The incorrigibly wicked do not suffer eternal torment in a hell of roasting spits and pitchforks. The wages of sin is death, not life in torment, and the dead know nothing, since all mental and physical processes cease at death. The wicked and the righteous alike return to dust, and neither goes to heaven or hell at death. At the resurrection, both groups are raised to be judged. Jesus warned that the unrighteous will be cast into hell, from the Greek Gehenna, the Valley of Hinnom, where Jerusalem's refuse was continually burned. That valley is a type of the place of final punishment. An unquenchable fire is not one that burns forever; God's unquenched fire in Jerusalem's gates (Jeremiah 17:27) is long since out. It burns until everything flammable is consumed. The wicked, having died once, are thrown into the Lake of Fire and die the second death. Body, mind, and spirit are utterly destroyed, and they cease to exist. Only ashes remain, and the righteous will walk on them. Afterward only the righteous remain alive, and they live forever.

The incorrigibly wicked are raised last, in the third resurrection, after the just and after those who died in ignorance and blindness and receive their first real opportunity for salvation. Whether they perished at sea, in death without burial, or in a grave, God Himself sentences them, and whoever is not found written in the Book of Life is cast into the Lake of Fire. They are those who, having come to the knowledge of the truth, sin willfully, trample the sacrifice of Christ, and reject God's way of life. By then all humanity has had the opportunity to be saved and every destiny is eternally set. Like the rich man in the parable of Lazarus, they realize they have failed to receive salvation, see the gulf between themselves and the righteous in God's Kingdom, and cannot change their fate. Jesus refuses to answer their knock, and they weep and grind their teeth. God does not want anyone to perish and desires all to repent, but toward those who refuse His mercy He is a God of justice and righteous judgment. Having been given the power of choice, they chose Satan's way and death. They suffer the second death, burned up when God turns the earth into the final Gehenna. They are annihilated as punishment and as an eternal example, awakening to shame and everlasting contempt. Afterward God creates a new heaven and earth where only righteousness dwells.