This meant an entrance into a kingdom prepared for them from the foundation of the world. This kingdom was not to be some far-off land of ivory palaces, golden streets, beautiful mansions, white nightgowns, wings and harps,
where there is nothing to do and all eternity to do it in. THIS IS A KINGDOM. And because it is a kingdom it denotes
rulership and advancement of all kinds. It indicates the bringing of a great many people into
a higher realm in the Spirit than they have ever known before. It means
WORK and RESPONSIBILITY and a place of ministry and authority to bless.
But the people who had never done all these things mentioned by the Lord were separated unto the left hand of God! They received no kingdom. There were no rewards for work done or attainments reached. Rather, they were set on the dark side of God, they were put under a kingdom and under authority and they were
placed in a process of fiery judgment to receive correction. There is much subtle truth in these words of Jesus: "These shall go away into everlasting punishment." The word punishment is from the Greek
KOLASIS which means simply that -
punishment. But it comes from the root
KOLAZO which sheds precious light upon the nature of the punishment. KOLAZO, according to Strong's Concordance, bears only two shades of meaning, namely, "
to curtail" or "
to chastise." To "curtail" means to
restrain as a person is restrained in jail or a child is restrained when he is "grounded" for a week because of some disobedience. "Chastise" has one simple meaning according to Webster's New World Dictionary: to punish
in order to correct, usually by beating. It should be clear to any thoughtful mind that the subject here is
not meaningless,
sadistic,
unending torture, but
PURPOSEFUL CORRECTION.
Source:
The Savior of the World, by J. Preston Eby
Kindgdom Bible Studies Savior of the World Series Part 1
