The scriptures provide many examples of how things are destroyed, yet the condition is not permanent or does not mean annihilation.
For example, Peter tells us in 2 Peter 3:
10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the
heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be
destroyed with intense heat, and the earth
and [b]its works will be [c]burned up. 11 Since all these things are to be
destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, 12 looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be
destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat! 13 But according to His promise we are looking for
new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells.
2 Peter 3
3 Know this first of all, that in the last days mockers will come with
their mocking, following after their own lusts, 4 and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For
ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation.” 5 For [
a]when they maintain this, it escapes their notice that by the word of God
the heavens existed long ago and
the earth was formed out of water and by water, 6 through which the world at
that time was destroyed, being flooded with water. 7 But by His word the present heavens and earth are being
reserved for fire, kept for the day of
judgment and destruction of ungodly men.
The earth was destroyed but it still
remained.
Hebrews 1 (caps from the translatio)
10 And “YOU, LORD, IN THE BEGINNING LAID THE FOUNDATION OF THE EARTH,
AND THE HEAVENS ARE THE WORKS OF YOUR HANDS;
11
THEY WILL PERISH, BUT YOU REMAIN;
AND THEY ALL WILL BECOME OLD LIKE A GARMENT,
12 AND LIKE A MANTLE YOU WILL ROLL THEM UP;
LIKE A GARMENT
THEY WILL ALSO BE CHANGED.
BUT YOU ARE THE SAME,
They perish in order to be
changed, does not mean annihilation
Luke 19
10 For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was *
lost.”
lost= apollumi or apolluo= to kill, destroy, be destroyed, perish
They are not annihilated if Jesus is seeking them.
Matthew 27:20
20 But the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowds to ask for Barabbas and to put Jesus to*
death
*death= apollumi or apolluo= to kill, destroy, be destroyed, perish
Jesus died. He was not annihilated
1 Corinthians 5:6
5
I have decided to deliver such a one to Satan for the
destruction of his flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.
Notes
the word “destruction,” as used in Scripture, never means annihilation. Take for instance the words of the xcth Psalm, “Thou turnest man to
destruction: again Thou sayest, Come again, ye children of men.” Can “destruction” here be annihilation?
Is it not rather that dissolution which must take place if fallen creatures are ever to be brought back perfectly to God's kingdom. So again, Job says, (chapt. xix. 10,) “He hath
destroyed me on every side, and I am
gone”; and again, (chapt. ix. 22,) “This one thing I said, He destroyeth the perfect and the wicked.” But does he mean to say that he is brought to non-existence, or that the “perfect” will be so destroyed, that they will exist no longer? So, again, St. Peter says, (2 Ep. iii. 6,) “The world that then
was perished.” So, again, of the present heavens and earth it is said, (Heb. i. 11, 12,) “They shall perish, . . . and be
changed.” So, again, both of Israel and Jerusalem it is said, (Deut. xxx. 18; Jer. xii. 17; xv. 6 that they shall be “
destroyed” and “perish.” But does any one suppose that therefore they will be annihilated? So, again, as to the expression, “them that perish,” sometimes translated “the lost”; (see 2 Cor. iv. 3; 1 Cor. i. 18; 2 Cor. ii. 15 do we not know that these “lost,” though they “perish,”
still exist, and exist both as “lost” ones and “saved” ones, as text on text will testify abundantly. So as to the righteous, in the well-known passage of Isaiah; (chapt. lvii, 1 “The righteous “perisheth, and no man layeth it to heart”;--is this “perishing” non-existence? So, again, where we read, in Psalm lxxxiii. 16-18, “Fill their faces with shame, that they may seek thy name, O Lord: let them be confounded and troubled for ever; yea, let them be put to shame and
perish; that men ” (literally “ they ,” for the word “ men ” is not in the Original,) “may know that Thou, whose name is Jehovah, art the Most High over all the earth;”—men are to be “
confounded for ever and perish, that they may know Jehovah.”
So as to the question, “Wilt Thou shew wonders to the dead? Shall the dead arise and praise Thee? Shall thy loving-kindness be declared in the grave, or they faithfulness in destruction?”—is the true answer, Yes, or No? Is not the
“losing” or “destruction” of our fallen life the only way to a better one? Does not our Lord Himself say more than once, (S. Matt. x. 39; xvi. 25; S. John xii. 25 that the way to “save our life,” or “soul,” is to “
lose it,” or “
have it destroyed,” in its fallen form, that it may be re-created
Ref: The Restitution of All Things
God bless.
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