Is Punishment Eternal?

May 2024 Newsletter

There is a growing movement among professing Christians towards universalism: the belief that everyone will finally be saved. One can empathize with those who hold this opinion. Eternity is forever. No matter how just the penalty, endless punishment seems cruelly excessive. The very thought of the Lake of Fire being the eternal abode of any creature, no matter how evil, is humanly repugnant.

Could God who "is love" (1 John 4:8) really sentence anyone to eternal punishment? Would He not find a way, somehow, for all eventually to be saved? The Bible must be our guide. But does the Bible in fact teach that those who leave this life without Christ are lost forever?

Jesus warned of hell repeatedly, referring to it fourteen times. Peter refers to it three times, James once, and the four times it is mentioned in Revelation make up the balance of the twenty-two times the word "hell" occurs in the New Testament. Jesus referred to hell as a place of torment in a "fire that never shall be quenched" (Mark 9:43-48). That sounds like eternal punishment—but for whom?

[Once-lost]

Well said and explained!

If we offend our parent, neighbor, and even a police officer, the judgement is due according to whom we offended. When we offend a Holy and Eternal God, we get an eternal punishment.

[Danyel]

Thanke you TBC for standing for the truth of the Word of God

[AndyMetz-xq]

Thanks for sharing this excellent teaching by Dave Hunt! Truth that's NOT taught in 99% of the ear tickling pulpits today!