Hello, Shalom! Q. #4 was: Do all the saved go to heaven? You responded:
Whosoever was not found written in the book ... was cast into the lake of fire
Revelation names 6 things destined to the Lake of Fire:
1. The wild beast [7 heads, 10 horns] Rev 19:20
2. The false prophet [made men worship the beast] 19:20
3. Death 20:14
4. Hell [Hades] 20:4
5. Wicked humans 21:8 [same as 20:15]
6. Devil 20:10
Twice the Lake is identified as "The second Death." 20:14 & 21:8
If the Lake of Fire symbolizes conscious torment, how do you torture Death, Hell, and a symbolic 7 headed monster? However all six could be destroyed forever, annihilated.
But 20:10 reads: The Devil who was misleading them was hurled into the lake of fire and sulphur where both the wild beast and the false prophet [already were]; and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever NWT
This is similar to 14:10: he shall be tormented with fire and sulphur in the sight of the holy angels and in the sight of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever, and day and night they have no rest.NWT
A literal interpretation of these passages has these difficulties:
In Isaiah 34:8 Jehovah sentenced Edom: The streams of Edom shall be turned into pitch, and the dust thereof into brimstone, and the land thereof shall become burning pitch. It shall not be quenched night nor day; the smoke thereof shall go up for ever; from generation to generation it shall lie waste; none shall pass through it for ever and ever. ASV1901
Edom does not burn today. Explorers visit Bozrah and Petra regularly.
However the Edomite people disappeared in prechristian times, as it were, burned off the map. These descendants of Esau left no written records, but their history of hostility toward Israel is detailed in the Bible, so the "smoke", evidence, rises to this day.
A similar prophecy is at Isa 66:22: As the new heavens and the new earth which I will make shall remain before me, saith Jehovah, so shall your seed and your name remain. And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith Jehovah. And they shall go forth and look upon the dead bodies of the men that have transgressed against me: for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh.
[Note: in the New Earth all flesh shall worship Jah. FLESH! This means all the saved shall not be in heaven, as the Earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the Glory of Jehovah as the waters cover the sea Hab 2:14, Isa 11:9, Jer 32:34 ASV1901]
Isa 66 presents an unpleasant picture: Millions of unconsumed dead bodies cover the earth and worshippers go out to abhor them burning and being eaten by flameproof worms. Similarly John the baptizer prophesied Jesus would gather his wheat into the garner, but the chaff he will burn up with unquenchable fire
In none of these cases is the fire literal, simply a figure of extinction, which 2 Thess 1:9 makes clear: The revelation of our Lord Jesus from heaven with the angels of his power in flaming fire, rendering vengeance to them that know not God and to them that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus: who shall suffer punishment, even eternal destruction from the face of the Lord and from the glory of his might.
So the question, what eventuates to the damned?
Torment in the sight of the Lamb or Eternal Destruction away from His face?
The answer: which passage is in a context of symbols? Since scripture teaches "The dead know not anything" and the wicked "Shall be as though they had not been" and tells us 100 times that the soul DIES, which is the wages of sin, torment after death is impossible. Ecc 9:5 & 10 Obadiah 16 Isa 26:14
Please reflect prayerfully on these texts, Shalom. Thank You!
Don Martini |
