Biblical-Theological Support – Key Texts Examined
I’ve made a lot of claims in this essay. Now I need to demonstrate that they’re grounded in Scripture, not just in philosophical speculation or personal preference.
This section examines the key biblical texts that support each element of the framework. I’m not going to exhaustively treat every relevant passage – that would require a book, not an essay. But I will engage carefully with the most important texts and show how they fit together into a coherent whole.
Judgment at Death
Hebrews 9:27
“And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment.”
I’ve already discussed this verse, but it’s worth emphasising again: the sequence is death, then judgment. Not death, then soul sleep, then resurrection, then judgment. Death, then judgment.
The natural reading suggests immediacy. You die, and the next thing (from your perspective, if not from the perspective of those still living) is judgment.
This fits perfectly with instantaneous judgment at death. Your life is complete. Your choices are final. And God’s determination of your status – in Christ or not in Christ – is revealed immediately.
Luke 16:19-31 (The Rich Man and Lazarus)
“There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. And at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man’s table. Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores. The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried, and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. And he called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.’ But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us'” (Luke 16:19-26).
This passage is often debated. Is it a parable or an account of actual events? Does it describe the intermediate state or the final state?
Here’s what I think we can say confidently: whether parable or not, this passage depicts immediate post-death consciousness. Both men die, and both are immediately aware, experiencing either comfort (Lazarus) or torment (the rich man).
There’s no waiting period. No soul sleep. No gap between death and conscious experience.
Now, I don’t think this passage teaches eternal conscious torment. The “great chasm” could refer to the finality of judgment at death – once you’re judged, there’s no crossing over, no second chances. And the language of “torment” and “flame” could be symbolic of the anguish of being excluded from God’s presence, experienced in the moment before annihilation.
But regardless of those interpretive questions, the passage clearly supports immediate post-death consciousness and immediate judgment.
Luke 23:43 (“Today You Will Be with Me in Paradise”)
One of the thieves crucified with Jesus repents and asks, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”
Jesus responds: “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43).
Today. Not “at my return.” Not “after the resurrection.” Today.
Some (including the Christadelphians) try to evade this by moving the comma: “Truly I say to you today, you will be with me in paradise” – as if Jesus is just emphasising “I’m telling you this today” rather than “this will happen today.”
But that’s grammatically awkward and contextually strained. The thief is asking about the future kingdom. Jesus is assuring him of immediate presence in paradise – today, this very day, you will be with me.
This fits perfectly with stepping outside time into God’s presence at death. The thief dies, and immediately (from his perspective) he’s with Christ in paradise – which exists outside the timeline.
2 Corinthians 5:6-8 (Absent from Body, Present with Lord)
“So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight. Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord” (2 Corinthians 5:6-8).
Paul draws a direct contrast: at home in the body = away from the Lord. Away from the body = at home with the Lord.
There’s no intermediate state here. No waiting period between bodily death and presence with the Lord. Absent from body, present with Lord.
If soul sleep were true, Paul should say, “We would rather be away from the body and asleep until the resurrection.” But he doesn’t. He speaks of immediate presence with the Lord.
Philippians 1:23 (To Depart and Be with Christ)
“I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better” (Philippians 1:23).
Paul faces a choice: continue living and serving the churches or die and be with Christ.
He says departing (dying) means being with Christ, and that’s “far better” than remaining in the body.
If death meant unconscious non-existence until the resurrection, how would that be “far better”? Paul would experience nothing. The appeal only makes sense if death means immediate conscious presence with Christ.
This is one of the strongest texts against soul sleep and for immediate post-death consciousness.
Destruction and Annihilation of the Wicked
I’ve already cited many of these texts, but I want to gather them here systematically to show the cumulative biblical case for annihilationism.
Romans 6:23 (Wages of Sin Is Death)
“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
This is the clearest statement in Scripture of the contrast between the fate of the wicked and the fate of the righteous.
The wages of sin – what sin earns, what it deserves, what it results in – is death. Not eternal life in torment. Not eternal conscious suffering. Death.
The free gift of God – granted to those in Christ – is eternal life.
The contrast is death vs. life, not bad eternal existence vs. good eternal existence.
