Quick reply. I have a funeral service to do this evening...
Isaiah 34 deals with the destruction of Edom. It is a prophetic vision of what will happen when Edom is destroyed.
8 For the Lord has a day of vengeance, a year of recompense for the cause of Zion. 9 And the streams of Edom shall be turned into pitch, and her soil into sulfur; her land shall become burning pitch. 10 Night and day it shall not be quenched; its smoke shall go up forever. From generation to generation it shall lie waste; none shall pass through it forever and ever.
This vision of the fire being unquenchable and the smoke rising forever is a metaphor. Edom was destroyed long ago, and the smoke no longer rises. This visionary language is identical to the visionary language in Revelation. So since the smoke mentioned in Isaiah is not literally rising to this day, it is safe to conclude that the smoke in Revelation is not meant to be understood literally either.
The symbolic language of Isaiah represents the total and final destruction of Edom. The symbolic language of Revelation represents the total and final destruction of the lost.
More tonight...
And this is exactly why I said in comment #42 that I am familiar with your work and can not accept this part of it as a basis to say that the wicked lost in hell are annulated. The idea proposed by the thought requires that many, many, Bible verse be altered to make the idea possible.
Isaiah 34 certainly is a prophesy of the end days. "The Day of the Lord's vengeance" of course refers to Armageddon. The firey nature of this judgment is such that it cannot refer to any historic battle in ancient Israel.
IT IS NOT A METAPHORIC vision. It is the Revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ and it is a real physical event soon to come upon us all.
Jeremiah 49:18 clearly states that Edom will be destroyed like Sodom & Gomorrah but as we all know, the land still exists.
The desolation and depopulation of Edom became a symbol of God's judgment on the Christ denying nations of the world BUT then we see the Edom appears again as "Babylon" in the Revelation (18). The point is........it was not ANNILIATED. It is still there.
The idea that unbelievers will not experience eternal punishment is attractive to many, yet the Bible offers no support for this belief and Isaiah 34 certainly does not speak to this idea Ken. On the contrary, the Bible offers clear examples that only two alternatives exist upon death—eternity with God in glory or an eternity of suffering and separation from Him.
Rev. 20:10 clearly tells us.................
"the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were,
and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever."
Scripture indicates the devil, beast, and false prophet will also be in this lake of fire. Further, the torment will last for eternity. Just as heaven will offer eternal joy for the believer, this lake of fire will offer eternal torment for unbelievers.
Luke 16:19-31 also answers the question of what happens to the unbeliever after death between now and the final lake of fire described in Revelation 20. There we find that a certain rich man had died as an unbeliever and was
"in torment" (Luke 16:23). Jesus made it clear that the afterlife offers two options and that both heaven and hell are eternal.
As I said......there are just too many Bible Scriptures that must be ignored or totally removed to make the idea of annihilation work.