THE LAKE FIRE SYMBOLIC OF THE SECOND DEATH. SIX THINGS TO BE CAST THEREIN. IT IS THE SOUL THAT IS DESTROYED. TEXTS MENTIONING THE LAKE OF FIRE. THE TWELVE OCCURRENCES OF THE WORD "GEHENNA" EXAMINED. THE PARABLE OF THE SHEEP AND GOATS. SODOM AND GOMORRAH AS AN EXAMPLE OF ETERNAL FIRE. SHEOL SOMETIMES REFERS TO SECOND HELL.

WE HAVE seen that the words sheol and hades, as used to describe the first hell, do not refer to (1) a place of torment, nor to (2) a place of two compartments, one being of bliss for the righteous and the other of torture for the wicked; rather we found that they refer to (3) the unconscious condition of the first death—oblivion—to which all were sentenced as a result of Adam's sin, and from which a recovery is promised in the resurrection. This being true, we recognize that when all the dead in Adam are awakened from the unconscious condition of death, the first hell will be entirely destroyed (Rev. 20:13, 14). The statement of verse 14, "death and hell were cast into the lake of fire," plainly refers to another, a second hell; for how could hell be cast into the lake of fire (which almost all Bible scholars agree means hell) if there were only one hell? This second hell is the Second Death (Rev. 20:14; 21:8), brought on by individual totally wilful sin. It is the condition of utter, complete and eternal annihilation. While Jesus, by paying the ransom-price for Adam and his race, guarantees to all a resurrection from the first hell (Hosea 13:14; John 5:28, 29; Acts 24:15; 1 Cor. 15:22; Rev. 20:13), there is no provision for a return of any from the second hell, for Christ "dieth no more," according to the Scriptures (Rom. 6:9; Heb. 10:26); and thus those who fully sin away their grace have no hope of eternal life, seeing their sin would require a re-crucifixion of the Son of God as 

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their individual ransom-price (Heb. 6:4-6). Thus their destruction is utter, complete and eternal annihilation—the second hell, from which there is no resurrection. On our Chart this second hell, or Second Death, is indicated for the wicked who die at the end of the Millennial Age in the shaded portion marked "Second Death," below the plane N. 

The second hell is mentioned in the Scriptures in at least five different ways: (1) the lake of fire; (2) gehenna; (3) everlasting fire; (4) eternal fire; (5) sheol. We will treat of them in this order, and consider the pertinent Scriptures. 

Since all of the occurrences of the expression, "lake of fire," are in a figurative book (Rev. 19:20; 20:10, 14, 15; 21:8; in three of these passages "brimstone" is added to "lake of fire"), we regard it as a figurative expression. That Revelation is a figurative book is indicated in Rev. 1:1: "The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John." Here Jesus is represented as giving a revelation, which is contained in the book that we call the Book of Revelation. He sent it to His servant, i.e., His consecrated servant class: primarily, the Little Flock, and secondarily, the crown-losers, during the Gospel Age, and the Great Company and Youthful Worthies at the end of the Gospel Age after the Little Flock has left the earth; and it will be a revelation for the Ancient and Youthful Worthies during the Millennial Age. That it tells in signs and symbols things that were shortly (from God's standpoint) to come to pass is shown by the use of the word signified, sign-i-fied, i.e., told figuratively, in signs and symbols. Among other things, the book of Revelation portrays in signs, symbols, the final disposal of evil and the incorrigibly wicked—their utter, complete and eternal annihilation. This is pictured by their being hurled into the lake of fire, which is the Second Death. The addition of brimstone intensifies the symbol, for the 

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fumes of fire and brimstone were the deadliest destructive agents known to the ancients. The combination of these symbols still more positively portrays utter, complete and eternal annihilation. 

The use of symbolic language is quite common in our times, and fire is frequently used as a symbol for destruction. Shakespeare once said, "Where two raging fires meet together, they do consume the thing that feeds their fury." In 1914, the president of the United States, in referring to the war in Europe, said, "The world is on fire"; and like a great conflagration it spread from nation to nation, bringing destruction. 

We find that many other Scriptures, aside from Revelation, likewise use fire as a symbol for destruction. Mal. 4:1 reads: "For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch." The day here mentioned is the great day of Jehovah's wrath, in which, by the three phases of the great Time of Trouble—the World War, World Revolution and World Anarchy (the symbolic wind, earthquake and fire of 1 Kings 19:11, 12)—destruction will be heaped upon the present order of affairs. This is indicated figuratively by its "burning as an oven." The proud, the great ones of this present evil world, who are under Satan's domination, shall figuratively be burned, as stubble, so that there will be neither root nor branch left for further development. 

Heb. 12:29: "For our God is a consuming fire." To the wicked of the Gospel Age, who "turn away from him" (v. 25), by becoming Ransom-deniers, Sin-offering-deniers and destroyers of the Holy Spirit in their hearts (Heb. 6:4-6; 10:26-29), God will indeed be as a consuming fire; for He will utterly and eternally annihilate them, just as a literal fire destroys what is put into it. 

Matt. 3:10-12: "And now [in the harvest of the Jewish Age] also the axe [God's severe judgment] is

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laid unto the root of the trees [the Israelites, who had their root in their connection with the Law Covenant; and upon this connection God's severe judgment came]: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire [the Jews who had not brought forth the proper fruitage were then cast off as God's people, and were subjected to the terrible destructive troubles which came upon them]. I [John] indeed baptize you with water unto repentance [his baptism symbolized repentance, a cleansing from sins against the Law Covenant, and coming into harmony with the Law]: but he [Jesus] that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear [John 1:27: "whose shoe's latchet I am not worthy to unloose"]: he shall baptize you [the whole nation of Israel] with the Holy Spirit, and with fire [the faithful Israelites were given the baptism of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost; afterward the fire, the destructive trouble, came upon the wicked, apostate Israelites in the terrible war with the Romans that destroyed them as a nation and scattered them among all other nations]: Whose fan [the Truth] is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner [the true Israelites, the wheat, were gathered into the garner, the Christian Church]; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire [Fleshly Israel as a nation was wicked, and the destructive trouble (1 Thes. 2:16) was allowed to burn against them without being extinguished, until it had finished its course of destruction]." 

Also Jas. 3:6: "The tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell [gehenna]." Here, in strong, symbolic language, St. James points out the great and bad influence of an evil tongue—a tongue set on fire (figuratively) by Gehenna, which, as we shall see later, also pictures the second hell. The tongue is so set among our members that if it is not ruled properly it defiles the whole body: everything 

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in a person—his character, work, honor, office, position, relation to others, etc.—is defiled by a wicked tongue; it injures all with whom it comes in contact, and is destructive in the extreme, for if not controlled, it brings all those who when on trial for life allow it to have free course, who become wilfully wicked, into the Second Death. Teachers of error, who repudiate the main teachings of the Bible, have such tongues, which are a destructive agency, pictured here by a fire. 

Other passages could be mentioned to prove that the Scriptures frequently use fire as a symbol of destruction, e.g., Lam. 4:11; Zeph. 3:8, 9; Rom. 12:20. However, those quoted above should suffice to prove the point, and give us a further Scriptural reason for considering the expression, "lake of fire," as figuratively designating destruction—utter, complete and eternal annihilation. Moreover, this is proved also by the teachings of the literal passages of the Bible concerning the fate of all six things which are mentioned as being cast into the lake of fire. These six things are Satan, the Beast, the False Prophet, death, hell and incorrigible sinners. We will consider each separately: 

(1) The Devil. That he will be cast into the lake of fire is indicated in Rev. 20:10. Let us now compare with this passage several literal passages which clearly indicate his final fate. Heb. 2:14: "Forasmuch then as the children [the children of God, as the preceding verses show] are partakers of flesh and blood [human nature], he also himself likewise took part of the same [human nature, though He was without sin, without contamination from the Adamic condemnation]; that through death he might destroy [the Greek word katargeo used here means to annihilate, as a study of its use in other passages reveals (Rom. 6:6; 1 Cor. 13:8; 15:24, 26; 2 Cor. 3:7, 11, 13, 14; 2 Thes. 2:8; 2 Tim. 1:10)] him that hath the power of death [God has permitted Satan as an executioner to inflict the death penalty on the human race], that is, the devil [including his works (1 John 3:8)]." 

