Apocalyptic literature is by definition, "describing or prophesying the complete destruction of the world." But according to many in the traditionalist camp, as well as the conditionalist camp, there is a place for degrees of suffering in final punishment of the damned. These apocalyptic verses, which precede the ones about final punishment, are used to support the torment of God by Jesus and the holy angels. Some see physical and others mental anguish here. I see testing as likely.
There is another solution for the torments on hell based on my studies.
The greek basanite "a species of slate used to test gold," from basanos "touchstone" —“so called because used to test the purity of gold and silver by the streak which is left upon the stone when it is rubbed by the metal.” This is a pure idea found in God’s creation. God is light and in Him there is no darkness at all. (1John 1:5) Incidentally gold in the Bible is symbol of deity and therefore can be a picture of characteristics, like immortality, which God alone possesses. (1 Tim. 3:16) Silver is a biblical symbol of righteousness of God that the saved person must put on by faith in Jesus. It is true that, at the Judgment, both our immortality and our righteousness will be tested by God. The resurrected bodies of the incorrigible sinners will be destroyed, perhaps in analogy, by fire.
“It was not until religious folks used instruments like racks and other painful devices to ‘test’ the faith of accused heretics that the thought of torment and pain was added to a perfectly good Greek word which again referred to a ‘divine test.’” (Eternal Death (Conditional Immortality, Annihilation): One Step Out of Hell; One Step Short of Glory by Gary Amirault)
Revelation 9
In Revelation 9:1, a star with keys to the abyss falls from heaven to the earth. Defending a futurist view of Revelation: “Ironside conjectures that this fallen star (v. 1) is the same as the one mentioned under the third trumpet (8:10), whom he identified with the pope. However, while he believes the key (v. 1) represents ‘a system of teaching, and possibly ritual observances connected with it’ and thinks that this trumpet describes ‘the development of apostasy of which [the pope] is evidently the head,’ yet he does not see the heresy as Catholicism [only], but ‘the occult systems of gnostic origin, so largely prevailing and so rapidly spreading at the present time.’”(“Revelation: Four Views” by Steve Gregg)— such as— You will not surely die.” (Gen 3:3)
“And he opened the pit of the bottomless deep and smoke arose out of the pit like the smoke of a great furnace...” etc. (v . 2) This must be metaphorical because the furnace of hell is not yet kindled at this point in eschatological history. Smoke represents “false doctrine, obscuring the true light of heaven.” (Adam Clarke) We see here "the diffusion on earth of evil thoughts and ideas, the spirit of falsehood and hate, hostility to truth, and enmity against God and man...” (C. J. Ellicott) We are living in this period, even the latter days of the church age.
“Then out of the smoke locusts came upon the earth.” (v. 3) “The locusts… ‘aptly typify or symbolize the spiritual plague of the last days.’... Walvoord, Ryrie, Gaebelein, Tenney, Morris, and others identify the bottomless pit as the abode or prison house of demons. Therefore, they understand the locusts as demonic hordes released against the unrepentant sinners in the Tribulation period…. Nondispensationalists, such as Ladd and Mounce, also understand the locusts as demons loosed on the unbelieving world. Gaebelein graphically describes the implications of this trumpet: ‘The light is now completely blotted out and in the darkness coming from the pit of the abyss the demon powers will do their fearful work.” (“Revelation: Four Views” by Steve Gregg) These demons devoured the grain in the fields (Exo 10:12) symbolic of mankind in the setting of the end-time harvest of souls. “Infernal spirits are ever ready, when permitted, to increase the ignorance, wickedness, cruelty, and wretchedness of men." (Justin Edwards)
“And to them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power. They were commanded not to harm the grass of the earth, or any green thing, or any tree,"- "Grass and green trees in the Bible are frequent symbols for God's people." (Ranko Stefanovic)- "but only those men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads.’ (3-4) “They are described from heaven’s viewpoint. Earth sees nothing. It is just aware of their effects.”(P. Pett)
Rev. 9:5 And they were not given authority to kill them, but to torment them for five months. Their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it strikes a man.
