Revelation

Hermeneutic

If we recognize the following principles, we shouldn't go far astray:

1. John is describing a symbolic vision, not a direct picture of the future. The vision is made up of symbols that represent reality but which need interpretation. He is not giving a direct, literal description of reality.

2. John uses Old Testament language to describe the vision he sees. We need to understand the Old Testament allusions in context to properly understand John's intended meaning. Intertestamental literature like the Jewish targums and the Greco-Roman background of Revelation also help inform our understanding of the language John uses.

3. John develops certain themes throughout the book of Revelation, so comparing related passages with each other helps to elucidate the meaning.

4. Some of the symbolic pictures in Revelation are given direct interpretations in which case the referent is immediately known. The interpretation of a symbol is not symbolic itself, but is the literal, direct, or straightforward meaning of the symbol.

Brian J. Tabb, All Things New: Revelation as Canonical Capstone, vol. 48, New Studies in Biblical Theology (Downers Grove: IVP, 2019), 8: "Like Jesus and the Old Testament prophets, Revelation presents its message in symbolic, pictorial language to unveil true spiritual realities compellingly to those with ears to hear... Jesus Christ ‘made known’ or ‘signified’ (sēmainō) the revelation to John by sending an angel (Rev. 1:1). Similarly, Daniel 2:30, 45 LXX says that the mystery of the king’s dream ‘was shown’ (sēmainō) to Daniel and ‘the great God has shown [sēmainō] the king what will be at the end of the days’ (NETS)."

Bruce Metzger, Breaking the Code: Understanding the Book of Revelation (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1999): "This book contains a series of word pictures, as though a number of slides were being shown upon a great screen. As we watch we allow ourselves to be carried along by impressions created by these pictures. Many of the details of the pictures are intended to contribute to the total impression, and are not to be isolated and interpreted with wooden literalism."

Bruce Metzger and David A. deSilva, Breaking the Code Revised Edition: Understanding the Book of Revelation (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2019), 17-18: "Such accounts combine cognitive insight with emotional response... In reporting his visionary experiences, John frequently uses symbolic language. Sometimes he explains the meaning of the symbols... [I]n attempting to understand John’s symbolism, we must consider not only the book itself but also his use of the Old Testament... In any case, it is important to recognize that the descriptions are descriptions of symbols, not of the reality conveyed by the symbols."

Dennis E. Johnson, Triumph of the Lamb: A Commentary on Revelation (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 2001), 4, 11, 13, 22: "Although, as we will see, applying the literal-where-possible maxim to prophetic literature is problematic, its inadequacy does not mean that Revelation is a wax nose, to be manipulated into any shape we choose... The literal meaning of symbolic language is the symbolic correspondence between the imagery of the language and the referent that it describes... We dare not tackle the symbolism of Revelation without immersing our minds in the rich imagery of the Old Testament... Revelation makes sense only in light of the Old Testament. Not only the visions of such prophets as Ezekiel, Daniel, and Zechariah but also historical events such as creation, the fall, and the exodus provide the symbolic vocabulary for John’s visions."

G. K. Beale, The Book of Revelation, (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1999), 50-52, 56: "Rev. 1:1 introduces the book... with the word 'apocalypse'... a clear allusion to Dan. 2... The revelation is not abstract but pictorial... Dan. 2:28-30, 45 indicates that a symbolic vision and its interpretation is going to be part of the warp and woof of the means of communication throughout Revelation. This conclusion is based on the supposition that John uses OT references with significant degrees of awareness of OT context, for which I will argue later... [A] number of authors of both popular and scholarly commentaries contend that one should interpret literally except where one is forced to interpret symbolically by clear indications of context... But the results of the analysis above of 1:1 indicate that... the essence of the book is figurative ['1:12-20 and 4:1-22:5 at the least']... The OT and Judaism are the primary background against which to understand the images and ideas of the Apocalypse."

G. K. Beale, John's Use of the Old Testament in Revelation, (England: Sheffield, 1998), 23: "Bauckham observes that John uses the Old Testament in a careful and not haphazard way throughout, so that an understanding of these Old Testament texts is crucial to the interpretation of the Apocalypse at every point along the way and is necessary for understanding his literary strategy. Consequently, the Old Testament 'forms a body of literature which John expects his readers to know and explicitly to recall in detail while reading his own work'. Furthermore, a study of Jewish exegetical tradition of various Old Testament texts can also shed light on John's own understanding of the same texts."

