Will you kindly explain the last verse of the 25th chapter of Matthew? Are the words "everlasting" and "eternal" synonymous terms?
They are not synonymous, but identical. The first reads thus: "And these shall go away into everlasting punishment; but the righteous into life eternal." (Matthew 25:46)
The two words, "everlasting" and "eternal" are from one and the same Greek word, so that the verse is correctly rendered in the Revised Version: "And the shall go away into eternal punishment; but the righteous into the eternal life." (Matthew 25:46)
There is absolutely no difference in the meaning of the two words, "everlasting" and "eternal;" and it is very evident that there cannot be in this instance, since, as just stated, the very same Greek word is used in each clause of the verse.
Does not this then prove that the punishment of the wicked will last as long as the reward of the righteous? Most assuredly it does; the punishment of the wicked and the reward of the righteous are alike eternal.
Then the wicked will be, after the Judgment, tormented to all eternity, will they? Not by any means. The verse affords no warrant for such a conclusion. Note well that it contains no hint of torment, and we have no right to substitute "torment" for "punishment."
The text before us says that the wicked shall go into everlasting punishment; but let us now read another text, which tells what this punishment will be.
It says that: "The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power." (2 Thessalonians 1:7-9)
The punishment into which the wicked will go at Christ's second coming, will be destruction, and it will be everlasting, eternal. The wicked will be destroyed for as long a time as the righteous will live.
Let us have a few parallel texts. Romans 6:23 tells us: "The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." (Romans 6:23)
Death then is the punishment of the wicked; and it will be eternal death, since the punishment is to be eternal. To say that the wicked will be conscious through all eternity, is to make nonsense of the Word; for they could not be conscious without being alive; and if they were alive to all eternity, no matter how deplorable their condition, they would have eternal life as surely as the righteous, and there would be no contrast.
It would be folly to say that the wages of sin is eternal life; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord; yet that is just what the text would really say, if "death" meant eternal life in misery or in any condition whatever. There is a sharp and decided contrast between death and life. The two terms have nothing in common. The punishment of the wicked will in every respect be the exact opposite of the reward of the righteous, but just as lasting.
Again: 2 Thessalonians 1:9 says that the wicked shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of His power. The destruction comes from the presence of God. Now read: "A fire goes before Him, and burns up His enemies round about." (Psalm 97:3)
Also, "As wax melts before the fire, so let the wicked perish at the presence of God." (Psalm 68:2)
These text most clearly show what the punishment of the wicked will be.
It is true that the Scriptures say that the wicked shall be tormented, and shall suffer. It could not expected that they could be destroyed by fire without pain and suffering; and this torment will be proportionate to the guilt of each individual. But there will at last come an end, no matter how extended the period of torment may be; for we read: "The Lord God of hosts shall make a consumption, even determined in the midst of all the land. ... For yet a very little while, and the indignation shall cease, and my anger in their destruction." (Isaiah 10:23,25)
And again: "The day of the Lord is near upon all the heathen; as you have done, it shall be done unto you; your reward shall return upon your own head. For as you have drunk upon my holy mountain, so shall all the heathen drink continually; yea, they shall drink, and they shall swallow down, and they shall be as though they had not been." (Obadiah 15,16)
All this is in the text first quoted; for the Greek word there rendered "punishment" means to cut off; to prune, as a branch from a vine. See John 15:1-6, where we read Christ's statement that the branch that does not bear fruit is cut off, "and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned." (John 15:6)
So we read that: "Evildoers shall be cut off. ... The seed of the wicked shall be cut off. ... The end of the wicked shall be cut off." (Psalm 37:9,28,38)
But in contrast to this, God saints "are preserved for ever." (Psalm 37:28)
This is not told for the purpose of frightening us into being good, much less that we should gloat over the threatened fate of the wicked. The keeping of the commandments is love, not fright. No person ever could be frightened into goodness; if he could be, he would be a cringing slave, and not a free child of God. But the sure destiny of the wicked is foretold for our comfort. "What comfort can there possibly be in it?" you ask.
Just this, that it shows how completely God destroys sin. Sinners will be destroyed only because they are inseparably joined to sin, and sin must be rooted out of God's universe. So as sinners will be destroyed by the glory of the Lord's presence, against which they have rebelled, that same glory will also destroy our sins, if we delight in God's presence; and it will destroy them to all eternity, so that they will have no more existence, and will never rise up to plague us.
Is not that a blessed revelation?--Present Truth, March 13, 1902.