No argument needs to be made to prove that in these passages it is impossible to fairly substitute any other alternative for everlasting and eternal, and it is thus with the other class of passages. The everlasting fire will synchronize with the existence of the everlasting God. The everlasting punishment of the lost will continue as long as the everlasting life of believers. The eternal damnation of wicked will no more have an end than will the eternal salvation of the redeemed. The everlasting destruction of unbelievers will prove as interminable as the everlasting glory of God. To deny the former is to deny the latter. To affirm the everlastingness of God is to prove the endlessness of the misery of his enemies.

7. The finality of their state. The doom of those who shall be cast into the lake of fire is irrevocable and final. Many independent considerations prove this. Forgiveness of sins is limited to life on this earth. Once the sinner passes out of this world, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins. The fact that at death the soul of the wicked goes at once into the furnace of fire, Matthew 13, 42, witnesses to the fixity of his future state. The fact that later his resurrection is one of damnation, John 5 29, excludes all possibility of a last hour reprieve. The fact that he is cast soul and body into the lake of fire argues that then he receives his final portion. The fact that the lake of fire is denominated the second death denotes the hopelessness of his situation. Just as the first death cuts him off forever from this world, so the second death cuts him off forever from God.

In Philippians 3, the Apostle Paul speaks of the enemies of the cross of Christ, and moved by the Holy Spirit, he tells us that their end is destruction. Verse 19. Stronger and more unequivocal language could not be used. There is nothing beyond the end, and the end of the enemies of the cross of Christ is destruction, not salvation. The Greek word here translated and is telos. It is found in the following passages. Of his kingdom there shall be no end. Luke 1, 33. Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. Romans 10, 4. having neither beginning of days nor end of life. Hebrews 7, 3. I am the beginning and the end, the first and the last. Revelation 22, 13.

As we have already seen, the 20th chapter of Revelation describes the final judgment of the wicked before the great white throne, after which they are cast into the lake of fire. The chapters which follow, the last two in the Bible, may be read carefully and searched diligently, but they will not be found to contain so much as a single hint that those cast into the lake of fire shall ever be delivered from it instead. We find in the very last chapter of God's Word the solemn statement, He that is unjust, let him be unjust still. And he which is filthy, let him be filthy still. Revelation 22, 11. Thus the finality of their condition is expressly affirmed on the closing page of Holy Writ.

In the last two articles we have considered some of the principal sophistries which unbelief has brought against the truth of eternal punishment and have also examined the teaching of scripture concerning the destiny of the wicked. We approach now the most solemn aspect of our subject, namely, three, the nature of punishment awaiting the lost.

the portion of the wicked immediately after death. We turn first to the teaching of our Lord found in Luke 16. Here we learn the following facts. That in Hades the lost are in full possession of all their faculties and sensibilities. They see, for the rich man saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. Verse 23. They feel, for he was in torments. Verse 24. They cry for mercy, for he asked, but in vain, for a drop of water to cool his tongue. Verse 24. They are in possession of memory, for the rich man was bidden to remember what he had received during his lifetime on earth. verse 25 it is impossible for them to join the redeemed there is a great gulf fixed between them verse 26 unspeakably solemn is all this not only will the lost be tormented in flames but their anguish will be immeasurably increased by a sight of the redeemed being comforted then shall they see the happy portion of the blessed which they despised, preferring as they did the pleasures of sin for a season, and how the retention of memory will further augment their sufferings with what unfathomable sorrows Will they recall the opportunities wasted, the expostulations of parents and friends slighted, the warnings of God's servants disregarded, the proclamation of God's gospel spurned? And then to know there is no way of escape, no means of relief, no hope of a reprieve. Their lot will be unbearable, their awful portion beyond endurance.

