From the publisher of The Good News magazine.

Request this FREE booklet

View booklet in PDF format

Internet TV Program The Myth of the Immortal Soul A Place Called Hell Better Than Heaven

Related Articles

Do Good People Really Go to Heaven When They Die?

People Believed in 'Going to Heaven' Long Before Christianity

Coming: Heaven on Earth

Is Everyone Being Judged Now?

'Dust to Dust'

What Does the Bible Say About the "Immortal Soul"?

The Penalty for Unrepentant Sinners

FREE Booklet What Happens After Death?

Are Some Tortured Forever in a Lake of Fire?

"The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever" (Revelation 20:10).

Does this verse say that the beast and false prophet will be tormented for eternity?

The beast and false prophet are human beings. While alive they will be cast into the lake of fire. "Then the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who worked signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who received the mark of the beast and those who worshipped his image. These two were cast alive into the
lake of fire burning with brimstone" (Revelation 19:20).

We see from Revelation 14:10-11 and Mark 9:47-48 that any human being thrown into the lake of fire will be destroyed. He will perish. His punishment will be eternal. But he will not be tormented for eternity.

Notice in the King James and the New King James translations of Revelation 20:10 that the word are is italicized. The use of italics indicates that the word are was not in the original manuscripts from which the translation was made; it was added by the translators to make the verse more readable because the verb was left unexpressed in the Greek text. The correct verb should be "were cast," the plural expression of "was cast" used earlier in the same sentence. The verse would then properly indicate that the devil is to be cast into the lake of fire that had already consumed and destroyed the beast and false prophet. The translators incorrectly inserted the word are into the English text because of their preconceived concept of an immortal soul.

Notice also that some translations say nothing about the beast and false prophet being tormented, acknowledging that the word they doesn't appear in the Greek manuscripts. The King James Version and Modern King James Version both indicate that it is the devil who is tormented, not the beast and false prophet.

Satan, a spirit being, will indeed suffer torment long after the wicked are burned to ashes. The evil angels—demons—will share with Satan his torment (Matthew 25:41). The beast and false prophet will have ceased to exist more than 1,000 years earlier.

The Bible indicates that Satan has set his will against God and His plan, and has led millions of other angels into a similar rebellion and opposition to God. Only God in His sovereign wisdom is able to determine a just judgment for these wicked spirits. The details of that judgment are not fully spelled out in the Bible, but we can and should have faith that it will be just, true, righteous and fair. What is made clear in the Bible is the eternal judgment God has in mind for His human creation.