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2 7 :2 0 ). They succeeded in pu tting Him to death, b u t they could no t do away w ith Him, for He rose from th e dead, and “ lives in th e power of an endless life” (Heh. 7 :1 6 ). The above will suffice to show th a t th e Greek word “ apollum i” does not mean extinction, therefo re when it is applied to th e fate of the im penitent it denotes th e lost condition into which sin and unbelief have placed them . The believer is assured th a t th e resu lt of the Lord’s giving Christ is th a t he “ should not p erish ,” and Christ assures His sheep “ they shall never p erish ,” (John 3 :16 ; 1 0 :2 8 ). W hat is th e logical con clusion to any th ink ing m ind b u t th a t those who are no t th e Lord’s are in th e opposite sta te to th a t which th e re deemed are found— lost, consciously, and th a t for ever.. The Meaning of “DESTRUCTION” I shall th en be confronted by the word rendered “ destruction.” The Greek word “ apoleia” occurs tw enty tim es in th e New Testam ent. Twice it is rendered “w aste” (Matt. 26 :8 ; Mark 1 4 :4 ); once “ die” (Acts 2 5 :1 8 ); eight tim es “ perd ition” (Jo h n 17:12; Phil. 1 :28 ; 2 Thess. 2 :3 ; 1 Tim. 6 :9 ; Heb. 10 :39 ; 2 Pet. 3:7;, Rev. 17:8, 1 1 ); twice “ dam nable” (2 P ete r 2:1, .3 ) ; once “ pernicious” (2 P eter 2 :2 ) ; and six tim es “ d estruction” (M att. 7 :13 ; Rom. 9 :22 ; Phil. 3 :19 ; 2 P eter 2 :1 ; Acts 8 :20 ; 2 P et. 3 :1 6 ). As to the meaning of th is word: 1. D estruction means to be “lo st and ru in ed .” Cremer says: “ It denotes the state afte r death, wherein exclusion from salvation is a revealed fact; wherein man, instead of becoming w hat he m ight have been, is lost and ru in ed .” 2. D estruction th e an tith esis of life. Olshausin gives a sim ilar explanation: “According to a deeply sp iritu al idea th e Scriptures in general escribe tru e being to th e creatu re only in connection w ith th e origin of th a t being, where sin dissolves th a t connection th e re death
steps in, and hence he who lives in a state of sin is called dead. Accordingly destruction is to be taken as the an ti thesis to life and equal to death. By th is an annihilation of substance is not intended, b u t the idea of tru e life, th a t of spirit, requires consciousness, and n o t th a t of th e senses merely, b u t of a sp iritu al consciousness. This is w ant ing where th ere is a deprivation of spir itu al life generally, and the n a tu ra l or fleshly man only vegetates. Such a condition, therefore, is called th e ab sence of life, or d eath .” 3. D estruction means banishment.' There is ano ther word tran slated de stru ctio n ' (o leth ro s). It occurs four times, and in each case is rendered “ destruction.” P aul said th a t the b ro th er in th e Church a t Corinth, who had been guilty of fornication, had to be delivered to Satan “ for th e d estru c tion of th e flesh” (1 Cor. 5 :5 ). He also declared th a t “ sudden destruction” would come upon the self-confident sin ners (1 Thess. 5 :3 ) ; and in m s le tte r to Timothy he w arned the hun ters for riches to beware lest th e riches should lead to sin, which would “ drown men in destruction” (1 Tim. 6 :9 ). The o ther passage of the Scripture is a very significant one, for it declares th a t the persons who know not God, and who have no t obeyed th e Gospel, will be “ punished w ith everlasting destruction ,” and th a t punishm ent will mean banish m ent “ from th e face of th e Lord, and from the glory of His m igh t” (2 Thess. 1:9, R. V .). C. H. Spurgeon once said: “ If Hell is nothing else, it is etern al separation from God.” T h at is w h at the Spirit says. He tells us “ etern al destru ction” is banishm ent from th e presence or face of the Lord.” To behold th e face of th e Lord means salvation, tran sfo rm a tion, satisfaction, and joy. Not to be hold th e face of th e Lord means sin, darkness, dissatisfaction, and m isery.—r
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