Grant R. Osborn, Revelation: Baker Exegetical Commentary, (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2002): "John deliberately uses... made known ['the verb cognate of the noun “sign” in john’s Gospel']... in 1:1 because of its parallels with Dan. 2:28-30, 45, where God 'signifies' truths through pictorial or symbolic visions. Thus it means to 'communicate by symbols' and connotes the need to interpret the reality behind the symbol... Symbols are metaphorical utterances that are meant to be understood first pictorially and then referentially... The sources for interpreting them come from the OT, intertestamental literature, and the Greco-Roman world—in other words, in the common world of the original readers in the province of Asia."

Richard Bauckham, Climax of Prophecy, (Edinburgh: T&T, 1993), xi: "It is a book designed to be read in constant intertextual relationship with the Old Testament. John was writing what he understood to be a work of prophetic scripture, the climax of prophetic revelation, which gathered up the prophetic meaning of the Old Testament scriptures and disclosed the way in which it was being and was to be fulfilled in the last days. His work therefore, presupposes and conveys an extensive interpretation of large parts of Old Testament prophecy. Allusions are meant to recall the Old Testament context, which thereby becomes part of the meaning the Apocalypse conveys, and to build up, sometimes by a network of allusion to the same Old Testament passage in various parts of the Apocalypse, an interpretation of whole passages of Old Testament prophecy."

Vern S. Poythress, The Returning King (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 2000), 47: "Some people today come to Revelation with the recipe, 'Interpret everything literally, if possible.' That recipe misunderstands what kind of book Revelation is. Of course, John literally saw what he says he saw. But what he saw was a vision. It was filled with symbols, like the Beast of 13:1–8 and the seven blazing lamps in 4:5. It never intended to be a direct, nonsymbolical description of the future. People living in John’s own time understood this matter instinctively, because they recognized that John was writing in an 'apocalyptic' manner, a manner already as familiar to them as a political cartoon is to us today."

Revelation 11:18

"The nations were angry, and your wrath came, as did the time for the dead to be judged, and to give your bondservants the prophets, their reward, as well as to the saints and those who fear your name, to the small and the great, and to destroy those who destroy the earth."

Richard Bauckham, Judgment in the Book Of Revelation, 2: "The correspondence of crime and punishment here depends on a wordplay, exploiting the double meaning of diaphtheirō, which can mean both “destroy,” in the sense of causing to perish, and “ruin,” in the sense of corrupting with evil. The destroyers of the earth are the powers of evil who are ruining God’s creation with their violence, oppression, and idolatrous religion (cf. 19:2). There is an allusion to the equivalent wordplay in the Genesis story of the flood (Gen 6:11–13, 17, where s-h-t has the same double meaning). In both cases God’s wholesale destruction of those who are ruining his creation is justified as necessary for the preservation of his creation and its salvation from the evil they are doing to it."

Revelation 14:9-11

"Another angel, a third, followed them, saying with a great voice, 'If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, he also will drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is prepared unmixed in the cup of his anger. He will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. The smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever. They have no rest day and night, those who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.'"

In the Old Testament, the cup of God's wrath is a potent symbol of divine judgment, sometimes temporary and recoverable, while at other times irreversible and destructive (Isa 51:22-52:2; Obad 16; Jer 25:27). Jesus, representing humanity, took upon himself the wrathful cup, enduring death (Matt 26:39, 42, 44). His death and resurrection mean that his followers no longer face this wrath, instead receiving a cup of blessing (Matt 26:27-29). Revelation portrays the cup as a judgment against "Babylon," the epitome of evil, leading to its inevitable destruction (Rev 16:19; 18:6, 7-9). It affects all those allied with the beast (Rev 17–19), and symbolizes a final, fatal judgment, leading to utter destruction characterized by torment, grief, famine, and fire.

The image of fire and brimstone is found in references to Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen 19:23, 28; Deut 29:23; Job 18:15-17; Isa 30:27-33; 34:9-11; Ezek 38:22). It paints a picture of decisive annihilation and complete destruction, leaving nothing but ashes in its wake. This picture appears to be in stark contrast to excruciating, unending suffering.

"He looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain, and saw that the smoke of the land went up as the smoke of a furnace" (Gen 19:28).

