THE GREAT WHITE THRONE JUDGMENT

The world is filled with people who live as though they have no sin. They live as though God does not exist. They live as though they will never face God in judgment.

But here is the truth: “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” (Eccl. 12:13-14).

This Scripture reveals the reality of judgment. All men, lost or saved, will face God one day in judgment. You will either face Him one-on-one at the judgment of the saved known as the JUDGMENT SEAT OF CHRIST or you will face Him one-on-one at the judgment of the unsaved known as the GREAT WHITE THRONE JUDGMENT.

Today, we will focus on the GREAT WHITE THRONE JUDGMENT. Revelation 20:11-15 speaks about that terrible day when every sinner will face the Lord in judgment.

There will be nowhere to hide on that day. No one will hide behind excuses, ignorance, false professions, etc. Everyone will face Jesus Christ as Lord and Judge and all will receive a just sentence for their sins. For those who enter eternity without Christ, this will be a sad and dreadful event.

The Great White Throne Judgment is a judgment seat for the lost. So we have (1) The Judgment Seat of Christ for the Christians, and (2) The Judgment Seat of Christ for the unbelievers – The Great White Throne Judgment.

What about this future court to be held in eternity? Who will be there? What is the crime? The answers these questions are found here in Revelation 20:11-15. Look at the facts surrounding the Great White Throne Judgment:

1. WE NOTICE THE COURT: This court is to convene in Heaven before the Almighty God. Literally, there is none higher, none more supreme upon the earth than this Heavenly court. Its name gives insight to its nature and character. It is called THE GREAT WHITE THRONE JUDGMENT.

The word “Great” describes its power. This is the highest court in the universe! When judgment is rendered from this throne, there is no appeal to a higher court, because there is no higher court! This is the place of highest authority and final judgment.

We can best understand this court by comparing it to our Supreme Court. There is no court in the land higher than the Supreme Court. All judgments rendered here are final!

This court or throne has full power and authority to destroy both the body and soul in Hell for eternity! Jesus warned in Matthew 10:28 saying, "And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear Him which is able to destroy both soul and body in Hell."

The most an earthly court can do is pronounce the sentence of death upon the physical body of the guilty. Most courts today are severely limited in the sentence they have power to issue. Not this court! Its sentence is unquestionable, indisputable and incontrovertible. This court has the power to sentence a person to experience the "second death."

Revelation 20:14 says, "And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death."

It is described as “WHITE.” White speaks of the purity of this court. The judgments of this court are pure and right, they are just and fair.

Romans 2:5-6 says, "But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God: Who will render to every man according to his deeds."

All human courts are tainted by sin, prejudice and fallibility. This court, on the other hand, is absolutely perfect and the judgment rendered here will be perfectly fair and righteous. The Judge who occupies this throne is infallible. He cannot be tainted by sin or prejudice, but He renders judgment in perfect righteousness and fairness.

We live in a world characterized by injustice. Man's judgment at best is flawed. It is often jaded by prejudice, a lack of complete knowledge, by politics, and the "love of money." The judgment of God is different. His judgments are holy, right, and true. He gets it right every time!

Not a single person judged here will cry “unfair” when their sentence is handed down to them. Every sinner judged and sentenced will know that he has received a perfect and fair judgment.

2. WE NOTICE THE JUDGE: The Bible tells us that this throne is occupied by a Person.

a) What is His Name? Revelation 20:12a says, "And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God..." This is no other than God the Son who is the judge over this court (Jn. 5:22, 27, 30; Acts 10:40-42; 2 Tim. 4:1). Why? It was Jesus Christ the Lamb of God, the Lion out of Judah, who was able to open the seven sealed book in Revelation chapter 5. It is Jesus who treads the wine press of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.

Besides, Jesus said Himself in John 5:22, "For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son."

Acts 17:31 reads, "Because He hath appointed a day, in the which He will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom He hath ordained; whereof He hath given assurance unto all men, in that He hath raised Him from the dead."

Who is better qualified to preside over this court than Jesus Christ Himself? Having done all that He could to save man, man now must face the one rejected as their final judge! In time, everyone must come face to face with Jesus Christ in faith or in fear, as Lord and Saviour or as final judge.

When an earthly judge enters his courtroom, everyone rises in respect for the honorable judge. When the righteous judge Jesus Christ enters His Heavenly courtroom, every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father!

b) What is His Nature? This is not a poor, humble carpenter. This is a resurrected conqueror. This is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. His appearance is best described for us by the prophet Daniel.

“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” (Dan. 7:9-10).

