Harvest Daily with Greg Laurie - Sept. 5, 2006

A Place of No Return

“These things says He who is holy, He who is true, ‘He who has the key of David, He who opens and no one shuts, and shuts and no one opens.’ ”

—Revelation 3:7

Once on a visit to San Francisco, my wife Cathe and I went to see Alcatraz, also known as The Rock.  On our tour, we were able to view the various cells where famous criminals like Al Capone were kept.  At one point, we also were able to walk into the tiny cells.  It was such a horrible place to be.  They said that no one ever escaped alive from that island prison.  It was truly a place of isolation.

Not only does the Bible compare hell to a garbage dump, but it also compares it to a prison.  One of the clearest pictures Jesus gave of hell was when he described it as a prison.  He told a parable about the king’s servant who was sent to jail for cruel and unforgiving behavior.  Then He added this warning: “So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses” (Matthew 18:33).   Jesus was saying that going to hell was like being cast into prison.

I receive many letters from prisoners who listen to our radio broadcast, A New Beginning, and from many who have come to Christ listening to it.  Every one of them writes about his or her hope of getting out soon and having a changed life.  The hope of getting out is the only thing that keeps them going.

But for those who have been condemned to hell, they won’t get out.  Once they are in, they are in for good.  Once they are there, there are no other chances.

For more relevant and biblical teaching from Pastor Greg Laurie, go to www.harvest.org.

Copyright © 2006 by Harvest Ministries. All rights reserved.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Bible text from the New King James Version is not to be reproduced in copies or otherwise by any means except as permitted in writing by Thomas Nelson, Inc., Attn: Bible Rights and Permissions, P.O. Box 141000, Nashville, TN 37214-1000.