Picture it: The Almighty God creates and Satan says, “NO.” The false teaching of annihilationism teaches that God creates human beings and because of their supposed ‘free-will’ combined with Satan’s power, the human that God created to exist will be taken out of existence. God creates and that creation is rubbed out of existence by the almighty Satan and the almighty free-will of man. Blasphemy!
So, according to annihilationists, God can’t even keep His own creation in existence.
God’s goal is to create perfect, glorified children through His Son, Jesus Christ. However, those that teach annihilation believe that God cannot achieve His goal. Not only that, but the very creatures God created to be His children are taken out of existence by forces outside of His control. How can you say this being is God if He can’t even keep His own creation in existence?
I am going to go over just a few verses that people may use to imply annihilation and then use a few verses to completley annihilate any possibility of annihilation.
New King James Version
When the wicked spring up like grass, And when all the workers of iniquity flourish, It is that they may be destroyed forever. -Psalm 92:7
New King James Version
The LORD preserves all who love Him, But all the wicked He will destroy. -Psalm 145:20
New International Version
All share a common destiny—the righteous and the wicked, the good and the bad, the clean and the unclean, those who offer sacrifices and those who do not. As it is with the good, so with the sinful; as it is with those who take oaths, so with those who are afraid to take them. -Ecclesiastes 9:2
It is first important to understand that the old testament writings teach that death is the destiny for all, good and bad, righteous and wicked. This death is a permanent condition from which there is no hope.
You see, there is no question about what death is and no doubt about its permanence. That is our curse and our old testament writers knew that. Ecclesiastes 9:5 says that the dead know nothing. They have no conscious thought or existence. They are gone.
Without going into too much detail, we know that at death the body returns to the soil from which it came and the spirit returns to God from which it came. Death is a return to the state of ‘no conscious thought’ that we were before birth. Now, our spirit goes to God, but it is not conscious. The soul is a combination of a body and spirit. Therefore, we will not regain consciousness until God gives us a new body to house our spirit.
This is why death is equated to sleep. We can say that our spirit is with God, but death is sleep because we are not conscious until we are resurrected. Alright, enough on that.
My point is that the old testament writers knew what death was and there was no question that everyone was heading there. However, the question to be asked is asked in Job 14:14:
New King James Version
If a man dies, shall he live again?
The question to ask is not what death is but when a man dies, will he live again? There is no life somewhere else when a man dies. He is dead. There is no life in heaven, hell, or some sort of soul conscious state. When a man dies, he is dead. Everyone knows that if one follows the proper definition of ‘death’ in scripture. Death is a permanent condition and the dead are indeed, no more. So again, the question to ask is this: If a man dies, will he live again?
NO! That is UNTIL Jesus Christ came along. It’s interesting that one of the defining words of the word ‘forever’ in Psalm 92:7 is UNTIL. Though death is a permanent condition, Jesus Christ defied death by entering it. Christ Jesus entered the death state, the unconscious state, the knowing nothing state…in order for God to free Him and us from that state.
In order to understand what Christ accomplished, we must understand the hopeless destruction of death. That is what is explained in scripture anytime death, destruction, separation from God, being lost, being no more, etc. are discussed. Now, once we understand death and its finality…enter Christ Jesus.
Christ Jesus blew a whole in the permance of death so all creation will one day come out of it. That is why Christ’s death is a big deal! He took a permanent condition and made it a pre-requisite guarantee for immortality. Don’t ever let anyone take scripture out of context when death, destruction, and being lost is discussed. These are not permanent conditions. If Christ didn’t enter death than yes, they are permanent conditions…as the Old Testament writers were writing from this perspective. But, Christ did enter death and so death and destruction can never be permanent for any creature.
So, let’s be clear that using the term annihilation is just another way of explaining that people will be dead forever. This is a complete impossibilty because of Christ Jesus. In fact, destruction and annihilation as some people call it, is a necessary prelude to immortality. Let’s take a brief look at Luke 19:10.
New King James Version
for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.” -Luke 19:10
The Greek word used for ‘lost’ in this verse is Strong’s 622, ‘Apollumi.’ It means ‘to destroy, to perish, to lose, kill, the rusultant death being viewed as certain.’
Lexicon
apollumi: To destroy, to perish, to lose
Original Word: ἀπόλλυμι
Part of Speech: Verb
Transliteration: apollumi
Pronunciation: ä-pŏl’-lü-mē
Phonetic Spelling: (ap-ol’-loo-mee)
Definition: To destroy, to perish, to lose
Meaning: (a) I kill, destroy, (b) I lose, mid: I am perishing (the resultant death being viewed as certain).
