Good evening and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the Book of Revelation.  Tonight is study #12 of Revelation chapter 20 and we are going to read Revelation 20:10:

And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.

I will stop reading there.  In our last study we talked about how the devil was cast into the “lake of fire,” which the Bible calls the “second death.”  We saw that the “the beast and the false prophet” were already in the lake of fire and that brought us back to the previous chapter, in Revelation 19, verse 20.  We discussed how this took place on May 21, 2011, the beginning of Judgment Day when God cast “the beast” and “the false prophet,” the latter of which is closely identified with the corporate church, into the lake of fire and they came under God’s wrath at the very beginning of this prolonged period of judgment.

We also discussed that when God uses names like “beast” and “false prophet” and “devil,” He is identifying these names with particular aspects of Satan and his evil rule over the kingdoms of the world.  God is indicating that the devil in his entirety has come under the judgment of God, but as we learned in other places, Satan has not yet ceased to exist; he still goes about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour and that will continue until the very last day of Judgment Day at the very end of the world.

But now let us look at the last part of Revelation 20:10:

… and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.

The word translated as “tormented” is a word we have seen a few times before in the Book of Revelation.  It is Strong’s #928 and it is the same word that we found back in Revelation, chapter  9 in regard to the locusts.  It says in Revelation 9:5:

And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months: and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man.

The “five months” is a figure that represents the entire duration of the Day of Judgment or the final judgment of mankind.

In Revelation, chapter 14 we also found this same word in Revelation 14:10-11:

The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb: 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, again, God is speaking of those that are “tormented” and it is in the context of the Day of Judgment.  The unsaved are drinking the cup of the wrath of God, the same cup that was first given to the churches when God began judgment on the house of God, according to Jeremiah, chapter 25.  That cup was given first to the city called by His name and the identical cup was then given to the nations.  On May 21, 1988 God gave the cup of His wrath to the corporate church and on May 21, 2011 He transitioned His judgment to the world and He gave the same cup to all the unsaved inhabitants of the earth.  They were “tormented” with spiritual “fire and brimstone.”  Remember, “fire and brimstone,” according to Isaiah 30:33, is that which comes forth from the breath of JEHOVAH because it identifies with the condemnation from the Word of God.  It comes forth from the Bible itself.

Regarding this word “tormented,” if we go back to Revelation, chapter 11, we learn something very significant about the two witnesses after they were killed and their bodies lay dead in the street for three and one half days.  It says in Revelation 11:10:

And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another; because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth.

The “two witnesses” or the “two prophets” tormented the people of the earth.  Why is this significant?  It is because the “two witnesses” are likened to Moses and Elijah or “the Law and Prophets,” which represent the Word of God, the Bible.  The “two witnesses” had their period of testimony in the churches throughout the almost 2,000 years of the church age.  So this word “tormented” that is used in the context of Judgment Day is a word God uses to describe the reaction of people in the world over the course of the many centuries of the church age.  Now the Word of God did not physically torture anyone or bring grievous pain to anyone over the centuries of the church age, but what it did do was to “disturb” people and trouble their minds and make them uncomfortable in their sins.  That is what the Word of God did as the Gospel went into the nations and churches were established in the darkness of the world.  The light of the Word of God came and it declared that mankind is sinful and because of that sin, they are under the wrath of God and subject to destruction.  Of course, the Gospel also gave the good news that there was salvation in Christ for His elect people and, yet, the light was a source of “torment” for people that prefer the “dark.” 

This teaches us something concerning the cup of wrath in the Day of Judgment and concerning the devil being “tormented” day and night for ever and ever; it teaches us that the torment that the locusts bring for the five months of the prolonged period of Judgment Day is the testimony of the Bible.  They are executing the judgment written, as Christ comes with ten thousands of His saints and the “torment” is that He did come with the fullness of His saints – they have all been found and saved and, therefore, there is no more salvation.  The “torment” is that this allowed God to shut the door to heaven and the light of the Gospel has been put out all over the earth.  There is no more “water” flowing forth (not even a drop) for someone “tormented” in the flame of being under the wrath of God.  And the “torment” is that there is a likely end date of October 7, 2015 and, again, the world is being confronted with the idea that this world they trust in will be destroyed and be no more and they will also be destroyed and pass away and be no more.  That is the “torment” the Word of God is bringing in the time of judgment.

So, in our verse in Revelation 20, verse 10, in speaking of the devil and the beast and false prophet in the lake of fire, it says they “shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.”  It is also a source of torment to Satan that he is about to be annihilated or destroyed.  Added to that torture is the fact that he has been put down from all official rule.  He has been deposed from his lofty seat in the temple and from ruling over the nations.  On top of all that, there are just a limited number of days before Satan and the fallen angels will be destroyed, so he is tormented, just as unsaved man is tormented, by the “righteous revelation of the judgment of God,” according to Romans, chapter 2, verse 5.

Satan and his angels and the unsaved people of the world are “tormented day and night for ever and ever.”   We have looked at this before because it came up in Revelation 14, verse 10, which spoke of being tormented with fire and brimstone.  Then it said in Revelation 14:11:

And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night…

Here is that statement again.  They are tormented day and night for ever and ever.  The way the King James translated this, it sounds like it is “eternal” torment and this helped foster the idea that “Hell” is a place of eternal suffering and that those cast into the “lake of fire” would burn for evermore.  They would burn during the day and burn during the night and the next day and the next night for eternity.  Of course, the only problem is there is no “day and night” in eternity.

