More Thoughts About Hell and the Lake of Fire

In Revelation 20:10 John writes that …

“The Devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and false prophet are also. And they were tormented day and night forever and ever.”

This is one of the grenades that are lobbed at me whenever I push back on the doctrines of hell that paint a picture of a fiery furnace where people who don’t believe in Jesus are exiled to be tortured and shamed for all of eternity.

“It says so right here in black and white”, they say, “so stop trying to twist the Bible into saying something it doesn’t say! There is hell. People who don’t believe in Christ go there. And this verse proves it!”

Um, OK?

First of all, it really doesn’t say anything about hell or people going there after they die. Right? It seems to be talking about something else entirely.

BUT.

Let’s just play along and assume that the guy on Facebook who received his PhD in Theology from Google University is right and it really is talking about hell.

Whatever the case may be, interestingly there are some nuances in some of the original Greek words that are important if we want a little more clarity into understanding what might be going on beneath the surface of this verse (and others like it, too).

NOW.

I’m not a Greek scholar and won’t pretend to be (so don’t email and remind me of that, I’ll just delete it and laugh at you while I do), but I do know how to use a concordance and a few other translation tools to help get at the meaning of Greek words; and what I think I’ve discovered in regards to this verse is quite interesting.

First of all, the word for “fire” is “pur”, which literally means “pure” or “purify”.

Secondly, the word for “brimstone” is “theion”, which literally means “divine incense”.

Thirdly, the word for “torment” is “basanizo” which refers to a “touchstone” that was used to “test the purity of precious metals”.

And lastly, the term “forever and ever” is better translated as “into the ages of ages”.

SO.

Let’s look at this verse again with those handful of definitions in mind: “The Devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of purifying and incense where the beast and the false prophet are also. And they will be tested day and night into the ages of ages.”

Um.

I don’t know about you, but that seems a whole lot less gruesome and a whole lot more promising to me than the previous translation.

Right?

Because in the first translation I’m left with this image of hopelessness. Like, whoever messes up and ends up being deceived by the Devil (whatever that means) is going to be tossed into a lake of fire where they’ll be tormented forever, end of story.

BUT.

In the second and more literal translation I come away with an image of hope. Like, whoever messes up and ends up being deceived by the Devil (again, whatever that means) is going to be put into a place of purification that will smell like incense where their newly attained purity will be tested into the next age - not forever and ever, but until a particular point in time (whenever that might be).

Look, I’m not trying to erase hell, Francis (points if that made you laugh). I mean, I’m OK with doing that. I’m OK with wiping hell out of our theology books altogether. But if it makes you feel better and you’re not there yet, I’m not out to extinguish the fire. After all, Jesus said that “everyone will be salted with fire” (Mark 9:49) - yes, even you Mr. and Mrs. Lifelong Christian … and so I’m not here with a fire hose trying to drown out the fiery words of Christ.

Rather, I’m trying to get to the bottom of what the deal is with hell and fire and torment and all the things.

Why?

Because when I look at theologies and doctrines that talk about the majority of humanity being cast away from God’s presence for all of eternity and in some cases tortured forever and ever … I don’t know about you, but that doesn’t really seem to fit the character of an omnipotent and all-loving God that I see represented in Jesus.

Yeah - I can explain all the questions away, I know. I went to seminary. I took the theology classes. I read the books. I know the arguments.

God is sovereign.

God is just.

God’s ways are not our ways.

Faith is being sure of what we hope for, certain of what we do not see.

Yeah, yeah, I know all of the easy answers. I know all of the verses, I get it. But I’m ready to peel back that seemingly shallow layer and look beneath it. Like, if there really is a hell and the majority of God’s creation is there experiencing whatever it is that they’re experiencing because they didn’t believe the right things about Jesus … then God is pretty weak, Satan wins, and God loses.

Right?

After all, God put forth a plan to “draw ALL people to himself” (Jesus’ words, not mine), but if MOST of those people don’t get drawn in, but cast away.

Well.

Then God failed and Satan won. And so I don’t think hell is what we’ve been told it is. If it exists at all (and that’s a big IF for me) I don’t think it’s an underground furnace run by Hitler. And I don’t think it’s eternal separation from God either. Pretty up the language all you want, but I don’t think it’s any of those things.

Instead, I think it’s a fire that is nothing other than the embrace of the Divine.

I think hell is a hot and slightly torturous experience that comes not when we’re cast away from the Creator’s presence, but when we fall into the embrace of our Creator. His arms don’t squeeze to hurt and burn and torment and punish, but her arms squeeze to purify us, to squeeze out of us all that isn’t like him, and to ready us for an eternity in her presence.

In this case, everyone has stuff that needs to be burned away, right?

Whether you’re a part-time liar or a full-time hit man, everybody is going to have stuff that needs to be burned away before they can enter into God’s house. As a result, some of us will spend a short time in his embrace while others will spend what will feel like an eternity, but we’ll all be in his embrace just the same - through the pain and torment we’ll never be alone, never be cast away, never abandoned.

Hell - if it exists at all is not to punish and torment unbelievers for all of eternity, but to purify, restore, and ready us all for an eternity of bliss.

Much love,

PS - read these books.

Raising Hell by Julie Ferwerda

Jesus Undefeated by Keith Giles

Her Gates Will Never Be Shut by Brad Jersak

Love Wins by Rob Bell

Love Wins Companion Guide by Rob Bell