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THE KING’S BUSINESS
cast into the lake of fire. This is the sec ond death, even the lake of fire.” 2. W hat did C hrist teach as to th e ch ar a c te r of fu tu re retribu tion ? We have already seen that -He spoke of it as full of sorrow and misery in His seven-fold repetition of the striking expression: “There shall be the weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matt. 8:12; 13:42, 50; 22:13; 24:51; 25:30; Luke 13:28). In Mark 9:43-48, our Lord twice speaks of “the fire that never shall be quenched,” and thrice adds, “where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.” Of course He was using the common Jewish metaphors for Gehenna, taken from the perpetual fires that burned in the valley of Hinnom to destroy the refuse, and the worms that fed upon the unburied corpses that were cast there;, but, as we have already seen, He would never have encour aged a popular delusion. Our Lord twice spoke of fruitless professors being “cast into the fire” (Matt. 7:19; John 15:6); twice of “the furnacie of fire” (Matt. 13:42, 50); twice of the “hell of fire” (Matt. 5:22; 18:9); and twice of “eternal fire” (Matt. 18:8; 25:41). Granted that “the undying worm and unquenchable fire” are metaphorical, yet these striking figures of speech must stand for startling facts, they must be symbolical of a terrible reality. We need no more regard them materially than we do the golden streets aijd pearly gates of heaven; but, if the latter are emblematic of the indescribable splendors of heaven, the former must be symbolical of the unutter able sufferings of hell. One can no more presume to dogmatize on the one than the other, but it requires no vivid stretch of the imagination to conceive an accusing conscience acting like the undying worm, and insatiable desires like the unquench able fire. In our Lord’s parable of the rich man and Lazarus, the former is rep resented as being “in torments” and “in anguish” even in “Hades,” and, that mem ory survives the present life and accom-
may be taken of the character of blas phemy against the Holy Ghost, the cause and consequence are here closely linked together, eternal sin bringing eternal retri bution. The words in the original undoubt edly indicate an inveterate habit rather s than an isolated act, and would probably be better translated, “is held under the power of an eternal sin.” This in itself precludes the possibility of forgiveness, because it assumes the impossibility of repentance; besides, each repetition involv ing a fresh penalty, the punishment is nat urally unending. Similarly, in John 8:21, 24, our Lord’s twice repeated declaration to those Jews which believed not on Him, “Ye shall die in your sins,” indicates that unforgiven sin must rest upon the soul in condemnation and pollution; for death, so far from changing men’s characters, only fixes them; and hence Christ speaks in chapter 5 :29 of “the resurrection of dam nation.” Once more, the words of the Ascended and Glorified Saviour recorded in Rev. 21:8 may be quoted: “The fear ful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone; which is the sec ond death.” A careful study of the Scriptural uses of the words “life” and “death” will clearly show that the root ideas are respectively “union” and “separation”. Physical life is union of the spirit with the body, spiritual life is the union of the spirit with God, and everlasting life is this union perfected and consummated to all eternity. Similarly, physical death is the separation of the spirit from the body, spiritual death is the sep aration of the spirit from. God, and eter nal death is the perpetuation of this sep aration. Hence, for all who have not experienced a second birth, “the second death” becomes inevitable; for he who is only born once dies twice, while he y^ho is “born again’ dies only once. As against the doctrine of annihilation, Rev. 20:14 may be quoted: “Death and Hades were
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