Death is a sobering prospect.

Last Wednesday in Nashville Tennessee, at five in the afternoon, the teenage son of three time Grammy and 51 time Dove award winner, Steven Curtis Chapman, accidentally drove a Toyota Land Cruiser into his five year old sister, Maria Sue Chapman. She died just hours later.

I doubt that little Maria woke up that morning thinking, “Today could be my last day.” I doubt that you woke up this morning thinking, “I may be in the last twenty-four hours of my life.”

Nothing will quiet a man or woman like the prospect of death.

For the believer, death is as sweet as it is sobering. Like lemonade squeezed from lemons, it makes us wince, yet charms the tongue. We shed mixed tears of sorrow and joy.

But for the unsaved, whether he realizes it or not, the prospect of death is the most nightmarish journey he could possibly face, for it puts him before the Great White Throne.

There are many thrones in Scripture. The Davidic throne (2 Sam 3:10). Pharaoh's throne (Gen 41:40). Solomon’s throne of ivory overlaid with pure gold (1 Kings 10:18-20). The throne of Herod Agrippa (Acts 12:21). The judgment throne for believers also known as the judgment seat (2 Cor 5:10).

But today, I want to take you before the biggest, deadliest, and most awesome throne of all: The Great White Throne.

And I invite you there not as the person on trial, but as as a witness of what every person who refuses to bend the knee to Jesus, must experience.

The scene is set in Revelation 20:11-15. Christ’s millennial kingdom has ended, Satan just spent his final chance trying to take Christ down, and he’s now toasting in hell alongside his comrades, the antichrist and the false prophet. John lifts his eyes, and sees a throne...

The Judge

Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them (Rev 20:11).

“Then I saw...” John does not receive the information of this book by divine telepathy, morse code, or text messaging. He sees it. God gives John a living color-picture of what is going to happen.

What does he see? “...a great white throne...”, a throne as solemn as it is magnificent.

The Greek word for “throne” is “thronos” where we get our word throne from.

This throne is great.

“Great” is the Greek word for megas from which our word “mega” comes from. Isaiah describe God’s throne as “high and lifted up” (Is 6:1). So this throne is not a lawn chair or Barbie doll stool, but the white mega-throne.

This throne is white.

This summer I will officiate two weddings. At the grandest moment everyone will stand and look upon the bridge doused in white, the color of purity. The color of holiness. The sheer whiteness of God’s throne will mark a stark contrast to the wicked deeds of the unsaved as they step forward to the bench.

The judgment handed down from this throne will be unlike any judgment ever administered by a judge, for this judgment will be perfectly equitable. It will not be one shade too harsh nor too lenient.

Who is the “Him who sat upon it...”? None other than Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

But how do we know this is Christ? Because Jesus Himself said so, “For not even the Father judges anyone, but He has given all judgment to the Son, so that all will honor the Son even as they honor the Father...and He gave Him authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son of Man” (John 5:21-22a, 27). In Matthew 16:27, Christ tells us, "For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and will then repay every man according to his deeds.”

In 1 Corinthians 15:24, Paul writes, “...then comes the end, when He [Christ] hands over the kingdom to the God and Father, when He has abolished all rule and all authority and power.” Note that the Son does not hand the kingdom back to the Father until He has abolished all rule and authority and power.”

John then describes Christ on the throne as one “...from whose presence earth and heaven fled away...” A literal translation would render this verse as, “From whose face earth and heaven fled away...” The look of Jesus’ face is so holy and fearsome that the galaxies in space, the planet bodies and the earth itself, which have all been effected by the curse of sin (Rom 8:22), cannot stand to endure His glorious gaze, but fly away from Christ, rip apart, and explode. This is the destruction of the galaxies which Peter explains in greater detail, “But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up” (2 Pet 3:10). In the next chapter of Revelation, John mentions this destruction in the passing, “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea” (Rev 21:1).

The destruction of the universe is the uncreation of the world, the ultimate termination of the universe. Man cannot destroy the elements, but God will. If I light a leaf on fire, I have not destroyed that leaf, but changed its composition into a gaseous state. Donald Grey Barnhouse wrote, “As they come from nothing at the Word of God, they are to be sucked back into nothingness by this same word of God."¹

Like an atomic explosion of immeasurable proportions, the entire universe will be annihilated.

“...and no place was found for them.” In the presence of Jesus, there will be no place for the billions of galaxies and multi-trillions of stars, nor for the unbeliever. No place to hide. No place to run (see Dan 2:35; Zech 10:10)

A couple years ago, Audrey my daughter told me a monster was in the garage. I asked the six-year-old her how she knew that was true and she said, “Cause I heard it.”

