He 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 his works. And death
and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. Whosoever was not found written
in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. There's
very few texts in the Bible as we find here in Revelation 20
verses 11 through 15. There's very few texts in the
Bible that more clearly teaches us what will happen on that great
day of judgment than this passage of scripture in Revelation 20.
This is the throne of judgment before which we all must appear
in this last day. It is called a great white throne. It is called great because it
is the throne of the omnipotent God. It's a great throne. And if we look at God, we find
out how great it is. It's immeasurable, the greatness
of this throne. Because of the authority of the
one that sits there, this is a tremendously great throne. It is called white because it's
pure and spotless and every judgment that comes from this throne is
honest. There is no premeditation trying
to get somebody off. There is no influence by worldly
friendship. There's no money past hands.
There's no influence to the jury. positive or negatively. This
throne is white in the sense that the judgment that comes
from this is absolutely righteous and honest. It is the only place
where true judgment has ever been issued. positively for the
church or negatively for the lost. This is the only place
where it is always found honest. A mom may say, my son is a good
man. This is where it will be found
out. And a man may say that is a rascal
and this is the place where it will be found out. No one has
any influence here. It is God and His righteousness
and His integrity and His holiness and His blessedness and the very
righteousness of God's Word is upheld here and it is not issued
to the right hand or to the left. This is the best place to be. If you want pure judgment, this
is the most honest place you'll ever be. This is in the presence
of God, and He is not swayed. I remember that passage, it says,
man looks on the outward appearance, and we really let blood ties
affect us. Man looks on the outward appearance,
but God looks on the heart, and He is honest with that. It is,
there's nothing proceed from this throne but justice and truth. And we wish that that was true
whenever we enter a courtroom in our country or anywhere else.
It would be just justice and truth. But we notice not that
way all the time. And then it's called the throne
because the judge who sits there is holy. He is the sovereign
God. This is a throne. It's different
than any throne we'll ever approach. This is God's throne. This is
the Sovereign's throne. This is a holy throne. This is
a righteous throne. So it is great. God, the omnipotent
God, sits here. It is white because of the holiness
and righteousness that is present in every capacity. And it is
a throne. This is where God issues justice
and judgment. And for God's people, this is
the best possible place you could ever be. There's no place better
than this place because it is here that you will really find
out all that Christ did on our behalf. It is here that it is
issued completely Blessed, welcome, blessed, welcome to the kingdom
prepared for you from the foundation of the world. The words that
ring out, welcome faithful servant. Why? Because of what Christ did
on our behalf. And so it is the best possible
place. It's a place of anticipation.
It's a place of looking forward to. It's a place that justice
will be issued completely and holiness will be demonstrated,
but all of God's people will be declared innocent because
of the finished work of Christ, because of His justice, because
of His blood. The wicked, those without Christ,
have everything to fear, but those with Christ have nothing
whatsoever to fear at this day. It is, in fact, the saints anticipate
it. I was just reading a section
out of a book, and there's an old preacher. He knew he was
close to the end, and he asked his family whenever they were
present to read John 14, 15, and 16. Every day, he'd have a portion
of that. And as time got closer, he wanted
John 17. This great high priestly prayer. I pray not for the world,
but I pray for them that thou hast given me out of the world.
And that's kind of the way this is. It's such a pleasant place. I don't know how many times I've
seen him move. Think of a pleasant place. Well, to the Christian,
this is the pleasant place. This is where it is all going
to be culminated. When you hear the precious words
of Christ, welcome. And to those without Christ,
the eternal words depart. Now, the wicked without Christ,
this is where a decision will not do. Now, it may work in church. And it may work with our friends,
and it may work with our family, and it may work with a preacher,
but this it will not do. A decision will not work here.
And going forward, it may work in church, but it won't work
here. This is a place where Christ
must be known. This is a place where Christ
must be all. This is a place where Christ
must be our life. And having these other trappings
that the world invites us to take will not do here. They may work in life and they
may work in religion, but they will not work here. Just having
a religious service will not work here. It must be Christ. It's His great white throne. And it's not the preacher or
church, it's his great white throne. He's the one sitting
there in his holiness and he is the honest, truthful, holy
judge. And he will either declare on
his works of righteousness or he will declare not mine. He will vindicate His people.
