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By Tim LaHaye
Mankind’s eventual meeting with God on Judgment Day is stamped indelibly on the human heart. Recognition of this eventual meeting is one of the things distinguishing man from animals and seems part of the human conscience. More importantly, such an encounter with God is mentioned many times in Scripture and occurs immediately after the Millennial Kingdom, after Christ extinguishes man’s final rebellion and just before the beginning of the new eternity, which god has prepared for those who love and accept Him.
“The dead, small and great, stand(ing) before God,” Revelation 20.12, indicates all those dead toward God and living in the place of torment where they went upon their earthly deaths are resurrected, as Daniel 12.2 promised, to appear before God, Who will judge them “according to their works,” verse 12. Evidently there are books of man’s works kept in Heaven which will be revealed at this judgment.
The dead mentioned here are people who had never received Christ before their first death. After the Millennium, they will be resurrected to appear before God. The books of their works will be opened, none of which have been erased through the forgiving blood of Jesus, because they rejected Him in their earthly lives. Therefore, they stand condemned by their own works.
That there will be degrees of punishment in eternity seems both Biblical and just. Many believe the reason for this specific judgment is to determine the degrees of suffering in the lake of fire. It is before this throne the prediction of Philippians 2.9-11 will be fulfilled, there is an appointed day when every man and woman will bend their knees to worship Jesus Christ and “confess Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
If we repent and confess Christ now, we will be excluded from that judgment and have our names written in the “Book of Life of the Lamb,” Revelation 13.8. This guarantees our names will remain in the “Book of Life,” a separate book from which everyone’s name is blotted out if he or she dies without a saving relationship with Christ, Revelation 3.5. According to Revelation 20.15, after a final check in this Book of Life, anyone whose name is missing is cast into the lake of fire.
The greatness of this throne is not in the size of it, nor is it in the number of the multitude who stand convicted before it, but in the greatness of the Judge Who presides over it, the Lord Jesus Christ. The white color is representative of His holiness and purity and of how fitting it is He should judge mankind; see John 5.22,27-29 and 2 Timothy 4.1. He is the eternal Word, John 1.1; come to give life, a life free from the power and wages of sin: Luke 19.10; Romans 6.23 and Hebrews 12.9. Those who refuse the free gift wrought by the Lamb of God will find it is truly “a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God,” Hebrews 10.29-31.
The Great White throne Judgment is not for Christians. It is only for those who refuse to accept Jesus Christ in this earthly life. To avoid this judgment, all one must do is repent and believe in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ and invite Him to become your Lord and Savior
