March 17: TWO CHOICES: LIVE OR PERISH

For yet a little while and the wicked shall be no more; Indeed, you will look carefully for his place, But it shall be no more. Psalm 37:10

In our witness for the Lord Jesus, it is imperative that we build our understanding of His character upon the facts as they are presented in Scripture. If we do this, we shall never be ashamed (Romans 1:16) of God’s message! Many mistakenly believe that those who reject the Lord will spend eternity tortured in the fires of hell. This is based in part on the idea that “forever” and “eternity” are equal words. Context is key! In the case of our immortal God, forever means without end: His mercy endures forever (Psalm 136). But there are other cases where forever means as long as someone lives, or an even shorter duration (see 1 Samuel 1:11,28; Jonah 2:6). Today we use it colloquially in the same way as Jonah: ‘I stood in line forever yesterday.’ We also use it to mean as long as we live, as in the wedding vow: till death do us part. That death is the opposite of life is clearly established early on in the Scriptures. Isaiah reiterated this (Isaiah 38:1 – see also 2 Kings 20:1). There is no consciousness in death (Ecclesiastes 9:5,10).

As God stated in Genesis 2:17, Paul reiterates: The wages of sin is death, not eternal life in flames of torment (Romans 6:23a).

Flames that are unquenchable (Matthew 3:12; Luke 3:17) burn until there is nothing left to burn, and then they go out. After the millennium (see Revelation 20), those who died without Christ are resurrected to face their final judgement. They are destroyed by fire from heaven (v.9). No fire department will be called in to quench the fire. God will fairly mete out each one’s fate (see Luke 12:47-48). The purpose of hellfire is to bring sin, and all who cling to it, to a final, permanent end. This fire is the same eternal fire that fell upon Sodom and Gomorrah (Jude 7).

To teach that a “soul” cannot die is to offer support for the devil’s lie: “You shall not surely die.” (Genesis 3:4) The prophet Ezekiel understood this when he stated: “The soul who sins shall die.” (Ezekiel 18:4,20) Ezekiel also penned the prophesy of Satan’s definitive end (28:18). As Ezekiel points out, this fiery end of Satan, his angels, and the unrepentant takes place right here on earth. The heavenly Jerusalem will be earth’s new capital, and he who overcomes shall inherit all things (Revelation 21:7; see also Matthew 5:5).

But the wicked shall perish; And the enemies of the LORD, Like the splendor of the meadows, shall vanish. Into smoke they shall vanish away. Psalm 37:20

Jesus said it best: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” John 3:16

Further study: Psalm 37:11; Isaiah 28:21-22; 41:11,12; Obadiah 16; Malachi 4:1,3