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By D.M. PANTON

 

 

The inevitability of war among unregenerate mankind history proves.  The Russian author Novikow says:-  “From the year 1496 B.C. to A.D. 1862, in 3,358 years, there were 227 years of peace and 3,130 years of war.  Within the last three centuries there have been 286 wars in Europe.  From the year 1500 B.C. to A.D. 1860 more than 8,000 treaties of peace, meant to remain in force for ever, were concluded. The average time they remained in force was two years.”  We have lived to see the crowning example.  In August, 1914, nine declarations of war occurred in one month; all but one of the greatest powers of the world were at war; masses of men utterly unprecedented in the history of the world – twenty-five millions - were hurled at one another; each of the five Great Powers handled an army larger than any nation ever mustered before; and literally half of mankind - nine hundred millions - were involved in murderous conflict by land, sea, and air.

 

 

Nor has any radical change occurred in the two decades since.  How active are the seething passions which create war - for “whence come wars? come they not hence, even from your lusts that war in your members?” (Jas. 4: 1).  Mr. Winston Churchill’s words in the House of Commons (Times, Nov. 29, 1934) prove, words which almost equally fit three other greatest Powers of the world, Russia, Italy, and Japan.  He said:- “What is the great new fact which has broken upon us in the last 18 months?  Germany is re-arming.  That is the great new fact which rivets the attention of every country in Europe - indeed, in the world - and which throws almost all other issues into the background.  That mighty Power, which only a few years ago within our own experience fought almost the whole world and almost conquered, is now equipping itself once again - 70 millions of people - with the technical weapons of modern war, and at the same time is instilling into the hearts of its youth and manhood the most extreme patriotic, nationalistic, and militaristic conceptions

 

 

One consequence of the Great War is that we are watching an agitation for world peace probably without precedent in history.*  But a dominant factor of the world situation invisible to the world, and scarcely less invisible to the Church, is that war can come on men and nations passionately desiring peace as a judgment from God.  It is by no means impossible that peace will be achieved.  A peace of universal slavery is perfectly conceivable; and one powerful urge to a restored Roman Empire, come to birth by the offer of universal rule made to Rome by the Dictators of the world (Rev. 27: 13), will be a world peace which only such an Empire can create, a restoration of the Pax Romana.  For the coming peace will be neither reconciliation with God nor the eradication of human passion, but a vast slave mentality acquiescing in world-wide tyranny; and the mastery which already controls the massed populations of Russia, Italy, and Germany needs only to become universal to make such a world peace a certainty.**  It is upon such a peace as this that the Red Horse-man of the Apocalypse advances from the Throne to upset the plans of an anti-God world with a shock that can no more be withstood than can an earthquake. “And to him it was given TO TAKE PEACE FROM THE EARTH, and that they should slay one another; and there was given unto him a great sword” (Rev. 6: 4).

 

* It cannot be too clearly stated that Christian ‘pacifism’ - if it can rightly be so called - is purely the temporary, dispensational expression of God’s wondrous grace which, not imputing to the world its trespasses, sends forth ambassadors ‘harmless as doves,’ so as to win by love; whereas national and international pacifism is based on economic and political expediency, totally regardless of God, or any revelation from God.  The meetings of the League of Nations Union are characterized by a complete absence of the word ‘God

 

** In Italy there is terror; in Germany acute terror; in America no terror yet in all there is unquestionably a mass mentality, backing a single leader.  In Italy 10,025,000 from an electorate of 10,433,000 voted for Mussolini; in Germany 38,362,000 from an electorate of 45,473,000 voted for Hitler; and in America 20,000,000 from an electorate of 32,000,000 voted for Roosevelt.

 

 

It is extraordinarily confirmatory that the most explicit and exhaustive proposals for universal peace yet made emanate from the great anti-God Power of the world, Russia.  M. Litvinoll submitted the following proposals to the Disarmament Conference at Geneva (Times, Dec. 1, 1927):- (a) the suppression of armaments under any form whatever; (b) the destruction of all existing arms and munitions and all mechanical means for the prosecution of war, and the destruction of all armaments and engines of war; (c) the destruction of all ships of war and vessels designed for war; (d) the suppression of all forms of military instruction, and the abolition by Parliamentary law of military service, whether obligatory or volunteer; (e) the promulgation of laws prohibiting the training of military reserves; (f) the demolition of all fortresses; (g) the suppression of all factories which, although industrial in time of peace, may be converted to the production of munitions of war in time of war; (h) the suppression of all military budgets; and (i) the suppression of Ministries of War, Marine, and Military Aviation, of all kinds of military propaganda, military practice and preparation, and all military education.

