How could a merciful and loving God get pleasure out of having those that he created burn forever in an everlasting fire? It makes no sense! Is eternal punishment God’s plan for the wicked?

This series addresses the concerns we all have: the concern for sin, evil, death, dying, and what happens after we die. Is there hope after death? When God created us, humans, he intended for us to live forever in a loving, peaceful relationship with him. But this relationship has been broken by sin.

Here, we address the origin of sin and look more closely at death and dying.

But, instead of looking at death negatively, we look at it in the context of hope, the promised hope based on what Jesus did for us when he died and came back to life again.

From the Sabbath School Adult Bible Study Guide 2022 Quarter 4: Sabbath.School (See also Hope Sabbath School and 3ABN Sabbath School)

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Inviting the Spirit of God

God of Mercy, God of Love forgive us of our sins, let your interest become our interest. And help us escape the destruction coming to the wicked because of their refusal to turn to you. In Jesus’ Name Amen.

For a loving God to punish the wicked in an eternal fire seems cruel. Neither does this appear to go along with the God of Ezekiel in Ezekiel 33:11. Ezekiel expresses that He does not desire to destroy anyone.

“As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die?” Ezekiel 33:11.

As in Ezekiel, Christ Object Lessons p. 123 indicates that God in his loving mercy offers a period of probation to give the wicked an opportunity to turn to Him. 

Throughout the period of probationary time, His Spirit is pleading with us humans to accept the gift of life. It is only those who reject His pleading that will be left to perish. God has declared that sin must be destroyed as an evil harmful to the universe. Those who cling to sin will perish in its destruction.—Christ’s Object Lessons, p. 123.

So yes, God will destroy the wicked there is no doubt about it. But will he punish the wicket eternally in an ever-burning lake of fire as it seems to indicate in Malachi 4:1, Jude 1:7 Matthew 18:8, and Mark 9:43?

Malachi 4:1

1 “For behold, the day is coming, Burning like an oven, And all the proud, yes, all who do wickedly will be stubble. And the day which is coming shall burn them up,” Says the Lord of hosts, “That will leave them neither root nor branch. (Malachi 4:1) 

Jude 1:7

7 as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them in a similar manner to these, having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. (Jude 1:7)

Matthew 18:8

8 “If your hand or foot causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you. It is better for you to enter into life lame or maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet, to be cast into the everlasting fire. (Matthew 18:8)

And Mark 9:43

43 If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life maimed, rather than having two hands, to go to hell, into the fire that shall never be quenched— (Mark 9:43)

To better understand what is being said in these verses we need to know that portions of the Bible are written in Hebrew, Greek, and Aramaic and were translated to English thus the word “eternal” has a different meaning depending on the immediate context.   For example, when associated with God as in Deuteronomy 33:27 the word everlasting expresses His eternity. 

27 The eternal God is your refuge, And underneath are the everlasting arms; He will thrust out the enemy from before you, And will say, ‘Destroy!’ (Deuteronomy 33:27) 

When related to human beings as in Exodus 21:6 the word “forever” is limited by the life span of us humans. 

Exodus 21:6

6 then his master shall bring him to the judges. He shall also bring him to the door, or to the doorpost, and his master shall pierce his ear with an awl, and he shall serve him forever. (Exodus 21:6)

So, when the Bible talks about “everlasting” fire in Matthew 18:8 and Matthew 25:41 we must understand that this fire will burn until it fully destroys what it is burning.

Matthew 25:41

41 “Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; (Matthew 25:41)

It implies that the fire will not go out until it fully consumes what is being burned. This means that the “eternal fire” will be eternal in the sense that it will consume the wicked completely and irreversibly, leaving them “‘neither root nor branch’” as expressed in Malachi 4:1.

1 “For behold, the day is coming, burning like a furnace; and all the arrogant and every evildoer will be chaff; and the day that is coming will set them ablaze,” says the Lord of hosts, “so that it will leave them neither root nor branch.” (Malachi 4:1)

The teaching that evil people will be punished in hell and burn forever and ever has serious implications. For, If God punishes the wicked forever, then sin and evil will continue forever, thus evil will never be eradicated.

Kept in mind also that all human life comes from God as expressed in Deuteronomy 32:39; Psalm 36:9.

Deuteronomy 32:39

39 ‘Now see that I, even I, am He, And there is no God besides Me; I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal; Nor is there any who can deliver from My hand. (Deuteronomy 32:39)

Psalms 36:9

9 For with You is the fountain of life; In Your light we see light. (Psalms 36:9)

It is God who also says He has, “ ‘ “no pleasure in the death of the wicked” ’ ” (Ezekiel 33:11, NKJV).

That said, why then would God continue to give life to the wicked so that they can suffer in endless torment? Would it not be much more reasonable for Him just to end their existence? 

Also, the Bible says that the wicked will be punished and “judged by what they had done” “according to their works” as expressed in Revelation 20:12, NKJV, why then should a short human life be punished endlessly?

Hence, the punishment of everlasting fire for the wicked is not eternal in the sense of forever and ever. The everlasting fire exists until they are annihilated. They will be completely wiped out of existence. It will be as though they never were.

It is important to know that the everlasting fire or fire that burns forever until the wicked are wiped out of existence happens after the righteous spend 1,000 years in heaven with Jesus. Jesus will bring His people back to this earth after the 1,000 years are over. Then God will wake up the unrighteous. 

Revelation 20 says that they will burn in the lake of fire until they are gone. This lets us know that hell is not a place that people go to now and that the fires in hell will burn forever and never stop.

Hell, as some may believe does not presently exist. The wicked dead are not burning in hell. They are resting in the grave in an unconscious state just like the righteous dead.

Understanding the truth about hell lets us know that even in his punishment of the wicket, God is loving and merciful and not vindictive as implied when we speak of him as punishing the wicked in an eternally burning hell.  

Some may have heard of purgatory. It is believed to be a place where the unrighteous go if they do not deserve to go to heaven or hell when they die. If the dead both the righteous and the unrighteous are in the grave, when do they go to purgatory? Find out, Day 4 The Saints in Purgatory

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