Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1910-08-30


40. |
ooO-.-s-.-.-s-.--.-.-.-.-.
ed" He said the same In the follow
ing verses respecting the foot and the
eye. Was he speaking literally or fig
uratively? Does any sane person sup
pose today that Jesus advised literal
cutting off of hand or a foot or the
plucking out of an eye? Assuredly
not And the person who world fol
low his counsel in that way would be
considered unbalanced in mind. We
ali recognize what he did mean, name
~, that if any who desired to have
eternal life found that they had him
ORANGES of appetite or pleasure or
what not, as dear to them as an eye,
foot, hand, these precious, but disqual-
flying sins or wrong doings, should be
put away-no matter how precious
they were-no matter how highly es-
teemed. BY way of contrast. the Mas
ter suggested that If the retaining of
these things would hinder them from
entering into life they could not af-
ford to retain them-that even If they
were to carry the figure further and
suppose that in the future life they
would be deprived to the extent of be-
ing MANNED TO all eternity it still
would be preferable to them to prac-
tice the self-denial now and to enter
into life.
Be it noted that the reward here in
dicated is in the entering into life, and
the intimatiOn is that those who fail
will not have life at all-that they will
fail to attain life; that they will have
no eternal life, either in pain or in
pleasure. Let US examine our text
further and see this.
Gehenna Typed the Second Death.
The word hell in our text is from the
Greek word 5ehenna. which, in turn,
was a corruption of the Hebrew word
0eh-hinnOn. which signifies vdlley OF
death. There are two other words in
the New Testament Greek translated
these. tartdruS. has no reference to hui
mainly whatever but merely signifies
our earth's atmosphere place
where Satan and the fallen angels are
restrained in chains of darkness QI
Peter ii, a. The other Greek word
rendered he'll in the New Testament is
hadeS, which corresponds exactly to
the word rendered hell in the Old Tes-
lament, namely sheOl. And all scholars
know that both of these words signify
the same thing. They are used inter-
changeably In the Scriptures to deSig-
nate the state or condition of death
the tomb. No person. of even slight
education, would for a moment at
tempt to claim that eternal torment is
taught by She0l. h0deS or tartarus. The
great stress of all who teach eternal
he'll found in our text-in the original
Greek, gehenna.
What we have to say respecting 1t
will undoubtedly be news to but few
of this congregation. But since this
sermon will be reported in more than
seven hundred newspapers of the land,
our explanation win probably eventu-
ally reach ten million people, to whom
the Truth on the subject will be new.
What we have to say is not new to ed
ucated ministers. however, and why,
as pastors, they have kept the sheep
of their flock in the dark on the sub
ject is for them to explain. They GER
tainly cannot plead ignorance. At very
most they can apologize that they
hoped that the misunderstanding would
do more good than the truth. They
seem to forget entirely that this terri
BILE misunderstanding is not only
wrecking the faith of thousands, but
dishonoring our disappearing
his holy name, his holy character, by
misrepresenting it and the Divine
Plan.
A Valley Outside Jerusalem.
l wish that those of you who have
modern Bibles with maps at the back
would turn to the map of the City of
Jerusalem and there notice on the
Southwest side of the City, just out
side the wall, the Valley of Hinnom.
That is the Valley that in brief was
called Geh- hinnon, the Greek of which
is gehenna. All of our Lords uses of
the word gehenna stand related to
that Valley. For the sake of my lar
ger congregation 1t will be worth while
for US TO take a glance backward at
the history of that Valley during many
centuries before Jesus day.
The first mention of this Valley in
the Bible is found in Joshua (xv, 81,
where it is given as one of the boun-
diaries of the tribe of Judah, accord
division of the land that had come in
to possession of the Israelites. 1t is
again mentioned similarly in Joshua
xviii, 16. The next reference to this
Valley is found in ii Kings xiii, 10.
There we read of how Josiah, the good
King of Judah, instituted a great re-
form in the nation and abolished idol
airy, one Of the most heinOus forms of
the idoLatry having been practised in
this Valley If Hinnom, which had got
ten new name. namely Topheth. His
tory tells us that the Israelites built
IN this Topheth, the Valley of Hinnom,
a great brass image to the heather god
Moloch In various places they had
groves in which a hcentious form Of
worship was enacted and then they re-
sorted TO this Valley of Hinnom to of
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