Smoke rising forever symbolizes the permanent destruction of the wicked. This is the same fate of Edom in Isaiah 34:8-10. The city was destroyed by fire, and the smoke rising forever represents the everlasting nature of its destruction. The smoke, therefore, stands as a permanent reminder of God's final victory over evil.

"It won’t be quenched night or day. Its smoke will go up forever. From generation to generation, it will lie waste. No one will pass through it forever and ever" (Isa 34:10).

John vividly depicts the plight of those who worship the beast, emphasizing that they find no respite "day or night." John consistently uses "day and night" in Revelation to describe continuous actions, unrelated to time of day, such as the living creatures' praise, the martyrs' service, Satan's accusations, and the torment of the unholy trinity. Similarly, Isaiah 34:10 uses "night and day" to describe Edom's unquenched fire, symbolizing complete destruction. While the fire burns continuously without ceasing, it will consume completely.

Mark Corbett, Why Revelation 14:9-11 does not teach eternal torment, YouTube.

G. K. Beale, The Book of Revelation, (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1999), pg. 762: "In particular, 'day and night' (ἡμέρας καὶ νυκτός) in 14:11 can be taken as a qualitative genitive construction indicating not duration of time (like the accusative construction of the same phrase) but kind of time, that is, time of ceaseless activity... The lack of rest will continue uninterrupted as long as the period of suffering lasts, though there will be an end to the period. Therefore, the imagery of Rev 14:10-11 could indicate a great judgment that will be remembered forever, not one that leads to eternal suffering."

Joseph Dear, A Primer on Revelation 14:9-11, 2017: "Once the Old Testament background of the language and imagery of the passage is made clear, any reasonable observer should see why a conditionalist interpretation is at least reasonable... What the passage says, when taken literally, is that a group of people will be tormented in fire and sulfur, and that the smoke will rise for ever and ever."

Ralph G. Bowles, Does Revelation 14:11 Teach Eternal Torment? Examining a Proof-text on Hell, EQ 73:11 (2001), 21-36: "There appear to be a number of parallel descriptions of the final judgement of God upon his enemies (Rev. 6:12-17; 11:15-18; 14:6-20; 16:17-21; 17:1-19:5; 19:6-20:21)... Judgement is pictured repeatedly in the language of final, decisive destruction, not ongoing torment... If the picture in Revelation 18 and 19 is of a completed destruction, then surely the same is on view in the earlier depiction of the final judgement in Revelation 14:6-11."

Revelation 17:16

"The ten horns which you saw, they and the beast will hate the prostitute, will make her desolate, will strip her naked, will eat her flesh, and will burn her utterly with fire."

Grant R. Osborn, Revelation: Baker Exegetical Commentary, (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2002): "The whole picture is built on Ezek. 23:25-29 (cf. also 16:37-41), in which the apostate city of Jerusalem is destroyed... To the gruesome images of Ezekiel, John adds 'devour her flesh,' a reference to the total annihilation of the harlot-city... All three elements—betrayal, plagues, parousia—are part of the same sovereign plan of God by which he will bring world history with all its depravity to an end... The irony is that there it is Babylon that does the destroying, while here Babylon is destroyed."

Revelation 18:6, 8-10, 18; 19:1-3

"Return to her just as she returned, and repay her double as she did, and according to her works. In the cup which she mixed, mix to her double... Therefore in one day her plagues will come: death, mourning, and famine; and she will be utterly burned with fire, for the Lord God who has judged her is strong.

"The kings of the earth who committed sexual immorality and lived wantonly with her will weep and wail over her, when they look at the smoke of her burning, standing far away for the fear of her torment, saying, ‘Woe, woe, the great city, Babylon, the strong city! For your judgment has come in one hour’... and [they] cried out as they looked at the smoke of her burning, saying, ‘What is like the great city?’...

"After these things I heard something like a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, saying, 'Hallelujah! Salvation, power, and glory belong to our God; for his judgments are true and righteous. For he has judged the great prostitute who corrupted the earth with her sexual immorality, and he has avenged the blood of his servants at her hand.' A second said, 'Hallelujah! Her smoke goes up forever and ever.'"

Edward Fudge, The Fire That Consumes, Third Edition. (Eugene: Cascade, 2011), 242: "Although rising smoke tells us that the destruction is completed, the destructive process encompassed such conscious suffering as God saw fit to require. That was true of the temporal judgment against Sodom and Gomorrah. It was later true of God’s judgment against Rome. It will be true of the final judgment of the wicked in hell."

