The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1913-01-31
Pastor RuSSelI's Sermon

love or sympa thize with sin-Satan
and all other maynard ones.
Jesus said to some in His day: "Ye
are of your father. the Devil. for his
work We do" The goats will be of Sa
tan's company. because, like BIN. they
choose the way of sin and opposition to
God. Truth and Righteousness. Our
text might be more literally rendered:
These Satan and his followers. includ-
ing the goats" of the parable shall so
away into everlasting cutting-of from
lifel but the righteous tue sheep Of
the PARALLEL, shall be uShered into life
everlasting.
The Lord does not say that either
Satan or the goats will be sent to ever
lasting torment. but into everlasting
punishment-everla death-a death
from which there will be no resurrec-
ton They shall perish like natural
brute beaStS-2 Peter PIP.
The Greek word here rendered pun
ishment is kOIdsiH. which means prun-
ing. as husbandman prunes the dead
wood from his orchard or vineyard.
SO Satan and all his hosts will be cut
off finally from Gods blessings. and be
destroyed in the Second Death An
other use of the word kOtasiH in classic
Greek is to restrain: as. The chariot
GERS restrain lkoiasinI their fiery
steeds" SO God. through Christ, de-
clares that the Second Death shall ever
lastingly restrain Satan and all who
have bis goat-like, wayward disposition,
after having had full knowledge and
opportunity to develop opposite dispo-
Sition.
In previous verse the same parable
puts the results of the trial Of the ma
tons for life or death, during the Mes
siah's Kingdom, in different language.
1t declares that the reward to the sheep
will be. Come, We blessed of My Fa-
Their, inherit the kingdom prepared for
you from the foundation of the world"
This is the kingdom which was origi-
nally given to Adam, but lost through
disobedience.
This is the kingdom which Jesus by
obedience to the Law had right to
claim for Himself. but which He sacri-
feed for the benefit Of humanity. The
Father gave to Him and to the Church.
His Bride, a Heavenly Kingdom. not
founded when the earth was founded,
but from before the foundation Of the
world" Messiah. during the Millen-
NAL Age. will prove who of mankind
are worthy of everlasting human life
al the end Of His thousa nd-year reign.
The Lord will deliver to God the do
minion. or the kingdom of earth. Man
kind will theuceforth be responsible d.
rectly TO the Heavenly Father. as we
read in | Corinthians 1924.
The fate of the goats is described in
these words: Then shall He say to
them on His left hand 1.-THE goatsl. De-
part from Me. We cursed [untitl. into
and his angels" The fact that this is
parable forces the conclusion that the
fire is as symbolical as are the sheep
and the goats. Fire here. as every
where in the Bible. is used as a symbol
of destruction Everything evil and
unfit. including Satan and all who fol-
low his perverse ways. are to be de-
stroyed lin the lake of fire, which is
Isymbolizesl the Second Death
Revelation 20:14.
Cutting OFF Right Hand or Foot.
On another occasion Jesus. describ-
ing how much the future life should
be appreciated. declared that man
had better cut off his right hand or his
right foot or pluck out his right eye,
rather than otherwise be cast into the
fire that shall never be quenched and
where the worm dieth not. Mark 9:4J,
Al. 49, The Master did not mean His
words TO be taken literally. and no
Christian would be justified in MAIN
ing himself.
What the Master meant. evidently.
was that the pleasures and appetites of
the present. though precious TO us as
are our most useful members, should
be sacrificed rather than that maintain
ing present blessings we should fail
to attain the promised Kingdom.
So, likewise. we must interpret His
words respecting the worm dying not
and the fire not being quenched. The
disciples knew of only one place where
these words could be applicable. That
place was "the valley of Hinnom"-
Gehenna-where the refuse of Jerusa-
lem was thrown as into garbage fur
mace for destruction. Fires of brim-
stone were kept burning in the bottom
to destroy the germs of disease. and
no one extinguished those fires. Rath-
err, they were perpetuated. And il. per-
chance, some carcass fell outside the
fire line, the worms devoured 1t. No
one wished to destroy the worms and
preserve the carcass.
Gehenna thus became type, or fg-
ure, of the utter destruction awaiting
the finally rebellious, who must perish
las natural brute beasts" that the
earth may be cleansed Our Lord s
references to the worms and to the fire
were doubtless appreciated by those
who heard. 1t would signify to them
that, as the offal was destroyed. so the
wicked would be classed as the offal Of
humanity and be finally destroyed In
the Second Death.
On previous occasions we have shown
that our Lords reference to weeping
and crashing of teeth do not refer to
experiences either in the grave or in
the future life. They refer to the sad
experiences of some in the end of this
Age. in the great time of trouble With