Transcript

On September 12, 2011, Brandon Wright, a 21-year-old Utah State University student, was driving his motorcycle en route to the school’s computer lab when a BMW pulling out of a parking lot collided with him. Both vehicles burst into flames.

The BMW driver quickly escaped from the car, but Wright was trapped under the 4,000-pound sedan. The horrific accident drew an immediate crowd.

One passerby walked around the burning vehicles to survey the situation and saw a motionless body beneath the BMW.

Another individual, testing his strength, attempted to lift the car, but without success. A handful of others joined the effort but could not budge the car.

A young woman lay on the ground to peer under the car and saw evidence that the trapped victim was still alive. The flames were intense at the front of the car, where the motorcycle also lay on the ground burning.

Nevertheless, at this point a dozen members of the growing crowd joined shoulder to shoulder at the side of the car, lifted in unison, and tilted it high enough to allow another rescuer to pull Wright to safety.

At that point the city’s emergency responders appeared on the scene. They doused the flames and transported Wright to Intermountain Medical Center, where he was treated for two broken legs and a fractured pelvis.

“Every one of those people put their lives in danger,” assistant Logan police chief Jeff Curtis said. “You can only speculate what the outcome would have been if they hadn’t worked together and lifted that car.”

We know what the outcome will be if people don’t trust Christ as their Savior before they die. We find that outcome in Revelation 20:11-15. If they don’t believe, people will experience the second death in the lake of fire forever and ever.

God wants us to live with a constant realization that others around us are in grave danger and need to be rescued, and they need Christ who is the only way to safety.

Like those who worked together to save Brandon Wright, we, the Church, are God’s ambassadors to this world, and God wants us to work together to reach people for Christ, “with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel” (Phil. 1:27).

The passage before us in Revelation 20 is a heartbreaking one; it’s the scene after it’s too late, as all those who stand at the Great White Throne Judgment are doomed to everlasting torment in the lake of fire.

The solemn facts in these verses are motivation for carrying the gospel to the ends of the world whatever the cost and doing everything possible to warn, inform and challenge people to trust Christ now, before it’s too late.

Rev. 20:11: “And 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.”

The Apostle John here in his vision of future events sees a “great white throne.” What John describes communicates power, awe and fear.

The throne is “great” because the throne exudes power, and it will be a huge, intimidating scene. And it is “great” because of the great, eternal issues involved.

The greatness of the high and lifted up throne, and the greatness of the scene and the greatness of God, will strike terror in all who appear there.

Hebrews 10:31 says, “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” And the great white throne will be incredibly frightening and terrifying.

No one will be flippant before the Great White Throne. No one will tell God what is on their mind. No one will gripe, complain, protest or object.

It is a “white” throne, shining in appearance which signifies glory, purity and holiness. “White” speaks to the unapproachable holiness and purity of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Many reject Christ and believe they are alright because they believe they are a good person. The mistake people make is that they compare themselves with other people.

But all this is, is one unrighteous person comparing themselves with another unrighteous person, both of whom whose righteousness is like filthy rags.

The standard is the righteousness of God, and we all fall far short. Being confronted with the perfect holiness of God at that day, and standing there in their own righteousness, each unbelieving person will be completely ashamed.

The blackness of the impurity of humanity will stand in stark, utter contrast to God’s perfect white holiness and purity leaving each person absolutely speechless.

The only way anyone can stand before God and be accepted of Him and reside in His presence forever is to be washed in the blood of God’s Son, Jesus Christ and to be pure and holy in Him.

The throne is white and pure and holy and the judgment handed down from it will be perfect and pure as well.

The “throne” is God’s throne and is a throne of divine judgment. It speaks of divine sovereignty, and that its judgment cannot be questioned.

“Him that sat on it” is the Lord Jesus Christ. Acts 17:31 says that “[God] hath appointed a day, in the which He will judge the world in righteousness by that Man who He hath ordained; whereof He hath given assurance unto all men, in that He hath raised Him from the dead.”

Jesus Christ is God. So the infallible, all-knowing, sovereign God sits on this throne. The One who has been sinned against is the Judge.

The Creator who allowed them every breath they ever took will judge them. The Savior with marks of love still visible on His body, with nail prints in His hands and feet, the One who faced God’s divine fury and judgment against sin, so that they could be saved, will hand down the sentence of hell because they did not believe.

“From whose face the earth and the heaven fled away,” speaks to the almighty power of Christ, that the earth and infinitely huge universe flees away before His face as its Creator.

But it is specifically speaking of John seeing the contaminated universe go out of existence. Heaven and earth have both been permeated with sin, and they flee away from His face as He purges them and renovates the first and second heavens and the earth with fire. Peter speaks of this in 2 Peter 3:10-13,

“…the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up, the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.”

