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There's More!
The
Strait
of
Gibraltar
is the strait that separates the Atlantic Ocean from the
Mediterranean Sea
. The strait has a very
strategic location. Ships that
travel
from
the Atlantic to the
Mediterranean
and vice versa, pass through this strait.
Prominent mountains
(promontories) flank the entrance to the
Strait
of
Gibraltar
from the East. These
boundaries to the strait were known to antiquity as the
Pillars of Hercules
. They are the Rock of
Gibraltar and Jebel Musa, a mountain in
Morocco
. * The Spanish drew the
Pillars on their fifteenth century coat of arms.
They also placed scrolls across the Pillars containing three Latin
words:
”
Ne Plus Ultra” – ” No More
Beyond.”
These words were a
warning to sailors not to enter the
Atlantic Ocean
, for it was believed that there was nothing beyond those Pillars. . .
.
Christopher Columbus
destroyed that common belief by sailing far out into the Atlantic Ocean
– beyond the Pillars of Hercules -- and discovering the ”
New World
.”
In
Valladolid
,
Spain
, where Christopher Columbus died in 1506, stands a monument commemorating
the great discoverer. An
interesting feature of the memorial is a statue of a lion eating one of
the Latin words that had been part of
Spain’s motto for centuries. The
word being torn away by the lion is the Latin word” Ne”
(meaning
” No”), make it read ” Plus
Ultra” which means ” More Beyond.”
Columbus
had proven that there was indeed “more beyond” the
Pillars of Hercules
.
” Ne
Plus Ultra.” That
was the SAME motto that the Sadducees espoused: there is NO MORE
BEYOND, i.e., there is NO LIFE AFTER physical death.
But Jesus Christ, the “Lion of Judah,” through His life, death,
and resurrection, has torn that word, ” Ne,”
from the phrase, giving us the reality of ” More
Beyond.”
” It
is appointed for men to DIE ONCE, but AFTER this the judgment”
(Hebrews 9:27). After the
judgment, there are TWO destinies: the righteous into ETERNAL LIFE and the
wicked into EVERLASTING PUNISHMENT (Matthew 25:46).
Because there is
” More Beyond.,” Jesus
pleaded: "Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad
is the way that leads to DESTRUCTION, and there are many who go in by it.
Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to LIFE,
and there are FEW who find it” (Matthew 7:13-14).
The Way to
everlasting life is through Jesus - (John 14:6), believing
in Him
(Acts 16:31), repenting
of sin to follow Him (Acts 17:30-31), confessing
Him before men (Romans 10:9-10),
being baptized
(immersed) in His name for the
forgiveness
of sins (Acts 2:38), and faithfully following Him along the way (1 John
1:7).
Because of Jesus,
there is MORE BEYOND! He
offers ETERNAL LIFE with Him.
Will
YOU accept His Offer through your faith and
obedience?
God bless you!
--
Sid Dye / David
A. Sargent, Minister
Church of Christ at Creekwood
1901 Schillinger Rd. S.
Mobile, Alabama 36695
(Sid Dye is the minister
of the Southern Hills church in
Salem
,
IN
, and the husband of David’s cousin, Kathy.)
* The title of
“Pillars of Hercules” is also claimed by Monte Hacho in the Spanish
territory
of
Ceuta.
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