Here is the last and final judgment of history following
the close of the thousand-year reign of Christ. It is an
awesome and solemn scene and one that should cause deep
concern to our hearts for many of our friends and even
relatives will be here, those who have never received Jesus
Christ as their Savior. All who have scoffed at God, denied
His being, rebelled at His rule, or rejected His
sovereignty, and rejected His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ,
must stand before this throne to be condemned to eternal
judgment.
This judgment follows the thousand-year reign of Christ and
the doom of Satan (20:1-10). First, it is called “great”
because of the intensity and the degree of its importance.
Here each unbeliever’s eternal destiny is determined and
declared with ample proof and reason. It is great because it
is the final judgment putting an end to all judgment for all
time. Finally, it is great because all the unbelievers of
all time, from Cain to the final revolt at the end of the
thousand-year reign of Christ will be assembled to face the
bar of God’s perfect justice. The only exceptions will be
the beast and false prophet.
Second, it is called “white” because it will be the supreme,
display of the perfect righteousness and justice of God.
Throughout history, God has taught man that he must have
God’s kind of righteousness, that God is of purer eyes than
to approve evil, or to accept or look upon wickedness, all
have sinned and come short of God’s glory, and the penalty
of sin is eternal death, separation from God. Now these
facts will become evident to each individual and proven
without question.
Third, it is called a “throne” because here the Lord Jesus
Christ will sit in absolute majesty and sovereign authority
and the heaven and earth flee from Him who sits on this
throne. In other words, they are destroyed (2 Peter 3:7,
10-12). The point is the great white throne judgment does
not occur on earth or in heaven, as we know it, but
somewhere beyond, perhaps in extreme outer space. The
indication is that it does not occur in the new heaven and
earth that is created until after this event. The Lord has
removed Satan and demons, the false prophet, and the beast,
and He is about to judge the rest of the unbelieving dead.
It is only fitting then, that He also judges the earth and
heaven that has been the scene of the struggle with Satan,
sin, and sinners. This takes place after the resurrection of
the unbelieving dead from the grave and Hades. They are
resurrected, gathered before the throne and heaven and earth
are destroyed before their eyes. Then the judgment will
proceed. “And no place was found for them,” in the eternal
state there will be no place for that which reminds men of
the rebellions of Satan and man with all their wickedness
and sorrow.
“The one sitting on the throne” (Revelation 20:11) is the
Lord Jesus Christ (John 5:22). All judgment has been put
into His hands as the perfect Son of man, Son of God, the
one qualified to judge by virtue of his sinless humanity and
His defeat of Satan and sin on the cross.
The ones judged are “the dead, great and small,” those who
had no part in the first resurrection (Revelation 20:5-6).
This 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 Jesus Christ, regardless
of their status in human history, religiously, politically,
economically, or morally, must stand before this throne to
face the judgment of Jesus Christ. They come from “the sea,”
these are those who died at sea and were not buried in the
earth. They come from the graves in the ground, cremated, or
destroyed in any other way on earth. They come from “Hades,”
a reference to the place of torments, the compartment which
contains the souls of unbelievers (Luke 16:23). The sea and
the ground contain the bodies and Hades contains the souls.
At this second resurrection, the soul and body are reunited
and the person is brought up before the throne.
The basis of the judgment is what is found in the two sets
of books: the books that were opened, and the other book,
the book of life. Note that the text says “and the books
were opened, and another book was opened, which is the book
of life.” The first book opened will probably be the
Scriptures, the Word of God that contains the revelation of
God’s holy character, the moral law, the declaration of the
sinfulness of man and God’s plan of salvation by faith in
the Savior. This book also reveals that even when men do not
have the written Word, they have the law of God written in
their hearts (Romans 2:14-16) and the revelation of God
consciousness in creation (Romans 1:19-20). Because of this,
they are without excuse (Romans. 1:20; 2:12). All men are
responsible for the revelation they have and stand at this
judgment because of their own negative volition to God’s
grace (Romans 1:18; 2:4, 14; John 7:17).
The second book opened will probably be the book of deeds.
Verses 13 and 14 state that the unbelieving dead will be
judged according to their deeds. Undoubtedly, one book is
the book of works that contains a record of their deeds as a
witness of the true nature of their spiritual condition. The
book of deeds will contain a record of all their deeds, good
and bad, to demonstrate Romans 3:23, that they fall short of
God’s righteousness and have therefore no basis upon which
to stand accepted before God. This judgment proves them
sinners and in need of Christ’s righteousness by faith.
The book of life contains the names of believers, all who
have put their faith in Christ.
At the great white throne the book of life is produced to
show that, their name, because of their rejection of Jesus
Christ, was not found written in the book of life.
Therefore, they have no righteousness and cannot be accepted
before God, but must be cast into the eternal lake of fire.
The book of life contains the names of believers who have
been justified by faith and who have righteousness from God
imputed to their account. These are accepted by God and will
spend all eternity with Him.
“And death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire.”
“Death” refers to the body now resurrected, and “Hades”
refers to the soul, the immaterial part of man. Both the
body and soul are eternally separated from God in the
eternal lake of fire, a very real and literal place. It is
important to note that the real issue is on whether their
name is in the book of life and not on their deeds.
Salvation is by faith in Jesus Christ and the loss of
salvation is brought about by the one sin which separates
man from God, failure to trust in Him (John 3:16, 36; 16:
8-11).
