off, thou shalt see it." Ps. xxxvii, 34, and, lastly, enter upon the glorious inheritance of the renovated earth and "dwell therein" and "reign for ever and ever." Rev. xxii, 5.

But the mass of mankind will be found unconverted, at the coming of Christ, and will remain unconverted still; for he comes to reward every man according as his work shall be. Rev. xxii, 11, 12. How fearfully deceptive then is the doctrine that the whole world will be converted before the coming of Christ!

R. F. COTTRELL.