Good evening and welcome to EBible Fellowship's Bible study in the Book of Revelation.  Tonight is study #38 of Revelation, chapter 11, and we are continuing to read Revelation 11:18:

And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth.

In our last study we were looking at the statement that God’s wrath had come and “the time of the dead.”  We saw numerous Bible verses that indicate when God uses the word “dead,” He can have in mind those that are spiritually dead.  Judgment began on May 21, 2011, and that began the “time of the dead, that they should be judged.”  It is judgment upon all the unsaved people of the earth that are dead in spirit.

As a matter of fact, if we think about it, the reason this is such a grievous and horrible judgment (the judgment of God shutting the door to heaven and ending His salvation program) is because they are dead in spirit.  If they were not dead in spirit, it would not be a terrible judgment on them.  But since they are spiritually dead, the judgment is super awful because it has guaranteed and locked in their spiritual condition so that it cannot be changed.  As Revelation, chapter 22 tells us, this is a time that the righteous will be righteous still; those that God has saved through the atoning work of Jesus Christ are considered righteous.  The filthy will be filthy still.  The great gulf has been fixed and not one person can go from thence to them and they cannot go from where they are to where the believers are spiritually in the kingdom of heaven; there is no being translated out of darkness into light any longer. 

It is “the time of the dead, that they should be judged.”  The Greek word translated as “judged” is “krino,” and it is Strong’s #2919.  It is translated as several different English words and these different English words help us to form a better understanding of what the Greek word “krino” means.  This is why it is such a blessing that we have concordances, which God has provided, and other Bible helps, in order to help us search the Scriptures, comparing Scripture with Scripture. 

Now what does God mean by “the time of the dead, that they should be judged”?  What does the word “krino” mean?  We find in Luke 7:41-43:

There was a certain creditor which had two debtors: the one owed five hundred pence, and the other fifty. And when they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both. Tell me therefore, which of them will love him most? Simon answered and said, I suppose that he, to whom he forgave most. And he said unto him, Thou hast rightly judged.

This word “judged” is our word “krino,” and this is interesting because Simon is basically “discerning” by selecting the correct choice or correct answer, and Jesus confirms that his answer was correct regarding this matter: there are two men that are forgiven their debts; one owed more and one owed less, so who will love more?  Simon responded that it would be the one to whom he forgave most and Jesus answered, “Thou hast rightly judged.”  Here, we see that making a “judgment”, in this case, between two options, one of which is correct and the other which is incorrect; one option, therefore, is “good” and the other is “bad.”  The judgment is to properly respond to the question asked, so in this case “judgment” has to do with discerning the truth or discerning the proper answer.

Let us go to some other places.  I think the more places we look at, the more clear our understanding of “krino” will be, which will help us understand what God is talking about in our verse.  It says in Acts 3:13:

The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified his Son Jesus; whom ye delivered up, and denied him in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let him go.

The word “determined” is our word “krino.”  We can see how this can be.  What if it had said, “When he was judged to let him go”?  Jesus was brought before Pilot, as Christ was delivered unto him for judgment.  Pilot asked the Lord questions as Pilot sat upon the seat of judgment.  What was Pilot attempting to do?  He was attempting to determine His guilt or His innocence.  This is what a judge does.  In the Bible, we are so accustomed and trained to think that “judgment” has to do with the wrath of God and God pouring out punishment; we immediately relate the word “judgment” or “judge” to punishment.  Yet, that is not always the case.  The judgment is to make a determination.  In this case, Pilot was determined to let Him go because he found no fault in him.  He even said this: “I find no fault in this man.”  So the judgment of Pilot concerning Jesus was that He was innocent and it is a proper judgment.  A judge can pronounce guilt or a judge can pronounce innocence. 

It says in Acts 15:19:

Wherefore my sentence is, that we trouble not them, which from among the Gentiles are turned to God:

This is James speaking and he is giving the verdict.  A church council had convened to consider the matter of the Gentiles, whether they should be welcomed as the Jews.  So it was the “judgment” or “sentence” of that early church council was stated in Acts 15:19-20: Wherefore my sentence is, that we trouble not them, which from among the Gentiles are turned to God:

 “But that we write unto them, that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood.”  They were examining a matter of the Law of God and what they should do, and they made a determination and pronounced “sentence.”  The “sentence” was that which had been determined.

It says in Acts 16:14-15:

And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, which worshipped God, heard us: whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul. And when she was baptized, and her household, she besought us, saying, If ye have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house, and abide there. And she constrained us.

Here, it is translated the same way as “judged.”  But notice how it is being used.  Lydia is saying to her fellow believers: “If ye have judged me to be faithful to the Lord.”  She is asking them to discern something – the change in her, the manner of her lifestyle, her understanding of truth, or the things she does in service to God.  If they have discerned and seen that she is a true child of God and if they have “judged” her to be faithful to the Lord, then they are to come into her house.  Here, we are seeing the word “judged” in a positive connotation and a positive way.  They could also have “judged” Lydia to have been unfaithful as they examined her in these ways.   So this tells us that this word, in and of itself, does not mean “punishment.”  When something or someone is “judged,” it could be determined that the judgment is a right judgment; that is, when God speaks of “judgment” and “judging men,” He is seeking to know if they have done good or bad, or right or wrong.  That is what this word implies; the one judging is going to make a determination, whether something is positive or negative, right or wrong, good or evil, and so forth.