If the wicked continue existing forever in torment, then they possess eternal life, just a miserable version of it. But that’s not what Paul says. He says they receive death – cessation, the absence of life.
Matthew 10:28 (Destroy Body and Soul in Hell)
“And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.”
The word “destroy” here is apollumi – to ruin utterly, to kill, to cause to perish, to abolish.
Jesus is contrasting what humans can do (kill the body) with what God can do (destroy both body and soul in Gehenna).
If Jesus meant “preserve in eternal torment,” why use the word “destroy”? Destroy means to cause something to cease to exist, not to preserve it in a state of suffering.
ECT advocates have to reinterpret “destroy” to mean something like “ruin” or “separate from God” – but the natural meaning of the word is actual destruction.
2 Thessalonians 1:9 (Everlasting Destruction)
“They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might.”
Paul speaks of “eternal destruction” (olethros aiōnios).
The word olethros means destruction, death, ruin. And it’s modified by aiōnios – eternal, everlasting, age-long.
The destruction is eternal. Not the process of being destroyed (which would be temporal), but the result, the finality. They are destroyed, and that destruction is permanent, irreversible, eternal.
This fits perfectly with annihilationism. The wicked are destroyed at judgment, and that destruction lasts forever – they never come back, never exist again.
ECT advocates have to reinterpret “destruction” to mean “ongoing ruination” or “eternal separation” – but that’s not what the word means.
Philippians 3:19 (Their End Is Destruction)
“Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things.”
Again, Paul uses destruction language. Their end – their final fate, their ultimate outcome – is destruction.
Not eternal existence in torment. Destruction.
Matthew 7:13-14 (Broad Road Leads to Destruction)
“Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.”
Jesus contrasts two destinations: destruction and life.
Not torment and life. Destruction and life.
Those on the broad road end in destruction. Those on the narrow road find life.
John 3:16 (Perish vs. Eternal Life)
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”
Perish (apollumi – the same word from Matthew 10:28) vs. eternal life.
Those who don’t believe perish. They don’t experience eternal torment. They perish – they’re destroyed, they cease to exist.
Psalm 37 (The Wicked Will Perish)
The Psalms are full of annihilationist language. Psalm 37 alone contains multiple references:
“For the evildoers shall be cut off, but those who wait for the LORD shall inherit the land” (Psalm 37:9).
“But the wicked will perish; the enemies of the LORD are like the glory of the pastures; they vanish – like smoke they vanish away” (Psalm 37:20).
“For those blessed by the LORD shall inherit the land, but those cursed by him shall be cut off” (Psalm 37:22).
“The wicked borrows but does not pay back, but the righteous is generous and gives” (Psalm 37:21).
Cut off. Perish. Vanish like smoke. This is language of cessation, not ongoing existence.
If the wicked continue existing forever in torment, they haven’t vanished like smoke – they’re still very much present, just suffering.
Psalm 1:6 (The Way of the Wicked Will Perish)
“For the LORD knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.”
The way of the wicked perishes. It comes to an end. It ceases to exist.
Malachi 4:1-3 (Consumed, Ashes Under Feet)
“For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble. The day that is coming shall set them ablaze, says the LORD of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch. But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall. And you shall tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet, on the day when I act, says the LORD of hosts.”
The wicked will be stubble – dry grass burned up completely.
The fire will leave them “neither root nor branch” – total consumption, nothing remaining.
They will be “ashes under the soles of your feet” – completely burned up, reduced to ash.
This isn’t preservation in eternal burning. This is complete destruction by fire.
Obadiah 16 (As Though They Had Never Been)
“For as you have drunk on my holy mountain, so all the nations shall drink continually; they shall drink and swallow, and shall be as though they had never been.”
“As though they had never been.”
This is annihilation language. Not “they will wish they had never been” but “they shall be as though they had never been” – they will cease to exist so completely it will be as if they never existed at all.
1 Timothy 6:16 (God Alone Has Immortality)
“Who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see.”
God alone has immortality.
If the wicked are granted immortality (even miserable immortality in hell), then this verse is false. God doesn’t alone have immortality – humans share it, just in different conditions.
