Immortality or Resurrection (Updated) by William West (reading strategies book .TXT) 📖

now reaches his final doom and eternal end. First, he was cast
down to the earth [12:9], then into the pit of the abyss [20:3], and now into the lake of fire and
brimstone, his ultimate end." When he gets to Revelation 20:11 he says, "THUS FAR IN THE
BOOK SEVERAL SCENES OF JUDGMENT HAVE BEEN DESCRIBED, BUT NONE DEPICTED THE
FINAL JUDGMENT" Page 399
Foy E. Wallace, Jr. says the lake of fire is a figurative description of complete destruction and
annihilation of all persecuting powers opposed to the church [Page 434], and then of the
complete destruction and annihilation of Satan, and all who are not in the book of life. "The ones
who had part in it [the lake of fire] came to the same end as the persecuting beast-a figurative
description of complete destruction and annihilation of all persecuting powers opposed to the
church whose opposition was crushed." Wallace says. "ONE OF THESE PASSAGES CANNOT BE
CONSIDERED MORE OR LESS LITERAL THAN THE OTHER-BOTH WERE FIGURATIVE
EXPRESSIONS WHICH SIGNIFIED THE UTTER END OF THE PERSECUTING AUTHORITIES OF
HEATHENISM AGAINST CHRISTIANITY. The phrase cast alive into a lake of fire was equivalent to
burned alive, AND IT SYMBOLIZED COMPLETE DESTRUCTION. The signal triumph of the cause
of truth represented by the burning alive of the beast and the false prophet did not symbolize the
destruction to the Roman Empire, but of the persecutions waged by the emperors, which the
beasts represented. THE LAKE OF FIRE WAS NOT LITERAL ANY MORE THAN THE BEAST WAS
LITERAL. NEITHER WAS SUBJECT TO LITERAL APPLICATION, BOTH WERE FIGURATIVE. THE
BEAST SYMBOLIZED THE PERSECUTING POWER OF THE ROMAN EMPEROR: AND CASTING
HIM INTO A LAKE OF FIRE SIGNIFIED THE COMPLETE DEFEAT OF THE HEATHEN POWER HE
REPRESENTED IN THE WAR AGAINST THE CHURCH " The Book Of Revelation, Page 397.
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Of the final judgment in Revelation 20:14-15, Hailey says, "'He that overcomes shall not be
hurt of the second death' [2:11]; those that overcome had part in the first resurrection [20:6].
Thus far the harlot, the beast, the false prophet, Satan, and now death and Hades, HAVE BEEN
BROUGHT TO THEIR END IN THE LAKE OF FIRE...There remains only one group to be dealt
with: those not found written in the book of life...Of this second death, Alford writes, 'As there is
a second higher life, so there is also a second and deeper death. And as after that life there is no
more death, so after that death there is no more life'" Page 403.
Death and hades are nonliving things. They have no life, thoughts, or feelings. They
can be destroyed and "brought to a final and complete end," but it would not be possible
to torment them. They can no more be tormented than a rock, but both will come to an
end. Both will be made not to exist.
A. M. Ogden said the lake of fire in Revelation 19:20 is symbolic of God's fire of destruction
coming upon the Roman Empire and its pagan religions that were the persecutor of the church.
Page 354.
Both Wallace and Arthur Ogden said, "The holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of
heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband" [Revelation 21:2] is the
kingdom of God, the church of Christ; and not a vision of Heaven; but is a vision of the church,
the bride of Christ.
B. W. Johnson on Revelation 19:20 said, "Here the false prophet, both symbols of the same
power, is cast in the lake of fire. THE SYMBOL INDICATES UTTER DESTRUCTION. WHAT IS
CAST INTO THIS LAKE IS SEEN NO MORE."
Frank Walton said it is not a literal lake of fire. It symbolizes the total defeat of heathen powers
that war against the church. Florida College Lectures 1994, Page 176.
Jim McGuiggan in his commentary on Revelation 19:20 said he believes the lake of fire stands
for the utter defeat of the enemy.
These commentaries are some of the best, if not the best, and they all say the lake of
fire is symbolic of destruction or death, not of eternal life in torment. If Revelation 21 is a
symbolic picture of the church on earth as the bride of Christ, or if it is a symbolic picture
of the church in Heaven, in either case the lake of fire is symbolic and not a real place.
John clearly says in Revelation 21:8 that it is symbolic of the second death. Many who
believe in Hell are forced to admit that in Revelation 19:20 the lake of fire is symbolic,
but insist the same lake of fire in chapters 20 and 21 is a real literal lake of fire.
"FALSE PROPHET" IN HELL BEFORE THE JUDGMENT: On page 169, Peterson
says the "false prophet" [Revelation 19:20] are thrown alive into it and are still there a
thousand years later. Then he says Revelation 20:14 speaks of all human standing before
God at the Last Judgment. By making symbols literal, he changed nations [false
prophets] into people and puts people into Hell before they are judged at the Judgment
Day.
"DEVOURED" not "TORMENTED" Even if they make the symbolical language
literal, it would teach God would destroy His enemies, not torment them. "And fire came
down out of heaven, and devoured them" Revelation 20:9; the Bible language does not
suit today's teaching of fire that eternality burns but never devours, fire that never
consumes.