They cannot kill them; they can only test them for a limited time. Some see physical or mental pain here. But what if the similitude with the scorpion sting is not the pain but the poison, which comes from sting of the tail. False ideas get into a the person's head and affects their deeds.
Satan tests (or tempts) people to do evil. "Let no one say when he is tempted, "I am tempted by God"; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death." (James 1:13-15)
“Swete writes: ‘The scorpion takes its place with the snake and other creatures hostile to man, and with them symbolizes the forces of spiritual evil which are active in the world.’ This assessment seems to be verified by Jesus, when He told the disciples, ‘Behold, I give you authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you.’ (Luke 10:19) Christians are not exempt from the physical maladies that afflict mankind, but the demons have no right to inflict their spiritual harm upon believers. Hobbs points out that ‘As Israel was safe from the plagues of Egypt, so God’s people were protected from these locusts.’ In addition to the analogy to Egypt, however, there may be an even closer connection to Ezekiel’s vision, in which God’s true people were marked on their foreheads just prior to the unleashing of six angelic destroyers, who slaughtered those in Jerusalem who lacked the mark (Ezekiel 9).” (“Revelation: Four Views” by Steve Gregg)
The mark of believers (Christ) and unbelievers (antichrist) is in their foreheads— the doctrines that fight for their control of their thoughts and deeds- mind and body.Accordingly, the evil takes on flesh with human agents: “The shape of the locusts was like horses prepared for battle.” — “A description of the locusts appears to be taken from Joel 2:4.” (Adam Clarke) While Clarke relates this phrase to “the troops of Mohammed”, others relate it to the Roman Empire. But beware that the evil is manifest in all of those who are not of Christ. “On their heads were crowns of something like gold,” — not the godly gold crowns belonging to the saints but ones "like" them, these subjects having a form of godliness, but denying the powers thereof. “The wicked ideas are always advocated from premises of virtue and benevolence; false ideas promise all kinds of victories and utopias; but, alas, the crowns are not really gold at all, but tinsel." (Burton Coffman) “And their faces were like the faces of men.” (v. 7)— “that is, though locusts symbolically, they are really men.” (Adam Clarke) "Back of every evil on earth, in the last analysis, there looms the face of an evil man." (Burton Coffman) Thus: “… John describes the power and influence of hell operating in the hearts and lives of wicked men." (William Hendriksen) — “’They had hair like women’s hair” for a covering (cp 1 Cor. 11:15). This “speaking of subjection, reminds us of their total subjection to infernal, satanic authority.” (L. M. Grant)— “‘and their teeth were like lions’ teeth.’ (v.8)— "Despite the feminine appearance, the true nature of this horde is seen in the teeth, namely, that of utter destructiveness." (Burton Coffman) "And they had breastplates like breastplates of iron" representing Judgment. It seemed as if no force would be able availed against them. But they had not that "breastplate of righteousness in place." (Eph. 6:14)— "and the sound of their wings was like the sound of chariots with many horses running into battle." (.v. 9) "Their hanging weapons and military trappings, with the clang of their shields and swords when they make their fierce onsets. This simile is borrowed from Joel 2:5-7." (Adam Clarke) These men “had tails like scorpions, and there were stings in their tails.”— "They infected the conquered with their pernicious doctrines." (Adam Clarke) — "And they have the power to hurt the evil men of the earth five months" (V. 10)— a long time, “but incidentally a definite time, fixed by the Lord, beyond which they did not dare to go… (Paul Kretzmann) “And they had a king over them - the angel of the bottomless pit, called in the Hebrew, Abaddon; and in Greek, Apollyon…” (v. 11) whom you may call, ‘the destroyer’: who drives the whole world both Jews and Gentiles into the destruction that belongs to himself." (Geneva Study Bible)
Revelation 11
The two witnesses test the unrepentant, drawing closer to an end-time context. But here God is still trying to save. The door of the Ark, which is Christ, is still open. John was given a reed like a measuring rod saying, “Rise and measure the temple of God, the altar, and those who worship there.” (v. 1) “Lenski can hardly be wrong in his comment that: ’The reed must then symbolize the word or Gospel in its function of determining who is in the church and who is outside of its bounds.’” (Burton Coffman) Measure, that; is, “take an exact estimate of the temple, of the altar, and of the true worshippers.” (Albert Barnes) “In OT times, measuring involved judgment with regard to who would live and who would die. For example David 'defeated Moab, and measured them with the line, making them lie down on the ground; and he measured two lines to put to death and one full line to keep alive' (2 Sam. 8:2).” (Ranko Stephanovic)
