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THE
GREAT WHITE THRONE JUDGMENT
MAN’S
ACCOUNTABILITY
READ IN THE BIBLE
(REVELATION
It says in, (Romans 2:3) “Thinkest thou this, O man …that thou shalt
escape the judgment of God”? It
says in, (Ecclesiastes 11:9) “Rejoice, O young man, in
thy youth; and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in
the ways of thine heart, and in the sight of thine eyes; but know thou, that for all these things God will bring
thee into judgment”. Many
people refuse to believe that God will one day judge them for their sins. They reject such a possibility for themselves
and for others. But, (Ecclesiastes 11:9)
and other scriptures make it certain that God will bring the sinner into
judgment. The scene set before us in
these scripture verses is a solemn one indeed.
It is the final settlement of God’s dealings with fallen sinful man who have
rejected His offer of salvation. It is a
“time of accountability” when man
must answer to God for his lifetime of rejection and rebellion. Many in our modern society are living as if
there is no accountability. Sin and
immorality abound on every hand.
Behavior that once was hidden is now openly flaunted. How accurate is the Word of God that says in,
(Romans
1. THE SETTING OF THE JUDGMENT (VERSE 11a)
In
these verses, from verse 11 to verse 15, it is recorded that John had two
separate visions. Here in verse 11 is
his FIRST VISION. John said, “And I saw a great
white throne, and Him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven
fled away; and there was found no place for them”. His first vision was two-fold. He saw the throne and he saw the “throne
sitter”, the Judge who occupied the throne.
The throne and its description are significant in its meaning. John saw a “throne, great and white”. Consider the following;
THRONE – The “THRONE” speaks of God’s absolute
authority. This is a throne of judgment
not a throne of grace. It is a throne
that has been established for a particular purpose and for a specific time.
GREAT THRONE – It is GREAT because of the majesty and
greatness of the Judge who sits upon it and because of the greatness of the
issues to be dealt with. It will be
God’s final dealing with sinners who have rejected His offer of salvation.
GREAT WHITE THRONE – The throne is WHITE which speaks of the
righteousness with which judgment is dispensed.
This final judgment of sinners will be carried out in accordance with
the strict principles of righteousness and absolute justice. In addition to the throne, John saw that the
throne was occupied. He saw;
2. THE SOVEREIGN OF THE JUDGMENT (VERSE 11b)
Also, in this first vision, John saw “Him that sat on it,
from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no
place for them”. John saw the
Judge. He is unnamed in this verse but
from other scriptures there is no doubt as to the identity of the throne
sitter. We read in, (John
In the FUTURE the Lord Jesus Christ will judge the unsaved as
we are considering in this message. In the PAST, the Son of God, the Lord
Jesus Christ, left the glory of heaven and came into this world to save
sinners. On the cross, “Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; He was
buried, and He rose again the third day according to the scriptures”. (1
Corinthians 15:3, 4). On the
cross He took the place of the guilty sinner, bore his sins and received all
the judgment due to him and thus satisfied, by His death, every just demand of
a holy God against him. In the PRESENT the risen and exalted
Son of God sits on the right hand of God, able and willing to save every sinner
who trusts Him definitely as His own personal Savior, and owns Him as the Lord
of his life. It says in, (Romans 10:9, 10) “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth
the Lord Jesus (Jesus as Lord) and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath
raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be
saved. For with the heart man
believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made into
salvation”. Dear reader, are YOU
saved? Was there ever a time in your
life that you received Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior? You can either meet Him in your lifetime as
your Savior or meet Him later as your Judge.
Which will it be for you?
John
also observed that, from the face of the Lord who sat upon the throne, “the earth and the heaven fled away and there was found no place for them”.
The material creation has just fled from before the face of the
judge. (For the cataclysmic end of this
creation read (Matthew 24:35; 2 Peter 3:10, 11; Psalm 102:25-27; Hebrews
1:10-12). The “White Throne Judgment” takes
place between the end of this first creation and the introduction of the new
heaven and the new earth (2 Peter
·
THERE WAS FOUND NO PLACE FOR THE EARTH AND THE
HEAVEN – At the end of the
millennial reign of Christ there will be no need for God’s first creation
because it will be replaced by a new one. (Revelation 21:1)
·
THERE WAS FOUND NO PLACE FOR THE BEAST AND THE
FALSE PROPHET- Before the
commencement of the millennial reign of Christ these two, who are prominent
during the tribulation period, are cast alive into the “lake of fire” which
will be their eternal dwelling place. (Revelation
·
THERE WAS FOUND NO PLACE FOR THE DEVIL- At the commencement of the millennial reign of
Christ the Devil will be restrained in the bottomless pit (Revelation
20:1-3). At the conclusion of the
thousand year reign of Christ, Satan, who had been loosed from his prison for a
short time to lead a final world wide rebellion against the Lord Jesus
(Revelation 20:7-9), will be cast into the lake of fire. (Revelation
20:10). This will be his eternal dwelling
place.
