God punished Sodom and Gomorrah because of their sin. There's no question this was not only a physical destruction, but also dustruction for spiritual purposes.
Notice below, only the fire is eternal. Nothing about eternal torment.
Jude 1:5-7
5I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not. 6And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day. 7Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.
Notice below, only the fire is eternal. Nothing about eternal torment.
Jude 1:5-7
5I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not. 6And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day. 7Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.
Likewise Jerusalem was threatened with the eternal fire of God's anger, due to the sins of Israel: "Then will I kindle a fire in the gates thereof, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem, and it shall not be quenched" (Jer. 17:27). Jerusalem being the prophesied capital of the future Kingdom (Is. 2:2-4; Ps. 48:2), God did not mean for us to read this literally. The great houses of Jerusalem were burnt down with fire (2 Kings 25:9), but that fire did not continue eternally.
Similarly, God punished the land of Idumea with fire that would "not be quenched night nor day; the smoke thereof shall go up for ever: from generation to generation it shall lie waste... the owl and the raven shall dwell in it... thorns shall come up in her palaces" (Is. 34:9-15). Seeing that animals and plants were to exist in the ruined land of Idumea, the language of eternal fire must refer to God's anger and His total destruction of the place, rather than being taken literally.
The Hebrew and Greek phrases which are translated "for ever" mean strictly, "for the age". Sometimes this refers to literal infinity, for example the age of the kingdom, but not always. Ez. 32:14-15 is an example: "The forts and towers shall be dens for ever... until the spirit be poured upon us." This is one way of understanding the 'eternity' of 'eternal fire'.
Time and again God's anger with the sins of Jerusalem and Israel is likened to fire: "Mine anger and my fury shall be poured out upon this place (Jerusalem)... it shall burn, and shall not be quenched" (Jer. 7:20; other examples include Lam. 4:11 and 2 Kings 22:17).
Fire is also associated with God's judgment of sin, especially at the return of Christ: "For, behold, the day cometh that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up" (Mal. 4:1). When stubble, or even a human body, is burnt by fire, it returns to dust.
Malachi 4:3
"Then you will trample on the wicked; they will be ashes under the
soles of your feet on the day when I act," says the LORD Almighty.
It should be noted that "hell" is "cast into the lake of fire" (Rev. 20:14). This indicates that
hell is not the same as "the lake of fire"; this represents complete destruction. In the
symbolic manner of the book of Revelation, we are being told that the grave is to be
totally destroyed, because at the end of the Millennium there will be no more death.
There will be no more mourning or suffering or tears... oh! Except for those poor souls
in the lake of fire who are being tortured and tormented in a conscious state for ever
and ever to remind them in perpetuity that they made a mistake during the short time
they had on earth to accept God as a kind and loving father... say some. Ugh.
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