What Will Happen to the Devil?

A compilation of Scriptures by Dan Beeson 9 June 2022

www.vigilantvaliant.com    dan@vigilantvaliant.com

Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION

SCRIPTURES THAT SAY YAHWEH ALONE IS ETERNAL AND IMMORTAL

GOD DOES NOT MAKE MISTAKES

ANGEL SPIRITS ARE NOT THE SAME AS THE SPIRIT OF GOD

THERE ARE DIFFERENT TYPES OF ANGELS

THERE IS ONLY ONE GOD!

GOD'S LAW ON SIN

THE SOUL

JUDGMENT DAY

GOD IS JUST!

WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO THE SPIRITS THAT SIN?

ANGELS WILL BE JUDGED

THE SOUL THAT SINNETH, IT SHALL DIE

SCRIPTURES THAT CONFIRM WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO THE DEVIL

THROWN INTO THE LAKE OF FIRE

DESTROYED IN THE LAKE OF FIRE OR TORMENTED THERE FOREVER?

THE SECOND DEATH

DO ANY VERSES SAY SOULS WILL LIVE FOREVER IN HELL?

WHAT DOES FOREVER MEAN IN THE BIBLE?

CONCLUSION

INTRODUCTION

Almost everybody knows who the devil is, even those who say they don’t believe in him.  This study is for those who believe the Bible is a source of knowledge about God.  This Bible Study is a compilation of scriptures, so we can understand what God says will happen to the most evil of entities, the devil, and to his evil angels.

It is not critical to our salvation to know this. Some will say it is not important at all.  But it seems to me that knowing everything we can learn about God helps us to know God better, and to worship Him better, and love Him more.  Since it is Yahweh, the Eternal God, the Living God, the Almighty God, who will deal with the devil, and judge him, it will help us know the mind of God better to know what His plans are for the devil.  Knowing what the scriptures say about how God will deal with the devil and the evil angels, will give us a bigger view of how Our Father operates, how He runs and will run His kingdom.  It also will show us more TRUTH about our God, about the character of God, and about how He will deal with both humankind and angel spirits. It will fill in our hodgepodge puzzle of understanding what God is like, with many missing pieces.  Every piece fitted into the puzzle brings us to a more complete understanding of Our Father.

Who am I to do a study? I am nobody, a common man, a stumbling Christian, an everyday American. But, through all my failings and sins, I love God and want to be obedient to Him, though I can almost see Him rolling His eyes as I say that. And my guardian angel has probably asked for hazardous duty pay or to be reassigned dozens of times. But like you, I read the Bible and try to understand it. So I study it in my own way. This writing is one of my studies.

Most of my Bible Studies attempt to have EVERY SCRIPTURE IN THE BIBLE on the topic.  Some people have complained that it is just TOO MANY Bible verses.  But my Bible Studies are to learn the TRUTH about what the Bible says, not what some denomination told me to believe, not what some person told me to believe, but what the Bible really says.  I want ALL the scriptures on the topic.  I want the scriptures those with opposing beliefs use as their key scriptures, so I can analyze them.  I want to know their reason for believing the way they do, and give that a fair hearing.  How can we find the “Truth, the Whole Truth, and Nothing but the Truth” if we don’t have all the data, all the information available? Since my studies are meant to learn what the Bible really says on a topic, I typically use nothing from outside the Bible.  Outside sources may or may not be valid.  The ONLY place we can read the words of Yeshua (Jesus in English) is from the Bible.  So yes, I hope I have found EVERY SCRIPTURE on the topic.  If I have missed a scripture, if you find other scriptures that address the question, or if you can in any way help me improve this writing or see a mistake, please contact me and let me know at dan@vigilantvaliant.com.

I have compiled below scriptures I found on this topic. If you like it, if it seems to be thorough and accurate, my other Bible Studies may be found on www.vigilantvaliant.com.

If you wonder why I use The Living God's name, Yahweh, and Our Savior's name, Yeshua, please see my other Bible Study, "Does Jesus Want Christians to Obey the Ten Commandments" in the Appendix, in the section, "THE NAME OF GOD AND HIS MESSIAH" for a short explanation.

I use the King James Version (KJV) only because it was by far the main English translation during my life. While there are other good translations of the Bible, I am using the one I am familiar with, the KJV. Yes, it is old-fashioned English, but it can also be poetic and beautiful. So, all scriptures are quoted from the KJV Bible (King James Version), unless otherwise noted. All scriptures will be indented and in italics.  All Bolding, Underlining, Italicizing, (parentheses), highlighting, and [brackets] are done by me for emphasis.

END OF INTRODUCTION

SCRIPTURES THAT SAY YAHWEH ALONE IS ETERNAL AND IMMORTAL

Where Does ALL Life Come From?

To find what the Bible says about what the end of the devil will be, we will start at the beginning.  Where did the devil come from?  Where did ALL life come from?

Some verses and comments in this first section will be the same as in my Bible Study “Will Humans Be Tortured Forever In Hell?” because this study starts at the same point, the beginning.

The Almighty God, the Eternal God, God the Father, Yahweh was in the beginning. He was the ONLY thing in the beginning.  Then He started creating.

"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth."  (Genesis 1:1)

We shall see in the following scriptures that God had no beginning, and will have no end. He created EVERYTHING.

The following definitions of “eternal” and “immortal” are from the Oxford Dictionaries, and from Dictionary.com.

https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/us/eternal

Definition of eternal in US English: eternal, ADJECTIVE, 1 Lasting or existing forever; without end or beginning.

http://www.dictionary.com/browse/eternal

eternal, [ih-tur-nl], adjective, 1. Without beginning or end; lasting forever; always existing (opposed to temporal): eternal life.

https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/us/immortal

Definition of immortal in US English: immortal, ADJECTIVE, 1Living forever; never dying or decaying.

http://www.dictionary.com/browse/immortal

immortal, [ih-mawr-tl] , adjective, 1. Not mortal; not liable or subject to death; undying:

The two sources noted above differentiate “Eternal” as having no beginning or end, from “Immortal” as just having no end.

The word ETERNAL is used only 2 times in the Old Testament that was written in Hebrew. One of those verses, Deuteronomy 33:27 below, plainly says Yahweh is eternal. The other, Isaiah 60:15, is a prophecy, and hard to clearly identify if it is speaking of Israel, or the Messiah. The word ETERNAL is used 45 times in the New Testament that was written in Greek.  It is used of men being giving life everlasting by believing in Yeshua (Jesus in English).  Therefore, it is clear these humans had a beginning, and the translation from the Greek does not hold true for our modern English definitions. Life everlasting would be more accurate than life eternal. Each occurrence has to be analyzed on its own,  whether it truly means Eternal, with no beginning and no end, or just Immortal, with no end.

"27 The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms: and he shall thrust out the enemy from before thee; and shall say, Destroy them." (Deuteronomy 33:27)

"19 Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. 20 For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: 21 Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened." (Romans 1:19-21)

"16 Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting. 17 Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen." (1 Timothy 1:16-17)

Some other phrases are used to mean eternal.  “From everlasting to everlasting”, seen in (Psalm 90:1-2) further below, means with no beginning and no end.  Also used in place of eternal is the phrase “having neither beginning of days, nor end of life” as seen in (Hebrews 7:1-3) below.

"7 For this Melchisedec, king of Salem, priest of the most high God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings, and blessed him; 2 To whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all; first being by interpretation King of righteousness, and after that also King of Salem, which is, King of peace; 3 Without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life; but made like unto the Son of God; abideth a priest continually." (Hebrews 7:1-3)

The following verse shows that the angels were created at some point in time. They did not exist before that, so they are immortal but not eternal. This immortality was given them when they were created. God ALONE HAS immortality in Himself, as an innate characteristic, and He gives it to whom He wishes, and He can take it away from whom He wishes.

