They are destroyed in the lake of fire and will cease to exist!
Eternal sleep[death] is the wages for those who reject Jesus - John 3:36, Rom 6:23, Psa 37:20,104:35. They will burn, and burn up and be no more in a lake of fire which will eventually burn out - Oba 1:16.
This is what Bible says will happen to the lost, suffer "death" (Romans 6:23) , suffer "destruction" (Job 21:30), "shall perish" (Psalm 37:20), will "burn" up [Not a root or a branch will be left to them.] (Malachi 4:1), Malachi 4:3 "Then you will trample on the wicked; they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day when I act,” says the LORD Almighty.", "shall be destroyed together" (Psalm 37:38), the wicked shall not be (Psa 37:10), will "consume away" (Psalm 37:20), "shall be cut off" (Psalm 37:9), "shall be slain" (Psalm 62:3), God will "destroy" them (Psalm 145:20), "fire will devour them." (Psalm 21:9) They shall be as though they had not been.(Oba 1 16), they shall be as nothing; and they that strive with thee shall perish (Isa 41:11), the wicked be no more (Psa 104:35), the wicked no more (Pro 10:25)
In no way should these clear words be misunderstood by one who honestly desires to know truth. There is a fire reserved for the wicked, but a fire so hot it will utterly destroy all who are engulfed by it. When the fire has done its work, it will go out. Eternally burning fire is not taught anywhere in the Bible--not even in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. The English word eternal[ Greek "aionios"] DOES NOT always mean unending as we know the word in the Bible.
God bless.
The Hebrew word for fire literally means “the strong devourer” or “the strong
consumer.” Moses uses a play on words to describe God's appearance in the
mount in the form of fire, saying in Deuteronomy 4:24,
24 For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a
jealous God.
The Israelites thought that God's fire would burn and consume their literal
flesh, and so they refused to obey Moses when he told them to draw near
to God (Exodus 20:18-21). Forty years later, Moses reminded them of that
day where they said in Deuteronomy 5:25,
25 Now then why should we die? For this great fire
will consume us; if we hear the voice of the Lord our
God any longer, then we shall die.
They did not understand the difference between literal fire and the character
of God. They did not see that a literal fire burns the bodily flesh, but the all-
consuming fire of God only destroys “the flesh” that we ought to submit to
Him for destruction anyway. Are they not like so many Christians today,
who still do not know the difference? We think the fire of God is for the
purpose of destroying US, when in fact, its purpose is to destroy our “flesh,”
by way of divine discipline.
Isaiah 26:9 says,
9 At night my soul longs for Thee, indeed, my spirit
within me seeks Thee diligently; for when the earth
experiences Thy judgments, the inhabitants of the
world learn righteousness.
As I have said before, the purpose of God's judgment is to teach the world
righteousness, not to burn them to ashes. The fire motif is to show us that
even as earthly fire burns literal flesh to ashes, so also does the divine fire
burn “the flesh” to ashes. We understand spiritual things by their earthly
counterparts. But we should not confound the two.
This leads us to our next question: how long is the judgment of God? Will God
God judge sinners endlessly with no hope of a Jubilee that would ultimately
bring forgiveness of their debt to sin? If the purpose of the law is really to burn
“the flesh,” then it is designed to correct men and teach them righteousness,
not to destroy them or torture them for eternity.
What God is destroying is the "old man", which is, the "mortal man" that can't
please God. He is evil and God will burn him to ashes, so the "New Man" which
was created in Christ Jesus by the Judgment that He established on the Cross.
As christians... we have to allow God to burn chaff off of us daily. In essence, we
have to get close enough to the fire so we can be preserved until the coming of
the Lord. That's why we should be diligent in our daily lives to read and study the
Word (firey Law), not to be saved, but to stay untainted from the world.
Then, at the end of the final Age of the Ages, when the sinners have been
disciplined and purified by the Divine Fire and have learned righteousness (Isaiah
26:9), when the Great Shepherd has constrained them in Love to cross the bridge
of faith, then they too will be brought into the incorruptible state of God's fullness,
"that God may be all in all" (1 Cor. 15:28).
What a fantastic plan God has for His creation!
Now that's Good News!
Logabe