hear those who should know better arguing that because we read of a "lost" sheep, which

could not mean a "destroyed" sheep, that therefore the plain, primary meaning of the

word must be ignored and the secondary derived meaning be understood in such clear,

solemn passages as John 3: 16, &100:

Notice the way in which the Lord uses the word in Matt. 10: 28. "Fear not them which

kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul, but rather fear Him who is able to destroy

both body and soul in hell (gehenna)." Here we have an argument which proceeds from

the lesser to the greater. Man can only kill the body. God can destroy body and soul.

Man may kill, but he cannot prevent resurrection. The murdered man will as surely rise

in the resurrection as the one who dies of natural causes. It is different, however, with

God. He can cast men into the lake of fire, which is the second death, from which there

is no resurrection. Those who are thus cast in are destroyed body and soul, as being no

more fit to live.

The parallel passage to this, Luke 12: 4, 5, shows that to "cast into gehenna" is to be

taken as synonymous with "to destroy," or "to perish." This is further evidenced by

Matt. 5: 29, "It is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that

thy whole body should be cast into gehenna." Here the plain meaning is that it is better

that a limb should perish than that the whole body should perish. There is no thought of

agony and torment, for the Lord would have used the word in Matt. 10: 28, "Fear Him who

is able to torment both body and soul in hell," had He meant to convey such teaching.

The fact that men are "perishing" and need salvation is emphasised again and again.

We have noticed the word in John 3: 16. In I Cor. 1: 18 we read, "for the preaching of

the cross is to them who are perishing--foolishness, but unto them who are being saved--

unto us it is given the power of God." It is the same word (translated "lost" in A.V.) in

II Cor. 4: 3, "If our gospel is veiled, to them who are perishing it is veiled."

Yet again in I Cor. 15: 18 we read, "If Christ hath not been raised, to no purpose is

your faith, ye are yet in your sins, hence also they who are fallen asleep in Christ have

perished." What does this mean? Does it mean that believers, apart from the resurrection

of Christ, are at this moment suffering the agonies of hell fire? Certainly not. It means

exactly what it says. Without resurrection the believer, like the unbeliever, will have

perished, will have passed out of being, will have been destroyed.  The idea of a

conscious intermediate state, with departments in some mythological hades, is foreign to

the Scriptures and antagonistic to this passage.  Death ends life, and apart from

resurrection death means utter destruction. Praise be to God for this blessed hope.

Resurrection, which is everywhere the one theme of hope in the Scriptures, is set aside by

orthodoxy, and death instead is eulogised as the gate to life.

We have yet further evidence as to the meaning of this word apollumi by considering

the inspired interpretation of the word Apollyon (Rev. 9: 11), which is a derivative of

apollumi. The passage gives us the Hebrew equivalent of apollumi, it is the word

Abaddon, from abad, which we considered on page 8 of this Volume. The unmistakable

meaning of abad is to destroy, and thus we are given, to confirm our faith, the divine

warrant that the word under consideration means to "destroy."  In the context of

Rev. 9: 11 the locusts, whose king is Apollyon, are definitely witheld from destroying or