Revelation 21

Revelation 21:1-27

THE KINGDOM OF GOD AND HEAVEN Revelation 21:1-27PAUL, in writing to the Corinthians, tells them that when Christ “shall have put down all rule and all authority”, and “put all enemies under His feet”, then He shall deliver “up the Kingdom to God, even the Father, * * that God may be all in all.”The Millennial Kingdom on earth, complete at the end of a thousand years, is to be succeeded by the Kingdom of God in Heaven. The same earth that crowned Christ with thorns and crucified Him on Calvary, will be compelled to crown Him Lord of all, and for a thousand years acknowledge His complete supremacy.The Father who gave Him to earth, to contest with Satan its supremacy, will one day receive from His conquering hand the Kingdom accomplished, and forever set it in the heavenlies.What Jesus has to say of Heaven is not to be despised by those who would be His true followers, nor neglected in the study of those who would understand the goal to which the Son of God, through the whole Millennial period, is moving.The twenty-first chapter of the Revelation is what the Son of Man has to say upon finalities; and it involves The Kingdom of Heaven on Earth, the Capital City in Heaven, and the Inhabitants Above and Below.THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN ON EARTH “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” (Revelation 21:1). This brief statement, studied in the light of other Scripture, is wonderfully comprehensive. It compasses Heaven, earth and sea.The present heaven is to be purified. Evidently the word “heaven” as here employed, does not refer to that spiritual estate for which the saints of God are set, but rather to the first heaven, or the upper atmosphere. With the same fires by which the earth is to be refined this heaven is to be cleansed (Matthew 5:18). We doubt not that Dr. Seiss is justified in describing it as thereafter— “a heaven which will no more robe itself in angry tempests, nor blackness; neither flash with the thunder bolts of wrath, nor cast forth plagues of hail, nor rain down fiery judgment.” We believe also that the explanation of these physical improvements is found in a further suggestion of the same author, namely, “It will no longer give lurking place to the devil and his angels.” At present Satan is “the prince of the power of the air”.

On Scripture authority it seems that he still has access not alone to the first heaven, but at times into the very presence of God, and that he enjoys the dear delight of bringing railing accusation against God’s people, and visiting upon the earth every curse of which his cunning and power are capable. But it will be remembered, among the visions of John, there was witnessed war in God’s Heaven, “Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, “And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in Heaven. “And the great dragon was cast down, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him”. Then it was that “The Heavens and all they that dwell in them” were called upon to “rejoice”.If the new earth will be complete when Satan is driven from it, and the Father’s reign is without a rival, so the new heavens are accomplished by the arch-angel’s conquest and the banishment forever from them of the adversary of God and men. Such a heaven will be a fit and glorious canopy for the earth renewed in righteousness.The present earth is destined to perish. Jesus often spoke of the fact that Heaven and earth would pass away. See Matthew 5:18; Mark 13:31 and Luke 21:33. Peter, in his Second Epistle (2 Peter 3:7-14) says, “The heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. * * “The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. * * “Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness”. But let it be understood that when we employ the word “perish” we do not mean “annihilation.” The Greek term compassing this thought simply suggests “great changes” and involves a “regeneration” rather than an extinction. The same Apostle—Peter—speaking of Noah’s day, says, “The world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished” (2 Peter 3:6). But it did not become extinct!It is doubtful whether either science properly understood, or Scripture properly interpreted, admits of the annihilation of anything; but they both recognize such changes in form as mean the passing of the old and the introduction of the new. The writer of Ecclesiastes, therefore, was not mistaken when he said, “One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh: but the earth abideth for ever”. Neither was the Psalmist creating a theological conflict when he said, “Thou hast established the earth, and it abideth”.The regenerated man puts off the old man, with his doings, and puts on the new man—that is renewed unto knowledge, after the image of Him that created him. With him, old things pass away, and all things become new, yet he retains the same body!

Paradoxical as it may seem, he is the same man; yet another man—a renewed man.So there shall be “a new earth”, and the righteous shall dwell in it forever. See Psalms 37:29.“Redemption” means “recovery,” and that recovery will be complete.

