The Fate of the Wicked

The Fate of the Wicked

Addendum to The Called, the Culled, and the Excused

Chapter 5 Addendum, Part 3: (Back to Part 1: Is there hope for the wicked? Most “Bible believing” people assume that the wicked are every last person who is not a Christian, and that the “wicked” dead are burning in “hell”—now and forever. Others imagine that at least some of the wicked can escape the Lake of Fire by serving time in “purgatory” first. Still others suppose that, in the resurrection, “unconverted” people will have another opportunity to get to know God, and with this knowledge, they will hopefully decide to become “good”, so as to avoid the flames of “hell”. If you consider the scriptures that describe the wicked, rather than just the many which merely mention them in passing, as compiled here, you may come to see that there is absolutely no evidence to support any of the popular viewpoints! These scriptures collectively define the actions which makes the wicked—wicked and describe what God is going to do with them and exactly when their judgment will come to pass. The little old lady next door and the neighbor kids may not fit into the proverbial box you’ve marked “reserved for the wicked!”

In case you just surfed onto this page; this is the part 3 of 3 of a long list of scriptures that tell us virtually everything that there is to know about the fate of the wicked. These three lists of scriptures add considerable supplemental weight to the conclusions drawn in The Called, the Culled, and the Excused, which this list forms a kind of super addendum to.

Resuming the study of the word “wicked”:

Ezekiel 18 is all about the wicked, it describes what they do. Check out verse 31 below in other translations. You have everything to do with obtaining salvation for yourself—God does not do everything for you! Israel will be judged by a higher standard than the other nations. Everyone will be judged in accordance to how much knowledge that they possess. God can determine how many cities to give each Saint by their works and attitudes. God can also determine who is so wicked that they will not be in those cities, by peoples’ works and attitudes. By the time an individual dies, God knows whether a person is a Saint (off site), or wicked, or a candidate for salvation.

Ezekiel 18:4-32 4 ‘Behold, all souls are Mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is Mine; the soul who sins shall die. 5 But if a man is just and does what is lawful and right; 6 If he has not eaten on the mountains, nor lifted up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, nor defiled his neighbor’s wife, nor approached a woman during her impurity; 7 If he has not oppressed anyone, but has restored to the debtor his pledge; has robbed no one by violence, but has given his bread to the hungry and covered the naked with clothing; 8 If he has not exacted usury nor taken any increase, but has withdrawn his hand from iniquity and executed true judgment between man and man; 9 If he has walked in My statutes and kept My judgments faithfully—he is just; he shall surely live!’ Says the Lord God. 10 ‘If he begets a son who is a robber or a shedder of blood, who does any of these things 11 and does none of those duties, but has eaten on the mountains or defiled his neighbor’s wife; 12 If he has oppressed the poor and needy, robbed by violence, not restored the pledge, lifted his eyes to the idols, or committed abomination; 13 if he has exacted usury or taken increase—shall he then live? He shall not live! If he has done any of these abominations, he shall surely die; his blood shall be upon him. 14 ‘If, however, he begets a son who sees all the sins which his father has done, and considers but does not do likewise; 15 who has not eaten on the mountains, nor lifted his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, nor defiled his neighbor’s wife; 16 Has not oppressed anyone, nor withheld a pledge, nor robbed by violence, but has given his bread to the hungry and covered the naked with clothing; 17 Who has withdrawn his hand from the poor and not received usury or increase, but has executed My judgments and walked in My statutes—he shall not die for the iniquity of his father; he shall surely live! 18 ‘As for his father, because he cruelly oppressed, robbed his brother by violence, and did what is not good among his people, behold, he shall die for his iniquity. 19 ‘Yet you say, ‘Why should the son not bear the guilt of the father?’ Because the son has done what is lawful and right, and has kept all My statutes and observed them, he shall surely live. 20 The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not bear the guilt of the father, nor the father bear the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself. 21 ‘But if a wicked man turns from all his sins which he has committed, keeps all My statutes, and does what is lawful and right, he shall surely live; he shall not die. 22 None of the transgressions, which he has committed, shall be remembered against him; because of the righteousness, which he has done, he shall live. 23 Do I have any pleasure at all that the wicked should die?’ says the Lord God, ‘and not that he should turn from his ways and live? 24 ‘But when a righteous man turns away from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and does according to all the abominations that the wicked man does, shall he live? All the righteousness, which he has done, shall not be remembered; because of the unfaithfulness of which he is guilty and the sin, which he has committed, because of them he shall die. 25 ‘Yet you say, ‘The way of the Lord is not fair.’ hear now, O house of Israel, is it not My way which is fair, and your ways which are not fair? 26 When a righteous man turns away from his righteousness, commits iniquity, and dies in it, it is because of the iniquity, which he has done that he dies. 27 Again, when a wicked man turns away from the wickedness, which he committed, and does what is lawful and right, he preserves himself alive. 28 Because he considers and turns away from all the transgressions, which he committed, he shall surely live; he shall not die. 29 Yet the house of Israel says, ‘The way of the Lord is not fair.’ O house of Israel, is it not My ways, which are fair, and your ways, which are not fair? 30 ‘Therefore I will JUDGE you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways,’ says the Lord God. ‘Repent, and turn from all your transgressions, so that iniquity will not be your ruin. 31 Cast away from you all the transgressions, which you have committed, and GET YOURSELVES a new heart and a new spirit. For why should you die, O house of Israel? 32 For I have no pleasure in the death of one who dies,’ says the Lord God. ‘Therefore turn and live!

