A very famous pastor recently posted this on his Facebook page: “People are eternal. Some will spend eternity with God and others will spend eternity without God.”
I posted my reply:
No Sir, “the wages of sin is death” and “the soul that sinneth it shall die”. Satan called God a liar when he said, “ye shall not surely die”. Death means death, not life. Only the righteous who have by faith been forgiven of their sins will inherit eternal life. The wicked don’t get to live forever, God will destroy the wicked including Satan. Ezekiel 28:16 “…and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire.”. When God destroys something or someone it/they will cease to exist, no life in them. Proverbs 13:9 “The light of the righteous rejoiceth: but the lamp of the wicked shall be put out.” Proverbs 24:20 “For there shall be no reward to the evil man; the candle of the wicked shall be put out.”
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A fellow FB commenter said this in response to my post:
“I’m sorry Suzie, you are very wrong and misinformed. All of us are eternal. But some will spend eternity in hell. Wouldn’t it be nice for them if they did just get to cease existing. But really what kind of punishment is that?” Mary F.
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My last reply:
Anyone who doesn’t believe what God has said has been deceived and is believing Satan, not God.
This is what Jesus said to us:
Matthew 10:28
“And fear not them which kill the body,
but are not able to kill the soul:
but rather fear Him which is able
TO DESTROY BOTH soul and body in hell.”
Destruction really means destruction not the preservation of life (not eternal life).
Psalms 37 below is talking about the time after the final judgment because it is indicating that the righteous will have inherited their reward. That’s the time frame, so take a look at what God tells us about the wicked after the time the righteous inherit their eternal salvation:
Psalms 37:9
“For evildoers shall be cut off: but those that wait upon the LORD, they shall inherit the earth. For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be: yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it shall not be.”
Jude 1:7
“Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.”
1Corinthians 3:17
“If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.”
If their was only the death of our physical bodies and not our soul, then there wouldn’t be a separate second death where the words of Jesus will be fulfilled from Matthew 10:28.
The Second Death
Revelation 11:18
“And the nations were angry, and Thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that Thou shouldest give reward unto Thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear Thy name, small and great; and shouldest DESTROY them which destroy the earth.”
The wicked will NEVER have eternal life. Their “everlasting punishment” is a permanent destruction and they will cease to exist forever.
Jesus said:
Matthew 25:46
“And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: BUT the righteous into life eternal.”
Jesus shows us another contrast:
John 3:15
“That whosoever believeth in Him
should NOT PERISH,
BUT HAVE eternal life.”
People who don’t believe in Jesus Christ will perish. Perishing is the opposite of having life. The wicked will perish because:
1John 5:11
“And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, AND THIS LIFE is in His Son.”
John 6:27
“Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: FOR HIM hath God the Father sealed.”
The Bible defines eternal life as being immortal.
Romans 2:7
“To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life:”
And again by contrast the wicked don’t get to continue to live or inherit eternal life.
1John 3:15
“Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.”
1Corinthians 15:50
“Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.”
Unforgiven unrepentant sinners are considered “corruption” because their sin remains on their records in heaven. Corruption doesn’t inherit incorruption (immortality).
ONE LAST PROOF:
Mankind doesn’t live forever. This means that we’re not yet immortal, because God protected us from allowing sin to become immortalized in the garden of Eden. God will completely destroy sin from existence. In order for us to become immortal (incorruptible) we have to have Jesus Christ abiding in us. In order to have Jesus Christ abiding in us we have to by faith both believe in Him and keep His commandments, John 14-15; Revelation 22:14.
If we already had within ourselves the power of eternal life (immortality) we would never need the tree of life or Jesus Christ “the fountain of living water”.
Genesis 3:22
“And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, AND LIVE FOR EVER”
Genesis 3:24
“So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.”
Revelation 2:7
“He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; TO HIM THAT OVERCOMETH will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.”
Revelation 22:14
“Blessed are they that do His commandments, THAT THEY MAY HAVE RIGHT TO THE TREE OF LIFE, and may enter in through the gates into the city.”
Jeremiah 2:13
“For My people have committed two evils; they have forsaken Me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, THAT CAN HOLD NO WATER.”
Jeremiah 17:13
“O LORD, the hope of Israel, all that forsake thee shall be ashamed, AND THEY THAT DEPART FROM ME SHALL BE WRITTEN IN THE EARTH, because they have forsaken the LORD, the fountain of living waters.”
John 7:38
“He that believeth on Me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.”