The Great Salvation/21

PROPOSITION 21.

The Wicked Will Not Be Preserved Alive Eternally in Torture, But Will Be Destroyed

Job 20:5-8 The triumphing of the wicked is short, and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment. He shall perish for ever like his own dung; they which have seen him shall say, Where is he? He shall fly away as a dream, and shall not be found, yea, he shall be chased away as a vision of the night.

Psa. 37:38 But the transgressors shall be destroyed together; the end of the wicked shall be cut off.

Psa. 37:10 For yet a little while and the wicked shall not be; yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it shall not be.

Psa. 37:20 But the wicked shall perish, and the enemies of the LORD shall be as the fat of lambs; their shall consume; INTO SMOKE SHALL THEY CONSUME AWAY.

Psa. 145:20 The LORD preserveth all them that love him; but all the wicked will he destroy.

Psa. 104:35 Let the sinners be consumed out of the earth, and let the wicked be no more.

II Pet. 2:12 But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption.

II Thes. 1:9, 10 Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power.

Those who cling to the terrible theory that God will preserve the wicked eternally in torment try to evade these plain statements of Scripture by saying that the meaning is not literal destruction; but that the word destroy must be understood in the sense we speak of a man who has become a reprobate--his character is destroyed, he is ruined. You will see that this is not reasonable, because it is the wicked who are to be destroyed. They are already ruined in the sense referred to, from the fact that they are the wicked; and it is the destruction of these that the Scriptures are speaking of.

Then, again, there is a play upon the words "from among the people" (Acts 3:23), as if they did not mean absolute destruction, but banishment to another region. A comparison of scripture with scripture will show you how unreasonable this is. Notice the application of the word "destroyed" in these texts: "And every living substance was DESTROYED which was upon the face of the ground, both man and cattle and the creeping things, and the fowl of heaven; and they were DESTROYED FROM THE EARTH" (Gen. 7:23). If "destroyed" here as applied to man means "banished to another region," then it must mean the same for all the creatures named, for the one word is made to serve for what happened to them all.

From force of education you will now possibly wonder, in view of the foregoing, what is the meaning of 'hell in the Bible. For if the wicked are to be destroyed, such a place as have been taught to believe to be will not be needed. If the wicked are not to be preserved alive the popular hell will be of no use. So let us examine this subject next.