Revelation 20:13

Revelation 20:13. 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 each one according to their works. By the ‘sea' it is impossible to understand the ocean. The word meets us many times in the Apocalypse; but, when it is used absolutely as here, without anything to suggest a contrast to the land, it is evidently figuratively used, as the emblem of the troubled and evil world (see Revelation 13:1; Revelation 21:1). On this ground, and because associated with death and Hades, it must be regarded not as the ocean, in which many of the saints have perished, but as one of the sources whence the wicked come to judgment. Of the sense again in which ‘death' and ‘Hades' are to be understood we have the best illustration in chap. Revelation 6:8, where the former rides upon the pale horse and is followed by the latter. In that passage both ‘death' and ‘Hades' are the enemies of men; both are one of the judgments that come upon the world, so that they are not neutral powers, but powers exercising sway over the wicked, and having only the wicked under their control. This is absolutely established by the fact stated in the next verse, that both are cast into the lake of fire, not simply brought to an end, but punished with the same punishment which had already been meted out to the dragon, the beast, and the false prophet.