Destiny of the Wicked

Notes

1. The wicked are "alienated" from the life of God, and, consequently, without hope. Having chosen death, their names have no place in the "book of life." The life of God is eternal, and this is the life upon which all are earnestly exhorted to lay hold of by faith. 1 Tim. 6:12.

2. The fire which consumed the cities of the plains is said to be "eternal," not because burning forever, but because its effects are eternal. It wrought an everlasting destruction upon these cities. They will appear no more forever.

3. In the burning of the "fat of lambs," in connection with the sanctuary service, the children of Israel had an object lesson of what will be the final end of sin.

4. The wicked are not now being punished. They will not receive their reward until after the final, investigative judgment. At the close of the 1,000 years, they will receive the wages of sin which they have chosen. A careful study of the services connected with the cleansing of the sanctuary, and the placing of sin upon the head of the scapegoat, will shed much light upon the question of when sinners will receive their reward. See Leviticus 16.

5. There will not exist throughout the unnumbered ages of eternity a seething lake of fire and brimstone in which millions of lost souls will suffer unspeakable torture and blaspheme God forever. No such terrible blot will remain to mar the handiwork of God. The lost will receive that which they have chosen—death. Every rebel voice will be stilled in the realms of the second death, and not a discordant note be heard through the eternal ages to mar the universal harmony of heaven.