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1. Tormented with fire and sulfur… in the presence of the Lamb – (a) The mention of fire and sulfur is a direct allusion to the “sulfur and fire” that “the LORD rained on Sodom and Gomorrah… from the LORD out of heaven” (Gen 19:24), such that the inhabitants were “turned to ashes” and “condemned to extinction, making them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly” (2 Pet 2:6).
(b) The Greek verb translated “tormented,” basanizō, is not antithetical to death and destruction. In 4 Maccabees 13:27 for example, we read about faithful Jews who, refusing to renounce their way of life, were “tortured (basanizō) to death.”
2. And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever – (a) In Rev 19:3, smoke is also said to rise from Babylon forever and ever. However, smoke rising from her forever and ever is the outcome of what is said to have happened to her in the previous chapter. In Rev 18, we read that she will be burned down (18:8), that in a single hour she has been laid waste (18:19), and that, interpreting the scene for John, “a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone and threw it into the sea, saying, ‘So will Babylon the great city be thrown down with violence, and will be found no more” (18:21). So, far from being support for the traditional view, the language of rising smoke actually communicates complete destruction.
(b) Indeed, the language of rising smoke, like that of fire and sulfur, is also meant to call one’s mind back to the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. In the aftermath, Genesis 19:28 notes that “the smoke of the land went up like smoke of a furnace,” and Wisdom of Solomon 10:7 relays many centuries later that “evidence of their wickedness still remains: a continually smoking wasteland… and a pillar of salt.”
(c) Lastly, consider Isaiah 34:9-10, a text that refers to the destruction of Edom: “And the streams of Edom shall be turned into pitch, and her soil into sulfur; her land shall become burning pitch. Night and day it shall not be quenched; its smoke shall go up forever. From generation to generation it shall lie waste; none shall pass through it forever and ever.” Of course, Edom is not still burning. Smoke rising forever is not evidence of fire burning something forever; rather, it speaks to the destruction’s permanence.
3. … and they have no rest, day or night – (a) One way of interpreting this language is to take it as imagery describing eternal torment but which symbolizes destruction. According to Rev 20:10, the beast who was thrown into the lake of fire in Rev 19:20 will be tormented forever and ever. In Rev 17:8, however, an angel interprets John’s vision and says that “the beast that you saw… is about to… go to destruction.” Thus, there is precedent for taking eternal torment imagery to symbolize destruction.
(b) Another way of interpreting this language is to deny that the imagery even describes eternal torment at all. The non-canonical book of 1 Enoch is helpful here. Ephraim Isaac says that “there is no doubt that the New Testament world was influenced by its language and thought,” and that Revelation was “influenced… with numerous points of contact.” That said, in 1 Enoch 99:14, we read: “Woe to them who… follow after idols, for they shall have no rest.” The other woes in 99:11, 13 (cf. 98:16) & 16 make it clear that “they shall have no rest” doesn’t mean something like, “they shall live forever in a restless state,” since they promise slaughter, death, and destruction by sword. Indeed, in 66:1, we read about “angels of punishment” who bring “judgment and destruction”; in 63:1, kings “implore [God] to grant them a little respite from His angels of punishment”; and then, in 63:6, we read that the kings will say: “We long for a little rest but find it not… And darkness is our dwelling-place for ever and ever.” In 46:6, the clause “darkness shall be their dwelling” runs directly parallel to the clause “worms shall be their bed,” meaning that they communicate the same fate. So, in 63:6, we see that the fate of those who find no rest is death and decay. Thus, there is precedent for taking this language as entirely consonant with destruction.
