From the beginning of the Bible, the Scriptures declare repeatedly that death is the penalty for sin.
The first time, in Genesis 2:17, God said to Adam as a consequence of his disobedience:
"Thou shalt surely DIE."
There was no threatened eternal torment, but on the contrary Adam was told in Genesis 3:19 that
"In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou RETURN UNTO THE GROUND: for out of it wast thou taken: for DUST THOU ART AND UNTO DUST SHALT THOU RETURN."
Paul says in Romans 6:23, commenting upon the Adamic sentence:
"The wages of sin is death."And in Romans 5:17
"By one man’s offence death reigned."
Also Romans 6:21
"The end of those things (the works of the flesh) is death."Not eternal living torment, but DEATH.
James affirms this in James 1:15~"Sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth DEATH"
The penalty of death and destruction is both just and merciful;
the penalty of eternal torture is neither just nor merciful.
Jesus said, "Broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat."And narrow is the way that leadeth unto life, and FEW there be that find it."
Here again we note that in the Bible it is not eternal torment that is
threatened but destruction, which is something very different.
In Matthew 25:46, Jesus says the wicked "go into everlasting punishment," and what this everlasting punishment consists of is explained by Paul in 2 Thess. 1:7-9, where he says that when Jesus shall be revealed from heaven, the wicked shall be "punished with everlasting destruction." Paul tells us in Hebrews 10:27 what this everlasting punishment is:
"Judgment and fiery indignation shall devour the adversary."Quite unlike the burning bush which was NOT devoured by the flames which engulfed it.
Jesus says in Matthew 10:28 that God is able to~
"DESTROY both soul and body in Gehenna." Do you think Jesus gives idle warnings, that we should feat God for something He will never do?
Philippians 3:19, speaking of the unsaved~
"Their end is destruction."
2 Peter 2:12, speaking of the unsaved~
"These, as natural brute beasts . . . shall utterly perish in their own corruption."
Psalm 37:20
"The wicked shall perish, and the enemies of the Lord shall be as the fat of lambs: they shall consume; into smoke shall they consume away."
Malachi 4:1
"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, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch."
Psalm 145:20
"The Lord preserveth all them that love Him, but all the wicked will He destroy."2 Peter 3:7
And by that same word, the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire,
being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.
Some translations use the word perdition, which means destruction, eternal ruin.
Not eternal torture at death, but complete burning destruction
in the day of judgment is the consistent Scriptural picture.
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