So I entered the garage to slay the monster. And I found the monster. It was covered in feathers, chirped, and had a beak. Apparently it flew in when the garage door was open, somebody closed the garage door, and now it couldn’t get out. I concluded that this “monster” could be an excellent pet for Audrey, so I decided to capture it. I grabbed a box and moved toward the corner. A bird cannot cry or give facial expression. But this bird was sending signs of certain fear. I have never seen a bird breathe hard. This thing was panting like a dog. It flapped back and forth, making suffocated chirps. It had no place to go.

There is no place in the universe more fearful than to stand guilty before the holy Creator and have no place to go.

The Judged

And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds (Rev 20:12).

John has now shifted from the Judge to the judged, whom he describes in three ways:

The judged are dead.

John describes these judged as “dead.” Is John speaking of physical or spiritual death? In Revelation 20:5, John tells us that “the rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were completed,” which clearly refers to the physically dead. If we are to be consistent in our interpretation of John’s use of “dead” then the “dead” in Revelation 20:12 refers not to their spiritual death but their physical death, thus John’s prediction in verse five is fulfilled in verse 12.

So these “dead” are unbelievers whose souls have been waiting in Hades, the waiting station for hell. But now Christ raises up their dead bodies, their souls leave Hades and join their bodies, and they stand before Christ to be judged for the deeds they committed from when they still lived in the body.

That Christ judges both the living and the dead proves that He holds full authority not only over life but death. No wonder death could not keep Him in the grave!

Paul believed this. In the introduction to his magnum opus of all his commandments to Timothy, Paul says, “I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead...” (2 Tim 4:1).

Peter believed this. In Acts 10:42 he proclaims to Cornelius and a group of Gentiles, "And He ordered us to preach to the people, and solemnly to testify that this is the One who has been appointed by God as Judge of the living and the dead.”

The judged are both great and small.

These dead are both “great and small.” Emperors and slaves, billionaires and beggars, Christ judges with partiality to no one. His judgment is just and righteous.

The judged are accountable.

These dead are “standing before the throne.” At this moment, the unbeliever will wish he was standing anywhere but here. Dave Mills, a friend from my church shared how he served on jury duty a week ago. The court was in session and the judge said, “If you know the defendant, please stand and state your name.” Dave knew the defendant so he stood. His heart pounded. Butterflies when haywire in his gut. “Seth, that’s an intimidating place to be!” he later told me. And that’s just a human judge. It is unimaginable to know the fear and trepidation the unbeliever will feel as he stands before the very Jesus whose name he blasphemed while on earth.

The Books

John continues, “and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life...” This is unique. Many books and one book.² What is written in them?

The “books” record the deeds of the unsaved, for later on in verse 12 John writes, “...and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds.” Every thought, word, and action is permanently penned into God’s “books” of deeds. Books of deeds are opened at Christ’s Second Coming as well:

I kept looking Until thrones were set up, and the Ancient of Days took His seat; His vesture was like white snow and the hair of His head like pure wool. His throne was ablaze with flames, its wheels were a burning fire. A river of fire was flowing and coming out from before Him; thousands upon thousands were attending Him, and myriads upon myriads were standing before Him; the court sat, and the books were opened. (Dan 7:9-11).

The book of life, on the other hand, records the names of the saved: “...and another book was opened which is the book of life.” Every human from the time of Adam to the last living soul in the millennium who trusted in God’s grace for salvation will find his name forever recorded in this wonderful book.

The books of the deeds are a books of guilt and shame. But the book of life is a book of hope and is mentioned all over Scripture:

He who overcomes will thus be clothed in white garments; and I will not erase his name from the book of life... (Rev 3:5).

Moses cried out, “But now, if You will, forgive their sin—and if not, please blot me out from Your book which You have written!" (Ex 32:32).

...and those who dwell on the earth, whose name has not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world (Rev 17:8)

Now at that time Michael, the great prince who stands guard over the sons of your people, will arise. And there will be a time of distress such as never occurred since there was a nation until that time; and at that time your people, everyone who is found written in the book, will be rescued (Dan 12:1).

In Luke 10:20, Jesus says, “Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven.”

In Philippians 4:3, Paul asks his readers to help his “fellows workers, whose names are in the book of life.”

If God knows the end from the beginning (Is 46:10), why does He need these books? “Let’s see, Patrick....what did you do...it’s coming to me...let me see here...oh yea! That’s what it was!” No, God doesn’t use rubber bands and daily planners to remember details. Then why the books? The books are not for God, but for the unbeliever, just as Christ’s tomb was not opened for Jesus to get out but for the disciples to get in. In one moment, every dirty thought, nefarious motive, cutting word and selfish deed will burn so real in the mind of the sinner it will be as if he committed this deed in broad daylight before God’s very throne. Matthew Henry calls these books, “The book of God’s omniscience.” These books serve as a visible reminder to the judged that every deed he has committed is recorded forever and stands against him, unlike the believer whose sins were paid for by the same Judge on the throne.