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Is. 27:1: "In that day [the Millennial day] the LORD with his sore and great and strong sword [the Truth] shall punish leviathan the piercing serpent [Satan], even leviathan that crooked serpent; and he shall slay the dragon [the civil powers of Satan's empire] that is in the sea." Here again Satan's destruction, his utter annihilation, is set forth, along with the destruction of the civil powers of his empire. It is accomplished by our Lord through the Truth. Ps. 72:4: "He shall judge the poor of the people, he shall save the children of the needy, and shall break in pieces the oppressor." Jesus will judge the poor, the humble, first in the sense of teaching, indoctrinating them; secondly, testing them according to the teachings given; thirdly, giving them stripes for their reformation when they fail to make proper progress; and, finally, passing upon them the sentence that their response will merit. All mankind are the children of the needy; Satan is the great oppressor of the human family, and as such he has used many oppressive institutions. However, this passage shows that he will be broken in pieces, utterly, completely and eternally destroyed. Thus literal passages indicate Satan's final destruction. 

(2) The Beast, symbolic of the great Antichrist, is also to be cast into the "lake of fire" (Rev. 19:20; 20:10). The true Christ consists of Jesus, the Head, and the Church, which is His Body. The great Antichrist consists of a counterfeit Christ: the papacy as its head and the hierarchy as its body. This is styled "the mystery of iniquity" (2 Thes. 2:7). It began to work in its first faint beginnings and activities in the unholy ambition of certain leaders among the brethren in the Apostles' day. In this great system have been fulfilled the prophetic descriptions of the Antichrist as given in Daniel and Revelation, as well as in 2 Thes. 2:7-9. In this literal passage its final fate is described (v. 8): "And then shall that Wicked [one] be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth [the Truth], and shall destroy with the brightness 

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of his coming [presence]." That Wicked One is the great Antichrist. His revealing took place in the papacy's being manifested as the supreme religious and civil ruler, beginning in 539 and 799 A.D. respectively. Antichrist's consuming was produced by the influence of the secular and religious Truth ("the spirit of his mouth"—the teachings of our Lord's mouthpieces as derived from the Bible, the Truth—John 17:17) which began in the reformation by individuals and progressed through the reformation by sects. More and more the secular and religious control of the Antichrist over the people was broken by the refutation of its theories. The destroying, or annihilating process, set in with the Parousia (and continues in the Epiphany) by the bright shining of our Lord's presence causing such additional secular and religious truth to be unfolded as will cause the destruction of the Antichrist in Armageddon. 

(3) The False Prophet is likewise to be cast into the lake of fire (Rev. 19:20; 20:10). From a comparison of Rev. 19:20 and 16:13 with Rev. 13:11-17 we gather that the false prophet and the image of the beast are identical. After the image begins to speak it sets forth false teachings, which makes it the false prophet. We understand that federated Sectarian Protestantism is the image of the beast, the false prophet. A literal passage which describes its destruction is Is. 8:9-12: "Associate yourselves, O ye people, and ye shall be broken in pieces; and give ear, all ye of far countries [here a worldwide agitation to join in a federation is described]: gird yourselves [prepare yourselves to be strong and mighty], and ye shall be broken in pieces [your federation will be broken up in the Time of Trouble]; … Take counsel together, and it shall come to nought; speak the word [of confederacy], and it shall not stand: for God is with us. For the LORD spake thus to me with a strong hand [the mighty Word of God], and instructed me that I should not walk in the [federating] way of this people, saying, Say ye not, A confederacy [we hear much

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agitation in our days for a further federation of Protestant sects. We are not to join in this federation in any way, for God here indicates it will be utterly annihilated], to all them to whom this people shall say, A confederacy; neither fear ye their fear [the things they fear], nor be afraid [of their threats]." Accordingly, we understand this passage to be a prophecy of the development and utter annihilation of the federative movement, which movement began in 1846 with the formation of the Evangelical Alliance, progressed in the assembling of the World Congress of Religions in 1893, and has since developed further in world-wide activities, resulting in an increasingly federated sectarian Protestantism. 

(4) Death is to be cast into the lake of fire (Rev. 20:13, 14). While discussing "The First Hell of the Bible," we gave many literal passages, e.g., Hos. 13:14; Is. 25:8, which prove that death, i.e., the dying process, is to be utterly annihilated by the restitution process. Other literal passages proving death's destruction could be mentioned. In 1 Cor. 15:26 we read "The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death." It is evident that St. Paul is here referring to the Adamic dying process and death state, for he says in vs. 21-23, "Since by man came death, by man came [shall come] also the resurrection of the dead. For as all in Adam die, even so all in Christ shall be made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits [literally, a firstfruit, shall be made alive. We understand the Church, the Body of Christ, to be meant here; for Jesus, the Head, is mentioned in v. 20, and St. Paul was speaking about 25 years after Jesus' resurrection], afterward they that are [become] Christ's at his coming [during His presence, in the Millennial Age, in which all who will reform will gain the right to live forever]." 

Rev. 21:4: "And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away." This

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text refers to post-Millennial conditions for those found worthy of life. During the Millennial Age, God by the operation and blessings of the Kingdom in connection with the New Covenant will wipe away the tears that the dying process brought upon the whole human family; there will be no more dying after that glorious Millennial Age and its Little Season will have ended and everlasting life will have been given to the faithful; the people will no longer cry under sorrow, as they have cried under the curse; nor will they experience pain any longer, for the former things will have passed away. And—blessed be God!—all things will for ever and ever remain in full perfection for those found faithful during the Millennial Age. We praise God that the things of the curse will all have passed away. Thus death, cast into the lake of fire (Rev. 20:13, 14), is to be destroyed. 

(5) The first Hell is also to be cast into the lake of fire (Rev. 20:13, 14). In our study on "The First Hell of the Bible," we have already examined the literal passages, such as Hos. 13:14; 1 Cor. 15:54-57, etc., which show that the first hell will be utterly and eternally annihilated by the awakening of the dead, hence we will not repeat them here. 

(6) Incorrigible sinners will be cast into the lake of fire (Rev. 20:15; 21:8). Many literal passages show that these will be destroyed—utterly, completely and eternally annihilated. Job 31:3 reads: "Is not destruction to the wicked? and a strange punishment to the workers of iniquity?" Ps. 9:5: "Thou hast rebuked the heathen, thou hast destroyed the wicked, thou hast put out their name forever and ever." Those who during and at the end of the Millennial Age will not have properly submitted to the righteous laws and corrections of the Kingdom will die, either as the accursed at 100 years of age (Is. 65:20), or as those who have not filled their days with good, in connection with Satan's temptation of mankind in the Little Season. As is the case with Satan, all of these will be cast nut of God's memory; He will put out their names for

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ever and ever; they shall never return again, for He will utterly annihilate them. 

Ps. 37:38: "But the transgressors shall be destroyed together: the end [the future: the Hebrew word here (achareth), among other things, means future (Deut. 32:20, 29—prophecy of faithless Israelites; Jer. 31:17; Ps. 73:17)] of the wicked shall be cut off." The transgressors are those who violate the New Covenant, the Millennial-Age Covenant. They are of two classes according to Is. 65:20—those who die accursed at the age of 100, and those who do not fill their years with good, but selfishly use the opportunities of the Millennial Age for their own aggrandizement. According to this passage their state of destruction will never end: for their future will be cut off. Ps. 92:7: "When the wicked spring as the grass, and when all the workers of iniquity do flourish; it is that they shall be destroyed for ever." The thought here is very similar to the preceding passage. 

