God's Plan with Men. T. T. Martin
many others show that there will be differences. The degrees of punishment must be as remote as the east is from the west. All inherited proclivities, 'taints of blood,' all differences of environment, every privilege and every disadvantage, will be taken into account. It is the Divine Judge that will apportion punishment, with perfect knowledge and perfect justice and perfect goodness. This great fact, that there will be degrees in future punishment—as well as future rewards—ought to be more prominent in religious instruction. It gives some relief in contemplating the awful fate of those who perish. It might save many from going away into Universalism; and others from dreaming of a 'second probation' in eternity (comp. on 12:32); and yet others from unjustly assailing and rejecting, to their own ruin, the gospel of salvation."
On the other hand, many a sermon on Hell (and there are too few on the subject), it could possibly be said the average sermon on the subject, is a slander on a just and holy God. The sermon is drawn largely from Dante's Inferno or the distorted imagination of the preacher, with no reference to the fact that God will punish sinners differently according to their light and their sins, but only justly.
The trouble is not with the Bible teaching as to Hell, but with modern inadequate conceptions of the evil and guilt of sin, and with many, the almost lost sense of justice, and of "stern moral indignation against wrong." (Broadus.)
II
SINS NOT EXCUSED, NOR THE PENALTY EVER REMITTED WITHOUT REDEMPTION
"Till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass away from the law."—Jesus.
"Apart from shedding of blood there is no remission."—Heb. 9:22.
"For the life of the flesh is in the blood; and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that maketh atonement."—Lev. 17:11.
"It is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins."—Heb. 10:4.
"Every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward."—Heb. 2:2.
When one faces the question of his sins, and realizes that they deserve just punishment, one of the first impulses is to pray and beg of God to be let off, to be forgiven; and, alas! much of the religious instruction to the sinner is to the same effect. Jesus to Nicodemus gave no such instruction (John 3:14–16); Philip to the Eunuch gave no such instruction (Acts 8:29–39); Paul and Silas to the jailer gave no such instruction (Acts 16:30, 31); Peter to the household of Cornelius gave no such instruction (Acts 10:42, 43); the gospel of John, the one book specially given to lead a sinner to be saved (John 20:30, 31), gives no such instruction.
But the objection is at once brought up that in the Lord's Prayer we are taught to pray, "Forgive us our sins." That prayer begins "Our Father," and God is not the Father of sinners ("Ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus."—Gal. 3:26); and the prayer was given by the Saviour to disciples (Luke 11:1, 2), and not to sinners.
But the objection is further raised that the Bible says, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins." That is from the first epistle of John, and was not written to sinners, but to believers. John says (1 John 5:13), "These things have I written unto you, that ye may know that ye have eternal life, even unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God." (R. V.) God can and does forgive the believer on confession, because the believer is a child of God. With the sinner it is a question of law, of justice, of right. Hence, the Lord Jesus said, "Till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or tittle shall in no wise pass away from the law" (Matt. 5:18). "Every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward" (Heb. 2:2); but there is no "just recompense of reward" at all, if God lets the sinner off from the just penalty of his sins because he prays and begs and cries to be let off, or because priests or preachers pray and beg for him to be let off. "It is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sin" (Heb. 10:4), because there is no "just recompense of reward" in such cases. Much less can the sins be taken away when there is no recompense of reward at all in the case, but simply the praying and begging of the sinner to be forgiven, to be let off, and the praying and begging of some priest or preacher that the sinner be forgiven, let off. God has given a plain warning, "Apart from shedding of blood there is no remission."—Heb. 9:22. Among what are called evangelical denominations it would be looked upon as worse than folly for a Jew, a Unitarian or a Universalist, who had asked God to forgive his sins, or had confessed the sins, to claim that therefore he was forgiven and was sure to go to Heaven. But it is just as fatal a delusion among others as among Jews, Unitarians and Universalists. Every transgression must have "a just recompense of reward," however sorry the sinner may be, however much he may pray and beg to be forgiven, let off; however much the priest or preacher or friends may pray for him to be forgiven, to be let off. A man who has violated the state law falls on his knees before the judge, confesses his sin and begs the judge to forgive him, to let him off; and he calls men from the audience to come and help him beg. The judge replies, "If I should yield to these petitions I would be a perjurer; I would trample on law. Every transgression must receive a just recompense of reward." Would that all could realize that every prayer from sinner, priest, or preacher, for a sinner to be forgiven, let off, is a prayer to God to become a perjurer. If sinners could realize that, after all their kneeling every night and confessing their sins, and praying to be forgiven, to be let off, every sin ever committed is still there, and that "Apart from shedding of blood there is no remission," they would then realize their real need of a Saviour, a Redeemer.
One question for the reader: If God forgives, lets a sinner off, simply because he is sorry and cries and prays and begs to be let off, or because the priest or preacher cries, prays and begs for him to be forgiven, to be let off, why did Jesus die?
FOR FURTHER STUDY: The word translated forgiveness in the Bible means simply to send away, without reference to how the sin is sent away; but God's word states plainly that sins are forgiven, sent away, by Christ bearing them. "Behold the lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world."—John 1:29. "Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree."—1 Peter 2:24; "Christ died for our sins."—1 Cor. 15:3. Concerning the justice of Christ dying for our sins, see the next chapter.
The prayer of the publican in the old version, "God be merciful to me the sinner," Luke 18:13, has misled many. If that was really the prayer of the publican, how could the Saviour have said, "This man went down to his house justified"? The margin of the Revised Version gives what the Greek says, "Be thou propitiated." It is the same Greek word that in Heb. 2:17 is translated, "to make reconciliation for the sins of the people." President Strong of Rochester Theological Seminary gives the exact meaning of it when he renders it, "Be thou propitiated to me the sinner by the sacrifice whose smoke was then ascending in the presence of the publican while he prayed." And Jesus shows what the publican said when He added, "This man went down to his house justified."
It is said that a young man ran away from his widowed mother and was gone for years. One stormy night sitting near the window sewing, while the rain was beating against the window pane, she thought she heard a noise. Looking up she saw the shaggy, bearded face of a ragged tramp pressed against the window pane, but it faded back into the storm as she looked up. Faint lines in the face aroused memory. As the needle was plied the mind was busy. Again a slight noise caused her to look up, and again the shaggy, bearded face of the tramp faded back into the storm. This time she knew that she was not mistaken. The shaggy beard could not hide the lines in the face of her long-lost boy. Throwing up the window she cried, "Come in, William, oh, come in." Stepping to where the light fell full in his face, while the tears coursed down his cheeks, he said, "Mother, I can't come in till my sin has been put out of the way." There was honor left in the tramp yet. There ought to be honor enough in every human being not to wish to go to Heaven, not to try to go to Heaven, at the expense of God's justice. Jesus said, John 10:1, 7, "He that entereth not by the door into the fold of the sheep, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber." "Verily, verily I say