Making a Differencewith Pastor Phil Erickson

Dec 30th, 2022 The Great White Throne

Today’s Passage – Revelation 20 – 22 (Click on the references to listen to the audio – click here to view the text from the Blue Letter Bible website)

(Second Milers also read – Psalms 146 – 150; Proverbs 30)

Listen to this morning’s Scripture Song – 1 John 3:1

Read the “1230 Evening and Morning“ devotion for today, by the late Charles Haddon Spurgeon.

Read previous posts from today’s passage – “Behold, I Make All Things New,” and “You’re Invited.“

“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. 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. 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. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.” (Revelation 20:11-15)

These verses discussing The Great White Throne Judgment are perhaps the saddest in all of the Bible. In this passage we see the final fate of all of those people who lived on the earth but never received the free gift of eternal life by trusting Jesus Christ as their Saviour. This is a judgment for the lost and not for believers. Believers’ sins were judged by the Lord on Calvary. Believers’ works are judged at the Judgment Seat of Christ (Romans 14:10; 2 Corinthians 5:10; 1 Corinthians 3:11 – 15). The lost will be resurrected from their temporary holding place in hell. Note – this is the second resurrection (which actually brings them to a second death) mentioned in verses five and six. They will then be judged by the Lord at the Great White Throne and, being found guilty, will be thrown into the Lake of Fire.

If we as believers were judged for our sins we, too, would be found guilty; but, praise the Lord, Jesus was judged for our sins paid the penalty of death for them on the Cross. He died for all of these people here at the Great White Throne as well, but they never received Christ’s payment. If perhaps you are reading this blog today and have not yet trusted Christ as your Saviour, I beg you to do so today. You can find more information regarding the free gift of salvation under the “Are You Saved?” tab on the home page of this website.

Christian, thank God that you will not have to face a just and thrice holy God at this Great White Throne Judgment. You may, however, have to watch from the perspective of Heaven as those countless lost people are cast into the Lake of Fire for all of eternity. Some of those people will people that you knew on earth: family members, neighbors, co-workers, etc. People that you may have had the opportunity to share Christ with but didn’t. That is a very sobering thought, is it not? Please, while we still have time, let’s all get busy talking to people about the forgiveness that is available to them freely through faith in Christ. Let’s get back to passing out gospel tracts and inviting people to church. Let’s earnestly and boldly witness to those that God places in our path. Time is running out. We could be living at the time of the Lord’s return and then the time for telling people about Jesus will be over. We have to commit to winning souls to Christ while we are still here!