Ps. 145:20: "The LORD preserveth all them that love him: but all the wicked will he destroy." Here the continuance of the righteous is contrasted with the destruction of the wicked, which therefore will last eternally. Those who teach the eternal torment theory would interpret this passage somewhat like this: The Lord preserves all that love Him, i.e., He continues them in everlasting life; but all the wicked will He destroy, which means to preserve in everlasting torment in fire and brimstone, in the charge of devils with pitchforks. What a twisting! What a great perversion of the meaning of the word destroy, for they make it mean the very opposite, i.e., to preserve! God will not preserve, but will utterly destroy, annihilate, the wicked, so that they will never again come into existence. "They shall be as though they had not been" (Obad. 16). 

Is. 1:28: "And the destruction of the transgressors and of the sinners shall be together, and they that forsake the LORD shall be consumed." This corroborates the thought of the previous passages. 1 Cor. 3:17: "If

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any man [any new creature] defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are." God's temple is the Christ, Head and Body. Jesus, the Head, is the chief cornerstone (Eph. 2:20), the Church being represented by the other stones (1 Pet. 2:5) in the temple. To defile this temple means to teach and lead it into sin, error, selfishness and worldliness. If any new creature attempts to do that—and thus defiles the temple of God—him will God destroy. In 2 Pet. 2:1 we read of these, "false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction." 

Rom. 8:6: "To be carnally minded is death." If those who are on trial for life cease to walk in Jesus' footsteps, and go back to living after the flesh, finally proving incorrigible, they will die the Second Death. Obviously this text refers, not to the Adamic, but to the Second Death. Notice that St. Paul addressed these words "to all that be in Rome, … called to be saints" (Rom. 1:7). Since he wrote this epistle to saints, who had already passed from (the first, or Adamic) death to life (1 John 3:14) and not to the world of mankind in general, who are under the Adamic curse, he must in Rom. 8:6 have been referring to the Second Death. This statement seems clearly to refer to the utter, complete and eternal annihilation which will come to any new creature who lives after the flesh, as v. 13 shows. 

The translation of this verse in the A.V. is not very clear, for it can lead one to infer that the death (which comes as a result of sin—Rom. 6:23) consists, solely and only, in being carnally minded. The Greek word sarx, rendered carnal in Rom. 8:6, occurs 139 times in the New Testament, and only twice is it blindly rendered carnal (in Rom. 8:6 and Heb. 9:10). It is generally translated flesh, in the A.V., as in vs. 1, 3, 4, 5, 8, 9, 12 and 13 of Rom. 8. Other translations of Rom. 8:6, e.g., Rotherham's, the Diaglott and the American Revised Version, also render sarx by the word flesh. It

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does not mean sinful at all, nor sinful flesh; it means flesh, simply and only, and is used in reference to Adam and Eve before they sinned (1 Cor. 6:16), as well as afterward; and 25 times it refers to our Lord's flesh, which was perfect, spotless, without blemish (see John 1:14; 6:51-56; Heb. 10:20; 1 Tim. 3:16). Therefore, in Rom. 8:6, "carnally minded" signifies merely the mind or will of the flesh. The sense of this verse is not difficult to discern if it be read in connection with the chain of discourse (Chap. 7:18—8:15) of which it forms a part. St. Paul well knew that the saints, as well as all mankind, had fallen flesh with which to battle; but more than this, the saints had to mortify (v. 13) those tastes and desires of the flesh which are right and proper for the natural man to enjoy, even as Jesus (who never had any fallen flesh to combat) had to overcome the inclinations of His flesh whenever they tended to interfere with His doing God's will, in order to gain life eternal as a new creature, thus avoiding the Second Death. Thus we see clearly that the death mentioned in Rom. 8:6 is not the Adamic death, but the Second Death. 

Another literal passage which mentions the utter destruction of incorrigible sinners is Phil. 3:19: "Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things." Some who once were the Lord's people are mentioned here; instead of continuing faithful to God in consecration, in deadness to self and the world and aliveness to God, wholly devoted to Him, they make their belly their God, and boast of the sins they have committed, glorying in their shame. They have fallen through minding earthly things, not setting their affections on things above, where Christ is at the right hand of God. By not following the example of Jesus and the faithful in their earthly life, by striving for and minding the things of this earth—its riches, its power, its offices, etc., by failing to keep their consecration to God faithfully to the end, these lose out in their calling and are utterly destroyed. 

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2 Thes. 1:9: "Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power." St. Paul is here speaking of those who are now on trial for life and reject the Truth, proving unfaithful to it. These are of two classes (v. 8), "them that know not God"—those new creatures in Babylon who never came into the Truth but rejected it and its Spirit—and those "who obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ"—those in the Truth who rebel against it (Eph. 5:6). In the Millennium there will also be two similar classes—those who die at the age of 100 (who "know not God") and those who die at the end of that Age ("who obey not the gospel"). 

1 Tim. 6:9: "But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts [harmful desires], which drown men in destruction and perdition." If those who are consecrated to God and on trial for life do not seek "first [primarily] the kingdom of God and his righteousness" (Matt. 6:33), but set their affections on the riches of this world, they will eventually be led into destruction, perdition, annihilation, the Second Death. 

2 Pet. 2:12: "But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption." St. Peter here wrote of Second Deathers, comparing them to natural brute beasts. They spoke evil of things they did not understand—the Truth as due which each of the 49 star-members gave in his own time. They spoke evil of and contradicted the latter whenever they could. Not only did they fail to understand these servants of God, but in their wrong course they showed themselves utterly unworthy of being favored by God with eternal life. St. Peter further describes these (vs. 20-22) saying, "The latter end is worse with them than the beginning. For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto 

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them … the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire." These will be utterly destroyed in their own corruption. How clearly these literal passages show that the fate of the incorrigible sinners is utter, complete and eternal annihilation! By comparison they show that the lake of fire is a symbol of destruction. 

Some wrongly conclude that the destruction of the incorrigible mentioned in the above passages is the destruction of their bodies, but not the destruction of their souls, which, it is claimed, live on in a place of torment—the lake of fire and brimstone. That they are wrong in their conclusions is shown by many Scriptures which mention the destruction of souls. We will quote a number of these: Ps. 35:17: "Lord, how long wilt thou look on? rescue my soul from their destructions." Ps. 40:14: "Let them be ashamed and confounded together that seek after my soul to destroy it; let them be driven backward and put to shame that wish me evil." In both of these texts David is the speaker. He realized that if they were to take his life it would mean the destruction of his soul. David is sometimes used as a type of Jesus and the Church, who also have experienced the persecutions of those who have sought after them to destroy them. 

Prov. 6:32: "But whoso committeth adultery with a woman lacketh understanding: he that doeth it destroyeth his own soul." In committing adultery, thus violating the marriage relation, a great lack of understanding is manifested, whether it be on the man's or on the woman's part. By thus sinning, one destroys his own soul, i.e., brings himself down into the death state more quickly. If such fail to reform in this life, or during the trial in the next Age, they will be utterly annihilated. 

Ezek. 22:27: "Her princes in the midst thereof are like wolves ravening the prey, to shed blood, and to destroy souls, to get dishonest gain." These princes are the leaders in Christendom—ecclesiastical, political, financial, social. They will be utterly destroyed, even 

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as they have sought the destruction of other souls, if they finally prove incorrigible. 

Matt. 10:28: "And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul [the right to live again]: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell [gehenna]." At most the wicked can kill the body; they can not have any power against our right to a resurrection, as guaranteed by the merit of Jesus. We are rather to fear (in the sense of reverence) the one who is able to destroy both soul and body in gehenna, which, as we shall see, also symbolizes utter, complete and eternal annihilation. 

