The Great White Throne Judgment Revelation 20:11 – 15

 

INTRODUCTION

 

·                    Series Introduction: This is the sixth of the Seven Last Things, The Seven Last Things of Human History.  The first was the Return of Christ; then came Christ’s Defeat          of the Anti-Christ; next was the Apprehension and Arrest of the Person behind the         Antichrist, Satan himself; then we arrived at the Millennium; the Millennium is over and we witnessed Satan’s Revolt and Man’s Rebellion; now comes the final judgment            known as The Great White Throne Judgment.  So, we have seen that . . .

                                                                           Heaven will Rejoice, 19:1 – 10

                                                                           Christ will Return, 19:11 – 21:3

                                                                                    Saints will Reign, 20:4 – 6

                                                                                    Satan will Revolt, 20:7 – 10

                                                                                    Sinners are Recompensed, 20:11 – 15

                                    (“The wages of sin are death,” Romans 6:23a.  This is a terrible payday.)

 

·                    Sermon Introduction

            A 2000 U.S. News & World Report polls reveals 64% of Americans believe there is a hell,    25 % say there is no hell and 9% do no know.  Most respondents think of hell as “an     anguished state of existence” or “an unpleasant solitary confinement” rather than a real            place.  To preach the good news, we must preach the bad.  If there is no God, no   heaven, no hell, there is simply no persuasive reason to be moral.

 

            Death is the one certain fact in everyone’s life.  Death is the most “democratic institution     on earth.  It comes to all men [and women], regardless of color, education, wealth or      rank.  It allows no discrimination, tolerates to no exceptions.  The mortality rate of mankind is the same the world over: one death per person.”  “. . . It is appointed unto          men once to die, but after this the judgment,” Hebrews 9:27.

 

            Ge,ena is used twelve times in the New Testament.  Jesus speaks it eleven of those         twelve times. For those who follow in name only Jesus said, “depart from me, ye that   work iniquity,” Matthew 7:23b.  In his last public teaching Jesus said, “Depart from me, ye       cursed, into everlasting fire,” Matthew 25:41.  Jesus believed in Hell.  Jesus was a hellfire    and brimstone preacher.

 

I.                   The Judge enters the courtroom, v.11.

A.     The Godhead sits on the throne.  There is no form as in Revelation 5:6 – 7.  When Jesus is indicated there is a form mentioned.

B.     There is only greatness and dreadfulness.  So great, so dreadful that heaven and earth flee, 2 Peter 3:10 – 12 confirm this.

C.     Compare the scenes of the throne in chapter 4 and chapter 20.

 

 CHAPTER FOUR                                                    CHAPTER TWENTY

A rainbow = a covenant                                                                   No rainbow, no covenant only condemnation

Lightning, thundering , voices = threatening                                  No threatening, only damnation

7 lamps burning = intercession of Holy Spirit                 No intercession, only final incarceration

A sea of glass = a pavement of holiness                                         No place for mercy, only awful misery

Singing and praising God was heard                                                No singing, only weeping, wailing, gnashing

                                                                                                                of teeth

II.                The Accused are arraigned, v. 12a and v. 13a – b.

A.     “The dead” (“the rest of the dead,” v. 5a) are all the unregenerate.

1.      “The sea” represents all those buried or lost at sea.

2.      “Death” I think represents all those buried in graves.

3.      “Hell” is o` a’[dhj Hades, the realm of the spirits of the dead.

4.      The bodies and spirits of all the unregenerate will be reunited and brought before the throne.

B.     “The small and the great,” this means it is universal.

C.     “Every man,” (v. 13) shows the judgment is minute and individual.

“The great and the small, the big sinners and the little sinners, rulers and subjects, nobles and plebeians, the learned and the ignorant, the refined and the vulgar, the civilized and the barbarous, emperors and beggars, all alike are there,” Joseph Seiss.

 

III.             The Evidence is presented, v. 12b and 13b.

A.     The evidence presented is from “the book of works,” v. 12.  Every man will be judged according to his works.  This is as the righteous for rewards.  Works will determine the degree of punishment.  The point of the verse is not salvation by works.  Works save no one.  Rather, “it is damnation by works.”

B.     The evidence is presented from the book of life, v. 15.  The book of life is introduced as the deciding factor.  There is “no new name written down in glory,” Revelation 17:8, 13:8, 3:5, Philippians 4:3, Luke 10:20, Daniel 12:1.

 

IV.            The Sentence is given, v. 14 & 15.

A.     Death and Hades are cast into hell, v. 14.  This is important because of 1 Corinthians 15:26, 54d – 55.

B.     Unbelievers are cast into hell, v. 15.

1.      Death has three stages.

a.      First, there is spiritual death.  All are “dead in trespasses and sins,” Ephesians 2:1.  The remedy is the new birth.  “Ye must be born again,” John 3:7.

b.      The second stage is physical death.  The remedy for this is the resurrection of the body at the first resurrection.

c.      Third is the second death.  For this, there is no remedy.

2.      Hell is eternal, Revelation 14:11a.

 

CONCLUSION

Matthew 23:33 asks the question how can ye escape the damnation of hell?  There is a story about a farmer in the west.  One day his wheat field caught on fire.  He rushed toward the smoke and quickly started a second fire to stop the progress of the first.  When the fires had died down, he walked through his field wondering why God had allowed half his crop to burn.  He noticed the body of a charred hen; he moved it with his boot and from underneath came several chicks.  He thought about how Jesus had died for him and the wrath of God will never touch us, Matthew 23:37.  “And ye would not,” are terrible words.  C.S. Lewis said, “I willingly believe that the damned are, in one sense successful rebels to the end; that the doors of hell are locked from the inside.”

The full wrath of God is seen at the cross of Christ and the Great White Throne judgment.  Where do you choose to face it?