What does it mean that hell is referred to as a lake of fire?

The term ‘lake' suggests confinement and the ‘fire' speaks of judgment and torment. The beast (the head of the Roman Empire) and the antichrist (see Q 20, previous issue of T&T) will be cast alive into the lake of fire (Rev. 19:20) and later, after the millennium, Satan (Rev. 20:10) and the unbelievers who had died, as well as ‘death' and ‘Hades' (Rev. 20:15).

The last six verses of our chapter give us the results of God's last judgments; not the material side of them but the moral and spiritual. The fountain-head of all evil is first dealt with. In all the wide universe, that the Scriptures reveal to us, Satan was the original rebel. Into this world he introduced sin by way of deceit. His name, devil, means accuser, calumniator, and by his calumnies against God and His word he deceived Eve, as Genesis 3 bears witness. As a mighty spiritual being, possessing powers of intelligence vastly beyond anything human, he has no difficulty in deceiving fallen men. He is doing it today, and will do it to the end. But the limit determined by Omnipotence is now reached, and he is cast into that "everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels," of which the Lord spoke in Matthew 25:41. Here the fire is spoken of as a lake, which gives the idea of a place circumscribed and confined. Into it the beast and the false prophet were cast as the millennial age began, and now at the end of that age we read that there they still "are," and not that they were. The fire had not destroyed them.

We are well acquainted with fire and its effects in material objects; but, as far as we know, it has no effects on spiritual beings. We judge therefore the phrase to be symbolic, as so much else in this book, but it stands as the symbol of the hot displeasure, the scorching judgment of God, which even for the devil will mean that he "shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever."

— “Cast into the lake of fire and brimstone.”‎ A lake supposes solid land on either side. “Fire and brimstone” are figures of inexpressible torment (see Rev.‎ ‎14:10; Isa. 30:33).‎

— “The Beast and the False Prophet” are already there. They were consigned to their most awful doom at the commencement of the millennial reign, and they are found in it at its close. What a pertinent and striking illustration of the Lord’s words in Mark 9:49, “Every one shall be salted with fire.” Salt is preservative. Here are two men who have been salted with fire, not consumed, but preserved in torment by torment, and that for a thousand years. We do not contend for actual literal flames, for the ‎devil is a spirit (see also Luke 16:23-24). Fire consumes‎ natural objects. But we do most strongly insist upon that which the figures are meant to teach, “outer darkness,”‎ ‎“wailing and gnashing of teeth,” “a never dying worm and quenchless fire,” “fire and brimstone,” etc. The‎ truth is that in the lake of fire mental agony and corporeal suffering are united and endured in degree proportioned to the guilt of those who have sinned. The punishment is in exact measure to the sin, but all is everlasting or eternal.‎ ‎

— “They shall be tormented day and night for the ages of ages.” The plural pronoun refers to the devil, the Beast, and the False Prophet. “Day and night” shows that the torment is without intermission, unceasing. “For the ages of ages” signifies here and in Revelation 14:11 eternity‎ in its full and proper meaning — never-ending existence.‎

The “lake” burneth. Its fire is never exhausted. “Fire and brimstone” symbolise torment and agony of a fearful character (Isa. 30:33). The expression “the lake of fire” occurs five times in the Apocalypse. It is remarkable that when the devil and the awful sinners mentioned in our text are in question “fire and brimstone” are added. “Which is the second death.” The first death is the separation of soul and body, but not cessation of existence, nor unconsciousness, as many dream. Luke 16:19-31, which is not said to be a parable, and Revelation 6:9-11 shows consciousness and activity of spirit in the separate state. The lake of fire in its never-ending agony is the second death. There are three lists of sinners which it would be profitable to compare: 1 Corinthians 6:9-10, Revelation 21:8, 22:15. In the third list the last five named answer to the last five in the passage we have been considering.

But take the Baptist's figure of the burning up of chaff to illustrate what I mean. Who does not see that the "burning up" must be as figurative as the "chaff" is? Material destruction is not a figure of material destruction: it must figure something else. Material destruction will figure spiritual destruction, which is, however, a very different thing.

And so when we come to look at the details. There is no doubt that annihilation has been helped in many minds by the tendency to take literally the expressions used in Scripture to image to us the awful realities of eternal punishment. A "lake burning with fire and brimstone," if taken literally, would suggest to many the idea of utter extermination of the bodies at least of those cast into it. But how should the devil, a spirit, be tormented there? And what was the "flame" which tormented the spirit of the rich man in hades? The truth is, these are figures, which Scripture itself explains, where over and over again God's wrath is compared to fire. Thus, in the Lord's solemn words in Mark 9:48, the worm that dieth not is the gnawing of awakened conscience: who will suppose a literal undying worm? And so the fire that is not quenched is as surely that wrath of God which "abideth on" the wicked.

Thus we see at once how the fire may and must be eternal, so long as God's nature remains unchanged, and sinners remain to be the object of His wrath. Here, therefore, the argument for annihilation is gone forever. No plea from the nature of literal fire will suffice. It is as contrary to the nature of literal fire to allow the beast and the false prophet to remain a thousand years tormented by its flame as it is for it to be the instrument of torment at all to a spirit, such as Satan is. Yet we read of these that they "shall be tormented day and night forever and ever," — or, if people like better to say so, "for the ages of ages" but this is the measure of God's own existence. (Rev. 4:9-10; Rev. 10:6; Rev. 15:7.)

