The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1911-10-20

lea. could we claim then that Gods
will was done on earth as it is done
in heaven? Assuredly not.
Thank God. the second coming Of
Messiah will not delay until the world
is converted and Gods will fully done
and the plan Of salvation ended.
Quite to the contrary. His coming is
for the very purpose of bringing all
things into subsection to the Fathers
will. He comes that He may reign as
King Of kings and Lord of lords, In
association with His Church He will
not reign through a representative or
vice-gerent, but personally. and unto
Him every knee shall bow and every
tongue confess" to the glory Of God.
In His day the righteous shall -four
ish, and the evil-doers shall be cut off.
The faithful Church. sharing in her
Lords resurrection. the First Resur-
rection, to glory, honor and immortali-
ty, will be His associate kings and
priests, to reign for a thousand years.
Revelation Xxx. G.
Fire SymboIical Of Destruction.
Let US examine some texts which
seem to teach that our earth will be
destroyed by fire. and note that they
are symbolical Fire" is frequently
used in the Scriptures as q symbol Of
destruction Thus the Church is ex.
horted to mortify or kill the feshly
nature. and is told that the fiery
trials Of life will assist them in this
work. The opposition of enemies is
to be destroyed by works Of mercy
and kindness, which. figuratively, will
be locals of fire upon their heads"
st. Peter mentions special trials and
tribulations coming upon the Church,
designed to purify her-purge out and
destroy the dross. He says: Think
it not strange concerning the fiery
trial which is to try you, as though
some strange thing happened unto
you'll Peter iv, II.
st. Paul refers to special trials upon
the Church in the end of the Gospel
Age. which will consume false doc
trines. human traditions, etc., and all
false faith. but which will leave I'M
scathed the true Faith and true char
acters. He says: eff any man build
upon this foundation gold, silver. pre-
cious stones, wood, hay, stubble, ev-
cry mans work shall be made mani
fest, for the day shall declare it, be-
cause it shall be revealed by fire; and
the fire shall try every mans work of
what sort it is. If any mans work
abide which he hath built thereupon.
mans work shall be burned, he shall
suffer loss; but he himself shall be
saved, yet so as by fire."-I Corin-
thians lii. 1915.
These various Scriptures do not
prove that the world could not be de-
stroyed by fire in a literal way. but
they do prove that fire" is very fire.
quently mentioned in the Bible in a
fgurative or symbolical manner. We
might multiply the instances: "Our
God is consuming fire"-as regards
everything contrary to righteousness;
the symbolical lake of fire." in the
book Of Revelation. is explained to sig
Nifty the Second Death. utter destruc-
ton. without hope of recovery.
World Burning Unserptural.
The supposition that the earth will
be destroyed by fire. either soon or
ever, would be contrary to the state
ment that "the earth abideth forever"
and the declara ton that God formed it
not in vain. but formed it to be in
habited. isaiah xiv, 49, One Of the
very strong passages which seems to
teach that the earth will be devoured
by fire is found in Zephaniah iii, $:
"Wait We upon Me, saith the Lord, un-
til that Day that rise up to the prey.
for Ny determination is to gather the
nations, that may assemble the king
doms, to pour upon them Mine indig-
nation, even all My fierce anger; for
the whole earth shall be devoured with
the fire of My jealousy"-anger.
That the fire of Gods anger which
will come upon the world will not de-
stroy the physical earth, with all its
inha bitants, but will destroy the evil
of present institutions. is shown by the
succeeding sentence, which declares:
'Then will turn to the people a pure
Message, that they may all call upon
the name of the Lord to serve Him
with one consent" If the fire Of this
text were literal, the earth and its peo-
pie would be no more. but as symbol
ical fire it is perceived that it is burn
ing against unrighteousness. iniquity,
sin, the overthrow of all institutions of
evil, and the awakening Of mankind
and preparing them to hear the Voice
of God, the language Of the Truth.
the Divine Message.
What we have seen prepares us for
the somewhat more difficult statement
of st. Peter: "The Day Of the Lord
will come as thief in the night, in
the which the heavens shall pass away
with a great noise. and the elements
shall melt with fervent heat; the earth
also. and the works that are therein.
shall be burned up. The heavens.
being on fire. shall be dissolved. and
the elements shall melt with fervent
heat Nevertheless we. according to
His promise. look for New Heavens
and a New Earth, wherein dwelleth
righteousness" Oh Peter iii, 1919
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