The Eternity of Hell’s Torments.
A Sermon Preached in April, 1739
By Jonathan Edwards, A.M.
Pastor of the Church of Christ in Northampton.
In this chapter we have the most particular description
of the day of judgment, of any in the whole Bible. Christ here declares
that when he shall hereafter sit on the throne of his glory, the
righteous and the wicked shall be set before him, and separated one from
the other, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. Then we have
an account how both will be judged according to their works: how the
good works of the one and the evil works of the other will be rehearsed,
and how the sentence shall be pronounced accordingly. We are told what
the sentence will be on each, and then we have an account of the
execution of the sentence on both. In the words of the text is the
account of the execution of the sentence on the wicked or the ungodly,
concerning which, it is to my purpose to observe two things.
I. The duration of the punishment on which they are here said to enter: it is called everlasting punishment.
II. The time of their entrance on this everlasting
punishment, viz. after the day of judgment, when all these things that
are of a temporary continuance shall have come to an end and even those
of them that are most lasting — the frame of the world itself, the earth
which is said to abide forever, the ancient mountains and everlasting
hills, the sun, moon, and stars. When the heavens shall have waxed old
like a garment and as a vesture shall be changed, then shall be the time
when the wicked shall enter on their punishment.
Doctrine. — The misery of the wicked in hell will be absolutely eternal.
There are two opinions which I mean to oppose in this
doctrine. One is that the eternal death with which wicked men are
threatened in Scripture, signifies no more than eternal annihilation:
that God will punish their wickedness by eternally abolishing their
being.
The other opinion which I mean to oppose is that though
the punishment of the wicked shall consist in sensible misery, yet it
shall not be absolutely eternal, but only of a very long continuance.
Therefore, to establish the doctrine in opposition to these different opinions, I shall undertake to show,
I. That it is not contrary to the divine perfections to inflict on wicked men a punishment that is absolutely eternal.
II. That the eternal death which God threatens is not annihilation, but an abiding sensible punishment or misery.
III. That this misery will not only continue for a very long time, but will be absolutely without end.
IV. That various good ends will be obtained by the eternal punishment of the wicked.
I. I am to show that it is not contrary to the divine
perfections to inflict on wicked men a punishment that is absolutely
eternal.
This is the sum of the objections usually made against
this doctrine: that it is inconsistent with the justice, and especially
with the mercy, of God. And some say if it be strictly just, yet how can
we suppose that a merciful God can bear eternally to torment his
creatures.
First, I shall briefly show that it is not inconsistent
with the justice of God to inflict an eternal punishment. To evince
this, I shall use only one argument, viz. that sin is heinous enough to
deserve such a punishment, and such a punishment is no more than
proportionable to the evil or demerit of sin. If the evil of sin be
infinite, as the punishment is, then it is manifest that the punishment
is no more than proportionable to the sin punished, and is no more than
sin deserves. And if the obligation to love, honor, and obey God be
infinite, then sin which is the violation of this obligation, is a
violation of infinite obligation, and so is an infinite evil. Again, if
God be infinitely worthy of love, honor, and obedience, then our
obligation to love, and honor, and obey him is infinitely great. — So
that God being infinitely glorious, or infinitely worthy of our love,
honor, and obedience, our obligation to love, honor, and obey him (and
so to avoid all sin) is infinitely great. Again, our obligation to love,
honor, and obey God being infinitely great, sin is the violation of
infinite obligation, and so is an infinite evil. Once more, sin being an
infinite evil, deserves an infinite punishment. An infinite punishment
is no more than it deserves. Therefore such punishment is just, which
was the thing to be proved. There is no evading the force of this
reasoning, but by denying that God, the sovereign of the universe, is
infinitely glorious, which I presume none of my hearers will venture to
do.
Second, I am to show that it is not inconsistent with
the mercy of God, to inflict an eternal punishment on wicked men. It is
an unreasonable and unscriptural notion of the mercy of God, that he is
merciful in such a sense that he cannot bear that penal justice should
be executed. This is to conceive of the mercy of God as a passion to
which his nature is so subject that God is liable to be moved, and
affected, and overcome by seeing a creature in misery, so that he cannot
bear to see justice executed: which is a most unworthy and absurd
notion of the mercy of God, and would, if true, argue great weakness. —
It would be a great defect, and not a perfection, in the sovereign and
supreme Judge of the world, to be merciful in such a sense that he could
not bear to have penal justice executed. It is a very unscriptural
notion of the mercy of God. The Scriptures everywhere represent the
mercy of God as free and sovereign, and not that the exercises of it are
necessary, so that God cannot bear justice should take place. The
Scriptures abundantly speak of it as the glory of the divine attribute
of mercy, that it is free and sovereign in its exercises, and not that
God cannot but deliver sinners from misery. This is a mean and most
unworthy idea of the divine mercy.
It is most absurd also as it is contrary to plain fact.
For if there be any meaning in the objection, this is supposed in it,
that all misery of the creature, whether just or unjust, is in itself
contrary to the nature of God. For if his mercy be of such a nature that
a very great degree of misery, though just, is contrary to his nature,
then it is only to add to the mercy. And then a less degree of misery is
contrary to his nature (again to add further to it), and a still less
degree of misery is contrary to his nature. And so the mercy of God
being infinite, all misery must be contrary to his nature, which we see
to be contrary to fact. For we see that God in his providence, does
indeed inflict very great calamities on mankind even in this life.
