Good evening and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the Book of Revelation.  Tonight is study #16 of Revelation chapter 20 and we are going to read Revelation 20:13-15:

And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

We have been going through Revelation, chapter 20 and the Lord has focused our attention on Judgment Day, the final judgment of mankind.  We saw in the previous verse that the books were opened and the dead were judged out of those things written in the book.  We also saw that another book was opened which was the “book of life.”

Then we see in Revelation 20:13:

And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.

First of all, when we think of the sea and death and hell delivering up the dead, the word “gave” and the word “delivered” are the same Greek word.  It could be said that “death and hell” gave up the dead because it is the identical Greek word.  We could look at this in a literal way as though it is speaking of the physically dead that are in the graves that have died all over the earth.  Men have died and been buried and some have even had their bodies cast into the sea.  A man’s body could have gone down into the sea in a battle.  There have often been battles at sea and sailors have been killed and the ships have sunk and, perhaps, all on board sank into the depths of the sea and drowned.  Their bodies may have floated in the sea and sea creatures may have consumed them and then, perhaps, bigger sea creatures consumed those creatures, and so on.  So it is possible that physical bodies could have been scattered throughout the sea and bits and pieces consumed by creatures that were, in turn, consumed by other creatures. 

When we think of that scenario, some might say, “It is impossible for those bodies to be brought back in any way.”  But God is saying, on one level, that in the Day of Judgment every unsaved person that has died (no matter how they died or how much of his physical body remains), will be “given up” by the “sea” or “death” or the “grave” when it comes to the official judgment of God.  These people that once walked on this earth, but died long ago, are also under the judgment of God and on the very last day of the Day of Judgment whatever may remain of their physical bodies will be destroyed by fire.  The whole world will be destroyed  and the sea will be destroyed, so it says that the sea and death and hell “gave up” the dead to the final judgment of God.

That is one level on which we can understand this verse, but we know that this is the Bible and in the Bible God assigns spiritual meaning to words.  For instance, with the word “sea,” the “troubled sea” is likened to the wicked in the Book of Isaiah.  We also find that the word “sea” is used in the Bible to represent a place where there is Gospel activity; the sea is a picture of the sending forth of the Gospel and when people became saved God likened it to being “fished” out of the sea.  For instance, it says in Mark 1:16-17:

Now as he walked by the sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew his brother casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers. And Jesus said unto them, Come ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men.

The “sea” is where the fish are found and you would go to the sea to fish and God is likening this to the Word of God that is sent into the world to the peoples of the earth and certain ones (the elect) are brought in.  The Bible also speaks of fishing with a net and in one fishing expedition the net broke because it pointed to the bringing in of the elect during the church age and that Gospel net broke.  At another time spoken of in John, chapter 21, there was a great catch of fish (153 in all) and the net did not break because it was picturing the salvation of the great multitude saved outside of the churches and congregations during the Great Tribulation.

So, the Word of God can indicate Gospel activity.  It says in Habakkuk 2:14:

For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of JEHOVAH, as the waters cover the sea.

The Word of God went forth and God also likens His Word to rain that falls from heaven.  In the process of literal rainfall, the rain falls and becomes part of streams and streams become part of rivers and the rivers flow into the sea.  So the Word of God is likened to the “early rain” and the “Latter Rain.”  The doctrine drops as the dew, according to Deuteronomy.  The water comes down from heavens and forms the rivers and the seas.  At the time of the Latter Rain, this verse in Habakkuk, chapter 2, would relate to that period of time when it says, “For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of JEHOVAH, as the waters cover the sea.”  The Word of God went out over the electronic medium to all the nations of the world, like never before, and it was “as the waters cover the sea.”

In a couple of places in the Book of Revelation, God speaks of bringing judgment on the “sea.”  For instance, as God is describing the judgment that began on the churches during the Great Tribulation period, it says in Revelation 8:8-9:

And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea: and the third part of the sea became blood; And the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life, died; and the third part of the ships were destroyed.

