Annihilation

Annihilation is the theological idea that unbelievers are utterly destroyed by the fires of Gehenna rather than suffer an eternal torment. It's a concept that has many calling a 'feel good theology' or are labeling as heretical. I hope today to show you that it is neither, and entirely biblical. I am writing this piece as a sort of secondary to The Resurrection of the Dead from Slumber, so I would encourage that you read that piece before continuing or you may feel lost when we see how the two tie together and the foundations of 'the two hells'.

I know for most reading this the idea of annihilation is utterly foreign, most have been raised and taught that hell is a place of eternal torment for all unbelievers. That the fear of hell is what should be drawing unbelievers toward Elohim. This has a few issues. First, that it is almost entirely unsupported by scripture, and secondly that it can not be fear which sends us to Elohim but Love for him. This flip to the gospel in no way makes it 'feel good theology' or 'lightens the wages of sin'; I would argue that it Strengthens the wages of sin! It shows how depraved we are in our wickedness that we must be totally and utterly destroyed, that even an eternal life of torment is to good for those who are so wicked. 

To further show this point let us start by going into the one verse which does speak of humanity suffering for eternity. It is found in Revelation 14:11, and the smoke from their tormenting goes up forever and ever. They have no rest, day or night, those who worship the beast and its image and those who receive the mark of its name.” We need to bear in mind when trying to make this verse the end all be all to the argument for eternal torment that Revelation is arguably one of the most debated books in scripture. It has been read literally, figuratively,and any mixture and blend of the two. Strangely enough I find many who take it as entirely figurative still cling to this verse as a literal support for their stance. We also need to notice something commonly swept under the rug, that is that this verse is also highly conditional. It only states that those unbelievers who take the mark of the beast and worship him will receive this eternal torment. As exactly what that mark is, be it a literal mark or our thoughts and actions, is up for it's own debate and discussion we will set that aside for now. Thus can anyone be certain of how to understand Revelation fully? Can we then use one verse against the remainder of scripture or must we be looking at that verse through the lens of the rest of scripture?

With those two key issues in mind to the primary supporting verse for eternal torment let us begin to look at scripture which shows us conditional immortality instead.

Let us start at the very beginning, our foundation that the wages of sin is death, Romans 6:23. Genesis 3:17-24 says, To Adam he said, “Because you listened to what your wife said and ate from the tree about which I gave you the order, ‘You are not to eat from it,’ the ground is cursed on your account; you will work hard to eat from it as long as you live. 18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat field plants. 19 You will eat bread by the sweat of your forehead till you return to the ground — for you were taken out of it: you are dust, and you will return to dust.” 20 The man called his wife Havah [life], because she was the mother of all living. 21 Adonai, God, made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. 22 Adonai, God, said, “See, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil. Now, to prevent his putting out his hand and taking also from the tree of life, eating, and living forever — ” 23 therefore Adonai, God, sent him out of the garden of ‘Eden to cultivate the ground from which he was taken. 24 So he drove the man out, and he placed at the east of the garden of ‘Eden the k’ruvim and a flaming sword which turned in every direction to guard the way to the tree of life. At first glance it is easy to think that the punishment for sin entering the world was almost entirely physical. To see that humanity will return to dust, that he can not life forever by eating of the Tree of Life. Yet is this really about living forever physically? Is this really about physicality? Romans 6:23 already showed us that the payment for sin is death, but there is more to it. The wages of sin is in fact, Spiritual death, and the physical death is only a secondary consequence. We can understand this by such verses as John 8:51, Yes, indeed! I tell you that whoever obeys my teaching will never see death. Was Y'shua saying that believers will not physically die? Of course not, he was speaking of the spiritual death as the consequence for our sins, or transgressions of disobedience to Him. To further show this to use we must look to the Tree of Life, the entity that Adam and Eve were kept of consuming for their eternal life. 