 

 

The locus classicus on war as judgment is in Jeremiah.  It is the picture of a banqueting hall, in which are seated all the nations of the world; and the Cup of Jehovah’s Fury is circulated amongst them, with compulsion on all to drink.  “Take the cup of the wine of this fury at My hand, AND CAUSE ALL THE NATIONS TO DRINK IT” (Jer. 25: 15).  God has said through Ezekiel (14: 21), “I send My four sore judgments, the sword, and the famine, and the noisome beasts, and the pestilence”; and so here, under the figure of this circulating cup of which all the banqueters must drink, God announces this form of judgment to the nations at the End: “I will call for a sword upon all the inhabitants of, the earth Our Lord also prophesied it:- “For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and there shall be famines and earthquakes in divers places; but these are the beginning of travail” (Matt. 24: 7).  That is to say, at the End, after the removal of the Holy Spirit and the watchful of the Church, war - universal war, war involving all nations, and war on a scale and with a ruin never before contemplated - will fill the world.*  The diplomacy of statesmen will become fuddled and blundering - “drink ye and be drunken the whole economic structure of the State, and its political stability, will become unsafe and insecure – “they shall reel to and fro the national policy will become insane – “reel to and fro, and be mad” and whole nations, stupefied by war, become helpless and powerless, and involved in disastrous ruin – “be drunken and fall, and rise no more and all this “BECAUSE OF THE SWORD WHICH I WILL SEND AMONG YOU

 

* It is too often overlooked that the last judgments, the overwhelming punitive catastrophes of the Day of Wrath, can by no possibility occur in our gospel age, the era of grace; the Hinderer must first be removed (2 Thess. 2.); and only when the dam bursts can the flood of iniquity and judgment come.  Until a rapture has occurred the Day of the Lord is not here.  The Great War may have been a judgment, but was not the judgment war, which will involve all nations and overspread the world.

 

 

This prophecy also reveals, most remarkably, that the nations, having learned the agony of war, will attempt to refuse the Cup.  “And it shall be that if they refuse to lake the cup at thine hand, then shalt thou say unto them, thus saith the Lord of hosts, YE SHALL SURELY DRINK  The refusal of the Cup has long been in process of careful preparation.  With an endowment of £2,000,000 a peace propaganda is being pushed through all nations; a Peace Palace costing millions sterling has been built at The Hague, largely out of wealth created by the manufacture of enormous modern guns; in it is a Library on international peace of 75,000 volumes; all known cases of arbitration have been codified and a body of permanent judges, eminent jurists, sit at The Hague for international arbitration.  All nations have conspired in the erection of this magnificent palace.  The grand stained glass windows in the Court of justice come from England; the massive gates at the park entrance from Germany; the gorgeous marbles of the interior from Italy; the silk tapestries in the Council Chamber from Japan ; the priceless porcelain vases from China ; a marble throne from Greece; Gobelin tapestries from France; a vase of jasper from Russia; marble statuary from the States; costly carpets from Turkey, with minor gifts from all the minor States of the world.  But what is this peace worth?  Five of the monarchs and presidents whose pictures hang upon its walls have been assassinated since the palace was built.  There are a million more men under arms in Europe than in 1914.  All the world at this moment knows the tragic unreality of Mr. Lloyd George’s words in the House of Commons on Nov. 2, 1914 when, as Prime Minister of England, he announced the close of the Great War:- “I hope we may say that thus this fateful morning came to an end all wars

 

 

For there is only one Creator of peace in heaven or earth.  “He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth; he breaketh the bow, and cutteth the spear in sunder” (Ps. 46: 9).  But the Angels said, “Peace on earth, good will toward men,” only after they had said, “There is born to you this day a Saviour which is CHRIST THE LORD” (Luke 2: 11).  All peace based on a disregard of Christ assumes the falsity of the Christian Faith, and the gross untruth of the whole revelation of God.  “The Lord hath a controversy” - a lawsuit – “with the nations”: the controversy is over Calvary: all nations, by refusing the Sacrifice, endorse the Crucifixion: therefore peace, apart from Christ, and His atonement for sin, is peace establishing wickedness, and making mankind happy and prosperous in iniquity.  Nor does God need to create war: all He has to do in order to plunge a sinning world into chaos is simply to withdraw His own gracious, restraining influences.  “Ye lust” - empire-lust, glory-lust, commerce-lust, power-lust – “and have not: ye kill, and covet, and cannot obtain” - in perpetual friction and faction: “ye fight and war” (Jas. 4: 2).  So all national judgments down the ages close in the last.  “Then took I the cup at the Lord’s hand, and made all the nations to drink, AND ALL THE KINGDOMS OF THE WORLD WHICH ARE UPON THE FACE OF THE EARTH

