"Original Sin" And Eternal Punishment

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< > (c) The Edge off Evangelism? There is also hovering in the background of this doctrine the fear that, if it be true that all men must hear and refuse the Gospel before they can be sent to Hell, the edge will be taken off Missionary and Evangelistic enthusiasm, since, even if the Gospel does not reach them in this life, it will in the next, so why worry? But it is never right to do evil that good may come, nor to speak a lie for the same purpose. The following considerations will put a very different complexion on the matter. The Missionary or Evangelist does not preach simply because he has been smitten with grief at the awful fate of the heathen, nor because he has the only message which can bring sweetness and peace and hope into their earthly lives, but because he has been selected and sent by God Himself, and woe betide him, if he does not obey His Master.7 It has been foreknown by God that only an insignificant proportion of men would hear the Gospel in this life: there were even whole continents not discovered for hundreds of years, and millions upon millions in China, India, Africa, Mongolia, who have never heard the name of Jesus, and so have died in their sins. Moreover The Almighty has for this Christian Age allowed Satan and his hosts to do all that they could to prevent the spread of the Gospel! How different it will be in the next Age, when the earth will be full of the Knowledge of The Lord as the waters cover the sea, and the covering that is over the face of all peoples will be done away, and salvation easy for all. The truth is that during this particular Age The Lord God is doing a peculiar thing never to be repeated. He is seeking from the Nations a people for His Son, which shall live and reign for ever with Him in Heaven over the nations of the Earth. It is only during this particular Age that this marvellous Heavenly Salvation is to be offered to men. Before this Age and after it, the salvation that is offered is Eternal Life upon the New Earth: only during these few years is God seeking a Heavenly Bride for His Son. The Missionary of this Age has therefore a peculiar message to take, and he knows that, even if the eternal salvation of men may not depend upon his efforts, yet this "so great salvation" (Heb. 2,3), this — end of page 55 — salvation "better" than that of the Old Testament (Heb. 11,40), does depend upon him, and that after death no man will be able to hear the precise message that he might have taken. It does then matter, and matter very greatly, whether this particular message is taken in this life: for after it this offer cannot be made. It does then rest with the Missionary whether men are to be given the opportunity of going to be with Christ after death and during the Millennium, or of receiving the due reward of their deeds in the pains of Hades until the Second Resurrection. Surely this is a sufficiently great responsibility to have upon one's shoulders, without adding to it the burden of men's eternal destiny! Indeed if only in this life may salvation be received, a man might well be forgiven for sinking back in despair at the contemplation of the unnumbered millions already in Hell for eternity, and wonder whether in the face of such an irretrievable disaster the few that might be saved through his Ministry would really matter much! Gravest of all is the realisation that if this be true then Our God has been unforgivably careless of human life, and unspeakably wicked and foolish in allowing Satan and his hosts of angels and demons such unchecked liberty to hinder the spread of the Gospel during this Age, instead of immediately doing what He will do in the next Age, shutting them up in the Abyss! God has then revealed to us that, having failed to find amongst angels those who could be trusted to reign over the earth as kings and priests, He decided during this Age to choose those, who, having withstood all the temptations of Satan and his hosts, will justify Him in entrusting to their care the work of World Government, which their tempters bungled and ruined.8 Only those, who by such overcoming will approve themselves to their Father, will receive the inheritance of Firstborn Sons.9 The way to the Throne will be the same as Christ's, obedience in the face of fierce temptation.10 It was Satan who unwittingly enabled Job to earn imperishable glory: it will have been Satan who by his unremittent opposition will have enabled God in front of the whole World to exalt His Son and His Sons to the positions of honour of which they have proved themselves worthy.11 It is in this Age that the eternal happiness of the Universe — end of page 56 — will be secured by the begetting and education of its future Rulers. It is impossible to imagine the agonies of mind through which men have passed when they have first caught sight of this deadly lie, that only an insignificant fraction of the world's population has any possibility of escaping eternal torment in Hell: or to count the number of those who, believing this to be Christianity, have revolted against its barbarity, and either forsaken the Lord, or else even fought against His people. The evangelist has no greater handicap to his powerful preaching of the Cross, than the practice of prefacing his offer of salvation in Christ with a totally unreasonable and unloving picture of His Father. So far from blunting the edge of his sword the true doctrine of Hell will enter his hearers' hearts with inescapable conviction of the certainty of their doom. To sum up then. The aim of Hell is not to make things as painful as possible for the sinner, but simply to secure the Kingdom of Heaven for ever from all unhappiness and danger. Hell is in fact the Divine Prison in which the eternal sentence of preventive detention is carried out. As in all God's actions its raison d'être is Love, love of the righteous, and a determination that never again shall their bliss be jeopardised. "Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die?"12 saith the Lord God. The punishment of the wicked will be no more than they themselves have forced upon the Love of God, and His wrath will be unmixed with mercy,13 only because mercy will have been offered, and causelessly and finally refused. So will the smoke of their torment ascend ceaselessly up as a token that the wages of sin is indeed death and that God is not mocked. The happiness of the Millennium will have been ruined when Satan is let out of prison,14 but there will be no repetition of that tragedy: the gates of Hell will close for ever upon its prisoners, and peace will reign for the Ages of the Ages.
1 Matt. 25,26, 30. 2 Rev. 2,7; 22,2. cf. Ezek. 47,12. 3 Luke 23,52, 53. 4 Luke 23,46. 5 Acts 2,24-31. 6 2 Cor. 5,8. 7 Eph. 4,11. 1 Cor. 9,16.	8 Heb. 2,5. 9 Jas. 1,12. 1 Cor. 9,25-27. Rev. 2,10; 3,11. 10 Phil. 2,8-9. 11 Heb. 2,10. 12 Ezek. 18,23. 13 Rev. 14,10. 14 Rev. 20,7-9.
— end of page 57 — < >
The Disastrous Effects Of The Doctrine Of Original Sin \| By His Stripes We Are Healed \| The Book Of Revelation \| The Second Coming Of Christ \| The Baptism And Gifts Of The Holy Spirit \| The Comforter Is Come