Originally the earth rejected God—the Father; and later, it crucified Christ—the Son. In its Millennial age it will crown Christ Lord of all; and for its eternal future it will re-enthrone the Father. Certain writers have attempted both to imagine and depict the glories of this globe when it shall come again under the benignant reign of God; but we confess to the failure of Milton, and are fully persuaded that no language can present to the human mind our “Paradise Regained” with “God in all and over all.”The sea of our present knowledge shall also pass. The statement of the Apocalyptic writer is “And there was no more sea”. Four interpretations have been put upon this phrase, with the preponderance of Biblical testimony in favor of the fourth. The first is that Reginald Campbell, who while wandering in the faith, saw in it a mere suggestion of the removal of social barriers and the bringing of the nations of the earth into a common brotherhood.The second, accepted by many lovers of Scripture, insists that the language involves annihilation, and that in the good providence of God, the vast spaces now occupied by the oceans, or the sea (for all the waters of the world are in one bed) wasting as they do three-fourths of the surface of the globe, will be removed in that age in which the presence of God will not only mean light, but impart life, so that the monster that has wrecked the mightiest vessels will sweep the earth with storms no more, and the peoples who have been divided by her waves shall be brought into constant contact, and their affections will be forever cemented.The third company of interpreters look upon this language as they do upon most of that found in this wonderful volume, as merely suggestive and symbolical.

Robert Stuart McArthur well voiced them by saying of this phrase: “Today the sea is not thought of as a line of separation; for now it is the highway of nations. Now on its surface go the great ships; and far down in its bed lie the cables which make the world a whispering gallery.

But still on earth separations exist. It often places us on the earth at great distances from our friends; and then there is the sea lying between time and eternity which our friends cannot cross to come to us, nor we, when in life, to go to them. Although we listened ever so intently, we cannot hear their voices; although we wait there so patiently, we cannot see their forms. The cold, dark sea rolls between us and them. There is no cable at its bottom; there is no ship on its surface. Thank God, the day is coming when there shall be no more sea!To him, and to all those agreeing with him, the reference is evidently to the day when God’s people, gathered in Heaven, shall enjoy a brotherhood from which every barrier has been removed, the blessed association which knows no separations whatever.But to us, the fourth suggestion is most in accord with the Word of God, namely, that the sea is to undergo a kindred change to that which is to be accomplished in the heaven and in the earth.

Those characteristics which have made it the cruel monster most feared of men, are forever to pass. In its depths war will be no more; the larger shall not feed upon the less; the peace akin to that which characterizes both heaven and earth will settle upon the sea also!