"For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:" (Colossians 1:16)

"13 I give thee charge in the sight of God, who quickeneth all things, and before Christ Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession; 14 That thou keep this commandment without spot, unrebukable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ: 15 Which in his times he shall shew, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords; 16 Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honour and power everlasting. Amen." (1 Timothy 6:13-16)

Taking this one verse at face value, ONLY Yahweh has immortality. That means humans do not AND angels do not. Yahweh states He will GIVE immortality to the saved humans, and He has given it to His Holy Angels.  And any gift He gives, He can take away!

36 Neither can they die any more: for they are equal unto the angels; and are the children of God, being the children of the resurrection." (Luke 20:36)

We saw above that angels were created, so had a beginning, so are not eternal. In Luke 20:36 above, it states the angels who are in heaven with Yahweh at the time of the resurrection, God’s Holy Angels, have been given immortality also. So the Bible says ONLY Yahweh has immortality, and those to whom He grants it. So we have our first solid fact, an anchor of truth to hold onto. ONLY Yahweh is immortal, as an innate characteristic.

"27 The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms: and he shall thrust out the enemy from before thee; and shall say, Destroy them." (Deuteronomy 33:27)

“90:1 Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations. 2 Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God” (Psalm 90:1-2)

Yahweh is “from everlasting”, with no beginning, and “to everlasting” with no end. This means Yahweh is ETERNAL, in our English definition.

“6 Thus saith the Lord the King of Israel, and his redeemer the Lord of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God. 7 And who, as I, shall call, and shall declare it, and set it in order for me, since I appointed the ancient people? And the things that are coming, and shall come, let them shew unto them. 8 Fear ye not, neither be afraid: have not I told thee from that time, and have declared it? Ye are even my witnesses. Is there a God beside me? Yea, there is no God; I know not any.” (Isaiah 44:6-8)

“1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 The same was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men. 5 And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.” (John 1:1-5)

"20 For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:" (Romans 1:20)

“12 And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry; 13 Who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. 14 And the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. 15 This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief. 16 Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting. 17 Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.” (1 Timothy 1:12-17)

So Yeshua is the Lord, the King, and the only wise God.  So God, and Yeshua as God, had no beginning, and will never die or end. Also, Yahweh, through Yeshua, created everything else, so everything else has a beginning, which would include angels, demons, devils, etc. Therefore, we have our second solid fact. YAHWEH, and ONLY YAHWEH, IS ETERNAL.

Yahweh Created ALL LIFE, including the angels, good and bad.  ONLY GOD CAN GIVE LIFE.

"1 Bless the Lord, O my soul. O Lord my God, thou art very great; thou art clothed with honour and majesty.  2 Who coverest thyself with light as with a garment: who stretchest out the heavens like a curtain: 3 Who layeth the beams of his chambers in the waters: who maketh the clouds his chariot: who walketh upon the wings of the wind: 4 Who maketh his angels spirits; his ministers a flaming fire: 5 Who laid the foundations of the earth, that it should not be removed for ever."  (Psalm 104:1-5)

"12 Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: 13 Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: 14 In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins: 15 Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: 16 For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: 17 And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence. 19 For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell; 20 And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven. 21 And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled 22 In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight:"  (Colossians 1:12-22)

The words thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers are considered by scholars to mean types of angels. So we have seen above that Yahweh created the angels. Angels are, therefore, not eternal, as they had a beginning.

But are angels immortal, with no end?  It seems almost the whole of Christianity, and perhaps the world, think that “spirits” are immortal.  But is that what the Bible says? That is what the rest of this study is compiling scriptures to find out.

GOD DOES NOT MAKE MISTAKES

Imagine you were eternal and all powerful, but alone, and you decided to make creatures for whatever reason, perhaps just to have company, and fellowship.  They would have to be given free will.  Robots are not good company.  So you decide to give them free will.  Would you now make them as strong as you?  Able to turn against you, fight you, and win?  Sci Fi movies are filled with this scenario. Robots which are stronger than their designer and builder, can turn on their “creator” and kill him.  I think you and I, and almost everybody, are smarter than that.  We would make them of no danger to us.

Since we are giving them free will, there is the possibility they will turn on us, and destroy the harmony of our life.  Would we “create” creatures that would be alive FOREVER, that we could not terminate, even if they turn on us and fight us every moment? They were created to not be able to hurt us, other than hurting our feelings, but they could still be a great irritation, and they could hurt and destroy other things and beings we created.  Would you and I create a creature we could not get rid of, could not destroy?  I think not.  It would seem that God especially would not, since He knows the end from the beginning.

"9 Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, 10 Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:” (Isaiah 46:9-10)

He would not make these errors.  He would know that some of the angels, having free will, would rebel against Him.  And He would make some plan to deal with that.

Also consider that since Yahweh knows the future and the past, and knows all things, all science, all psychology, He does not change.

"For I am the Lord, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed."  (Malachi 3:6)

You and I find out new things, new information, and change our minds.  We find out people lied to us, and change our minds.  We finally see that false friend that has been stabbing us in the back and denigrating us to all they speak to, and change our minds.  God knows ALL these things and more, so there is nothing “new” to God.

He will create New Heavens and a new Earth, but they are new to us, not to Him.  He has been telling us about it for thousands of years, and knew He would do that in the beginning.  The fact that God is omniscient means nothing is hidden from Him.  He will find out no new information. He has always known and taken into account everything.  He has no need to change.

ANGEL SPIRITS ARE NOT THE SAME AS THE SPIRIT OF GOD

The scriptures above have shown that God created the Angels, and therefore they are not ETERNAL.  That is one way they are different from God.

Another difference is that Yahweh created the angels, but the angels can not create.

He made them all have less power than He has, and of lower intellect.  This is made obvious by the rebellion of the devil, who was apparently a relatively high placed angel.  The devil did not know the future, or he would have seen his end, and he would not have rebelled. This includes the third of the angels that rebelled with him.

Angels are not innately good, ONLY Our Father is GOOD.  Not just plain good. He can not help but be good, it is in His nature.

"And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? There is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments." (Matthew 19:17)

We’ve all known people we would say are good people.  The fact the Yeshua said ONLY God is good, shows that we are wrong.  People and angels are not INNATELY GOOD.  Only God Our Father is innately good.  People have a choice. We must choose to be good, as must the angels also.  And that is not a one time decision. We choose to be good at some point in our life, we choose to be godly or not.  But every day after that, we are faced with situations in which we must choose a course of action, choose a reply, take a stand.

"14 Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. 15 Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee. 16 By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire."  (Ezekiel 28:14-16)

Another difference is that angels CHANGE, and we have seen that God does not change. The devil was the “anointed cherub that covereth”, some kind of reasonably high position in the heaven of heavens, where Yahweh’s throne is. But the devil CHANGED, and sinned.

THERE ARE DIFFERENT TYPES OF ANGELS

The generic term “angels” is used 92 times in the Bible. They do a variety of tasks for God.

"And there came two angels to Sodom at even; and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom: and Lot seeing them rose up to meet them; and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground;” (Genesis 19:1)

In the Bible, one angel is named, though designated as only “an angel”. Gabriel gave very important messages to specific people, Daniel, Zacharias, Joseph (Mary’s fiancé), and Mary who bore Yeshua (Jesus in English). Gabriel is mentioned 4 times in the Bible.