 

 

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A LAST REVIVAL

 

 

When current events are studied in the light of fulfilled prophecy, there can be no doubt about the impending crash which Jesus referred to as ‘the great tribulation.’  Spiritual insight is required to grasp this truth because an attitude of dark expectancy is revolting to the average person.  Human nature is prone toward silly optimism.  No matter if it is as revolutionary to modern thinking as Noah’s prophetic voice was to the antediluvians, Armageddon will come!  But, true to history and prophecy, there will first come a spontaneous outburst of supernatural religion.  The coming revival will not last very long, but it will sweep the earth like lightning.  And as a result, the world will be evangelized.  The prophecy of Matthew 24: 14 will then come to pass.  “And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.”  This great awakening will overflow the beaten paths of denominationalism and standardized missionary endeavour.  It will be spontaneous, cyclonic, dynamic, world-wide!  It will not be the result of any humanly devised programme, but an outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

 

 - GERALD B. WINROD.

 

 

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THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT

 

 

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The Sermon on the Mount contains the principles of the Kingdom of God and its code of laws.  It forms the rule of Christian life to us, to whom the Kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.  May nothing rob the Church of these most precious chapters of precept and promise; for the Lord here unfolds the character of God as Father, in a way He does nowhere else; and of this He says in John 17: ‘I have declared unto them Thy Name, and will declare it The precepts of Matthew 5., 6., 7. are very clear and they cut very close.  The sword is two-edged, a sword sharp and piercing, separating and dividing; and the flesh trembles as we read it.  But the higher the calling [in this case to a place in the family of God] the profounder will be the perceptive word that is connected with it, and the richer and the sweeter the promises.  Let us not get drawn away from the unworldly simplicity of Christ shown to us in these chapters; and may the prayer the Lord has therein taught be our model and our guide, in matter, in order, in character, and in end. - J. N. DARBY.

 

 

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The Korean not only memorizes Scripture; he puts it into practice.  One day there came into one of the mission stations a sturdy Christian from the north.  After the usual greetings, he was asked the purpose of his visit.  His reply was: “I have been memorizing some verses in the Bible and have come to recite them to you He lived a hundred miles away and had walked all that distance, travelling four nights - a long stroll to recite some verses of Scripture to his pastor, but he was listened to as he recited in Korean without a verbal error, the entire Sermon on the Mount.  He was told that if he simply memorized it it would be a feat of memory and nothing more; he must practise its teachings.  His face lighted up with a smile as he promptly replied: “That is the way I learned it.  I tried to memorize it, but it wouldn’t stick, so I hit on this plan.  I would memorize a verse, and then find a heathen neighbour of mine and practise the verse on him.  Then I found it would stick.” - JAMES S. GALE.

 

 

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“But I say unto you, Swear not at all

 

 

False swearing was forbidden of old; but every kind of swearing is forbidden now by word of our Lord Jesus.  He mentions several forms of oath and forbids them all; and then prescribes simple forms of affirmation or denial, as all that His followers should employ.  Notwithstanding much that may be advanced to the contrary, there is no evading the plain sense of this passage that every sort of oath, however solemn or true, is forbidden to a follower of Jesus.  Whether in court of law or out of it, the rule is “Swear not at all.”   Yet in this Christian country we have swearing everywhere, and especially among law-makers.  Our legislators begin their official existence by swearing.  By those who obey the law of the Saviour’s Kingdom, all swearing is set aside, that the simple word of affirmation or denial calmly repeated, may remain as the simple bond of truth.  Believers should not yield to an evil custom, however great the pressure put upon them; but they should abide by the plain and unmistakable command of their Lord and King. - C. H. SPURGEON.

 

 

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Our Lord reviews in the Sermon on the Mount much of the Law, and sets up a new and higher standard. The Law generally taught as its principle - righteousness, or strict justice.  Man was to render to God His dues; and then he might exact what was due to himself from his neighbour and fellowman.  If injured, he was to seek and obtain redress.  “If men strive ... and if mischief follow, then thou shalt give life for life ; eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.” (Exod. 21: 22-25).

