32 THE END OF SIN

THE division of the subject which now comes under consideration, is one of exceeding interest. The great burden of the penitent, reaching out for a Saviour, is, “Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” And the great joy of the new convert is, “There is now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.” The question of becoming free from sin, and the process by which this is accomplished, has power to affect the heart of the awakened sinner, as no other question can.LUJ 268.1

With scarcely less interest we go forward to the final disposal of sin, when it shall be forever put away. We have now traced it, in the process by which the work of salvation is wrought for men, from the sinner to the sacrificial victim, from the victim to the sanctuary, from the sanctuary to the scapegoat, which in the antitype is Satan; and are held to the conclusion that sin, of which he is himself the author, comes to its end in his destruction.LUJ 268.2

A query sometimes arises at this point, relative to the punishment of sin in the person of Satan. If Satan is punished for the sins of the righteous, are not those sins, it is asked, punished twice, once in the person of Christ, who suffered for our sins, and again in the person of Satan, upon whom they are finally laid? The answer is that the sins of the righteous are no more punished twice than the sins of the wicked. Christ suffered for all alike, just as much for those who will be finally lost, as for those who will be saved. But the lost will all be punished at last for their own sins.LUJ 268.3

The trouble arises from a misapprehension of the part Christ acts as our substitute. The idea seems to be generally entertained that Christ in his own person suffered all the punishment, that is, the bodily agony, due to the sins of all the saved, which they would themselves have endured had they been lost. This leaves those who believe in eternal misery to grapple with an insurmountable problem; and it leads to the most ultra Calvinism. The truth seems to be that Christ appeared before the law as an innocent victim to meet in behalf of others the sentence, “The soul that sinneth it shall die,” The offering was voluntary, and therefore involved no injustice; it was from one of so exalted a position that God could accept it; and it was of such infinite value that the law could honorably relax its claims from all those who would accept of it, even if all the world should do so; for he was the Creator of the world and all therein. Colossians 1:16. But we have seen from the type that the removal of sin from the penitent did not cancel the sin itself, but only transferred it to some other party who was then held in place of the sinner. The forgiveness was relative, not absolute; that is, as related to the sinner, it was forgiven, but the sin itself was considered still in existence, to be disposed of in some other way. Christ has done for us in fact what the ancient offering did for the sinner in figure; that is, he has provided a means through which sin with its guilt may be removed from us and transferred to some other party. Thus we can be saved; but sin must meet its just desert in some other quarter.LUJ 269.1

Let us now consider where this desert, in the case of the sinner, would naturally fall. Sin did not have its origin with mankind. They were not the original agents of this evil, but were seduced and led away under the power of temptation by another. And this we apprehend to be a fact which puts a great difference between the moral standing of men and that of Satan and his angels. With the one, sin had its origin; and an outbreak so unprovoked and causeless could have no forgiveness. It would not be safe to reinstate to favor those with whom such a course could originate. But with the other, with men, sin was an evil into which they were led by another party; hence their wrong could be condoned, and provision be made for their restoration.LUJ 269.2

The practise of sin may therefore be represented as a partnership business. Satan is the senior partner, the sinner the junior. the latter, having been seduced into that position, is allowed, under certain conditions, to leave the company and step out from under the obligations of the firm. Upon whom will these responsibilities then fall? - Upon the only remaining member of the firm, of course, the instigator of the whole evil business, the senior partner, Satan. If the sinner chooses to maintain the partnership in that illegitimate business, he can do so, and receive in his own person at last the punishment of his deeds. But it is in his power, if he so desires, to change his present relation to that commerce of hell, unite himself to Christ, and leave his former business with him who is the head of the firm, and primarily responsible for it all.LUJ 270.1

And this is what the Scriptural doctrine of the scapegoat teaches us will be done. The sinner goes free, and Satan receives the sins he has incited the sinner to commit, back upon his own head, to answer therefore in the settlement which he at last must meet.LUJ 270.2

Viewing in this light the work of Satan among mankind, it is evident that the matter has been so overruled that in seducing men to sin he has been playing a game, the effects of which recoil upon his own head, a game which in his own behalf is a most unfortunate and losing one. It would have been far better for him if he had never led men into sin. but having entered upon this work, we see that he has a personal motive of the most powerful kind to induce him to hold persons in sin to the last; for then they receive the punishment for their own sins which he otherwise must suffer. And every one who escapes from his power and secures salvation through Christ, adds an additional weight to his accumulating load of woe.LUJ 271.1

And it must strike every one as right and consistent that this should be so. The sinner has been seduced into sin, but he repents. Yet standing back of the scene, there is one who is the primary author and instigator of all, the inciting agent in every sinner’s sinful deed; and when the transgressor awakes to the true nature of his course, and sees the enormity of his crimes, and wishes to return to allegiance to his Saviour, and put away his sins, what could be more fitting than that those sins should fall back upon the head of him who first gave birth to sin, and who has fostered the growth of every branch from that baleful root. In this, the decision of every right-minded intelligence must be, that God is just, and Satan receives no more than his due deserts.LUJ 271.2

Satan, having thus received the load of sins from which the righteous have become free, and being confined to this desolate earth, is reserved to the day of perdition. The thousand years at length expire, the lake of fire, prepared for the devil and his angels, appears. These parties are cast therein, and all the wicked, those who are found in league with them, share the same fate. Then every sin ever committed is punished, and in the persons of the wicked, evil angels, and Satan, the whole abominable mass perishes forever.LUJ 271.3

And then is reached that point of transcendent interest when one of the most cheering prophecies in all the Bible can be fulfilled. For at this point, but not before, can that universal song of jubilee be raised to God, which the seer of Patmos foretold in these inspiring words: “And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever.” Revelation 5:13. The quenchless flames of the fiery lake have then spent their force in consuming the rebel hosts. The earth is purified by the fervent heat. No sinner and no taint of sin is left. The new earth appears, to be the everlasting habitation of the just. 2 Peter 3:12, 13.LUJ 272.1

No room for Universalism here; for the wicked have all been destroyed. No place for an endless, burning hell, to mar the landscape of eternity, nor the agonizing wail of the unending, conscious misery of the greater part of the human family, to bring discord into the universal song of joy; for all who are found worthy at last to live, are those only who are in harmony with God’s will, and are filled with sympathetic joy and praise.LUJ 272.2