The Conditionalist Faith of Our Fathers, vol. 1
III. Problem Text (Revelation 14:11)—Torment Day and Night; Smoke Ascending Forever
1. TERMS OF Revelation 14:11 LIMITED TO SPECIFIED GROUP
Various terms in the Apocalypse are figurative or symbolical—such as the “smoke” of Revelation 14:11. “Smoke” has aptly been said to be the formless relic of an object that has been consumed, or decomposed, by the action of fire. It is but a relic, a vestige, an emblem, a lingering trace of the passing, the drifting aftermath that remains from an object that has been destroyed. A perpetual smoke may, therefore, well stand for a perpetual reminder before the universe of an irreparable ruin that has taken place, a burning up that has accomplished its allotted purpose. CFF1 409.3
The same inspired portrayal, it is to be ever remembered, declares that God will “consume,” “devour,” “destroy,” cause to “perish,” and “blot out” all the wicked. That dread transaction, or operation, involves and constitutes the “second death.” The perpetuity intended is not, therefore, of the torment, but of the death following thereafter and caused thereby. And as to the “torment” of Revelation 14:11, the renowned Greek specialist and translator, Dr. R. F. Weymouth, truly says: “There is nothing in this verse that necessarily implies an eternity of suffering.” 2 And he adds that it “gives in itself no indication of time. Cp. Genesis 19:28; Jude 7.” CFF1 409.4
It is further important to remember that in Revelation 20:15 and Revelation 21:8, where all the lost are involved, no period of duration is mentioned or specified. There is no indication that the “fire” depicted does not perform its normal and designated function of extirpating destruction, then ultimately and utterly going out—for in the new earth there will be no more pain, tears, anguish, or death (Revelation 20:14; Revelation 21:4; Revelation 22:3). These will all have “passed away” (Revelation 21:4). And that agrees precisely with the terms of Romans 6:23—that “the wages of sin is death.” CFF1 410.1
2. SMOKE ASCENDS UP FOREVER—FIRES BURNED OUT
As to the intent of the figure of “smoke” ascending up “for ever and ever,” other scriptures must be allowed to interpret and explain this expressly recorded term. Just such an explicit definition appears, for example, in Isaiah 34: CFF1 410.2
“And the streams thereof [of Idumea, or Edom—Isaiah 34:6] shall be turned into pitch, and the dust thereof into brimstone, and the land thereof shall become burning pitch. It shall not be quenched night nor day; the smoke thereof shall go up for ever [Heb., lenesach nesachim, “perpetuity of perpetuities”] (Isaiah 34:9, 10).” CFF1 410.3
Then follows immediately the conjoined explanatory clause: CFF1 410.4
“From generation to generation it shall lie waste; none shall pass through it for ever and ever. But the cormorant and the bittern shall possess it; the owl also and the raven shall dwell in it: and he shall stretch out upon it the line of confusion, and the stones of emptiness” (Isaiah 34:10, 11). CFF1 410.5
That definitely indicates perpetual desolation, not an endless life of pain. The fires have burned out. If, therefore, the place that was once a raging fire came, in due time, to “lie waste,” while the smoke drifted endlessly on, as a reminder, back in Isaiah’s time, the same would be true of the smoke from the fires of gehenna when they will have accomplished their designated work in the great day of the Lord. CFF1 410.6
3. NEITHER “TORMENT” NOR “SMOKE” ARE ETERNAL
Of the expressions appearing in Revelation 14:10, 11—(1) “tormented 3 with fire and brimstone,” (2) the “smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever,” and (3) “they have no rest day nor night”—it must again be remembered that these specifications all refer to the punishment of a special class, whose guilt is exceptional. On them, in this retributive “day of the Lord,” the “wrath of God” is “poured out without mixture” (Revelation 14:10). Their punishment is therefore exceptionally severe. CFF1 411.1
Nevertheless, even with that understanding the passage does not say that their torment is to continue forever; rather, it is the “smoke” of their time of “torment” that drifts on endlessly. CFF1 411.2
The psalmist wrote, “The wicked ... shall consume; into smoke shall they consume away” (Psalm 37:20). The smoke could never be regathered and reorganized, so as to form the continuing individual personality again. This is evident from the fact that the same expression is used concerning mystical “Babylon” (an ecclesiastical organization, not an individual), whose smoke likewise “rose up for ever and ever” (Revelation 19:3), elsewhere referred to as “smoke of her burning” (Revelation 18:18). CFF1 411.3
But neither is this endless burning, for her doom is elsewhere set forth as utter obliteration—Babylon shall with “violence” be “thrown down, and shall be found no more at all” (Revelation 18:21). She shall be “utterly burned with fire” (Revelation 18:8). Consequently she does not live on and suffer on endlessly, but ultimately ceases to be. Now, inasmuch as Babylon is to be obliterated, and yet her smoke said to continue to rise, it is plain that her “smoke” obviously represents a perpetual attestation or reminder of her burning. CFF1 411.4
4. “FATHER” OF FIRST “NO-DEATH” LIE LAST TO DIE IN GEHENNA
Among the closing prophetic declarations of the Apocalypse is the significant affirmation that “all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death” (Revelation 21:8). CFF1 412.1
Satan, the deceiving and malignant source of the original Edenic “no-death” lie (John 8:44; cf. Genesis 3:4), 4 is himself destroyed forever in this very fire of Gehenna “prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matthew 25:41). Thus his own lie is completely disproved by his own death, and brings his age-old deceptions and tragically accepted perversions to an utter end. Here is the fateful declaration: “And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone.” “This is the second death” (Revelation 20:10, 14). CFF1 412.2
Thus he dies, and dies forever. There is no resuscitation for Satan. CFF1 412.3
Hence the first lie will be completely canceled out by the extirpation of all liars and lying in the terminating “lake of fire.” The introduction of the fateful first death is counterbalanced by the destruction and cessation of all death and dying in the “second death.” And all sorrow, pain, sickness, and misery, and finally the grave (all comprehended in that one original word “death”) are nullified forever by the obliteration of Satan and all that is evil. CFF1 412.4
So, with Satan’s destruction the great day of the Lord comes to its end. The great challenge and rebellion are over. Truth is triumphant forever, and God and His righteousness and equity are vindicated before all for all eternity. All falsehood, error, and deception have been unmasked and overthrown. God’s word and wisdom, His power and justice, His grace and mercy, His government and law, omniscience and sovereignty, are now established beyond all challenge—and that forevermore! The new heaven and new earth follow, and abide forevermore. CFF1 412.5
Picture 2: Our Accountability:
Our Accountability Is Not Only for Our Talents but for Our Decisions on the Issues of Life.
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