Revelation 20:11 - Meaning and Application

The complete overthrow of the devil’s kingdom rightly leads to a description of the day of judgment, which will decide every person’s eternal condition. We can be sure there will be a judgment when we see that the prince of this world is judged (John 16:11). It will be a great day, indeed the great day, when everyone stands before the judgment seat of Christ. May the Lord help us believe firmly in the coming judgment. This is the truth that made Felix tremble.

Here we see a description of that day. First, there is the throne, the place of judgment, which is great and white, glorious and perfectly fair and righteous. The throne of sin, which gives wickedness the force of law, has nothing in common with this holy throne.

Second, we see the Judge. It is the Lord Jesus Christ, who then appears with such majesty and terror that earth and heaven flee from his presence, and no place is found for them. This is the breaking apart of the whole order of nature (2 Peter 3:10).

Third, we see the people who are to be judged (Revelation 20:12): the dead, both small and great, meaning young and old, low and high, poor and rich. No one is too insignificant to answer for the gifts and opportunities given to them, and no one is too great to escape this court’s authority. This includes not only those alive when Christ comes, but also all who died before. The grave will give up people’s bodies, hell will give up the souls of the wicked, and the sea will give up the many who seemed to have been lost in it.

Fourth, we see the rule of judgment. The books were opened. What books are these? They are the books of God’s perfect knowledge, for he knows all things and is greater than our own consciences. There is a record with him of both good and evil. Another book is the sinner’s conscience, which was once hidden but will then be opened. And another book will be opened, the book of Scripture, the law book of heaven and the rule for life. This book is opened because it contains the law, the standard by which human hearts and lives are tested. This book decides what is right, while the other books provide evidence of what was actually done. Some people understand the other book, the book of life, as the record of God’s eternal plan, but that does not seem to belong to the judgment scene here. In God’s choosing his people, he does not act as a judge, but with free and sovereign power.

Fifth, we see the matter to be tried, the works of people, what they have done, whether good or evil. People will be justified, that is, declared righteous, or condemned according to their works. God already knows their state and the motives behind what they do, and he looks mainly at those. Yet since he will show himself to angels and people as a righteous God, he will test their inward principles by their outward actions. In that way he will be proved right when he speaks and clear when he judges.

Sixth, we see the result of the trial. It will be according to the evidence of fact and the rule of judgment. All who have made peace with death and joined themselves to hell will then be condemned with their evil allies and thrown into the lake of fire, since they are not entitled to eternal life according to the rules of life set out in Scripture. But those whose names are written in that book, meaning those who are justified and declared innocent by the gospel, will then be justified and acquitted by the Judge. They will enter eternal life and have nothing more to fear from death, hell, or wicked people, for all these are destroyed together.

Let it be our great concern to see what our Bibles say about us, whether they now justify us or condemn us. The Judge of all will use that rule. Christ will judge the hidden things of all people according to the gospel. Happy are those who have already arranged their case according to the gospel and know ahead of time that they will be justified on the great day of the Lord!