When we do something in an excessive manner, we sometimes refer to that as an “overkill,” like killing a fly with a sledgehammer. Well, we’re going to talk about “excessive” today.
Have you ever had a difficult time finding words to express yourself, so you said something like, “I love you very, very, very much!”? You simply repeated yourself to get your point across. Well, that’s what the Apostle Paul did when he tried to explain how great heaven will be. In 2 Corinthians 4:17, he said, “For momentary light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison.”
Actually, “far beyond all comparison” is the same Greek word repeated twice. It’s the word “huperbole,” which means “excessive” or “beyond measure.” It’s the word “ballo,” meaning “to throw,” and the prefix “huper,” which means “above and beyond; or hyper.” So the literal idea is an “overthrow.”
So the shortstop scoops up the ball and instead of throwing it to the first baseman, he throws it over his head and into the box seats. It’s an overthrow. But, Paul actually repeats the word–he says it’s an overthrow of an overthrow. In other words, the shortstop doesn’t just throw it into the box seats–he throws it into the upper deck! Now Paul is saying, take your best throw as to what you think heaven will be like; but when you get there it will be far beyond anything you could imagine! It will be and overthrow of an overthrow. It will be ‘far beyond all comparison!’”
So – are you excited about going to heaven? You ought to be!