There is also hovering in the background of this doctrine the fear that, if it be true that all men must hear and refuse the Gospel before they can be sent to Hell, the edge will be taken off Missionary and Evangelistic enthusiasm, since, even if the Gospel does not reach them in this life, it will in the next, so why worry? But it is never right to do evil that good may come, nor to speak a lie for the same purpose. The following considerations will put a very different complexion on the matter. The Missionary or Evangelist does not preach simply because he has been smitten with grief at the awful fate of the heathen, nor because he has the only message which can bring sweetness and peace and hope into their earthly lives, but because he has been selected and sent by God Himself, and woe betide him, if he does not obey His Master.7 It has been foreknown by God that only an insignificant proportion of men would hear the Gospel in this life: there were even whole continents not discovered for hundreds of years, and millions upon millions in China, India, Africa, Mongolia, who have never heard the name of Jesus, and so have died in their sins. Moreover The Almighty has for this Christian Age allowed Satan and his hosts to do all that they could to prevent the spread of the Gospel! How different it will be in the next Age, when the earth will be full of the Knowledge of The Lord as the waters cover the sea, and the covering that is over the face of all peoples will be done away, and salvation easy for all.

The truth is that during this particular Age The Lord God is doing a peculiar thing never to be repeated. He is seeking from the Nations a people for His Son, which shall live and reign for ever with Him in Heaven over the nations of the Earth. It is only during this particular Age that this marvellous Heavenly Salvation is to be offered to men. Before this Age and after it, the salvation that is offered is Eternal Life upon the New Earth: only during these few years is God seeking a Heavenly Bride for His Son. The Missionary of this Age has therefore a peculiar message to take, and he knows that, even if the eternal salvation of men may not depend upon his efforts, yet this "so great salvation" (Heb. 2,3), this

