April 9 – The Dead are Judged
Revelation 20:11-15
“Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. Earth and sky fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. If anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.”
There are a few images that you need to conjure up here. The first is of the great white throne. I can’t imagine how large this must be. Psalm 97:2 says “Clouds and thick darkness surround him; righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne.” Soon we will see what having righteousness and justice as the foundation really means.
The throne replaces the old earth and sky. From Isaiah 51:6 we read, “the heavens will vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like a garment…”
But remember, Jesus assures us in Matthew 24:35, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.”
Peter describes the event in 2 Peter 3:10-12 saying, “The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare.”
There will be a throne. From that throne comes judgment. It is now time to deal with that judgment. You see, up to this point, judgment hasn’t actually occurred. The dead have died; the righteous were raised up at the point of Christ’s return prior to his millennial reign on earth.
I’ve had a lot of trouble understanding this. Paul alludes to the fact that the dead sleep in Christ in 1 Thessalonians 4:19. That just bothered me. I have always believed that the moment we die, we are taken into the presence of God. It bothered me until I spent time reading Revelation and began processing on how God’s timing is not my timing … or even Paul’s idea of time. Only God can work outside of time. Only God can control time.
This is why Paul likens death to being asleep in Christ. It was the only way he could explain the idea to those who were reading his words. When I fall asleep at night, I don’t feel like any time has passed until the point that I awaken. In fact, if I didn’t have a clock beside my bed or could see the sun rising, I wouldn’t be able to affirm that time had passed.
The momentary lapse between our death and the point we are raised with Christ is an eternal moment much like closing our eyes in sleep and waking up to a fresh new morning in heaven. It’s the blink of an eye.
John tells us that more than one book is opened. One of them is the book of life and it’s opened in his presence. Many of the other books were already laying open. This would have killed me. I have to know everything. I would have been trying to read them.
The sea gave up its dead. Hades gave up its dead.
Hades was a place of torment – like a prison. This isn’t the final torment for the evil people of earth, but it was nowhere that anyone wanted to end up. The Old Testament word for it is Sheol. Psalm 31:17, “Let me not be put to shame, O Lord, for I have cried out to you; but let the wicked be put to shame and lie silent in the grave.” The word ‘grave’ is translated from the Hebrew word, Sheol.
Then, death and Hades are tossed into the Lake of Fire. The second death. It’s over. There is no more hope.
The last verse of Revelation 20 is a warning to all of us. While I don’t believe that God ever gives up on us while we are in the time of grace, He is a righteous and just God. The judgment has to come. There will be a point where forgiveness is past and choosing to live outside of God’s will brings eternal torment.
Revelation 20:11-15
“Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. Earth and sky fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. If anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.”
There are a few images that you need to conjure up here. The first is of the great white throne. I can’t imagine how large this must be. Psalm 97:2 says “Clouds and thick darkness surround him; righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne.” Soon we will see what having righteousness and justice as the foundation really means.
The throne replaces the old earth and sky. From Isaiah 51:6 we read, “the heavens will vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like a garment…”
But remember, Jesus assures us in Matthew 24:35, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.”
Peter describes the event in 2 Peter 3:10-12 saying, “The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare.”
There will be a throne. From that throne comes judgment. It is now time to deal with that judgment. You see, up to this point, judgment hasn’t actually occurred. The dead have died; the righteous were raised up at the point of Christ’s return prior to his millennial reign on earth.
I’ve had a lot of trouble understanding this. Paul alludes to the fact that the dead sleep in Christ in 1 Thessalonians 4:19. That just bothered me. I have always believed that the moment we die, we are taken into the presence of God. It bothered me until I spent time reading Revelation and began processing on how God’s timing is not my timing … or even Paul’s idea of time. Only God can work outside of time. Only God can control time.
This is why Paul likens death to being asleep in Christ. It was the only way he could explain the idea to those who were reading his words. When I fall asleep at night, I don’t feel like any time has passed until the point that I awaken. In fact, if I didn’t have a clock beside my bed or could see the sun rising, I wouldn’t be able to affirm that time had passed.
The momentary lapse between our death and the point we are raised with Christ is an eternal moment much like closing our eyes in sleep and waking up to a fresh new morning in heaven. It’s the blink of an eye.
John tells us that more than one book is opened. One of them is the book of life and it’s opened in his presence. Many of the other books were already laying open. This would have killed me. I have to know everything. I would have been trying to read them.
The sea gave up its dead. Hades gave up its dead.
Hades was a place of torment – like a prison. This isn’t the final torment for the evil people of earth, but it was nowhere that anyone wanted to end up. The Old Testament word for it is Sheol. Psalm 31:17, “Let me not be put to shame, O Lord, for I have cried out to you; but let the wicked be put to shame and lie silent in the grave.” The word ‘grave’ is translated from the Hebrew word, Sheol.
Then, death and Hades are tossed into the Lake of Fire. The second death. It’s over. There is no more hope.
The last verse of Revelation 20 is a warning to all of us. While I don’t believe that God ever gives up on us while we are in the time of grace, He is a righteous and just God. The judgment has to come. There will be a point where forgiveness is past and choosing to live outside of God’s will brings eternal torment.
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