BROOKLYN, N.Y., JANUARY 10TH, 1929
BROOKLYN, N.Y., JANUARY 10TH, 1929
Mr. F. W. Kingston.
My Dear Brother, — I thank you for sending the correspondence from Niederschelden. I am very grieved to find that such serious error was held (evidently secretly at that time) by the brethren who met us at Weidenau last May.
What strikes me is the endeavour to involve the brethren with whom we are walking in the doctrine they advocate. J.N.D., F.E.R. and C.A.C. are mentioned, whereas all three would repudiate it with horror. Everyone at all conversant with J.N.D.’s writings knows how he refuted the doctrine as it presented itself in various forms in his time (see Collected Writings, Volume 7). F.E.R., while he had little or no controversy on this subject, used to speak of the lake of fire as a necessity of divine love — “lake” regarded as implying limitation.
It may be that Messrs. B———, J———, and S——— are not well acquainted with the writings of those they quote, but it is noteworthy that they can furnish what seems to support their view. If they know how thoroughly J.N.D. condemned and refuted the doctrine of non-eternity of punishment, they are unfair, indeed dishonest, in trying to make him appear, however faintly, as supporting it. In all this, the enemy is undoubtedly endeavouring to discredit the saints in Germany, Great Britain and elsewhere, who are seeking to maintain what is due to God; his thought would be especially to discredit us in the eyes of those in the Elberfeld fellowship.
Another feature of these papers is the avoidance of scriptures that deal directly with the subject in question, of which there are over 60 in the New Testament; some passages are alluded to, but generally we have only fanciful presentations of eras and types which but becloud and bewilder the mind. It may be added that this feature is usual where a false system of teaching is put forward. When the truth is honestly sought,
[p. 248] the scriptures that bear on it directly are brought under review, and in the order in which they appear in the Word.
Throughout the gospels, epistles and Revelation, there are a multitude of passages which deal with the subject of eternal punishment (that is, punishment to which persons are finally consigned by God) and not one of these indicates that its duration is less than that expressed by the English word ‘eternal’. I can refer to a few only.
Matthew presents the truth from the standpoint of the government of God, but it is important to note that this government extends in its results beyond the earth and time — to “outer darkness” and “the furnace of fire” where “there shall be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 13: 50).
In Matthew 3: 12 it is said of the Lord that He separates the chaff from the wheat, and that “the chaff he will burn with fire unquenchable”. Mr. B——— would have us believe that the fire is quenchable and that chaff becomes WHEAT after a certain time in the fire — what folly!
In Matthew 10: 28 God is said to be able to destroy both soul and body in hell. An annihilationist would dwell on the word “destroy” here, and I need not comment on this, for Mr. B——— is not an annihilationist, but a universalist; he must therefore make “destroy” mean the exact opposite of its ordinary meaning, seeing that, according to him, the persons who go to hell come out after a time refined and saved. Thus we see again that Mr. B———’s doctrine directly denies the Word of God.
In Matthew 12: 32 we are told that a word spoken against the Holy Spirit is not forgiven, and Mark 3: 29 says that it has no forgiveness to eternity. Mr. B——— teaches that it has forgiveness, for all the unforgiven ‘children of man’ remaining after the Church and the millennial dispensations, come out purified, saved on the principle of mercy, after the terrible night of the eighth day. Again Mr. B——— directly contradicts the Word of God.
Matthew 18: 8 speaks of the danger of being cast into eternal fire, which is also called hell in the chapter (verse 9). Mr. B——— teaches that the fire is not eternal, that for men it is but for 1,000 years. Again Mr. B——— contradicts the Scriptures.
In Matthew 25: 46 we read: “These shall go away into eternal punishment, and the righteous into life eternal”. Mr.
B———’s teaching will compel him to say that ‘eternal’ means only a certain number of years when applied in this passage to punishment, but that it means eternal unending blessing — when applied to life.
Mark 9: 48 speaks of hell: “Where their worm dies not, and the fire is not quenched”. The eternal existence of the damned in eternal fire or torment is thus plainly stated by our Lord. Mr. B——— and those who follow him, are taking upon themselves a most awful responsibility in denying His words. May He mercifully deliver them from their error! In both Matthew and Mark, our Lord is seen as forsaken of God on account of our sins. He proved in His holy soul the full meaning of divine wrath against sin. It was infinite. Those who believe on Him never come into it, but on those who are not subject to the Son, the wrath of God abides (John 3: 36) — terrible word!