“‘But leave out the court which is outside the temple, and do not measure it for it has been given to the Gentiles.’ (v. 2a) There is a place for Gentile believers.. “But when the king came in to see the guests, he saw a man there who did not have on a wedding garment. So he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. Then the king said to the servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ For many are called, but few are chosen.” (Matthew 22:11-13) Many are called. In fact, all are called to the true fellowship with the holy place of the tabernacle but few elect to answer the call. “Few, comparatively, are chosen to dwell with God in glory, because they do not come to the master of the feast for a marriage garment - for that holiness without which none can see the Lord.” (Adam Clarke)
“Kenneth Strand suggests that the only Old Testament background which adequately explains the measuring process specified in Revelation 11:1 is Leviticus 16. He shows persuasively how the measuring of the temple, altar, and worshipers has its most complete thematic parallel with the description of the Israelite Day of Atonement ritual. On that day, atonement was made for the priest themselves, the sanctuary, the altar, and the congregation." (Ranko Stephanovic)
“The court outside the temple corresponds to the court to which Gentiles had access in the first century, which lay outside the court into which only Jews could come.” (Dr. Thomas B.Constable) In the end-time, "they"- the Gentiles or Hellenized Christians-- “will tread the holy city (the universal church) underfoot for forty-two months.” (v. 2) This is fulfilled by so-called pastors teaching things contrary to the Word of God, which lives and will abides forever.
“And I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy one thousand two hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth." (v. 3) “Some see them (the two witnesses) as two persons living at the end of time; but 'my two witnesses' indicates that John knew them. I believe the two witnesses are the testimony of the Law and the Prophets” (Ranko Stephanovic)
The power is to save. “These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands standing before the Lord of the earth.” (v. 4) "While St. John uses the figure of Zechariah, he does not apply it in every detail. In the prophet, but one candlestick is mentioned. ‘The two olive trees,’ which supply the material for the candlesticks, are fit emblems of the Old and New Testaments; the candlesticks typify the Jewish and Christian Churches. These are identical so far as being God's witnesses; the Church derives her stores from the Word of God....” (Pulpit Commentaries)
“And if anyone wants to harm them,”— the universal church— “fire proceeds from their mouth and devours their enemies." They don't call down fire from heaven upon the false prophets, like Elijah. (1 Kings 18:16-45) Nor do they desire to do so as the sons of thunder suggested. (Luke 9:51-56) But their enemies will be devoted to destruction in the end-time Judgment. It does not say that these unbelievers hurt the church, only that they have the desire to do so. "And if anyone wants to harm them," and their cause- "he must be killed in this manner." Haman will be killed on the gallows he made for Mordecai. "These have power to shut heaven, so that no rain falls in the days of their prophecy; and they have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to strike the earth with all plagues, as often as they desire.” (v. 5-6) James admonished the church to pray: "The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit." (James 5:16-18)
“‘And their dead bodies lie in the street of the great city which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt’ (8) "This is symbolical, of course, for neither the Word of the Lord nor the holy church can be overcome or killed literally. The Word of the Lord endureth for ever; and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against the church. Despite this, the damage inflicted by the evil one is sufficient to justify the hyperbolic metaphor describing it.” (Burton Coffman) Sodom and Egypt are “names dictated by prudence” (Joseph Sutcliffe) for Jerusalem — “where also our Lord was crucified." (8b) "because of it’s persecution of the members of Christ." (Adam Clarke)
“‘Then those from the peoples, tribes, tongues, and nations will see their dead bodies three-and-a-half days, and not allow their dead bodies to be put into graves." (9)
"And to think of just two individual men remaining unburied in some specific city is ridiculous. Something of far greater import than this is depicted. ‘The word for street here signifies a broad street, such as the principal street of a city would be.’ [Roberson] Thus, we may say that the unburied bodies of the dead, decorate Broadway!” (Coffman Commentary) "The citizens of the great city are happy indeed to feast their eyes upon the dead witnesses. They are delighted now to see that the testimony of the Word to the nations will never be heard again." (Lenski)
Rev. 11:10 “And those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them, make merry, and send gifts to one another, because these two prophets tormented (ebasanisan) those who dwell on the earth.”