But Paul is clear: God alone possesses immortality as an inherent property. Humans – righteous or wicked – don’t. The righteous receive immortality as a gift through Christ. The wicked don’t receive it at all.
Resurrection and New Creation
1 Corinthians 15 (The Entire Chapter)
First Corinthians 15 is Paul’s extended defence and explanation of bodily resurrection. It’s the most comprehensive treatment of resurrection in Scripture, and it’s crucial to my framework.
Verses 20-28: The Order and Purpose
“But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. For ‘God has put all things in subjection under his feet.’ But when it says, ‘all things are put in subjection,’ it is plain that he is excepted who put all things in subjection under him. When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things in subjection under him, that God may be all in all” (1 Corinthians 15:20-28).
This passage gives us the order: Christ raised first (the firstfruits), then at his coming, those who belong to Christ are raised, then comes the end when Christ delivers the kingdom to the Father.
Notice what’s missing: there’s no mention of a thousand-year millennium between Christ’s return and “the end.” The Parousia and the consummation appear to be simultaneous or immediately sequential.
And the purpose of it all: “that God may be all in all.” This is the telos, the goal, the final state – God completely filling all things, no more separation, no more enemies, no more death.
Verses 35-49: The Nature of Resurrection Bodies
“But someone will ask, ‘How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?’ You foolish person! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. And what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain. But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body… So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body… Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven” (1 Corinthians 15:35-38, 42-44, 49).
Paul uses the analogy of a seed: what you plant (a bare kernel) is not what grows (a full plant). There’s continuity (same species, same identity) but radical transformation (completely different form).
The resurrection body is:
- Imperishable (no decay, no death)
- Glorious (radiant, beautiful, transformed)
- Powerful (not weak or limited as now)
- Spiritual (not in the sense of immaterial, but fully animated by the Spirit)
We will bear “the image of the man of heaven” – Christ in his resurrection body.
Verses 50-58: Victory Over Death
“I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: ‘Death is swallowed up in victory.’ ‘O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?'” (1 Corinthians 15:50-55).
“Flesh and blood” – our current mortal bodies – cannot inherit God’s kingdom. We must be changed.
Some will die before Christ returns (“sleep”), others will be alive. But all will be changed – transformed, given imperishable, immortal bodies.
And when this happens, death is defeated. Swallowed up in victory. Death has no more sting, no more power.
This is annihilationist language. Death doesn’t continue existing in hell, tormenting people forever. Death is defeated, destroyed, eliminated.
Revelation 21-22 (New Heaven and New Earth)
“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.’ And he who was seated on the throne said, ‘Behold, I am making all things new'” (Revelation 21:1-5).
This is John’s vision of the final state – the consummation of all things.
Several key observations:
New Heaven and New Earth
The language is renewal, not replacement from scratch. God is “making all things new” – renewing, transforming, bringing to completion.
The word kainos (new) means new in quality, fresh, renewed – not brand new and unrelated to what came before.
Heaven and Earth Merge
The holy city – the dwelling place of God – comes down from heaven to earth. Heaven doesn’t remain separate. “The dwelling place of God is with man.”
This is the merger I’ve been describing. The timeless reality of God’s presence and the physical creation he made become one.
Death Shall Be No More
“Death shall be no more.”
Not “death will be confined to hell” or “death will continue for the wicked.” Death shall be no more. Full stop.
Death – as a power, as a reality, as an enemy – is eliminated from creation. It ceases to exist.
This fits perfectly with annihilationism. The wicked died at judgment and ceased to exist. And now death itself – the last enemy – is thrown into the lake of fire and destroyed.
The River and Tree of Life (Revelation 22:1-2)
“Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations” (Revelation 22:1-2).
This imagery echoes Eden – the tree of life, the river. But it’s Eden consummated, perfected, brought to its intended purpose.
The “healing of the nations” suggests ongoing life, ongoing participation in God’s good creation.
But remember, this is apocalyptic imagery. John is giving us symbolic language – a city, a river, a tree – to point to realities beyond what we can currently comprehend.
I don’t think there’s a literal city with literal streets and a literal river. These are metaphors pointing to the richness, abundance, life, and beauty of the final state.
They Will See His Face (Revelation 22:4)
“They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.”
This is the beatific vision – direct, unmediated access to God.
