The Great White Throne Judgment

 Temple Baptist Church - 3-6-2022

Revelation 20:11-15

 

A.  How quickly things change.  Satan is forever gone.  We will now live forever without his ungodly presence to contend with.  I often made a statement when leaving someone: "I am going to do something that Satan will never do.  I am going to leave you alone."   What a day that will be.

 

B.  Life as we now know it will be forever over as the 7 days or 7000 years of God's time are expired and "time is no more."  No more calendars; no more clocks; no more appointments; no more stress or worry.  In chapter 21, we will see the 7 no mores.

 

C.  Eternity has begun, and we are finally home.  We will be everything that God initially intended us to be.  Man was made for God, and we will have become one with Him.  This is what marriage is all about: that the twain will become one flesh.  Not that we will become God but, as the wife becomes one with her husband—we will become one with God.

 

D.  Now we have come to a tragic moment of eternity: the Great White Throne Judgment.  I believe that we will stand there in the presence of the Righteous Judge, the Lord Jesus Christ, as witnesses of God's salvation that the ungodly could have had but rejected.

 

Psalms 91:8  Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked.

 

E.  1.  The Reality of the Great White Throne Judgment.  “And I saw a great white throne”  Prophesied in both the Old and New Testaments.

 

Daniel 7:9-10  I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire.  (10)  A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him: thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened.

 

F.  The Judge of the Great White Throne Judgment.  “and him that sat on it”  Jesus Christ.

 

John 5:22, 27  For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son …  (27)  And hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man.

 

Acts 10:42  And he commanded us to preach unto the people, and to testify that it is he which was ordained of God to be the Judge of quick and dead.

 

2 Timothy 4:1  I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom;

 

G.  The Time of the Great White Throne Judgment.  (20:7, 21:1) “And when the thousand years are expired … the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.”

 

1.  Between the end of the Millennium and at the beginning of eternity - Revelation 20:11  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.

 

2. While the earth is being purified and made new - 2 Peter 3:10-13  But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.  (11)  Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness,  (12)  Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?  (13)  Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.

 

3.  Prior to the New Heaven and New Earth - Revelation 21:1  And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.

 

H.  The People of the Great White Throne Judgment.  “And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God … And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them”  The unsaved of all the ages.

 

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,  (29)  And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.

 

Daniel 12:2  And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.

 

J.  The Criteria of the Great White Throne Judgment.  “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.”

 

1.  The Book of Life - Daniel 12:1-2  And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.  (2)  And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.

 

Philippians 4:3  And I intreat thee also, true yokefellow, help those women which laboured with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and with other my fellowlabourers, whose names are in the book of life.

 

Revelation 20:15  And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. (Exodus 32:32-33; Psalm 69:28; Philippians 4:3; Rev elation 3:5, 13:8, 17:8, 21:27, 22:19.)

 

2.  The Book of Works - Revelation 20:12  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. (Matthew 16:27; 2 Corinthians 11:15)

 

a)  The Book of Words - Matthew 12:36-37  But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.  (37)  For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.

 

b)  The Book of Secrets - Romans 2:16  In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel.

 

Ecclesiastes 12:13-14  Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.  (14)  For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.

 

c)  The book of Conscience - Romans 2:12-16  For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law: and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law;  (13)  (For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified.  (14)  For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves:  (15)  Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;)  (16)  In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel.

 

K.  The Eternal Punishment of the Great White Throne Judgment.

 

1.  The eternal home of the Unsaved.  Revelation 20:14-15  And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.  (15)  And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

 

2.  The eternal home of the beast and false prophet.  Revelation 19:20  And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.

 

3.  The eternal home of the devil.  Revelation 20:10  And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.