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. 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. 13 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. 14 And death and hell were cast into the lake of
fire. This is the second death. 15 And
whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of
fire.
The Great White Throne judgment is
at the end of the Millennium after Satan is cast into the Lake of Fire where
the Beast and the False prophet were thrown a thousand years earlier.
Notice that this judgment is in
space. Earth and heaven recede away or flee. They are not there.
Proverbs 20:8 A king that
sitteth in the throne of judgment scattereth away all evil with his eyes.
We know that the taint of sin
corrupted the universe.
Job 25:5 Behold even to the
moon, and it shineth not; yea, the stars are not pure in his sight.
Isaiah 24:23 Then the moon shall
be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the LORD of hosts shall reign in mount
Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously.
Isaiah 60:19 The sun shall be no
more thy light by day; neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto
thee: but the LORD shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy
glory. 20 Thy sun shall no more go down;
neither shall thy moon withdraw itself: for the LORD shall be thine everlasting
light, and the days of thy mourning shall be ended.
The saved in Christ are judged by
His righteousness and have eternal life by virtue of that perfect righteousness
of Christ. The dead here are judged by their own righteousness and must face a
certain fact.
James 2:10 For whosoever shall
keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.
God has given mankind His perfect
standard not only in verses like the following under the Old Testament;
Micah 6:8 He hath shewed thee, O
man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly,
and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?
…but also in the New;
Matthew 22:36 Master, which is
the great commandment in the law? 37
Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy
heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 38 This is the first and great commandment.
39 And the second is like unto it, Thou
shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 40
On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
These people standing at this
Great White Throne have neither believed Christ nor trusted in Him for
salvation.
John 14:6 Jesus saith unto him,
I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by
me.
John 3:36 He that believeth on
the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see
life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.
Shall any man be able to claim
that he has lived to God’s standard of righteousness? Better would it be so
that we leaned on Christ’s righteousness and on His perfect sacrifice for our
sins than on our own frail and failing vanity.
Their names have been removed out
of the Book of Life because they rejected Christ.
Exodus 32:32 Yet now, if thou
wilt forgive their sin — ; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of
thy book which thou hast written.33 And
the LORD said unto Moses, Whosoever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out
of my book.
Philippians 4:3 And I intreat
thee also, true yokefellow, help those women which laboured with me in the
gospel, with Clement also, and with other my fellowlabourers, whose names are
in the book of life.
Revelation 3:5 He that
overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out
his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father,
and before his angels.
Revelation 13:8 And all that
dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book
of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
Revelation 17:8 The beast that
thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go
into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were
not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they
behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.
Revelation 21:27 And there shall
in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh
abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb’s book of
life.
Revelation 22:19 And if any man
shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take
away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the
things which are written in this book.
Note that death and hell are cast
into the Lake of Fire. Hell is not the Lake of Fire as some fundamentalists claim.
Also notice the reference to the sea.
2 comments:
Hey Fred,
Great stuff as usual! Revelation 20:14 is often translated as Hades "Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. Many believe Hades to be a temporary holding place before judgement. See below is one article where the author gives their explanation on the difference between Hades, Hell and the lake of fire.
https://www.is888.info/eng/studies/various/hell-hades.php
Thanks!
Phil
Yes, but using the Greek Hades as a transliteration rather than a translation belies the fact that the Hell of the Bible is not a place, as in the Hades of Greek mythology, for both good and bad to sojourn. In Hades you could find good and bad. Hell is a place reserved for the dead who rejected God and are rejected by Him, in anticipation of their eternity in the lake of fire. But, I will read the article.
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