It is well to note that the word “gehenna”, being the one translated hell, as a place of eternal judgment in the New Testament, although referring primarily to the valley of the son of Hinnom (near Jerusalem), is never used literally (as referring to the valley) in the New Testament; it is used only in its figurative or spiritual meaning. God had not used the literal valley to destroy men in. Men had used it to burn rubbish, and alas, to offer their children to Molech; but having constant fire, it came to be used by the Spirit of God as a symbol of eternal punishment. In this sense only it is used in the New Testament. Revelation has a word of its own, “the lake of fire”. The latter has in view, doubtless, not only the punishment of evil, but the limitation of it — that it is in “its own place”. This feature is in keeping with the book of Revelation. The beast and false prophet are specially said to be cast therein, and Satan himself afterwards. But whether the expression “gehenna” or “the lake of fire” is employed, the place of eternal punishment is always in view — the place prepared for the devil and his angels, but into which all are cast whose names are not written in the book of life.
Luke and John confirm Matthew and Mark, quoting the Lord’s words on the subject of eternal punishment. Luke gives us the well-known vivid picture of hades (chapter 16) from which we gather that suffering is endured by the wicked as they die, and that an impassable gulf exists between them and the saved, even before the resurrection. He also speaks ([p. 250] chapter 13) of the Lord refusing to admit those who knocked for admission after He had shut to the door, saying “Depart from me”, and that there should be weeping and gnashing of teeth as His hearers should see others in the kingdom of God and themselves thrust out. There is absolutely no hint that the door would be opened to them as they spent a night of weeping in hell.
John, quoting the Lord Jesus, tells us of God’s love — that He gave His only-begotten Son that whosoever believes on Him, may not perish but have life eternal. According to Mr. B———, there will be no perishing even for those who do not believe on the Son. Again John says, “The wrath of God abides upon him” who is not subject to the Son (John 3: 36). Mr. B——— must say that it abides for a time only, but Scripture does not say this. We must believe Scripture. According to John, the Lord also says (chapter 5) that those that have done evil shall come forth from their graves by His voice to resurrection of judgment. Revelation 20 amplifies this, and we see there that the judgment is not purgatorial, but being most carefully determined, is awfully and finally punitive — it is the lake of fire, eternal punishment.
The Acts and Epistles assume throughout eternal punishment for the rejecters of the gospel; at the end, even strong delusion is sent to them by God that they all might be judged who have not believed the truth (2 Thessalonians 2: 12). They are to pay the penalty of everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His might. Paul further speaks (Romans 2: 5) of the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God; that indignation, tribulation and distress shall be on every soul of man that works evil (verse 9); also that vessels of wrath are fitted for destruction (Romans 9: 22). Hebrews 6: 2 speaks of “the doctrine ... of eternal judgment”, and that “it is impossible to renew again to repentance” those who ... have fallen away (verses 4 - 6); and (chapter 10) that there remains no longer any sacrifice for sins for those who sin wilfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment and heat of fire about to devour the adversaries (Hebrews 10: 27).
Peter and Jude write in the most denunciating terms of the ungodly, speaking most plainly of their final doom, linking it up with the whole course of God’s government as against sin and sinners, beginning with angels who kept not their first [p. 251] estate, and specially including the apostates to Christianity, “to whom has been reserved the gloom of darkness for eternity” (Jude 13).
All these scriptures must be ignored or regarded as meaningless, indeed untrue, if all those consigned to the lake of fire ultimately come out purified, having their tears wiped away by God Himself and being owned as His people. It is for Mr. B———’s followers to decide whether they will continue to believe their present leader or the blessed God Himself. If we do not believe the witness that God gives, we make Him a liar (1 John 5: 10), but the Scripture says, “Let God be true, and every man false” (Romans 3: 4).
The book of Revelation I have anticipated, but it contains the most explicit statements of eternal punishment. It uses, as I said, a term of its own — the lake of fire; it is also called the lake of fire and brimstone; it burns with fire and brimstone. It was prepared for the devil and his angels (Matthew 25), but the unrepentant from among men are also cast into it. They shall have their part in it; it is called “the second death”. It is said of Satan, the beast and false prophet “They shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever”.
The Spirit of God anticipated in this book such treatment of it as appears in the system of teaching before us. “I testify to every one who hears the words of the prophecy of this book, If any one shall add to these things, God shall add to him the plagues which are written in this book. And if any one take from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the tree of life, and out of the holy city, which are written in this book” (Revelation 22: 18, 19). Mr. B——— is altering “the things” of the book seriously by substituting a temporary purgatory, through which all the wicked are to be saved, for an eternal lake of fire into which the devil and his angels with the unrepentant from among men are consigned. He must face the penalty spoken of in the verses quoted above — most solemn!
Having brought forward the foregoing passages from the many appearing in the New Testament relative to eternal punishment, I turn to remark briefly on some of the statements of Mr. B——— as reported in Mr. S———’s letter.
