The Great White Throne Judgement

I. The purpose of the Last Judgement: (Great White Throne)

a). Is to give the unbeliever an opportunity to present his defense before the sentence is carried out (Justice & Righteousness)

b) Is NOT separation of believers and unbelievers, as ONLY unbelievers are to be judged.

II. The unpardonable sin: (Rejection of Christ — John 3:36) is the reason the individual is at the Last Judgement..

Matthew 12:31, and Mark 3:28,29 is rejection of Jesus Christ in another dispensation.

III. The unbeliever, by rejection of Jesus Christ, stands on his own good works (his defense) instead of accepting the WORK of Christ on the cross.

IV. Jesus Christ was judged for the sins of the whole world — 1 John 2:2. Consequently no one is ever judged for their sins at the Great White Throne, or even the believer at the Bema of Judgement (1 Corinthians 3). Sins are NOT mentioned at the last judgement. Apply the law of double jeopardy.

V. Therefore God, in His justice, evaluates the unbeliever’s good works. They do not measure up as “our righteousnesses are as filthy rags in His sight” — Isaiah 64:6. They are minus righteousness, and -R cannot have fellowship with +R.

VI. Revelation 20:11-15, The Great White Throne

a) Verse 11 — “him that sat on it” is the Lord Jesus Christ. He was judged for the sins of the whole world, and now He judges — John 5:22, 27 “hath committed all judgement to the Son.”

b) Verse 12 — “dead”: Spiritually dead. Not born again.

“stand before God”: The resurrection unto damnation.

“books”: Books of works, also the book of life — only believers in that one. The books of works contain all the human good of unbelievers from Cain on.

c) Verse 13 — “judged: … according to their works”: Works is the basis of indictment. Works do not measure up.

d) Verse 15 — “whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire”: Rejection of Jesus Christ is why the believer is cast into the lake of fire. What the believer does, good or bad, is not the issue.

1. Sins (Everyone’s) were paid for at the cross.

2. Good is evaluated — it doesn’t measure up.

3. Therefore, no degrees of punishment in hell. They are all there for the same reason: Rejection of Christ.

The doctrine of the last judgement

1. Definition. The last judgement is the alternative to salvation. This judgement is the expression of righteousness and justice from the essence box. God is perfect in His righteousness and perfect in His justice. God has found a way in time to keep His righteousness and justice from being compromised — doctrine of propitiation.

God must judge the unbeliever in eternity. If He doesn’t then He would compromise His righteousness and justice. And just as the cross propitiates the Father so the last judgement keeps the Father’s character intact. If God didn’t judge the unbeliever with the lake of fire then He wouldn’t be God and this is no God. Of course, that is not the case. Everyone who rejects Christ as saviour is included in this last judgement, it is the culminating judgement of history in which the unbelievers of the human race are judged and sentenced to the lake of fire forever. It is called the second death, it is called the great white throne, it is called the last judgement.

2. The basic categories of the human race are based upon the last judgement — John 3:36, “He who believes in the Son has eternal life”: believers in the Lord Jesus Christ; but, “he who does not believe in the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him”: unbelievers, with emphasis on their eternal future, the wrath of God abides on him. The abiding of the wrath of God on the unbeliever indicates that God keeps His righteousness and justice intact.

3. In the last judgement the unbeliever is under indictment. The unbeliever’s indictment is based on his rejection of Jesus Christ as saviour. “He who believes in him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the unique Son of God.” John 16:9 tells us that it is the unbeliever who is under indictment — “Concerning sin because they believe not on me.” They have rejected the propitiation of the cross. Revelation 20:15 — “Therefore if anyone was found not written in the book of life he was cast into the lake of fire.” The book of life in eternity was a registry of all people and when one dies without accepting Christ his name is blotted out. So that in eternity at the last judgement the book of life has the names of believers only.

4. The believer in Christ is never involved in the last judgement — Romans 8:1.

5. The unbeliever has two appointments with God. The first is with the sovereignty of God which decides when the unbeliever will die — physical death. The second appointment is judgement — “It is appointed unto man once to die, after that the judgement” — Hebrews 9:27,28.

6. The second appointment of judgement is kept by a second resurrection. God takes all unbelievers and resurrects them at the end of time, at the end of the Millennium, after the Gog revolution — John 5:24-29.

7. The resurrected unbeliever at the last judgement is condemned on the basis of his human good — Revelation 20:12,13. He is judged from the books according to their deeds. The point is a very simple one. At the cross the sins of the old sin nature were poured out upon the cross and judged but the human good from the old sin nature was rejected. So God has an attitude toward all manifestations of the old sin nature. The sins: judged; human good: rejected. For those who reject Christ as saviour they have their human good written in a book according to their deeds. At the last judgement their sins are not mentioned — law of double jeopardy, you can’t be judged twice for an offense, therefore no sins will be mentioned at the last judgement — it is good deeds that will be mentioned. They will be the basis for the indictment. Those who stand there have rejected Christ as saviour, therefore they are under indictment. Having rejected Christ as saviour they have rejected the cross. But there sins were judged at the cross too. What was rejected at the cross was human good and therefore their human good was accumulated in a book and it is brought up before them to demonstrate that when their human good is all added up it amounts to -R, and -R cannot have fellowship with +R. If God accepts one -R into heaven He has compromised His character and their is salvation for no one. Since the unbelievers stand there at the last judgement minus imputed righteousness they have only their own. Their own righteousness is trotted out, brought up before them, they are cast into the lake of fire, and God’s righteousness is not compromised.

8. The eternal status of the unbeliever. First of all, it is the lake of fire — Matthew 25:41; Revelation 20:14,15. A second description of the unbeliever in eternity is the second death — Revelation 20:14. A third is “dying in your sins” — John 8:21,24.