WEEPING AND GNASHING OF TEETH

Jesus didn’t mince words! Speaking to the religious elite, He said, “You are of your father the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he tells a lie, he speaks from his own nature, because he is a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44).

An insidious lie being perpetrated from pulpits and in print is the false teaching of annihilation. “Don’t worry” Satan says, “if you’re not saved by grace through faith, then at the end of this life, you’ll simply cease to exist. Hell isn’t real. God is a loving God who would never allow His beloved creations to be tormented eternally. When you die, you will be annihilated.”

False!

We’ve looked at eighteen of Jesus’ parables in the book of Matthew. There is a common theme. In the parable of the Fisherman’s Net, the worthless fish that were destroyed represent the unsaved who will be thrown “into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 13:50).

The Unforgiving Servant was “handed over to the jailers to be tortured until he could pay” (Matthew 18:34) the unpayable zillion dollar debt.

In the Parable of the Wedding Banquet, “the king told the attendants, ‘Tie (the unworthy guest) up hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth’ ” (Matthew 22:13).

In the Parable of the Two Servants (Matthew 24:45-51) and the Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25:14-30), the destiny of the worthless servant is “where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 24:51). Jesus called it “eternal fire” (Matthew 25:41) and “eternal punishment” (Matthew 25:46).

Don’t believe the lie. The unsaved “will be tormented day and night forever and ever” (Revelation 20:10).

But know this: “The Lord is … longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9).

Jesus threw every drowning man a life-preserver. Only those who refuse His gracious gift will die … forever!  

“… think on these things” (Philippians 4:8, KJV).