Clinton Wahlen
God is the source of life. So, for Him to give a decree of destruction is very different from His preferred will. But as the history of salvation shows us—from the entrance of evil to its final eradication forever—God does not always get what He wants. “He desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim. 2:4). God “is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance” (2 Pet. 3:9).
That is why the destruction of the wicked is called “His strange work” (Isa. 28:21). He has “no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways!” He cries. “For why should you die …?” (Ezek. 33:11). The Bible teaches only two possible destinies for human beings: eternal life or eternal death. Because all have sinned (Rom. 3:23), human beings deserve death, but through Jesus’ atonement for sin, God has opened the way for all who accept the good news of salvation to receive eternal life as a gift through faith in Jesus Christ our Lord (Rom. 6:23; 2 Cor. 5:14-15).
Of course, the traditional view among Christians on the punishment of the wicked, based on the conception in Greek philosophy of the human soul as immortal, is an eternally burning hell in which those who are lost will be tormented with fire and brimstone throughout the ceaseless ages of eternity. Unfortunately, the prevalence of this misconception has led many to reject such a God. Some Christians have recently distanced themselves from this view, finding it incompatible with the Bible’s teaching that God is love (1 John 4:8). Instead, they contend that God’s punishment on sin is redemptive and that the fires of hell purify the wicked from evil, fitting them to dwell in God’s presence.1 But this also finds no clear biblical support. It seems to be an effort to rescue a false teaching that cannot withstand scrutiny.
In contrast to these views, the Bible teaches that death is inherently unnatural in God’s universe. In the beginning, every created thing was perfect, and His work of creation on this earth was pronounced “very good” (Gen. 1:31). Evil is not eternal. Sin was never necessary or inevitable, and it will ultimately be eradicated from the universe through the destruction of all who persist in clinging to it. This view is based on the biblical concept that the soul is mortal and that immortality is conditional on a human being’s response to the gospel (Rom. 2:7).
This consideration of the Bible’s teaching on the punishment of the wicked will look at key terms as they appear in the most important passages in the Old and New Testament. But before turning to a more detailed study of the subject, it will be helpful to mention an important distinction made in Scripture between the “lost” and the “wicked.” To say that something is lost implies that it may be found. In three closely related parables, Jesus spoke of a lost sheep, a lost coin, and a lost son (Luke 15). The climax of the first two stories is the rejoicing that ensues when the lost is found (Luke 15:6, 9). “Likewise, I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents” (Luke 15:10; cf. v. 7). The third parable is somewhat different. There is rejoicing and celebration when the lost son returns home (Luke 15:22-24), but not everyone rejoices at this. The “older brother” is angry and seemingly cuts himself off from the family because he is offended at the father’s love for his wayward son (Luke 15:28-30).
Significantly, the father, who represents God in the parable, spares no effort to “save” his other son. He goes out and pleads with him to come and join in the celebration. The parable ends with the father reaffirming his son’s status in the family and emphasizing, “it was right that we should make merry and be glad, for your brother was dead and is alive again, and was lost and is found” (Luke 15:31-32). While we are not told how the older brother responded to the father’s appeal, the parable’s conclusion points to one incredibly important aspect: the revelation of the father’s character—his love and his doing what is “right” or “just.” Thus, the parable presents in microcosm the issues involved in ultimately resolving the great controversy between good and evil, between Christ and Satan.
Like the older brother, the lost have the opportunity, through Christ, of being welcomed back into God’s family and being reinstated as citizens of the kingdom of heaven. But should they persistently refuse God’s loving invitation, they will place themselves eventually beyond reach, fully identify themselves with Satan and his angels, and be judged “wicked.” In the end, everyone will be judged “according to their works” (Matt. 16:27; Rev. 20:12-13). The standard in the judgment is God’s law (Rom. 2:12; James 2:12)—the ten commandments (Rom. 2:21-23; James 2:10-11). Thus, it was enshrined in the holiest place of all, within the ark of the covenant, showing the principles on which God’s government is established (Ps. 97:2; Isa. 16:5).
The questions raised by Lucifer at the beginning of the great controversy are only answered through the process of salvation and judgment, centered in the sanctuary (Ps. 73:16-17) and revealed in the sanctuary visions of the book of Revelation (1:12-18; 4-5; 6:9-11; 8:3-5; 11:19; 15:5-8; 20:11-15). Limitations permit only a brief synopsis of this judgment process. What seems to be vital from heaven’s point of view is that every intelligent created being, including wicked human beings, the evil angels, and even Satan himself, ultimately recognizes in the decisions rendered that God’s ways are just, true, and “righteous altogether” (Ps. 19:9; Rev. 15:3-4; cf. Rom. 3:4; Phil. 2:9-11). Therefore, the wicked are punished in several stages.
