Is there Immortality in Sin and Suffering? Sermon 1 Part 1 of 4

By George Storrs

"May we know what this new doctrine whereof thou speakest is? For thou bringest certain strange things to our ears: we would know, therefore, what these things mean." - Acts xvii.19, 20.

PAUL, the apostle, in preaching the gospel, came to Athens; he there beheld an altar inscribed "TO THE UNKNOWN GOD." At the idolatry he saw, his spirit was stirred within him; hence he disputed daily with them that met him. He encountered certain philosophers - wise men, no doubt, - at least in their own estimation - and some of them said: What will this babbler say? Others said, he seemeth to be a setter forth of strange Gods. Doubtless they thought he was a heretic of the blackest stamp; yet they seemed disposed to hear him, before they passed final sentence upon him. In this respect they manifested a better disposition than many of the present day, who are so wise in their own estimation, that no one can advance a thought to which they will listen, unless it has first received the approbation of some doctor of divinity.

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Not so with the men of Athens; strange as the things were that the Apostle taught, they were desirous to know what the new doctrine was. Not that it was new in itself, but only new to them.

Various errors exist among men in regard to revealed truth. These errors go to show how imperfect we are in knowledge - the mistakes committed in our education - the reluctance of the mind to investigate - and a want of moral courage to step aside from the track marked out by learned men, as they are thought to be, but who, most likely, have conducted their own investigations under the influence of the fear of being denounced as heretics, if they should be led to results unlike to those who are reputed for wisdom. But "if any man will be wise, let him become a fool that he may be wise," is the language of the apostle. We honor God only so far as we have right conceptions of His character, government and purposes, and act in accordance with them. If we believe God will reward, or punish men contrary to His own word, we dishonor Him, however much sincerity we may possess. Truth and the honor of God are inseparable: and we cannot glorify our Heavenly Father by erroneous opinions. Yet, most professed Christians, if pressed on the subject, can give little better reason for what they believe, on many points, than that such has been the instruction they have received from men. It is a solemn duty to study our Bibles, and form our opinions of what they teach for ourselves, as we must answer for ourselves. But in this study the adoption of correct principles of interpretation is of the first importance. Without this, our appeal to the word of God may only serve to confirm us in error. The plainest truths of the Bible have been wrapped

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in darkness by pretending that the language of the Scriptures has a mystical or secret meaning that does not appear in the words employed. Such a principle of interpretation is a libel on the Bible. That Book professes to be a revelation; and the Saviour says, "If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine." The language of the Bible, then, should be explained as the language of any other book, i.e., according to its plain and obvious meaning: unless there is a clear necessity for departing from it. A strict adherence to this principle is necessary, if we would be saved from the wildest errors, and see the children of God united in one. With these remarks I proceed to

THE QUESTION AT ISSUE, OR POINT IN DEBATE
The question is not, whether man can be immortal, nor whether the righteous will be immortal. These points are admitted and abundantly proved by the Bible; but the question is - Will the wicked who live and die in their sins, continue eternally, or without end, in a state of conscious existence? Or, once more - Is the punishment God has threatened to sinners an eternal state of suffering and sin? This involves the question of immortality. For if all men can be proved to be immortal, it seems to follow from the Bible, that the finally impenitent will be left in a state of endless suffering and sin.

THE ARGUMENTS IN PROOF OF MAN'S IMMORTALITY
These are mainly three, viz: First - The desire all men feel for it. Second - That the soul is immaterial, uncompounded, indivisible, hence indestructible, and

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therefore immortal. Third - That God wills the immortality of all men. To these, perhaps, another should be added, viz: - "All nations and people have believed the soul immortal." To this last argument, I answer - There is no evidence that all nations and people have believed it. There is evidence to the contrary. In the "Dialogue on the Immortality of the Soul" - found in "PLATO'S DIALOGUES" - Socrates, having spoken of the nature of the soul, says - "Shall a soul of this nature, and created with all these advantages, be dissipated and annihilated as soon as it parts from the body, as most men believe?" Here the fact is brought out, that so far from its being a general belief that the soul is immortal, the exact reverse was true in Socrates' day. Socrates is supposed to have believed the souls of the good were immortal, and would ascend to the Gods at death. With respect to bad men, it is not so clear what his opinion was in regard to the final result with them. It seems, however, that he thought after they left the body, they wandered awhile in impure places, in suffering, "till they again enter a new body, and in all probability plunge themselves into the same manners and passions, as were the occupation of their first life. "For instance," continues Socrates, "those who made their belly their God, and loved nothing but indolence and impurity without any shame, and without any reserve, these enter into the bodies of asses, or such like creatures. And those who loved only injustice, tyranny and rapine, are employed to animate the bodies of wolves, hawks and falcons. Where else should souls of that sort go? The case of the rest is much the same. They go to animate the bodies of beasts of different species, according as they resemble

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their former dispositions. The happiest of all these men are those who have made a profession of popular and civil virtues, such as temperance and justice; to which they have brought themselves only by habit and exercise, without any assistance from philosophy and the mind. It is probable, that after their death, their souls are joined to the bodies of politic and meek animals, such as bees, wasps and ants."

Surely, one would think that this is little short of annihilation itself. Socrates, after speaking of those who lived, "following reason for their guide," etc., says - "After such a life, and upon such principles, what should the soul be afraid of? Shall it fear, that upon its departure from the body, the winds will dissipate it, and run away with it, and that annihilation will be its fate?"

On this subject, Archbishop Whately, in his Lectures on "Scripture Revelations Concerning a Future State," speaks thus: -

"Among the heathen philosophers, Plato has been appealed to, as having believed in a future state of reward and punishment, on the ground that the passages in his works in which he inculcates the doctrine, are much more numerous than those in which he expresses his doubt of it. I cannot undertake to say that such is not the case; for this arithmetical mode (as it may be called) of ascertaining a writer's sentiments, by counting the passages on opposite sides, is one which had never occurred to me; nor do I think it is likely to be generally adopted. If, for instance, an author were to write ten volumes in defence of Christianity, and two or three times to express his suspicion that the whole is a tissue of fables, I believe few of his readers would feel any doubt as to his real sentiments. When a writer is at variance with himself, it is usual to judge from the nature of the subject, and the circumstances

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of the case, which is likely to be his real persuasion, and which, the one, he may think it decorous, or politically expedient, to profess.

"Now in the present case, if the ancient writers disbelieved a future state of reward and punishment, one can easily understand why they should nevertheless occasionally speak as if they did believe it; since the doctrine, they all agreed, was useful in keeping the multitude in awe. On the other hand, would they, if they did believe in it, ever deny its truth? or rather (which is more commonly the case in their works) would they allude to it as a fable so notoriously and completely disbelieved by all enlightened people as not to be worth denying, much less refuting, any more than tales of fairies are by modern writers?

"Even Aristotle has been appealed to as teaching (in the first book of the Nicomachean Ethics) the doctrine of a future state of enjoyment or suffering; though it is admitted by all, that, within a few pages, he speaks of death as the complete and final extinction of existence, "beyond which there is neither good nor evil to be expected." He does not even assert this as a thing to be proved, or which might be doubted; but alludes to it merely, as unquestioned and unquestionable. The other passage (in which he is supposed to speak of a state of consciousness after death) has been entirely mistaken by those who have so understood it. He expressly speaks of the dead, in that very passage, as "having no perception;" and all along proceeds on that supposition.

"But many things appear good or evil to a person who has no perception of them at the time they exist. For example, many have undergone great toils for the sake of leaving behind them an illustrious name, or of bequeathing a large fortune to their children: almost every one dislikes the idea of having his character branded with infamy after his death; or of his children coming to poverty or disgrace: many are pleased with the thought of a splendid funeral and stately monuments; or their bones reposing beside those of their forefathers, or of their beloved friends; and many

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dread the idea of their bodies being disinterred and dissected, or torn by dogs. Now no one, I suppose, would maintain that all who partake of such feelings, expect that they shall be conscious, at the time, of what is befalling their bodies, their reputation, or their families after death; much less, that they expect that their happiness will, at that time, be effected by it. In fact, such feelings as I have been speaking of, seem to have always prevailed, even the more strongly, in those who expected no future state.

"It is of these posthumous occurrences that Aristotle is speaking, in the passage in question. But he expressly says, in that very passage, that "it would be absurd to speak of a man's actually enjoying happiness after he is dead;" evidently proceeding (as he always does) on the supposition that the dead have ceased to exist.

"The ancient heathens did but conjecture, without proof, respecting a future state. And there is this remarkable circumstance to be noticed in addition; that those who taught the doctrine (as the ancient heathen lawgivers themselves did, from a persuasion of its importance for men's conduct,) do not seem themselves to have believed what they taught, but to have thought merely of the expediency of inculcating this belief on the vulgar.

"It does not appear, however, that they had much success in impressing their doctrine on the mass of the people: for though a state of future rewards and punishments was commonly talked of among them, it seems to have been regarded as little more than an amusing fable. It does not appear, from the account of their own writers, that men's lives were ever influenced by any such belief. On the contrary, we find them, in speeches publicly delivered and now extant, ridiculing the very notion of any one's seriously believing the doctrine. And when they found death seemingly unavoidable and near at hand, as in the case of a very destructive pestilence, we are told, that those of them who had been the most devout worshippers of their gods, and had applied to them with various superstitious

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ceremonies for deliverance from the plague, finding that the disease still raged, and that they had little chance of escaping it, at once cast off all thoughts of religion; and, resolving to enjoy life while it lasted, gave a loose to all their vicious inclinations. This shows, that even those who had the firmest faith in the power of their gods, looked to them for temporal deliverance only, and for their preservation in this life, and had not only no belief, but no suspicion even, that these Beings had any power to reward and punish beyond the grave; - that there was any truth in the popular tales respecting a future state.