"15 And it came to pass, when I, even I Daniel, had seen the vision, and sought for the meaning, then, behold, there stood before me as the appearance of a man. 16 And I heard a man's voice between the banks of Ulai, which called, and said, Gabriel, make this man to understand the vision. 17 So he came near where I stood: and when he came, I was afraid, and fell upon my face: but he said unto me, Understand, O son of man: for at the time of the end shall be the vision."  (Daniel 8:15-17)

"21 Yea, whiles I was speaking in prayer, even the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, touched me about the time of the evening oblation. 22 And he informed me, and talked with me, and said, O Daniel, I am now come forth to give thee skill and understanding."  (Daniel 9:21-22)

"18 And Zacharias said unto the angel, Whereby shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife well stricken in years. 19 And the angel answering said unto him, I am Gabriel, that stand in the presence of God; and am sent to speak unto thee, and to shew thee these glad tidings. 20 And, behold, thou shalt be dumb, and not able to speak, until the day that these things shall be performed, because thou believest not my words, which shall be fulfilled in their season."  (Luke 1:18-20)

"26 And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, 27 To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary. 28 And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women. 29 And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be. 30 And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God. 31 And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus. 32 He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: 33 And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end."  (Luke 1:26-33)

We are told there are Cherubims and Seraphims.

"So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life."  (Genesis 3:24)

"6 In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. 2 Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. 3 And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory."  (Isaiah 6:1-3)

The term archangel is found only 2 times in the Bible. By one of these verses, we know Michael is the name of the archangel. Because one of those times the phrase “THE archangel” is used, it seems there is only one, Michael.

"Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee."  (Jude 1:9)

"For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:” (1 Thessalonians 4:16)

Satan is the angel who turned bad and was thrown out of heaven. He is named 49 times in the KJV Bible.  Here is one scripture about him.  We see he is also called the “the devil”, “the great dragon”, and “that old serpent”.

"6 Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them. 7 And the Lord said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the Lord, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it."  (Job 1:6-7)

"And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him."  (Revelation 12:9)

So we see there are many kinds of angels, and we have not enumerated all the types that are shown to humankind in visions of heaven. In Ezekiel and Isaiah, we see Cherubim and Seraphim as two types of angels. But there is no need to examine that here. We have seen there are many types of angels. Not all have the same power or authority or even form.

THERE IS ONLY ONE GOD!

Make no mistake, there is only ONE GOD!

"39 See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god with me: I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal: neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand. 40 For I lift up my hand to heaven, and say, I live for ever."  (Deuteronomy 32:39-40)

"10 Ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me. 11 I, even I, am the Lord; and beside me there is no saviour. 12 I have declared, and have saved, and I have shewed, when there was no strange god among you: therefore ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord, that I am God. 13 Yea, before the day was I am he; and there is none that can deliver out of my hand: I will work, and who shall let it?"  (Isaiah 43:10-13)

"6 Thus saith the Lord the King of Israel, and his redeemer the Lord of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God. 7 And who, as I, shall call, and shall declare it, and set it in order for me, since I appointed the ancient people? And the things that are coming, and shall come, let them shew unto them. 8 Fear ye not, neither be afraid: have not I told thee from that time, and have declared it? Ye are even my witnesses. Is there a God beside me? Yea, there is no God; I know not any."  (Isaiah 44:6-8)

"20 Assemble yourselves and come; draw near together, ye that are escaped of the nations: they have no knowledge that set up the wood of their graven image, and pray unto a god that cannot save. 21 Tell ye, and bring them near; yea, let them take counsel together: Who hath declared this from ancient time? Who hath told it from that time? Have not I the Lord? And there is no God else beside me; a just God and a Saviour; there is none beside me. 22 Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else. 23 I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear."  (Isaiah 45:20-23)

What is the Almighty God, the Eternal God, the only God’s name?

"13 And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? What shall I say unto them? 14 And God said unto Moses, I Am That I Am: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I Am hath sent me unto you." (Exodus 3:13-14)

BibleHub.com at https://biblehub.com/interlinear/exodus/3-14.htm gives us the Hebrew name of God.

Note that Hebrew reads from right to left, so the pronunciation is yeh-‘eh.  Numerous articles by ancient Hebrew experts say the English pronunciation today is “Yahweh”.

NONE are equal to Yahweh!  None come close.

GOD'S LAW ON SIN

We see in the Bible that right when they were created, Yahweh gave humankind a rule, only one rule we know about.

"15 And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the Garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: 17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." (Genesis 2:15-17)

One rule, one law.  You would think Adam and Eve could handle that, right?  Sadly, no.  You know the story.

"3 Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? 2 And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: 3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. 4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: 5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. 6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat." (Genesis 3, 3-5)

So the one rule, the one law was given, and humankind broke the law, and suffered the consequences. Humans do not have an immortal spirit or soul. If you don’t know this, please see my study,” Will Humans Be Tortured Forever in Hell?”

"Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die."  (Ezekiel 18:4)

"The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him."  (Ezekiel 18:20)

"For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." (Romans 6:23)

Please very carefully examine that verse above, Romans 6:23. See what the TRUTH is that Paul is trying to sink into our brains, and hearts.

#1.  The wages of sin is death, NOT ETERNAL LIFE in hell.

#2.  Man does NOT HAVE eternal life, to live in hell or anywhere.  Eternal Life is a GIFT from Yahweh, through Yeshua, the Messiah He sent to humankind, IF THEY BELIEVE AND OBEY. They do not already have the gift, for then it could not be called a gift.

"The Lord preserveth all them that love him: but all the wicked will he destroy."  (Psalm 145:20)

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."  (John 3:16)

"Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death."  (James 1:15)

"Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:" (Romans 5:12)

"21 Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour? 22 What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction: 23 And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory," (Romans 9:21-23)

"Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power;” (2 Thessalonians 1:9)

"Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them."  (Romans 1:32)

"18 (For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: 19 Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.)" (Philippians 3:18-19)

"Without being frightened in any way by those who oppose you. This is a sign to them that they will be destroyed, but that you will be saved—and that by God." (Philippians 1:28 NIV)

In the last verse above, Philippians 1:28, KJV says “perdition”, which isn’t as clear as it could be, so I used the NIV. 22 translations out of 27 in BibleHub.com parallel bibles used the words “destroyed” and “destruction.”

God’s law on sin is made very clear in the scriptures.  The twelve verses above are just a few of the many places in the Bible that scripture confirms, the soul that sinneth, it shall die. The words used are “die”, “die”, “death”, “destroy”, “perish”, “death”, “death”, “destruction”, “destruction”, “death”, “destroyed.” How can someone read these scriptures, and think sinners will live forever?  “The wages of sin is death”.

The word "perdition" is used 8 times in the KJV Bible, all in the New Testament.

We shall remove the term "son of perdition" which is used once of Judas Iscariot in John 17:12, and a second time of the Antichrist in 2 Thessalonians 2:3.  Removing those two references as relating to individuals as a title, leaves us with six (6) uses of the word "perdition" in the KVJ Bible.  Below the verses are given from the more modern NIV Bible. In all six verses, the Greek word "apóleia" is translated into English as "destruction" or "destroyed."

From BibleHub.com's Strong’s Concordance section, Strong's says this about "perdition".

https://biblehub.com/greek/684.htm

G684. Apóleia.

Apóleia: destruction, loss

Original Word: ἀπώλεια, ας, ἡ

Part of Speech: Noun, Feminine

Transliteration: apóleia

Phonetic Spelling: (ap-o'-li-a)

Definition: destruction, loss

Usage: destruction, ruin, loss, perishing; eternal ruin.

"Without being frightened in any way by those who oppose you. This is a sign to them that they will be destroyed, but that you will be saved—and that by God."  (Philippians 1:28 NIV)

"9 Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction." (1 Timothy 6:9 NIV)

"But we do not belong to those who shrink back and are destroyed, but to those who have faith and are saved." (Hebrews 10:39 NIV)

"By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the Day of Judgment and destruction of the ungodly." (2 Peter 3:7 NIV)

"The beast, which you saw, once was, now is not, and yet will come up out of the Abyss and go to its destruction. The inhabitants of the earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from the creation of the world will be astonished when they see the beast, because it once was, now is not, and yet will come." (Revelation 17:8 NIV)

"The beast who once was, and now is not, is an eighth king. He belongs to the seven and is going to his destruction."  (Revelation 17:11 NIV)

So six more verses show sinners suffering “destruction”. That is a total of seventeen (18) scripture verses that say words meaning death or destruction.

