“The Son of man shall send forth His angels, and they shall gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; and shall cast them into a furnace of fire.” Matt. 13:41, 42.
Note.—Satan and the wicked now have this world as their “place.” In due time Christ will have it. He will cleanse it from sin and sinners, and restore it, that He may give it to the saints of the Most High for an everlasting possession. See Dan. 7:18, 22, 27.
19. When are the wicked dead to be raised to receive their final punishment?
“But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished.” Rev. 20:5.
20. Whence will come the fire that will destroy them?
“And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed [pg 522] the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.” Verse 9.
Note.—This is called God's “strange act” and His “strange work,”—the work of destruction. Isa. 28:21. But by this means God will once and forever cleanse the universe of sin and all its sad results. Death itself will then be at an end—cast into the lake of fire. Rev. 20:14.
21. To what will this fire reduce the wicked?
“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.” Mal. 4:3.
Note.—The wicked are to be utterly destroyed—consumed away into smoke, brought to ashes. Having inseparably allied themselves with sin, they have forfeited the right to life and an immortal existence, and chosen the way of death and destruction. By their choice they have proved themselves worthless. For this reason they are compared to chaff, briers, thorns, etc. Their destruction will consequently be no real loss. They will themselves have lost their opportunity to obtain eternal life; but by the way in which they used their probationary time they proved themselves unworthy of it. Their destruction will, in fact, be an act of love and mercy on the part of God; for to perpetuate their lives would only be to perpetuate sin, sorrow, suffering, and misery. Terrible, therefore, as this judgment will be, there will, in consequence of it, be nothing of value lost,—nothing lost worth saving. The experiment of sin will be over, and God's original plan of peopling the earth with a race of holy, happy beings will be carried out. 2 Peter 3:13.