The Son of God has faithfully forewarned that there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Matthew 13, 42. It is very significant that Christ referred to this just seven times, denoting the completeness of their misery and anguish. See Matthew 8, 12, 13, 42 through 50. Matthew 22, 13, Matthew 24, 51, Matthew 25, 30, Luke 13, 28

The Final Portion of the Wicked

1. This is spoken of as being punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord. 2 Thessalonians 1 9. None but one who really knows God can begin to estimate what it will mean to be eternally banished from the Lord. forever separated from the fount of all goodness, never to enjoy the light of God's countenance, never to bask in the sunshine of His presence. This, this is the most awful of all. 2 Thessalonians 1 9 furnishes clear intimation that the judgment of Matthew 25 with its eternal sentence looks beyond the assize. Destruction from the presence of the Lord is paralleled with Depart from me, ye cursed.

2. The final portion of the wicked is spoken of as everlasting punishment. Matthew 25, 46. In 1st John 4, 18, the same Greek word is rendered torment. This term announces the satisfying of God's justice. In the punishing of the wicked, God vindicates his outraged majesty. Herein, punishment differs from correction or discipline. Punishment is not designed for the good of the one who suffers it. It is intended for the enforcing of law and order. It is necessary for the preservation of government.

The final portion of the wicked is spoken of as a tormenting. This is proven by the fact that the everlasting fire into which the wicked depart is prepared for the devil and his angels. Matthew 25 41 which emphasizes the awfulness of this punishment rather than specifies who are going to endure this verse sets forth the severity of the punishment of the lost. If the everlasting fire be prepared for the devil and his angels, then how intolerable it will be! If the place of eternal torment, into which all unbelievers shall be cast, is the same as that in which God's archenemy will suffer how dreadful that place must be that this everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels for this is the most awful suffering is clear from Revelation 20 10 where we are told that Satan will be tormented day and night forever and ever No doubt this torment will be both internal and external, mental and physical.

The word occurs for the first time in the New Testament in Matthew 8, 6. Lord, my servant, lieth at home, sick of the palsy, grievously tormented. The same word occurs again in Revelation 9, 5 where we read of infernal locusts. issuing from the pit, and which are given power to torment men, the nature of which is explained as the torment of a scorpion when he striketh man. So intense will be the suffering caused therefrom. Men shall seek death and shall not find it, and they shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them. Revelation 9, 6. This torment, then, cannot mean less than the most excruciating pain which we are now capable of conceiving. How much the pains of hell will exceed the pains of earth we know not.

4. The final portion of the wicked is spoken of as suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. Jude 7. But many say this is merely a figurative expression. We ask, how do they know that? Where has God told them so in his word? Personally, we believe that when God says fire, he means fire. We refuse to blunt the sharp edge of his word. Was the deluge figurative? Was it figurative fire and brimstone which descended from heaven and destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah? or the plagues upon Egypt figurative ones? Is it figurative a fire which shall yet burn this earth and cause the very elements to melt with fervent heat? No. In each of these cases we are obliged to take the words of scripture in their literal signification. Let those who dare affirm that hellfire is non-literal answer to God. We are not their judges, but we refuse to accept their toning down of these solemn words.

Literal fire in hell presents no difficulty at all to the writer. The lost will have literal bodies when they are cast into hell. The angels also have bodies, for all we know to the contrary, the devil has two. But the question is often asked, how can the bodies of the lost be tormented eternally by literal fire? Would not the fire utterly consume them? Even though we were unable to furnish an answer to this question, we should still believe that scripture meant what it said. But we are satisfied that God's word answers this question. In Exodus 3 we read of the bush in the wilderness burning with fire and yet was not consumed. In Daniel 3 we read of the three Hebrews being cast into the fiery furnace of Babylon, yet were they not consumed? Why was this? Because in some way unknown to us, God preserved the bush and the bodies of the three heavers. Is God then unable to preserve the bodies of the damned from being consumed? Surely not.

But we are not left even to this unescapable inference. In Mark 9, 47 through 49, we are told, it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire where their worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched for everyone shall be salted with a fire the expression salted with fire confirms what we have said above salt is a preservative hence When we are told that everyone who is cast into Gehenna shall be salted with fire, we learn that the very fire itself, so far from consuming, shall preserve. If it be asked, how can this be? We answer, because that fire is prepared by God. Matthew 25, 41. The final portion of the wicked is described as an association with the vilest of the vile. But the fearful and unbelieving and the abominable and murderers and whoremongers and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars shall have their part in the like which burneth with fire and brimstone. Revelation 21, 8.