However strong such kind of objections against the
eternal misery of the wicked, may seem to the carnal, senseless hearts
of men, as though it were against God’s justice and mercy, yet their
seeming strength arises from a want of sense of the infinite evil,
odiousness, and provocation there is in sin. Hence it seems to us not
suitable that any poor creature should be the subject of such misery,
because we have no sense of anything abominable and provoking in any
creature answerable to it. If we had, then this infinite calamity would
not seem unsuitable. For one thing would but appear answerable and
proportionable to another, and so the mind would rest in it as fit and
suitable, and no more than what is proper to be ordered by the just,
holy, and good Governor of the world.
That this is so, we may be convinced by this
consideration, viz. that when we hear or read of some horrid instances
of cruelty, it may be to some poor innocent child or some holy martyr —
and their cruel persecutors, having no regard to their shrieks and
cries, only sported themselves with their misery, and would not
vouchsafe even to put an end to their lives — we have a sense of the
evil of them, and they make a deep impression on our minds. Hence it
seems just, every way fit and suitable, that God should inflict a very
terrible punishment on persons who have perpetrated such wickedness. It
seems no way disagreeable to any perfection of the Judge of the world.
We can think of it without being at all shocked. The reason is that we
have a sense of the evil of their conduct, and a sense of the proportion
there is between the evil or demerit and the punishment.
Just so, if we saw a proportion between the evil of sin
and eternal punishment, i.e. if we saw something in wicked men that
should appear as hateful to us, as eternal misery appears dreadful
(something that should as much stir up indignation and detestation, as
eternal misery does terror), all objections against this doctrine would
vanish at once. Though now it seem incredible, [and] though when we hear
of such a degree and duration of torments as are held forth in this
doctrine and think what eternity is, it is ready to seem impossible that
such torments should be inflicted on poor feeble creatures by a Creator
of infinite mercy. Yet this arises principally from these two causes:
1. It is so contrary to the depraved inclinations of mankind, that they
hate to believe it and cannot bear it should be true. 2. They see not
the suitableness of eternal punishment to the evil of sin. They see not
that it is no more than proportionable to the demerit of sin.
Having thus shown that the eternal punishment of the
wicked is not inconsistent with the divine perfections, I shall now
proceed to show that it is so far from being inconsistent with the
divine perfections, that those perfections evidently require it; i.e.
they require that sin should have so great a punishment, either in the
person who has committed it, or in a surety. And therefore with respect
to those who believe not in a surety, and have no interest in him, the
divine perfections require that this punishment should be inflicted on
them.
This appears as it is not only not unsuitable that sin
should be thus punished, but it is positively suitable, decent, and
proper. — If this be made to appear, that it is positively suitable that
sin should be thus punished, then it will follow that the perfections
of God require it. For certainly the perfections of God require what is
proper to be done. The perfection and excellency of God require that to
take place which is perfect, excellent, and proper in its own nature.
But that sin should be punished eternally is such a thing, which appears
by the following considerations.
1. It is suitable that God should infinitely hate sin,
and be an infinite enemy to it. Sin, as I have before shown, is an
infinite evil, and therefore is infinitely odious and detestable. It is
proper that God should hate every evil, and hate it according to its
odious and detestable nature. And sin being infinitely evil and odious,
it is proper that God should hate it infinitely.
2. If infinite hatred of sin be suitable to the divine
character, then the expressions of such hatred are also suitable to this
character. Because that which is suitable to be, is suitable to be
expressed. That which is lovely in itself, is lovely when it appears. If
it be suitable that God should be an infinite enemy to sin, or that he
should hate it infinitely, then it is suitable that he should act as
such an enemy. If it be suitable that he should hate and have enmity
against sin, then it is suitable for him to express that hatred and
enmity in that to which hatred and enmity by its own nature tends. But
certainly hatred in its own nature tends to opposition, and to set
itself against that which is hated, and to procure its evil and not its
good, and that in proportion to the hatred. Great hatred naturally tends
to the great evil, and infinite hatred to the infinite evil, of its
object.
Whence it follows that if it be suitable that there
should be infinite hatred of sin in God, as I have shown it is, it is
suitable that he should execute an infinite punishment on it. And so the
perfections of God require that he should punish sin with an infinite,
or which is the same thing with an eternal, punishment.
Thus we see not only the great objection against this
doctrine answered, but the truth of the doctrine established by reason. I
now proceed further to establish it by considering the remaining
particulars under the doctrine.
II. That eternal death or punishment which God
threatens to the wicked, is not annihilation, but an abiding sensible
punishment or misery. — The truth of this proposition will appear by the
following particulars.
First, the Scripture everywhere represents the
punishment of the wicked, as implying very extreme pains and sufferings.
But a state of annihilation is no state of suffering at all. Persons
annihilated have no sense or feeling of pain or pleasure, and much less
do they feel that punishment which carries in it an extreme pain or
suffering. They no more suffer to eternity than they did suffer from
eternity.
Second, it is agreeable both to Scripture and reason to
suppose that the wicked shall be punished in such a manner that they
shall be sensible of the punishment they are under: that they should be
sensible that now God has executed and fulfilled what he threatened,
what they disregarded and would not believe. They should know themselves
that justice takes place upon them, that God vindicates that majesty
which they despised, [and] that God is not so despicable a being as they
thought him to be. They should be sensible for what they are punished,
while they are under the threatened punishment. It is reasonable that
they should be sensible of their own guilt, and should remember their
former opportunities and obligations, and should see their own folly and
God’s justice. — If the punishment threatened be eternal annihilation,
they will never know that it is inflicted. They will never know that God
is just in their punishment, or that they have their deserts. And how
is this agreeable to the Scriptures, in which God threatens, that he
will repay the wicked to his face, Deu. 7:10. And to that in Job 21: 19,20, “God rewardeth him, and he shall know it; his eyes shall see his
destruction, and he shall drink of the wrath of the Almighty.” And to
that in Eze. 22:21,22, “Yea, I will gather you, and blow upon you in
the fire of my wrath, and ye shall be melted in the midst thereof. As
silver is melted in the midst of the furnace, so shall ye be melted in
the midst thereof; and ye shall know that I the Lord have poured out my
fury upon you.” — And how is it agreeable to that expression so often
annexed to the threatenings of God’s wrath against wicked men, And ye
shall know that I am the Lord?