His presence is so terrible and powerful that even the heavens and the earth flee from before Him.

Revelation 20:11 reads, "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."

The sinners standing before God will seek to flee from the face of God, but there will be no place to hide!

Please remember that we are still living in the day of grace. During this time in history, a sinner can come before God and cry out for forgiveness and the Lord will receive them and save them by His grace. Today is the day of grace. Today is the day of forgiveness. Today is the day of repentance. Today is the day of salvation. Today is the day of mercy. There will be none of those things given out in that day! Only judgment, swift and sure, will issue from this great white throne and from the Lord Jesus Christ!

c) What is the perception of this Throne? The Bible tells us here that there was found no place for the heavens and the earth to hide from the gaze of the One on the throne. It needs to be remembered that this righteous Judge sees all and He knows all. There is no sin hidden from Him and no thought has ever been concealed. There will be no pretending and no pretense on that great judgment day, but only a sure recounting of every sinful deed and every sinful thought (Lk. 8:17; Eccl. 12:14). Nothing will be hidden!

Some think they are getting away with things now, but the truth is, God knows all about you and what you have been doing and thinking. He knows everything there is to know about you! (Ps. 33:13-15; Ps. 44:21; Prov. 5:21; Prov. 15:3; Prov. 21:2; Heb. 4:13). You cannot hide a single thing from God! And, you can be sure, one day, those sins will come back to haunt you (Num. 32:23; Gal. 6:9).

You will not hide from this righteous Judge! He knows all there is to know about you before you appear in His presence. He knows you intimately!

3. WE NOTICE THE DEFENDANT OR ACCUSED: Who will stand before THE GREAT WHITE THRONE JUDGMENT? The answer is dead people.

Revelation 20:12 reads, "And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God."

This Scripture tells us that those appearing before the throne are the “dead”. This proves that there will not be a single Born Again believer in the group. Why?

Because the Bible tells us that we who have trusted Jesus as our Saviour have “passed from death unto life” (Jn. 5:24). We have been given eternal, abundant life through the blood of the Lamb and can never lose that or be dead again forever.

This can only mean one thing: this mass of humanity at the Great White Throne Judgment will be made up completely of those who are “spiritually dead” (Eph. 2:1).

God raises their dead bodies from their tombs. He knows where every particle of human dust is located and He is well able to bring it together and raise it to life. He calls their bodies from the ground and their souls from Hell. He reunites them in a pitiful procession of anguish and hopelessness.

None is left out! The king, the pauper, the general, the foot soldier, the master, the slave, the borrower and the lender will all stand before God. None will escape and none will hide, but all will face the Righteous Judge in judgment that day! 

Preachers, deacons, church members, popes, priests, nuns, choir members, drunks, whores, drug addicts, drug pushers, grandmothers, grandfathers, teenagers, moms and dads, will all stand together with Cain, Judas, Hitler, and every other person who chose wickedness over righteousness, before the throne to face their judgment! There will be no escape and there will be no exceptions.

Every person who has ever died without Jesus Christ will face Him in this Judgment on that day! Revelation 20:13 reminds us that all who died, regardless of where they died will appear before Jesus in judgment. Even those who are in Hell will be brought out for this judgment. Every lost sinner from Cain to the last sinner slain in the Millennium will stand before the Lord Jesus Christ!

This horrible assembly will stand trembling before the Lamb of God. They will be forced to look on the face of the One they spat upon. They can see the nail prints in His hands. They can see where the thorns pierced His brow. They can see the awful things He suffered to atone for sin. They will see Him as He is and they will be filled with fear!

4. WE NOTICE THE PROSECUTOR: Who is a prosecutor? A prosecutor is a lawyer who represents the side in a court case that accuses a person of a crime and who tries to prove that the person is guilty.

At first thought we might assume that Jesus Christ is both judge and prosecutor. After all, the sin of unbelief is directed toward Jesus Christ.

Revelation 20:12 tells us however that "books" or records have been kept. "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."

In reality, the sinner is his own persecutor. Everyone who is present at this judgment is there by his or her own appointment! Jesus did not come to condemn the world but to save the world.

Notice John 3:16-18 says, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved. He that believeth on Him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God."

God sends no one to Hell. Man sends himself to Hell by his own stubborn pride. Not only were you issued a summons, but you were also given a red exemption which symbolizes the sacrifice of Calvary available to all who believe. More than a prosecutor, Jesus longs to be your Savior! God has sought to save every soul, but love must make a choice! (1 Tim. 2:1-4; 2 Pet. 3:9).