Let us look at “day and night,” according to the Bible.  Let us start in the beginning by going back to Genesis, chapter 1, where God created the “day and night.”  It says in Genesis 1:5:

And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.  

It was “evening and day,” or “evening and morning,” and they were 24-hour periods.  And the next day of creation was another “day and night,” and so on.  Then we read in Genesis 1:14:

And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:

So the “day and night” were kept when the Lord created the celestial lights of the sun, moon and stars.  The sun would shine and it would be the “day” and at night the light of the moon would light the darkness a little on the earth.  Time was instituted and kept according to “day and night.”  Then it says in Genesis 8:22:

While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.

Day and night would not cease while the earth still remains.  What happens when the earth no longer remains?  The Bible tells us in 2Peter 3:10:

But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.

The universe or the heavens will pass away.  The earth will burn up and all its works, which includes unsaved people.  All that is corrupt and contaminated by sin will be destroyed.  The sun, the moon and the stars will be destroyed and these timekeepers will be removed.  It is the end of the world.

What also ends at that point?  It would be “day and night,” the 24-hour periods and the “clock” that has been operating since the beginning of the world.  God had said that “While the earth remaineth…day and night shall not cease.”  When the earth has passed away and the heaven has passed away, then “day and night” will have passed away.  This is key to understanding these references (and there are several of them) in the Book of Revelation, where God speaks of judgment and He uses “pictures” like a “lake of fire” or being “tormented.”  The Bible says, “And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night,” and that is the clue that God placed in His Word and expects His people to search out.  We must never take anything in the Bible at “face value” and just view it superficially, but we have to search it out.  And when we search out “day and night,” it is a time reference that refers to the normal operation of the world, which could fit into any period of time in history.  By using the term “day and night,” God is letting us know that the punishment of the wicked under the wrath of God is being carried out while there is still the normal course of events transpiring in the world – the world is still operating, the sun is still rising and setting and “day and night” are still going on. 

That is exactly what we discovered as we have turned to the Bible to find out what happened on May 21, 2011.  Judgment Day is a prolonged period of time, which is very likely 1,600 days in length from that date – “day and night” will continue for that duration.  The sun came up and the sun set and day was followed by night, and so forth.  God is giving the cup of his wrath and there is “no rest,” which points to “no salvation.”  Remember, Jesus said, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”  This pointed to salvation and taking away the burden of sin, but there is “no rest” day or night while the cup of the wrath of God is being administered to the wicked of the earth.  Therefore, there is no rest for the devil “day and night.” 

But what about this last phrase, “for ever and ever”?  We also saw that in Revelation 14, verse 11.  That is why we may think it is “eternal” because it says, “for ever and ever.”  Does that not mean that it is eternal?  A little word is going to help us a lot in understanding this phrase, “for ever and ever,” and it is found several times in the Book of Revelation.  It is the word translated as “for,” where it says, “And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever.”  It is the Greek word “eis,” Strong’s #1519.  Please look it up and you will find it is used hundreds of times in the New Testament and it is often translated as “into” or “to” or “in” or “unto.” 

The King James translators had a tendency to translate it as “for” whenever it was used with the word “aion” or “ages,” because it did not seem to make sense to them to translate it as “into.”  They did not think it fit because they could have had an understanding, like many of us did, that hell was for ever and ever, so the devil would be tormented “for” ever and ever or “the smoke of their torment ascendeth for ever and ever.”  They thought it was an eternal punishment that unsaved men must suffer for evermore.  That was the mindset of the translators and the King James Version which was translated just a few centuries ago, but the doctrine of “Hell” was a well established doctrine by then. 

When I looked up the Greek word “eis” in the Englishman’s, I think there were 20 times it was translated as “in” or “into,” but only one time was it translated as “for.”  It is a word that means going “in” or going “unto” some thing or place.  For instance, in the Book of Revelation, chapter 2, we find the word “eis” used in Revelation 2:10:

Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison…

The word “into” is that Greek word “eis.” 

Or, it says in Revelation 2:22:

Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds.

In both cases, the word translated as “into” is the Greek word “eis,” and it is really a common translation.  It is a word that points in direction as going “unto” a thing or place.

Also, it says in Revelation 14:19:

And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God.

Again, the word “into” is the Greek word “eis.” 

And earlier in the verse we are currently studying, it says in Revelation 20:10:

And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone…

It is the same word translated as “for” at the end of the same verse.  It is also found in Revelation 20:14-15:

And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

So, this is the word “eis,” the Greek word translated as “for” at the end of our verse.  What if we translated our verse by using the word “into,” instead of “for”?  It would then read: “and shall be tormented day and night into (or unto) ever and ever.”  Do you see how it changes the meaning?  It means they are tormented unto the point of eternity or into the very point of eternity, which would be the last day.  If we are correct and October 7, 2015 (the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles) is the last day of the world and the day Christ will raise up His people, then the five months of “torment” will come to an end.  The “torment” and the punishment the wicked are experiencing will have been completed and, therefore, they will have been tormented “day and night” for 1,600 days unto or into eternity, or unto the new age that God will create.

Then we have perfect harmony and everything fits.  Now we understand this reference to “for ever and ever,” and we know the smoke of their torment goes up to the point of eternity.  It is not “for” ever and ever, which gives the idea of being punished forever, but that is not possible because the Law of God will not allow endless punishment.