April 26, 2017
Revelation 20:11-15
(All scripture is from the New King James Version unless otherwise indicated.)
It is not always easy to quote an extended portion of Scripture. Sometimes I will delete or rearrange the words a bit to save space in a blog. But I am always very careful to keep the meaning! I point this out because I am well aware of what is written in Revelation 22:18 and 19:
If anyone adds to…the words of the prophecy of this book…God will add
to him the plagues that are written in this book; and if anyone takes away
from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part
from the Book of Life….
So I encourage you to read the whole featured Scripture from your Bible. That being said, here is our today’s choice from Revelation 20:15 through 19:
And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books
were opened. And…the Book of life…was opened….The sea…and Death
and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were
judged each one according to their works…by the things which were
written in the books….Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of
fire. This is the second death. And anyone not found written in the
Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.
This describes The Resurrection Of The Damned and their judgment! According to Revelation 20:5, “…the rest of the dead [the unsaved or the damned] did not live again until the thousand years [of the Millenium] were finished.” Our Scripture not only describes this resurrection, but also the Great White Throne Judgment which follows.
What are the books that are part of this judgment?
• The Book of Life is God’s listing of the names of those who have trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ – either in His sacrifice on Calvary’s cross for our sins, and His rising from death again; or the prophecies of the Messiah’s coming before the incarnation. You might say that the Book of Life is the final proof – if your name is there, you’re in God’s family! If it isn’t, you are headed for hell!
• The books of works are the record of all the works, words, and thoughts of those unredeemed who are standing before God’s throne for judgment! Why words and thoughts? It only mentions works in Revelation 20:12 and 13.
✞ Works – Obviously, these are what lost people have openly done in their lives.
✞ Words – Jesus tells us in Matthew 12:27, “…by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”
✞ Thoughts – The Lord warns us in Matthew 5:28 to be careful what we think: “But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”
▸ According to I John 3:15: “Whoever hates his brother is a murderer….”
▸ According to Exodus 20:17: “You shall not covet….” Why? Because coveting is so desiring what someone else has, it is stealing in your heart! And, by the way, coveting is also putting something in first place in your life, where God ought to be! (See Luke 10:27). So Paul tells us, “…covetousness…is idolatry.” (Colossians 3:5).
We could go on to say that every outward sin starts in the heart – the thoughts – of man! No wonder Proverbs 4:23 warns us: “Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life.” And Jesus says in Matthew 15:19 and 20, “…out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts false witness, blasphemies. These are the things which defile a man….”
Now, why are the damned resurrected? Because God created all of us to be eternal! That did not change when mankind fell into sin. What changed was our relationship to God! Before sin entered in, we were dynamically connected to God! After sin…… well, Isaiah 59:2 puts it this way: “…your iniquities have separated you from your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you, So that He will not hear.” If that sinful separation is not rectified in this life, we will enter eternity and be separated from the Lord forever in hell!
But, thanks be to God, He took care of the problem of sin! Jesus took all our sins upon His perfect self – becoming sin and sinner before the Father! And the Father poured out His wrath upon His own Son instead of on us! Since the debt of sin has been paid, we can now be reconciled to God when we receive Jesus as our Savior, trusting that what He did on the cross was for us! “For whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” (Romans 10:13).
And those who don’t? They shall stand before the Judge (see John 5:22) and hear Him say, “Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels….” (Matthew 25:41).
This is why there is The Resurrection Of The Damned! If there was not, God would not be fair! For He has made the only way (see John 14:6), and unrepentant sinners have rejected it!
Accept Jesus Christ as your Savior today! (See II Corinthians 6:2).