The Colorado statesman., 1915-02-13
THE DESTINY OF THE WICKED.
(Continued.)
Bible Teaching Concerning the Pun.
ishment of the Wicked.


the lost are not now being punished.
There is time of judgment in which
every case will be investigated. Paul
preached of Judgment to come"
Acts .24:25. The Judgment is the last
work of Christ in the Heavenly sanct-
uary before he lays aside his priestly
garments, and closes his work as med.
iator for sinners. Dan. 7:9, 10, 13. 1t
is not reasonable then that the Lord
would send the wicked into the lake
of fire prepared for the devil and his
angels Matt. 25:4D, before they
have been judged. To do this would
be similar to sending a man suspected
of some crime to the penitentiary,
leaving him there for a number of
years, and then bringing him before
legal tribunal and examining the
evidence to see if he were guilty and
merited the punishment which he had
received. The just God does not deal
with his creatures in this way. The
judgment precedes the reward. The
punishment in the lake of fire is but
the execution of the judgment written.
The Apostle Paul states this same
fact when he says THE Lord knoweth
how to deliver the godly out of temp
tations, and to reserve the unjust unto
Iht udy VI W De
2 Peter 29. They are not now receiv-
ing their punishment, but are reserved
until the judgment. This language is
very clear. Webster defines reserve"
Ito keep back; to retain or hold over
to a future time or place"
The apostle says further: But the
Heavens and the earth, which are
now, by the same word are kept in
store, reserved unto fire against the
day of judgment and perdition of un-
godly men," 2 Peter 3:7 In addition
to the finally incorrigible, we are told
that "the angels which kept not their
first estate, but left their own habita-
tions, he hath reserved in everlasting
chains under darkness unto the judg-
ment of the great day" Jude g. So
then neither Satan, fallen angels, nor
sinners are now receiving their pun
ishment in the lake of fire, but are
reserved until the close of the judg-
ment, when each will receive the
things done in his body, according to
that he hath done, whether it be good
or bad. 2 Cor. $40.
job also bears similar testimony on
this point. He says, Have We not
asked them to go by the way? and do
ye not know their tokens, that the
wicked is reserved to the day of de-
struction? they shall be brought forth
to the day of wrath" Job 21:29, 80.
They are not reserved in purgatory,
but in the grave. From this prison
house of the enemy they will be
brought forth at the second resur-
rection, to receive the punishment
which the just God in the Judgment
has decreed against them
In Matt 25:31-46 is given view of
the Judgment, and the placing of the
sheep, the righteous, on the right hand
and the goats, or the wicked, on the
left hand. 1t is at this time, not be-
fore, that the wicked "go away into
everlasting punishment" 1t seems
unnecessary to introduce further evi.
dence to show that the lost are not
now receiving their reward, as the
Scriptures we have studied are con-
elusive on this point
Place Where the Wicked Will
Receive Their Reward
We are not left in doubt and I'M
certainty as to the place where the
lost will be punished. In earthly gov
ernments the transgressors of the law
are tried, and sentenced, and punished
where they committed their evil
deeds. 1t is SO here. Thus we read,
Behold, the righteous shall be re-
compensed in the earth: much more
the wicked and the sinner" Prov.
1881. The Apostle Peter in the Scrip
lures already quoted bears decisive
testimony on this same point: But
the Heavens and the earth, which are
now, by the same word are kept in
store, reserved unto fire against the
day of Judgment and perdition of un-
godly men," Peter 81 The apostle
here tells us that the executive judg-
ment is the time, and the earth is the
place, for the perdition, or destruc-
tion, of the ungodly.
This fire which consumes the lost
Will burn and purify the earth, so that
places where sin has had it's throne
and Kingdom become the home of the
people of God, thus leaving no place
Tor sinners, or an eternal, burning
hell.
But 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. Seeing then that all
these things shall be dissolved, what
manner of persons ought ye to be in
all holy conversation and godliness,
looking for and hasting unto the com
ing of the day of God, wherein the
Heavens being on fire shall be dis
solved 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" Peter 3:1O-
13.
This will indeed be "the day of the
Lords vengeance, and the year of re-
compense for the controversy of Zion, ;"
when "the streams thereof shall be
turned into pitch, and the dust there
of into birthstone, and the land there
of shall become burning pitch" Isa
S4:S, 8. Everything that fire can con-
sumo will be burned up. In that awful
hour when the Lord takes vengeance