The End Time Bible Commentary

The Thousand Year Millennium (v1-6)
Verses 1 to 3 say, "Then I saw an angel descending from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the abyss and a huge chain. He seized the dragon – the ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan – and tied him up for a thousand years. The angel then threw him into the abyss and locked and sealed it so that he could not deceive the nations until the one thousand years were finished. (After these things he must be released for a brief period of time)".

John saw an angel with the key to the Abyss in Revelation 9:1, at the time of the 5th trumpet. Perhaps this is the same angel. The Abyss is the deepest part of Hell, also known as Tartarus in Greek, and as the Pit in the Old Testament. It is the place of torment for the most wicked dead, and the place in which demons can be locked up (Luke 8:31, 2 Peter 2:4). After becoming sin for us and dying for the sins of the world, Jesus is seen to have descended there (Romans 10:7). The Antichrist and his beast empire are seen to have arisen out of the Abyss (Revelation 11:7). I believe this is one reason Antichrist is called Gog in Ezekiel 38, after Gyges the hecatoncheire of Greek mythology whom Zeus released and brought up from the Abyss to help him overthrow the Titans.

Satan is identified with four different names in verse 2, Satan and the Devil being his most common generic names in the New Testament. He is also called 'the dragon', as in Revelation 12 and 13. A dragon is a flying monster and fits with Paul's description of him as 'the ruler of the kingdom of the air' (Ephesians 2:2). 'The ancient serpent' refers to Satan in the Garden of Eden where he deceived Eve (Genesis 3). He is tied up for a thousand years with a huge chain and thrown into the Abyss. The huge chain implies that he will be securely bound and cannot escape. This is further emphasised by the Abyss being locked and sealed over him. He cannot deceive the nations during the Millennial age, so the earth will be free to worship God without people being tricked into worshipping any false god. Effectively, Eden is restored, almost to how things were before Adam and Eve sinned. This is the time when 'the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea' (Habakkuk 2:14 - NIV). People will live longer but still die during the Millennium (Isaiah 65:20). The full restoration awaits the eternal age, after the Millennium (Revelation 21:4). Before that, Earth's inhabitants must be tested one last time, and Satan will be released for a short time.

Pre-Millennialism vs. Amillennialism
Amillennialists often claim that Revelation 20 is the only chapter in the bible that presents a pre-millennial view, and that in reality we have been in the Millennium (though not a literal one) for the last 2,000 years. In reality, Revelation 20 helps to make sense of whole swathes of Old Testament prophecy that declare God's plans to restore and reunite the twelve tribes of Israel under the rule of their Davidic Messiah king and establish his kingdom on earth. Amillennialists say that we have to reinterpret the Old Testament through the lens of the New Testament, which in their view teaches that Christ's kingdom will only ever be established in a spiritual sense, never in a geopolitical sense. But if there is no millennium after Jesus comes back, why do we see him fighting and defeating his enemies in Revelation 19 (and many Old Testament prophecies). If the whole world is about to be destroyed and replaced with the new earth at the end of this age, what is he fighting for in Revelation 19? This age might as well end as soon as the rapture takes place, and then God's enemies be allowed to burn along with the earth!

The reality is that Amillennialists require us to effectively write off great swatches of Old Testament prophecy and accept that it will never be fulfilled. Jesus said in John 10:35, "…and scripture cannot be broken". In Matthew 26:52-56, at his arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane, after Peter had struck the High Priest's servant and cut off his ear, Jesus said to him, "Put your sword back in its place! For all who take hold of the sword will die by the sword. Or do you think that I cannot call on my Father, and that he would send me more than twelve legions of angels right now? How then would the scriptures that say it must happen this way be fulfilled?” At that moment Jesus said to the crowd, “Have you come out with swords and clubs to arrest me like you would an outlaw? Day after day I sat teaching in the temple courts, yet you did not arrest me. But this has happened so that the scriptures of the prophets would be fulfilled.” If Jesus believed that Old Testament prophecies about his arrest and death had to be fulfilled in such detail, surely the same applies to the many more prophecies relating to his restoration of the twelve tribes of Israel and the establishment of his geopolitical kingdom on earth. In Luke 24:25-27, as Jesus walked along the Emmaus road with two of his followers, he said to them, "You foolish people – how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Wasn't it necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and enter into his glory?” Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things written about himself in all the scriptures".

