THE KING’S BUSINESS
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expression according to its form means ages which are - themselves composed o f ages. It represents not years tumbling upon years, nor centuries tumbling upon centu ries, but ages tumbling upon ages in end less procession.. It is the strongest pos sible form of' expression for absolute end lessness, Furthermore, the way to deter mine conclusively what the expression means is by considering its usage. Usage is always the decisive thing in determining the meaning o f words and phrases. What is the usage o f these expressions in the book from which we have taken our pass age? These expressions are used twelve times in this book. In eight o f the twelve times they refer to the duration o f the existence, or reign, or glory of God and His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. O f course, in these instances it must stand not merely for the supreme ages, or any individual ages, it must refer to absolute eternity and endlessness; Once it is used o f the dura tio n o f the blessed reign o f the righteous and of course, here again it refers to an endless eternity, and in the three remaining instances it is used o f the duration o f the torment o f the Devil, the Beast, the False Prophet, and the finally impenitent. It is urged by those who would deny that the expression means an absolutely endless eternity, that it is used in Rev. 11 ¡15, where we are told that “the kingdom o f the world is become the kingdom of our Lord, and of His Christ: and He shall reign fo r ever and ever (unto the ages of the ages),” and that we are told in 1 Cor. IS :24 that Christ “shall deliver up the kingdom to God, even the Father;” and that therefore His king dom must come to an end, and conse quently “ for ever and ever” in this passage cannot-mean without end. There are two answers to this objection, either o f which is sufficient. The first is that the “he” in “he shall reign for ever and ever” in Rev. 11:15, does not necessarily refer to the Christ, but rather to the Lord Jehovah, in which case the argument falls to the ground. The second answer is that while we are taught in 1 Cor. 15;24, etc., that
Jesus Christ will deliver up His mediatorial kingdom to the Father, nevertheless we are distinctly taught that He shall rule with the Father, and we are told in so ninny words in Luke 1 :33 that “of His kingdom there shall be no end,” so that even if the “ he” in Rev. 11:15 referred to the Christ and not to the Lord Jehovah, still the state ment would be‘ exactly correct that He, the Christ, was to reign for ever and ever, i. e., without end. There is not a single passage in the whole book in which this expres sion is used o f anything but that which is absolutely endless. So the question is answered again and answered decisively that the conscious suffering o f the persist ently impenitent is absolutely endless. ( 3. Now let us look at another passage, 2 Thess. 1 :7-9, “The Lord Jesus shall be revealed* from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel o f our Lord Jesus Christ: who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the présence o f the Lord,, and from the glory o f His power.” Here we are told that the punishment o f those that know not God and obey not the gos pel is “everlasting destruction.” . What does “everlasting destruction” mean. In Rév. 17:8, 11 we are told that the beast goeth into “destruction,” so if we can, find out where the beast goes, or into what he goes, we shall know what “ destruc tion means in the Bible usage.. In Rev. 19:20 we are told that “the beast was taken] and with him the false prophet that wrought the .signs in his sight, wherewith lie deceived them that had' received the mark o f the beast and 'thetn that wor shiped his image: they two Were cast alive into the lake o f fire that burneth ¡with brimstone,” so we see that “destruction” Is a portion in thé lake o f fire. And in the next chapter, Rev. 20:10, we are told that The devil that deceived them was cast into the lake o f fire and brimstone, where are. also the beast and the false jprophet; (after having already been there' for one thousand years, see context); arid they
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