The same point is made at Revelation 21:8: “As for the cowards and those without faith and those who are disgusting in their filth and murderers and fornicators and those practicing spiritism and idolaters and all the liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulphur. This means the second death.”

What we should observe is that the “second death” is what is symbolized by the “lake of fire.” The Adamic death, that is, the death that all born humankind inherited from Adam and Eve after they had sinned, is never likened to such a fearful thing, even though death is “the wages sin pays.”​—Romans 6:23.

Jesus Christ likened the death state of those who die because of inherited sin to a sleep. For instance, he said of Lazarus, who lay dead for parts of four days, “Lazarus our friend has gone to rest, but I am journeying there to awaken him from sleep.” (John 11:11) Later on, even Jesus slept the sleep of death for parts of three days. “Now Christ has been raised up from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep in death.” (1 Corinthians 15:20) Death is like a sleep, as it ends in an awakening.

However, those who must undergo the “second death” do not have the comfort of a resurrection hope.

The very fact that the “lake of fire” is a symbol of “second death” rules out the idea of its being a place of conscious torment. Nowhere does the Bible even suggest that the dead can experience conscious torment, but the dead have lost all sensations. Of those dead in the common grave of mankind, the Bible says: “There the wicked themselves have ceased from agitation, and there those weary in power are at rest. Together prisoners themselves are at ease; they actually do not hear the voice of one driving them to work. Small and great are there the same, and the slave is set free from his master.”​—Job 3:17-19.

Just as the death to which humans in general continue to be subject ends all sensations and feeling, so does the “second death.” However, no forgiveness of sins or ransoming is possible for those punished with “second death.” That reproachful state is their lot forever. Memory of them is as rotten.​—Isaiah 66:24; Proverbs 10:7.