Lake of Fire Location Clues 1
In Matthew 25:41 and Jude 6-7, The Lord and Jude, respectively, mention an eternal fire prepared for satan and his crew of devils and demons—former holy angels who had rebelled against The Lord. But neither mention the eternal source of fuel or where it will be located.
Five times, Revelation mentions the lake of fire, three of which reveal its eternal source of fuel, but none specify its location. That absence has triggered many notions, most disconnected from Scripture, about where in the new creation that awful place might be!
Following is the possible answer I derived by ‘allowing those Scriptures to elucidate Scripture’.
1. Revelation 14:9-11 give us a first clue about the location of the lake of fire. It predicts an angel will preach a warning to people who will be on Earth during the tribulation age—the short (7-year) 4th Biblical age of our history, after this current, 3rd age.
…If anyone worships the beast [the anti-Christ global leader] and his image, and receives his mark on his forehead or on his hand, he himself shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out full strength into the cup of His indignation. He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of The Lamb. And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever; and they have no rest day or night, who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.
The accented phrase is best understood contextually to mean ‘spiritual presence’, not physical presence, since The Bible affirms neither The Lord nor any of His angels will forever be in the physical presence of the lake of fire! Since five Scripture passages affirm all things in The Lord’s current creation are ‘spiritually before Him’, and possibly His angelic servants, it should not be a stretch to perceive all things in His new creation shall similarly be before Them.
2. Revelation 22:13-16 give us a second clue about the location of the lake of fire. In v. 22:15, John appears to include a slightly modified version of The Lord’s own characterization of all sinners, made in Revelation 21:8:
…But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, 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. (The Lord, in 21:8)
…But outside are dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and whoever loves and practices a lie. (John, in 22:15)
The Lord does not give a location hint. John (speaking from the perspective he had at that point in his vision) boldly refers to ‘outside’, which likely refers to outside the new, eternal Jerusalem—one of two GLORIFIED zones on the new Earth, introduced in Revelation 21 and 22. Those zones are Jerusalem—The Lord’s actual bride, and nations of the redeemed saints surrounding that massive, highly elevated city.
3. Revelation 21:24, 23, and 22:2 give us a third clue about the possible location of the lake of fire. They reiterate the eternal Jerusalem has no need of the sun or the moon for the Glory of God illuminates it. Jesus, situated at the apex of the new Jerusalem—an extremely high, possibly terraced city (NOT likely a cube!!!) that will be spread across a base of up to 1,500 miles squared—perched on an extremely high mountain, according to Revelation 21 and 22. The Lord, Himself, will be The Light of that city, and the nations of the redeemed saints (from every tribe, tongue, people and nation on our current Earth) will walk in HIS and THEIR own light. Recall, The Lord’s immortal saints shall also GLOW!
Recall when Jesus revealed His Shekinah GLORY to 3 of His disciples on the Mount of Transfiguration. He likely only revealed a tiny bit of His GLORY. Had He revealed His FULL GLORY, He likely would have lit up the entire northern hemisphere of this current Earth, since Jerusalem is in our northern hemisphere!
If--IF the new Jerusalem will be located on the north pole of a massive, spherical planet, I intuit The Lord will light the entire northern hemisphere of that planet! Why the north pole? Isaiah 14:12-14 give us a clue where The Lord was stationed in Heaven before Lucifer’s attempted coup d’état:
…on the mount of the congregation,
…on the farthest sides of the north;
…above the heights of the clouds.
Imagine THIS: A sun-like LIGHT fixated in an extremely-elevated spot, directly ON a massive (presumed spherical) planet, in a sunless, moonless universe. No matter where on that planet that light is stationed, it would never cover that entire planet!!! Unless The Lord changes His laws of physics, light optics sciences (which He created!) as we currently understand them, ensure that light would not significantly bend. Only if The Lord moves significantly around that massive planet, will other parts ever be lit. No matter where He would move, only slightly less than half of that planet would be lit.
If Jerusalem will be on the north pole of that MASSIVE planet, then the nations of the righteous saints surrounding the capital city might only spread across the northern hemisphere, and the southern hemisphere would remain in outer darkness, FOREVER! This point echoes several clues and hints The Lord repeated in Matthew about folks being cast into utter darkness and an everlasting fire, though He did not specifically refer to the lake of fire. The context speaks for itself.
Taken together, that configuration appears to satisfy each of the 3 clues above: 2
1. In the spiritual presence of The Lord and all of His holy angels,
2. Outside, likely referring to the capital city on the high mountain, and also to the nations of saints surrounding that city, and
3. In outer darkness, away from the only Light sources situated ON the planet, likely in the northern hemisphere!
Conclusion
These insights trigger the question:
Why might The Lord create such a MASSIVE planet,
with a MASSIVE, EXTREMELY ELEVATED capital city,
and potentially allow over half of that planet to be in perpetual darkness??
Looking at the above picture, you will note the southern hemisphere is somewhat LARGER than the two GLORIFIED zones in the northern hemisphere—Jerusalem and its surrounding nations. The Bible, human history and human nature ALL point to this extremely hard and sad fact:
Possibly, the overwhelming majority of humans whom The Lord will have ever endowed with 'spirit' in a womb, and who will have lived to His ‘age of accountability’—knowing right from wrong—may very well end up in His brimstone-lit lake of fire, NOT in the two glorified zones! That reflects our insatiable desire to sin! It also reflects the potential success of satan's kingdom in achieving its dual strategic objectives:
• To tempt and deceive us to join their rebellion against The Lord's righteous requirements, and
• To share their eternal judgment He has pronounced.
And you, dear Reader?
To which zone do you aspire to be assigned…FOREVER?
How does your current lifestyle answer that question??
Please see and ponder: Salvation (Series)
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1 This post addresses the possible location of the lake of fire. It does not address the many clues in The Bible of The Lord’s plan to create a place of eternal fire for satan’s kingdom of devils and demons, and all unrepentant sinners who will have not lived according to His righteous requirements.
2 Alternate theological models often attempt to resolve the mechanics of a sunless New Earth by proposing a fully transparent, crystalline planet (possibly misconstruing Rev. 21:18, 21 as global geology), or by positing a non-spatial, ambient Shekinah light that operates outside of current optical sciences. Such frameworks rely on speculative physics. In contrast, the model presented in this post—‘a terraced city, on an exceedingly high mountain, on a truly MASSIVE planet’—maintains the internal, structural logic of Scripture. I believe this model also honors both the direct line-of-sight illumination of the city, and the literal, geographic reality of a vast domain that lies outside the reach of the eternal light from The Lord in the city, and all of His redeemed saints in the surrounding nations. I appreciate your feedback on this model.