Its rippling surface will no longer know the destroying storm, but be vivified and beautified by ambrosial breezes, and men shall no longer sink and strangle in the same, and lie dead on its sandy depths, but shall travel it with as great ease as Christ walked the waters of Gennesaret.This, of course, must be true, since our risen bodies will not be subject to the law of gravitation, nor subject to death at all. In the beginning of God’s creative acts it is written “in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is” (Exodus 20:11). Unquestionably each of them was affected by the fall. Sin stained the heavens, scarred the earth, and made the sea sanguinary. But the time is coming when “every creature which is in the heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever” (Revelation 5:13).THE CAPITAL CITY FROM HEAVEN “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”. We shall not pause to debate the question whether this city is real, or whether this language is merely symbolical. That will not be determined by the arguments of men skilled in the oratorical art. Of Abraham we are told that “he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose Builder and Maker is God” (Hebrews 11:10). Paul declared of all saints “God * * hath prepared for them a city” (Hebrews 11:16), To His disciples Jesus said, “I go to prepare a place for you” (John 14:2). “Here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come” (Hebrews 13:14), And we have the promise to believers that they are to “come * * unto the city of the Living God, the Heavenly Jerusalem” (Hebrews 12:22), It will be ours, therefore, to search further the Sacred Scriptures to find out what we may regarding this—our glorious future Home.To three or four facts these few phrases call attention.It is now in the process of preparation.“I John saw the Holy City, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of Heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband”. No true and capable bride presents herself to the groom until skilled hands have prepared her for that hour and appearance; and we shall not see this City, which is the bride of our Beloved, until she is “prepared” for the revelation.Advocates of the great and glorious truth of the Second Coming of Christ sometimes grow impatient at His delay. Paul warned them that they would, and urged them to “wait patiently”. This they can well afford to do when they remember the work which now engages His hand and heart. He has not only gone “to receive for Himself a Kingdom and to return”, but He has gone also “to prepare a place” for His own. If with a single word He can make a world so great and glorious as to astonish angels and men, and, with a twist of His arm, fling it into space to go traveling on millenniums after millenniums, who can imagine the City that requires of His thought and endeavor two thousand years, and we know not how much more? Truly it will be made ready, for its “Builder and Maker is God” (Hebrews 11:10).Its descent is prophetically described.“I saw the Holy City, the New Jerusalem, coming down out of Heaven from God”. What its pedestal shall be we are not specifically informed. The New Jerusalem of the Millennial period is to be “exalted above the hills” (Isaiah 2:2); and the Eternal City of the saints residence is spoken of as “Jerusalem which is above” (Galatians 4:26).If the law of gravity is not to control our risen bodies, neither may it be a factor in the future location of their dwelling place. The Lord who “hangeth the world on nothing” can sustain the New Jerusalem at any place of Divine appointment. Then if it be above the earth, the light and glory from its open gates falling full upon the same, it may be to the “new earth” what the “New Jerusalem” on the mountains is to the Millennial age. John does declare distinctly, “The nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour into it. “The gates of it shall not be shut at all by day: for there shall be no night there. “And they shall bring the glory and honour of the nations into it”. Its form and dimensions are made definite. There are those who reject a literal interpretation here, assigning as a reason that such a city would be too small to receive the saved of the past centuries, not to speak of the redeemed nations of the earth who are “to go in and out” at their pleasure.But such have either misinterpreted the Scriptures or have proven themselves poor at calculation. Who can conceive even the meaning of a city twelve thousand furlongs in length and breadth, with the height equal to the length and breadth thereof? A writer amazes his readers by his neat calculations and his comparisons: “Great,” says he, “was the city of Nineveh; so great that Jonah had only begun to enter it after a day’s journey. But it could be measured by four hundred stadia. What shall we say of a City that is twelve thousand stadia in each dimension—1500 miles in length, the same in breadth and height? Of it the author has written, “Its every street will be one fifth the length of the diameter of the earth; and the number of its avenues, although a mile apart, will not be less than 4, 500, 000.” No wonder the same writer exclaims “Stupendous magnitude!”THE ABOVE AND BELOW We employ the phrase “Inhabitants above and below” with intent. It seems fairly clear from this entire twenty-first chapter, studied as it ought to be in the light of other revelation, that both “the new heaven” and “the new earth” are to be the inheritance of the saints for all ages.The earth is not to be depopulated and abandoned. The arguments for “the ongoing of the race” are neither insignificant nor unscriptural. “Throughout all ages, world without end” (Ephesians 3:21), is the New Testament description of the unceasing generations promised by the Old. See Genesis 8:22 and Genesis 9:8-16. Not a few of us, while yet holding to the idea that the earth would be eventually destroyed, and Heaven would hold all the people of God, wondered at the Words of the Lord such as found in Joe 3:20—“But Judah shall dwell for ever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation”, and at Ezekiel 37:25-27, involving as it does the promise of an “everlasting covenant”, with Israel that they shall be unceasingly multiplied, with God the Father tabernacling in their midst. But if the generations are to continue from age to age, forever, then we marvel at these words no more!Heaven is to be the Father’s House—the saints’ Home.

Men speak sometimes of “the limitations of Jesus” and seek to lay the same upon His wisdom and upon His power. As thus employed it is a foolish phrase.

He was the Unlimited One—“all power” and “all wisdom” were with Him.But human speech is limited, and if we consent with this Book itself that Jesus was its Author, we must still remind ourselves that He could not tell us all about the saints’ Home. Human language is not adequate to the task. But even within its limitations what wonders has He wrought! There arises before the believer’s eyes this matchless City, the wide and shining House of God, the symbol of which is golden streets, and of its walls and gates, all manner of precious stones; the light of which is the Father’s face; the life of which is in fountain and river; the health and beauty of which is in heavenly and never-failing trees; the fellowships of which are marked by no cowardice, sorcery, murder, pollution, or idolatry; the song of which is never hushed! There not a tear shall stain the face; not a death shall sadden the heart; there no mourning shall ever be known; nor crying heard; nor pain endured, for the “former things are passed away”; and the One who sits on the throne hath made “all things new”, and it is His House, and they are His children, blessed forever more. As the Prophet, speaking for Jehovah says, “Heaven is My throne, and earth is My footstool?” (Acts 7:49).This Celestial City is the capitol of God’s Kingdom, the city of all saints; the ends of the earth will be their inheritance, and eternal felicity their portion.At the conclusion of a discourse on the Millennial Reign an auditor remarked, “I never before had a true vision of life, nor was I ever made to feel that my life was of such infinite reach, nor so well worth the living!”But here is a prospect bigger still—infinite in its sweep, unthinkable in its experience of joy, eternal in its duration.

