But how gladsome is the prospect of neither of these fates being in
store for them. If it is known that they are in a state of discipline
for a time, to emerge by and by into scenes of bliss, we can fancy that
such knowledge would be a source of joy unspeakable. And who can imagine
the rapture of meeting with such friends later on? This view of
Restoration solves the difficulty so often felt in regard to dear ones
who died in a state of alienation from God. The everlasting hope that is
thus opened up for them is a source of perennial joy.
Here I would make a statement which at the first glance may seem to some
rather startling. It is this: There is not punishment for sin, either in
this life, or in the next. Christ has settled all that by offering
Himself as the sin-bearer for all mankind. "The Lord laid on Him the
iniquity of us all." "He hath made Him to be sin for us." "It pleased
the Lord to bruise Him." "God gave His Son that whosoever believeth in
Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." If the condition of
believing on Him seems to limit the everlasting love of that statement,
take the next; "God sent not His Son into the world, to condemn the
world, but that the world through Him might be saved." Yes, the world.
There is no limitation there. That means the modern heathen world, and
the ancient heathen world, and all grades of humanity of all time.
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