The Great White Throne Judgment: Who, When, How

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The Great White Throne Judgment: Who, When, How

After the events of the Tribulation and the Battle of Armageddon, it would be tempting to think things couldn't possibly get any worse. For some, that will be true. Christians, including those who accept Christ during the Tribulation, will enjoy peace and prosperity during Christ's Millennial Kingdom. For others, things will become eternally worse.

No one can run away from God's rule. The Bible describes two coming days of judgment in which Jesus Christ will judge every human being who has ever lived. At the Judgment Seat of Christ, the Lord will reward Christians for their faithfulness. Everyone else, those who do not know Jesus as their Savior, will be sentenced to eternal separation from God at the Great White Throne Judgment. Let's take a closer look at the details that surround this event that immediately proceeds the Millennium.

The People Before the Great White Throne

Revelation 20:12-13 describes the people at the Great White Throne: "I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God.… The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them."

As John views the Great White Throne, he sees the dead—all who died without trusting Jesus Christ as their Savior. These people are spiritually dead because they died apart from Christ. Sitting in the judge's seat, Christ will summon their bodies from their graves and the sea. Their souls will rise from death and Hades to stand before Him. And John says this group will include both "small and great." That expression often appears in the Bible—more than five times in the book of Revelation alone. It reminds us that there will be rich and poor, famous and obscure, powerful and weak.

The multitude standing before the Great White Throne will include the moral and the immoral, the priest and the minister, the nun and the missionary.

Erwin Lutzer says this multitude is diverse in its religions.¹ There will be Buddhists and Muslims and Hindus and Protestants and Catholics and Baptists and Presbyterians. There will be those who believed in one God and those who believed in many gods. There will be those who refuse to believe in God at all. There will be those who believed in meditation or mindfulness as a means of salvation and those who thought doing great deeds would lead to eternal life. Their number includes the moral and the immoral, the priest and the minister, the nun and the missionary.

What will happen to the religious people and the humanitarians when they stand before God? The Lord Jesus answered that question. "Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?' And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!'" (Matthew 7:21-23)

Contrary to popular opinion, believing in your chosen truth does not make it accurate. There is only one truth, and that's the truth of Jesus Christ. He said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me" (John 14:6). We cannot create our path to the Father and eternal life.

Believing in your chosen truth does not make it accurate. There is only one truth, and that's the truth of Jesus Christ.

Where Will the Great White Throne Judgment Take Place?

Revelation 20:11 says, "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." The Bible does not specify where the Great White Throne Judgment will occur, but we know where it will not be. It will not be in heaven, nor will it be on earth.

It cannot take place on earth because the earth and skies will have fled away at the appearance of the Lord. It cannot occur in heaven because no sinner can enter God's presence there. So, the Great White Throne Judgment will happen somewhere between heaven and earth. It may occur on a distant planet we don't even know about, but it will take place.

Perhaps its name is more important than its location. "Great" speaks of the infinite One who is the Judge. "White" speaks of divine holiness, purity, and justice. And "throne" speaks of God's majesty and authority to determine the destiny of His creatures.

The Judge of the Great White Throne

Revelation 20:11-12 provides the identity of the Judge: "Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it…. And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God."

Who is the Judge on the Great White Throne? He is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. Some people like to imagine Jesus as nothing more than a mild-mannered teacher. However, His own words confirm His role as Judge: "The Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son…. and has given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man" (John 5:22, 27). The only One who has ever been entirely holy and yet entirely human is the only One who will judge mankind.

The only One who has ever been entirely holy and yet entirely human is the only One who will judge mankind.

Paul wrote to the Romans, "God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ" (Romans 2:16). In Acts, Peter declared that Christ "was ordained by God to be Judge of the living and the dead" (10:42).

Christ will judge the living at the Judgment Seat of Christ when believers stand before Him after the Rapture, and He will judge the spiritually dead at the Great White Throne Judgment. Jesus Christ will conduct the trial, and no one is better qualified. He did everything He could do to redeem humanity. Anyone who has accepted His redemption will receive grace and be judged mercifully at the first judgment. Anyone who rejects His offer will receive the full penalty for every sin at the second and final judgment.

Blotted out in the Book of Life

Revelation 21:27 says the Lord will only admit those whose name appears in the Lamb's Book into heaven. So what is that book? The Book of Life tracks every person's birth. When a person is born, their name goes into the book, and they have their entire lifetime to accept Christ. If someone comes to the end of their life without trusting Jesus as their Lord and Savior, He will blot their name out of the Book of Life. No one can go to heaven whose name is not in the Lamb's Book of Life.

The absence of a person's name from the Book of Life will be the final and conclusive evidence that seals their fate to an eternity without God.

We can speculate that every person's name appears in the Book of Life with the time of their conception and birth. The age of accountability might be next to his name. And then, if he's a Christian, the date of his conversion to Christ as His Savior is there. If there are no entries for the last items by the time that person dies, the entry will be blotted out (Revelation 3:5). Only a blank space will remain in the book where that name should have been. The absence of a person's name will be the final and conclusive evidence that seals their fate to an eternity without God.

Christians can rejoice knowing they will not face God's condemnation (Romans 8:1). For those who have not crossed the line of faith, the only way to receive protection from the Great White Throne Judgment and eternal punishment in the lake of fire is to place their trust in Jesus Christ. It will be possible to accept Christ during the Tribulation, but why would anyone wait? Today is the day of salvation (2 Corinthians 6:2).

¹Erwin Lutzer, "Is God Unfair?" 2011, https://www.moodymedia.org/articles/god-unfair/, accessed on April 16, 2019.