[571]The Scriptures clearly indicate that some stubborn, proud, disobedient ones will refuse to hear the word of the Lord and to obey his righteous laws. The loving kindness of the Lord is manifested when his long-suffering is shown in the fact that he does not immediately destroy all such, but gives each one a full and fair opportunity, the Prophet showing that each one shall have at least a hundred years of trial; and if at the end of that time he is persistent in disobeying the Lord, he shall be counted accursed and cut off in everlasting destruction. (Isaiah 65:20) St. Peter corroborated this in his statement concerning restoration times, saying: "It shall come to pass, that every soul, which will not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people".--Acts 3:23. [572]Again the testimony of Jesus is to the effect that at the beginning of his reign the nations and peoples shall be gathered before him in the sense that they will be instructed concerning his reign. In parabolic phrase he pictures them being separated as sheep are separated from goats. A goat is an animal that is unruly, disobedient. It refuses to stay in the pasture where it is placed, but insists on getting outside and destroying things where it has no business. The goat, therefore, pictures an unruly or disobedient class. Sheep are docile, submissive, and in Oriental countries they are led by the shepherd. They know his voice and follow him. The Lord used this to illustrate the ones who are obedient to him. The goats, therefore, picture the wicked class; and concerning them the Lord said: "These shall go into everlasting punishment"; whereas the sheep picture the obedient _class_, and of them he says that they shall go into everlasting life.--Matthew 25:41-46. [573]Punishment does not mean torture. The laws of the land provide for the punishment of wrongdoers, and the duration of that punishment is according to the enormity of the crime. If a man steals his neighbor's chickens, the duration of his punishment would probably be a few days in prison. If he burns his neighbor's house, the duration of his punishment would probably be a term of years in prison. If he takes his neighbor's life, the duration of his punishment is death. There is no limitation to that punishment. It is a lasting one--one that does not end. So those who go into destruction suffer a punishment that is everlasting; therefore everlasting punishment. [574]This punishment the Apostle plainly describes as destruction. (2 Thessalonians 1:9) It is certain that they do not get life, because the Lord plainly says in this statement that the righteous, the obedient ones, go away into life eternal. The final fate of the wicked, therefore, is an everlasting destruction; whereas the final state of the obedient and righteous ones is life everlasting in peace and in joy. ALL MUST HAVE A "CHANCE"