by John H. Gerstner

There is more Scripture to the same effect, but I think this is sufficient to indicate the thought of the Bible. Let me say a final word on this subject as to why I believe people think that there is a possibility of moving or progressing from one world to the other, namely from the world of hell to the world of heaven. As I am acquainted with the history of doctrine, I suspect that it is not any Scripture passage that gives people such a notion, rather it is the feeling that a future trial is necessary, at least for some people. That is, there are some adults who have never heard of the gospel, and therefore have never had the possibility of being converted. Some theologians forget that these people who have not heard the gospel have no right to expect that they should hear the gospel; there is no obligation on God's part to present it to them. But, wrongly supposing that all persons have some right to the gospel, and noticing that persons have never actually been given that supposed right, these theologians are constrained to conclude that such a presentation of the gospel, since it has not taken place in this world, must take place in the next one. This opens up the possibility of persons in hell believing and being saved, and thus entering into felicity with the heavenly creatures and into fellowship with God.

While I admit that this is, internally, a logically coherent pattern of thought, I say first that it is presumptuous to base a doctrinal affirmation, a dogma, upon something which is merely a very tenuous hypothesis. Second, and far more serious, however internally consistent this notion may be, it is destroyed by a false premise. I have reflected on the fact that some theologians assume that all men are entitled to hear the gospel. This, however, is a gratuitous and erroneous assumption. God has no obligation to sinful men but to condemn them. He may or He may not, as His wisdom dictates, exercise mercy upon them; but mercy is not something that God must offer anybody, much less everybody. He offered no mercy to the angels when they sinned. And He says, with respect, to fallen humans, "I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy" (Romans 9:18). He strongly insists that mercy is optional with Him and is a matter of His sovereign pleasure alone. Therefore, it is extremely presumptuous for any man to assume that he has a right to hear the gospel. Since we live in a land of light and can hear the gospel, we should be that much more grateful that we have such an unmerited opportunity.

Furthermore, we should do what is in our power to extend this opportunity to other persons. However, neither we nor they may be said to have any "right" to the good news. Neither we nor they, if we perish in our sins, can justly blame God for not attempting to rescue us from our sins. We are outlaws, violators of God's will; we have spurned the light of nature and natural revelation which we have. We are entitled to nothing but hell. And if God leaves us to that to which we are entitled, who can call Him unjust?

So, however plausible this thesis of a future probation might sound, a careful examination shows that it must be decisively rejected as erroneous and presumptuous. And if this notion of a future probation is resting upon this erroneous and presumptuous foundation, then what rests on it, namely the possibility of passing from one world to another, must collapse with its foundation.

But there is another side to this coin. If the finally impenitent can never pass into glory, on the other hand, true believers cannot ever pass out of it. The righteous shall be righteous still. So once again the believer's eyes are on the Lord returning on clouds of glory. "Even so, come, Lord Jesus." For when He finally takes His own to Himself, they shall know that sin shall never again separate them from Him; for He has separated sin from them. ". . . between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence." (See also Revelation 21:7)

Now is the day of salvation. Let us, therefore, next consider what we must do now, since there will be no opportunity to change worlds hereafter.

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This is part thirty of John H. Gerstner's small book entitled Theology for Everyman, originally published in 1965 (Moody Press, Chicago). That book was subsequently republished in 1991. It has since fallen out of print and we thought it would be good to revisit this book here on the blog. Over the past weeks, we've been working our way through the book. Here is where we've been so far: Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5, Chapter 6 Chapter 7, Chapter 8 and Chapter 9.