THE goal of the universe--what a theme for meditation! And surely there
are few, who have had time for mature reflection, that have not given thought to this
grand subject. And to whom have such questions as these not come?--Have I just happened?
or am I the partial fruition of some great design--a finite expression of an infinite
thought, atomic in proportions, yet divine in grand potentiality? If there be a Power not of
ourselves behind the phenomena of creation, have I a place in His purpose? Have I been
included in the wide sweep of His extensive plans? or am I of as little consequence to Him
as is the dust upon the chariot wheel, or the mote in the sunbeam's path? Such is the
problem as it affects the individual; and full evidence of its universal interest may be
found in the never-ceasing attempt to dissolve those mysteries which hide its solution
from the eyes of men. "When we rise from the problem as it affects the individual
to the problem in its relation to the race, the sheer immensity of the question stuns us.
The mere thought of an ocean of souls sweeping with unceasing flow over the falls of
death, makes us realize how impotent we are to find a solution of the enigma through a
mere process of logic" (Excerpts from All in All).
Meditating upon the great question, Sir Robert Anderson thus presents the problem to
himself in his Human Destiny:
"According to the most careful estimate, the population of the world exceeds one
thousand and four hundred millions. Not one-third of these are Christians even in
name; and of this small minority how few there are whose lives give proof that they are
traveling heavenward! And what is the destiny of all the rest? Any estimate of their
number must be inaccurate and fanciful; and accuracy, if attainable, would be practically
useless. As a matter of arithmetic it is as easy to deal with millions as with tens; but
when we come to realize that every unit is a human being, with a little world of joys and
sorrows all his own, and an unbounded capacity for happiness or misery, the mind is
utterly paralyzed by the effort to realize the problem.
"And these fourteen hundred millions are but a single wave of the great
tide of human life that breaks, generation after generation, upon the shore of the unknown
world. What future then awaits these untold myriads of millions of mankind? Most of us
have been trained in the belief that their portion is an existence of endless, hopeless
torment. But few there are, surely, who have carried this belief to middle-age
unchallenged. Sometimes it is the vastness of the numbers whose fate is involved that
startles us into skepticism. Some times it is memory of friends now gone, who lived and
died impenitent. As we think of an eternity in which they `shall be tormented day and
night forever and ever,' the mind grows weary and the heart grows sick, and we turn to ask
ourselves, Is not God infinite in love? Is not the great Atonement infinite in value? Is
it credible then that such a future is to be the sequel to a brief and sorely tempted life
of sin? Is it credible that for all eternity--the eternity in which the triumph of the
Cross shall be complete, and God shall be `All in all'-- there shall still remain an
underworld of seething sin and misery and horrors?" So far Sir Robert.
But thanks be to our heavenly Father for not leaving us to the heart sickening
uncertainty of questioning theologians or the labored speculations of philosophers
concerning this grand subject. God has graciously revealed His glorious purpose of the
eons in His blessed word giving us full assurance in all His will concerning the Goal of
the Universe. We quote from All in All.
"It lifts the veil between things present and things to come without the slightest
vestige of that timidity which naturally springs from uncertainty of mind. It pushes
materialism aside as being nothing but the weird fancy of disordered brains and callous
hearts, shows that man is more than a product of blind forces with an origin in the
unknown and a destiny in chaos, and instead traces his genesis to the God of love which
knows no ending, a patience which never wearies, and a wisdom able to overcome every
obstacle with which rebellious wills would seek to thwart His purpose of grace. It
declares that this earth is not a whirling speck of matter severed from all other spheres
of being, but rather that its past and future are intimately linked with the history and
destiny of all other worlds, and that instead of its being--like a straw in a
whirlwind--the sport of gigantic forces, it is guided on its onward course by the finger
of God to a place of government and rule in the reconstruction of the universe. Nor must
we imagine that the plans of the Creator include merely the majority of men, for the God
of the surplus sparrow will have no ultimate `waste' in the fulfillment of His will...
