Punishment of The Wicked

‘For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.’ ~ Romans 6:23

Through examination of the Truth of God and the lies of the Devil, we have seen how Satan seeks to distort the truth of God’s Word and who he is and cause it to look foolish and unreasonable.

This enemy then caps it all off with this. He says if you refuse to believe all those unreasonable false teachings then God will most surely torture you with the most agonizing pain and torture you can imagine for Billions, Quadrillions and even Centillions [10³⁰³] of years.

Does God and his Word look repulsive yet? Then Satan has done his job. However, if these are all just lies of the Deceiver than what does the Bible really teach about the punishment those who have chosen wickedness?

Are we all created immortal? Will there be degrees of punishments? What really happens to the wicked after they die and face the judgment of God? Can we trust that God will be righteous and fair in judgment?

God Did Not Create People With An Immortal Soul

The doctrine of eternal torment for the wicked is founded upon another lie in that those who hold this view must believe that the soul of man was created immortal. Without immortality a person’s soul cannot exist eternally in the flames of torture.

The Scriptures below directly contradict this theory.

Genesis 3:22-23 ~ 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: Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.

When man first sinned in the Garden of Eden God kicked him out of the garden for the express purpose of keeping him from eating from the tree of life and thereby living forever.
God took him out lest he take of the tree of life and live forever. If eating from the tree of life is what gives man the ability to live forever then truly men do not have the inherent ability to live forever called immortality of the soul.

Romans 6:23 ~ For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

The message of the Bible is that because we sinned we were barred from the tree of life and therefore would experience the wages of sin which were death.
Eternal life or immortality is not presented as an inherent attribute of our soul but rather a gift from God! How does God give us this gift?

Revelation 22:2 ~ In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.

Remember the tree of life mankind was barred from in the Garden? Look here on the new earth in the Kingdom. We see that the tree of life is now made available again!

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.

This is how all those who have kept Gods commandments will be given the gift of eternal life and are able to live forever in the Kingdom. They are simply given access again to this immortality giving tree!
Notice though that the wicked are not able to eat from this tree and live forever. No, this is why we were kicked out of the garden to begin with. If the wicked did eat from this tree then they would live forever in eternal punishment and this was not God’s desire.
No person can ever life forever who does not have access to the tree of life. This is the fundamental truth of the scriptures. Eternal life is a gift, not an inherent ability we were created with.

1 Corinthians 15:54 ~ So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.

Paul tells us that in the resurrection the righteous people, presently mortal, will have to put on immortality.
If the holy righteous people of God are all currently mortal and absolutely must put on immortality [eat from the tree of life] in order to live forever. How could we possibly come to the conclusion that not the righteous but the children of Satan himself already have this immortality dwelling within them and they do not need to put it on or be granted access to the tree of life to obtain it.

John 3:16 ~ For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish [apollumi: to be destroyed], but have everlasting life.

The teaching of the soul’s inherent immortality is false and flies in the face of God’s merciful give of eternal life.
Remember immortality is a gift from God. Jesus came for this very reason that we would be given immorality and not perish in the everlasting destruction of the second death!

The Wicked Will Be Totally Destroyed In The Judgement

Romans 6:23 ~ For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

The message of the Bible is that the wicked will perish and be destroyed. It is consistent from Genesis to Revelation. The wages of sin is death!

Ezekiel 18:4 ~ Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die.

Again, the simple teaching that those who sin will die. It does not say that those who sin will be tortured for unending duration.

Psalms 37:20 ~ But the wicked shall perish, and the enemies of the LORD shall be as the fat of lambs: they shall consume; into smoke shall they consume away.

Into smoke the wicked shall be consumed away and perish. They will entirely cease to exist as does a puff of smoke after it vanishes.
Is this not where the Truth that God sent his son so that we would not perish but have eternal life comes from?
The Jews were very familiar with what the Bible meant when it spoke about perishing. They knew it meant to be consumed and destroyed.

Malachi 4:1 ~ For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.

The prophet Malachi prophesied of the great fearful judgment day of God to come and tells us what will happen to the wicked.
All who do wickedly will not be like some all-powerful metal that can never burn up in a fire but only glow. No, they will be like hay and stubble which quickly perishes into nothingness.
When you cut down a tree there is at least a root or some branches left laying on the ground. God tells us not so with the wicked. When judgment comes upon them there will be absolutely nothing left of them. They will be 100% consumed in the flames!

