of fire."[1] How clear is it that in those cases hades cannot mean hell, considered as the final destination of the lost; for they who were in it were to be judged, and, it was after their judgment that they are said to be cast into "the lake of fire." Surely they were not passed on to their final destiny first, and judged during the process of its punishment! The connection in which the term occurs plainly shows that an intermediate region is essential to explain the phenomena recorded. John expressly says, "I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books according to their works."[2] The facts thus detailed did not take place on earth; it is equally plain that they did not occur in heaven or in hell. The conclusion, therefore, is irresistible, namely, that the scene of them must have been the world of spirits. This at once enables us to see why it is said that hades delivered up its dead; it plainly denotes that the wicked inhabitants of that department of the spiritual world were brought to judgment: and hades is said to have been cast into the lake, to signify the miserable condition of the wicked which resulted.
In another place, John says, "I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit, and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, the old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, and cast him into the bottomless pit."[3] Here we are expressly informed that an angel
- ↑ Rev. xx. 13, 14.
- ↑ Rev. xx. 12.
- ↑ Rev. xx. 1, 2, 3. By the dragon, the serpent, the devil, and Satan, are not simply meant individual wicked spirits, but the complex of all those, who at the time of the judgment treated of were principled in evil loves and false persuasions.
