The Coming Judgment - Part 3

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. 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. And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left (Matthew 25:31-33).

The 4th judgment of God mentioned in Scripture is the Great White Throne judgment. It will take place at the end of time. (Revelation 20:11-15) 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. 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. 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. Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.

This judgment takes place after the rapture, after the 7-year tribulation, after the Millennial reign of Jesus Christ on earth, and after the complete destruction of the universe by fire (Revelation 20:7-11). It is the last great event involving this creation. After the Great White Throne judgment, all who have rejected God and His Son, Jesus Christ, will be resurrected from their graves with physical, eternal bodies, their souls brought out of hell, will stand before God, judged according to their sinful works in this life, condemned, and thrown into the Lake of Fire (Revelation 20:12-15). God will then create a new heaven (universe), a new earth, and the new Jerusalem (Revelation 21:1). Eternity will then begin.

People are often confused about Hell and the Lake of Fire. Four matters are important to note about these two terms. [1] When an unsaved person dies his/her body is destroyed through natural or unnatural means (decomposition, consumed by fire or animal, etc.). The soul is immediately and consciously awake in hell (hades or sheol; Luke 16:19-31). [2] Hell is a temporary place of torment. It is not ‘purgatory’ because (a) no such concept exists in Scripture, and (b) once in hell, a person cannot escape or be released from it (Luke 16:26). [3] At the end of time, the unrighteous dead will be resurrected, their physical body reconstituted and changed into a physical, eternal body, their soul summoned from hell to inhabit that body, they will stand before the Great White Throne of God, they will be judged and condemned for their unrighteous acts committed in life and thrown into the Lake of Fire. [4] The Lake of Fire is the permanent, eternal place of the lost and condemned soul.

Scripture speaks of 2 resurrections: [1] the first resurrection of the saved, and [2] the second resurrection of the damned (see Tuesday, February 01, 2022, Today’s Word of Encouragement). The unsaved, unrighteous dead will be raised to eternal damnation while the saved, righteous dead will be raised to eternal life in glory. Amen.

Pastor