Verse 9
who shall suffer punishment, even eternal destruction from the face of the Lord and from the glory of his might,
The reference of this verse is to "hell," the final destiny of the wicked; and, for somewhat extended remarks on this subject, see my Commentary on Matthew, pp. 411-413. It is only with thoughts of the greatest melancholy and sorrow that a subject such as this may be considered. Does there have to be such a place? Deep questionings of the soul are not fully answered in the sacred text, but the faithful Christian accepts as fact that which he finds no logical way of rejecting. There are two facts, universally accepted even in philosophy, to the effect that: (1) there is some kind of existence after death for every soul, and (2) that God will never finally accommodate to evil, that some judgment of it is certain; and these two propositions point logically to a place of overthrow and eternal suppression of evil. Christ and the apostles spoke dogmatically of hell, and the believer in Christ has no alternative to the acceptance of what they said. Hendriksen's comment on this is:
The very fact that "destruction" is "everlasting" shows that it does not amount to annihilation or going out of existence. On the contrary, it denotes an existence "away from the face of the Lord and the glory of his might."[27]
Denney, as quoted by Morris, commented thus:
If there is any truth in Scripture at all, then this is true - that those who stubbornly refuse to submit to the gospel of Christ, and to love and obey Jesus Christ, incur at the Last Advent an infinite and irreparable loss. They pass into a night upon which no morning dawns.[28]
[27] William Hendriksen, op. cit., p. 160.
[28] Leon Morris, op. cit., p. 120.
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