The Great White Throne – Rev. 20:11-15

SPEAKER 02 : 0:00

For rewards, we’re going to be judged on the basis of our deeds, our works, what we have done. And by the way, God will not judge you according to what someone else has done. Aren’t you glad of that? He won’t get you up there and say, well, hey, Mary, you got three things, but your friend Martha here has ten. Little short, weren’t you? No. God’s going to judge each of us on the basis of our opportunities and abilities, and God says so. You’ll not be judged on the basis of what anyone else has done.

SPEAKER 03 : 0:53

We spend our lives measuring ourselves against other people who did more, who got credit, who looks better on paper, or maybe in person. But as David Hawking just said, God will not line you up next to anyone else. This is hope for today. And imagine standing before God, no comparisons, no chart, no way to say, at least I did more than that person. Just you, your life, your calling, what you did with what he gave you. Revelation 20 verses 11 through 15 describe the moment heaven and earth run from his face. The books are opened and every deed is weighed under his eye. The question will not be, did you outperform another? It will be, did you obey me, God speaking, with what I put in your hands? This is day three of our look at the great white throne in Revelation chapter 20. And David Hawking will take us back into the passage in just a moment. First, I want to tell you about the Hope for Today Media Center on our website, davidhawking.org. Go to davidhawking.org, click on the Media tab, and you’ll find free video teaching from David. And it’s free, but made possible by the continuing gifts of listening friends. And also on DavidHawking.org, you can access audio messages, printable study materials, and additional Bible study resources, all designed to help you grow in your knowledge of God’s Word. There are many tools available, and you can see everything in detail right on the website. Again, DavidHawking.org. We’ll turn to Revelation chapter 20 now, verses 11 through 15. And here’s David with day three of The Great White Throne.

