Some readers of this teaching will take exception to this, but at the very beginning of this teaching I want to give credit where credit is due: the Roman Catholic Church has long held a view of Purgatory, the idea of purification or temporary punishment after death, and is well attested in early Christian literature.
The conception of purgatory as a geographically situated place is largely the achievement of medieval Roman Catholic beliefs. Such beliefs and practices relating to purgatory profoundly affected Western society from the Middle Ages to the present. As the focus of a complex system of suffrages (intercessory prayers, masses, alms, and fasting on behalf of the dead), penitential practices, and indulgences, purgatory provided motivation for works of social philanthropy and furnished abundant matter for visionary and imaginative literature.
As you read and study this teaching, you will find my views about what the Bible teaches about the Lake of Fire are somewhat similar to the ancient views of Purgatory minus the non-biblical, complex system of suffrages, indulgences, and the like.
Also, as you read and study this teaching, I have chosen not to refer to other biblical references that by implication have to do with the Lake of Fire; I have simply chosen to study the Lake of Fire in a “stand alone” manner in an attempt to get as clear a view as possible of what the Bible teaches (and doesn’t teach) about the Lake of fire.
The phrase, “the lake of fire,” occurs only five times in the entire Bible, all five of them in the final chapters of the Book of Revelation. Only five times! Yet the subject of the lake of fire has confounded and mystified multitudes of people for centuries. In addition, all sorts of strange teachings have arisen throughout the centuries since the Book of Revelation was written.
I will not pretend to clear up all the mystery and strange teachings about the lake of fire in this brief teaching. I will simply take the five biblical texts just as they were written and attempt to examine them in their context. In studying any ancient literature, it is important to understand the context…and the original languages in which they were written—in this case the Aramaic and Greek languages of 2,000 years ago. And to whom the literature was written: in this case, to early followers of Jesus who were being persecuted for their faith.
To begin, I state categorically that hell (as it is traditionally considered to be a fiery place of eternal conscious torment) and the biblical Lake of Fire are not one and the same. Those who teach that are exhibiting very poor scholarship and understanding of biblical languages based solely on religious tradition, not at all what the Bible clearly teaches. For more thoughts about this, I invite you to read and study my other teaching on this website titled Hell?No!
Let’s note the occurrences of “the lake of fire” in the Book of Revelation: Revelation 19: 20. 20: 10, 14, and 15. and 21: 8. First, I encourage my readers to turn to those five references and read them for yourself. Believe what you read; don’t read what you already believe! is a basic rule of thumb for reading anything, especially the Bible.
Have you done what I suggested? Have you read those five instances about the Lake of Fire…in context, knowing to whom they were written? Do you understand the scenario, the settings, the historical background?
Now let’s take a look about the Book of Revelation itself—just to give context to the 5 mentions of the Lake of Fire.
First, let’s look at the time of Revelation. Most recent evidence points to the book being written by John about 65-66 A.D. My own studied view is that the first 3 chapters were occurring when John wrote the book. Chapters 4-18 are about events soon to take place in Israel specifically and the eastern Mediterranean area generally. Only chapters 19 -22 are about the far distant future from when John wrote the book. In it’s most basic form, it is a letter from John to 7 churches that then existed in Asia Minor.
The main theme of the Book of Revelation is the revealing or the unveiling of Jesus. It is not primarily all about prophecies about the future.
As to the many events in the book, Revelation is full of rich—sometimes mysterious—diversity, rooted firmly in the symbolism of the Old Testament; Revelation quotes approximately 400 times from the Old Testament. It is a book of visions, of angels, of strange beings, of blessings to the reader, of literal, figurative, and symbolic language, of worship, numerous titles of Jesus, of metaphor, image, and illusion…and much more.
Considering the prolific diversity of the book, many reasonable questions come to my mind as I ponder and consider the Lake of Fire. Perhaps these questions might become thinking or talking points for you.
First, where is the lake located: on earth, under the earth, somewhere else in the universe? Does the lake have boundaries or borders? Did it become a lake because a “river” of fire drained into it or was it created by divine fiat?
When in time and space—or eternity—does the Lake of fire exist? What fuels the lake: gas, liquid, or an unknown element? Are the non-human beings in the lake literal or symbolic; are the humans later cast into the lake in their physical bodies or are they in “spiritual” bodies? When, if ever, does the Lake of Fire cease burning? Are the Lake of Fire and fires of hell one and the same, or are they altogether different from one another?
How large of an area does the lake of fire cover? How deep is the lake? Are the beings cast into the lake consumed or do they burn forever? Do they simply stand in the lake, or are they “swimming” or writhing? Is the lake for punishment alone or is it rehabilitative? Why is there a Lake of Fire and not some other type of punishment or rehabilitation? Who casts the creatures and humans into the lake? Are the beings in the lake aware of one another? If so, are they able to communicate with one another? Are there “compartments” in the lake for various levels of punishment?
Does the lake have anything to do with the fact that part of God’s essential nature and character is fire (Deuteronomy 4: 24 and Hebrews 12: 29)? Are there observers to what occurs in the lake? The word “fire” and its derivatives (such as “fiery”) occurs about 500 times throughout the Bible; does the fire of the Lake of Fire have anything to do with all those other instances of the word? I’m sure many more questions could be asked.
