Revelation 20.11-15-The Great White Throne Judgment Of All Unbelievers
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Sunday September 5, 2010
The Day of the Lord: Revelation 20:11-15-The Great White Throne Judgment Of All Unbelievers
Lesson # 41
Please turn in your Bibles to Revelation 20:11.
This morning we will continue with our study of the prophetic subject known as “the Day of the Lord.”
This expression does not refer to a literal 24 hour period but rather a comparison of Scripture with Scripture reveals that it is a period of time beginning with God’s dealing with Israel after the rapture period and extending to the Second Advent and through the millennial age unto the creation of the new heavens and the new earth.
This morning we will study the “Great White Throne Judgment,” which will take place immediately after God puts down the Gog-Magog rebellion of mankind and is the judgment of all unregenerate humanity in human history for their rejection of Jesus Christ as Savior (Rev. 20:11-15).
Revelation 20:11, “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.”
The individual who sat upon the great white throne judgment is Jesus Christ Himself since the Lord Himself declared to the Jews in John 5:22-29 that the Father had given Him authority to judge the living.
Revelation 20:12, “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.”
The ones judged are “the dead, great and small,” those who had no part in the first resurrection (20:5 6), which of course refers to the unbelieving dead of the second resurrection (John 5:29).
“The dead, great and small” emphasizes that no one is exempt; all who have died without trusting in Jesus Christ as Savior, regardless of their status in human history, religiously, politically, economically, or morally, must stand before this throne to face the judgment of Jesus Christ.
“The book of life” is one thing in eternity past and one thing in time and something different in eternity future.
In eternity past, the names of every person that will live in time are in the book of life since God desires all men to be saved (John 3:16-18; 1 Timothy 2:4).
Those who reject the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior in time will have their name removed from the book of life at the moment of physical death.
Only the names of believers in the Lord Jesus Christ will have their names remain in the book of life in eternity future.
The names of those who reject the Lord Jesus Christ in time will have not only have their names removed from the book of life but will have them transferred to the book of works mentioned at the Great White Throne Judgment in Revelation 20:12.
The unbelievers whose names have been transferred from the book of life to the book of works will be judged by Christ according to their works or their own merits which are nothing more than human righteousness and thus inferior to the righteousness of Christ and His righteous act at the Cross.
The statement “the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds” makes clear that the unbeliever is emphatically “not” judged according to their sins since Jesus Christ died for all men, Jew and Gentile and for every sin that they have committed-past, present and future.
The unbeliever will be judged according to their self-righteous human good works, which do not measure up to the perfect work of the impeccable Christ on the Cross (Rev. 20:11-15).
The sins of the unbeliever are never brought up since Christ died for all their sins and instead their self-righteous works that do not measure up to Christ perfection will be used to condemn them to the eternal lake of fire.
The unbeliever goes to the lake of fire because of his rejection of Christ as his Savior since 1 Timothy 2:4 and John 3:16-17 clearly indicates that God desires all men to be saved, thus, He has made provision for all men to be saved through the Person and Work of Jesus Christ on the Cross.
Since the unbeliever has rejected the work of Christ on the cross, he must rely solely upon his own merit for salvation.
All the good works of the unbeliever add up to man’s relative righteousness (Is. 64:6), which are infinitely inferior the righteousness of Christ.
The fact that the unbeliever depends upon his own merits to obtain salvation and rejects the work of Christ is the basis for his condemnation at the Great White Throne Judgment (Rev. 20:11-15).
Revelation 20:13, “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.”
Revelation 20:14, “Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.”
“The second death” is the perpetuation of spiritual death into eternity or eternal separation from God and it is the final judgment of the unbelievers in the human race and fallen angels whereby they are cast in the Lake of Fire (Matt. 25:41; Heb. 9:27; Rev. 20:12-15).
Revelation 20:15, “And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.”
At the Great White Throne Judgment, every unbeliever in human history will experience the righteous indignation of God forever in the eternal Lake of Fire.
God’s righteous indignation is the legitimate anger towards evil and sin since both are contrary to His holiness or perfect character and nature.
It expresses His holiness, which pertains to the absolute perfection of God’s character or the purity of His character or moral perfection and excellence and means that God can have nothing to do with sin or sinners.
He is totally separate from sin and sinners unless a way can be found to constitute them holy and that way has been provided based upon the merits of the impeccable Person and Finished Work of the Lord Jesus Christ on the Cross.
The presence of evil, sin and injustice is totally absent in the character of God, thus God does not tolerate evil or sin because it is contrary to His character, i.e. His inherent moral qualities, ethical standards and principles.
Therefore, God’s wrath, which is in reality, righteous indignation is an expression of His holiness, righteousness and love in opposition to sin and evil.
God’s wrath is His settled opposition to and displeasure against sin meaning that His holiness cannot and will not coexist with sin in any form whatsoever.
It is not the momentary, emotional, and often uncontrolled anger to which human beings are prone and does not refer to an explosive outburst but rather it refers to an inner, deep resentment that seethes and smolders, often unnoticed by others as in the case of God’s wrath.
God hates sin so much and loves the sinner so much that He judged His Son Jesus Christ for every sin in human history-past, present and future and provided deliverance from sin through faith in His Son Jesus Christ.
If the sinner will not exercise faith in Jesus Christ as his or her Savior, then they will face His righteous indignation at the Great White Throne Judgment.
The only way to avoid God’s righteous indignation is to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
John 3:36, “He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”
Revelation 20:12 and 21:8 make clear that the lake of fire is not a place or state of nothingness or unconscious existence, as is the Hindu Nirvana but is the place of everlasting torment, the place of eternal spiritual death or separation from.
The fact that unregenerate man will receive eternal condemnation in the lake of fire forever and ever is a righteous judgment since as sinners they can never be justified before a holy God and have rejected God’s only provision for sin, which is the Person and Finished Work of Jesus Christ on the Cross.
God who is holy and cannot tolerate sin is justified in throwing His creatures into the lake of fire for rebelling against Him but also God, who as to His nature, is love, did everything He could to prevent any of His creatures from going to the lake of fire forever and ever for their rebellion against Him.
The fact that God did not immediately deposit all mankind in the lake of fire for their disobedience is incontrovertible evidence that God loves His creatures and desires none of them to go to the lake of fire.
The fact that God the Father sent His Son into the world to become a human being to satisfy His righteous demands that the sin of men be judged is also incontrovertible evidence that God loves His creatures.
The fact that unregenerate man will receive eternal condemnation in the lake of fire forever and ever is a righteous judgment since as sinners they can never be justified before a holy God and have rejected God’s only provision for sin, which is the Person and Finished Work of Jesus Christ on the Cross.
God who is holy and cannot tolerate sin is justified in throwing His creatures into the lake of fire for rebelling against Him but also God, who as to His nature, is love, did everything He could to prevent any of His creatures from going to the lake of fire forever and ever for their rebellion against Him.
This leads us to the communion service and so therefore, could we have our ushers pass out the communion elements and let us take a few minutes to meditate upon the Lord and prepare ourselves for the Lord’s Supper.
1 Corinthians 11:23, “For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which He was betrayed took bread 24 and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, ‘This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.’ 25 In the same way {He took} the cup also after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink {it} in remembrance of Me.’ 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes.”