"If a belief does not harmonize in full with the teaching of the Scripture, and
the revealed character of God, or if it emphasizes one of God's attributes so as to
exaggerate it over His other perfections, then it must be more or less untrue. In reading
a poem, if there is not a perfect balance maintained between the different lines, we
become aware of its imperfection, of the lack of rhythm which it betrays, and we know that
the metre has been thrown out of balance either by the presence of a superfluous syllable,
or the absence of a necessary one. God is the great Poem of the Universe, and His ways are
but the poetry of His attributes in their activity. When, therefore, we seek to translate
His ways into the terms of doctrinal statements, and our translation betrays a lack of
poise and balance belonging to His perfections, we know that such a lack of harmony owes
its existence to our having put into our statements something that should have been left
out, or having left out something we should have put in.
"In studying the theories of human destiny, instead of finding this symmetry and
balance in them, we find the reverse; and, as this doctrine does not stand alone but is
intimately connected with such vital subjects as salvation, conciliation, and
reconciliation, etc., we are not surprised to find that incongruity here has transmitted
itself to these other articles of faith. And we may consequently expect that clearness of
vision in one of these doctrines must exert a clarifying influence on our views in regard
to those other subjects....
"The three great theories of human destiny may consequently be described as three
great exaggerations. The Augustinian exaggerates the duration of punishment. The
Annihilationist exaggerates the nature of punishment. And the Universalist
exaggerates certain elements in the nature of God. Each and all of these
views amply illustrate what we referred to as being `mistranslations of the divine
perfections in the terms of our doctrinal statements.' The final truth we must look for
elsewhere, satisfied that when found it will combine the truth common to all, while
eliminating the error attached to each.
"We may talk and write as we please concerning the Creator's right to do as He
pleases with those whom He creates; but we must not forget that the will of God is not
something which can be understood apart from the nature of God. `Show me Thy glory,' was
Moses' plea, and God revealed it to him in the statement of His power and freedom to
confer forgiveness upon erring creatures. God is not experimenting in human life. He does
not adventure at the creature's risk. He does not gamble on chance, or trust to a lucky
turn of the wheel of life to bring a possible handful of His creatures back to Himself. In
order to save one soul He is not compelled, by some hideous necessity, to doom a hundred.
When His purpose in human life is completed, no debris will remain to mar the finished
perfection of His work. The circle of human freedom is itself enclosed within the larger
circle of the divine decrees. `Known unto God are all His works.' Sin's entrance into the
universe was no accident, nor did it take the Almighty by surprise. God knew what it would
do when He allowed it to enter; and when sin finally vacates the scene it will do so
defeated in every particular, not even a partial victor over any that God brought into
existence for Himself. Sin will not remain in the universe, either as wielding the lash of
endless torment, or holding the scepter of endless death. Death itself shall die, and
destruction be itself destroyed. That such a glorious end is to be the grand climax of
eonian times, it is now our province to show from the store house of God's revealed
truth" (Excerpts from All in All).
And those who have followed the unfolding of God's Eonian Purpose conscientiously to
this concluding study, are prepared to enter into the precious heart-satisfying truth of
the glorious consummation which the great omnipotent God of love had in view from
the beginning. But for emphasis, let us first refresh our memory of the fundamental
evidences gathered from God's word in Chapter III--The Beginning of Creation.
THE BEGINNING OF ALL THINGS
Our God and Father has been pleased to leave us in no doubt or uncertainty as to how it
all began, but in clear, unequivocal language stated the Source and Goal of all things for
our assurance and joy. Let us read it:
We are aware that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is no other God
except One. For even if so be that there are those being termed gods, whether in
heaven or on earth, even as there are many gods and many lords, nevertheless to us there
is one God, the Father, out of Whom all is, and we for Him, and one Lord, Jesus
Christ, through Whom all is, and we, through Him (1 Cor.8:4-7).
O, the depth of the riches and of the wisdom and of the knowledge of God! How
inscrutable are His judgments, and untraceable His ways! For who knew the mind of the
Lord? or who became His adviser? or who gives to Him first, and will be repaid by Him?
seeing that all is out of Him and through Him and for Him: to Him be
glory for the eons! Amen! (Rom.11:33-36).