If you are reading this commentary, you are clearly someone within an interest in biblical prophecy. Wouldn't it have been fantastic to be one of those two disciples on the Emmaus road and to hear Jesus explain everything written about him in the Old Testament scriptures!! Luke 24:33:35 tells us these two followers then went immediately to Jerusalem and found the eleven apostles, and verse 35 says, "Then they told what had happened on the road, and how they recognized him when he broke the bread". I am sure that they also repeated all that Jesus had told them about the Old Testament scriptures. The apostles themselves had spent at least three years with Jesus. One of them was known as Simon the Zealot (Mark 3:18), indicating that he was an activist who eagerly sought the establishment of Messiah's kingdom and the overthrowing of Roman rule. We can confidently assume that he had a lot of questions to ask Jesus during those three years, and that he didn't just quietly listen to whatever Jesus chose to say. In Acts 1:6, just before Jesus' ascension into heaven, the apostles asked Jesus, "Lord, is this the time when you are restoring the kingdom to Israel?" After all this time spent with Jesus, after all Christ's parables and teaching about the kingdom of heaven, and after Jesus had explained all the Old Testament prophecies to his two followers on the Emmaus road, the apostles clearly still expected Jesus to restore Israel as a geopolitical kingdom. Amillennialists would have us believe that the apostles had a wrong understanding at this point, and that only in the decades that followed, while the Holy Spirit was guiding the completion of the New Testament, would they come to understand that Christ's kingdom would be fulfilled spiritually, not geopolitically. In Acts 1:7-8, Jesus replied to the apostles' question, "You are not permitted to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the farthest parts of the earth". Jesus does not in any way deny that he will one day fulfil their aspirations. His reply simply indicates that two thousand years ago was not the right time, and that in the meantime they had a job to do, spreading the message of the Gospel throughout the world, affirming what he had already said in Matthew 24:14, "And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached throughout the whole inhabited earth as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come".

Roughly thirty years later, the Apostle Paul wrote his epistle to the Romans. Amillennialists generally interpret his teaching in chapters 9-11 to mean that Israel's place as the chosen people of God has been replaced by the Church, and that Israel as a nation has been permanently cut off. But such an interpretation ignores Paul's own conclusion on the subject, as expressed in Romans 11:25-31, "For I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you may not be conceited: A partial hardening has happened to Israel until the full number of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: “The Deliverer will come out of Zion; he will remove ungodliness from Jacob. And this is my covenant with them, when I take away their sins.”In regard to the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but in regard to election they are dearly loved for the sake of the fathers. For the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable. Just as you were formerly disobedient to God, but have now received mercy due to their disobedience, so they too have now been disobedient in order that, by the mercy shown to you, they too may now receive mercy". Paul believed that a time will come when the full number of Gentiles has been saved and that God will then restore all twelve tribes of Israel, remove ungodliness from them, and make them full partakers in his new covenant! Consequently, he warned his Gentile Christian readers not to become conceited towards the Jews. As the centuries passed and the Church became ever more Gentile in composition, the descendants of Jewish Christians became ever more assimilated into the Gentile Church and lost their sense of Jewish identity. And despite Paul's warning, the Church became increasingly antisemitic and conceited towards the Jews, thinking it had permanently replaced the Jews in God's plan.

The Apostle John, who outlived the other Apostles and in his old age receive the vision we know as Revelation, was clearly a Pre-Millennialist, as was Justin Martyr (c. 114-165 AD). who said, "But I and others, who are right-minded Christians on all points, are assured that there will be a resurrection of the dead, and a thousand-years in Jerusalem, which will then be built, adorned, and enlarged, [as] the prophets Ezekiel and Isaiah and others declare" (Coxe, Roberts, and Donaldson. Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 1, “Justin Martyr: Dialogue with Trypho” (LXXX), p. 239).

