The lake of fire

The “lake of fire” or “lake of fire” (Gr. λίμνην τοῦ πυρὸς, limenen tou puros) is mentioned as an expression only in the book of Revelation and only toward the end of the book. There are only a few scriptures: Rev 19:20; Rev 20:10-15; Rev 21:8. In total, the expression occurs six times in these chapters. In Revelation 20:10 the expression is somewhat expanded by speaking of the “lake of fire and brimstone” (Gr. λίμνην τοῦ πυρὸς καὶ θείου, see also Rev 21:8) is spoken of.

Sulphur is mentioned again and again in the book of Revelation in connection with judgments, including once again in the former judgment of Sodom and Gomorrah (Luke 17:29, cf. Gen. 19). But the fact that sulfur appears again and again in descriptions of hell can be read nowhere in the Bible but only here in the book of Revelation. And just here in the Revelation a “hell” is not mentioned with any word – in any translation. None of the words translated “hell” in the New Testament are used or so translated in the book of Revelation.

From this, the following differences can already be noted:

“Hell” + sulfur = no
“Lake of fire” + sulfur = yes

This lake of fire is associated with a hell by the proponents of a hell as follows (Quote): “All who are without Christ; all these will meet a terrible end. Everyone who is not written in the book of life will be “thrown into the lake of fire” (Rev. 20:15).” This is not a rare description, but there is this view on many websites, in books, you hear it in sermons and in Bible studies. However, the fact that things are thrown together here that do not fit together in the text in this way is noticed by only a few.

Nowhere in the context of these Bible passages are we talking about being with or without Christ. It is not about faith “in Jesus” or “in God,” not about “accepting Jesus,” and it is not about the traditional image of a hell. All these assumptions are projected in there. They are inauthentic links.

The lake of fire is not the traditional hell, but it is a projection screen for it. It seems – on the surface – to fit just so perfectly! However, it only fits if one already assumes beforehand that the traditional picture of a hell comes from the Bible and this must therefore only be found in the Bible. This view has nothing whatsoever to do with a healthy contemplation of the Bible. The problems with this interpretation begin as soon as you look at the text a little more closely.

Is the lake of fire a visual language?

It is tempting to dismiss the Lake of Fire simply as “figurative language.” However, that would be similarly superficial as the view that this would be “hell”. It is not enough for a good understanding of the text to project one’s own thoughts into it.

Indeed, the book of Revelation is rich in imagery, but any imagery – if it would be such here – is based on actual occurrences. For it is only from comparison with a real point of reference that the essence of a visual language can be discerned. However, one cannot simply conclude from this that “therefore” the traditional picture of a hell may be read into it here.

What it needs is nothing different than what it needs with any other text of the Bible as well: The text wants to be read in context and understood out of the basic text and context. The primary purpose of this article is to examine the connection between the traditional image of a “hell” and this term “lake of fire.” What exactly is happening to the Lake of Fire? Who gets in there, when does it happen, and how is it described? So the first concern is to just follow the text and find out what is written there, if there are connections, differences, or striking statements in the text.

The “evil trio” ends up in the lake of fire

The first time the Lake of Fire is mentioned is in Revelation 19, where we are in the midst of the Day of the Lord (“the Lord’s Day,” Rev 1:10), which marks the upheaval and transition into the Messianic Kingdom. Chapters 4-19 describe this tremendous upheaval with judgments and great tribulation. In chapter 19, where the lake of fire is mentioned for the first time, we are at the end of this period of judgment, and the (rather peaceful) Messianic kingdom is set up. There will be some “adjustments” made here for the next time after the courts are finished, so to speak. There we read:

“Then I saw the wild beast and the kings of the earth with their armies gathered to contend with Him who sits on the horse (Rev. 19:10) and with His army. Then the wild beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who did the signs before his eyes, by which he misled those who had accepted the mark of the wild beast and worshiped his image. Alive, the two were thrown into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur.”
Rev 19:19-20

The wild beast and the false prophet are two figurative descriptions of end-time figures who have deceived the world. They are both thrown into the lake of fire. Significant: Here it is explicitly said that they are thrown “alive” into this lake. This is at the end of the judgment period. At the same time, a messenger (angel) descends from heaven.

