Turning the page…
Turning the page…
Glory · Who We Are
The Bible clearly teaches that the lost perish and are destroyed, and it also speaks of eternal punishment; faithful Christians have read those two threads differently. The historic majority view is eternal conscious punishment; others, reading the destruction language, hold that the lost cease to exist. Both views agree on what matters most: hell is real, final, and terrible, and the gospel is the only way out.
https://glorystudy.com/questions/what-is-hell-eternal-punishment-or-annihilation · Scripture quoted from the World English Bible
Matthew 25:41-46
As you read: Jesus sets the two destinies side by side with the same word: eternal punishment and eternal life.
41Then he will say also to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire which is prepared for the devil and his angels;
42for I was hungry, and you didn’t give me food to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave me no drink;
43I was a stranger, and you didn’t take me in; naked, and you didn’t clothe me; sick, and in prison, and you didn’t visit me.’
44“Then they will also answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and didn’t help you?’
45“Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Most certainly I tell you, because you didn’t do it to one of the least of these, you didn’t do it to me.’
46These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
2 Thessalonians 1:5-10
As you read: Paul describes the fate of the lost as eternal destruction from the face of the Lord.
5This is an obvious sign of the righteous judgment of God, to the end that you may be counted worthy of the Kingdom of God, for which you also suffer.
6Since it is a righteous thing with God to repay affliction to those who afflict you,
7and to give relief to you who are afflicted with us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire,
8giving vengeance to those who don’t know God, and to those who don’t obey the Good News of our Lord Jesus,
9who will pay the penalty: eternal destruction from the face of the Lord and from the glory of his might,
10when he comes to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired among all those who have believed (because our testimony to you was believed) in that day.
Revelation 20:11-15
As you read: The second death, and who is cast into the lake of fire.
11I saw a great white throne, and him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. There was found no place for them.
12I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and they opened books. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged out of the things which were written in the books, according to their works.
13The sea gave up the dead who were in it. Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them. They were judged, each one according to his works.
14Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire.
15If anyone was not found written in the book of life, he was cast into the lake of fire.
Matthew 3:10-12
As you read: John the Baptist's picture of judgment: the chaff burned up with unquenchable fire.
10“Even now the ax lies at the root of the trees. Therefore every tree that doesn’t produce good fruit is cut down, and cast into the fire.
11I indeed baptize you in water for repentance, but he who comes after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you in the Holy Spirit.
12His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will thoroughly cleanse his threshing floor. He will gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn up with unquenchable fire.”
Jesus spoke of hell more than anyone, describing the fire 'prepared for the devil and his angels,' where 'their worm doesn't die, and the fire is not quenched.' Isaiah pictured the same: 'their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched.' Whatever view we take, this is not a question to handle carelessly, because it is about the final destiny of real people, and about the seriousness with which we take the One who warns us.
“Then he will say also to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire which is prepared for the devil and his angels;”Matthew 25:41
“‘where their worm doesn’t die, and the fire is not quenched.’”Mark 9:48
““They shall go out, and look on the dead bodies of the men who have transgressed against me: for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they will be loathsome to all mankind.””Isaiah 66:24
“Don’t be afraid of those who kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul. Rather, fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in Gehenna.”Matthew 10:28
Jesus says the condemned 'will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life,' using one word for both destinies. Daniel speaks of waking 'to shame and everlasting contempt,' and Revelation says of those who worship the beast that 'the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever.' On this reading, the punishment is endless because the same adjective that guarantees endless life guarantees endless judgment.
“These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.””Matthew 25:46
“Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.”Daniel 12:2
“The smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever. They have no rest day and night, those who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.”Revelation 14:11
“The devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet are also. They will be tormented day and night forever and ever.”Revelation 20:10
Other texts stress the finality of ruin: the lost 'will pay the penalty: eternal destruction from the face of the Lord,' and Jesus warns us to fear the One 'who is able to destroy both soul and body in Gehenna.' Paul names those 'whose end is destruction,' and John the Baptist pictures the chaff he 'will burn up with unquenchable fire.' Those who hold annihilation read these as describing the complete ceasing of the lost, not endless torment.
“who will pay the penalty: eternal destruction from the face of the Lord and from the glory of his might,”2 Thessalonians 1:9
“Don’t be afraid of those who kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul. Rather, fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in Gehenna.”Matthew 10:28
“whose end is destruction, whose god is the belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who think about earthly things.”Philippians 3:19
“His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will thoroughly cleanse his threshing floor. He will gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn up with unquenchable fire.””Matthew 3:12
This is one of the places where the church has disagreed while taking the same verses seriously. The majority historic view is eternal conscious punishment: the 'eternal' and 'forever and ever' language carries its full weight, and the rich man in torment pleads for relief. Annihilationism sees the 'destruction,' 'perish,' and 'burned up' language as describing an end, and takes God's warnings about death and perishing at face value. Both camps honor Scripture and both are sobered by it; neither would relax the urgency of the gospel.
“These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.””Matthew 25:46
“Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. If anyone was not found written in the book of life, he was cast into the lake of fire.”Revelation 20:14-15
“He cried and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue! For I am in anguish in this flame.’”Luke 16:24
“But the heavens that now are, and the earth, by the same word have been stored up for fire, being reserved against the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.”2 Peter 3:7
“Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them, having, in the same way as these, given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are shown as an example, suffering the punishment of eternal fire.”Jude 1:7
No reading makes hell a small thing. Scripture agrees it is real, final, just, and dreadful, and that the only escape is the gospel: 'God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.' The day is coming when God judges the world in righteousness by Christ. So we neither presume nor despair; we take the warning as love, and we run to the Savior who has already faced our judgment on the cross.
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.”John 3:16
“because he has appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by the man whom he has ordained; of which he has given assurance to all men, in that he has raised him from the dead.””Acts 17:31
“If anyone was not found written in the book of life, he was cast into the lake of fire.”Revelation 20:15
“Since it is a righteous thing with God to repay affliction to those who afflict you, and to give relief to you who are afflicted with us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire,”2 Thessalonians 1:6-7