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ing lost men in that distant future. It very likely, indeed, refers to that torment of soul which is prolonged beyond the death of the body, which is a part of the death process before a wicked man's destruction is complete. But this we have uniformly found to be the punishment which precedes resurrection. Viewing this judgment therefore as a tormenting plague upon those ungodly men who, in the last days, are the votaries of Antichrist, we are precluded from finding any reference in the passage to an eternal torment beyond their resurrection. The judgment falls upon them long before that event.

It is the smoke of their torment which ascendeth up unto the ages of the ages. An evidence and memorial is thus given to all coming ages of the destructive judgment which has made an end of the beast and his worshippers, as the usurpers of the honor and worship that belong to God only. This accords with the evident meaning of the symbol where it first occurs in Scripture. In Isaiah xxxiv, it is predicted of the land of Edom in the day of the Lord's vengeance, "The streams thereof shall be turned into pitch, and the dust thereof into brimstone, and the land thereof shall become burning pitch. It shall not be quenched night nor day; the smoke thereof shall go up forever: from generation to generation it shall lie waste; none shall pass through it forever and ever" (9-11). Some explanation must be given to these expressions consistent with the subsequent promise that all the earth shall be renewed (Isa. lxv). They are thus limited to a visitation that shall con

tinue to the end of the age. They may include also the idea that in the renovated heavens and earth the land of Edom shall find no place, but that the memory of it shall be blotted out forever. But they do not and cannot mean that the burning destruction of that land shall go on endlessly. In like manner we are not required to attach such a meaning to the prophetic phraseology in the Revelation. The fact that the smoke of the torment goes up unto the ages of the ages does not prove that the tormenting process never ends, any more than the fact that the smoke of Edom's destruction goes up forever proves that the destructive process never ends. To this it may be objected that in chap. xix. 20, we are told that the beast and the false prophet, who are both overcome by the conquering Word of God-the rider upon the white horse, are together cast alive into the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone.* In ch. xx. IO we

read further, "And the devil that deceived them (the nations) was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where are also the beast and the false prophet; and they shall be tormented day and night forever and ever." It is argued that here at least the endless torment of these three, two of whom are human persons, is distinctly affirmed. But the answer to this is that we are by no means sure that the terms "beast" and "false prophet" represent individual men. In the

* It is to be remarked that here we have another description of the fate that shall overtake the adherents of the beast. 66 They were killed with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, even the sword which came forth out of his mouth and all the birds were filled with their flesh."

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Apocalypse of the Old Testament, from which that of the New partly derives its imagery, the term "beast represents a worldly political system (Dan. vii. 11). Its being cast into the burning flame represents the utter destruction of that system whose characteristics were such that the symbol of a beast is applied to it, in contrast with that kingdom over which 'there is one like unto a son of man." What these passages bring to view is probably the utter destruction of these two hostile systems, set forth under the figure of the casting into a lake of fire of their symbolic representatives, with the devil who energized them. Whatever may be true of the future destiny of the devil no argument for the endless torment of lost men can be drawn from these passages, unless it can be proved that the two great enemies here brought to view are individual men. The analogies of Scripture, as we have seen, lead us rather to regard them as systems. In ch. xx. 14, we are told that death and hades are to be cast into this same lake of fire. And surely these are not human persons. If it be asked how systems can be "tormented," we can only reply that as they are here personified, so they may be represented as suffering the torment of living persons in the remediless destruction that overtakes them, and in the everlasting shame that covers them.

In ch. xxi. 8, we are told of the casting into this same lake of fire of classes of sinners who are undoubtedly human. "But for the fearful, and unbelieving, and abominable, and murderers, and fornicators, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, their part

Ishall be in the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone; which is the second death." This passage, however, does not prove the endless torment of these sinners. It rather points to their destruction in that deeper pit of death which this Book several times refers to as the final grave of all those enemies, including death, who are to be destroyed out of that perfect order in which God shall be all in all. It is an impressive declaration that for wicked men there can be no possible place in the new and heavenly order (xxii. 15). Here it may be well for us to inquire into the meaning of that agent of divine purgation and retribution so often brought to view in these closing chapters

THE LAKE OF FIRE.

We have all along found, in these studies, that all Scripture, Old and New, makes frequent reference to a future renovation of this present cosmos. The instrument of this renovation is the eternal fire, by which term is brought to view that devouring energy with which Nature is ever consuming worn out and worthless forms of life so that, out of their grave, may arise forms more worthy and enduring. Sinful man,

in obedience to this law, must go down into this pit of eternal fire, unless the eternal life of God be imparted to him through Jesus Christ. The Son of Man, as the divine Judge and sorter of men, is even now consigning wicked men to the destructive operation of this eternal fire, while the righteous go into life eternal. That crisis which is known in Scripture as His appearing consummates this work of judgment and

brings to an end what is styled this present age or world. It brings with it also a first stage in His work of cosmical change and renewal. Satan, who is the author of physical as well as moral evil, will then be bound (Rev. xx). And life will then triumph completely over death in the person of those elect saints who share with Him the glories of this administration. It must bring with it also new displays of His power and grace to the nations of mankind, who are no longer deceived and blinded by this great enemy. But this is not the final stage of His triumph. Nor does it complete that transfiguration of the old order into the new of which we have the picture in chapters xxi and xxii. A preceding feature of this final renovation is the lake of fire. Into it are cast death and hell and all God's enemies. The term brings to view a still deeper working of that consuming energy with which the Creator has charged this system of His works, and by which its own purgation and emancipation shall finally be effected. All its hostile powers shall be yoked into submission to His exalted Son. Its fair fields shall no longer be blighted with a curse, nor ravaged by the rude hand of death (xxi. 4, xxii. 3). All things shall be radiant with the light and buoyant with the life of God. The lake of fire is not presented to us apart from, but as preparatory to this result. It is indeed that final abyss, prepared for the devil and his angels, down into whose devouring depths must go all these evil powers who have blighted God's fair heritage, and all evil beings, including men, who are so bound up with this system as to refuse

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