Revelation 20:10

Revelation 20:10 doesn’t mention anything about people being tormented day and night forever and ever. It is rather the devil, the beast, and the false prophet who are described as going into this condition. In the previous chapter, the judgement of the beast and the false prophet are mentioned as being thrown alive into the lake of fire but the very next verse says, “and the rest were killed with the sword which came from the mouth of Him who sat on the horse, and all the birds were filled with their flesh” (v. 21). This passage indicates that the punishment isn’t the same for the two groups. One group is cast into the fire while the other group is killed with the sword. Now, this doesn’t mean that the second group will never be thrown into the fire, only that they would not share the same exact fate or at least not the same fate at this particular time.

In Revelation 20, this is a similar scenario. All the nations gathered together to make war against the Lamb and it says that “fire came down from heaven and devoured them” (v. 9). After the fate of these people are mentioned, John describes the fate of the devil. The question we must ask here is whether the description of being tormented day and night forever and ever is in reference to the devil, the beast, and the false prophet, or, if this also includes the people who were devoured by fire. The natural reading seems to indicate from the immediate context that it is the unholy trinity who will be the ones tormented.

We will also need to determine if the unholy trinity are symbolic representations of something or if they are personal individuals. The beast can be representative of a world government or empire while the false prophet could be representative of false religion. Elsewhere, we are told that “death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire” (Rev. 20:14). How does one throw death into the lake of fire if it is only a concept? Or Hades, if it is a place? In this case, we would have to conclude that these two things are symbolic and not personal individuals. This may also be the case for the unholy trinity. However, it does seem likely that the devil is a personal individual. I’m not sure how someone could explain the devil being symbolic here. I also acknowledge the fact that there could be a main person acting as the representative of the beast empire or representing false religion. Therefore, I do not find the abstract symbolic interpretation wholly conclusive either.

2 Thessalonians 2:8 could give us a clue to the beast’s fate, “Then that lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming;” This is in reference to the antichrist which I believe is the man who represents the final beast empire. The man himself is said to be killed by God’s judgement and brought to an end. It seems to me that the antichrist will cease to be forevermore at the end of the age. Therefore, I think we can say with confidence that if the beast is representative of the antichrist, then the beast will not suffer torment for eternity (cf. Rev. 17:8; Dan. 7:11). We could then reason that if the beast does not suffer eternal torment because he is brought to a final end, then the devil will also share the same fate since they are both in the same group.

What is meant by “they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.” Is this hyperbolic language? Is it saying that they will be tormented with no foreseeable end in sight? Or is it more literal saying that they will be tormented for an infinite number of days? For the sake of argument, let’s say that the unholy trinity are personal individuals or maybe those demons who inhabited those individuals. I would find it a reasonable interpretation to say that the unholy trinity will be tormented for a long time without reference to when their end will be but that they will have a final end. We know that angelic beings have different types of bodies than humans and perhaps pain is different for them. Do they even feel physical pain? I don’t know. But the symbolic fire of God’s judgement will punish them in accordance to their deeds and the weight of their deeds according to all the evil they have done and how long they have done it while they have roamed this earth. Since the devil has been doing evil for a very long time, perhaps his sentence is just as long. Or maybe, the torment of God’s judgement is turned up a few notches so that the length of his time is shortened in punishment but the punishment itself is more severe. Either way, we know that the devil will get what is coming to him in the perfect administration of God’s justice.

Observation: the devil is thrown into the lake of fire where the beast and the false prophet “are.” In the context, the beast and false prophet have been in the fire for the entire time of Christ’s thousand-year reign. Are they still alive? Or have they been burned up? Is it just their corpses that are left there? Their ashes? It says that “they” will be tormented day and night. “They” is plural. So it seems that the unholy trinity will all suffer for a long time. But I’m not a Greek scholar so I can’t dissect this passage to affirm whether some of these words and tenses are warranted from the original text. From my observation though, “they” isn’t a word included here in the Greek. It’s simply the word for torment. The word “are” isn’t in the original text either.

However, let’s assume for a minute that “they” is true to the text and that they will all be tormented “day and night forever and ever.” Is this hyperbolic language? Possibly. Could the “forever and ever” be interpreted as total destruction like in Isaiah 34:10? Possibly. Could it mean age to age? Or, age into age? That’s also possible. How about, with no immediately foreseeable end in sight although there will be an end? Also, possible. Or what if it means unto finality? Or, unto completion? There are many ways this could possibly be interpreted.

We would also need to determine if the fire of hell is just symbolic throughout the entire Bible for God’s judgement, or if it’s a physical fire of physical pain and torment. I haven’t come to a conclusion on this either. Can it be both? Can it be symbolic in some places and more literal in others? I don’t fully know. In addition, we must keep in mind that the things described here are the things in which John saw in a vision and wrote down. Therefore, the more literal we go with our interpretation of the book of Revelation, the less likely it is to be true. Or, the more likely we are to err. I would not, therefore, take this passage as a proof-text for eternal conscious torment, especially considering all the clear texts we have everywhere else that clearly explain annihilation.

I take the interpretation that Revelation 20:10 is using hyperbolic imagery language to convey the finality or completeness of their punishment similarly to how Isaiah 34:10 uses this kind of language to describe smoke ascending “forever” in the destruction of Edom (cf. Rev. 14:10-11). Given the prophetic/symbolic type of literature this is, there is no warrant from the Biblical text that would make a literal interpretation to be a necessary interpretation. Because of these reasons, I do not believe Revelation 20:10 proves the doctrine of eternal conscious torment.