"It may be thought, however, by some, that the wisest of the heathen philosophers, though they did not hold the notions of the vulgar as to the particulars of a future state of rewards and punishments, yet had convinced themselves (as in their writings they profess) of the immortality of the soul. And it is true that they had, in a certain sense; but in such a sense as in fact makes the doctrine amount to nothing at all. They imagined that the souls of men, and of all other animals, were not created by God, but were themselves parts of the divine mind, from which they were separated, when united with bodies; and to which they would return and be reunited, on quitting those bodies; so that the soul, according to this notion, was immortal both ways; that is, not only was to have no end, but had no beginning; and was to return after death into the same condition in which it was before our birth; a state without any distinct personal existence, or consciousness. It was the substance of which the soul is composed, that (according to this doctrine) was eternal, rather than the soul itself; which, as a distinct Being, was swallowed up and put an end to. Now it would be ridiculous to speak of any consolation, or any moral restraint, or any other effect whatever, springing from the belief of such a future state as this, which consists in becoming, after death, the same as we were before birth. To all practical purposes, it is the same thing as annihilation.

"Accordingly the Apostle Paul, when speaking to

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the Corinthians (1 Cor. xv.) of some persons who denied the "Resurrection of the dead," (teaching, perhaps, some such doctrine as that I have just been speaking of) declares, that in that case his "preaching would have been vain." To deny the "resurrection" is, according to him, to represent Christians as "having hope in this life only," and those "who have fallen asleep in Christ, as having perished." (v. 18, 19.) As for any such future existence as the ancient philosophers described, he does not consider it worth a thought.

"Such was the boasted discovery of the heathen sages! which has misled many inattentive readers of their works; who, finding them often profess the doctrine of the immortality of the soul, and not being aware what sort of immortality it was that they meant, have hastily concluded that they had discovered something approaching to the truth; or, at least, that their doctrine was one which might have some practical effect on the feelings and conduct, which it is plain it never could. And such, very nearly, is said to be the belief entertained now by the learned among the East Indian Brahmins, though they teach a different doctrine to the vulgar."

Thus, then, it appears there is no truth in the oft repeated assertion that all nations and people have believed in man's immortality, or an endless conscious survivance of a fancied entity called the soul. It was not true of the ancient heathen philosophers themselves, much less of the mass of the people. So far from all nations and people believing the soul immortal, there were a large class among the Jews who did not believe it, viz.: the Sadducees, who said, "There is no resurrection, neither angel nor spirit."

It may be replied - "The Sadducees were infidels, but the nation at large believed in the immortality of man; for the Pharisees taught it." I reply – These

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two sects were both extremes: the first denying any future life, and the other making a future life dependent on what we now call transmigration of souls, rather than a real resurrection: and that idea probably arose from their notion of the soul's immortality. - These two sects are alike condemned by our Lord; and his followers are warned to beware of their doctrine: see Matt.16:6-12. Both sects were corrupt in doctrine and in practice. Enough has now been said to show that all nations and people did not believe in the immortality of man.

To Be Continued…

This Sermon 1 Taken From:
“Six Sermons on the Inquiry Is There Immortality in Sin and Suffering?”
“ALSO, A SERMON ON CHRIST THE LIFE-GIVER: OR, THE FAITH OF THE GOSPEL.”
BY GEORGE STORRS, OFFICE OF THE BIBLE EXAMINER, 1855

Blog Edited by John Foll.

Click here for a Free PDF of this article!

#Annihilation #Soul #Immortal #Indestructible #Error #Truth #Dishonor #God #Wise #Fool #Bible #Eternal #Suffering #Sin #Wicked #Aristotle #Plato #Future #Reward #Punishment

A Biography Sketch of the author of: “Six Sermons on the Inquiry Is There Immortality in Sin and Suffering?”

A BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH; OR, BRIEF NOTICE OF THE AUTHOR OF THE SIX SERMONS.

 

[ Editor’s note: We are running a series articles by this author, who was a pioneer of this teaching to complement our articles on this subject. We thought it a good thing for you to hear his testimony. We pray that it will bless you. ]

GEORGE STORRS, the subject of the following remarks, was born in Lebanon, N. H., December 13th, 1796. He was the youngest of eight children. His father, Col. Constant Storrs, was originally from Mansfield, Conn.; and was an industrious mechanic, serving, for a time, in the American Revolution as a wheelright. After the war of the Revolution he was married to Lucinda Howe, who was half-sister to the late Richard Salter Storrs, for many years minister of Longmeadow, Mass. After their marriage they removed to New Hampshire - the country being then a wilderness - and located in Lebanon, on Connecticut River; and by industry and economy became, what, in those days, was called a wealthy farmer. To them were born seven sons and one daughter. The mother of these children was ever watchful over their religious instruction, while the father was most studious to promote their temporal welfare. The mother invariably gathered her children around her, particularly on the Sabbath, to give them instruction in things pertaining to God, and our Saviour, Jesus Christ. She was not disposed to leave their religious education to the minister, or any other less interested in their welfare than a Mother. The Congregational and Calvinistic ministry was about the only preaching in Lebanon for many years. Very few of any other denomination ever preached there. The strong tendency to fatalism, in the Calvinistic preaching of that period, was a subject which the mother of these children did not fail to endeavor to counteract in the minds of her offspring, and to impress upon them unceasingly, that if they would seek the Lord he would be found of them. Such pious labor was not lost.

Though this family of children grew up to maturity, four of them died before their father; and six had gone down to the grave before their mother: two only survived her.

GEORGE'S mind was often deeply exercised on the things of religion from a child. Many anxious desires filled his heart that he might be a Christian. Early had his mother taught him to acknowledge "Our Father, who art in Heaven," and point him to "Our Saviour, Jesus Christ." Experimental religion, however, was a mystery to his mind, though one that he often anxiously desired to solve. Secret prayer was often resorted to, but he heard sometimes from the pulpit that, the man who cursed and swore was as likely - yea, more likely, to be converted than he who went to his closet to pray for the salvation of God. Such teaching made George feel sadly, as he thought his case was more hopeless than boys who he knew to be very profane, while he feared an oath. This influence, however, was counteracted by the vigilant instruction of his mother. Happy for him that he had such a mother. But for her instruction he has often thought and felt that he would never have been brought to a saving knowledge of God and His Christ. The sweet and heavenly strains of prayer, poured forth by that mother when she took George to her closet, and sought the mercy of God in Christ for him, made him forget or disregard the false teaching of the mere Theologian. Such scenes told on his heart not to be obliterated.

The preaching of the torments of hell never won his heart, though it often filled him with a dread of God, which was calculated more to drive him from God than to draw him to such a being. From fifteen to seventeen years of age was the most thoughtless period of his life. None of the terrors of preaching had any tendency to win him to the service of God; but at the close of the time last mentioned, in meditation, alone, far removed from all excitement, he became so affected with a sense of the goodness of God to him, that he resolved henceforth to seek the Lord till he should find Him. If he could pray for nothing else, he determined to pray daily that God would show him his need of a Saviour, which theoretically he understood, but experimentally he had not realized. His resolution being made, he pursued noiselessly and alone his purpose; light gradually breaking upon his mind till he was led to bow to Jesus, and come to God by him and found mercy. Months had passed away and no mortal but himself knew the exercises of his mind: he did not even communicate to his mother the revolution going on in himself. He took occasion, however, to listen to any persons who seemed disposed to converse on spiritual subjects, and often felt his heart encouraged by such conversation, though he took no part in it, but was an interested listener, unknown to them. This state of things continued for a year or more. During this period his only sister died. After her death his anxiety increased to be in a state of reconciliation with God, yet all his exercises were kept within his own bosom, except on one occasion to ask his mother - who was at the time confined by a fever - some indirect questions relating to God and Christ: after which he retired alone, and was overwhelmed with a sense of the love of God. Still he travelled on alone, sometimes believing and sometimes doubting. After months had passed away in this manner, he expressed to his mother, one day, that he much liked to hear a man talk who always talked sweetly about Jesus. His mother said to him - "George, do you think you are a Christian?"

This was said with an anxious look which made him feel that a mother's heart was deeply interested. It was a question so unexpected that he almost faltered in answering it; but at length said, his mind was much interested on the subject. His mother replied - "I have long thought it was." This was as unexpected as her question, as he had no suspicion that any one thought him specially serious. From that time himself and mother had frequent conversations, and she often prayed with him and for him, being a mother indeed, in more senses than one. He has never ceased to bless God for that mother.

At the age of nineteen he united with the Congregational Church, and about twenty others near his age united at the same time, who were the fruits of a revival at this period. Three years afterwards he was happily married to one of like faith in Christ. Two years passed and that wife was confined on a bed of sickness and suffering, which can never be known except to those who were witnesses of the scene. Four and a half long years of sickness, suffering and trial were then endured which terminated in her death. - She died most triumphantly, though a most painful death. Her husband stood by her bed-side and closed her eyes, when the dying struggle was over.

