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TOPIC: Gordon, Samuel Dickey - Quiet Talks on Life After Death (Other Topics in this Collection)
SUBJECT: 36. A Hard List to Quote
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A Hard List to Quote
Let me add only a few others to this list of heart-breaking quotations. Paul tells the Athenians, "(God) hath appointed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He hath appointed" (Act_17:31).
He speaks plainly in the Romans epistle about the impenitent: "after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up for thyself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who will render to every man what is due to his deed. . . unto them who are men of guile, selfishness, cunning, and obey not the truth, but obey unrighteousness, shall be wrath and indignation; tribulation and anguish upon every spirit of man that worketh evil." (Rom_2:5-6; Rom_2:8-9, paraphrased partly).
"The Lord knoweth how (1: e., fairly in justice) to keep the unrighteous under punishment, unto the day of judgment" (2Pe_2:9). And this bit, "the heavens that now are, and the earth by the same word (of God as in creation) have been stored up with fire, being reserved against the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men" (2Pe_3:7 read connection). Jude's intense little letter has this, "angels. . . he hath kept in everlasting bonds under darkness unto the judgment of the great day" (Jud_1:6).
It is most striking that in the midst of that final description of rarest beauty of the heavenly world, which has so taken hold of the human heart, right in the very heart of it, in sharpest contrast with all the surroundings, stands this bit: "But the cowards, and unbelieving, and abominable, and murderers, and fornicators, and dealers with demons, and worshippers of anything and any one else than God, and all sorts of liars, their part shall be in the lake of fire and brimstone; which is the second death (Rev_21:8 paraphrased).
And the last word is this: "without are the mangy scavenger dogs, and the partners with demons. . . and everyone that doeth a lie" (Rev_22:15 paraphrased partly). What a world of meaning packed into one word "without". It stands in contrast with the vision of rare beauty of God's homeland. Could more be said? Could anything be worse? Without!
That ends the list at present. And I am personally glad. It has been a task of suffering to gather them out, and go over them, word by word, and pile them all up together. I'm glad the heart-breaking task is done for now.
It will be noted that there seem to be two stages in point of time, in the place of punishment. At the present time these others are somewhere separated from God, and in mental and spirit anguish. The words used are "Ge-henna", "outer darkness", "unquenchable fire", and the like.
There seems a second stage indicated, a final stage; called "the lake of fire", and "the second death", which are indicated as the same thing. Satan himself is now not in hell, but somewhere in the lower heavens below God's throne, and above the earth (Eph_6:12 with Rev_12:7). He is to be cast down to the earth, and later is cast into the abyss, or the lake of fire (Rev_12:9; Rev_19:20; Rev_20:1-2; Rev_20:10). This is the phrase used for the final place for both Satan and some men.
There seems to be a-program of events outlined, with which this is connected. There is to be a different order of things on the earth some day, running a long time. At its close there is a short moral crisis on the earth, And then follows the final disposition of things. The final settlement with Satan and any preferring Satan's way, comes in this final disposition.