Assured by the Scriptures that there is One God, the Father, out of Whom all is,
the question of the source of all things is settled to a finality. And regardless
of how far backward we may carry our thoughts, the omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient
God, the Father, is there. And whatever else had a beginning, He had none, for all is
out of Him.
GOD'S CREATIVE ORIGINAL
God Himself, though present and powerful, being spirit, is invisible, intangible,
imperceptible, and of necessity must have an Image to reveal Him to His creatures.
Concerning this it is written that Christ is "the Amen, the Faithful and True
Witness, and God's creative Original" (Rev.3:14), "the Son of His love,... the
Image of the Invisible God, Firstborn of every creature" (Col.1:14,15). Being the
Image of the invisible God, the Son of His bosom, He reveals the Father in all His love
and glory (Heb. 1:3).
GOD'S EONIAN PURPOSE
We also learned that God's purpose of the eons was made in Christ Jesus
(Eph.3:8-12; Heb.1:2), and that He, being creation's Firstborn, the Effulgence of God's
glory and the Emblem of His assumption, is the Beloved of the Father's bosom and the
Enjoyer of the allotment of the universe, which He is carrying on by His own powerful
declaration (Col.1:14-20; Heb.1:2,3; John 3:35; 1 Cor.15:27).
THE DISRUPTION OF THE WORLD
Considering the creation of the heavens and the earth--the universe--fresh from the
hands of the Creator in all its primeval glory, God being all-wise and omnipotent, the
question forces itself upon us: From whence came sin and evil? Why did God permit them to
enter creation? Why the disruption of the primeval world?
These are legitimate questions, and it is only as we seek to know the true purpose
of the eons which God made in Christ Jesus our Lord as revealed in the Scriptures, that we
will be enabled to give an adequate and satisfactory answer to them.
As said before, we emphasize again, that sin and evil did not come into the universe by
accident. They have an essential, though transient part in God's purpose, and He made
ample preparation for them long before they were ever allowed to enter. This we have
verified by the following Scriptures:
Christ,...a flawless and unspotted Lamb, foreknown, indeed, before the disruption of
the world (1 Peter 1:19,20).
...the Lambkin Which has been slain from the disruption of the world (Rev.13:8).
Here we are divinely informed that Christ, in the purpose of God, was a flawless and
unspotted Lamb, foreknown, indeed, before, and slain from the disruption
of the world, when sin and evil entered. See Divine Calendar chart.
Thus we may apprehend that creation in all its perfection and glory may reveal some of
God's power and wisdom, but His love can be displayed only where sin has
sown the seeds of hate. There could be no Saviour apart from sin. There could be no
reconciliation apart from enmity.
A perfect universe where creatures have no need of God and His gracious administration,
might show forth glory and power and wisdom, but the lack of responsive love, would
make it cold and pulseless. Hence, if God is to have the deep satisfaction of requited
love from creatures who know the precious sense of fatherly affection, there must be
distance, distress and condemnation, to form the field for the exercise of His favor. In
no other way could He taste the sweet response of love from His creatures.
This is the wherefore of the eons which God made in Christ Jesus our
Lord. Before the eons, there was no sin, nor evil, nor condemnation, nor death, nor
misery. And, when the eons have been finished, all these things will be gone, for, at the
consummation, death will be abolished, sin repudiated and all reconciled in perfect
harmony, love and bliss. The eons present the time periods during which God effects His
grand purpose-- attuning all His creatures to Him and each other in responsive love that
will find expression in a universal reverberation of praise for all eternity.
Having considered sin and evil in its relation to the disruption, we now note its
entrance into the world of mankind. It is here that we may more clearly apprehend the
purpose which it has been divinely ordained to serve in the eonian times.
THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD
After the great disruption, God restores the earth for the habitation of mankind. And
with the creation of man, He makes a garden of delights--a paradise--and places man in its
midst. Good lay all about, unmixed with evil. Health, strength, honor, glory, and
companionship with one another and God were the constant possession and privilege of Adam
and Eve. Yet they knew nothing of the blessedness of all these boons. This we may learn by
careful attention to God's word. To most minds, the tree of which Adam was forbidden to
eat, was evil. Yet first and foremost, it was the tree of the knowledge of good.
Thus we find at the very forefront of revelation, the principle suggested which is the
key to unlock the great problems that perplex us most. It is this: All knowledge is
relative: it is based on contrast. The knowledge of good is dependent upon the knowledge
of evil. Hence the tree in the garden was not, as we usually think of it, merely the means
of knowing evil, but primarily the knowledge of good.
SIN AND DEATH
When Adam was placed in the garden, Jehovah God declared a law, concerning the tree of
the knowledge of good and evil, saying:
The day you eat thereof, to die you are dying (Gen.2:17).
This brings us face to face with the question of the penalty of sin, concerning which a
tremendous amount of confusion reigns. But God's word, in its purity, is clear and
explicit. It is death. Not "Adamic death" nor "physical
death"--terms which the Scriptures do not use--but simply death in the
scriptural sense: a complete state of dissolution and unconsciousness until the
resurrection.
The Scriptures repeatedly affirm that death is sin's penalty, a few of which we
will consider:
The soul that sinneth, it shall die (Ezek.18:4).
Through one man sin entered into the world, and through sin death, and thus
death came through into all mankind, on which all sinned ...(Rom.5:12).
Sin reigns in death (Rom.5:20).
The ration [wages] of sin is death. (Rom.6:23).
Now sin, fully consummated, is teeming forth death (James 1:15).
There is a sin to death (1 John 5:16).
These Scriptures plainly and emphatically say that death is the ration, wages,
consummation of sin. They picture sin as a tyrannical monarch reigning in death.
THE PURPOSE OF CHRIST'S MANIFESTATION
Failing to follow the Scriptures at all times on all things pertaining to God's Eonian
Purpose, many have been led away from the glorious light of the truth concerning the Goal
of the Universe. But, apprehending at the very beginning of revelation that sin and
death have a transient part in God's purpose of the eons, we are enabled to enter
into the blessed realization of the purpose of Christ's manifestation.
As there could be no Saviour apart from sin; and no reconciliation apart from enmity;
therefore, sin was a necessary prelude to salvation, and estrangement must precede
reconciliation, and it is through these that God's heart could be bared and His affections
shared by all His creatures. But the office of sin and estrangement is not effected until
they are annulled and replaced by righteousness and peace. So we learn the purpose
for which the Son of God was manifested was to undo what the Slanderer had done.
Let us grasp the fullness of the Scriptures relative to this truth:
For this was the Son of God manifested, that He should be annulling the acts of the
Slanderer (1 John 3:8).
Since, then, the little children have participated in blood and flesh, He also
was very nigh in partaking of the same, that, through death, He should be abolishing
him who has the control of death, that is, the Slanderer, and should be clearing those
whoever, in fear of death, were through their entire life liable to slavery (Heb.2:14,15).
...yet now, once, has He been manifested through His sacrifice, for the repudiation
of sin at the conclusion of the eons (Heb. 9:26).
...yet now is manifested through the advent of our Saviour, Christ Jesus, Who indeed, abolishes
death, yet illuminates life and incorruption through the evangel (2 Tim.1:10).
The last enemy which is abolished is death (1 Cor.15:26).
With these wonderful Scriptures before us, we can plainly see that as long as death
holds one individual in its embrace, the monarch Sin will still be reigning,
and the purpose for which Christ was manifested in His sacrifice has not
been accomplished!
THE GOSPEL OF THE GLORY OF CHRIST
How little men realize the odious violence they have perpetrated on the evangel of the
glory of Christ by their traditional teachings which limit His work and rob
Him of the glory which He accomplished on the cross! According to the Scriptures, Christ will
save all, and must save all, or His mission and sacrifice is a failure!
And this is the evangel of the glory of Christ, as it is written:
Yet we are observing Jesus, having been made some whit inferior to messengers (because
of the suffering of death), wreathed with glory and honor, so that He should, by the grace
of God, be tasting death for the sake of all (Heb.2:9).
