Before The Throne

So then, take your Bibles and turn to Revelation 20, as we look at the text that tells us about that day. Revelation chapter 20. So, before we look in that text, let's ask God to work in our hearts to reveal that day to us that we might have hope and be ready. Let's pray. Lord God, we now come in submission to your word, for it is here that you speak to us. we would ask today that in this vision of what that day would be like you would cause us to find hope in Jesus but further Father to examine our hearts to see if we are ready for that day would you Father guide our thinking would you work in hearts today Father make us a people who are deadly serious about the things of God in light of what we're going to see today.

Help us now as we hear from You. In the name of Jesus, our Redeemer, the Lamb slain, Amen. It's been shown on the big screen. It's been painted on murals and canvases and even on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. It's been described in novels. It's been the subject of countless nightmares.

It is so much a part of human experience that there is not a human being, there's not a person who has not at one time given it some thought. It is the final judgment. The end. when God determines everyone's eternal destiny. Whether you live forever in bliss or live forever in eternal torment Now before we explore that scene we need to place it within the context of this book the book of Revelation We already been present at the end several times in this book.

It's been described in various ways. We saw it first in chapter 6 with kings and generals, the rich, the slave, and the free, screaming to the mountains to fall on them and hide them from the wrath of the Lamb. It's a time of terror. We saw it again with loud voices and the 24 elders declaring, the kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ and He shall reign forever and ever.

The nations raged, but your wrath came and the time for the dead to be judged and for rewarding your servants, the prophets and saints, and those who fear your name, both small and great, and for destroying the destroyers of the earth. It's the beginning of God's unopposed reign on the earth. In chapter 14, we saw it as the time of harvest. And the unrepentant like grapes are thrown into the winepress of the fury of God.

It's the time of God's anger. In chapter 16, you saw that this judgment is the final expression of God's wrath that He has so long restrained. And now in chapter 20, we come to the very last picture in this book of God's judgment. And this is the picture that's most familiar to us. This is the one that we have heard countless times before. This is the text that we all pretty well know.

But again, we have to ask this question. Why does God include this picture of the final judgment? Why does He include this particular picture? And again, we have to answer because God's people face relentless pressure to compromise and surrender. Remember, as we've progressed through this book, this book is written to the church of God who in this age are under this relentless pressure, either through persecution of God's enemies or the seduction of Babylon, under all this relentless pressure to compromise and surrender.

And this is included in the book to give us hope, the assurance that justice will be meted out. You see it not just intended to scare the liver out of us It intended to give us hope that the enemies of God will face judgment Let's look at that judgment right now. Revelation 20, beginning in verse 11 to the end of the chapter. Then I saw a great white throne and Him who was seated on it.

From His presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books according to what they had done. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it.

Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. Do you see that mass of humanity described here?

Death and Hades in the sea give up all the dead, great and small. realize that you are one of the faces in that crowd. God has given you a glimpse of the assembly in which you will one day stand. Every one of us is there. Every one of us is there. God's telling us or giving us a picture of it before we get there. And every one of you, every one of us needs to hear about God's judgment.

But we also need to gain hope in the justice of God. So let's look at this text together. First of all, what we need to do is to see the court of justice. When I was a young man, I was newly married, and I was called up for jury duty in a federal case. I remember going to South Bend, Indiana where the federal courthouse was. And going into this room, there was an elevated bench.

It was in a solemn dark paneled room And when a guy in judicial robes walked in we all stood up It was intended and impressed me with the fact that this was a weighty place A place where the law ruled not personal preference A place where justice and equity were to be meted out. And the opening scene of this vision should impress you with the fact that divine judgment will make its final and irreversible appearance. first of all look there's a white throne there there's a white throne of course this fills out or fulfills the picture that we see in the old testament book of daniel this this should look familiar to us turn back to daniel chapter 7 daniel 7 we've been here many times because the book of revelation keeps coming back to this scene Daniel 7, verse 9, As I looked, thrones were placed, and the Ancient of Days took his seat. His clothing was white as snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool.

His throne was fiery flames, its wheels were burning fire. A stream of fire issued and came out from before him, and a thousand thousands served him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him. The court sat in judgment, and the books were opened. Again, we see the same thing in our scene here. But we see that God arrives in the courtroom and the books are open.

It all looks familiar to us here because we've seen that before. But there's this white throne. The white color of this throne harkens back to what we've already seen in this book. What does white stand for? What have we seen already in the book? It stands for two things.

