redeemed spirit that inhabits it, and par taker with it in all of its joy; and the lost spirit shall be clothed upon with a lost body, fit partner of the lost spirit that inhabits it, and partaker with it in all its misery. While the bodily tor ments of hell are not the most important feature of Future Punishment, while the mental agony, the agony of remorse, the agony of shame, the agony of despair, is worse, immeasurably worse; never theless, bodily suffering, a bodily suffer ing in comparison with which no pain on earth is as anything, is a feature of Fu ture Punishment. In the third place, the Bible teaches that the sufferings of the lost will be conscious, that the lost will not be anni hilated or simply exist in non-con- scious existence. This is the plain teach ing of Luke 16:19-31, the story of the rich man and Lazarus in the future world. All manner of allegorizing has been used in attempting to explain away these words of our Lord, but these alle gorical explanations are simply ridicu lous. The same thing is clearly taught in Revelation 14:9-11 compared with Revelation 20:10. In Revelation 14:9-11, R.V., we read, “ If any man worshippeth the beast and his image, and receiveth a mark on his forehead, or upon his hand, he also shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is prepared unmixed in the cup of his anger; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy an gels, and in the presence of the Lamb: and the smoke of their torment goeth up for ever and ever; and they have no rest day and night, they that worship the beast and his image, and whoso re ceiveth the mark of his name.” Now this certainly describes conscious suffer ing of the intensest kind and cannot be fairly and honestly interpreted in any other way. In Revelation 20:10, R.V., we read, “ And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where are also the beast and the false prophet; and they shall be tor mented day and night for ever and ever.” These words unmistakably speak of con scious torment! We are told that they shall have no rest “ day nor night,” which would be impossible language to use by any honest speaker or writer if the pun ishment were unconscious. The fourth thing that the Bible teaches about Future Punishment is that the future destiny of. the individual de pends entirely upon what he does with Jesus Christ. One passage is sufficient to show that, though a multitude might be adduced. That passage is John 3:36. “He that believeth on the Son hath eter nal life; but he that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him.” The fifth thing that the Bible teaches on this subject is, that Future Punish ment is endless. In Matthew 25:41-46, R.V., our Lord himself is recorded as saying, “ Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into eternal fire which is prepared for the devil and his angels . . . and these (i.e., these on the left hand) shall go a\yay into eternal pun
ishment: but the righteous into eternal life.” It is often said that the word aionios used in these two verses does not by its etymology necessarily imply end lessness. Even were we to admit, which we do not, that this were true, every scholar knows that it is one of the laws of the interpretation of any book that the meaning of words in any language or any book must be determined by usage. What is the usage in this case? This word is used seventy-two times in the New Testament. Forty-four of these seventy-two times it is used in the phrase “eternal life,” that “ eternal life” is end less cannot be questioned. It is used fif teen times in connections where the idea of endlessness is absolutely necessary. This covers fifty-nine of the seventy-two instances in which the word is used. In the fifty-nine instances the thought of endlessness is absolutely necessary. In not a single one of the remaining thir teen cases is it used of anything that is known to end. If usage can determine Oh, the joy of Easter morning When the dead became alive; Radiant life was His at dawning— Jesus Christ, the crucified. Theirs to hear His joyous greeting, And to worship Him, the Light; Holding sweet communion with Him In the upper room that night. Ours to know this living Saviour, And to walk close by His side; Ours to take the life He gives us— Jesus Christ, the crucified. Fannie B. Brown. + + + anything, it determines to a demonstra tion that the usage of this word in the New Testament necessarily implies endlessness. But that is not all, the con text as well as the usage demands that in this instance, in connection with pun ishment, the word must imply endless ness. The context is this, “ And these shall go away into eternal punishment: but the righteous into eternal life.” The same Greek word is used twice. As our Lord was at least an honest man he could not use the one word twice in the same sentence with a different meaning, and if that life into which the righteous go away is endless life, then the pun ishment into which the cursed go is end less also. This cannot be denied with out questioning either the intelligence or honesty of the Lord Jesus. But even that is not all. We read in the passage in Revelation 14:9-11, which we have already quoted, that the suffer ings of the lost are “for ever and ever,” and that throughout this “ for ever and ever” they “have no rest day nor night.” Here another Greek expression is used. There are two forms of this expression, the ages of the ages,” the other is “unto the ages of the ages,” th eother is “unto ages of ages,” the only difference be tween the two being the omission of the article in the latter form. Now these ex + + The Living Christ +
pressions are used twelve times in the last book of the Bible. In eight of these twelve instances the expression refers to the duration of the existence, or reign, or glory of God or Christ. Once it is used of the duration of the blessed reign of the righteous. And in three remaining instances it is used of the duration of the torment of the devil, the beast, the false prophet and the impenitent. If we deal honestly with the words of our Lord Jesus Christ and of the inspired apostles, it is impossible to read the doctrine of endless conscious suffering of those who reject Christ out of the Bible. If any one could produce me one single pas sage in the Bible that, fairly construed, according to its context and the usage of the words and grammatical construction that clearly taught that the punishment of the wicked would not be absolutely endless and that somewhere, sometime, somehow all would repent and be saved, it would be the happiest day of my life. But no such passage can be found. I have searched for it from the first chap ter of Genesis to the last chapter of the Revelation but cannot find it, it is not there. I am thoroughly familiar with the passages that men urge. I have for merly used them myself, but they will not bear the construction that is put upon them if we deal honestly with them. In the sixth place, the Bible teaches that the question of our eternal destiny is settled this side of the grave. We read in Second Corinthians 5:10, R.V., “ for we must all be made manifest be fore the judgment-seat of Christ; that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he hath done, whether it be good or bad.” Now of course this has to do primarily with the judgment of believers, but it shows that the eternal judgment is determined by what is done “ in the body,” what is done this side of the grave, what is done before we shall “shuffle off this mortal coil.” In Hebrews 9:27 we read, “ it is appointed unto men once to die, and after this cometh judgment.” The mean ing of this is plain; namely, the eternal judgment is determined before death. But our Lord Jesus Himself says the de cisive word, the word that would be de cisive if it stood alone. In John 8:21, “ I go away and ye shall seek me, and shall die in your sin: whither I go, ye cannot come.” Here our Lord says plainly that those who die in their sins cannot go where He does, that the destinies of the future are settled in the life that now is, settled this side the grave. The Bible does not hold out one ray of hope to any man who dies without having accepted Jesus Christ as Saviour and surrendered to Him as his Lord and Master, confessed Him before the world in the life that now is. Many there are who undertake to do this. They are tak ing a terrible responsibility upon them selves, they dare to do what the divinely inspired authors of the Bible have not done. They lull men to sleep in sin and worldliness and inaction. What shall the harvest be? Are you sure of your eter nal destiny?
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