What happens when God’s patience with rebellious mankind comes to an end? In this episode, J. Mark Horst examines Revelation 20:7-15, where John describes the final judgment. We explore the last rebellion of the nations under Satan’s deception, God’s final judgment of Satan, and the appearance of the unrighteous dead before the great white throne. This passage reminds us that every person will stand before God in judgment, while also pointing us to the wonder of His grace.
If you have children or have worked with children, you know they can be master manipulators. As a child, I remember wanting permission to do something. After getting an unsatisfactory answer from one of my parents, I went to the other to see how they’d respond.
My mom was a little more lenient than my dad, so I usually went to her first. One of her responses was, “Did you ask your father?” Sometimes that meant no, because I already knew what my dad would say before I asked. Other times, the answer was, “Let me talk to your father.” That at least felt a little more hopeful, with Mom pleading my case.
Or how about this scenario: repeatedly asking for something, hoping to wear down your parents’ resistance. After multiple attempts to get your way, your parents ‘ patience ran out, and they responded with an exasperated, “No, and that’s final.”
But children aren’t the only ones who operate this way; it’s human nature. I confess I’ve tried to manipulate God and His Word to get the outcome I wanted. Perhaps you’ve tried that too. If you did, you’ve discovered, as I have, that it never turns out well.
In our study of Revelation, we’ve come to the closing verses of chapter 20. Here, God’s mercy and patience toward rebellious mankind reach an end, and all that remains is judgment. I’ve titled our study “The Final Judgment.” Listen now as I read the text, Revelation 20:7-15. This is the Word of God to us.
1Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.
2 He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years;
3 and he cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal on him, so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished. But after these things he must be released for a little while.
4 And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.
5 But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.
6 Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years.
7 Now when the thousand years have expired, Satan will be released from his prison
8 and will go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle, whose number is as the sand of the sea.
9 They went up on the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. And fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them.
10 The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.
11 Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them.
12 And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books.
13 The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works.
14 Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
15 And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.
This text provides the IDENTIFICATION of those present at mankind’s final judgment.
The First Identification is,
The Nations
Our text informs us of Satan’s release after the 1,000-year reign of Christ is completed. The One who lets him loose is the same One who bound him and sealed him in the Abyss. God uses even the wickedest of beings, and overrules the worst depravity, to His own good and gracious ends. He gives Satan liberty, not because the Devil or his malice is necessary to Him, but to show His power to bring good out of evil, to make even the worst of creatures praise him, and to turn their very wickedness to the furtherance of His purposes.
Satan is released from his prison in the abyss and goes out one final time to pursue his chief task: deception. Before his binding and imprisonment, we have a record of his deceptive efforts in Revelation chapters 12-18. Even the Devil is granted a final opportunity to improve his record. But neither judgment nor mercy affects him. He is, and remains to the last, the same depraved and wicked being. Even in his brief freedom before he is cast into the lake of fire, he tempts, seduces, and deceives the happy, peaceful world.
The nations he deceives are stated to be from the four corners of the earth. This same description is used in Isaiah 11:12. He doesn’t call this time to “the kings of the earth”; there are none left. Instead, he addresses the people, those who dwell on the outskirts and in the darker places of the earth. They ally themselves with Satan and gather for battle, an innumerable host. They spread across the earth, surrounding the camp of the saints and the beloved city, Jerusalem.
The nations are identified as Gog and Magog. Here, Gog and Magog are used more broadly than in Ezekiel chapters 38 and 39, and their invasion differs in timing and detail. Ezekiel predicts an invasion by a great northern power called Gog. Based on certain geographical indications, it is often identified as the region that was once the Soviet Union. In Revelation, however, Gog and Magog designate the nations, not merely from the north, but from all parts: “the four quarters of the earth.” The hosts in Ezekiel fall on the mountains and are buried, whereas the forces assembled in Revelation are devoured by fire from heaven. Their judgment is instantaneous. Christ’s reign is a reign of righteousness, in which evil is no longer tolerated as it is now, but is promptly crushed.[1]
This huge host marches up on the plain of the earth and surrounds the beloved city, Jerusalem. Some may wonder about this description, but remember: Zechariah 14 prophesies major topographical changes at Christ’s second coming and before the Millennium. However, at the moment this huge army appears to be on the verge of victory, fire from God falls from heaven, and the besiegers are destroyed, like Sodom and Gomorrah! What a vivid picture of this last great battle between God and Satan.
