There are certain preliminary facts which should be recognized in
the discussion of this subject:
1. That it shall be well with the righteous, and woe to the wicked
(Isa. 3:10, 11). That there is to be retribution for sin and a
reward for the righteous must be held to be beyond question, and
must be recognized as an unchangeable law. One cannot very well
meddle with that truth without serious danger. So long as a man
persistently, willingly and knowingly continues in his sin he must
suffer for it. That suffering the Bible calls eternal death.
2. We must recognize that much of the language of the Scripture
dealing with this condition is couched in figurative terms. But
the condition is none the less real because of that, for, generally
speaking, the reality is more severe than the figure in which it is
set forth. Yet we need caution here, and must distinguish between
the things that are stated in clear unmistakable language and those
that are set forth in words symbolic and figurative.
3. The disparity in the number of saved and lost. There is a danger
lest we should be unmindful of the problems connected with this
doctrine, such as that seeming fewness of the saved; the condition
of the heathen who have not had a chance to hear the Gospel; and
the difference in privilege and opportunity among those who live
in so-called Christian lands.
4. Prophecy vs. History. We must recognize that it is more difficult
to deal with facts which lie in the future than with those lying
in the past. Prophecy is always more difficult to deal with than
history. The past we may sketch in details, the future but in broad
outlines.
"Our treatment of themes that deal with the future must, in the
very nature of the case be very different than it would be were
we dealing with the things of the past. History and prophecy must
be handled differently. In dealing with the history of God's past
revelations--with the ages before the Advent, with the earthly
life and revelation of Jesus Christ, with the subsequent course
of God's providence in the Church--we are dealing with that which
has already been. It stands in concrete reality before us, and we
can reason from it as a thing known in its totality and its details.
But when the subject of revelation is that which is yet to be,
especially that which is yet to be under forms and conditions of
which we have no direct experience, the case is widely altered.
Here it is at most outlines that we can look for; and even these
outlines will be largely clothed in figure and symbol; the spiritual
kernel will seek material investiture to body itself forth; the
conditions of the future will require to be presented largely in
forms borrowed from known relations. The outstanding thoughts will
be sufficiently apparent, but the thoughts in which these thoughts
are cast will partake of metaphor and image."--_James Orr._