Prior to her death, Mr. Storrs had had his mind exercised with the conviction that God had called him to preach the gospel of Christ. He had exercised his gifts in the prayer and conference meetings of the church for years; and the thought had often occurred, that possibly he might have to proclaim Christ more publicly, and as a minister.

During the time of his wife's sickness, he was induced to hear a Methodist minister preach for the first time since he was interested in the things of religion. That minister he invited to his house, and also another of the same denomination. Their visits became a source of comfort to himself and wife. Ever after an intimacy existed between him and the Methodists; and about the time of his wife's death he united with that Church, and soon after commenced his labors as a minister of the gospel. He joined the Methodist Traveling Connection in 1825, being then twenty-nine years old. The same year his second marriage occurred with a daughter of Col. Thomas Waterman, of Lebanon, N. H. His father-in-law was the first child ever born in Lebanon, and to the close of a long life one of the most prominent men in that town, being highly esteemed by all. Mr. Storrs traveled and preached among the Methodists till 1836, when he took the relation of a Local Preacher, but traveled more extensively than ever. For three years he spent most of his time lecturing and preaching on the subject of slavery, in a time which tried men's souls; as nearly the whole Methodist E. Church was hostile to an agitation of that subject. That hostility manifested itself specially through the Bishops, who endeavored by every possible means to suppress the discussion of the subject. That opposition convinced Mr. Storrs that individual responsibility was the true ground to occupy, and he could not submit to leave his responsibility in the hands of Bishops, nor any body of men, however good they might be. Without going into details of matters which led to such a result, he withdrew from said church entirely, in 1840, after a connection with it of sixteen years. At this point it may be necessary to say, that Mr. Storrs never had a charge preferred against him for immoral or disorderly conduct at any period of his connection with the Congregational or Methodist Churches. And in severing his connection with them he was not actuated by hostility to them but by a deep conviction that his responsibility was to God alone.

In 1837 - three years prior to his withdrawal from the M. E. Church - his mind was first called to a consideration of the subject of the final destiny of wicked men as being, possibly, an entire extinction of being and not endless preservation in sin and suffering. - This was by a small anonymous pamphlet put forth, as he learned, by Henry Grew, of Philadelphia. He read it to pass away a leisure hour while passing from Boston to New York. It was strange to him that so plausible and scriptural an argument could be made in defence of a doctrine, which he had always regarded as unworthy of a serious consideration; for he had never doubted that man possessed an immortal soul. - A new train of thought had now been waked up in his mind; but he proceeded with great caution in examining the subject, and in conversing with any one upon it. He searched the Scriptures carefully, and sought every opportunity to get information from ministers, in particular. As the inquiry continued, the strongest arguments urged against this, to him, new view, served to carry his mind into the conviction of its truthfulness and scriptural basis. After several years investigation, conversation and correspondence with some of the most eminent ministers, and looking to God for direction he became settled that man has no immortality by his creation, or birth; and that "all the wicked will God destroy" - utterly exterminate.

He had counted the cost before he came to this conclusion. He had stood high in the denomination with which he was connected, and was greatly beloved by the ministers in the Conference, with which he had passed so many years. That Conference had given him, always, the most gratifying evidence of its confidence and esteem. Though he had, previous to the time now spoken of, taken a "local relation" he still enjoyed a high place in the affections of those ministers, and was ever happy to enjoy association with them.

To take a position, then, which should sever himself from them, and separate himself from the relation which had so long existed, with the certainty that he must for ever after be excluded from their pulpits, if not from their Christian regard, was a trial to his mind which could not have been endured except under a deep sense of the truth of that position which he now felt called to advocate and defend. Relying upon God, he chose to follow his convictions of truth to any and all other considerations; and he took his stand in defence of the doctrine, that there is no immortality out of Christ, and therefore wicked men will be consumed - destroyed - or cease from life - be no more - "be as though they had not been." He wrote three letters to a prominent and able minister of the Methodist E. Church, with whom he had been intimate. In reply, he acknowledged that he could not answer Mr. Storrs' arguments; and he never undertook it. On the contrary, after a few months, they had an interview, and examined the subject together, which resulted in his advising Mr. Storrs to publish the letters he had written him, but with a request to withhold his name. Accordingly, in the spring of 1841, four years after his attention was first called to the subject, two thousand copies of the "Three Letters" were issued from the press and sent abroad. This was not done without counting the cost.

At this period he was residing in Montpelier, Vt.; and expected likely he would never be called to preach anywhere again only as he did so on his own appointments, and near his then residence. Contrary to this expectation, he shortly after had an invitation to visit Albany, N. Y., which he did; and after preaching in that city three Sabbaths concluded to remove his family to that place in August, 1841. There he ministered to a small congregation, who came together on the principle of "Receiving one another as Christ had received them." The Bible was the only creed - Christian character the only test. For eight months he preached there without dwelling distinctly on his new views of Christian doctrine, though he had frankly told them what his views were, and circulated among them the "Three Letters" he had previously published.

He now felt called upon to come out more fully and distinctly on the subject, and he determined to do so. This gave rise to what has ever since been called the "Six Sermons," the special history of which we will here state. Early in the spring of 1842, he determined to give one sermon that should embody all that might be desirable to present in relation to it. The appointment was made one week before hand, and public notice given in the city papers. Monday previous to the time appointed he went to his study, and there spent the entire week in investigation, meditation, and prayer. Thus was the "First Discourse" prepared. - Never had he a deeper and sweeter sense of the Divine presence and blessing; and of being engaged in a work well pleasing in His sight; and he could as well doubt any other part of his Christian experience as to doubt that.

He found before the first week in his study was ended, that two discourses at least would be necessary to present the subject in a proper light. The time came for the first discourse to be delivered: it was Sabbath evening, and the house, for the first time since his ministry there, was full.

He informed the congregation that as his subject was a peculiar one, and he was liable to be misrepresented in what was said, he had determined to do what he had never done before - i.e., read nearly all he had to say. At the close he gave out to preach another sermon on the same subject the next Lord's day evening. His second week was spent in his study in the same manner that the first had been; and thus was the "Second Discourse" prepared; but found there must be a third; and so did the matter proceed till he had prepared and preached the "Sixth Discourse;" and the history of the first week in his study is the history of the six weeks, each of which was spent in the same manner as the first. All this was without any reference to ever publishing. After the Discourses were ended, several who had listened to them desired their publication. - Accordingly he spent several weeks more in revising, reviewing, and preparing them for the press, and they came forth in May or June.

Such is the origin of his "Six Sermons," as they are now called. And he has never doubted, from that day to this, but what it was of God. His opponents, therefore, may not expect him to be easily shaken, whatever reaction they may suppose will take place; or though they may think the views are "making very little progress." They have made ten thousand times more progress than Mr. Storrs ever expected in his life time.

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A phrenological description of Mr. Storrs, given in 1849, may conclude this account of the author of the Six Sermons. It is as follows: - Mr. Storrs' physical and mental constitution is durable; he has considerable force and energy of character, with fortitude, firmness and perseverance. He thinks for himself, but is open to conviction; will not be forced, but may be persuaded. He is naturally confiding, but experience may have, to a considerable extent, corrected this predisposition to believe, confide in, or give credence to. He is a man of enlarged views, liberal sentiment, and a benevolent disposition. His object is truth, and this he strives to obtain, no matter at what sacrifice. He consults duty before expediency; and would sooner stand alone with truth, than go with the multitude and be in error; yet, he is not dogmatical in the advocacy of what he conceives to be the truth, but is rather persuasive, conciliatory and argumentative. He is a warm friend, a good companion, and an excellent counsellor.

He takes comprehensive views of things, examines both sides of all questions of a scriptural character, and decides according to the weight of evidence. - While he uncompromisingly advocates what he believes to be truth, in opposition to this and past ages, he does not sit in judgment on his opponents, but leaves them in the hands of God, to whom they must give account, and unto whom they stand or fall.

By George Storrs, Office of the Bible Examiner, 1855

Blog Edited by John Foll.

Click here for a Free PDF of this article!

#George #Storrs #Sermons #Immortality #Sin #Suffering #Sweetly #Jesus #Christian #Mother #Bless #God #Methodist #Final #Destiny #Wicked #Deep #Conviction #Bible #Creed

The Love and Fairness of God In all His Dealings with Mankind (Complete)

This is an introduction to a series on precious truth that we want to present. We want to help you love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind and soul. Matthew 22:38. We want to share with you the good news that God really loves you, even if you don’t love Him back. We want you to not be afraid of Him. There is no reason for anyone to be afraid of God, if they would allow Him to work in their life and would cooperate with Him. He will make this easy for you, if you will just let Him do it for you and find out how much He loves you! But even if someone will not let Him do this for them, there is no reason to believe that He will treat them unfairly. God is not like that. He is kind, loving and merciful, and gives people time to get to know Him and make their choice of where they want to go in life.

