gins. There will be no "day and night” in eternity. The suffering lasts only while there is "day and night" (Rev. 20:10).

There is another phrase that may throw further light upon this great theme and that is "the second death," "in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death."

The Second Death implies that there must be a first death. The first death is what is usually called a physical death. The second death that a Christian has to endure is the death of the selflife (Gal. 2:20; Rom. 6:6). To be a real overcomer we must trust the Lord that our self-life was "crucified with Christ." Only those who have had this second death wrought in them will "not be hurt of the second death" (Rev. 2:11). Practically all those who are condemned to the Lake of Fire have endured the first death; but the self-life has been untouched or so hardened as to have kept them, up to that time, from yielding to the grace of Christ.

In the cross of Christ there was provision for the first death (Col. 2:20), "Dead with Christ from the rudiments (or elements) of the world." Also Gal. 6:14, "The cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, whereby the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world." Besides this elemental death, there is a spiritual death of self that has to be wrought. This is all provided for in the cross of Christ. Man fell at least into two conditions

or stages, and in his redemption he has to retrace these two stages, to return to the plane upon which he was originally created. The cross of Christ will deliver from both the first and the second death.

Sin develops till it slays the Son of man. In slaying Him, it reaches its fulness of iniquity, the crime of the universe. Sin always aims to kill the Christ, the Life and Light, and in the death of Christ it attained its object; but by so doing, it potentially slew itself, for by death Christ conquered him who had the power of death, even the devil (Heb. 2:14). So then the death of Christ slew death. "For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil" (1 John 3:8). "The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death" (1 Cor. 15:26). Then there will be a universe without death; then there will be no first death nor second death; then all things will have been made new; then the Son will hand over a finished work to the Father.

This world is especially concerned with the forces of good and the forces of evil, and is the seed plot of the universe. It was the place where our Lord was born and died, where He is to come again and reap the fruits of His victory on the Cross. This world has been the theater for the heading up of evil and its final overthrow, so, not only is this world the seed plot, but also the greatest battlefield in the universe.

1

We do not know the location of the Lake of Fire but it might be on this earth; if it is to be here, Babylon and its region would be the most likely quarter. The smoke of Babylon ascends for the ages of the ages and also the smoke of the Lake of Fire. Rev. 19:3,"And her (Babylon) smoke rose up for the ages of the ages" (literal). Rev. 14: 11, "The smoke of their torment ascendeth for the ages of the ages" (literal).

Isa. 34:9, 10 indicates that the land of the Lord's enemies will become lands burning with fire and brimstone. The whole description harmonizes with the judgments on Babylon, for this same Babylon has been the center of defection from God from the earliest times. In Rev. 9:14, the voice from the golden altar bids the angel "Loose the four angels which are bound in (or at) the great river Euphrates." Rev. 16:12-14 tells of a vial of wrath poured upon the great river Euphrates, and evil spirits were released. This place of the special detention of evil angels and evil spirits might be a location of sufficient spiritual manifestation to punish and purify spiritual beings. "And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird" (Rev. 18:2). It will also have enough of natural location and characteristics for the beast and the false prophet to

be cast into it “alive” (Rev. 19:20). Wherever it is, even this place will yield to the renewing work of Him who makes "all things new" (Rev. 21:5; Acts 3:21; Rom. 8:19-21). The divine purification will be complete. Those confined in the Lake of Fire are not saved by their suffering, but plowed and harrowed by it, or punished and judged till willing for all of Christ and none of self.

Christ becomes "all and in all,” that God "may be all in all.”

XII

THE PROBLEM OF EVIL

We know that God is good and we know that everything that God does is good; but the fact is, in this universe created by God, we find evil. We read in the Word of God that "A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit." How then could evil ever enter if God is good and if God made everything? It does not fully answer the question by saying, "An enemy hath done this," for then the natural question arises, "Who made the enemy?"

There are those who hold that there was a necessity of evil's entering for the developing and perfecting of free moral agents, that unless there is such a contest there would be no developing of strength. If evil is absolutely necessary, then evil must have had an eternal beginning; and evil would be necessary in God, so that He could be His best and His unfallen creatures become their very best. In consequence of this line of reasoning, some of the old divines held the necessity of both good and evil ever existing and contending. Augustine, before he was thoroughly converted, held such a conception and some of it seemed to