At this point, I invite you to read another teaching on this website titled Revelation. That teaching discusses the historical setting of the book, and other information you might like to know to get a good overall view of the Book of Revelation.
Okay, let’s first examine Revelation 19: 20. Something called a “beast” and someone labeled a “false prophet” were cast into a lake of fire burning with brimstone. Does the Bible fully describe those two beings—their nature and character?
Are you aware that brimstone is an Old English and Middle English word for sulphur (also spelled sulfur) a chemical element which was used for cauterization and healing of wounds and other types of injuries; also, in small amounts mixed in a drink it was used as a purgative. Sulphur is the third most common mineral found in the human body; it is still in use today by many health practicioners to treat various skin conditions such as dandruff. Some modern, healing drugs beginning with the letters “sulf” are created from sulphur, some are synthetic, not created from sulphur.
The point is that brimstone (sulphur) is not necessarily destructive (such as punishment and torment in the lake of fire), but in some instances is also used as a cleansing, healing agent. Could it be that the lake of fire in Revelation is for cleansing and healing, not necessarily for punishment alone? Is it possible that the lake was created by God to inflict pain (torment?) leading to healing, and resulting in cleansing, rehabilitation, and restoration?
The word brimstone (sulphur) occurs a total of 15 times throughout the Bible. One example is found in the Old Testament Book of Job in chapter 18, verse 15; there we read that brimstone (sulphur) is scattered on the dwelling of a wicked person as a cleansing agent to ward off disease. In almost all 15 instances where the word is used, it can readily be seen that it is used for destruction (deconstruction) for the most part, but also for cleansing in some of the references. I suggest the reader examine those 15 references in a quest for greater understanding of what brimstone was used for in ancient cultures.
Turn now to the next mention of the Lake of Fire in Revelation: 20: 10: We now find that Satan has been cast into the Lake of Fire along with the beast and the false prophet. The same questions we asked for the first reference come to mind…and more. Are the 3 of them together or separated from one another? Are they able to communicate with one another? If so, are they still scheming against God or is there any thought of repentance? These are merely questions, not answers!
The essential difference between these first two mentions of the Lake of Fire is that the second instance gives a time frame for their torment: “forever and ever.” First, the rational reader might want to ask the simple question, “How can there be a ‘forever’ with an ‘ever’ after it?” If forever means “always with no end,” how can there be more time after that ending?
The answer is simple. In the Greek language in which Revelation was written, “forever and ever” simply means “through the ages of the ages” or “through the eons of the eons.” These words have to do with time. We know that time will come to an end at some point in the future and be “swallowed” up by eternity in which there is no time. Eternity is not a state of unending time; rather it is a state of absolute timelessness. Our conclusion is that the Lake of Fire does not burn forever, but will cease to burn at the end of time. Ask anyone who speaks the Greek language or who is a student of biblical Greek. I invite you to read another teaching on this website titled Beyond the Far Shores of Time.
We now come to the third mention of the Lake of Fire in Revelation in the 14th verse of chapter 20. We can only assume that this is the same fiery lake as those mentioned in the first two instances. But now there is an added factor: death and Hades (containing all people who have been buried or entombed) are cast into the Lake of fire along with Satan, the beast, and the false prophet.
Questions arise again. Are all the humans who have died through all the ages of time seen here? Are all of them in close proximity to Satan, the beast, and the false prophet? Do they communicate with one another or are they in separate “compartments” of the lake, forever alone? Again, how large is the lake and where is it?
Revelation 20: 15 adds that anyone whose name was not found written in the Book of Life were also cast into the Lake of Fire. What is the Book of Life? Where is such a book kept and maintained? Who maintains the book? How many pages would such a book contain? Who reads the book in order to determine whose names are not found written therein? What criteria must be met for one’s name to be written in the book? Is this a literal book or is it symbolic of something else? Are there other references to the book in the Bible? If so, have you studied those other references?
We now come to Revelation 21: 8, the final mention of the Lake of Fire in the Bible. Now we read about specific types of people who are cast into the lake: cowards, unbelieving sinners, those who are abominable, murderers, sexually immoral people, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars.
My first question arising from this listing is this: “Have you ever been in any of these categories?” For example, “have you ever lied or been cowardly, or have you ever been an unbeliever? Have you ever been an idolater, that is have you ever worshiped anyone or anything other than God? What about other “types” of sinners whose sins do not fit any of those specific categories? If the Lake of Fire does not burn “forever and ever,” are all the people in those categories somehow cleansed, purified, and healed by the flames and not kept in the fires forever?
This has merely been a brief examination of the 5 instances in the Book of Revelation in which the Lake of Fire is mentioned. It was not meant to be an exhaustive study of the subject. We hope you will conduct your own study and come to your own conclusions—and also study the other teachings on our website to which I referred you.
I suppose the real truth of the matter will only be known when the events in the Lake of Fire occur in the future. My own hope is that the Lake of Fire will be found to be for cleansing, purification, rehabilitation, and restoration of all those beings and humans who are cast therein.
Bill Boylan
Life Enrichment Services, Inc.
First posted June 2023
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