Most of Bible prophecy deals with ALL twelve tribes of Israel in the end time. Here is the perfect example of how God is going to deal with wickedness of our generation in the near future:

Ezekiel 20:33-48 As I live,’ says the Lord God, ‘surely with a mighty hand, with an outstretched arm, and with fury poured out, I will rule over you. 34 I will bring you out from the peoples and gather you out of the countries where you are scattered, with a mighty hand, with an outstretched arm, and with fury poured out. 35 And I will bring you into the wilderness of the peoples, and there I will plead My case with you face to face. 36 Just as I pleaded My case with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so I will plead My case with you,’ says the Lord God. 37 ‘I will make you pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant; [Compare to Leviticus 27:32 where God claims one tenth of the flock for Himself as they pass under the rod.] 38 I will purge the rebels [the wicked] from among you, and those who transgress against Me; I will bring them out of the country where they dwell, but they shall not enter the land of Israel. [Compare to Leviticus 27:32 where God claims one tenth of the flock for Himself as they pass under the rod. Following the first Exodus, the rebels all died in the wilderness] Then you will know that I am the Lord. 39 ‘As for you, O house of Israel,’ thus says the Lord God: ‘Go, serve every one of you his idols—and hereafter—if you will not obey Me; but profane My holy name no more with your gifts and your idols. 40 For on My holy mountain, on the mountain height of Israel,’ says the Lord God, “there ALL THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL, all of them in the land, shall SERVE ME; there I will accept them....

The context of this chapter continues to summarize the whole revealed plan of God for the future of Israel, from the coming captivity to the reconquest of the Holy Land! All twelve scriptures that mention “green tree” equate it to idolatry or wickedness, as does the Christmas tree of Jeremiah 10:1-5:

Continuing in Ezekiel 20:40-48 ... and there I will require your offerings and the firstfruits of your sacrifices, together with all your holy things. 41 I will accept you as a sweet aroma when I bring you out from the peoples and gather you out of the countries where you have been scattered; and I will be hallowed in you before the Gentiles. 42 Then you shall know that I am the Lord, when I bring you into the land of Israel, into the country for which I raised My hand in an oath to give to your fathers. 43 And there you shall remember your ways and all your doings with which you were defiled; and you shall loathe yourselves in your own sight because of all the evils that you have committed. 44 Then you shall know that I am the Lord, when I have dealt with you for My name’s sake, not according to your wicked ways nor according to your corrupt doings, O house of Israel,’ says the Lord God. 45 Furthermore the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 46 ‘Son of man, set your face toward the south; preach against the south and prophesy against the forest land, the South, 47 and say to the forest of the South, ‘Hear the word of the Lord! Thus says the Lord God: ‘Behold, I will kindle a fire in you, and it shall devour every green tree* and every dry tree in you; the blazing flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from the south to the north shall be scorched by it. 48 All flesh shall see that I, the Lord, have kindled it; it shall not be quenched.

Ezekiel 21:1-7 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 2 ‘Son of man, set your face toward Jerusalem, preach against the holy places, and prophesy against the land of Israel; 3 and say to the land of Israel, ‘Thus says the Lord: ‘Behold, I am against you, and I will draw My sword out of its sheath and cut off both righteous and wicked from you. 4 Because I will cut off both righteous and wicked from you therefore My sword shall go out of its sheath against all flesh from south to north....

