Listen, it is good to see you, and I'm so glad that we are back here this evening in Revelation. And I miss this. And as much as I love different things that we do that affect and get us out of our routine on Wednesday nights, I miss it. And I enjoy this, and I'm enjoying this study. I hope that you are as well.
And since we've been out of the routine, I just want to ask if you did not get an outline. Pastor Bailey has a stack of them here. If you would just slip up your hand, maybe you kind of slipped in, missed one, and just slip your hand up. Don't be embarrassed. Don't be shy, okay?
And just slip that up. He'll get one, and we'll reprimand you, see you after class, that kind of thing. And so, and but wow, the Weavers, you guys didn't grab one. And so, man, I could expect that from John, but Renee, come on now. And so, I'm just kidding.
I'm just kidding. I said I wouldn't reprimand him, but here I am. I am, all right. And but Revelation chapter number 20 is where we're going to be tonight. And I will say this, I think I did not look at my word count, but I do believe that this is probably, this could be a record number of words on my notes here tonight.
And so, but I'm going to move through this and we're going to get through the end of the chapter. If you remember, last time we were together a couple weeks ago, we got through the first six verses of chapter 20. And tonight, my intent is to go through verses 7 through 15. Before we dive in, I will show you the outline here. And we show this every week.
We're kind of working through this. We're coming up to an end, which I know it's always exciting when you finish certain things, but I hope this is kind of sad. You know, we're kind of coming up to the end. I've really enjoyed this as your pastor, and I love, love to dive deep into God's word and study and learn. And I don't have all the answers.
And so I look into the book and try to get as many answers as we can from that. And we began this midway or towards the end of May of last year is when we began this series. And I know we have interruptions from time to time, but we're coming up to the end.
So we got a few weeks left, is what we're going to do. I think the last two chapters after tonight, we're going to have three weeks in the book. And then the final one, we're going to do like a recap party. Do a special service with a lot of music singing about Christ's return and just do some fun things just kind of to wrap this up and wrap the book up. But we are coming to a close, as you can see on the timeline.
Tonight we're moving out of, so we've kind of worked our way through the book. And so if you remember, Revelation 1 through 3 is all about the church age. That's where we're living in today. The next event on God's timetable is the rapture of the church. That is the moment that we are, that word literally means snatched, if you would.
And that's not Christ's second coming.
Okay, don't get the two confused. This is when he will come in the clouds, and then we which are alive and remain will be called up together to meet him in the clouds. And so that'll be the rapture of the church. We see that in chapters four and five of the book of Revelation, which leads us after the rapture. into what we call the seven-year tribulation.
And we looked at that. In fact, the bulk of the book of Revelation is about the judgments happening during the seven-year tribulation. That's in chapter 6 through 18. And then after the seven-year tribulation comes the second coming of Christ. And uh he will come back to the earth.
He will reign and set up his reign on the earth. For 1,000 years at his second coming. That's when the Battle of Armageddon happens. And so armies will rise up after the tribulation period in support of the Antichrist and the false prophet. And nations will rise against.
Christ will come back. He will defeat all of the armies that have risen up against him. There will be a lot of bloodshed, that kind of thing. We looked at it. And he will set up his 1,000-year reign on earth.
That's where we were last time we were together. Just a few things about what that 1,000 years will look like. This is not on your notes. This was on last week's. A few things about what life will be like during the millennial reign of Christ.
Satan will be bound. If you remember at the beginning of chapter 20, when Christ is setting up his 1,000-year reign, he gives authority to an angel, and an angel comes with a chain, and the angel will bind Satan for 1,000 years. Years, Jesus during the one thousand years will rule with the saints from Jerusalem. There will be no kings. There will be no prime ministers.
There will be no political leaders. We will have one leader reigning over the entire world, and we will have one king, the king of kings, will be reigning over the entire world during the millennial reign of Christ. There will be a judgment of tribulation survivors. We saw that. There will be a time.
of great peace and joy. Across the world, Isaiah chapter number two prophesies about that during the millennial reign of Christ. Isaiah 11, this is just for fun that I think is cool. Isaiah 11 talks about the millennial reign of Christ and that animals will be tamed. It references that you like.