Again we read in Romans 5:18,19:
Consequently then, as it
was through one offense
for all mankind for
condemnation, |
thus also |
it is through one just
award for all mankind for
life's justifying. |
For even as through the
disobedience of the one
man the many were
constituted sinners, |
thus also |
through the obedience of
the One the many shall
be constituted just. |
These Scriptures place the matter beyond the denial that Christ's one
righteous act is the basis upon which all mankind will yet be freed from every
effect of Adam's offense. Truly God locks up all in stubbornness that He might he
merciful to all (Rom.11:32). He creates the conditions in which He can reveal His
love to His creatures, and when the eons are finished, all will be united to Him in
responsive love and bliss that could be possible under no other circumstances.
CORRESPONDENT RANSOM FOR ALL
Another glorious truth given through Paul is the correspondent ransom for all. This
truth is ignored and repudiated by orthodox theology, while some seize upon it as a lash
for others who do not hold their particular form of teaching, yet at the same time are
guilty of denying all the essential facts connected with it. Our endeavor is to be
consistent with all of God's word, yet we are especially strong in our belief in the
correspondent ransom for all, as it is written:
For there is one God, and one Mediator of God and mankind, a Man, Christ
Jesus, the One giving Himself a correspondent Ransom for all....(1 Tim.2:5,6).
This Scripture is clear and explicit that Christ is a Man, and the One
Mediator of God and mankind, and is giving Himself, a correspondent ransom for
all. Reverence for God's word and faith will take this just as God has been pleased to
state it, and repudiate all human philosophy concerning it.
WHAT IS THE WILL OF GOD?
For this is ideal and welcome before God our Saviour, Who wills all mankind to be
saved and to come into a realization of the truth (1 Tim.2:3,4).
As God is operating the universe in accord with the counsel of His will
(Eph.1:11), and He wills (not merely is willing) all mankind to be saved,
the matter is settled-- all mankind will be saved. It is here again that the
question is settled through faith, not theology.
But we have other Scriptures that add further weight to these already considered. There
is 1 Timothy 4:9-10:
Faithful is the saying and worthy of all welcome (for for this are we toiling and being
reproached), that we rely on the living God, Who is the Saviour of all mankind,
especially of those who believe.
Here is a truth that we are commanded to charge and teach. God is the Saviour of all
mankind, especially of those who believe. This is a salvation within a salvation.
Salvation is for all at the consummation, when Christ's work at Golgotha will be
realized in the abolition of death, repudiating sin and making all alive. Those who believe
have the especial salvation--life for the eons of the eons--before the
consummation. Thus can we see the significance of Christ's statement:
And I, if I should be exalted out of the earth, shall be drawing all to Myself
(John 12:32).
Contrary to the conventional idea that this speaks of men "lifting up Christ in
preaching," thereby limiting the grand work of His sacrifice, the verse immediately
following states that He signified by what death He was about to be dying.
Therefore, Christ was exalted out of the earth on Golgotha's tree, and shall yet draw
all to Himself.
Thus we have unequivocal evidence in the word of truth that Christ came to abolish the
works of the Slanderer, the crowning one of which is death. He by the grace of God, tasted
death for the sake of all, that He might abolish death and bring life and
incorruption to light through the evangel; for God wills all mankind to be saved,
and He is the Saviour of all mankind.
This opens the way for our consideration of the order in which God's Eonian Purpose--to
be All in all--is to be accomplished. Remembering that
...even as through one man sin entered into the world, and through sin death, and thus
death came through into all mankind, on which all sinned... (Rom.5:12).
We are also assured that
For since, in fact, death is through a man, resurrection of the dead is
through a Man also. For, even as, in Adam, all are dying, thus, in Christ also, all
shall be made alive (1 Cor.15: 21,22).
Realizing "the tremendous issues involved we are moved to give the original text
as well as a strictly consistent sublinear translation so arranged as to show the balance
of the argument. This text and sublinear is from the Concordant Version of the Sacred
Scriptures in which each word is translated consistently as far as English will allow.
