70
More than one writer has drawn attention to the fact that there are more references in the Bible to the anger and wrath of God than there are to the love of God, and a careful reading of a concordance will quickly confirm this fact.

75
Does the glory of God’s perfections permeate their thinking and preaching, or are they in danger of reducing God in the eyes of their congregations to a benign and helpless grandfather figure?

78
In the words of the Puritan Samuel Bolton, ‘Sin is the practical-blasphemy of all the name of God. It is the dare of His justice, the rape of His mercy, the jeer of His patience, the slight of His power, the contempt of His love.’

79
The holiness that even the angels posses is by comparison a feeble light of a matchstick on a dark country road compared with the blaze and light of the sun at midday.

81-82
Our Lord wept over Jerusalem, but it is a rare occurrence today for his people to weep in prayer for the vast multitudes of people who are speeding towards hell. Are we projecting our own heartlessness and indifference on to God?

85
This public, universal judgment will be the platform on which God will display to the whole world His glorious Person, including His fierce wrath, His strict justice and His amazing love. We must view the final judgment, then, as a necessary and glorious expression and vindication of the justice and wrath of God.

86
It is for the abundant comfort of the saints that Christ is appointed to be their judge . . . the same person who spilled his blood for them hath the determination of their state left with him…What matter of joy to them will it be at the last day, to lift up their eyes, and behold the person in whom the have trusted for salvation . . . and whose voice they have often heard inviting them to himself for protection and safety, coming to judge them.

96
The Scottish preacher, John Welch, felt this sense of responsibility greatly and spent at least eight to ten hours daily in prayer. Even in the middle of the night he would frequently rise to pray for his people.

102
Preaching on Matthew 8:11-12, C.H. Spurgeon quotes a minister who told his congregation, ‘If you do not love the Lord Jesus Christ you will be sent to that place which it is not polite to mention.’ Spurgeon gives us his opinion of this preacher:

He ought not to have been allowed to preach again, I am sure, if he could not use plain words. Now, if I saw that house on fire over there, do you think I would stand and say, ‘I believe the operation of combustion is proceeding yonder!’? No, I would call out ‘Fire! Fire!’ and then everyone would know what I meant. So, if the Bible says, ‘The children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness,’ am I to stand there and mince the matter at all? God forbid. We must speak the truth as it is written. It is a terrible truth, for it says ‘the children of the kingdom’ shall be cast out!

104
What emphasis is given to hell by present day evangelical ministers? How frequently do they preach on this subject? To refer to hell briefly or occasionally, or to talk about it in vague terms, is inadequate, for there is a wealth of biblical material on hell which must be preached if the whole counsel of God is to be declared.

109
‘They that would not come to Him to be saved’, remarks Matthew Henry, ‘must depart from Him to be damned. To depart from Christ is the very hell of hell; it is the foundation of all the misery of the damned, to be cut off from all hope of benefit from Christ and His meditation.’

114
Johnathan Edwards also stresses that the all-important feature of heaven and hell is God Himself. God makes hell and He is hell: ‘God will be the hell of one and the heaven of the other . . . ‘Tis the infinite almighty God that shall become the fire of the furnace’ and, figuratively speaking, the wrath of God is a consuming fire. When pressed to answer whether hell-fire is literal or figurative, he replies that the symbol is ‘very probably literal’,

118
Writing much later than Augustine, the Rev. E.H. Pusey, Professor of Hebrew at Oxford, expressed his exasperation in 1880 with the way people were playing fast and loose with the inspired words of Scripture: ‘They who deny that any of the words used of future punishment in Holy Scripture express eternity, would so well to consider, whether there is in any way, in which Almighty God could have expressed it, which they would have accepted, as meaning it!’

149, quoting John Murray
A conspicuous defect . . . is the absence of warning and of condemnation in evangelistic effort. The naturalistic temper of our age, united with its callousness, makes the doctrine of hell peculiarly uncongenial. It is more often the subject of crude jest than it is of solemn warning or foreboding. The supposed politeness of modern etiquette has too often succeeded in creating the sentiment that any serious reference to hell and damnation is not accordant with the canons of good taste. These evils have in many cases ensnared even the orthodox.

150
Johnathan Edward’s ‘strategy’ in preaching hell is helpful at this point. There is, he argues, a spiritual reality about hell tat can affect most unconverted people. The motivating principle of humans is self-interest, and matters concerning their welfare or doom are of the utmost importance to them. Being in their natural state, men and women cannot see God’s excellency, but they can most certainly hear His thunders.

