Second death is total destruction

We have seen just a couple of verses that superficially support endless torture. The overwhelming pattern of thought about evildoers is final and complete destruction. No good person wants evil to endlessly exist in any shape or form or condition. Using examples, illustrations, and literal descriptions, God speaks with a consistent voice through prophets and apostles over 1500 years to tell us that evil will come to total and utter end.

In the sweat of your face shall you eat bread, until you return unto the ground; for out of it were you taken: for dust you are and unto dust shall you return. (Genesis 3:19)

He that sacrifices unto any god, save unto the LORD only, he shall be utterly destroyed. (Exodus 22:20)

The LORD will not spare him, but then the anger of the LORD and his jealousy shall smoke against that man, and all the curses that are written in this book shall lie upon him, and the LORD shall blot out his name from under heaven. (Deuteronomy 29:20)

And you Solomon my son, know you the God of your father, and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind: for the LORD searches all hearts, and understands all the imaginations of the thoughts: if you seek him, he will be found of you but if you forsake him, he will cast you off for ever. (1 Chronicles 28:9)

And why do you not pardon my transgression, and take away my iniquity? for now shall I sleep in the dust; and you shall seek me in the morning, but I shall not be. (Job 7:21)

So man lies down, and rises not: until the heavens be no more, they shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep. (Job 14:12)

How often is the candle of the wicked put out! and how often comes their destruction upon them! God distributes sorrows in his anger. (Job 21:17)

The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind drives away. (Psalms 1:4)

You shall break them with a rod of iron; you shall dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel. (Psalms 2:9)

You have rebuked the heathen, you have destroyed the wicked, you have put out their name for ever and ever. O you enemy, destructions are come to a perpetual end: and you have destroyed cities; their memorial is perished with them. (Psalms 9:5-6)

The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God. (Psalms 9:17)

Upon the wicked he shall rain snares, fire and brimstone, and a horrible tempest: this shall be the portion of their cup. (Psalms 11:6)

You shall make them as a fiery oven in the time of your anger: the LORD shall swallow them up in his wrath, and the fire shall devour them. Their fruit shall you destroy from the earth, and their seed from among the children of men. (Psalms 21:9-10)

The face of the LORD is against them that do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth. (Psalms 34:16)

Evil shall slay the wicked: and they that hate the righteous shall be desolate. (Psalms 34:21)

There are the workers of iniquity fallen: they are cast down, and shall not be able to rise. (Psalms 36:12)

For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb.... 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, you shall diligently consider his place, and it shall not be.... For the arms of the wicked shall be broken: but the LORD upholds the righteous.... 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.... For such as be blessed of him shall inherit the earth; and they that be cursed of him shall be cut off.... but the seed of the wicked shall be cut off.... when the wicked are cut off, you shall see it. I have seen the wicked in great power, and spreading himself like a green bay tree. Yet he passed away, and, lo, he was not: yea, I sought him, but he could not be found. Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright: for the end of that man is peace. But the transgressors shall be destroyed together: the end of the wicked shall be cut off. (Psalms 37:2-38)

Man that is in honor and understands not, is like the beasts that perish. (Psalms 49:20)

Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence: a fire shall devour before him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about him. (Psalms 50:3)

Now consider this, you that forget God, lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver. (Psalms 50:22)

God shall likewise destroy you for ever, he shall take you away, and pluck you out of your dwelling place, and root you out of the land of the living. (Psalms 52:5)

But you O God, shall bring them down into the pit of destruction: bloody and deceitful men shall not live out half their days; but I will trust in you. (Psalms 55:23)

Let them melt away as waters which run continually: when he bends his bow to shoot his arrows, let them be as cut in pieces. (Psalms 58:7)

Consume them in wrath, consume them, that they may not be: and let them know that God rules in Jacob unto the ends of the earth. Selah. (Psalms 59:13)

Through God we shall do valiantly: for he it is that shall tread down our enemies. (Psalms 60:12)

As smoke is driven away, so drive them away: as wax melts before the fire, so let the wicked perish at the presence of God. (Psalms 68:2)

Let them be blotted out of the book of the living, and not be written with the righteous. (Psalms 69:28)

I went into the sanctuary of God; then understood I their end. Surely you did set them in slippery places: you casted them down into destruction. How are they brought into desolation, as in a moment! they are utterly consumed with terrors. (Psalms 73:17-19)

The earth and all the inhabitants of it are dissolved: I bear up the pillars of it. (Psalms 75:3)

When the wicked spring as the grass, and when all the workers of iniquity do flourish; it is that they shall be destroyed for ever: But you LORD, are most high for evermore. For, lo, your enemies, O LORD, for, lo, your enemies shall perish; all the workers of iniquity shall be scattered. (Psalms 92:7-9)

