The Lord speaks of this himself in the fifth chapter of John, beginning with the twenty-fourth verse: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.
"Verily, verily, I say unto you, the hour is coming and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God; and they that hear shall live."
And the Jews marveled. Perhaps they thought he meant those who were "dead in trespasses and sins" should hear his voice. At any rate they marveled. He perceived it and said:
"Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all
that are in their graves 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 damnation."
Peter tells us that Christ did this very thing:
For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the
unjust, that he might brings us to God, being put to death in the
flesh, but quickened by the spirit:By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in
prison:Which sometime were disobedient, when once the long-suffering
of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was
a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved.[W]
[Footnote W: I Peter 3:18-20.]
Why did he preach to these disobedient spirits? Surely not to increase their torments, to taunt them for not accepting of his truth in the days of the prophets! Was it to tantalize them, and make them more miserable because of the blessings they had lost! Jesus was a merciful Redeemer, who suffered as no other man suffered that he might save the children of his Father. He would take no pleasure in the suffering of the wicked. It was his nature to plead for them, to entreat his Father for mercy in their behalf. Therefore, whatever his mission was, it was one of mercy and comfort to those prisoners. Peter tells us that the object of his visit was that the gospel might be preached also to the dead, "that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit."[X]
[Footnote X: I Peter 4:6.]
What good reason can be given why the Lord should not forgive sins in the world to come? Why should man suffer throughout the countless ages of eternity for his sins committed here, if those sins are not unto death? There are many good, honorable men who have wilfully wronged no man, have lived to the best of their opportunities, righteously; yet have not received the gospel, for one reason or another. Where would be the justice in condemning them forever in hell, "where the worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched?" We learn from the Doctrine and Covenants, that eternal punishment, or everlasting punishment, does not mean that a man condemned will endure this punishment forever, but it is everlasting and eternal, because it is God's punishment, and he is Everlasting and Eternal. Therefore, when a man pays the penalty of his misdeeds and humbly repents, receiving the gospel, he comes out of the prison-house and is assigned to some degree of glory in the kingdom of God, according to his worth and merit.