This word described destruction and annihalation of the lost. Annihilationists would say there is no hope for these people. However, these are the very people that Jesus came to save!
Jesus came to seek and to save those that are lost, destroyed, perished, those that have certain death. People need to be in this state IN ORDER TO BE SAVED. Annihilationists want to make this a permanent condition when Jesus Christ says this condition is needed in order to be saved.
One look at 1 Corinthians, chapter 15 will furthur prove the impossibility of annihilation of any of God’s creatures.
First, in Corinthians 15:22, Paul says that in Adam, ALL are dying, thus also, in Christ shall ALL be vivified. This is consistent with everything I’ve written about in this article. Christ came to seek and to save the lost and here in Corinthains, all must die in Adam in order to be vivified by Christ.
Now, this verse says that the exact same all that die in Adam are the exact same all vivified by Christ. ‘Vivified’ means to make alive beyond the possibility of death. So, if everyone that dies in Adam is made alive beyond the possibility of death, then how can annihilation (the absence of life) be a thing? It Can’t!
Now, Paul goes on to explain and define the all in the context. He mentions all sovereignty, authority, and power, as well as every man that dies in Adam. Remember that Satan and his minions are authorities and powers of the air. So, this is all creation and all creation is subjected to Christ. On top of that, Paul goes on to say that the only being not subject to Christ is God Himself.
So, when Paul says that God will be All in all in 1 Corinthians 15:28, there can be no doubt that this is every creature ever created. However, those that hate the power of the cross, will object and say that this ‘all’ does not include those that have been annihilated or banished to hell. Nevermind that Paul already included every creature in this ‘all’ in order to show what ‘all’ includes. Christians just ingnore that.
Here is the kicker. In 1 Corinthians 15:27, death is abolished. Abolished means to render inoperative, not existing anymore. So again, there are many religious people that say God is All in all, but this does not include those annihilated. However, this argument directly denies the fact that death is abolished. They just changed the word death to annihilation.
Death is what we inherited from Adam and its non-existence and separation from God. It has been abolished, yet annihilationists still claim that people will cease to exist and be separate from God for all eternity. The only separation here is the Christian separation from the truth of Christ’s accomplishment.
Again, the problem here is applying annihlation and death to eternity. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15: 36-37 that we need to die in order to be made immortal. The mistake that many make is applying to eternity (annihilation and death) that which is the very stepping stone to immortality. Death is needed for immortality and yet the Christian annihilationist stops at death. Keep going my friend.
42 Thus also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is roused in incorruption. 43 It is sown in dishonor; it is roused in glory. It is sown in infirmity; it is roused in power. 44 It is sown a soulish body; it is roused a spiritual body.
45 If there is a soulish body, there is a spiritual also. Thus it is written also, The first man, Adam, “became a living soul:” the last Adam a vivifying Spirit. -1 Corinthians 15: 42-45
The religious world warns of corruption, dishonor, and infirmity and yet these are the necessary foundation of immortality in the above verses. Annihilation, death, and separation from God…whatever you call it…absolutely cannot be the end state of any human being. Why? Because these things are the necessary building blocks of immortality and can only run the course from death to life as described in scripture.
Destruction is a prelude to an immortal life with God. Permanent destruction, death, or annihilation is a complete impossibility because of Christ and the only way one can believe these things are permanent is if they reject Christ.
Christ annihilates any possibility of permanent annihilation.
Thank you Lord!
In closing, Romans 5: 12-13 says that death passed through into all mankind, on which all sinned. So, our sin, all of our sin, comes because death is operating in us. Therefore, if there is any sin left in the universe, then it is a result of death.
In the end of 1 Corinthians chapter 15, the apostle Paul taunts death by alluding to a few old testament verses.
54 Now, whenever this corruptible should be putting on incorruption and this mortal should be putting on immortality, then shall come to pass the word which is written, Swallowed up was Death by Victory. 55 Where, O Death, is your victory? Where, O Death, is your sting? -1 Corinthians 15: 54-55
If not all are saved and many are annihlated or eternally tormented, then death and its sting of sin will still hold a great deal of God’s creatures. So, how can Paul taunt death by asking where it is and by asking where is the sin it produces?
I imagine death and sin answering back to Paul based on the teaching of annihilation by saying “What do you mean, I took most of God’s creation and made it not exist. There I am and there is my sting.” Death would be right.
The only way the apostle Paul or any of us can taunt death is if it and its sting (sin) has been eradicated from the universe and no longer hold any of God’s creatures. This is exactly what is explained in 1 Corinthians 15 when every creature takes on the immortality of Christ Jesus.
More on this in a coming article.
Grace and peace to you all.
Saved ignoble 
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