The earth and heavens will be restored to a new state of purity. Sin will be vanquished out of God’s creation. This judgment will likely take place during the time the heavens and earth are being purged of sin and renovated by fire.

The very next thing John sees after this judgment in Rev. 21:1 is “I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away.”

Thus with the creation of the new heavens and new earth and the casting of all unbelievers into the lake of fire, carrying their sins with them into it to be judged for their forever, all sin is purged from the universe.

With the current earth and heaven having fled away and burned up, all these lost at the Great White Throne will realize that everything they ever lived for on earth is gone forever, everything they put before God is burned up, all their possessions, all their pleasures, popularity, prestige no longer remains and is passed away forever.

These people will truly realize the Lord’s words, “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul.” The loss of one’s soul to hell is the greatest loss of all. Gaining the whole world which is to be burned up, means nothing.

There is a principle here even for believers, that we should not live as if this world is all that mattered. This world and everything in it is temporal and will be burned up. And God wants us to live for the eternal, to live for Him.

Heaven and earth having “fled away,” the last part of verse 11 says, “there was found no place for them,” or literally, there is no place left for them to run or hide. It’s just them and God. They all must face the Judge. And they must face Him alone.

Revelation 20:12: “And 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.”

This judgment is a judgment of those called “the dead.” After the battle of Gog and Magog all unbelievers will be dead and in hades in the center of the earth at this point. “The dead” here are the unbelieving dead of all the ages of history.

All the unsaved, all the spiritually dead, are the subjects of this judgment. This judgment is not to determine whether those who stand before Christ are saved or not.

The question of who is saved is not determined in heaven or at the Great White Throne before Christ, but in life here on earth. Personal unbelief or personal trust in God’s salvation in life here on the earth determines our eternal destiny.

If one stands at the Great White Throne, they’re going to hell, they are not going to heaven. The unrighteous dead will stand before God in a judicial sense, as guilty, condemned, doomed sinners before the bar of divine justice.

Man, by nature, likes do-overs and second chances. Golfers get mulligans, batters get three strikes. But this life is not a test. It is not a practice drill. We get one shot. There are no second chances once a person dies.

Salvation is available to you now. When you die, it is not longer available. After you die, the choice has been made, and your destiny is sealed for eternity. The time to trust Christ as Savior is right now!

Maurice Rawlings rightly says, “There is life after death, and if I don’t know where I’m going, it is not safe to die.” It is not safe to die without trusting Christ. But when you have trusted that Christ died for my sins and rose again, you are safe.

The “small and great” will stand before Christ at the Great White Throne. There will be no favoritism at this judgment. No one can claim to have an upper hand standing before this throne. It will not matter who you are. It will not matter what you did.

Down and outers, uneducated, homeless, the common man, the little known, the poor, and the rich, well known, the leaders of the world, CEO’s, the brilliant minds: professors, doctors, engineers, scientists. All unbelieving humanity will be judged here.

Before the GWT will be those that believe they are good and good enough for heaven, that they’ve done more good than bad and that God will accept them.

Before the GWT will be church goers, to those that have gone to church all their lives, depending on membership to a denomination as their ticket to heaven, or have accepted the church’s traditions to save them, rather than the gospel.

Before the GWT will be those who have procrastinated, putting off the decision.

Before the GWT will be those who’ve wanted to live their lives as they choose, who went through life as if there were no God. Before the GWT will be the cruel, wicked, evil, out and out sinner.

Before the GWT will be those who believed that it doesn’t matter what you believe as long as you’re sincere, before it will be those that believe all roads lead to heaven.

Before the GWT will be those who feel like God is good for some, but not them. Before the GWT will be the religious who feel they must do something and do good works to be saved.

Before the GWT will be any and all who do not believe. And our hearts should break. God’s does. God never made hell for people.

Hell was created for the devil and his angels the Bible says. The people who end up in hell will be those who reject God’s gracious way of escape and His salvation.

A West Virginia state trooper stopped a woman for going 15 miles over the speed limit.

After he handed her a ticket, she asked him, “Don’t you give out warnings?” “Yes, ma’am,” he replied. “They’re all up and down the road. They say, ‘Speed Limit 55.’”

We need to be God’s warning signs and giving out warnings to those around us in life. If people do not accept Christ as their personal Savior, when they die, they die in their sins, and they will face God’s judgment and be cast into the lake of fire.

Verse 12 says “and the books were opened.” Christ will judge these unsaved on the basis of what is written in the “books.” What books?

First, we know the books of the Bible will be there. Christ says in John 12:48, “The Word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.”

Paul writes in Romans 2:16: “In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel.”

Every unbeliever will be held accountable for the truth he or she has heard in this life.

The Bible is the righteous standard by which all the lost will one day be judged. From it they will see how holy God is, how far they fall short of Him, how God must punish sin.

