The principal question then arising from the use of the conception in the Apocalypse is as to its relation to the future state.
(1) The Lake of Fire may be regarded as a place of the final annihilation of evil. The force of the expression ' second death ' determines the writer's use of the conception. The ' second death ' is a Jewish theologoumenon, e.g. in the well-known passage in the Jems. Targum on Dt 33^, ' Let Reuben live in this age and not die the second death.'
In Jewish Rabbinical theology the expression seems to imply a non-participation in the life of the age to come ; cf. the discussion in Sanh. 11 as to those who shall share the life of the coming age. Hence the meaning of annihilation is possible. Those who are not raised to the life of the world to come cease to exist. On the other hand, the writer of the Apocalypse holds the doctrine of a general resurrection to judgment at the close of the Messianic Kingdom. Hence it is also possible that he has given the Jewish phrase a new mean- ing. But for a fuller discussion of this point see art. Immortality.
(2) The writer's conception of the Lake of Fire may be penal. The beast and the false prophet are said to be tormented there day and night, and the unrighteous have ' their part ' in the Lake of Fire, an expression which is most naturally inter- preted in a penal sense. In the light of contem- porary apocalyptic literature the penal sense would seem to be the most natural one.
(3) It is possible to maintain a purgative mean- ing for the conception, but this view finds no support in the NT literature itself.
Literature.— Art. 'Fire 'in DCG ; S. D. F. Salmond, The Christian Doctrine of Immortality*, 1901 ; R. H. Charles, Eschatology : Hehreio, Jewish, and Christian'^, 1913; W. O. E. Oesterley, The Doctrine of the Last Things, 1908 ; C. Clemen, Primitive ChriMianity and its non-Jewish Sources, En^. tr., 1912 ; H. B. Swete, The Apocalypse of St. John% 1907 ; P. Volz, Jiid. Eschatologie von Daniel bis Akiba, 1903.
S. H. HOOKE. LAMB. — The point of view for this subject is suggested by Delitzsch : ' All the utterances in the New Testament regarding the Lamb of God are derived from this prophecy [Is 53^], in which the dumb type of the Passover now finds a tongue ' (Com. on Isaiah, Eng. tr., 1890, ii. 297).— (1) In Philip's interpretation of this passage to the eunuch who questioned him concerning its meaning, he showed that its fulfilment was found in Jesus (Ac 8^2). _ (2) In 1 P V^, Christ is compared with a sacrificial lamb ; as an ottering on behalf of sin He gave Himself (1 Co 5''), without blemish and with- out spot (cf. Lv 23^^). If the allusion here is first
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LAMP, LA^IPSTAI^D
to the descriptive terms of Isaiah, yet there is in- eluded an association derived from the Levitical ritual. Christ was not only a quiet, unresisting sufferer, but also a sacrificial ottering for sin. — (3) The main use of the term ' Lamb ' in the NT is in Revelation, where it occurs 28 times. The word of which it is a translation is a diminutive, and is peculiar to the Apocalypse. jNIany surprises await one who, familiar onlj' with the significance of the Lamb in the Levitical sacrifices, traces the new forms in which the figure made itself at home in the visions of the Seer of Patmos. It is evident that the writer had been fascinated by the sug- gestion on account of which he first employed the term to designate the Exalted Christ (5''), and he was afterward conscious of no incongruity or embarrassment in continuing to use the title when he referred to Christ, even when he associated the most incompatible qualities, relations, and activi- ties with it. In the interest of clearness and con- sistency one may try to substitute ' Christ ' for ' Lamb ' wherever the latter terra occurs in this book, but it will be found that then something almost indefinable but very real has fallen out and that nothing of equal worth has taken its place. We move here in a region of prophecy, of symbol- ism, and of spiritual values, where the imagination supplies itself with wings, and where exact logical thought has to plod along as best it can afoot. According to Rev 5**, in the central place before the throne, in the midst of the four and twenty elders, and the four living creatures, the Revelationist turned to see a Lion, symbol of majesty and over- mastering power, when lo ! instead of a lion he be- held a Lamb, standing, bearing still the wound by which He was slain in sacrifice, yet Avith the em- blems of power and wisdom in the highest degree. 'He looked to see power and force, whereby the foes of his faith should be destroyed, and he saw love and gentleness by which they should be con- quered' (G. B. Stevens, Tlie Theology of the NT, 1899, p. 542). The reason Hofmann offers why the Lion which has conquered appears as. a Lamb is that He has gained His victory in that form ( Weis- sagung und Erfiillung, 1841-44, ii. 328 ; cf. Is 53^-). Attempts to trace the symbolism to astro- theology (cf. A. Jeremias, Babylonisches im NT, 1905) or to a Babylonian source discover a single reference to the blood of a lamb substituted as a sacrificial offering for men ; but no influence of this on pre-Christian Messianism, or of contemporary cults on this particular symbolism, has been found (cf. J. Moffatt, EGT, ' Revelation,' 1910, p. 385). But always at the heart of every picture of the Lamb throughout this book is the never-to-be-for- gotten fact of His sacrifice and victorious power, and all the properties and functions of the Exalted Christ take their rise from this fact. Among the functions assigned to Him is : (a) that of loosing the seals of the Divine judgments, i.e. of carrying history through its successive stages to its ultimate goal. Henceforth the life of the world must be dominated by the ideal which He has realized, and tlie power for its fulfilment must proceed from Him. (b) At the very centre of the heavenly host, together with God He receives universal homage from the higliest beings in heaven — innumerable angels — and the entire animated creation (Rev 5^'^^ 79-ioj^ The significance of this worship, springing as it does from a convinced monotheistic faith on the part of the writer, is not to be mistaken. Not a higher and a lower worship are here, but the two are of the same order and unite in one stream. Tlie Lamb does indeed share the throne of God (22'), yet the throne of God and of the Lamb is one. ((■) To Him as slain tlie redeemed owe their power (uei- sin and deatli (j^-^-i^ 7io-u 1211 H^) ; nor in this connexion does the author shrink from the