”They send gifts to each other, and gave portions to the poor.” (Adam Clarke) — “because,” according to Arno Gaebelein, ‘torment had come to their consciences through the testimony of the slain." But while it must be admitted that the Word does not physically hurt people, it must also be confessed that it does not sear the conscience of the masses. But His Words tests them to see if they will obey. And Jesus said that His words would judge mankind at the end of time.
"Now after the three-and-a-half days the breath of life from God entered them, and they stood on their feet, and great fear fell on those who saw them." "The celebration is now over.... The breath of life is here the reference to Genesis 2:7; it is God who brings the witnesses back to life. This scene of bringing to life the two witnesses recalls Ezekiel’s vision of the valley of the dry bones—the prophecy of the restoration of Israel from the Babylonian exile. To their enemies, Israel is seen as having been slain. As Ezekiel prophesied, the breath came into the dead bodies, and they came to life and stood on their feet (Ezek. 37:1–10). Whenever the world thinks it has silenced the voice of the faithful witnesses that 'tormented (tested) them,' vindication is always portrayed symbolically in the resurrection and ascension of the two witnesses. As Desmond Ford states, 'the righteous may be knocked down, but they are not knocked out.'...Two witnesses thus came back to life and the stage was set for a widespread preaching of the gospel—more than at any time in history. Bringing them back to life engenders a great fear on their enemies who earlier rejoiced over their disgraceful death." (R. Stefanovic)
"They heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, 'Come up here.' And they ascended to heaven in a cloud, and their enemies saw them. In the same hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell. In the earthquake seven thousand people were killed, and the rest were afraid and gave glory to the God of heaven." (11-13) "What happens to these two witnesses [the Law and the prophets] is what has already happened to the Lord in Jerusalem. Their opponents are those that Jesus faced earlier. Just as Jerusalem persecuted Jesus and put him to death, so this great symbolic city – professing Christians under the control of political power – persecutes God's people." (Ranko Stefanovic) They can only kill the body but not the soul. For God will resurrect the righteous slain.
Revelation 12
“Now a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a garland of twelve stars.” (1) The universal church “’is resembled by a fair and delicate ‘woman.’ {Jer. 6:2}—‘clothed with the sun’ (1a)— that is covered with the robe of Christ's righteousness; and clothed with the garments of his salvation. — “‘with the moon under her feet’ — Bishop Newton understands this of the Jewish typical worship and indeed the Mosaic system of rites and ceremonies could not have been better represented, for it was the shadow of good things to come. The moon is the less light, ruling over the night, and deriving all its illumination from the sun; in like manner the Jewish dispensation was the bright moonlight night of the world, and possessed a portion of the glorious light of the Gospel. At the rising of the sun the night is ended, and the lunar light no longer necessary, as the sun which enlightens her shines full upon the earth; exactly in the same way has the whole Jewish system of types and shadows has been superseded by the birth, life, crucifixion, death, resurrection, ascension, and intercession of Jesus Christ.” (Adam Clarke)—
“‘And on her head a garland of twelve stars'- a crown of twelve stars, the twelve tribes of Israel; which are smaller than the sun and moon.” (John Wesley)
Rev. 12:2 “Then being with child, she cried out in labor and in pain (basanizomenē)to give birth.”
“Then being with child, she (the church) cried out in labor and in pain to give birth.” Remember that pain is a translation of the barbaric use. It can also be meaningfully read as the woman crying out in labor and testing to give birth. It is a symbol "of the fruitfulness of the church in times of great trial. (Cp. Isa 54:1; 66:8.)...” (Justin Edwards)- even our time of trouble.
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