People will play with snakes and stuff like that. Isaiah, you can read all about that. That's kind of wild. I hate snakes, and so I'm not going to be that guy during the millennial reign. But it says that animals will be tamed, including my three and a half pound dog.
And in fact, somebody, if you remember me telling the story about that, somebody gifted me two oven mitts to protect myself from my dog at night. If you don't know what we're talking about, go back and listen to that week, and you will understand. Isaiah 65 says during the millennial reign of Christ that people will live much longer. In fact, Isaiah 65 says that 100 years, if somebody passes away at age 100, that would be considered young. And so many people will live much longer.
Jesus will be worshipped in Jerusalem. Zachariah 14 prophesies about that. And so that's what life's going to be like in the millennial reign of Christ. And Christ is going to rule. He's going to reign.
Mind you, that there are people that are going to be born.
So you're going to have some people that survive the tribulation period. And they are in their earthly body.
So when they go into the millennial reign of Christ, Um they will have children. And their children, I mean, a thousand years, there's going to be generations of people. And so I want you to understand. I know this is difficult because Christ is reigning. And saints will reign with him.
But there are going to be people that are going to be being born. And they're going to be born with that fleshly nature. And so there is still going to be sin. During the millennial reign of Christ, But you have to understand, Satan's going to be bound. And so, because of that, sin's going to be less and less.
But there is going to be flesh. You're going to see that here in our text here tonight. In the remaining verses of chapter 20. We see the great white throne judgment. That's what I've entitled tonight.
And what I'm going to do tonight, I'm going to read verses 7 through 15. And then we're going to break it down into several parts tonight. And then I'm just going to give you some thoughts and commentary on these verses. But I'm going to read it straight through: 7 through 15. Here we go.
It'll be up on the screen if you didn't bring your Bible here tonight. It says this: and when the thousand years are expired. or finished. Satan shall be loosed. Out of its prism.
And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth. Gog and Magog. to gather them together to battle. the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. And they went up on the breadth of the earth and come past the camp of the saints.
About in the beloved city, that's Jerusalem, and fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them. And the devil. That deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone. Where the beast and the false prophet are. and shall be tormented day and night forever and ever.
And I saw a great white throne. Remember, white always references or shows purity and righteousness. 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, not just one book, it is plural.
We're going to look at that more in a minute, 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. No fire.
So basically, you got to understand.
So, the one thousand years. Uh you know, it is now over. And that is where we find verses 7 through 15. I failed to mention a minute ago, we looked last time we were together at the different views about the timeline of the millennial reign of Christ. I'm not going to rehash some of the other views, but I am going to remind you of how we and me personally view the millennial reign of Christ and the timeline.
We believe that in what they call a pre-millennial view of the millennial reign, here's what that literally means: that Christ. will return to the earth. Before the millennial reign, and he will literally reign. for 1,000 years on the earth.
Okay, so he will come before, and then he will reign for 1,000 literal. Years. I think the scripture supports that. If you want more information on that, or perhaps you picked up a book at some point that taught you something different and you want some information about it, I'd encourage you to go back and listen to the sermon that we did. I did a little bit more of a deep dive on the different viewpoints of that a couple of weeks ago.
But I want to show you just a couple of things. We're going to break down these verses, verses 7 through 15, and I want to give you a little bit more as to what is happening here after the millennial reign of Christ.
So, number one, it's on your notes: Satan. will be set free After being bound. for 1,000 years.
So in verses one through three of the same chapter, When Christ returns to set up his reign, he gives authority to an angel, and the angel binds Satan. And so, for this last 1,000 years, Satan has been inactive. and bound in our world. Wouldn't that be amazing?
Now, I mentioned it to you earlier. That sin will still exist during the millennial reign of Christ because. People will be born with a fleshly nature. There's going to be generations of people born during that 1,000 years. And so there's still going to be sin.