Page 4. — Quoting the Elberfeld ‘Botschafter’ that unbelievers remain in death — the lake of fire — Mr. B——— says,
‘[p. 252] It is like my saying my house is burnt down; it exists no longer, but I remain in my house’. This is because Scripture says death shall be no more. One needs but a superficial knowledge of Scripture to discern the fallacy of Mr B———’s remark. It assumed that death and the second death are the same, whereas they are not; the former is said to be cast into the latter, the lake of fire, which is called the second death (Revelation 20: 4). In Revelation 21: 4 it says, death shall be no more, but this refers to death as it has existed on the earth since sin entered, not to the second death, which while it called “death”, is shown to be death of a different kind. It first presented as “the lake of fire” and afterwards called “the second death”. Besides, Revelation 21: 1 - 8 speaks of the new heaven and new earth, especially what characterise the latter.
Mr. B——— enlarges (pages 6 and 7) on this passage (Revelation 21: 1 - 8) and seeks to make out that “men” here refers to the unbelievers who were cast into the lake of fire: they are now purified and owned of God as His people. He says, ‘The tears wiped away in Revelation 21: 4 can only apply to the remaining children of men, who are exposed to the frightful fiery judgment of damnation’. Scriptures are dragged out of their settings and twisted and turned in order to afford some semblance of support for this assumption; but Scripture is too plain and decided in the passages which deal directly with eternal punishment to admit of being contradicted by some passages which do not deal directly with it. Mr. B———’s efforts therefore prove utterly futile. He says these are saved on the principle of mercy, not grace; but all who are saved, are saved on the principle of mercy. God has shut up all in unbelief, that He might have mercy upon all (Romans 11: 32); but it is through the meritorious death of His Son and not through the purification of the lake of fire. Through the death of Christ, mercy and truth have met together, righteousness and peace have kissed each other (Psalm 85: 10). Mr. B———’s system leaves out the truth and the righteousness. He adds (page 7), ‘It will then be shown that Christ has not died in vain with respect to those that are lost; regarding the present salvation’. How is it shown? In Hebrews 10, it is said of apostates that there remains no more offering for sin; and in chapter 6, that it is impossible to renew them again to repentance.
[p. 253] Mr. B——— seeks to make the first four and a half verses only of Revelation 21 apply to the new heavens and the new earth, whereas they are in view to the end of verse 8. What John saw was a new heaven and earth; then he heard heaven speak: “The tabernacle of God is with men”, etc.; then He that sat on the throne (referring back to chapter 4) speaks: “I make all things new”. John saw the new things, now he is told by the One who sits on the throne that He would make all things new. Then John is told to “write, for these words are true and faithful” — the words he had heard. Then He who sits on the throne “said to me, It is done”, etc.; God can thus speak anticipatively. Then He states what He would do for the thirsty and the overcomer: the latter should inherit “these things”, that is, the eternal state of things spoken of above. God would be his God and he His son. Over against this eternal blessedness in verse 8 — the terrible doom of those who in wicked works rejected Christ — the fearful, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, fornicators, sorcerers, idolators, liars, “their part is in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone; which is the second death”. Mr. B——— would make part of the passage for eternity and part for time; but all is for time as a testimony from God. It was written down by John and sent to the churches, so that men should know what God will do in new creation, to the end that we should believe, become of those who “thirst” and overcome; on the other hand, that we should be warned against unbelief and wickedness so as not to have part in the lake of fire. The throne refers to God’s rights in Christ as a present testimony. It is not only God, but God on His throne and He is the beginning and the end. The “end” is before us in the passage both as regards eternal blessing and eternal judgment. There is not the slightest suggestion here of the purgatorial night by which the wicked of verse 8 become the “men” of verse 9. This is a pure fiction of Mr. B———’s and an insult to the righteousness and holiness of God. On page 7, Mr. B——— admits that there is no definite passage of scripture for the assumption that the judgment of the lake of fire lasts only 1,000 years. He has the temerity to build up a system of doctrine without a definite passage of Scripture to support it!
Page 8. — Psalm 30 is alluded to to support the brief duration of God’s anger; but it is to be noted that a saint is speaking here, not an unrepentant sinner. The rich man in torment ([p. 254] Luke 16) had no encouragement from Abraham that the wrath he was enduring would be but for a moment. This also covers the suggestion of the evening of weeping and the morning of joy: there is no morning for those cast into the lake of fire. Will Mr. B——— say that wrath for the devil and his angels is but for a moment?