If the inhabitants of the earth by faith can only get a glimpse of it, the very glimpse ought to affect regeneration, if indeed it be true that “the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance”. And more than a glimpse we could not have and live, such are the limitations of this life.

The light from that world must not break upon us until the same God who hath prepared our inheritance, hath also prepared us for it. That is why the poet hath said:“We may not know how sweet its balmy air, How bright and fair its flowers: We may not hear the songs that echo there, Through these enchanted bowers. “The city’s shining towers we may not see With our dim earthly vision, For Death, the silent warder, keeps the key That opes the gates Elysian. “But sometimes when adown the western sky A fiery sunset lingers, Its golden gate swings inward noiselessly, Unlocked by unseen fingers. “And while they stand a moment half ajar, Gleams from the inner glory, Stream brightly through the azure vault afar, And half reveal the story.”

Revelation 21:27

DOES PREPARE THE SOUL FOR HEAVEN? Revelation 21:27OUR theme is “Purgatory,” a subject which Protestants seldom consider, for the very simple reason that Protestantism is based upon the primacy of the Sacred Scriptures. The Word of God knows nothing whatever of this term purgatory. It is not once employed between Genesis and Revelation. It could hardly be expected, therefore, that it would receive consideration from Protestant sources; and yet since there is a constant attempt on the part of Papists to win Protestants to their view it is necessary sometimes to understand the position of the other fellow, in order to defend one’s own views. It is with that in mind that we enter upon this discussion; first of all that we may know the ground on which we ourselves stand and the reasons, therefore; and second, that we may instruct those who shall become possible targets of proselyting. In other words, that we may at once give a reason for the hope that is within us and at the same time present the grounds of our rejection of other and false hopes.Father Searle, in “Plain Facts for Fair Minds” seeks to excite pity for Romanists who are misrepresented by Protestant teachers, in that charges are made against their priests of getting people out of purgatory for a money consideration. He says, “Now try to put yourself in our place for a moment. Think how you would feel if we made these sweeping charges against you.” And then, after that somewhat pathetic appeal, he immediately proceeds with one of the worst slanders against that noble man, Martin Luther, and says, “I am sorry to say that it is a matter of history that Luther and the original Protestants who followed him did hold that we are saved by faith alone, and that the more we sin, the more we glorify this saving faith.” There is not a well-informed Protestant living who does not know that the first charge is true—“we are saved by faith alone,” and on that ground Protestants stand; and that the second statement, “the more we sin the more we glorify this saving faith”, is a foul falsehood.On the contrary, Martin Luther, and all who hold the common Protestant view of the Sacred Scripture, agree perfectly with the Apostle Paul that, “The Law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound: * * “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? “God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? * * “Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin” (Romans 5:20; Romans 6:1-2; Romans 6:6). It is not my intent, in speaking of purgatory, to misrepresent, in the least, the papacy, but it is my clear purpose to expose its unscripturalness.My first question is this:WHAT IS THE PAPIST’S ? Let Father Searle answer, “We believe that Catholics who are saved, and are sure therefore of Heaven in the end, do not necessarily enter on it immediately. For there are sins which are not grievous or mortal. Such sins we call venial. I hardly think you would seriously believe that a boy who stole an apple from an orchard or from a grocery store would be condemned to hell for it; on the other hand, you do believe that a murderer or an adulterer dying impenitent would, no matter if he did have faith in Christ. For dying impenitent would mean that he did not care about the offence to God in his murder or adultery, and was ready to commit more if it suited his convenience. This distinction between mortal and venial sins is then simply common sense.

Of course we cannot always decide whether a sin is mortal or venial, but that there is a difference between the two is plain. Now, it is on account of these venial sins that we believe most of those who are saved do not enter Heaven immediately.