No longer seeing through a glass darkly. No longer knowing in part. Face to face. Fully known. Complete intimacy and communion.
This is what it’s all been for. This is “God all in all.”
2 Peter 3:13 (New Heaven and Earth Where Righteousness Dwells)
“But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.”
Peter’s reference to “new heavens and a new earth” echoes Isaiah 65:17 and 66:22 and anticipates what John sees in Revelation 21.
The Context: Fire and Purification (2 Peter 3:10-12)
The context is important. Peter has just described the coming “day of the Lord”:
“But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn!” (2 Peter 3:10-12).
This sounds like complete destruction – the heavens passing away, the earth and everything in it being burned up.
But is this annihilation or purification?
I think it’s purification language. Fire refines. It burns away impurities. It transforms.
The same creation that’s groaning now (Romans 8) will be “set free from its bondage to corruption” (Romans 8:21) – not discarded, but liberated, transformed, purged of sin and death.
Where Righteousness Dwells
The new heavens and new earth are characterised by righteousness dwelling there.
Not righteousness struggling against sin. Not righteousness coexisting with evil in separate compartments. Righteousness dwelling – permanently, completely, unopposed.
This is only possible if sin, death, and evil have been eliminated. And that requires the annihilation of the wicked. You can’t have a creation where “righteousness dwells” if billions of people are being eternally tormented in hell as part of that creation.
Romans 8:18-25 (Creation’s Liberation)
“For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience” (Romans 8:18-25).
This passage is crucial for understanding what happens to creation itself – not just to human beings.
Creation Subjected to Futility
Paul says creation was “subjected to futility” – to frustration, to purposelessness, to decay.
This happened “not willingly” – creation didn’t choose this. It was subjected by God as a consequence of human sin (Genesis 3:17-19 – the ground is cursed because of Adam’s sin).
But this subjection was “in hope” – with the expectation of future liberation.
Creation Will Be Set Free
“The creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption.”
Set free. Not discarded. Not destroyed and replaced. Set free.
The same creation that’s groaning now will be liberated. It will “obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.”
When we are glorified – when we receive our resurrection bodies – creation participates in that glorification. It’s transformed along with us.
Groaning in Birth Pains
Creation is groaning “in the pains of childbirth.”
Childbirth is painful, but it’s productive. It’s leading somewhere. Something new is being born.
Creation isn’t dying – it’s labouring to bring forth the new creation. The groaning isn’t death throes; it’s birth pains.
Redemption of Our Bodies
Notice that Paul connects creation’s liberation with “the redemption of our bodies.”
We’re not redeemed FROM our bodies. Our bodies themselves are redeemed.
This is bodily resurrection. Physical redemption. And when our bodies are redeemed, creation is redeemed along with us.
What This Means for the Framework
This passage supports the idea that creation is transformed, not discarded.
But – and here’s where I need to be careful – I don’t think this necessarily means the physical universe as we currently experience it continues forever in a perfected state.
Remember what I said earlier: the final state transcends our current categories. “God all in all” means something beyond what we can map onto our four-dimensional experience.
So, creation’s “liberation” and “freedom” might mean being caught up into something far more glorious than “earth, but better.” It might mean transformation so radical that our current language of physical/spiritual, matter/energy, space/time becomes inadequate.
Paul says creation will obtain “the freedom of the glory of the children of God.” And we don’t fully know what that glory looks like yet. “It does not yet appear what we shall be” (1 John 3:2).
So, I affirm creation’s redemption. I affirm bodily resurrection. But I remain agnostic about the precise nature of the final state, beyond “God all in all.”
God All in All
1 Corinthians 15:24-28
I’ve referenced this passage multiple times already, but it deserves careful, detailed examination because it’s the clearest biblical statement of the final state and the ultimate purpose of God’s redemptive work.
Let me walk through it verse by verse.
Verse 24: “Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power.”
“Then comes the end” – eita to telos. The end, the goal, the consummation, the completion of all things.
After what? After Christ’s return and the resurrection of those who belong to him (verse 23). So the sequence is: Christ returns, the dead are raised, and then comes the end.
No millennium intervening. No thousand-year earthly kingdom. Christ returns, resurrection happens, and then – the end.