The terrible import of verse 8 is apparent. It stands in contrast to the victors in verse 7, and in both verses we are carried outside the bounds of time and into the endless expanse of eternity. There is that confined region, burning with the holy judgment of God, which will be the second death to those that are cast there. The first death is not annihilation. If it were, there could be no second. It is dissolution of soul and body. The second death will be the complete and absolute dissolution of every link that connects with God; complete severance from all that is summed up in the words, life and light and love. There will be existence but not life in the full and proper sense of the word.

The list of those on whom this doom falls is sadly instructive. It begins with the fearful and unbelieving. Being without faith, they feared man and did not confess Jesus as their Lord. Those who bore the character of the devil, who is a murderer, and were marked by lust and traffic with the powers of darkness, come next. The list finishes with "all liars," for lying is another characteristic of the devil, and deceit takes a variety of subtle forms. The overcomers of verse 7 are sons of God. The damned of verse 8 proclaim themselves as sons of the evil one. They share his doom.

The nature of this judicial doom is explained to be the second death. The first death pronounced, as the penalty on Adam's transgression, meant far more than the death of the body. The moral use of the word in the phrase "dead in sins" proves beyond a doubt that it signifies, in its essence, the separation of the soul from God, together with the state of the soul as being without a single movement of life towards God. This interpretation is confirmed by the statement in Romans, that "by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin" for it is clearly the state of man which is thus indicated. (See also 2 Cor. 5:14.) This, rightly understood, throws great light upon the term here employed — "the second death." "Death," then, will keep its meaning — the absolute separation of the soul from God, its total exclusion from the source of all light and life, and its confinement for ever in the region of darkness; for as light and life, so darkness and death are in their very nature indissolubly connected. Then we have the additional element, "the lake of fire." "Fire" in Scripture is the symbol of the holiness of God as applied in judgment. This may be easily traced through the various books of the Bible, as, for example, in the fire that consumed the sacrifices, and, as again, in the statement that "our God is a consuming fire." (Heb. 12: 29.) The second death therefore is the moral exclusion of the soul for ever from God, or rather, it should be said, the separation of the whole man (body, soul, and spirit) from God, under the infliction of His judicial wrath. This is the lake of fire, God's eternal judgment, according to the standard of His own immutable holiness, as visited upon those who refused His grace, rebelled against His authority, and chose death rather than life. It is into this "lake of fire" that every unconverted one, as this scripture plainly teaches, will be, if dying impenitent, finally cast; for it is there that all this multitude find their doom.

The nature of this judicial doom is explained to be the second death. The first death pronounced, as the penalty on Adam's transgression, meant far more than the death of the body. The moral use of the word in the phrase "dead in sins" proves beyond a doubt that it signifies, in its essence, the separation of the soul from God, together with the state of the soul as being without a single movement of life towards God. This interpretation is confirmed by the statement in Romans, that "by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin" for it is clearly the state of man which is thus indicated. (See also 2 Cor. 5:14.) This, rightly understood, throws great light upon the term here employed — "the second death." "Death," then, will keep its meaning — the absolute separation of the soul from God, its total exclusion from the source of all light and life, and its confinement for ever in the region of darkness; for as light and life, so darkness and death are in their very nature indissolubly connected. Then we have the additional element, "the lake of fire." "Fire" in Scripture is the symbol of the holiness of God as applied in judgment. This may be easily traced through the various books of the Bible, as, for example, in the fire that consumed the sacrifices, and, as again, in the statement that "our God is a consuming fire." (Heb. 12:29.) The second death therefore is the moral exclusion of the soul for ever from God, or rather, it should be said, the separation of the whole man (body, soul, and spirit) from God, under the infliction of His judicial wrath. This is the lake of fire, God's eternal judgment, according to the standard of His own immutable holiness, as visited upon those who refused His grace, rebelled against His authority, and chose death rather than life. It is into this "lake of fire" that every unconverted one, as this scripture plainly teaches, will be, if dying impenitent, finally cast; for it is there that all this multitude find their doom.

This first picture describes how the godless will be tortured by the everlasting fire of judgment. Fire is a symbol of the wrath of God, who is called “a consuming fire” and the “everlasting burnings” (Deut. 4:24; Deut. 9:3; Isa. 33:14; Heb. 12:29). It is questionable, though, whether we should be thinking here of the personal attribute of God, rather than its outward expression that will strike the godless through all eternity. Indeed, are we able to imagine the “lake of fire”? This is also called “the lake of fire and brimstone”, which perhaps suggests that this picture is partially derived from the judgment of Sodom and Gomorrah, when God rained down brimstone and fire out of the heavens (Gen. 19:24 ff.; cf. also the word “furnace” in verse 28).

A. — The language of the apostle is unqualified. Nor could it be otherwise where grace gives a new nature, for it is to have life eternal in Christ. There ought to be no difference as to this among the simplest saints gathered to the Lord's name. To hear of "one teacher opposed to another" or to what is so plain in scripture is strange. "A lake of fire" too may be a symbol; but it figures unutterable woe and unending punishment for those cast therein, exceeding all possible by the literal terms. We are bound to give the largest scope to the judgement of God no less than to His grace.