The first is it stands for holiness and purity. In chapter 19, remember 19, verse 11, Then I saw heaven open, and behold, a white horse. The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. Any judgment from this throne will be holy. It will not be tainted with any kind of corruption. It is beyond any outside influences.

Nothing is going to sway whoever sits in that throne. It also symbolizes, white also symbolizes in this book, vindication and victory. Back in chapter 6, verse 11, remember the martyrs that are in heaven crying out to God for Him to come. to avenge their blood. Remember that it says in 6.11, then the martyrs were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer.

The idea of the white robe is you've been condemned on earth, you've been called guilty, you've been called the scum of the earth, but here, you're given a white robe that speaks of your vindication that they were wrong. This is how God sees you. So it has the idea of vindication and victory. And so the judgment about to come from this throne is one of holiness and vindication.

It will not only punish sin, but it will vindicate God's persecuted people. Who sits on the throne? Who sits on that throne? Well, in chapters 4 and 5 of this book, you remember those marvelous chapters where all of a sudden, John gets this vision of the heavenly court. And in chapter 4, there is God sitting on the throne. In chapter 5, there was the Lamb slain, standing before the throne, ready to receive the scroll.

And it is God Himself who sits on that throne. And yet, it could also be God the Son, Jesus Himself sitting on this throne. I say that because there's many references throughout the New Testament that seem to indicate that. For example, Matthew 25, verse 31. When the Son of Man comes in His glory and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne.

John 5, verse 22. We heard it in our reading this morning. The Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son. Acts 17, verse 31, with the Apostle Paul preaching in Athens. He said to his audience then, but now God commands all people everywhere to repent because He has fixed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom He has appointed.

That man, of course, being whom? Jesus. 2 Timothy 4, verse 1. I urge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, preach the word. And then, of course, in the book of Revelation itself, in two chapters later, in chapter 22, verse 1. Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, brightest crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb.

Same thing in verse 3. No longer will there be anything accursed but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it I believe that it going to be Jesus sitting on that white throne. I believe it's going to be Christ who sits on that throne passing unerring, righteous, incorruptible, irreversible judgment. It is Jesus. Notice as well, the courtroom has been cleared. no when you go to the Marion County building the new Marion County building if you walk in the door the main door you will notice that on the left there are metal detectors because on that side on the east side of that building are all the Marion County courtrooms and you got to go through metal detectors to get in there and in this courtroom there's going to be no undesirables because it says heaven and earth flee away heaven and earth run away from the presence of the One sitting on the throne and no place was found for it.

It's saying here that in this courtroom, the entire creation absolutely defiled by the corruption of human sin will flee from the presence of the Judge. Now, this is John. Again, remember, we're not looking at photographs. We are looking at pictures. We're looking at symbols. John here, in a symbolic way, describes the cosmic destruction of the entire universe when he writes this.

The Apostle Peter described it this way in 2 Peter 3. He describes it as the heavens passing away with a roar and the heavenly bodies burned up and dissolved. But the Apostle John pictures the first heaven and earth as fleeing, running away. And notice how chapter 21 begins. You see how chapter 21 begins? Then I saw what?

A new heaven and a new earth. So John is here picturing that when this day of judgment comes, the old order of things is going to be gone. It's going to be gone. No longer there. God's unshakable kingdom will stand alone forever. You all see in this courtroom, as we take a survey of the courtroom, you see standing there the defendants. the defendants these are the dead who have been resurrected to face judgment they have come there and they now stand in this courtroom They are the dead who have been resurrected to face judgment Some of you may be wondering as I was wondering aren't there any live people there?

And why is it described as death and Hades and the sea giving up all the dead? Well, remember in the last few chapters we've seen in the final battle, that final battle that everyone's killed. Every rebel is killed, right? And so that's why when we get here, it then talks about all the dead are standing there. All those from death and Hades and the sea.

The fact that they're standing before the throne indicates they have been resurrected. And everyone is there. Do you see the phrase that's used? Great and small. And I saw the dead. Great and small.

This phrase is used twice in the book of Revelation as we've seen before. It's small and great. The other two times it's used. Speaking of all those who serve Christ, all those who serve Christ, the small and the great, all those who have the mark of the beast, the small and the great. Here he's talking about everyone, great and small. It means everyone is there.

And then the last thing you see before the trial starts, the last thing you see as you survey the courtroom are the witnesses. What are they? The books. The books. Books are open. First you see a whole number of books in the courtroom that are open.

