54 — TORMENTED FOREVER AND EVER
By Editor
Please explain Rev. 14: 11; 20: 10. Do not these texts teach eternal punishment of the wicked? And will the devil be eternally punished? Categorically we could answer, Yes. There is eternal punishment, without question, and the Bible teaches it. But eternal punishment indicates a completed process. Eternal punishing is quite a different thing. The texts do teach eternal punishment—that is, punishment that is completed for all eternity. They do not teach eternal punishing—that is, a continual torment, which will never end. “The wages of sin is death,” and death is that which ends consciousness of being, and it does not denote a process continually going on and never completed. It is extinction of life; but you could not call that extinction of life, you could not call that death, which would keep life in a person, and continually torment him. The only difference between that and the reward of God’s people is that one is eternal life in happiness, and the other would be eternal life in misery. The Bible does not put it that way. It declares, “The gift of God is eternal life,” “the wages of sin is death”—just the opposite of life. See Rom. 6: 23. Now, what is meant by this passage? The original word for “torment” is basanos. The verb is basanizo. The original meaning of this term basanos was simply “a test.” It comes from the Latin term lapis Lydius, a stone from Lydia, which was used anciently to tell whether there was any alloy in gold. When that stone was applied, it was supposed to show whether the gold was pure or whether it was mixed with alloy. The term widened in its meaning to include the testing of persons by trial, by examination. One of the means the ancients had of testing persons was by torment. That is, they placed them under conditions that would cause pain, thinking they would be more likely to tell the truth under such conditions. Consequently the word could be used in the sense of torment. But the Bible does not use it in that way. It uses it in the original and full and complete meaning of test. The wicked will be eternally tested. This test will be final. The devil will be eternally tested, and his test will be final. He has deceived men into believing they are immortal, and that no material agency that can be brought to bear against them will destroy them. He told that first falsehood in Eden, “Thou shalt not surely die.” Men have believed it, and men are believing it still. Nevertheless, the last test that will be brought upon mankind will be a material test. Everything shall be tested by fire. We read in 1 Cor. 3: 13, “Each man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it is revealed in fire; and the fire itself shall prove [try] each man’s work of what sort it is.” That is the test that will be brought to bear at last. This earth will be kindled by the overpowering glory of God’s presence. Everything that is not of God will perish in the fires of the last days. Everything that is of God will be changed from glory to greater glory by His presence. That testing will be forever. Those who are unworthy will be burned up,—the root, Satan; and the branches, the wicked who have identified themselves with sin. See the last chapter of Malachi. God’s people will endure the test the same as the three Hebrew children endured the fire in the fiery furnace as revealed in Daniel, the third chapter. Therefore we read in Isa. 33: 14, 15: “The sinners in Zion are afraid; trembling hath seized the godless ones: Who among us can dwell with the devouring fire? who among us can dwell with everlasting burnings? He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly.” That is God’s great test at last, and the righteous only will endure. For a full explanation of this, see No. 111 of the Bible Students’ Library, entitled “Tormented Forever and Ever.” It can be secured of the Pacific Press Publishing Association, Mountain View, California, or any of our regular depositories. It discusses this question quite fully, and gives many texts and references.