We think you will get much comfort and peace when you find out how much God loves you, and everyone who has ever lived or who will ever live, and how fair He is. To use common vernacular, ‘God has been given a bad rap.’ The enemy of our souls has stacked the deck against God with his falsehoods and half-truths, or so he thinks. But he can only deceive the unwary and those who want to be deceived or those whom he can blind to the truth or poison with his malignancy. Many people seek religion or seek to obey God out of guilt or fear, rather than out of true love and devotion to Him; this should not be. It’s a place to start, but all need to get beyond this in their relationship with God. He should be your dearest friend! This is what we have been striving to do, to tell all who will listen how much God loves them, so that they can fall in love with Him! Our enemy is trying to make people so disgusted with all of it that they abandon their belief in God, and some have no religion whatsoever but hedonism. And others try to make it too easy to be saved and never be lost, because they don’t like the consequences. (They preach a religion without the need of continued repentance or without the need of carrying a cross or making changes or sacrifices.) And others yet live under a burden of guilt, never knowing if they are good enough to be saved, and are worried about what lies ahead of them. And others still are just blind to the direction of their life and the consequences of their actions, and some think that they are “good enough;” that everything will be all right in the end, without making sure that they are walking in the path that God wants them to go. But never fear! Where sin abounds, God’s grace abounds even more! Romans 5:20. You don’t have to stay stuck in going the wrong direction, be misled by wrong beliefs, or stay under a deep load of guilt or fear anymore, because God has made provision for your salvation! He knows just what you need and has a plan to save you, if you will let Him. So have faith and take encouragement! If you continue to seek for the truth with a desire to please Him, He will reveal it to you and it will all make sense! Then you will have no fear of the future, because God will be your guiding light.

* If you don’t understand or follow all of the points in this article, or don’t agree, please keep praying about it, and keep reading our other articles in our other blogs, and keep reading the other articles on this subject here that we hope to publish when we can, to see more evidence and more truth, before drawing your conclusions against the merit of what we are presenting. If you keep humbling yourself before God, and keep seeking after Him with all of your heart, He will give you the Holy Spirit, who will guide you into all truth. John 16:13. Then you will know if what we are presenting here is ‘the Gospel truth’ or not.

Can you find anyone so loving, kind and fair as God? Can you find anyone else who is always just and righteous and able to deal out justice when needed? Still don’t believe this? Keep reading! God sometimes deals out part of the justice when an offender is still alive, and other times it is kept in reserve for the judgement day. He balances justice with mercy, and is patient and longsuffering with erring humanity. Take a moment to think about your God: What do you believe about Him? Do you believe that He loves you? Do you know personally that He loves you? Or are you afraid of Him? Or have you made your peace with Him? We are hoping that you will make your peace with Him and fall in love with Him, if you haven’t already, and that you will desire to serve Him, asking Him for all the help you need to be faithful to Him and the gifts you need to serve Him with. Not there yet? Hang in there, and keep praying and studying your Bible, our Love of God blog, our Faith Blog, and our books, until you are there all the way, by the grace of God. Amen.

Please keep an open mind about this topic until more articles on it are posted. This is a complex subject to deal with, because of long held beliefs by many and the bias that many have against anything but what they have been taught, and even possible Bible translation biases. It is important to do a thorough study, to gain a full understanding and understand the context of the various Bible passages that may seem contrary to the truth. It requires much careful study to get to the bottom of this and much prayer, but we will not deal with these contrary texts in this blog article. The truth will be known by all true seekers of truth, who desire the power from God to be like Him. We want to start with what is easy to understand and is clear before we proceed to deal with these other texts that appear to be against what we are presenting.

In this article you are now reading, we want to introduce you more fully to the concept of the Love of God. This has ever been our goal, for the readers of our Books on the Love of God, and blogs about His love, and on Faith, and how to please God. We want everyone to ‘get it’, and for as many people as possible to fall in love with God, and give themselves completely to Him and be filled with the Holy Spirit, and have great peace, love, joy, faith, hope and eternal happiness! If you are still convinced that  the way you have been taught is correct after reading this article, you are free to believe as you will. If you are still afraid of God after this, it’s your decision. But we hope that your soul craves the love, joy and peace that God is greatly desiring to give you and don’t take it for granted! After we have finished publishing articles on this, and the Love of God, and you still don’t believe, we will have discharged our duty to you, to tell you how much God loves you (even if you don’t love Him back). We don’t know how anyone could turn their back on such love, but we suspect that many people really don’t know how much He loves them. How could they? If they don’t know the truth about Him and believe certain falsehoods about Him, how can they know true love, peace, joy and happiness?

 

Is God loving, kind, fair and perfectly just towards unrepentant sinners?

Does God treat those who fail to repent unfairly? Or does God only love those who love Him back? If someone you know gets caught up in sin and fails to repent before they die, or don’t want to be saved and go to Heaven, do you believe that they will suffer forever for it?

Why do you want to be good? Why do you want to go to Heaven? Is it because you are afraid? Or is it because you long for the peace, forgiveness, love, hope and joy and a better life that God wants to give you? In this study we want you to discover the wonderful truth that you really have a choice how you live, of whether you will accept God’s offer of eternal life or not. We want you to learn the truth that God will treat everyone fairly, even if they turn their back on Him and never repent. We hope this doesn’t happen; but God is fair either way. The outcome of your life is your choice: life or death. Jesus said, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” John 10:10 NASB. It’s your choice, therefore choose life. God treats all with kindness and fairness, much more than they deserve, whether they choose life or not; we will show this in this article.

While you are pondering your answer to the above questions…

Consider these wonderful passages and promises showing God’s great kindness and mercy towards His created beings whom He loves:

1)  “This I recall to my mind, therefore I have hope. The LORD'S lovingkindnesses [or mercy] indeed never cease, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. ‘The LORD is my portion,’ says my soul, ‘Therefore I have hope in Him.’ The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, to the person who seeks Him.” Lamentations 3:21-25 NASB.

2) “O God, You are my God; I shall seek You earnestly; my soul thirsts for You, my flesh yearns for You, in a dry and weary land where there is no water. Thus I have seen You in the sanctuary, to see Your power and Your glory. Because Your lovingkindness is better than life, my lips will praise You.” Psalm 63:1-3 NASB.

3) “O give thanks unto the LORD; for He is good: for His mercy endureth for ever.” Psalm 136:1 KJV.

4) “The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness. He will not always strive with us, nor will He keep His anger forever. He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.” Psalms 103:8-10 NASB.

5) “Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; for His lovingkindness is everlasting.” Psalm 118:29 NASB.

6) “Then Moses said, ‘I pray You, show me Your glory!’ And He [God] said, ‘I Myself will make all My goodness pass before you, and will proclaim the name of the LORD before you; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show compassion on whom I will show compassion.’” Exodus 33:18-19 NASB. The King James Version has the last part of this as “‘and [I] will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy.’”

7) “’Come now, and let us reason together,’ Says the LORD, ‘though your sins are as scarlet, they will be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they will be like wool.” Isaiah 1:18-20 NASB.

8) “For God so loved the world, that He gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved. He that believeth on Him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” John 3:16-18 KJV.

9) “Say to them, 'As I live!' declares the Lord GOD, 'I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn back, turn back from your evil ways! Why then will you die, O house of Israel?'” Ezekiel 33:11 NASB.

10) “Give ear, O ye heavens, and I will speak; and hear, O earth, the words of my mouth. My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass: Because I will publish the name of the LORD: ascribe ye greatness unto our God. He is the Rock, His work is perfect: for all His ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is He.” Deuteronomy 32:1-4. KJV.

11) “And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints. Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy: for all nations shall come and worship before thee; for thy judgments are made manifest.” Revelation 15:3-4 KJV.

 

Now back to our question: Is God loving, kind, fair and perfectly just towards unrepentant sinners?

 

What is the definition of Justice?

The root of this word is just or right. Merriam-Webster gives one of its definitions as: “a :  the quality of being just, impartial, or fair * questioned the justice of the their decision b (1) :  the principle or ideal of just dealing or right action (2) :  conformity to this principle or ideal :  righteousness * the justice of their cause c :  the quality of conforming to law.” https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/justice . This is the meaning of God’s righteous judgements, they are all just and true. If there could be anything wrong in the way that God administers justice towards sinners, then He would cease to be a just and righteous God. And He would lose the love of the beings that worship Him; then they would worship Him out of fear.

Would it be fair if God burned all unrepentant sinners in hell forever regardless of their crimes, and how bad they hurt God, themselves or others?

Many people teach that God will burn all the lost sinners in hell forever. Is this really true? We don’t know how anyone is able to equate our God of love with the infinite unfairness of treating all sinners with the same punishment more or less, which infinitely exceeds every sin they could ever commit in their mortal lifetime. And we don’t know how anyone could accept the idea that sinners who lived and died before newer sinners, suffer even longer than the newer ones, even if their sins were less, since they would be burning longer. Where is the justice of treating big time sinners and tyrants in the same way as lesser sinners? How could anyone accept the idea that the punishment for being lost for all sinners is punishment without end? We know from the Bible that God is love, 1 John 4:8, so this charge against God that He would do something so unfair as this cannot be true! And is it even possible that someone could sin against God or humanity so bad that they would deserve to be punished for all eternity? No, it is mathematically impossible. Do you understand how big eternity is? No human being can really comprehend eternity. It’s way too big! Its bigger than any number you can imagine; imagine a 1 with one trillion zeros. We don’t even know the name of that number, but this number is infinitely puny when compared with infinity! Now imagine a 1 with one trillion zeroes multiplied by another 1 with one trillion zeroes. What is the value of that number? Whatever number you can imagine infinity is bigger than that still. To deserve an infinite punishment the sinner in their normal mortal lifespan would have to commit the worst possible sins and infinite amount of times, which is impossible. Even if someone could live one thousand years, like some of the people almost did before the flood, and they were the most wicked human being tyrant that ever lived and intentionally committed the worst atrocities every day of this 1000 years, they could still never commit enough sins to deserve punishment for all eternity! The whole idea that God would ever do this should be ludicrous and despicable to all kind, loving and thinking beings.

