THE KING’ S BUSINESS
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the righteous for the unrighteous, that He might bring us to God; being put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the#spirit; in which also He went and preached unto the spirits in prison, that aforetime were disobedient, when the longsuffering o f God waited in the days o f Noah,'while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water.” It is urged that as Christ went afid preached to the spirits in prison there will-' be another chance' after men have died. But this, the passage in question does not assert or imply in any way. (1) First o f all there is no proof that “the spirits in prison” refers to the departed spirits o f men who once lived here on earth. Departed spirits o f men are not spoken o f in this way. These- words are used o f other spirits, but not o f human spirits disembodied and there is every reason for supposing that these “spirits in prison ” were not {he sinful men that were on earth when the ark was preparing, but the angels who sinned at that time, just as we are told in Gen. 6:1, 2 that they did sin (cf. Jude 6, 7). • (2) Furthermore, even if the spirits in prison here spoken o f were the spirits o f men who were disobedient in the time of Noah, there is not a hint in the passage that they were saved through the preach ing o f Christ to them, or that they had another chance. There are two words com monly used in the New Testament for preaching, one is kerusso and the other is euaggelizo. The first o f these means to herald, as to herald a king, or to herald the kingdom." It may, however, be used o f preaching a message, the gospel message or some other message. The second word, euaggelizo, means to preach the gospel. In the passage that we are studying it is the first word that is used, and there is not a hint that Christ preached the gospel to these spirits in prison. He simply heralded the triumph o f the kingdom. It was not a saving message. So there is nothing in this passage to put up even inferentially against the plain, direct statements regarding the
shall be tormented day and night fo r .etoer and ever.” So we see that destruction means a portion in the lake o f fire where its inhabitants are consciously suffering without cessation for ever and ever. It is clear then, from a comparison o f 2 Thess. 1:7-9 with these passages, that those who know not God and obey not the gospel o f our Lord Jesus Christ shall be punished with never ending conscious suffering. 4. Let us look at one more passage, Matt. 25:41. These again are the words of the Lord Jesus Himself. “Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into the eternal fire which is prepared for the devil and his angels.” What I w^nt you to notice here is that the punishment into which the impenitent are sent is the “eternal fire” which is “prepared for the devil and his angels.” W e have an exact description^ of just what the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels is in the passage read a few moments ago, Rev. 20:10, “And the devil that deceived, them was cast into the lake o f fire and brimstone where are also the beast and the false prophet; and they shall be tormented day and night for ever :and ever.” By a comparison of these two statements we have another explicit dec laration o f our Lord that the- punishment o f the impenitent is to be a conscious agony where they are punished without rest day and night for ever and ever. From any one o f these passages and especially from all taken together, it is clear that the Scriptures make it as plain as language can make it that the future punishment o f the persistently impenitent is absolutely endless. II. Objections. There are several' passages o f Scripture which those who believe that all men will ultimately repent and be brought to accept Christ and thus saved, urge against what seems to be the plain doctrine of.th e pas sages we have been studying. 1. Th‘e first o f these is 1 Peter 3:18-20, ’‘Because Christ also suffered for sins once,
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