Down to Earth But Heavenly Minded

Eternal Punishment

“These shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.” Matthew 25:46.

“And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.” Revelation 20:15.

“One last word of solemn warning
   To the world below —
 One loud shout that all may hear us,
   Hear us e’er we go.
 Once more let that Name be sounded
   With a trumpet tone,
 Here amidst the thickening darkness,
   Then before the throne.”

If objection is raised to my interpretation of the rich man’s doom on the ground that it is a parable, I would remark that it is not so called; but even if it has that character, like every other parable of the Lord it was spoken to teach us some great truth, and what can that be but that that lies clearly on the surface of it? If it is further argued that “tormented in this flame” and “great gulf fixed” is figurative language, I would answer that it is figurative of something surely, and if the figure is appalling, what must the reality be? The subject is too solemn for argument, and if the interpretation given is not in harmony with the whole of the written Word, it must be rejected. The Word of God is the test and the standard, and upon this subject of such tremendous importance it speaks not only in parable but in plain and unmistakable doctrine.

Naturally we shrink from the thought of eternal punishment as once we did from other solemn truths. The heinousness of sin, for instance, is not a pleasant contemplation until we discover that the all-cleansing blood of the Son of God has made a full atonement for us before God; death, too, fills us with fear until we learn that it has been robbed of its sting by the death of Jesus. But eternal punishment is different; if it is the truth, there is no remedy, no release for those who come under it, and it is this that makes it terrible.

We must admit that our thoughts and opinions are useless. We may rightly investigate the things that belong to this life and sphere and form opinions about them, for they lie more or less within the range of our understanding, but if we are to know anything about the unseen world and the life beyond this, we must get that knowledge from God; it must be by REVELATION from Him and not by our INVESTIGATION. And in this lies the difference between faith and the greatly flattered “modern” mind, which is practically synonymous with unbelief: the first accepts the revelation that God has given to us; the second refuses it and relies upon its own investigations. It is just here that difficulty in understanding comes in. In the things of God faith must come first; it is “by faith we understand” (Hebrews 11).

God’s revelation is in the Bible. We get our knowledge of heaven from the Bible, we know nothing of heaven apart from it, but it speaks of hell as well as heaven. If we accept the one we cannot consistently reject the other. Take the words of the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, “In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so I would have told you” (John 14:2). If there had been no place and state of blessing beyond this life for us, He would have told us plainly; and if there had been no judgment to come, no retribution for sin, no hell, would He not also have told us? But the strongest language in the Bible as to these things came from His own lips. He spoke of some who would die in their sins and the impossibility of such going where He would be (John 8:21, 23, 24). He said to the proud self righteous hypocrites of His day, “How shall ye escape the damnation of hell?” (Matthew 23:14). He said, “Fear Him which, after He has killed has power to cast into hell; yea, I say to you, Fear Him” (Luke 12:5). He it is who will say to some in the day of judgment of the living nations, “Depart, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matthew 25:41), and of these He said, “these shall go into everlasting punishment” (Matthew 25:46). He spoke of “outer darkness” and “weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 25:30), and “of their worm that never dies and the fire that is not quenched” (Mark 9:46). Who dares to say that he will listen to the Lord and believe Him when He speaks of blessing, but refuse to hear and believe when He speaks of judgment?

The consciences of all men everywhere admit that there must be retribution for wrong-doing, and they act upon this in their dealings with each other; for laws are made by them and penalties inflicted upon the breach of them. Yet some would deny this right to God that they feel they must exercise themselves. “But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit such things” (Romans 2:3). God is not less righteous than men; His claims and authority must be upheld, and His judgment where these are flouted will be a righteous judgment.

Others admit that God must judge evil-doing who deny that His judgment is everlasting. To such our answer is: The Bible says it is. But it is argued that “everlasting” and “eternal” when used in the Bible do not mean “never ending,” The word occurs about seventy times in the New Testament, and I give some examples. “To be cast into everlasting fire.” (Matthew 18:8). “These shall go away into everlasting punishment” (Matthew 25:46). And in the same verse, “the righteous into life eternal.” “Is in danger of eternal damnation” (Mark 3:29). “In the world to come, life everlasting” (Luke 18:30). “He that believes on the Son has everlasting life” (John 3:15-16, 36; John 5:24) “The commandment of the EVERLASTING GOD” (Romans 16:26). “An house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens” (2 Corinthians 5:1). “They shall be punished with everlasting destruction” (2 Thessalonians 1:9). “In Christ Jesus with eternal glory” (2 Timothy 2:10). “The author of eternal salvation” (Hebrews 5:9). “Having obtained eternal redemption” (Hebrews 9:12). “Who through the ETERNAL SPIRIT offered Himself without spot to God” (Hebrews 9:14). “Called us to His eternal glory” (1 Peter 5:10). “This is the true God and eternal life” (1 John 5:20). “Suffering the vengeance of eternal fire” (Jude 7). What other language could God have used to have conveyed to our minds the thought of judgment and punishment without end? And if the punishment is for a time only and not everlasting why should He have used the same word to describe it as that which describes the blessing of the saved and the eternity of His own Being, and not have said so in language about which there could have been no question?