G. K. Beale, The Book of Revelation, (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1999), 929: "what is precisely underscored is the finality of Babylon’s judgment: 'her smoke ascends forever.' The wording comes from Isa. 34:9-10, where the portrayal of smoke continually ascending serves as a permanent memorial to God’s punishment of Edom for its sin. Rev. 14:11 also alludes to Isa. 34:9-10 to describe the never-ending effect of God’s judgment of the beast’s followers. Here Edom’s fall is taken as an anticipatory typological pattern for the fall of the world system, which will never rise again after God’s judgment."

Revelation 20:10

"The devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet are also. They will be tormented day and night forever and ever."

John couldn't see an eternal process in a vision and the language he uses reflects that. "Forever and ever" is figurative and indicates a long period of time. John sees the beast, the false prophet, and the devil suffering torment for a very long time. John tells us that the "lake of fire" is a picture the "the second death" (Rev 20:14; 21:8). John is not using symbolism to interpret his symbolism. The vision he sees represents the final death of the wicked, not everlasting torment. This vision is a climatic recapitulation of the judgment portrayed throughout Revelation (16:14, 16; 17:14; 19:11-21). Confirming this is the fact that the personified figures of Death and Hades are indeed destroyed after they were thrown into the lake of fire. Christ's enemies are destroyed, and righteousness will reign forevermore.

Andries Van Niekerk, The lake of fire is the second death (Rev 20:10) and is annihilation., 2021: "Sometimes, Revelation explains its own symbols. For example, the 'many waters' on which the harlot sits (Rev 17:1) are explained as 'peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues' (Rev 17:15). The lake of fire is also explicitly explained; not once but twice, namely as 'the second death:' [Rev 20:14 and 21:8]... the final and irreversible death."

Chris Date, Definitively Destroyed: The Bible’s Not-So-Mysterious Teaching on Hell, 2021: "John sees the harlot, Mystery Babylon, suffering unending torment with the same kind of imagery (compare 14:9–11 with 18:6, 9–10; and 19:3), but an angelic interpreter definitively tells him that the city she represents will in fact be destroyed (18:21)."

Daniel G. Sinclair, A Defense of Conditional Immortality: "To summarize the hermeneutical reasoning behind our approach to these two passages: (a) the scriptures in Revelation interpret the torment and forever-ascending smoke of 'Mystery Babylon' for us – they are destruction. (b) This same verbiage and imagery are borrowed from two major OT sources (Ezekiel and Isaiah), showing that this imagery is used to denote utter destruction, not an ongoing process. (c) The inanimate entities thrown into the lake of fire are later taken to be destroyed, and so (d) it is reasonable to assume the same end for the animate entities (Satan, the angels, the false prophet, and unbelievers) thrown in."

Edward Fudge, No Need to Waver in View of Evidence, 2013: "In these closing chapters of Revelation, even the word torment itself is sometimes a symbol for total destruction and death. The wicked city Babylon is pictured as a woman whose judgment in chapter 18 is 'torment and grief,' which turns out to be 'death, mourning, and famine,' and she is 'consumed by fire.' It is not unthinkable, therefore, to understand torment of the devil, beast, and false prophet as death and consumption by fire which are never reversed."

G. K. Beale, The Book of Revelation, (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1999), pg. 1030. Beale comments on 20:10: "Strictly speaking, even the expression 'they will be tormented forever and ever' is figurative... at the least, the phrase figuratively connotes a very long time. The context here and in the whole Apocalypse must determine whether this is a limited time or an unending period... All unbelievers suffering the first death are held in the sphere of 'death and Hades,' which is a temporary, preconsummate holding tank to be finally replaced by the permanent, consummate 'lake of fire,' which is 'the second death' (see on 20:14)."

Jefferson Vann, Should We Modify Conditionalism? A response to Corey McLaughlin on Rev. 20:10, 2017: "If John wanted to convey the concept that the process of their being tormented would last forever, he could have used [different Greek expressions]... With all of these semantic options which clearly indicate an unending process, John chose a statement that expressed what he saw in the vision. He could not have seen an eternal, perpetual process. But he could have seen a process that clearly lasted for ages and ages. That is what he conveyed to his readers."