Also, the Apostle John discipled Polycarp, who in turn discipled Irenaeus (c. 120-202 AD). Irenaeus said, "[He gives this] as a summing up of the whole of that apostasy, which has taken place during six thousand years. For in as many days as this world was made, in so many thousand years shall it be concluded. And for this reason the Scripture says: “Thus the heaven and the earth were finished, and all their adornment. And God brought to a conclusion upon the sixth day the works that He had made; and God rested upon the seventh day from all His works.” This is an account of the things formerly created, as also it is a prophecy of what is to come. For the day of the Lord is as a thousand years; and in six days created things were completed; it is evident, therefore that they will come to an end at the six thousandth year". In other words, Irenaeus believed that the six days of creation correspond to 6,000 years of world history, based on 2 Peter 3:8 which says, "Now, dear friends, do not let this one thing escape your notice,22 that a single day is like a thousand years with the Lord and a thousand years are like a single day". Consequently, he equates the seventh day, during which God rested, with a 1,000 year millennium after Christ's return. Genesis 2:3 says, "God blessed the seventh day and made it holy because on it he ceased all the work that he had been doing in creation". So the corresponding 1,000 years after Christ's return is understood to be a blessed and holy period of time on Earth. Also, Hebrews 4:9-11 says, "Consequently a Sabbath rest remains for the people of God. For the one who enters God's rest has also rested from his works, just as God did from his own works. Thus we must make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by following the same pattern of disobedience". The interpretation goes that we must strive not only to rest each weekly sabbath, but we should strive to be obedient in order to be found worthy of being part of God's plans for the Millennium.

The fact that the Apostle John's spiritual grandson in the faith was clearly a pre-millennialist adds significant weight to the claim that the Apostle John himself was a pre-millennialist, and that he intended Revelation 20 to be read and understood at face value. Various other Ante-Nicene fathers were also pre-millennialists, including Hippolytus (c.170-236 AD), Tertullian (c. 145-220 AD), Commodianus who was a bishop in North Africa (c. 240 AD), Victorinus bishop of modern-day Slovenia who was martyred in 304 AD, and Lactantius (c. 260-330 AD) who became an advisor to Emperor Constantine. However, by the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD, first Origen (c. 185-254 AD) and then his disciple Dionysius of Alexandria (c. 200-265) argued for an allegorical interpretation of Revelation, which gave rise to the growth of Amillennialism. It was St Augustine of Hippo (c. 354-430 AD), author of the book 'City of God', who really turned the Church away from Pre-Millennialism in favour of Amillennialism. So influential was he that the Church all but abandoned Pre-Millennialism for the next twelve centuries. In the Protestant Reformation, both Luther and Calvin remained Amillennialist in their beliefs, but by the 17th Century some Protestant groups were revisiting Pre-Millennialist ideas.

Judgment of Believers and the First Resurrection (v4-6)
Verses 4 to 6 say, "Then I saw thrones and seated on them were those who had been given authority to judge. I also saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of the testimony about Jesus and because of the word of God. These had not worshiped the beast or his image and had refused to receive his mark on their forehead or hand. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. 5 (The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were finished.) This is the first resurrection. 6 Blessed and holy is the one who takes part in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years.".

This is a judgment and rewarding of righteous believers. Taking this passage on its own, it is portrayed as a judgment only of those believers who paid the ultimate price and were martyred for their faith. In verse 5, 'the first resurrection' is the same as the resurrection that precedes the rapture of living believers as described by Paul in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17. According to Paul it seems to be inclusive of all true Christians, not merely those who have been martyred. In John 6:39-40, 44 and 54, Jesus makes it clear that God's will is for all Christians to be 'raised up at the last day'. Similarly Jesus describes the rapture in an all inclusive manner in Matthew 24:31, "And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet blast, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other". Consequently, I understand that Jesus and Paul give us the 'wide-angle view' of the resurrection and rapture. Here in Revelation, John gets a very 'zoomed-in view' and sees only the martyrs. As a reward, these martyrs are made priests of God and are allowed to rule with Christ for the thousand years. Those who receive this reward are called 'blessed and holy'. The second death has no power over them, meaning that they need not fear the judgment at the end of the Millennium, or the lake of fire (see verse 14).

