Caller: My question is found in Revelation 20:14, "And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death." I don't know where it is but I believe there's another scripture that says, "Hell gave up the dead that was in it and death gave up--" In other words, they seem to be putting death and hell together. Explain that to me.
Pastor Doug: Well, you know where the confusion comes in? Incidentally, I think that's in Revelation 20:13. It says, "The sea gave up the dead that were in it." In any event, Mary, the word hell means grave. The word hell in the Old Testament is often a Hebrew Sheol and then you get to the New Testament and you got the word Tartarus, you got the word Hades, and you got the word Gehenna. Most of the time, it means the grave. It's saying, "Death and the grave were cast in the lake of fire," meaning, they're destroyed.
Otherwise, it sounds really kooky. It sounds like hell is cast into hell. It's telling us that there'll be no more death, there'll be no more grave. They're being destroyed, they're being consumed and devoured forever. This is the second death.
Caller: Okay, that's very clear. Thank you very much.