The Great White Throne Judgment
April 16, 2020 (first published February 14, 2008)
David Cloud, Way of Life Literature, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061
866-295-4143,
fbns@wayoflife.org
The following is from The Way of Life Commentary Series, Revelation.

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Revelation 20:11-15

“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.”

The destruction of the final rebellion is followed by the Great White Throne Judgment of the unsaved. This is the second resurrection and the second death. The first resurrection was that of the saved, while the second is that of the unsaved. The first death is the separation of the spirit from the body, while the second is eternal separation from God in the lake of fire.

Its composition

It is a throne, which describes God’s majesty and great authority. This is the throne of the King of kings and Lord of lords, the throne where every yea is yea and every nay is nay, beyond which there is no further appeal.

Its color (Re. 20:11)

White signifies holiness and righteousness. This is God’s throne of holy judgment against all sin. There is no rainbow as there is in Revelation 4. There is no grace, no mercy, no covenant of hope. In contrast to the believer, who comes freely and boldly to a “throne of grace” because of faith in Christ’s blood (Heb. 4:16; 10:19), the unbeliever is dragged before a pure white throne to obtain unmitigated justice. “Who can stand before his indignation? and who can abide in the fierceness of his anger? his fury is poured out like fire, and the rocks are thrown down by him” (Nah. 1:6). “For the LORD thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God” (De. 4:24). “Clouds and darkness are round about him: righteousness and judgment are the habitation of his throne. A fire goeth before him, and burneth up his enemies round about” (Ps. 97:2-3). “For our God is a consuming fire” (Heb. 12:29).

Its size (Re. 20:11)

It is great, which signifies God’s omnipotence. The sinner, who invariably thinks of himself as important and worthy of favor, will be fully aware of his lowly insignificance and vanity when he stands before this great throne.

Its occupant (Re. 20:11)

The occupant of this throne is Jesus Christ, to whom the Father has given all judgment (Joh. 5:22). Mankind has said, “We will not have this man to reign over us” (Lu. 19:14), but now they will stand before Him, the very object of their rebellion, and give account.

Its situation (“from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away,” Re. 20:11)

The sinner will stand before God alone. All other things that occupy the heart will be gone. The sinner who ignored God and did not seek God’s will and who worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator (Ro. 1:25) will now be alone with the God he despised.

The fleeing away of the earth and the heaven might refer to the destruction by fire described in 2 Peter 3:10-12. “The most natural interpretation of the fact that earth and heaven flee away is that the present earth and heaven are destroyed and will be replaced by the new heaven and new earth. This is also confirmed by the additional statement in 21:1 where John sees a new heaven and a new earth replacing the first heaven and the first earth which have passed away” (Walvoord).

Its subjects (Re. 20:12-13)

These are the unsaved.
- We know that these are the unsaved, because they are not part of the first resurrection (Re. 20:6) and they are judged by their works.
- We know that these are the unsaved because their names are not written in the book of life through faith in Jesus Christ. Compare Revelation 20:15. There are no exceptions mentioned.
- We know that these are the unsaved because those who believe in Christ will not be condemned (John 3:18; 5:24). The judgment of the saved, those who have built their lives upon the foundation of Jesus Christ, is described in 1 Corinthians 3:11-15. It is a judgment of work (singular) rather than works (plural). The believer’s judgment is for the purpose of examining his work or service for Christ to determine rewards or loss thereof. The unbeliever’s judgment is for the purpose of examining his works (plural) to demonstrate his sin against God’s law and his rejection of God’s light and to justify his eternal condemnation. The judgment of the believer’s work can result in loss of reward, “but he himself shall be saved” (1 Co. 3:15). The judgment of the unbeliever’s works, on the other hand, results in the person himself being cast into the lake of fire. No exceptions are mentioned.

These are the small and great of the unsaved.
- Regardless of what one’s position was on earth, whether king or slave, whether rich or poor, whether acclaimed or despised, whether a public sinner or a private one, all who die without Christ will stand before God at this judgment. All are created by God and all are accountable to God. Men care so much for wealth and position and prestige and talent and beauty, but such things mean nothing before God. There will be some there who “gained the whole world.” The Nimrods will be there. The pharaohs, the caesars, Hammurabi, Alexander the Great, Napoleon, Stalin, Hitler, all will be there. Sinners are sinners, and God is no respecter of persons (Ac. 10:34).