Pages 8, 9. — Mr. B———’s division of time is quite arbitrary, but his treatment of the passage of the Jordan and circumcision is the most absurd of any I have seen. The Ark of the Covenant he makes Christ and the assembly. The assembly had no part in the abolition of death, which latter the passage of the Jordan signifies. The priests bearing the Ark refer to certain features of Christ as going into death — intelligence, holiness, etc. ‘Did the priests at Gilgal’, Mr. B- asks (page 10) ‘need a fresh circumcision?’ ‘No’, he answers, ‘their task was to circumcise the uncircumcised people at Gilgal’. There is not a word in the whole section in Joshua either about the priests circumcising the people or not needing it themselves. The responsibility of the circumcision here (Joshua 5) was placed on Joshua.
Then the 2,000 cubits set between the people and the Ark had reference to the dignity of Christ and the greatness of the work He was undertaking. We read: “Ye shall not come near it, that ye may know the way by which ye must go; for ye have not passed this way heretofore” Joshua 3: 4. Thus the believer humbly sees that Christ died for him, that He entered into death in His own might and overthrew it, bringing life and incorruptibility to light by the gospel. The believer of this dispensation does not pretend (as Mr. B——— suggests) to stand on the ‘river of death’ until the last of the uncircumcised people under the curse of a broken law come out of the second death (page 9). The suggestion is as absurd as it is wicked.
‘Our Gilgal’, Mr. B——— says, ‘is before Jordan, indeed before the journey through the wilderness at the Red Sea’. This, to say no more, evidences an ignorance of the types. The Red Sea typifies the Lord’s death to be appropriated by faith for justification and peace with God; the Jordan and Gilgal typify the death of Christ in relation to the presence and work of the Spirit in believers. Gilgal is the rolling away of the reproach of Egypt, not our exit from it. It was the camping place for Israel; that is, for the Christian, the place of self-judgment [p. 255] and the acceptance of the body of the flesh being put off in the death — circumcision — of Christ.
On pages 11, 12, we have reasoning as to God’s will — that unless all are saved, it is frustrated. This is but questioning His sovereignty. Who art thou that repliest against God? We have to accept facts as they are and leave what may not be clear to us to God. Mr. B——— asks as to his conversion, ‘Was I then willing?’ and goes on to speak of what Christians rejoice in — that every conversion is through grace, by faith, not of works. But then if God converted him and not his brother or neighbour, what can he say? One thief hanging by the side of Jesus on the cross was saved and the other not. What can we say to this? God wrought in the former but not in the latter — Why not, we have to leave with Him. The unrepentant thief showed the working of sin through his will in such circumstances, refusing to own the Lord notwithstanding such testimony. He died in his sins. The Lord said, “ye will not come to me that ye might have life” (John 5: 40) and “Unless ye shall believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins” (John 8: 24). Man’s will stands in the way of his blessing. It is utterly unrighteous and illogical to make God responsible for this. His righteousness, through Christ’s death, is towards all, but only upon those who believe. The Lord says, “He that disbelieves shall be condemned” (Mark 16: 16).
The gospel is to all and so all are responsible to believe, but the elect only are saved; as Paul says of the elect, “that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 2: 10). That the gospel in its resultful effects came to the west and did not go to the east, we have also to leave with God. He knows why.
The treatment of the subject of priesthood (page 10) by Mr. B——— shows further his want of intelligence of the types. Leviticus 8 is Christ and the church (its members), remaining at the entrance of the tent of meeting day and night, seven days. It is a complete spiritual period — not certainly 7,000 years. Leviticus 9 — the eighth day — is Aaron and his sons and the elders of Israel. Mr. B——— says no sin-offering was offered on this day, whereas we only need to look at the chapter to see that sin-offerings were offered. It is Christ and the church in relation to Israel in the future.
Mr. B——— (page 5) makes the goat for the people in Leviticus 16 a type of Satan. This also shows a want of spiritual intelligence. It is said of “Azazel” — “to make atonement with it” (Leviticus 16: 10). How could Satan make atonement for Israel? The truth is that Azazel is a counterpart of the goat of Jehovah’s lot — together they present a complete type of the death of Christ for Israel, as the one bullock is a type of Christ as giving Himself for the church — the members of it. We have the Holy Spirit (Hebrews 10) as a witness that our sins are remembered no more; Israel will know forgiveness when they see the Lord without their sins. Mr. B——— says Azazel ‘was the substitute for the people, not for the priestly house;’ but neither of the goats was a substitute for the priestly house, the bullock was this.
Note also that the goat on which Jehovah’s lot fell is also said to be “the sin-offering for the people” (verse 15). As I said, the two goats present a complete type of Christ as making atonement through His death for Israel.
I need add no more; I trust that the foregoing remarks, in conjunction with what Mr. Coates may have written, will be used of God to deliver at least some of our brethren from this deadly error. That Mr. S——— and others have sought the counsel of some of their brethren, gives good ground for believing that they are prepared to accept the teaching of the word of God on the subject.
Affectionately yours in Christ,
James Taylor.