THE FINAL JUDGMENT

Scholars, like countless less scholarly readers, have found ch. 20 exceedingly difficult to understand. There seems to be a pause in the final dénouement of divine judgment. The pause lasts for a millennium after which the great dragon, Satan, (i.e. the personified power of evil) is again released to wreck havoc on the earth. During this hiatus, the martyrs reign with Christ while others wait for their resurrection.

John appears to believe that even though the great evil of his time, imperial Rome, may disappear, evil will still remain unconquered in the world. On the other hand, until all of creation is redeemed by love and brought under the reign of God’s sovereign love, God’s purpose in the history of the universe will not be complete.

The first thing John saw in his early visions was a great white throne (4:2). Now he sees it again (20:11). This time God’s final judgment is taking place. All the dead appear before the throne, there to be judged as the books recording the deeds of each one are opened. A book of life containing the names of the righteous was common in Hebrew apocalyptic literature and the New Testament (Ps. 139:16; Luke 10:20; Phil. 4:3; Heb. 12:23). John saw another book listing everyone’s deeds, both good and bad. The dead were raised even from the sea, revealing that resurrection will be universal before the last judgment.

Much lurid detail has been read into this vision that goes much farther than John intended. His vision simply affirmed that there is to be a final judgment to be decided by God alone and cannot be usurped by any human. He makes clear, however, that those who are the enemies of God and live contrary to God’s nature and will do suffer the annihilation of the second death.