As I read this, I imagine it talks about books being opened. A whole bunch of books on one side of the courtroom are open. But, then there is one other book. There's all these books over here and they're open. And over here is one book that's open. Just one.

And it's called the book of life. These are the witnesses that will either condemn you or acquit you. There's the courtroom. There it is. You see the throne. You see the judge.

You see the defendants. all creation is gone, and now the witnesses now the proceedings begin Having gotten a glimpse of the courtroom the proceedings are now ready to begin See the execution of judgment Let pick it up in the middle of verse 12. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it.

Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. Now note, justice reaches all men and women. The ones who stand in judgment have been delivered there by the sea and by death and Hades.

These are names that stand for the realms of the dead. The sea is included because earlier in the book, in three different times in the seals, the bowls, the seals, the trumpets, and the bowls, we've seen the sea affected, death occurring on sea. So sea is included. It's kind of a symbolic way that John uses to say that no matter where the dead might be, no matter where the dead might be, every one of them is delivered to the courtroom.

Everyone is delivered to the courtroom. Every single person who ever lived and died appears in that courtroom. All are there. But here's the interesting thing. When you look at verse 13, do you see this phrase? And they were judged, what?

Each one of them. Not only does justice reach all men and women, but justice reaches each man and woman. Don't miss that. And they were judged. Each one of them. God's justice not only reaches all people, but every single person.

Now our churches, on Sunday mornings now, we're getting to 140, 150. Probably not that much today, but right around there. And you know what I found? And it shouldn't disturb me, because this is the way it is. We're getting to the point where now people are saying, who is that? Now, from my position, I know everybody, but a lot of you don't.

Some people say, well, who is that? And I'm going, come on, they've been going here for a long time. Two years and you don't even know their names yet. But you know what? We're big enough where somebody can get overlooked. Right?

Now picture all of humanity. Which is kind of a bigger crowd than this one. Right? All of humanity is going to be there, but not one person will be overlooked. Imagine that. Just imagine that for a moment.

Not one person overlooked. No one's going to get lost in the crowd. Each one of them. Please note, the justice is fair. You know what? It's wide and it's deep.

It's wide. It's all humanity and it's deep. It's everyone is judged. Maybe now we can sing that song deep and wide and put some meaning to it. It's deep and wide. And it is fair.

Don't doubt this. This justice is fair. Now you might think that with the judge making that many rulings, someone is going to get the short end of justice. Right? I mean, imagine if you were at the Marion Courthouse and you're the 350th case to be heard that day, you might think, well, the judge is going to miss some kind of evidence or he's going to miss something that somebody's going to come up on the short end of justice here.

Either someone guilty is going to be let go or someone who's innocent, there won't be a piece of evidence there that will acquit them. But not in this case. Not in this case. Nothing is going to be missed. Not in this court because every single wicked deed of yours has been recorded. Every lustful thought.

Every angry remark. Every hateful attitude. Even every neglected duty is written in these books. Every one of them. Can I say... I want you to imagine this.

Every wrong thing that you have ever done is recorded in those books Nothing has been missed And you thought all these years that no one knew about you stealing that cookie from the cookie jar when you were six. It's recorded. Even though your mom and dad never knew it, your brothers and sisters never knew it, nobody knew it. God knows it. God knows it.

There isn't one thing that's been missed. Can you imagine that? Is that frightening to you? It should be. It's been written down. It's recorded.

Now, of course, these books are a picture, a symbol, a metaphor for God's unfailing memory, His omniscience. Not one thing is missing from the record. I've been listening to a book about the Mexican War. It interests me. Fought from 1846 to 1848. I'm reading a book about a platoon in Afghanistan.

And here, as I'm listening to this book when I'm driving, I hear about American soldiers killing Mexicans and raping women. Okay? we don't know their names. We don't know who did it. God knows their names. And this book called The Outlaw Platoon, this platoon comes upon this little kid whose eyes have been gouged out and his teeth knocked in. Little Afghan boy, six years old.

Some insurgents had did that to him. I want to begin to tell you what else they did to him. And these soldiers are looking at this kid. They don't know who did it, but God does. God knows who did that to that little boy. Every single deed is written down. now you no doubt do not recall most of the wicked things you have done and you remember hardly any of your transgressions but God has not forgotten any of them Not one of them has escaped His notice or recollection Everything is written down.

And those deeds will form the judgment which the judge will pass. The righteous judge. and the judge who obviously has not overlooked any of them. Each person will be judged by what he has done. And you know what? I think we really need to be careful here. We need to be careful about saying all sins are equal in God's eyes.