And I know that's hard for us to understand, but there is going to be sin that exists in our world because of the flesh. But it's going to be less because Satan is bound. And here's what I want you to understand about that. You say, how can there be sin? Satan's going to be bound.
Well, every time that you and I sin... It's not always A demonic attack, it's not always Satan.
Sometimes it's the fleshly nature that you're born with. Listen, I'll be as transparent with you to say this. I don't always, I don't need Satan to help me sin. My flesh is strong enough to make me sin anyway. Does that make sense?
And so, a lot of times during the millennial reign, is that Satan is going to be bound, and so he's going to be tied up, he's going to be inactive in our world. But we are still going to see sin exists because of the flesh that exists during the millennial. rain. But no doubt there's going to be less sinning because there's going to be You know, no satanic activity because he is going to be inactive during this time. But life, what we see is going to be good.
It is going to be peaceful. We are going to have a just king. That is going to be reigning the king of kings. And so it's going to be much better than Then the alternative.
So, the question that we have to ask ourselves is. Is why why does Satan have to be loosed here? Like Isn't life? With Satan bound better than life with Satan roaming the earth? I'm I'm really asking.
Yes, okay. God man, I don't know.
Okay, it's okay. This is a safe place to answer and respond, okay? You guys looked at me like a deer in the headlights, like I'm scared to answer. Yeah, of course. Like, it's way better for Satan to be bound.
So the question has to be asked: why would he be loosed? And here's my theory. on this, okay? And so obviously, you know, life's going to be, you know, peaceful, but people are going to still be born with flesh. And let's talk about those people for just a moment.
So, the people that are born during the millennial reign, they're born with the sin nature.
Okay, because they're still in their human bodies. And so they are going to reproduce themselves, and more and more people are going to be born with a sin nature. Those people grew up in a world during the millennial reign in the millennial kingdom. Where Jesus is. The only choice.
In other words, There is one king. And he is going to be ruling. He is going to be reigning. And so they're going to grow up in a world where they do not have as much of a choice, I think, as much as we do. With all the demonic activity and things that persuade and deceive people a different direction.
Perhaps what is happening here, and I'm going to show you what's going to transpire when the devil is loosed here in a moment. But when he gets loosed, what we see is that he begins to deceive a lot of people. And I think that, you know, for so often, people. Blame. their environments And they blame their upbringing.
Right? And they blamed the family that they were born into. And they blame everything around them for the way that they are. You've probably heard that. done or or said to you at some point.
I think what Jesus is doing here is he is showing. Us and the world, he is going to force the people that were born during the millennial reign to choose. Just like the rest of us had to choose Jesus and his sacrificial. Life for us. And he's going to force them to have to choose because before, during the millennial reign, Jesus is the only one ruling.
He is the only one ruling and reigning. And so he's going to force them to have to. have to choose during this time. He's given them a choice between Christ and between. The deceiver.
So Satan gets loosed during this time. And the tragic thing about him being loosed here in verse 7. Is in verse 8, it says that he will go out and deceive the nations.
So right after he's released. He is going to, now he's back to being the one that we know, walking about seeking whom he may devour. And he begins to devour the nations. And the tragic thing is verse 8. At the end of verse 8, it says that those he deceived.
are as the sand of the sea. In other words, Not just a few. Satan didn't just get loosed and pulled two or three with him. He pulled entire armies and nations with him. And so he begins to deceive them.
And what happens is, after he's loosed, he deceives these nations, and they begin to rise up. It says, it references Gog and Magog. Which is a reference to Ezekiel 37 and 38. And we've looked at that, but here's what I want you to understand: this is not the battle of Armageddon. This is not the battle.
This is a completely separate thing. In fact, and I will tell you this: that I'm like, my whole mind about this is kind of like also evolving the deeper I go into studying this, because I think I've probably told you from time to time that there are some similarities between these two, and there are similarities, but they are different events.
