With
its references to worshippers of the beast being tormented “day and night” and
“the smoke of their torment going up forever and ever,” it’s no surprise that Revelation
14:9-11 is a commonly-cited proof-text for the traditional view of hell as a place
where the lost will experience eternal, conscious, fiery torment. After all, if
the smoke of their torment rises forever, this would seem to require that the
fire that produces the smoke must also continue burning forever; and given that the
fire is specifically being used to torment people, tradititonalists argue that
those who undergo the torment must remain in that state for as long as
the fire burns…meaning, forever.
As
compelling as this interpretation of Revelation 14:11 might at first appear,
however, other scriptures cast considerable doubt on it.
The
Language of Prophetic Imagery
First,
we need to keep in mind that the book of Revelation conveys prophecy in the
form of imagery. Some of this imagery is explained or else seems obvious given
other passages of scripture, but much of it is left unexplained. For instance, the
“locusts” of Revelation 9—are they actually insects, are they representations
of demonic beings, or is there some other answer? How much of their description
is literal and how much is figurative? By the same token, the description of
smoke “going up forever and ever” (in Greek: “unto the ages of the ages”) may
be figurative rather than literal. As evidence of this, consider the language of
Isaiah 34:9-10, where God, speaking of the destruction of Edom, says: “Its
streams will be turned into pitch, and its loose earth into brimstone, and its
land will become burning pitch. It will not be quenched night or day; its smoke
will go up forever. From generation to generation it will be desolate; none
will pass through it forever.”
Now,
viewed only by themselves, these verses might lead us to envision a land that
is forever on fire and sending smoke skyward, but if we read on in Isaiah 34,
we quickly discover that this cannot be the case. Still speaking of Edom in
verse 11, God says, “The pelican and the hedgehog will possess it, and the owl
and the raven will dwell in it.” Verse 13 goes on to tell us that “Thorns will
come up in its fortified towers, nettles and thistles in its fortified cities.
It will also be a haunt of jackals and an abode of ostriches.” Clearly, the
land described here cannot remain “burning pitch” forever or else plants and animals
would not be able to survive there. Indeed, it seems that the destruction—while
quite violent—does not eradicate everything, as towers and cities at least
partially remain. At some point, the fire that God said “will not be quenched
night or day” must at last go out.
But
if the fire goes out, how can it be said to be “unquenchable”? And how can the
smoke of it continue to rise “forever”?
Delving
deeper into this matter, we find that there are numerous other references to
“unquenchable” fire and wrath in the Old Testament, such as the following:
- In II Kings 22, King Josiah sends men to inquire of the Lord concerning the fate that lies in store for Judah. The reply they receive reads (in part): “Because they have forsaken Me and have burned incense to other gods that they might provoke Me to anger with all the works of their hands, therefore my wrath burns against this place and it shall not be quenched” (22:17).
- In Jeremiah 7:20, God tells the people of Judah that their idolatry and other forms of wickedness have turned him against them: “Behold, My anger and My wrath will be poured out on this place, on man and on beast and on the trees of the field and on the fruit of the ground, and it will burn and not be quenched.”
- In Jeremiah 17, God once again speaks against the sins of Judah, commanding the people to keep the Sabbath: “But if you do not listen to Me…then I will kindle a fire in [Jerusalem’s] gates and it will devour the palaces of Jerusalem and not be quenched” (17:27).
- In Ezekiel
20:45-48, God commands Ezekiel to prophesy against Teman (believed to be
one of the chief Edomite tribes) to the effect that: “Behold, I am about
to kindle a fire in you, and it will consume every green tree in you, as
well as every dry tree; the blazing flame will not be quenched, and the
whole surface from south to north will be burned by it. All flesh will see
that I, the Lord, have kindled it; it shall not be quenched.”
Once
again, if we consider these references to “unquenchable” fire and wrath only by
themselves, they appear to convey the idea of fire that never goes out and
wrath that never abates. As is the case with Isaiah 34, however, other
considerations make these interpretations impossible. God threatened Jerusalem
with “unquenchable” fire that would destroy its gates and palaces, and
Jerusalem was indeed sacked and burned by the Babylonians in fulfillment of
this prophecy—but is Jerusalem still burning today? No, eventually the
“unquenchable” fire went out and the city was rebuilt when Judah’s years in
captivity ended. Is Teman of Edom still a land of burning trees today? Once
again, God’s judgment fell on the land and devastated it, but the fires
eventually went out. God also spoke of his wrath as being “unquenchable” on
account of the sins of Judah, but the same books that prophesied his wrath also
speak of his forgiving and restoring the Jewish people. How then is the wrath
spoken of in these passages “unquenchable”?
