Throughout the Scriptures,
unholy people are
branded, to their everlasting contempt--with the
worst appellations. They are
the most dangerous, and the most harmful beings in
the world, and therefore are emblemized . . .
by lions--for they are cruel, Psalm 22:21;
by bears--for they are savage, Isaiah 11:7;
by dragons--for they are hideous, Ezek.
29:3;
by wolves--for they are ravenous, Ezek.
22:27;
by dogs--for they are snarling, Rev. 22:15;
by vipers and scorpions--for they
are stinging, Mat. 12:34, Ezek. 2:6;
by spiders and cockatrices--for they
are poisoning, Isaiah 59:5;
by swine--for they are intemperate, Mat.
7:6.
Remember this--that all these stinging expressions
and appellations which disgrace and vilify unholy
people, were inspired by the Holy Spirit, and
published in His holy Word.
The glutton is depicted as a swine;
the fraudulent person is depicted as a fox;
the lustful person is depicted as a goat;
the backbiter is depicted as a
barking cur;
the slanderer is depicted as an asp;
the oppressor is depicted as a wolf;
the persecutor is depicted as a tiger;
the seducer is depicted as a serpent.
Do you think that God will admit such vermin as
unholy people are--to eternally inhabit His holy
heaven? Surely not! God has long since resolved
upon it--that no unclean beasts shall enter into
heaven--that no dirty dogs shall ever trample upon
that golden pavement. Certainly God will not allow
such beasts and toads and snakes and serpents--to
forever live with Him! Heaven is a too holy place to
admit such vermin to inhabit!
"Nothing impure will ever
enter it." Revelation 21:27
"Outside are the dogs, those who practice
magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers,
the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices
falsehood." Revelation 22:15
All in heaven are holy: the angels holy, the saints
holy--but the Lord Himself above all, is most
glorious in holiness. Now certainly it would be a
hell to these holy ones to have unholy wretches
to be their eternal companions! When the holy angels
fell from their holiness--heaven was so holy that it
spewed them out! Certainly there will be no room in
heaven for such filthy beasts as unholy people are!
'Jerusalem above' is too glorious a
habitation for beasts--or for men of beastly
spirits, or beastly principles, or beastly
practices. The city of the great God was never built
for beasts. A wilderness and not a paradise--is
fittest for beasts.
- Thomas Brooks, The Crown and Glory
of Christianity,
or, HOLINESS,
the Only Way to Happiness, 1662
