The unrighteous “shall go away into eternal punishment: but the righteous into eternal life,” said the Lord Jesus. The word “eternal” is from a Greek word corresponding to our “aeon.” The reward of the righteous, and the punishment of the wicked, will be of equal duration – everlasting. And conscious. Unconscious punishment is not punishment.

The Lord Jesus urged his hearers to shun a lifestyle that would lead them to the place “where their worm dies not, and the fire is not quenched.” He told of the longsuffering Lazarus welcomed into Abraham’s bosom after death, while the self-indulgent rich man was conscious and in torments.

By the grace of God, the Lord Jesus came to Earth to taste death for every human being. His experience of being made sin and being alienated from God, for us, was deemed by the Father, sufficient payment for our acceptance by God.

A misdemeanour against any authority figure is considered a serious matter. How much worse is a refusal to bow the knee to the Lord Jesus Christ when he calls ? God’s holiness requires more than a reprimand followed by an eternal sleep.

Spirit beings do not die. They continue to exist in the state they chose during their probation.

Every human being has a conscious eternal destiny ahead of them. Jesus waits for us to take his Gospel to the ends of the Earth. We each need to be about the Father’s business, because Judgment Day is coming. God, in Christ, was reconciling the world to himself, and he has committed to us the work of offering his salvation to our fellow human beings.

This is a huge responsibility, with eternal consequences. This is the Gospel imperative.

– Suzanne Cope
Auckland