We think that many people, even many Christians, as yet do not know how wonderful God is! If they truly knew this there would be such a difference in Christianity that is now largely lacking. And we think that many of the people who believe this doctrine of eternal punishment for sin have never done the math on what it would take for someone to deserve an infinite punishment. But wait a minute, the proponents of this teaching say that all lost sinners, even the least of them will suffer for all eternity. Whoa! Stop! Now we wonder who would also agree with this charge against God? Maybe the enemy of our soul? Our ancient foe! His craft and power are great and armed with cruel hate… From Dr. Martin Luther’s song: “A Mighty Fortress is our God!” Yes only a being armed with cruel hate would device such a malignant teaching about God, ascribing to God the worst attributes of himself! Is it even possible that an evil person or an evil being could come up with something more wicked than administering endless punishment throughout eternity? No way. So who are they kidding when they try to say that a God of love would do this?

God’s Fair Justice:

“For the LORD knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.” Psalms 1:6 NASB. In this Psalm the life of the righteous is compared with the life of the wicked. It says that the wicked will perish. Other places talk about the eternal life that God wants to give all sinners who believe in Jesus and Him, such as John 3:16. The believer is promised eternal life, but the wicked unrepentant sinner is promised that they will perish or cease to exist. Merriam-Webster gives the meaning of ‘perish’ as: ‘to become destroyed or ruined: cease to exist’, ‘deteriorate, spoil’ and ‘to cause to die’. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/perish . We believe in Psalms 1:6 and in the other places of the Bible where it describes the final punishment of the wicked, that they will be punished by fire and perish or ‘cease to exist’, which is to die the second death.

In all of what we are explaining about God and His love for the unrepentant sinner, we are in no case saying that the lost sinner will not be punished with death by fire. Psalms 1:6, and many places in the Bible, make it clear that the sinner will perish, for God will in no wise ‘clear the guilty.’ “'The LORD is slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, forgiving iniquity and transgression; but He will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generations.'” Numbers 14:18 NASB. See also Exodus 34:6-7 and Exodus 20:5-6.

We also have the testimony of Jesus regarding the final destruction of the wicked: “You have heard that the ancients were told, 'YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT MURDER' and 'Whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court.' But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever says to his brother, 'You good-for-nothing,' shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever says, 'You fool,' shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell. Therefore if you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your offering there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering. Make friends quickly with your opponent at law while you are with him on the way, so that your opponent may not hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the officer, and you be thrown into prison. Truly I say to you, you will not come out of there until you have paid up the last cent.” Matthew 5:21-26 NASB. As we have stated in some of our books and blogs, there can be no higher authority than the Son of God (and of course His Father). But Jesus is the Word of God, and ALWAYS gives the same words as His Father wants Him to speak, because He and His Father are ONE. John 10:30. When Jesus speaks, there can be no debate among Christians who love and follow Him, once they learn and understand what He is telling them. (There are many honest Christians who do not know the truth of this yet because of the way they have been taught. In the times of ignorance, God winked, but is commanding men and women everywhere to repent and believe the truth once they learn it. Acts 17:30.)

Jesus declared here that anyone who calls someone else a ‘fool’ will ‘be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell.’ He also counsels all guilty sinners to make their peace with their opponent before the judgement. At the judgment, Jesus will be our opponent, if were against Him here and unrepentant, but our friend then if we confess our sins to Him and believe. John 3:16-18; 1 John 1:9. “And Jesus said, "For judgment I came into this world, so that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may become blind." John 9:39 NASB. And Jesus also said, “I have come to cast fire upon the earth; and how I wish it were already kindled!” Luke 12:49 NASB. From this text we see that the fire had not been kindled on the earth when He came the first time. Many people believe that the fires of hell are ongoing, but from what Jesus said we see that this cannot be true; He hasn’t cast the fire down on the world yet. We also get from Matthew 5:21-26 that the judgement takes place before the punishment, so the fires of hell could not have been kindled yet when Jesus made that statement, since the final judgement hadn’t taken place yet. These statements go against this idea that there is an infinite burning hell that has been ever on-going…. Jesus also said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. For just as the Father has life in Himself, even so He gave to the Son also to have life in Himself; and He [God] gave Him authority to execute judgment, because He [Jesus] is the Son of Man. Do not marvel at this; for an hour is coming, in which all who are in the tombs will hear His voice [Jesus], and will come forth; those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment. I can do nothing on My own initiative. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is just, because I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.” John 5:25-30 NASB. See also: 2 Corinthians 5:10; John 8:15-16; John 3:16-17; 1 John 3:8. It says here that God gave Jesus the ‘authority to execute judgement, because He is the Son of Man.’ I.e. because Jesus is God, but had been born in the flesh as a human being and could identify with us and our problems. Who better than Jesus to act as our judge? “For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” Hebrews 4:15-16 NASB. It can be seen through all of this that Jesus is both our judge and our advocate. Whether He is our judge or our advocate depends on whether we make Him our friend or not. Dear reader, make friends with Him quickly, while the probation of your life is still granted to you! Do not put it off!

Also note what Jesus said above, ‘those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment.’ This clearly shows that the judgement of the wicked and their punishment cannot take place until Jesus comes back and raises the saints from the dead at His second coming, and after the judgement. Therefore it should be clear from this that no one is now in hell suffering, because the second coming of Christ hasn’t happened yet. Have you heard of massive numbers of people being raised from the dead all across the world? Have you or anyone you know seen Jesus coming in the right hand of power in the Heaven with great glory? Matthew 24:25-31; Luke 21:27; 22:69; Mathew 26:64; 25:31-46; 16:27; 1 Thessalonians 4:17. No. Therefore the judgement and the final destruction of the wicked cannot have taken place yet.

Those that fail to make friends with Jesus and His Father before the close of their life, will be judged and bear the penalty of their own sins. Jesus declares that the guilty sinners will be ‘thrown into prison’ and that they will not get out until they have ‘paid up the last cent.’ What more do you need? This ‘prison punishment’ is a clear reference to the final punishment of the wicked. Note what it says near the first part of this passage: “whoever says, ’You fool,’ shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell.” Can there be any doubt that this passage is talking about the final judgement and the destruction of the wicked by fire? When Jesus says that they will not get out of prison until they have ‘paid up the last cent’, He is telling all who will listen, that sinners will not be punished endlessly forever, but when they have paid for their crimes against God and humanity they will utterly perish.

 

To punish sinners forever never entered God’s mind!

What lesson can we learn from Jeremiah regarding God’s mercy and not burning the wicked forever? "They [the children of Israel] built the high places of Baal that are in the valley of Ben-hinnom to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire to Molech, which I had not commanded them nor had it entered My mind that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin.” Jeremiah 32:35 NASB. See also Jeremiah 7:30-31.

God does not indiscriminately punish the wicked in the final destruction by fire without reference to their guilt. The Israelites caused their children to pass through the fire, not because their children had done anything wrong, but to “pacify” the evil pagan gods which they worshiped; they had no good reason to do this! But God does not operate this way, He is not a God of injustice! And He doesn’t need to be “pacified” either; He already loves you and will always love you regardless. After the judgement, God only casts those into the Lake of Fire who remained unrepentant during their life’s probation on this earth before the second coming, but He only punishes each sinner according to their sins and just desserts. According to Revelation 20:11-14, the final destruction of the wicked by fire takes place after the judgment completes, at the end. This is also contrary to popular belief, the fires of hell have not been kindled yet. The final phase of the judgement of the wicked must take place first before the Lake of Fire is kindled for their death. There can be no fairness of the destruction of sinners unless their judgement has been completed. It never even came into God’s mind to ask the Israelites to cause their children to pass through the fire! And it never entered His mind to punish unrepentant sinners forever either! At the day of God’s wrath, in the day of the punishment of the wicked after their final judgement, each unrepentant sinner ‘gets what they deserve’: no more and no less, since they rejected God’s love and mercy for them and didn’t repent. Therefore it is unreasonable to even suggest that God would indiscriminately punish sinners forever! Oh perish the thought!

 

Will God be angry with sinners forever?

What does the Bible teach on this? In Psalms 103:9 KJV it says that God will not keep His anger forever. Regarding the future destruction that God will rain down on the earth, Jeremiah says, “I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without form, and void; and the heavens, and they had no light. I beheld the mountains, and, lo, they trembled, and all the hills moved lightly. I beheld, and, lo, there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens were fled. I beheld, and, lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness, and all the cities thereof were broken down at the presence of the LORD, and by His fierce anger. For thus hath the LORD said, The whole land shall be desolate; yet will I not make a full end. For this shall the earth mourn, and the heavens above be black: because I have spoken it, I have purposed it, and will not repent, neither will I turn back from it.” Jeremiah 4:23-28 KJV. Here God says that the whole land (the earth) will be made desolate and there will be no man left on the face of the earth, but He will not make a full end of it. God has promised that this great destruction of the earth will take place, He will not change His mind.