Third, the Scripture teaches that the wicked will
suffer different degrees of torment, according to the different
aggravations of their sins. Mat. 5:22, “Whosoever is angry with his
brother without a cause, shall be in danger of the judgment: and
whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the
council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of
hell-fire.” Mat. 11:20-24 Here Christ teaches us that the torments of wicked men will
be different in different persons, according to the different degrees of
their guilt. — It shall be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah, for
Tyre and Sidon, than for the cities where most of Christ’s mighty works
were wrought. — Again, our Lord assures us that he that knows his Lord’s
will, and prepares not himself, nor does according to his will, shall
be beaten with many stripes. But he that knows not, and commits things
worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. — These several
passages of Scripture infallibly prove that there will be different
degrees of punishment in hell, which is utterly inconsistent with the
supposition that the punishment consists in annihilation, in which there
can be no degrees.
Fourth, the Scriptures are very express and abundant in
this matter: that the eternal punishment of the wicked will consist in
sensible misery and torment, and not in annihilation. — What is said of
Judas is worthy to be observed here, “It had been good for that man if
he had not been born;” Mat. 26:24. — This seems plainly to teach us,
that the punishment of the wicked is such that their existence, upon the
whole, is worse than non-existence. But if their punishment consists
merely in annihilation, this is not true. — The wicked, in their
punishment, are said to weep, and wail, and gnash their teeth; which
implies not only real existence, but life, knowledge, and activity, and
that they are in a very sensible and exquisite manner affected with
their punishment, Isa. 33:14. Sinners in the state of their punishment
are represented to dwell with everlasting burnings. But if they are only
turned into nothing, where is the foundation for this representation?
It is absurd to say that sinners will dwell with annihilation, for there
is no dwelling in the case. It is also absurd to call annihilation a
burning, which implies a state of existence, sensibility, and extreme
pain: whereas in annihilation there is neither.
It is said that they shall be cast into a lake of fire
and brimstone. How can this expression with any propriety be understood
to mean a state of annihilation? Yea, they are expressly said to have no
rest day nor night, but to be tormented with fire and brimstone forever
and ever, Rev. 20-10 , (Rev 20:11-15). But annihilation is a state of rest, a state in
which not the least torment can possibly be suffered. Luke 16:19-31 The rich man in
hell lifted up his eyes being in torment, and saw Abraham afar off, and
Lazarus in his bosom, and entered into a particular conversation with
Abraham: all which proves that he was not annihilated.
The spirits of ungodly men before the resurrection are
not in a state of annihilation, but in a state of misery. They are
spirits in prison, as the apostle says of them that were drowned in the
flood, 1 Pet. 3:19-20. — And this appears very plainly from the instance of
the rich man before mentioned, if we consider him as representing the
wicked in their separate state between death and the resurrection. But
if the wicked even then are in a state of torment, much more will they
be, when they shall come to suffer that which is the proper punishment
of their sins.
Annihilation is not so great a calamity but that some
men have undoubtedly chosen it, rather than a state of suffering even in
this life. This was the case of Job, a good man. But if a good man in
this world may suffer that which is worse than annihilation, doubtless
the proper punishment of the wicked, in which God means to manifest his
peculiar abhorrence of their wickedness, will be a calamity vastly
greater still, and therefore cannot be annihilation. That must be a very
mean contemptible testimony of God’s wrath towards those who have
rebelled against his crown and dignity — broken his laws, and despised
both his vengeance and his grace — which is not so great a calamity as
some of his true children have suffered in life.
The eternal punishment of the wicked is said to be the
second death, as Rev. 20-14, Rev 21:8 , (Rev. 20:11-15 ). It is doubtless called the second
death in reference to the death of the body, and as the death of the
body is ordinarily attended with great pain and distress, so the like,
or something vastly greater, is implied in calling the eternal
punishment of the wicked the second death. And there would be no
propriety in calling it so, if it consisted merely in annihilation. And
this second death wicked men will suffer, for it cannot be called the
second death with respect to any other than men. It cannot be called so
with respect to devils, as they die no temporal death, which is the
first death. In Rev. 2:11 , it is said, “He that overcometh, shall not be
hurt of the second death;” implying that all who do not overcome their
lusts, but live in sin, shall suffer the second death.
Again, wicked men will suffer the same kind of death
with the devils; as in verse 41 of the context, Mat. 25:41“Depart, ye cursed, into
everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.” Now the
punishment of the devil is not annihilation, but torment. He therefore
trembles for fear of it, not for fear of being annihilated — he would be
glad of that. What he is afraid of is torment, as appears by Luke 8:28 ,
where he cries out and beseeches Christ that he would not torment him
before the time. And it is said, Rev. 20:10 , “The devil that deceived
them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and
the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night, for ever
and ever.”
It is strange how men will go directly against so plain
and full revelations of Scripture, as to suppose notwithstanding all
these things, that the eternal punishment threatened against the wicked
signifies no more than annihilation.
III. As the future punishment of the wicked consists in
sensible misery, so it shall not only continue for a very long time,
but shall be absolutely without end.
Of those who have held that the torments of hell are
not absolutely eternal, there have been two sorts. Some suppose that in
the threatenings of everlasting punishment, the terms used do not
necessarily import a proper eternity, but only a very long duration.
