The Great White Throne Judgment “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. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and 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. 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. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire” (Rev. 20:11-15). This passage will be fulfilled after the Millennium and the revolt of Satan. Immediately after the above events, John saw a great white throne occupied by God, from whose face the earth and heaven fled away. This is no doubt the same throne seen throughout the book. Here is the only place that a description of the throne is given. God, the occupant of the throne, is described before, but not the throne itself. The Greek for “face” is prosopon, meaning the countenance, aspect, appearance, surface, front view, outward appearance, face, and person. It is used nine times in Revelation and is the only word translated “face,” singular and plural. It shows that God has a real body and an outward appearance, as proven in the passages in which it is used, Rev. 4:7; 6:16; 7:11; 9:7; 10:l; 11:16; 12:14; 22:4. This is further proven by its usage in the rest of the New Testament where it appears forty-eight times, and always of bodily presence, actual faces, or external appearance of the subject in question. The earth and heaven fleeing away will be dealt with in the next chapter. The fact that Christ and His throne are not mentioned here does not necessarily imply that they are absent. Both Christ and the Father will be present and have a part in the final judgment. In its varied aspects, this judgment may be understood from the following facts in Scripture: I. The Judges 1. God the Father is spoken of as the judge, Heb. 12:23, 24; 13:4; Rev. 6:10; Acts 17:30, 31. 2. God the Son is spoken of as the judge, Jn. 5:19-27; Acts 10:42; 17:30, 31; 2 Tim. 4:8; Rev. 19:11. 3. Both the Father and Son will judge, 2 Tim. 4:1. 4. God the Father is to judge by His Son, Acts 17:31; Rom. 2:16. 5. God the Father will decree, the Son will execute, Jn. 5:22-27; Rom. 1:32-2:5. II. The Subjects Judged 1. Wicked men of the whole human race, except the beast, false prophet, the goat nations, tares, etc., will be the subjects judged, Acts 17:31; Rom. 3:6; Rev. 20:11-15. That those judged at the judgment of the nations will not be judged at the final judgment seems clear from Mt. 13:30, 39-43, 49, 50; 24:51; 25:30, 41, 46; Rev. 14:9-11; 19:20, 21; 20:10. These already will have had sentence pronounced upon them 1,000 years before the final judgment, so they will not need to be judged again. These are the dead judged, but at the judgment of the nations there are no dead. 2. The angels “that sinned” and “are now bound” in tartarus will also be loosed from their long confinement and be judged at this judgment, 2 Pet. 2:4; Jude 6-7. III. The Time of the Judgment The time of this judgment will be after the Millennium and after the doom of Satan in the lake of fire is realized, Rev. 20:7-15. It is called “the day of judgment” and so there must be a definite time set for it, Mt. 10:15; 11:24; 12:36; Acts 17:31; 2 Pet. 2:4; Jude 6-7. IV. The Place of the Judgment The judgment is to be before the great white throne of God, which will still be in Heaven, for it is not to come down to the earth until after the renovation of the earth by fire and after the New Heaven and the New Earth are completed, Rev. 21:1-5. This seems to be proven further by 2 Pet. 3:7 where the renovation of the earth takes place at the final judgment. It seems to be pictured also in Rev. 20:11 at the same time of the final judgment. V. The Purpose of the Judgment 1. To give every man a trial before his condemnation, and punishment, especially so in this case which involves the eternal destiny of immortal souls. 2. To judge the “secrets of men,” Rom. 2:16. 3. To judge all idle words, Mt. 12:36. 4. To judge all the works, thoughts, actions and sins of man, 1 Tim. 5:24; 1 Pet. 1:17; Rev. 20:12, 13. VI. The Basis of Judgment 1. The conscience, Rom. 2:12-16. 2. The law, Rom. 2:12-16; Rev. 20:11-15. 3. The gospel, Rom. 2:12-16; Jn. 12:47-48; Rev. 20:11-15. 4. The book of life, Rev. 20:11-15. A man who passes through such a judgment will have no excuse or criticism of the sentence passed regardless of what the decision will be, for in a sense he will be his own judge. The actual manifestation of his failure to live up to his conscience, the law or the gospel, the fact that his sins and misdeeds are like mountains before him, and the absence of his name in the book of life, will automatically condemn him. The “books” mentioned in Rev. 20:12 do not refer to the records of men written in books and kept by a recording angel, for we have no knowledge of such in Scripture, but they refer to the Word of God which is to judge man in that day. The book of life is mentioned in Ex. 32:32, 33; Dan. 12:1; Lk. 10:20; Phil. 4:3; Rev. 3:5; 13:8; 17:8; 20:12, 15; 21:27; 22:19, and has reference to the book in which the name of every man who is to enter into life, is recorded. It alone will be sufficient to condemn a man. These dead dealt with here could not include the angels, for the former are the occupants of “death and hell.” This proves that hades, the present and temporary hell, is different from the lake of fire or eternal hell. The sinner is placed in hades to await his committal to the lake of fire, even as the criminal is placed in jail before his trial and consignment to the penitentiary. The sinner is guilty while in hades, although he is not formally condemned before the final judgment. Therefore, he suffers fire in hades as well as in the lake of fire, Lk. 16:19-31. VII. The Nature of the Judgment It will be one of justice and righteousness to every man, Ps. 9:8; Mt. 7:2; 2 Tim. 4:8; 1 Pet. 2:23. VIII. The Result of the Judgment 1. If anyone is not found to be written in the book of life, he will be cast into the lake of fire. Hades is the present place of the souls of the wicked dead. It never means the grave where the body of man goes. It is a place of consciousness, where men are in torment until the resurrection, Gen. 42:38; Num. 16:30-33; Dt. 32:22; 2 Sam. 22:6; Ps. 55:15; 116:3; Isa. 14:9; Lk. 16:19-31; Eph. 4:7-11; etc. The word is never in the plural, bodies never go there, it is never located on the surface of the earth, man never digs or makes one, man never touches one and never sees one. The Hebrew queber and its New Testament Greek equivalent mnaymion, are the words for “grave” and “sepulchre,” and is the place where the body goes at death. 2. The degrees of punishment will be the result of this judgment as degrees of reward will be the result of the judgment of the saints at the judgment seat of Christ, Mt. 7:2; 10:15; 11:22-24; 12:41-45; 23:12-14; Mk. 6:11; Lk. 10:14; 11:31, 32; Rev. 20:11-15. Hell, as far as the torment of fire is concerned, will be alike for all the lost, as much as Heaven, as far as bliss and comfort are concerned, will be alike for all the redeemed. The degrees of punishment will come through the torment of the conscience and the inward self over the deeds committed, which will eat more deeply into the innermost being as the eternities come and go. This is just the opposite of the rewards for the saints, which will be ever increasing in glory and splendor as the ages come and go. IX. The Length of the Judgment The judgment passed upon each individual will be eternal. The same terms that are used in describing the eternity of God are used in describing the eternity of hell, so if one is eternal, the other one must be, Isa. 66:22-24; Mt. 5:22, 29, 30; 10:28; 13:42, 50; 18:9; 23:15, 33; 24:51; 25:30, 41-46; Mk. 9:43-47; Lk. 12:5; Heb. 6:2; 10:26-31; Rev. 14:9-11; 19:20; 20:10-15; 21:8. It is noticeable that in Mt. 25:41, 46, the words “everlasting” and “eternal,” showing the eternity of bliss and torment, are taken from one Greek word, aionion, which never means anything but “forever.” Therefore, since the life is to be eternal, the punishment must also be, for the same Greek word is used.
Posted on: Mon, 02 Sep 2013 23:19:16 +0000
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