This prophecy of the world being destroyed and all of the cities being broken down, takes place when Jesus returns in the clouds with great glory, and all of the wicked are slain by the brightness of His coming (or the breath of His mouth). Isaiah 11:4; 2 Thessalonians 2:8. On this day Jesus resurrects the saints and takes them back to Heaven with Him. 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18. We hope to present more on this and other last day events in future blog articles, so don’t get hung up on this.

Though God gets angry with the sinners of this earth, and brings down destruction upon it, He will not make a full end of it. This also lets us know that while God will punish sinners in the Lake of fire at the end, that He will not retain His anger forever, nor punish them forever. Jeremiah also says, “Behold, the whirlwind of the LORD goeth forth with fury, a continuing whirlwind: it shall fall with pain upon the head of the wicked. The fierce anger of the LORD shall not return, until He have done it, and until He have performed the intents of His heart: in the latter days ye shall consider it.” Jeremiah 30:23-24 KJV. When God performs His ‘fierce’ work of the destruction of the wicked by fire, it will be completed, and all of the lost sinners will have been destroyed or ‘slain’. It also says that in ‘the latter days ye shall consider it’. This is what we are doing now! We are in the latter days or the last days of this world’s history, and we are now considering that God’s fierce anger will soon rain down on the wicked, it will not burn forever, but when He performs His intent against this earth and sinners it will be completed, just as He said. He does not retain His anger forever. Another passage that teaches that God’s anger will not last forever is: “Gather yourselves together, yea, gather together, O nation not desired; before the decree bring forth, before the day pass as the chaff, before the fierce anger of the LORD come upon you, before the day of the LORD'S anger come upon you. Seek ye the LORD, all ye meek of the earth, which have wrought His judgment; seek righteousness, seek meekness: it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the LORD'S anger.” Zephaniah 2:1-3 KJV. ‘The day of the LORD’s anger’ is an expression denoting a specific time and length when God will bring down His punishments. In no way can it mean that it is forever, for it is ‘the day of the LORD’s anger;’ it is at a specific time and length, not an indefinite or an infinite amount of time. This is very important to understand!

The answer to this question of whether God will be angry forever is NO! The famous sermon by Jonathan Edwards, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” given in Enfield, Connecticut July 8, 1741, is contrary to what Jeremiah, Zephaniah, and the Bible teach regarding God’s love, mercy and anger. Here is an excerpt from this sermon:

4. It is everlasting wrath. It would be dreadful to suffer this fierceness and wrath of Almighty God one moment; but you must suffer it to all eternity. There will be no end to this exquisite horrible misery. When you look forward, you shall see a long forever, a boundless duration before you, which will swallow up your thoughts, and amaze your soul; and you will absolutely despair of ever having any deliverance, any end, any mitigation, any rest at all. You will know certainly that you must wear out long ages, millions of millions of ages, in wrestling and conflicting with this almighty merciless vengeance; and then when you have so done, when so many ages have actually been spent by you in this manner, you will know that all is but a point to what remains. So that your punishment will indeed be infinite. Oh, who can express what the state of a soul in such circumstances is! All that we can possibly say about it, gives but a very feeble, faint representation of it; it is inexpressible and inconceivable: for “who knows the power of God’s anger?”

From point 4 of this sermon. https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/edwards_jonathan/sermons/sinners.cfm

The falsehoods told about God’s love for humanity in this part of this sermon are beyond belief! Let’s start with the title of this sermon, ‘Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God’. The main point of this title and sermon was to put a dreadful fear in the ears of the listeners and to ‘scare them into being saved.’ What horror! At the end of this quote he said, ‘for “who knows the power of God’s anger?” While God does have a fierce anger against sinners that will be displayed at the end of time at the second coming, and later at the destruction of the wicked by fire, it is tempered with love and mercy now as we have already shown. God is longsuffering and merciful, and not willing that any should perish. 2 Peter 3:9. When mercy for this world has run out, Jesus will come back in the clouds of Heaven with great power and great glory! And after the judgement completes, the wicked will all then be destroyed. God’s anger with sinners has not been displayed yet in full force! Believe me, when God’s ‘fierce anger’ is poured out on this earth, you won’t have to hear a sermon on it, or read a blog article on it, because you will know! This event in time is what much of the Bible has been warning sinners against in one way or another! The ‘Day of the Lord!’ When this happens that will be it for all unrepentant sinners! This idea that God is always angry with sinners and ready to punish or torment them, and the eternal punishment of the sinners are both dreadful errors!

Jonathan Edwards makes it seem like God is always angry with sinners, and that *all should be in dreadful fear of Him. But the Bible teaches that ‘God’s mercy endures forever!’ as we have seen. Those who spend their time thinking about how angry God is with them for their sins, will probably never give their heart to Him all the way, nor ever serve Him out of love, and thus they may be lost, unless they change! Yes, this teaching can only bring out fear and can definitely lead to being lost, if it is dwelt on and dwelt on! But the Bible declares that perfect love casts out all fear. 1 John 4:18. Those who are a Christian out of fear are just as lost as the greatest sinner in the world, unless they learn to love God. But how can they learn to love Him if they hold and dwell on this dreadful belief? See how important the truth on this is?

* We are not saying that people who are not right with God or lost should not be afraid of Him at all, because fear and guilt of sin are the natural result of being wrong, and because the loss of Heaven with all of its delights, and the loss of being with their saved loved ones will be a great tragedy; it is a tremendous loss to be lost! Those who are not right with God will eventually become afraid of the Judgement and the Lord’s fierce anger. But in no way does God’s anger go on forever with the unrepentant sinner! He has mercy on all of the lost and will cause them to die once they have paid for all of their sins.

Jesus said you must be born again to enter the kingdom of Heaven, John 3:3, 5. Those who are in fear of God are certainly not born again, so they cannot enter the kingdom of Heaven, until they learn to love God and stop fearing Him. There is no reason to be afraid of God, if people will just confess their sins, 1 John 1:9, and believe in Jesus, John 3:16. Then they will have eternal life. When this happens fully, they will be born from above, or born again, because they will have been forgiven and living by the Spirit, which is life and peace. Romans 8:6. It is those with unconfessed sins or those who do not believe that God loves them and has forgiven them who are afraid of God. Those who love God, He is their dearest friend!

* We are not saying that people who believe in the eternal punishment of the wicked cannot be born again and are lost. But we are saying this belief system can drag someone down and cause them to doubt that God really loves them, which can make them lost. We believe that there have been many Christians who have held this belief of the eternal punishment of the wicked, who were born again Christians and will be saved. But it is much better to learn and believe the truth on this, so that your soul can be at rest and serve God out of love instead of fear, with nothing to impede your love for Him or stop you from becoming His son or daughter. 1 John 3:1.

Jonathan Edwards also made this comment in this passage of the sermon above: “this almighty merciless vengeance.” He is trying to say that God (the almighty) executes merciless vengeance on sinners. This is in direct contradiction to the many passages of God’s love and mercy in the Bible, some of which we have already cited in this article! God’s mercy is everlasting! God’s mercy endures forever! He is NEVER merciless!

Jonathan Edwards also made the comment in this sermon that “neither is God in the least bound by any promise to hold them up one moment; the devil is waiting for them, hell is gaping for them”. Apparently he has not read Revelation 20:10 of how the devil and his angels will be thrown into the lake of fire. At the final destruction of the wicked by fire, the devil and his angels will not be having a good time either; they will be in no position to be ‘gloating’ over lost humanity. Isaiah declares that Lucifer (the devil) will be ‘brought down to hell, to the side of the pit.’ Isaiah 14:10-17 KJV. The word ‘hell’ doesn’t exist in Hebrew, which Isaiah and the Old Testament were written in. This is talking about death! So Satan will be destroyed like all the other sinners too, in the lake of fire.

We mean Jonathan Edwards no disrespect but he is wrong. God will NOT retain His anger forever as the Bible declares, neither will He torture poor lost sinners in hell fire forever. Just won’t happen. Nope! However if the devil could have what he wanted, this is what we believe he would make happen. The prophet Jeremiah declares: “For the Lord will not reject forever, for if He causes grief, then He will have compassion according to His abundant lovingkindness. For He does not afflict willingly or grieve the sons of men.” Lamentations 3:31-33 NASB. This text lets us know that God’s great love and compassion would take pity on the unrepentant sinners who were being punished for their sins, and would let them die once their punishment meets their guilt. Words cannot describe the great sadness of anyone being lost! This is not a pleasant topic to think about, the final punishment and the final destruction of the wicked. We cannot give a logical reason why the sinner chooses to be lost, or why God’ loves the sinner so much, they both are a mystery. The mystery of the lost sinner is a great sadness that we cannot penetrate nor understand, but the great love of God is a mystery that we want to study for all eternity! God’s love will never grow old to the saved! Listen also to what the prophet Isaiah says here: “Do not be angry beyond measure, O LORD, nor remember iniquity forever; behold, look now, all of us are Your people.” Isaiah 64:9 NASB. It seems that Isaiah is pleading with God here not to remember the iniquity of His people forever. We believe he was asking for mercy, because he knew that God was merciful, and would not remember iniquity or sin forever. How do we know this? Don’t forget our earlier promise: “O give thanks unto the LORD; for He is good: for His mercy endureth for ever.” Psalm 136:1 KJV. Since it is clear that God is a merciful God, therefore He does not remember iniquity or sin forever! If God does not remember iniquity or sin forever, then there is an end to sin, and sinners will not continue in eternal punishment and sin; there will be an end to it. Do you believe the Bible’s many precious promises of God’s Love for mankind, and His perfect fairness and justice towards unrepentant sinners? Or ‘the accuser of the brethren’? Revelation 12:10.

