Rev.# 73~20:11-15 WHITE THRONE JUDGMENT 10-2-10
Today we’ll continue our study to do with the “WHITE THRONE JUDGMENT” and make a few comments on these verses as the Lord so directs.
Ø Listen as I read Rev.20:11-15
11And 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.
12And 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.
13And 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.
14And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
15And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.
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11And 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.
Ø The 1st thing John says about the Throne was that it was (GREAT)
There are people that sit on judicial seats in most of the civilized world today and he or she will hand down the final penalty to a person that’s found to be guilty by a sitting Jury that has listened to the charges that are brought against the accused and the jurors will decide if guilty or innocent.
But of all the courts through out the world there has never been one so GREAT as this one.
The sinners who stand before it have rejected a "great salvation"
Hebrews 2:3 How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation---
And now they must stand before The Great Judge to listen to their final sentence.
-- and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.
I want us to get a real good picture of what we just read***what does this mean?
It means that these hopeless and helpless poor lost sinners are standing before the Great White Throne before the Lord Jesus Christ as He will be the Judge, and their standing there on absolutely nothing, their standing there some where out in space with no place to hide because;-- the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.
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I believe that when the Judgment of the lost is under way, the earth as we know it will be burning up.
2 Peter 3: 3-7 Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, 4And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.
5For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: 6Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished: 7But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men**. (nails her down)
Listen-- 10-12 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,**(explosion) and the elements(orderly arrangement) shall melt with fervent heat,**(extremely hot) the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. **The earth and every thing in it will be completely burned to nothing.
11 Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved,**( break (up) melt) what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness,** (way of living)
12Looking 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?
Now the skeptics and atheist can scoff and deny and make fun of what we just read if they so choose, but its here in the book, and these are among the people that will be standing before the Great White Throne.
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There’s another Throne that I want to talk a little about and it’s the Throne back in chapter 4:, here we have the Throne that the saved will around, and I want us to notice the difference in what they look like.
Ø Listen as I read from chapter 4:1-3
1After this**(after the church age is over, 2:-3:) I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither,**(rapture) and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter.
2And immediately**(twinkling of an eye, 1st.cor.15:52) I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne. 3And he that sat was to look upon like jasper and a sardine stone: and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald.
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Here at this Throne that you and I who are saved will witness some day as the rapture takes place all these wonderful truths.
Ø But notice; here at the Throne of the Redeemed we have a “rainbow and the color of it is green” emerald
We read about a rainbow in GEN.9:11-15
11-15 And I will establish my covenant with you; neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth.
12And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations:
13I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth. 14And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud: 15And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh.
So the rainbow is a covenant of mercy.
There’s no rainbow at the GREAT WHITE THRONE because there will be no mercy.
Also the rainbow there in Rev.4:1-3 is Emerald, that is, its GREEN.
Most of us know about an ever green tree, its green the year around, all the time in other words, so this tells us that the Mercy of God will forever be with His Saints, but the lost will never again experience mercy.
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11And I saw a great white throne—
(WHITE) speaks of the Righteousness of God.
Everything connected with this throne will be right. The judgment will be in righteousness.
Psalm 9:7-8 But the LORD shall endure for ever: he hath prepared his throne for judgment. 8And he shall judge the world in righteousness, he shall minister judgment to the people in uprightness.
Romans 2:5-6 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; 6Who will render to every man according to his deeds:
The treatment the unsaved receive will be just and fair, the greatness and the whiteness are suggestive of power and purity.
Ø Jesus Christ Himself will be the Judge, the people that mock Him as He hang on the cross will now see the Judge of all heaven and earth 1st hand, they said in
Matthew 27:39-43 39And they that passed by reviled him, wagging their heads, 40And saying, Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself. If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross. 41 Likewise also the chief priests mocking him, with the scribes and elders, said, 42He saved others; himself he cannot save. If he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him. 43He trusted in God; let him deliver him now, if he will have him: for he said, I am the Son of God.
Luke 23:35-37 And the people stood beholding. And the rulers also with them derided him, saying, He saved others; let him save himself, if he be Christ, the chosen of God. 36And the soldiers also mocked him, coming to him, and offering him vinegar, 37And saying, If thou be the king of the Jews, save thyself.
This time these same people will be seeing Him not on a cross but seated on the Great White Throne, and remember there’s no rainbow, there’ll be no mercy.
