Previous Verse       Revelation Chapter 20 Verse 13 (NASB)       Next Verse

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13. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds.

    And (1) the SEA gave up THE DEAD which were in it,
The literal interpretation is the most obvious. The oceans and seas of this earth give up the unbelieving DEAD to have their time of judgment before the GREAT WHITE THRONE (verse 11).

What is not so obvious .... as we discussed previously, water is the container of spirits (both good and evil). In this case, the water is giving up the evil spirits (demons?) that it contains. The false prophet and the beast both (Revelation 19:20) have already been assigned to their eternal torture. The devil also has met his end (verse 10). Here in this phrase, God in His completeness is removing the evil (demon based) from the water.

Just an aside note; evil apparently is never abolished. That is why God admonished Adam and Eve to not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and EVIL (Genesis 2:15-17). If they did, they would be committing an act with eternal consequences. It also explains why even the new Jerusalem has walls and gates (Revelation 21:12).

That water is the container of evil is one reason why the flood was used to remove EVIL mankind (Genesis 6:1-5-8). On the other hand, wherever the presence of God was, namely the ark of the covenant of the Lord in the Old Testament, neither the ark nor the feet of its bearers ever touched water (Joshua 3:14-17). Even in crossing through the Red Sea, water never came close to contaminating the chosen people of God (Exodus 14:1-22-29-31). Sidelight: what happened to the Egyptians who were pursuing God's chosen people?

The "dying to oneself" part of baptism symbolizes our burial of EVIL from our lives. Spiritually, the "buried" EVILS from believers are being judged ACCORDING TO THEIR DEEDS (Luke 11:14-26). Even the EVIL thoughts cleansed from our conscience by the blood of Christ (Hebrews 10:19-22-25) are judged at this time.
    and (2) DEATH and HADES gave up THE DEAD which were in them;
Finally, the wages of SIN (EVIL) and the abode of EVIL (spiritually), give up the EVIL DEAD within them. This phrase is the other bookend to Revelation 1:18 where Jesus Christ says that He has the Keys to DEATH and Hades. The verses between Revelation 1:18 and this verse are in essence the Revelation of Jesus Christ. He conquers EVIL because He is forevermore ALIVE. Having the keys to DEATH and Hades means that He controls them. So here we see Jesus Christ fulfilling His judgment control (John 5:17-22-24) and JUDGES EVIL.
    and they were JUDGED, every one of them ACCORDING TO THEIR DEEDS.
The 'they' here is broad: unbelievers (name not in Book of Life, verse 15), those in the list in Revelation 21:8, demons (Matthew 8:28-29-34), evil spirits as stored in the SEA, and DEATH and HADES all are JUDGED! If you are reading this and haven't accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, your FINAL JUDGMENT is HERE!
 "Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, © Copyright The Lockman Foundation, 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 Used by permission."

References to the Revelation of Jesus Christ are in bold italics. All other references are in bold only