O dear reader! Weigh well this solemn language. You may be a person of culture and refinement. Judged by moral standards, your life may be exemplary and spotless. You may pride yourself on your honesty and truthfulness. You may be very particular in your choice of friends, and very careful to avoid the company of the profane and vicious. You may even be religious and look down in scorn and pity upon the idolaters of heathendom. But God says that if you die in unbelief, your portion shall be with the fearful and unbelieving and the abominable and murderers and whoremongers and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars.

Think of what it will mean to spend eternity in the prison house of the universe with Cain and Pharaoh and Judas. Think of what it will mean to be shot up with the vile sodomites. Think of being incarcerated forever with every blasphemer who has ever lived.

The final portion of the Wicked is described as the blackness of darkness forever, Jude 13. Unrelieved will be their fearful sufferings, interminable their torments, no means of escape, no possibility of a reprieve, no hope of deliverance. Not one will be found who is able to befriend them and intercede with God for them. They had the offer of a mediator often made them in this world, but no such offer will be made them in the lake of fire. There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked. There will be no resting place in hell, no secret corner where they can find a little respite, no cooling fountain at which they may refresh themselves. There will be no change or variation of their lot. Day and night, forever and ever, shall they be punished, with no prospect of any improvement they will sink down into blank despair.

7. The final portion of the wicked will be beyond the creature's power of resistance, and whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken, but on whosoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder. Matthew 21, 44.

There are many who now say, if at the end I find myself in hell, I will bury it as well as I can, as if by strength of will and firmness of mind they shall, in measure at least, be able to support themselves. But, alas, their resolutions will count for nothing.

It is common with men in this world to shun calamities, but if they find this is impossible, they set themselves to bear it. They fortify their spirits and resolve to support themselves under it as well as they can. They muster up all their courage and resolution in the determination to keep their hearts from sinking.

But it will be utterly vain for sinners to do this in the lake of fire. What would it help a worm, which was about to be crushed by some great rock, to collect its strength and endeavor to set itself to bear up against its weight, and so seek to prevent itself from being crushed? Much less will a poor damned soul be able to support itself under the weight of the wrath of Almighty God.

No matter how much the sinner may now harden himself in order to endure the pains of hell, the first moment he shall feel the flames, his heart will melt like wax before the furnace.

Can thine heart endure, or can thine hands be strong, in the days that I shall deal with thee? I, the Lord, have spoken it, and will do it." Ezekiel 22, 14.

If such then be the case with impenitent sinners, that they can neither escape their punishment, nor deliver themselves from it, nor bear up under it, what will become of them? I answer in the words of another. They will wholly sink down into eternal death.

There will be that sinking of heart of which we now cannot conceive. We see how it is with the body when in extreme pain. The nature of the body will support itself for a considerable time under very great pain, so as to keep from wholly sinking. There will be great struggles, lamentable groans and a panting, and it may be convulsions. These are the strugglings of nature to support itself under the extremity of the pain. There is, as it were, a great loathness in nature to yield to it. It cannot bear wholly to sink.

But, yes, sometimes pain of body is so very extreme and exquisite that the nature of the body cannot support itself under it. However low it may be to sink, yet it cannot bear the pain. There are a few struggles, and throws, and pantings, and it may be a shriek or two, and the nature yields to the violence of the torments, sinks down, and the body dies. This is the death of the body.

So it will be with the soul in hell. It will have no strength or power to deliver itself, and its torment and horror will be so great, so mighty, so vastly disproportioned to its strength, that having no strength in the least, to support itself, although it be infinitely contrary to the nature and inclination of the soul utterly to sink. Yes, it will sink. It will utterly and totally sink without the least degree of remaining comfort or strength or courage or hope. And though it will never be annihilated, its being and perception will never be abolished. Yet such will be the infinite depth of gloominess that it will sink into, that it will be in a state of death, eternal death.

