The Great Salvation/15

PROPOSITION 15.

The Wicked Who Are Responsible, of the Dead and the Living, Will Be Destroyed After Judgment and Condemnation

Acts 24:15 And have hope towards God, which they themselves also allow, that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and the unjust.

II Cor. 5:10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that everyone may receive the things in body according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.

Rom. 6:23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Ezek. I8:4 Behold all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, IT SHALL DIE.

Prov. 16:25 There is a way that seemeth right unto a man; but the end thereof are the ways of death.

Psa. 37:10, 20 For yet a little while and the wicked shall not be: yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place and it shall not be. * * · But the wicked shall perish, and the enemies of the LORD shall be as the fat of lambs; they shall consume; into smoke shall they consume away.

MaI. 4:1, 3 For, behold, the day cometh that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly shall be stubble; and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leaves them neither root nor branch. * * * And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet.

Matt. 13:40 As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the tire; so shall it be in the end of this world.

Matt. 3:12 Whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will bum up the chaff with unquenchable fire.

II Thes. 1:7-9 And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven, with his mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power.

Now, a great many people will, when they are confronted with testimonies to prove that man is mortal, that he dies and is unconscious, and that the wicked are destroyed, proceed to theorize that such testimonies refer to the body only--not to the soul or real man. But, reader, can you satisfy yourself in the belief that God has taken so much pains to tell us that the body, as a mere house in which the man resides, dies? that when the Scriptures speak of the dead knowing "not any thing" it is simply the body that is unconscious, while the real man continues alive and conscious? Can you be fully persuaded that when it is said the enemies of the Lord shall be consumed like the fats of lambs and burns up root and branch it means that it is the body only that is consumed and destroyed, while the man, the responsible man, is not? Such a position would place the punishment upon that which, according to the theory held, is in no way responsible, while the responsible man would be exempt. If the soul is the man separate from the body, and the body is not the thinking part of man, why should it be said that the body becomes unconscious? Is it not that which is conscious when it is alive that becomes unconscious when dead? Is it not that which is responsible for sins committed that suffers destruction as punishment? It is the man, which is a being of bodily form, made and kept alive by the Spirit of God, which gives life to all living beings, that dies, becomes unconscious in death, is raised from the dead, judged according to his deeds, given eternal life if worthy, punished with eternal death--the opposite of eternal life--if unworthy.

You will, however, ask, What is the soul? Why is it that it is claimed that the soul is immortal? And so we will briefly deal with the question of the soul.