Crushing the Serpent's Head - Tormented Day and Night Forever

Tormented Day and Night Forever

Referring to the Devil as well as the wild beast and the false prophet, John now tells us:  "And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever."  (Revelation 20:10b) What could this mean?  As mentioned already, it is not logical to say that symbols, such as the wild beast and the false prophet, as well as death and Hades, could suffer torture in a literal way.  Hence, we have no reason to believe that Satan will be suffering for all eternity.  He is to be annihilated.

The Greek word used here for "torment," ba-sa-ni'zo means primarily "to test (metals) by the touchstone."  "To question by applying torture" is a second meaning.  (The New Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon of the  New Testament) In the context, the use of this Greek word indicates that what happens to Satan will serve, for all eternity, as a touchstone on the issue of the rightness and righteousness of Jehovah's rule.  That issue of sovereign ruler ship will have been settled once and for all time.  Never again will a challenge to Jehovah's sovereignty need to be tested over an extended period of time in order to be proved wrong. -Compare Psalm 92:1, 15.

Additionally, the related word ba-sa-ni-stes,'  "tormentor," is used in the Bible to mean "jailer."  (Matthew 18:34, Kingdom Interlinear) in harmony with this, Satan will be imprisoned in the lake of fire forever; he will never be released.  Finally, in the Greek Septuagint, which was well known to John, the related word ba'sa-nos is used to refer to humiliation that leads to death.  (Ezekiel 32:24, 30) This helps us to see that the punishment that Satan undergoes is a humiliating, everlasting death in the lake of fire and sulfur.  His works die with him. -1 John 3:8.

Again, the demons are not mentioned in this verse.  Will they be released with Satan at the end of a thousand years and then undergo the punishment of everlasting death along with him?  The evidence answers yes.  In the parable of the sheep and the goats, Jesus  said that the goats would go off "into the everlasting  fire prepared for the Devil and his angels."  (Matthew 25:41) The expression "everlasting fire" must refer to  the lake of fire and sulfur where Satan is to be hurled.  the Devil's angels were cast out of heaven with him.  Evidently, they went into the abyss with him at the beginning of  the Thousand Year Reign. Consistently, then, they will also be destroyed with him in the lade of fire and sulfur. -Matthew 8:29.

In this way, the final detail of the prophecy recorded at Genesis 3:15 is fulfilled.  When Satan is hurled into the lake of fire, he will become as dead as a snake the head of which has been ground under an iron heel.  He and his demons will be gone forever.  There is no further mention of them in the book of Revelation.  Now, having prophetically disposed of these, Jehovah's spirit draws attention to a matter of pressing interest to those who cherish and earthly hope: What will result to humankind  from the heavenly reign of the "King of kings" and those  called and chosen and faithful with him"?  (Revelation 17:14) To answer, John brings us back once again to the beginning of the Thousand Year Reign.

Next time: God's Day of Judgment -Its Joyful Outcome!

From the Book of Revelation