Reduced To Ashes As They Are Tormented Forever

[Cole]

I’ve been trying to put two seemingly contradictory verses together about Satan. One says that he will be tormented day and night forever and ever. The other says he will be reduced to ashes and be no more forever. The scripture I’m refering to is a prophecy of the final doom of the Prince of Tyre. It is also believed by many to be a reference to Satan. Maybe the lake of fire is eternal as the tormenting fires burn forever even after the wicked are reduced to ashes and are no more forever. It burns continually showing that their destruction and judgment is irreversable. They are not comming back.

Ezekiel 28:11-19 The word of the LORD came to me: “Son of man, take up a lament concerning the king of Tyre and say to him: This is what the Sovereign LORD says: "You were the model of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone adorned you: ruby, topaz and emerald, chrysolite, onyx and jasper, sapphire, turquoise and beryl. Your settings and mountings were made of gold; on the day you were created they were prepared. You were anointed as a guardian cherub, for so I ordained you. You were on the holy mount of God; you walked among the fiery stones. You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created till wickedness was found in you. Through your widespread trade you were filled with violence, and you sinned. So I drove you in disgrace from the mount of God, and I expelled you, O guardian cherub, from among the fiery stones. Your heart became proud on account of your beauty, and you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor. So I threw you to the earth; I made a spectacle of you before kings. By your many sins and dishonest trade you have desecrated your sanctuaries. So I made a fire come out from you, and it consumed you, and I reduced you to ashes on the ground in the sight of all who were watching. All the nations who knew you are appalled at you; you have come to a horrible end and will be no more forever.’”

Indeed all wicked people are doomed to destruction forever as they are turned to ashes by the eternal fires of torment:

Psalms 92:7 That though the wicked sprout like grass and all evildoers flourish, they are doomed to destruction forever;

2 Peter 2:6 If by turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes he condemned them to extinction, making them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly

Jude 1:7 just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.

So, all wicked people will be tormented forever as they are reduced to ashes.

[Cole]

How about this. The lake of fire was prepared for satan and his angels. Satan the Beast and False Prophet is a reference to Satan and his angels. They will be tormented day and night forever and ever. While the wicked race of humans will have their portion in the eternal lake of fire they will be reduced to ashes and be no more forever.

[AUniversalist]

I think you need to read more articles in this forum that has already addressed these things.

[JasonPratt]

I agree, we talk about these things a lot elsewhere already. It would be nice if you would search our site for threads already posted on those topics, and then either interact with those threads or if you absolutely must create a new thread interact with those earlier threads on the new thread.

For example:

(1) bunches of threads on the words and phrases that tend to be oversimply translated “forever” in Greek and Hebrew. (Sometimes the translations are appropriate, although there are arguments that the terms and phrases actually never mean forever. But there are many times they cannot mean forever.)

(2) Several threads discuss Biblical testimony about Sodom being resurrected and reconciled with God along with rebel Israel. (And reconciled with rebel Israel, too, at that time.)

(3) Several threads discuss “destruction” in the OT and the NT not being necessarily permanent. (St. Paul himself uses the very strongest cognate of the term in Greek to talk at least once in an indisputable fashion about a punishment he not only regards as hopeful but as certain to end in salvation of the destroyed one in the Day of the Lord to come.)

(4) Several threads discuss strong evidence (especially in OT) that God will bring rebel angels (up to and including Satan) to loyally worship Him again in fellowship with Him. Sometimes these testimonies involve humans (even human servants of rebel angels) also being finally reconciled with God in the Day of the Lord to come.

(5) Several threads discuss the lake of fire and evidence that this is far from finally hopeless for sinners put into it. (Including evidence that the lake of fire is the Holy Spirit Himself operating in a particular mode.)

We really have a LOT of info here on the forum. With a lot more to come on the way.

Granted, it isn’t topically easy to find the information (although I have a very large project I’m working on that should help with that–except when I’m distracted by ‘work’ work and having to do admin things. ) But the info and discussions are there for people to search for.