If the sinner’s name is not found written in the book of life, then the other books are researched for the account of his deeds and he is judged accordingly. Had his name been found in the book of life, there would have been no need to research his sinful deeds, for his sins were already judged through Jesus Christ on the cross.

In May of 2007, CNN News reported that $500 million dollars worth of treasure was found in a sunken British ship called the Merchant Royal, which sank in bad weather off England in 1641. In 366 years, this treasure had not lost its value.

Likewise, even though Cain’s sin of murder was committed several thousand years ago, and even though it will be the oldest sin judged at the white throne, he will not be found one shade less guilty, for time does not forgive sins. Cain will stand before Christ as if he had murdered his brother only thirty seconds before.

Notice that John writes that the dead are judged “according to their deeds.” To measure height you need a tape, to measure weight you need a scale. To measure anything you must use a standard to measure it by. The standard that Christ will use is none other than God’s perfect holiness, “You shall be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matt 5:48).

The illusion that everyone suffers equally in hell is just that—an illusion. The dead are not judged simply because they are sinners, but are judged specifically according to what they have done. Can you imagine a justice system that gave the same penalty for rolling through a stop sign as it did for rape and murder? But God’s judgment is just down to the very last sinful thought. Jesus said,

And that slave who knew his master's will and did not get ready or act in accord with his will, will receive many lashes, but the one who did not know it, and committed deeds worthy of a flogging, will receive but few. From everyone who has been given much, much will be required; and to whom they entrusted much, of him they will ask all the more (Luke 12:47-48).

The Judgment

And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds (Rev 20:13).

The sea is a massive graveyard. People who died in the Flood, or went down with the Titanic or Arizona, pirate ships, sailors we’ve never heard of, and dead bodies hidden there for thousands of years will all come rising up from this water graveyard.

As the “sea” represents the water, so “death” represents the land. Ancient coastal societies of the Greeks, Romans, and Palestinians were familiar with two abodes for the dead: the sea and the land.³ So the land would include physical graveyards and cemeteries, any place in the ground where a dead body has decomposed. Before God destroys the entire universe the sea and death must give up the dead they have swallowed. MacArthur comments that the sea and death (land) are “pictured as voracious monsters that have swallowed those bodies and will be forced to disgorge them before their uncreation.”⁴

“Hades” is the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew word “Sheol.” Both depict the place of the dead generally, but the New Testament’s ten times use of “Hades” goes one step further and describes “Hades” as punishment for the lost (Matt 11:23). Remember the rich man after he mistreated Lazarus? In Hades he wasn’t partying and swinging golf clubs. Luke 16:23 describes him suffering torment and extreme thirst. Death and Hades are similar but they are not the same for Revelation 1:18 and 6:8 distinguish them clearly. In fact, Revelation 6:8 pictures Hades following Death, a natural order since unbelievers are first taken over by death, then cast into Hades where they wait for their final judgment at the great White Throne.

When Christ sits upon the great White Throne, the souls of the unsaved will leave Hades and join their resurrected corpses from all over the earth, recomposed for this final Day of Judgment and the extreme heat of hell. As they sinned in their bodies, so now they must be judged in their bodies.

The number of bodies will be countless. Six and a half billion people live today. Add to that all the people who lived in the last six to eight thousand years since the time of Adam and you have a number beyond count. Jesus prophesied about this day:

Do not marvel at this; for an hour is coming, in which all who are in the tombs will hear His voice, and will come forth; those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment (John 5:28).

Cain will be resurrected. Saul will be there. Ahab and his lovely wife Jezebel. Pilate. Alexander the Great. Emperor Nero. The Pharisees who crucified Jesus. George Harrison from the Beattles whose god was a Hindu deity. Famous movie director, Alfred Hitchcock and the lightning swinger in boxing gloves, Muhammed Ali. Nazi war criminals and President John F. Kennedy. Charlie Church and Sunday school Sue who attended church every Sunday and thought they were going to heaven because they wore dresses on Sunday, never sucked on a cigarette, and mowed their neighbor’s lawn.

Cult founder of the Jehovah Witness religion, Charles Taze Russel will be there. So will Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims, Jews who rejected Jesus of Narareth, heretics from the middle ages, and Bahai faith followers. The rich young ruler who couldn’t give up his possessions and Pharoah who wouldn’t let God’s people go will be there too.

Verse 13 emphasizes that “every one of them” will be judged. No one gets left out. No one’s going to squeeze by unnoticed. With no earth to stand on and no planet to escape to, there will be no place to go but before the bench of the great Judge.

Like John already said in verse 12, he repeats here in verse 13 that each unbeliever is judged “according to his deeds.” Peter’s prediction in 1 Peter 4:5 now comes true, “[Unbelievers] will give an account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.”

What deeds?