SPEAKER 02 : 2:42

And I saw 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. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God, and the books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged out of those things which are written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and hell. delivered up the dead that 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 of fire. Now we talked about the one who is going to judge us, the description, the awesome description of him in front of whose face heaven and earth fled away. And we’ve talked about the dead who are judged. These are unbelievers. But let’s look at the details of how the dead are judged. Back to verse 12 and 13 again. And I would give you four things here that maybe will help us about the details of how the dead are to be judged. Number one, it involves God’s description of what they have done. I think we need to understand this. You won’t be giving an analysis of your works. You will not be handing God a resume of your activity. God will be telling you what you have done. 1 Corinthians 4, 5 says, Judge nothing before the time when the Lord comes who will bring to light all the hidden things and counsels of the heart. You may have fooled everybody, your family, your husband, your wife, or whatever, associates at work, but you have never fooled God, not once. Hebrews 4, 13 says, All things are naked and open under the eyes of him with whom we have to deal. You have never done anything in your life that you know about that God doesn’t know about much better. He knows even why you did it, and you don’t. The Bible says the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it? It is I, the Lord, that searches the reins of the heart. We don’t know why we do what we do. We try to tell our friends we do, but we don’t. But God knows us, and one day he will clearly reveal it all. So when we see this, the books were open, understand God’s keeping records of what we have done. It not only involves God’s description of what they have done, because they’re judged very clearly, verse 12, out of those things which were written. You didn’t write it. God did. But it also involves their deeds. We have this phrase at the end of verse 12, according to their works. The end of verse 13, according to their works. The same thing is said of believers, as I mentioned earlier. 1 Corinthians 3 or 2 Corinthians 5, 10, we are going to be judged clearly. For reward, not for our eternal destiny. But for rewards, we’re going to be judged on the basis of our deeds, our works, what we have done. And by the way, God will not judge you according to what someone else has done. But understand, you will be judged for what you have done. And there’s much in the Gospels as well as the epistles about judgment. It may be one of the vast subjects in the Bible that’s relatively unknown by believers. And that is how God, in fact, does judge us and evaluate us for what we do. And the issue is reward, thank God. But it is an issue. And faithfulness seems to be the key. Jesus said in a parable that the issue will be hearing the Lord say, well done thou good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord. We do know that he’s going to reward us far greater than the actual act would seem from a human perspective to be worthy of that. We know it’s going to be a hundredfold. We also know that every little detail that we have done has been recognized by the Lord and will be rewarded. He is not unjust to forget our work or labor of love, Hebrews 6.10. but it also involves degrees of punishment. This is a subject that, again, people are very hesitant to talk about. But I believe just as there are degrees of reward for believers, there are also degrees of punishment for unbelievers. You say, are you sure? In Matthew 11, verse 20, Jesus began to abrade the cities in which most of his mighty works were done because they repented not. And here’s what he said. Woe unto thee, Chorazin. These are cities around the Sea of Galilee. Woe unto thee, Bethsaida. For if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, which were destroyed, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I say unto you, watch this, it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for you. And thou, Capernaum. which are exalted unto heaven, shall be brought down to hell. For if the mighty works which have been done in thee had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I say unto you that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for thee. That sounds like degrees of punishment to me. Turn to Luke chapter 12 and look at verses 46 through to 48. This is a parable about testing servants, about a faithful and wise steward who’s waiting for his master to come. But there’s a servant who says in verse 45, my Lord delayeth his coming, begins to beat the men servants and the maidens and to eat and drink and be drunk. Verse 46. The Lord of that servant will come in a day when he looketh not for him, and at an hour when he’s not aware, and will cut him in sunder, and will appoint him his portion with the unbelievers. And that servant who knew his Lord’s will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he that knew not and did commit things worthy of stripes shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given of him shall be much required, and to whom men have committed much of him they will ask the more. Apparently, judgment again, in his illustration, some get many stripes, some get few stripes, depending on the level of rebellion and sin. Now back to Revelation 20. I guess the most serious thing we would say about the details of how the dead are judged are not simply that it involves God’s description, he writes it down, or the deeds, they’re judged according to their works, or the degrees of punishment, but let’s face it, the serious issue is that it involves their eternal destiny. And there’s a book that God has that affects your eternal destiny. God may be writing down all of our works in books, but there’s one book that that you better have your name in. The Bible says in verse 12, another book was opened, which is the book of life. And then we don’t hear a comment about it until the last verse, whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast in the lake of fire. In Luke 10, 20, disciples came back and were so excited about how they were able to cast out demons with the power of the Lord. And he said, don’t rejoice over this. What you need to rejoice over is that your names are written in the book of life. Is your name written in the Lamb’s book of life? It’s a very serious matter. Come to verse 14 and 15, and let’s look at a fourth area, and that’s the final destiny of those who are judged. And I have some serious things to talk to you about. It says, death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. Here’s a place of torment where the unbeliever’s been waiting the final judgment of God. Well, they’re going to go into another place of torment, only much more awful, the lake of fire. The Bible calls it the second death. The first death is physical. The second death is eternal. In the first death, the person’s body is separated from his soul and spirit. In the second death, the person’s soul and spirit is separated from God forever. Very serious. If you are not a Christian, you are already spiritually dead. even though you’re physically alive. If you don’t solve the spiritual dead problem, when you die physically, you’re going to experience the second death or eternal death. If you’re a Christian, you are spiritually alive. And when you die physically, you will never experience a second death. Now, the Bible says this second death is a lake of fire. And sometimes people say to me, well, you certainly don’t believe this is literal. Even though Jesus said over and over again, like we read in Mark 9, it’s a fire that will never be quenched. Though Luke 16 says, I’m tormented in this flame. We have no reason to believe it’s a symbol. But let me ask you, those of you who question this, doubt it, think it’s just symbolism for judgment in some sense, let me just tell you something. A symbol is always less in intensity to that which it represents. So if it’s not the lake of fire, if that’s not really it, if it’s not a literal fire, then God only knows how awful this place must be. Saying it’s a symbol doesn’t help me at all. I know grammar. It’s less an intensity of that which it represents. It’d be far more serious if it’s merely a symbol. That doesn’t help anybody. Let me tell you a little bit about hell, just briefly. The English word hell is used 54 times in the Bible. Not a small subject. The phrase the lake of fire, however, is only used four times, only in Revelation. But the word fire, referring to hell, appears many times. The rich man of Luke 16, 24 was tormented in the flame. We have also in the Bible the description of outer darkness. We have also the description of weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth. Talk about torment. We have also the bottomless pit used seven times. We have the words everlasting punishment. Matthew 25, 46. Tormented day and night forever and ever. In Revelation 14. The word Hades is used 11 times in the New Testament, translated by the English word hell in a lot of versions. But there’s another word in Greek that is translated hell. The word Gehenna. It’s used 12 times in the New Testament. 