THE GREAT WHITE THRONE JUDGEMENT CONSIDERED IN DETAIL – PART 3 OF 4
These studies open up the subject of the great white throne from Revelation 20. It is a terrifying time, so that the earth and heavens flee away. No Christian is judged at the great white throne though all the Church, the Bride of Christ, will be there with the Lord. This time we are going to look at what punishments will be given by the Judge on the Throne.
Let us look again at the Revelation verses we have done so far - {{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.”}}
[K]. DEGREES OF PUNISHMENT –
I now want to touch on a subject that has been occupying my mind for some time, and I hasten to say this is totally my idea. I have no evidence for it but I shall present my thoughts on it. Before I do so, I will list a number of passages, and AS WE READ THEM I WANT YOU TO SEE IN THEM, DEGREES OF PUNISHMENT.
(a). {{Luke 12:46-48 “the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him, and at an hour he does not know, and will cut him in pieces, and assign him a place with the unbelievers. THAT SLAVE WHO KNEW HIS MASTER’S WILL AND DID NOT GET READY OR ACT IN ACCORD WITH HIS WILL, SHALL RECEIVE MANY LASHES, BUT THE ONE WHO DID NOT KNOW IT, AND COMMITTED DEEDS WORTHY OF A FLOGGING, WILL RECEIVE BUT FEW. From everyone who has been given much shall much be required, and to whom they entrusted much, of him they will ask all the more.”}}
That Luke verse definitely teaches obedience and responsibility. There is no such thing as a blanket condemnation or punishment. It is apportioned according to light received and response to what is demanded of a person. God is consistent. He does not condemn all in one sweep, but all will be condemned according to deeds! God has commanded that all must repent, so to disobey, results in condemnation.
(b). {{Matthew 10:14-15 “Whoever does not receive you, nor heed your words, as you go out of that house or that city, shake off the dust of your feet. Truly I say to you, IT WILL BE MORE TOLERABLE FOR THE LAND OF SODOM AND GOMORRAH IN THE DAY OF JUDGMENT THAN FOR THAT CITY.”}}.
In other words, in the judgement, Sodom and Gomorrah will fare better than those who rejected/reject the Lord’s gospel. The reason for that is light. Those who have had more light are more responsible. Sodom had less light and teaching about God than those towns visited by the Lord and His disciples. In our western world we have God’s word and some faithful preaching, so our generation has the light available and to refuse that is a solemn matter. Greater will be the judgement.
(c). {{Matthew 11:20-24 “Then He began to reproach the cities in which most of His miracles were done because they did not repent. “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! for if the miracles had occurred in Tyre and Sidon which occurred in you, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. Nevertheless I say to you, IT SHALL BE MORE TOLERABLE for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for you, and you, Capernaum, will not be exalted to heaven, will you? You shall descend to Hades for if the miracles had occurred in Sodom which occurred in you, it would have remained to this day. Nevertheless I say to you that IT SHALL BE MORE TOLERABLE FOR THE LAND OF SODOM in the day of judgment than for you.”}}.
This is similar to the previous one and touches on the matter of responsibility according to the light given. In a way this answers the question some love to ask, “But what about the heathen who have never heard the gospel?” Also God has given His stamp on creation and that will be used as a benchmark in the judgement in association with God’s revelation in Nature. {{Romans 1:19-20 “because that which is known about God is evident within them, for God made it evident to them, for since the creation of the world, His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.”}}. Woe betide people like David Attenborough who have seen such marvels in creation but identifies himself as an atheist and a humanist, (or agnostic at best).
(d). {{Matthew 12:36-37 “I say to you, that EVERY CARELESS WORD THAT MEN SHALL SPEAK, THEY SHALL RENDER ACCOUNT FOR IT IN THE DAY OF JUDGMENT, for by your words you shall be justified and by your words you shall be condemned.”}}.
Words are expressions of thoughts and belief systems. They represent actions in the mind. All actions will be brought into account. We can assume intensity here, and if every careless word and action will be judged, then each will have its value, not all weighted the same.
(e). {{Matthew 12:41 “The men of Nineveh shall stand up with this generation AT THE JUDGMENT AND SHALL CONDEMN IT because they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.”}}.
The idea of comparative judgement is in this verse. More responsibility was required from the ones who heard Jesus and refused Him than from Nineveh, because a prophet spoke at Nineveh, but the Son of God spoke in Israel! Greater responsibility refused means greater judgement.
(f). {{Romans 2:4–8 “or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance, but because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, WHO WILL RENDER TO EVERY MAN ACCORDING TO HIS DEEDS: to those who by perseverance in doing good seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life, but to those who are selfishly ambitious and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, wrath and indignation.”}}.
This is “according to his deeds” and not just if he is saved or not. In the Law there were many penalties for sin and crime and it is not hard to see when you study the Law that the penalty for breaking the Law was meted out, based on the seriousness of the crime or transgression. Deeds are actions and penalties are reactions, and that is a scientific law established in the entire universe, and of course on the earth. Consistency demands God applies the same to the sin of man in judgement .
[L]. GOD IS JUST AND RIGHTEOUS AND THAT IS HOW HE JUDGES –
Throughout the Old Testament, God is seen as merciful and His judgments dispensed according to the crimes and faithlessness of His people. Once they gained the promised land, when they sinned, He brought against them the Philistines, but when their sin became gross and so severe, then He brought them into captivity by Assyria and Babylon with judgments so severe. In my current understanding, God’s penalty is commensurate with the crime. Do you see that in the passages we saw earlier? I think it is important to recognise in God, a just penalty in judgement for sin where sins are dealt with accordingly.