Either
these passages conflict with one another, or we’re going to have to reconsider
how we define “unquenchable.” Does it truly mean something that never ends—a
fire that never goes out or wrath that never subsides? It could potentially mean these things, but certainly not within the
context of these examples. In these examples, “unquenchable” can only mean unstoppable—a fire that burns until it destroys
what it was intended to destroy, a wrath that will not subside until justice is
satisfied. What God sets on fire, no one puts out. When God turns loose his
wrath, no one can brush it aside. These are consistent themes throughout the
Old Testament:
“See now that I, I
am He,
And there is no god
besides Me;
It is I who put to
death and give life.
I have wounded and
it is I who heal,
And there is no one
who can deliver from My hand.” – Deuteronomy 32:39
“Now consider this,
you who forget God,
Or I will tear you
in pieces, and there will be none to deliver.” – Psalm 50:22
“All the
inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing,
But He does
according to His will in the host of heaven
And among the
inhabitants of the earth;
And no one can
strike against His hand
Or say to Him,
‘What have You done?’” – Daniel 4:35
For the Lord of
Hosts has planned, and who can frustrate it? And as for His stretched-out hand,
who can turn it back? – Isaiah 14:27
Mountains quake
because of Him
And the hills
dissolve;
Indeed the earth is
upheaved by His presence,
The world and all
the inhabitants in it.
Who can stand
before His indignation?
Who can endure the
burning of His anger?
His wrath is poured
out like fire
And the rocks are
broken up by Him. – Nahum 1:6-7
In
the context of Isaiah 34—and the greater Old Testament context of wrath and
judgment—the point is that the destruction God intends to visit on Edom will destroy
the wicked inhabitants, forever drive human beings from the area, and leave the
works of wicked men in ruin. The fire would not be put out by anyone seeking to
stay the hand of God’s judgment, but rather, would continue to burn “night and
day”—not for a moment would anyone stop it—until it consumed everything it was
intended to consume, after which it would go out and leave the land scorched
and desolate.
The
fact that the phraseology of the two passages is so similar strongly suggests
that Revelation 14 draws its imagery from Isaiah 34—as well as from the overall
Old Testament context of wrath and judgment—to convey the permanent destruction
of those who worship the beast. These will be tormented to death by a fire that
cannot be quenched until it has completely consumed them.
What
then of the smoke that “rises forever” in these passages?
Vanishing
into Eternity
Consider
that smoke can continue to rise without being continually produced. If I start
a fire and continuously give it fuel, it will continuously produce smoke as it
consumes the fuel. This is how traditionalists view the matter with regard to
hell-fire: smoke continuously rises from the tormented worshippers of the beast
because they continuously serve as fuel for it. This interpretation has led
some to argue—although entirely without scriptural support—that the bodies of
the damned will continually regenerate even as they are being burned in hell-fire.
But suppose now that, once I get my fire going and producing smoke, I decide to
put it out, cover it over, or even just let it burn out. Even though smoke is
no longer being produced, the smoke that has already been produced will
continue to rise. As it rises, the smoke will begin to dissipate in the
atmosphere and, eventually, will be completely lost to sight. This is fitting
imagery of eternal destruction. Even a very intense fire will leave ashes or
debris of some sort, but smoke appears to vanish into nothing.
Yet a little while
and the wicked man will be no more; and you will look carefully for his place
and he will not be there…the wicked will perish; and the enemies of the Lord
will be like the glory of the pastures. They vanish—like smoke they vanish
away. – Psalm 37:10, 20
Such
will be the end of the condemned, to literally “go up in smoke.”
The
symbolism of ascending smoke drawn from Psalm 37 and Isaiah 34 certainly seems
parallel with what we read in Revelation 14, but it is likely that this imagery
is drawn from an even broader basis of symbolic references that we find
throughout scripture where various things are said to “ascend” or “rise up”
before God, with particular results:
- In Genesis 4, after Cain kills Abel, God confronts him, demanding to know where his brother is. When Cain feigns ignorance, God says to him, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to me from the ground” (4:10).
