Hell's Eternal Torments

With the passing of my beloved grandpa last month, death has forced me to look at it again. Contemplating eternal life in heaven has also made me ponder its contrast: eternal death in hell.

Since I know of no one better at describing heaven and hell, I turned to Jonathan Edwards for guidance and he did not disappoint. He gave a riveting exposition of the verse "These shall go away into everlasting punishment" (Matthew 25:46) in "The Eternity of Hell's Torments." Click here to read the whole thing. What follows is a brief summary of his sermon.

He argues that eternal punishment does not contradict either the justice or mercy of God saying "that sin is heinous enough to deserve such a[n eternal] 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."

He says the reason so many cannot accept the biblical notion of eternal punishment is because it "is so contrary to the depraved inclinations of mankind, that they hate to believe it" and because we have a very low view of the gravity of sin, thinking eternal punishment is totally disproportionate for what we think sin is. Do I really think sin deserves eternal torment, that God would be unjust for limiting the torment in any way?

This punishment is clearly and always described as the intensest of misery, terror, anguish, despair and pain that never ever ends, ideas which completely rule out annihilation or a hell that ends. In fact, if eternal punishment is not eternal, than there's no textual basis for claiming eternal life is eternal since the same word is used for both states in Matthew 25:46.

In eternal punishment "God means to manifest his peculiar abhorrence of [human] wickedness," making it "a very mean contemptible testimony of God's wrath towards those who have rebelled against his crown and dignity."

Because we swim in sin, we don't think is so bad, but hell eternal reminds us that sin is deadly serious because it is an infinite offense against an infinite God, and an infinite offense deserves an infinite punishment. Since infinity can never be exhausted so hell's torments will never be exhausted.

Therefore, Edwards marvels at the madness of those who "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." He wonders "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."

Let these words of Edward's concluding appeal sink in:

"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...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."

And this:

"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." ... "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."

Thankfully, after all that bad news, Edwards leaves his hearers with the gospel:

"flee and embrace him who came into the world for the very end of saving sinners from these torments...there is a Savior provided, who is able and who freely offers to save you from that punishment...[Christ] 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." ... "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."