The nature of man desires happiness. It is the nature of the soul to crave and thirst after well-being. And if it be under misery, it equally pants after relief. And the greater the misery is, the more easily doth it struggle for help. But if all relief be withholden, all strength overborne, all support utterly gone, then it sinks into the darkness of death.

We can conceive but little of the matter. We cannot conceive what the thinking of the soul in such a case is. But to help your conception, imagine yourself to be cast into a fiery oven, all of a glowing heat, or into the midst of a blowing brick kiln, or of a great furnace where your pain would be as much greater than that occasioned by accidentally touching a coal of fire, as the heat is greater. Imagine also that your body were to lie there for a quarter of an hour, full of fire, as full within and without as a bright coal of fire, all the while full of quick scents. What horror would you feel at the entrance of such a furnace? And how long would that quarter of an hour seem to you? If it were to be measured by a glass, how long would the glass seem to be running? And after you had endured it for one minute, how overbearing would it be to you to think that you had yet to endure the other fourteen?

But what would be the effect on your soul if you knew you must lie there enduring that torment to the full for 24 hours? And how much greater would be the effect if you knew you must endure it for a whole year? And how vastly greater still if you knew you must endure it for a thousand years? Oh, then how would your heart sink? if you thought if you knew that you must bear it forever and ever that there would be no end that after millions of millions of ages your torment would be no nearer to the end than ever it was and that you never never should be delivered but your torment in hell will be immeasurably greater than this illustration represents How then will the heart of a poor creature sink under it? How utterly inexpressible and inconceivable must the sinking of the soul be in such a case?

Jonathan Edwards

Such in brief is the portion awaiting the lost, eternal separation from the fount of all goodness, everlasting punishment, torment of soul and body, endless existence in the lake of fire, in association with the vilest of the vile, every ray of hope excluded, utterly crushed and overwhelmed by the wrath of a sin-avenging God.

And let us remember in whose word these solemn statements are found. They are found in the word of Him who is faithful, and therefore has He written in plain and positive language, so that none need be deceived. They are found in the word of Him who cannot lie, and therefore He has not employed the language of exaggeration. They are found in the word of him who says what he means and means what he says and therefore the writer for one dares do nothing else than receive them at their face value.

We turn now to 4. The application of the subject.

1. In what has been before us we learned how the character and throne of God will be vindicated. What can be too severe a judgment upon those who have despised so great a being as the Almighty? If he that is guilty of treason against an earthly government deserves to lose his life, what punishment can be great enough for one who has preferred his own pleasure before the rule and glory of a God who is infinitely good? To despise infinite excellence merits infinite misery.

God has commanded the sinner to repent. He has courted him with overtures of grace. He has bountifully supplied His every need, and He has presented before Him the Son of His love, His choicest treasure. And yet men persist in their wicked course. No possible ground, then, will the sinner have to appeal against the sentence of the judge of all the earth, seeing that he not only tended mercy toward him, but also bore with him in so much patience, when he might justly have smitten him down upon the first crime he ever committed, and removed him to hell upon the first refusal of his proffered grace.

That God shall punish every rebel against himself is required by the very perfections of his high sovereignty. It is but meet that he should display his governmental supremacy. The creature has dared to assert its independency. The subject has risen up in arms against his king. Therefore, the right of God's throne must be vindicated.

I know that the Lord is greater than all gods, for in the thing wherein they dealt proudly he is above them. Exodus 18.11

When Pharaoh dared to pit himself against Jehovah, God manifested his authority by destroying him at the Red Sea. Another king he turned into a beast, to make him know that the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men. So, when the history of this world is wound up, God will make a full and final manifestation of his sovereign majesty. Though he now endures, not loved, with much longsuffering, the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction, it is that in the coming day he may show his wrath and make his power known. Romans 9 22. What has been before us serves to expose the folly and madness of the greater part of mankind in that for the sake of present momentary gratification they run the serious risk of enduring all these eternal torments. They prefer a small pleasure or a little wealth or a little earthly honor and fame which lasts but for a season to an escape from the lake of fire. If it be true that the torments of hell are everlasting, what will it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul?

