Verse 13 says that death and hell will then give up their dead. That is why the dead will have an opportunity to stand before God. Hell, or hades, as it is in the Greek text, is the condition of death, not a place of torment. Following the return of the dead from hell, both death and hell are to be cast into “the lake of fire,” which is described as “the second death.” (vs. 14) It is not called the “second death” because everything destroyed in the lake of fire dies the second time, but because it will be the second time the death penalty will be inflicted.

In the lake of fire, which is the second death, even death itself will die. Included in that final cleansing of the earth will be the destruction of all whose names are not, finally, written in the book of life. These will be cast into the lake of fire, the second death, not to be tormented, but to be destroyed.

That glorious day when the Lord judges the people with his Truth will be a time of favor for them. “When thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.” (Isa. 26:9) But there will be willfully wicked ones even then who will refuse to obey the truth. Concerning this the next verse declares, “Let favour be shewed to the wicked, yet will he not learn righteousness; in the land of uprightness will he deal unjustly, and will not behold the majesty of the LORD.”— Isa. 26:10

The expression “the land of uprightness” describes conditions which will exist in the earth during the reign of Christ. Peter refers to the same time, saying, “we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.” (II Pet. 3:13) Peter refers to this new era of human experience as “the day of judgment and perdition [destruction] of ungodly men.” (II Pet. 3:7) It will mean perdition for all such, for they will be “destroyed from among the people.”—Acts 3:23

However, as Peter shows, only those who refuse to hear and obey the truth when it is then presented will be revealed as ungodly and destroyed. Under the enlightening influences of the Truth their willful disposition will be revealed.