Is it only martyrs who rule with Christ? In Jesus' Parable of the Minas in Luke 19:17 the king says to the servant with ten minas, "Well done, good slave! Because you have been faithful in a very small matter, you will have authority over ten cities". So ruling with Jesus is presented as a reward for faithful service, without any mention of martyrdom. Similarly, in 2 Timothy 2:11-12, Paul says, "If we died with him, we will also live with him. If we endure, we will also reign with him". That said, Paul clearly understood that the Christian martyrs would be especially rewarded. In Philippians 3:10 he said of his own wishes, "My aim is to know him, to experience the power of his resurrection, to share in his sufferings, and to be like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead". According to church tradition, Paul's wish was granted in that he was beheaded for his faith in Rome in about 67 AD, on the same day that the Apostle Peter was crucified upside down.

During the Millennium, Earth will be populated by survivors from the Great Tribulation, and will be ruled over by Jesus and those whom he appoints to rule with him. At the beginning of the Millennium, it seems that the survivors will be few in number compared to Earth's population today (see my commentary on Revelation 6:8). If all true Christians who have ever lived were appointed to rule with Christ, then surely Earth's rulers would greatly outnumber the survivors they rule over. Ruling with Christ is therefore a reward and privilege given to a select few who have shown themselves worthy. My guess is that the rest of resurrected Christians spend the Millennium enjoying life in the New Jerusalem (see Revelation 21:10).

Verse 4 is very specific about the method by which Christians will be martyred during the Great Tribulation - they will be beheaded. This is the method of execution prescribed in Quran 47:4, and practiced by the Prophet Mohammed when he beheaded 600 Jewish prisoners from the Qurayza tribe (see my commentary on Revelation 17:6). It is one of many clues pointing to the Antichrist as a Muslim, and to his empire as a revived Islamic Empire.

Verse 5a says, "The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were finished". Depending how literally we interpret the statement in 1 Thessalonians 4:16, "…and the dead in Christ will rise first", it might be that the first resurrection is only of Christians, and that Old Testament believers have to wait until the second resurrection, which will also include those who die during the Millennium. They will then be judged before the great white throne (v11-15).

The judgment of Christians is also described by Jesus in Matthew 25:31-46. In that passage Jesus separates true Christians from false Christians, portrayed as him separating the sheep from the goats. That raises an important question about the rapture (Matthew 24:31, 1 Thessalonians 24:16-17, Revelation 7:9-17). It is commonly assumed that only true Christians are raptured and that false Christians are left behind. But if the rapture separates the true from the false, then there is no further need to separate the sheep from the goats. Jesus' description of the rapture (Matthew 24:31), together with the Parable of the Weeds (Matthew 13:24-30, 36-40), the Parable of the Net (Matthew 13:47-50), and the judgment of Matthew 25:31-46, all seem to imply an inclusive rapture of all living Christians, both true and false.

In verse 6, what does it mean "they will be priests of God and of Christ"? Returning as a resurrected human being, Jesus will reign as king from Jerusalem. According to his divinity, he will be mystically omnipresent, but in his humanity he will only be visible in one place at a time. So there will still be a role for a priesthood. This statement also clearly alludes back to Exodus 19:5-6 in which God tells Moses to say to the Israelites, "…if you will diligently listen to me and keep my covenant, then you will be my special possession out of all the nations, for all the earth is mine, and you will be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation". Also in Revelation 1:6, John describes Jesus as the one who 'has appointed us as a kingdom, as priests serving his God and Father'. And in Revelation 5:10, the twenty four elders sing of Jesus, "You have appointed them as a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth". Jesus rules as the Son of David (1 Chronicles 17:11-14), and is our great high priest in the order of Melchizedek (Psalm 110:4, Hebrews 7:17). As such, Jesus fulfils the role that God intended for Israel, and his selected believers fulfil it with him.


Satan's Final Defeat (v7-10)
Verses 7 to 8a say, "Now when the thousand years are finished, Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to bring them together for the battle".