For a person to believe in the eternal torture of souls that sin, they need to redefine “die” and “death” as “Eternal Life in Torture”, AND ALSO redefine “destruction” as “Eternal Life in Torture.”

Please think that over. Does that seem reasonable to you? Are YOU comfortable changing those words' definitions?

Doesn’t it make more sense to believe the Apostles and Prophets chose the right word to use?

THE SOUL

Some consider the human “soul” to be different from the animal “soul”, and different from the angel “soul”.

Consider the two scriptures shown below, with their Hebrew wording. Genesis 2:7 and Genesis 9:12.

"And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." (Genesis 2:7)

From BibleHub.com’s Interlinear Bible, in the picture below, look at the words surrounded in red.  In Genesis 2:7 the words are Strong’s H5315 and Strong’s H2416.  These are “La nepes hayyah.” Remember Hebrew reads from right to left.  The word “La” translates to “a”, so it is translated “a Living Being”. In the picture of Genesis 9:12 below, The Strong’s words are the same, H5351 and H2416.  Note the “La” is ignored as it just means “a”.

In Genesis 9:12 below, it is translated, “Living creature”.

"And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations:" (Genesis 9:12)

So the same words are used for “living creature” and “living being”.  There is no difference in the meaning for the same words are used.

In the five verses below, with the phrase “living creature”, the same Hebrew words “hayyah nepes” are used.

"And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good."  (Genesis 1:21)

"And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so." (Genesis 1:24)

"And out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof."  (Genesis 2:19)

"And with every living creature that is with you, of the fowl, of the cattle, and of every beast of the earth with you; from all that go out of the ark, to every beast of the earth." (Genesis 9:10)

"And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh." (Genesis 9:15)

In Ezekiel the term “living creature” is used 12 times.  In 25 translations of the Bible, it is used as either “Living Being” or “Living Creature.” Each time Ezekiel is talking about a type of angel called “Cherubims”.

The point of all these verses above, is that angels are “souls” also.  They are different from humans, but so are the animals.  Since the phrases “living being” or “living creature”, or “living soul” are used for animals, humankind, and angels, angels are “souls”.

Remember God’s Law on Sin. It doesn’t speak of men; it speaks of “souls”.

"Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die."  (Ezekiel 18:4)

Realizing this, we have firm ground to believe the angels that sin will die.

JUDGMENT DAY

Even as badly flawed humans, even we have a sense of justice, and have set up a system of justice in our governments.  In all governments I know of, after a person breaks the law, they are taken to a judge, a seat of judgment, to have facts verified, and a judgment of guilt or innocence.  Then, and then only, does mankind punish the lawbreaker.  First prove he is guilty, and then punish him.

Would God do anything less?  Of course God KNOWS all things, and knows exactly what sins every person is guilty of.  Thank God that He allows repentance.  He allows us to say we are sorry, and PROVE that by turning from our sins.  Over and over in the scriptures, God asks people to repent of their sin, and promises to forgive those who truly repent.

But for this Bible Study, we are not concerned with REPENTED SIN, but UNREPENTED SIN.  For the devil and the evil angels, what will God do?

Some people think there will be no judgment, or that they can escape judgment somehow.  Other than believing in Yeshua, confessing and repenting of our sins, to receive our forgiveness and salvation through the Savior, Yeshua Hamaschiach, Jesus the Messiah, there is NO OTHER WAY!  The Bible makes it very clear, EVERY SOUL WILL BE JUDGED.

" 10 And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.11 And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. 12 And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works."  (Revelation 20:10-12)

"Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead." (Acts 17:31)

"For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad."  (2 Corinthians 5:10)

"For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil."  (Ecclesiastes 12:14)

"But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment."  (Matthew 12:36)

"And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:” (Hebrews 9:27)

"Before the Lord: for he cometh, for he cometh to judge the earth: he shall judge the world with righteousness, and the people with his truth."  (Psalm 96:13)

"In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel."  (Romans 2:16)

There can be no doubt; JUDGMENT DAY is coming for EVERY SOUL.  If you have not believed in, confessed to, and asked for salvation from Yeshua (Jesus in English), DO IT NOW!  If you are not sure how to be saved from your sins, please see my light little study, “How To Be Saved And Gain Eternal Life”, or my deeper, more thorough study,” How Jesus & His 12 Apostles Say We Are Saved”.

GOD IS JUST!

We not so nice humans have some sense of fairness, a sense of justice. Abraham bargained with Yahweh and proved that Yahweh is also fair. He is fair far beyond our ability to be fair.

"20 And the Lord said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous; 21 I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto me; and if not, I will know. 22 And the men turned their faces from thence, and went toward Sodom: but Abraham stood yet before the Lord. 23 And Abraham drew near, and said, Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked? 24 Peradventure there be fifty righteous within the city: wilt thou also destroy and not spare the place for the fifty righteous that are therein? 25 That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right? 26 And the Lord said, If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes. 27 And Abraham answered and said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, which am but dust and ashes: 28 Peradventure there shall lack five of the fifty righteous: wilt thou destroy all the city for lack of five? And he said, If I find there forty and five, I will not destroy it. 29 And he spake unto him yet again, and said, Peradventure there shall be forty found there. And he said, I will not do it for forty's sake.  30 And he said unto him, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak: Peradventure there shall thirty be found there. And he said, I will not do it, if I find thirty there. 31 And he said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord: Peradventure there shall be twenty found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for twenty's sake. 32 And he said, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak yet but this once: Peradventure ten shall be found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for ten's sake. 33 And the Lord went his way, as soon as he had left communing with Abraham: and Abraham returned unto his place." (Genesis 18:20-33)

“Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” Abraham had a sense of fairness. And Abraham asked Yahweh outright, face to face, if the Most High God, the Judge of all the Earth shall do right. Would Yahweh be fair? And of course, Yahweh was fair.

So there is good news for you and me.  The God who will have His Messiah judge all souls is FAIR.  Judgment is coming, but under a FAIR judge, who has told us exactly how to be saved from wrath.  It is all souls’ free will to obey and be saved, or to disobey and be destroyed.

Even more good news than that, Yahweh wants ALL to be saved!

"20 The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him. 21 But if the wicked will turn from all his sins that he hath committed, and keep all my statutes, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live, he shall not die. 22 All his transgressions that he hath committed, they shall not be mentioned unto him: in his righteousness that he hath done he shall live. 23 Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? Saith the Lord God: and not that he should return from his ways, and live? 24 But when the righteous turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, and doeth according to all the abominations that the wicked man doeth, shall he live? All his righteousness that he hath done shall not be mentioned: in his trespass that he hath trespassed, and in his sin that he hath sinned, in them shall he die. 25 Yet ye say, The way of the Lord is not equal. Hear now, O house of Israel; Is not my way equal? Are not your ways unequal? 26 When a righteous man turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, and dieth in them; for his iniquity that he hath done shall he die. 27 Again, when the wicked man turneth away from his wickedness that he hath committed, and doeth that which is lawful and right, he shall save his soul alive. 28 Because he considereth, and turneth away from all his transgressions that he hath committed, he shall surely live, he shall not die. 29 Yet saith the house of Israel, The way of the Lord is not equal. O house of Israel, are not my ways equal? Are not your ways unequal? 30 Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, saith the Lord God. Repent, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin. 31 Cast away from you all your transgressions, whereby ye have transgressed; and make you a new heart and a new spirit: for why will ye die, O house of Israel? 32 For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord God: wherefore turn yourselves, and live ye." (Ezekiel 18:20-32)

If you in any way doubt the goodness and fairness of Our God Yahweh, read the above again.