It’s the same Jesus who opens the seals (Revelation 6:1) and it’s the same Jesus who "treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God" (19:15).
He did every thing that could be done to save these dear people, and now they must face Him.
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12And 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.
Ø Notice: these people are referred to as DEAD.
Some have been “dead” for thousands of years, some died of horrible crippling diseases, some died drunk as they were killed in various ways, some died being good moral people, but they died lost, some went out of their way to help people but they died lost.
All these people will be present at this Great White Throne of judgment of the lost, and let me remind us that these will not be given gloried body’s to be judged in, the old body that they were buried in, in what ever condition it might have been will be the same old body that they’ll be in at this time, if they were so unfortunate as to have died in crippled up or mangled up body that will be the body they stand in. can you imagine what a grotesque sight this will be? There’s never been a horror movie ever made that will top this sight.
And I saw the dead, small and great,
Big sinners and little sinners, criminals known and unknown, rich and poor, rulers and subjects, the learned and the ignorant, the employers and the employees, all stand before the "great white throne." All ranks and degrees of unsaved sinners will be there.
It will not be the purpose of this judgment to determine unsaved people’s spiritual state and destination. These were settled during their earthly lifetime, if they were not lost they’d not be at this judgment, there’ll not be a single saved person there.
Having self-determination and moral awareness, all unsaved people will answer to the Lord for their behavior and will receive their just dues.
John 3:36 He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.
A person that is not saved don’t have to wait until he or she is dead to know weather or not he’s saved or condemned, they are already condemned even as they are alive physically, their alive yet they’re dead in trespasses and sins.
Ø Jesus said in John 3:16-18
16For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 18He 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.
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Ø I some time use this illustration: now this is an illustration,
I was a sinner and couldn’t seemed to stop sinning, I was just about at the end of my rope so to speak, and one day Jesus came to me and said, “ Doyce; let’s you and I trade, if you’ll give me your load of sin, I’ll give you my righteousness” so the Lord Jesus and I traded, He took my load of sin and gave me His righteousness, and I have never been sorry, now if I should die or either the rapture takes place I’m ready, because when the Heavenly Father looks down on me now, He don’t see me loaded down with sin, a lost sinner, He sees the righteousness of Jesus as Jesus righteousness has been imputed to my account, my sins has been cast away as for as east is from the west, if we should start walking east we would always be walking east because we’d never catch up to the west.
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2 Corinthians 5:21 For He (God the Father) hath made Him (Jesus the Son) to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
1 Peter 2:24 Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.(not going to be healed, but were healed) healed of the damning penalty of sin, a one time happening.
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verse12-c-and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life:
The unsaved will be judged by what is written in books, of which there are three kinds of books
The 1st. is the record book of all that the lost sinner did in his or her lifetime; this book will contain an accurate and complete record of the total life behavior of each person there.
Rom.2:2 But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit such things.
Vs.6 Who will render to every man according to his deeds:
Vs.11 For there is no respect of persons with God.
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The 2nd book is the Scriptures, which sets forth the principles of divine judgments, the absolute standard of moral behavior.
Rom. 3:20-23 Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin. 21But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; 22Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: 23For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;--
Ø And people’s basic duties to their Creator;
Rom. 1:18-21 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;
19Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. 20For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: 21Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.
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The 3rd book-
The Book of Life, which is the register of all who are saved;
Rev. 20:15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.
Phil. 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.
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Ø I want to say something about the book of life before my time is gone
When a person is born his or her name is entered into the book of life, and when that person dies, if he dies in his or her sins without ever being saved, their name is blotted out.
Psalm 69:28 Let them be blotted out of the book of the living, and not be written with the righteous.
Notice, if their name had not been there at one time it could not have been blotted out.
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Listen to what Moses ask God to do for Israel.
Exodus 32:32-33 Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin--; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written.(past tense) 33And the LORD said unto Moses, Whosoever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book.
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When it’s all said and done, only the saved will be left in the Book of Life, which then becomes “THE LAMBS BOOK OF LIFE”.“
Revelation 21:27 And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb’s book of life.
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Sinner friend, please don’t mess around and take chances with you being saved, if you die lost without Jesus your name will surely be blotted out of His Book. Call on Him right now and ask Him to save you, invite Him into your heart and life, if you’ll ask Him and mean it, He’ll save you right now.