I believe that these “righteous” who die with the wicked will have ceased to be righteous as chapter 33 describes. It is important to understand what is needed to stay righteous in God’s eyes, particularly in the end time as explained below. Notice beginning in verse 21 (where I stopped quoting) we see that ancient Israel was already going into captivity when the warning came! Jerusalem had already fallen. The watchman warning spoken of in this chapter contains a standard of righteousness concerning the warning of our people Israel. Fair warning will be just as applicable toward the future captivity. The righteous will need to be warned! [See Ezekiel’s Warning to Israel and Judah and Gog and Magog] Of course ideally, people would wake up before God so dramatically gets the public’s attention. A very few of the wicked may actually not be totally convinced of the ‘merits’ of being evil, some will repent:

Ezekiel 33:1-21 Again the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 2 ‘Son of man, speak to the children of your people, and say to them: ‘When I bring the sword upon a land, and the people of the land take a man from their territory and make him their watchman, 3 when he sees the sword coming upon the land, if he blows the trumpet and warns the people, 4 then whoever hears the sound of the trumpet and does not take warning, if the sword comes and takes him away, his blood shall be on his own head. 5 He heard the sound of the trumpet, but did not take warning; his blood shall be upon himself. But he who takes warning will save his life. 6 But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet, and the people are not warned, and the sword comes and takes any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at the watchman’s hand.’ 7 ‘So you, son of man: I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; therefore you shall hear a word from My mouth and warn them for Me. 8 When I say to the wicked, ‘O wicked man, you shall surely die!’ and you do not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at your hand. 9 Nevertheless if you warn the wicked to turn from his way, and he does not turn from his way, he shall die in his iniquity; but you have delivered your soul. 10 ‘Therefore you, O son of man, say to the house of Israel: ‘Thus you say, ‘If our transgressions and our sins lie upon us, and we pine away in them, how can we then live?’ 11 Say to them: ‘As I live,’ says the Lord God, ‘I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways! For why should you die, O house of Israel?’ 12 “Therefore you, O son of man, say to the children of your people: ‘The righteousness of the righteous man shall not deliver him in the day of his transgression; as for the wickedness of the wicked, he shall not fall because of it in the day that he turns from his wickedness; nor shall the righteous be able to live because of his righteousness in the day that he sins.’ 13 When I say to the righteous that he shall surely live, but he trusts in his own righteousness and commits iniquity, none of his righteous works shall be remembered; but because of the iniquity that he has committed, he shall die. [This is perhaps the explanation to Ezekiel 21:4 above about God cutting off the righteous.] 14 Again, when I say to the wicked, ‘You shall surely die,’ if he turns from his sin and does what is lawful and right, 15 if the wicked restores the pledge, gives back what he has stolen, and walks in the statutes of life without committing iniquity, he shall surely live; he shall not die. 16 None of his sins, which he has committed, shall be remembered against him; he has done what is lawful and right; he shall surely live. [This should refute any arguments about “predestination”.] 17 ‘Yet the children of your people say, ‘The way of the Lord is not fair.’ But it is their way, which is not fair! 18 When the righteous turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, he shall die because of it. 19 But when the wicked turns from his wickedness and does what is lawful and right, he shall live because of it. 20 Yet you say, ‘The way of the Lord is not fair.’ O house of Israel, I will judge every one of you according to his own ways. 21 And it came to pass in the twelfth year of our captivity, in the tenth month, on the fifth day of the month, that one who had escaped from Jerusalem came to me and said, “The city has been captured!

Nahum 1:2-10 God is jealous, and the Lord avenges; the Lord avenges and is furious. The Lord will take vengeance on His adversaries, and He reserves wrath for His enemies; 3 The Lord is slow to anger and great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked. The Lord has His way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of His feet. 4 He rebukes the sea and makes it dry, and dries up all the rivers. Bashan and Carmel wither, and the flower of Lebanon wilts. 5 The mountains quake before Him, the hills melt [Day of the Lord], and the earth heaves at His presence, yes, the world and all who dwell in it. 6 Who can stand before His indignation? And who can endure the fierceness of His anger? His fury is poured out like fire, and the rocks are thrown down by Him. 7 The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; and He knows those who trust in Him. 8 But with an overflowing flood He will make an utter end of its place, and darkness will pursue His enemies. 9 What do you conspire against the Lord? He will make an utter end of it. AFFLICTION WILL NOT RISE UP A SECOND TIME. [Get it right the first time!] 10 For while tangled like thorns, and while drunken like drunkards, THEY SHALL BE DEVOURED like stubble fully dried.