We have a fair, good, kind, and loving God, Yahweh, the Almighty God.  He tells us clearly, to stop sinning. He wants us to be saved.  He has gone to GREAT LENGTHS to save everyone, even to His own hurt, to send His only begotten Son, Yeshua, to pay the payment for our sins, by suffering and dying on the cross.

WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO THE SPIRITS THAT SIN?

So we have seen what God’s Law on sin says will to happen to souls that sin.  “The soul that sinneth, it shall die.”  It says “SOULS”, not humans.  So, what about the angels, spirits?

ANGELS WILL BE JUDGED

In accordance with the justice and fairness of Our Father, Yahweh, as mankind shall be judged, so shall the angels be judged.

"And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day."  (Jude 1:6)

Jude, the brother of James and of Yeshua (Jesus in English) says the angels WILL BE JUDGED!

Paul tells Christians that those who will be in the First Resurrection will judge angels.

"1 Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unjust, and not before the saints? 2 Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? And if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters? 3 Know ye not that we shall judge angels? How much more things that pertain to this life?" (1 Corinthians 6:1-3)

In an encounter with demons, they are aware of a time coming when they will be judged.

"28 And when he was come to the other side into the country of the Gergesenes, there met him two possessed with devils, coming out of the tombs, exceeding fierce, so that no man might pass by that way. 29 And, behold, they cried out, saying, What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? Art thou come hither to torment us before the time? 30 And there was a good way off from them an herd of many swine feeding. 31 So the devils besought him, saying, If thou cast us out, suffer us to go away into the herd of swine. 32 And he said unto them, Go. And when they were come out, they went into the herd of swine: and, behold, the whole herd of swine ran violently down a steep place into the sea, and perished in the waters."  (Matthew 8:28-32)

The point isn’t what Yeshua did with the demons, other than that they had to obey Him.  But that they knew it was “before the time” that He would deal with them, set in the future. They knew a Day of Judgment was coming.

"2 Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? And if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters?  3 Know ye not that we shall judge angels? How much more things that pertain to this life?"  (1 Corinthians 6:2-3)

To not get sidetracked about the saved judging angels, the point from the scripture above important to us in this study, is that this verse confirms that the angels shall be judged.  For those found guilty, Judgment is followed by punishment.  Since we know the angels will be judged, do we have any scriptural clue about their punishment?

THE SOUL THAT SINNETH, IT SHALL DIE

God has made it clear there is ONE LAW, not different laws for different people, or different souls.  One Law.

"One law shall be to him that is homeborn, and unto the stranger that sojourneth among you."  (Exodus 12:49)

"15 One ordinance shall be both for you of the congregation, and also for the stranger that sojourneth with you, an ordinance for ever in your generations: as ye are, so shall the stranger be before the Lord.  16 One law and one manner shall be for you, and for the stranger that sojourneth with you."  (Numbers 15:15-16)

So there is ONE LAW for all SOULS.  We have seen the devil is a “soul” and the evil angels are “souls." And we have seen Yahweh's direct statement about "souls".

"Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die." (Ezekiel 18:4)

When man sinned in the Garden of Eden, God said the following to someone, probably the angels, though some say Yeshua.

"21 Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins, and clothed them. 22 And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever: 23 Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken."  (Genesis 3:21-23)

The animals were created, like man, and like the angels.  But the animals did not eat the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, so the animals do not know right from wrong.  They did not “become as one of us, to know good and evil”.  Not knowing right and wrong, the animals can not sin.

If a “soul” means a living creature, then the scripture above shows that to be able to sin, the soul must know right from wrong.  Animals don’t have that.  Yes, when you get home and your dog has shredded a pillow in playing, and you hold that pillow up to the dog, your dog looks down and looks guilty.  We might accept that the dog knows it did something you don’t like.  But I trust you would agree that your dog, and other animals, don’t understand the legal system of human governments, or the Law of God. They can not be held guilty. They will not be judged.

Humans know good and evil, right and wrong, and humans have free will.  Humans can know what God wants, and choose to disobey.  Disobeying God’s Law is sin.  Human souls can sin.  Can angel souls sin? The Bible tells us outright, YES, angels can and DO sin.

"For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment;"  (2 Peter 2:4)

"17 Shall mortal man be more just than God? Shall a man be more pure than his maker? 18 Behold, he put no trust in his servants; and his angels he charged with folly: 19 How much less in them that dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, which are crushed before the moth?" (Job 4:17-19)

"And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day."  (Jude 1:6)

Yes, the Bible is clear angels can sin.  That means they know right from wrong, and they have free will.  The animals will not be judged.  Humankind and angels will be judged.  And after judgment, punishment of the guilty.

SCRIPTURES THAT CONFIRM WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO THE DEVIL

Long ago, the devil and his angels, the fallen angels, were cast out of the heaven of heavens down to earth.

"12 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! 13 For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: 14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High."  (Isaiah 14:12-14)

"And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him."  (Revelation 12:9)

That was not the punishment for their sins, that was just keeping heaven sinless and pure and holy. There awaits a final punishment for those who sin. We have already seen the scriptures on the wages of sin.

THROWN INTO THE LAKE OF FIRE

The result of judgment for the devil is stated in the Book of Revelation that talks of the resurrections and judgments.

"And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever."  (Revelation 20:10)

The ending of that verse, “Tormented day and night for ever and ever” seems to say the devil will NOT die, but be tortured forever.  This IS a strong verse for that conclusion! But we shall see below how “forever” in ancient Hebrew did not mean what it means in English today.  It had varied meanings, such as “until they die”, or “to the end of the age”, or similar meanings.

But let’s consider ALL pertinent verses to get a preponderance of scriptures, and not base our understanding on one verse.

What about the fallen or evil angels or demons?

The following verse shows the fate of the fallen or evil angels is closely tied to the fate of the devil.  It appears they suffer the same fate.

"7 And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, 8 And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. 9 And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him."  (Revelation 12:7-9)

Because the devil tempted Eve in the Garden of Eden, and called God a liar at that time, we have a basis to believe that the devil and evil angels were cast out of heaven to earth before the Garden of Eden.

The scriptures say that the Lake of Fire, what most people wrongly call hell, was actually created for the devil AND the evil angels.

"31 When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: 32 And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: 33 And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. 34 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:” (Matthew 25:31-34)

"Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:” (Matthew 25:41)

We know from verses above that the devil was thrown into the “Lake of Fire”, and here it says the everlasting fire was created for the devil AND his angels. Since the scriptures say the devil was thrown in the Lake of Fire, and that this “everlasting fire” was prepared for him, it seems safe to believe these are the same, that is, it is the Lake of Fire that was prepared for him and his angels. So the fate of the evil fallen angels is the same as the fate of the devil.

DESTROYED IN THE LAKE OF FIRE OR TORMENTED THERE FOREVER?

That the devil and demon spirits can die is proven by the following verses.

"33 And in the synagogue there was a man, which had a spirit of an unclean devil, and cried out with a loud voice, 34 Saying, Let us alone; what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? Art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art; the Holy One of God."  (Luke 4:33-34)

Some will try to convince you the "destroy" here does not mean destroy, but something else.  Out of Twenty-five translations of the Bible shown as default at BibleHub.com's Parallel Bible page, ALL but one say "destroy".  We are safe using the clear meaning of the word "destroy".

"12 Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord God; Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty. 13 Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created. 14 Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. 15 Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee. By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire."  (Ezekiel 28:12-16)

Again checking Twenty-five translations of the Bible shown as default at BibleHub.com's Parallel Bible page, 15 out of 27 say "destroyed".  Yes, a few say "banished" instead. But with more than half saying "destroyed", we have a reasonable foundation to use the clear meaning of the word "destroyed".  If you have any doubt the “covering cherub” and the “anointed cherub” mean the devil, please do your own Bible Study to see. This is God speaking through Ezekiel to the devil.