So, the Battle of Armageddon after the seven-year tribulation when Christ comes back. He's going to come back. Armies are going to rise against. God Or or Christ when he returns. We looked at that and we looked at the possibilities of which nations they could even be today.
You can go back and listen to that when we did a whole series on the battle or a whole sermon on the battle of Armageddon. And so all these nations are going to rise up. and try to defeat Christ, and he is gonna fight. and defeat them all.
Okay. And he's going to set up his. His earthly reign.
Well, now Satan is now. Loosed, he goes around, deceives nations. And he's going to deceive so many nations that they're going to rise up. But here's what I will tell you: this is anything but a battle. And here's why.
Is because when they rise up against God, I want you to understand that. When you're fighting against The God of heaven? You're always in the minority. And do you understand that? You're always in the minority.
So, when you're fighting against him, it's not going to take a whole lot to defeat you. You say, hey, man, I got armies, I got nations, I got this. Listen. What happens to all these nations that were so large during this time? Remember, a thousand years is a lot of time for people to reproduce themselves.
So there's nations that have rose up. And Satan gets loosed. He goes around. He begins to deceive these nations.
Now, all these nations, they're like the sand of the sea, which you can't number. There's that many of them. They go to fight God. And here's what God says: you know, God from heaven says, enough is enough. And all it takes is just fire come down from heaven and consumes them all.
devours them all. And so it's anything but a battle here from what you see. Gog and Magog is a reference here. Many believe that that could be around Russia, if you would, that area of the world. And what happens here is they rise up against him.
Fire comes down from heaven. And And they're completely. destroyed. This is a wild rebellion, but I want to show you a few lessons that we learned from it, okay? It's on your notes, I believe.
Number one, I want you to see this. When Satan's loosed. Um and all these people get deceived. I want you to remember. They had just lived through You know, this time period work the King of Kings.
is ruling and reigning. And now they are deceived. What do we learn from this? Number one, the human heart. is depraved.
The human heart is depraved. In fact, Jeremiah 17:19 says it this way: the heart is deceitful. and desperately wicked. Listen, I just want you to understand something. That these people Who lived under the reign of King Jesus.
are willing to trade that life to follow Satan. I don't think anything shows the depravity of mankind's heart more than that. Listen, it also shows us it's not the environment that we were raised in that affects who we are. Because if that were true None of these people living under King Jesus would ever rebel against him. If the environment, no, no, no, what Christ was showing us is that mankind's heart.
Is depraved. It is evil. It is wicked. It is wicked. I mean, Jeremiah, who can know it, right?
It was wicked. And so, what we learn from this is the human heart is depraved. But, number two, the enemy. is powerfully deceptive. That's why we got to be on guard.
That's why you need to guard your heart. That's why you need to walk around and you need to watch. That's why the New Testament would say: be sober and be vigilant. Why? Because look at how deceptive the enemy can be.
Don't believe me? Think about it in Scripture. He's deceived people that has affected the world several times. First time he He's in heaven. Right?
Lucifer And because of his pride, you remember the I will statements? What happens? He gets tossed from heaven. You know what the scripture says? That a third.
of the stars. That's the angels that were in heaven fell with him. That's how powerfully deceptive he is. He taught all of these angels that were in the presence of the Almighty. to follow him.
And then in Genesis, you know, we see him as the snake. That old serpent And we see him come up to Adam and Eve, who had been created by God. living in the perfect world. The way that God intended for it to be. Naked and unashamed.
And here they are living the life that God created them to be in the beautiful garden that He made just for them. They had dominion over the animals. It was life as we know it, the way that God created it to be. And this serpent, the devil, comes, and what does he do? He deceives Adam and Eve to believe.
That if they took of that tree That they would be like God. And that's the reason why God didn't want them to.
So we've already seen how deceptive he can be by influencing a third of the angels in heaven to fall with him, and now deceiving Adam and Eve to where now, because of their sin, now all of us that have been born from them, from mankind, were born with a sin seed that exists in our hearts. And now, here at the end of time, these people that have lived under the reign of King Jesus. They've lived in peace. They've lived with joy. They've had dominion over animals and all of this kind of stuff.
