872. 20:14 Then Death and Hell were cast into the lake of fire. This symbolically means that the impious at heart, who in themselves were devils and satanic spirits, and yet in outward appearances seemed to be people of the church, were cast down into hell among spirits who were caught up in a love of evil and so in a love of falsity according with evil.

Death and Hell symbolize the impious at heart, who inwardly in themselves were devils and satanic spirits, and yet in outward appearances seemed to be people of the church, as in no. 870 above. The lake of fire symbolizes hell, where those people reside who are caught up in a love of evil and so in a love of falsity according with evil, thus who love evil and justify it by arguments arising from their natural selves, and still more so those who justify it by the literal sense of the Word. Inwardly in themselves these cannot but deny God, for such a denial is subconsciously latent in any evil life practice that is justified by falsities. The lake symbolizes a circumstance in which there is an abundance of falsities, and fire symbolizes a love of evil, as in nos. 835, 864 above.

Our being told that Death and Hell were cast into the lake of fire accords with the speech of angels, in which persons are not named, but instead that which is in a person and makes him who he is. In the present case that which is in the person makes of him death and hell. The reality of this can be seen from the fact that hell cannot be cast into hell.