Joseph Dear, A Primer on Revelation 20:10, 2015: "The explanation I would give, which many other conditionalists would give (in varying forms), is itself simple: John sees a vision where three beings are thrown into a lake of fire to be tormented for ever and ever, but the vision itself symbolizes the destruction of the things the images represent in real life."

Patrick Navas, A Closer Look at Revelation 20:10, 2007: "It should be noted, however, that—contrary to the misleading impression given by some—the powerful, graphic and fear-inspiring image of the 'lake of fire' is clearly a symbolic reference, for both 'death and hades' are thrown into it (Rev. 20:14)... death itself (and the entire grave as a general concept) will ultimately be brought to nothing. In the end, in the new heavens and new earth where 'righteousness dwells,' death and the grave will no longer be."

Vern S. Poythress, The Returning King (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 2000), pg. 179: "However, in view of the structure of the whole book, it makes more sense to see 20:1–15 as the seventh and last cycle of judgments, each of which leads up to the Second Coming... The final battle in 20:7–10 seems to be the same as the final battle in 16:14, 16; 17:14; 19:11–21... Most importantly, all of Christ’s enemies are destroyed in 19:11–21. If 20:1–6 describes events later than 19:11–21, there would be no one left for Satan to deceive in 20:3."

The Myth of Everlasting Torment, 2002, pg. 98, "Immediately after the judgment, Revelation 21:1-5 says the old things have passed away and everything is new. Since the lake of fire is the second death (Revelation 20:14), and there will be no more death (Revelation 21:4), it will be no more. Only those who cannot die (immortal) will remain."

Revelation 20:14 // 2:11 // 20:6 // 21:8

"Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire."

Death is thrown into the lake of fire symbolizing the annihilation of death: "Death will be no more; neither will there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain any more. The first things have passed away" (Rev 21:4). Paul explains that the "last enemy that will be abolished (καταργεῖται, katargeitai) is death" meaning that all of God's other enemies will be destroyed and done away with so that there will be no more death ever again (1 Cor 15:26).

"He will destroy in this mountain the surface of the covering that covers all peoples, and the veil that is spread over all nations. He has swallowed up death forever! The Lord Yahweh will wipe away tears from off all faces. He will take the reproach of his people away from off all the earth, for Yahweh has spoken it" (Isa 25:7-8).

"I will ransom them from the power of Sheol. I will redeem them from death! Death, where are your plagues? Sheol, where is your destruction?" (Hos 13:14).

"But when this perishable body will have become imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then what is written will happen: 'Death is swallowed up in victory.' 'Death, where is your sting? Hades, where is your victory?'" (1 Cor 15:54-55).

The "second death" is a phrase used in the targums to talk about a permanent dying in the world to come. Almost all pre-NT Jewish texts reflect a conditionalist belief in keeping with the Old Testament. After that time, some Jewish texts seem to reflect a belief in eternal concious torment, but they are the minority. 4 Ezra and 2 Baruch are examples, and these are later works. Nearly all of the Qumran literature clearly reflects belief in the eschatological annihilation of the wicked. Examples include the Psalms of Solomon and the Wisdom of Solomon.

Psalms of Solomon LXX: "The sinner stumbles and curses his life, the day of his birth, and mother's birth-pains. He adds sin upon sin in his life; and, because his fall is serious, he will not get up. The destruction of the sinner [is] forever, and he will not be remembered when [God] shows care for the righteous. This is the portion of sinners forever, but those who fear the Lord will rise up to eternal life and their life [will be] in the Lord's light and it will never cease." (3:9-12).

Wisdom of Solomon LXX: "For being mortal, he worketh a dead thing with wicked hands: for he himself is better than the things which he worshippeth: whereas he lived once, but they never... For thou hast power of life and death: thou leadest to the gates of hell, and bringest up again. A man indeed killeth through his malice: and the spirit, when it is gone forth, returneth not; neither the soul received up cometh again. But it is not possible to escape thine hand." (15:17; 16:13-15).

Sanhedrin: “Let Reuben live and not die, in that his men become few” [Deut 33:6]. This is interpreted: “Let Reuben live” in this world “and not die” in the World-to-Come. (92a.5); Targum Jerusalem: Let Reuben live in this world, nor die the second death which the wicked die in the world to come; and let his youths be with the men in number. (Deut 33.6); Targum Onkelos: May Reuvein live and let him not die, and may his constituency be counted. [May Reuvein live forever, and a second death he shall not die. His children will receive their inheritance according to their numbers.] (33.6); Targum Johnathan: Let Reuben live in this world, nor die the second death which the wicked die in the world to come; and let his youths be numbered with the young men of his brethren of Beth Israel. (33.6); cf. Deut 33:6: Let Ræ´ûvën live, and not die; and let [not] his men be few.