Matthew 10:28 ~ And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill [apokteino: to kill, to destroy, to extinguish] the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

Jesus says that the reason we were to fear God is not because he would strap us down and torture us for gazillions of years. No, we should fear God because he can destroy our souls!
Jesus here teaches us that in the same way your mortal body will be destroyed in hell so also your mortal soul will be destroyed as well. This is very clear teaching from Christ himself.

2 Peter 3:7 ~ But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition [apoleia: utter destruction] of ungodly men.

The judgment spoken of here by Peter corresponds with that of all the Prophets and Apostles. This judgment will be a judgment of utter destruction in fire!
Think of what fire does. Fire utterly destroys things. Think about the huge incinerators mankind has created. What do they do? They use fire and intense heat to utterly destroy our garbage and the things that are worthless and vile to us.
God speaks to us in our language and uses terms and illustrations that correspond to what we experience. We can trust that when he uses the words destruction and fire together to illustrate the end of the wicked he meant for us to simply understand it as utter irreversible destruction.

Revelation 21:8 ~ But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.

There is another term seen multiple times in the book of Revelation used to describe the judgment of the wicked. The term used is ‘the second death’.
How are we to understand this? This is plain speech and clearly conveys to us that the wicked will die twice; Once in this life and then again in the world to come after they have been resurrected for the judgment.
Clearly, the wages of sin is death! This truth rings throughout the pages of scripture right from Genesis all the way to Revelation where it appears again conveyed to us even clearer as the second death.

2 Thessalonians 1:7-9 ~ And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power.

When Jesus comes back he is surely going to take vengeance on those who have refused to obey him and his Father’s teachings.
Paul shows exactly how this vengeance is going to play out. He says that there will be a flaming fire that will destroy the wicked with an everlasting destruction.
Notice that it is the ‘destruction’ that is said to be everlasting. Know assuredly that this punishment of being utterly destroyed in the second death is 100% irreversible. There will never be another chance for the wicked to repent and be saved. They will be eternally destroyed!

People Will Be Punished According To Their Knowledge

As is usually the case, when coming to the truth on this teaching there is a ditch of error on the other side we can fall into.

There is a false teaching that the judgment of the wicked will simply be death and destruction. That there will be no pain, torment, agony, etc. This is not what the Bible teaches.

The Bible does teach the wicked will be destroyed but it also teaches that the wicked will surely undergo a form of tormenting punishment that will be in exact proportion to their sins. Only then will they be destroyed.

Luke 12:47-48 ~ And that servant, which knew his lord’s will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more.

Jesus speaks of the Day of Judgment as being a day when the wicked will be whipped and beaten. This will undoubtedly involve a great experience of pain and agony.
He also shows us that this punishment is not handed out indiscriminately but that each person will receive a beating in direct proportion to the knowledge he had and his rejection of that knowledge.
Those who knew very little about God and what he required will undergo very little punishment before they are destroyed in the second death. Those who were given much knowledge of God and rejected it will receive a much severer punishment before they are destroyed.

Matthew 11:23-24 ~ And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell: for if the mighty works, which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I say unto you, That it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for thee.

When we think about undergoing some painful experience we think about how much we can possibly bear or how bearable the pain will be. Some painful experiences are more bearable than others and some are most excruciating and thought to be almost completely unbearable.
Jesus talks about how bearable judgment day will be for different groups of people. Those like Capernaum, who had great revelation of God through his mighty works, will find it much more unbearable than those, who like Sodom, did not have these mighty works and revelations of God given to them.
If the judgment was to be infinite unending torment then why even speak of how tolerable it will be?

Acts 17:30 ~ And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent.

When there is no knowledge of God there will be less severe judgment by God. Paul conveys this to us as God winking at what’s going on. This means that these ignorant people will experience a quick judgment before destruction.
The Bible says now that the Gospel has been revealed there is a much stronger demand of repentance and rejecting that light will not be winked at but will result in severe punishment on judgment day.

2 Peter 2:20-21&3:17 ~ For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them.

Peter says that if after a person has received great revelation and knowledge of God, they then reject that knowledge, it would be much better for them on judgment day if they had never had that knowledge then to have had it and rejected it.