Acts 3:23: "And it shall come to pass, that every soul, which will not hear [obey] that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people." St. Peter quotes here from Deut. 18:19. This great prophet is the Christ, Head and Body, who will be the teacher to the world in the Millennial Age. All will be given an opportunity to understand His teachings and to obey them. Some, however, will refuse to obey him, and, after a trial of 100 years (Is. 65:20), they will be destroyed. Others, who obey outwardly, but refuse to hear Him from their hearts, will continue until the end of the Millennial Age. Because of living selfishly, without fruitage to God, instead of properly using the opportunities of the Millennial Age, they, as the old men who will not have filled their days with good, will succumb to Satan's temptations and be destroyed from among the people. This passage teaches very clearly that the incorrigible sinners will be destroyed. Mark well also that it is every disobedient soul that is to be destroyed. 

Jas. 5:20: "Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins." St. James plainly shows here that if the sinner does not turn from the error of his way it will eventually mean death to his soul, destruction to his entire being, in the Second Death. Thus the Lord has given us abundant literal Scripture testimony proving that the incorrigible 

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sinners will eventually be utterly and eternally annihilated, and that this includes the entire soul, not merely the body. 

Other literal Scriptures show us that the wicked are consumed, e.g., Job 4:9: "By the blast of God they perish, and by the breath of his nostrils are they consumed." Also, Ps. 104:35: "Let the sinners be consumed out of the earth, and let the wicked be no more [italics ours]." This includes the soul (Is. 10:18). Others use the term devour: Is. 1:20; Heb. 10:26-28. This also includes souls (Ezek. 22:25). Furthermore, they are mentioned as perishing: Job 6:15, 18; Ps. 49:12; 73:27; Prov. 11:10; 28:28. This includes the soul (Matt. 16:25, 26—the Greek word for soul is here translated life). Lest any should seek to pervert the meaning of perishing, the Scriptures indicate clearly what is meant by perishing. See Ps. 37:20; Matt. 8:25, 32; Luke 11:50, 51; 13:33; John 3:16. The incorrigible sinners are cut off: Ps. 37:9, 22, 34, 38. This also includes the soul (Lev. 22:3; Num. 15:30). Thus they go into eternal annihilation, non-existence (Job 6:15-18; Ps. 37:10, 36). 

Surely the above list of passages should convince any unbiased reader that the literal passages of the Bible clearly teach the destruction of incorrigible sinners. Thus we have three compelling reasons for concluding that the expression, "lake of fire," in Rev. 19:20; 20:10, 14, 15; 21:8 is figurative: (1) It occurs only in a figurative book; (2) fire is used very often, both in common usage and in the Scriptures, as a symbol of destruction; (3) literal passages of the Bible teach that the fate of all six things mentioned as being cast into the lake of fire is destruction. 

Points (2) and (3), especially (3), also enable us to understand clearly how we should interpret the figurative statements concerning the second hell; for if the literal statements of the Bible show that the fate of all things cast into the lake of fire is utter, complete and eternal annihilation, surely the figurative statements used in describing their fate must mean the

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same thing. It is difficult to see how any, in spite of all this evidence to the contrary, can honestly hold to the Dark-Age views on hell, and insist that death means life in torment. We fear that some are not entirely honest with the Lord and themselves in this matter, and are suppressing the Truth concerning the death state, hell, etc. They will have much to answer for, because they have magnified the penalty of sin in such a way as to make God appear worse than the devil. 

Let us now examine the passages in which the expression, "lake of fire," occurs. Since in "The First Hell of the Bible" we discussed Rev. 20:14, we need not repeat it here. Rev. 20:15: "And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire." To be found written in the book of life (which in the Millennial Age will be the New Covenant) here means to have a character which is in harmony with its arrangements, teachings, spirit and work. But whoever will not be found in perfect harmony with the New Covenant teachings, etc., at the end of the Millennium, will be cast into utter, complete and eternal annihilation, symbolized by being cast into the lake of fire. 

Rev. 21:8: "But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death." The Revelator is mentioning various wrong characteristics which will be manifested by the incorrigible sinners in the Millennial Age, particularly at its end. The fearful are those who will not allow the spirit of love, which casts out fear (1 John 4:18), to control them; the unbelieving, those who will not trust the arrangements of God for gaining everlasting life (Heb. 11:6); the abominable, those who because of their wickedness will be an abhorrence to God (Rev. 21:27); the murderers will be those who hate their brethren (1 John 3:15), as well as those who will seek literally to murder the Ancient and Youthful Worthies at the end of the 

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Millennium (Rev. 20:8, 9); the whoremongers, those who will be symbolic adulterers and fornicators (Ps. 73:27; Eph. 5:5), who will adhere to and bring the errors of the nominal church over into the Millennium; the sorcerers, the special propagandists of error (Rev. 18:23); the idolaters, those who make idols of whomever and whatever they possess, or of friends, fellows, or recollections of the past life under sin (Col. 3:5, 6; 1 Cor. 6:9, 10); the liars, those teaching false doctrines (John 8:44; 1 John 2:22); all of these will "have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone." 

It will be noted that this symbolic lake of fire is called "the second death." This destruction or death is called the Second Death in contradistinction to the first or Adamic death, and not to signify that everything which goes into it dies a second time. For instance, death (the Adamic dying process) and hades (the Adamic death state) are to be cast into it (Rev. 20:14); but in no sense were they ever previously destroyed. Therefore this lake is defined as the Second Death in view of the fact that for the wicked humans it is indeed their second death, their first death having been in Adam (1 Cor. 15:22). Only certain humans die a second time: the incorrigibly wicked after a full and fair chance to gain life. Some die the Second Death in this Age; others will die the Second Death in the next Age (in the widest sense of that term, which includes the Millennium and its Little Season). But some might object: How can we say that some die the Second Death in this life, since they die but once? We reply, The Bible teaches that all have died once—legally—in Adam (Rom. 5:15). The Bible calls certain persons, "twice dead" (Jude 12)—sifters, who were given the opportunity of gaining the elective salvation, and who made complete failure in their trial for it. These are among those who in this Age died the Second Death. In Adam God regarded them as dead (Rom. 5:15), which is their first death; but by Christ they have been justified out of that death into 

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life (John 5:24, 25; 3:36). But, sinning away the grace of God, they exhaust their share in the merit of Christ, and Christ dying no more (Rom. 6:9) and, therefore, there remaining no more a sacrifice for their sin (Heb. 10:26), they come under a second death sentence and thus die the Second Death—eternal annihilation. 

The first death state would be eternal annihilation, if it were not for Christ's ransom sacrifice, which gave Him the power to put away the Adamic death process and the Adamic death state (Rev. 1:18). The difference between the first and the second death states is not in their nature considered in itself, but is in their relation to Christ's ransom and God's consequent way of regarding and treating those in them. Had Christ not provided the ransom, Adam and his race would remain in the death state eternally extinct. But the ransom merit gives Jesus the right to bring the race out of extinction into life again (Ps. 90:3; Rev. 1:18); and this right He will exercise after, in the Millennium, He makes His second appearance in the antitypical Holy of Holies with the ransom blood, which appearance will be on behalf of the world, as He has therewith made His first appearance there for the Church during this Age. It is that ransom merit that guarantees another life for the world, and for this reason, and for no other reason, does God reckon all the Adamically dead as alive,—"for unto Him [in His reckoning] all live," and hence will be raised out of the death state (Luke 20:37, 38). Therefore, speaking legally from the Divine reckoning, the Scriptures tell of the martyr deaths of the saints as not killing their souls (Matt. 10:28), because by Christ's merit they have the right to live again. But for the Second Death no ransom is provided; and as God's law is that the wages of sin is death, not temporal but eternal, and as no ransom is provided for the Second Death to end its eternity, as is done for the first death, the Second Death is eternal—"these shall be punished with everlasting ["perpetual," not age-lasting] destruction" 

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(2 Thes. 1:9). But the first death state is called destruction, not everlasting destruction (Ps. 90:3), because the ransom merit, and nothing else, makes that destruction temporal. 

