Revelation 19:12

‘And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and the books were opened, and another book was opened which is the book of life. And the dead were judged out of the things that were written in the books, according to their works.'

All who die must give account, as indeed must those who are alive at His coming. But it is the dead that are in mind here for the lesson is that death is not the end. After death comes the judgment (Hebrews 9:27). John has especially in mind the dead described throughout the book (Revelation 6:4; Revelation 6:8; Revelation 9:15; Revelation 9:18; Revelation 11:13; Revelation 13:15; Revelation 19:21). Reference to ‘the dead' in Revelation is twofold. There are the dead who die in the Lord and for them death is the gateway to wondrous things (Revelation 1:5; Revelation 14:13), but there are also the dead who die in their sins and for them there is only hopelessness (Revelation 11:18). Here both are in mind for all come under God's scrutiny.

‘The books were opened.' Had John lived today there would have been a computer to consult. The point is not that there are books in Heaven but that in one way or another all men's doings to the last detail are known to God. ‘All things are naked and opened to the eyes of him with whom we have to do' (Hebrews 4:13). There is nowhere to hide. God can call up the whole of the past in an instant.

But it signifies more than that for it signifies the righteousness of the judgment. The judgment is based on facts, pure and unadulterated facts. No one will demur or deny their guilt, for the facts will be there before them The stress is on the fact that God can produce a complete record (although He does not actually need to consult books. It is men who need to do that) and complete proof of guilt presented to them in a way that they cannot dispute. Every charge will be genuine and will stick.

There is also the book of life. And how important that is. It records the names of those who are written in Heaven (Luke 10:20; Hebrews 12:23), those who are written in the Lamb's book of life before the foundation of the world (Revelation 13:8; Revelation 17:8). This will be the final proof of acceptance or rejection, based on whether men have responded to the call of God's grace and found cleansing and justification in His name through believing in Jesus Christ. When those who are His are called forward they advance without fear, for their sins have been laid on another, the slain Lamb Who is now the Judge, and they know that they are free from sin and clothed in His righteousness because of what He has done on their behalf,.