remains when the kingdom of God comes, but it breaks in pieces and consumes
them all, and then it becomes a great mountain and fills the whole earth, and
stands forever.
The kingdom of God is to smite the nations that are now upon the earth.
These are to be broken to pieces. In the days of these kingdoms it is that "the
God of Heaven" shall set up this kingdom. Therefore in closing this sketch of the
history foreshown in the prophecy by the great image, we can only use the words
of the prophet of God as he stood before King Nebuchadnezzar in the pleasant
palace of Babylon, two thousand four hundred and eighty-nine years ago; and we
can use it with as much assurance as he, for it is the word of God. "Forasmuch
as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and
that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the
great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter; and
the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure." Dan. 2:45. J.
"Bible Answers to Bible Questions Concerning Man.–No. 7" The
Signs of the Times 13, 1 , p. 7.
ANOTHER question which we wish to notice is this: "What shall the end be of
them that obey not the gospel of God?" 1 Pet. 4:17. The Bible answer to this, its
own question, is: "They are the enemies of the cross of Christ; whose end is
destruction." Phil. 3:18, 19. "Them that know not God, and that obey not the
gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, . . . shall be punished with everlasting
destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power." 2
Thess. 1:8, 9. Peter also tells of the "perdition of ungodly men." 2 Pet. 3:7.
Perdition is defined to be "utter destruction." There would not be space in an
article of reasonable length to quote the bare texts without note or comment, that
destruction is the end of them that obey not the gospel of God. We can only give
some indication of the evidence on this point by a summary. Nineteen times the
word of God says they shall be "destroyed;" seven times it says they shall go to
"perdition;" thirty-four times it says they shall "die," and this with reference alone
to the second death; twenty times it says they shall "perish;" eight times it says
they shall be "consumed;" four times it says they shall be "devoured;" seven
times it says they shall come to an end; ten times it says they shall be burned up
or "utterly burned;" three times it says they shall be as nothing; once it says "the
wicked shall not be; yea thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it shall not
be." Psalms [sic.] 37:10.
Now when the Scripture says so plainly and so repeatedly that the wicked
shall be destroyed, and utterly destroyed; that they shall die, perish, be
consumed, devoured, come to an end, be burned up, shall come to nothing, and
shall not be, and that there will be no place for him if he should be; then how can
the idea of eternal torment be true? If those words of the Scripture do not show
that the wicked shall perish, that he shall come cease to exist, then what do they
mean? If these Scriptures do not show that the wicked shall cease to exist, then
how could God make known such a thing if he wanted to tell to men that the
wicked should perish and should not be?