Читать книгу The Second Death and the Restitution of All Things - Andrew Jukes - Страница 12

him sell his garment and buy one;”¹ and again, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up;”² and again, “He that eateth me shall live by me;”¹ and again, “Our friend Lazarus sleepeth;”² all of which were misunderstood by not a few of those who first heard these words from Christ's own mouth; — knowing too that the words of Holy Scripture, in many places where they seem contradictory, and in its “dark sayings,”³ and “things hard to be understood,”⁴ ever cover some deep and blessed mystery, I see that the question is, not what this or that text, taken by itself or in the letter, seems to say at first sight, but rather what is the mind of God, and what the real meaning in His Word of any apparent inconsistency. If I err in attempting to answer this, my error will, I trust, provoke some better exposition of God's truth. If what I see is truth, like His coming who was the Truth, it must bring glory to God on high and on earth peace and good will to men.

What then does Scripture say on this subject? Its testimony appears at first sight contradictory. Not only is there on the one hand law, condemning all, while on the other hand there is the gospel, with good news for every one; but further there are direct statements as to the results of these, which at first sight are apparently irreconcileable. First our Lord calls His flock a “little flock,”⁵ and states distinctly that “many are called, but few chosen;”⁶ that “strait is the gate and narrow is the way that leadeth

unto life,⁷ and few there be that find it;”⁸ that “many shall seek to enter in, and shall not be able;”⁹ that while “he that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life,¹⁰ he that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him;”¹¹ that “the wicked shall go away into everlasting punishment,”¹² “prepared for the devil and his angels;”¹³ " the resurrection of damnation,”¹⁴ “the damnation of hell,”¹⁵ “where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched ; "¹⁶ that though “every word against the Son of Man may be forgiven, the sin against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven, neither in this world,¹⁷ nor in that which is to come;”¹⁸ and that of one at least it is true, that “good had it been for that man if he had not been born.”¹⁹