Introduction
Few images in the Apocalypse of John have exercised more influence on Christian imagination than the “lake of fire burning with sulfur” (Rev 19:20; 20:14). To many readers across the centuries, this fiery abyss has symbolized the eternal torment of the wicked in hell. The beast and the false prophet are thrown into it alive, and later even Death and Hades themselves are cast into its flames. The traditional picture of everlasting punishment is so deeply ingrained that alternative readings are often dismissed out of hand.
Yet the question remains: is that how John and his first hearers in Asia Minor would have understood these images? If we apply the grammatical-historical method carefully, attending to the genre of apocalyptic literature, a different picture emerges. The beast and false prophet are not individuals consigned to everlasting misery but symbolic personifications of oppressive powers. The lake of fire is not a literal post-mortem location but a metaphor for the decisive abolition of those powers.
Within this essay I will pursue a reading that is both preterist—anchoring the text in the historical realities of the first century—and universalist—recognizing that judgment in Revelation clears the way for the healing of the nations and the abolition of death itself. Along the way, I will also entertain an often-overlooked interpretation: that the false prophet may represent not only the imperial cult but also the Jewish high priesthood, whose vestments and forehead inscription resonate with Revelation’s imagery.
The Beast as Rome’s Political Power
The beast of Revelation is best understood against the background of Daniel 7, where four beasts rise from the sea to symbolize successive empires. The fourth beast, “dreadful and exceedingly strong,” devours and tramples the earth (Dan 7:7, 23). John takes up this imagery and applies it to his own context. The beast of Revelation 13 rises from the sea, speaks blasphemies, and makes war on the saints. It rules over “every tribe and people and language and nation” (Rev 13:7).
For John’s hearers in Asia Minor, this was a transparent allusion to the Roman Empire. As Craig Koester observes, “for Christians in the late first century, the beast was not an abstraction. It was Rome itself, whose power was both overwhelming and menacing” (Koester, Revelation, 2014, p. 562). Richard Bauckham likewise emphasizes that John unmasks Rome’s imperial ideology, portraying it as demonic and beastly rather than civilizing and beneficent (The Climax of Prophecy, 1993, pp. 384–88).
The beast, then, represents Rome’s political-military apparatus. It is not a single emperor nor a single human soul but the empire itself, personified in apocalyptic symbolism.
The False Prophet: Two Competing Interpretations
The Imperial Cult View
The dominant interpretation identifies the false prophet with the beast from the land (Rev 13:11–18). This second beast looks like a lamb but speaks like a dragon. It performs great signs, deceives the inhabitants of the earth, and compels worship of the first beast. It enforces the infamous “mark,” without which no one may buy or sell.
Scholars such as David Aune describe this figure as “the religious legitimator of Roman power, representing the provincial priesthoods and civic officials of the imperial cult” (Revelation 17–22, 1998, p. 1061). G. K. Beale similarly interprets the false prophet as the “propaganda machinery of the empire,” functioning to support the worship of Caesar (Revelation: A Commentary on the Greek Text, 1999, pp. 977–78).
On this reading, the beast is Rome as political power; the false prophet is Rome’s religious-ideological apparatus. Together they symbolize the oppressive systems under which John’s audience lived.
The High Priesthood View
A minority but provocative interpretation identifies the false prophet with the Jewish high priesthood in Jerusalem. Several features of the text make this possible.
First, the high priest alone bore a golden plate on his forehead inscribed “Holy to YHWH” (Exod 28:36–38). Revelation parodies this imagery with a false inscription associated with beastly worship. The “mark on the forehead” (Rev 13:16) could be a satirical inversion of the high priest’s consecration.
Second, the priestly vestments described in Exodus 28 resonate with Revelation’s imagery of gaudy garments, precious stones, and symbolic adornment. Revelation often employs parody and inversion—turning priestly and temple imagery on its head to expose corruption.
Third, historically, the high priesthood was closely entangled with Roman power. Josephus records how the priestly elites collaborated with the empire, suppressing dissent and opposing the early Christian movement. By legitimating Roman rule and rejecting Jesus as Messiah, they played the role of “false prophet.”
Kenneth Gentry argues that John’s parody of priestly imagery makes best sense if the false prophet is the high priestly establishment (Before Jerusalem Fell, 1989, pp. 229–31). While not the consensus view, this interpretation highlights Revelation’s polemics against “the great city … where their Lord was crucified” (Rev 11:8) and the “synagogue of Satan” (Rev 2:9; 3:9).