Others suppose that if they do import a proper eternity, yet we cannot
necessarily conclude thence, that God will fulfill his threatenings. —
Therefore I shall,
First, show that the threatenings of eternal punishment
do very plainly and fully import a proper, absolute eternity, and not
merely a long duration. — This appears,
1. Because when the Scripture speaks of the wicked
being sentenced to their punishment at the time when all temporal things
are come to an end, it then speaks of it as everlasting, as in the
text, and elsewhere. It is true that the term forever is not
always in Scripture used to signify eternity. Sometimes it means “as
long as a man lives.” In this sense it is said that the Hebrew servant,
who chose to abide with his master, should have his ear bored and should
serve his master forever. Sometimes it means “during the continuance of
the state and church of the Jews.” In this sense, several laws, which
were peculiar to that church and were to continue in force no longer
than that church should last, are called statutes forever. See Exo. 27:21, Exo. 28:43 , etc. Sometimes it means as long as the world stands. So in
Ecc. 1:4 , “One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh,
but the earth abideth for ever.”
And this last is the longest temporal duration that
such a term is ever used to signify. For the duration of the world is
the longest of things temporal, as its beginning was the earliest.
Therefore when the Scripture speaks of things as being before the
foundation of the world, it means that they existed before the beginning
of time. So those things which continue after the end of the world, are
eternal things. When heaven and earth are shaken and removed, those
things that remain will be what cannot be shaken, but will remain
forever, Heb. 12:26-27.
But the punishment of the wicked will not only remain
after the end of the world, but is called everlasting, as in the text,
“These shall go away into everlasting punishment.” So in 2 Thes. 1:9-10 ,
“Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence
of the Lord, and from the glory of his power; when he shall come to be
glorified in his saints,” etc. — Now, what can be meant by a thing being
everlasting, after all temporal things are come to an end, but that it
is absolutely without end!
2. Such expressions are used to set forth the duration
of the punishment of the wicked, as are never used in the scriptures of
the New Testament to signify anything but a proper eternity. It is said,
not only that the punishment shall be forever, but for ever and ever. Rev. 14:11 , “The smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever.”Rev. 20:10 , “Shall be tormented day and night, for ever and ever.”
Doubtless the New Testament has some expression to signify a proper
eternity, of which it has so often occasion to speak. But it has no
higher expression than this: if this do not signify an absolute
eternity, there is none that does.
3. The Scripture uses the same way of speaking to set
forth the eternity of punishment and the eternity of happiness, yea, the
eternity of God himself. Mat. 25:46 , “These shall go away into
everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.” The words
everlasting and eternal, in the original, are the very same. Rev. 22:5 ,
“And they (the saints) shall reign for ever and ever.” And the Scripture
has no higher expression to signify the eternity of God himself, than
that of his being for ever and ever, as Rev. 4:9 , “To him who sat on the
throne, who liveth for ever and ever;” and in the 10th verse, and inRev. 5:14 ; Rev. 10:6 , and Rev 15:7.
Again, the Scripture expresses God’s eternity by this:
that it shall be forever, after the world is come to an end, Psalm 102:26-27 , “They shall perish, but thou shalt endure: yea, all of them
shall wax old like a garment; as a vesture shalt thou change them, and
they shall be changed. But thou art the same, and thy years shall have
no end.”
4. The Scripture says that wicked men shall not be
delivered till they have paid the uttermost farthing of their debt, Mat. 5:26 . The last mite, Luke 12:59 , i.e. the utmost that is deserved, and
all mercy is excluded by this expression. But we have shown that they
deserve an infinite, an endless punishment.
5. The Scripture says absolutely that their punishment
shall not have an end, Mark 9:44 , “Where their worm dieth not, and the
fire is not quenched.” Now it will not do to say that the meaning is
[that] their worm shall live a great while, or that it shall be a great
while before their fire is quenched. If ever the time comes that their
worm shall die, if ever there shall be a quenching of the fire at all,
then it is not true that their worm dieth not and that the fire is not
quenched. For if there be a dying of the worm and a quenching of the
fire, let it be at what time it will, nearer or further off, it is
equally contrary to such a negation — it dieth not, it is not quenched.
Second, there are others who allow that the expression
of the threatenings do denote a proper eternity. But then, they say, it
does not certainly follow that the punishment will really be eternal,
because God may threaten, and yet not fulfill his threatenings. Though
they allow that the threatenings are positive and peremptory, without
any reserve, yet they say [that] God is not obliged to fulfill absolute
positive threatenings, as he is absolute promises. Because in promises a
right is conveyed that the creature to whom the promises are made will
claim. But there is no danger of the creature’s claiming any right by a
threatening. Therefore I am now to show that what God has positively
declared in this matter, does indeed make it certain that it shall be as
he has declared. To this end, I shall mention two things:
1. It is evidently contrary to the divine truth,
positively to declare anything to be real, whether past, present, or to
come, which God at the same time knows is not so. Absolutely threatening
that anything shall be, is the same as absolutely declaring that it is
to be. For any to suppose that God absolutely declares that anything
will be, which be at the same time knows will not be, is blasphemy, if
there be any such thing as blasphemy.
Indeed, it is very true that there is no obligation on
God, arising from the claim of the creature, as there is in promises.
They seem to reckon the wrong way, who suppose the necessity of the
execution of the threatening to arise from a proper obligation on God to
the creature to execute consequent on his threatening. For indeed the
certainty of the execution arises the other way, viz. on the obligation
there was on the omniscient God, in threatening, to conform his
threatening to what he knew would be future in execution. Though,
strictly speaking, God is not properly obliged to the creature to
execute because he has threatened, yet he was obliged not absolutely to
threaten, if at the same time he knew that he should not or would not
fulfill, because this would not have been consistent with his truth. So
that from the truth of God there is an inviolable connection between
positive threatenings and execution. They who suppose that God
positively declared that he would do contrary to what he knew would come
to pass, do therein suppose, that he absolutely threatened contrary to
what he knew to be truth. And how anyone can speak contrary to what he
knows to be truth, in declaring, promising, or threatening, or any other
way, consistently with inviolable truth, is inconceivable.
