In the first three posts of this series I have shared
some of the reasons that I am convinced that “second death” in Revelation
refers to the permanent and complete destruction of the body and soul of
unbelievers (Matthew 10:28) rather than to eternal torment.
However, I have not yet explicitly and directly addressed
the two most difficult phrases for my view. These two phrases are:
“the smoke of their torment
will rise forever and ever” (from Revelation 14:11)
“They will be tormented day
and night forever and ever” (from Revelation 20:10)
The second phrase is found in John’s vision of the lake
of fire which is then defined to be “the second death” (Revelation 20:14,
Revelation 21:8).
This raises a fair question. If the second death involves the complete
destruction of the unsaved, why is eternal torment part of John’s vision?
First, I will note an explanation which seems possible,
but which I feel is not the best, or at least not the fullest and most
complete, explanation.
A Completely
Literal Interpretation which Is Consistent with Annihilationism
It is actually possible to take both Revelation 14:11 and
Revelation 20:10 entirely literally and believe in annihilationism. The passage in Revelation 14 says the smoke
rises forever but it does not say the torment itself continues forever. It seems possible that smoke could continue
to rise long after the torment was complete and the unsaved were
destroyed. The smoke could be a type of
memorial to God’s righteous judgment.
With regard to Revelation 20, the passage only says that the Devil, the
false prophet, and the beast are tormented forever and ever. Revelation does not make it clear that these
are people, and the Devil certainly is not a person. For example, the false prophet and the beast
may be demonic beings who worked through people. So it is possible that they suffer a
different fate from ungodly people.
While the above explanation seems possible, I do not
believe it is the best, most accurate, interpretation of the phrases
involved. What I view as the best
interpretation is actually quite simple. Once you really see it, it makes good
sense and agrees with the vast amount of Biblical evidence supporting
annihilationism.
Here’s the interpretation:
In John’s vision, which is stuffed full of shocking and
bizarre symbols meant to impact our emotions and imagination, he does see and
hear about eternal torment. But this is
simply hyperbolic symbolism.
To understand this we will first think about how
hyperbole is a common part of everyday language. Next we will look at examples of hyperbole in
the Bible which are not related to final judgment. These examples will help us to see that the
Bible does indeed use hyperbole.
Finally, we will see an example of hyperbole used in Revelation to
impress upon us how terrible final judgment will be. This example will help us to see why it is
reasonable to also treat the two phrases in Revelation which mention people
being tortured forever as hyperbole.
Hyperbole is a
normal part of language
Hyperbole is a normal part of language which we all use
in many situations. Here’s a short, fun
YouTube video I found with some good examples (There was a video I liked even more than this one, but it is no longer available and this one is still good. Biblical authors aren't deceiving us when they use hyperbole, they are just using a normal, common method to emphasize some truth in some way):
The Bible uses
hyperbole
The Bible also uses hyperbole. Here are seven out of many examples:
1 Kings 10:24 The whole world sought audience with Solomon to
hear the wisdom God had put in his heart.
2 Kings 16:4 He offered sacrifices and burned incense at the high
places, on the hilltops and under every spreading tree.
Amos 2:9a
"Yet I destroyed the Amorites before them, though they were tall as the
cedars and strong as the oaks.
Matthew 3:5 Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about
the Jordan were going out to him,
Matthew 5:29a If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out
and throw it away.
Matthew 23:24 You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a
camel.
Luke 14:26 "If anyone comes to me and does not hate father
and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters-- yes, even their own life--
such a person cannot be my disciple.
An example of
symbolic hyperbole in Revelation
The above examples of hyperbole in the Bible occur in a
variety of settings. These examples show us clearly that the Bible does use
hyperbole in some situations. Does the
Bible ever use hyperbole to emphasize how terrible God’s final judgment will
be? Yes, right in the book of Revelation
there is an example of hyperbolic symbolism related to God’s wrath and
judgment. Here it is:
Revelation 14:20 They were trampled in the winepress outside the city,
and blood flowed out of the press, rising as high as the horses' bridles for a
distance of 1,600 stadia.
