The Scripture Doctrine of a Future Life

THE meaning of the word burn is too familiar to every reader to need a definition. Look a moment at its use in the Bible. Samson's firebrands "burned up both the shocks, and also the standing corn." Judges 15:5. Job's servant said, "The fire of God is fallen from heaven, and hath burned up the sheep." Job 1:16. "Our holy and beautiful house . . . is burned up with fire." Isa. 64:11. The king "burned up the city." Matt. 22:7.

And so in numerous places. A thing burned up is totally destroyed and reduced to ashes. The Lord says "he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire." Matt. 3:12. "Whose end is to be burned." Heb. 6:8. Gather together "the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them." Matt. 13:30. "For, behold the day cometh that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble; and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch." Mal. 4:1.

THEY SHALL BE CONSUMED.

Consume: "To destroy by separating the parts of a thing by decomposition, as by fire; to destroy and annihilate the form of a substance."—Webster. When a thing is consumed it is reduced to ashes. "There came a fire out from before the Lord, and consumed upon the altar the burnt offering." Lev. 9:24. "And cast it into the fire that was on the hearth, until all the roll was consumed in the fire." Jer. 36:23. "The gates thereof are consumed with fire." Neh. 2:3.

Knowing what the people would understand by this word, the Lord often tells them that the wicked shall be consumed. Thus: "They that forsake the Lord shall be consumed." lsa. 1:28. "Let the sinners be consumed out of the earth." Ps. 104:35. The enemies of the Lord shall be as the fat of lambs; they shall consume; into smoke shall they consume away." Ps. 37:20. "Consume them in wrath, consume them that they may not be." Ps. 59:13. "Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongues shall consume away in their mouths." Zech. 14:12

THEY SHALL BE DEVOURED.

Devour: "To eat up: to destroy: to consume with rapidity and violence."—Webster. We give two passages to show its Bible use: "There went out fire from the Lord, and devoured them." Lev. 10:2. "Some evil beast hath devoured him." Gen. 37:20. This word again the Lord uses to describe the condition of the wicked: "Fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them." Rev. 20:9. "Fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries." Heb. 10:27. "The fire shall devour them." Ps. 21:6. "They shall be devoured as stubble fully dry." Nahum 1:10.

SHALL GO INTO PERDITION.

Perdition: "Entire loss or ruin; utter destruction."—Webster. This again is a very strong word to denote utter destruction. "None of them is lost but the son of perdition." John 17:12. "Which drown men in destruction and perdition." 1 Tim. 6:9. "We are not of them who draw back unto perdition." Heb. 10:39. "Against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men." 1 Pet. 3:7.

CUT ASUNDER.

"Shall cut him asunder." Matt. 24:51.

CUT DOWN.

"They shall soon be cut down like the grass." Ps. 37:2.

CUT UP.

"As thorns cut up shall they be burned in the fire." Isa. 33:12.

CUT OFF.

"I will early destroy all the wicked of the land; that I may cut off all wicked doers from the city of the Lord." Ps. 101:8. "For evil-doers shall be cut off." "They that be cursed of Him shall be cut off." "The seed of the wicked shall be cut off." "When the wicked are cut off, thou shalt see it." "The end of the wicked shall be cut off." Ps. 37:9, 22, 28, 34, 38. "The wicked shall be cut off from the earth." Prov. 2:22. "Every one that stealeth shall be cut off." Zech. 5:3.

CUT IN PIECES.

"Let them be as cut in pieces." Ps. 58:7.

ROOTED OUT.

"The transgressors shall be rooted out of it”(the earth). Prov. 2:22.

CHASED OUT.

"He shall be . . . chased out of the world." Job. 18:18. "He shall be chased away as a vision of the night." Job 20:8. They "shall be chased as the chaff of the mountains before the wind." Isa. 17:13.

PASS AWAY.

"As a snail which melteth, let every one of them pass away." Ps. 58:8.

How could the utter destruction of the wicked be more clearly stated or more forcibly illustrated than in the above scriptures? Added to these are the declarations over and over made that the soul itself shall die, and that the wicked shall be no more. Thus: "The soul that sinneth, it shall die." Eze. 18:4. "And shall consume the glory of his forest, and of his fruitful field, both soul and body." Isa. 10:18. "Fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell." Matt. 10:28. Equivalent to this is the declaration that the wicked shall be burned up, so "that it shall leave them neither root nor branch." Mal. 4:1.

Several times it is directly stated that the wicked shall be as nothing. "Behold, all they that are incensed against thee shall be ashamed and confounded; they shall be as nothing; and they that strive with thee shall perish. Thou shalt seek them, and thou shalt not find them, even them that contended with thee; they that war against thee shall be as nothing, and as a thing of naught." Isa. 41:11, 12. Obadiah's language is still stronger. He says, "They shall be as though they had not been.”Obad. 16. And so the Psalmist says, "For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be.”Ps. 37:10. Again he exclaims, "Let the sinners be consumed out of the earth, and let the wicked be no more.”Ps. 104:35.

Such an array of positive testimony as there is for the utter destruction of the wicked can hardly be produced for any other doctrine of the Bible, even though it be the plainest one. Who, in the face of all these facts, can doubt that the Bible teaches that the wicked shall come to an end?

