Endless

The phrase “endless torment” appears seven times in the Book of Mormon.

• Jacob uses the phrase to describe the postmortal suffering from which God has delivered us. “He delivereth his saints from that awful monster the devil, and death, and hell, and that lake of fire and brimstone, which is endless torment” (2 Nephi 9:19; see also 2 Nephi 9:26).
• Nephi later echoes Jacob’s language as he warns us against temptation. (See 2 Nephi 28:23.) And Jacob uses it again to describe the shame and guilt we will feel at the final judgment if we have not repented of our sins. (See Jacob 6:10.)
• The angel who appeared to King Benjamin warned him that unrepentant sinners will be “consigned to an awful view of their own guilt and abominations, which doth cause them to shrink from the presence of the Lord into a state of misery and endless torment, from whence they can no more return” (Mosiah 3:25).
• After their conversion to the gospel, Mosiah’s sons pleaded with their father to let them preach the gospel to their enemies. They wanted to do this because “they could not bear that any human soul should perish; yea, even the very thoughts that any soul should endure endless torment did cause them to quake and tremble” (Mosiah 28:3).
• Mormon condemned infant baptism in the strongest of terms, saying that those who believe God would punish innocent children “[deny] the mercies of Christ, and [set] at naught the atonement of him and the power of his redemption.” He said those people “are in danger of death, hell, and an endless torment” (Moroni 8:20-21).

The word “endless” often refers to time, describing something that lasts forever. But it can also refer to the volume or size of something, such as “the endless vastness of the ocean,” “the endless sky,” or “the endless universe.” Although the context for some of these passages strongly implies that “endless” refers to time, the Lord encouraged Martin Harris to think about this phrase differently:

It is not written that there shall be no end to this torment, but it is written endless torment. …

For, behold, the mystery of godliness, how great is it! For, behold, I am endless, and the punishment which is given from my hand is endless punishment, for Endless is my name. Wherefore—

Eternal punishment is God’s punishment.

Endless punishment is God’s punishment.

Doctrine and Covenants 19:6, 10-12

“Endless is my name,” He said. God is endless in multiple ways. He has infinite (endless) power and knowledge. He is also “the same yesterday, today, and forever”—never ending (2 Nephi 27:23; 2 Nephi 29:9; Mormon 9:9; Moroni 10:7, 19).

What is amazing is that this Endless God—our Savior, Jesus Christ—willingly endured the unfathomable suffering which we would naturally have experienced without His help. Alma testified:

The Son of God suffereth according to the flesh that he might take upon him the sins of his people, that he might blot out their transgressions according to the power of his deliverance;

Alma 7:13

And the Savior described this suffering to Martin Harris in the following terms:

Which suffering caused myself, even God, the greatest of all, to tremble because of pain, and to bleed at every pore, and to suffer both body and spirit—and would that I might not drink the bitter cup, and shrink

Doctrine and Covenants 19:18

With that context, we might even think differently about the phrase “God’s punishment.” Instead of visualizing God meting out punishments to us, we might think about the punishment which He bore on our behalf.

So the next time you hear or read a phrase like “endless torment” or “eternal punishment,” think about the magnitude of the pain the Savior willingly endured for you—a pain so great that only a superlative like “endless” can meaningfully describe it. And respond to that awareness with gratitude for what Elder D. Todd Christofferson called “the divine gift of repentance.” What a relief and a joy to know that we are not endlessly tethered to the effects of our past mistakes, that we can leave them behind, become better, and move forward without the boundless sorrow of believing that we have done irreparable damage!

Today, I will ponder the grandeur of the Savior’s gift to us. I will express my gratitude to God for the extraordinary suffering borne by His Son so that I can repent.