The Eternal Consequence: Punishment and Paradise Determined

And these shall go away into everlasting punishment.—Matthew 25:46

The finality of judgment extends beyond the immediate state of the soul. There exists a happiness which the spirits of just men enter immediately upon separation from the body; yet after the resurrection and general judgment, the righteous shall proceed into life eternal.

The eternity of this happiness finds testimony in Scripture itself. Both reason and Divine revelation establish that good men shall enjoy a state of happiness in the world to come—evident from the universal desire in mankind and the unequal distribution of things in the present state.

Conversely, the eternal state of the wicked includes privation of infinite good: they have lost heaven and all its blessedness at once, becoming strangers to the endearments and consolations of friendship, with no rest from pain. The infliction of infinite evil comes through multiple tormentors: conscience, Satan, fellow-damned spirits, memory, and anticipation—the sufferer becoming his own tormentor.

Your opinions about "for ever" can have no manner of effect upon its reality. As boatmen caught in Niagara's rapids may shout merriment, yet neither their voices nor their denials alter the cataract's approach, so human disbelief in eternal retribution cannot diminish the tremendous fact itself. The perpetuity of judgment is necessary, just, and certain—established by Adonai beyond human alteration or appeal.