Eternal Punishment # 4

Question: Would an earthly father send his child to everlasting suffering? And if he would not, can we believe that God is not as good as we are and that He would treat His children in a way that we would treat ours?

First, this question takes it for granted that all men are God's children. The Bible teaches that this is NOT true. All men are God's creatures and were originally created in His likeness, and in this sense they are all His offspring (Acts 17:26-29). But men become God's  children in the fullest sense by being born again of the Holy Spirit (John 3:3-6) through the personal acceptance of Jesus Christ as their Saviour (John 1:12; Galatians 3:26).

Second, God is something besides the Father, even to believers. He is the moral Governor of this universe. As a righteous moral Governor of the universe, He must punish sin; consequently, if sin is eternally persisted in, He must eternally punish it. Even a wise earthly father would separate one of his own children who persisted in sin from contact with his other children. If a man had a dearly beloved son who was a moral monster, he certainly would not allow him to associate with his daughters. If a person whom you greatly loved committed a gross wrong against someone you loved more, and persisted in it eternally, would you not consent to his eternal punishment?

Third, it is never safe to measure what an infinitely holy God would do by what we would do. As we look about us in the world today, do we not see men and women suffering agonies that we would not allow our children to suffer if w could prevent it/ Which of us could endure to see our children suffering some of the things that the men and women in the slums of the cities are suffering today? It may be difficult for us to explain why a God of love permits this to go on, but we know that it does go on. Moreover, what men and women suffer in this present life as a result of their disobedience to God and their persistence in sin and their rejection of Jesus Christ ought to be a hint of what people will suffer in the eternal world if they go on in sin as the result of their having rejected the Saviour in this present life. It may sound good go say, "I believe in a God of love, and I do not believe that He will permit any of His creatures to go to an eternal hell." However, if we open our eyes to the facts as they exist everywhere around us, we will see how empty our speculations of this point are, for even now we see this same God of love permitting many of His creatures to endure terrible and ever increasing agonies in this present life.

Question: If anyone is lost eternally, has not satan then gained the victory over Christ, and is he not stronger than Christ?

NO, satan has gained no victory. It is NOT satan who determines that a person will persist in sin; it is the individual himself. if he persists in sin, satan has gained no victory, and, on the other hand, Jesus Christ is not conquered. Jesus Christ will still be glorified, and God will be glorified. God's holiness is manifested and God Himself is glorified as truly in the punishment of the sinner as in the salvation of the believer. Righteous government here on earth is vindicated as truly when the offender is locked up in prison or executed as when the offender is brought to repentance.

Many seem to think that hell is a place ruled by satan, but satan does NOT rule there. satan himself will be one of the prisoners, and the smoke of the torment of this persistent rebel against God will rise forever and ever as a testimony that God has conquered him.

~R. A. Torrey~