Apocalypse Revealed #835
835. These two were cast alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone. This symbolically means that all of them were cast as they were into the hell where their loves of falsity and accompanying lusts for evil are found.
Being alive means, symbolically, as they were. These two, namely the beast and the false prophet, symbolize all those people who have professed faith alone and are inwardly evil, both the laity and the clergy, as said just above in no. 834. The lake of fire burning with brimstone symbolizes the hell where those people are found who are impelled by loves of that falsity and at the same time lusts for evil. A lake symbolizes an abundance of falsities, as will be seen below. Fire symbolizes love, here these people's love of falsity. Fire symbolizes love in both senses, good and evil, as may be seen in nos. 468, 494, 599, and here it symbolizes a love of falsity, because it is described as a lake of fire. Brimstone symbolizes a lust for evil and its accompanying falsities (no. 452).
Something similar is said about the dragon and these two in the next chapter, in these words:
The devil (that is, the dragon) that deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. (Revelation 20:10)
[2] It should be known that the hell where people like this are appears at a distance as a lake of fire with a green flame like that of brimstone or sulfur. But those who are there do not see this. They are shut up in their workhouses where they vehemently argue with each other. Sometimes knives appear in their hands, which they brandish in a threatening manner to keep from yielding. It is their love of falsity together with their lusts for evil that occasions the appearance of such a lake. This appearance is produced because of its correspondence.
[3] That a lake symbolizes a place with an abundance of truth, and in an opposite sense, therefore, a place with an abundance of falsity, can be seen from the Word. A place with an abundance of truth from the following:
...waters shall burst forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert. The parched ground shall become a lake... (Isaiah 35:6-7)
I will make the wilderness into a lake of water, and the dry land into springs of water. (Isaiah 41:18, cf. Psalms 107:33, 35)
I will make the rivers into islands, and I will dry up the lakes. (Isaiah 42:15)
...the God of Jacob, who turned the rock into a lake of water, and the flint into a fountain of waters. (Psalms 114:7-8)
...all who make payment from the lakes of the soul. (Isaiah 19:10)
In an opposite sense from the following:
I will cut off from Babylon the name and remnant..., and I will make it into a possession of the bird of prey, and into lakes of water. (Isaiah 14:22-23)
Death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. (Revelation 20:14)
If anyone was not found written in the Book of Life, he was cast into the lake of fire. (Revelation 20:15)
...their part in the lake of fire burning with brimstone, which is the second death. (Revelation 21:8)
Revelation 21:8-27
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.
9
And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb's wife.
10
And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God,
11
Having the glory of God: and her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal;
12
And had a wall great and high, and had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel:
13
On the east three gates; on the north three gates; on the south three gates; and on the west three gates.
14
And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
15
And he that talked with me had a golden reed to measure the city, and the gates thereof, and the wall thereof.
16
And the city lieth foursquare, and the length is as large as the breadth: and he measured the city with the reed, twelve thousand furlongs. The length and the breadth and the height of it are equal.
17
And he measured the wall thereof, an hundred and forty and four cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is, of the angel.
18
And the building of the wall of it was of jasper: and the city was pure gold, like unto clear glass.
19
And the foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones. The first foundation was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, a chalcedony; the fourth, an emerald;
20
The fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolite; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, a topaz; the tenth, a chrysoprasus; the eleventh, a jacinth; the twelfth, an amethyst.
21
And the twelve gates were twelve pearls; every several gate was of one pearl: and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass.
22
And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it.
23
And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.
24
And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour into it.
25
And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day: for there shall be no night there.
26
And they shall bring the glory and honour of the nations into it.
27
And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life.