153
Paradoxically, orthodoxy is both essential and inadequate, for the truth must also be felt by the preacher before he will be able to warn and exhort sinners effectively in other words, if the gospel is to be preached as God intends it, the essential qualities required are compassion coupled with a deep sense of urgency.

v
The fall and eternal ruin of an immortal spirit is the most dreadful event conceivable. That some of God’s rational and self-determined creatures will forever be in deadly enmity to him, cannot be thought of without sorrow and awe. But from the nature of finite free will, it is a possibility; and it is revealed to us as a fact, as clearly as the facts of incarnation and redemption.

5
Suffering that is merely educational does not require a vicarious atonement in order to release from it. But suffering that is judicial and punitive can be released from the transgressor, only by being inflicted upon a substitute. He, therefore, who denies personal penalty must, logically, deny vicarious penalty. If the sinner himself is not obliged by justice to suffer in order to satisfy the law he has violated, then, certainly, no one needs suffer for him for this purpose.

12-13
The Apostles enter far less into detailed description, and are far less emphatic upon this solemn theme, than their divine Lord and Master. And well they might be. For as none but God has the right, and would dare, to sentence a soul to eternal misery, for sin; and as none but God has the right, and would dare, to execute the sentence; so none but God has the right, and should presume, to delineate the nature and consequences of this sentence. This is the reason why most of the awful imagery in which the sufferings of the lost are described is found in the discourses of our Lord and Saviour.

42
Plato (Gorgias, 235) describes this class of transgressors as “forever (τὸν ἀεὶ χρόνον) enduring the most terrible, and painful sufferings.” It is noteworthy, that the place in which they suffer is denominated Hades, by both Homer and Plato—showing that in the classical use, Hades is sometimes the equivalent of Tartarus and the modern Hell, and the contrary of Elysium.

135
But the Divine tribunal, in the last great day, is invariably and exactly just, because it is neither reformatory, nor protective. In eternity, the sinner is so hardened as to be incorrigible, and heaven is impregnable. Hell, therefore, is not a penitentiary. It is righteous retribution, pure and simple, unmodified by considerations either of utility to the criminal, or of safety to the universe. In the day of final account, penalty will not be unjustly mild for the sake of the transgressor, nor unjustly severe for the sake of society.

142-143
Consequently, the great and distinguishing element in hell-torment is despair, a feeling that is impossible in any man or fallen angel who knows that he is finally to be happy forever. Despair results from the endlessness of retribution. No endlessness, no despair. Natural religion, as well as revealed, teaches the despair of some men in the future life. Plato (Gorgias 525), Pindar (Olympia II.), Plutarch (De sera vindicta), describe the punishment of the incorrigibly wicked as eternal and hopeless.

152
3. In the third place, endless punishment is rational, because sin is an infinite evil; infinite not because committed by an infinite being, but against one. We reason invariably upon this principle. To torture a dumb beast is a crime; to torture a man is a greater crime. To steal from one’s own mother is more heinous than to steal from a fellow citizen. The person who transgresses is the same in each instance; but the different worth and dignity of the objects upon whom his action terminates makes the difference in the gravity of the two offences.

161
Founded in ethics, in law, and in judicial reason, as well as unquestionably taught by the Author of Christianity, it is no wonder that the doctrine of Eternal Retribution, in spite of selfish prejudices and appeals to human sentiment, has always been a belief of Christendom. From theology and philosophy it has passed into human literature, and is wrought into its finest structures. It makes the solemn substance of the Iliad and the Greek Drama. It pours a sombre light into the brightness and grace of the Æneid. It is the theme of the Inferno, and is presupposed by both of the other parts of the Divine Comedy. The epic of Milton derives from it its awful grandeur. And the greatest of the Shakespearean tragedies sound and stir the depths of the human soul, by their delineation of guilt intrinsic and eternal.

ix foreword
A secularized faith is therefore not one marked by outright unbelief but rather one in which that belief has become tame and harmless.

4-5, quoting Bertrand Russell

I really do not think that a person with a proper degree of kindliness in his nature would have put fears and terrors of that sort into the world….I must say that I think all this doctrine, that hell-fire is a punishment for sin, is a doctrine of cruelty. It is a doctrine that put cruelty into the world and gave the world generations of cruel torture; and the Christ of the Gospels, if you take Him as His chroniclers represent Him, would certainly have to be considered partly responsible for that.