"The thoughts are grouped on the page so as to enforce the literary form which
will enable us to grasp the argument more readily as well as the vital relation of each
thought to the whole and its companion passage. The three, classes of those who are made
alive are each given a separate line. The description of the consummation is
shown to be an epanodos, or reversal, as is indicated by the vertical lines
connected by dots, in which the handing over of the kingdom is shown to be equivalent to
the subordination of the Son; the abolition of all mediate rule with the
subordination of all; the reign until all is beneath His feet is repeated in the
subordination of all beneath His feet. But the center and core of the consummation, as it
relates to the resurrection (or rather, making alive), lies in the statement that
`the last enemy to vanish is Death.' This explains why the consummation is spoken
of as though it were the third class of those made alive. This explains how
it is that all shall be made alive. There is no need of defining who are included
in the last class, for it is already certified in the `all,' and is further
substantiated in the abolition of the death state. Whatever we hold as to the nature of
the death state, we should let this truth sink deep into our hearts: Death is to be
abolished. Let those who are accustomed to the thought that it is merely meant to
indicate the cessation of the act of dying (for which the Greek has a different
expression) substitute that thought and see what place it can possibly have in the
apostle's argument. What connection has it first of all, with the thought of `making
alive?' How does it prove that all are to be made alive? How can it refer to a
distinct class from those who have been previously raised? The argument demands the
abolition of the death state and will not be satisfied without it."
THE UNIVERSALITY OF THE RESURRECTION
For since, in fact, death is through a man, resurrection of the dead is through a Man,
also (1 Cor.15:21).
"Death, as it is in the universe today, was channeled through mankind. Not only
did it come through Adam to his posterity, but its dark stream overflowed to the creatures
below as well as the creatures above. This truth helps to restore the primitive reading of
Hebrews 2:9, which tells us that Christ tasted death for all, apart from God. Not
all men merely, but all. So mankind does not only endure death itself, but channels
it to all the universe.
"And the converse is just as true. Resurrection comes through mankind, for
Christ was raised as a Man. But it will not stop with mankind, but, with a scope as wide
as death, it will embrace the universe. The Corinthians denied the resurrection of any;
the apostle insists on the resurrection of all!
"Death was introduced into the universe by a man; and resurrection likewise is
brought to all by a Man. For as in Adam all are dying, thus also in Christ shall all
be made alive. It is instructive to notice that it is not said that all shall be raised,
though that will be fulfilled at the judgment of the great white throne. They are made
alive, as we shall see, at the consummation. But the main point to be insisted on here
is its universality in both cases. In Adam all are dying. Thus all
shall be made alive in Christ. This has been met by the contention that only those `in
Christ' are meant. But the passage conveys that force without the addition of `all' and it
would be quite redundant.
THREE CLASSES IN VIVIFICATION
"Three classes are made alive. These are:
I. Christ the Firstfruit (in the past).
II. Those who are Christ's (at His presence).
III. The balance of mankind (at the consummation).
"This is the `explanation' of `as in Adam all are dying, thus, in Christ
also, shall all be made alive.' But when will this occur? Even as there are three
classes so also there are three distinct times when they will be made alive.
Christ has already been raised to die no more. Others have been raised, as Lazarus, and
the widow's son, and Jairus' daughter, and the son of the Shunammite (2 Kings 4:35), and
the widow of Zarephath (1 Kings 17:22), but the resurrections here alluded to are not of
this character. Many arose after His resurrection, but they are not counted here because,
in the strict sense of the word, they were not `made alive' beyond the reach of death. If
some should say that `it is appointed unto men once to die...' we only need remind
them of the fact that this word `once' is followed by `and twice' in two of its
occurrences (Phil.4:16; 1 Thess.2:18), and that the very term `second death' denies
it. Those who are Christ's are to be raised `at His presence.' This term parousia
is no special term to denote a particular event connected with His coming. As here, it
denotes simply His being present. It includes our out-resurrection and the spoiling of
Israel's tombs as well. All who are Christ's are then raised to die no more.