The church, and we read about it in this day, in the day that
we live and in history, God has allowed people to slander the
church. God has permitted it. He hasn't
sent lightning down and smashed them immediately. He's permitted
people to slander His people. He's permitted people to mock
His people. He's permitted people to even
take their lives. But here, this day, this day,
God will vindicate His people. There's no fear to come into
this place because He will uphold His people. There will be no
dreading in that day. It is the great white throne. Now this passage declares that
the Lord Jesus is coming again. And we'd like to look at a few
verses with that. And I was just, I was working
on something else and I struck on this and I said, I'm going
to go in this direction because as we close out 2010 and we approach
2011, I just said, the church has always been really happy
about the prospect of the Lord coming back. It's been the best
news that the church, even as we took the Lord's Supper, do
this until I come again. The promise is there, until I
come again. So would you turn with me to
Acts chapter 1. We're not commanded to look for signs, but we are
commanded to look for Christ. There's no signs, never in the
Bible are we asked to look for signs. But we certainly are. encouraged, in fact, were commanded
to look for this one coming again, the Lord Jesus. Acts chapter
1, wonderful words that were shared after he entered into
his glory, after he ascended back to the Father. Have you ever thought about that?
The massiveness of space and yet he was there instantaneously. He moved out of their sight and
went into a cloud and instantaneously he was in the presence of the
Father. He went through the vastness of space instantaneously. And when he comes again, he'll
go through the vastness of space instantaneously. But notice here
in Acts chapter 1, and in verse 9, And when he had spoken these
things, while they beheld, he was taken up, and a cloud received
him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly
toward heaven, as he went up, behold, two men stood by them
in white apparel, which also said, Ye men of Galilee, Why
stand you gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus..." Now, just
think of that. This same Jesus. This Jesus is sitting on a throne. "...this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into
heaven, shall so come in like manner as you have seen him go
into heaven." Now, the manner is more important than the place
because in some miraculous way every believer in the world dead
and buried and living will be able to be caught up with him
instantaneously. Now, how that's going to happen
is beyond my ability to conceive, but I realize that this is the
truth, that He is going to raise everybody that is His instantaneously,
and also everyone that is not His will also be raised. Now,
the old fathers used to call it a general resurrection. It
wasn't until the last 200 years that this resurrection was divided
between the saved and then a thousand years later, the lost. They always,
and the scriptures teach that, that it was everybody at the
same time. Now believers were raised first.
They were raised first, and they were caught up to be with the
Lord. Everyone then was raised, and instantaneously there was
a judgment that we read about over here. And we're going to
read about that in just a moment. So, for generations, for hundreds
of years, the old church fathers looked at the scripture and said,
this is what it tells us, and somebody came along and said,
you know, I don't think God fulfilled everything he was supposed to
fulfill. when he said he did. Now that's the trouble that I
have with it. He said he did and people said
he didn't. Well, I'm just going to go back and say God said it.
I'm going to have to take it for that basis. He said he fulfilled
everything he said he would do, particularly for Israel. He said
not one thing was left out. That's the major thing about
having to change your view on when Christ is coming and all
the in stuff. The second thing, and we brought
this up before, is that when Jesus Christ comes, religion
tells us that he didn't accomplish what he intended to do. He had
to change his mind and go to the cross. Modern day theologians
are saying this and the Bible just clearly says he came for
one purpose and that was to be a ransom for his people. Never
had any other idea about it. He didn't come down here to set
up an earthly kingdom. Even His disciples were mistaken
about that. And it took the Holy Spirit to
open up their heart for them to understand He did not come
down here to set up an earthly kingdom. He didn't come down
here to throw off the Roman Empire. He didn't come down here to throw
off slavery. He didn't come down here to do
any of that stuff. He came down to save His people from their
sins. And when people are saved, their
attitude towards all of these other things will change. There's
a sole liberty that's transformed into common liberty. I don't have to put you in slavery.
They just changed their heart about it. I don't mind paying
you for the work you do. Slavery would be over if all
people were saved. All kinds of things would be
over, but they're not. Not all people are saved, so
not all things are over. So anyway, those things come
up. Christ didn't. He came to set
up a kingdom. Couldn't. They wouldn't accept
Him. He had to go to the cross. Those two things are the basis
for this change in the view of what is going to happen in the
end. Well, if you find out he did give Israel everything, and
he did not come down to set up a kingdom, then let's look and
see what the Bible has to say about it. And the Bible tells
us that there's going to be a resurrection of the just and the unjust, and
is spoken of simultaneously. And that's how the old church
fathers always looked at it, and for several thousand years
the congregation heard it that way. Those that are lost are
going to be resurrected at the same time. But they're going
to stand in a different line. That's just where it's going
to be. Alright, so he's going to come back just like he said.
