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Of those who have seen the necessity for rightly dividing the Word, but
who have till now hesitated about the application of Matthew 25, we ask
whether the following is a fair statement of truth? The gospel of the
kingdom ends at Acts 28; evidential miracles end at Acts 28; the hope of
Israel ends at Acts 28; but eternal punishment is the one exception that must
not be given up!
Two other expressions must be considered briefly before we pass from
Matthew to a wider survey, viz., 'torment' and 'gnashing of teeth'.
(1)
Torment.
'And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he
should pay all that was due unto him' (Matt. 18:34).
This is part of a parable. Its application is given by the Lord
Himself, and makes further comment unnecessary:
'So likewise shall My heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your
hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses' (Matt.
18:35).
(2)
Gnashing of teeth.-- This expression occurs in Matthew 8:12;
13:42,50; 22:13; 24:51 and 25:30. While these passages indicate pain
consciously endured, they make no contribution to the question of duration.
It is important that we observe who it is that gnash their teeth -- 'the
children of the kingdom', 'the children of the wicked one', 'the man without
the wedding garment', the evil servant who said, 'my lord delayeth his
coming', and 'the unprofitable servant who hid his talent in the earth'. We
do not know of anyone who teaches that eternal torment awaits the servant of
God who has not used his talents aright, and so these words make no
contribution to our main inquiry.
Words that the Holy Ghost teacheth
An examination of the meaning and usage of the words 'sheol' and 'hades',
'olam' and 'aion', and the parable of the rich man and Lazarus
We will now turn our attention to a wider range of study, and seek from
the usage of several keywords light upon this great question. The first word
we propose for study is the Hebrew word sheol.
This word occurs sixty -five times in the Old Testament, and is
translated in the A.V. by the word 'hell' thirty -one times, 'grave' thirty-
one times, and 'pit' three times. Moses used the word seven times, and the
A.V. renders it 'grave' four times, 'pit' twice, and 'hell' once. The R.V.
omits the word 'hell' substitutes 'pit'. The following are the four
references in Genesis:
'I will go down into the grave unto my son mourning' (37:35).
'Then shall ye bring down my grey hairs with sorrow to the grave'
(42:38)
'My grey hairs with sorrow to the grave' (44:29).
'The grey hairs of thy servant our father with sorrow to the grave'
(44:31).