My bride and I were doing our daily Bible study today when we discovered these verses.
 
Isaiah 41:11-13
â01C Behold, all those who were incensed against you
Shall be ashamed and disgraced;
They shall be as nothing,
And those who strive with you shall perish.

You shall seek them and not find themâ014
Those who contended with you.
Those who war against you
Shall be as nothing,
As a nonexistent thing.
 
For I, the LORD your God, will hold your right hand,
Saying to you, â018Fear not, I will help you.â019
 
Now, I'll give you the fact that this is talking about the Children of Israel as they relate to their enemies. But the Word "nonexistent" really would mean "nonexistent" would it not? Given that and the fact that older Scriptures often depict newer Scriptures.
 
AKA...
 
Matthew 12:40
For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
 
Above we have a previous happening demonstrating one aspect of the Christ of life, and there are more things like this. Given that and the word "nonexistent" which was found in the NKJV translation would it not be safe to say that at some point in the future our enemies will be "nonexistent"? Thus the concept of an eternal hell would not fit with Scripture yet again.
 
For the record I did a cross translation study to see what others would change the word "nonexistent" to.
 
KJV = Nothing (not much difference between nothing and nonexistent.)
Isaiah 41:12
Thou shalt seek them, and shalt not find them, even them that contended with thee: they that war against thee shall be as nothing, and as a thing of nought.
 
NIV = Nothing
12 Though you search for your enemies,
you will not find them.
Those who wage war against you
will be as nothing at all.
 
NASB = Nothing & Non-existent all at the same time.
12"(A)You will seek those who quarrel with you, but will not find them,
Those who war with you will be as nothing and non-existent.
 
No matter which version I looked up the word was either "nothing" or "non-existent" and sometimes both. I'm not sure what Jebus will do with his Greek or Hebrew translations, but I can tell you that there seems to be unity on this point within God's clear Word. I'd encourage people to believe the clear word of God rather than man, your choice of course.
 
Cheers
IBIJ

'IBIJ' said, quoting the 'O.T.':
 
Isaiah 41:11-13
Behold, all those who were incensed against you
Shall be ashamed and disgraced;
They shall be as nothing,
And those who strive with you shall perish.
 
You shall seek them and not find them
Those who contended with you.
Those who war against you
Shall be as nothing,
As a nonexistent thing.
 
..My response, is that it refers to people {vis-a-vis} ancient
Israel, that their enemies shall.. at a then future point-in-
time, No longer be in a state of enmity, Re. ancient Israel.
 
..Once Any "enemy" {personal, geo-political or otherwise} no longer
bears hatred {for whatever reason} towards you, it merely means
'imho' that they shall "no longer exist" in a state of enmity, or
antagonism towards their Former object of hatred; and Not that
they shall cease to exist in any 'way, shape or form'{!}
 
..Notice that the Scripture you quoted says that: "they shall be AS
{my emphasis} nothing," and it doesn't say, 'they shall be nothing!'
 
..In the same way, once current Caissa member 'IBIJ' {or any member,
for that matter.. who decides not to renew their membership} is gone,
{presumably, come sometime in March of 2008}.. they also shall be "as
nothing," in so far as being able to impact/make their views known, on
these several Caissa bulletin boards!
 
..For that matter, you arguably could be said to be "non-existent,"
in a near-future Caissa's Web context, {provided you follow through
on your intentions, which I Don't doubt that you will}, in the same
way that someone {or group of people} who Once {my emphasis}
were someone's enemy, are no longer to be found, AS enemies.
 
..For the record, 'IBIJ', at no point in time did I consider you
to be an enemy.. in case you may've thought otherwise; but merely
two 'believers', whom.. among a few other believers, agreed to
disagree, on various matters. { : {Have a good one!.. Not exactly
sure, what that means{!?}}

Hi Gamma
 
I do see your point and I can't say that I disagree with it, I do however believe that you might not be looking at the full picture. However, before I get started I never have considered you an "enemy" rather a "mis-informed" believer who stuborning chooses not to read God's clear Word and believe exactly what it says.
 
Yet when it comes to dialoging on these matters, if you do at all it is normally only one post and then you refuse to discuss the matter any further. I find that sad, while I also find that to be everyone's choice to make for themselves.
 
I have not talked to either of my X'wives in a very VERY long time. What do you think the chances are that they don't continue to consider me as an enemy even though I no longer exist in there "world"? 007, Nurse, Bag Of Bones and others dialoged with me for awhile... they positioned themselves against me (vemently) in some cases. When they remember back to Caissa days, and they will; what do you think the chances of them remembering IBIJ as a friend would be? Wouldn't I rather be listed together with such characters as DMZ even though he too chooses not to dialog with me?
 
So even though they are not in my sphere the memory of me continues to be a part of there life, if even just remotely till there dieing day. Just sa when I leave Caissa all those who have chosen to remain will not suddenly forget that I have never been here.
 
As for the Isaiah verse I'll agree that I'm taking a bit of a stretch to connect the dots the way that I have done. However, did you read the part of Jonah in the Whale verse Jesus in the grave? Certainly being in the belly of a whale is not the same as being in the grave, yet Jesus Himself paralled the two events. Thus you can have a type of event (the children of Israel being delivered from enemies); describing a future event (a day when enemies will no longer exist). Is that what this verse is directly talking about? No, but the usage of the word sure does lend credit to other verses like.
 
Revelation 21:4
He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."
 
Knowing that there are others anywhere in the Universe that are perpetually burning for eternity certainly wouldn't position me in a place where every tear is wiped away, how about you?
 
Happy Sabbath
IBIJ

Consider the drug that the bible is. It's a dopamine agonist. Much like the feeling of grandpa playing bingo on a high.
 
think about your words more carefully. Because they are only words with no meaning, shuffled around here and there.
 
Dale

There is indeed a certain high that is received from reading the Bible.
 
It's called resurrection :)
 
Cheers
IBIJ