The LANGUAGE OF DESTRUCTION Concerning Human Damnation
The apostle Paul summed up the whole matter of people’s reward for sin when he wrote:
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.
Could it be stated any plainer? The wages for sin is shown to be death; and eternal life is a gift from God, not something people already have. This is consistently expressed from Genesis to Revelation, notice:
“Enter through the narrow gate, for wide is the gate and broad the road that leads to destruction and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.
These passages, and many others, clearly describe the two separate destinies of the righteous and the unrighteous. The “righteous” are people who are in right-standing with God because they’ve accepted his sacrifice for their sins while the “unrighteous” are those who are not in-right-standing because they’ve rejected God’s offer of salvation and are unrepentant. The former will inherit eternal life whereas the latter will reap the wages of sin and be destroyed.
The offer to receive eternal life as opposed to suffering everlasting destruction is the core message of the gospel of Christ, as plainly expressed in this passage:
But it [God’s grace] has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.”
Notice that life and immortality are only available for people through the gospel. What exactly is “the gospel?” The gospel literally means “good news.” Its main message is summed up in the aforementioned famous passage: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” Note, again, what is clearly being contrasted in these verses: In John 3:16 perish is contrasted with the gift of eternal life. In 2 Timothy 1:10 death is contrasted with both immortality and life, which are said to be made available through the gospel.
Here’s an enlightening description of what the Bible says will happen to those who reject the gospel:
Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on him.
As you can see, those who reject Jesus Christ will not see any life at all. This includes even a pathetic life roasting in agony for all eternity. Such people will be justly-but-mercifully put to death, absolute death, for this is the wages of their actions: God “will destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matthew 10:28). But our loving Creator doesn’t want anyone to perish like this; He has provided a way to eternal life through his Son, Jesus Christ.
God is just trying to save his beloved fallen creation, humanity, from the folly of sin and the wages thereof. Ezekiel 18:32 reveals the heart of God on the matter: “ ‘For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone,’ declares the Sovereign LORD, ‘Repent and live!’ ”
Consider what Christ and the apostles plainly taught will happen to ungodly people when they suffer the “second death,” as detailed in Revelation 20:11-15. They taught that:
- the ungodly would die (John 11:26; Romans 8:13),
- they would experience death (John 8:51; Romans 6:23; James 5:20),
- destruction would occur (Matthew 7:13; 2 Peter 3:7),
- both their souls and bodies would be destroyed (Matthew 10:28; James 4:12),
- they would perish (John 3:16; 2 Peter 3:9).
There you have it in a nutshell—Jesus and the apostles’ description of the second death: die, death, destruction, destroy and perish. We could appropriately describe these terms as the “language of destruction.” This “language of destruction” is consistently used to describe the eternal fate of the ungodly in the Bible; not the language of eternal conscious torment, not the language of “eternal separation from God,” not the language of “ruin, loss, not of being, but of well-being,” but the language of destruction.
If the eternal fate of unrepentant sinners is to be some sort of perpetual life or existence in separation from God in roasting misery, God would have said so. He could have used words that basically mean “separation from God,” “existence in torment,” or “life in misery.” But he did not do this. No, he consistently used words which have for their general, usual, or basic meaning “die,” “death,” “destruction,” “destroy,” and “perish.” If language means anything at all, we must conclude that the “second death” will be a literal death. Raging fire will literally consume the enemies of God, not preserve them for never-ending roasting torture (Hebrews 10:26-27; Luke 19:27).
This article was edited from chapter 1 of…
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Related Topics:
IMMORTALITY — Only Available Through the Gospel
Death — Does it Mean “Separation” as Religionists Claim? (No)
Hell (Human Damnation) — Questions and Answers
Q&A on SHEOL / HADES, the Intermediate State of the Unsaved
RICH MAN & LAZARUS: Fantastical Parable or Literal Account?
The Believer’s “Intermediate State” (between Physical Death and Bodily resurrection)
Eternal Life: Questions & Answers
Satan’s Greatest LIE Is the Immortal Soul Apart-From-Christ
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