THE GREAT WHITE THRONE OF JUDGEMENT - WHAT IS IT? – PART 1 of 4
We have a dual study coming up of the two great judgements of mankind still future. The first will be THE GREAT WHITE THRONE and the second is THE JUDGEMENT SEAT OF CHRIST. All human beings are going to be at one or the other of these. Chronologically, the great white throne is after the Judgement Seat of Christ.
INTRODUCTION: MAN’S FINAL JUDGEMENT
Who does not fear being called to court on some charge whether guilty or innocent. Most people fear judgement but I speak about the behaviour on earth as it applies on earth. Hardly anyone gives any thought to the judgement that is to come. That judgement has eternal consequences. I want to look at two judgements that are coming for individuals, not the wrathful judgement of the Tribulation for that is a different matter.
Those two will be the great white throne and the judgement seat of Christ. There is more than 1 000 years between the two of them, and the judgement of Christians is the one to happen first. I will deal firstly though with the GREAT WHITE THRONE judgement.
This verse might be considered our theme verse in this matter – {{Hebrews 9:27 “Inasmuch as it is appointed for men TO DIE ONCE and AFTER THIS COMES JUDGMENT.”}} One death and one judgement for all human beings but separated by a great time span. Some people claim outright that there is nothing after death as most atheists do. To them I would say, {{Galatians 6:7 “Do not be deceived. God is not mocked, for WHATEVER A MAN SOWS, THIS HE WILL ALSO REAP.”}}. You may deny that as much as you like but you are no different from the man who stands at the beach and looks to the east and denies that the sun will rise.
[A]. THE PERSON AND THE BOOKS – THE SCRIPTURE
{{Revelation 20:11-12 “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, 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.”}}
[B]. THE VISION - The vision came to John of a great white throne occupied by a figure, so awesome and so terrifying, that it can only spell an awful judgment from the King of the Universe, and the ruling is against the unsaved of all ages, from Cain to the end of the Millennium. The reason for the throne is because the King sits in judgment, like the eastern potentates did on rulings that they would deliver for their subjects who came before the throne.
This event is strategically placed, as it is the very last event in the whole history of mankind before the eternal ages begin. This wraps up God’s dealing with man, for immediately after the great white throne we have the new heavens and the new earth wherein righteousness will dwell forever AND FOREVER!
Here in the description we have the Judge, which the Apostles’ Creed would identify as the Lord Jesus Christ who “comes to judge the living and the dead,” even though this Creed is deficient in eschatology as a posting of mine points out. Let us just say that God the Son as the eternal Judge will occupy this throne. {{John 5:22-23 “For not even the Father judges anyone, but HE HAS GIVEN ALL JUDGMENT TO THE SON in order that all may honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He who does not honour the Son does not honour the Father who sent Him.”}} It is God the Father who directs all judgment in that day into the hand of the Son of God.
{{John 5:27-29 “and HE GAVE HIM AUTHORITY TO EXECUTE JUDGMENT BECAUSE HE IS THE SON OF MAN. Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming in which all who are in the tombs shall hear His voice, and shall come forth - those who did the good deeds to a RESURRECTION OF LIFE, and those who committed the evil deeds to a RESURRECTION OF JUDGEMENT”}}. (This is not contemporaneous – not at the same time. “God created the universe and God created in me a new life.” Those creations are not contemporaneous.). The resurrection of life will be the Rapture and the resurrection of judgement will be the Great White Throne.
It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. That is the fate of those who did not know God and denied Him. How must we understand the word FEARFUL? It is like an antelope that has suddenly been seized by a lion. The dread of it! You can just imagine the terror of such an event. As I said earlier some think such things are fairy tales or stories to frighten kids into behaving. God’s judgements are serious and no fairytale.
It is easier to deny such events and then dismiss them utterly so that you don’t have to deal with them, BUT you do have to deal with it; you WILL have deal with it. Every single person will be at one of those two resurrections of John 5.
The description of Jesus on that throne is a dreadful one. The words alone confirm that - FROM WHOSE PRESENCE EARTH AND HEAVEN FLED AWAY. A God of wrath is a sight to strike fear into everything and that happens here so that even the earth and heavens (sky, created universe) would flee away. There are three places in Revelation where descriptions of Jesus as Judge are given and they are identified by the descriptions of judgement.
(a). THE FIRST ONE is in Chapter 1 – {{Revelation 1:15-16 “His feet were like BURNISHED BRONZE when it has been caused to glow in a furnace, and His voice was like THE SOUND OF MANY WATERS. In His right hand He held seven stars, and out of His mouth came A SHARP TWO-EDGED SWORD, and HIS FACE WAS LIKE THE SUN shining in its strength.”}}. The 4 selections in capital letters are associated with judgement and are connected with Old Testament references to judgement.
(b). THE SECOND ONE is the Lord’s description at the Second Coming. {{Revelation 19:12-13 “HIS EYES ARE A FLAME OF FIRE, and upon His head are many diadems and He has a name written upon Him which no one knows except Himself. He is CLOTHED WITH A ROBE DIPPED IN BLOOD and His name is called The Word of God.”}}
{{Revelation 19:15 “FROM HIS MOUTH COMES A SHARP SWORD so that with it HE MAY SMITE THE NATIONS, and He will rule them with A ROD OF IRON, and HE TREADS THE WINE PRESS OF THE FIERCE WRATH OF GOD, THE ALMIGHTY.”}}. The descriptions here are strong and fitting with the second coming when the Lord will go out to battle at Armageddon against all the world’s nations gathered in Israel to exterminate the nation.
