Saying 7 of 10
Eternal punishment, eternal life
Describing His return as King, Jesus said the nations will be separated like sheep from goats, and some will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.
What Jesus said
Jesus said that when the Son of Man comes in His glory He will sit on His throne and separate the nations. To one group He will say: come, inherit the kingdom prepared for you. To the other He will say: depart into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.
31“But when the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. 32Before him all the nations will be gathered, and he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33He will set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. 34Then the King will tell those on his right hand, ‘Come, blessed of my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world;
Matthew 25:31-34 (WEB) · context
41Then he will say also to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire which is prepared for the devil and his angels;
Matthew 25:41 (WEB) · context
46These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
Matthew 25:46 (WEB) · context
Prepared for the devil
Jesus said the eternal fire was prepared for the devil and his angels. God did not make it for people, and He takes no pleasure in anyone's death.
11Tell them, ‘“As I live,” says the Lord Yahweh, “I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways! For why will you die, house of Israel?”’
Ezekiel 33:11 (WEB) · context
3For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, 4who desires all people to be saved and come to full knowledge of the truth.
1 Timothy 2:3-4 (WEB) · context
Where Christians disagree
- Christians agree the word eternal describes both destinies here. Most hold that eternal punishment is conscious and never ends; some (conditional immortality) hold that it is a punishment whose result, destruction, is eternal. Both take Jesus' warning as real and final.
The good news
Jesus came to save you from this
God loves you and gave His Son so that whoever believes in Him should not perish.