Rev. 19:20: "And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshiped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone." Here we have a symbolic description of the destruction—utter, complete and eternal annihilation—of the papacy and Sectarian Protestantism. In other Scriptures other symbols are used, e.g., in Ps. 91:13 they are represented by the lion and the young lion, the adder and the dragon standing for the Satan system and the civil powers. These together will be trodden under foot, broken to pieces. Thus the race will be freed from these oppressors. The false prophet (Sectarian Protestantism) wrought miracles before the beast (did marvelous things in excommunicating those who would not work in harmony with them). This began in the early stages of the Gospel Age, as history attests; it continued during the reformation by sects, and is completed here in the end of the Age. All opposers were silenced and driven out by the symbolic false prophet, who deceived all who received the mark of the beast in the forehead, i.e., who accepted the creeds of Antichrist, and those who worshiped the image, i.e., were subject to Sectarian Protestantism. These both were cast alive (in the full vigor of their operation and of their power) into a lake of fire burning with brimstone (these will be cast into the great Time of Trouble, which is God's means of inflicting utter, complete and eternal annihilation upon these systems). 

Rev. 20:10 also mentions the lake of fire: "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." A common objection to the thought 

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that the lake of fire and brimstone symbolizes utter, complete and eternal annihilation as the Second Death is that Rev. 14:10 and this verse use the expressions tormented and tormented for ever and ever and thus refer to everlasting torment, and not to destruction. We answer that the Greek verb translated torment here is basanizo. All Greek Lexicographers agree that the first meaning of this verb is to test, examine; that its second meaning is to test by torture or to examine by torture, which is derived from the ancient custom of testing persons by torture, e.g., the chief captain's bidding some to examine St. Paul by scourging (Acts 22:24); and that its third meaning is to torture or to torment. The word apparently first meant to test, even as the noun basanos, from which the verb basanizo is derived, primarily means a touchstone, a thing used to test metals, etc.; but since many of the tests of ancient times were by scourging, the word began to take on the meaning, testing by torture. Finally it came to mean torment alone. The translators, whose minds were doubtless filled with the doctrine of eternal torment, took the third meaning of the word in this case, whereas if we take the first the matter becomes clear, and harmonious with all of the literal expressions on the subject mentioned above. "They shall be tested day and night for ever and ever." Eternally will the perfect minds of God's creatures, found worthy of life, examine the nature, character, fruits and history of the devil, the beast (the papacy) and the false prophet (federated Sectarian Protestantism); and as often as they examine them, they will draw from their examination the true conclusion, that these three things are deservedly in the symbolic lake of fire and brimstone—utter, eternal annihilation. 

In Is. 14:12-27 we find a very graphic description of the deeds and fate of the devil, the beast and the false prophet. In vs. 12-14, under the symbol of one man, because of their co-operation, first the devil, then the beast and finally the false prophet, are described, as to their evil deeds. V. 15 describes their

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being brought into the second hell, into eternal annihilation. Vs. 16-20 indicate that these three will be forever touchstoned as base alloy by the saved in heaven and earth, with perfected minds and hearts carefully studying them ("shall narrowly look upon thee and consider thee") in their motives, characters, influences, histories, works and effects. Comparatively little do we now know of the real inwardness of the various moves of these three. But in the Ages to come these will be bared in every detail (1 Cor. 4:5) of disposition, thought, motive, word and act; and the everlasting study of these by the saved in heaven and earth will be the examining, the testing, the touch stoning of them described in Rev. 20:10, but hidden in the mistranslation, "they shall be tormented." Vs. 21-27 describe further the casting of these into the figurative lake of fire and brimstone. The eternal mental examination of the incorrigible sinners is set forth in Is. 66:24, which Jesus alluded to in Mark 9:43-48. We will consider this latter text in another connection. 

Rev. 14:8-11, which also contains the Greek word basanizo, and indicates that Babylon as a whole will be cast into the lake of fire, in the A.V. reads as follows: "And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication. And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and His image, and receive his mark on his forehead, or in his hand, 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 or night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name." In the symbols of the Bible, angels are sometimes used to represent impersonal, as well as

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personal things, e.g., the strong angel (Rev. 5:2) represents the Law Covenant, which found none during the Jewish Age worthy to become the Interpreter and Executor of God's plan (the book). We understand the angels in our text to represent certain Truth messages. The nominal church in its two parts is the great city, the great religious government. From one standpoint the reason that Babylon has fallen is that she has made all the nations stupefied with her errors, the doctrines which her union of church and state, symbolic fornication, caused her to teach. Those who worship the beast and his image are those who are subject to these systems and serve them. Receiving his mark in the forehead would indicate accepting the creeds or beliefs of the beast and image, while the mark in the hands would indicate practice of their deeds. In the great Time of Trouble, in which Great Babylon is destroyed, all such will learn what the wrath of God is, for they will be forced to undergo those experiences. His cup for the nations is a cup of indignation in the sense that it flows from His displeasure with the nations. They shall be tormented (basanizo, tested, touchstoned) with fire and brimstone in the presence of the Lamb, i.e., those nations and persons who are heart and soul in these institutions will be sorely tested when these are destroyed in the great Time of Trouble. As the fire and brimstone, utter annihilation, is applied to these institutions, it will be a most severe test to their members. This testing takes place in the presence of the Lamb, during the time when our Lord is present in His Second Advent gathering His elect. The smoke of their torment (the lesson of their testing under this terrible experience) will ascend for ever and ever, in the sense that it will eternally come up in men's minds. There will be no real rest of heart and mind to those who accept the doctrines of papacy and federated Sectarian Protestantism, when destruction comes to these institutions, which they think are God's Church. 

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Rev. 19:2, 3 gives a similar thought: "For true and righteous are his judgments [God's decision against Great Babylon as a whole and its execution]: for he hath judged the great whore [has sentenced Great Babylon to destruction] which did corrupt the earth [society] with her fornication [her illicit union with earthly governments], and hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand [has vindicated by His sentence and its execution His servants who throughout the Gospel Age have suffered at the hands of the Great Babylon] … And her smoke rose up for ever and ever [the lesson of Great Babylon's experiences will come up for eternity into the minds of the perfected race, and they will recognize that they are justly where they are—in eternal annihilation]." 

In addition to using the figurative expression, "lake of fire," to designate the second hell, the Scriptures also refer to it by the use of the Greek word gehenna, which occurs twelve times in the New Testament, and which our A. V. translators have also rendered hell, thus causing some confusion between it and the Greek of hades (also translated hell), which, as we have previously seen, refers to the first hell—the unconscious condition of the Adamic death state, oblivion. The Greek word gehenna is the equivalent of the Hebrew words ge-Hinnom, translated valley of Hinnom. It refers to a valley to the west and southwest of the city of Jerusalem, in which the offal, refuse, etc., of the city were burned and utterly destroyed. 

In order for us better to understand the valley of Hinnom as a type of the New Testament Gehenna, let us pause for some general explanations: There is a spiritual Jerusalem—the Christ as God's Kingdom—as well as an earthly Jerusalem. The latter is a type of the Kingdom, as is evident from Matt. 5:35: "It [Jerusalem] is [represents] the city of the great King." The following is the general picture: The two mountains of Jerusalem represent the Little Flock and the Ancient Worthies as the chief rulers in the Kingdom,

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and its two hills represent the Great Company and the Youthful Worthies as the subordinate rulers in the Kingdom (Ps. 72:3). The valleys of the city represent the subjects of the Kingdom—the restitution class. Its walls represent the Kingdom's saving powers, and its gates (Is. 60:18) represent its praiseworthy agents, who introduce the world into the Kingdom. The valley of Jehoshaphat, which was to the east of Jerusalem, and which was (and is yet) its general burying ground, types hades, the first or Adamic death state, from which all the non-elect dead will return and be given an opportunity to enter the Kingdom through its open gates (Is. 60:11, 12). The valley of Hinnom (called Gehenna), was used to picture the antitypical Gehenna, the only Gehenna mentioned in the New Testament, i.e., the Second Death, from which none will ever return. 