 

 

This rule Jesus expressly repeals.  The Christian is not to resist the evil man; but to be patient under injury, whether that be inflicted on our person, or on our property; by an individual, or by the oppression of a government (Matt. 10: 38-41).  We are to forgive without limit the evil world in the midst of which we are set; that God may also without limit forgive us. (Matt. 6: 12, 14).  As the Law taught justice, the Gospel teaches Grace.

 

 

Now this is an answer to those who would distinguish between a Christian’s personal enemies, and those of his country.  We are to resemble our heavenly Father; and He is not making any such distinction of countries, He is calling men of all nations to be reconciled with Himself.  And the Christian is one who has left his standing as one of the nations of the world to become a member of Christ, and one of the Church, which is Christ’s body.  We are no longer of the world, even as Christ was not (John 8: 23; 15: 19).  We are pilgrims and strangers on earth, seeking a better country, even an heavenly (Heb. 11: 13-16).

 

 

This one principle then, that WE ARE TO RESEMBLE GOD THE FATHER AND HIS SON JESUS CHRIST, AND TO EXHIBIT THEM TO THE WORLD, seems to me to settle this question for those who are candid.  Under the Law God took as His title “Jehovah, God of armies”: (Ps. 80: 7, 14; Amos 5: 27, etc.).  Then war was lawful: and, the courage of Jonathan, and David, and Samson, glorified Him.  What says the Son of God concerning Himself?  The Spirit of God came on Him “to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and to set at liberty the bruised”: (Luke 4: 18).  How then can any resemble Christ in warfare - breaking the hearts of wives and families, seizing prisoners of war, and detaining the wounded? - ROBERT GOVETT.

 

 

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In the year 1830 George Muller writes in his journal: “My wife and I had grace given to us to take the Lord’s commandment, ‘Sell that ye have and give alms’ (Luke 12: 33) literally, and to carry it out.  Our staff and support in this matter were Matthew 6: 19-34; John 14: 13, 14.  We leaned on the arm of the Lord Jesus.  It is now twenty-nine years since we set out in this way, and we do not in the least regret the step we then took

 

 

This was written in the year 1860, but his testimony to the possibility of carrying out this command literally lasted to the end of his long life of ninety-three years.  Thus we have the instance of one man who for sixty-eight years dared to take the Lord’s commands literally, and carry it out.

 

 

He also remarks about Matthew 5: 39-44: “It had pleased God, in His abundant mercy, to bring my mind into such a state, that I was willing to carry out into my life whatever I should find in the Scriptures. For instance: ‘Resist not evil; but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.  And if any man will sue thee at law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also.  And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain.  Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away.  Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them that despitefully use you and persecute you

 

 

He comments on these commandments thus:- “It may be said, surely these passages cannot be taken literally, for how then would the people of God be able to pass through the world?  The state of mind enjoined in John 7: 17 will cause such objections to vanish.  Whosoever is willing to act out these commandments of the Lord LITERALLY will, I believe, be led with me to see that, to take them LITERALLY, is the will of God.  Those who do so take them will doubtless often be brought into difficulties, hard to the flesh to bear, but these will have a tendency to make them constantly feel that they are strangers and pilgrims here, that this world is not their home, and thus to throw them more upon God, who will assuredly help us through any difficulty into which we may be brought by seeking to act in obedience to His Word

 

 

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It is sometimes contended that the Sermon on the Mount is to be in force during the Millennial Reign of Christ.  But we can gather from the Sermon itself the character of the age for which it is intended.

 

 

Corruption is widespread - for they are to act as salt for the preservation of society.

 

 

Moral darkness covers the people - for they are to be light in the world.

 

 

Mammon competes with God for the allegiance of men - for they are warned that it is not possible to serve both.

 

 

The Lord is absent - for they are fasting.

 

 

The ‘world-rulers of this darkness’ are in control; the Kingdom of God is not yet - for they are to pray, ‘Thy Kingdom come’.

 

 

The contrast between the age to which the Lord spoke and the age of His Millennial Reign could not be set in sharper contrast, nor can we fail to recognize in it the characteristics of our own.

 

 

- C. F. HOGG.

