Good evening and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the Book of Revelation.  Tonight is study #14 of Revelation chapter 20 and we are going to read Revelation 20:12:

And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.

Here, we are given a look at the judgment throne of God and we see that the “dead, small and great, stand before God.” The “dead” would be a reference to all unsaved people.  Since this is looking at mankind from a perspective of all history until the official Day of Judgment (I will explain that later), it includes those that are physically alive but considered by God to be spiritually dead.

Let us look at one verse that will help us understand this in Matthew 8:22:

But Jesus said unto him, Follow me; and let the dead bury their dead.

Of course, it is impossible for the physically dead to bury others that are physically dead, but it is very possible for those that are “dead in trespasses and sins” to bury their physical dead.  This is what Christ referred to when someone wanted to go and bury his father first and Jesus said that what was much more important was to follow Him and be involved in the Gospel program.  So the word “dead” can refer to someone who is spiritually dead and, yet, physically alive or it can refer to someone who had been spiritually dead and then also became physically dead. 

In our verse in Revelation 20, verse 12, both groups are in view, many of which have physically died throughout history and in this official Day of Judgment at the end of time, many people have already physically died.

Again, the Apostle John is being given a vision in which he sees “the dead, small and great, stand before God.”  The Greek word translated as “stand” is a perfect active participle and it denotes an ongoing action.  It involves that which is “past” and is continuing, so when we take into account all the Biblical information, we find that since man’s fall into sin back in the Garden of Eden the unsaved sinners have been continually standing before God for judgment.  All throughout history as people would sin, the Word of God would judge that individual and then when that individual died physically, the Word of God condemned that person.  They were judged and ceased to exist. 

Of course, the Bible tells us there has always been the declaration of a final judgment, the official Day of Judgment which began on May 21, 2011 and is a prolonged period of time.  In all likelihood, it will conclude on October 7, 2015 with the destruction of the world and the annihilation of all the unsaved people that are physically alive, as well as the unsaved dead.  On that day, the bodies of the physically dead that are unsaved will be destroyed and that will be the completion of their judgment, so they are also being judged in the official Day of Judgment.

In using the “perfect active participle” in this verse in Revelation 20:12, God is really letting us know that it has been happening on an ongoing basis throughout the history of the world since man’s fall into sin.  For instance, let us take a look at John 3:18:

He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

In this verse God is saying that the sinner is condemned already and to be condemned means you have been judged.  Is that not what happens when a person goes to trial and stands before a judge for their crime?  They are found guilty and condemned by the judge.  They are condemned to life imprisonment or they are condemned to die – that is the condemnation or the judgment.  Since the beginning, the Bible has told us this.   God said to Adam that in the “day” they would eat of the tree, they would die and then Adam and Eve ate of the tree and they died in their soul existence and then, eventually, it also brought their physical death.  That was the condemnation.   They already had experienced the judgment of a “dead soul” and then they experienced the judgment of a “dead body.”  If they never became saved, they would remain dead and they would cease to exist forever: “The wages of sin is death.”  God says in Romans 5:16:

And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification.

Here, God says the judgment was a past action.  At the very beginning, in 11,013BC, when Adam and Eve ate of the forbidden fruit they died.  They were judged.  The judgment was “by one” because Adam was the figurehead for the entire human race; we were in “his loins,” so we were all guilty: “for the judgment was by one to condemnation.”

Then it also says in Romans 5:18:

Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.

The free gift came to all the elect through Christ, but some people do not like the idea that Adam was our figurehead and when he disobeyed, all were condemned.  But, it worked the opposite way for the Lord Jesus Christ; He was the figurehead for all His people and through His righteousness, many are justified.  That is how God established things.

The point we are looking at is that mankind was already judged and already condemned and as people lived their lives, they were continuing to sin.   They had already been judged due to their “dead souls” and their bodies saw corruption due to the condemnation that was upon them and, eventually, they died.  The only thing remaining would be the final destruction of their remains.  If they had been cast into the sea or burned in a fire, whatever was left of the elements of that individual would be destroyed on the very last day.

Again, our verse says in Revelation 20:12:  “And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God.”  The Apostle John is seeing what has been taking place as the dead “stand” before God, now in the context of Judgment Day.  God is continuing to judge man for their sins as we enter into the appointed, official time for the judgment of all the wicked of the earth.

Then it goes on to say in Revelation 20:12:

… and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.

We have “books” (plural) that are opened and then “another book” (singular) is opened at the same time and we wonder what books God is opening and what does it mean.  As we look to the Bible, we find that God speaks of “books” in Daniel, chapter 7, in an Old Testament passage that relates to Revelation, chapter 20.  It says in Daniel 7:10:

A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him: thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened.

Here, again, it says that “books were opened.”  This same word “books” is also found in Daniel 9:2:

In the first year of his reign I Daniel understood by books the number of the years, whereof the word of JEHOVAH came to Jeremiah the prophet, that he would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem.

Daniel “understood by books.”  What “books” brought about this understanding?  Well, it would have been the Book of Jeremiah and other Scriptures, the Books of the Bible.  Those are the “books” that are open. 

