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Newer Posts - Spirit of the Word - Covenant Eschatology - Introductory Note - New Stuff Posted by Audrey Universalist's Book of Reference
H'lo Everybody. I copied a chapter out of a good book by EE. Guild written about 1840, I think. I'd appreciate some proof-reading. Corrections could be sent to my email address above and would be very appreciated.
CHAPTER XII
ON THE FURNACE OF FIRE.
_________________SECTION I.
Those passages where the words FURNACE, FURNACE OF FIRE, etc., occur.
Deut. 4:20. But the Lord hath taken you, and brought you forth out of the iron furnace, even out of Egypt, to be unto him a people of inheritance, as ye are this day.
I Kings 8:51. For they be thy people, and thine inheritance which thou broughtest forth out of Egypt, from the midst of the furnace of iron.
Jer. 11:4. Which I commanded your fathers in the day that I brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, from the iron furnace, saying, Obey my voice, and do them, according to all which I command you: so shall ye be my people, and I will be your God.
Isa. 31:9. And he shall pass over to his strong hold for fear, and his princes shall be afraid of the ensign, saith the Lord, whose fire is in Zion, and his furnace in Jerusalem.
Isa. 48:10. Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction.
Ezek. 22:18-22. Son of man, the house of Israel is to me become dross: all they are brass, and tin, and iron, and lead, in the midst of the furnace; they are even the dross of silver. Therefore Thus saith the Lord God; Because ye are all become dross, behold, therefore, I will gather you into the midst of Jerusalem. As they gather silver, and brass, and iron, and lead, and tin, into the midst of the furnace, to blow the fire upon it, to melt it, so will I gather you in mine anger and in my fury, and I will leave you there, and melt you. Yea, I will gather you and blow upon you in the fire of my wrath, and ye shall be melted in the midst thereof. As silver is melted in the midst of the furnace, so shall ye be melted in the midst thereof; and ye shall know that I the Lord have poured out my fury upon you.
Matt. 13:41,42. The Son of Man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; and shall cast them into a furnace of fire; there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.
Verse 50. And shall cast them into the furnace of fire; there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.SECTION II
Remarks on the Furnace of Fire.
It is commonly thought that by the phrase furnace of fire is signified a place somewhere in the eternal world, in which a large share of the human family will be tortured without end.
The word furnace is, in several instances, used in the Jewish scriptures, to signify literal afflictions and trials of the people. Furnace of affliction is also used for the same purpose. But wherever those few instances occur, they stand immediately connected with the temporal concerns of men; they have no allusion, in any case, beyond the affairs of time. And this is made so plain by a careful perusal of the passages themselves, that none can well mistake their meaning. Isaiah makes use of the expression once, in chapter 48:10, “Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction.” This language was addressed to the Jews in Babylon. He did not say that he had chosen them as the inmates of a furnace of affliction in eternity; but says, “I have refined thee,” “I have chosen thee,” &c. It was already done; they were then in the furnace, by which was signified their bondage under the Chaldeans. Any place of affliction was represented by the prophets under the figures of “fire,” “furnace,” “furnace of fire,” “furnace of affliction,” &c. Egypt was called an iron furnace to the Jews, while they were there in affliction. But he had brought them forth “out of the furnace;” see Deut. 4:20, also I Kings 8:51. Let it also be remembered that it was his people who were in the furnace, and not a race abandoned to a furnace of the devil in eternity. “For they be thy people, and thine inheritance which thou broughtest forth out of Egypt, from the midst of the furnace of iron.” The imperfect tense of the verb here shows that they had been in, and also brought out of, the furnace. But Matt. 13:41, informs us, that “the Son of Man shall send forth his angels (messengers), and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; and shall cast them into a furnace of fire; there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.” Here, some future time is expressed, in which they were to be cast into a furnace of fire. The question is, first, what time is alluded to; and, second, what or where was this furnace? 1. To learn the time when they were to be cast into this furnace, we must observe, that this expression was made by Christ to his disciples, in explanation of the parable of the tares of the field. See verses 36-43. He firstly informs them that the Son of Man soweth the good seed, which are the children of the kingdom. Secondly, “that the field is the world (kosmos); but the tares are the children of the wicked one; the enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world (aionos, age); and the reapers are the angels” (angeloi, messengers). The world which was to have an end here is not kosmos, the field, but aionos, which shows that it was the end of the Jewish age, or dispensation, when the tares were to be separated and cast into the furnace of fire. Pearce says, verse 40, “End of this world: rather end of this age, viz., that of the Jewish dispensation.” Verse 41, “Shall send forth his angels: this is spoken, not of what shall happen at the end of the world, but what was to happen at the end of the Jewish state.” Hammond and Cappe give in substance the same comment on the passages.
The above shows that the time was the end or destruction of the Jewish age; and that the place or furnace was in Jerusalem. To make this still plainer, see Isa. 31:9, “Whose fire is in Zion and his furnace in Jerusalem.” This is plain, positive, and decisive language. “His furnace is in Jerusalem.” It is nowhere said, that God has a furnace in eternity, or that he will ever prepare one there; but this furnace, which was future to the time of the expression, actually received those who were to be melted therein, about forty-one years after the ascension of our Saviour. See Ezek. 22:18-22. There it is declared that the house of Israel, the Jews, had become dross, and that the Lord would gather them into the midst of Jerusalem, as they gather tin, brass, silver, &c., into the midst of the furnace to melt it. So would he, the Lord, gather into the furnace, Jerusalem, the Jews; leave them there, melt them, &c. What can be more plain and definite? This was all literally fulfilled in Jerusalem 18 years since, in strict accordance with the prediction of our Saviour, in Matt. 13:41,43. What more is necessary to make the subject perfectly plain to every one?