·
THERE WAS FOUND NO PLACE FOR DEATH AND HELL – (Revelation
·
THERE WAS FOUND NO PLACE FOR THE UNSAVED – The unsaved will have no part in God’s eternal
kingdom. Dear reader, does this describe
you? Those who repent and believe the
message of the gospel in their lifetime are saved and “born again” (John
3:3-7). Those who are saved are said to
be “in Christ “ concerning whom it says in, (Romans
8:1) There is therefore now no
condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus”. John’s SECOND VISION deals with the
unsaved, the unbelieving. Concerning
these the Lord Jesus said, (John
3. THE SUMMONS TO THE JUDGMENT
(VERSE 12a, 13a)
Verse
13 states events that occur before the events of verse 12, therefore we will
quote verse 13 first. (Verse 13) “And the sea gave up the dead which were in it;
and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them”. (Verse 12) “And I SAW the dead, small and great, stand before God”. John’s second vision, concerning the
white throne judgment, has to do with those who stand before the throne. They are, “the dead,
small and great”. These had no
part in the first resurrection. Their
bodies have remained in their graves for a thousand years after the first
resurrection. These are described in, (Revelation 20:5) “The rest of the dead lived not again until
the thousand years were finished”. They
have been summoned to this judgment by the command of the Son of God, the Lord
Jesus Christ, as it says in, (John 5:28, 29) “Marvel
not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves
shall hear His voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the
resurrection of life; (THE FIRST RESURRECTION) and they that have done evil,
unto the resurrection of damnation (judgment)”,
(THE SECOND RESURRECTION). Whether
their body was in the soil or the sea, buried or cremated, they will hear the
Lord’s voice and come forth to judgment.
“Death and hell delivered up the dead which were
in them”. Every person is made up
of two parts, the body is the material part and the soul comprising the mind
and the spirit is the immaterial part.
Resurrection is the reunion of body and soul linked again in the
complete person. In this manner they
appear before the Great White Throne and the Judge who sits upon it.
4. THE SUBSTANCE OF THE JUDGMENT
(VERSE 12b, 13b, 15)
We
read in these verses, (verse 12b) “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”. (Verse 13b) “They were judged every man (each
one) according to their works”. All who appear before the “Great White
Throne” are NOT there to see whether they are saved or not for that has been
settled on earth by the individuals response to Christ presented in the
gospel. Twice it is stated that the
basis of their judgment “is according to their works”. There is a “biography” of YOUR life written
in Heaven. There is a personal record of
each individual sinner from birth to death.
There will be degrees of guilt and therefore degrees of punishment. YOUR LIFE AND HISTORY IS ALL RECORDED IN
GOD’S BOOKS IN HEAVEN.
·
EVERYTHING
YOU DID IS WRITTEN DOWN. Judgment is according to WORKS, or deeds, as
stated above.
·
EVERYTHING
YOU SAID IS WRITTEN DOWN. (Matthew 12:36) “But
I (the Lord Jesus Christ) say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the Day of Judgment”.
·
EVERYTHING
YOU THOUGHT IS WRITTEN DOWN. (1 Corinthians 4:5)
“The Lord will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make
manifest the counsels of the hearts”.
·
EVERY SECRET THING IN YOUR LIFE WILL BE
REVEALED. (Romans
2:16) “In the day when God shall judge
the secrets of men by Jesus Christ”.
We
read in, (verse 12) “Another book was opened, which is
the book of life”. The “book of works” is a record of deeds. The “book of life” is a register of names and
contains the names of all who have received eternal life through Christ. This book will be opened to show that the unsaved
might have had their name written there but it is not. God’s offer of mercy and grace, offered
through His beloved Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, was despised and rejected. To die unsaved, in your sins, is to miss
having your name written in the book of life.
Now judgment and its execution must take their course.
5. THE SENTENCE PASSED AT THE
JUDGMENT (VERSE’S 14, 15; 21:8)
We
read in, (verse 15) “And whosoever was not found
written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire”. There are
eight classes of sinners described in (Revelation 21:8) including the unbelieving. All who have rejected God’s offer of
salvation and refused to believe it are on the list of those who, being judged,
will be eternally punished in the lake of fire.
It says of them that they “shall have their part
in “the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death”.
The lake of fire is the description of sorrow immeasurable and of
torment eternal. Here then, is the
eternal doom of the wicked, the final destiny of the unsaved. O how awful, the agony of eternal suffering
and eternal separation from God, from light and from happiness. Physical death is the separation of body and
spirit. The “second death” is the final
separation of the lost from the God who created them. The
rejection of God’s Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and the salvation He has
provided, is not only the greatest insult man could give God; but it is also
the greatest injury man can do to himself.
Dear reader, God has recorded this awful scene in
the Bible, the Word of God, that you might be warned to flee from the wrath to
come. Please make certain that you will
have no part in the doom pronounced at the Great White Throne. God says in His Word, (2 Corinthians 6:2) “Behold now is the accepted time, behold, now is the
day of salvation”. (Acts
Please give this matter your most serious
attention. Will YOU be a believer or a
non-believer? What will your eternal
destiny be? Will it be the eternal bliss
of Heaven or the eternal torment in the lake of fire that we have been
considering? YOUR ETERNAL DESTINY
DEPENDS ON YOUR DECISION.
Christian
Messenger