Everything we talked about about life in the millennial kingdom that Isaiah and Zachariah has prophesied about, they lived through it. And still, when Satan is loosed, he is powerful enough to deceive them. to follow him over the king of kings. What we learn is that He's powerfully deceptive. And I'll tell you this, he can deceive you.
He can deceive your kids. He can deceive your grandkids. We have to be on guard and we have to be vigilant.
So what we see from this rebellion is that the human heart is depraved, the enemy is powerfully deceptive. And then we see, number three, God is a just God. I mean, we see his justice, and by the way, we should want a just God. Every one of us do in the in the internal parts of our being. We want him to be just.
And here, because of his perfect holiness, he will bring justice to anyone and everyone that chooses to reject him. And you see that by the fire coming down from heaven.
So that's the first thing that we see here in this: we see Satan will be set free. during the thousand years. The second thing you see here is this. Satan will be cast into the lake of fire. In verse 10, if you're still with me, can you say amen for a moment?
The devil, verse 10, and the devil that deceived them Was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night forever and ever.
Now, if you remember... In this same chapter, or actually in chapter 19, the false prophet and the Antichrist were thrown into the lake of fire. And now we see Satan will be eternally cast into the lake of fire.
So the Antichrist and the false prophet had been there for 1,000 years, and now Satan's going to be judged and cast there. and he will be tormented there day and night forever. And ever. Forever and ever. I am going to repeat that until you say amen forever and ever.
All right, there we go. All right, I don't know if you guys are awake or I need to start over tonight. I'm not sure. But here's what I want you to know: this is good news for us. This proves that Jesus wins.
Jesus always wins. Do not miss that. When you look at our world today, you think, man, you know, the devil's winning. Let me tell you this. It might perceive that way from what you see on the news and different things like that.
But I want you to understand that there is coming an end. For the devil, where he is going to be placed in a place that he will be tormented day and night forever and ever, never to be loosed again. And that's what we look forward. He will be forever cast into the lake of fire. One thing I want you to understand is that this is not hell.
I don't want to get too deep into this, but I always, my theology always wants to. wants to correct people that say Do you want to spend eternity in heaven, or do you want to spend eternity in hell? And here's why. is because We learn later in this same chapter that hell Is and deaf. is going to be forever cast into the lake of fire.
Hell's going to be completely destroyed. That's not the final resting place for unbelievers and those who reject them. The final resting place for those who choose to reject him. is the lake of fire. That's not where Satan is.
Satan's going to be cast in the lake of fire. Hell is not the final resting place because death and hell will be cast into the lake of fire. And that's where it's going to be. And so, this is not hell, this is the final dwelling place. for unbelievers.
The lake of fire, here's how you have to think of the lake of fire. It is a place, I think this is on your notes. of perpetual suffering. There is continual Suffering. I mean, here it says that those that are going to be there are going to be tormented day and night forever and ever.
I want you to understand that your soul is going to live forever. Gonna live forever. What you do with Jesus and the blood that He shed for you. will determine where it lives forever. There is, and I always want to kind of, I don't get too deep into stuff like this, but here's what I want you to understand: if you ever pick up a book because I get it, or look at something on the internet.
I try to just mention things that I see out there from time to time. There is a doctrine out there that is a false doctrine. called the doctrine of annihilation. Here's what that doctrine literally says. It says that mankind will one day be destroyed.
In other words, what it's suggesting is that the moment that rebellious mankind Hits You know, the fire here in the lake, it will be consumed and turned to ashes forever. completely annihilated. That's not what the Bible teaches. Here's what the Bible teaches. Is that one day those who reject him will stand before him at the great white throne?
They will look him in the face. And because they do not know Jesus, they will be forever cast into this place, the lake of fire. And they will be. Alive? But tormented.
Day and night. Forever and ever. And I know that's hard to understand. And that's hard to wrap our minds around it. In fact, you probably have loved ones that you fear that this will be their eternal fate one day.