5. WHAT ARE THE DOCUMENTS THAT WILL BE USED AT THIS THRONE? Present at each hearing is the "Book of Life" and "Books" which contain the record of our works. Those who stand before this tribunal are not found in the "Book of Life," and the record of their works or deeds give evidence of that unbelief.

The Bible tells us that the “books” will be opened. Only one of these books is named and it is called the “Book of Life.” I don’t know all the books that will be used that day, but I am sure of a few that will be opened, and these include:

a) The Bible. Jesus Himself reminded us that we would be judged out of His Word (Jn. 12:48). This Bible that sinners mock and refuse to heed will be used to render judgment upon their lives that day. Better to believe it now and go to Heaven than reject it and then face it in judgment and go to Hell!

b) The Book of Deeds. In Heaven, a record is being maintained of the deeds of all men. One day, every lost person will stand before the Lord and hear the record of the things he did in his life time read from the throne.

Every deed, both good and evil will be mentioned. Every sin will be read aloud: Sins of commission, sins of omission, flagrant sins, secret sins, sins of the heart and sins of the mind. All will be brought out into the open on that day. Revelation 20:12 makes it clear that the lost will be judged according to their works.

A man can either choose to stand on his own record and face God in his sins, or he can come to Jesus and have his ungodly record cleaned up by the blood of Jesus Christ. Faith in Christ wipes our record clean. It replaces the record of our sins with the record of His righteousness. When our book is opened all it says is, “See Calvary and an empty tomb - This man’s record is clear!”

c) The Book of Life. Every name of every person who would ever be born was in this book (Rev. 3:5; Rev. 17:8). When a sinner dies without trusting Christ as his Savior, their name is removed from this book. While your name remains in the book, there is hope for you, but when you die, or you reject Jesus for the last time, you are numbered with the eternally dead and there is no more opportunity for you to be saved.

d) The Lamb’s Book of Life. This book contains the names of those who are redeemed by the blood of Jesus. When a sinner repents, his name is written in this book. This is the reason Jesus told His disciples to rejoice (Lk. 10:20). This book records who has and who has not accepted Jesus as their Savior. When the Great White Throne Judgment comes, both this book and the book of life will match perfectly! You need to be sure that your name is written in the Lamb’s book of Life.

6. WHAT IS THE DECISION MADE AT THE THRONE? The last phrase in Revelation 20:13 tells it all. When these books are opened, judgment is rendered based on the evidence found in the books. You can be sure that the evidence is accurate, and that the record is complete. 

Every person will stand on his own! Regardless of the excuse you use to justify not coming to Jesus today, in that day you will stand under judgment by yourself! It won’t make any difference who hurt you, who stood in your way, what hypocrite you looked at, or whatever.

It will zero down to you and Jesus. How much better is it to come to Jesus in this day when there is still hope for salvation, than in that day when there is hope for nothing but judgment! Be saved! Be sure!

7. WHAT KIND OF JUDGMENT IS RENDERED AT THIS THRONE? A Fearful Judgment. The sentence rendered from this bench is “Death”.

Not just physical death, but the second death which is eternal separation from God in the fires of the Lake of Fire (2 Thess. 1:9-10). This death involves no dying! There will be no end to the torment, to the hell, to the awful nature of what the sinner will face.

It will be an eternal state of dying apart from the presence of God or anything good! It will be Hell! It is the “death” Paul refers to in Romans 6:23 as the “wages of sin”.

Imagine the horror of hearing Jesus say the words that will condemn you to eternal torment! Imagine hearing Him say, “Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matt. 25:41).

Imagine living your life the way you wanted, without regard for God or His will and then having to hear the Lord Who loved you enough to die in your place speak those awful words. There could be nothing so terrible!

Some of those who will hear Him say, “I never knew you. There is no record of your birth. Depart from Me!” (Like king Agrippa, Felix. Judas, the rich young ruler, etc.)

Perhaps the only thing that equals that would be for you to be a religious person, a church member, a regular attendee of the Lord’s worship services, and have to stand before Him and hear Him pass judgment on your life.

This very scene is spoken of in Matthew 7:21-23. Don’t let this happen to you! Come to Jesus while there is still time. Come to Jesus while there is grace. Come to Jesus while there is mercy. Come to Jesus while there is hope! Come to Jesus right now!

8. THE JUDGMENT HERE IS A FINAL JUDGMENT. There will be no appeals; all judgments rendered from this bench will be final and they will be binding. This will be the last day any of these sinners will ever see. This will be the end of the road for them, for they are forever consigned to the Lake of Fire to suffer torment for eternity!