Habakkuk 1:All The burden which the prophet Habakkuk saw. 2 O Lord, how long shall I cry, and You will not hear? Even cry out to You, “Violence!” and You will not save. 3 Why do You show me iniquity, and cause me to see trouble? For plundering and violence are before me; there is strife, and contention arises. 4 Therefore the law is powerless, and justice never goes forth. For the wicked surround the righteous; therefore perverse judgment proceeds. 5 ‘Look among the nations and watch—be utterly astounded! For I will work a work in your days, which you would not believe, though it were told you. 6 For indeed I am raising up the Chaldeans, [God considers raising up the Chaldeans working “a work”!] a bitter and hasty nation which marches through the breadth of the earth, to possess dwelling places that are not theirs. 7 They are terrible and dreadful; their judgment and their dignity proceed from themselves. 8 Their horses also are swifter than leopards, and more fierce than evening wolves. Their chargers charge ahead; their cavalry comes from afar; they fly as the eagle that hastens to eat. 9 ‘They all come for violence; their faces are set like the east wind. They gather captives like sand. 10 They scoff at kings, and princes are scorned by them. They deride every stronghold, for they heap up earthen mounds and seize it. 11 Then his mind changes, and he transgresses; he commits offense, ascribing this power to his god.’ 12 Are You not from everlasting, O Lord my God, my Holy One? We shall not die. O Lord, You have appointed them for judgment; O Rock, You have marked them for correction. 13 You are of purer eyes than to behold evil, and cannot look on wickedness. Why do You look on those who deal treacherously, and hold your tongue when the wicked devours a person more righteous [Righteousness is relative!] than he? 14 Why do You make men like fish of the sea, like creeping things that have no ruler over them? 15 They take up all of them with a hook, they catch them in their net, and gather them in their dragnet. Therefore they rejoice and are glad. 16 Therefore they sacrifice to their net, and burn incense to their dragnet; because by them their share is sumptuous and their food plentiful. 17 Shall they therefore empty their net, and continue to slay nations without pity?

When this chapter is read in its entirety it describes the Day of the Lord (Judgment Day) as if it had already occurred. Here we see the wicked there:

Habakkuk 3:12-15 You marched through the land in indignation; You trampled the nations in anger. 13 You went forth for the salvation of Your people, for salvation with Your Anointed. You struck the head from the house of the wicked, by laying bare from foundation to neck. Selah 14 You thrust through with his own arrows the head of his villages. They came out like a whirlwind to scatter me; their rejoicing was like feasting on the poor in secret. 15 You walked through the sea with Your horses, through the heap of great waters.

Zephaniah 1:All The word of the Lord which came to Zephaniah the son of Cushi, the son of Gedaliah, the son of Amariah, the son of Hezekiah, in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah. 2 ‘I will utterly consume everything from the face of the land,’ Says the Lord; 3 ‘I will consume man and beast; I will consume the birds of the heavens, the fish of the sea, and the stumbling blocks along with the wicked. I will cut off man from the face of the land,’ Says the Lord. 4 ‘I will stretch out My hand against Judah, and against all the inhabitants of Jerusalem. I will cut off every trace of Baal from this place, the names of the idolatrous priests with the pagan priests—5 Those who worship the host of heaven on the housetops; those who worship and swear oaths by the Lord, but who also swear by Milcom; 6 Those who have turned back from following the Lord, and have not sought the Lord, nor inquired of Him.’ Be silent in the presence of the Lord God; for the Day of the Lord is at hand, for the Lord has prepared a sacrifice; He has invited His guests. 8 ‘And it shall be, in the day of the Lord’s sacrifice, that I will punish the princes and the king’s children, and all such as are clothed with foreign apparel. 9 In the same day I will punish all those who leap over the threshold, who fill their masters’ houses with violence and deceit. [Verse 17 describes their punishment] 10 ‘And there shall be on that day,’ says the Lord, ‘The sound of a mournful cry from the Fish Gate, a wailing from the Second Quarter, and a loud crashing from the hills. 11 Wail, you inhabitants of Maktesh! For all the merchant people are cut down; all those who handle money are cut off. 12 ‘And it shall come to pass at that time that I will search Jerusalem with lamps, and punish the men who are settled in complacency, who say in their heart, ‘The Lord will not do good, nor will He do evil.’ 13 Therefore their goods shall become booty, and their houses a desolation; they shall build houses, but not inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards, but not drink their wine.’ 14 The great Day of the Lord is near; it is near and hastens quickly. The noise of the day of the Lord is bitter; there the mighty men shall cry out. 15 That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of devastation and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness, 16 a day of trumpet and alarm against the fortified cities and against the high towers. 17 ‘I will bring distress upon men, and they shall walk like blind men, because they have sinned against the Lord; their blood shall be poured out like dust, and their flesh like refuse.’ 18 Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the Lord’s wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of His jealousy, for He will make speedy riddance of all those who dwell in the land.

