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A. THE FINAL STATE OF THE WICKED.
There are especially three points that call for consideration here:
1. THE PLACE TO WHICH THE WICKED ARE CONSIGNED.
In present day theology there is an
evident tendency in some circles to rule out the idea of eternal punishment. The
Annihilationists, which are still represented in such sects as Adventism and Millennial Dawnism,
and the advocates of conditional immortality, deny the continued existence of the wicked, and
thereby render a place of eternal punishment unnecessary. In modern liberal theology the
word “hell” is generally regarded as a figurative designation of a purely subjective condition, in
which men may find themselves even while on earth, and which may become permanent in the
future. But these interpretations certainly do not do justice to the data of Scripture. There can
be no reasonable doubt as to the fact that the Bible teaches the continued existence of the
wicked, Matt. 24:5; 25:30,46; Luke 16:19-31. Moreover, in connection with the subject of “hell”
the Bible certainly uses local terms right along. It calls the place of torment gehenna, a name
derived from the Hebrew ge (land, or valley) and hinnom or beney hinnom, that is, Hinnom or
sons of Hinnom. This name was originally applied to a valley southwest of Jerusalem. It was the
place where wicked idolators sacrificed their children to Moloch by causing them to pass
through the fire. Hence it was considered impure and was called in later days “the valley of
tophet (spittle), as an utterly despised region. Fires were constantly burning there to consume
the offal of Jerusalem. As a result it became a symbol of the place of eternal torment. Matt.
18:9 speaks of ten geennan tou puros, the gehenna of fire, and this strong expression is used
synonymously with to pur to aionion, the eternal fire, in the previous verse. The Bible also
speaks of a “furnace of fire,” Matt. 13:42, and of a “lake of fire,” Rev. 20:14,15, which forms a
contrast with the “sea of glass like unto crystal,” Rev. 4:6. The terms “prison,” I Pet. 3:19,
“abyss,” Luke 8:31, and “tartarus,” II Pet. 2:4 are also used. From the fact that the preceding
terms are all local designations, we may infer that hell is a place. Moreover, local expressions
are generally used in connection with it. Scripture speaks of those who are excluded from
heaven as being “outside,” and as being “cast into hell.” The description in Luke 16:19-31 is
certainly altogether local.
2. THE STATE IN WHICH THEY WILL CONTINUE THEIR EXISTENCE.
It is impossible to determine
precisely what will constitute the eternal punishment of the wicked, and it behooves us to
speak very cautiously on the subject. Positively, it may be said to consist in (a) a total absence
of the favor of God; (b) an endless disturbance of life as a result of the complete domination of
sin; (c) positive pains and sufferings in body and soul; and (d) such subjective punishments as
pangs of conscience, anguish, despair, weeping, and gnashing of teeth, Matt. 8:12; 13:50; Mark
9:43,44,47,48; Luke 16:23,28; Rev. 14:10; 21:8. Evidently, there will be degrees in the