JEFF TURNER

Jesus spoke more about hell than almost any other topic, and what he said in Matthew 25 makes it clear that punishment is not a one-time event that ends in annihilation. He described the fire as eternal, meaning it never consumes what it burns, which is precisely why it lasts forever. This doesn’t appear to be figurative language being stretched to make a point; it lines up with what other passages of scripture say as well.

Passages throughout the New Testament describe this judgment as unquenchable, everlasting, and inescapable. Second Thessalonians 1:9 speaks of everlasting destruction, and the imagery of the undying worm and the unending fire appears more than once. Those who suggest that the ungodly simply go out of existence at judgment have to work around a large body of scripture that points in the opposite direction.

The consistent witness of the Bible is that the punishment of the wicked has no end. And it’s a punishment no one need endure because Jesus paid the price.

 And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever; they have no rest day and night, those who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.”

Revelation 14:11