Threatenings are significations of something, and if
they are made consistently with truth, they are true significations, or
significations of truth, that which shall be. If absolute threatenings
are significations of anything, they are significations of the futurity
of the things threatened. But if the futurity of the things threatened
be not true and real, then how can the threatening be a true
signification? And if God, in them, speaks contrary to what he knows,
and contrary to what he intends, how he can speak true is inconceivable.
Absolute threatenings are a kind of predictions. And
though God is not properly obliged by any claim of ours to fulfill
predictions, unless they are of the nature of promises, yet it certainly
would be contrary to truth, to predict that such a thing would come to
pass, which he knew at the same time would not come to pass.
Threatenings are declarations of something future, and they must be
declarations of future truth, if they are true declarations. Its being
future alters not the case any more than if it were present. It is
equally contrary to truth, to declare contrary to what at the same time
is known to be truth, whether it be of things past, present, or to come:
for all are alike to God.
Beside, we have often declarations in Scripture of the
future eternal punishment of the wicked, in the proper form of
predictions, and not in the form of threatenings. So in the text, “These
shall go away into everlasting punishment.” So in those frequent
assertions of eternal punishment in the Revelation, some of which I have
already quoted. The Revelation is a prophecy, and is so called in the
book itself. So are those declarations of eternal punishment. — The like
declarations we have also in many other places of Scripture.
2. The doctrine of those who teach that it is not
certain that God will fulfill those absolute threatenings, is
blasphemous another way, and that is, as God, according to their
supposition, was obliged to make use of a fallacy to govern the world.
They own that it is needful that men should apprehend themselves liable
to an eternal punishment, that they might thereby be restrained from
sin, and that God has threatened such a punishment, for the very end
that they might believe themselves exposed to it. But what an unworthy
opinion does this convey of God and his government, of his infinite
majesty, and wisdom, and all-sufficiency! — Beside, they suppose that
though God has made use of such a fallacy, yet it is not such an one but
that they have detected him in it. Though God intended men should
believe it to be certain that sinners are liable to an eternal
punishment, yet they suppose that they have been so cunning as to find
out that it is not certain. And so that God had not laid his design so
deep, but that such cunning men as they can discern the cheat and defeat
the design, because they have found out that there is no necessary
connection between the threatening of eternal punishment, and the
execution of that threatening.
Considering these things, is it not greatly to be
wondered at, that Archbishop Tillotson, who has made so great a figure
among the new-fashioned divines, should advance such an opinion as this?
Before I conclude this head, it may be proper for me to answer an objection or two that may arise in the minds of some.
Objection 1. It may be here said [that] we have
instances wherein God has not fulfilled his threatenings: as his
threatening to Adam, and in him to mankind, that they should surely die,
if they should eat the forbidden fruit. I answer, it is not true that
God did not fulfill that threatening. He fulfilled it and will fulfill
it in every jot and tittle. When God said, “Thou shalt surely die,” if
we respect spiritual death, it was fulfilled in Adam’s person in the day
that he ate. For immediately his image, his holy spirit and original
righteousness, which was the highest and best life of our first parents,
were lost, and they were immediately in a doleful state of spiritual
death.
If we respect temporal death, that was also fulfilled.
He brought death upon himself and all his posterity, and he virtually
suffered that death on that very day on which he ate. His body was
brought into a corruptible, mortal, and dying condition, and so it
continued till it was dissolved. If we look at all that death which was
comprehended in the threatening, it was, properly speaking, fulfilled in
Christ. When God said to Adam, “If thou eatest, thou shalt die,” he
spoke not only to him, and of him personally, but the words respected
mankind, Adam and his race, and doubtless were so understood by him. His
offspring were to be looked upon as sinning in him, and so should die
with him. The words do as justly allow of an imputation of death as of
sin. They are as well consistent with dying in a surety, as with sinning
in one. Therefore, the threatening is fulfilled in the death of Christ,
the surety.
Objection 2. Another objection may arise from God’s
threatening to Nineveh. He threatened, that in forty days Nineveh should
be destroyed, which yet he did not fulfill. — I answer, that
threatening could justly be looked upon no otherwise than as
conditional. It was of the nature of a warning, and not of an absolute
denunciation. Why was Jonah sent to the Ninevites, but to give them
warning, that they might have opportunity to repent, reform, and avert
the approaching destruction? God had no other design or end in sending
the prophet to them, but that they might be warned and tried by him, as
God warned the Israelites, Judah and Jerusalem, before their
destruction. Therefore the prophets, together with their prophecies of
approaching destruction, joined earnest exhortations to repent and
reform, that it might be averted.
No more could justly be understood to be certainly
threatened, than that Nineveh should be destroyed in forty days,
continuing as it was. For it was for their wickedness that that
destruction was threatened, and so the Ninevites took it. Therefore,
when the cause was removed, the effect ceased. It was contrary to God’s
known manner, to threaten punishment and destruction for sin in this
world absolutely, so that it should come upon the persons threatened
unavoidably, let them repent and reform and do what they would; Jer. 18:7-8 , “At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and
concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, and to pull down, and to destroy it;
if that nation against whom I have pronounced turn from their evil, I
will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them.” So that all
threatenings of this nature had a condition implied in them, according
to the known and declared manner of God’s dealing. And the Ninevites did
not take it as an absolute sentence of denunciation: if they had, they
would have despaired of any benefit by fasting and reformation.
