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Study 11: Smoke Ascending Forever

Revelation 14:9-11 and 19:3 -- What Does the Imagery Mean?

A Note on How to Study

Throughout this series, we distinguish between what the Bible explicitly says and what people infer from the Bible. These are not the same thing.

  • Explicit: You can point to a verse and quote it. The text directly says this.
  • Inference: Someone claims the Bible teaches something, but no single verse says it. They have drawn a conclusion -- possibly a good one, possibly not -- but the conclusion itself is not in the text.

This distinction is critical in this study. Revelation 14:10-11 is one of the most frequently cited passages in the eternal torment debate. Before deciding what it means, we need to examine where its imagery comes from.

Section A: The OT Source -- Isaiah 34 on Edom

  1. Read Isaiah 34:9-10. What happens to Edom's land? What does the text say about the fire and the smoke?

  2. Now read Isaiah 34:11-14. After the "smoke ascending for ever" and "not quenched night nor day" language of verse 10, what creatures inhabit the same territory? Can animals live in a place where fire is still burning?

  3. Isaiah 34:14 says the screech owl "shall rest there" in the land whose fire was "not quenched night nor day." What does it tell you that an animal rests in a place described with "forever fire" language?

  4. Is the fire of Edom's judgment still burning today? What does the "smoke ascending for ever" formula describe -- a fire that never stops, or a destruction whose results are permanent?

Section B: The First Fire and Brimstone -- Sodom

  1. Read Genesis 19:24-25. What did God rain upon Sodom and Gomorrah? What was the result -- does the text say the cities were tormented or overthrown?

  2. Read Genesis 19:28. Abraham looked toward Sodom and saw "the smoke of the country went up as the smoke of a furnace." Was this smoke from an ongoing fire, or from a completed destruction?

  3. Read Jude 1:7. Sodom and Gomorrah suffered "the vengeance of eternal fire" and are "set forth for an example." Are those cities still burning? What kind of "example" is Sodom -- an example of ongoing torment, or an example of completed destruction?

  4. Read 2 Peter 2:6. Peter says God turned Sodom and Gomorrah "into ashes" as "an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly." What is the end product -- ashes or ongoing fire?

Section C: Malachi's Eschatological Fire

  1. Read Malachi 4:1. How does this verse describe the wicked on the day that comes? What does "burn them up" mean? What is left -- root or branch?

  2. Read Malachi 4:3. What will the wicked become? Where will they be?

  3. Malachi 4:1-3 is the OT's clearest eschatological fire-judgment passage. Does it describe the wicked as being tormented forever, or as being completely consumed?

Section D: Revelation 14:9-11

  1. Read Revelation 14:10-11. What does this passage say about those who worship the beast? What imagery does it use?

  2. The phrase "the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever" uses the same formula as Isaiah 34:10 ("the smoke thereof shall go up for ever"). Given what you learned in Section A about how this formula works in Isaiah 34, what might it mean in Revelation 14?

  3. Rev 14:11 says the beast-worshippers have "no rest day nor night." Now read Revelation 4:8, where the four living creatures "rest not day and night" as they praise God. The same Greek word anapausis is used in both verses. Does "no rest day and night" in Rev 4:8 mean the living creatures praise God for all eternity without pause, or does it describe the continuous, uninterrupted nature of what they are doing?

Section E: Revelation 19:3 and Same-Book Context

  1. Read Revelation 19:3. Whose smoke "rose up for ever and ever"? Now read Revelation 18:8, 10, 21. What happened to Babylon -- is she still burning, or was she "utterly burned," judged "in one hour," and "found no more at all"?

  2. The same "smoke for ever and ever" formula is used for Babylon in Rev 19:3 and for beast-worshippers in Rev 14:11. If the formula means "ongoing conscious torment" in Rev 14:11, what does it mean in Rev 19:3 for a city that has been utterly destroyed?

  3. Read Revelation 20:9. When human enemies attack the camp of the saints, what happens to them? Does the text say they are tormented or devoured?

  4. Read Revelation 20:14-15 and 21:8. When humans enter the lake of fire, what term does the text use -- "torment" or "second death"?

Explicit or Inference?

For each statement below, decide: Does the Bible explicitly say this (you can point to a verse), or is it an inference (a conclusion someone draws that no verse directly states)?

A. "Isaiah 34:10 uses the 'smoke ascending for ever' and 'not quenched night nor day' formula for Edom's judgment, and Isaiah 34:11-17 describes animals dwelling in the desolated ruins afterward." - [ ] Explicit -- the Bible says this - [ ] Inference -- someone concluded this

B. "The 'smoke ascending for ever' formula in Revelation 14:11 describes ongoing conscious eternal torment." - [ ] Explicit -- the Bible says this - [ ] Inference -- someone concluded this

C. "When humans enter the lake of fire (Rev 20:14-15; 21:8), the identifying term is 'second death,' not 'torment.'" - [ ] Explicit -- the Bible says this - [ ] Inference -- someone concluded this

D. "The fire-and-brimstone imagery in Rev 14:10-11 describes the permanence and completeness of destruction, not ongoing torment." - [ ] Explicit -- the Bible says this - [ ] Inference -- someone concluded this

E. "The fate described for the devil, beast, and false prophet in Rev 20:10 ('tormented day and night for ever and ever') applies equally to all unsaved humans." - [ ] Explicit -- the Bible says this - [ ] Inference -- someone concluded this