The Jews used the literal Gehenna, not as a burying place, but as the city's sewage plant. The offal, refuse, etc., of the city were cast into this valley and there destroyed: that which fell upon its ledges and rocks was consumed by worms and that which fell into the bottom of the valley was consumed by the fires mingled with brimstone that were always kept burning there. Living things were never cast into this valley, for the Jews were not allowed to torture any creature. After certain especially wicked criminals were executed, their dead bodies were cast into this valley, where they were consumed by the worms and fires. The object of this burning in Gehenna was to make the crime and the criminal detestable in the eyes of the people, and it signified that the culprit was a hopeless case. Since the Jews believed in a resurrection, the destruction of the body in Gehenna after death (figuratively) implied the loss of hope of a future life by a resurrection. The destruction wrought by the worms and fires of this valley very fittingly types the eternal annihilation that antitypical Gehenna works. It is these facts that prove that this valley is a type of the second hell.

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Furthermore, in Is. 30:33 we read: "For Tophet is ordained of old; yea, for the king it is prepared; he [Jehovah] hath made it deep and large: the pile thereof is fire and much wood; the breath of the LORD, like a stream of brimstone, doth kindle it." From the description given here of Tophet, and from the meaning of the word—burning place, we understand that it means Gehenna, the lake of fire and brimstone (Mark 9:47, 48; Jas. 3:6; Rev. 20:10, 14, 15). The impossibility of exit therefrom is expressed in the words, "He hath made it deep and large." The thoroughness of its destructiveness is explained in the words, "The pile thereof is fire and much wood," and the eternity of its destructiveness is explained in the words, "The breath [power] of the Lord, like a stream of brimstone, doth kindle it." The king for whom it is prepared is undoubtedly Satan, the prince (ruler) of this present evil world; for he is the antitypical Pharaoh ruling over antitypical Egypt (vs. 1-14), and the antitypical Nebuchadnezzar of antitypical Babylon (vs. 27-33). 

Rev. 21:10-27 very aptly illustrates the conditions which will prevail in the New Jerusalem: "And he … stewed me … the holy Jerusalem … And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth will bring their glory and honour into it … and they shall bring the glory and honour of the nations into it. And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie." This New Jerusalem, typified by the earthly Jerusalem, will in the end of the Millennium represent the entire saved world of mankind; and the defiling, the abominable, etc., those unworthy of eternal life, will not enter it, for God will utterly, completely and eternally destroy them, even as in the type the refuse, the filth, the offal, etc., were destroyed in Gehenna, the valley of Hinnom, outside the typical city Jerusalem. Thus we read that "all the wicked will he destroy" (Ps. 145:20), 

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in His "fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries" (Heb. 10:27). 

Another description of those who will not be given eternal life, who will not be permitted to enter into the city, the saved world of mankind, is found in the next chapter—Rev. 22:15: "For without [outside symbolic Jerusalem, the earthly phase of the Kingdom of God] are dogs [symbolic sectarians of the Little Season], and sorcerers [false, deceitful teachers], and whoremongers [those who will share in the pseudo and illicit union of church and state in the Little Season], and murderers [those who hate their brethren, as well as those who will seek literally to murder the Ancient and Youthful Worthies in the Little Season], and idolaters [those who love themselves, their own desires, possessions, husbands, wives, parents, children, brothers, sisters, friends and neighbors more than they love God, those who bow down to the creed and other idols of the Little Season], and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie [any who love and make false doctrines at that time and live a lie by pretending that they are pious, good people, keeping the New Law Covenant, while really not obeying from the heart. All of the above classes of evil-doers will be exposed and recognized as having selfishly used the benefits of that Age without bringing forth the fruits required under the New Covenant. They will fall under Satan's temptation and be overthrown, brought to ruin]." 

Let us now consider the twelve occurrences of the Greek word gehenna in the New Testament. Matt. 5:21, 22: "Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment [the lower Court of Judges]: But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment; and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca [villain, or vile fellow, a serious recrimination], shall be in danger of the council [the High Council or Sanhedrin, the Jews' highest court]: 

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but whosoever shall say, Thou fool [apostate wretch—Diaglott], shall be in danger of hell [gehenna] fire." Thus increasing degrees of malice and hatred are indicated, together with corresponding punishments, increasing in severity. The scribes and Pharisees misrepresented many of the teachings that were issued in earlier days, in the Mosaic law, and it was against them that Jesus used the language of this text. They took the commandment, "Thou shalt not kill," to mean only external, physical killing, and believed that only those who would take the natural life of another would be in danger of the judgment; they did not think that it had another application, that some were in danger of coming into judgment for putting others to death by assassination of character, reputation, etc., even though they did not kill them physically. 

Jesus was emphasizing the spirit of the Law, rather than the letter. Sin must be sought out at its root. The scribes and Pharisees saw it only when its deadly fruit was ripe. When one yields to unjust and improper anger, he starts out on the same course that leads a murderer to his outward sin. Thus he breaks the sixth commandment from God's point of view, for God looks on the heart (1 Sam. 16:7). Those who thus yield to anger are in danger of the judgment, and of having the sentence cast against them, because of violating the law of duty-love, justice. Those who would say to their brother, Raca (villain), thus engaging in ridicule, reviling and speaking evil of their neighbor, in vituperation, would be in danger of the council (the Sanhedrin, the highest court of the Jews, typical of a similar court to be established in the Millennial Age, composed of Ancient and Youthful Worthies). But if any would call his brother a fool, or apostate wretch, he would be casting an even more serious aspersion against him, in that it would be striking at his relationship with God. It is the fool who saith in his heart, There is no God (Ps. 14:1). Hence if one thus accuses his brother who is not a fool 

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of being such, he shows that he hates his brother in an even alone extreme degree, and if now on trial for life is thus a manifested murderer, with no eternal life abiding in him (1 John 3:15). Because of such extremely evil conduct, those not yet on trial for life, e.g., the scribes and Pharisees, will in their judgment day be in danger of gehenna fire, the Second Death—utter, complete and eternal annihilation. 

Another passage containing the word gehenna is Matt. 10:28, where Jesus says: "And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul [the right to a future life]: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell [gehenna]." Luke 12:5 is very similar: "Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell [gehenna]; yea, I say unto you, Fear him." As indicated in these two texts, God has the power to destroy both soul and body utterly, completely and eternally in Gehenna, the Second Death. 

The word gehenna occurs twice in Matt. 5:29, 30: "And if thy right eye [your choice knowledge, or pet theories] offend thee [causes you to stumble], pluck it out, and cast it from thee [no matter how dear it may be, even as dear as a right eye, nor how well it may make you appear in the eyes of men, nor how much you may love it]: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell [gehenna]. And if thy right hand [depraved desires, manifesting themselves in deeds] offend thee [cause you to stumble], cut it off [forever get rid of such deeds with the desires that caused them]: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell [gehenna, which pictures utter, complete and eternal annihilation]." Matt. 18:8, 9 is a parallel passage which uses the word gehenna, but since it is so similar, we will not quote and comment on it here. 

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Mark 9:43-48 contains three occurrences of the word gehenna: "And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell [gehenna], into the fire that never shall be quenched: where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. And if thy foot offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter halt into life, than having two feet to be cast into hell [gehenna], into the fire that never shall be quenched: where their worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched. And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out: it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into hell [gehenna], fire: where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched." We have already commented sufficiently on most parts of this passage, hence will comment only on the clause, "where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched." It is quite evident that reference is made here to the valley of Hinnom, or Gehenna, which, as already explained, was just outside of Jerusalem, and served as a place where waste material was cast and burned. Some of it fell upon the rocks and ledges, where worms bred and continually devoured it; the remainder fell into the bottom of the valley, where fires continually were kept burning, unquenched, until they completely destroyed everything combustible. Thus Jesus used this valley of Hinnom as a symbol of God's absolute destruction of the wicked—their utter, complete and eternal annihilation. 

