34. The Great White Throne Judgment God's Purpose for Man

Chapter 34
The Great White Throne Judgment

The Great White Throne Judgment has finally come.  The judgment of all judgments.  All hell, literally, will break loose, opening up to release those who have been its occupants.

• We must not forget that the Judgment Seat of Christ, which took place earlier in heaven, was the judgment for believers.

This Great White Throne Judgment will be for everyone else who did not accept Christ in their lives - those who rejected God.

Hell is Resurrected

Similar to how the Christians were raptured into heaven, all residents of hell will rise and come forth to stand individually before God.  An account of everything each one did in his or her life will be exposed.  At that time, each individual will be given their eternal sentence.

Rev 20:11 Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them.

The books will be opened – three in all. The first is the Book of Life.   This is the most important book.  Anyone whose name is not written in this book, which will be all of the residents of hell, will be sentenced to the Eternal Lake of Fire.

Rev 20:12&15 And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books…And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.

Not only will each resident of hell face eternal judgment because their names are not written in the Book of Life, the other two books will be opened and each person will have to stand before God for every thought, word and deed that were sinful in their lives. That will determine the degree of punishment in the Eternal Lake of Fire. The more they sinned and rebelled against God, the harder the punishment will be.

• I remember so vividly, as if it was yesterday, to my drowning experience when I was twelve years old.  As I was going down for the third time, I saw a TV screen in front of me with all of the sins I had committed in my life up to that point.  They were rolling fast on the screen (like a test pattern of years ago).  My sins were in the thousands  - every evil thought I had had, along with every sinful deed I had committed in my life just kept rolling in front of me.  I felt like I was being judged by God at that point, and then I immediately saw the flames of hell beneath me as I sunk deeper into the water, losing my last breath.  How I praise God that He delivered me through the rescue of my cousins, who saw me struggling, and swam to me and saved my life. 

Hell is All Punishment

Heaven consists of only rewards, whereas, the Eternal Lake of Fire is all punishment. All those who did not know God personally, whether small or great, rich or poor, good or bad will be punished to hell only to stand before God for judgment and then cast into the Eternal Lake of Fire.  Sad to say, there will be many who played church all their lives, and/or lived good moral religious lives, but never surrendered their life personally to Jesus Christ. Without Christ living in one’s life (through the power of the Holy Spirit) one is destined to hell and ultimately stand before God at the Great White Throne Judgment. This will be the saddest of all.

Many people think that it pleases God to punish all men who follow Satan. That is certainly not true. God is grieved by this judgment because it has always been His desire that all men be saved.

I Tim 2:3-5 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus.

Varying Degrees of Punishment

The Eternal Lake of Fire, with varying degrees of punishment await everyone who had hell as their former place of residence. This is the most horrible judgment ever known to mankind, pronounced by God Almighty.

The Place of the Eternal Lake of Fire

Following God’s judgment on hell’s residents - those who stand before the Great White Throne Judgment - will all be cast into the Eternal Lake of Fire to join Satan, his followers, the anti-christ, and the false prophet.  

Matt 8:12 But the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Rev 19:20 Then the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who worked signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who received the mark of the beast and those who worshipped his image. These two were cast alive into the Lake of fire burning with brimstone.

Rev 20:10 The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the Lake of Fire and Brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.

The Judgment of the Earth 

Righteous angels and resurrects saints will continue to serve God and help Him administer the affairs of the world forever – through all eternity. 

Following the Great White Throne Judgment, the earth will need to go through one more judgment in preparation for God to inhabit when He will bring His holy throne and city down from heaven to dwell above the earth. The earth will need to be purified for God's presence.

Click here to view Chapter #35 - The Earth's Last Destruction