Continuing in chapter 28,

"17 Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee. 18 Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffick; therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee. 19 All they that know thee among the people shall be astonished at thee: thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt thou be any more." (Ezekiel 28:17-19)

Consider these words of scripture, “It shall DEVOUR thee, and I will bring thee TO ASHES upon the earth.” This makes sense in light of Revelation 14:10. The holy angels and Yeshua the Lamb will see the destruction of the devil.

“10 The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:” (Revelation 14:10)

Thanks to BibleHub.com’s Parallel Bible page, we can see 26 Translations, ALL OF WHICH say the same thing. The devil will cease to exist.

New International Version

“All the nations who knew you are appalled at you; you have come to a horrible end and will be no more.”

New Living Translation

“All who knew you are appalled at your fate. You have come to a terrible end, and you will exist no more.”

English Standard Version

“All who know you among the peoples are appalled at you; you have come to a dreadful end and shall be no more forever.”

Berean Study Bible

“All the nations who know you are appalled over you. You have come to a horrible end and will be no more.’ ”

King James Bible

“All they that know thee among the people shall be astonished at thee: thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt thou be any more.”

New King James Version

“All who knew you among the peoples are astonished at you; You have become a horror, And shall be no more forever.”

New American Standard Bible

“All who know you among the peoples Are appalled at you; You have become terrified And you will cease to be forever.”

NASB 1995

“All who know you among the peoples Are appalled at you; You have become terrified And you will cease to be forever."

NASB 1977

“All who know you among the peoples Are appalled at you; You have become terrified, And you will be no more.”

Amplified Bible

“All the peoples (nations) who knew you are appalled at you; You have come to a horrible and terrifying end And will forever cease to be.”

Christian Standard Bible

“All those who know you among the peoples are appalled at you. You have become an object of horror and will never exist again.”

Holman Christian Standard Bible

“All those who know you among the nations are appalled at you. You have become an object of horror and will never exist again.”

American Standard Version

“All they that know thee among the peoples shall be astonished at thee: thou art become a terror, and thou shalt nevermore have any being.”

Aramaic Bible in Plain English

“And all who know you among the people shall be ashamed at you, for you have been for destruction and you are not to eternity.”

Brenton Septuagint Translation

“And all that know thee among the nations shall groan over thee: thou art gone to destruction, and thou shalt not exist any more.”

Contemporary English Version

“And the people of other nations are shocked. Your punishment was horrible, and you are gone forever.”

Douay-Rheims Bible

“All that shall see thee among the nations, shall be astonished at thee: thou art brought to nothing, and thou shalt never be any more.”

Good News Translation

“You are gone, gone forever, and all the nations that had come to know you are terrified, afraid that they will share your fate."

International Standard Version

“Everyone who knows you throughout all the nations will be appalled at your calamity and you will no longer exist forever."

JPS Tanakh 1917

“All they that know thee among the peoples shall be appalled at thee; thou art become a terror, and thou shalt never be any more.”

“Literal Standard Version

All knowing you among the peoples have been astonished at you, You have been terrors, and you are not—for all time.”

New American Bible

“All the nations who knew you are appalled on account of you; You have become a horror, never to be again.”

NET Bible

“All who know you among the peoples are shocked at you; you have become terrified and will be no more."

New Revised Standard Version

“All who know you among the peoples are appalled at you; you have come to a dreadful end and shall be no more forever.”

New Heart English Bible

“All those who know you among the peoples shall be astonished at you: you have become a terror, and you shall nevermore have any being."

World English Bible

“All those who know you among the peoples shall be astonished at you: you have become a terror, and you shall nevermore have any being.”

The scriptures above are very clear. The devil will cease to exist. Since we have shown above how the fate of the fallen evil angels is the same as the fate of the devil, it is reasonable to believe that all the evil angels will also “cease to exist forever.”

Though the word hell is used wrongly in the scripture below, the point is that the SOUL can be destroyed!

"And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell."  (Matthew 10:28)

Again checking Twenty-five translations of the Bible shown as default at BibleHub.com's Parallel Bible page, every single one says "destroy".  Hell here is the Greek word Geenne γεέννῃ, Strong’s 1067 or Gehenna, which was the trash dump outside of Jerusalem where trash was burned.

In Matthew 3:11-12, John the Baptist says that sinners will be burned up.  It calls the fire unquenchable, meaning no one can put it out, and it can’t be put out, or quenched, by any means.  Only God who created it can put it out, when He is finished with it.  To be burned up doesn’t take long. Cremation takes about 4 hours in a cremation furnace that reaches only about 1300 degrees Celsius.  The Lake of fire is very probably very much hotter than that. The phrase “burned up” shows a completion of the process.  It is not burning and burning forever, but burned up, to ashes.

"11 I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance. But he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire: 12 Whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire." (Matthew 3:11-12)

What is the fate of the wicked?  They are totally burned up to ashes.

"4 For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. 2 But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall. 3 And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the Lord of hosts."  (Malachi 4:1-3)

THE SECOND DEATH

The term “second death” is used only 4 places in scripture, but one of those places actually specifies the exact meaning for us. The full chapter 20 the Book of Revelation, in the Bible follows.  It has MUCH important information.

First, the devil is cast into the bottomless pit for 1,000 years.  This is called the Millennium, which just means one thousand years, but has great significance to us.  In His kindness, Yahweh is not going to let the devil deceive people for 1,000 years. You know people even joke about, “The devil made me do it”.  Well, not for those 1,000 years.

Then the devil is “loosed a little season”, and goes right back to rebellion against God, and inciting people to rebel.

Why is “endure to the end” of our lives so important to salvation? It tells us right here, and above in Ezekiel 18:20-32 which we already read.  It is how we END THE RACE that determines our fate, not how we begin the race.  It is how we END A FIGHT that determines our fate, not how we begin a fight.  Those who resisted worshipping the evil beast TO THE END, until they were beheaded, “live and reign” with Christ for a thousand years.

"1 And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. 2 And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, 3 And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season. 4 And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. 5 But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. 6 Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.”  (Revelation 20:1-4)

God tells us plainly, that was the FIRST RESURRECTION, therefore another, a second resurrection is indicated.

We see the devil is let loose, and again incites the world against God and His people Israel.

7 And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, 8 And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog, and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. 9 And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.”  (Revelation 20:7-9)

Finally, we see the devil thrown into the Lake of Fire. As shown in another Bible Study, the word “ARE” used for the beast and the false prophet is NOT THERE in the original Greek language. I have replaced it with the understood meaning, “were thrown”.  If you have any questions about that, do your own research, and/or see my study, “Will Humans Be Tortured Forever in Hell?” There is more there about this ADDED WORD “are”.

Here also is where we see The Great White Throne, the SECOND RESURRECTION, and the JUDGMENT.

10 And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet (were thrown), and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever. 11 And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. 12 And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. 13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. "  (Revelation 20:10-13)

And finally we have found what we really have been looking for.  The “Lake” of Fire is defined by the Bible as “The Second Death”.

“14 And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. 15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.“  (Revelation 20:14-15)

I am very often totally amazed at what very large groups of people do with the scriptures.  Oh, I have been guilty of it in the past, deceived, and no doubt will be about some things now and in the future, but little by little, I am breaking free of customs and traditions.  May Our Father, Yahweh, also break you free of your deceptions and delusions.  What amazes me is how large denominations blatantly change the standard definition of words in the scripture, to mean something that has no relation to what the word means.  Here is a perfect example.

The Bible itself, the scriptures themselves, in Revelation 20:14 say “the Lake of Fire. This is the second death.” But what do some say it means?  To make it fit their preconceived beliefs, they say it means to LIVE FOREVER.  They have been told all their lives that sinners will burn forever and ever in “hell”.  Therefore, they twist this verse to mean, “live forever”.  So the Bible’s definition of “The Lake of Fire, This is the Second Death”, they change to mean “Eternal Life in torture”.  Remember Mark Twain’s quote, “It is easier to fool a person, than to make them believe they have been fooled”.  This definition change is not a small tweak, a slight clarification, it is the EXACT OPPOSITE!

