The Bible tells us that the punishment for sin is death.
John 3:36 "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him."
Romans 6:23 "For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."
The Bible contrasts for us two groups of people - one group accept the Lord Jesus, and they receive everlasting life, and another group of people who do not accept Jesus, will not see life, but death. This is absolutely clear - these two groups are opposites; there is life in Jesus, but without Him there is death. Matthew also makes this clear...
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:"
So we see that hell was prepared for the devil and his angels; it was not prepared for man; although sinful man will be destroyed in it. It was not what God intended for man, He doesn't want any of us to suffer it, because He loves each one of us and wants us to accept Him, to seek His forgiveness for sin so that He can give us life, but if we do not accept Him then we will not receive life, but death.
Many people use the verse above to prove that this fire will go on burning throughout eternity, that the wicked are going to burn forever, but the Bible does not teach that...
Hebrews 2:14 "Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;"
Here it tells us that the devil is going to be destroyed. As children we tend to think that if you don't obey God, He will give you to the devil, or that you will go to hell which belongs to the devil. But the Bible tells us that God will destroy the devil. In fact the Bible tells us exactly what's going to happen to him at the end of time:
Ezekiel 28:17-18 "17 Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee. 18 Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffick; therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee."
The Bible is clear - it says that the devil is going to be turned into ashes. Now if he is turned to ashes then he's not going to exist anymore, he's not going to be burning on and on without end. The devil and the wicked are going to burn together, but the Bible says plainly that they are going to burn up, those are the words it uses, that they will burn up until they are ashes, nothing left but ashes.
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."
To destroy means do away with, it means it will exist no more. If we are in Christ then we need not fear if we lose our life (kill the body), but we do need to be afraid of the One that can destroy both our body and soul. That's a different story.
Scripture Verse
Other Sites