But here's the good news. Is that God has offered heaven as an alternative for our fleshly souls? God has offered heaven, and He's given us a way of escape. And that's the message of. of the Bible.
The entire message of Scripture is that God created us for one purpose to have a relationship with Him. But sin in Genesis 3, it messed up and it ruined the relationship and communion that we were created to have with God. And because of his holiness, Sin had to be punished. It had to be forever punished because we serve a just God, and because He is just, sin always has to be punished. And so the story of Scripture, it's not just a bunch of unique individual stories.
The whole story from cover to cover of the Bible is God's redemptive plan to redeem mankind back into a relationship with Him the way that we were created to be and to live. That's the gospel. And so what God did when he sent Jesus. Is he he told him to hang on a cross? And Christ went to the cross, and on the cross, all of our sin was placed on him.
You know this. All of our sin was placed on him so that we could be. Righteous. Not because of anything that you and I have ever done that's worthy of it, but because of the life that Jesus lived and the righteousness of the very Son of God, that righteousness was biblical word, was imputed, put into your life. At the moment of conversion.
To where when you stand before God, He's going to look at you, not in your broken, evil, sinful state, He's going to look at you. The way that he looks at the very Son of God, righteousness. That's the gospel. And when you trust in the blood of Jesus, here's what I want you to know: everything we're reading about here with the lake of fire and this great white throne, judgment, and all that. He's given you a way of escape.
Don't let anybody say and read this to you and say, How could this be the God that you say is love? He is love. You want to know why? It's because constantly throughout scripture, he is demonstrating his mercy. The very breath that we breathe today is the mercy of God on display.
The very fact that he's waiting to return and he hasn't returned yet, that is the mercy and grace for the entire world that so many choose to reject him right now. You see, the gospel is his escape plan. In 2018, A journalist. By the name of, I think I'm saying this correctly, Eugenio Scalfari. He asked Pope Francis this question.
What happens? You probably remember this. This was on the news a lot back then. He asked this question: What happens to bad souls? And where are they punished?
This is Pope Francis' response. It'll be up on the screen.
Souls are not punished. Those who repent obtain God's forgiveness. But those that do not repent disappear. He says this, and I quote: There is no hell. There is the disappearance of sinful Souls.
I get it. Pope Francis. I'm sure he is a great guy. But I hate tonight to tell him that he is dead wrong on his interpretation of this. Pope Francis is not the final authority for how we view this.
The Word of God, what we read tonight, is the final authority. There is a real punishment that is coming to those who choose to reject him and know they will not forever be annihilated. They will live in that punishment and experience tormenting. And night. Number three.
The great white throne judgment. We see this in verses 11 through 15. John sees 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.
Now, just so you know, and I gotta hurry, there are two judgments in Scripture. And I want to. Distinguish them a little bit for you here tonight without going into too much detail. One of them is called the judgment seat of Christ. That is the judgment where believers will stand before God and we will be judged based on the things that believers had done.
And that's where crowns are given, that kind of thing. And don't worry about what crown you're going to get and all that kind of stuff. Because I'll tell you this: the scripture says you ain't going to have it in your hands very long because it's immediately going back to the feet of Jesus.
So that's the judgment seat of Christ. That is completely different than what we're experiencing now, or what we're reading about now. The great white throne judgment, it is entirely different. It takes place after the millennial reign. And after Satan is cast into the lake of fire.
John MacArthur, he calls this passage of Scripture in his commentary, he calls it this, the most serious Sobering. And tragic passage in the entire Bible. Here's why. The great white throne judgment is for unbelievers.
So, if you know Christ today, you're not going to experience the great white throne judgment. You will experience the judgment seat of Christ. And be judged for what you did for Christ after you accepted him. But here, this is for unbelievers. What's interesting is this.
There is a phrase here, verse 11, that I thought was really interesting that I've always skipped over. It says, I saw a great white throne, and that's showing his righteousness. Him that sat on it, that's Christ. We'll see that in a moment. And then it says, From whose face the earth and the heaven fled?