For though they are venial or comparatively easy to be forgiven (for that is what the word “venial” means), still they are sins, and they defile the soul; and as we have seen, nothing defiled can enter Heaven. The soul with the taint of sin on it, however slight, cannot see the face of God. It must be purified first, and there is nothing like suffering, patiently borne, to purify a soul. Now, purgatory means a state of purification or purging from sin by suffering; it is, then, entirely reasonable that the soul not as yet thoroughly purified in this world should be in purgatory for a time, till this purification is accomplished.”The definition given of purgatory by Cardinal Gibbons in “The Faith of Our Fathers” is in such perfect accord with this of Father Searle that I need not quote it. It is the boast of Roman priests that they are all in agreement on matters of doctrine, and so, when you have quoted from one, you ought, on their own assertion, to have the opinion of the church.Our text calls attention to thePASS-KEY OF PURITY John is here describing the Holy City—New Jerusalem—and of that city he says, “There shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life”. Protestant and Papist are in agreement, therefore, that purity of character is the “sine que non” of seeing the inside of that city which God has as His residence, and where saints are to find their eventual abode. It is written, “Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God”.Soul-purity is prescribed by the Scriptures. Our text is a sweeping assertion. “There shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie”. The Apostle is in perfect accord with the Prophet. Go back in your study to the Book of Isaiah, that far-seeing spokesman, and when he depicts God’s eventual Zion—the very city of this text—where joy shall obtain, and crying and sorrow and sighing shall flee away he says, “An highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called The way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it”.The man who expects to see the inside of the Eternal City, and to walk its streets a joyous citizen, must never forget that purity will be required as the pass-key. “Every man that hath this hope in Him purifieth himself, even as He is pure”. “The Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil”.Beloved, Christianity ought to mean outward and inward cleansing. Dr.

Gordon relates a circumstance connected with the opening of the Chinese mission at Clarendon Street Church, Boston. One of the first students to enter the school was a raw, uncouth, unresponsive Chinaman by the name of Chin Tong.

Unlike most of his fellows he was in person very unclean and very unsavory. The teacher to whom he was assigned worked with him months without making the least impression. One Sunday the text, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness”, was given to him for the next lesson. A week later when he came to the school he had almost worn the verse from the page, so often had he run his finger over it in study. One word in that text had arrested his attention— “cleanse”. His vocation was washing and ironing and he understood its meaning, and when he appeared on the Sabbath it was in oriental dress, with his cue off, his hair shingled, his long finger-nails pared, his face clean as a new coin, his clothes without spot. The text had done its work, as was evidenced in his words to the teacher, “Jesus Christ make a me clean inside, outside.” It must be so for those who are going to see the inside of the gates of God.Such purity is in the promise.“He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness”. Do you not remember how in the Book of Acts, Peter said, in justification of the regeneration of the Gentiles, “God, which knoweth the hearts, beareth them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as He did unto us; and put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith”.“Purifying their hearts by faith”. God promised it; and God performs it! Truly, as John McNeal says, “Sanctification is the work of God’s free grace.” And he uses a forceful illustration—that of a mother who puts a clean dress on her child in the morning, and tells her to get no dirt on it during the day. The child was willing to keep it clean and really desired to, but was not successful in the attempt. “Now,” remarks McNeil, “if that mother would put her own spirit into that child her success would be ensured.” And he adds, “That is exactly what God wants to do for us.” Ah, beloved, that is just what God has promised to do for us if we will let Him! (Ezekiel 36:27). He will purge us from all our iniquities. “By mercy and truth iniquity is purged.”But if we will be purged from iniquity we must practice purity. Is that not the meaning of Paul’s message to Timothy? “Keep thyself pure”.Is that not the significance of his language to the Philippians?“Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are PURE, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things” (Philippians 4:8). I am more and more impressed with the fact that men stunt their souls by little sins, —the lust of the eyes, etc. David Rittenhouse, the astronomer, found that a silken thread drawn across the glass of his telescope would completely hide a star from view. That meant that so small a thing blotted out the vision of a mighty world. And so the little sin sometimes obscures all heaven for men, and hides from their eyes the Almighty God.Those who enter evil associations ought to remember that the very breath of the wicked is polluting, and that good manners must go when evil associates are kept.We are told by travelers that near Geneva the two rivers the Arve and the Rhone come together. The Rhone rises from the lake Geneva and is a beautiful, clear stream. When it first meets the Arve it refuses to mix with it, and for a while they move side by side, the one filthy and the other clear.

