“Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell [Gehenna].”

Here our Lord pointed out to his followers the great cause they had for courage and bravery under the most trying circumstances. They were to expect persecution, and to have all manner of evil spoken against them falsely, for his sake, and for the sake of the “good tidings” (Luke 2:10) of which he made them the ministers and heralds; yea, the time would come that whosoever would kill them would think that he did God a service. (John 16:2) Their consolation of reward for this was to be received, not in the present life, but in the life to come. They were assured, and they believed, that he had come to give his life a ransom for many (Matt. 20:28), and that all in their graves must in consequence, in due time, hear the Deliverer’s voice and come forth (John 5:28,29), either to reward (if their trial had been passed in this life successfully), future trial, or judgment, as must be the case with the great majority who do not, in this present life, come to the necessary knowledge and opportunity essential to a complete trial.

Under present conditions men are able to kill our bodies, but nothing that they can do will affect our future being (soul) (Matt. 10:28), which God has promised shall be revived or restored by His power in the resurrection day — the Millennial age. Our revived souls will have new bodies (spiritual or natural — “to every ‘seed’ his own [kind of] body” — 1 Cor. 15:38), and these none will have liberty to kill. God alone has power to destroy utterly — soul and body. He alone, therefore, should be feared, and the opposition of men even to the death is not to be feared, if thereby we gain divine approval. Our Lord’s bidding, then, is, Fear not them which can terminate the present (dying) life in these poor, dying bodies.

Care little for it, its food, its clothing, its pleasures, in comparison with that future existence or being which God has provided for you, and which, if secured, may be your portion forever. Fear not the threats, or looks, or acts of men, whose power can extend no farther than the present existence; who can harm and kill these bodies, but can do no more. Rather have respect and deference to God, with whom are the issues of life everlasting — fear him who is able to destroy in Gehenna, the Second death, both the present dying existence and all hope of future existence.