Two more occurrences are found in Matt. 23:15, 33: "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte [they were very active in making proselytes, for they believed that such good works would gain eternal life for them], and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell [gehenna] than yourselves [they make him twofold worse by teaching him wrong doctrines and false practices. Conversions achieved by misrepresentations of God instill a poison into the heart 

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that will be difficult to eradicate in restitution times, for the zeal of proselytes is proverbial, stopping at nothing in imbibing new doctrines and practices as against those formerly had]. Ye serpents [Jesus called them such, because, like Satan, they loved sin], ye generation of vipers [as a class they were like the Satan system, the symbolic viper], how can ye escape the damnation [condemnation] of hell [gehenna—our Lord almost despaired of any of these hypocrites ever avoiding the second death sentence, for, by their wilfulness in sinning against such great light, they were so undermining their characters as to be almost irrecoverable]." We fear that they will be of the two classes mentioned in Is. 65:20, as explained before. 

The final passage using the word [gehenna], is Jas. 3:6. Since we have already commented on it in detail, we will not repeat here. Thus from our examination of the New Testament use of the word gehenna we have found that it refers to the valley of Hinnom outside Jerusalem, which in its destruction of the filth, offal, etc., of the city pictures the utter, complete and eternal annihilation of the incorrigibly wicked. This has been manifest from our examination of the passages in which the word gehenna, is found. 

A third way in which the second hell is mentioned in the Scriptures is as "everlasting fire." This expression is used in Matt. 25:41, in the parable of the Sheep and Goats, where we read: "Then [at the end of the Little Season] shall he [Jesus] say also unto them on the left hand [the goat class], Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels." Since this is a parabolic statement, the fire is symbolic; for if we consider the fire as literal, we should also consider the goats as literal, and not as referring to people. That this fire is symbolic is proven further by the Scriptures we have already considered, e.g., Heb. 2:14, which shows that Satan's final fate is destruction. So too, Rev. 20:9 shows under the symbol of fire that utter, complete and

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eternal annihilation will be the fate of those who are deceived into sin in the Little Season: "Fire [destruction; fire destroys every combustible thing that is cast into it, and is thus used in the Bible as a symbol of destruction] came down from God out of heaven and devoured them [accordingly, it did not preserve them in any sense, let alone in torment]." Some think v. 46: "These [the goat class] shall go away into everlasting punishment; but the righteous into life eternal," teaches eternal torment; but be it noted that it contains not one word teaching eternal torment. The punishment of sin is declared in the Scriptures to be death, not torment. "The wages of sin is death." "The soul that sinneth it shall die." "Every soul that will not hear that prophet shall be destroyed" (Rom. 6:23; Ezek. 18:4, 20; Acts 3:23). Make this punishment eternal and you have eternal punishment, eternal death, but not eternal torment. The antithesis in Matt. 25:46 beautifully proves this thought. The Greek word translated punishment is kolasis, meaning literally a cutting off. The wicked, therefore, go into an everlasting cutting off. From what? The antithesis of the following clause ("the righteous into life eternal") implies that it is a cutting off from life, i.e., death. Thus Matt. 25:41, 46 proves that the expression, "everlasting fire" (v. 41), refers to utter, complete and eternal annihilation, the second hell, even as is the case with the expressions, "lake of fire" and gehenna. For a complete exposition of this parable, please refer to Chap. 3 of this book. Matt. 18:8 also uses the expression "everlasting fire"; evidently it has the same meaning as in Matt. 25:41, hence we will not discuss it further here. 

A fourth way by which the Scriptures designate the second hell is by the use of the expression, "eternal fire." Jude 7: "Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire." The fire from which the people of Sodom 

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and Gomorrha and the surrounding cities suffered punishment did not last forever. Rather, as is often done, the cause is here put for the effect—not that the eternal fire here was everlastingly trying to destroy the cities but could never get it accomplished, but rather that it destroyed them for ever—they suffered the vengeance, the destruction, that the fire brought on them for eternity. Thus we have our example. Sodom seems primarily to represent the Great Antichrist, the Beast (papacy), and Gomorrha, the image of the Beast (federated Sectarian Protestantism). The destruction of the cities pictures primarily the destruction of these great systems. Furthermore, God typed by the destruction of the wicked of Sodom, Gomorrha and the cities of the plain the eternal destruction of the incorrigibly wicked of the Gospel and Millennial Ages; for in their undergoing the punishment that they suffered—destruction by fire and brimstone—they were used by the Lord to work out a picture of the punishment of the incorrigibly wicked, i.e., eternal destruction, extinction, annihilation. 

Luke 17:28, 29 also mentions the destruction of Sodom in the days of Lot: "Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; but the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all." Here we see that the people were engaged in their ordinary occupations, when destruction from the Lord came upon them suddenly. We note that nothing is mentioned concerning their eternal torture. 

As a fifth and final way in which the Scriptures mention the second hell, we will consider the Old Testament use of the word sheol, insofar as it pertains to the second hell; for, as shown previously, the Old Testament used it both for the first and the second hells. 

Ps. 9:17 (A.R.V.): "The wicked shall be turned back [returned] unto Sheol, even all the nations [Gog and Magog—Rev. 20:7-9, 15] that forget God." In

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this life no nations, except Fleshly and Spiritual Israel, have known God, and Fleshly Israel did not know Him well enough to stand final trial for life. Hence this passage, as the connection shows, refers to the wilfully wicked in the Little Season. These had previously been brought out of hades, the first sheol; but, forgetting God in the trial of that Little Season, they will return unto sheol, as the second death state, and will never come back again—they will be in utter, complete and eternal annihilation. 

Prov. 15:24 (A.R.V.): "To the wise the way of life goeth upward, that he may depart from sheol beneath." The way of life for the wise is in the higher things: the things that are noble, and in harmony with truth and righteousness. They by their wisdom show that they are following these things, to the intent that they may depart from sheol beneath, i.e., the second hell, the Second Death. This could not apply to the first hell; for one's earnestly seeking the higher things (Col. 3:1, 2) causes him faithfully to use up his humanity in service to the Lord and His cause, thus hastening his going to the first hell. This text will likewise have a fulfilment in the Millennial Age, when the wise will be the faithful restitutionists, who will obey the arrangements of the New Covenant as their way to gain life, and be among those to whom Jesus will say, "Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom, prepared for you from the foundation of the world." Thus by seeking the higher things the wise of that Age will depart (escape) from the second hell. 

Prov. 23:14: "Thou shalt beat him [thy son] with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from hell [sheol]." Obviously this passage does not refer to the first hell (sheol), for no matter how much a child is corrected now it will go to the first hell; but proper discipline and correction on the part of parents has delivered many children from going into the second hell (v. 13), in that it has prevented those who have properly responded from going into the way of wrong and 

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iniquity in this Age, and will thus help them from falling into either of the two disapproved classes in the Millennial Age (Is. 65:20). 

Job 7:9: "As the cloud is consumed and vanisheth away: so he that goeth down to the grave [sheol] shall come up no more." Surely this text does not refer to the Adamic death state, the first hell, for those who go into that condition will come forth again (Acts 24:15). The simile here used refers to the second hell. The cloud which has passed out of existence never returns into existence. This fact is given as an illustration of the eternal non-existence of those who go into the second hell. The accursed sinners and old men (Is. 65:20) of the Millennial Age are among those who, like a cloud consumed and vanishing away, will go into the second hell and never come up again. 

Is. 14:15: "Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell [sheol], to the sides of the pit." As we have already mentioned, the context describes under the symbol of one man, because of their co-operation, first, the devil, then the beast, and finally the false prophet, as to their evil deeds; and this verse sets forth their utter, complete and eternal annihilation, indicated by their being brought down to sheol. 

