A POPULAR doctrine, published of late years by sundry learned divines, is that of a larger hope for the lost than that they should be punished eternally for their sins.
How long the period of punishment may be cannot, of course, be fixed by man. It may be hundreds, thousands, or even millions of years; but, anyhow, it is terminable, and the wicked will be eventually delivered from their doom, and obtain a place in heaven along with the saints.
This is the doctrine of this “Larger Hope,” and truly this title sounds pleasant enough! Hope is always cheery, and carries light to the darkest breast. But “hope” is not certainty, just as the best of wishes are not truth. We may hope for a thousand things that are altogether impossible; therefore it is important that we discover what is true, what is revealed, in order to test our grounds of hope. If these are not based on truth, they must be false and delusive.
Now, if God punish in time, that punishment is necessarily limited in duration. Thus the flood continued for some months; the captivity of Israel in Babylon for some years; its present dispersion for some centuries, ―and so on. But in eternity the state is fixed and unalterable. Thus we read, “He that is unjust, let him be unjust still; he that is filthy, let him be filthy still; he that is righteous, let him be righteous still; and he that is holy, let him be holy still” (Rev. 21:1111Having the glory of God: and her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal; (Revelation 21:11)). Here the condition is determined and abiding.
Again, “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life; and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth upon him” (John 3:3636He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him. (John 3:36)). Here too the state is sealed, ―wrath abides.
Hence, when you touch eternity, all change is precluded; everything bears the eternal stamp. There is no kind of change, either in heaven or in hell.
Consider the condition of the rich man (Luke 16), who after death lifted up his eyes in torment and saw Lazarus in Abraham’s bosom, whilst he himself was in hell. Had this man, ―whose history is given us by the Lord, figuratively perhaps, but with awful depth of meaning and solemn warning, ―had he the comfort derived from this larger hope doctrine?
Well, he did indulge hope―and that in hell. There was a ray of hope for this miserable man, not indeed large, but still he hoped.
For what did he hope? escape from his punishment? No! For a limit being placed on its duration? No! That hope, observe, appears never to have entered his mind; he seemed to have accepted its eternity. But he hoped for relief, a little mitigation of his agony; he hoped for as much comfort as is contained in one drop of water! Small hope that! He desired that Lazarus should be sent with water on the tip of his finger, to cool his tormented tongue.
This gives no evidence of the larger hope being accredited in hell. No, its fallacy is realized there. As a satanic delusion it succeeds on earth, and blinds its victims. On earth, it is welcome where sin is sweet, and its eternal judgment hateful. But beyond the grave, and the great white throne, from whence eternity’s irrevocable verdict is issued, hope of every kind, large or small, is banished forever. There is no hope in heaven, for the simple reason that there
“Hope has changed to glad fruition,
Faith to sight, and prayer to praise.”
There is no hope in hell, for the reason that unbelief and sin sink to their proper level, and the tree lies forever as it falls. Hope has her sphere on earth alone, and even then only for the Christian. He enjoys the blessed hope of the coming of the Lord; whilst, alas, the sinner, being “without God,” is also “without hope.”
There is no hope for the sinner on earth, but through God’s grace, and none whatever in hell.
J. W. S.