And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.
The dead - `the rest of the dead' who did not share the first resurrection, and those who died during the millennium.
Small and great. B, 'the small and the great.' A 'Aleph ('), Vulgate, Syriac, Andreas, 'the ('Aleph (') has 'both' for 'the') great and the small' (Revelation 6:15). The wicked who died from Adam to Christ's second advent, and all the righteous and wicked who died during and after the millennium, shall then be judged. The transfigured godly, who reigned with Christ during it, shall also be present, not to have their portion assigned (for that was fixed long before, John 5:24), but to have it confirmed for ever, and that God's righteousness may be vindicated in both the saved and the lost, before an assembled universe. Compare "We must ALL appear," etc. (Romans 14:10; 2 Corinthians 5:10). The saints having been pronounced just by Christ out of "the book of life," shall be assessors of the Judge, Compare Matthew 25:31-32; Matthew 25:40, "these my brethren." God's omniscience will not allow the least to escape: His omnipotence the mightiest must obey. The living are not mentioned: as these shall probably first (before the destruction of the ungodly, Revelation 20:9) be transfigured, and caught up with the saints long previously transfigured; and though present for confirmation of their justification by the Judge, shall not then first have their eternal state assigned, but sit as Christ's assessors.
The books ... opened - (Daniel 7:10.) The books of God's remembrance, of evil and good (Psalms 56:8; Psalms 139:4; Malachi 3:16): Conscience (Romans 2:15-16), Christ's Word (John 12:48), the Law (Galatians 3:10), God's eternal counsel (Psalms 139:16).
Book of life - (Exodus 32:32-33; Psalms 69:28; Daniel 12:1; Philippians 4:3; Revelation 3:5; Revelation 13:8; Revelation 21:27.) Besides the general book of all, there is a special book for believers, in which their names are written, not for their works, but for Christ's work for, and in, them: 'the Lamb's book of life.' Electing grace has singled them out from the mass.
According to their works. We are justified by faith, judged according to (not by) our works. The general judgment is designed for the final vindication of God's righteousness before the universe, which in this chequered dispensation, though really ruling, has been less manifest. Faith is appreciable by God and the believer alone (Revelation 2:17). Works are appreciable by all. These, then, are the evidential test to decide men's eternal state, showing that God's government is altogether righteous.