The end of sin and sinners: punishment and eternal death 

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1. Introduction

Mainstream Christianity does not provide for a complete end of sin and sinners - the doctrine of the immortal soul teaches that after death unrepentant sinners live on for ever in a burning hell, thereby perpetuating sin.  

Consequently, it is believed that Satan lives forever, along with the angels that rebelled with him (who are demons, the powers of evil). In other words, it is believed that the root of sin, pain and suffering will continue forever.

Scripture, however, is very clear: the time is coming when the whole of God’s creation will be rendered entirely free of the curse of sin and its effects (Is 65:17; Re 21:1,4; 22:3).  The process of the elimination of sin begins at the second coming of Christ, and ends with the total destruction of everything that constitutes sin. 

Note, the term 'wicked' in this study refers to all those from amongst mankind who will have finally rejected the saving Grace of Christ.

This study traces the events that occur after the second coming of Christ.  We must begin with the millennium, which starts immediately upon Christ's second advent.

2. The millennium

2.1 Begins at the second coming of Christ

Re 20:6  Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years. 

(The second death is addressed in section 4)

2Th 2:8  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: 

2.2 Satan in chains

Re 20:1,2 And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. 

2  And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,

During the millennium, Satan’s powers will be curtailed and he will be ‘bound’, i.e. confined, to the bottomless pit for the duration of the millennium:

The Old Testament translation into Greek, the Septuagint (so called because it was translated from the Hebrew text by 70 scholars in the 3rd-1st centuries BC) uses the same Greek word for ‘without form and void’ in  Ge 1:2  as we find in the KJV for 'bottomless pit' in Re 20:1 above (i.e. Strong’s G12, abussos: ‘depthless’, ‘abyss’).   

Thus the bottomless pit is the Earth returned by Christ’s coming to its pre-creation state, i.e. chaos.  

Note. The Septuagint had the blessing of the Sanhedrin, and thus it inevitably contains elements of Jewish tradition, which was condemned by Christ (Mk 7:9), but the Septuagint is useful at times to make a point.

The KJV Old Testament, which was translated from the Masoretic text (prepared 6-10th centuries AD by Jewish scholars to re-create the Hebrew Bible as closely as possible), has been shown to be closer to the Dead Sea Scrolls than the Septuagint.

During the millennium, Satan is bound to the Earth, when all the wicked are dead and the redeemed are with Christ - he has no-one to tempt and to lead into sin.  The fact that Satan is bound to the Earth tells us that previously he was able to go to other (unfallen) worlds and attempt to lure them into rebellion.  

Thus during the millennium the unfallen worlds are freed from Satan’s evil attentions.

2.3 The redeemed will judge the lost and angels

During the millennium, the redeemed will exercise judgment:

Re 20:4  And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them ...

Foretold by Paul:

1Co 6:2,3  Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters?  

3  Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life? 

This judgment is not one of making a decision for life or death - that judgement takes place in the form of the investigative judgement, which occurs prior to Christ’s second advent (see study: ’The cleansing of the Heavenly Sanctuary’,5).  

The millennium judgment is one of determining punishment, as in a court of law where the jury determines guilt (or otherwise), and the judge hands down his judgment according to the jury's decision: punishment in the case of a guilty verdict.

In study: ’The cleansing of the Heavenly Sanctuary’,5.1 we see that apart from Enoch, Elijah, Moses and the 24 elders, none of the human race were present during the pre-advent investigative judgment. 

Thus God, to fully justify how He has dealt with sin, throws open to the redeemed all His judgments (decisions).  The redeemed will be able to examine the reasons for God's condemnation, both of the lost from mankind, and of the fallen angels. 

If any of the redeemed are perplexed over the loss of friends and/or relatives, God will reveal all sin, thus explaining and vindicating His dealing with mankind.  

The redeemed will see that the wicked are condemned by their own hand (see study: ‘The cleansing of the Heavenly Sanctuary’,6.1) - they will then understand that the punishment and destruction of the wicked is just.

3. The end of the millennium

We now turn to the events occurring after the close of the millennium.

Re 20:1,2,3,7  And I saw an angel come down from heaven…

2  And he laid hold on …the Devil …

3  And cast him into the bottomless pit…till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.

7  And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, 

Re 20:5  But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished…

As we have seen (section 2), the righteous dead are raised at the second coming of Christ.  Thus the ‘rest of the dead’ must be the wicked who in their lives refused to repent. There are but two classes of the dead: the righteous and the wicked (Jn 5:29).  

Thus the Papal doctrine of purgatory, in which the dead who have not committed mortal sin ‘work off’ their sins and eventually enter Heaven, is entirely unscriptural.  The doctrine of purgatory is particularly pernicious because it negates Grace (only Christ can eradicate sin), and it propels into eternity many who retain unrepented sin on their life's record.

Re 21:10  And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, 

Re 20:7-9  And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, 

8  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. 

9  And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city….

Once the wicked (Satan’s subjects) are available to him again, Satan will resume his rebellion, and attempt to overthrow God by conquering the Holy City, the New Jerusalem. 

However, the wicked will recognize their case is hopeless, and then we will see Php 2:10,11 fulfilled:  at the name of Jesus, every knee shall bow and all will acknowledge Christ as Lord.  

Even the wicked will acknowledge the righteous justice of God in excluding them from the Heavenly Kingdom.

At this point, God’s final judgment upon the wicked will be executed.

4. Judgment executed: punishment and the second, eternal death

Note.  In the context of the Cross, punishment and eternal death are addressed in study: 'The Cross',2.1.

4.1 Fire will come down from God and devour Satan, his angels, and the wicked

Re 20:9  And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured [Strong’s G2719, 'eat down'] them. 

