Isaiah 66:24 And they shall go forth, and look on the carcasses of the men that have transgressed against me: for their worm shall not die… 1. It is a terrible ending, but it is the same as upon the same floor Christ set to His teaching — the Gospel net cast wide, but only to draw in both good and bad upon a beach of judgment; the wedding feast thrown open and men compelled to come in, but among them a heart whom grace so great could not awe even to decency; Christ's Gospel preached, His example evident, and Himself owned as Lord, and nevertheless some whom neither the hearing nor the seeing nor the owning with their lips did lift to unselfishness or stir to pity-. Therefore He who had cried, "Come all unto Me," was compelled to close by saying to many, "Depart." 2. It is a terrible ending: but one only too conceivable. For though God is love, man is free — free to turn from that love; free to be as though he had never felt it; free to put away from himself the highest, clearest, most urgent grace that God can show. But to do this is the judgment. 3. "Lord, are there few that be saved?" The Lord did not answer the question but by bidding the questioner take heed to himself "Strive to enter in at the strait gate," (Prof. G. A. Smith, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcases of the men that have transgressed against me: for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh. |
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