through willful disobedience. Suf fice It to say that it has always been Satan's desire to corrupt the hu man race with his primary purpose to keep the Messiah from coming to this earth to redeem mankind. The real question to ask here is, "If God would not respect angels who had one time sang His praises, how could He respect men who do not heed His message today?" If this verse teaches us anything, it certainly answers this vital ques tion. It shows that while angels fall, men—by God's grace—can stand in the power of His truth. The third illustration of corpor ate disobedience centers around two ancient cities. "Even as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities about them in like manner giving them selves over to fornication and go ing after strange flesh, are set forth for an example suffering the ven geance of eternal fire" (vs. 7). Those people who lived in Sodom and Gomorrah in that day are still suffering God's eternal and right eous vengeance (Genesis 19:1-28). No wonder the writer of Hebrew cautions, "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God" (Hebrews 10:31). Some people have the complete ly erroneous concept that God must delight in sending men to hell. Nothing could be further from the truth. I remember the day my eyes fell upon this verse which has burned itself deeply within my heart as I think of God's ultimate, completely compassionate love for the sinner. The prophet Ezekiel quotes Jehovah as saying, "I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked but that the wicked turn from his way and live" (Ezekiel 33:11). Re membering these words should
cause us to be more zealous in soul winning and in every oppor tunity to proclaim the truth of the Lord. The Bible nowhere teaches that the soul is annihilated when the body dies. Nor is there any such thing as soul-sleeping. Both views are erroneous and cannot be sup ported from the Word. In this por tion of Scripture, it is very defin itely given to us that these wicked people are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. There is no annihilation in that at all. There is conscious torment and anything but blissful soul- sleeping. Back in the year 1902, on the island of Martinique, Mt. Pelee sud denly erupted. It destroyed the entire city of San Pierre. As a re sult, 40,000 people lost their lives. Just a few days before this there had been a large parade through the city streets. Blatant infidels had proclaimed that religion through Christ was dead. In fact, in their mockery, they had taken a pig, impaled it on a cross and walked through the busy thoroughfares with the legend written over this grizzly scene, "The Holy Jesus." God's justice may be slow in com ing but it is absolutely sure and fixed. In this case, the entire com munity was destroyed by the vol cano just a few days later. Verse eight gives us a descrip tion of the apostate teachers. It begins the next trilogy of individ ual disobedience to God. "Like wise also these filthy dreamers de file the flesh, despise dominion and speak evil of dignities." Who are the ones who are the first to criticize our government and the historic principles upon which our
Page 40
Made with FlippingBook - Online catalogs