The everlastingness of the punishment being thus established, only one point is left open for discussion; namely, the nature of the punishment. Take your Concordance and search out what saith the great Judge regarding the punishment of willful sinners who despise and reject all His blessed provisions for them through Christ. What do you find? Does God there say — All sinners shall live in torture forever? No; we find not a single text where life in any condition is promised to that class.

God’s declarations assure us that ultimately He will have a clean universe, free from the blight of sin and sinners — because “All the wicked will he destroy.” — Psalms 145:20.

But while we do not find one verse  of  the  Bible  saying  that  this  class  can  have life in torment, or in any other condition, we do find numerous passages teaching the reverse. Of these we give a few merely as samples — “The wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23). “The soul that sinneth, it shall die” (Ezek. 18:4,20). “The wicked shall perish” (Psalms 37:20). “Yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be” (Psalms 37:10). Thus God has told us plainly the nature of the everlasting punishment of the wicked — that it will be death, destruction.

The false ideas of God’s plan of dealing with the incorrigible, taught ever since the great “falling away” (2 Thes. 2:3), which culminated in Papacy, and instilled into our minds from childhood, are alone responsible for the view generally held, that the everlasting punishment provided for willful sinners is a life of torment. This view is held, notwithstanding the many clear statements of God’s Word that their punishment is to be death. Here Paul states very explicitly what the punishment is to be. Speaking of the same Millennial day, and of the same class, who, despite all the favorable opportunities and the fullness of knowledge then, will not come into harmony with Christ, and hence will “know not God” (2 Thes. 1:8) in the true sense  and  “obey  not,”  he  says   —   “Who   shall   be   punished.”   Ah,   yes,  but how punished? He tells us how: They “shall be punished with everlasting destruction [a destruction from which there shall be no recovery, no redemption or resurrection — Heb. 10:26-29] from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power.” (2 Thes. 1:9) This destruction is represented in the parable as the everlasting “fire” prepared for the devil and his angels; it is the lake of fire and brimstone, which is the Second death (Rev. 20:14), into which the “goat” class of this parable are sent. — Matt. 25:41.

Thus the meaning and reasonableness of this statement concerning everlasting punishment are readily seen when looked at from the correct standpoint. The fire of the parable, by which the punishment (destruction) is to be accomplished, will not be literal fire, for the “fire” is as much a symbol as the “sheep” and “goats” are symbols. Fire here, as elsewhere, symbolizes destruction, and not in any sense preservation.

We might well leave this subject here, and consider that we have fully shown that the everlasting punishment of the “goat” class will be destruction; but we direct attention to one other point which clinches the truth upon this subject. We refer to the Greek work kolasin, translated “punishment,” in verse 46. This word has not in it the remotest idea of torment. Its primary signification is to cut off, or prune, or lop off, as in the pruning of trees; and a secondary meaning is to restrain. The wicked will be everlastingly restrained, cut off from life in the Second death. Illustrations of the use of kolasin can easily be had from Greek classical writings. The Greek word for “torment”  is  basanos,  a  word  totally  unrelated  to  the  word kolasin.

Kolasin, the word used in Matthew 25:46, occurs in but one other place in the Bible, viz., 1 John 4:18, where it is improperly rendered “torment” in the common version, whereas it should read, “Fear hath restraint.” Those who possess a copy of Young’s Analytical Concordance will see from it (page 995) that the definition of the word kolasin is “pruning, restraining, restraint.” The author of the Emphatic Diaglott, after translating kolasin in Matthew 25:46 by the words “cutting off,” says in a footnote:

The Common Version, and many modern ones, render kolasin aionioon, everlasting punishment, conveying the idea, as generally interpreted, of basinos, torment. Kolasin in its various forms only occurs in three other places in the New Testament: Acts 4:21; 2 Peter 2:9; 1 John 4:18. It is derived from kolazoo, which signifies, 1. To cut off; as lopping off branches of trees, to prune. 2. To restrain, to repress. The Greeks write — ‘The charioteer restrains [kolazei] his fiery steeds.’ 3. To chastize, to punish. To cut off an individual from life, or society, or even to restrain, is esteemed as punishment; — hence has arisen this third metaphorical use of the word. The primary signification has been adopted [in the Diaglott], because it agrees better with the second member of the sentence, thus preserving the force and beauty of the antithesis. The righteous go to life, the wicked to the cutting off from life, or death. See 2 Thes. 1:9.”

Now consider carefully the text, and note the antithesis, the contrast, shown between the reward of the “sheep” and the reward of the “goats,” which the correct idea of kolasin gives — the one class goes into everlasting life, while the other is everlastingly cut off from life — forever restrained in death. And this exactly agrees with what the scriptures everywhere else declare concerning the wages or penalty of willful sin.

Consider for a moment the words of verse 41: “Depart from me, ye cursed [once redeemed by Christ from the Adamic curse or condemnation to death, but now condemned or cursed, as worthy of the Second death, by the One who redeemed them from the first curse], into everlasting fire [symbol of everlasting destruction], prepared for the devil and his messengers [servants].”

Remember that this is the final sentence at the close of the final trial — at the close of the Millennium; and that none will then be servants of Satan ignorantly or unwillingly, as so many now are; for the great Deliverer, Christ, will remove outside temptations, and provide assistance toward self-improvement, which will enable all who will to overcome inherent weaknesses and to attain perfection. These “goats,” who love evil and serve Satan, are the messengers (“angels”) of Satan. For these and Satan and for no others, God has prepared Second death — the everlasting destruction. Fire will come from God out of heaven and consume them. Consuming fire and devouring fire all can appreciate, unless their eyes are holden by false doctrine and prejudice. No one ever knew of a preserving fire; and as fire never preserves, but always consumes, God uses it as a symbol of utter destruction. — Rev. 20:9.