The End of the Unrepentant

Book excerpt: The End of the Unrepentant stands as the most thorough exegetical analysis of the biblical teachings about the fate of the unrepentant ever written. Following up the author's acclaimed monograph, After the Thousand Years: Resurrection and Judgment in Revelation 20, this study makes use of the nexus of the Isaiah Apocalypse (Isa 24-27) and Revelation 20 as a paradigm or interpretive lens through which to understand the teachings of the Psalms, the Prophets, Jesus, and the NT about resurrection, judgment, and the divergent futures of the faithful and the unrepentant. The question of whether "hell" is everlasting has been a topic of interest for many decades now among evangelicals, and the controversy has only intensified in recent years. Many Christians feel uneasy about the idea of everlasting torment, but their belief in the authority of Scripture leaves them feeling that this doctrine is inescapable. The End of the Unrepentant is written for them. It mounts a unique, positive exegetical argument for annihilationism--an argument so thoroughly founded on the prophetic words of Jesus, Isaiah, and John that it shifts the exegetical burden of proof to those who would wish, for theological reasons, to affirm everlasting torment.