But the threatenings of eternal wrath are positive and
absolute. There is nothing in the Word of God from which we can gather
any condition. The only opportunity of escaping is in this world. This
is the only state of trial, wherein we have any offers of mercy, or
place for repentance.
IV. I shall mention several good and important ends, which will be obtained by the eternal punishment of the wicked.
First, hereby God vindicates his injured majesty.
Wherein sinners cast contempt upon it, and trample it in the dust, God
vindicates and honors it and makes it appear, as it is indeed infinite,
by showing that it is infinitely dreadful to condemn or offend it.
Second, God glorifies his justice. — The glory of God
is the greatest good. It is that which is the chief end of the creation.
It is of greater importance than anything else. But this one way
wherein God will glorify himself, as in the eternal destruction of
ungodly men, he will glorify his justice. Therein he will appear as a
just governor of the world. The vindictive justice of God will appear
strict, exact, awful, and terrible, and therefore glorious.
Third, God hereby indirectly glorifies his grace on the
vessels of mercy. — The saints in heaven will behold the torments of
the damned: “the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever.”
Isa. 66:24 , “And they shall go forth and look upon the carcasses of the
men that have trangressed against me: for their worm shall not die,
neither shall their fire be quenched, and they shall be an abhorring
unto all flesh.” And in Rev. 14:10 it is said, that they shall be
tormented in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the
Lamb. So they will be tormented in the presence also of the glorified
saints.
Hereby the saints will be made the more sensible how
great their salvation is. When they shall see how great the misery is
from which God has saved them, and how great a difference he has made
between their state and the state of others, who were by nature (and
perhaps for a time by practice) no more sinful and ill-deserving than
any, it will give them a greater sense of the wonderfulness of God’s
grace to them. Every time they look upon the damned, it will excite in
them a lively and admiring sense of the grace of God, in making them so
to differ. This the apostle informs us is one end of the damnation of
ungodly men; Rom. 9:22-23 , “What if God willing to show his wrath, and
to make his power known, endured with much long-suffering the vessels of
wrath fitted to destruction: and that he might make known the riches of
his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto
glory?” The view of the misery of the damned will double the ardor of
the love and gratitude of the saints in heaven.
Fourth, the sight of hell torments will exalt the
happiness of the saints forever. It will not only make them more
sensible of the greatness and freeness of the grace of God in their
happiness, but it will really make their happiness the greater, as it
will make them more sensible of their own happiness. It will give them a
more lively relish of it: it will make them prize it more. When they
see others, who were of the same nature and born under the same
circumstances, plunged in such misery, and they so distinguished, O it
will make them sensible how happy they are. A sense of the opposite
misery, in all cases, greatly increases the relish of any joy or
pleasure.
The sight of the wonderful power, the great and
dreadful majesty, and awful justice and holiness of God, manifested in
the eternal punishment of ungodly men, will make them prize his favor
and love vastly the more. And they will be so much the more happy in the
enjoyment of it.
APPLICATION
I. From what has been said, we may learn the folly and
madness of the greater part of mankind, in that for the sake of present
momentary gratification, they run the venture of enduring all these
eternal torments. They prefer a small pleasure, or a little wealth, or a
little earthly honor and greatness, which can last but for a moment, to
an escape from this punishment. If it be true that the torments of hell
are eternal, Mark 8:36-37 what will it profit a man if he gain the whole world and
lose his own soul, or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?
What is there in this world, which is not a trifle and lighter than
vanity, in comparison with these eternal things?
How mad are men, who so often hear of these things and
pretend to believe them; who can live but a little while (a few years);
who do not even expect to live here longer than others of their species
ordinarily do; and who yet are careless about what becomes of themselves
in another world, where there is no change and no end! How mad are
they, when they hear that if they go on in sin, they shall be eternally
miserable — that they are not moved by it, but hear it with as much
carelessness and coldness as if they were no way concerned in the matter
— when they know not but that it may be their case, that they may be
suffering these torments before a week is at an end!
How can men be so careless of such a matter as their
own eternal and desperate destruction and torment! What a strange stupor
and senselessness possesses the hearts of men! How common a thing is it
to see men, who are told from Sabbath to Sabbath of eternal misery, and
who are as mortal as other men, so careless about it that they seem not
to be at all restrained by it from whatever their souls lust after! It
is not half so much their care to escape eternal misery, as it is to get
money and land, and to be considerable in the world, and to gratify
their sense. Their thoughts are much more exercised about these things,
and much more of their care and concern is about them. Eternal misery,
though they lie every day exposed to it, is a thing neglected, it is but
now and then thought of, and then with a great deal of stupidity, and
not with concern enough to stir them up to do anything considerable in
order to escape it. They are not sensible that it is worth their while
to take any considerable pains in order to it. And if they do take pains
for a little while, they soon leave off, and something else takes up
their thoughts and concern.
Thus you see it among young and old. Multitudes of
youth lead a careless life, taking little care about their salvation. So
you may see it among persons of middle age, and with many advanced in
years, and when they certainly draw near to the grave.
— Yet these same
persons will seem to acknowledge that the greater part of men go to hell
and suffer eternal misery, and this through carelessness about it.
However, they will do the same. How strange is it that men can enjoy
themselves and be at rest, when they are thus hanging over eternal
burnings: at the same time, having no lease of their lives and not
knowing how soon the thread by which they hang will break. Nor indeed do
they pretend to know. And if it breaks, they are gone: they are lost
forever, and there is no remedy! Yet they trouble not themselves much
about it, nor will they hearken to those who cry to them, and entreat
them to take care for themselves, and labor to get out of that dangerous
condition. They are not willing to take so much pains. They choose not
to be diverted from amusing themselves with toys and vanities. Thus,
well might the wise man say, Ecc. 9:3 , “The heart of the sons of men is
full of evil. Madness is in their heart while they live; and after that
they go to the dead.” — How much wiser are those few, who make it their
main business to lay a foundation for eternity, to secure their
salvation!
