‘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 man according to his works.'
The picture is all inclusive. None have died in such a way that they cannot be reached. All are raised for judgment. To be lost at sea was considered by Israel to be a tragedy. Many considered that it prevented their resurrection, something denied here. The passage is significant in that it demonstrates that Hades is not seen as a place for all the spirits of the dead, but as a place for those buried on land, who have been laid in the earth. It is the shadowy world of the grave. Others are in the shadowy world of the depths of the sea. There is no real life there. We must look elsewhere for how men live in the after-life before the resurrection. For those who are not the true people of God that outlook is looked on as bleak. The judgment is based on how they have responded to God, how they have responded to the words of Jesus and the prophets, both old and new, how they have responded to the word of God and His law, for ‘works' include all three (Matthew 5; Matthew 16:27; Luke 16:31; John 6:28-29). No one will have any complaint. Justice will be done.