The covering which we shall use is,

V. That after the wicked are burned up, the earth will be purified and restored to the righteous.

Having proved that the wicked are burned on the earth at the day of judgment, if we can now show that the earth will be restored to, and inhabited by, the people of God, we shall have demonstrated that the wicked must cease to exist, even though the Bible had not so expressly declared it.

For if the very place where the wicked are punished is finally occupied by the people of God, how can the former exist then in a lake of fire? We think Obadiah must have it right, that "they shall be as though they had not been."

There are, but two opinions concerning the destiny of this earth. One is, that it will be the final abode of the saints; the other is, that it will be burned up entirely consumed, and cease to exist. It will be seen at once that either theory is equally fatal to the doctrine of eternal misery; for if the earth ceases to exist, the wicked must come to an end with it; as we have already seen that they will never leave this earth. And if the earth is inhabited by the saints, then again we see that the wicked must cease to exist, as they cannot both occupy it in the eternal state at the same time.

But, as there is plenty of evidence on this point, we will now proceed to show that the fire which burns up the wicked will purify the earth and restore it to its primitive beauty. Peter says, 2 Pet. 3:7, that the earth is "reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men." In verses 10-12, he says that the heavens and the earth shall melt with fervent heat, and the works in the earth shall be burned up. Then what? Ans. "Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new [or renewed] heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness." First, the earth is melted and purified; then comes forth the new earth where the righteous dwell. Verse 13. John describes the same scene in Rev. 20:13-15; 21:1-5: "And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them; and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire." "And I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea."

Here we first see the lake of fire formed by the melting of the earth; and the next thing is, a new earth comes forth from the purifying fires. Verse 5 says, "Behold, I make all things new," not all new things, as some would have it. This old earth is to be made over new again, just as a founder would cast a new stove from the iron of an old one. In Isa. 24, we have a description of the same event. First is a description of the earth, in its desolate and dissolved state, verses 1-20, then the glorious reign of the Messiah. Verse 23. In chapters 34 and 35, the same event is spoken of. Chap. 34 describes the dissolving of the heavens, the melting of the earth, and forming of the lake of fire and brimstone. See especially verses 4, 8-10. Chapter 35 opens with a description of the new earth: "The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose," etc. Please read the whole chapter. That the saints shall inherit the earth is abundantly taught in the Bible. Jesus says, "Blessed are the meek; for they shall inherit the earth." Matt. 5:5. Daniel says that the kingdom under the whole heaven shall be given to the saints for an everlasting kingdom. Dan. 7:27.

The testimony in Mal. 4, before read, first speaks of the "day that shall burn as an oven," and says that it will burn up the wicked; then he says that the righteous shall go forth and tread upon the ashes of the wicked. Thus he introduces the righteous as dwelling on the earth immediately after the wicked are destroyed. See also Matt. 13:37-43; Heb. 12:26-29. I would especially call attention to Ps. 37. In it David speaks of the time when the wicked will be rewarded, i. e., burned up on the earth, and contrasts this with the inheritance of the saints. We see by this that as soon as the wicked are consumed, the saints possess the earth.

"Fret not thyself because of evil doers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity. For they shall soon be cut down like the grass; and wither as the green herb." Verses 1, 2. When they are withered, where will the righteous be? Ans. "Trust in the Lord, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed." Verse 3. Again: "For evil-doers shall be cut off [then where will the righteous go? Ans.]; but those that wait upon the Lord, they shall inherit the earth.” Verse 9. In verses 10, 11, he draws another comparison: "For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be; yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it shall not be. But the meek shall inherit the earth; and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace." As soon as "the wicked shall not be," "the meek shall inherit the earth."

Once more: "But the wicked shall perish, and the enemies of the Lord shall be as the fat of lambs; they shall consume; into smoke shall they consume away. . . .For such as be blessed of Him shall inherit the earth." Verses 20-22. Here we learn that as soon as "the enemies of the Lord shall consume into smoke, such as be blessed of him shall inherit the earth." So in verses 28, 29: "The seed of the wicked shall be cut off. The righteous shall inherit the land, and dwell therein forever."

We have a similar comparison in verse 34: "Wait on the Lord, and keep his way, and he shall exalt thee to inherit the land; when the wicked are cut off, thou shalt see it."

In this psalm it is declared of the wicked that "they shall wither as the green herb," "shall be cut off," "shall not be," "shall consume into smoke," "shall perish" "shall be destroyed," "end shall be cut off," etc., etc. But of the righteous it is declared three times that "they shall inherit the earth," three times that "they shall dwell in the land," that "their salvation is of the Lord," and "their end peace." In Ps. 104:35, David, while contemplating the time when "the sinners shall be consumed out of the earth, and the wicked shall be no more," exclaims, "Bless thou the Lord, O my soul. Praise ye the Lord." Then will be fulfilled Rev. 5:13: "And every creature which is in Heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb forever and ever."

Thus we see that the Bible contemplates the time when God's universe will be free from sin and sinners. Who, as he looks forward to this glorious event, can refrain from joining with David in saying, "Bless the Lord, O my soul"?

To recapitulate: We see that the Bible not only declares that the wicked shall be burned up, consumed, devoured, etc., etc., but that the time and place of their destruction is so defined as to demonstrate that they can have no existence after it is accomplished. Then we plainly see that the Holy Scriptures do not teach the pagan doctrine of an eternal hell of conscious misery for undying sinners. That is a dogma brought into the church from heathenism as has been abundantly shown.