May 18, 2022
And they sang responsively, praising and giving thanks to the LORD: “For He is good, For His mercy endures forever toward Israel.” Then all the people shouted with a great shout, when they praised the LORD, because the foundation of the house of the LORD was laid. Ezra 3:11
The phrase His mercy endures forever appears over 40 times in Scripture. Yesterday, we compared two opposing teachings regarding God’s treatment of the lost: death or eternal torment. The words “eternal torment” appear nowhere in scripture. Oh, how Satan delights to characterize God as a merciless torturer. Note thoughtfully that the words everlasting punishment DO come from the lips of Jesus (see Matthew 25:46). This everlasting punishment is the death from which there is no resurrection. It is called the second death (see Revelation 2:11; 20:6,14; 21:8).
The joyful praise we read of above happened because the foundation of the house of the LORD was laid. We are taught subsequently that the body of an individual believer becomes God’s dwelling place (see 1 Corinthians 6:19-20). What an instructive metaphor, for it is foundational to hear, understand, know, and believe that the mercy of God endures forever!
The false doctrine that God gives eternal life to those who spurn His love in order to torture them for eternity is a horrendous slander against the holy name of our loving God. If He desired to torture the unsaved throughout eternity, He would be more cruel than the worst war criminal! Such eternal punishing would be hell for Him who loves even the vilest sinner.
God’s purpose in bringing hellfire upon the earth at the end of the judgement is to bring an end to sin and those who cling to it. Any vestige of sin tolerated beyond that point would present an ongoing threat to the peace of the universe. God’s plan will blot sin out of existence.
“As I live,” says the LORD God, “I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked would turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways! For why should you die?” Ezekiel 33:11
The final act of destroying the lost is most definitely foreign to God’s nature. The prophet Isaiah saw in vision the execution of the final sentence for the lost. Isaiah called it His strange act!
For the LORD will rise up as in mount Perazim, He shall be wroth as in the valley of Gibeon, that He may do His work, His strange work; and bring to pass His act, His strange act. Isaiah 28:21 (KJV)
“The Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives but to save them.” Luke 9:56