Q: When will the full change (begun in us by the change in heart) be completed? That is, when shall we be made like our Christ?
A: The moment that one is born again by the power of the Holy Ghost, he is made in a measure like Christ. In his standing before God, he is just like Christ, perfectly accepted, “justified from all things” (Acts 13:38, 39; Rom. 8:1).
Furthermore, at that time he is made in character like Christ, but not perfectly so; as he feeds upon the Word and has personal communion with Christ he becomes more and more like his Lord day by day (II Cor. 3:18). This is a progressive process. He is changed into the image of the Lord “from glory to glory.” That is, in each new time of communion with Him, he catches something more of the Lord’s glory. The transformation is completed and we become perfectly like our Lord at His return. When He comes again, “We shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.” (I John 3:2)
Q: Where does it say in the Bible that God prepared hell for man?
A: It does not say so anywhere in the Bible. On the other hand we are distinctly told in the Bible that the everlasting fire was prepared for the devil and his angels. (Matt. 25:41). It was not God’s purpose nor desire that any man should go there –it was not prepared for him, but if any man chooses to cast in his lot with the Devil and his angels by persistently rejecting Jesus Christ and continuing in sin, then he shall have to share the destiny of the Devil and his angels, and be “tormented day and night forever and ever.” (Rev. 20:15.) But he goes there of his own choice and in spite of all God’s gracious works to save him.
Originally published in The King’s Business, January 1913 (Volume 4, Issue 1, p. 38).