But, ere long, the putrid Arve prevails over the pure Rhone, and when they go out into the Mediterranean, they have been so much associated that you cannot distinguish their waters.Young men and women, if you want to close the gates of Heaven against yourselves and put yourselves from the streets of the city whose joys are unspeakable, and whose glories are past even the pen of inspiration, you can do it by sin, and sinful association. But, if you want to enter it, and walk its streets with the glad sons and daughters of God, with angels and archangels, and Christ Himself, you can accomplish that; but you must practice purity, heeding Paul’s injunction, “Keep thyself pure”.THE PLACE OF is brought under discussion by the papal doctrine of purgatory. When and where are we to be prepared for Heaven? What is the sphere, or what are the spheres of probation?I make bold to assert that the Scripture limits that sphere to this life. After carefully pursuing the papist argument for purgatory I have not found a single sentence of Scripture in favor of it. To be sure the book of Maccabees has a reference to the time when Judas Maccabees ordered prayers and sacrifices to be offered up for his slain comrades, and sent twelve thousand drachms of silver to Jerusalem to be offered for the sins of the dead.. But one is hard pressed when he must appeal to the apocryphal writings to prove his point.

And even if one admitted these writings, who maintains that Judas Maccabees had the authority of other Scriptures for his acts, or was inspired in this piece of conduct?No one questions that Ecclesiastes was written by inspiration, and in its assertion there is no uncertain sound, “If the tree fall toward the south, or toward the north, in the place where the tree falleth, there it shall be”. No one doubts, does he?—that Christ spoke the history of Dives and Lazarus?

But what does that poor soul in torment request— that alms should be offered up for his deliverance? Ah, no, only a drop of water to cool his tongue! And what does Abraham answer, “Between us and you there is a great gulf fixed; so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence”.If it be answered to this that the man was lost and in hell, rather than in purgatory, we reply, “Surely,” since the Bible knows no such intermediate state, described as purgatory.Father Searle quotes this passage from the Apostle Paul to prove that there are sufferings—“I Paul * * who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for His body’s sake”.And Searles comments, “Now what we Catholics hold is simply this, that a man may, by natural means, by subjecting himself to a painful bodily discipline or treatment, remove or avoid the natural consequences which his sins have naturally caused, so he may, by supernatural means, that is, by the merits of Christ still lying in store for him, avoid a remaining temporal penalty in the supernatural order which is still due even after eternal salvation has been given him. * * We hold then, in accordance with his teaching, that we may also do something either unavoidable or voluntary, for our suffering brethren.”But whatever Paul meant by “what is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for His body’s sake” he certainly had no reference to the fact of purgatory, or fishing people out of the same by a self-infliction. He did endure suffering for Christ’s sake, as every good soldier of the Cross must; but he did it for Christ’s sake and for the sake of the Church, not for the sake of souls in purgatory.The time to help people is here and now. I never think of this payment to priests in the interest of souls supposed to be in purgatory, but I am reminded of Francis Murphy’s statement when, on one occasion, at the close of an eloquent temperance appeal, a darling little girl approached him and gave him a beautiful rose. As Murphy inhaled its fragrant breath he turned to Dr.

William Lawrence and said, “Lawrence, I had rather have a bit of a girl like that bring me one rose while I am living than to have an undertaker back up a cartload and dump on my grave, saying, “There, now, Murphy, smell those,” for the truth is that “the dead know not anything.” The body in the grave is insensible; the soul with God is past need, and so probation is limited to this life.Aye, it may be more limited still! There is a circle of consciousness with which men have to do.

We are not wholly responsible until we are conscious of sin; we cannot be pardoned after the day when we lose consciousness of self and the world about us. Paul, therefore, absolutely puts it, “Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation”!Tomorrow you may be living and yet be beyond the pale of mercy because you have passed beyond the possibility of conscious repentance.Henry Van Dyke, in his volume “Sermons to Young Men” has a splendid passage on this line. He says, “Nature teaches us that this world is not a place of judgment, but of probation, in which the good and the evil are working side by side. * * The parable of the wheat and tares applies not only to the world at large, but also just as truly to the individual soul. It is only in novels that the villains are absolutely bad, while the heroes and heroines are immaculately good. In real life, men and women are all somewhat mixed, and every soul is more or less an enigma to itself. We look into our own hearts and we are puzzled.

We cannot interpret all that is within them.” And God, Himself is saying “Not yet! Not yet!”How clearly the patient refusal to judge now reveals the certainty that God will judge hereafter?