(c). The THIRD DESCRIPTION of God in judgement is our consideration in Revelation 20.
[C]. THE DESCRIPTION OF THE THRONE –
The resurrection of the ones to life had already happened at the Rapture that will end this Church age. That would have been over 1 007 years earlier (7 year Tribulation + 1 000 year Millennium). The throne is considered GREAT, and that is because of the greatness of the event it presides over, and also because of the greatness of the One who sits upon it.
The throne is white, and the types speak to us here. White is purity and cleanness which is applicable to the One there in judgement. It can also speak of the absence of blood for redemption, for there is none sadly, at that judgment. The altar was the place of judgment in the Old Testament, and it was associated with the red of sacrifice. Here the judgment will be in association with white, because there is no red of sacrifice to atone for the ones who are going to be judged here. This is serious business when the whole of the unsaved earth from the beginning of creation till the entry of this throne, will stand in condemnation.
Allow God to plead very strongly with you if you are unsaved; we call that “still being in your sins.” If you die unsaved or if the Lord comes, it will be too late for you. Do you really want to be at that great white throne? Repent of your sins and turn to the Lord to believe in the One who died for you and receive Him as your Saviour/hand your life over to Him.
It is said there are two certainties in life, one of those being death. I think the other one is taxes but I can’t recall. As for death, the bible probably says more about death than it does about life. The soul that sins shall surely die, and that is the reason for physical and spiritual death.
However death is not the end of it all. It is quite remarkable how a wicked man dismisses any afterlife following death, and a very wicked man rejects the notion. It makes no difference though because God has declared this – {{Hebrews 9:27 “Inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgement ”}}. One does not believe in God; one does not believe in an accountable judgement.
I say an accountable judgement because every man and woman will be different in the judgement of the wicked. The one who committed lesser crimes/acts of unrighteousness will be punished with fewer stripes than the one who committed greater sins. That is a principle well set out in the bible – the penalty is commensurate with the act - and even Jesus alluded to it - Luke 12:47-48
One can not imagine what it will be like for the likes of Stalin, Hitler, Mao ze Dong, the three greatest murderers in the history of mankind. “Evil shall slay the wicked,” our verse says (Psalm 34:21) and the most horrible thing will come upon those who are wicked. Their own wickedness will kill them. You know, biblically, “the wicked” are not those arch criminals of society, but those who are not the righteous for there are only two camps. {{Psalm 1:6 “for the LORD knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.”}}
[D]. THE GREAT WHITE THRONE IS NOT FOR CHRISTIANS –
Then John sees the dead standing before God, a whole multitude of all ages and cultures, all in dread fear for there is no solid standing for them because their sins are condemning them. We can not ever imagine what this will be like, for God has ordained that His children will never be brought into judgment, or undergo the wrath of God, which is why the Church could never be in the Tribulation. It is removed beforehand – {{1 Thessalonians 1:10 “and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, that is, Jesus WHO DELIVERS US FROM THE WRATH TO COME.”}} {{1 Thessalonians 5:9 “GOD HAS NOT DESTINED US FOR WRATH, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.”}}. What could be clearer than that!!
To the church at Philadelphia the Lord promised this – {{Revelation 3:10 “Because you have kept the word of My perseverance, I ALSO WILL KEEP YOU FROM THE HOUR OF TESTING, that hour which is about to come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell upon the earth.”}} that hour of testing will come on the WHOLE world and is the great wrath of God = the Tribulation, but true Christians will be delivered from that (kept out of) = Rapture. It is sad that the Rapture is so misunderstood and even vehemently opposed by many. Some condemn it but they could be on dangerous ground.
Condemnation judgment will never touch us if we are genuinely the Lord’s. Jesus was the one who stood in the place where sin was condemning Him, stood as it were, before Jehovah’s awful throne with the sentence of death because He was the guilty One, and condemnation was His to encounter and to be forsaken by God. He would encounter the wrath of God, and His face would be so contorted that He was unrecognisable as a son of man. All this was done for you and for me. We should have been before the great white throne, each of us, but our Lord took our place, and therefore suffered what we will never suffer. For that reason our Substitute made sure we would never be before the great white throne (or in any situation) in any sort of condemnation judgement.
GATHERED AT THE GREAT WHITE THRONE
When they’re gathered at the great white throne,
When earth and heaven have fled away,
What a dreadful scene they’ll have to own,
Standing all exposed – lives on display.
================================
The rich will be there with paupers too;
Sportsmen, executives – the queues swell;
Film stars, pleasure lovers, now in view;
The high and mighty; peasants as well.
================================
For the judgement dreadful, all are there.
The face of Jesus who’s on the throne
Strikes those present with fear and despair.
Each one knows the fate that is his own.
================================
Examination of deeds negates
Redemption’s pardon for those ones there.
What is metered out by God relates
To each sin’s punishment, and is fair.
================================
The lake of fire is the final end
For all those who dismissed Christ as Lord,
And in that awful place, they will spend
The saddest honour of sin’s award.
================================
26 May 2025 Ron Ferguson ABAB 9 throughout