By Paul’s gospel they’ll be shown how perfect a plan God had for them and provided a way of escape from the penalty of their sins thru the cross, but because they rejected God’s salvation they must face eternal punishment for their sins.

I believe they are also judged from the books of their life, the record of every unsaved person’s entire life. There will be a record of their works, their sins, of every word, thought, and deed, and on the day of judgment nothing will remain hidden.

Hebrews 4:13 says, “Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in His sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.”

Luke 12:2 says, “For there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; neither hid, that shall not be known.” Nothing is hidden before God. He knows all.

Every lie told, every evil thought, every sinful act, every wicked word spoken, every other wrong ever been done is recorded in books.

God knows what all are doing and His books will reveal the truth. There will be no excuses. There will be no alibis. There will be no adequate defense, because the things that they have done will betray them and it’ll be overwhelming evidence against them. Sin brings shame, and they will be ashamed and embarrassed at this judgment.

Books that record every thought, word, and deed of sinful men, all recorded in heaven and by divine omniscience will provide the evidence for eternal condemnation.

Christ considers the works of the people before the White Throne, to show their unbelief, wickedness, guilt and to show their just judgment. Their works will demonstrate the absence of life, and their utter sinfulness, and that they deserve the lake of fire.

Ephesians 5:3-6 says, “But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness…neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting…Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience.”

The books will also determine the degree of punishment they will endure in the lake of fire. In Mark 12:38-40, the religious scribes are described by the Lord and how they put on a fake, religious show for all to see, and how they “devour widows’ houses, and for a pretence make long prayers: these shall receive greater damnation.”

There are degrees of punishment in the lake of fire and each unbeliever will receive what is due them based on their sins. Christ is a righteous Judge and He’ll assign each unbeliever the place that they deserve.

John says he saw another book opened “which is the book of life.” The Book of Life is a register of all people who will ever live. Be a Berean about the Book of Life. Study this out. It’s an interesting and kind of a difficult study.

I believe the book of life is a record of those who possess natural life, and when the natural man dies in his sins, their name is removed from the book.

During the tribulation, living people will have their names blotted out also, as any who take the mark of the beast will have their names blotted out instantly.

But those who receive God’s salvation in their lifetime, those who receive eternal life will have their names sealed there on the basis of the finished work of Christ. And the child of God will NEVER have his name blotted out of the Book of Life.

At this point at the Great White Throne, all the unsaved will be dead, and only the names of believers will be left in it.

The book of life will be opened and shown to the unbeliever at this judgment.

Christ will open the page to find where their name should be, and will show it to them, will show where their name was “written” and recorded but all they’ll see is a blank space.

They never were saved and their name was blotted out, they do not possess eternal life in Christ, they are dead in their sins, thus they will be cast into the lake of fire forever.

Revelation 20:13-15: And 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.

“And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.”

Verse 13 speaks of the “resurrection of damnation” as John 5:29 puts it, which will take place at this time. All the unsaved of all ages will be raised to stand before God’s judgment at the Great White Throne.

All the places that have held the bodies of the unbelieving dead will yield them up for the second resurrection. Death and “hell” or Hades both describe the state of death.

“Death” speaks of the grave and the temporary holding place of unsaved men’s bodies. “Hades” speaks to the temporary holding place of unsaved men’s souls in the center of the earth, where they have been held in a conscious state of punishment.

Death will give up the bodies. The sea will give her dead, and every grave in the ground will give up her dead. The dust and elements will come together again.

And hades, the realm of the spirits of the dead in torment in the center of the earth, will give up the spirits.

The physical bodies of the unsaved will then be joined with their spirits which have been in hades. And Hades will be empty for the first time in thousands of years.

No unsaved will escape. They’ll all be raised for this judgment and be judged according to their works. The resurrected bodies given to the unsaved by God will be indestructible and able to exist forever in torment in the lake of fire.

Once the final judgment takes place, both death and hades are cast into the lake of fire, as there will no longer be physical death, and there will be no need for hades.

“This is the second death,” speaks of the lake of fire. The first death is physical death, the separation of the soul and spirit from the body. The second death is spiritual and eternal death, the separation from God in the lake of fire, the final, eternal hell.

“And whosoever is not found in the book of life is cast into the lake of fire.” The sentence of the second death will be passed on all unbelievers that appear at the GWT.

Death gives up the body, hades gives up the soul, then both body and soul are cast into the eternal lake of fire, and they are separated from the presence of God forever.

The lake of fire is the final destination of the unsaved. The punishment of the unbelieving is eternal.

If you’ve never made the decision to trust Christ as your Savior, we plead with you to please do so right now. Just place your faith in the truth that Christ died for your sins personally, and that He rose again the third day.

Just trusting that simple gospel message, God’s Word says you have the free gift of salvation and eternal life.