Albert Barnes Commentary Revelation 20:15

"And if any was not found written in the book of life, he was cast into the lake of fire." — Revelation 20:15 (ASV)

Verse 15: And whosoever. This refers to all persons, of all ranks, ages, and conditions. No word could be more comprehensive. The single condition stated here, which would save anyone from being cast into the lake of fire, is that they are "found written in the book of life." All others—princes, kings, nobles, philosophers, statesmen, conquerors; rich men and poor men; the enslaved and the free; the young and the aged; the worldly, the vain, the proud, and the sober; the modest and the humble—will be doomed to the lake of fire. Unlike in all other things, they will be alike in the only thing on which their eternal destiny will depend: that they have not so lived that their names have become recorded in the book of life. As they will also lack true religion, it will be fitting for them to share the same doom in the future world.

Written in the book of life. See the notes on Revelation 3:5.

Was cast into the lake of fire. See the notes on Matthew 25:41.

That is, they will be doomed to a punishment well represented by their lingering in a sea of fire forever. This is the termination of the judgment, the conclusion of the affairs of humanity.

The vision of John here rests for a moment on the doom of the wicked, and then turns to a more complete contemplation of the happy destiny of the righteous, as detailed in the two closing chapters of the book.

Condition of things referred to in Revelation 20:11-15.

1. There will be a general resurrection of the dead—of the righteous and the wicked. This is implied by the statement that "the dead, small and great," were seen to stand before God; that "the sea gave up the dead which were in it;" and that "Death and Hades gave up their dead." All were there whose names were or were not written in the book of life.

2. There will be a solemn and impartial judgment. How long this will occupy is not stated, and it is not necessary to know—for time is of no consequence where there is an eternity of devotion. However, it is said that they will all be judged "according to their works"—that is, strictly according to their character. They will receive no arbitrary doom; they will have no sentence that is not just. See Matthew 25:31-46.

3. This will be the final judgment. After this, the affairs of humanity will be placed on a different basis. This will be the end of the present arrangements, the end of the present dispensations, and the end of human probation. The great question to be determined concerning our world will have been settled. What the plan of redemption was intended to accomplish on the earth will have been accomplished. The agency of the Divine Spirit in converting sinners will have come to an end, and the means of grace, as such, will be employed no more.

   There is not here or elsewhere an intimation that beyond this period any of these things will exist, or that the work of redemption, as such, will extend into the world beyond the judgment. Just as there is no intimation that the condition of the righteous will be changed, so there is none that the condition of the wicked will be. Just as there is no hint that the righteous will ever be exposed to temptation or to the danger of falling into sin, so there is none that the offers of salvation will ever again be made to the wicked. On the contrary, the whole representation is that all beyond this will be fixed and unchangeable forever. See the notes on Revelation 22:11.

4. The wicked will be destroyed in what may be properly called the second death. As remarked in the Notes, this does not mean that this death will in all respects resemble the first death, but there will be so many points of resemblance that it will be proper to call it death. It does not mean that they will be annihilated, for death never implies that.

   The meaning is that this will be a cutting off from what is properly called life—from hope, from happiness, and from peace—and a subjection to pain and agony, which it will be proper to call death: death in the most fearful form, death that will continue forever. No statements in the Bible are clearer than those made on this point; no affirmation of the eternal punishment of the wicked could be more explicit than those which occur in the sacred Scriptures. See the notes on Matthew 25:46 and 2 Thessalonians 1:9.

5. This will be the end of the woes and calamities produced in the kingdom of God by sin. The reign of Satan and of Death, as far as the Redeemer's kingdom is concerned, will be at an end. Henceforth, the church will be safe from all the arts and efforts of its foes, Religion will be triumphant, and the affairs of the universe will be brought into permanent order.

6. Thus, the preparation is made for the final triumph of the righteous—the state toward which all things tend. The writer of this book has guided the prospective history through all the times of persecution that awaited the church. He has stated the principal forms of error that would prevail, foretold the conflicts through which the church would pass, and described its eventful history leading to the millennial period and the final triumph of truth and righteousness. Now, nothing remains to complete the plan of the work but to provide a brief sketch of the final condition of the redeemed. This is done in the two following chapters, with which the work is ended.