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Death was virtually destroyed when Christ rose from the dead:--
"Who abolished (katargeo) death" (II Tim. 1: 10).
Death will be actually destroyed when the last of the dead stand before the great white
throne. Death will be manifestly destroyed when it is cast into the lake of fire.
A.--I have been led to make a comparison between the lake of fire and the flood.
A true and a false analogy.
B.--The comparison is justifiable, I believe. What makes you hesitate now in accepting
it?
A.--I had believed the following comment to be true. In Noah's day He cleansed away
abounding sin by means of water. And was not water a purifier well suited to the task?
And if in preparation for the last eon He once more wishes to dispose of evil, what more
effective agent can be found than fire? It is the most searching purifier known.
B.--These observations are rather involved. First you say that the water of the flood
cleansed away abounding sin, then you say that the fire was an effective agent to dispose
of evil; then you say that fire is a purifier, so I suppose your thought is that just as the
flood purified in part, the fire will purify completely.
A.--Yes, that expresses my idea.
B.--Well, your idea will not stand the test. Turn to Gen. 6: and 7::--
"Behold, I will destroy them" (6: 13).
"Behold, I do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh" (6: 17).
"Every living substance was destroyed" (7: 23).
"I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake" (8: 21).
Destruction and curse are what is written of the flood, not purifying.
A.--Perhaps the passage I think of is in the N.T.
B.--Let us find it by all means. The Gospels speak of the flood coming and taking all
away:--
"The flood came and destroyed them all" (Luke 17: 27; see also Matt. 24: 38, 39).
There is no writer left now other than Peter:--
"And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person . . . . . bringing in the
flood upon the world of the ungodly" (II Pet. 2: 5).