God does not punish for punishment’s sake. God punishes in order to bring repentance. When beings, whether fallen angels, the devil, or humans, become so hard-hearted that they love sin, when there is no hope of repentance, then that being is eternally destroyed. Those will cease to exist. Scripturally, this is called the second death for people. (Revelation 20:14)
Our first condemnation to death was through Adam. “By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin,” Romans 5:12.
But God “will have all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” 1 Timothy 2:4. It is God’s will that all will be saved from the first sentence and the consequences of Adam’s sin. During Christ’s reign, the willing of mankind will be restored to the perfection and righteousness which Adam lost through sin. (Acts 3:19-21)
In God’s kingdom, righteousness will be universal. Jeremiah 31:33-34, “…I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts, and I will be their God… they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”
Then each person will have an individual trial – just as Adam was tested in the Garden of Eden. But this time, men will know the horrible consequences of sin, and most will gladly choose to obey God’s will. Those who will oppose Christ’s righteous reign on Earth will die the Second Death. “The soul that sins, it shall die.” Ezekiel 18:20.
What does Revelation 20:10 mean? The devil, the beast and the false prophet will be “tormented day and night forever and ever.” The word tormented is the Greek word, basanos, referring to testing. A basanos was a touchstone. The touchstone was marked with a line of pure gold and had additional lines of gold mixed with other metals. In ancient times, a gold coin was scraped, or tested (basanizo) against a basanos to determine its gold content. Thus, the memory of the devil and his institutions will serve as a “touchstone”. Mankind will forever test new ideas against their experience with sin and will recognize sin immediately.
Isaiah 14:15 does state that Lucifer will go to hell. In Hebrew, hell is the word, “sheol”. Everyone goes to sheol at death. When a good person died, sheol was translated as grave. When the bad died, it was translated hell. Sheol is the condition of oblivion, of non-existence. “The living know that they will die; but the dead know nothing…there is no work or device or knowledge or wisdom in the grave (sheol) where you are going.” Ecclesiastes 9:5, 10.
Thus, Lucifer will finally be destroyed and never exist again.
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