Dear Friends,

The following quotation is from the work 'The Restitution of All Things' by Andrew Jukes, published in 1867.

This really spoke to my heart and I found it most inspiring. I wanted to share it with you as well....



The "second death" (Rev. xx. 14.) therefore, so far from being, as some think, the hopeless shutting up of man for ever in the curse of disobedience, will, if I err not, be God's way to free those who in no other way than by such a death can be delivered out of the dark world, whose life they live in. The saints have died with Christ, not only "to the elements of this world," (Col. ii. 20.) but also "to sin," (Rom. vi. 10.) that is, the dark spirit-world. By the first they are freed from the bondage of sense; by the second, from the bondage of sin, in all its forms of wrath, pride, envy, and selfishness. The ungodly have not so died to sin. At the death of the body therefore, and still more when they are raised to judgment, because their spirit yet lives, they are still within the limits of that dark and fiery world, the life of which has been and is the life of their spirit. To get out of this world there is but one way, death; not the first, for that has passed, but the second death. Even if we have not the light to see this, ought not the present to teach us something as to God's future ways; for is He not the same yesterday, today, and for ever? We know that, in inflicting present death, His purpose is through death to destroy him that has the power of death, that is the devil. How can we conclude from this, that, in inflicting the second death, the unchanging God will act on a principle entirely different from that which now actuates Him? And why should it be thought a thing incredible that God should raise the dead, who for their sin suffer the penalty of the second death? Does this death exceed the power of Christ to overcome it? Or shall the greater foe still triumph, while the less, the first death, is surely overcome? Who has taught us thus to limit the meaning of the words, "Death is swallowed up in victory"? Is God's "will to save all men" (1 Tim. ii. 4.) limited to fourscore years, or changed by that event which we call death, but which we are distinctly told is His appointed means for our deliverance? All analogy based on God's past ways leads but to one answer. But when in addition to this we have the most distinct promise, that "as in Adam all die, so in Christ shall all be made alive,"--that "death shall be destroyed,"--that "there shall be no more curse," but "all things made new," and "the restitution of all things;"--when we are further told that "Jesus Christ is the same," that is a Saviour, "yesterday, today, and for the ages;"--the veil must be thick indeed upon man's heart, if spite of such statements "the end of the Lord" is yet hidden from us.

To me too the precepts which God has given are in their way as strong a witness as His direct promises. Hear the law respecting, bondmen, (Deut. xv. 12-15.) and strangers, (Exod. xxii. 21; Lev. xix. 33,34.) and debtors, (Deut. xv. 1,2,9.) and widows and orphans, (Exod. xxii. 22; Deut. xxiv. 17.) and the punishment of the wicked, which may not exceed forty stripes, "lest if it exceed, then thy brother should seem vile unto thee;" (Deut. xxv. 2,3.) yea even the law respecting "asses fallen into a pit:" (Exod. xxi. 33,34; and xxiii 4, 5.)--hear the prophets exhorting to "break every yoke," to "let the oppressed go free," and to "undo the heavy burdens:" (Isa. lviii. 6.)--hear the still clearer witness of the gospel, "not to let the sun go down upon our wrath," (Eph. iv. 26.) to "forgive not until seven times, but until seventy times seven," (S. Matt. xviii. 22.) "not to be overcome of evil, but to overcome evil with good:" (Rom. xii. 21.) to "walk in love as Christ has loved us," and to "be imitators of God as dear children:" (Eph. v. 1,2.)--see the judgment of those who neglect the poor, and the naked, and the hungry, and the stranger, and the prisoner; (S. Matt. xxv. 41-43)--and then say, Shall God do that which He abhors? Shall He command that bondmen and debtors be freed, and yet Himself keep those who are in worse bondage and under a greater debt in endless imprisonment? Shall He bid us care for widows and orphans, and Himself forget this widowed nature, which has lost its Head and Lord, and those poor orphan souls which cannot cry, Abba, Father? Shall He limit punishment to forty strips, "lest thy brother seem vile," and Himself inflict more upon those who though fallen still are His children? Is not Christ the faithful Israelite, who fulfills the law; and shall He break it in any one of these particulars? Shall He say, "Forgive till seventy times seven," and Himself not forgive except in this short life? Shall He command us to "overcome evil with good," and Himself, the Almighty, be overcome of evil? Shall He judge those who leave the captives unvisited, and Himself leave captives in a worse prison for ever unvisited? Does He not again and again appeal to our own natural feelings of mercy, as witnessing "how much more" we may expect a larger mercy from our "Father which is in heaven"? (St. Matt. vii. 6-11.) If it were otherwise, might not the adversary reproach, and say, Thou that teachest and judgest another, teachest Thou not thyself? Not thus will God be justified. But, blessed be His Name, He shall in all be justified. And when in His day He opens "the treasures of the hail,"

(NOTE: Job xxxviii. 22. The two questions of the book of Job are, How can man, and How can God, be justified? Jobs complainings in substance, amount to this,--How can God be justified in treating me as He does? His three friends, who cannot answer this, urge him rather to ask, How can man be justified? Elihu answers this latter question; and God then answers Jobs question by asking him if he knows what God can bring out of things which at present are dark and crooked. Jobs question is not the sinners question, but that of the "perfect man;" (ch. i. 8.) a question not unacceptable to God, who declares of Jobs three friends, that "they have not spoken of me the thing which is right, like my servant Job." ch. xiii. 8.)

and shews what sweet waters He can bring out of hard hailstones; when He unlocks "the place where light now dwells" shut up, and reveals what light is hid in darkness and hardness, as we see in coal and flint, those silent witnesses of the dark hard hearts, which God can turn to floods of light; when we have "taken darkness to the bound thereof," (Job. xxxviii. 19,20.) and have seen not only how "the earth is full of God's riches," but how He has laid up the depths in storehouses; (Psa. civ. 24; and xxxiii. 7.) in that day when "the mystery of God is finished," and He has destroyed them which corrupt the earth," (Rev. xi. 18.)--then shall it be seen how truly God's judgments are love, and that "in very faithfulness He hath afflicted us." (Psa. cxix. 75.)




--David