 

God will reward every sinner according to the fruit of their doings:

The prophet Jeremiah gives a message from God saying, “I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.” Jeremiah 17:10 KJV. Therefore the punishment of the wicked is according to the fruit of their doings, as Jeremiah plainly states. Not all of the lost have the same level of sin or guilt; some may have been great sinners and committed great crimes against humanity, while others who were almost saved (the saddest of all), probably weren’t as bad as others. But each will get what they deserve, according to the fruit of their doings as Jeremiah says. Jeremiah furnishes us with more proof that God will not punish someone for what they don’t deserve. No one can sin so bad in this short life on earth to deserve an eternity of punishment for their sins! We know of sermons that have been preached claiming that the sinner goes on sinning eternally, since they are infuriated against God for all of their endless pain, thus their guilt can never be paid for by their death, because it gets worse and worse. What rubbish! But what kind of death would this be, if they go on suffering forever? In what way can it be referred to as death? The Bible declares that the wages of sin is death. Romans 6:23. There is no place in the Bible that promises eternal life to the wicked, it is promised only as a reward to the true believer and to the righteous. But if sinners would suffer forever, then they would never die! This contradicts the Bible’s promise that the wicked will perish. So the doctrine of eternal punishment is a contradiction of Romans 6:23 and many other places in the Bible. The way some people tell it, God will never get done with His vengeance, but this is a contradiction of the Bible. God does not retain His anger forever, as we have previously shown, because He is a merciful God! When God gets done punishing all sinners, they will all be dead forever (in all forms), this includes the Devil and his angels. Satan, the evil angels and all unrepentant sinners will be punished and will be forever destroyed, both root and branch. There will be no more sin ever after this, because all of the sinners will have forever perished, never to return again. When God does something it is complete and perfect, unlike the works of man.

You can be sure that God is more fair and just than any judge or court system in this world, and He has perfect evidence against all sinners. He cannot make a mistake, but His justice is tempered with mercy towards those who want it. Jesus said regarding the things that are hidden: “Therefore do not fear them, for there is nothing concealed that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known.” Matthew 10:26 NASB. And Paul says, “Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God.” 1 Corinthians 4:5 KJV. Therefore be aware that there is nothing: no word, thought or deed that is hidden from God, it will all come out in the judgement. God gives people a choice, allowing them to decide. What they do with that choice will decide their destiny, whether they will live forever with Him in the Land of the Blessed, or perish in the Lake of Fire. There is no other alternative.

The prophet Malachi tells us what the future of the wicked is in this passage:
“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 leave them neither root nor branch. But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall. And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the LORD of hosts.” Malachi 4:1-3 KJV. If the wicked are forever burning, how can the saints walk on their ashes? Even if this is taken figuratively, how can the saints walk on the ashes of the wicked if they are still alive and in endless anguish? This prophecy also states that this fire shall not leave so much as the root or any branches, but they will be as stubble! The wicked will not be able to curse God or commit any further sins after their destruction, because this passage says that they will be burned up, i.e. “stubble,” signifying that there will be nothing left of them; the destruction of the wicked will be complete. Sin shall not rise up a second time. Note: This text also states ‘the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven’ and ‘the day that cometh shall burn them up’, which is similar to our earlier passage from Zephaniah 2:3 KJV: ‘the day of the LORD’s anger’. Again ‘the day cometh’ is meaning that the day will eventually come when the wicked will burn in the ‘oven’ and be ‘stubble’. The way this is worded it implies that it would happen in a day, or at least in a short time frame, although this isn’t proof, otherwise this expression would not adequately describe this event. In any case, these expressions, ‘Day of the Lord’, and ‘burn’ and ‘shall be stubble’ clearly do not mean an infinite amount of time, whether the wicked's destruction really all transpires in one day, or a slightly longer period.

Sin will not Rise a Second Time:

Evidence that sin and sinners will not rise up a second time after their destruction:

(We are giving this to you from several different Bible versions to help you see it better.)

“What do ye imagine against the LORD? He will make an utter end: affliction shall not rise up the second time.” Nahum 1:9 KJV.

“Whatever you devise against the LORD, He will make a complete end of it. Distress will not rise up twice.” Nahum 1:9 NASB.

“Whatever they plot against the LORD He will bring to an end; trouble will not come a second time.” Nahum 1:9 NIV.

“What do you plot against the LORD? He will make a full end; He will not take vengeance twice on His foes.” Nahum 1:9 RSV.

Can there be any doubt about the meaning of this text? If not read the verses 1-8 before it.

Why is it that sin cannot rise a second time? It is because sin and sinners are no more! Note that the RSV says God will not take vengeance twice on His foes. Why? Because He will make a full end of all sin and all unrepentant sinners. This also speaks against what some people have believed that sinners will be given a second chance, after the probation of their life here, or after they have burned in hell for a while to purge away all of their sins. No way. And no, sinners are not eternally burning, and there is no hope of them ever being saved again, or escaping from the burning fire, because they will cease to exist in ANY form when they are utterly destroyed. Jesus also stated this same truth when He declared: “And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” Matthew 10:28 KJV. Can it be any more clear than what Jesus stated here? We are not to fear anything that man or devils can do to us, but we are to fear (reverence) Him who can destroy both the body and soul in hell. Here it is so clear that God has the power to destroy the body and soul in hell. This means that when God punishes the guilty sinner in the ‘fires of hell’ or ‘the lake of fire’ as described in Revelation, that the body and the soul will both be completely destroyed. It also means that the soul will not go on living apart from the body after the body is destroyed, because God destroys BOTH the body and soul in hell. There will be no endless burning of the wicked in hell. God will not take vengeance on His foes twice.

Paul declares that the last enemy to be destroyed is death. “But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming. Then cometh the end, when He shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyedis death. For he hath put all things under his feet. But when he saith all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted, which did put all things under Him.” 1 Corinthians 15:23-27 KJV. If the last enemy that is destroyed is death, how can sinners be punished endlessly after this? Paul clearly states here that Jesus will put down all rule and authority and power, and put all enemies under His feet. The phrase “put down all rule” or authority and power refers to the practice of killing the conquered foe of the enemy, so that they had no more power. Jesus said, talking about the future destruction of the wicked, “But these enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here and slay them in my presence." Luke 19:27 NASB. This represents the destruction of all sinners and evil angels, who did not want Jesus or His Father to reign over them. In the same way the conqueror destroyed their enemies, Jesus and His Father will destroy their enemies too in the Lake of Fire. After Jesus and His Father ‘slay’ their enemies, they cease to exist, just like the conquered enemies of the kings who were put down or killed. To believe in the endless punishment of the wicked, is to not believe Paul’s or Jesus’ testimony here. Even death is destroyed!

John in Revelation also declares that death and Hades (or Hell) were cast into the Lake of Fire and destroyed: “Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.” Revelation 20:11-15 NASB. Note the KJV says “Hell” instead of “Hades”.

So we see that the Bible teaches that even Death itself, and Hell itself are destroyed in the Lake of Fire.

 

Conclusion of the wonderful passages and promises showing God’s great kindness and mercy towards His created beings whom He loves:

Yes! These bear repeating, with descriptions added where needed to some to help you understand it.

1) “It is of the LORD'S mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is Thy faithfulness. The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in Him. The LORD is good unto them that wait for Him, to the soul that seeketh Him.” Lamentations 3:22-25 KJV.

2) “Because Thy lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall praise Thee.” Psalm 63:3 KJV.

3) Psalm 136: All 26 verses of Psalm 136 end in ‘His mercy endureth forever’ in the King James Version! And in the New American Standard Bible version all of the verses from this Psalm end in ‘His lovingkindness is everlasting’ 26 times! Get the point? How is this Psalm true if God is punishing souls forever in Hell fire? In what way could He ever be construed as being merciful if He did this? Jesus also said, “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.” Matthew 5:7 KJV. How can what Jesus said be true, if God is a tyrant and unmerciful towards unrepentant sinners by punishing them in hell forever? If this were true, how could anyone expect mercy from God, even if they repented from the sins they committed in this lifetime?

The phrases lovingkindness, love and mercy and like terms are repeated many times in the Bible, particularly in the books of Moses and the Psalms. Why? Because many people in the Bible saw their need of God and forgiveness. This truth greatly appealed to them, which Moses, David and many others wrote about.

4) Psalms 103:8-10 paints a different picture of God than is presented by many. He is compassionate, gracious and slow to anger. And He is full of love and kindness for all mankind. God will not remember His anger forever. So how can this be, if He punishes people in hell for endless ages, whom Christ died for and loves? 1 John 4:8 says that God is love, and this picture of God is in direct contradiction to what many people believe, unfortunately. God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked! Therefore repent and live!