Another argument against the truth is that reason revolts against the eternity of punishment for a lifetime of sin; but whose reason revolts against it? Quite recently there was a case of a man who received a life sentence for the attempted murder of a policeman; his reason revolted against it, he thought the sentence too heavy, too terrible; he said so, and appealed against it on that ground, but his reason was no match for the sentence of the law, his appeal was dismissed. It is not for the criminal to say what the sentence shall be; the judge decides that, and when God judges He will do it in absolute justice; “We are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth” (Romans 2:3). He has told us what that judgment will be before any come into it, and He has done this in love that warns of it that men may escape.

But further, it is evident that the state of those who die in their sins and upon whom the judgment that comes after death will fall, remain unchanged. We do not read of any hope of repentance on their part in eternity. Three times over the Lord repeats the solemn word, “Where their worm dies not, and the fire is not quenched” (Mark 9:44-45, 48). It is generally said that “their worm” symbolizes the gnawing and remorse of the conscience, and it may indeed be this, but there is surely more in it; “their worm” speaks of corruption, and in this corrupt condition they remain unchanged for ever. Consequently the fire, symbolical of God’s judgment, abides on them, it never dies out. We do not mean that these unrepentant sinners will continue sinning in hell, for as men in prison are restrained from crime, so will the lost be under the restraint of God’s judgment in the lake of fire; but the sinful condition will remain, for we read, “He that is unjust, let him be unjust still; and he that is filthy, let him be filthy still” (Revelation 22:11). And John 3:36 is a decisive word: “He that believes not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.” He “shall not see life” shatters the false hope of the universalist, and the wrath of God abiding on him meets the error of the annihilationist.

Now if there is no judgment for sin, or if that judgment is of a limited or temporal sort; if, for instance, sin can be expiated by a period in purgatorial fires, why did Christ die? And do we not here come to the heart of the whole question? If the punishment for sin is not everlasting, it did not require an infinite sacrifice to atone for it, and a lesser person than Christ could have made it. But the fact that “God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son” that men might not perish, is proof enough that they would and will perish apart from Him. It is the “whosoever believes in Him” that escapes this awful doom. To deny eternal punishment is to belittle the greatness of God’s gift, and the work and death of Christ, and to make sin against God but a matter of small account.

The cross of Christ, on which He gave Himself a ransom for all, is the great proof of God’s love for men and the length He would go to save them; He could not have done more, and less would not have availed. But that cross is also the great proof that God cannot pass by the sins of men as though they were nothing at all. He would not be a God of holiness and truth if He did; hence the gospel that proclaims His love and grace also reveals His wrath against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men (Romans 1:18). How shall those who have refused to repent of their sins to God, and have neglected His great salvation, escape His wrath? His goodness and long suffering have been expended on them, but all in vain, they have not obeyed the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, and must be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and the glory of His power (2 Thessalonians 1:8). Thus the Bible teaches, and to reject its clear statements and believe instead the reasonings of the human mind is blind folly.

The greatness of God’s love has been revealed in the gift of His Son for our salvation (see John 3:16; Romans 5:8; 1 John 4:9-10). The universality of His mercy is manifested in the offer of salvation to all without any exception, but the eternal punishment of impenitent sinners will be an eternal witness to the infinite character of His wrath against sin, a wrath that will be as perfect and just as His mercy.

But judgment is God’s strange work. He will find no delight in it, though He does delight in mercy. We read that in heaven they say, when God judges, “True and righteous are His judgments” (Revelation 19:2). That is not a joyous song; but there is joy in heaven, though it is not when judgment is executed, but when one sinner repents, and in that joy God’s heart reveals itself, it is His own joy in which all heaven shares.

FINISH