Read Revelation 20:11–15
Questions from the Scripture text: What two things does John see in v11? How do earth and heaven respond to the One Who sits on that throne? With what result? Whom does John see in v12? Doing what? Before Whom? What is done while they are standing there? What other book is opened? What is done to the dead? According to what? From where are these dead supplied/given up (v13)? What is done to these dead? What, then is done, to death and hades (v14)? What is this casting into the lake of fire called? Who else are cast into the lake of fire?
What will happen in the last day? Revelation 20:11–15 looks forward to the evening sermon on the coming Lord’s Day. In these five verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that each one of us will be resurrected in the last day to stand before Christ and be judged according to whether the book of our own life is cross-referenced with His Book of Life.
This account of the judgment begins with just how fleeting this world is (v11). Since we have been in Ecclesiastes recently, we are prepared to hear that our best, most God-honoring, most generation-blessing works still produce results that, in an ultimate sense, are vapor that will quickly vanish. The great thing about them is that they are done as assignments from God, in dependence upon God, in relationship with God, and as participation in His ultimate works, which are exactly opposite in nature: they are determined from eternity and endure unto eternity.
So, we should be prepared for this teaching, in Revelation 20, that when each of us stands before the tribunal of Christ, earth and heaven themselves will be so far into the background that there is no place for them before the face of Christ (v11). He is the One Who sits upon this great white throne (cf. Mt 25:31–32, Ac 17:31). And this verse emphasizes to us just how naked and open our eyes are to Him (cf. Heb 4:13). This is why, when you read your Bible, and especially when you sit under the preaching of His Word, you need to know yourself to be exposed and examined by His Word (cf. Heb 4:12, Jam 1:23–24). On the last day, everything else will recede into the background, as you stand before Jesus. And, there is a very real sense in which, if you have the faith-eyes to see it, that is already true today.
It is a great comfort to the believer that, when he stands for tribunal to examine the book of his life, it will be before his Redeemer. As Rom 8:34 says, “Who is He Who condemns? It is Christ Who died, and furthermore is also risen, Who is even at the right hand of God, Who also makes intercession for us.” Nothing can separate us from the love of Christ (cf. Rom 8:35), or the love of God which is in Christ (cf. Rom 8:39). Most explicitly, the judgment does not.
This is because there are two sets of books, ours (v12a) and God’s (v12b). As you live your life, you are writing a book. There are two sorts of things that you may write in that book: those things that are evil (cf. Jn 3:19) and those things that have been done in God (cf. Jn 3:21). But God has also written a book, the book of life. And each one’s book will be cross-referenced with His book. If, in your book, there are written deeds that were done in God, this can only have been through union with Christ by grace-given faith. If so, you will find that prior to any of your entries in your book, there is an entry written in God’s book from before the world began, the Book of life (v12b), where He has written down all of those whom He creates and redeems unto eternal life. Being written into this book is the only way that one escapes being cast into the lake of fire (v15).
It is a wonderful comfort for the Christian to know that, at his death, he is not done with his body yet. It will be resurrected like unto Christ’s glory body (cf. Php 3:21, 1Co 15:42–49). But it should be a stupefying horror to the unbeliever to know that, at his death, he is not done with his body yet. He will be raised to stand before Christ in that body (cf. Jn 5:28–29), and he will be cast into the lake of fire in that body (v15). Death and hades wait in that lake of fire (v14), which is the second death, for those who refused to know God, or to trust in Christ as He is offered in the gospel. There, the glorious presence and power of Christ will be unto them, body and soul, a burning that is forever (cf. 2Th 1:9).
O dear reader, come now to love the presence and power of Christ as the presence and power of your Redeemer, so that when you stand before Him as King and Judge, you will know yourself to be standing before the One Who has loved you without beginning, and will love you without end! And, thus, write the book of your days as a book of deeds done in God.
Before Whom will you stand in the last day? Who is He, to you, to your heart? What sorts of things did you write in your book today? What sorts of things will you write in your book tomorrow? How can you come to know that your name is written in God’s book of life? What will it be like for you when these books are both opened?
Sample prayer: Lord, forgive us for how we write the books of our lives with too little thought for whether the deeds written in them have been done in God. And forgive us for forgetting that our great hope is to be written down in Your book of life. And, forgive us for taking so little comfort from the fact that the One Who will sit on that throne is the One Who has redeemed us and is interceding for us. Give us to live in that comfort and hope, and to fill the book of our own days with deeds that have been done in union with Christ, we ask in His Name, AMEN!
Suggested songs: ARP32 “What Blessedness” or TPH389 “Great God, What Do I See and Hear”
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