1. The Second Coming. At the cross, Jesus’ death revealed the true nature of evil, and Satan, “the prince of this world,” who usurped control of this planet from Adam and Eve, was judged and “cast out” (John 12:31, KJV). Those guilty of crucifying the Son of God, whether literally at Golgotha or figuratively in their persecution of His people (cf. Acts 9:4-5; Heb. 6:6)2 will at the second advent behold Jesus coming in glory as conquering King (Rev. 1:7; 19:11-16). Thus they will understand firsthand their true position in eternity based on the choices they have made.
2. The Executive Judgment. During the millennium, the righteous have the opportunity to review the records of all who will finally perish, judging both men and angels (1 Cor. 6:2-3; Rev. 20:4). When, finally, the New Jerusalem descends from heaven to earth (Rev. 21:1-2), the wicked are raised (Rev. 20:5-6). While John describes the process of judgment thematically in several separate visions, we will describe these events chronologically. The intransigence of the wicked is evident from their acceptance of Satan’s leadership in the attempt to surround and take the holy city (Rev. 20:7-9). Their efforts are interrupted by the appearance of “the great white throne” (Rev. 20:11).
Through the opening of the “books,” all will have the opportunity to see the case against them (Rev. 20:12-13) and will ultimately acknowledge God’s righteousness and the justice of their sentence of eternal death. They will see “like a panoramic view … the successive steps in the great plan of redemption.”3 They will see the cross looming above the throne, and how they repeatedly rejected the opportunities God extended to them to be saved. They will see in Christ’s hands “the tables of the divine law, the statutes which they have despised and transgressed… . All see that their exclusion from heaven is just. By their lives they have declared: ‘We will not have this Man [Jesus] to reign over us.’ ”4
The purpose of the prolonged controversy and process of judgment and salvation is accomplished in this realization. It has guaranteed that sin will never rise again (Nahum 1:9). The final stage of this process is purging the universe of evil.
Revelation describes the destruction of the wicked this way: “fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them” (Rev. 20:9). Notice the fire devours the wicked. It consumes them completely: “ ‘all the proud, yes, all who do wickedly will be stubble. And the day which is coming shall burn them up,’ says the LORD of hosts, ‘That will leave them neither root nor branch.’ ” (Mal. 4:1). Nothing will be left. David describes it this way: “For evildoers shall be cut off; but those who wait on the LORD, they shall inherit the earth. For yet a little while and the wicked shall be no more; indeed, you will look carefully for his place, but it shall be no more… . But the wicked shall perish… . Into smoke they shall vanish away” (Ps. 37:9-10, 20)
The global flood that destroyed the old world is similar to God’s final judgment on the wicked by fire: “the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men” (2 Pet. 3:7). This climactic event in the history of the great controversy has been vividly described as follows: “The earth is broken up. The weapons concealed in its depths are drawn forth. Devouring flames burst from every yawning chasm. The very rocks are on fire. The day has come that shall burn as an oven. The elements melt with fervent heat, the earth also, and the works that are therein are burned up” (Mal. 4:1; 2 Pet. 3:10). “The earth’s surface seems one molten mass—a vast, seething lake of fire.”5
It is to this fiery punishment of the wicked at the end of the millennium that the New Testament references to a literal “hell” (Gk. geenna) point.6 Jesus warned, for example, of punishment by “hell fire” (Matt. 5:22; 18:9) and that God “is able to destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matt. 10:28). There is no suggestion of eternal torment. Even the image of “unquenchable fire” (Matt. 3:12) or “fire that shall never be quenched” (Mark 9:43), like the undying worm that feeds on the corpse of the wicked (Mark 9:48; cf. Isa. 66:24), does not mean that the punishment will last forever but that nothing can prevent it from completing its work of destruction.