How mad men are who hear and read of these things and pretend to believe them, who are alive but a little while, a few short years at most, and yet who are careless about what becomes of themselves in the next world, where there is neither change nor end. How mad are they who hear that if they go on in sin they shall be eternally miserable, and yet are not moved, but hear it with as much indifference as if they were not concerned in the matter at all. And yet, for all they know to the contrary, they may be in fiery torment before another week is at an end.

How sad to note that this unconcern is shared by the great majority of our fellows. Age makes little difference. The young are occupied with pleasures, the middle aged with worldly advancement, be aged with their attainments or lack of them. With the first it is the lust of the flesh, with the second it is the lust of the eyes, with the third it is the pride of life, which banishes from their minds all serious thoughts of the life to come.

The heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and madness is in their heart while they live, and after that they go to the dead. Ecclesiastes 9.3 O the blinding power of sin! O the deceitfulness of riches! O the perversity of the human heart! Nothing so reveals these things as the incredible sight of men and women enjoying themselves and being at rest, while they are suspended over the eternal burning by the frail thread of mortality, which may be snapped at any moment.

What has been before us ought to make every unsaved reader to tremble as he scans these pages. These things are no mere abstractions, but dread realities as countless thousands have already discovered to their bitter end. They may not seem real to you now, but in a short time at most Should you continue to reject the Christ of God, they will be your portion. You too shall lift up your eyes in hell, and behold the saints in heaven. You too shall crave a drop of water to alleviate your fearful agony, but it will be in vain. You too shall cry for mercy, but then it will be too late.

O unsaved reader, we pray you not to throw this aside and seek to dismiss the subject from your thoughts. That is how thousands before you have acted, and the very memory of their folly only accentuates their misery. Far better had you been made wretched now for a time. and that you should weep and wail and gnash your teeth forever. Far better that you have your present false peace broken than that you should be a stranger to real peace for all eternity.

Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish, whoever you are, whether young or old, whether rich or poor, whether religious or irreligious, if you are in a Christless then this is what awaits you at the end of your present course. This, this is the hell over which you now hang and into which you are ready to drop this very moment. It is vain for you to flatter yourself with hopes that you shall avoid it or to say in your heart perhaps it may not be. Perhaps things have been represented worse than they really are. These things are according to the word of truth, and if you will not be convinced by that word when presented to you by men in the name of God, then God himself will yet undertake to prove to you that these things are so.

Think it not strange that God should deal so severely with you, or that the wrath you shall suffer shall be so great? For great as it is, it is no greater than the mercy which you now despise. The love of God, His marvelous grace in sending His own Son to die for sinners, is every whit as great and wonderful as this inexpressible wrath. You have refused to accept Christ as the Savior from the wrath to come. You have despised God's dying love. Why then should you not suffer wrath as great as that grace and love which you have rejected?

Does it still seem incredible that God should so harden his heart against a poor sinner as to bear down upon him with infinite power and merciless wrath? Then pause and ask. Is it any greater than it is for me to harden my heart against Him, against infinite mercy, against the Son of His love?

Oh dear friends, face this question of Christ Himself. How can ye escape the damnation of hell? Matthew 23, 33. There is only one way of escape, and that is to flee to the Savior. If you would not fall into the hands of the living God, then cast yourself into the arms of the Christ who died. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him. Psalm 2, 12.

4. What has been before us ought to make every professing Christian diligently examine himself way carefully the tremendously solemn issues which turn on whether or not you have really passed from death unto life. You cannot afford to be uncertain. There is far too much at stake. Remember that you are prejudiced in your own favor Remember that you have a treacherous heart. Remember that the devil is the great deceiver of souls. Remember that there is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. Proverbs 14, 12. Remember it is written that many shall say unto me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name, and in thy name have cast out devils, and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then he will answer them, I never knew you. Depart from me, ye that work iniquity. Matthew 7, 22 and 23.