50
Upon reflection, however, we realize that the Redeemer paints such pictures out of kindness. By announcing the fate of the wicked before the Last Judgment, he affords them opportunity to escape that fate. In fact, all who heed his warnings, repent, and cast themselves upon his mercy will be delivered from hell.

55
Jesus speaks frequently of hell because he is the Savior of the world. He warns of unspeakable torment in order to move his hearers to flee from the wrath to come. We who name his name should not shrink from following his good example. We must tell people the truth: without Jesus as Lord and Savior they are headed for the eternal judgment of God.

57, quoting Leon Morris
We can understand that there are those who do not like the idea of hell. I do not like it myself.

64, quoting Larry Dixon
It was a teenagers sense of guilt-and rightfully deserved judgment in hell-but I’m not ashamed to acknowledge that the Holy Spirit used fear to bring me to Christ.

71
Some have been troubled that this verse may teach salvation by works. It does not. It teaches judgment based on works. The righteous will be rewarded with eternal life for the good they have done, and the good produced in them by “God who works in [his people] to will and to act according to his purpose” (Phil. 2:13). These good works are the fruit the Holy Spirit produces (Gal. 5:22-23) in those saved freely by God’s grace (Rom. 3:24).The resurrected wicked, however, will be condemned for the evil they have done. It is just of God to base his judgment of the unsaved on their deeds, rather than on whether or not they have heard the gospel. Though no one is saved apart from believing the gospel, it is fair for God to judge people according to their to their deeds. And the wicked get what they deserve for their evil deeds-damnation.

80
First, the expression “eternal destruction” seems an unlikely way to denote the obliteration of the wicked. If extinction were meant, why not just say “destruction”?

81
Third, Paul’s next words rule out annihilation:”…and [they will be] shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of his power” (v. 9). Unbelievers will be excluded from the gracious presence of the Lord. This cannot be annihilation, for their separation presupposes their existence.

81, quoting J. I. Packer
“The subject of divine wrath has become taboo in modern society, and Christians by and large have accepted the taboo and conditioned themselves never to raise the matter.”

83
This passage shows the importance of the doctrine of hell to the early church. It was a part of the foundational teaching given to new converts. It was, therefore, considered basic to a Christian view of life.

87
The damned “will be tormented with burning sulfur” (Rev. 14:10; cf. Gen. 19:24). This refutes the annihilationists’ claim that the main purpose of fire in judgment is to destroy. To the contrary, it’s main purpose is to inflict pain, as this text shows. We need not, however, insist that there is literal fire in hell. “Such language… must be taken as symbolical of a fearful and final reality which no man can describe.”

89
As one who often struggles to submit to the challenges to God’s Word, I call on those Christians who espouse annihilationism to repent and give glory to God by submitting their minds to his truth.

99, quoting Tertullian
It would be most absurd if the flesh should be raised up and destined to the “killing of hell,” in order to be put an end to, when it might suffer such an annihilation (more directly) if not raised again at all. A pretty paradox, to be sure, that an essence must be refitted with life, in order that it may receive that annihilation which has already in fact accrued to it!

109, quoting Aquinas
The magnitude of the punishment matches the magnitude of the sin….Now a sin that is against God is infinite; the higher the person against whom it is committed, the graver the sin-it is more criminal to strike a head of state than a private citizen- and God is of infinite greatness. Therefore an infinite punishment is deserved for a sin committed against him.

109
The pains of hell involve both “the pain of loss” (poena damni) and “the pain of sense” (poena sensus). The former is the deprivation of the joyful vision of God, while the latter is the suffering of positive punishments in body and soul.

111, quoting Luther
Since God is a just Judge, we must love and laud His justice and thus rejoice in God even when He miserably destroys the wicked in body and soul; for in all this His high and inexpressible justice shines forth. And so even hell, no less than heaven, is full of God and the highest Good. For the justice of God is God himself; and God is the highest Good.

124, quoting Edwards
Some talk of it as an unreasonable thing to fright persons to heaven, but I think it is a reasonable thing to endeavor to fright persons away from hell. They stand upon its brink, and are ready to fall into it, and are senseless of their danger. Is it not a reasonable thing to fright a person out of a house on fire?

164
The Bible uses five main pictures to speak of hell: darkness and separation, fire, “weeping and gnashing of teeth,” punishment, and death and destruction.

