Matthew 25:46

“And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

And the final verdict is given. These who have not responded from their hearts towards Jesus and His followers will go away into eternal punishment. While those who have been made righteous by Christ will enter eternal life, the life of the age to come, the everlasting Kingdom.

Note on Eternal Punishment.

What is involved in eternal punishment is something that we are in no position to be dogmatic about. All we know is that it is eternal in its consequences, but see Isaiah 66:24 where it appears to be both eternal and ‘unconscious'. Scripture clearly indicates that it will include some kind of conscious punishment beyond the grave, but nowhere is ‘eternal conscious punishment' spoken of, and there are a number of reasons that caution us against dogmatism. One is that the impression given in Revelation is that the Devil and his closest minions are subjected to special treatment in that they are thrown ‘alive' into the eternal fire in order to be ‘tormented day and night for ever and ever' (Revelation 19:20, compare Matthew 25:21; Matthew 20:10). All others are apparently thrown in ‘dead' (Matthew 20:15, compare Matthew 20:12 and Matthew 19:21). In their case it is only the smoke from their torment, as they are questioned before the Judge, that is said to ascend for ever and ever as a reminder to the universe of their folly (Matthew 14:11). And if all are treated equally in this way it is difficult to see how some can be said to be punished with only ‘few stripes' compared with ‘many stripes' (Luke 12:48), which hardly seems a reasonable description of eternal torment (compare also Matthew 11:22). Nor how it can be more tolerable in the day of Judgment for some rather than others (Matthew 11:22).

Furthermore God becoming ‘all in all' is not consistent with there still being rebels in Hell (1 Corinthians 15:28). And while some may point to ‘the immortality of the soul' (which is Platonic teaching, not Biblical teaching, which teaches that life is given and taken away by God), it is little short of blasphemy to suggest that God cannot destroy an ‘immortal soul', (as I in my foolishness once used to do). Thus while we must never underestimate the awfulness of the fate of the unrighteous, we are wise not to be too dogmatic about it. We must leave it with God.