In some cases the word sheol may be used in connection with the first hell and may also have an application to the second hell. One such case is found in Is. 28:15-18: "Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell [sheol] are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves." The nominal people of God have made a covenant with death, declaring it to be a friend to those who have joined their denominations, claiming that they need not fear death, that when dead they are so much better off and more alive than before they died. On the contrary, the Scriptures declare that death is man's enemy (1 Cor. 15:26). Many in the various

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denominations are at agreement with sheol, whether we consider it from the standpoint of the first hell, the unconscious condition from which there is hope of recovery by a resurrection, or from the standpoint of the second hell, the condition of destruction from which no hope of recovery is indicated in the Scriptures. They have magnified sin's penalty into being eternal life in torture, and sheol into being a great abyss of fire and terrors, where devils with pitchforks ply their helpless victims. They claim that all within their sectarian systems are safe from going into this place of torture, and they use fear of eternal torture in hell as a means of driving people into their churches. They claim that the overflowing scourge (the great Time of Trouble) will not affect their members; they fail to realize that through this very Time of Trouble their evil institutions will be overthrown. They have made lies (the doctrines of eternal torment, the immortality of man, the consciousness of the dead, etc.—the doctrines of Antichrist and the False Prophet) their refuge, and under falsehood they have hid themselves, preferring their own errors and ways, instead of looking only to God's Word for guidance. 

Vs. 16, 17: "Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation [Jesus]: he that believeth shall not make haste [but will wait on the Lord, instead of saying, The Lord does not do things fast enough to please me; I will hurry up and do them myself, even as that evil servant has said and done—Matt. 24:48]. Judgment also will I lay to the line [strict adherence to doctrinal Truth, the means of instruction, will be required], and righteousness to the plummet [conduct in harmony with the Truth will also be required; each will be made to square with the other]: and the hail [hard, distressing truths which God gives in the Parousia and Epiphany time] shall sweep away the refuge of lies [the doctrines of eternal torment, the immortality of man, the consciousness of

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the dead and associated errors], and the waters shall overflow their hiding place [the Truth will utterly destroy and bring an end to these errors]." 

V. 18: "And your covenant with death shall be disannulled [their understanding with death, in which they regard it as a friend, will be thoroughly refuted and overthrown by the teachings God has given in the Parousia and Epiphany time; thus men shall learn that death, not torment, is the wages of sin (Rom. 6:23); that death was not an angel sent by God, but the work of Satan, who as an executioner has the power of death—Heb. 2:14], and your agreement with hell [sheol] shall not stand [they will be forced to see that membership in sectarian systems will not avail them anything; they will no longer be able to use eternal torment as a means of driving people into their churches]; when the overflowing scourge [this scourge is primarily God's Truth on various subjects, such as the Truth on the death state, hell, etc., as it is used here in this great Time of Trouble] shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it [your systems broken up and your erroneous doctrines such as eternal torment, immortality of man, etc., destroyed by the Truth in the Time of Trouble]." 

We may also give this passage an application to the Millennial Age. Those who make a covenant with death at that time are the two classes of Is. 65:20. They will make lies their refuge and will think that they can escape the Second Death and its eternal destruction. Thus under falsehood (errors) they will hide themselves. The faithful then will have our Lord as their precious corner stone, with the Church joined in with Him (Acts 3:22, 23). Those who believe will not make haste then, in that they will not be hasty to join in Satan's sifting and power-grasping efforts in the Little Season (Rev. 20:7-9); rather they will wait on the Lord until He tells them that they may possess the Kingdom. Judgment will be laid to the line, and righteousness to the plummet, in that strict conformity to

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the Truth and conduct in harmony with it will be required. Those who will be faithful to the New Covenant arrangements, obeying them from the heart, unto the pleasement of God, will gain everlasting life. To them Jesus will say, "Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world" (Matt. 25:34). 

The hail (the hard, distressing truths of that time) shall destroy Satan's refuge of lies and the waters of Truth shall overflow the hiding place. In Satan's efforts to deceive the whole world, he will commit his final sin, and, with those whom he has deceived, will be plunged into complete and everlasting annihilation. Their covenant with death and agreement with hell will come to nought, for the overflowing scourge in the sense of the exposing Truth and the final sentence passed on the world of mankind will tread them down. They will be cast into the Second Death; they will not be allowed to go over into the blissful Ages to come. They will be an everlasting abhorrence to all flesh, and as men eternally go forth and examine them, their theories, deeds, etc. (Is. 66:24), they will recognize that they were unworthy of life. 

In connection with "The First Hell of the Bible," under the heading "Material things go to sheol before the Judgment Day," we have already discussed a number of texts which also have an application in connection with the second hell, in the sense that their destruction will last eternally, hence they can properly be said to be in sheol in the sense of the second hell (utter, complete and eternal annihilation), even though they go into sheol (oblivion) but once. 

We have now examined all the occurrences of the word hell in the Scriptures, as translated from the Hebrew word sheol and the Greek words hades and gehenna. In the lone remaining occurrence (2 Pet. 2:4) it is translated from the Greek word tartaroo: "For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell [tartaroo], and delivered 

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them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment." The five words shown in italic type are translated from the one Greek word tartaroo. Evidently the translators were at a loss to know how to translate this word, but concluded they knew where the evil angels ought to be, and so they made bold to put them into "hell," though it took five words to twist the idea into the shape they had predetermined it must take. The word tartaroo, as used here by St. Peter, very closely resembles tartarus, a word used in Grecian mythology as the name for a dark abyss or prison. But tartaroo seems to refer more to an act than to a place. The fall of the angels who sinned was from honor and dignity into dishonor and condemnation, and the thought seems to be—"God spared not the angels who sinned, but degraded them, and delivered them into chains of darkness." 

This certainly agrees with the facts known to us through other Scriptures; for these fallen spirits frequented the earth in the days of the Lord and the Apostles. Hence they were not down in some place, but "down" in the sense of being degraded from former honor and liberty, and restrained under darkness, as by a chain. They have been confined to this earth's atmosphere as their prison, and are unable to leave. Whenever these fallen spirits, in spiritistic séances, manifested their powers through mediums, pretending to be certain dead human beings, they always had to do their work in the dark, because darkness is the chain by which they were bound until the Day of Judgment. That judgment goes on during the Epiphany period (2 Tim. 4:1), in which God separates the repentant from those who refuse to repent, until, by the end of the Epiphany, the separation will be entirely complete. The repentant will be given the opportunity during the Millennium of gaining life, on the condition of obedience during their judgment process in that Age, while the unrepentant will, with Satan their leader (Rev. 20:2, 3) probably

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be spirited so far away from earth as not to know what is transpiring here. At the end of the Millennium, in the Little Season, they will be loosed along with Satan, and will seek to deceive mankind. Together with Satan (Heb. 2:14), and the "goat" class (Rev. 20:7-10) they will be annihilated, symbolized by their being cast into everlasting fire (Matt. 25:41). 

Thus we close our investigation of the Bible use of the word hell. Through examining the first and second hells, including the parable of the Rich Man in Hell, we have found that there is no place of everlasting torture such as the creeds of the Dark Ages and many hymn books and pulpits erroneously teach. Yet we have found a hell (sheol, hades), the unconscious, oblivious state of death, to which all our race were condemned on account of Adam's sin, and from which all are redeemed by our Lord's death. And we have found another hell (gehenna—the Second Death—utter, complete and eternal annihilation) brought to our attention as the final penalty upon all who, after being redeemed and brought to the full knowledge of the Truth (1 Tim. 2:4) and to full ability to obey it, shall yet choose a course of opposition to God and righteousness. Praise God, that He has provided so much light for us on these subjects in His Holy Word and that through the abolition of the first hell and the eternal existence of the second hell, there will be a clean universe (2 Pet. 3:13), in which "every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and [even] all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever" (Rev. 5:13). And our hearts say, Amen. True and righteous are thy ways, thou King of the nations! Who shall not venerate Thee, O Lord, and glorify Thy name? For Thou art entirely holy. And all nations shall come and worship before Thee, because Thy righteous dealings are made manifest (Rev. 15:3, 4)! 

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