179
I pray that God would spark a revival of the knowledge of the true doctrine of hell in the Christian church. I have no doubt that such a revival would result in gratitude for grace, amendment of life, and gathering of the lost such as we have not seen in our time. May God grant it!

187
God not only pronounces sentence, but he also reigns over hell. Unfortunately, some have missed this point. John Gerstner, for example, writes, “Hell is where Satan rules… where his complete fury is unleashed.” Gertsner doesn’t deny that God rules in hell. He says, however, that, under God, Satan also reigns there.

188
Jesus is a wonderful savior. He is also a terrible Judge. Think of it: the Savior of the world is also its Judge! He offers the free water of eternal life to everyone who believes that he is who he claims to be. Everyone who refuses to drink this water, however, “will drink of the wine of God’s fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath” (Rev. 14:10).

201
First, studying hell increases my appreciation for the Savior’s sufferings.

206
Although it cuts across the grain of modern thinking, the Bible teaches that thanksgiving is due God for his wrath.

207
Studying God’s qualities helps us to view hell from an important perspective, that of God himself. God is majestic beyond all our imagining. He, therefore, deserves the eternal praise of every one of his creatures. Many human beings, however, refuse to bow before him as Lord, and because God is holy and righteous, he must punish their rebellion. Revelation, therefore, declares the wrath of almighty God against unrepentant sinners.

212
God will bring relief to his persecuted people and punish those who have persecuted them. This punishment is retributive: God “will pay back” the wicked with eternal ruin.

213, quoting Charles Spurgeon
When men talk of a little hell, it is because they think they only have a little sin, and they believe in a little Savior. But when you get a great sense of sin, you want a great Savior, and feel that if you do not have him, you will fall into a great destruction, and suffer a great punishment at the hands of the great God.

59, Quoting Blaise Pascal on fallen man
What a monster, what a chaos, what a subject of contradiction, what a marvel! Judge of all things and imbecile earthworm; possessor of the truth and sink of uncertainty and error; glory and rubbish of the universe.

67
The only satisfying aternative to the injustices of this life is perfect justice in the next one; the only remedy for the present triumph of evil over good is the future triumph of good over evil. In a moral universe all bills must be paid and all accounts settled; but annihilationism throws all these hopes out of the window.

101, quoting J. I. Packer
Even though we are fallen sinners we remain moral beings, with an innate, God-given sense of right and wrong; one theologian has said, “The whole of recorded history is one great longing for justice.”

105
Nothing is more plainly taught in Scripture than that there will be a final and universal judgment. Two-thirds of the parables Jesus told were related to the subject.

124, quoting John Murray
The fact that Jesus will sit upon the throne of judgment will be the consternation of his enemies and the consolation of his people.

130
It has been calculated that of 1,870 verses recording words which Jesus spoke, thirteen percent are about judgment and hell. Jesus spoke more about these two topics than about any other (angels came second and love third).

135

Things are very different in hell, where the prisoner is incarcerated “soul and body” (Matthew 10:28); his spirit is as crippled and confined as his body, with no instinct to worship god and no interest in doing so. An imprisoned spirit is stilted, stale, and sterile.

[and on destruction, same page]

Drawing together what the Bible says about hell as a prison, it seems that its inmates have neither the instinct nor the opportunity to achieve anything but that they are helpless, hopeless, and powerless, utterly drained of all ideas and inspiration.

154
In hell, no relationship of any kind will exist; everyone there will be there alone.

161
Preachers often warn people about the danger of “eternal separation” from God and describe hell in this way, but the Bible never uses the term. it would be more biblical to warn people about the danger for them of the eternal presence of God.

163, quoting Henri Blocher
What is more, the sinner in hell will have a greater knowledge of himself. As one scholar has put it, “All creatures will share in God’s abhorrence of sin and evil; the sinner will hate himself, he will appreciate the value of his life and see it as God does. Hell is nothing but full knowledge of the truth, remorse in agreement with God.”

165
God’s anger is not a piece of moral mechanism.

174, quoting William Crockett
There is no meaningful way to say that God loves the wicked after death.

221, quoting Paul Helm
Hell is not a demonic colony which has gained unilateral independence from God. Because there is full recognition of God’s justice, God’s character is vindicated.

225
If annihilation is the punishment, what is the purpose of the suffering? If the horrors of hell are a meaningless prelude to extinction, surely God is seen as the supreme sadist?