The Yakima herald. [volume] (North Yakima, W.T. [Wash.]) 1889-1914, 1912-09-11


mot perish, but have everlasting life.'
Certainly whoever gets the everlasting
life will not perish; whoever does moi
get 1t win perish. How plain Gods
World
Notice again the various terms used
in respect to the Savior and His work.
The word Savior signifies Life-Giver
We would have seen the beauty Of this
II we had not been befogged as re-
spects the penalty, death. Whoever
sees that the wages of sin h death
must perforce see that the great need
of the world is Life-Giver-to rescue
them from the death penalty by res
direction. Again. our Lord represents
Himself as the Great Physician who is
able not only to rescue from the tomb,
but to heal all diseases, all the i'm
projections which come to mankind as
incidentals Of tile death penalty
Hear again Jesus words, "He that
hath the Son hath Hfe; he that hath
not the Son shall not see life, but the
wrath Of God (as expressed in the
death penalty abideth on him"-to him
1t becomes the Second Death. This ex-
plains also the meaning Of Jesus
words, Eye will not come unto Me that
We may have lite" And again. II am
come that they might have life. and
that they might have 1t more abun-
dainty" What can be palmer than
that "The wages of sin is death. but
the gift of God is eternal life, through
Jesus Christ our Lord?" = Romans
vi, 3d.
"Into Everlasting Punishment
We are asked, Does not the word
everlasting, as applied to the goat class,
signify as long a period as the same
word applied to the sheep class? We
reply, Most assuredly so. The punish
ment Of sin is to be everlasting, and
the reward Of righteousness is to be
everlasting. There is no question on
this point. The question IL, What Is
the punishment for sin? The thought
less at once will say, Fire, torment.
smoke, blazes, devils with horns and
tails and pitchforks, a la Dante's In
ferno.
But we ask for a Scriptural answer.
What does the Bible say is the punish
ment for sin3 Nothing like Dante's
answer is to be found in the Bible,
however much we might imagine that
1t was printed In every page and that
we have read 1t scores OF times. The
Bible is most explicit. It declares,
"The wages of sin is DEATH" "All the
wicked will God destroy" 1.-THE soul
that sinneth, 1t shall die;" punished
with everlasting destruction" These
abundant and redundant Scriptural
testimonies on the subject should set
tie the matter Of future punishment to
every reasonable mind-especially when
there is not a Scripture to the con-
trary. either in the Old or in the New
Testament.
l do indeed remember certain Of our
Lords parallels which. taken literally,
might mean the literal cutting off Of
hand or foot, the literal plucking out
of the eye. the biting worms possessed
Of Immortality. and literal blazes I'M
quenchable. These we have already
discussed and may yet again refer to,
but not now. We content ourselves
with the generally accepted and rea-
sonable proposition that parallels are
never to be accepted as teaching doc
trines. but at very most as illustra ting
them.
The Bible contains not a single sug-
gestion of eternal torture as a penalty
for sin. 1t tells of no place beyond
the bounds Of time and space where
Dantes poem will find its fulfilment.
1t does tell of'a God of infinite Justice.
Wisdom, Love and Power, whose de-
cree is that eventually all the wicked
shall be destroyed: that eventually
there will not be one inharmonious
note throughout the Universe to mar
the glorious harmony and perfection:
that every knee shall bow and every
tongue confess to the glory of God.
that there shall be no more dying, cry
ing, signing; that Gods will shall be
done on earth even as 1t is done In
heaven; that eventually, Every crea-
ture in heaven and in earth and under
the earth shall be heard saying. Praise,
glory, dominion and might be unto
Him that stitch upon the Throne and
unto the Lamb forever"
Analysing II Carefully.
Let us look still more deeply into
our text: Let us note this word pun
ishment in the Greek. 1t is kolasin.
Its usage in the Greek classics signi-
f1es. to prune, to cut off. A secondary
meaning of the word Is, to restrain.
Death Is n most effectual restraint.
The punishment which God has pro
vided for sinners is that they shall be
cut Off from life. cut off from all the
blessed privileges which God provided.
not for them, not for rebels, but for
sons IN fellowship with Himself.
The punishment against Father
Adam vas cutting Off from Eden and
its blessings, from being the king of
earth, tsom fellowship with His Gre
ator, from being the son of God, from
enjoying everlasting life. All this cut
ting OF was included In his death SEN
tence. Jesus came that Adam and his
race might not everlastingly perish
that they might be rescued from the
power of the grave by resurrection
of the dead, that all might thus
through Film come to a full oppor-
tunity sor life everlasting. Neverthe-
less the Divine Law still stands. The