Hebrews 10:29 ~ Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?

The punishment to come will truly be much sorer or worse for some people than it will be others.
Those who have come into an understanding of The Truth and have experienced a relationship with God and yet in that light still choose to turn from God will experience a much worse punishment than those whose knowledge and experience were limited.

Forever, Eternal Fire, Unquenchable Fire, & Undying Worm

Another basis for the teaching of eternal torment in fire for the wicked is the use of words such as forever, eternal fire, unquenchable fire, and undying worm when talking of the punishment of the wicked.

It is admitted that many of these do seem to imply a never ending torment but when we use the Bible to interpret these Bible words we can find that many times these words mean something other than what we think.

2 Kings 5:27 ~ The leprosy therefore of Naaman shall cleave unto thee, and unto thy seed for ever. And he went out from his presence a leper as white as snow.

Take for example the word forever. The Bible says that the disease of leprosy would cling to Naaman and his children forever.
How are we to understand the word forever here? Does it mean that for all eternity Naaman’s children will exist in some perpetual state of diseased leprosy?
No, it simply means that as long as Naamans lineage existed these descendants would be cursed with leprosy. If his children all died, then their would be no more children of Naaman and no more curse.

Leviticus 25:30 ~ And if it be not redeemed within the space of a full year, then the house that is in the walled city shall be established for ever to him that bought it throughout his generations: it shall not go out in the jubile.

A house that met certain criteria was to belong to one person forever. Does this mean that these people back from Moses day still live and have these homes because the Bible says they must forever?
No, the word forever is simply used to mean to the furthest time and extent possible. Meaning that as long as both the home and person existed the home was to belong to that person. If that person died or the home burned down forever would then stop.

Exodus 21:6 ~ Then his master shall bring him unto the judges; he shall also bring him to the door, or unto the door post; and his master shall bore his ear through with an awl; and he shall serve him for ever.

Here we see that if a slave loved his master so much that he wanted to serve him for life he would put a hole in his ear and serve him forever.
Does this mean that the slave would be indebted to serve his master for all eternity? No, it is understood that to serve his master forever was simply to serve his master until he died.
So it will be for the wicked. The Bible is clear that they do not have immortal souls. They will be tormented forever [Revelation 20:10] but this forever for them will simply be the complete duration of their existence after the resurrection until they are finally burned up as stubble in the flames of the second death. This duration and intensity as shown above will be determined by the amount of knowledge they had and how greatly they sinned against that light.
Remember that this is the reason God kicked man out of the Garden. If man ate from the tree of life then he would have been immortal and for him the word forever would have truly meant for all eternity. God did not want this to happen!

Matthew 25:41 ~ Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.

The Bible uses the term everlasting fire to describe the punishment the wicked will undergo.
Does this term mean that the flames and the person burning in them will exist for all eternity?

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.

Sodom and Gomorrha are shown here as an example of exactly what it means to suffer the consequences of eternal fire in a Biblical sense.
So what happened to Sodom and Gomorrha? Is there an eternal fire that is still burning in these cities? No there is not. Then what did happen and what does it mean to suffer eternal fire?
What happened is that these cities were utterly destroyed with an eternal destruction from which they will never rise! Whatever eternal fire destroys it destroys in an eternal sense and as we have already shown, those destroyed in the second death will never rise again. They will be eternally destroyed because the fire that destroys them is an eternal fire!

Mark 9:47-48 ~ And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out: it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire: Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.

Jesus here describes the judgment as being in a place where the worm dies not and the fire is not quenched.
What does this mean? Does it mean that men are living in fire as worms eat them?

Isaiah 66:23-24 ~ And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the LORD. And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcases [peger: corpse, carcass] of the men that have transgressed against me: for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh.

Jesus statement was actually a direct quotation of the prophet Isaiah who long before spoke of the great judgment to come and how it would play out.
Isaiah says that the righteous who have persevered will look at this time and see those wicked people who have transgressed against God and did not repent. They will see them where the fire is not quenched and the worm dieth not.
How are they seen? They are seen as carcases! Dead non-living rotting stinking abhorrent corpses. This is the passage Jesus quoted from and he did not mean for us to understand it any other way.

God Is Just And Fair And Will Always Do What Is Right

There is much we do not understand about exactly how judgment will play out, but one thing we can know for sure is that God is a righteous holy being that will never do anything that is unjust.

