[ScubieNuc]

Revelation is a complex book and should be studied. Revelations has a lot of symbology so analyzing verses is required. With that being said, Revelation 14 is talking about the tribulation of people on Earth. It is not talking about people in Hell or in the Lake of Fire. Also, descriptions like “the SMOKE of their torment assends up for ever and ever...” are not literal unless you think this smoke will break through the atmosphere and go on forever into the universe. It simply means that people’s torment during the tribulation time will be big, painful, and long lasting.

[Former Fetus]

I have studied and taught a series on Revelation (not Revelations) and always held to the golden rule of Bible interpretation: When the plain sense of Scripture makes common sense, seek no other sense; therefore, take every word, at its primary, ordinary, usual, literal meaning unless the facts of the immediate context, studied in the light of related passages and axiomatic and fundamental truths, indicate clearly otherwise.. So, when Revelation says "something like a great mountain burning with fire" the "like" tells me not to interpret it literally, it is a symbol of something or John's description of something he saw but didn't have a word for. When I read "the smoke of their torment" and "they have no rest day or night" I have no reason not to take it literally. Finally, when I compare it with other passages of Scripture, like those where Jesus Himself talked about eternal punishment, I have to agree that yes, indeed, those passages are to be interpreted literally. Chapter 14 may take place on earth, but the verse I quoted was the angelic warning of a future punishment.