Note.  ‘Devoured’ is in the Greek ‘Aorist’ tense, which denotes the simple occurrence of an action without reference to its completeness, duration, or repetition. Thus we cannot associate the devouring of the wicked with an ever burning fire.

The wicked shall be burned up:

Mal 4:1  For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.

The ‘burning up’, the ‘devouring’, of the wicked in the fire that comes from God accomplishes two things:

Job 34:11  For the work of a man shall he render unto him, and cause every man to find according to his ways. 

Ro 2:6  Who will render to every man according to his deeds: 

2Co 5:10  For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad. 

Every sin receives its just punishment: either in the body of Christ upon the Cross (by faith), or in the unrepentant sinner’s own body.

All the wicked will be devoured (burned up) by the fire.  The time taken to be devoured constitutes the individual’s punishment - each has an individual record of sin, and thus receives individual punishment.

Once an individual has been devoured by the fire, they are no more.  This is the natural consequence of choosing to remain unrepentant, and is called in scripture, the ‘second death’.

Re 2:11  He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death. 

Re 20:6  Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power…

The first death is the temporal death that all, both the Godly and the ungodly, experience.  The second death is the destruction of the wicked at the time when the redeemed are already living with Christ. 

Re 21:8  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 burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death. 

Note.  Those who at one time committed those very sins listed in Re 21:8, but who sought and were granted forgiveness, will be amongst the redeemed.  The second death is reserved for those who are finally impenitent, having rejected God’s free gift of saving grace. 

Re 21:8 (above) includes those who, on the face of it, live good lives, but sadly never see the need to repent - all have sinned (Ro 3:23), thus all need to repent - all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags (Is 64:6). No matter how good, in worldly terms, a person may be, in Heavenly terms they fall short of the glory of God. 

4.2 Eternal death, the consequence of sin

Ro 6:23  For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. 

Here, the sure result of sin (death) is the opposite of eternal life - it must therefore be eternal death.

Ja 1:15  Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished [Strong’s G658, ‘complete entirely’], bringeth forth death. 

Death in this verse occurs after sin has ‘completed entirely’ - it must therefore be the second death, the eternal consequence of sinfulness (see study: ‘Sin: definition, origin, and consequences’,6).

4.3 Satan and the wicked will be destroyed

Eze 28:18  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. 

He 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; 

Re 20:10  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. 

Satan, the originator of sin will be destroyed - he will no longer exist.  Consequently there cannot be an ever-burning hell, which according to mainstream belief, is Satan’s abode for eternity - no Satan, no Hell.

Satan the Scapegoat

In study ‘The Day of Atonement’,3.8 we see that the sin of Israel, once it had been atoned for, was laid upon the Scapegoat, which was released alive into a remote place. Therefore, as it did not die, the Scapegoat could not have been a sacrificial atonement.

In that study we see that the Scapegoat represented Satan, and also that Satan owes Christ a debt: the sin that Satan caused in mankind by deceit - the sin for which the sinless Christ had to take upon Himself the fallen nature (yet remain without sin) in order to die to save mankind.

Now, at the time of final destruction, Satan must pay that debt: the sin of the redeemed must be added to the punishment of his own sin.

Important note. This happens after atonement for sin has been wholly completed. Thus Satan, in bearing the sin of the redeemed, is in no respect an atonement for sin - it is Satan’s just punishment.

Ps 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 92:7  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: 

Mal 4:3  And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the LORD of hosts. 

The wicked will be destroyed - they will cease to exist.

Satan and the wicked will be destroyed for ever (He 2:14; Ps 92:7); thus eternal torment is eternal destruction. This point is addressed further in study: ’Hell: the true meaning’,7.     

The wicked are destroyed by fire - they do not burn for eternity - if they did burn for ever, the wicked would receive eternal life, albeit in suffering.  Eternal life is the reward of the redeemed only.

5. God’s strange act

God is a God of infinite love.  He takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked: 

Eze 33:11  Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel? 

He wants all mankind to be saved (1Ti 2:4; 2Pe 3:9). 

However, though with immense sadness, He will not shrink from doing what the wicked have brought upon themselves (Nah 1:3; Jn 3:18). Nevertheless the destruction of sinners is foreign to God's nature, it is His strange act:

Is 28:21  For the LORD shall rise up as in mount Perazim, he shall be wroth as in the valley of Gibeon, that he may do his work, his strange work; and bring to pass his act, his strange act.

6.  Escaping destruction

The evil angels, by rebelling against God, condemned themselves to destruction even before mankind was created.  However, such a terrible end is entirely unnecessary for mankind. 

As we see in section 5 God wants all mankind to be saved, and in Christ God has made salvation certain:

Jn 3:16-18  For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 

17  For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 

18  He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 

The situation is simple: believe and live, believe not and perish. The Lord urges all to choose life:

De 30:19,20  I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live: 

20  That thou mayest love the LORD thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him: for he is thy life, and the length of thy days: that thou mayest dwell in the land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them. 

This plea applies as much now as it did in ancient times - though today we may understand ‘land’ to mean the Heavenly Kingdom.

7. Summary

Sin and sinners will come to an end - it is a Scriptural certainty.  

Satan himself will be destroyed. Thus there can be no eternal torment in an ever-burning hell because Satan, his evil angels and the wicked, will cease to exist.

Those who accept the free Grace of God in Christ will reign with Him in sinless glory for ever.  Those who refuse the free Grace of God will be destroyed for ever, along with Satan and his angels - sin itself will be destroyed.

The Lord, however, is not willing that any should perish - in fact, He urges us, through Moses, to choose life (De 30:19).

The choice is ours - choose life eternal in Christ.  

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