2.1.24 The Dragon And The Lake Of Fire

Q.I would like to make this comment on Revelation 20: 10 where it appears to me that there is something physically being cast into the lake of fire.

A. Revelation 20: 10 - it says " he laid hold on the dragon, the old serpent which is the devil and satan and bound him a thousand years" and then the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire where the beast and false prophet are. Well, we then have to ask the question if we are talking about something physical here, are we talking about a literal lake of fire, or are we talking about a literal beast, a literal false prophet? If anything the false prophet ought to be a literal physical person; whereas the way the devil is spoken of throughout Revelation is most certainly the language of metaphor, personification.

We are told that all these things, this is going to happen in the future, I'm sure we would all agree with that. Now there's obviously a connection between Revelation 20 and what we are told in Revelation 12 where again you've got the dragon, that old serpent which is called the devil and satan. So those things there I would say are political powers of some sort because we are told that the beast has 10 horns and those 10 horns we are told are 10 kings. So then this is a metaphor to describe a political power. That political power is going to be completely destroyed. Now because as I say you can't have abstract diabolism - we have got it inside us - and yet the whole world, the nations and empires are structured around the desires of the flesh and it is for that reason that you get these beasts which clearly describe political powers also being called the devil, because they are embodiments - the nations of the world - are embodiments of the principles of sin.

So as I say the fact that, okay, you've got the beast, the dragon, the devil and satan all tied up here and then they are thrown into - the beast which is the devil according to Revelation, that is, it's metaphorically the devil - it's thrown into this lake of fire and I would say that the devil, the beast in Revelation must be a political power because it has got horns, and those horns are 10 kings, and so when you say it is something physical, well, yes, it is referring to something material, but it doesn't actually mean that one literal being is going to be thrown into the lake of fire. Yes?