Thus, the false prophet may be read either as the imperial cult (Rome’s religious propaganda) or the Jewish priesthood (Jerusalem’s compromised leaders). Both readings fit the grammatical-historical context, depending on whether one adopts a late or early date for Revelation.
The Lake of Fire in Apocalyptic Symbolism
The “lake of fire burning with sulfur” draws on a rich biblical background. Isaiah 30:33 portrays Topheth as prepared with fire and wood, ready for the king of Assyria. Isaiah 34:9–10 describes Edom’s judgment in terms of perpetual burning. Daniel 7:11 envisions the beast destroyed and consumed by fire.
In Jewish apocalyptic literature, fire regularly symbolizes divine judgment. As Beale notes, “fire in Revelation functions as a stock metaphor for complete removal of evil” (Beale, Revelation, p. 972). David Aune points out that the addition of sulfur intensifies the imagery, evoking the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (Revelation 17–22, p. 1064).
What is crucial is that the lake of fire consumes not only the beast and false prophet but also Death and Hades (Rev 20:14). This cannot be literal torment of persons; Death and Hades are personified powers. Their destruction means that death itself is abolished. Paul echoes this in 1 Corinthians 15:26: “the last enemy to be destroyed is death.”
Thus, the lake of fire is a symbolic depiction of the annihilation of hostile powers, not the eternal damnation of human souls.
Preterist and Universalist Implications
Preterist Horizon
For first-century believers in Asia Minor, these visions offered reassurance. If the false prophet is the imperial cult, then John promised that Rome’s propaganda machinery would be destroyed. If the false prophet is the Jewish high priesthood, then John foresaw the temple’s destruction in A.D. 70. In either case, the systems that oppressed God’s people were destined for fiery abolition.
Universalist Horizon
From a universalist perspective, Revelation’s endgame is not eternal exclusion but cosmic renewal. The nations who were deceived are later healed: “the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations” (Rev 22:2). The kings of the earth, once aligned with Babylon, are seen entering the New Jerusalem with their glory (Rev 21:24–26). And death itself is no more (Rev 21:4).
Richard Bauckham notes that the inclusion of the nations at the end is the narrative counterpoint to their deception earlier in the book (Theology of the Book of Revelation, 1993, p. 138). The deceivers—the beast, the false prophet, and Death—are destroyed; the deceived are restored. This pattern resonates with patristic universalist trajectories: Origen’s hope for apokatastasis and Gregory of Nyssa’s vision of the final defeat of death itself.
Patristic Witnesses
Early Christian interpreters already wrestled with the tension between fiery judgment and ultimate hope. Irenaeus, while often cited for his literal reading of Revelation, also emphasized the restoration of creation in Christ (Against Heresies V.36). Origen famously read fire as purgative rather than punitive (On First Principles I.6.3), anticipating the ultimate restoration of all rational creatures. Gregory of Nyssa advanced this trajectory by interpreting the “second death” as the death of sin itself, culminating in universal restoration (On the Soul and Resurrection).
While Augustine later solidified the doctrine of eternal torment in the West, the alternative strand of patristic interpretation shows that a universalist reading of Revelation was not alien to early Christian theology.
Conclusion
A careful grammatical-historical and genre-sensitive reading of Revelation 19:20 and 20:14 suggests that the beast and false prophet represent oppressive systems—Rome and its cultic propaganda, or perhaps the Jewish priesthood—while the lake of fire symbolizes their decisive abolition. When Death and Hades themselves are cast into the fire, it becomes clear that what is destroyed are not people but powers.
For the persecuted Christians of Asia Minor, this was a word of hope: the beastly powers would not last. For the universalist, it is also a word of hope: the abolition of evil clears the way for the healing of the nations, the ingathering of the kings, and the abolition of death itself. In the end, the fiery judgment is not the triumph of eternal exclusion but the prelude to the cosmic reconciliation in which the Lamb makes all things new.
Select Bibliography
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Aune, David E. Revelation 17–22. Word Biblical Commentary 52C. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1998.
Bauckham, Richard. The Climax of Prophecy: Studies on the Book of Revelation. Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1993.
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Bauckham, Richard. The Theology of the Book of Revelation. Cambridge: CUP, 1993.
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Beale, G. K. The Book of Revelation: A Commentary on the Greek Text. NIGTC. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1999.
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Gentry, Kenneth L. Before Jerusalem Fell: Dating the Book of Revelation. Tyler, TX: ICE, 1989.
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Koester, Craig R. Revelation: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary. Anchor Yale Bible 38A. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2014.
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Origen. On First Principles.
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Gregory of Nyssa. On the Soul and Resurrection.
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Irenaeus. Against Heresies.