In Acts 25, we find the Apostle Paul is speaking to Festus and it says in Acts 25:8-10:

While he answered for himself, Neither against the law of the Jews, neither against the temple, nor yet against Caesar, have I offended any thing at all. But Festus, willing to do the Jews a pleasure, answered Paul, and said, Wilt thou go up to Jerusalem, and there be judged of these things before me? Then said Paul, I stand at Caesar's judgment seat, where I ought to be judged: to the Jews have I done no wrong, as thou very well knowest.

In both cases, in verses 9 and 10, when Festus asks the question, “Wilt thou go up to Jerusalem, and there be judged,” he is not saying, “Wilt thou go up and be punished?”  He means, “Will you go up and have this matter settled before a judge or before the law?”  By Paul’s response, we see that Paul understands what is being asked.  Of course, he does not want to go to Jerusalem because it would certainly not be an honest judgment, so Paul wants to go to Rome and stand before Caesar.  He said, “I stand at Caesar's judgment seat, where I ought to be judged.”  Again, he is not saying this because he is necessarily going to be punished by Caesar or thrown into prison, but he is saying that he wants to go before Caesar for a “determination” of his guilt or innocence – whether he has done right or wrong.  So we see this is a very consistent use of this word “judged.”

Now let us go to 2Timothy, a verse we looked at in our last study.  It says in 2Timothy 4:1:

I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom;

The Lord Jesus Christ shall judge the quick and the dead. Again, the word “quick” means “living.”  We saw the same thing in 1Peter 4:5:

Who shall give account to him that is ready to judge the quick and the dead.

Also, it says in 8 Peter 4:6:

For this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.

This was one of the places we went to in order to prove that when God uses the word “dead” He is not necessarily speaking of the physically “dead,” but the spiritually “dead.”  Then that made us wonder about the verse that said that Christ “is ready to judge the quick and the dead.”  We know that Judgment Day is a time when the Lord Jesus Christ is sitting, or ruling, and He is sitting in “judgment.”  Here we find he is going to “judge the quick and the dead.”  The word “quick” is a word that means “to live” or “the living.”  It says in Matthew 22:32:

I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.

We could read that as, “God is not the God of the dead, but of the quick.”  The point is that these men (Abraham, Isaac and Jacob) still live.  Why do they still live?  It is because they were saved and they were given eternal life and if you have eternal life, even if you experience physical death, you still “live.” 

This word “living” has to do with those that have eternal life.  It says in John 11:25-26:

Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?

Of course, this cannot be speaking of someone that was first physically dead, then he believes and he lives.  That is impossible.  It is speaking of someone that was spiritually dead and they were granted the faith of Christ and given the gift of grace to believe and brought to spiritual life.  Therefore, “though he were dead” (in trespasses and sins) “yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.  Believest thou this?”  You see, God is telling us here that if you are alive right now and you believe (by the mercy and grace of God who did all the work in saving you), then you will never die.  This means you are “the living.”  You are the “quick.”  You are one God has saved and you will always live. 

This really causes us to wonder what God has in view by this language regarding “judging the living and the dead.”  When we look up “living,” the direction it leads to is to the elect.  When we look up “dead,” the direction it leads is to those that are spiritually dead or unsaved.  So when God brings these two ideas together, He is saying that on Judgment Day He intends to judge both. 

“Oh, but that is not possible, is it?  The elect cannot be judged – we were judged in Christ from the foundation of the world.  That is when we were judged and we cannot be judged again.”  And that is true.  We were judged “in Christ,” as Jesus took our sins upon Him and died for us; then He arose from the dead to justify us and, really, His resurrection is our resurrection – it is our salvation.  But the Lord Jesus died for sins at the foundation of the world and, yet, God had Him enter into the human race.  In 7 BC He was born.  In 33 AD He died on the cross to demonstrate the things He had done from the foundation of the world – when He was the Lamb slain. 

Now there is language in the Bible which also indicates God will bring the elect before the judgment seat of Christ.  The same word used of Jesus in that he was “made manifest” or that he came to “make manifest” (what He had done from the foundation of the world) is also used of the believers.  It says in 2Corinthians 5:9:

Wherefore we labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him.

When we check out that plural pronoun “we” in the verses just prior to verse 9, it is always speaking of true believers, and this leads right into 2 Corinthians 5:10:

For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ…

The word “appear” is the Greek word, Strong’s #5319, which is translated as “made manifest,” and which has taught us that what Christ did in going to the cross was a demonstration to show forth the reality of what He experienced before the world began.  God uses this word in connection with the true believers coming before the judgment seat of Christ and if you are before a judgment seat, you will be judged; that is why you are brought before the judgment seat.  But, of course, we have already been judged in the Person of Christ as He paid for our sins.  So, now as God’s elect find themselves living on this earth in the Day of Judgment, the unsaved of the world are being judged all around us and they are drinking of the cup of the wrath of God.  The true believers are still right here – we have not been taken out of the world.  We are right here where Christ, as the Judge, is presently judging the world and, therefore, we are before the judgment seat.  And as we go through this period of judgment, what is being made manifest as we finally come to the end?  What will be made manifest (if we are able to endure to the end) is that we were, in fact, in Christ from the foundation of the world; He did die for our sins and that is why we will make it faithfully through this grievous and difficult time and endure to the end.  We will be truly “demonstrating” our salvation, showing what Christ wrought for us from the foundation of the world.

So this is something very interesting when we read that the Lord Jesus at His appearing will judge the living and the dead.  He is judging the living and the Bible tells us that the true believers must “appear” or be “made manifest” before the judgment seat of Christ.  That fits together, as well as this verse in Ecclesiastes 3:16-17:

And moreover I saw under the sun the place of judgment, that wickedness was there; and the place of righteousness, that iniquity was there. I said in mine heart, God shall judge the righteous and the wicked: for there is a time there for every purpose and for every work.