Just as it may seem strange that God allowed Satan into the garden of Eden where he could tempt Adam and Eve, it perhaps seems strange that God releases Satan for a short time at the end of the Millennium. Once again he is allowed to tempt and deceive the earth's inhabitants, bringing chaos and war for a short time. Apparently the generations that are born and raised during the Millennium must be tested before God allows them to enter his new heaven and new earth for the rest of eternity.

The reference here to Gog and Magog is a common source of confusion among Christians. The Gog and Magog war is described in Ezekiel 38-39, and describes Antichrist's invasion of Israel during the Great Tribulation. Along with his various allies, he is seen to attack Israel from all four directions of the compass, as represented below:

Consequently, 'Gog and Magog' in this context reinforces the phrase 'the nations at the four corners of the earth'. In this final rebellion at the end of the Millennium, Jerusalem will once again be attacked from all directions. In that sense, the Gog and Magog war has a dual-fulfilment.

Verses 8b to 9 say, "They are as numerous as the grains of sand in the sea. They went up on the broad plain of the earth and encircled the camp of the saints and the beloved city, but fire came down from heaven and devoured them completely".

This is another huge army, which once again surrounds Jerusalem. The 'camp of the saints' portrays the saints as an army, encamped and ready to defend it. But this time round, fire comes down from heaven and completely devours these attacking armies. There is no fall of Jerusalem like in Ezekiel 38-39 or Zechariah 14. There is no apparent repeat of a Great Tribulation for God's people. 'They went up on the broad plain of the earth' seems to be a reference to Millennial Jerusalem. According to Zechariah 14:10 and Isaiah 2:2-4, at the end of this age Jerusalem will be levelled like the Arabah from Geba to Rimmon and then raised up as a very high mountain. So it will sit within a broad mountain plain.

Note especially that there is no repeat of Armageddon here. Jesus does not battle his enemies this time round. Instead they are simply wiped out by fire coming down from the sky and devouring them, Sodom-and-Gomorrah style. At the end of this present age, the present earth is worth fighting for as God's people have another 1,000 years to live out and make history here. But at the end of the Millennium, the whole earth is about to be burned up and replaced with a new earth, like an old worn out garment being replaced with a new one (Psalm 102:25-26, Isaiah 24:19-20, 2 Peter 3:7, Revelation 21:1).

Verse 10 says, "And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet are too, and they will be tormented there day and night forever and ever".

Apart from this brief description, the bible does not seem to give further details about this final war at the end of the Millennium. On the other hand, in Ezekiel 38:17, God asks rhetorically about Gog, "Are you the one of whom I spoke in former days by my servants the prophets of Israel, who prophesied in those days that I would bring you against them?". So Gog and his invasion of Israel are described in many passages. It is clear he is the Antichrist, and his Ezekiel 38 invasion is at the end of this age, not at the end of the Millennium.

The general order of events in Revelation 20-22 follows that given in Isaiah 24:21-23 which says, "At that time the Lord will punish the heavenly forces in the heavens and the earthly kings on the earth. They will be imprisoned in a pit, locked up in a prison, and after staying there for a long time, they will be punished. The full moon will be covered up, the bright sun will be darkened; for the Lord of Heaven’s Armies will rule on Mount Zion in Jerusalem in the presence of his assembly, in majestic splendour". What Isaiah described as 'a long time' Revelation now defines as a thousand years when Satan is locked up. His punishment is the lake of fire. Notice that Isaiah describes Satan in the plural sense. We often think of 'Satan' or 'the Devil' as references to Lucifer, the chief of demons, but these are also collective terms referring to Lucifer and all his demons.

The Great White Throne (v11-15)
Verse 11 says, "Then I saw a large white throne and the one who was seated on it; the earth and the heaven fled from his presence, and no place was found for them".

The phrase 'the one who was seated on it' is typical of New Testament references to Jehovah without actually naming him. The name Jehovah was considered so holy that it was irreverent to even say it. From a trinitarian perspective of Jehovah, this is God the Father seated on his throne.