There are many Trees in scripture that are specially mentioned. One being the Olive Tree of Israel, another being the shoot of Jesse and the list goes on. They all, however, ultimately point to one of two places. Either to the people of God, Israel, those native born and those grafted in, or to the Messiah himself. As the people of God were only Adam in Eve at this time in question they were all of Israel, so while I have no doubt that the Tree of Life in Eden was a literal tree, what then are we left with to see what it symbolizes? Y'shua. By partaking in Y'shua they would be saved. Whether or not Adam and Eve eventually did repent truly and put their faith in the future Messiah is up for some debate, on one side we don't have the scriptures explicitly stating that they did but on the other we have the evidence that they though sacrifices to their sons. Either way they did not physically get to partake anymore, as there was not the separation between what was worldly and what is Godly. 

And what of the Tree? As I said, it shows up often in scripture, and ultimately shows up as Y'shua was lifted on the cross. 1 Peter 2:24 shows us, He himself bore our sins[a] in his body on the stake, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness — by his wounds you were healed. Which is then itself pulled from Deuteronomy 21:22-23, If someone has committed a capital crime and is put to death, then hung on a tree, 23 his body is not to remain all night on the tree, but you must bury him the same day, because a person who has been hanged has been cursed by God — so that you will not defile your land, which Adonai your God is giving you to inherit. And where is that Tree now? Between the main street and the river was the Tree of Life producing twelve kinds of fruit, a different kind every month; and the leaves of the tree were for healing the nations, Revelations 22:2. However symbolic or literal you may take Revelations we can all agree that the Tree is in Heaven, as the passage explicitly states the Lamb in verse 1, and that Y'shua is in heaven as well. In heaven the Tree is open for all to partake of, as we have spiritual life by partaking in Y'shua the Messiah.

So then what is the dust to dust and spiritual death? I believe it was just that, dust to dust. Before Adam was, he was simply a thought to his Creator. his very being was knit together in that dirt when God formed him. Then to dust he shall return, body and soul, should he not partake of the Tree, who is the Messiah. And so what then do we see of scripture to then further support the concept that our second death, our spiritual death is to be utterly destroyed? One of the strongest arguments is actually in a verse that everyone knows, yet it slips by undetected. John 3:16 says, For God so loved the world that he gave his only and unique Son, so that everyone who trusts in him may have eternal life, instead of being utterly destroyed. Now, no matter what translation you're using there is a stark contrast here, because while your version may not use utterly destroyed as the term this verse does contrast that eternal life is synonymous with salvation. Those who are saved receive eternal life. We are not inherently eternal beings as Greek Philosophy has injected into our Christian Doctrines. This an idea that you simply won't find in scripture. Instead we see support that eternal life is only for the followers of Y'shua in such verses as John 10:28, and I give them eternal life. They will absolutely never be destroyed, and no one will snatch them from my hands. 1 John 2:17,  And the world is passing away, along with its desires. But whoever does God’s will remains forever. 1 John 5:13, I have written you these things so that you may know that you have eternal life — you who keep trusting in the person and power of the Son of God. Romans 6:23 as already shown. John 3:36, Whoever trusts in the Son has eternal life. But whoever disobeys the Son will not see that life but remains subject to God’s wrath. 1 Timothy 6:12,  Fight the good fight of the faith, take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you testified so well to your faith before many witnesses. Galatians 6:8, Those who keep sowing in the field of their old nature, in order to meet its demands, will eventually reap ruin; but those who keep sowing in the field of the Spirit will reap from the Spirit everlasting life. And many, many more. 

Indeed if we are created then we can inherently be destroyed by the creator. Something Y'shua himself tells us in Matthew 10:28, Do not fear those who kill the body but are powerless to kill the soul. Rather, fear him who can destroy both soul and body in Gei-Hinnom. So then we know that the soul is destroyed in Gehenna, the Lake of Fire. Dust to Dust.

Now we must find what we know of the Lake of Fire from scripture, and here are many of the verses used for an Eternal Torment view of Gehenna. We see it called an everlasting fire, an unquenchable fire, and many others. Some of such verses are Jude 1:7, And S’dom, ‘Amora and the surrounding cities, following a pattern like theirs, committing sexual sins and perversions, lie exposed as a warning of the everlasting fire awaiting those who must undergo punishment. and Mark 9:48, where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched. The problem with using such verses to this end is that we can already see from Revelation 14:11 that there is conditions who who is here forever. This is further supported by who Gehenna was made for, as we're told in Matthew 25:41, Then he will also speak to those on his left, saying, ‘Get away from me, you who are cursed! Go off into the fire prepared for the Adversary and his angels! So certainly it is an eternal place, a place of eternal torment for some. For the Adversary, his angels, and sadly those who worship the Beast and take his mark. We know this can not be for all unbelievers as Y'shua has said the fire destroyed the soul as well as the body, and eternal life is only for those who are saved from the fires of Gehenna. 