The question is sometimes asked, “What about the heathen who have never heard of salvation in Jesus Christ and who died in the millennia past – are they in hell or what, and is this fair?” Then again, “What about the good person, the really lovely “good person” who has spent a life in going good for people but never went to church? These questions are very valid but we must also mention that the following considerations apply, {{“and THERE IS SALVATION IN NO ONE ELSE, for THERE IS NO OTHER NAME UNDER HEAVEN THAT HAS BEEN GIVEN AMONG MEN, BY WHICH WE MUST BE SAVED.”}} (Acts 4:12) and {{as it is written, “THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NOT EVEN ONE.”}} (Romans 3:10). And {{Romans 3:12 All have turned aside. Together they have become useless. THERE IS NONE WHO DOES GOOD. There is not even one.”}}.
Now we must try to balance all this against the great white throne judgment and it is not easy and I don’t have a perfect, satisfying solution. God is just and does it correctly. We let the matter rest there for all those “What if” and the “But what about” questions only confuse a situation where we try to speculate out of silence.
I have known some really lovely people by this world’s standards and who have helped me in unpleasant situations. What is sad is that in our understanding of salvation, these people are not saved. I often recall the Lord’s words on the two part division – {{Matthew 12:30 “He who is not with Me is against Me and he who does not gather with Me scatters.”}}. I would love to claim these people for the Lord but it is not the case. The deeds written in the books will determine what outcome will be pronounced. Leave it with the Judge of the earth. The Lord is merciful even in judgement. {{Habakkuk 3:2 “LORD, I have heard the report about You and I fear. O LORD, revive Your work in the midst of the years. In the midst of the years make it known. IN WRATH REMEMBER MERCY.”}}
[M]. NONE WILL HAVE AN EXCUSE –
The bible tells us in Romans 1 that the heathen world is without excuse having the ability to see and claim God in creation. On that basis one accepts or rejects. Romans also tells us that none is really good, and goodness is measured by the standard of God Himself. No one reaches that standard and therefore no one is good.
That being said, we know God is a just God and that He punishes according to the crime and the responsibility, and accountability. For that reason I believe the books that are opened at the great white throne will expose all the sins of those present and they are judged according to their sins, and God, being fair, will take into account the sinfulness of each sin to pronounce a penalty worthy of those sins.
Therefore I believe that the horrendous crimes will suffer a greater, in fact, disastrous punishment than the less horrendous sins. We know all unsaved end in the lake of fire, but in that place I expect there to be degrees of punishment. Hitler and Stalin and various Popes, cardinals and priests who murdered millions of Christians after the Reformation, and especially the greatest murderer of all in history, Mao Zedong, will have the severest of penalties.
Those of Tyre and Sidon and Sodom will be less penalised than the people who saw and heard Jesus’ ministry, yet rejected it. It will all lie in God’s hands; He is the Judge and Abraham’s prayer for Sodom and Gomorrah sets it out correctly – {{Genesis 18:25 “Far be it from You to do such a thing, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike. Far be it from You! SHALL NOT THE JUDGE OF ALL THE EARTH DEAL JUSTLY?”}} We must leave this matter there for now, leave in the hands of the Lord.
We then have a verse which explains this scene in a little more detail, and it is this one coming up -
[N]. DEATH AND HELL EMPTIED –
{{Revelation 20:13 “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.”
The people standing before the great white throne have come from the sea and death and hades. Death and Hades (hell) as it is today is a terrible place, in essence, a holding pen for the great white throne. This is not difficult for it includes all who have died through the ages and all these had their abode in death, having died on the land or in the sea, even in space in our generation.
They all were in hell which is “sheol” in Hebrew or “hades” in Greek. Same place. The grave, death, hell, sheol, hades are all the same. Hell used to be in two sections, hell and paradise, but no longer is that the case after the ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ (Ephesians 4:8). The unsaved dead of all generations will be resurrected for the great white throne and therefore we assume they will have some type of body (though maybe not necessary) as they stand there en masse waiting their turn for it says, “EVERY ONE OF THEM”. The resurrection of verse 13 is the resurrection of the unsaved, because all those in Christ Jesus are resurrected at the Rapture, and the murdered saints of the Tribulation are raised before the 1000 years begins. Revelation 20:4-6, the First Resurrection.
This same verse in Revelation 20 verse 13 says all these will be judged according to their deeds. God has a record of them and only one sin is enough to condemn a man as seen with Adam who was banished from the garden through one act of disobedience, and who died that day according to the promise of God, but it also began the path of physical death. These evil deeds that belong to the condemned at the judgment throne, will be under consideration and they will suffer the penalty, but the very fact that deeds are mentioned, again proves the point there are degrees of punishment resulting from this judgment.
THE GREAT WHITE THRONE
Hell, give up your dead!
O sea, surrender those who have died!
To the throne they’re led.
Heaven and earth flee; no where to hide.
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The throne, great and white,
Where sits the Judge in His awesome power.
Frightful is the sight,
For the lost have come to judgement’s hour.
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The books are opened
Which contain all life’s recorded deeds,
Beginning and end.
But each one there to the Judge accedes.
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One more book is there –
The Book of Life – the most important:
Righteous names declare –
But for sinners there had been no lodgement.
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The righteous Judge ruled.
All condemned – sent to the lake of fire.
God is never fooled.
What a man is – God knows his desire.
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Don’t be one of those
Who thinks, “I’ll be right for I’m not bad.”
AND do not suppose –
Because no one in that place is glad.
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26 May 2025 Ron Ferguson ABAB 5-9-5-9
