There remains one other important question; and that is, where are
the issues of eternity settled. There are those who believe that the
punishment of the persistently impenitent is everlasting, that it has
no end, but they also believe that the issues of eternity are not
settled in the life that now is, but that with many they are settled
after death and that when men die impenitent they will have another
chance. Believing in endless punishment does not necessarily involve
believing that there is no chance after death. There are many who
believe that there will be a chance after death, and that many will
accept it, who also believe that some will not accept it and will
therefore be punished for ever and ever. Now what is the teaching of
the Word of God on this point? Let me call your attention to four
passages, any one of which settles the question, and taken together
they leave no possible room for doubt for any candid man who is willing
to take the Bible as meaning what it says, any man who is really trying
to find out what the Bible teaches and not merely trying to support a
theory.
1. The first passage in 2 Cor. 5:10: +"For we must all be made
manifest before the judgment seat of Christ; that each one may receive
the things done in the body, according to what he hath done, whether
it be good or bad."+ In this passage we are plainly told that the
basis of judgment in the world to come is "the things done _in the
body_," i.e., the things done this side the grave, the things done
before we shuffle off this mortal coil, the things done before the
spirit leaves the body. Of course, this particular passage has to do
primarily with the judgment of the believer, but it shows what the
basis of future judgment is, viz., the things done this side of the
grave.
2. The second passage is Heb. 9:27: +"It is appointed unto men once
to die, and after this cometh judgment."+ Here we are distinctly
told that "_after death_" there is to be, not an opportunity to prepare
for judgment, but "judgment," and that, therefore, our destiny is
settled _at death_, and that there is no chance of salvation "after
death."
3. The third passage is John 5:28, 29: +"Marvel not at this: for the
hour cometh, in which all that are in the tombs shall hear His voice,
and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection
of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of
judgment."+ Here also it is clearly implied that the resurrection of
good and bad is for the purpose of judgment _regarding the things done
before their bodies were laid in their graves_.
4. A fourth passage, if possible more decisive than any of these, gives
our Lord's words, John 8:21: +"He said therefore again unto them; I
go away, and ye shall seek me, and shall die in your sin, whither I
go, ye cannot come."+ Here our Lord distinctly declares that the
question whether men shall come to be with Him or not depends upon what
they do _before they die_, that if they die impenitent, if they "_die
in their sins_," that whither He goes they cannot come. To sum up the
teaching of all these passages, the issues of eternity, the issues of
eternal life or eternal destruction, the issues of eternal blessedness
and glory, or eternal agony and shame, are settled in the life that now
is.