The Smoke of Their Torment

Our text today draws from the prophecies of Isaiah:

For it is the day of the LORD’s vengeance. … Its dust [shall be turned] into brimstone; its land shall become burning pitch. It shall not be quenched night or day; its smoke shall ascend forever. From generation to generation it shall lie waste; no one shall pass through it forever and ever (Isaiah 34:8–10).

The Bible interprets itself. Again, it is made clear that the wicked will undergo total destruction. “Forever and ever” means that none destroyed in hellfire will ever live again. All that will be left of the wicked will be smoke, and “into smoke they shall vanish away” (Psalm 37:20).

But what is this about having “no rest day or night”? Surely, this paints the picture of an eternal place of conscious torment. No, the Bible is very clear. Notice that it is while these people are yet giving homage to the beast that their condition of having no rest exists. There is no hellfire upon the earth at this point. This is the duration of time when the image of the beast is persecuting God’s people (Revelation 13:15–17). Thus, it is not after their destruction—but before it—that the wicked have no rest.

“And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who did not obey?” (Hebrews 3:18). Fascinatingly, the wicked have “no rest” because they do not follow the law of God. And isn’t that exactly what we see from those who worship the beast and receive his mark?

They follow the beast’s counterfeit law, thereby disobeying the law of God. “For we who have believed do enter that rest” (4:3), the passage continues. Conversely, when we believe the gospel, the Holy Spirit will “cleanse [our] conscience from dead works to serve the living God” (9:14). Faith leads to serving God, that is, to keeping God’s commandments, and keeping God’s commandments is resting in Christ.

Dear Jesus, thank You for the gift of rest that You offer in Yourself. Help me to have Your peace in my heart.

For Further Study: Deuteronomy 12:9, 10; Matthew 10:28; 2 Thessalonians 1:9

Key Bible Texts

And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name. (Revelation 14:11 KJV)