comes upon the world under the domination of the Beast and the False Prophet. To lean towards that blasphemous

teaching, to submit rather than suffer, becomes an act of treachery on a field of battle, and the treatment of all such

offenders must be drastic in the extreme.

There remains to be considered one more feature, and one that may cause considerable feeling; that is the

bringing into the realm of the church (Rev. 2:3) the possibility of ending up in the Lake of Fire. Traditional

theology in the past has entertained few qualms as it contemplated the countless millions of unevangelized heathen

being consigned to that dreadful place, but it may be the nearer approach will stimulate a keener interest. The Lake

of Fire is implicit in the two references to the churches, the second death, and the Book of Life already considered

(Rev. 2:11; 3:5). In the first place, this dreadful doom was not prepared for the sons of men, it was `prepared for the

Devil and his angels' (Matt. 25:41) and in the Revelation, the first to enter are The Beast, the False Prophet, and the

Devil (Rev. 19:20; 20:10).

In times of peace, the punishment for some act directed against a Government might be several years'

imprisonment, but the selfsame act in time of war might be punishable by death. Into the churches of Revelation 2

and 3 we can perceive the infiltration of the fifth columnists, false apostles, liars, Nicolaitanes, the blasphemy of

those pretending to be Jews, but who are of the synagogue of Satan; Satan's throne, the doctrine of Balaam, the

woman Jezebel, the threat to `kill her children with death', the depths of Satan, a name to live yet dead. These

constitute the associations of some of those who, having sold themselves to Satan, received the mark of the Beast,

and so will be counted worthy of suffering the same fate as that infernal trinity, the Beast, the False Prophet, and the

Devil. The Psalms, many of which are prophetic, are full of complaints and prayers concerning the enemy, the

deceitful man, the persecutor, the betrayer.

Where Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David, the believing remnant of Israel, and of `all Israel' that will ultimately be

saved come in this period and sphere, must be gathered from other Scriptures. Abraham, we know from Hebrews

11, will find his place in the heavenly Jerusalem but this does not descend to the earth until the thousand years are

finished. The one positive teaching of Revelation 20:1-6 is that the martyrs of the final three and a half years of

Gentile dominion, shall `reign' and be `priests' of God and of Christ.

Before we consider the teaching of Revelation 20, concerning the Great White Throne, let us gather what we

may from the testimony of 2 Peter chapter 3. He speaks of:

1.

The day of the Lord (2 Pet. 3:10).

2.

The day of God (2 Pet. 3:12).

3.

The new heavens and earth (2 Pet. 3:13).

4.

The day of the age (lit.) (2 Pet. 3:18).

The wording of the A.V. obscures the relation of the day of the Lord with the day of God, the R.V. is nearer to the

`But the day of the Lord will come as a thief; IN THE WHICH the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and

the elements shall be dissolved with fervent heat, and the earth and the works that are therein shall be burned

`Looking for and earnestly desiring the coming of the day of God BY REASON OF WHICH the heavens being on

fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?' (2 Pet. 3:10-12 R.V.).

`In the which', `by reason of which' clearly distinguishes the one from the other. The day of God succeeds the

day of the Lord and is beyond the dissolution of heaven and earth. For that day, said Peter, we look, and that day of

God is explained further to be :

1.

The new heavens and new earth.

The Day (pre-eminently) of the age hemera aionos (2 Pet. 3:18). The Millennium is not the goal, the goal is

2.

the Day of the Age, the Day of God, symbolised in the typical Scriptures as `the eighth day' the first day of a

new week.