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What Lies Beyond the Grave?
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Universal Salvation Unscriptural
Believers in universal salvation wrest the Scriptures. The pro-
fessed minister of Christ reiterates the falsehood uttered by the ser-
pent in Eden, “Ye shall not surely die.” “In the day ye eat thereof,
then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods.” He declares
that the vilest of sinners—the murderer, the thief, the adulterer—will
after death enter into immortal bliss. A pleasing fable indeed, suited
to gratify the carnal heart!
If it were true that all men passed directly to heaven at the hour
of dissolution, we might well covet death rather than life. Many have
been led by this belief to put an end to their existence. Overwhelmed
with trouble and disappointment, it seems easy to break the thread
of life and soar into the bliss of the eternal world.
God has given in His Word decisive evidence that He will punish
the transgressors of His law. Is He too merciful to execute justice
upon the sinner? Look to the cross of Calvary. The death of the
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Son of God testifies that “the wages of sin is death” (
Romans 6:23
),
that every violation of God’s law must receive retribution. Christ
the sinless became sin for man. He bore the guilt of transgression
and the hiding of His Father’s face until His heart was broken and
His life crushed out—all this that sinners might be redeemed. And
every soul that refuses to partake of the atonement provided at such
a cost must bear in his own person the guilt and punishment of
transgression.
Conditions Are Specified
“I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water
of life freely.” This promise is only to those that thirst. “He that
overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he
shall be my son.”
Revelation 21:6, 7
. Conditions are specified. To
inherit all things, we must overcome sin.
“It shall not be well with the wicked.”
Ecclesiastes 8:13
. The
sinner is treasuring up unto himself “wrath against the day of wrath
and revelation of the righteous judgment of God; who will render to
every man according to his deeds,” “tribulation and anguish upon
every soul of man that doeth evil.”
Romans 2:5, 6, 9
.