In order for anyone to study the destiny of the wicked from God's Holy Word and get a correct understanding of it, one must begin with the fact that the law of love is the very foundation of His government. All of God's actions toward the people He has created originate from that premise. Thus it is impossible to believe in the doctrine of eternal torment.
Although the great monarch of the universe is a God of love, at the same time He is a God of justice. While the element of love controls His being, we must never forget that those who reject His love, His infinite sacrifice made in the death of His Son on Calvary, will have condemned themselves. They bear the guilt of rejecting the Spirit of Grace.
So what about the accounts in the Bible such as 'eternal fire', 'everlasting punishment', and 'the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever'?
Many persons misunderstand the meaning of the word punishment. They define it as conscious suffering and believe that when the senses no longer perceive any affliction, it ceases to be punishment...For instance, why is the sentence of death recognized as the greatest punishment? It is not because the pain involved is more intense, for some forms of torture such as whipping produce more pain that decapitation or hanging. But we consider it as the greatest punishment because it is the most lasting. It deprives its victim at once of all the relations and blessings of life, and we estimate its length by the life the person would have enjoyed. So it is, when death from which there is to be no release is administered, that is to say, no resurrection. That punishment is everlasting, or eternal. The second death deprives the sinner of the bright and ceaseless years of eternity. And just as the life of the redeemed is everlasting, so is the loss, or the punishment, or the wicked.
Hebrews 6:2 speaks of eternal judgement. Not a judgement eternally going forward, but one that, having once passed upon all men, is irreversible in its decision and eternal in its effects.
In Jude 1:7 we are told that the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha suffer "the punishment of eternal fire". The apostle Peter tells us that God turned 'the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha into ashes...making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly' (2 Peter 2:6)
All taken from the book: A Trip Into The Supernatural by: Roger J. Morneau
-The book is an account of his life with spirits and how he came to know and surrender himself to Christ in a matter of one week. An incredible book that I recommend!
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