They come from the sea, from death, and from hell (Re. 20:13).
- The sea is probably mentioned to show that all of the unsaved dead will be raised to stand here, even those who died in the sea and who have no grave site. It could also refer to the flood of Noah’s day and the destruction of that generation.
- Death and hell work together; death taking man’s soul from his body and hell being the place where unbelieving men’s souls are incarcerated until the final judgment.

Its basis (Re. 20:12-13)

It will be a judgment of works; and this means that those who appear here will be condemned, for all are sinners (Ro. 3:9-18). “But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags” (Isa. 64:6). Salvation, on the other hand, is not of works but is by the grace of Christ in that He died in our stead (Eph. 2:8-9). The believer’s “work” (singular) will be judged at the judgment seat of Christ (1 Co. 3:13-14), referring to an examination of his service for Christ for reward or loss of reward. But the unbeliever will give account for his “works” (plural), referring to his thoughts and deeds being judged by God’s holy law.

Its books (Re. 20:12)

We don’t know what type of books God has, but they are described as books. Compare Daniel 7:10. Consider what man has devised even in his fallen state. Scientists at the University of Southampton have developed a five dimensional digital data storage mechanism that is capable of recording 360TB of information that can allegedly survive for 13 billion years. The data is written by an ultrafast femtosecond laser in “three layers of nanostructured dots separated by five micrometers (one millionth of a meter)” (“Eternal 5D data storage,” University of Southampton, Feb. 15, 2016).

The book of life will be opened. This is the book containing the names of those of all ages who are elect in Christ according to the foreknowledge of God through faith in the gospel (Re. 13:8; 17:8). The election is based on “whosoever believeth” (Joh. 3:15, 16; 11:16; 12:46; Ac. 10:43; Ro. 9:33; 10:11; 1 Jo. 5:1) and “whosoever will” (Re. 22:17). The very presence of the book of life will remind every sinner that a Saviour came into the world to die for the sins of all men (1 Jo. 2:2) and that salvation was offered to all men, because God would have all men to be saved (1 Ti. 2:4-5; 2 Pe. 3:9). “The Book of Life will be unfolded there, because many people in that vast throng have taken for granted that their names are there because, perchance, they have been listed on the roll of some church or religious society” (Ironside).

The book of works will be opened. A record is kept of every man’s works, including every thought, every idle word, and every secret thing (Mt. 12:36; Lu. 8:17; Ro. 2:16). Psalm 50:16-21 describes the type of things that will come up at the Great White Throne Judgment. The record of every man’s conscience will be opened. “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: 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;) In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel” (Ro. 2:14-16). “God’s judgment is not arbitrary. He keeps records, not because He needs them but so that those who are about to be condemned might face the record of their own actions and words. No incident--however small or seemingly insignificant--in all the long history of man’s tenure of this planet, has escaped the all-seeing eye of God. It is all written down. Historians often miss significant facts or deliberately or unwittingly distort the facts, but God misses nothing. ... The records they contain are detailed and complete: the place where, the time when, the manner how, the motives for, the consequences of. The books contain it all. Every thought, word, and deed of every man, woman, boy, and girl--everything is written down” (John Phillips).

The book of God will also be there. In John 12:48 Jesus said, “He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.” The Bible has been translated into every major language of the world and parts of into most minor languages. At the Great White Throne judgment the Bible will be opened as a testimony to every sinner.

Its conclusion (Re. 20:14-15)

No sinner can stand before a holy God and be judged for his works without being condemned, so the conclusion of this judgment is foregone. Though there will possibly be degrees of punishment in the lake of fire (compare Mt. 11:20-24) all will be condemned and consigned there.

This is God’s other “whosoever.” Contrast Revelation 20:15 with Revelation 22:17 and John 3:16.

The punishment is eternal conscious suffering. Compare Revelation 20:10. Since the unsaved can never atone for even one sin that they have sinned against God and since they will never stop sinning against God’s law, their punishment is eternal.

Its message for today

The message of the Great White Throne judgment is that God is a holy lawgiver and Judge and He will not overlook man’s sin against His law. The only salvation from God’s wrath is in the atonement that Christ made on the cross. There is no other Saviour and no other way of salvation. There is no opportunity for salvation following death. Man must flee to Christ for salvation in this present life or be forever doomed. “Now is the time acceptable. Now a gracious Saviour waits to catch the first breath of repentance, and He answers the feeblest cry of faith. Trifle not with His mercy and hope not for some vague second chance, but close with Christ now, and know for a certainty that you will have no part in the doom pronounced at the Great White Throne. The Lord Himself has said, ‘Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life’ (John 5:24)” (Harry Ironside).



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