Many don’t believe this is true. They deny the reality of Hell and claim that such a notion is old fashioned and out of date. The Bible tells us that Hell is real and that lost sinners do indeed go there to spend eternity (Ps. 9:17; Lk. 16:19-31).

9. WE NOTICE THE CRIME: All those who stand before THE GREAT WHITE THRONE JUDGMENT will be guilty of the blood of Jesus Christ.

Their sin stain is the only one which God cannot forgive, the sin of unbelief. Those who deny the person of Jesus Christ and His redemptive work at Calvary, deny the very means of their salvation.

To reject Jesus Christ is to disallow God the only way or means by which He can forgive your sins and remain holy, just and righteous. When you reject Jesus Christ, all hope is lost. It is a slap in the face of a righteous God!

All humanity is guilty of the blood of Jesus Christ. Who killed Jesus Christ? Not just Pilate. Not just the Romans. Not just the Jews! We all killed Jesus! It was our sin that nailed Him to the cross. Unless you, in this lifetime, own up to your sin, repent and believe from your heart in the redemptive work of Jesus Christ, you will be prosecuted and punished for your sin and His death.

10. WE NOTICE THE DEFENSE: In this country, everyone has the right and access to a lawyer who is to defend the accused no matter how vile the crime. Some time ago, a convicted killer on death row suffered a stroke. His lawyer tried to stay his client's execution on the basis that he was too sick to die! Now that is a creative defense.

What will be the lost man's defense? The answer is "None!" The books which contain the deeds of man will be overwhelming evidence against him. There will be no defense. There will be no excuse!

Psalms 63:11 says, "But the king shall rejoice in God; everyone that sweareth by Him shall glory: but the mouth of them that speak lies shall be stopped."

Romans 3:19 says, "Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before God."

11. WE NOTICE THE VERDICT: The obvious verdict is "guilty!" Sad to say, there will be no mercy, no pardons, and no acquittals in this court! Our justice is corrupt. Often the powerful and the wealthy receive special treatment in earthly courts of law. Jesus Christ knew firsthand how unjust man's treatment can be. Not so in this court with the righteous judgment of Heaven! Every man will receive his just reward. All men without Christ stand guilty before God!

12. WE NOTICE THE SENTENCE:

Revelation 20:15 says, "And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire."

The sentence will thunder from the throne of God. "I never knew you: depart from Me, ye that work iniquity."

In Proverbs 1:24-29 God said, "Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded; But ye have set at naught all My counsel, and would none of My reproof: I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh; When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you. Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me: For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the Lord:"

Those who have rejected the love of God through the person of Jesus Christ will be cast into everlasting fire with Satan and His imps of Hell! How tragic, how sad, it will be to be a part of this judgment! How senseless it would be for anyone to hold on to their summons when Jesus stands ready to forgive and save.

If you are saved, your sins have already been judged on the Cross of Jesus Christ, once and for all. They are covered by the blood of Jesus.

If you are lost, without Christ, there is no exemption for those who reject the Son of God. 

Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh to the Father, but by Me."

13. WHEN WILL THE GREAT WHITE THRONE JUDGMENT TAKE PLACE? It will take place after the battle of Gog and Magog which will occur after the millennial reign of Christ (Rev. 20:7). The millennial reign of Christ will begin after the battle of Armageddon.

Conclusion: I believe that this is the most horrible scene mentioned in the Bible. However, as horrible as it is, it is true nonetheless!

Are you ready for YOUR FINAL JOURNEY? Any sinner, who is willing to repent and turn to Jesus by faith alone can be eternally saved. The precious blood of Jesus shed on Calvary is sufficient to the saving of any sinner who calls upon Him (Rom. 10:13). The grace of God is sufficient for every sinner who will come, regardless of the depths of their sins (Rom. 5:20). The love of God for the Lord is sufficient to receive all who will come by faith (Jn. 6:37). Please don’t do a foolish thing by dying without Jesus! Come to Him right now while the door is still open and His grace is still available!

To those of us who are saved, this passage reminds us of the terrible need of the world around us. If nothing else, it ought to move us to come before the Lord and cry out for the souls of our friends, neighbors and loved ones who need Jesus. It ought to stir our hearts so that we will not rest until we have tried to tell every lost person we know that salvation is available to them if they will come to Jesus! Surely we’ve not become so hardened that the thought of Hell no longer moves us.

Watch out for the next edition of Good News from the Pulpit!

• Your friend, I. I. MADUBUNYI (Head Pastor)                                 04.03.2018