- Following the great Flood, Noah offers up animal sacrifices to God, with the result that “The Lord smelled the soothing aroma; and the Lord said to Himself, ‘I will never again curse the ground on account of man…” (Genesis 8:20-21).
- Speaking to Abraham in Genesis 18:20-21, the Lord says, “The outcry of Sodom and Gomorrah is indeed great, and their sin is exceedingly grave. I will go down now, and see if they have done entirely to its outcry which has come to Me; and if not, I will know.”
- In Exodus 2:23-25, the sons of Israel cry out to God in the misery of their bondage in Egypt: “And their cry for help because of their bondage rose up to God. So God heard their groaning; and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God saw the sons of Israel, and God took notice of them.” In the following chapter, God tells Moses, “I have surely seen the affliction of My people who are in Egypt, and I have given heed to their cry because of their taskmasters, for I am aware of their sufferings. So I have come down to deliver them from the power of the Egyptians” (Exodus 3:7-8).
- Throughout their wanderings in the wilderness, the presence of the Lord led Israel in the form of a cloud by day and fire by night. These manifestations preceded the people until it was time for them to camp, at which time the cloud and fire would halt and remain over the Tabernacle until it was time for the people to travel again (Exodus 40:36-38). Thus, when sacrifices were offered in the Tabernacle, the smoke from the altar would rise up into the cloud of God’s presence that hovered directly above. Throughout Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers, God repeatedly refers to these “offerings by smoke” as “soothing aromas” that he will acknowledge by forgiving the sins of the people. A few examples include Exodus 29:25, Leviticus 1:9, and Leviticus 4:31. Yet, God also warned the Israelites that “If you do not obey Me, but act with hostility against Me, then I will act with wrathful hostility against you…I will lay waste your cities as well and will make your sanctuaries desolate, and I will not smell your soothing aromas” (Leviticus 26:27, 31).
- In Numbers 10, God tells Moses that Israel should blow trumpets during times of war, “that you may be remembered before the Lord your God, and be saved from your enemies.”
- In Jonah 1:2, God commissions Jonah to go to Nineveh and “cry against it, for their wickedness has come up before Me.”
- In Acts 10:3-4, an angel appears to the gentile Cornelius and informs him that “Your prayers and alms have ascended as a memorial before God.”
- Lastly, in Revelation 8:3-5, the prayers of God’s persecuted saints are offered with incense by an angel. “And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, went up before God out of the angels’ hand,” with the result that judgments fall on the earth.
Thus
the activities of men are said to “rise up” or “come up” before God, even in
the literal smoke of sacrifices, and to provoke responses from him. Further, as
we saw from the example of Leviticus 26, God can choose to ignore a thing that
rises up before him, and I believe that this is what we’re looking at in
Revelation 14. Consider the passage again:
If anyone worships
the beast and his image, and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, he
also will drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is mixed in full
strength in the cup of His anger; and he will be tormented with fire and
brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb.
And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever; they have no rest day
and night, those who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the
mark of his name.
“The
wine of the wrath of God”—another use of symbolism—is said to be “mixed in full
strength.” In other words, worshippers of the beast are tormented with the full
intensity of God’s irresistible wrath. This torment takes place “in the
presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb.” Just as Israel’s
sacrifices took place in the presence of God—under the cloud—and the smoke of
the sacrifices rose up into the cloud, so the smoke of the beast-worshippers’
torment ascends in the presence of Christ. But unlike the smoke of the
sacrifices, which God called a “soothing aroma,” and which elicited his mercy toward
those offering them, the smoke of the tormented beast-worshippers rises without
any response from God. It ascends, disperses, and disappears into oblivion—lost
for eternity.
Contrast
the scene in Revelation 14 with the words of the prophet Jeremiah in
Lamentations 3:21-23:
This I recall to my
mind,
Therefore I have
hope.
Through the Lord’s
mercies we are not consumed,
Because his
compassions fail not.
They are new every
morning. (NKJV)
Jeremiah
knew that Israel would not be entirely destroyed because the Lord’s compassions
would be renewed toward his people in time—“in the morning,” as it were. By contrast,
the beast-worshippers of Revelation 14 are consumed because the Lord has no
mercy for them. He will not rescue them. He will not change his mind toward
them either by day or by night—not for a single moment will he relent.
