And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is [that] of life. And the dead were judged out of the things written in the books according to their works.
Revelation 20:12 shows the last scene of human history. Heaven and earth are gone, and the dead stand before a throne. Everything turns on two kinds of books: the record of what people did, and the book of life.
This scene is not Christ's return to earth. It comes after the present heaven and earth are gone.
There they stand (verse 12), the great and the small, before the throne; but where is it? Just before, in verse 11, we are told the earth and the heaven fled away, and no place was found for them. Then we see, not thrones, but "a great white throne," and the dead stand before it to be judged... At the end of the thousand years Christ does not come. Instead the heaven and the earth that now are depart.
The verse names one group only: "the dead." Commentators read this as the unsaved, not a mixed crowd of everyone who ever lived.
This is clearly not a judgment of living people, like the one in Matthew 25, where people are separated as sheep from goats. No — the passage says clearly that it is "the dead, great and small," who are found here. It is the dead out of Christ, the unsaved dead, and only they... this is not a throne of grace, or sprinkled blood to meet the sinner's need, but of stern unbending judgment and nothing but judgment.
Some take "great and small" as proof that the righteous must be there too. Trotter tests that reading against the same phrase elsewhere in Revelation.
At the sounding of the seventh trumpet, Revelation 11:18 says, "your wrath came, and the time for the dead to be judged, and for rewarding your servants... and those who fear your name, both small and great." Do the objectors themselves take that phrase to include everyone of every age who fears God's name? Of course they do not.
The books hold deeds, not natures — and that distinction decides who is even in view.
Every responsible soul on earth has his life and history written above. Nothing is forgotten, nothing is too small; God records it all, and never gets it wrong. Infants and those without understanding are the only exceptions. Judgment goes by works, by deeds. People are responsible for what they have done, not for what they are by birth... We cannot help the existence of the evil nature in us, but we are responsible for its activity.
One book keeps people out of judgment; the other holds the record of their sins.
"The book of life" is opened; but there is no judgment for those whose names are written in it by the hand of God's choosing, redeeming love. "The books" are opened too — those dreadful records written in letters deep, broad, and black. They are the terrible lists of the sins of every man, woman, and child, from the beginning to the end of time. There will be no hiding in the crowd. Each one will stand there alone, as a single person, in that appalling moment.
Two kinds of evidence come out at that throne.
Deeds long since forgotten, and sins that people thought too small to matter and have dropped out of memory — all of them will be brought out as the ground of condemnation. And more than that: the book of life will be opened, and if the names of those brought before this solemn court are not found in it, the sentence is passed... So there are two kinds of evidence, positive and negative. Both condemn, and both shut out every ground of appeal.
A missing name has a history behind it.
The book of life is opened next and searched closely. Not one name of the ungodly is found in its pages. Their names could have been written in that book, but they despised mercy and refused grace, so now judgment and its carrying out must take their course.
If judgment goes by works, the result is settled before the trial starts. So the gospel does not wait for that day.
People speak as though men were on probation, and the day of judgment would prove how it will turn out with them, whether they will be saved or lost. This is all wrong... the gospel comes to man and addresses him as one already lost, and needing salvation. Men do not have to wait until the judgment to know how it will turn out... Judgment is for my work (Revelation 20:12), and on that ground all are already lost. But salvation is of grace, and is God's work.
- Setting. Heaven and earth are gone. The dead stand before the throne, not before a returning Christ.
- Company. Only "the dead" stand there, those out of Christ. "Great and small" marks the range inside that group; it does not bring in the righteous.
- Evidence. The books hold a full record of deeds. Judgment rests on what people did, and each one stands alone with his own page.
- Verdict. The book of life supplies the second, silent proof — no name there, no claim to life, no appeal.
- Escape. Works can only condemn, so the one way out of that court is grace received now, before the books are ever opened.
And the sea gave up the dead which [were] in it, and death and hades gave up the dead which [were] in them; and they were judged each according to their works
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.