“I say to you, You will by no means come out from there, until you have paid the very last penny.”

For if they do not come to agreement with Him let them be sure that every sin will have to be accounted for, they will be made liable for their whole debt. This is not an indication that eventually they will be able, as it were, to find a way out of their final punishment, for it is clear that in their case their final debt can never be repaid. It is only in earthly situations where debts can hopefully some time in the future be paid off so that a way of final escape can be seen as possible. But the heavenly court will be uncompromising. As they have failed to respond to Jesus it will demand from them every last sin. The phrase is really declaring that such a possibility of release is out of the question. It will never happen.

The earthly hope of being saved from the debtor's prison would be the arrival of a kinsman redeemer to pay his debt for him. But those who have failed to conciliate with Jesus have forfeited their Kinsman Redeemer.

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