“He seized the dragon, the ancient serpent (who is the adversary and Satan) and bound him for a thousand years. He threw him into the abyss, closed, and sealed, over him (so that he would no longer deceive the nations) until the thousand years were completed. After that, he must be released for a short time”. (Rev 20:1-3).

This is an exciting story, wherein thus 1000 years of rest from Satan is promised. A few verses further on, we then learn what happens next: “When the thousand years are completed, Satan will be released from his prison. Then he will go out to mislead all the nations on the four corners of the earth, the Gog and Magog, to gather them (whose number is like the sand of the sea) for battle. Then they went up to the broad plateau of the land and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city.” (Rev 20:7-9). The idea of a thousand-year kingdom comes from these verses, although nowhere does it say that the kingdom will last 1000 years. However, two other things last for a thousand years, and one of them is that Satan is bound during such a period. We come to the second mention of the lake of fire:

“Then fire came down from God out of heaven and consumed them. But the counterfeiter who misled them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the wild beast and the false prophet are also. There they will be tormented day and night for the eons of eons.”
Rev 20:9-10

So now there are three of them: Satan is thrown into the lake of fire to the wild beast and the false prophet. Of these it was first said that this happened alive, and these are now ” tormentedfor the eons of the eons”. It is important to recognize this connection between alive and tormented and to correctly assign these combinations in context. We will refer to this again a little further down.

People end up in the lake of fire

We are now at the end of the Messianic Kingdom. Once again there was a huge uproar, and this was again met with judgment, as we have just read before. So there is a judgment before the messianic kingdom, and one at the end. Both judgments happen on earth, and both times the root causes (wild beast, false prophet, counter-prophet or Satan) are said to be thrown into the lake of fire.

Let us note the order carefully: at this point, there are no people in the lake of fire. This is just coming. A new era is dawning:

“Then I saw a great white throne and the one who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heavens fled away, and there was no place for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and rolls were opened. Then another roll was opened, which was the roll of life; and the dead were judged according to what was written in the rolls, according to their works.
The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and the unkept (Gr. hades) gave up the dead that were in it; and they were judged, each according to his works. Death and the unkept gave up the dead who were in it; and they were condemned, each according to his works. Death and the unkept were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death: the lake of fire. And if someone was not found – written in the role of life – he was thrown into the lake of fire.”
Rev 20:11-15

The previous judgments took place on earth. Here, however, it is said that earth and heaven have fled from the face of Him who sits on the throne. It is somewhat unclear where the court will be held. At least the writer expresses here that the past belongs to the past – including heaven and earth, presumably as a picture, for what is also connected with it.

A little later, a new heaven and a new earth come into being (Rev 21:1). Peter also reports this change of heaven and earth (2Pet 3:10-13). So again here is a time of upheaval and again it is characterized by judgment. That the dead “stand” means that they are “risen” for judgment. This is the real final judgment, the last judgment, the liberation from everything that was unjust. Here, what was still slanted is straightened out. It has long since ceased to be a matter of God’s justice, for this was satisfied on the cross. This is about judging the works of men (Rev 20:12), that is, what one has done in life.

The second death

Death is personified here. First, all the dead rise and appear before the great white throne. So then, “death” is “empty”, as is the unkept. These two will now be thrown into the lake of fire. After that follows the description:

“This is the second death: the lake of fire.”
Rev 20:14

Death is thrown personified into the lake of fire, which means: assigned to the lake of fire. There is no way back. The lake of fire becomes the second death. That’s one definition.

If one of the dead is thrown into the lake of fire, then this fire is the cause of his second death. He dies again. Therefore, this is the second death. “This is the second death: the lake of fire. And if anyone was not found – written in the roll of life – he was thrown into the lake of fire.” (Rev 20:14-15).

People like to try to make the second death something completely new, just a hell in which one lives. However, the book of Revelation describes the lake of fire as an occasion to die again. However, there is a special difference here:

• While the wild beast, the false prophet and the counter-prophet are “alive” in the lake of fire,
• the same fire is the reason that people “die” when they get into it.

People are no longer alive when they are thrown into the lake of fire. They die there again, which is why it represents the second death. It is essential for the understanding of the text that we pay attention to these differences and do not interpret anything into it that is not there.

