Logically it must be eternal
“Seventy years of sin, eternal punishment?! Talk about an overreaction! The punishment doesn’t fit the crime. Seventy years of sin should result in seventy years of punishment”. This was the substance of a complaint a man had against the Bible’s teaching on hell. He thought the punishment didn’t fit the crime.
I told him I understood where he was coming from, but that he maybe wasn’t thinking about it the right way. We don’t determine the punishment based on how long it took to commit the crime. How long does it take to commit a murder? Let’s say it takes a week for someone to plan it and carry it out. Are we going to say then that the punishment should be a week in prison? Hardly. The punishment is not based on the duration of the crime but on the severity of the crime.
When we look at it like that, we should be able to see that the punishment for sin can be nothing other than eternal. God is infinitely holy and therefore sin is infinitely offensive and abhorrent to Him. It must therefore carry an infinite penalty, and as finite creatures, that is one we can never pay – “no sinner can take up the penalty and exhaust it. If a sinner passes under sin’s penalty, under it he must remain forever.”[1]
This is why it took an infinite person, one who was divine, to take the place of the guilty. Only one who was God could pay the penalty for sin and say, “It is finished” (John 19:30).
Another thing to consider is this, those in hell continue in rebellion against God,[2] so even if they could reach the end of their sentence for their former sins, they are always adding additional crimes to their record. “These sins of the lake of fire, are they to go unpunished? Does the quality of guilt depend on the atmosphere of earth, and not on the unchanging laws of God?”[3]
Biblically it must be eternal
Let’s look at a sampling of verses on the subject that speak for themselves.
“And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, some to shame and everlasting contempt”
(Daniel 12:2).
“And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life”
(Matthew 25:46).
“And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye, rather than having two eyes, to be cast into hell fire— where ‘Their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched’”
(Mark 9:47,48).
“These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power”
(2 Thessalonians 1:9).
“The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever”
(Revelation 20:10).
The Bible leaves no doubt about the duration of the punishment, and gives no hope to those who refuse salvation through Christ. However, there is hope now. Because of the payment Christ has made, you can be forgiven, and you will be if you repent and receive Him as Saviour.
“Therefore let it be known to you, brethren, that through this Man is preached to you the forgiveness of sins; and by Him everyone who believes is justified from all things from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses”
(Acts 13:38,39).
In our next article we will try to deal with some of the objections to this doctrine.
[1] F.B. Hole, Future Punishment: Its Character and Duration, https://www.stempublishing.com/authors/hole/Faith/Future_Punishment.html.
[2] This is implied by the Lord’s repeated references to those in hell gnashing their teeth (Matthew 8:12; 13:42,50; 22:13; 24:51; 25:30; Luke 13:28). This expression is indicating their anger against God (and perhaps each other).
[3] Sir Robert Anderson, Human Destiny, loc 632.
