d 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
is in the description of the last judgment, so fully set forth in the
twentieth chapter of Revelation.

"Death and hell [_hades_, the grave] were cast into the lake of fire.
This is the second death." Rev. 20:14. Death and the prison house of
death are gone forever. Sin is wiped out of a perfect universe, and not
even a trace will remain of the place of the fiery judgment.

"Yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be: yea, thou shalt
diligently consider his place, and it shall not be." Ps. 37:10.

The fires of the last day purify the earth, which comes forth in
Eden-like beauty. In the whole creation of God there is no sin, no
sinner, but all is harmonious again, as before sin entered the universe.
The prophet was given a view of this glorious consummation, and the
triumph of the Son of God over sin.

"Every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the
earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I
saying, Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be unto him that
sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb forever and ever." Rev.
5:13.

Some Opinions Briefly Considered

The doctrine of the immortality, the indestructibility, of the soul is
responsible for the traditional view that the wicked are kept alive in
unending misery through all eternity. How different this picture from
that which Holy Scripture gives of the second death! Terrible and awful
it is, but it results in the utter destruction of sin and sinners,
leaving a clean universe. The doctrine of the immortality of the soul
came in from pagan philosophy. Herodotus, "the father of history," said:

"The Egyptians ... were also the first to broach the opinion,
that the soul of man is immortal."--_Bo