THE DEST INY OF THE CHRI STLESS DEAD By R. A. Torrey, O.D. First Bean of the Bible Institute of Los Angeles
“ Do you know what day this is?” asked Mr. Reese, “ It’s Easter!” “ And what an-Easter!” exclaimed the stranger. “ I believe my boy is going to be better.” “ I’m sure of it,” said Mr. Reese as he returned to his seat beside a newly- awakened and glowing Linda. “You talked to the man, didn’t you, Daddy?” she asked excitedly. “ Yes, honey,” and in a low tone he added, “And he gave his heart to Jesus.” Little Linda’s eyes shone with joy. “Where does he live, Daddy?” Mr. Reese grinned. “How stupid of me! I didn’t even ask.” Again he crossed the aisle, and as he did so, he noticed the Man in the Brown Suit was reading a telegram. Without a word, but with tears in his eyes, he handed it to Linda’s father. Mr. Reese caught a glimpse of such reassuring words as “ improved, don’t worry, out of danger.” “I’ll never forget your interest,” said the stranger, grasping the hand of Mr. Reese, and almost in one breath they asked each other, “Where do you live?” “ Long Island, on such-and-such a street,” and they burst out laughing.
® HE first thing I wish to state is that, the Bible is the sole guide to the truth on this subject. We know absolutely nothing about Future Punishment but what God has been pleased to tell us in this Book; just as we know absolutely nothing about the future blessedness of the saved except what God has been pleased to tell us in this Book. If you are truly logical and not merely sentimental, if you give up what the Bible teaches on the one sub ject, you will give up what it teaches on the other. If a man will believe that part of the Bible that he desires to be lieve and rejects that part of the Bible that he does not desire to believe, in plain unvarnished English, he is a fool. If the Bible is not true, we have no con clusive proof that there is either a heaven or a hell. And if it is true about one, it is true also about the other. Some men may be able to believe what they want to believe but to doubt or deny what they want to doubt or deny. I am not built that way. My wishes play no part in my decision, I have to be governed by my intellect; but, of course, I know that a will surrendered to the truth and to God does more than anything else to clarify the intellect. So our whole inquiry will be, “What does the Bible teach on this subject?” Some people are always running off on to their reasonings, but speculation on this subject is necessarily entirely vain. On such a subject as this one the ounce of God’s revelation is worth a thousand tons of man’s speculation. I sometimes show men what the Bible teaches on this subject and they say, “ But how do you reconcile that with the love of God?” I reply, “How do you know God is love?” We owe that truth entirely to the Bible. If the Bible is not true we have no proof that God is love; and, if you re ject what the Bible teaches about Fu ture Punishment and are logical, you must also give up your belief that God is love, and your whole foundation for your universalistic and kindred hopes is gone. First then, the Bible teaches that as a result of sin, and especially of the crowning sin of rejecting the Saviour, there is to be after death an immeasur able suffering for those who sin in this life, and do not repent of their sins and accept Christ. There is no need to dwell at length on that point. The old crude form of Universalism that no matter how a man lives in this life he enters at once into blessedness at death has largely disappeared, except from fu neral sermons. If that were true, the kindest thing that we could do for peo ple in the slums and other unfortunates
would be to put them to death at once in some painless way. But take one Bi ble statement and this statement gives the words of Jesus, Matthew 5:29, R.V., “ And if thy right eye causeth thee to stumble, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not thy whole body be cast into hell.” Certainly these words of our Lord mean that there is to be after death for those who sin and do not repent, such intense suffering that the greatest possible pres ent calamity would be preferable to it. The second thing that the Bible teaches about Future Punishment is, that the body shall share with the soul in the suffering of the lost in the world to come. Take the verse that we have just quoted. In this Jesus Christ says, “the body”—and by the body he certainly means just what He says, “the body”— “ shall be cast into hell.’’ Take another utterance of our Lord, Matthew 10:28, R.V., “And be not afraid of them that kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” Here is the most distinct and defi nite statement possible that the body as well as the soul is to suffer in the “ de struction” of hell. Neither the blessed nor the lost are to exist in the world to come as disembodied spirits. There is to be a resurrection of the just and the unjust. This our Lord definitely de clares in John 5:28, 29, R.V. He says “the hour cometh, in which all that are in the tombs shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resur rection of judgment.” Resurrection has to do with the body and the body only. The spirit does not tumble down and de cay and therefore needs no resurrection. The passage just quoted says, “ all that are in the tombs.” What is “in the tombs”—the body, and the body only. The spirits of the lost at death go into Hades; the body (and the body only) into the tomb where it crumbles into dust. At the resurrection the body is raised and the spirit joins it. At death the spirits of the saved depart to be with Christ in conscious blessedness, which Paul says is very far better than the most blessed experience in the body in our present lives (Phil. 1:21-23). The bodies of the blessed who pass away be fore our Lord returns crumble into dust. At the second coming of Christ the bodies of the blessed are raised and reunited with the redeemed spirits. The redeemed spirit hereafter at the second coming of Christ shall be clothed upon with a redeemed body, fit partner of the T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
“Daddy, don’t you remember?” asked Linda. They were neighbors, just a block apart! Linda, hearing the fun, joined them, and they let her in on the news. But she just stared at them. “ But, Daddy, don’t you remember? This is the man who has the little boy that is so sick. Mommy wrote us about him and asked us to pray for him . . . ” The men stood in stunned silence for a moment. Then as the stewardess came through with the request that all seat belts of passengers be fastened for a landing, the Man in the Brown Suit put his arm about Mr. Reese and Linda, and shouted happily, “You’re coming home with me for a real Easter break fast, and then we are going to church to thank God for a real resurrection in
my heart!” Page Twenty
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