Revelation 20:12; And I Saw the Dead, Stand Before God

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Revelation 20:12 (KJV)  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 seventh scene of the seventh bowl judgment begins with another – “And I saw”. It continues what has begun with the placement of the Great White Throne – 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 group that comes into the prophet’s view are “the dead, the great and the small”. John saw this group of dead persons “standing before the throne”. Their standing posture implies they have risen from the dead, a feature that becomes more evident in v13.

Revelation 20:13 (KJV)  And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. 

By implication this is the second resurrection (cf. Revelation 20:5), these dead have come from all classes and conditions of humanity as indicated by “the great and the small”. The writer uses the reversed order of this description earlier (Revelation 11:18; 13:16; 19:5, 12, 18).

Revelation 11:18 (KJV)  And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth. 

Revelation 13:16 (KJV)  And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: 

Revelation 19:5 (KJV)  And a voice came out of the throne, saying, Praise our God, all ye his servants, and ye that fear him, both small and great. 

Revelation 19:12 (KJV)  His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself. 

Revelation 19:18 (KJV)  That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great. 

Jonah 3:5 uses this order, but Psalm 115:13; Jeremiah 6:13; 31:34 follow the other order (Charles).

Jonah 3:5 (KJV)  So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them. 

Psalm 115:13 (KJV)  He will bless them that fear the LORD, both small and great. 

Jeremiah 6:13 (KJV)  For from the least of them even unto the greatest of them every one is given to covetousness; and from the prophet even unto the priest every one dealeth falsely. 

Jeremiah 31:34 (KJV)  And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more. 

[Robert L. Thomas, Revelation 8-22 – An Exegetical Commentary, Moody, 1995, 430]