And he shall bring upon them their own iniquity, and shall cut them off in their own wickedness; yea, the LORD our God shall cut them off. (Psalms 94:23)

You hide your face, they are troubled: you take away their breath, they die, and return to their dust. (Psalms 104:29)

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

They surrounded me about like bees: they are quenched as the fire of thorns: for in the name of the LORD I will destroy them. (Psalms 118:12)

You put away all the wicked of the earth like dross: therefore I love your testimonies. (Psalms 119:119)

The LORD preserves all them that love him: but all the wicked will he destroy. (Psalms 145:20)

But the wicked shall be cut off from the earth, and the transgressors shall be rooted out of it. (Proverbs 2:22)

As the whirlwind passes so is the wicked no more: but the righteous is an everlasting foundation. (Proverbs 10:25)

The wicked are overthrown, and are not. (Proverbs 12:7)

The light of the righteous rejoices, but the lamp of the wicked shall be put out. (Proverbs 13:9)

Whoever despises the word shall be destroyed: but he that fears the commandment shall be rewarded. (Proverbs 13:13)

For there shall be no reward to the evil man; the candle of the wicked shall be put out. (Proverbs 24:20)

“Though a sinner do evil a hundred times, and his days be prolonged, yet surely I know that it shall be well with them that fear God, which fear before him: But it shall not be well with the wicked, neither shall he prolong his days, which are as a shadow; because he fears not before God.” (Ecclesiastes 8:12-13)

And the strong shall be as tow, and the maker of it as a spark, and they shall both burn together, and none shall quench them. (Isaiah 1:31)

Therefore as the fire devours the stubble, and the flame consumes the chaff, so their root shall be as rottenness, and their blossom shall go up as dust: because they have cast away the law of the LORD of hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel. (Isaiah 5:24)

and he shall strike the earth: with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked. (Isaiah 11:4)

For the terrible one is brought to nothing, and the scorner is consumed, and all that watch for iniquity are cut off: (Isaiah 29:20)

And the people shall be as the burnings of lime: as thorns cut up shall they be burned in the fire. (Isaiah 33:12)

That brings the princes to nothing; he makes the judges of the earth as vanity. Yea, they shall not be planted; yea, they shall not be sown: yea, their stock shall not take root in the earth: and he shall also blow upon them, and they shall wither and the whirlwind shall take them away as stubble. (Isaiah 40:23-24)

Behold, all they that were incensed against you shall be ashamed and confounded: they shall be as nothing; and they that strive with you shall perish. You shall seek them, and shall not find them, even them that contended with you, they that war against you shall be as nothing, and as a thing of nothing. (Isaiah 41:11-12)

they shall lie down together, they shall not rise: they are extinct, they are quenched as tow. (Isaiah 43:17)

For the moth shall eat them up like a garment, and the worm shall eat them like wool: but my righteousness shall be for ever, and my salvation from generation to generation. (Isaiah 51:8)

In their heat I will make their feasts, and I will make them drunken, that they may rejoice, and sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, said the LORD. I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, like rams with he goats. (Jeremiah 51:39-40)

Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sins it shall die. (Ezekiel 18:4, 20)

the heathen...shall be as though they had not been. (Obadiah 1:16)

But with an overrunning flood he will make an utter end of the place of it and darkness shall pursue his enemies. What do you imagine against the LORD? he will make an utter end: affliction shall not rise up the second time. For while they be folded together as thorns, and while they are drunken as drunkards, they shall be devoured as stubble fully dry. (Nahum 1:8-10)

the wicked shall no more pass through you; he is utterly cut off. (Nahum 1:15)

Behold, the day comes that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that comes shall burn them up, says the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and you shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall. And you shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, says the LORD of hosts. (Malachi 4:1-3)

He will thoroughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. (Matthew 3:12)

In the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather you together first the weeds, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn. (Matthew 13:30)

So shall it be at the end of the world: the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just, And shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. (Matthew 13:49-50)

And whoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder. (Matthew 21:44)

And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming. (2 Thessalonians 2:8)

But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in all holy conversation and godliness, Looking for and hastening unto the coming of the day of God, in which the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, in which dwells righteousness. (2 Peter 3:10-13)

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 burns with fire and brimstone: which is the second death. (Revelation 21:8)

 

At this point, some readers may wonder how all these texts about final destruction fits with other texts about endless torture. Let’s look at those next.

There are some Scriptures that are often quoted as clearly, definitively, absolutely proving endless torture of the wicked. These texts are repeated over and over again, then used to gaslight other texts into saying things that they clearly do not say. For centuries, popular theology, famous books, and modern movies have all assumed a God of love endlessly tortures people who had no choice in their birth and lived only a short time. Let’s carefully read these texts and see if they are as absolute as they are claimed to be.

“Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, you cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.... Truly I say unto you, Inasmuch as you did it not to one of the least of these, you did it not to me. And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.” (Matthew 25:41-46)

Assuming a big assumption that “everlasting” means endless, we read that the fire is eternal. What is the fire? (hint- see next week’s lesson) The punishment is also everlasting, but what is the punishment? Is it being burned or being burned up? Or is it a combination, in other words, the punishment of the cursed is to be burned, resulting them in being burned up, dying, and never being resurrected. Non-existence after burning qualifies as punishment just as much as burning while still existing. This text does not tell us which.

“He that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost has never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation.” (Mark 3:29)

This text clearly speaks of something bad lasting forever, but what is it? The condemnation could be endless torture or it could be endless non-existence or it could be endless sitting by yourself on a beach in the dark counting the crabs crawling over you.

“And if your hand offend you cut it off: it is better for you to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched: Where their worm dies not, and the fire is not quenched. And if your foot offend you cut it off: it is better for you to enter halt into life, than having two feet to be cast into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched: Where their worm dies not, and the fire is not quenched. And if your eye offend you pluck it out: it is better for you to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire: Where their worm dies not, and the fire is not quenched.” (Mark 9:43-48)

This passage says the worms are endless and the fire is not quenched, but where does it say the torture is endless? Why don’t any other scriptures talk about these weird hell-worms? They are probably just an illustration. Again, we have no clear wording about endless torture.

“There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day: And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores, And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried; And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and sees Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame. But Abraham said, Son, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and you are tormented. And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from here to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from there.” (Luke 16:19-26)

Where does this passage say the rich man’s torment is endless?

“Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.” (Hebrews 6:2)

There is eternal judgment but what is the judgment? Who is it for or against? What are the rewards or punishments? Does the judgment take eternity and/or the consequences take eternity? We are not told.

“And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb: And the smoke of their torment ascends up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.” (Revelation 14:9-11)

This text comes very close to proving endless torture, but read it carefully. The wicked are “tormented with fire and brimstone,” but that phrase says nothing about length of time. The only time phrase in the passage is “for ever and ever” and it describes the smoke, not necessarily the torment. It might, but not necessarily. Also, “forever” rarely means endlessly, unless applied to God. We will see this later.

“And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.” (Revelation 20:10)

The devil, beast, and false prophet are tormented forever, but nothing is said about humans. Is it possible that Satan is tormented endlessly but humans are not? This text raises that possibility and so we need to consider it, but we cannot answer it here. We need to look at other passages, which we will soon do.

 

We have just examined some of the most repeated verses supposedly making an ironclad case for endless torture. This claim comes from a supposed literal reading of the passages, but when we read them literally and carefully, other possibilities come into view that cannot be denied. Therefore, we need to look at patterns in the Bible to give us context and true definition. One example is the phrase “for ever.” Let’s look at what it really means in the Bible, not what we have made it mean in modern times.

How do we reconcile the fiery death of evil with the natural death to which we are all now subject? The answer is, two deaths. There is a purpose for that, which we will explain in the next lesson. For now, we just need to understand that there are two kinds of deaths and two kinds of resurrection.

“And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.” (Daniel 12:2)

There is a resurrection of the saint and a resurrection of the sinner.

“And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.” (John 5:29)

Jesus repeats what Daniel wrote. Notice that neither of them say if the two resurrections happen at the same time or not.

“Women received their dead raised to life again: and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection.” (Hebrews 11:35)

A “better resurrection” implies a worse resurrection.

“And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. (But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished.) This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he that has part in the first resurrection: on such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.” (Revelation 20:4-6)

When we get to the book on prophecy, we will see that the two resurrections were originally intended to be at the same time. However, sin has its insidious way of making things more complicated, so God needed to adjust His original, ideal plan for our sake. Now there will be two separate resurrections. The resurrection of the saints will happen when Jesus returns the second time, which begins a period of 1000 years, aka The Millenium. The resurrection of the wicked takes place at the end of the 1000 years.

“And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog, and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and surrounded the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them. And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever. And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.” (Revelation 20:7-14)

Only the wicked suffer the second death. “He that overcomes shall not be hurt of the second death.” (Revelation 2:11) Like everybody else, the saints suffer the first, natural death. Then they are raised to eternal life. The wicked, however, are raised at the end of the 1000 years to be “judged every man according to their works.” Then they die the second time, never to raised again.

Why die twice? The next lesson examines that.

What we first need right now to help answer that question is the answer to this question: What happens to a person between the first death and their resurrection?