New
Testament Usages
I
grew up with the teaching of eternal torment—including frequent mentions of the
“unquenchable fire” that awaits the damned in the afterlife—but I do not believe
that I ever heard any of the Old Testament passages provided here examined in
relation to that question, even though they employ this very language. The
“unquenchable fire” I heard preached about came from the following New
Testament statements of John the Baptist and Jesus:
“But he who is
coming after me is mightier than I…He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and
fire. His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clear His
threshing floor; and He will gather His wheat into the barn, but He will burn
up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” – Matthew 3:11-12
“If your hand
causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter into life
crippled, than, having your two hands, to go into hell [Gehenna], into the
unquenchable fire, where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.”
– Mark 9:43-44
Again,
if we only had these statements to go
by, it might be plausible to argue that the “unquenchable” fire could be a fire that never goes out, but
these are not terms that John and Jesus invented. The Jews who heard them preach
would have recognized this terminology from the Old Testament scriptures, where
it clearly represents the irresistible destruction of God’s enemies. John and
Jesus imported this terminology from the Old Testament without
qualification—meaning that they did not redefine the term to mean something
different than it meant in its Old Testament context. Why, then, should we
assume that it means something entirely different here?
John’s
statement about Jesus “burning up the chaff” was familiar imagery to the Jews,
who knew what it was to separate wheat from chaff on a threshing floor. If John
intended to teach eternal torment here, he chose poor imagery with which to
convey it, given that the chaff that Jewish farmers burned up always burned completely—it didn’t burn forever.
Further, John may not have been talking about final judgment in this passage at
all. Rather, he may have been talking about how Jesus would separate believing
from unbelieving Jews, baptizing the believing Jews with the Holy Spirit (John
20:22, Acts 2:1-4, 37-39), while reserving the unbelieving for the fiery destruction
that came upon Jerusalem and the Jewish nation as a whole in AD 70 (Matthew
22:37-38, Luke 19:41-44).
As
to the statements of Jesus in Mark 9, the imagery of the “unquenchable” fire
and the “undying” worm are taken directly from Isaiah 66:23-24:
“And it shall be
from new moon to new moon
And from sabbath to
sabbath,
All mankind will
come to bow down before Me,” says the Lord.
“Then they will go
forth and look on the corpses of the men
Who have
transgressed against Me.
For their worm will
not die
And their fire will
not be quenched;
And they will be an
abhorrence to all mankind.”
Who
or what is it that is being burned by fire and devoured by worms? “The corpses of the men who have transgressed
against Me.” This is a reference to the dead bodies of people God has killed,
not to living people being tormented by fire and flesh-eating worms, as has
been so often and enthusiastically claimed from pulpits. If one wants to prove
the doctrine of eternal torment from the teachings of Jesus, the proof will
have to come from some other passage. The imagery Jesus borrowed from Isaiah 66
is once again indicative of irresistible judgment and destruction—no one will
be able to put out the fire or kill the worms in order to give the bodies a
decent burial. Their disgrace is total and eternal, but not conscious.
A
Possible Connection to Rabbinic Traditions
The
history of Jewish teachings regarding Olam ha-Ba (“the world to come”)—which
includes the concepts of resurrection and final judgment after the Messianic
Age—is a murky one. Even today, Orthodox Jews hold to differing opinions
regarding such matters as rewards and punishments after death—with some
teaching that heaven and hell are “states of mind.”[1]
In rabbinical literature, hell is called Gehinnom or Gehenna, “a place of
punishment and/or purification,” into which the souls of most people descend
after death for a period of up to twelve months.[2]
Properly recited prayers called Kaddish,
performed by a living relative, can reduce a sinner’s time in Gehinnom and
allow him or her to move on to Gan Eden or “paradise,” a spiritual habitation
distinct from the biblical Garden of Eden. After the requisite time in
Gehinnom, all but the worst sinners are freed. Opinions vary on the fate of the
irredeemably wicked, such as the arch-enemies of the Jewish people.[3]
According to some traditions, they are annihilated and “the wind strews the
ashes under the feet of the pious,”[4]
while other traditions teach a form of eternal torment.
Thus,
in the broad tradition of rabbinical teachings, hell is very similar to the
concept of purgatory: a place of redemptive punishment and purification that
makes a sinner fit for heaven. This may have come into Jewish thinking as a
result of misunderstanding passages that promise the restoration of Israel
following judgment, in particular Ezekiel 37—the famous “Valley of Dry Bones”
passage—where Israel’s restoration is compared to a mass resurrection of the
dead. We cannot know for certain how or when this viewpoint began, but it is
present in the Babylonian Talmud, a collection of rabbinical teachings and
commentaries on the Torah that was compiled sometime in the fifth century A.D.
