Good evening and welcome to EBible Fellowship's Bible study in the Book of Revelation. Tonight is study #25 of Revelation, chapter 14, and we are continuing to look at Revelation14:11:
And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.
Here, God is describing Judgment Day, the time in which He is pouring out His wrath upon all whose names are not written in the Lamb’s Book of life (all the unsaved people of the world). It is the “smoke of their torment,” as they are tormented with “fire and brimstone” that “ascends up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night.” It is verses like this that people have pointed to in time past in order to attempt to prove that “Hell” is for evermore and that God will create a place called “Hell.” He will judge all the wicked people of the world and He will cast them into “Hell,” where they will burn and burn for ever, because of the fact that it says, “the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever.” That has been the traditional and historical teaching of the churches and just about all theologians. There are some exceptions, but this has been the typical teaching throughout history and, yet, it was not known until relatively recently (just a few years before May 21, 2011) when God opened up the Scriptures and revealed much truth, clarifying many of His doctrines. Information came forth from the Bible proving and showing that the judgment of God will not be accomplished in a place called “Hell” where man would suffer for evermore, but the judgment of God is actually the destruction of (unsaved) mankind.
This is why God speaks of men “perishing” or being “cut off” or being “destroyed.” When we search those words we find it describes something that has “an end,” and the Law of God, in Deuteronomy, chapter 25, lays down a Law about this: when an evil doer comes before a judge, that judge may not punish him with “overmuch” punishment. I mentioned this before, but let us turn back there because some people may not be familiar with this. It says in Deuteronomy 25:1:
If there be a controversy between men, and they come unto judgment, that the judges may judge them; then they shall justify the righteous, and condemn the wicked.
We can see from this verse that it has everything to do with judgment. It lays down a Law for judges to follow when they are going to pronounce their judgments and, certainly, if God (who is the just Judge of all the earth) gives this Law for human judges to follow and adhere to, then we can be sure that God, likewise, would adhere to His own Word. The Bible tells us, “Thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name,” in Psalm 138:2. This means that God would be in submission to His own Word. The Word of God, the Bible, is a Law Book. All the commands of the Bible are Laws of God and God subjugates Himself to His own Word, so He is bound by any Law in the Bible, including this Law that has to do with right judgment.
It goes on to say in Deuteronomy 25:2-3:
And it shall be, if the wicked man be worthy to be beaten, that the judge shall cause him to lie down, and to be beaten before his face, according to his fault, by a certain number. Forty stripes he may give him, and not exceed: lest, if he should exceed, and beat him above these with many stripes, then thy brother should seem vile unto thee.
Here is the Law and the judges of Israel were obligated to obey this law. And they did obey this Law, because we read in the New Testament, where the Apostle Paul is recounting many of his trials and tribulations, in 2Corinthians 11:23-24:
Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as a fool) I am more; in labours more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft. Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one.
And “save one” means “except one.” Instead of 40 stripes he received 39 stripes. Why was that? It would have been carried out by different judges in different cities and, yet, all the judges of the Jews dared not give forty stripes, for fear that they might break the Law in Deuteronomy, where it says, “Forty stripes he may give him, and not exceed.” To be sure they did not exceed, they held back one and gave just 39 stripes, so they would not have to worry about miscounting and risking transgression of that Law. Do you see the carefulness that the people of God at that time (national Israel) took to make sure they kept the Law? At least in that regard, they kept the Law in passing a “just” penalty and this penalty they meted out would have to be a strictly limited amount of stripes.
This teaches an important principal: when a judge pronounces a sentence, he must set a limitation on the punishment. The punishment cannot be open-ended or unlimited. For instance, it cannot be a punishment where the Judge says, “I will cast you into Hell and I will throw you into a fire where you will burn for evermore and the smoke of your torment will go up for ever and ever. You will burn today and you will tomorrow and you will burn ten thousand years and a million years from now. You will never stop burning.” That is a doctrine which the churches and many people still believe and teach and, yet, it is a doctrine that is contrary to the Law of God found in Deuteronomy, chapter 25. It is punishment without “limit” and without end. There must be a limitation to the sentence that is being pronounced upon the transgressor.
Just so we would not “miss” what Deuteronomy 25 is, indeed, teaching about judgment and so we would not “miss” the connection to the final judgment of Judgment Day, God actually likens the pouring out of His wrath (in Judgment Day) to the “giving of stripes.” We read in a parable in Luke 12:46-48:
The lord of that servant will come in a day when he looketh not for him, and at an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him in sunder, and will appoint him his portion with the unbelievers. And that servant, which knew his lord's will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more.
Here, God is speaking about Judgment Day, the time in which we are now living. He is picturing the punishment He will mete out as giving of “stripes” to the sinner. Within that punishment, there may be more stripes given to those that knew His will and that would point to professed Christians that never became saved. And there are less “stripes” for those that did not know His will. Therefore, there is more wrath poured out on some and less wrath on others, but in both cases there must be a limitation on the duration of the wrath and on other aspects of the penalty. It cannot be forever or eternal in nature. That is an erroneous doctrine and the Bible does not teach it anywhere.
The unsaved will perish for ever and when we read the Bible we find all sorts of Scripture that help us understand that unsaved man will die and cease to be; in the end he will be annihilated and the Bible teaches that consistently. But, f that is true (and it is), why does our verse say, “And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night.” The reference to “day” and “night” is a time reference (and we will look at that later), but there is no “time” in eternity future. Once God destroys this world and He destroys the sun, moon and stars, which are the time keepers, there is no more “time” and there is no more day and night. Actually, in Revelation 21, God makes a point to say in regard to the new heaven and new earth that there is “no night there.” So day and night cannot continue on for evermore. That is the first clue God gives us that this verse is not as it seems; it is not as we might think it to be, upon the first reading.
When we look at the Greek word translated as “for,” we see it is “eis,” and it is a word that is translated as “to” or “in to” most of the time. There is a big difference if you read this verse this way: “And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up to for ever and ever,” when we compare it to “And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever.” There is a big difference how we understand the latter translation. We tend to think that if it is “for ever and ever,” it must go on for eternity, but it is “to ever and ever,” or to the point of “ever and ever.” To say it another way, it is to the point of eternity future’s beginning, after God has ended this world and has destroyed the creation, the wicked and the celestial bodies and has brought the elect into that glorious eternal future.
If God began Judgment Day on May 21, 2011 and if Judgment Day continues for 1,600 days (which it will very likely do) and on the 1600th day, on the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles, and if God does destroy the world and the punishment of the wicked had been meted out (like as stripes) over the course of that 1,600 days, it would give more stripes to those that professed to know God, but did not truly know Him, and less stripes to the other unsaved people in the world.
“And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever,” as eternity is ushered in on that last day of the Feast of Tabernacles and all God’s people “return home” from the feast, as they go into New Jerusalem, the new heaven and new earth. But all the unsaved have “no rest day nor night” throughout the period of the prolonged Day of Judgment, so we can see how this explanation fits our verse and also fits all the other information in the Bible that will not permit the idea of an eternal damnation.