In this way, Satan’s final attempt to usurp God’s throne and claim a place of prominence and worship is shattered. This event also ends the false idea that man, in a perfect environment, will willingly serve the God who created and redeemed him. Even in the ideal situation of Christ’s millennial reign, an innumerable group of people immediately respond to this temptation to rebel. This is the end of the road for the nations who rebel against God, as well as for the career of Satan. (Which leads us to the next identification.)
The Next Identification (of those present at the final judgment) is,
The Devil
Verse 10 informs us, “The devil, who deceived them [the nations], was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they [this unholy trinity] will be tormented day and night forever and ever.”
Satan was first self-deceived in launching his heavenly career to be like God (Isa. 14:14) and then began his earthly career by deceiving Eve in the garden. He is still the same character at the time of his final judgment. No sanctifying grace is available for fallen angels (Jude 6-7)! The divine act of judgment casts Satan into the lake of fire, where he joins the beast and the false prophet who preceded him by one thousand years.
The text teaches that both the beast and the false prophet are still in the lake of fire when Satan joins them, a thousand years after being cast into it. Significantly, the verb of torment is in the third person plural, indicating that it should be understood as having for its subjects not only Satan but also the beast and the false prophet. It should be translated “They shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.”
Thus the Word of God plainly declares that death is not annihilation and that the wicked exist forever in torment. No Greek phrase states the everlasting punishment of the lost more emphatically than this, mentioning both day and night and the expression “for ever and ever,” literally “to the ages of ages.” The lake of fire prepared for the devil and the wicked angels is also the destiny of all who follow Satan.[2]
Satan’s destruction leads us to the final identification of those being judged.
The Final Identification is,
The Unrighteous Dead
Following Satan’s judgment, John sees a great white throne. The countenance of the one sitting on it caused the earth and heaven to flee away, and no place was found for them. The identity of the one sitting on the throne is not revealed, but remember that in John 5:22 Jesus said, “…the Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son…”
Regarding the disappearance of heaven and earth, the Old Testament often teaches that matter is not eternal, as seen in Psalm 97:5, Psalm 102:6, and Isaiah 51:6. In our age, the impure defiles the pure. Still, when God appears in glory, his purity banishes the impure, because his holiness cannot abide anything corrupted by sin. This sets the stage for what John saw at the opening of the next chapter: the new heaven and the new earth.
In verses 5-6 of this chapter, we were told about the first resurrection and the blessing that accompanies it. Verse 14 refers to a second death. Therefore, I believe this judgment is preceded by the second resurrection; that is, the unrighteous dead are raised to face the wages of their sin in rejecting Christ (Romans 6:21). Since they have rejected or ignored God’s infinite grace and Christ’s infinite love in dying for their sins, “there remains no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries” (Hebrews 10:26-27).
At the great white throne, John sees the dead, described as “small and great,” standing before God, awaiting judgment. From the context, it may be assumed that these are the wicked dead, who are not raised in the first resurrection (see Dan. 12:2; John 5:29; Acts 24:15; Rev. 20:5). The phrase “small and great” used previously in Revelation (11:18; 13:16; 19:5,18) indicates that those appearing before the throne come from all walks of life and degrees of greatness. They stand as equals in the court of heaven, awaiting sentencing. This fulfills Hebrews 9:27: “It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.”
This judgment will not be based on hearsay or circumstantial evidence. No, the books record the deeds of every person who has ever walked the face of the earth. Their judgment is based on the opened books, which fall into two classifications. The book of life [singular] evidently refers to those who are saved and have eternal life. The other books mentioned as plural are the divine records of human works. The dead are judged by these records, and, as in other final judgments, the sum of their works is examined.