Malachi 3:14-18 You have said, ‘It is useless to serve God; what profit is it that we have kept His ordinance, and that we have walked as mourners before the Lord of hosts? 15 So now we call the proud blessed, for those who do wickedness are raised up; they even tempt God and go free.’ 16 Then those who feared the Lord spoke to one another, and the Lord listened and heard them; so a book of remembrance was written before Him for those who fear the Lord and who meditate on His name. 17 ‘They shall be Mine,’ says the Lord of hosts, ‘On the day that I make them My jewels. [Judgment Day] And I will spare them as a man spares his own son who serves him.’ 18 Then you shall again discern [judge] between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve Him.

Burning and the healing both occur shortly after God sends Elijah! The Day of the Lord will eliminate the terminally wicked. The Hebrew Scriptures end with the promise of an encore visit of Elijah! I believe that Elijah actually “time traveled” into the Day of the Lord and that we’ll see him when that day comes. See Does God Travel in Time?

Malachi 4:All For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, and all the proud, yes, all who do wickedly WILL BE STUBBLE [Judgment Day]. And the day which is coming shall BURN THEM UP,’ says the Lord of hosts, ‘That will leave them neither root nor branch. 2 But to you who fear My name the Sun of Righteousness shall arise with healing in His wings; [at this time God’s Sons will be “healed” of death!] and you shall go out and grow fat like stall-fed calves. 3 You shall trample the wicked, for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day that I do this,’ says the Lord of hosts. 4 ‘Remember the Law of Moses, My servant, which I commanded him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments. 5 Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful DAY OF THE LORD. 6 And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the earth with a curse.

When you see the wicked mentioned in the scriptures, look around for statements about Judgment Day!

Matthew 12:38-45 Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered, saying, ‘Teacher, we want to see a sign from You.’ 39 But He answered and said to them, ‘An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 40 For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. 41 The men of Nineveh will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and indeed a greater than Jonah is here. 42 The queen of the South will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and indeed a greater than Solomon is here. 43 ‘When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest, and finds none. 44 Then he says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came,’ and when he comes, he finds it empty, swept, and put in order. 45 Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the LAST STATE of that man is worse than the first. So shall it also be with THIS wicked generation.

The wicked will be “burned” at the end of “this age”. (The wicked who live and die during the “millennium” will be judged at the end of the “thousand years” (Revelation 20:4-5.)

The parables deal with the “wicked one” and Judgment Day. Verse 19 is from the parable of the sower.

Matthew 13:19 When anyone hears the word of the kingdom, and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is he who received seed by the wayside.

In verses 27-43, the parable of the tares, we read about the tares being harvested on Judgment Day:

Matthew 13:27 So the servants of the owner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?’ 28 He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The servants said to him, ‘Do you want us then to go and gather them up?’ 29 But he said, ‘No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, ‘First gather together the tares [that is the first order of business] and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.’ 36 Then Jesus (actually Yeshua, off site) sent the multitude away and went into the house. And His disciples came to Him, saying, ‘Explain to us the parable of the tares of the field.’ 37 He answered and said to them: ‘He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. 38 The field is the world, the good seeds are the sons of the kingdom, but the tares are the sons of the wicked one. 39 The enemy who sowed them is the devil, the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the angels. 40 Therefore as the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of THIS AGE. 41 The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will GATHER OUT OF HIS KINGDOM ALL THINGS THAT OFFEND, and those who practice lawlessness, 42 and will cast them into the FURNACE OF FIRE. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth. 43 THEN the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. [This is the time of the “first” (best) resurrection!] He who has ears to hear, let him hear!

By verse 47 of the same chapter we see another parable about Judgment Day and the wicked.

Matthew 13:47-50 ‘Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet that was cast into the sea and gathered some of every kind, 48 which, when it was full, they drew to shore; and they sat down and gathered the good into vessels, but threw the bad away. 49 So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come forth, separate the wicked from among the just, 50 and cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth.

