Topic
The Lake of Fire
The image in Revelation for the final destiny of the devil, the beast, the false prophet, Death, Hades, and those whose names are not written in the book of life. Revelation calls it the second death.
Also called: lake that burns with fire and sulfur, lake of burning sulphur, the fiery lake, the second death
The lake of fire appears only in Revelation, inside a vision full of symbolic images. It receives the beast and the false prophet, then the devil, then Death and Hades, and finally anyone not found written in the book of life. Matthew 25 says the eternal fire was prepared for the devil and his angels.
The clause about torment day and night for ever and ever stands in verse 10, where only three figures are in view. When Death and Hades are thrown in, the text does not repeat it. It says instead that this is the second death. An argument from that placement is suggestive rather than decisive, and this site presents it on those terms.
What the lake of fire is not: it is not Hades, which is thrown into it; it is not Sheol, a Hebrew word from a different Testament; and it is not the general English word hell. It is a particular image whose meaning Revelation states in its own words.
What this is not
Terms in this dispute are routinely collapsed into one another. These distinctions are what keep the argument honest.
- The lake of fire is not Hades, since Revelation has Hades thrown into it.
- The lake of fire is not the intermediate state, which precedes the resurrection entirely.
- Revelation names it the second death, which is the book’s own interpretation of the image.
- Matthew 25:41 says the eternal fire was prepared for the devil and his angels, not for human beings.
Principal passages
- Revelation 20:10-15
- Revelation 21:8
- Revelation 19:20Listed in the Scripture index
- Matthew 25:41
Where this is argued in the case
- S03 Revelation 20: The Lake of Fire and the Second DeathWhere the clause about unending torment sits in the passage, what the lake of fire does to Death and Hades, and how much weight the placement can carry.
- S13 What Fire Does in ScriptureThe ordinary function of fire in the biblical texts, the marked exceptions, and what fire paired with sulphur signifies.
- S20 Why No Place Is Prepared for the UnrighteousThe three parties in Matthew 25, the parables where the righteous have a container and the wicked have none, and the limits of the argument.
- S02 Revelation 14: The Smoke of Their TormentThe grammar of Revelation 14:11, the Edom and Babylon parallels, and three readings of the phrase about having no rest.
Objections that turn on this
- S28 Are the Wicked Still Present After Revelation 20?The recapitulation reading, the promise that righteousness dwells in the new creation, and the tree-of-life argument for anyone who reads it literally.
- S30 Is Annihilation Really Punishment?Two answers: finite experiences genuinely matter, and exclusion from eternal life is itself the ultimate loss.
- S32 Why Might Satan and His Angels Have a Different Fate?The author’s reasons, the alternative conditionalist position stated fairly, and why the human case does not depend on this.
Related topics
Sources for this topic
- Joseph Dear. The Bible Teaches Annihilationism. 1st edition, PDF version. 2016. approximately 590 pages View original of The Bible Teaches Annihilationism (opens in a new tab) Details
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