II. I shall improve this subject in a use of
exhortation to sinners, to take care to escape these eternal torments.
If they be eternal, one would think that would be enough to awaken your
concern, and excite your diligence. If the punishment be eternal, it is
infinite, as we said before. And therefore no other evil, no death, no
temporary torment that ever you heard of, or that you can imagine, is
anything in comparison with it, but is as much less and less
considerable, not only as a grain of sand is less than the whole
universe, but as it is less than the boundless space which encompasses
the universe.
— Therefore here, First, be entreated to consider attentively how great
and awful a thing eternity is. Although you cannot comprehend it the
more by considering, yet you may be made more sensible that it is not a
thing to be disregarded.
— Do but consider what it is to suffer extreme
torment forever and ever: to suffer it day and night from one year to
another, from one age to another, and from one thousand ages to another
(and so adding age to age, and thousands to thousands), in pain, in
wailing and lamenting, groaning and shrieking, and gnashing your teeth
—
with your souls full of dreadful grief and amazement, [and] with your
bodies and every member full of racking torture; without any possibility
of getting ease; without any possibility of moving God to pity by your
cries; without any possibility of hiding yourselves from him; without
any possibility of diverting your thoughts from your pain; without any
possibility of obtaining any manner of mitigation, or help, or change
for the better.
Second, do but consider how dreadful despair will be in
such torment. How dismal will it be, when you are under these racking
torments, to know assuredly that you never, never shall be delivered
from them. To have no hope: when you shall wish that you might be turned
into nothing, but shall have no hope of it; when you shall wish that
you might be turned into a toad or a serpent, but shall have no hope of
it; when you would rejoice if you might but have any relief; after you
shall have endured these torments millions of ages, but shall have no
hope of it.
After you shall have worn out the age of the sun, moon, and
stars, in your dolorous groans and lamentations, without rest day and
night, or one minute’s ease, yet you shall have no hope of ever being
delivered. After you shall have worn a thousand more such ages, you
shall have no hope, but shall know that you are not one whit nearer to
the end of your torments.
But that still there are the same groans, the
same shrieks, the same doleful cries, incessantly to be made by you, and
that the smoke of your torment shall still ascend up forever and ever.
Your souls, which shall have been agitated with the wrath of God all
this while, will still exist to bear more wrath.
Your bodies, which
shall have been burning all this while in these glowing flames, shall
not have been consumed, but will remain to roast through eternity, which
will not have been at all shortened by what shall have been past.
You may by considering make yourselves more sensible
than you ordinarily are. But it is a little you can conceive of what it
is to have no hope in such torments. How sinking would it be to you, to
endure such pain as you have felt in this world, without any hopes, and
to know that you never should be delivered from it, nor have one
minute’s rest! You can now scarcely conceive how doleful that would be.
How much more to endure the vast weight of the wrath of God without
hope!
The more the damned in hell think of the eternity of their
torments, the more amazing will it appear to them. And alas, they will
not be able to keep it out of their minds! Their tortures will not
divert them from it, but will fix their attention to it. O how dreadful
will eternity appear to them after they shall have been thinking on it
for ages together, and shall have so long an experience of their
torments! The damned in hell will have two infinites perpetually to
amaze them, and swallow them up: one is an infinite God, whose wrath
they will bear, and in whom they will behold their perfect and
irreconcilable enemy. The other is the infinite duration of their
torment.
If it were possible for the damned in hell to have a
comprehensive knowledge of eternity, their sorrow and grief would be
infinite in degree. The comprehensive view of so much sorrow, which they
must endure, would cause infinite grief for the present. Though they
will not have a comprehensive knowledge of it, yet they will doubtless
have a vastly more lively and strong apprehension of it than we can have
in this world. Their torments will give them an impression of it.
— A
man in his present state, without any enlargement of his capacity, would
have a vastly more lively impression of eternity than he has, if he
were only under some pretty sharp pain in some member of his body, and
were at the same time assured that he must endure that pain forever. His
pain would give him a greater sense of eternity than other men have.
How much more will those excruciating torments, which the damned will
suffer, have this effect!
Besides, their capacity will probably be enlarged,
their understandings will be quicker and stronger in a future state, and
God can give them as great a sense and as strong an impression of
eternity, as he pleases, to increase their grief and torment.
— O be
entreated, ye that are in a Christless state and are going on in a way
to hell, that are daily exposed to damnation, to consider these things.
If you do not, it will surely be but a little while before you will
experience them, and then you will know how dreadful it is to despair in
hell. And it may be before this year, or this month, or this week, is
at an end: before another Sabbath, or ever you shall have opportunity to
hear another sermon.
Third, that you may effectually escape these dreadful
and awful torments. Be entreated to flee and embrace him who came into
the world for the very end of saving sinners from these torments, who
has paid the whole debt due to the divine law, and exhausted eternal in
temporal sufferings, John 3:16. What great encouragement is it to those of you who
are sensible that you are exposed to eternal punishment, that there is a
Savior provided, who is able and who freely offers to save you from
that punishment, and that in a way which is perfectly consistent with
the glory of God: yea, which is more to the glory of God than it would
be if you should suffer the eternal punishment of hell.
For if you
should suffer that punishment you would never pay the whole of the debt.