Every thing he thought: And He “will judge the secrets of men through Christ Jesus” (Rom 2:16).

Every thing he said: Matthew 12:36 "But I tell you that every careless word that people speak, they shall give an accounting for it in the day of judgment.”

Every thing he did: “For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and will then repay every man according to his deeds” (Matt 16:27).

Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire (Rev 20:14).

The power of the grave and the waiting place for hell are forever conquered. There is no longer any purpose for the grave and Hades, for all unbelievers now suffer in the ultimate place of punishment, the place of eternal fire. Paul’s prophecy in 1 Corinthians 15:26 now comes true, “The last enemy that will be abolished is death.” God promises there will be no more death in heaven, “...and He will wipe away every tear form their eyes; and there will no longer be any death there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away” (Rev 21:4).

John calls this lake of fire “the second death.” The unbeliever already suffered the first death which is physical; now he must suffer the second death which is eternal. Jesus warned His followers in Matthew 10:28, “Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” This “lake of fire” is a place of indescribable guilt, darkness, banishment, burning fire, loneliness, separation from God, weeping, worm-feasting, and gnashing of teeth. How a Christian can read this passage and not break into tears of sorrow for the lost, I do not know.

In the first death, the unbeliever is separated from his body, in the second, he is separated from God (2 Thess 1:9). In the first, death is momentary, in the second, death never ends. The first death is a passing away from earth, the second, a passing into hell. The first death ends pain in this life, but the second begins pain for all eternity.

And if anyone’s name was not found in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire (Rev 20:15).

If the unbeliever’s name is missing from this book of life, he gets cast into the burning lake of unending torture. The fate of his leader, the devil, now becomes his fate (Rev 19:20). Just a few weeks ago my finger barely grazed the top of our hot stove. My hand retracted at incredible speed. Imagine the entire body being cast into a lake of fire, every square inch of your skin burning with heat previously unknown to man. The heat would be so great you’d seek death. But that’s the worst part: the resurrected body of the unbeliever will be of such a composition that he will not be able to die, but will instead burn forever. Indeed, it is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God! (Heb 10:31).

Two Attitudes

We cannot walk away from this passage with a clear conscience if this prophecy does not produce two attitudes:

1. Deep sorrow for the lost.

This weekend over a quarter million people attended the race at Indianapolis 500. Three hundred thousand people. That’s more people than most cities contain. And if Jesus wasn’t kidding when he said that narrow is the gate that leads to heaven and there are few who find it (Matt 7:13-14), most of those people are on the path to the burning lake, right now committing deeds for which they will give account at the White Throne.

Last weekend, the Indiana Jones movie premiered. How many Christians do you think watched this film? Many thousands. Now how many Christians do you think verbally shared the gospel over this last weekend? I’m not on a rampage against theater-attending, but with 450,000 churches across the US and only 18,000 movie theaters,⁵ who should be shaping the culture? It seems the Great White Throne is more to us like a cartoon than reality.

2. Unreserved gratitude for your salvation.

The only reason, you and I will not stand before Jesus Christ at His white mega-throne and be cast into the lake of fire to weep and groan for every wicked thought, word, and deed is because Jesus already paid the price. At the great day of the White Throne Judgment the gospel is the only escape...and the only hope.

I try to imagine standing before that massive throne as an unbeliever, as every sin I ever committed all comes pressing down upon my black conscience in one single moment...the guilt so real, so vivid before the white holiness of Jesus upon His throne. And then I remember that Jesus was already judged for me. He stood at that bench and received every lash, every drop of hell, every scream of agony I deserved on the cross. Thank God we are saved!

Toilet Cleaner in Heaven or King in Hell

In Homer's Odyssey, Odysseus visits the dead in his journeys back home where he finds Achilles among the dead, Achilles the greatest Greek warrior who died in the battle against Troy with the Trojan horse. Odysseus says to him,

"When you lived, we honored you like the gods; and now you are a potentate in this world of the dead. Then do not deplore [lament] your death, Achilles."

Achilles answered at once, "Don't bepraise death to me, Odysseus. I would rather be plowman to a yeoman farmer on a small holding than lord paramount in the kingdom of the dead."⁶ Fellow believer, it’d be better to be toilet cleaner in heaven, than king in hell.

Endnotes

1. Donald Grey Barnouse, Revelation: An Expository Commentary (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1971), 391.

2. "Book" could also be translated as "scroll."

3.D. E. Aune, Revelation 17-22 in Word Biblical Commentary, vol. 52C. Dallas: Word, 2002), 1102.

4. John MacArthur, Revelation in The MacArthur New Testament Commentary (Chicago: Moody, 2000), 252.

5. The information on churches comes from Premier Tourism’s Marketing and the theater info comes from Regal Entertainment.

6. Homer, The Odyssey, translated by W. H. D. Rouse (The New American Library), 125.