5) “Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; for His lovingkindness is everlasting.” Psalm 118:29 NASB. Ditto for this text! How can God’s lovingkindness be everlasting, if He burns someone in hell forever? That would be a lie, and then we would serve God out of fear instead of love.

6) In Exodus 33:12-19 we see the wonderful story of how Moses asked God to show him His glory! Who had ever dared asked this of God before, in recorded history? None. And what did God declare was His glory? He will be gracious to whom He will be gracious and will show mercy on whom He will show mercy! Wow! This is a view of God’s glory that is rarely heard we think, especially since it is coming from the Old Testament! Many claim that they understand God’s love. But if they really believed it, they would be proclaiming it with all of their being, heart, mind and strength! How can anyone who loves God do otherwise? This statement about God’s graciousness and mercy defines Him in the same way as 1 John 4:8, that God is love. See also Exodus 33:12-19.

7) “’Come now, and let us reason together,’ Says the LORD, ‘though your sins are as scarlet, they will be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they will be like wool.” Isaiah 1:18-20 NASB.

8) In John 3:16-18 we have the most wonderful promise of God’s salvation for mankind, if we will just believe in Jesus His Son! How can you beat this promise? It says it all! It tells us that the character of God is love!

9) Ezekiel 33:11 KJV. God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked. That is why their punishment will be complete and final; their punishment will not be eternal. Since God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked, it follows that He also would not desire their eternal suffering either, for a short mortal life of wickedness. 1 John 4:8 says that God is love. In no way could a God of Love throw out all logic, justice, fairness and of course love, in order to assign someone to the flames for all eternity. He takes no pleasure in anyone’s death and is just in all His treatment of mankind.

10) ‘Ascribe ye greatness unto our God. He is the Rock, His work is perfect: for all His ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is He.’ Deuteronomy 32:3-4. KJV. God is completely fair, just and righteous! And at the end of time when the saints will praise God with the song of Moses in Heaven, and declare that just and true are His ways, all of His righteous judgements will have been made manifest to the saved. God’s perfect justice towards those who failed to confess and repent from all their sins in their rebellion against Him, will be made plain to all.

11) Revelation 15:3-4: The song of Moses is repeated here (originally found in Exodus 15:10-19 or Deuteronomy 32:3-4 both of these are ‘the song of Moses’), which will be the praise offered to God and the Lamb, Lord God Almighty, by all of the saved in Heaven! Why do His people love Him so much? It is because He is so loving, kind and true; all of His ways are just, perfect and true! How marvelous are all of His works! Amen!

 

No Tears in Heaven:

There will be no tears in Heaven. Isaiah 25:6-8; Revelation 7:13-17; 21:1-6. How can there be no tears in Heaven if loved ones of the saved are eternally burning? No, God will wipe away every tear, and take away the sadness from the hearts of His beloved saints, and there will never arise any more incidents of sin, pain, suffering, death, or even of the tempter Satan! All sin and evil will be destroyed in the lake of fire as John the Revelator reveals. Revelation 21:8; 20:14-15; 20:10. Heaven would not be ‘heaven’ to the saved, if their lost loved ones were eternally burning! If this were the case, sin could rise a second time, because someone would question why God wasn’t being merciful with their lost loved ones and was endlessly punishing them with fire. But it is clear from the Bible that sin will not rise a second time. It is also clear that sinners won’t be burning once God has wiped every tear from every eye! That should be self-evident. Sin and sinners will be no more. And the saved will be healed from all their hurt, and from the loss of their loved ones and friends who didn’t make it to Heaven and were not saved.

“The LORD of hosts will prepare a lavish banquet for all peoples on this mountain; A banquet of aged wine, choice pieces with marrow, and refined, aged wine. And on this mountain He will swallow up the covering which is over all peoples, even the veil which is stretched over all nations. He will swallow up death for all time, and the Lord GOD will wipe tears away from all faces, And He will remove the reproach of His people from all the earth; for the LORD has spoken.” Isaiah 25:6-8 NASB.

Now hear this prophecy about Jesus and the future: “Then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse, and a branch from his roots will bear fruit. The Spirit of the LORD will rest on Him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and strength, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD. And He will delight in the fear of the LORD, And He will not judge by what His eyes see, nor make a decision by what His ears hear; But with righteousness He will judge the poor, And decide with fairness for the afflicted of the earth; And He will strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, And with the breath of His lips He will slay the wicked. Also righteousness will be the belt about His loins, And faithfulness the belt about His waist. And the wolf will dwell with the lamb, And the leopard will lie down with the young goat, And the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; And a little boy will lead them. Also the cow and the bear will graze, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. The nursing child will play by the hole of the cobra, and the weaned child will put his hand on the viper's den. They will not hurt or destroy in all My holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.” Isaiah 11:1-9 NASB.

“And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they? And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple: and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.” Revelation 7:13-17 KJV.

“And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful. And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.” Revelation 21:1-6 KJV.

Do these promises of the future need any comment? God will swallow up death for all time. He will wipe away every tear, there will be no more suffering or death. Sinners will be no more, destroyed forever; beyond all sinning, pain and suffering. It is not possible that sinners can be endlessly punished, because the revelation given to John here is that there will be no more pain, nor sorrow, nor crying, nor death when the first heaven and the first earth pass away! This message that the wicked will not be endlessly punished for their sins is a revelation given to John by Jesus Christ, which came from the Father. We say this because the book of Revelation is the Revelation of Jesus Christ, given to Him by the Father, as it states in Revelation 1:1. While John didn’t write this revelation directly in this passage, it is an inference and the only logical conclusion to the truth that he stated, that God will wipe away every tear FROM EVERY EYE, and there will be no more pain, suffering or death. His descriptions of these things being no more and passed away are all inclusive. There is no possibility that the revelation from God here declaring that there will be no more tears, pain, suffering or death, because the former things are passed away, not applying to the lost sinners who were thrown into the Lake of fire. If you still have any doubts, read Revelation 20:13-15, where God reveals that death and Hades were thrown into the Lake of Fire, which is the second death, and all people whose names were not written in the book of life, meaning that they also died the second death too. And there will be nothing any more to cause any hurt on God’s holy mountain. There will be no more tears, sorrow or sadness, or pain, for lost sinners will be gone and at peace, free from their slavery to sin, no more suffering! And there will be no tempter left to tempt or annoy people into sin to destroy themselves or others. There will be nothing but peace, wonderful peace, joy, love, faith, hope, and happiness for all eternity for the saved! These words are faithful and true, because they were declared by Jesus, the Word of God, which were revealed to Him by the Father. Amen! Revelation 3:14; 1:1.

 

Conclusion:

In conclusion, let us end with promises of God’s love for us, and banish all thoughts of fear for what is coming next, and focus on how much He loves us! “The LORD appeared to him from afar, saying, ‘I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have drawn you with lovingkindness.’” Jeremiah 31:3 NASB. ‘But I have trusted in Thy mercy; my heart shall rejoice in Thy salvation.’ Psalm 13:5 KJV. “Good and upright is the LORD: therefore will he teach sinners in the way. The meek will He guide in judgment: and the meek will He teach His way. All the paths of the LORD are mercy and truth unto such as keep His covenant and His testimonies.” Psalms 25:8-10 KJV. “O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: because His mercy endureth for ever.” Psalms 118:1 KJV. ‘Praise the LORD, for his mercy endureth forever.’ 2 Chronicles 20:21 KJV. “Let Israel hope in the LORD: for with the LORD there is mercy, and with Him is plenteous redemption. And He shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities.” Psalms 130:7-8 KJV. “Seek ye the LORD while He may be found, call ye upon Him while He is near: Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and He will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.” Isaiah 55:6-7 KJV.

To close, let us read ‘the Shepherd’s Psalm’:

“The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: He leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: Thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.” Psalm 23:1-6 KJV.

Amen.

Did you know that Psalms 23 contains a promise that God’s mercy will follow all of those who want it all the days of their life, and that they will dwell with Him in His house forever in Heaven? Amen!

You don’t have to be afraid of God any more, nor for your future, if you will just give your heart to Him all the way, because Heaven is within your reach. The texts and reasoning we have presented here should be enough to cast doubt on this whole unfair charge against God, that He only loves people who love Him and repent, and if they don’t He will punish them forever. So you are now free to worship your God whom you love, and rejoice in His goodness and mercy! For His love and mercy endures forever! Praise His wonderful name! After you fall in love with God, you will probably want to do your best to help your loved ones and friends make the right choice, so that they can live forever in Heaven with you, and not miss out on all the peace, love, joy and happiness that you will have there too. But you will no longer just be going to Heaven because you are afraid of being lost, but because you love Jesus and His Father and want to be there in Heaven with them! You don’t have to worry about friends or loved ones anymore, who are not walking with God being treated unfairly after their death, because now you should know how merciful, loving, kind and perfectly fair God is in His treatment of all mankind. If someone you know or love doesn’t make the right choice and is lost, you can rest assured that God will treat them fairly, and they will not be punished any more than they deserve. Amen!

May God’s everlasting mercy shine upon you and give you peace!

We would like to write more articles on the love and fairness of God for all mankind.

By John Foll, written 8/21/2017 to 9/06/2017. 

© Copyright 2017 John Foll   

 

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