How hard God is trying to make us understand.  The wages of sin is DEATH.  After being resurrected, those judged to be sinners will be subject to THE SECOND DEATH. They lived their life, died, were resurrected, judged, and put to death again, hence, THE SECOND DEATH.

DO ANY VERSES SAY SOULS WILL LIVE FOREVER IN HELL?

If the Second Death for humankind and evil angels is so clear, why do people think they will burn forever in hell?  They do have a very few scriptures that seem to say that.  Let’s examine these scriptures fairly and honestly and see what we find.  It might be we can not resolve the issue with those verses, in which case we need to balance them against the verses that say the opposite.

Neither the ancient Israelites, nor the early Christians had any concept of a hell of eternal torture, or the immortality of the human soul.  It is my understanding that these ideas came from the non-Christians Socrates and his intellectual heirs Plato and Aristotle. So what does the Bible really say?

Two weaker verses that some people base their belief in eternal torture on, speak of their “WORM” not dying. This comes from Yeshua’s statement in Mark 9:44.

"43 And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched: 44 Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched." (Mark 9:43-44)

Yeshua was quoting His Father, Yahweh, as related by the prophet Isaiah.

"22 For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the Lord, so shall your seed and your name remain. 23 And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the Lord. 24 And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcases of the men that have transgressed against me: for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh." (Isaiah 66:22-24)

God was speaking of CARCASES, the dead bodies of men, material, fleshly bodies.  Gehenna, which is often translated “hell”, was the dump outside Jerusalem where trash was thrown and burned. Dead bodies of animals and men were also thrown there.  Those bodies that were not burning were eaten by worms.  Worms don’t survive fire.  The fire was never put out, never quenched, as long as new fuel was being added to the dumb.  The worms were not immortal worms, but ate and bred new generations of worms to continue eating.  As long as new fuel was added, the worm community would not die out. The fire would not stop, and the worms would not die, until they both ran out of fuel, the dead bodies, flesh and blood bodies.  Some will say the word “worm” means “soul”.  Have them try to prove that to you.

Neither of the verses above even remotely support the eternal torture of souls.

By far the strongest verses that seem to say the devil and the evil angels will be tortured forever and ever are the following two.

"9 And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, 10 The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb: 11 And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name." (Revelation 14:9-11)

"And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever." (Revelation 20:10)

Let’s see what “forever” or “for ever and ever” meant when they were used in the ancient Hebrew in which the scriptures of the Old Testament were written. The following section is from my study “Will Humans Be Tortured Forever in Hell?”

WHAT DOES FOREVER MEAN IN THE BIBLE?

As 20th century Americans, what does “forever” mean to us? Different dictionaries define forever as, for all future time, for always, for a limitless time, continually, and lasting without end, or permanent. Yet even for us, we use that term figuratively to make a point. For example, “The drive to St. Louis took forever”, and, “He was forever talking about his first car.” The question is, how did ancient Hebrews or Greeks mean the term, as it ended up in the Bible? Following are examples of “forever” NOT meaning what we might think at first glance. In the King James Version, the word “forever” does not appear. The phrase “for ever” appears 381 times in the Old Testament (Hebrew), and 72 times in the New Testament (Greek). We can not examine those 453 times here, so will use the ones that show that “for ever” does not always mean “without end.”

"29 And if a man sell a dwelling house in a walled city, then he may redeem it within a whole year after it is sold; within a full year may he redeem it. 30 And if it be not redeemed within the space of a full year, then the house that is in the walled city shall be established for ever to him that bought it throughout his generations: it shall not go out in the jubilee. 31 But the houses of the villages which have no wall round about them shall be counted as the fields of the country: they may be redeemed, and they shall go out in the jubilee. 32 Notwithstanding the cities of the Levites, and the houses of the cities of their possession, may the Levites redeem at any time." (Leviticus 25:29-32)

Leviticus 25:30 clearly does not mean through eternity, for Yahweh said He will destroy the Earth and create a new Earth. It clearly means a shorter time.

"45 Moreover of the children of the strangers that do sojourn among you, of them shall ye buy, and of their families that are with you, which they begat in your land: and they shall be your possession. 46 And ye shall take them as an inheritance for your children after you, to inherit them for a possession; they shall be your bondmen for ever: but over your brethren the children of Israel, ye shall not rule one over another with rigour." (Leviticus 25:45-46)

" 16 And it shall be, if he say unto thee, I will not go away from thee; because he loveth thee and thine house, because he is well with thee; Then thou shalt take an awl, and thrust it through his ear unto the door, and he shall be thy servant for ever. And also unto thy maidservant thou shalt do likewise." (Deuteronomy 15:16-17)

In the two verses above, obviously, a servant or bondman can only be a bondman until he dies. Therefore, the word forever, when applied to a human, here means until their death.

"And when he looked on Amalek, he took up his parable, and said, Amalek was the first of the nations; but his latter end shall be that he perish for ever." (Numbers 24:20)

"And ships shall come from the coast of Chittim, and shall afflict Asshur, and shall afflict Eber, and he also shall perish for ever." (Numbers 24:24)

We think of perishing as being the end, so we easily interpret this as meaning he will die and never live again. But in the two verses above, no one would interpret this to mean he will be in the act of perishing for ever, never dying, but to be in a state of dying for eternity.

"An Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord; even to their tenth generation shall they not enter into the congregation of the Lord for ever:" (Deuteronomy 23:3)

This verse above limits for ever to ten generations. That may be about 400 years (10 generations of 40 years), but it is not for eternity, as we are used to “for ever” meaning.

"And she vowed a vow, and said, O Lord of hosts, if thou wilt indeed look on the affliction of thine handmaid, and remember me, and not forget thine handmaid, but wilt give unto thine handmaid a man child, then I will give him unto the Lord all the days of his life, and there shall no razor come upon his head." (1 Samuel 1:11)

"20 Wherefore it came to pass, when the time was come about after Hannah had conceived, that she bare a son, and called his name Samuel, saying, Because I have asked him of the Lord. 21 And the man Elkanah, and all his house, went up to offer unto the Lord the yearly sacrifice, and his vow. 22 But Hannah went not up; for she said unto her husband, I will not go up until the child be weaned, and then I will bring him, that he may appear before the Lord, and there abide for ever." (1 Samuel 1:20-22)

Again, these verses show that in dealing with humans, “for ever” can mean until the end of their life.

"And Achish believed David, saying, He hath made his people Israel utterly to abhor him; therefore he shall be my servant for ever."  (1 Samuel 27:12)

"1 And it came to pass in those days, that the Philistines gathered their armies together for warfare, to fight with Israel. And Achish said unto David, Know thou assuredly, that thou shalt go out with me to battle, thou and thy men. 2 And David said to Achish, Surely thou shalt know what thy servant can do. And Achish said to David, Therefore will I make thee keeper of mine head for ever." (1 Samuel 28:1-2)

A commentary says the word “head” in verse 2 above, means Achish made David his bodyguard, or head of his armed forces. So in the two verses above “for ever” obviously means until David’s or Achish’s death.

"Then Bathsheba bowed with her face to the earth, and did reverence to the king, and said, Let my lord king David live for ever." (1 Kings 1:31)

Here Bathsheba was obviously wishing David a long life, until he died, not eternal life forever and ever and ever.

"12 Then spake Solomon, The Lord said that he would dwell in the thick darkness. 13 I have surely built thee an house to dwell in, a settled place for thee to abide in for ever." (1 Kings 8:12-13)

No matter how sturdy the temple was, Solomon knew it would not last to eternity. In this verse, for ever clearly means a long, long time; perhaps thousands of years.