Those who are sent to hell never will have paid the whole of the debt
which they owe to God, nor indeed a part which bears any proportion to
the whole. They never will have paid a part which bears so great a
proportion to the whole, as one mite to ten thousand talents. Justice
therefore never can be actually satisfied in your damnation. But it is
actually satisfied in Christ. Therefore he is accepted of the Father,
and therefore all who believe are accepted and justified in him.
Therefore believe in him, come to him, commit your souls to him to be
saved by him. In him you shall be safe from the eternal torments of
hell. Nor is that all: but through him you shall inherit inconceivable
blessedness and glory, which will be of equal duration with the torments
of hell. For, as at the last day the wicked shall go away into
everlasting punishment, so shall the righteous, or those who trust in
Christ, go into life eternal.
Jonathan
Edwards (1703-1758) was born in East Windsor, Connecticut, where his
father was pastor. The only son in a family of eleven children, he
entered Yale when he was not yet thirteen and graduated four years later
at the head of his class. He preached in a Presbyterian pulpit in New
York, and in 1724 returned to Yale as tutor for two years. In 1728 he
succeeded his maternal grandfather as pastor at Northampton,
Massachusetts, where his preaching brought remarkable religious
revivals. But he alienated many of his congregation in 1748 by his
proposal to admit to the Lord's Supper only those who gave satisfactory
evidence of being truly converted. He was dismissed in 1750. He moved to
Stockbridge, Massachusetts, then a frontier settlement, where he
ministered to a tiny congregation and served as missionary to the
Housatonic Indians. There, having more time for study and writing, he
completed his celebrated work, The Freedom Of The Will (Click To Read).
The Great White Throne Judgement Of The LOST
GoodNewsPost ( Bible) FineTunedUniverse.com
What Does It Mean To Be Born Again?
Thus you see it among young and old. Multitudes of
youth lead a careless life, taking little care about their salvation. So
you may see it among persons of middle age, and with many advanced in
years, and when they certainly draw near to the grave. — Yet these same
persons will seem to acknowledge that the greater part of men go to hell
and suffer eternal misery, and this through carelessness about it.
However, they will do the same. How strange is it that men can enjoy
themselves and be at rest, when they are thus hanging over eternal
burnings: at the same time, having no lease of their lives and not
knowing how soon the thread by which they hang will break. Nor indeed do
they pretend to know. And if it breaks, they are gone: they are lost
forever, and there is no remedy!
Yet they trouble not themselves much about it, nor will they hearken to those who cry to them, and entreat them to take care for themselves, and labor to get out of that dangerous condition. They are not willing to take so much pains. They choose not to be diverted from amusing themselves with toys and vanities.
Jeremiah 17:5-6 Thus saith the LORD; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the LORD.
(Jeremiah provides for us a striking contrast between the self-assured humanist/evolutionist and the one who has placed his trust in God. The self-assured man who looks to his own abilities or those of others to save him in time of trouble is "cursed."
His existence will be one of futility, just as is that of a partched desert plant(v.6). Why? Because his "heart departeth from the Lord" (v.5), the source of strength and salvation.
Crused be the man, "warrior or strong man" that trusteth in "the normal man who is weak".
Any person who trusts in the wisdom and strength of the "weak normal man" has overestimated the wisdom of the humanist/evolutionist.
Don't trust in your own weak feeble power or the "wisdom" of humanists/evolutionists. Trust in God alone and his Word.)
Jer 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?
2nd Cor 6:2 (For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.)
Hebrews 10:29-31
10:29 Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?
10:30 For we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge his people.
10:31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
(Jonathan
Edwards in this sermon crys out to you and asks you to take care and heed the Word Of God and His Warnings!
He indicates in the 1700's people would not take the time to listen to God's warnings of eternal punishment.
Imagine roasting for eternity and never being consumed! Eternity exists outside of time.
They were to busy amusing themselves with toys and vanities just like people are today.
People today are even more engrossed and totally absorbed with their electronic toys and vanities.
If you take the time to listen to God's warning you will quickly learn of your need to trust Jesus as your saviour.
Don't wait another moment or delay in heeding God's warning of eternal punishment for those who are not born again and their name is not written in the Lamb's Book Of Life.)
Read God's Word
2 Cor 5:10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.
2 Cor 5:10 is referring to believers who have trusted in Jesus Christ as their personal saviour. They will either receive rewards or suffer loss of rewards but because they have trusted in Jesus and are saved will have eternal life because Jesus suffered for their sins and paid the price of their judgement.
Unbelievers will NOT be at the judgement seat of christ, instead, they will be present at the great white throne judgement.
This is the judgement for those who are not saved through faith in Jesus Christ. Their eternal fate was sealed the moment they died in their sins.
Hebrews 9:27 And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:
Romans 10:9,10
9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
Trust In Jesus
The 1611 KJV of the Bible is a reliable translation of God's Word.
GoodNewsPost.com (KJV Bible)
Many of the more recent translations of the Bible are not as accurate, especially those that leave out bible verses such as the (NLT) version or add their own ideas and thoughts.
Literal Translations are more accurate because the translators try to stay very close to the Greek, Hebrew or Aramaic. (1611 KJV Bible)
Expanded Translations, the authors of these texts take more liberty with the language and in addition they will add in their own ideas and thoughts to help “clarify” the meaning in English. (These are NOT accurate.)
In between Literal and Expanded, there is a spectrum of translation alternatives including, Formal, Expanded, and Paraphrase. (These are NOT accurate.)
Accuracy and intelligibilty are important.
If you read a bible that has been "watered down" for "intelligibility", that is not an accurate translation of God's Word and you are being deceived into thinking you are reading God's Word.
Read the 1611 KJV of the Bible. Its is an accurate translation of God's Word.
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