[2] LAKE OF FIRE: Second time it is used. Revelation 20:10 The devil is cast in
with the beast and the false prophet. Nothing of the physical realm could live in a lake
of fire. It is a symbolic picture of destruction, not of torment. Just as any living thing of
the earthly realm we know, if it were cast into a lake of fire it would be totally destroyed,
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a symbolic picture of the devil being cast into it would be a picture to us of his total
destruction, for if the devil were a flesh and blood being, he would be totally destroyed
by a literal lake of fire. The devil, the beast, false prophet, death, the grave, and all that
are not in the book of life will be totally destroyed. After the resurrection and judgment,
no one will be of the physical realm and could not be tormented by a literal lake of fire
that is of the physical realm. A literal lake of fire could not torment a spiritual being and
could have no effective on Satan or a "soul" as the word is used today. The devil that is a
being not of the earthly realm, a being of the spiritual realm, is cast to the lake of fire
along with two earthly things, the beast, and the false prophet. It is a symbolic picture of
their destruction, not a literal casting of beings of two realms, both earthly and spiritual,
into a literal lake of fire, which is of this earthly realm. Things of the earthly and spiritual
realms can be mixed in symbolic pictures, but not in reality. If the lake of fire were of the
earthly realm Satan could not be cast into it, and if it were of the spiritual realm, the beast
and the false prophet could not be cast into it. In Revelation 20:15 and 21:8, John
interpreted the figure or symbol he used and said the symbolic picture of the lake of fire
is in reality the second death. THE LAKE OF FIRE WILL HAVE THE SAME EFFECT
ON SATAN THAT IT WILL HAVE ON DEATH. "AND DEATH SHALL BE NO
MORE" [Revelation 21:4]. If it is the end of death, then it is the end of Satan. It is a
symbolic picture of the end of both.
SATAN'S MINISTERS: The ministers of Satan, like Satan, shall have an end.
"WHOSE END shall be according to their works" [2 Corinthians 11:15].
REVELATION 20:10 IS A SYMBOLIC PICTURE OF THE END OF SATAN, OF HIS
BEING ABOLISHED (DESTROYED), NOT TORMENTED FOREVER. Hebrews 2:14
IS A LITERAL STATEMENT OF HIS END. "That through death he might BRING TO
NOUGHT (nothing) him that has the power of death, that is, the devil" [American
Standard Version]. God made the world and all that is in it out of nothing. It will go back
to nothing. Satan also will be brought to nothing. "So that through death he might
DESTROY the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil" [New Revised Standard
Version]. In Hebrews 2:14 "naught" [nothing] is translated from "katargeo" which is
translated ABOLISHED, VANISH AWAY, BRING TO NAUGHT, DO AWAY WITH,
DESTROY, BE DONE WAY, AND CEASED.
• "That through death he might BRING TO NAUGHT [katargeo] him that had the
power of death, that is, the devil" [Hebrews 2:14]. "That through death he might
DESTROY [katargeo] him" King James Version.
• Death "SHALL BE ABOLISHED [katargeo]" [1 Corinthians 15:26].
• Knowledge "SHALL VANISH AWAY [katargeo]" [1 Corinthians 13:8].
• "God SHALL BRING TO NAUGHT [katargeo] both it (their belly) and THEM" [1
Corinthians 6:13].
• "The last enemy that shall be ABOLISHED [katargeo] is death" "DESTROYED"
[katargeo] King James Version [1 Corinthians 15:26].
• "The stumbling-block of the cross been DONE AWAY [katargeo]" "CEASED"
[katargeo] King James Version [Galatians 4:11].
• "It (the veil) is DONE AWAY [katargeo] in Christ" [2 Corinthians 3:14].
• "HAVING ABOLISHED [katargeo] in his flesh the enmity, even the law of
commandments" [Ephesians 2:15]. The same word is used for
o The end of death
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o Knowledge
o The belly
o Satan
o The Law of Moses
o And the lost. Whatever happens to one happens to the others; they all have
been or will be brought to nothing [katargeo].
A DEATH BRUISE TO THE HEAD OF SATAN: The serpent of Genesis 3 is not
said to be Satan but most all believe it to be Satan working through the serpent, which
was "more crafty than any beast of the field" [Genesis 3:1]. With the first lie, the devil
brought death into the world and became the murderer of Adam and Eve, therefore, the
murderer of all their seed [John 8:44]. He sinned "from the beginning" [1 John 3:8]. "He
[Christ] shall bruise you [Satan] on the head, and you [Satan] shall bruise him [Christ]
on the heel." See Romans 16:20.
Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown says, "Thus, fatal shall be the stroke which Satan shall receive
from Christ" Commentary on Genesis 3:15.
"The terminology of this verse is such that it cannot apply to anything in heaven or upon earth
except the long spiritual conflict between Christ and Satan" J. B. Coffman, Commentary on
Genesis 3:15.
A wound to the heel is not fatal. Satan wounded Christ by sin and death, which he is
responsible for being in the world. It made the death of Christ necessary, but Christ rose
from the dead and in doing so bruised the head of Satan [Hebrews 2:1]. Did the serpent or
any other animal have the power to speak or was it Satan speaking through it? God did
speak through an animal [2 Peter 2:1]. It looks as if Satan did. See 2 Corinthians 11:3.
Christ said the devil "is a liar, and the father of lies" [John 8:44].
Albert Barnes on John 8:44, "He was a murderer from the beginning. That is from the beginning
of the world, or the first records there are of him. This refers to the seduction of Adam and Eve.
Death was denounced against sin Genesis ii.17. The devil deceived our first parents and they
became subject of death, Genesis iii. As he was the cause why death came into the world, he may
be said to have been a murderer in that act, or from the beginning."
Revelation 20:7, which may be symbolic language and not intended to be taken
literally says, "And the great dragon was thrown down,