God brought a judgment upon the “sea,” which relates to the Gospel waters and their waters turned to blood, indicating that the judgment of God was upon the churches.   This resulted in the death of the “third part” of the creatures that were in the sea and fish are in the sea, so they died.  It is language that lets us know that when God brought judgment upon the churches and turned their waters to blood, there was no more salvation or no more “life” possible through the waters or gospel coming forth from the churches.   The “third part” points to the corporate body of the churches and congregations of the world and this brought about the death of the fish.  That is exactly what happened spiritually over the course of the 23 years of the Great Tribulation when people stayed in the churches; it was as if they stayed in the waters and even though they said they have life, these professed Christians “died.”  They did not leave those “waters” and, yet, nothing could live in those waters.  They needed the fresh waters of the Latter Rain that was falling outside of the churches and forming pools in the wilderness and rivers in the desert, the desolate land of the world outside of the churches.  It was being well-watered everywhere, we could say, and that is where God was still saving.  That is where the living waters were, according to Ezekiel, chapter 47.  Where those waters came there was life because it was the Gospel waters in the place where God had chosen to do His work of saving, which was outside of the churches of the world.

We see that the waters in the churches had turned to blood and were full of dead creatures or dead people.  Those waters would have been full of the dead, just as it says in our verse in Revelation 20:13: “And the sea gave up the dead which were in it.”  Is this what our verse is referring to?  The answer is, “Yes, partly.”   In part, it is looking at May 21, 2011 and the tares that remained in the congregations.  That is when these tares were bundled for immediate burning and, so, too, their sea was full of the dead and “the sea gave up the dead which were in it,” beginning on May 21, 2011. 

But we also read of this in Revelation, chapter 16, but that chapter is dealing with judgment on the world which began on May 21, 2011 and God says in Revelation 16:3:

And the second angel poured out his vial upon the sea; and it became as the blood of a dead man: and every living soul died in the sea.

Notice it does not say “third part” of the sea or “third part” of the creatures, but it is the sea in its entirety.  It is every living soul because it is pointing to the drying up of the Gospel waters of the Latter Rain that had been poured out upon the world during the second part of the Great Tribulation.  Those waters had saved a great multitude and where those waters came there was hope and there was life. 

But there were also individuals outside of the churches that professed to believe and professed to be saved, just as those in the churches had that profession.  But they had never become born again.  They would say they were Christian and they would say they believed the Bible, but God had never done the work of salvation in them either and, therefore, when Judgment Day came the waters were turned to blood outside of the churches, just as they had already been turned to blood within the churches for 23 years.  Now it was the time of the transition of judgment upon the churches to judgment on the entire world.  The Gospel waters outside of the churches were instantaneously turned to blood because God had ended His salvation program.  The Latter Rain had ceased and the waters that had formed the Latter Rain were also now shut off because the door to heaven was shut and there was no longer a purpose for “living water” in that sense.  The waters that could have brought salvation were turned to blood and for those individuals that continued to trust that God was still saving after May 21, 2011, if they stayed in that kind of “water,” they were the dead, as it says, “and every living soul died in the sea.” 

Even today when we are well into the prolonged period of Judgment Day, we still have people and ministries that teach the church age is over.  They say that no one should go to church because God’s judgment is upon the churches and, basically, they are saying that the Gospel waters in the churches have been turned to blood.  These same people that point to the churches and indicate there is no salvation there and that God has abandoned the churches do not realize that their “waters” have also been dried up.  God has turned the waters to blood and where they think they now “live” is where God has said, “and every living soul died in the sea.”  It is the same situation and the same spiritual condition because it is the same cup of the wrath of God that has come upon them as had come upon the churches and, yet, they continue to talk of it being the day of salvation.  They continue to hope and cry out to God and they urge people, “Beseech the Lord that He might save you.”  But they are doing exactly the same thing as the leaders of the churches that offer false encouragement as they tell the people of their congregations, “You can still be blessed here.”  Now these people and ministries outside the churches are under the same judgment, but they continue to tell others that God is still working the work of salvation and they claim to still have the water of the Gospel and the blessing of God and, in effect, they are telling people that they can live in these waters, but it is not true.

When we read, “and every living soul died in the sea,” it is referring, on one hand, to the waters in the churches and, on the other hand, it is also referring to the waters outside of the churches.  The Word of God went forth all over the earth and the knowledge of the Lord covered the earth as the waters cover the sea, but those waters have also been turned to blood and every living soul in those waters that had not become saved (prior to May 21, 2011) died.  They cannot be saved after the fact and after Judgment Day has commenced.  The entire “sea” has now given up the dead in the Day of Judgment in order that they might experience the wrath of God.