Isaiah 34:10 uses similar language to describe the fiery destruction of Edom that occurred in the seventh century BC: “It shall not be quenched night or day; its smoke shall ascend forever.” Obviously, the fire that consumed the cities of Edom is not still burning, and the smoke is not still ascending. The prophecy pictures complete destruction—that nothing is left once the fire has done its work. The third angel’s message in Revelation 14:9-11 borrows this language to describe the complete and thorough destruction of the wicked. Even the reference to the wicked being tormented “day and night” uses a Greek construction that describes the punishment as uninterrupted, not unending.7
The same is true of the fiery torment in the lake of fire that is said to be “forever and ever” (Rev. 20:10). It continues uninterrupted until the wicked, including the devil and his angels, are burned up, as the previous verse indicates. Throughout the Bible, “forever” is a relative period that depends on what it refers to. Applied to God, it means eternal in the fullest sense. But for the slave who would serve his master forever, it meant “as long as he lived” (Exod. 21:6). Jonah was in the belly of the fish “forever” (Jon. 2:6), meaning “three days and three nights” (Jon. 1:17). Consequently, when the Bible refers to the wicked being tormented forever, it means “until the fire fully consumes them.”
One passage that has been confusing to many regarding popular ideas of hell is the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus. But rather than describing hell, the parable refers to the Jewish notion of “Hades” (v. 23), translating the Hebrew word for “the grave” (she’ol).8 In the popular understanding of the time, it was a place where all the dead go—the righteous to be with Abraham and the wicked to be in fiery torments, with an impassible chasm separating the two groups (vv. 23-24, 26). Jesus employs this notion to make a point, not about what happens after death but about how people’s destiny hinges on whether or not they “listen to Moses and the Prophets” (Luke 16:31, NIV). As we have seen, the New Testament’s references to “hell” employ the word geenna, which refers to the final destruction of the wicked by fire.
In a similar vein, God’s destruction of Sodom with fire and brimstone (Gen. 19:24) is often recalled as a powerful image of divine judgment (e.g., Isa. 1:9; 13:19; Jer. 49:18; Zeph. 2:9). These cities were “overthrown in a moment” (Lam. 4:6). Jude 7 refers to God’s punishment of their wickedness “as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.” Here it is quite clear that “eternal fire” does not mean that it will burn forever but that its effect is eternal. Just as these cities were obliterated from existence, so will the wicked be who also must face judgment by eternal fire (Matt. 25:41).
The glorious good news of the Bible is that this eternal hellfire or lake of fire will forever extinguish evil and all who cling to it from the universe. “The fire that consumes the wicked purifies the earth. Every trace of the curse is swept away… . One reminder alone remains: Our Redeemer will ever bear the marks of His crucifixion”9—an eternal testimony of God’s amazing love. And we as His people will enjoy “a new earth in which righteousness dwells” (2 Pet. 3:13).
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1 In addition to these two views, as well as the conditionalist view held by Seventh-day Adventists, see Ji
i Moskala, “Eternal Punishment in Hell and the Immortality of the Soul: Overview of the Current Debate,” in “What Are Human Beings That You Remember Them?” Proceedings of the Third International Bible Conference, Nof Ginosar and Jerusalem, June 11–21, 2012, ed. Clinton Wahlen (Silver Spring, MD: Biblical Research Institute, 2015), 295-300.
2 Ellen G. White, Prophets and Kings, 651–652,
3 Ellen G. White, The Great Controversy, 666.
4 Ibid., 668.
5 Ibid., 672.
6 See Matthew 5:22, 29-30; 10:28; 18:9; 23:15, 33; Mark 9:43, 45, 47; Luke 12:5; James 3:6. Some confusion on this subject has occurred due to the frequent translation of the Hebrew word for the grave (she’ol) by the KJV (31 times) and the NKJV (19 times) as references to hell (e.g., Ps. 9:17; Prov. 9:18; Amos 9:2). 2 Peter 2:4 uses a different Greek word (tartaroĊ) to describe the place where “the angels who sinned” were imprisoned—not “hell” (as most versions translate the word) but on this earth (Rev. 12:9) in “chains of darkness.” Compared to the glories of heaven, this sinful planet to which the devil and his angels are confined must be a very dark place indeed.
7 The genitive of time emphasizes this (used also in 1 Thess. 2:9; 3:10), whereas to emphasize duration, the accusative of time would be used instead (e.g., Rev. 20:4—the heavenly reign with Christ lasts “a thousand years”).
8 The word is used 60 times in the Old Testament with this meaning (see, e.g., Gen. 37:35; 1 Sam. 2:6; Ps. 6:5; 49:14-15; Eccles. 9:10). Further, see Félix H. Cortez, “Death and Future Hope in the Hebrew Bible,” in “What Are Human Beings That You Remember Them?” 101-105.
9 White, The Great Controversy, 674.