Do you want to know what the Lake of Fire really is?

Question

I agree with this (is also on my 360 blog):

By Dale Thompson of Bride

The Laver, or the Molten Sea

The laver of the temple was a place of cleansing and purification for the
priest as they washed themselves (baptism), the vessels, and the sacrifices.
This "water baptism" set up in the days of Moses, was itself only an earthly
manifestation of the heavenly baptism, the baptism of fire.

John in the book of Revelation points to the temple laver and calls it the
Lake of Fire because it portrays a Refiners Fire.

Both the tabernacle of Moses and the temple of Solomon used water in their
lavers, rather than molten gold. Yet the water was to portray the molten
gold. Gold is the divine nature, and so the laver itself would portray God's
refining process. In our fleshly state we could not survive a baptism of
fiery gold, and so water baptism became the substitute and type of the true
baptism of fire.

In the days of Solomon's Temple, the laver was called "the molten sea" 1Ki
7:23 And he made a molten sea, ten cubits from the one brim to the other:
[it was] round all about, and his height [was] five cubits: and a line of
thirty cubits did compass it round about.

When gold has been refined to its absolute pure state, molten gold is as
clear as crystal. If Solomon would have filled the temple's laver with pure
gold and melted it, it would have looked like a sea of glass like crystal.
There is a reference to this in Rev 4:6 And before the throne [there was] a
sea of glass like unto crystal:
John describes it as: Rev 15:2 And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled
with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his
image, and over his mark, [and] over the number of his name, stand on the
sea of glass, having the harps of God.

The purpose of the law was to teach righteousness to the world. The purpose
of fire is to purify. So consider that the purpose of the laver and the Lake
of Fire to be for the purpose of divine purification.

Christians in this age have access to the great laver. As the Levitical
priest purified themselves daily at the laver, so we are baptized to signify
that God has purified our hearts.

Fire and Brimstone

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.

Let us look at the word Brimstone for a moment. Brimstone is sulphur, the
Greek word is theion. Its root is theo, which is the same word usually
translated "God."

Sulphur, or theion was used by ancient Greeks to consecrate for divine
service, to purify, and to cleanse. It was used in their religious rites to
purify their temples to fumigate, to purify, and to cleanse and consecrate
to the deity; for this purpose they burned it in their incense. They would
rub it on their bodies to signify consecration to God. In its verb form the
word Theou means "to hallow, make divine, or dedicate to God." So the lake
of Fire would signify a lake of divine purification or consecration to God.
On the subject of BRIMSTONE. "The Lake of Fire and Brimstone signifies a
fire burning with brimstone; the word 'brimstone' or sulphur defines the
character of the fire.
The early church of the first few centuries knew this and it reflected in
their writings. RELIGIOUS MOTIVATION ALWAYS DISTORTS THE SPIRITUAL
APPLICATIONS AND BRINGS ALL THINGS INTO A SIMPLISTIC LITERAL FORM THUS
DIGUSING AND MASKING THE DEPTH OF TRUTH.

THEY WOULD WITHHOLD SOME TEACHINGS FROM THE NOVICES UNTIL THEY WERE MATURE
CHRISTIANS. THEY ALLOWED THE NOVICES TO TAKE THEIR WORDS LITERALLY RATHER
THAN SPIRITUALLY, SO THAT THEY WOULD BE BETTER MOTIVATED TO TURN TO CHRIST.
THIS IS CALLED "THE DOCTIRNE OF RESERVE." It was often easier to use fear
than love and patience to restrain the heathen, so very often fear was
preached to the masses and the "Doctrine of the Restitution of All Things"
was "reserved" for the more mature in Christ.

The church leaders felt that the "Doctrine of Reserve" was an effective way
of keeping order among new members, many of which were still heathen in
their hearts. In hindsight, it was the door to a flood of pagan doctrines
that entered into the church which led her right into the Dark Ages.

Sorry it's so long. If is omit part of the text it would be weird.

Answer 1

Well,
It's not a literal,physical 'lake of fire'.
Death and Hades could not be hurled into it if it was.

As the Bible defines, it's the second death.

Also, the beasts and Babylon the Great, both being symbolic entities of man's government and false religion, are thrown into the lake of fire.

It's the final judgement for the wicked that chose not to accept the Kingdom of God.


Rev 20:14 And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.

Rev 21:8 But the fearful, and unbelieving, and 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.

Answer 2

Simply the ' lake of fire ' depicts destruction.
It is ' copied' off the pit of fire that was kept burning outside the walls of Jerusalem where the bodies of dead stock and even executed criminal were thrown . The fire consumed the bodies and was kept going by the addition of sulfur.
(Revelation 20:14) And death and Ha′des were hurled into the lake of fire. This means the second death, the lake of fire.

Hades is Greek for Hell.

So death and 'hell' are to be destroyed.

Why is 'hell' so closely associated with death.
It is because it is not a permanent place of torment, as taught by some faiths, but is simply man's grave.
no death = no graves.

It ties in with;
(Revelation 21:4) And he will wipe out every tear from their eyes, and death will be no more, neither will mourning nor outcry nor pain be anymore. The former things have passed away.”
And;
(1 Corinthians 15:26) As the last enemy, death is to be brought to nothing.

Religion has wrongly mixed Hades/Hell with the ' lake of fire' adding the extras of burning and sulfur.

But the Bible
clearly states that Hades/Hell itself will go into the lake.
It cannot be both.

Also it cannot be a place of pain of any sort. Because how can a 'condition' like death experience pain?

(Revelation 20:10) And the Devil who was misleading them was hurled into the lake of fire and sulphur, where both the wild beast and the false prophet [already were]; and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.

Here, the lake includes sulphur, like outside Jerusalem. And two other 'things' are mentioned. THE 'WILD BEAST is combined world governments, and the FALSE PROPHET has religious overtones. It must be the world's false religions.
So Jesus, in his role as God's avanging warrior, is getting rid of everything evil, starting with Satan and ending with Satan's world system.
There is no torture, just simple eradication/ destruction.

Answer 3

Seems Dale Thompson has woven a pretty complex web.
If you really want to know what the Lake of Fire is, it is...a lake of fire, literal fire.
Want to see an example? Look up at the Sun today. The Sun is literally a lake of fire.

Answer 4

I have a room within my place called the bathroom. In the bathroom there is an appliance called a tub and shower. This is what I use to wash and cleanse myself. My home is my temple.

Answer 5

If you need to add 5 "extra details" forms to your question I can guarantee you that 0.5% of the people here will actually read it. I didn't.

Answer 6

Damn...I always figured it was like a Chuck-E-Cheese ball pit...