If this world is the only place of probation, then beyond it there must be a place of judgment. “The wicked shall not be unpunished”; the righteous shall not “fail of their reward.”“How precious, then, how costly and invaluable is every day and hour of this mortal life in which the warm sunlight and the gentle rain assure us that the upward way is still open to us! We may still sow the good seed which shall bear fruit unto eternal life. But how long shall this time of hope endure? The night cometh! Who can tell!”Ah, beloved, one’s probation period may pass even before he lose his consciousness. Christ, on one occasion, spoke the most solemn truth to which the world ever listened. It was when He remarked, “All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men. “And whosoever shall speak a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him: but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him”. Years ago in Laporte, Texas, I delivered a series of addresses to the camp meeting and learned that at the previous session of this same assembly Dr. A. C. Dixon was preaching on “The Holy Spirit.” A young man present had come to the pavilion expecting to dance, and finding this religious assembly in session had been angered in his disappointment, and sitting in the audience, was heard to swear at Dr. Dixon, and to blaspheme the Name of the Holy Ghost. A few moments afterward he went out on the pier, robed for bathing, and jumped into the water.

The leap that he made was a daring one, and the water was more shallow than he had supposed, the tide being out. Ten minutes afterward they brought him back, his neck broken by a blow against the sandy bottom of the bay.“If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it” (1 John 5:16). Young men and women; you are in the midst of life: tonight is your probation period. You are conscious of your need, it is your Divinely given opportunity! You have not, let us trust, sinned against the Holy Ghost, and blasphemed His Name. It is possible, therefore, by repentance, for you to prepare yourselves for the city of the text which will descend “from God out of Heaven”; in which God will tabernacle with His own, where every wet eye shall be wiped with His own hand; and where death shall be no more, neither sorrow nor crying; where the glory of God shall illuminate us, and where the twelve gates will be twelve pearls; where the streets will be of pure gold; where the foundations of the walls shall be garnished with all manner of precious stones, and where the nations of them that are saved shall walk!Oh, to dwell there! To be with Christ and with God! All of that is possible!

All of that is promised! All of that may be appropriated by faith! And all of that can be reached, not by the way of purgatory, —a term unknown to Scripture—but by hearing the words of the great Apostle and employing the present—which is the great probation period—“Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation”.But ere I finish this discourse I must remark uponTHE PEOPLE OF THIS PROMISE They whose names “are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life”. Ah, what a company that will be! It will be a mighty company. Beloved! I like to think on the multitude of it. I never go into a company where a great many good people are gathered but it rejoices me to feel that God has His thousands in the earth. I believe one of the most inspiring scenes is that of an assembly of saints, where, as in our great conventions, thousands are gathered, every face radiant, hope big within their hearts, their hands consecrated to the service of the Holy God; their feet delighting to go on His errands; their very characters the product of His indwelling Spirit!But one day I shall behold a more blessed assembly, “A great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues”. And I shall see them stand “before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands”, and I shall hear their shouts, aye, blessed be God, I shall join in it with my whole voice—as that chorus rings through the Eternal City—“Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb”! Who shall make up that company? “They which are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life”. Is your name there? That is my final question tonight.Oh, beloved, God has His set of books also. Go back into this preceding chapter and listen to what the great Apostle saw when the books were opened —“Another Book was opened, which is the Book of Life”. There has always been a painful suggestion in that description to me—it took books to record the dead who “were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works”.But only “the Book of Life” to record the living. Oh, to settle the question as to whether one’s name shall be written in some of the books, or whether it shall be found in “the Book of Life”.You say, “How can I settle that?” Easily! “He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life”.Is Christ yours tonight, then you have life! If He is not yours, then death!

But, if, tonight, you will have Christ He will bring life with Him, and you will be begotten from the dead unto the living. How often I think of that hymn:“Lord, I care not for riches, Neither silver nor gold; I would make sure of Heaven, I would enter the fold; In the Book of Thy Kingdom, With its pages so fair, Tell me, Jesus, my Saviour, Is my name written there! “Lord, my sins they are many, Like the sands of the sea, But Thy Blood, O, my Saviour, Is sufficient for me; For Thy promise is written In bright letters that glow, ‘Tho’ your sins be as scarlet, I will make them like snow. “Oh! that beautiful city, With its mansions of light, With its glorified beings, In pure garments of white; Where no evil thing cometh To despoil what is fair; Where the angels are watching, Is my name written there? “Is my name written there, On the page white and fair? In the Book of Thy Kingdom, Is my name written there?”