Let's not say that. All sins are not equal in God's eyes. I think the Bible makes that clear. And this text tells us that every man is going to be judged by what he has done. Now, in one sense, that phrase is true. It's true in this sense.

All sins incur guilt. Whether you gouge the eyes out of a six-year-old boy, or you hit your little brother. Alright? Both of those incur guilt. Right? and guilt always requires divine punishment. So that's true.

But you don't see the judge saying, okay, looking at your record, you're all guilty, no more to be said, off you go. Is that what God does? No. Every man will stand before Him in every one of His deeds and He will be judged according to those deeds. So let's be careful with our terminology. Everyone is guilty.

Everyone is under divine displeasure and punishment. But God is going to justly judge every single person. But you may get the impression, you don't get the impression here that God's going to say, okay, looking at your record, you're not as bad as others, so you get a pass to eternal life. Alright? Don't get the impression then that as God judges everyone according to His works, that He says, okay, you're really bad.

You not as bad So you lake of fire You you okay Eternal pass to heaven Because what does verse 14 say Look at verse 14. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The containers that have all these people in them are like a giant trash can. They're dumped into the fire. No one, no one is accepted. You see?

So, it appears that every defendant in that courtroom is consigned to the lake of fire. There is no hope in your record. Don't miss this. There is no hope in your record. because the whole container is dumped into the fire. And notice that the punishment that justice delivers, which makes this justice fair, is the lake of fire. Someone might say, that's awful.

That doesn't seem fair. It doesn't seem fair because we have a wrong view of the justice of God. We have a very low view of the justice. We have a very low view of the holiness of God. Stealing cookie from a cookie jar, God is so righteous, God is so holy, that stealing a cookie from the cookie jar requires the lake of fire. So we're not talking about unfair at all.

We're talking about the unerring justice of a righteous judge who is untainted by any corruption and who has no outside influences that can sway him. That's how just God is. Someone says, is this literal fire? And you know, we could go back and forth. Is it literal fire? Is it not?

I don't know. I think in a symbolic book, I would say it's probably not literal fire, but listen to me. Don't then go... Don't then go, oh man, it's not literal fire. I think I can handle that. Oh no, you can't.

Because if it's not literal fire, it's a torment worse than you can ever imagine. If it isn't literal fire, it's going to be worse than that. I remember as a kid, I was the one who got to burn the trash. And frankly, I loved burning stuff. But I can remember even as a kid when that fire would start going and I'd feel its heat. Even as a little boy who had been taught, I would think, wow, I'd hate to have to have that forever.

But you know what? If it's not literal fire, it's going to be a whole lot worse than just getting your skin burned. Look at chapter 14. Remember what it said in chapter 14? Turn back to chapter 14. 9, verse 9, Another angel, a third, followed them, saying with a loud voice, If anyone worships the beast in its image and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, he will also drink the wine of God's wrath, poured full strength into the cup of his anger, and he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb.

And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and they have no rest day or night, these worshipers of the beast and its image and whoever receives the mark of its name. Unrelenting, conscious torment. I've heard people make light of hell. I've heard people say, well, if I go to hell, I'll be there with all my friends. Hell is going to be the loneliest place you've ever experienced.

You will be alone. torment will be so great you won't care about your friends you will be there utterly alone and it is called notice this it is called the second death it is qualitatively different than the death we know on this earth the first death it's qualitatively different because death on earth right now in the first heaven and the first earth death is a cessation of physical life but the second death is eternal irreversible judgment of eternal conscious torment. It is called death, I think, because it is separation from God's presence. We see that in chapter 21, verse 8.

It describes the holy city of God coming down and all the wonderful glories of that city. But it says in verse 8 of the next chapter, but as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters and all liars. Their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur which is the second death See you outside the city Okay you see that again look at the end of chapter 21 verses 22 and 23, And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God, the Almighty, and the Lamb.

And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. There's the city, and then drop down to verse 27, but nothing unclean will ever enter it. You see, you are outside. You are away from God. You are not in the presence of God. So, sum it all up.

Let's get it straight. The justice coming from that white throne is fair. And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. Wait. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. it appears by the wording of that last verse that not everyone is emptied into the lake of fire.

Now that verse is telling me that anyone whose name was not found written in that other book, that one is thrown into the lake of fire, but there certainly is more than an implication that if your name is written in the book of life, you do not go into the fire. You see, this justice is not only deep and wide, it's not only fair, but this justice embraces mercy. There is hope.

