Doctrinal Mastery: Revelation 20:12

“And the Dead Were Judged … According to Their Works”

A teenage girls sits on her loft bed in her room. She has her feet hanging over the side of the bed. She appears to be reading her scriptures. This is in Maine.

In a previous lesson, “Revelation 20:11–15,” you learned about the Final Judgment and the Savior’s role as our Judge. This lesson can help you memorize the doctrinal mastery reference and key scripture phrase for Revelation 20:12, explain the doctrine, and apply principles of acquiring spiritual knowledge.

Listening to students’ responses. Avoid the tendency to think about the next part of the lesson plan while students are asking or answering questions. Listen carefully to what they share, and ask follow-up questions when necessary to truly understand their questions and comments. It is sometimes more important to discuss a topic of interest to students or to help them better understand a doctrine than it is to cover all of the material in a lesson plan.

Student preparation: Invite students to review Revelation 20:12 and to prepare to share with the class what they have learned about the Final Judgment and how we can prepare for it.

Possible Learning Activities

This doctrinal mastery passage lesson is designed to be taught after the lesson “Revelation 20:11–15,” which is the contextual lesson for the doctrinal mastery passage Revelation 20:12. If this doctrinal mastery passage lesson needs to be moved to a different week, be sure to teach the corresponding contextual lesson during that week as well.

Consider asking three students before class to each review one of the principles of acquiring spiritual knowledge and to prepare to share a summary of that principle later in the lesson.

Memorize and explain

Help students memorize and explain the scripture reference and key scripture phrase for Revelation 20:12 using the most effective methods for them.

Consider reminding students that in the previous lesson, they studied a doctrinal mastery passage about the Final Judgment. Invite them to see if they can find this passage in the scriptures in less than two minutes, either by memory or by using other resources.

The following activity can help you memorize the scripture reference and key scripture phrase “and the dead were judged … according to their works” (Revelation 20:12):

Say the scripture reference and key scripture phrase aloud five times.
Then write the scripture reference and key scripture phrase on a piece of paper three times from memory. After each attempt, check your accuracy and make any necessary adjustments on the next attempt.

Consider asking if a member of the class can state the scripture reference and key scripture phrase from memory, or invite the class to recite these together.

Rather than using the following activity, consider writing the scripture reference and key scripture phrase on the board and inviting volunteers to write around them the truths they have learned about the Final Judgment. Then invite several students to further explain to the class what they wrote.

Recall that in a previous lesson, you studied the truth that God will judge us out of the books that have been written according to our works. To help you evaluate how well you understand this truth, imagine that a younger sibling asks you the following questions during family scripture study. Answer as many of the questions as you can.

If students are asked to answer the following questions, display the questions for them, and consider inviting them to discuss their answers with a partner. Move around the room and listen to their answers. If students need help, remind them of the material they studied in the lesson “Revelation 20:11–15.”

Who will be judged?
Who will be our judge and why?
What will we be judged on?
What are the books we will be judged out of? (See Revelation 20:12.)
How can we be ready for judgment?

Now that it’s been a few minutes since you worked on memorizing the key scripture phrase for Revelation 20:12, see if you can still recite it from memory. Check your accuracy if needed.

Practice application

If three students were asked before class to each prepare a summary of a principle of acquiring spiritual knowledge, invite them to share their summaries with the class at this time. If students were not asked ahead of time, consider asking for three volunteers to each summarize one of the principles. Be sure to compliment and validate each student who summarizes one of the principles.

Applying principles of acquiring spiritual knowledge can help us in real-life situations. Briefly summarize the principles of acquiring spiritual knowledge in your own words. Then review paragraphs 5–12 of the “Acquiring Spiritual Knowledge” section in the Doctrinal Mastery Core Document (2022), looking for any additional truths you could include in your summary.

For the following activity, consider inviting students to share their own scenarios in which someone needs to better understand truths about the Final Judgment. Then consider replacing either or both scenarios in the lesson with one(s) that students share.

Read the following scenarios, and choose one you would like to focus on for the following activity. Think about why a person in that situation might feel the way they do. Can you relate to how either of these young women feel? Ponder what they might not yet understand about the Final Judgment that could help them.

Stephanie has some friends who live a worldly lifestyle. She admits that although they are breaking the commandments, what they are doing looks fun at times. She has not noticed major negative consequences for their choices and is considering joining them.
Kayla is a righteous young woman who humbly repents when she makes mistakes, but she still feels scared when people talk about the Final Judgment. She tries not to think about it.

Students could complete the following activity individually or with a partner.

Write a letter to either Stephanie or Kayla that you believe could help her avoid future regret or unnecessary fear. As an alternative, you might choose to write to someone you know whose life could be blessed by better understanding the Final Judgment. Include in your letter how each of the principles of acquiring spiritual knowledge applies to their situation. You may want to consider the following as you decide what to write.

How might you help Stephanie or Kayla see things from an eternal perspective? How could this help her?
What have you learned about Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, and the plan of salvation that may help Stephanie or Kayla? How did you learn these truths?
What divinely appointed sources would you suggest she turn to in order to learn the truth about the Final Judgment? How could the truths taught in Revelation 20:12 help her?
How might you encourage her to act in faith now and in the future?

Give students the opportunity to share aloud with the class or a small group what they wrote to the young woman in the scenario they chose. Listen carefully as they share, and consider asking follow-up questions such as the following to help deepen their understanding: “Are there specific scripture verses or statements by Church leaders that might help her? How could they help?” “What has helped you understand and prepare for the Final Judgment? Would you recommend Stephanie or Kayla do something similar? Why or why not?”

If it would help students to better remember the key scripture phrase for Revelation 20:12, invite them to attempt to recite it one more time from memory before they leave class.

Doctrinal mastery review

At the beginning or end of an upcoming lesson, spend no more than three to five minutes reviewing the doctrinal mastery passage Revelation 20:12. One way to do this is to display the scripture reference and key scripture phrase, replacing two or three words with blanks. After students correctly fill in the blanks, display the reference and key phrase again with different blanks. This could be repeated multiple times with different blanks each time.