always be in the hospital. We are sure that he would die before he finished the category of diseases. However, a man who is a wise physician knows more about the disease than the patient does. He has learned it another way. People who go into sin have become mesmerized by Satan's wiles and have committed the worst sins without a full realization of their guilt. The deepest conviction of sin is that which comes through the teaching of God's Holy Spirit, revealing the pure white light of the Lord Jesus Christ. We know what black is when we see the white. God's method is by communion. He says; "I will guide thee with mine eye." "Be ye not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding, whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, lest they come near unto thee" (Ps. 32:8, 9). "Why do you always want to have a terribly hard time to learn the lessons? I want to teach you, I will teach you the lessons without having to put on the bit and bridle, if you will trust Me, but if you will not, you will have to learn by a sadder method." Let us consider the angels, all created equal. What would develop them morally and spiritually? Exercising the power of choice was one of the methods. What would they have to choose? Choose God and realize to some extent what it would be if they refused God and chose themselves. As they continued in this path their les sons would become more complex. All would progress, some more than others (errors of judgment are not sins), and those who made the greatest progress became the greatest angels, and those who made the least progress were the smaller angels. God is no respecter of persons, and He made them all equal at first. Those that appropriated more of God became stronger and stronger. In this way some of the angelic beings became greater than others and had positions nearer to God. They continued by communion and the power of choice, just as the Lord Jesus Christ was developed when He came down here-and how wonderful He became! One of the greatest was a good angel, he was not called "Satan" then, for Satan means "adversary." When Satan advanced he began feeling how great he was, he chose himself before God; and all those he influenced fell with him. God foresaw that-the disruption of His plan and the entrance of evil; and His marvelous power and wisdom were sufficient, and so He had the redemption prepared in the Lord Jesus Christ. We have seen something of Sin and its Cause and we know something of its Consequences, and the Cure is the Lord Jesus Christ. Evil in its nature was not eternal in the past, therefore it can not possibly be eternal in the future. XIII A SANE AND SCRIPTURAL DOCTRINE OF PUNISHMENT THE text, "Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap" (Gal. 6:7), contains many of the principles that obtain in a true doctrine of punishment. We will note some of these principles. The Certainty of Punishment. One of the elements that makes punishment effective is its certainty. If a man thinks that there is a chance for him to escape the punishment for wrong doing, he may take that chance. Every one needs to learn. that this law of certainty has no exceptions. There is no chance about it; what you sow, you reap. Every sin has its certain consequences. This is true even of the wrongdoer who thinks that he has escaped the working of this law. He is mistaken. The evil has already wrought damage to his character and one day its direful consequence will be manifest, unless divinely dealt with. Every offer of salvation; every presentation of more or new light; and every opportunity proffered, brings added responsibility. Every rejection increases guilt and multiplies the conse quences as a punishment. From this law there is no escape. When this principle of punishment is understood, it furnishes one of the strongest deterrents to evil doing and also to the rejection of light. The Measure of Punishment. The normal harvest exceeds by many fold the sowing. This is a wise provision in reference to punishment. The enjoyment or gain that comes through sin is very small in proportion to the evil consequences that naturally come to the one who so yields. This is one of the natural laws of the harvest. God means this law to cause men to halt and to cease from sin. Sin costs the sinner too dear, it cost God His Only Begotten Son. The Limitations of Punishment. The harvest is limited by the quantity and character of the seed. Punishment is graded in proportion to light and opportunity. The law of justice will obtain. Some will be "beaten with few stripes" and some with “many." "And that servant, which knew his lord's will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required; and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more" (Luke 12:47, 48). Punishment, as well as reward, is to be graded. A finite sin will have a finite punishment: nothing else would be justice. God Himself has set bounds to the consequences of evil, whereas to good there are practically no limitations. In the Commandments, given to Israel (Ex. 20:5, 6), we find written, "visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate Me; And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love Me, and keep My commandments." The reason for the advantages of the blessings of righteousness over wickedness, lies in the fact that the consequences of sin are under the laws of fallen nature, and that in righteousness God has introduced His eternal and unbounded nature that never fell. How low may erring souls descend? I ask my troubled heart. Only as deep as depth of sea, Or to earth's lowest part. How high may trusting souls aspire? The boundless steeps of heaven high O love of God, how great! how good! The Kinds of Punishment. "Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap," implies that the punishment will be of the same kind as the sins. |