Away. Here's what I'll tell you. The reason That hell And the reason that the lake of fire exists. is because Of the Uh blasphemy. Of the name and face and the glory of God.
That's the reason why hell exists. That's the reason why a lake of fire exists because. For all this time we've defamed The glory. of God. And those who stand at this judgment.
We'll have to look. At the face. of the one that they have defamed. and blasphemed. Notice the word Dead.
Here in verses 11 through 15, or it starts in verse 12. I saw the dead. This word dead, it's mentioned four times in this passage right here. And I do believe that there is a physical component to this, but I truly believe that what he's seeing is that they were spiritually dead. I think this is further support that the great white throne judgment is those unbelievers, those who have chosen to reject Christ.
And so the Bible says Ephesians chapter number two that those without Christ are dead in their trespasses and sins. And so I think that's what he's seeing here: these people are dead before this white throne. They are dead in their trespasses and sins fully without Christ. Uh Jesus Number two, under the great white throne, Jesus is the judge at the great white throne judgment. If you remember, I'm not going to go there, but John 5, 22, it says that God the Father has given all judgment to his son.
So, Christ is the judge here. You can think of this like a courtroom. We've all heard the stories, we've all thought about it. I will say, no one, and I've done a ton of reading and study about this, no one said it better than Warren Weersby. In my opinion, here's what Warren Weersby said about this.
He said it's not going to be up on the screen. He said, the great white throne judgment will be nothing like our modern court cases. Listen to this. At the white throne, there will be a judge. But no jury.
There will be a prosecution. But no defense. There will be a sentence But no appeal. One writer said no parole. No one will be able to defend himself or accuse God.
of their unrighteousness. Last, the book of life. I want you to see this. Verse 12. We see that he sees the dead, small and great, stand before God, and the books, plural, were open.
God has books in heaven. They are a mystery. I'm not going to suggest to you that I understand all of what books he had, but I think you can, and I think this is fair, to picture God at the white or Christ on his throne at the white throne with maybe a table or whatever in front of him with some books. And you say, what books could they be? I want to just mention these to you.
They're going to be on your notes. I am not saying that these are the books that are going to be there in front of us, but the scripture does mention that there are books in heaven. And I want to mention that too. The first one. is the Bible.
I think it'll be up on the screen. John 12. Verse 48, you can jot the reference down. It says this, if you can put that up on the screen so I don't have to turn there. He that rejecteth me and receiveth not my words, Hath one that judgeth him, the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in that last day.
Here's what I'll tell you: is that the Bible is the final authority. And that books, or the book says and determines whether you stand at the judgment one day. The second book that he references that I saw when I was studying this, because I was kind of curious what books could be there, and this is just my interpretation of it, is the book of what I would call records. Psalms 139, verse 16, it'll be up on the screen for you. Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect.
And in thy book. All my members were written. In other words, I think God records things about our life. And I think it's recorded in heaven. The third one Is the book of remembrance.
Here's what I'll tell you. I know this is a sobering passage in Revelation 20, but this should encourage you. Psalm 56, 8. It says this. Thou tellest my wanderings.
Put thou my tears into thy bottle. Are they not in your book? Here's what I want you to understand. This is a very sobering passage, because I really believe that this is a In which it shows that we, as his children, our grief. And our suffering.
And our trials And our tears. are recorded in heaven. And Malachi 3.16. It says this, Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another, and the Lord hearkened and heard it in a book of remembrance. was written before him for them that feared the Lord.
And that and that thought upon his name. I gotta hustle. The last or the last one that I'll show you is the book of works. That's Revelation 20, 12, when it says what we already read is that there is a book of works about what we have done. The dead will be judged according to their works.
This has the evil deeds that were done by those that reject him. And believers are going to be judged upon what we did with Christ. But here, you're going to see that they're going to be judged here at this great white throne based off of. their works and we know what that shows us. Every work we've ever done, it proves that we all fall short of the glory of God, and which you see here.
