THE FINAL JUDGMENT (VERSES 11-15)

11 “Then I saw a great white throne and Him Who 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, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books. 13 The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works. 14 Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. 15 And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.”

The One on the Great White Throne (verse 11)

11 “Then I saw a great white throne and Him Who sat on it, from Whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them.”

This is a picture. John’s description, what he is being given, what is being revealed to him, what he shares with us, is the great and final Judgment. As we’ve gone through the book of Revelation, we have seen other things that sounded as though they could have been the great and final Judgment, but we said they were not. Here, finally, we get to that great and final day, the time when everyone will appear before the Judgment seat of Christ.

He says, “Then I saw a great white throne.” Again, just as we had seen in the first part of this chapter when he saw the angel of the Lord come down, and he is writing down those things that he sees. That was his instruction all the way back inRevelation, chapter 1. The Lord instructed him: “What you see, write in a book…,” [Revelation 1:11]. This is the throne of Judgment that Jesus speaks about, Matthew 25:31-32 [“When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. 32 All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats.”].

The throne here signifies God’s royalty and His judicial power. Think about the fact that these ones who would have read this account in the 1^st Century were being persecuted. We’ve talked about that a numbers of times. They were being persecuted in an unmerciful way. Where was that persecution, that judgment, coming from? Well, it was coming from a throne, but it was not the great white throne. It was coming from the throne of Rome. Well, John says, “I see a great white throne, the throne of God,” again, representing His royal and His judicial power.

The fact that the throne is white assures us that His judgment is pure, that it is holy, that it is righteous, that it is just. Consider the words of the Psalmist, Psalm 89:14: “Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne; Mercy and Truth go before Your face.” The greatness of the throne indicates that it surpasses all other thrones—all other thrones in heaven (if there were such), and certainly all other thrones on the earth.

John saw the “great white throne and Him Who sat on it.” Who is the “Him”? Who is it that John sees? Obviously, it is God. It’s obvious from what he says, but also, this will be confirmed in the next verse, verse 12. Well, whether it is God the Father or God the Son is not really significant to the vision that John has, to the point that is being made. The unity between the Father and the Son, between God and Jesus, is such that what is ascribed to One is the same that is ascribed to the Other, also.

Jesus said that the Father had committed all judgment to the Son, John 5:22 [“For the Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son, 23 that all should honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father Who sent Him,” John 5:22-23]. Paul said that God would judge the world by or through Christ, Acts 17:31 [“Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, 31 because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man Whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.”]. And then in Romans 14:10, the American Standard Version and the English Standard Version, as well as some others, say that “…we shall all stand before the judgment-seat of God” (ASV). The King James and the New King James both say, “…we shall stand before the judgment seat of Christ.” And then, 2 Corinthians 5:10 says, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ….”

Well, is this a problem? Is this a conflict? Is this a contradiction of some sort? Certainly not! Both statements mean the same thing. God is the ultimate judge, and He exercises His judgment through His Son, Jesus Christ.

And so John sees “the great white throne and Him Who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them.” The earth and the heaven vanished, or disappeared, in order to be replaced by the new heaven and the new earth. We’ll read about that in Revelation 21:1. Jesus alludes to this, Matthew 24:35 [“Heaven and earth will pass away, but My Words will by no means pass away.”] and Peter in his epistle, 2 Peter 3:7-13, speaks about the new heaven and the new earth [“7 But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same Word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. 8 But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 9 The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. 10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. 11 Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, 12 looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat? 13 Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.”]. And so this order gives way, vanishes away, flees away, in order to make a place for the new.

“And there was found no place for them.” That is, they had no place in the new order of things. This heaven, this earth, is material, it is literal. Material cannot inhabit the spiritual, hence, not a trace of them will be found.