 

 

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THE NEW UNIVERSE

 

 

One fact links up for ever the old creation in which we are at this moment, and the new creation, and makes the birth of both identical.  It is summed up in the word Logos.  “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, and all things were made by him” (John 1: 1).  So it is again when a new universe comes into being.  As God said, Let there be a universe, and the universe was, so again, throughout the birth of the new creation there is only One Speaker, the Logos.  “And I heard a great voice out of the throne; and he that silleth on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new: I am the Alpha and the Omega” (Rev. 21: 3-6).  As though the pent-up desires of His heart have found full vent at last, God alone speaks; and He speaks as Alpha and Omega - the Alpha that produced the worlds that are; the Omega who will at last produce the imperishable worlds. And to John, nearly two thousand years ago, He saith, “Write!  For these words are faithful and true.  And he said unto me, They are come to pass  God can put into a past tense - so certain that it is already accomplished - what even now is at least a thousand years ahead.

 

 

All has been made ready, by all-searching judgment, for something completely new and clean.  The Evil Angels are in the Lake of Fire; the redeemed of all ages have experienced their season of award, those only partially purged having now been finally cleansed; the nations on earth are all redeemed stock; and the vast masses of the evil human dead have been dismissed from the Great White Throne to the Lake of Fire.  Thus all moral problems have been solved for ever; all characters have been tried, and all destiny pronounced: everything is ready for a new creation.

 

 

So now, as we should expect, the whole universe, because it is sin-soiled, is annihilated, and the fact is stated in words impossible to be misunderstood.  “I saw a great white throne, and him that sat upon it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; AND THERE WAS FOUND NO PLACE FOR THEM” (Rev. 20: 2).  Such words have only one meaning: if there is no ‘place’ for a material object, it can only be because it has ceased to exist.  So again:- “the first heaven and the first earth are passed away” (Rev. 21: 1).  Even the Millennial earth, with all the wonder and glory of this old world brought under the complete control of Christ, is no lasting home for a child of God, any more than for our Lord Himself.  The apostle Peter makes all clear:- “The heavens shall pass away with a great noise [a crashing roar: Lange] and the elements shall be dissolved with fervent heat, and the earth and the works that are therein shall be burned up” (2 Pet. 3: 10).  The inconceivable power of God in summoning the vast universe out of nothing is simply exercised again, in the reverse, so plunging it back - equally inconceivably - into the nothingness out of which He summoned it.

 

 

The new universe now dawns, “the final goal of all the longing of all the pious, of all revelations of salvation, and all prophecies, even the final goal of all judgments, which make room for the eternal City of God “ (Lange).  “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth not renewed, but new: no mere change of appearance or atmosphere or epoch or morale; but a fresh creation.  The Old Testament has foretold it in precise terms.  God said through Isaiah (65: 17):- “Behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former things shall not be remembered, nor come into mind  And again: - “The new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the Lord” (Isa. 66: 22).  And the ‘newness’ will not be only a fresh physical creation, but all nature will appear in its exquisite loveliness to human senses now able to appreciate it: it will itself be a stainless universe apprehended by perfect senses. “According to his promise” - therefore a promise in the Old Testament, for the Apocalypse had not yet been written – “we look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness” (2 Pet. 3: 13).  As the Leprologist says - and who will appreciate it so much as a leper? – “Our Christian Faith makes those suffering from leprosy look forward to new heavens and a new earth, to new bodies with new eyes, new voices, new touch - perception, wherewith to praise God.” And an extraordinary feature of our new world will be the annihilation of the past: “the former things shall not be remembered, nor come into mind” (Isa. 65: 17): the past will never torment us again.

 

 

Next, a new metropolis of the universe, its central city, now appears.  “And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God “It is new in its materials, in its size, in its location, in its style, in its permanence, and in everything characteristic of it” (Siess).  The City descends twice: first, out of the invisible heavens, before the Millennium, throughout which it hovers over the earth, unattached to it; then secondly it descends on to the new earth, there to abide, as its metropolis for ever.  Hitherto it has been ‘the heavenly Jerusalem’ (Heb. 12: 22), ‘the Jerusalem that is above’ (Gal. 4: 26), ‘the city which is to come’ (Heb. 13: 14): now it is the City lodged on the new earth, which becomes the home of humanity for ever.

