The Narrow Path Ministries

Steve Gregg's book mentions had mentioned four ways in which the word aion might be understood. Two of them were:

1) As something that proceeds from the eternal God.
2) As something that belongs or pertains to an age.

In English it is not unusual to use a repeated word when speaking of a period of time (e.g. "it was a long, long time ago when..."). It is not common to use repetition of a word when speaking of the origin of something, or to speak of an association between one thing and another. Is this true in the Greek language? I am wondering if the two of the four interpretations of aion should be ruled out in Rev 14:11 on this basis.

Probably. I think Revelation 14:11 probably means "everlastingly" because of the double "aion" (though, I suspect that the double aion could possibly function like our "long, long time," which you mentioned. From what I have read, it seems that no one really knows, at the present stage of Greek scholarship).

Of course, many scholars confirm what intuition would suggest, that there are contexts in which the word "forever" (whether in English or in Greek) really does mean "forever," but is used as hyperbole—as when we say, "I haven't seen you forever!" or "They lived happily [for]ever after." Revelation is just the kind of book in which I would expect to find such hyperbole.

I think this applies to Revelation 19:3 and 20:10 also. In those verses, Babylon is symbolic, as is its smoke (the same imagery as is employed in 14:11). "The beast" and the "false prophet," too, are symbolic designations, in my opinion. The whole book, of course, is symbolic. In Revelation 14:11, I do not see a reference to hell at all, because the "torment" is suffered "in the presence of the Lamb." If scholars tend to agree about anything with regard to hell, it is upon the fact that hell is where God is absent.

Peter,

See here:

http://carm.org/look-phrase-forever-and-ever

Isaiah 34:10— "It shall not be quenched night nor day; the smoke thereof shall go up for ever: from generation to generation it shall lie waste; none shall pass through it for ever and ever."

This speaks of Idumea. Is there still smoke rising, Homer? Just asking, not dogmatizing...
Blessings
Rob