At this end, Christ “delivers the kingdom to God the Father.”
The Greek word is paradidōmi – to hand over, to deliver, to present. Christ has been reigning, exercising his messianic kingship, defeating his enemies. And when that work is complete, he presents the perfected kingdom to the Father.
But before he does that, he destroys “every rule and every authority and power.”
These are spiritual forces opposed to God – demonic powers, structures of evil, systems of oppression. Christ’s reign involves the complete defeat of all opposition.
By the time Christ hands the kingdom to the Father, there are no enemies left. All opposition has been destroyed.
Verse 25: “For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.”
This echoes Psalm 110:1 – “The LORD says to my Lord: ‘Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.'”
Christ reigns now – from his ascension until his return. During this time, he is progressively putting all enemies under his feet, subduing all opposition.
The reign continues “until” all enemies are defeated. Once that’s accomplished, the reign reaches its goal, its completion.
Verse 26: “The last enemy to be destroyed is death.”
Death is the final enemy. The ultimate opponent. The last holdout of rebellion against God’s good creation.
And death will be destroyed.
Not defeated and confined. Not restrained. Destroyed. Eliminated. Made to cease to exist.
If eternal conscious torment were true, death wouldn’t be destroyed. Death would continue forever in hell. The “second death” would be an eternal state, not the destruction of death itself.
But Paul is clear: death is destroyed. The last enemy is eliminated.
Verse 27: “For ‘God has put all things in subjection under his feet.’ But when it says, ‘all things are put in subjection,’ it is plain that he is excepted who put all things in subjection under him.”
Paul quotes Psalm 8:6 – “You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet.”
All things are subjected to Christ. Everything. No exceptions – except, obviously, God the Father himself, who is the one doing the subjecting.
This isn’t Arianism. It’s not saying the Son is less than the Father in nature or being. Within the Trinity, the persons are co-equal and co-eternal.
But in the economy of redemption – in the working out of salvation history – the Son takes on a role of subjection to the Father. He becomes incarnate, obeys the Father’s will, accomplishes the Father’s purposes.
And here, at the end, when all things are subjected to the Son, Paul clarifies, obviously the Father himself isn’t subjected to the Son. The Father remains the ultimate source and goal of all things.
Verse 28: “When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things in subjection under him, that God may be all in all.”
This is it. The climax. The goal. The purpose of everything.
When all things are subjected to the Son – when every enemy is defeated, when death itself is destroyed, when the kingdom is perfected – then the Son presents it all to the Father.
“The Son himself will also be subjected to him.”
Again, this isn’t ontological subordination. The Son remains fully God, co-equal with the Father. But in his mediatorial role – as the God-man, as the one who reconciles creation to the Father – he presents the completed work to the Father and, in that sense, subjects himself.
And the purpose?
“That God may be all in all.”
Hina ē ho theos panta en pasin – that God may be all things in all people, or all in all.
God’s presence, God’s power, God’s life filling everything completely. No more pockets of resistance. No more regions where sin and death hold sway. No more separation between Creator and creation.
God all in all.
What This Means
This passage gives us the ultimate telos – the goal toward which all of history is moving.
It’s not a perfected earth with people living on it forever while God remains in heaven.
It’s not heaven as a separate realm where the righteous go while creation is discarded.
It’s “God all in all” – a state where the distinction between heaven and earth, Creator and creation, sacred and secular, is overcome (not obliterated but fulfilled).
We remain creatures. We don’t become God. But we participate in God’s life so fully, we’re caught up into his presence so completely, that he is “all in all.”
This is beyond what we can currently comprehend. It’s beyond our categories of physical/spiritual, time/eternity, matter/energy.
But it’s the goal. It’s what everything has been for. It’s the ageless purpose realised.
And it’s only possible if death is destroyed, if evil is eliminated, if every enemy is defeated.
Which requires the annihilation of the wicked. If billions of people exist forever in torment, God is not “all in all” – evil and suffering remain as permanent features of reality.
But if the wicked are destroyed at judgment, if death itself is thrown into the lake of fire and eliminated, then at the consummation, there is nothing left but God and those who participate in his life.
God all in all.
The next chapter is here.