It may just be so in our forecasts of the next life. In fact there is
more likelihood of the triumph of good over evil in the next life than
there could have been originally in this. And why? Because we know that
a ransom has not to be provided, but that it is provided. We also know
that it has been provided at a fearful cost, and we know that the glory
of God is to a large extent bound up in its success. Moreover, we know
that Christ is yet to see of the travail of His soul, and be satisfied.
And will anything less satisfy Him than the salvation of every one for
whom He died? He has said, too, that He will draw all men to Himself. It
is plain that He does not draw all men in this life; will He not then
draw them in the next life? Therefore I think it is not too much to say
that so far as we know, there does seem a greater probability of grace
triumphing over sin in the next life than there was antecedently in the
present life. What a door of hope is thus opened for our lost race!
I recall another passage of wonderful import in this connection. Our
Lord said: "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."
Now it is very dear that in thousands of cases those words are not
fulfilled in this life. There are atrociously wicked men who are not
beaten with any, not to say many, stripes. That was the Psalmist's
trouble. He saw that the ungodly prospered. He said that they were not
in trouble as other men, nor plagued as other men. He said that they had
more than heart could wish. Plainly, the threatening was not executed
upon them in the present life. If the words are to come true at all,
they must be fulfilled in the next life. It is one of many passages that
require our purview to be extended into the future life to understand
them. But if the words are to be fulfilled in the next life, must not
their fulfillment be conditioned on the theory of Restoration? Suppose
there is extinction at death. How could any stripes be laid on a man who
is extinct? Does not that consideration settle the idea of extinction?
And what about endless torment? Certainly many stripes are laid on the
man in endless torment. But what about the man who is to be beaten with
few stripes? Would it be possible to conceive of endless torment as
being only a few stripes? To be sure, there might be degrees of torment;
and the man in a mild degree of suffering would not suffer so much as
the man in an intense degree. But then, the suffering is to be for ever
and ever. It is to be an eternity of suffering. In that case, the
suffering might be reduced to the mildest form of discomfort; but as it
is to be eternal in duration, the sum total of it would be infinite.
Could any stretch of imagination conceive of such suffering being only a
few stripes? It does seem to me that both the theory of extinction, and
that of torment, utterly break down under that test.
But how natural and reasonable is the statement on the theory of
Restoration. In that case the words come literally true. We can well
believe that atrocious sinners have terrible pains and penalties before
they repent, and are redeemed. On the other hand, we can imagine that
sins of a milder type, especially sins of ignorance, will call for but
few stripes. We would go further, and believe that in the case of
advanced Christians, there will be only such suffering as is inseparable
from the discovery of mistakes, and consequent development.
In the case of all suffering, of whatever degree, we believe that it
will be rather of a reformatory, than of a punitive character. Suffering
may or may not be proportionate to sin. The idea is this, that, when it
has accomplished the reformation of the sinner it will cease.
Thus the statement of our Lord will find its due fulfillment. It is one
of many statements which can be explained only on the basis of its
application to the next life. But when we give such statements their
true application, they require no forcing to make them seem natural and
reasonable.
Further, I think it is fair to imagine, as we said before, that the
suffering induced by sin will be an object lesson to all eternity of the
evil of sin. Possibly it may be an infallible safeguard against sin in
every form. This would be an expansion of the principle that God brings
good out of evil; and it would be the grandest expansion of that
principle that we can conceive.
When we put all these considerations together, and when we add to them
the further consideration that God's love is from everlasting to
everlasting, we begin to see wonderful possibilities of redeeming grace.
* * * * *
Along the same line, take as an illustration the salvation of particular
individuals. We see what has been enacted in the case of a lost world.
Now take the case of one lost soul; and the matter may become a
little clearer.