Thursday, April 9, 2015

Eternal Punishment # 2

Question: Does the Bible teach that there will be eternal torment for all of the unsaved? If so, where?

The Bible teaches in 2 Thessalonians 1:7-9 that when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven, all those who do not know God and do not obey the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ will be "punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power" (v. 9). The question then arises, what does "destruction" mean? The Bible itself defines the term. We are told in the eighth and eleventh verses of Revelation 17 that the beast will go go "perdition." The word rendered "perdition," the same word that is elsewhere translated "destruction," is derived form the verb that is constantly translated "destroy." The word "perdition" should therefore be translated "destruction" in this passage in Revelation. So then, if we can find out what the beast will go to, we will find out what "perdition" or "destruction" means. By turning to Revelation 19:20, we find that the beast will be cast alive into "the lake of fire burning with brimstone." Turning again to Revelation 20:10, we find that at the end of a thousand years, after the beast has been cast into the lake burning with brimstone, the devil will be cast into the lake burning with fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet still are after the thousand years, and that they will be "tormented day and night forever and ever." So then, this is what "destruction" means in Bible usage: a share in the lake of fire. Whether this is taken literally or figuratively, it certainly means a condition of being in a place of conscious and unending torment.

Question: How could a loving God create some of His creatures for eternal punishment?

God did NOT create any of His creatures for eternal punishment. God created ALL people to love and obey Him and enjoy Him forever. But He also created them as a higher order of beings, with the capacity of choosing for themselves good or evil. Some chose evil. However, even then, God did not abandon them but made the greatest sacrifice in His power to save them from their own mad choice. He gave His Son to die for them so that repentance, forgiveness, life, and glory might be possible for them. If men see fit not only to choose evil but also, having chosen evil, to deliberately and persistently refuse the means of salvation that a loving God has provided for them at immeasurable cost to Himself, then their eternal punishment is their own fault. To blame God for it is not only to be appallingly unjust but also unpardonably ungrateful and unreasonable.

~R. A. Torrey~

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