835. 'These two were sent away alive into the lake of fire burning with sulphur' signifies that all those, just as they were, were cast into the hell where there are the loves of untruth and at the same time the lusts of evil. By 'alive' is signified just as they were. By 'these two', namely the beast and the false prophet, are signified all those who have made profession of faith alone and are interiorly evil, the laity as well as the clergy, as just above (n. 834). By 'the lake of fire burning with sulphur' is signified the hell where those are who are in the loves of that untruth and at the same time in the lusts of evil. By 'the lake' are signified untruths in abundance, concerning which [something] follows. By 'fire' is signified love, here the love of their untruth. That 'fire' signifies love in both senses, good and evil, may be seen (n. 468, 494, 599). Here it signifies the love of untruth because it is termed 'the lake of fire'. By 'sulphur' is signified the lusts of evil and consequently of untruth (n. 452). A similar thing is said of 'the dragon' and of 'these two' in the following chapter in these words:-
The devil (that is, the dragon) who led them astray was cast into the lake of fire and sulphur, where the beast and the false prophet are, and they shall be tormented day and night for ages of ages Rev. xx 10.
[2] It is to be known that the hell where such are appears from afar like a fiery lake with a greenish flame as of sulphur. Those, however, who are therein do not see this. They are shut up there in their workhouses where they quarrel vehemently among themselves, and sometimes there appear in their hands knives with which they make threats rather than yield. It is their love of untruth together with the lusts of evil which causes the appearance of such a lake. That appearance is the result of correspondence. [3] That by 'a lake' is signified where there is truths in abundance, and in the opposite sense where there is untruths in abundance, can be established out of the Word; where there is truths in abundance from these passages:-
Out of the wilderness waters shall break forth, and rivers its the plain of the wilderness, and the dry places shall become a lake Isa. xxxv 6, 7.
I will change the wilderness into a lake of waters, and the dry land into springs of waters Isa. xli 18; Ps. cvii 33, 35.
I will change the rivers into islands, and I will dry up the lakes Isa. xlii 15.
The God of Jacob Who turns the rock into a lake of waters, and the flint into a fountain of waters Ps. cxiv 7, 8.
All those making a profit out of the lakes of the soul Isa. xix 10.
In the opposite sense from these:-
I will cut off from Babel the name and remnant, and I will make her into an inheritance of the bittern, and into lakes of waters Isa. xiv 22, 23.
Deaths and hell were cast into the lake of fire Rev. xx 14.
Whoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire Rev. xx 14.
Their part [is] in the lake of fire burning wills sulphur, which is the second death Rev. xxi 8.
This page is part of 
© 2000-2001 The Academy of the New Church