Targum Jonathan: But, behold, joy and gladness; they say, Let us slay oxen, and kill sheep, we will eat flesh, we will drink wine; let us eat, and drink, since we shall die, and not live. (Isa 22.13); cf. Isa 22.13: And behold joy and gladness, slaying oxen, and killing sheep, eating flesh, and drinking wine: let us eat and drink; for tomorrow we shall die.

Targum Isaiah: The prophet said, with mine ears I was hearing when this was decreed from before the Lord of hosts, namely, that this your iniquity shall not be forgiven you till you die the second death, said the Lord, the God, the God of hosts. (22.14); cf. Isa 22.14: The prophet said, "With my ears was I hearkening when this was decreed before Yaway of hosts, 'This sin shall not be forgiven you till you die the second death,' says Yaway of hosts.

Targum Isaiah: And ye shall leave your name for a curse to my chosen: for the Lord God shall slay you with the second death, and call His righteous servants by another name (Isa 65.15).

Targum Jeremiah: "I will bring upon them distress and they shall be like drunken men so that they may not be strong and they shall die the second death [תִניָנָא וִימֻותֻון מוֹתָא] and shall not live in the world to come." (Jer 51.39); cf. Jer 51:39: In their heat I will make their feasts, and I will make them drunken, that they may rejoice, and sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, saith Yähwè.

Targum Jeremiah: ...and they shall die the second death [וִימֻותֻון מוֹתָא תִניָנָא] and shall not come to the world to come. (Jer 51.57); cf. Jer 51:57: And I will make drunk her princes, and her wise [men], her captains, and her rulers, and her mighty men: and they shall sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, saith the King, whose name [is] Yähwè.

Mark Corbett, What is the Lake of Fire? (Does it point to eternal torment or annihilation?), YouTube.

Chris Date, Traditionalism and the (Not So) Second Death: "Putting aside the rather awkward definition of death as torment, this line of reasoning suffers from still another problem. Those over whom John says the second death will have no power are those who come to life and reign with Christ (20:4-6). Those who are not thrown into the lake of fire—the second death—are first raised out of death and Hades (20:13-15). The first death, then, is something experienced by both believers and unbelievers alike; both are raised from it, and only the unsaved experience the second. Therefore, if what qualifies the second death as the second death is the torment in which it consists, and in which the first death likewise consists, then it follows that believers, too, experience torment in Hades prior to the resurrection."

Mark Corbett, What is the Second Death? Part 1, Symbols and Meanings, 2017: "The traditional view reads this verse backwards as if John saw a vision of people dying a second time and was then told that 'the second death is the lake of fire'. Traditionalists then take this strange definition of death and apply it to other verses like Romans 6:23... They say that 'death' does not mean what we normally think of as 'death'. Indeed, the traditional view is that the unsaved NEVER actually die. Instead they live forever in the lake of fire. Hopefully by now you can see that this is backwards."

Second Death: "The second death, also known as eternal death, is an eschatological concept in Judaism... Harry Sysling, in his study (1996) of Teḥiyyat ha-metim (Hebrew; "the resurrection of the dead") in the Palestinian Targums, identifies a consistent usage of the term "second death" in texts of the Second Temple period and early rabbinical writings. In most cases, the "second death" is identical with the judgment, following the resurrection, in Gehinnom at the Last Day [indicating that the wicked will perish]."

Revelation 22:11, 15

"He who acts unjustly, let him act unjustly still. He who is filthy, let him be filthy still. He who is righteous, let him do righteousness still. He who is holy, let him be holy still... Outside are the dogs, the sorcerers, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood."

Chris Date, No Penitent in Hell: A [Reformed] Response to D. A. Carson, 2012: "John didn’t see the wicked continuing to sin in the lake of fire... for they [Revelation 22:11, 15] contain the words spoken to John on behalf of Jesus after the vision had concluded. The apocalyptic vision of the future had ended in verse 5 with the description of the New Jerusalem’s river and tree of life and the presence of God amongst his saints there."