Why do I say this is hyperbolic symbolism? Besides the fact that on the surface it seems
unlikely that Jesus squishing the blood out of billions of people and creating
a huge sea of blood is meant to be taken literally, there is the math.
1,600 stadia is about 180 miles or 300 kilometers. Horses vary in size, but a typical horse’s
bridle might be about 5 feet high. If we
assume small horses, the bridle might be only 4 feet high, or 1.2 meters. People have tried to take this huge sea of
blood literally and have noted that it involves an apparently impossible amount
of blood. The average human has 5 liters
of blood. Revelation does not give the
shape of the blood flow. If John saw a
circular lake of blood with a 300 km radius, or even a smaller circular lake
with a 300 km diameter, then the number of people needed for that much blood is
many times more than the population of the earth, even more than most estimates
of all people who ever lived. Of course we don’t know exactly how many people
ever lived, but if you google it you will find a number of estimates mostly
around 100 billion people. We can reduce
the amount of blood required if we assume that the huge sea of blood John saw
was shaped more like a long, skinny rectangle rather than a circle. Let’s assume a rectangular lake which is 300 km
long but only 10 km wide. Here’s the
math:
The sea of blood John describes would require that all
the blood be squeezed out of 720 billion people. And that’s assuming short horses and a narrow
sea!
Is it possible to come up with an explanation which
allows this to be literal? Sure, maybe
John did not see a “lake” or “sea” of blood, but a thin stream only about 1 m
wide but 300 km long. Or maybe God
caused the blood squeezed out of the slaughtered people to miraculously
multiply. After all, He multiplied fish
and bread (and I believe that account is entirely literal and historical – of
course that account does not occur in a vision full of shocking symbols!). Or maybe attempts to explain the huge sea of
blood literally are fundamentally misguided because John was seeing highly
symbolic visions and it’s not meant to be literal. Three highly respected, theologically
conservative, evangelical scholars who believe in eternal torment, all
nevertheless came to the conclusion that this sea of blood is a case of a
symbol/metaphor using hyperbole:
“The statement about blood mounting up to the horses’
bridles at the end of the verse is figurative battle language and functions as
hyperbole to emphasize the severe and unqualified nature of the judgment.”
(Beale, Revelation, A Shorter Commentary,
pg. 313)
“Baukham has shown that this hyperbole, consisting of an
extraordinary amount of blood indicating a slaughter of exceptional proportions
is a topos frequently found in
ancient literature” (David Aune, Word
Biblical Commentary 52b, 1998, pg.847-848)
And Robert Mounce points out that another scholar who
attempted to find a literal way to interpret this massive amount of blood
“fails to grasp the hyperbolic nature of the metaphor” (Mounce, The Book of Revelation, Revised, pg.
281).
God used the exaggerated symbolism of a huge sea of blood
to indicate how terrible His wrath and judgment will be on the ungodly who
choose to align with the Devil. This is
an appropriate use of hyperbole.
If God used hyperbolic metaphor to describe his terrible
judgment in Revelation 14:20, why couldn’t He also have used hyperbolic
metaphor in Revelation 14:11 and Revelation 20:10? I’m convinced that the eternal torment imaged
in these passages is indeed another case of hyperbole being used to press upon
our emotions and imagination the terror of God’s final judgment.
In the first three posts of this series I have provided
reasons why I believe that the “second death” refers to the destruction of body
and soul and not eternal torment. In the
next two posts I plan to give more evidence that the mention of eternal torment
is not intended to be interpreted literally.
In part 5, I plan to discuss why, based on the principle
of proportional punishment, eternal torment would be absurd (like a huge sea of
blood is absurd).
In part 6, I will try to show that the consistent,
wide-spread, teaching of the rest of the Bible is that the final fate of the
ungodly is to die, perish, and be burned to ashes. We should use the principle of interpreting
the Bible with the Bible in a way that results in harmony. The best way to do this is to interpret “second
death” to mean a literal dying again where both the soul and body utterly
perish.
Hebrews 13:16 And do not forget to do good and to share with others . . .
No comments:
Post a Comment