We can trust that our creator will extend his kindness and mercy to the fullest extent possible and that whatever punishment and rewards are handed out they will be in strict accordance with fairness and justice!

Psalms 98:9 ~ Before the LORD; for he cometh to judge the earth: with righteousness shall he judge the world, and the people with equity [meyshar: evenness, uprightness, straightness, equity].

God is a righteous holy upright fair creator. When he judges the earth it will be with perfect fairness and equity. He will not be a respector of persons nor will he punish more severely then is warranted.

Deuteronomy 32:4 ~ He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he.

All God’s ways are perfect and just. He is a God of truth and his judgment will never be perverted or not in accordance with truth.

Ezekiel 18:25 ~ Yet ye say, The way of the LORD is not equal. Hear now, O house of Israel; Is not my way equal? are not your ways unequal?

Many have blamed God for not being fair and equal but God rebuttals them and says that his ways truly are fair. It is men who have perverted judgment, not God!

Genesis 18:25 ~ That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?

When God was about to destroy the land of Sodom and Gomorrah with eternal fire Abraham knew that his righteous nephew Lot lived in these cities with his wife and children.
He cried out to God ‘Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?’ What did God answer him? That Abraham did not understand justice and should not have said that? No, God actually listens to him and agrees that the righteous should not be destroyed with the wicked. He then saves righteous Lot and his family before bringing destruction on the wicked.
God has created us in his image. Because of this we, as Abraham, have a sense of what true justice is within our hearts. We can surely count on God who created us with this understanding of justice to act in accordance with it and to only do what is right, fair, and equal.
Punishing someone for bad things they did and then taking away the life that you gave to them in the first place? Fair! Taking people who have done some bad things and torturing them in the most excruciating painful fire possible for gazillions of years? Unthinkable!

Revelation 22:12 ~ And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.

Jesus promises that when he comes he will give to ever person in direct proportion to their works.
Now sin has different degrees of sinfulness according to knowledge and therefore will warrant different degrees of punishment in order for Jesus to fulfill this reward according to their works.
Therefore in order for someone to be tortured infinitely they would have to have sinned in such a degree to warrant that infinite torture. But how can a man who is only flesh have such a degree of infinite knowledge and power that he could sin is such a degree? He truly would have to be have an all-knowing mind which fully comprehended the fullness of every aspect of the infinite God and in light of that infinite knowledge turn and sin against it. But who has this type of knowledge and power?

Deuteronomy 25:2-3 ~ And it shall be, if the wicked man be worthy to be beaten, that the judge shall cause him to lie down, and to be beaten before his face, according to his fault, by a certain number. Forty stripes he may give him, and not exceed: lest, if he should exceed, and beat him above these with many stripes, then thy brother should seem vile [qalah: to treat with contempt] unto thee.

Lastly look here at the very law of God himself in regards to punishing a man for sins he has committed. He clearly spells out how this punishment is to occur and speaks to two fundamental truths regarding how righteous punishment should take place.
The first thing to note is that the punishment is to be according to his fault. How should they determine this? Just as every good judge does. Examine all the facts. Determine whether the crime was intentional [murder] or unintentional [homicide], look at the severity of the crime, how many people were affected, how were they affected, etc. and then come up with a punishment that is appropriate for the crime. As we stated above, for one to warrant eternal infinite torture the crime would have to warrant such a punishment. Think about a child who just came to that age of accountability yesterday, committed one sin, and today dies in a car crash. If the punishment is to be according to his sin would it be righteous to torture this child with excruciating pain for infinite duration? Yet this is what these teachers teach!
The second thing is that regardless of how sinful the man was, God says not to beat him more than 40 times. Why? Why not infinitely or at least hundreds or thousands? Why not take him to a dungeon and wake him every morning to be beaten for the entire day and do this till he dies?
Because God is not a monster! He clearly has compassion for all men and will always do what is right and fair and if this is how God teaches us to dish out discipline in merciful judgment will not he also do what is right and follow his own standards in the greatest judgment to come?
And finally, do you remember how Jesus said ‘he who knew his master’s will and did it not will be beaten with many stripes’? Do you think Jesus, the one who was the embodiment of God’s Word, was thinking of this passage here when he spoke this? If so what reasonable conclusion can we come too?