It is noteworthy that all the final judgments are judgments of works. At Christ’s judgment seat (2 Cor. 5:10-11), believers are judged according to their works and rewarded. In Matthew 25:31-46, the Gentiles are judged according to their works in the sense that the works distinguish those who are saved, the sheep, from those who are lost, the goats. Here, works are not the issue of salvation but rather the degree of punishment, since there is no indication that any righteous persons are found in this judgment scene.
According to verse 13, no one will escape this judgment. “The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works.” No trumpet is sounded; that’s reserved for those in covenant with the King. There is simply the going forth of eternal power into the sea, into the graves, into Hades, into all the storehouses of the souls and bodies of the unholy dead, and all these vast multitudes suddenly stand before the throne of God and Christ.
These will all have died physically, then been resurrected. They will die again physically (or possibly will continue in an eternal state of dying physically—note Mark 9:43-48). This can appropriately be called “the second death.” The resurrection of the wicked dead sharply contrasts with the resurrection of the righteous dead. Although the passage does not state this explicitly, this judgment implies that no one is saved.
When every man is judged according to his works, he becomes subject to God’s perfect righteousness. The peculiar construction of the closing clause of verse 13, “they were judged every man,” uses a third-person plural verb but a first-person singular masculine for the term “every man” or “each.” The meaning is that while they are judged as a group, the resulting judgment is nevertheless individual. No one will be punished for someone else’s sin (Ezek. 18:20).
The final verses of the chapter inform us, “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 most likely means that all who died physically and were in Hades, the place of departed spirits (Luke 16:19-30), are here found unworthy and cast into the lake of fire. This is then described as “the second death,” which stands in opposition to the first resurrection, or the eternal state of bliss that is enjoyed by the saved. Thus, both the wicked and the righteous are permanently assigned to their respective destinies in the eternal state. Verse 15 declares that judgment rests on whether their names were found written in the book of life. The phrase “whosoever was not found written in the book of life” implies a careful search to ensure no mistake is made.
When questioned about the lake of fire, Joseph Seiss wrote, “What that ‘lake of fire’ is, I cannot tell; I do not know, and I pray God that I may never find out.”[3] Some think this judgment means extinction of existence, annihilation, a cremation of body and spirit, which leaves no ashes after it. But the Beast and the False Prophet were in that place for more than a thousand years, and at the end of that time they are still alive. Concerning those who are compelled to make proof of that death, the specific statement is, “they shall be tormented day and night, to the ages of the ages.” This does not look like either annihilation or final restoration.
Paul wrote in Thessalonians 1:7-10, “…when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power, when He comes, in that Day, to be glorified in His saints and to be admired among all those who believe, because our testimony among you was believed.” Wherever this horrible place is, the unsaved will be far from the Lord’s presence and will remain there forever!
Some may think this fate is too severe. However, several factors are worth considering. First, those who have rejected God’s presence in their lives on earth will be less miserable in hell than if they were forced to be in His presence forever. Second, only infinite punishment fits those who have rejected or ignored the Son of God’s infinite love for them. Finally, they must exist forever somewhere, since they were created in God’s image and He is eternal.
This is a very sobering portion of Holy Scripture. Within the limits of our humanity, we cannot fully fathom the wonders of Heaven or the horrors of Hell. However, I believe a thorough appreciation of eternal punishment will, in the end, enhance the doctrine of God’s grace and make God’s love all the more wonderful for those who enter into its truth.
Eternal punishment is not limited to this passage of Scripture, for Jesus Himself speaks of the destiny of the wicked in many passages (Matthew 13:42; 25:41, 46; etc.). The only revelation that has been given concerning the eternal state recognizes two destinies only: one of blessedness in the presence of the Lord, the other of eternal punishment.
If you are unsure of your eternal destiny, remember, “…NOW is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:2).
[1] T. B. Baines, The Revelation of Jesus Christ, pp. 270-71.
[2] Walvoord, The Revelation of Jesus Christ, p. 316
[3] Seiss, Joseph, Lectures on Revelation, p. 480
