The Books Were Opened -- Revelation 20:11-15

The Twenty-Ninth in a Series of Sermons on Revelation

No subject strikes terror into the human heart like the thought of standing before God on judgment day, knowing that we must each give a full account of all those things we have done.  But this is exactly what we find in the latter part of Revelation chapter 20, when John describes a very sobering scene before the throne in heaven.  The books will be opened and the dead will be judged according to what they have done, whether that be good or evil.

We complete our discussion of Revelation chapter 20, as we move into the final section of this book dealing with the eternal state.  The eternal state is that period of redemptive history which comes after human history as we know it, is no more.  To put it in basic terms, in the balance of Revelation, John is describing what we commonly speak of as “heaven.”  But before we enter the eternal state, John reminds us that there is a final judgment yet to come.  The very thought of facing God on judgment day gives us reason to pause. 

Last time, we read the last 5 verses of Revelation 20 in connection with our discussion of the millennial age.  We did so to make the point that the second coming of Jesus Christ and the final judgment occur after the millennial reign of Christ, demonstrating that the Bible does not teach premillennialism.  But these few verses also serve as a very climatic and final turning point in redemptive history.  Therefore, they deserve our full attention, especially when we look back at the ground we have covered in the Book of Revelation so far.  In a sweeping survey of the messianic age, John has taken us from the first century to the time of the end and beyond, describing the course of redemptive history between the two comings of Christ from a number different camera angles, so to speak, using apocalyptic symbolism drawn from the Old Testament and set against the backdrop of the first century Roman empire.

In order to fully appreciate the importance these verses play in redemptive history, we need to briefly survey that which has gone before.  In the first three chapters of Revelation, we covered John’s vision of the resurrected Christ walking among his churches, as well as the seven letters to the churches of Asia Minor, in which John was speaking to those issues facing Christians in his original audience.  As we have seen, these are issues which Christians will face throughout this present evil age.  John has told us something of the persecution Christians were facing at the hands of Roman empire.  We have also read of false teachers slipping into these churches, dividing them through false doctrine and deceptively leading people away from Christ.  In speaking directly to the seven historic churches about the nature of Satan’s assaults, John is warning Christians throughout this present age of those things they can expect from their great enemy, the Devil, a defeated foe who rages against us because his doom is sure.

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