"This is the second death," the Scripture says. Verse 14. The great day
has come when the sinner receives his wages--death--and sin is
destroyed.


The Punishment Everlasting

"The wages of sin is death." And the second death is everlasting. There
is no resurrection from this death. The Scriptures describe it in terms
that affirm utter destruction, resulting in nonexistence.

"Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of
the Lord, and from the glory of his power." 2 Thess. 1:9.

"Behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud,
yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh
shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them
neither root nor branch." Mal. 4:1.

"They shall be ashes," the third verse of this chapter says. Every
expression possible to language is employed to denote utter destruction,
everlasting death. That means nonexistence. Sin and sinners are blotted
out. The prophet Obadiah, speaking of the visitation upon the
heathen--the unbelieving--in "the day of the Lord," says:

"They shall drink, and they shall swallow down, and they shall be as
though they had not been." Verse 16.

This is the utter end of sin and all sinners, and of the author of sin.
Root and branch they are gone, "as though they had not been." All this