The Great White Thone {Revelations 20}
12:00 AM
Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them. 12 And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds. 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, every one of them according to their deeds. 14 Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. 15 And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.
I’ll go ahead and confess something I’m not very proud of:
Early on in my Christian walk, when someone would cut in front of me driving or jump in front of me in line, I would think to myself, “That’s okay, I’ll let you jump ahead of me on judgement day as well.”(I know... I told you I’m not proud of it, and I was also mistaken!) The truth is, we won’t be judged before the “great white throne”, but someone recently told me we’ll be there to see this scene play out! Imagine with me for a moment…
- A great white throne emphasises God’s purity, holiness and righteousness in judging and His sovereignty over all the earth.
- From whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them. This scene takes place in the absence of earth and heaven as we know it. There's a great white throne, God in the form of Christ sitting on it, BUT the earth and heaven have disappeared. Perhaps we can call this, “uncreation”. Just as God brought them into existence they’ll cease to exists. Scripture tells us that heaven and earth will pass away, and we see this fulfilled here.
- And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne. I’d like J. MacArthur to help me explain this scene: “The scene then is really incredible. As the universe dissolves, Hades and the grave dissolves with it. And all the bodies then come out because Hades is emptied of the spirits and the bodies are emptied out of the universe, and actual resurrection bodies are created for the ungodly dead. That's why it's called a resurrection unto damnation, or as Daniel called it, a resurrection unto contempt. It is a resurrection. And the difference between the Hades of suffering now and the eternal hell is that the Hades of suffering now is the suffering of the soul, whereas the suffering of hell will be the suffering of the soul in a resurrected body. They will be body and eternal...soul rather and eternal body fitted for the eternal hell.”
- The great and the small: John isn’t describing the physical stature of the people, but more their stature in society. There will be the dictators and rulers of the world who had hundreds and thousands of their own people murdered and there’ll be those who rejected Jesus as the Messiah. Those who thought that their works would be good enough to get them into heaven. Those who chose their own way or another way, but somehow failed to accept Jesus’ words when He said, “I am The Way, The Truth and The Life, no man comes to the Father, but through Me!” (John 14:6)
- And books were opened; God has kept a comprehensive record of every person's life, and each one’s thoughts, actions and motives were written in the books. Our Lord, who is Omniscient and Omnipresent has kept careful notes, and sinners are going to be judged on the basis of their deeds, measured against God's perfect standard. There will be no more justifying or rationalizing sin. Every skeleton in the closet will be exposed.
- And another book was opened, which is the book of life. God has another book. In that book are the names of His own, the names of those who believed in Him; who chose to follow Him, and were faithful to Him. Jesus once said His disciples in Luke 10:20, "Do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven." This special book contains all the names of those who belong to the Lord. And the book was opened with the names of those who will not die the second death, but will live with Him forever.
- And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is eternal punishment. And everyone who has rejected the grace of God in Jesus (Eph 2:8-9) will face this final, eternal punishment.
There will be some standing there that day, hoping, wondering if their name is found in the Book of Life, but they will be sadly disappointed. They will say to the Lord as Jesus predicted back in Matthew 7:22-23, “‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’
The truth is God has done everything He could to keep these events from happening, we’ve just celebrated Him coming down to earth to pay our penalty, but this day is coming; with each minute it draws closer, and we need to ask ourselves what have we done about it? Are we certain our names are written in The Book of Life? And are we doing all we can to make sure others are written down as well, especially those we love most!?
Someone told me recently that we shall witness this fateful day. We will witness our loved ones, who rejected Jesus, before the great white throne, which is why he claims the Bible also says, “and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes”. I haven’t had the time to research this to prove if his thoughts are true or false, but what if he’s right?
O Father, please cause us to not only be thankful we have been given the assurance that we will not appear before the great white throne, but let us also be zealous to share the gospel (good news) of Jesus Christ with all we know and love! Father, we know You to be a loving God who calls and knocks and keeps knocking to everyone! You have given us the ministry of reconciliation, may we number our days and gain a sense of urgency to be busy in all You have called us to!
Father, We are so thankful that we have found favor in Your sight, and know the truth and all that is to come! We are so thankful that You have made it possible for all sinner who will admit their guilt and ask to be forgiven will receive the gift of eternal like. Please help us share this truth with others before it’s too late. Amen
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