There are many who now wear the guise of saints, who appear like saints, and their state, both in their own eyes and that of their neighbors, is satisfactory, and yet they have on only sheep's clothing. At heart they are wolves. But no disguise can deceive the judge of all. His eyes are as a flame of fire. They search the hearts and try the reins of the children of men. Wherefore, let each take earnest heed that he be not deceived.

Compare yourself with the word of God, for that is the rule by which you will be tried. Test your works, for it is by those you will be made manifest. Inquire whether you are really living a Christian life, whether or not the fear of God is upon you, whether or not you are mortifying your members which are upon the earth, whether or not you are denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, and whether you are living soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world. For it is thus that grace teaches the saints to live. Cry unto God earnestly and frequently that he will reveal you to yourself and discover to you whether you are building upon the rock or upon the sand. Make the psalmist's prayer yours Search me, O God, and know my heart. Try me and know my thoughts, and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. Psalm 139, 23 and 24.

God will search you hereafter and make fully manifest what you are, both to yourself and to others. Let each of us then humbly request Him to search us now. We have urgent need of divine help in this matter, for our heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked.

5. What has been before us should cause those who really enjoy the full assurance of faith to praise God with a loud voice. To each of you we say, God has given you wonderful cause for gratitude and thanksgiving. You too justly deserved to suffer the full weight of the wrath of a sin-hating and sin-avenging God. It was not long since you loved darkness rather than light. It is only a short time since you turned a deaf ear to both God's commands and entreaties. It is only a few years at most since you despised and rejected His beloved Son.

What marvelous grace was it then that snatched you as a brand from the burning? What wondrous love was it that delivered you from the wrath to come? What matchless mercy it was that changed you from a child of hell, Matthew 23, 15, to a child of God. O how you should praise the Father, for having ever set his love upon you! How you should praise the Son, for having died to save you from the lake of fire! How you should praise the Blessed Spirit, for having quickened you into newness of life!

And how your appreciation ought to be expressed Now in a life that is glorifying to the triune God, how diligently ought you to seek to learn what is well-pleasing in His sight. How earnestly you should seek His will. How quick should you be to run in the way of His commandments. Let your life correspond with the praises of your lips.

What has been before us ought to stir up all of God's people to a deepened sense of their duty. Fellow Christians, have you no obligations toward your godless neighbors? If God has made clear these solemn truths to you, does it not deepen your responsibility toward the unsaved? If you have no love for souls, It is greatly to be feared that your own soul is in imminent danger. If you can witness unmoved two men and women hurrying down the broad road which leadeth to destruction, then it is seriously to be doubted if you have within you the spirit of that one who wept over Jerusalem.

It is true you have no power of your own to save a soul from death, but are you faithfully giving out that word which is the instrument which God uses to bring souls from death unto life? Are you supplicating God as you ought and depending on Him to bless your efforts to point the lost to the Lamb of God? Are you as fervent as you should be in your cries to God on behalf of the lost? Alas, must you not join the writer as he hangs his head in shame? Is there not reason for each of us to ask God to give us a clearer vision of that indescribably awful portion which awaits every Christ rejector and to enable us to act in the power of such a vision?

7. What has been before us will yet be the occasion of profoundest praise to God. Whatever difficulties the eternal punishment of the wicked may present to us now, and it is freely granted that it is difficult for our reason to grasp it, and that of necessity, for we are incapable of discerning the infinite malignity of sin, and therefore unable to see what punishment it really deserves.

in the day to come it will be far otherwise when we behold God's righteous dealings with his enemies when we hear the sentences being given according to their work when we see how justly and thoroughly they deserve a merciless wrath and stand by as they are cast into the lake of fire

So far from shrinking back in horror, our hearts will give vent to gladsome praise. Just as of old the overthrow of God's enemies at the Red Sea caused His people to burst forth in worshipful song, so in the coming day we shall be moved to rejoicing when we witness the final display of God's holiness and justice in the overthrow and punishment of all who have defied Him.

Remember that in the destruction of the wicked God will be glorified and this it is which will be the occasion of the rejoicing of His people. Not only will God be clear when He judges Psalm 51 for but His perfections will be magnified in the sentences, pronouns.