 

 

The supreme consummation now unfolds.  “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he shall dwell with them, and they shall be his peoples, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God  The astounding revelation is here given that God and man are to share one home; to enjoy a fellowship together never to be interrupted, never to be marred by a single sin.  No longer does God choose one nation for Himself, nor even one spiritual people separate from mankind, but “God is with men, and they shall be his peoples”; that is, the Most High is visible and approachable, even as Adam walked and talked with his Maker in the first garden of the world.  In the Temple one man only could enter the Holy of Holies: to-day “no man can see God and live”: in eternity God dwells with men in an intimacy unknown even to angels.  It is the ultimate and complete fulfilment of our Lord’s word:- “If a man love me, he will keep my word: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, AND MAKE OUR ABODE WITH HIM” (John 14: 23).

 

 

The consequence is a completely new world.  “He shall wipe away every tear from their eyes; and death shall be no more; neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain, any more”: no mourning - sorrow over the dead; nor crying - a sharp cry, or scream; nor pain - no anguish, mental or physical.  Only the Hand that made our spirits can reach into the deep sources of our sorrows, so changing everything that we shall never weep again;* no deathbeds, no funerals, no cemeteries; and better still, no heart-break. “The first things have passed away”: they never belonged even to the first creation, as such: the sweating, the groaning, the bleeding, the dying are not laws of God, but fruits of the violation of the laws of God; and therefore the final universe will never know them.  Robert Hall, the preacher, was such a sufferer that he would roll on the carpet in agony: on his tombstone in Bristol Cemetery are these words:-“Neither shall there be any more pain The human race continues sinless for ever.

 

* A visitor returning from Austria has just said:- “I never knew before that there were so many kinds of weeping.  The slow, cold tears of utter despair, the passionate, frightened crying of those whose nerves have suddenly gone, the furious, hurt sobs that speak of the absolute injustice of it all, the dreary weeping of a woman whose husband had been murdered in a concentration camp

 

 

One shadow only falls, but a shadow unutterably awful:- “but” there is “the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone; which is the second death”.  As there is a second and higher life, so there is a second and deeper death; and the fearful fact is that it is in the imperishable universe that the Lake of Fire is found: that is, the literality and imperishableness of the heaven, the earth, the city, puts beyond all doubt the literality and imperishability of Hell.*  And in the nature of the case it is inescapable.  All the incurable wickedness in the universe has to be confined, as leprosy is confined in a lazaretto, to one spot; and those in the Lake “have their part” in it - that is, they inherit their share, they have drawn it upon themselves as the penalty of their sin.  The appalling fact is that the denial of Hell-fire, which is all but universal to-day, in no slightest degree affects the fact, and is merely a smoke-screen between the world and the most awful revelation God has ever made.**

 

* Equally decisive is it (to name but one detail) that the Antichrist and the False Prophet are “cast alive into the lake of fire” (Rev. 19: 20): men cannot be cast alive into ‘a figure of speech’.  So far from hell-fire deflecting men from belief, it is an historical fact that where it has been most preached, most have been saved.

 

** On “he that overcometh shall inherit these things” Mr. Govett remarks: “Probably there may be two aspects of ‘overcoming’: overcoming so as to be rewarded, and then partaking in millennial glory; and overcoming as compared with the total unbelief of the worldly.  ‘This is the victory which overcometh the world even our faith’, and the final entry into eternal life in the city of the risen

 

 

Most wonderful is an Apostle’s practical inference from these stupendous facts.  “Seeing that these things are thus all to be dissolved” - that the world, on which we are walking, is a world that will melt away for ever – “what manner of persons, ought ye to be in all holy living and godliness” (2 Pet. 3: 11).  In the comment of Dr. Alexander Maclaren:- “Make haste about cultivating a Christ-like character: the harvest is great, the toil is heavy, the sun is drawing to the west, the reckoning is at hand: there is no time to lose; set about it as you have never done before, and say, ‘This one thing I do.’”

 

 

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THE CITY OF PEACE

 

 

Non habemus hic manentem civitatem, sed futuram inquirimus.  Heb. 13: 14.

 

 

O Heavenly city, timeless dwelling-place,

Where we shall meet the Loved Ones, face to face,

To thee our thoughts ascend, our hopes aspire,

Whose bulwarks gleam, touched by no earthly fire.

 

 

Immortal are thy courts: eternal life

Bides there, triumphant over death and strife.

Sin cannot enter, and no sorrows come

To mar the glory of the Soul’s true home.

 

 

Here, amid mortal mists, we grope our way;

There, shines the light of everlasting day.

Here hate has power; but, in that City fair,

Love rules alone, for God is present there.

 

 

                                                                                                 -  E. H. BLAKENEY.

 

 

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