To read about the terminal fate of Satan and the demons see: Satan’s Second Death

Later, Matthew again quoted Yeshua talking about Judgment Day and the “wicked” in such a way that even the wicked understood—sort of.

Matthew 21:33-41 Hear another parable: There was a certain landowner who planted a vineyard and set a hedge around it, dug a winepress in it and built a tower. And he leased it to vinedressers and went into a far country. 34 Now when vintage-time drew near, he sent his servants to the vinedressers, that they might receive its fruit. 35 And the vinedressers took his servants, beat one, killed one, and stoned another. 36 Again he sent other servants, more than the first, and they did likewise to them. 37 Then last of all he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ 38 But when the vinedressers saw the son, they said among themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance.’ 39 So they took him and cast him out of the vineyard and killed him. 40 Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, [when Yeshua comes] what will he do to those vinedressers?’ 41 They said to Him, ‘He will DESTROY those wicked men miserably, and lease his vineyard to other vinedressers who will render to him the fruits in their seasons.

Colossians 1:21-23 And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled 22 in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight—23 if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which was preached to every creature under heaven, of which I, Paul, became a minister.

2 Thessalonians 3:1-2 Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may run swiftly and be glorified, just as it is with you, 2 and that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men; for not all have faith.

Peter was very plain spoken about the fate of the wicked. Those who “do not understand” will be “caught” and “destroyed” and “perish”. Apparently, God forgot to mention the “other chance” they are supposed to have for salvation:

2 Peter 2:1-13 But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction. 2 And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed. 3 By covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words; for a long time their judgment has not been idle, and their destruction does not slumber. 4 For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment; 5 and did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly; 6 and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them to destruction, making them an example to those who afterward would live ungodly; 7 and delivered righteous Lot, who was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked 8 (for that righteous man, dwelling among them, tormented his righteous soul from day to day by seeing and hearing their lawless deeds)—9 then the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment, 10 and especially those who walk according to the flesh in the lust of uncleanness and despise authority. They are presumptuous, self-willed. They are not afraid to speak evil of dignitaries, 11 whereas angels, who are greater in power and might, do not bring a reviling accusation against them before the Lord. 12 But these, like natural brute beasts MADE TO BE CAUGHT AND DESTROYED, speak evil of the things they DO NOT UNDERSTAND, and will utterly PERISH in their own corruption, 13 and will receive the wages of unrighteousness, as those who count it pleasure to carouse in the daytime.

We obtain eternal life “because” we love our fellow man. This has been the determining factor for passing “from death to life” since “the beginning”. It shouldnt take a rocket scientist to figure out that: hatred = murder = no eternal life. If you do not understand God’s purpose for creating mankind, that is no excuse, it is totally irrelevant. Being a murderer, for example, erases your name from the the Book of (Eternal) Life! (Names are deleted, not added.)

1 John 3:11-15 For this is the message that you heard from the beginning, [as in before Yeshua] that we should love one another, 12 not as Cain who was of the wicked one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his works were evil and his brother’s righteous. 13 Do not marvel, my brethren, if the world hates you. 14 We know that we have passed from death to life, BECAUSE we love the brethren. He who does not love his brother abides in death. 15 Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.

1 John 5:12-19 He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. 13 These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God. 14 Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. 15 And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him. 16 If anyone sees his brother sinning a sin which does not lead to death, he will ask, and He will give him life for those who commit sin not leading to death [these sins are primarily breaking the first four Commandments in ignorance!]. There is sin leading to death [for the wicked]. I do not say that he should pray about that. 17 All unrighteousness is sin, and there is sin not leading to death. 18 We know that whoever is ‘born’ [born—Strong’s 1080, gennao ghen-nah’-o]of God does not sin; [due to becoming immortal Sons of God] but he who has been ‘born’ [begotten or conceived—Strong’s 1080 in this context] of God keeps himself, and the wicked one does not touch him. 19 We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one.

This concludes the primary Scripture references concerning the fate of the “wicked”. There is no hope for the wicked once they die—only a fiery punishment on their way to oblivion!

Unmarked scriptures are from the “New King James Version®, Copyright © 1982, Thomas Nelson, Inc. All rights reserved.” “Bible text from the New King James Version® is not to be reproduced in copies or otherwise by any means except as permitted in writing by Thomas Nelson, Inc., Attn: Bible Rights and Permissions, P.O. Box 141000, Nashville, TN 37214-1000.”