The promise is there. Just the same Jesus in a like
manner. He's going to come again. The
promise he made when he gave the Lord's Supper. This doing,
remembrance of me. Until he comes again. Turn with
me to John 14. John 14. verse 3 John 14 verse 3 now I
don't know all I know I don't understand all I know about this
but I do know this Christ promised to come back John 14 verse 3
and if I go and prepare a place for you now look at this in two-fold
he went to the cross to prepare a place for his people he's not
a carpenter in heaven building mansions I go to prepare a place for you.
I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I
am, there you may be also." Now, after the resurrection of Jesus
Christ, He did come back to His church. And He did visit with
them. But there is a fulfillment in
this too, that He's going to come back for them and take them,
literally, the fulfillment of salvation will be when He raises
His people from the dead and gives them a new body. We have
a new spirit now, a new soul given to us in regeneration. But we carry this old tent, this rag around with us all the rest
of our life. And that's just the way it is.
Can't get rid of it. Can't make it perfect. Thank
God He does restrain itself. But there will be a time we'll
have a body like an ISM. That's the promise. You'll do
that. 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. Would you turn there with me?
1 Thessalonians chapter 4. the Lord Jesus again shares with
us that he is going that's the promise that is the fulfillment
of the resurrection that's the fulfillment of uh... salvation
that's the fulfillment of regeneration this has a purpose in it and
the purpose as we bring as is brought out here in first Thessalonians
chapter four first Thessalonians chapter four and verse sixteen
It says here, for the Lord Himself, very few times do we find when
the Lord's going to do something absolutely serious, does He delegate
it. He didn't delegate the crucifixion. He didn't delegate the redemption
of His people. He doesn't delegate coming again.
The Lord Himself 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 verse 16 the Lord himself
shall descend from heaven with a shout with the voice of the
Archangel that means noisy it will be people will be aware
of it We don't have any secretness about this. It will be apparent. The voice of the archangel with
the trump of God. And if we've got anything about
God speaking in the book of Revelation, it's thunder and trumpets. People
know about it. I heard the other day a lion,
a male lion in Africa can roar or whatever they do, and it can
be heard five miles. Five miles away, a male lion
can roar and it can be heard. Well my goodness, if a male lion
can holler that loud and get it to go that far, the voice
of God and the trump of the archangel, that's going to be worldwide. It will not stop. Everyone will
hear this. It will be apparent. It is a
secret. It isn't a little dainty tinkle
tinkle. This is God speaking. The voice
of the archangel. The trump of God. and the dead
in Christ shall rise first then we which are alive and remain
shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the
Lord in the air and so shall we ever be with the Lord wherefore
comfort one another with these words there is an orderliness
about this the dead in Christ shall rise first then those that
are alive and remain God will form instantaneously and be caught
into their new body. Now, over in the book of Daniel,
Daniel chapter 12, there's a passage of scripture that Daniel, the
prophet, was given by the prophet's leader, the Holy Spirit. Same
divine being gave these prophets of old the message as we have
in the New Testament. Same Leaderships it and same
purpose and same direction in same message and got headed in
the same direction and God didn't have his Holy Spirit lead in
two or three directions. He hasn't headed in the same
direction everything redounds to the glory of God Daniel chapter
12 verses 1 & 2 shares with us here this wonderful truth. God's
going to take care of this. There's not going to be a lot
of intermediary time in between the resurrections. The dead in
Christ shall rise first. Then those who are alive that
know Christ. They'll be changed. But in a
moment, in a twinkling of an eye, There will be every grave
emptied. The sea will give up the dead
that is in it. Every Adam to the present day,
everyone will be raised. The miracle of God putting Adam
together from the dust of the ground is almost going to be
reenacted for everyone that's been in the grave. Putting them
back together. in an orderly fashion, but that's
what he's going to do. He is the God of the living and
the dead. All right? Verse 1, Daniel 12,
And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which
standeth for the children of thy people, and there shall be
a time of trouble such as never was since the there was a nation,
even to the same time. And all that time thy people
shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in
the book. And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth
shall awake, some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting
contempt." They'll be raised. The momentum is there. God's
going to raise everyone out of the grave. And we're going to
look at another place here in Matthew 25. Would you turn there
with me? As we think about this, the Lord
spoke of the same thing. Matthew chapter 25. that there's going to be a resurrection
and there's going to be a judgment. Great White Throne Judgment. Now God's people, there's anticipation,
delight, relish, looking forward to it. This is where righteousness
will reign. This is where everything that
Christ ever did on the behalf of His people will be exhibited. Declaration will be made. Welcome. Sin is no longer a hindrance. Sin is no longer between God
and man. There's a mediator found, been
lifted out of the pit. Righteousness has reigned. Law
has been taken care of. Judgment has fallen on Christ. All of the wonderful benefits
of salvation and redemption are exampled here at this great judgment
when God accepts wholly and completely everyone that Christ died for. There's an... Oh my goodness,
that one? Not going to happen. Not going to happen. It is going
to be without reservation. Matthew chapter 25. I'm not going
to read all of this, but we've looked at it many times and it
just explains so much. Matthew 25, 31. And it says, and when the Son
of Man shall come in His glory, now that's just what we read
in 1 Thessalonians, when He comes in His glory, and all the holy
angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory.
