4. THE Revelation 20:11-15 11 And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat upon it,----In this paragraph John describes the great judgment scene, closing with the final disposition to be made of the wicked. The word "throne" means authority to exercise power of some kind. It may indicate either reign or judgment; here the latter is certainly indicated. This is the same throne mentioned by Jesus in Matthew 25:31 in describing the final judgment; it is there called the "throne of his glory." From the language there we know it will be Jesus himself who will sit upon the judgment throne. it is called the judgment seat of God in Romans 14:10, and the judgment seat of Christ in 2 Corinthians 5:10. This is not a contradiction, for God and Christ are one in the purpose of saving men. Then the Father bath committed judgment to the Son (John 5:22), and Christ's judgment is, therefore, the judgment of the Father also. from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.--The disappearing of the heaven and the earth is what John saw in the picture; and their disappearance was final. Whether this is to be understood symbolically to indicate a complete change of religious systems or the final change in the material world, as described in 2 Peter 3:7; 2 Peter 3:10-12, is an immaterial matter; for the judgment will bring a radical change in both. The old system in both will disappear forever--their purposes will have been accomplished. 12 And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne; --Jesus said there would be gathered before him all nations. In the emblem John sees the scenes enacted as predicted. "The great and the small" is a general expression that includes all, both evil and good. This is in perfect agreement with plain statements in nonfigurative language. Jesus said "all nations" would appear before his throne; Paul says we shall "all" stand before the judgment seat; and that "each one" may receive the things done in the body. This makes it universal. and books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life:--Both Old and New Testaments use the figure of man's name and deeds being recorded in a book. The following passages give clear proof of that fact: Exodus 32:32; Malachi 3:16; Philippians 4:3; Revelation 3:5; Revelation 13:8; Revelation 18:8; Revelation 21:27. The thought is that God's infinite memory will enable him to reward properly both bad and good just as if a written record had been kept. His knowledge of men's acts is just as accurate as a perfect writing. Some commentators interpret the "books" to mean the record God keeps of men's conduct, and the "books of life" to be the roll or record of the names of the righteous. But since we are to be judged by the words of Jesus (John 12:48), it seems more probable that one of the books, at least, should represent the Bible which contains the law by which mankind shall be judged. The other two could be the record of man's deeds and a register of the names of the saved. Whatever distinction we make in the application of the books, it is certain that men are to be judged in harmony with God's law and according to their deeds. A failure to have our names on God's record, or to have them rubbed out because of our sins, will be fatal to us. That is the important thing to remember. and the dead were judged out of the things which were written in the books, according to their works.--This is a plain statement of what is already implied in the text. The "dead" is an unlimited term that means all the dead, unless the context or language limits it to some special class of the dead. The language here has no such limitation, but on the other hand the implied contrast between the saved and lost runs through the entire paragraph. Why say "according to their works" if only the wicked dead were in view? In that case it would have been necessary only to say that the dead were raised to be punished. 13 And the sea gave up the dead that were in it; and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them:--The Bible definitely shows that it is the body that dies, in the common use of the word die; death can be affirmed of the soul or spirit only in a moral or figurative sense. That leaves the soul alive in the natural sense of the term "live." James says "the body apart from the spirit is dead" (James 2:26), but no inspired writer anywhere says the spirit apart from the body is dead. Luke 16:22-25 and Acts 2:27 are final proofs that the souls in the Hadean world are not dead in the sense that the body is dead. Since the judgment is the door through which the final state is entered, of course a resurrection must precede. Hence, Hades must give up all souls, and the tombs be opened for the resurrection of bodies. But as the sea has claimed a large share of dead bodies, it must give up those in it. The resurrection must be complete and final. The language here forces the word "sea" to have its literal meaning; the word "earth" is implied in the resurrection of those buried in tombs. and they were judged every man according to their works, --Once more the universal nature of the resurrection is indicated by the expression "every man." Doubtless repeated for emphasis. 14 And death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death, even the lake of fire.--The language means that both death and Hades will cease to exist at the judgment. The abolishment of death will render it impossible to have dead bodies for tombs in either earth or sea. If there will be no bodies for the tombs, there will be no disembodied spirits for Hades. No longer needed, naturally they will cease to exist. Personified, as if human beings, their final end is represented as in the lake of fire, called the second death. This is a forceful way of saying they are eternally banished, and the saved will no longer have reason to fear what does not exist. 15 And if any was not found written in the book of life, he was cast into the lake of fire.--Returning to the destiny of men, John says anyone not written in God's book will be cast into the lake of fire. While this is the last act in the career of the wicked, the implication is evident that those whose names are in the book of life will escape the second death. This event, of course, is still future, yet John said "was" cast into the lake of fire. As John was permitted to see the judgment in a pictorial representation, the whole matter appeared done; hence, symbolically it was finished, but in reality was then, and yet is, future. This judgment scene pictures what Jesus revealed would take place when he comes again. (Matthew 25:31-46.) At this point the curtain drops upon the earthly drama in which mankind has played its several parts. The acts will not be repeated; the stage and all furnishings will give place to that which will be suitable to the eternal nature of man in his final abode. The curtain will never rise again upon the lost; their doom is left to our imagination from the pictures already drawn. Not so with the redeemed; for with the most entrancing visions and the sweetest and most alluring promises John lays before his readers Revelation's last words concerning the mansions Jesus has gone to prepare for his own. LESSON 24. THE YEARS AND THE FINAL Read Rev. 20 1. Who was seen coming down out of heaven? Ans. Revelation 20:1. 2. What did the angel have in his hand? Ans. Revelation 20:1. 3. Whom did he bind and for how long? Ans. Revelation 20:2. 4. Where was Satan confined and for how long? Ans. Revelation 20:3. 5. What would Satan not be able to do and for how long? Ans. Revelation 20:3. 6. For how long would Satan be loosed after the thousand years were finished? Ans. Revelation 20:3. 7. What was given to those who sat on the thrones? Ans. Revelation 20:4. 8. Whose "souls" did John see? Ans. Revelation 20:4. 9. What did these "souls" do for a thousand years? Ans. Revelation 20:4. 10. What of the rest of the dead? Ans. Revelation 20:5. 11. What is the "first resurrection?" or, what is the antecedent of "this" in the sentence, "This is the first resurrection?" Ans. See the last clause in Revelation 20:4. 12. What blessings and privileges are bestowed on the "souls" that have a part in the first resurrection? Ans. Revelation 20:6. 13. What shall Satan do when the thousand years are finished? Ans. Revelation 20:7-8. 14. Against whom were Satan and his hosts planning to make war? Ans. Revelation 20:9. 15. How was this prevented? Ans. Revelation 20:9. 16. What is Satan's final destiny? Ans. Revelation 20:10. 17. How long shall the devil, the beast, and the false prophet be tormented in the lake of fire and brimstone? Ans. Revelation 20:10. 18. From whose face did the heaven and the earth flee away? Ans. Revelation 20:11. 19. Who was seen standing before the throne? Ans. Revelation 20:12. 20. Out of what, and according to what, were the dead judged? Ans. Revelation 20:12. 21. Name three things that gave up their dead. Ans. Revelation 20:13. 22. Into what were death and Hades cast? Ans. Revelation 20:14. 23. What is the "second death?" Ans. Revelation 20:14. 24. Who else was cast into the "lake of fire?" Ans. Revelation 20:15. FOR CLASS I. Is there anything in this chapter that teaches that the "souls" who lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years were on earth while reigning? II. Is there anything that teaches that these "souls" were in resurrected bodies while reigning a thousand years? III. Discuss the danger of reading into this chapter what is not there.