Revelation 20:13: 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.

Revelation 20:12 describes the final judgment of mortal sons of perdition who will be resurrected last at the end of the earth.¹ Revelation 20:13 expands on that vision² to include all sons of perdition, both unembodied and resurrected.³ All sons of perdition are judged in three groups that metaphorically come from the sea, from death, and from hell. Many commentators interpret all three metaphorical locations as the physical grave⁴ and fail to distinguish the three different groups among the sons of perdition that will be subject to the final judgment at the end of the earth.⁵

John's first group in Revelation 20:13 consists of the dead whom the sea gave up ... which were in it. These are the unembodied sons of perdition that rebelled with Lucifer in the premortal existence.⁶ They never receive a physical body and cannot physically die or be resurrected for that reason.⁷ However, they are called the dead because they are spiritually dead⁸ as to things of righteousness.⁹ They have been spiritually dead since the time of their fall and rebellion during the premortal grand council in heaven.¹⁰ The sea (abyss)¹¹ is an ancient symbol¹² for their habitation on earth.¹³ These unembodied spirits from the sea will be cast into the lake of fire at the end of the little season in Revelation 20:10, but they will then stand before Christ for their final judgment in Revelation 20:13 with two other groups of resurrected sons of perdition.

John's second group in Revelation 20:13 consists of death, which delivered up the dead. This odd phraseology perfectly describes the disembodied sons of perdition from Revelation 19:20, whose spirits were cast alive into the lake of fire with the Beast (Cain) and the False Prophet (Judas Iscariot) at the Second Coming.¹⁴ They will remain in the lake of fire in a spiritually dead condition throughout the millennium and the little season.¹⁵ Finally, after the little season and the end of the earth these pre-millennial disembodied sons of perdition will be delivered up from their spiritual death to be resurrected and then judged by Christ as described in Revelation 20:13.¹⁶

John's third group in Revelation 20:13 consists of hell, which delivered up the dead. This describes the mortal sons of perdition¹⁷ that live and die after the Second Coming.¹⁸ Virtually everyone in this third group are those that will live during the little season after the millennium and will die as sons of perdition during the battle of the great God (Gog and Magog).¹⁹ When they die, their disembodied spirits will enter hell in the postmortal spirit world.²⁰ They will be the only disembodied spirits in the postmortal spirit world (hell) when the little season comes to an end²¹ because (1) all disembodied spirits of celestial, terrestrial, and telestial-worthy people will already be resurrected to their respective kingdoms of glory,²² and (2) all other disembodied spirit sons of perdition that follow the Beast (Cain) and False Prophet (Judas Iscariot) as of the Second Coming will already be in the lake of fire as part of the second group described above. This third group will be delivered up from hell in the postmortal spirit world at their resurrection and then they will stand before Christ to be judged as described in Revelation 20:13.

All sons of perdition in these three groups are personified by their places of origin in the sea, death, or hell at the time they come forth at the end of the earth,²³ to be judged²⁴ every man according to their works.²⁵ God the Father may judge and condemn the unembodied sons of perdition because they never accepted Christ in any capacity during the premortal grand council in heaven.²⁶ Christ, on the other hand, will judge all resurrected sons of perdition,²⁷ because they did accept him as their judge when they agreed to the plan of salvation at some point during their first estate before their mortal birth.²⁸ Furthermore, the power of Christ's atonement redeems them from physical death, so it is within Christ's power to both resurrect and judge them.²⁹

Revelation 20:14: And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.

In Revelation 20:13, death and hell personify two groups of resurrected (once mortal) sons of perdition, and John continues the same metaphor in this verse.³⁰ Some commentators misinterpret this, however, and say that in Revelation 20:14 Christ overcame death and hell.³¹ This interpretation would have merit if the final judgment in Revelation 20:12-13 pertained to righteous people only and did not involve any sons of perdition.³² In the final judgment of righteous people, it could well be said that Christ's atonement overcomes death and hell³³ on conditions of repentance.³⁴ However, in the context of the final judgment for sons of perdition only³⁵ the misinterpretation is self-evident because the atonement does not overcome spiritual death or hell for sons of perdition.³⁶ All sons of perdition (both unembodied and disembodied) will be cast into the lake of fire³⁷ where both spiritual death and hell will continue forever.³⁸

The lake of fire ... is the second death,³⁹ which is total banishment from the presence of God and the joys of heaven.⁴⁰ It is outer darkness, where there is no light⁴¹ or glory whatsoever.⁴² It is a place of torment that figuratively burns with fire and brimstone forever.⁴³ Sons of perdition are condemned to suffer the second death in the lake of fire because they commit the unpardonable sin in their mortal lives.⁴⁴ The atonement of Jesus Christ, as noted above, will not redeem them from the second death.⁴⁵

The second death is not a physical death or annihilation of the body.⁴⁶ The resurrected sons of perdition in the lake of fire have immortal bodies that will never die nor dissolve into their native element.⁴⁷

Revelation 20:15: And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

Revelation 20:14 describes the fate of resurrected sons of perdition (death and hell) in the lake of fire, and verse 15 expands this to include the fate of all unembodied sons of perdition in the same lake of fire.⁴⁸ This is the third time John mentions the lake of fire in Revelation 20, and he does so always in connection with the sons of perdition.⁴⁹

None of the sons of perdition in any of the three groups have their names written in the book of life, and the works of all three will condemn them to be cast into the lake of fire.⁵⁰ The resurrected sons of perdition that come from death and hell to be judged are those that once qualified for eternal life. However, their names are blotted out from the book of life because they openly rebel against the light and truth of the gospel⁵¹ which they possess in this life.⁵² Unembodied sons of perdition who come from the sea to be judged never had their names in the book of life because they openly rebelled against the light and truth of the gospel in the premortal existence.⁵³ They could have qualified for eternal life,⁵⁴ but they willfully chose eternal death.⁵⁵

When unembodied sons of perdition are cast into the lake of fire after their final judgment at the end of the earth in Revelation 20:10,⁵⁶ they will remain there forever in their unembodied state.⁵⁷ Their spirit bodies will never die or dissolve into their uncreated native spirit element.⁵⁸ Cain will be in the lake of fire with a resurrected and immortal body without glory, and he will rule over Satan and all these other unembodied spirits that lack physical bodies.⁵⁹