That's what we read in Revelation. Great white throne. Beautiful. The church is just going to admire
it because of who's sitting there. The church is going to admire
it because of how he treats them in his holiness. It's a spectacle
of grace. And the one that sits there,
their Redeemer, the one that lifted them out of a pit, goes
on to say here, shall sit on the throne of His
glory, and before Him shall be gathered all nations." That word
nations is a misnomer to us today because of our history lessons
and geography lessons. We think of a nation. Well, we've
got Germany and Italy and England and Russia and the United States
and Mexico. That's not the kind of nation
he's talking about here. He's talking about peoples. And
he goes on to explain this to everybody. Now, someone brought
this up. This is where the nations are
going to be judged. I said, are they going to be judged Today,
50 years ago, 100 years ago, Germany used to be a bastion
for the gospel. England used to be a bastion
for the gospel. You could go there and hear the gospel preached.
Hardly find it now, but France used to be a bastion for the
gospel. The Middle East, oh now, your head could be cut off for
the gospel's sake. And when is this? Well, if we
look at it as Daniel looked at it, as Christ declared it, we
just see this is a whole population of the world that has ever lived,
gathered together for the first time ever. It's a miracle that
all of them could be gathered together, but they are. And it
tells us here, "...and before him shall be gathered all nations,
and he shall separate them one from the other." He shall separate. I was talking to someone the
other day about Noah's flood. There's a lot of things about
Noah's flood. But you never find anybody that
was on the outside of the ark. Now, I'm sure as the water got
higher and higher and they got up on the mountains farther and
farther, that they really were not interested in dying. But
you don't find one of them swam over to the ark and says, I really
made a mistake and I'd like to get in here. Nope. People don't want to die,
but they don't want Christ. People don't want to go to hell,
but they don't want Christ. They want heaven, but they don't
want Christ. He's standing between, and the only way to God is through
Christ. He's the one that separates. Now look here. He shall separate
the one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats.