We have that today, do we not?  We speak of the Bible as a “Book,” singular, but we also say, “Let us turn to the Book of Isaiah.  Let us go to the Book of Romans or to the Book of Jeremiah.”  We have “books” that comprise this one Book, the Bible, and it is these that are open because it is in these “books” of the Bible that we find God’s laws, God’s commandments and the perfect standard of righteousness that all mankind falls short of, as it says in Romans 3:23: “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.”  This is the first thing that God does in the Day of Judgment concerning the examination and judgment of sinners.  He opens the “books.”  Notice what it says at the end of Revelation 20:12:

… and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books…

The “books” are what God looks to in order to pass judgment upon the spiritually dead that have rebelled against Him.  Notice it goes on to say at the end of Revelation 20:12:

…according to their works.

The last part of this verse helps us to know, without any doubt, that the “books” that are judging the spiritually dead is the Bible because based on what is written in the “books,” God is able to determine their works, whether they were good or whether they were evil.  That tells us that it is referring to the Word of God, the Bible, because “works” are always a response to what God declares.  A “good work” is an obedient response and an “evil work” is a disobedient response to the Law of God that is found in the “books” of the Bible.  

That is the first thing we see in Revelation 20:12 when we see that the “books” were opened.  Of course, when God opens the Book, the Bible, He has His law.  What does His law say?  It says, “Thou shalt not commit adultery.  Thou shalt not steal.  Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.  Thou shalt not kill.”  Of course, there are so many laws.  For example, we are not to remove our foot from His holy day.  We are to go into the world with the Gospel.  Husbands are to love their wives and wives are to submit to their husbands and children are to obey and honor their parents.  There is law, after law, after law and man fails, and fails, and fails.  Man’s bad or evil works multiply and he sins and transgresses the law of God again, and again.  Some people have sin weaknesses and day, after day, after day, these sins grow and multiply – it is a multitude of sin.  It is a multitude of evil works that the “books” of the Bible reveals to us. 

So, here are the “dead.”  They are standing before God in an ongoing way, but God does not just leave it at that.  It is not just the condemnation that the “books” of the Bible bring, but God opened up another book, as it says in Revelation 20:12:

… and another book was opened…

This is a different book.  It is not part of the “books” of the Bible.  This is the “book of life.”  After seeing the evil works of human beings against the Bible, what human being would not be found guilty and condemned if it were only the “books” of the Bible that were opened on the Day of Judgment?  If it were only the books of the Bible that were opened throughout the history of the world (with all its Scriptures, laws and statutes), what man would not be condemned?  It says in Psalm 130:3: “If thou, JEHOVAH, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?”  This would be the situation because all would be condemned because we have all sinned and come short of the glory of God.  All are guilty: “There is none righteous, no not one.”  There is none that does good, but there was “another book” opened and this book was said to be the “book of life.” 

We need to be a little careful, because the “book of life” is spoken of from two perspectives.  There is the book of life that is spoken of from the perspective of creation; that was when God created man “good” and man would have lived if he had maintained obedience to the law of God.  The only commandment God gave man at that time was not to eat the fruit of a particular tree, but man disobeyed and death entered into the world.

There is also the “book of life” from the perspective of God’s salvation program through the Lord Jesus Christ.  Let us first look at the “book of life” from the perspective of creation.  We see in Exodus 32:32-33:

Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin--; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written. And JEHOVAH said unto Moses, Whosoever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book.

Here, God speaks of a book wherein an individual will be blotted out of that book when he sinned.  It is as if God wrote the names of every human being and when each human being sinned, He returns to the book and blots out or removes the name.  You are no longer in the “book of life” if your name is blotted out.  You were there originally from the perspective of creation, but when an individual sins, his name is blotted out.  For example, when Adam sinned, his name was blotted out, but we do not know who is saved or who is not saved. 

It says in Psalm 69:27-28:

Add iniquity unto their iniquity: and let them not come into thy righteousness. Let them be blotted out of the book of the living, and not be written with the righteous.

Here, again, God speaks of iniquity and of being blotted out of the book because of sin.  Here He calls it the “book of the living,” but that would be the “book of life.”  Yet, there is reference made to some other writing, where it says,” and not be written with the righteous,” and that is pointing to the Lamb’s Book of Life in which God has written the names of those He has elected to salvation.

So, this can be a little complicated, but let us go to Revelation 22:18-19:

For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.

Here, if someone is guilty of adding to the Word of the Bible, by which they have another kind of gospel (like tongues or dreams and visions), God says He will add unto them the plagues written and take their “part out of the book of life.”  This can only be referring to the “book” from the creation perspective. 

How do we know it is not speaking of the “book of life” of the Lord Jesus?  The Bible is very definite in stating that when God saves a sinner and gives them eternal life, they can never lose it.  By definition, if you have “eternal life,” you cannot lose it, so when God speaks of removing or blotting someone out of the “book of life,” it cannot be the Lamb’s Book of Life, but it is the “book” from the perspective of creation, in which everyone’s name was written; in that book you can lose your place in that book.

When we get together in our next study, we will look at the other “book of life,” the Book of the Lamb.