This is another in a series of excerpts from What Every Christian Should Know About the Return of Jesus, released by High Street Press and available at Amazon.com.
After Satan’s release from the abyss, which John depicts in Revelation 20:7, the evil one proves himself unreformed and undeterred. He immediately returns to his life of crime, setting out to deceive the nations once again and gather them for battle against Christ and his followers. As soldiers of this newly formed axis of evil surround the encampment of the saints, fire from heaven consumes them (Rev. 20:7-9).
Then, we read: “The devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet are, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever” (Rev. 20:10).
In this verse, John describes Satan’s ultimate destination as “the lake of fire and sulfur.” In Matthew 25:41, Jesus calls it “the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” Jesus and the New Testament writers also describe this place as “outer darkness,” “eternal punishment,” and “the second death” (e.g., Matt. 22:13; 25:46; Rev. 21:8). But there’s an even more descriptive term for this place: gehenna, or hell.
While the Hebrew word sheol and the Greek term hades generally depict the temporary abode of the dead, gehenna and its associated terms describe a place of everlasting future punishment, not only for Satan and evil spirits, but also for those whose names are not written in the book of life (Rev. 20:15).
The noun gehenna originally referred to the Valley of Hinnom. Located southwest of Jerusalem, this steep, rocky valley is the scene of human sacrifices to pagan deities (2 Kings 23:10; 2 Chron. 28:3; 33:6). A particular part of the valley is called Tophet, which means “fire-stove,” where Israelite children are burned as offerings to the false gods Moloch and Baal. Jeremiah declares it the “Valley of Slaughter” (Jer. 7:31-34 ESV). To the Jewish mind, the images of fire and destruction become appropriate representations of the eventual fate of idol worshipers.
Jesus seizes rabbinic language connected with gehenna, such as “unquenchable fire” and “never-dying worms” (cf. Isa. 66:24), to impress upon his listeners that their choices in this life have everlasting consequences. In fact, of the 12 uses of gehenna in the New Testament, 11 come from the lips of the Messiah.
It’s important to understand who and what are cast into the lake of fire. The beast and the false prophet are tossed there (Rev. 19:20). So is Satan (Rev. 20:10), as is anyone whose name is not found written in the book of life (Rev. 20:15). This includes cowards, unbelievers, the vile, murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars – meaning the unrepentant wicked (Rev. 21:8; cf. 1 Cor. 6:9-10; Gal. 5:19-21; Eph. 5:5).
Ultimately, death and hades also are banished to hell, since there is no longer any need for physical death or a temporary spiritual existence in the underworld (Rev. 20:14).
John describes the evil one’s torment as enduring “day and night forever and ever.” This phrase may be considered metaphorically as “without intermission” or “unceasingly.” As surely as Christ’s kingdom is “forever and ever” (Rev. 11:15), so is the length of Satan’s punishment. The same divine fire that comes down from heaven in judgment of wicked people now engulfs the ultimate rebel (Rev. 20:9; cf. 2 Kings 1:10, 12).
The fires of hell devour, but do not annihilate, Satan, evil spirits, or wicked humans. For unbelieving people, hell transforms the temporary consequences of sin, such as physical death and disembodiment in hades, into permanent and unalterable punishments such as the second death, darkness, and separation from the intimacy God offers all people through his Son’s finished work on the cross.
As Paul writes, those who don’t know God and those who do not obey the gospel “pay the penalty of eternal destruction from the Lord’s presence ….” (2 Thess. 1:9). Perhaps this divine act of judgment is the first step in what Peter describes as God’s work of creating new heavens and a new earth. The Lord first purges sin and its stain from the created order, and then restores the earth, skies, and outer space to their former pristine condition (2 Pet. 3:10-13; Rev. 21-22).
For Satan, hell is the final humiliation for the one-time guardian cherub. The “god of this age” (2 Cor. 4:4) is stripped of his kingdom. The deceiver of the whole world (Rev. 12:9) discovers he’s the victim of his own ruse. The one who would set his throne above the stars of God (Isa. 14:13) is crushed beneath the Messiah’s heel (Gen. 3:15).
The one who commanded a vast army (Rev. 20:8) becomes a prisoner of war. And the one who received the worship of adoring hordes (Rev. 13:4) now spends eternity as a reviled despot. From the throne room of heaven, to the underworld, to the abyss, and finally to the lake of fire, the ancient serpent is defanged, defeated, dethroned, and despised.
Next: Could Satan be Saved?