— end of page 55 —

salvation "better" than that of the Old Testament (Heb. 11,40), does depend upon him, and that after death no man will be able to hear the precise message that he might have taken. It does then matter, and matter very greatly, whether this particular message is taken in this life: for after it this offer cannot be made. It does then rest with the Missionary whether men are to be given the opportunity of going to be with Christ after death and during the Millennium, or of receiving the due reward of their deeds in the pains of Hades until the Second Resurrection. Surely this is a sufficiently great responsibility to have upon one's shoulders, without adding to it the burden of men's eternal destiny! Indeed if only in this life may salvation be received, a man might well be forgiven for sinking back in despair at the contemplation of the unnumbered millions already in Hell for eternity, and wonder whether in the face of such an irretrievable disaster the few that might be saved through his Ministry would really matter much! Gravest of all is the realisation that if this be true then Our God has been unforgivably careless of human life, and unspeakably wicked and foolish in allowing Satan and his hosts of angels and demons such unchecked liberty to hinder the spread of the Gospel during this Age, instead of immediately doing what He will do in the next Age, shutting them up in the Abyss!

God has then revealed to us that, having failed to find amongst angels those who could be trusted to reign over the earth as kings and priests, He decided during this Age to choose those, who, having withstood all the temptations of Satan and his hosts, will justify Him in entrusting to their care the work of World Government, which their tempters bungled and ruined.8 Only those, who by such overcoming will approve themselves to their Father, will receive the inheritance of Firstborn Sons.9 The way to the Throne will be the same as Christ's, obedience in the face of fierce temptation.10

It was Satan who unwittingly enabled Job to earn imperishable glory: it will have been Satan who by his unremittent opposition will have enabled God in front of the whole World to exalt His Son and His Sons to the positions of honour of which they have proved themselves worthy.11 It is in this Age that the eternal happiness of the Universe

— end of page 56 —

will be secured by the begetting and education of its future Rulers.

It is impossible to imagine the agonies of mind through which men have passed when they have first caught sight of this deadly lie, that only an insignificant fraction of the world's population has any possibility of escaping eternal torment in Hell: or to count the number of those who, believing this to be Christianity, have revolted against its barbarity, and either forsaken the Lord, or else even fought against His people. The evangelist has no greater handicap to his powerful preaching of the Cross, than the practice of prefacing his offer of salvation in Christ with a totally unreasonable and unloving picture of His Father. So far from blunting the edge of his sword the true doctrine of Hell will enter his hearers' hearts with inescapable conviction of the certainty of their doom.

To sum up then. The aim of Hell is not to make things as painful as possible for the sinner, but simply to secure the Kingdom of Heaven for ever from all unhappiness and danger. Hell is in fact the Divine Prison in which the eternal sentence of preventive detention is carried out. As in all God's actions its raison d'être is Love, love of the righteous, and a determination that never again shall their bliss be jeopardised. "Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die?"12 saith the Lord God. The punishment of the wicked will be no more than they themselves have forced upon the Love of God, and His wrath will be unmixed with mercy,13 only because mercy will have been offered, and causelessly and finally refused. So will the smoke of their torment ascend ceaselessly up as a token that the wages of sin is indeed death and that God is not mocked. The happiness of the Millennium will have been ruined when Satan is let out of prison,14 but there will be no repetition of that tragedy: the gates of Hell will close for ever upon its prisoners, and peace will reign for the Ages of the Ages.

1 Matt. 25,26, 30.
2 Rev. 2,7; 22,2. cf. Ezek. 47,12.
3 Luke 23,52, 53.
4 Luke 23,46.
5 Acts 2,24-31.
6 2 Cor. 5,8.
7 Eph. 4,11. 1 Cor. 9,16.

8 Heb. 2,5.
9 Jas. 1,12. 1 Cor. 9,25-27. Rev. 2,10; 3,11.
10 Phil. 2,8-9.
11 Heb. 2,10.
12 Ezek. 18,23.
13 Rev. 14,10.
14 Rev. 20,7-9.

— end of page 57 —

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