The last book is the book of life. I'm not going to spend a whole lot of time on this. If you want to go back and look, I did a little bit more study on this when we were in Revelation 3, but I'm going to give you a little bit of a summary. The book of life is mentioned eight times in Scripture, seven of the eight are mentioned here. The other time it was mentioned in Philippians.
Philippians chapter 4, when Paul references those that labored with him, and he concludes that their names are written down in the book of life. I want you to know as a child of God. That there is no greater rejoicing. Than to know that your name is written down in the book of life. And the reason why I tell you that is in Luke 10.
I still have a couple more things I'm going to say. I know when you get to the last blank, you're like most classes, you're like, that's it. Zip up the Bible, the whole deal, and everything. I do have a couple more things, okay? I've got five more minutes with you, and so I'm going to use every second of it, okay?
But in Luke 10, Jesus tells the apostles when they learned that they had the gift. Over the spirits and these demonic forces, they were so pumped about it. And let's just be honest: in our flesh, if you could speak to a spirit and have dominion over it and you had that gift, you'd probably be just as pumped. And you'd be, man, did y'all see that? You'd be telling everybody at school about it.
It's one of those things. They were doing the same thing. And Jesus Himself tells them: hey, don't rejoice that you have this dominion over these spirits and stuff. Rejoice that your name is written down in heaven. And so I want you to know that as a child of God, There is no greater Greater thing to rejoice in.
The question is, is your name written there? And here's what I'll tell you: Revelation 3, verse 5, Jesus tells the church at Sardis. that if they overcome They will not have their names blotted out of the book of life.
Okay. And here's what we know: you can't lose your salvation. And so, what does that mean? Like, you're not going to have them blotted out.
So, what if they don't overcome and they're a Christian? Does that mean that their names can be blotted out?
Well, you can't lose your salvation, so, we don't believe that. But I am going to show you what I think that means. And just my interpretation: I'm not going to stand on this hill or die on this hill, but I am going to share this with you because Psalms 69, verse 28 also says this. David was praying about his enemies. He says, Let them be blotted out of the book of the living.
And there's an emphasis In those passages? to suggest that their names are already there. And I want you to remember the question. You know, David and Bathsheba. You've probably asked the question at some point in your life: like, what about a child that dies?
Like, what happens to them? They're not old enough to understand. Or, what about somebody who's mentally handicapped? They don't have the capacity to understand. What about them?
And that's the question that we're asking David and Bathsheba. They were mourning. And it says David was mourning over, you know, because of their sin, they had a baby and the baby wasn't gonna make it. And so David's crying or whatever. And after the baby dies in 2 Samuel 12, David says this.
He shall because he was rejoicing now. And the baby had died. How do you rejoice with that? He said this: He shall not return to me, but I shall go to him one day. This is just my theory, and I've learned this in this study that I think could be a real thing.
is that I wonder about this if your name's written. I wonder at the moment that we are born, our names are written in the book of life. They're already there. And the moment that you reach a point. That you can reject Christ.
And that you choose that. And you choose the world and your flesh over him. I just am wondering. that maybe your name can be blotted out in that moment. And that would make sense with the passages that I mentioned to you because of the prayer.
of blotting out and and that kind of thing and David saying that I'm going to. The child. It's like, how would that child wouldn't have ever known at some point that that child's name's written there? And all the children that have died before the age of accountability and understanding, their names are written there. How?
Perhaps at the moment of birth, that they are written. Or conception rather, they're written. In heaven. But then, that moment that they reach that age where they choose the world over. what Christ has already done for them, perhaps that's when.
That's just my theory on it. I don't know if that's true or not, but I'm just telling you what I think could be a real possibility because of some of the passages there. The question that you need to ask yourself tonight is this. Is your name? Written And the book.
Is your name written in the book? If so, there is no greater joy, there is no greater thing to rejoice in. than to know that your name's written down in heaven. But if it's not. You're choosing the world, you're choosing your own works, you're choosing all of those things.
Let me tell you this. Christ died.
So that you can have new life. and so that you could live forever. with him.
