The Great White Throne Judgment
- Details
- Category: Kingdom of Heaven
Theme Text– '‘I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge... I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it." (Revelation 20:4, 11)
What’s the Great White Throne Judgment? And what will happen at the end of the thousand year reign?
Throughout the thousand years, the masses gain knowledge of God and learn righteousness in favorable conditions, under the Throne of Christ and his Elect, with Satan bound all throughout.
They undergo an ongoing judgment where the stubbornly disobedient lose the right to life. At the end of the thousand years, mankind would be ready to be tested. So Satan would be let loose for a little season (Rev 20:3) to test the learned mankind. And this is where the final part of the Great White Throne Judgment (Rev 20:4, 11-15, Matt 25:31-46) draws to completion.
Jesus, sitting on the throne with his holy ones (the Elect), separates the sheep from the goats in the world of mankind.
He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. Matthew 25:33.
- Goats & Satan: Those who refuse to follow God’s righteousness and instead turn to Satan’s ways will be sentenced to go to ‘second death’ (Jer 31:33-34, Rev 21:8). Satan himself would be cast into the lake of fire (Rev 20:10). The Bible clarifies, ‘The lake of fire is the second death’ (Rev 20:14 NIV).
- Sheep: The obedient, on the other hand, will live for endless ages on earth. Adam’s race will praise God, ‘This is our God! We will be glad and rejoice in His salvation!’ Isaiah 25:9.
The sheep will live on forever while the goats will cease to exist.
“Then they will go away to eternal punishment [destruction], but the righteous to eternal life.” Matthew 25:46.
1. God puts an end to Death and the Grave
To sum up, those that are not pleasing to God will cease to exist, i.e. the devil, the beast, the false prophet, death, grave, and all those whose names are not written in the book of life.
And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. Then death and Hades [grave] were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire. Revelation 20:10-15.
By throwing Death and the Grave into the lake of fire, God signifies the permanent end of death and grave. There will no more death!
And He will destroy the veil that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death in victory; and the LORD God will wipe away tears from off ALL faces (Isa 25:7-8) And there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away (Rev 21:4).
2. Ages to Come
1) What do the prophecies tell us about life after the thousand-year reign?
Christ will hand over the kingdom to God, and God will be all in all.
Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. When he has done this, then the Son himself will be made subject to him who put everything under him, so that God may be all in all. 1Corinthians 15:24-28.
2) What would be mankind’s position on Earth?
God will place Earth in Man’s hands once again, as mankind was originally supposed to rule the Earth, before the Fall in Eden where they lost it to Satan.
You made them rulers over the works of your hands; you put everything under their feet: all flocks and herds, and the animals of the wild, the birds in the sky, and the fish in the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas. Psalm 8:6-8.
God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” Genesis 1:26.
Jesus restores this ruler-ship of the Earth to the sheep among mankind during the Great White Throne Judgment:
Then the King will say to those on his right [the sheep], ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. Matt 25:34.
3) What would be the position of the Elect and the Christ?
Christ and the Elect would grace mankind with their presence as the representatives of God, just like Jesus did with Adam before the Fall.
I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. Rev 21:2-3.
