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Lake of fire in Ancient Egyptian religion
Richard H. Wilkinson has written:
- According to the Coffin Texts and other works, the underworld contained fiery rivers and lakes as well as fire demons (identified by fire signs on their heads) which threatened the wicked. Representations of the fiery lakes of the fifth "hour" of the Amduat depict them in the form of the standard pool or lake hieroglyph, but with flame-red "water" lines, and surrounded on all four sides by fire signs which not only identify the blazing nature of the lakes, but also feed them through the graphic "dripping" of their flames.[1]
An image in the Papyrus of Ani (ca. 1250 BC), a version of the Book of the Dead, has been described as follows:
- The scene shows four cynocephalous baboons sitting at the corners of a rectangular pool. On each side of this pool is a flaming brazier. The pool's red colour indicates that it is filled with a fiery liquid, reminding one of the "Lake of Fire" frequently mentioned in the Book of the Dead.[2]
The 1995 edition of the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia says that the Egyptian lake of fire is too remote to be relevant to use of "lake of fire" in the Book of Revelation.[3]
"Lake of fire" in the Book of Revelation
The Book of Revelation is placed last in the Bible, but is not the last to be written.[4]
The phrase "lake of fire" appears in four verses of this book:
- 19:20: And the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet ... These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulphur. (RSV)
- 20:10: and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulphur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night for ever and ever. (RSV)
- 20:14-15: Then Death and Hades "Hell" were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire; and if any one's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. (RSV)
Revelation 19-20 thus says that the beast,[5] the false prophet,[6] the devil, Death, Hades, and all those whose names are not found written in the book of life are thrown into the lake of fire.
According to verse 20:10, the devil, the beast and the false prophet will be tormented forever. Death and Hades could also be spoken of as tortured if they are demons or other satanic beings.[7]
Jehovah's Witnesses interpret the "lake of fire" of the Book of Revelation as referring to a complete and definitive annihilation of those cast into it.[8]
Two of the four verses from the Book of Revelation quoted above associate sulphur ("brimstone" in older translations), with the fire of the lake. Genesis 19:24 tells of "brimstone and fire" (mentioned in that order) rained down on Sodom and Gomorrah. The event recounted in this verse is referred to (mentioning "fire and brimstone") in Luke 17:29. The image appears also in Psalms 11:6 ("He rains coals of fire and brimstone on the wicked"). The two words "fire" and "brimstone" appear also in Isaiah 30:33, Ezekiel 38:22, and in four more verses of the Book of Revelation (apart from the two mentioned above): 9:17-18, 14:10, 21:8. Though none of the verses in this list speaks of a "lake of fire", they form part of the general background of the mention of the lake in the Book of Revelation.[3]
"Lake of unquenchable fire" in the third century
Hippolytus of Rome (d. 235) pictured Hades, the abode of the dead, as containing "a lake of unquenchable fire" at the edge of which the unrighteous "shudder in horror at the expectation of the future judgment, (as if they were) already feeling the power of their punishment", while the righteous "are brought to a locality full of light" (called the Bosom of Abraham), "enjoying always the contemplation of the blessings which are in their view, and delighting themselves with the expectation of others ever new" [9]
The third-century writing explicitly states that the "lake of unquenchable fire" is the eternal destiny of the unrighteous,[10] who, while awaiting execution of the judgement upon them, are tortured in the abode of the dead (Hades) by the vision of their doom.[11]
Mark 9:43 puts into the mouth of Jesus himself use of the image of a punishing unquenchable fire: "If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than with two hands to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire."
"Sea of fire" in the twentieth century
The Portuguese visionary Lúcia Santos reported that Our Lady of Fatima had given her a vision of Hell as a sea of fire:
- "Our Lady showed us a great sea of fire which seemed to be under the earth. Plunged in this fire were demons and souls in human form, like transparent burning embers, all blackened or burnished bronze, floating about in the conflagration, now raised into the air by the flames that issued from within themselves together with great clouds of smoke, now falling back on every side like sparks in a huge fire, without weight or equilibrium, and amid shrieks and groans of pain and despair, which horrified us and made us tremble with fear."[12]
The twentieth-century account of the "sea of fire" excludes the notion of annihilation and is considered by its author to be a picture of hell.
References
- ^ p.161. "Brazier." Richard H. Wilkinson. Reading Egyptian Art, A Hieroglyphic Guide to Ancient Painting and Sculpture.1992. Thames & Hudson. London, quoted in Hell's Pre-Christian Origins
- ^ p. 168, commentary to plate 32, Raymond Faulkner and Ogden Goelet. The Egyptian Book of the Dead, The Book of Going Forth by Day. San Francisco. Chronicle Books. 1994. ISBN 0-8118-0767-3
- ^ a b Geoffrey W. Bromiley (ed.), The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia:K-P (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing 1995 ISBN:0802837832), p. 61, s.v. "Lake of fire"
- ^ For the date of writing of the Book of Revelation, the Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church ("Revelation, Book of." Cross, F. L., ed. The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. New York: Oxford University Press. 2005) suggests 81-96, Stephen L Harris (Harris, Stephen L., Understanding the Bible. Palo Alto: Mayfield. 1985) suggests perhaps c 95. The Second Epistle of Peter was probably written half a century later (Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church (Oxford University Press 2005 ISBN 978-0-19-280290-3), s.v "Peter, Epistles of St").
- ^ See Revelation 11:7; 13:1-4; 13:11-18; 14:9-11; 15:2; 16:2; 16:10-13; 17:3-17; 19:19-20; 20:4; 20:10
- ^ See Revelation 16:13; 19:20; 20:10
- ^ "'The lake of fire' appears as a place of punishment, of perpetual torment, not of annihilation (20:10). The beast (19:20); the pseudo-prophet (19:20; 20:10); the devil (20:10); the wicked of varying description (20:15; 21:8), are cast into it. When the same is affirmed of death and Hades (20:14), it is doubtful whether this is meant as a mere figure for the cessation of these two evils personified, or has a more realistic background in the existence of two demon-powers so named (compare Isaiah 25:8; 1 Corinthians 15:26,54; 2 Esdras 7:31)" (The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, Vol. III:1822).
- ^ What Really Is Hell?
- ^ Against Plato, On the Cause of the Universe, 1
- ^ "To the lovers of iniquity shall be given eternal punishment. And the fire which is unquenchable and without end awaits these latter" (Against Plato, On the Cause of the Universe, 3).
- ^ Against Plato, On the Cause of the Universe, 1
- ^ Fatima In Lucia's Own Words, Lucia de Jesus (1995), The Ravengate Press, pp. 101, 104
See also
External links
- Geoffrey W. Bromiley (ed.), The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia:K-P (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing 1995 ISBN:0802837832), p. 61, s.v. "Lake of fire"
- Geoffrey W. Bromiley (ed.), The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia:Q-Z (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing 1995 ISBN:0802837840), p. 947, s.v. "Unquenchable fire"
