Fire and Brimstone in Revelation 21:8
What Is the Fire and Brimstone in Revelation 21:8?
1. God’s Fire Is Always Purifying
The very nature of God’s fire is refining, not torturous. This isn’t hopeful speculation. It’s the consistent witness of Scripture.
“For our God is a consuming fire.” (Hebrews 12:29)
But what does He consume? Not souls. Not identities. But everything opposed to life. Every impurity. Every lie. Every chain. His fire purges to redeem.
- “He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver.” (Malachi 3:3)
- “I will bring the third part through the fire… they shall call on my name, and I will answer them.” (Zechariah 13:9)
- “Is not my word like fire?” says the Lord. “And like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?” (Jeremiah 23:29)
- “Each man’s work will become evident; for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire—and the fire will test the quality of each one’s work.” (1 Corinthians 3:13)
In every one of these examples, fire refines, reveals, restores. It is not a tool of hopeless finality. It is the great divine surgery. Yes, it burns. But it heals.
2. Fire From Heaven Has Always Cleansed—Not Tormented
When fire came down from heaven to consume Sodom and Gomorrah, it wasn’t torture. It was a cleansing judgment. That city was a cancer to the land and a threat to God’s covenant purposes.
Fire removed them to protect the unfolding plan of God.
This same pattern appears with Nadab and Abihu (Leviticus 10), Elijah’s sacrifice (1 Kings 18), and even Korah’s rebellion (Numbers 16). Divine fire eradicates rebellion, not for vengeance, but for the sake of holiness and order.
Revelation’s Lake of Fire follows this same biblical pattern. It removes what must be removed so what remains can thrive. And most importantly—it does not burn people for all eternity. That is a pagan distortion.
3. What Is the “Lake of Fire” in Revelation 21:8?
“But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the abominable, murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.” (Revelation 21:8)
This is not a literal lake of lava. The book of Revelation is apocalyptic. The Lake of Fire is clearly symbolic—especially when Death and Hades themselves are thrown into it in Revelation 20:14.
You can’t burn an abstract concept like death.
But here’s the key: death isn’t being destroyed in this fire. It’s being relocated. Moved from one realm to another. It’s now confined within the lake—no longer free to operate throughout creation, but still present, still under God’s authority, still serving His purposes.
How do we know? Because even after the fire, death is seen again—outside the New Jerusalem.
“Outside are dogs, and sorcerers, and sexually immoral…” (Revelation 22:15)
If death had been utterly annihilated, nothing impure could remain outside. But death exists, constrained, awaiting its final end in the grand narrative. It is not yet fully destroyed, only contained.
4. The Word “Brimstone” Doesn’t Mean What You Think It Means
The word “brimstone” (theion) is the ancient word for divine sulfur—and it has everything to do with ritual purification.
In ancient Greek, theion is related to the word for “divine” (theos). It was used in temple cleansings and sacred rites. It didn’t mean torture—it meant purification through fire.
The Lake of Fire burns with God’s own cleansing fire, not Satan’s torture pit. The goal is not destruction for destruction’s sake. The goal is to purify what must be purified.
5. The “Second Death” Is Not the End
The Lake of Fire is called the second death. That alone wrecks the idea of Eternal Conscious Torment.
Death = the absence of life.
Torment = conscious suffering.
You cannot be both dead and suffering eternally.
ECT collapses under its own contradiction. The second death is not eternal life in hell. Nor is it annihilation. It is a death of identity, of ego, of rebellion, of everything not sourced in God.
This death is not final. Just like the first death, God still reigns beyond it. Revelation 22 follows Revelation 21. And what do we find?
“The leaves of the Tree of Life are for the healing of the nations.” (Revelation 22:2)
Which nations? The same ones judged and excluded earlier. And how do they get in?
“The kings of the earth bring their glory into it.” (Revelation 21:24)
“Its gates shall not be shut at all by day…” (Revelation 21:25)
The fire is not a lock. It’s a filter. The gates are not sealed. They’re wide open. Because the fire works.
6. “They Shall Have Their Part…”
Revelation 21:8 does not say, “They shall be tormented forever.” It says:
“They shall have their part in the lake which burns…”
This is a portion, not an eternal home. It’s not a permanent fate, but a temporary assignment.
God deals with each according to their need. Their “part” in the fire is exactly what they require—no more, no less. It is measured judgment. Not infinite torture for finite sin.
7. “Their Smoke Rises Forever and Ever”—But Not Literally
Some cling to this phrase in Revelation 14:11 and 19:3:
“And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever.”
But this is not about literal, eternal suffering. It is prophetic imagery, borrowed directly from the Old Testament.
Sodom and Gomorrah were judged with fire from heaven. Genesis 19:28 says:
“The smoke of the land went up like the smoke of a furnace.”
And yet… Sodom isn’t still smoking today.
Likewise, Edom was prophesied to burn with unquenchable fire:
“It shall not be quenched night nor day; its smoke shall go up forever.” (Isaiah 34:10)
But later God promises:
“I will restore the fortunes of Sodom and her daughters.” (Ezekiel 16:53)
So much for “forever.”
“Forever and ever” in apocalyptic language refers to permanent consequence, not eternal process. The fire ends. But the memory of its judgment endures. The smoke is a symbol of how thoroughly God dealt with evil, not how long He tortured it.
Conclusion: Fire and Brimstone Is Good News
Revelation 21:8 is not a threat of eternal torment. It is a promise of final purification.
- The fire is God’s.
- The brimstone is divine.
- The judgment is restorative.
- The death is a cleansing death.
- The smoke is symbolic.
- The gates remain open.
This is not a God of torture. This is the God who makes all things new—even the ones that passed through fire, which is all of us.
