Destroyed Them All - Glenn Conjurske
“Destroyed Them All”
by Glenn Conjurske
We have often pointed out in these pages the fact that if the ungodly are all destroyed at the coming of Christ, and the godly all raptured and glorified at the same time, there would be no man left in the natural body to inherit the earth under the reign of Christ and his glorified saints, and thus, upon the post-tribulational scheme, there could be no millennium at all such as the Bible plainly prophesies. I recently posed this difficulty to a good and respected post-tribulational brother in personal conversation. The only solution which he could give me lay in the fact that when Christ comes to judge the ungodly (and glorify the godly, upon his scheme), there will be many children on the earth who have not yet reached the age of accountability, and that these presumably will not be destroyed with their ungodly parents.
We cannot allow this, for two reasons:
I.In those sweeping judgements of God in Old Testament times, which Christ himself uses as types of his coming to judgement, there were no children spared. Of the flood Christ speaks, “And as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all.” (Luke 17:26-27). There must have been a myriad of children upon the earth in that day, who had not yet reached the age of accountability. The earth was not inhabited only by gray-haired men and women, but by a general population of young and old, such as exists upon the earth at all other times. There were young people marrying and being given in marriage—-and undoubtedly bearing children—-until the day that Noah entered into the ark. And the fact is, when the flood came, it “destroyed them ALL”—-men and women, lads and lasses, toddlers and sucking infants. Not one soul outside of the ark was spared. We do not affirm that the infants were damned with their parents. They were no doubt dealt with exactly as they would have been if they had died at any other time. Nevertheless, the fact remains that they did die in the judgement which fell upon their parents, and were not spared to inherit the earth with the righteous Noah and his seed.
The same was true at the destruction of Sodom. Of this the Lord says, “Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; but the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them ALL.” Not one infant was spared.
These are types of the judgement to come, at the the second coming of Christ, and are so used by Christ himself.
II.The sheep who inherit the kingdom in Matthew 25 are not sucking infants, or children beneath the age of accountability, but accountable persons, who inherit the kingdom on the basis of what they have done. “Then shall the king say unto them on this right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world, for I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat; I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink; I was a stranger, and ye took me in; naked, and ye clothed me; I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.” (Matt. 25:34-36). The Lord does not deal so with sucking infants, but with people who are of age, and accountable.
We will not affirm that no infant children will enter the kingdom at that time. We suppose that if Noah (or his sons) had had infant children when he entered into the ark, they would have been spared with him, and inherited the earth with him. We suppose that if Lot had had infant children when he left Sodom, they would have gone with him. We suppose that the infant children of the saints at the rapture of the church will be raptured with them—-and not left orphans in the wide and wicked world. All this we may allow. What we deny is that the whole company of those who inherit the purged earth under the reign of Messiah shall consist of such infant children—-a thing to which post-tribulationism forces thoughtful men, by putting the rapture of the godly at the same event as the destruction of the ungodly.
Glenn Conjurske