In
chapter two of Tractate Hagiga (a sub-section of the Talmud), we find the story
of four rabbis who ascend to paradise—“the heavenly garden.”[5]
One of the rabbis dies at the sight of paradise. Another goes mad. The third—a
man named A’her—cuts some of the plants of the garden, apparently to eat them,
because it is said that he exemplifies the scripture “Suffer not thy mouth to
cause thy body to sin.” The fourth rabbi “departs in peace.” A heavenly voice
pardons this act of group trespass, saying, “Return, O backsliding children
(except A’her),” which seems to indicate that all were permitted to repent and
eventually return to paradise except for A’her. When A’her hears this, he says,
“Inasmuch as man is excluded from yonder world, let him go and enjoy himself in
this world.” He then departs “into evil courses,” enjoying himself in sinful
indulgences.
Of
particular interest to us here is the end of the story:
When A’her died, it
was said: Let him not be brought into judgment (for he has studied the Law) but
let him not be admitted to the world to come (because he sinned). R. Meier
said: It would have been better if he had been brought to judgment and
punished, and then admitted to the world to come. I wish I would die in order
that smoke would come up from his grave (i.e.
that he should be brought to judgment). When R. Meier died, it was so: smoke
went up from the grave of A’her. Said R. Johanan: A mighty deed it was to
consign his teacher to the flames. There was one among us, and we should not
find a way to save him? If I take him by the hand, who will snatch him away
from me? Would that I might die and extinguish the smoke from his grave. And it
was so. When R. Johanan died the smoke ceased from the grave of A’her. The
public mourner then uttered this expression over him: Even the keeper of the
door of Gehenna stood not his ground before thee, O our teacher!
If
this rabbinical story tells us anything of the teachings of the rabbis at the
time of Christ, it may help us understand why Jesus taught as he did with
regard to final judgment, appealing to the “unquenchable” fire and “undying”
worm of Isaiah’s prophecy. He wanted his audience to understand that Gehenna
was not temporary, that the fire was not rehabilitative but consuming, and that
God’s judgment would fall upon them as totally and irreversibly as it had upon
their idolatrous ancestors if they did not repent. Hence, he may have been answering
the word pictures of the rabbis—such as in the story of A’her, where judgment
fire is for the purpose of purging and may be quenched, even by an act of human
compassion—with Old Testament word pictures conveying the eternal destruction
of unquenchable, all-consuming fire.
Conclusion
Traditionalist
attempts to use the imagery of Revelation 14:9-11 as support for the doctrine
of eternal conscious torment are seriously undermined by the consistent use of
this imagery in the greater context of scripture. The weight of biblical
evidence argues that the smoke that “goes up forever and ever” signifies, not the
eternal torment of God’s enemies, but rather, their permanent destruction. Unlike
the cries of the Hebrews laboring in bondage to the Egyptians, the torment of
the beast-worshippers elicits no response from God. It passes him by, as it
were, and fades into eternity as they are consumed.
* Unless otherwise noted, all scripture references are from the New American Standard Bible.
For further reading on the issue of final judgment, see this introduction to "evangelical conditionalism": http://rethinkinghell.com/explore/index.html
For further reading on the issue of final judgment, see this introduction to "evangelical conditionalism": http://rethinkinghell.com/explore/index.html
[1]
“Hell: What do Jews
Believe?” YouTube video, posted by “SinaiSpeak.” September 15, 2014.
[2]
Rich, Tracey. “Olam Ha-Ba:
the Afterlife.” Judaism 101. http://www.jewfaq.org/olamhaba.htm. Accessed June
1, 2019.
[3]
“Response to Ivy – the
Jewish concept of hell,” YouTube video, posted by “ronennachman770.” January 6,
2009.
[4]
Kohler, Kaufmann and Blau,
Ludwig. “Gehenna.” Jewish Encyclopedia.
http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/6558-gehenna. Accessed June 1, 2019.
[5]
Jewish Virtual Library.
“Tractate Hagiga: Chapter Two.” Jewish Virtual Library.org.
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/tractate-hagiga-chapter-2. Accessed June
1, 2019.
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