"Death is death, whether it is the first or second death. To imagine that the
abolition of the death state results in the lake of fire, which is the second death,
is an outrage on God's revelation. Why should the second death not be death as well
as the first? Was the second watch (Luke 12:38) not a watch at all? Or the second
sign (John 4:54)? And was not the Lord a Man because He is the Second Man (1 Cor.15:47)?
So also is the second death, death.
"Besides, after the first death has been cast into the lake of fire, which is the
second death, what death is left to be discarded? At the consummation, when this takes
place, the only death which can be abolished is the second death. Instead of this
passage referring exclusively to the first death, it has no bearing upon it at all. It
refers only and exclusively to the second.
"The next resurrection is at the judgment of the great white throne. But it is not
even alluded to here because, as in the cases already adduced, those who appear before its
awful light shall not live, but die the second death. When, then, is the third class `made
alive?' At the consummation, for then the death state itself is abolished, making
it clear that `in Christ all shall be made alive.'" (Excerpts from All in All)
Now for concluding evidence on all this, we correlate three Scriptures that should be
final to all truth lovers. They read:
...yet now, once, has He been manifested through His sacrifice, for the repudiation
of sin at the conclusion of the eons (Heb. 9:26).
Sin reigns in death (Rom.5:21).
The last enemy which is abolished is death (1 Cor.15:26).
Christ was manifested in His sacrifice for the repudiation of sin at the
conclusion of the eons. Sin reigns in death therefore, with the abolition of death
at the consummation, as the last enemy, sin will be repudiated, all made alive in Christ,
and the glorious work of His cross accomplished.
THE GREAT ABDICATION
Oft have we read of the abdication, of earthly monarchs-- some because of
ill-health and bodily weakness, some because of misrule, and others through lack of power
to hold the obedience and loyalty of their subjects. But at the consummation of God's
Eonian Purpose we read of a glorious abdication the like of which has never been
entertained by any of earth's monarchs. Think of a reign so beneficent that all is brought
to such a state of perfection, that the need of the restraints of government vanishes. And
so will it be in the final eon of the administration of the complement of the eras, when
the whole universe is headed up in the Christ--in the heavens as well as on the earth
(Eph.1:10,11). Then, reigning as the Son of the Father's love until all, whether on the
earth or in the heavens, are reconciled unto God through the peace made in the
blood of His cross (Col.1:14-20), the blessed fruition of His exaltation on Golgotha's
cross will be realized. Every knee having bowed, celestial and terrestrial and
subterranean, and every tongue having acclaimed Jesus Christ as Lord for the glory of God,
the Father (Phil.2:5-11), then will come the great abdication, according as it is
written:
Thereafter the consummation, whenever He may give up the kingdom to God, even
the Father, whenever He should be abrogating all sovereignty and all authority and
power. For He must be reigning until He should be placing all His enemies under His feet. The
last enemy which is abolished is death. For He subjects all under His feet. Now
whenever He may be saying that all has been subjected, it is evident that it is outside of
Him Who is subjecting the universe to Him. Now, whenever the universe may be subject to
Him, then the Son Himself also shall be subject to Him Who subjects the universe to Him,
that GOD MAY BE ALL IN ALL (1 Cor.15:24-28).
Before ever a creative fiat went forth, the transcendental purpose was, that God should
be All in all. Not all in some; not much in all, but All in all. Is it any wonder
if the eyes of faith at times have blinked when called upon to gaze upon that wondrous
Goal of the Universe?
God is all in Christ now. He will be all in His saints when we are made alive, at His
presence. He will be All in all when death is abolished at the consummation. And God will
have it all; He has written it all; and He meant to write all, and
not a weaker word. Nay, and those who have faith to take Him at His word will have it God
All in all.
What a marvelous outcome of God's purpose! What a Christ we have, Who can accomplish
such a complete reconciliation! All creatures reconciled to the great God of love, in the
kingdom of the Father, to which there is no consummation. This is the Goal of the
Universe!