And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats
on the left. Then shall the king say unto
them on the right hand, Come, ye blessed. Now that's why I
said there's no fear here. This is the Redeemer. This is
Christ. This is the Heavenly One. This is the Ransomer. This is the Savior. Come, blessed
to my Father. Inherit the Kingdom prepared
for you from the foundation of the world. This is the separation
over there in the great white throne. Separation. Daniel, the
just and the unjust shall be raised from the dirt. Raised. Those that have Christ are called
just and they're sheep and they're on the right hand and they're
there because of Christ and for no other reason. They just didn't
stumble into the way, they're brought into the way. The times
that the Lord shared, they wouldn't come in on their own. I invited
them into supper and they would not come in. So I sent my servant,
the Spirit, out to compel them to come in. They would not have
come in on their own. They had to be compelled. Now
once they got in, Once they're brought into Christ, they say,
oh, how could I be so stupid? Look at this. Look at all these
blessings. But we'll never come in on our
own. Here they are. And then, if you look at verse
41, Verse 41, then shall he say also unto them on the left hand,
at the same time, here is a number that no man can number on the
right hand. That's what Revelation tells
us. out of every kindred, nation, people, and tongue." They are
represented in the book of Revelation by 144,000. But 144,000 is just
a nice way of saying a lot. A number known to God, but unknown
to us. A number that no man can number. Out of every kindred, nation,
people, and tongue. Here, sheep lined up. And the
rest Now that's a number that no man can number either. They're
known to God. But he says there on verse 41,
there on the left hand, Depart from me, ye accursed, into everlasting
fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. Now that's what
we read over in Revelation chapter 20. Everyone whose name is not
found written in the Lamb's book of life are cast into the lake
of fire. Those that are goats are cast into the fire. And those
that are sheep, blessed! This is to the church the most
glorious time to see the absolute completion of redemption. that
everything that we we believe it now and everything that christ
said about redeeming his people from all their sins is now made
so apparent blessed there is nothing between my lord and myself
nothing be welcomed into his presence all right turn with
me to second Thessalonians chapter one second Thessalonians in chapter
one we have another now one of the reasons it appears at least
that Paul was led to write some of these things is like in our
day there's some confusion about Christ coming back there was
a group of people that got some strong voice that said the resurrection
is past at that time and someone says it's not going to happen
And Paul was led by the Holy Spirit to write to them and say,
now, believers, this is what God said. Trust God and don't
move a muscle. Don't fall for this stuff. Christ
hasn't come back. He is coming back. We don't know
the date or the hour. I was reading somebody this afternoon
and said, people write about when the Lord's going to come
back. They give a date and they have to revise it all the time.
So let's just save our time and don't say that. We don't have
to revise anything then. We don't know the day or the
hour. We just don't. And it's not for us to know.
And it's not for us to investigate. It's not for us to try to measure
it. We can't even come up to, and we have it right here in
the Bible, from the time of the building of, to go forth and
build the city to the birth of Christ is this much time and
we still can't figure it completely out. Jews might have been able
to. We don't have to worry about it. He's been born. He grew up. He was like unto us, yet without
sin. He went to the cross, that's
what's important. Alright, 2 Thessalonians chapter 1 verse 7. And to you who are troubled,
rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven
with his mighty angels. He will be revealed from heaven. Rest with us. rest with us. Then he goes on to describe that
this is going to be something people know about. It's not secret. It's not hidden. There's not
going to be a snatching away and then wait a long time. This
is quite apparent. Never do we find it called even
thought about being secret. And then I'd like to go back. We read a couple of verses out
of this, but I'd like to go back to 1 Thessalonians chapter 4
again. 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 Great
White Throne Here's a number that no man can number, and by
God's grace and God's grace alone, He called them His sheep. And here's a number that no man
can number, and by God's word He called them goats. And he said to those on his right
hand, welcome into the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation
of the world. He had an interest in them before
the world began. And the rest, he did not have
to do a thing. The rest he could just leave
alone. He didn't have to interfere in their lives. He let them have
what they said they wanted. They wanted their religion. He
didn't interfere with it. Those on the right hand, they
said it. He says, I've got to interfere with them if they're
ever going to see glory. I've got to interfere with their
lives. And he did. He interfered with them. The
rest he just let alone. All right? Here in 1 Thessalonians
chapter 4 verse 13, But I would not have you to be ignorant,
brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not,
even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that
Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus
will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the
word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the
coming of the Lord shall not prevent or precede them which
are asleep. We'll not go before. There's
an orderliness here. Those which are dead in Christ
shall rise first, then we, and then the rest. There's an orderliness
here. Those who have been in the dust,
in the dirt for eons, will be raised first. Those who have
been there for a second, a minute, will be raised before us, but
the rest will be raised and changed in a moment, in a twinkling of
an eye, and then the rest. For the Lord himself shall descend
from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, with
the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then
we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with
them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall
we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore, comfort one another
with these words." The most blessed event we have
yet ahead. is to meet Christ at this great
white throne and be separated by Him into two groups that He
has and to hear because of His own blood and righteousness,
blessed, blessed. and the rest he will do whatsoever
he is pleased to do. And that tells us over there,
whose names are not found in the book of life are cast into
the lake of fire which burneth forever and ever. Now, that's
God's business. God's business. We'll stop there
and we'll look forward to getting into the next chapter there.
the more blessings the Lord has for His people, more explanation
about His greatness, our unworthiness, and His blessing to us because
of grace.