No law of any nation on earth
permits the violator of the law to be tormented. The stealer of bread is
punished for a short period; the one who destroys the home is punished
for a longer period; and the one who takes his neighbor's life
deliberately is punished by the full penalty of the law, and his
punishment is lasting. Death is the highest penalty inflicted by the
law. It is also the greatest punishment inflicted by Jehovah. Life is
the dearest thing to any creature, and to be deprived of life would be
the greatest punishment that could be inflicted. Therefore eternal or
everlasting death, with no hope of a resurrection, would be an
everlasting punishment. But it would not be an everlasting conscious
torture. God plainly declared: "The wages of sin is death" (Romans
6:23), and not eternal torture.
[82]Having fixed this penalty, God could not change it afterward,
because God could not be inconsistent; he cannot deny himself.
(2 Timothy 2:13) It was by the disobedience of one man that sin came
into the world and death as the result of sin; so death has been the
penalty upon all mankind. (Romans 5:12) And this will continue until
God's due time to awaken them out of death and give all an opportunity
for life; and this we will discuss later. "The Lord preserveth them
that love him, but all the wicked will he destroy." (Psalm 145:20) The
Apostle plainly says that all the wicked shall be punished with an
everlasting destruction.
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