"And the Lord said unto him, I have heard thy prayer and thy supplication, that thou hast made before me: I have hallowed this house, which thou hast built, to put my name there for ever; and mine eyes and mine heart shall be there perpetually." (1 Kings 9:3)

1 Kings 9:3 above is particularly important, for it shows that even Yahweh uses “for ever “to mean for a long, long time. Yahweh knew He would allow the Babylonians to destroy Solomon’s Temple around 586 B.C.

There is debate over the EXACT year the First Temple, Solomon's Temple, was built, and what year it was destroyed. Most dates I see say Solomon's Temple was built around 957-960 B.C. by King Solomon, and destroyed around 587-586 B.C. by the Babylonian king, Nebuchadnezzar II.

Cyrus the Great of Persia allowed the Hebrew people to return home and rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem. The Second Temple, was started around 515-517 B.C. Around 20 BC, Herod the Great began a massive remodeling of the Second Temple in Jerusalem, so it is sometimes called Herod's Temple.

One date that is extremely well documented and not debated at all is the destruction of the Second Temple in the year 70 A.D. by the Romans'.  This date is VERY IMPORTANT to Christian and Israelites, as you can see in my study, "Is Yeshua the Messiah?"

"6 And king Rehoboam consulted with the old men, that stood before Solomon his father while he yet lived, and said, How do ye advise that I may answer this people? 7 And they spake unto him, saying, If thou wilt be a servant unto this people this day, and wilt serve them, and answer them, and speak good words to them, then they will be thy servants for ever." (1 Kings 12:6-7)

“For ever” in the verse above clearly means until Rehoboam’s death.  There are many more such instances of “for ever” NOT meaning to eternity, as we usually understand it today.

"9 And the streams thereof shall be turned into pitch, and the dust thereof into brimstone, and the land thereof shall become burning pitch. 10 It shall not be quenched night nor day; the smoke thereof shall go up for ever: from generation to generation it shall lie waste; none shall pass through it for ever and ever." (Isaiah 34:9-10)

As in Isaiah 34:9-10 above, the punishment of Idumea or Edom was burning, of which the “smoke thereof shall go up for ever.”  Is there still smoke rising from the ancient city of Edom. No. Clearly this term does not mean forever and ever and ever. Since there is no smoke going up today from Edom, this must mean something other than that the physical city of Edom actually will burn and smoke forever. The fuel ran out, the fire burned out, the smoke died out.

Note the similarity of the phrase “the smoke thereof shall go up for ever” to the following verse.

"And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name." (Revelation 14:11)

So we see the similarity of smoke going up forever, hence in Revelation 14:11, it may be that it may be taken figuratively, as is clearly must be in Isaiah 34:9.

"5 I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not. 6 And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day. 7 Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire."  (Jude 1:5-7)

Are Sodom and Gomorrah STILL BURNING? No, so the term “eternal fire” does not always mean fire that burns forever.

“Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights." (Jonah 1:17)

"1 Then Jonah prayed unto the Lord his God out of the fish's belly, 2 And said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the Lord, and he heard me; out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice. 3 For thou hadst cast me into the deep, in the midst of the seas; and the floods compassed me about: all thy billows and thy waves passed over me. 4 Then I said, I am cast out of thy sight; yet I will look again toward thy holy temple. 5 The waters compassed me about, even to the soul: the depth closed me round about, the weeds were wrapped about my head. 6 I went down to the bottoms of the mountains; the earth with her bars was about me for ever: yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption, O Lord my God. 7 When my soul fainted within me I remembered the Lord: and my prayer came in unto thee, into thine holy temple. 8 They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy. 9 But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that that I have vowed. Salvation is of the Lord. 10 And the Lord spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land." (Jonah 2:1-10)

The Bible itself says Jonah was in the belly of the fish for three days and three nights. This is clearly only three days!  Yet I think we can all understand Jonah feeling like that was for ever.

"19 And after these things I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, saying, Alleluia; Salvation, and glory, and honour, and power, unto the Lord our God: 2 For true and righteous are his judgments: for he hath judged the great whore, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand. 3 And again they said, Alleluia. And her smoke rose up for ever and ever. 4 And the four and twenty elders and the four beasts fell down and worshipped God that sat on the throne, saying, Amen; Alleluia. 5 And a voice came out of the throne, saying, Praise our God, all ye his servants, and ye that fear him, both small and great." (Revelation 19:1-5)

There seems to be some debate over exactly what city or nation or religion this “great whore” is. Nevertheless, in Revelation 21 Yahweh makes a totally new Heavens and Earth. Will this city be kept around burning, being refueled, through eternity, in the New Earth? That seems totally unimaginable. As with the smoke from Edom going up “forever”, this just has to mean something else, like it will never be forgotten.

Another thought on “forever” or “everlasting”. Consider this verse.

"And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day." (Jude 1:6)

It says EVERLASTING chains, but only UNTO the day of judgment of the great day.

The point of all the verses above about “What Does Forever Mean in the Bible” is to show that the two verses that seemed to strongly to mean “forever and forever” could mean, in the Hebrew of the Bible, “Until their purpose was fulfilled” or ”to the end of the age.” To give them the meaning of “eternally forever and ever with no end” just can not be warranted, as it would go against the many scriptures above that say the sinner will die.

CONCLUSION

The purpose of this Bible Study was to find what the Bible really says about what will happen to the devil and the evil angels.  Since this topic is not essential for our salvation, there are fewer scriptures that address this topic than other topics, like “How Jesus & His 12 Apostles Say We Are Saved?” or “Is Yeshua the Messiah?”

Yet we still had a substantial number of scriptures on which to make a decision. Were the scriptures equally split, balanced?  Not that I saw.  Only 2 scriptures seem to say the devil would be tortured forever and ever and ever in the Lake of Fire. At least 17 scriptures say that the soul that sins will die and be destroyed.  Remember we must take the preponderance of the scriptures. It is very dangerous to base our belief on just one or two scriptures.  Sometimes, on some topics, that may be all we have.  Then, if there are no opposing scriptures at all, we may lean on those scriptures.  But for most important Biblical topics, there are many scriptures.

We have seen that the devil and fallen angels are souls, like men and animals. But the animals have no knowledge of good and evil.  Angels and men do.

We have seen that God does not change, and He made ONE LAW, His first law, “The soul that sinneth, it shall die.”

We have seen 18 scriptures that say the sinning soul will die and be destroyed.

What will the devil face, Death, or Eternal Torture? Each person must make up their own mind.

As always, if you see any pertinent scripture I have missed, or misinterpreted, or any error at all, please do contact me and let me know, so I can improve my Bible Studies, and search for the Truth. dan@vigilantvaliant.com

Thank you for reading this study.  If it helped you in any way, perhaps you will like others of my Bible Studies, which can be found at www.vigilantvaliant.com.

May Our Father, the Living God, guide you, protect you, and bless you.

Dan

Table of Contents

SCRIPTURES THAT SAY YAHWEH ALONE IS ETERNAL AND IMMORTAL

GOD DOES NOT MAKE MISTAKES

ANGEL SPIRITS ARE NOT THE SAME AS THE SPIRIT OF GOD

THERE ARE DIFFERENT TYPES OF ANGELS

THERE IS ONLY ONE GOD!

GOD'S LAW ON SIN

THE SOUL

JUDGMENT DAY

GOD IS JUST!

WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO THE SPIRITS THAT SIN?

ANGELS WILL BE JUDGED

THE SOUL THAT SINNETH, IT SHALL DIE

SCRIPTURES THAT CONFIRM WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO THE DEVIL

THROWN INTO THE LAKE OF FIRE

DESTROYED IN THE LAKE OF FIRE OR TORMENTED THERE FOREVER?

THE SECOND DEATH

DO ANY VERSES SAY SOULS WILL LIVE FOREVER IN HELL?

WHAT DOES FOREVER MEAN IN THE BIBLE?

CONCLUSION