Wicked are Destroyed Forever

As to the nature and effect of hellfire, Bible teaching is clear. In Matt. 3:12 sinners are compared to chaff that is burned with "unquenchable fire" (cf. Mark 9:43—48 Luke 3:9). In Matt. 25:41 the wicked are represented as being consigned to "everlasting [aioµnios] fire." And in Matt. 5:22 Jesus referred to the final judgment on the wicked as "hell fire." All three passages refer to the fires of the last day that will devour the wicked and all their works. This fire will purge the earth (2 Peter 3:10—12 Luke 3:17). It will be ignited after all the finally impenitent who come up in the second resurrection (Rev. 20:5) are marshaled under Satan around the New Jerusalem (v. 9). (In other words, it is not burning now.) The devil, his evil confederates, and all who have been deceived by them are cast into this lake of fire (vs. 10, 14, 15).

This fire is the second death, from which there will be no resurrection. The word usually translated "everlasting" or "eternal," and once "forever," means literally, "lasting for an age," in the sense of being continuous and not subject to capricious change. The English words "everlasting" and "eternal," on the other hand, imply duration unlimited. The duration signified must be determined by the nature of the person or thing it describes. In the New Testamentthis word is used to describe both the fate of the wicked and the reward of the righteous. Following the above principle, we find that the reward of the righteous is life to which there is no end, whereas the reward or judgment of the wicked is death to which there is no end (cf. Rom. 6:23). In John 3:16 "everlasting life" stands in contrast to "perish."

The word "unquenchable" may be similarly understood. Jeremiah predicted that God would kindle a fire in Jerusalem that would "not be quenched" (Jer. 17:27). This prediction was fulfilled when the city was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar (2 Chron. 36:19—21). Obviously that fire is not burning today. It was unquenchable in the sense that the Jews were unable to put it out. It burned until it destroyed their city and went out.