There is hope in this last scene, but not in your deeds recorded in the first set of books. Your hope is not in those books. Your hope is in this one book. that's where your hope is. You see that? You know, if God had left us at verse 14, there would be no hope because He says all of death and Hades were emptied into the lake of fire. All except those whose names are written in the book of life.

Mercy hinges on that one book. The book that records names rather than deeds And by the way we met this book already We seen it already in the book of Revelation Turn back to chapter 3 verse 5 Chapter 3. Verse 5. The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot his name out of the book of life. writing to Sardis. There's the book of life.

And we see it again in chapter 13, but there it's expanded a bit. In chapter 13, verse 8. Start up in verse 7. And authority was given it over every tribe and people and language and nation. All who dwell on the earth will worship it. Everyone whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain.

The book of life belongs to the Lamb who was slain. It's His book. And what about the Lamb who was slain? Remember chapter 5? Verse 9, And they sang a new song, saying, Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. And you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God and they shall reign on the earth.

There is a people ransomed by this Lamb. It is His book. The book of life is the Lamb's registry it's the one book that makes the difference between eternal life and unending death it is the book of life of the lamb who was slain while people are justly judged according to their deeds Only those inscribed in the Lamb book escape All of humanity, all of humanity stands before the great white throne.

Believer and unbeliever. And everyone who stands there falls short of God's demands. But those who have their names in the Lamb's book of life do not suffer for their evil deeds. Because they have trusted in the Lamb who has already suffered for them. who was slain on their behalf. They have been judged according to the Lamb's deeds. His obedience as the faithful witness and His obedience even to death.

He's the sacrifice as the Lamb. And God identifies those written in the book. God identifies them with Jesus. the Lamb. Let me say it again. Those whose names are inscribed in that book do not suffer for their deeds because the Lamb has suffered in their place. Everyone before that great white throne on that day will come up short.

But those who are inscribed in the Lamb's book of life will not suffer for their failure. You see, this is the mercy and the justice of God because God displays mercy without ever violating His justice. you justly deserve what's written in those books but because the Lamb has suffered the penalty already has been separated from the presence of God already on behalf of those who have faith in Him Because of that, God's justice is served and His mercy can envelop you and embrace you and carry you to the new heavens and the new earth. Now listen to me.

Every one of you. I'm looking at you. Look around. Look around and you know what you're going to see? You're going to see everyone is going to be standing there that day. everyone here that I can see every one of you as I look all through this congregation I will see you on that day and you will see everyone else on that day recall your loved ones already dead think of the people you saw this week at work on the street, at the restaurant and Walmart think of all those people that you saw this week guess what they're all going to be there everyone's going to be there.

Consider all your friends over the years. Consider that one that you haven't seen since you were six years old in first grade. You going to see her there Everyone you ever seen is going to be there And you and every one of them will have their deeds revealed and the Lord Jesus will render His judgment based on those deeds. Unless, of course, your name is recorded in the book of life.

On that day, you will approach the throne for judgment. The books will be opened as your name is called. Will you look with confidence at Jesus? Will you look with confidence at Jesus as the Lamb in whom you have trusted? Or will you look at Him in terror as the judge who now passes judgment. How will you see him on that day?

Will you find mercy? Or will you receive justice? Father Thank you Father help us Help us to see with hope our destiny as those who have trusted in Jesus Christ. Father, You have not left us without hope. You've drawn a stark picture for us. And yet, we walk away knowing this, that there is hope not in the record of our deeds.

There is hope only in the Lamb's Book of Life. Father, I would pray this. I would pray that all of us would not walk out of here with terror in our hearts, but we would walk out of here with confidence because we have true hope in Jesus Christ who has suffered every bit for every one of our sins so that we are freely forgiven and You can be merciful on us and embrace us with arms of love because He has suffered the penalty from Your hands.

But oh God, I certainly pray this, that those here who have never embraced Jesus in faith would see the terror of that day and see the mercy of Your Son the Lord Jesus and embrace Him Father there are many here who have been here for years and years and years Young people who have never publicly professed their faith in Jesus. There are others, Father, who have not been here for very long, but they've heard the Gospel. Would You please impress upon them the necessity of faith in Jesus.

God of heaven, you are gracious. It is not as if you are a God who terrorizes people. You have openly displayed your Son crucified for anyone and everyone to embrace. Lord God thank you for such grace thank you we pray for those who have embraced him Father now we pray give us hearts that are tender help us to look with confidence at Jesus we pray this in his name Amen