Christian Living:
God’s Eternal Penitentiary
by Tom Asbury

God’s Eternal Penitentiary

  About the only time you ever hear the word "hell" mentioned is in profane conversation.  Is our culture so advanced that we have forever extinguished the fires of hell?  To have a serious discussion on the subject of God's eternal penitentiary would seem to be beyond the pale for most people today.  But as Charles Spurgeon said so many years ago, if there were no hell for others, there should be for those who question the justice of it.

  There is so much injustice in this world for both the criminal and victim.  Our communities and schools are fast becoming very scary places.  Recently in the community where I live, two women were attacked. One fortunately escaped but the other was sexually assaulted behind a busy supermarket.  These women were attacked in broad daylight while providing for their families. We cannot build enough jails, or hire enough policemen to keep up with the rising tide of crime, murder, drugs and rape.  We seem to have lost the wherewithal to produce children with moral fiber. Indeed it could be argued that most seem to be suffering from moral curvature of the spine.

  What are some of the missing ingredients that nobody is talking about? One of them is hell.  It is building into the very fabric of people a basic fear and reverence for the Creator and the subjects made in His image-man. Even Benjamin Franklin said..."that our souls are immortal; and that all crime will be punished, and virtue rewarded, either here or hereafter."  Until we bring hell back into the home, the educational structure and community, yes, even the church; we'll continue to see a moral free fall.  You cannot put enough locks on your doors, enough bars on your windows, or enough laws on your books to protect yourself and family from the amoral climate we have created.  There has to be built into the mind, soul and body of every individual a reverence for life and a love for the Creator and Judge of the Universe.

  Many would argue that the teaching of hell is barbaric and unfit for such an advanced civilization as ours. But it is one thing to be technologically advanced and another to have the character to handle that advancement. I would argue that we are becoming barbaric not from an overemphasis on the preaching of hell (divine accountability) but from the lack of it! There have been several very advanced civilizations that have been buried by the dust of the centuries. What happened to them is happening to us. God says, "The wicked will be turned into hell and all the nations that forget God" Psalms 9:17. Hell is not just a giant holding pen for the wayward deviants of the world but a place where Almighty God exacts punishment on each individual according to their works. And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds” Rev 20:12. In other words, there are degrees of punishment in hell. “Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that city” Matt 10:15.

  What we see in our justice system today is truly cruel and unusual punishment for the victims of crime while the perpetrators of crime are not punished and do not restore!  Victims suffer at the hand of immoral people and immoral people are coddled and protected by our warped sense of justice! Many bloody killers escape this life without a scratch! Where’s the justice in that? We are more concerned about reforming criminals then vindicating victims.  We're more concerned about finding why people do bad things than we are about punishing wrong and restoring victims! What's wrong with teaching accountability in this life and judgment beyond this world? There may not be much justice here but there will be in hell. Justice will be meted out with precise accuracy in a place called hell. And since the Judge is omniscient, He will not miss a thing or need a jury!

  Good government is God’s institution in this life to control evil and Hell is His penitentiary in the next world for those who spurned His grace and refused to repent and believe in the substitutionary sacrifice of His precious Son. It makes good sense and good theology.  But whether or not it makes sense to men and women of any society, it is the clear teaching of the Bible and that's all that really matters.  God always makes sense whether we choose to believe it or not.  Sooner or later everyone will believe in hell! Hopefully it will be sooner. Later for most will be too late! Someone has said you may well laugh yourself into hell but is quite another matter to laugh yourself out. The Words of Jesus need to be revisited by some and heard by others for the first time.

“And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”  Matt 10:28