IN Rev. 20, we are told of the resurrection of the righteous. They live and reign with Christ. “Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection; on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with. Him a thousand years.” But verse 5 tells us “the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished.” Thus we see that there are a thousand years between the resurrection of the righteous and the resurrection of the wicked, and that while the righteous live and reign with Christ in blessedness and glory, the wicked will still be in their graves.
But the wicked, too, must rise after the thousand years are finished; and oh, what a change in their case! No word of their being fashioned like Christ! no word of incorruption, blessedness, glory, or immortality! No, no, they come forth from their graves in all their vileness, and in all their sins, to stand before the great white throne, to be judged out of the things written in the books. The wicked dead, small and great, will all be there. The sea will give up its dead; death and the unseen world of departed spirits will give up their dead—a mighty throng of guilty rebels. All, all must stand before that awful bar of judgment. There they must meet the eyes of the Son of God—those eyes which are as a flame of fire. They must look in that face from which earth and heaven flee away—that face of light too bright for mortal eyes to gaze upon—and they must answer to Him for all their wickedness and rebellion. Oh, what a terrible position to be in!
Dear reader, may God grant that you may never have to stand in that place of judgment. But if you would escape it, you must submit to the Lord Jesus now. Oh! believe in Him, and confess His name.
“Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power.” No more death and no judgment for these. But for the wicked who stand in their sins and guilt before the great white throne, there is the second death. This is not the death that separates the soul from the body, but the death that separates the guilty sinner forever from the presence of God, from light and peace, and joy and blessedness. IT IS THE LAKE OF FIRE! Let Me give you one verse of Scripture which declares the portion of the wicked: “But the fearful and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone; which is the second death.” Rev. 21:88But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death. (Revelation 21:8).
Oh! who would not seek to escape from such an awful doom? Who would not flee from the wrath to come? Again I entreat you, dear young reader, do not wait a day longer without having the question of your salvation settled. Christ alone can save you from the doom of the wicked. Flee to Him at once, and you will find Him a shelter from the coming storm that will sweep the wicked into the lake of fire, from which they can never escape.
ML 12/20/1903