Revelation 20 - In Depth Bible Commentaries

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2354 For this phrase, "according to their works," see the following passages: Psalm 28:4, "Repay them for their deeds and for their evil work; repay them for what their hands have done, and bring back upon them what they deserve." Psalm 62:12, "...Surely You will reward each person according to what he has done." Proverbs 24:12, "...Will He not repay each person according to what he has done?" Isaiah 59:18, "...According to what they have done, so will He repay wrath to His enemies and retribution to His foes; He will repay the islands their due..." Jeremiah 17:10, "I YHWH search the heart and examine the mind, to reward a person according to his conduct, according to what his deeds deserve." Romans 2:6, "God 'will give to each person according to what he has done.'" 1 Corinthians 3:8, "The person who plants and the person who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor." 2 Corinthians 11:15, "...Their end will be what their actions deserve." 2 Timothy 4:14, "Alexander the metalworker did me a great deal of harm. The Lord will repay him for what he has done." 1 Peter 1:17, "...You call on a Father who judges each person's work impartially..." Revelation 2:23, "...I am He Who searches hearts and minds, and I will repay each of you according to your deeds." Revelation 18:6, "Give back to her as she has given; pay her back double for what she has done. Mix her a double portion from her own cup." Revelation 22:12, "Behold, I am coming soon! My reward is with Me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done." Aune comments at this point that “The modern reader will...wonder how it is possible to narrate the final judgment of the dead in verse 12 though their ‘resurrection’ is not mentioned until verse 13.” (P. 1102) But such a question is only raised by those who do not recognize the nature of biblical prophecy–with its inherent enigmatic, puzzling character–which should not be taken literally, and exactly, but should be expected to contain such inconsistencies! 1042 (continued...)
2354 (...continued) Newport well states that "Works are unmistakable evidence of the loyalty of the heart. They express either belief or unbelief, faithfulness or unfaithfulness. The judgment will reveal through the records whether the loyalties were with God and the Lamb or with God's enemies. John's theology of faith and its inseparable relation to works is the same as Jesus' and Paul's (John 5:29; Romans 2:6ff.). This judgment is not a 'balancing of the books,' a weighing of good works and bad works. Those who have their names in the Lamb's book of life will also have records of righteous deeds. The opposite will be true as well. The imagery reflects the delicate balance between grace and obedience." (Pp. 303-04) Hough comments, "All sorts of things have been destroyed. But men cannot escape their own past...Human life is not a series of unrelated events. It does not consist of separate fragments having no connection with each other. It is all of a piece. The present is woven from the past and the future is woven from the past and the present. Men's deeds are adhesive. They cannot be torn away from the men who perform them. To use the figure of the author, they are recorded in indestructible books. When earth and sky have faded away, the books remain... “This principle of the moral continuity of life is embedded in the very depths of the Revelation of the man of Patmos...For at last revelation makes clear not only what God is. It also makes clear what man is. And the final revelation of what a man is becomes itself a conclusive act of judgment." (Pp. 607-08) 2355 Beasley-Murray notes that to die at sea without burial was a terrible fate in the mind of the ancients--since that meant the dead person would not be able to "be united with his people...Those who died at sea, therefore, were regarded as in a terrible situation, having been forever denied the privilege of burial and separated from their kin in the world of the dead. So John makes explicit mention of them. They are not overlooked by God...but they will join all the rest of the departed in the resurrection to judgment." (P. 302) 2356 The phrase íåêñïò ôïò í áô, nekrous tous en aute, “dead ones, the ones in it,” is changed to read í áô íåêñïò, “in it, dead ones,” by Uncial Manuscript 051, Minuscule 1854 and the “Majority Text” (A). The variant reading does not change the meaning of Revelation, but is simply a slightly abbreviated way of saying the same thing. Beasley-Murray points out that the very existence of the sea at this point in John's vision is problematical, if we understand the fleeing away of the earth and the heavens previously mentioned in a literal manner. But, he comments, "His subject at this point was not geophysical and astronomical changes in the universe, but the majesty of God in the judgment. An instructive parallel is afforded by 6:12-17, where the terrors of the closing messianic judgments are enhanced by the description of cosmic signs--the sun turns black as sackcloth, the stars fall to earth, the sky vanishes like a scroll that is rolled up, mountains and islands are hurled from their places, and the wicked call on the mountains to hide them from the face of Him Who sits on the throne and from the Lamb, 'for the great day of their wrath has come.' Commentators frequently interpret that (continued...) 1043
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THE THOUSAND YEAR VICTORY OVER EVIL
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2259 2260 2261 2262 2263 key of the
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2264 2265 2266 2267 2268 2269 drago
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2265 (...continued) serpent, places
Page 9 and 10: 2270 2271 2272 2273 / satan and he
Page 11 and 12: 2271 (...continued) Isaiah 24:21-23
Page 13 and 14: 2271 (...continued) “In that sens
Page 15 and 16: 2271 (...continued) Tobit 8:2-3, Th
Page 17 and 18: 2272 (...continued) 1 Chronicles 16
Page 19 and 20: 2274 2275 2276 2277 2278 and locked
Page 21 and 22: 2279 The verb plana,w, planao, "to
Page 23 and 24: 2284 (...continued) him to be loose
Page 25 and 26: 2289 2290 2291 2292 them; and the i
Page 27 and 28: 2289 (...continued) ed Neo-Babylon,
Page 29 and 30: 2289 (...continued) ed over to him
Page 31 and 32: 2294 2295 2296 2297 nor his image,
Page 33 and 34: 2299 (...continued) There is a conf
Page 35 and 36: 2304 2305 20.5 The rest of the dead
Page 37 and 38: 2307 (...continued) rection...Antit
Page 39 and 40: 2309 (...continued) ‘soul,’ on
Page 41 and 42: 2312 2313 2314 with him [the] thous
Page 43 and 44: 2317 2318 2319 released from his pr
Page 45 and 46: 2320 2321 2322 2323 2324 2325 four
Page 47 and 48: 2326 2327 2328 war -of whom their n
Page 49 and 50: 2329 2330 2331 2332 width of the ea
Page 51 and 52: 2333 (...continued) beloved city,
Page 53 and 54: day and night into the ages of the
Page 55 and 56: 2345 2346 2347 the face of Whom the
Page 57 and 58: 2348 2349 20.12 And I saw the dead
Page 59: 2354 2355 2356 according to their w
Page 63 and 64: 2363 2364 2365 2366 underworld were
Page 65: 2369 (...continued) earth. All thes
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Revelation 20 - In Depth Bible Commentaries

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