Let us think about this death for a moment. The expression “second death” conditions that there has been a first death. The unifying element is “death”, namely this status of non-life. Life and death are mutually exclusive. But whoever dies once, then appears before the great white throne and is subsequently thrown into the lake of fire, dies again. He is “dead” again. It is not something different, but exactly the same. This is precisely what is described by the expression “second death”.

While the three unholy ones are tormented, this is not said of the people. People die and are then “dead”, namely without sensation – just like at the first death. In fact, that is exactly what the word “death” says.

Job understood death as a “non-being” (Job 7:6-10; Job 7:21). It is over with existence (Job 14:1-2), and not simply another way of being (Ps 39:14; Jer 31:15; Mt 2:16-18). Of course, the point of view here is always from us, as the living. That is right, because that is the only view we can have. The Bible was written for the living, not for the dead. Death is the antithesis of all that we can perceive. The Bible writers are very sober about this. Death is dead. There is no expectation for a dead man (Job 14:7-10).

“… This is how man lies down and does not get up again. Until the sky is no more, he does not wake up and is not awakened from his sleep. DIf only you would hide me in Sheol, conceal me until your wrath turned away, set a goal for me, and then remember me! If a man dies, will he live again?

In the Bible, death is compared to a sleep, as it is in this passage (cf. Jn 11:13). The person who has died ends up (figuratively speaking) in Sheol. This is the Hebrew word rendered in the New Testament as untrue (Gr. hades). Sheol or Hades is, so to speak, the parking lot for the dead; it is the “meeting house of all the living” (Job 30:23). However, before the Great White Throne, even the very last will be resurrected and judged according to their works (Eccl 12:14). Then the death and the unkept are thrown into the lake of the fire, whereby this becomes the new, the second death – for the people who are thrown in there.

How can we imagine this?

What do we read about these things in the text? People die again when they are thrown into the lake of fire. They again have no consciousness (Ps 6:6; Ps 88:5-6; Ps 115:17; Eccl 9:5; Eccl 9:10, etc.). You have “fallen asleep” for the second time. This is the result of the judgment before the Great White Throne.

Death is still present – in or through the lake of fire. Much could be said about this, and this is still not the end. For one day death will be dismissed as the last enemy (1 Cor. 15:26). This is an outlook that points further than the account in the book of Revelation. When death is once put away, life and incorruption come to light in its place (2Tim 1:10) and then the rest of the dead are also “made alive” (1Cor 15:22-28).

Lake of fire as hell?

That now the lake of fire or “lake of fire” can be seen as a place of torment for people, where they are tormented for eternity because of their unbelief, now seems very abstruse.

One should try to imagine what this would mean if the lake of fire were the hell of tradition. God would have to keep the people – so that they can feel something – eternally alive (what they are just not), and make indestructible (what does not happen), so that they can be tortured eternally (what is written nowhere).

Is this now supposed to be the image of a God of love?

Some insist on this view because they think that “God’s justice conditions this.” What a madness! God’s righteousness can never, ever be fulfilled by us. This is precisely the essence of the Gospel: we cannot, but He can! In the last words of Jesus, “It is done” (John 19:30), the good news is included. Instead, hell is invented and the gospel is turned into a threatening message. It’s pitch black, exceptionally weird, and decidedly far from the biblical message.

The gospel is turned into a threatening message. It’s pitch black, exceptionally weird, and decidedly far from the biblical message.

The Lake of Fire seems very real, whatever that will look like one day. It is the reason for a second death. In death there is no expectation. Expectation can only take place again through resurrection and being made alive. Everyone who dies is 100% dependent on God’s grace. There is no other basis, neither now nor in the future, neither for believers nor for now-yet-not-believers. It is man who is and remains dependent on God.

Accordingly, there is court. However, there is no hell.

We actually find Hades, Gehenna, and also a lake of fire in the Bible. They are all named. The thoughts, however, which the Bible links to it are of a different kind than the doctrine of heaven and hell. This doctrine of heaven and hell is a dark legacy of Christianity. It is time to say goodbye to these ideas and a distorted image of God and replace them with more Bible-based considerations – because the Bible does not speak like doctrine.

It is time for people to hear about the grace of God in Christ Jesus, without hidden conversion intentions, without expiration date of God’s love, without fear and without dark shadow.

Deepening

• Is Gehenna Hell?
• Universal Reconciliation
• Judgment and justice
• A brief history of the time
• Why Jesus?