To further support my claim we can look to 2 Thessalonians 1:5-9 which makes it quite clear, This is clear evidence that God’s judgment is just; and as a result, you will be counted worthy of the Kingdom of God for which you are suffering. 6 For it is justice for God to pay back trouble to those who are troubling you, 7 and to give rest along with us to you who are being troubled, when the Lord Yeshua is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels 8 in a fiery flame. Then he will punish those who don’t know God,[a] that is, those who don’t listen to the Good News of our Lord Yeshua and obey it. 9 They will suffer the just penalty of eternal destruction, far away from the face of the Lord and the glory of his might.  They will suffer the penalty of eternal destruction, just as we saw in earlier verses of how eternal life was for the saved we can see a theme of destruction for the unsaved, not torment. Just as Y'shua said that the soul was destroyed there he also spoke of who would go there, in Matthew 5:22, But I tell you that anyone who nurses anger against his brother will be subject to judgment; that whoever calls his brother, ‘You good-for-nothing!’ will be brought before the Sanhedrin; that whoever says, ‘Fool!’ incurs the penalty of burning in the fire of Gei-Hinnom, and 29, If your right eye makes you sin, gouge it out and throw it away! Better that you should lose one part of you than have your whole body thrown into Gei-Hinnom. (Which Mark 9:43 repeats) 

Now this does not mean that the fire will be painless in consuming those thrown into it, after all we're told in Matthew 13:50, and throw them into the fiery furnace, where they will wail and grind their teeth. Some argue as to how long they suffer, if they suffer, and such things, answers we really don't have from scripture but this verse shows us at minimum that there is some pain involved in being consumed by the fire which Y'shua had already stated destroys the soul.

There are many scriptures that have been missed in this, but I hope I gave you enough to chew on and see that Annihilation is entirely a biblical standpoint; arguably the strongest biblical standpoint on Gehenna. I'm not quite done yet, in closing I'd like to give a few more verses which drive home the point of Conditional Immortality. Such as 1 Corinthians 15:51-52, Look, I will tell you a secret — not all of us will die! But we will all be changed! 52 It will take but a moment, the blink of an eye, at the final shofar. For the shofar will sound, and the dead will be raised to live forever, and we too will be changed. Take encouragement from this believers! We have been redeemed from total destruction and when we are raised from our sleep of the first death we are saved from the second to Eternal Life and will be changed! We have found the narrow way that leads to life and not destruction as Matthew 7:13-14 says, Go in through the narrow gate; for the gate that leads to destruction is wide and the road broad, and many travel it; 14 but it is a narrow gate and a hard road that leads to life, and only a few find it. Psalm 37:28 also says, For Adonai loves justice and will not abandon his faithful; they are preserved forever. But the descendants of the wicked will be cut off.

And Finally, Revelations 20:12-14 which shows us that being thrown into the lake of fire is the second death, bring Dust to Dust from Genesis to its final place as those who reject God are consumed by the fire made for HaSatan. And I saw the dead, both great and small, standing in front of the throne. Books were opened; and another book was opened, the Book of Life; and the dead were judged from what was written in the books, according to what they had done. 13 The sea gave up the dead in it; and Death and Sh’ol gave up the dead in them; and they were judged, each according to what he had done. 14 Then Death and Sh’ol were hurled into the lake of fire. This is the second death — the lake of fire. 15 Anyone whose name was not found written in the Book of Life was hurled into the lake of fire.

SO then as we combine this with our earlier understanding of soul sleep we can then conclude that when an unbeliever dies they sleep just as a believer does until the resurrection of the dead. Then they raise to the final judgement, being granted either eternal life to the believers or eternal destruction, being consumed by the lake of fire entirely, for the unbeliever.