Daniel had a vision of God's throne which he describes in Daniel 7:9, "While I was watching, thrones were set up, and the Ancient of Days took his seat. His attire was white like snow; the hair of his head was like lamb’s wool. His throne was ablaze with fire and its wheels were all aflame".

Here in Revelation, although Daniel's vision fits within an end-of-tribulation context, not an end-of-millennium one, still the white throne fits with the white of God's clothing and hair in Daniel's vision.

The statement in verse 11b, "the earth and the heaven fled from his presence, and no place was found for them" implies their destruction. Revelation 21:1 confirms this, "Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and earth had ceased to exist". The Millennium is a transitional age in which the present earth and heaven continue to exist as well as the New Jerusalem. Similarly the present hell (Hades) exists as well as the Lake of fire. At the end of the Millennium, the present earth and present heaven are destroyed, and Hades is thrown into the Lake of fire (v15). The destruction of heaven and earth is prophesied in Psalm 102:25-26, Isaiah 24:19-23, and 2 Peter 3:7, although its timing is not very clear in these passages. Isaiah 24:19-23 gives the impression that earth's destruction occurs at the end of this age, Satan is locked in a pit for 'a long time' (now interpreted as 1,000 years) and then punished, and then the New Jerusalem is revealed.


Verse 12 says, "And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne. Then books were opened, and another book was opened – the book of life. So the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to their deeds".

At the end of this present age, believers are resurrected and raptured and then face judgment as in verses 4 to 6 and in Matthew 25:31-46. Here in verse 12, this judgment is for all the rest of humanity at the end of the Millennium. Daniel 7:10-11 describes a judgment scene, similar to the one described here, when Antichrist is put on trial at the end of the Great Tribulation and then sentenced to be thrown into the flaming fire. Books are opened in both cases. The book of life is also described in Daniel 12:1. The book of life presents a rather black-and-white view of salvation. Either your name is in it and you are saved, or it isn't and you will end up in hell. The books (plural) contain a record of each person's life so they can be judged or rewarded according to what they have done. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:10, "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be paid back according to what he has done while in the body, whether good or evil". Paul's statement is probably applicable to both judgments, that of believers at the end of this age, and that of all humanity at the end of the Millennium.


Verse 13 says, "The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and Death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each one was judged according to his deeds". The emphasis here seems to be that everyone in the whole realm of the dead is resurrected and judged. The bible portrays the realm of the dead as being in 'the pit' or 'the depths', including the depths of both the earth and the sea.


Verses 14 to 15 say, "Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death – the lake of fire. If anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, that person was thrown into the lake of fire".

This means that the realm of the dead is completely emptied, its occupants are all judged, and death no longer exists (see also Isaiah 25:8). When people are resurrected from Hades and judged, they are not all automatically thrown into the lake of fire. Each is individually judged, and only those whose names are not found in the book of life are thrown into the lake of fire. By implication, some of them are found in the book of life and receive eternal life. So this is a resurrection and judgment of both saved and unsaved. Some of those saved individuals will be people who believed and died during the Millennium. But what about Old Testament believers? Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 4:16, "…and the dead in Christ will rise first". He makes no mention of Old Testament believers. Daniel 12 however, gives the impression that they will be included. So are they, or are they not included? Revelation 20:4-6 seems to indicate that the first resurrection is limited, and not all inclusive. So perhaps some Old Testament believers are included in the first resurrection, and others await the second one.

It might seem confusing that people are resurrected out of Hades, and yet some of them are found in the book of life and are saved. Hades refers to the realm of the dead, and is a complex realm. There is more to Hades than it being simply 'the present hell'. See my commentary on Luke 16:19-31, on Jesus' portrayal of the realm of the dead in the Parable of Lazarus and the Rich Man.

Another question that theologians debate is whether the lake of fire is a place where the souls of the dead are annihilated, or whether they continue to exist there in a state of eternal torment. Death being thrown into the lake of fire implies its annihilation - there is no more death (Revelation 21:4). Revelation 20:10 states that Satan, the Antichrist and the False Prophet will be eternally tormented in the lake of fire, 'day and night forever and ever'. Is that also true of everyone else who is thrown into the lake of fire? Or do they, like death, cease to exist?