The Big Picture

From the beginning I predicted the outcome;
long ago I foretold what would happen.
I said that my plans would never fail,
that I would do everything I intended to do.

(Isaiah 46:10) Good News Translation

We can parse the difference between hell and the lake of fire because we’ve laid out the broad narrative of scripture, the conceptual backbone of the Bible, a theme which weaves together the law, prophets and the gospel.

The Bible is consistent throughout because it describes the physical expression in space and time of spiritual concepts, like light and darkness, good and evil, which are as fundamental as the elemental particles of which the universe is made. This also allows us to deduce the purpose of creation.

The purpose of creation is to bring about the permanent physical separation of light from darkness, day from night, good from evil.

– The Purpose of Creation

With this in mind here’s a summary of the broad narrative of scripture.

A Brief Synopsis of the Broad Narrative of Scripture

Concept	Scripture
God is Light	1 John 1:5
Darkness is inherent to free will	John 1:5
Light and darkness must be physically separated	Genesis 1:6
God dwells in the light	Psalms 104:1-2
Light is above on the periphery	Daniel 12:3
Light, life and good are equivalent	John 3:19-21
Darkness, death and evil are equivalent	Job 30:26
Darkness is below at the center	Job 28:3
Once it has accumulated at the center, darkness will be cast into the furthest reaches of space	Matthew 8:12
Light comes down from above to the center, darkness will be gone	Revelation 21:2, 23

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