And I saw a great white throne and One sitting upon it from whose face the earth and the heavens fled, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne; and books were opened, and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged by what has been written in the books according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades gave up their dead who were in them, and each of them was judged according to his works. And Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire; this is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. Revelation 20: 11-15

In my last posting, we saw Satan and the assembled wicked surround New Jerusalem. Before the city could be attacked, fire rained down from heaven upon the assembled (Rev. 20: 9, 10). In this posting of verses 11-15, the revelation backs up and provides some details that immediately precede the fire-fall.

The wicked dead have risen from the second resurrection. Led by Satan, they prepare to storm the city. Before that happens, the throne of God appears high above the city, which houses the saved. Outside of the city, all of earth’s unrepentant humanity are supernaturally enabled to see the throne. They stand still before it, ceasing their activities.

More than likely, it is Jesus that they see sitting upon the throne, for during the Second Coming, it was His face from which the earth and heavens fled (shaken and moved), and the unrepentant sought to hide.

The throne’s appearance marks the fulfillment of Rev. 11: 18’s “the time to judge the dead.” For all to see, Jesus opens the books. These can be called the “books of deeds.” They contain the records of individual works, which include thoughts,and  motives. The works in essence reveals a person’s allegiance to either God or Satan. The “books of deeds” are two books: the Book of Remembrance and the Book of Death.

Although salvation is based on grace, the unrepentant are judged on their works in relation to the Ten Commandments. By opening the “books of deeds,” it can be seen that the sentence God renders is not arbitrary, biased, or unfair. The works determine God’s decision.

After the “books of deeds” have been gone through, and all will have to then acknowledge that God is fair and is about to judge in righteousness, perhaps the next thing that happens is Philippians 2: 9-11 coming into play: “Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

Now God’s judgment is executed. Divine fire rains from heaven. Death and Hades (the grave) are personified and thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. This means Death and Hades’ existence is ended and will not be a part of the rest of eternity.

John concludes the judgment scene, stating that all not found in a separate book called the Book of Life, will join Death and Hades in the lake of fire. It will be their second death; only this time, their death is eternal. The Book of Life contains only the names of the faithful. They are the ones who at some point in their lives professed faith in Christ and endured to the end.

For more on heaven’s books, read 3 Phases of End-Time Judgment. The books are described under the subhead The Investigative Judgment. Click here.)