11 of them in the Gospels. The only other one in James 3, 6. Now what is Gehenna? The Lord, when he said, better for you to have one eye going to heaven than to have two eyes to be cast into. The word hell there is Gehenna in Mark 9, where the fire is not quenched. It’s the final hell, the lake of fire. That is Gehenna, not Hades. Hades is the temporary abode of the wicked dead awaiting the great white throne judgment. Gehenna is the final hell, the lake of fire, where people will be forever and ever. Terrible place. Where did this come from? Well, Gehenna is an Aramaic word. Aramaic was spoken in the land of Israel at the time of Christ. Jesus and his disciples spoke Aramaic. It’s a derivative of Hebrew. It’s an Aramaic form of a Hebrew word. The Hebrew word is Gehenna. It’s referring to a valley of Hinnom mentioned in Joshua 15.8. It’s a dump. It’s a little valley just south of the southern wall of Jerusalem. The wall has a gate in it on the south side of Jerusalem. It’s still there today. It’s still called the same thing today. It’s called the dung gate, D-U-N-G, garbage, trash. also bodies of animals and sometimes humans, can’t afford burial, thrown in the dung heap on the valley of Gehenna. And that’s where they had to have fires burning continually to deal with the stench and the smell and the sanitation problem. So you can imagine what people thought when Jesus used that where the fires burned continually, this dung heap, this trash, this garbage, this carcass place, they knew what it was like. The awfulness of it, the fires burning there constantly to take care of the smell and stench and the pollution and defilement of that place. And Jesus uses that word to say, that’s where you’re going if you reject me. Gehenna. Mentioned in 2 Kings 23.10. Interestingly, it was also the place where children were burned to false gods, to Bolech. You can find information in Jeremiah 7.31. We have also another word used in 2 Peter 2.4. The word Tartarus, meaning the lower places where there’s going to be awful judgment. The issue of your eternal destiny is whether your name is in the book of life. And to put it in the book of life demands that you believe that Jesus died for your sins. He rose again from the dead. There is no other way. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. And no one comes unto the Father but by me. There isn’t any other way. I don’t care who you are, how much money you have, what kind of position you have. We’ll all stand before God. You either stand at the judgment seat of Christ in heaven to be rewarded by our blessed Lord, or you will stand in front of the great white throne judgment and experience the awesomeness of Jesus Christ saying to you, depart from me, you workers of iniquity, in the everlasting fire. not because he’s a monster, not because he delights. The Bible says the Lord does not delight in the punishment of the wicked. Hell is prepared for the devil and his angels. You go there, you’re trespassing. God wants you to go to heaven, but you keep saying, I’m going to go my own way. You deserve hell if you reject Jesus Christ, most wonderful person who ever lived. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain. And yet many people keep acting like they don’t have to make this decision. Oh, yes, you do. You have to decide what you’re going to do with Jesus Christ, our Lord. Turn to John chapter 3 and look at verse 15. The Bible says, Whosoever believeth in him, John 3.15, should not perish, but have eternal life. He could have said a lot of things there. Whoever runs around the church 36 times. Whoever belongs to Methobacterian Church. What he said was, whoever believes in him. That’s what he said. Verse 16, probably the most well-known verse in the Bible. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him, there it is again, should not perish but have everlasting life. For God sent not his son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already. Why? Because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. Look at verse 36. He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life, and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. Look at chapter 5, verse 24. Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death to life. Chapter 10, verse 28. Jesus said, I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish. Neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. What a wonderful gospel we have. It’s not hard. It’s not difficult. It’s not rooted in personal preferences of worship services or church rituals or thinking or whatever. It’s rooted in one issue. There is no other issue. I don’t care what denomination you were raised in or what religious knowledge you have. There’s one issue. What are you going to do with Jesus Christ? You either believe he is the only way to God, and you must believe that he died for your sins and rose again from the dead, or you will be cast into the lake of fire and you will deserve it. For you’ve rejected a loving, gracious God who is willing to forgive you of all your sin, even though he knows what you’re like. He’s a willing God to love you and care for you and comfort you and to take you all the way to glory. And he will give you everlasting joy. But you, if you reject him, deserve death. His judgment in hell. I plead with you, my friends. I don’t care how long you’ve been hanging around the church. Don’t listen or think about anybody else or anything else. But one thing, have I really personally believed on the Lord Jesus Christ? Nobody can do that for you. You have to do it yourself. There is no other way. Gracious Father, we thank you for your love. In spite of our rebellion and sin, where our sin abounds, your grace did much more abound. Thank you that you sent your son, Jesus Christ, into this world to die for our sins, to take our place, to bear the judgment and agony of it all because God so loved the world. And Father, I pray for those who are listening now that are not really sure that they’ve ever made this commitment to Jesus Christ. Lord, may they not have any personal joy whatsoever until they surrender to Jesus Christ. to say he is Lord. He is all he claimed to be. He’s my only savior from sin. I commit my life, my future to him. I believe he’s the only way to God. Lord, bring us to that conviction, we pray. May we settle this, our eternal destiny. Help us not to go on another day in doubt and question. Thank you, Lord, for what you can do in Jesus’ name. Amen.

SPEAKER 01 : 20:22

Have you been born again of the Spirit of God? Because if you haven’t, you will not be entering the kingdom of heaven. It’s so important that every one of us understands it isn’t just going to church. It isn’t just listening to certain religious programs or messages. My friends, we need to read God’s Word and find the truth there. The truth is the gospel of our Lord, Yeshua HaMashiach, Jesus Christ. Have you opened your heart to Him? Have you? Have you confessed your sin and repented of it and expressed by your confession your faith and belief in the finished work of our Messiah who died for your sin and rose again from the dead? and has promised eternal life to all who put their trust in Him. God bless you.

SPEAKER 03 : 21:25

This is Hope for Today with Bible teacher David Hawking, and he’ll be back in a few moments to bring our study to a close. But first, if you’d like to know more about a relationship with Jesus Christ, we’d love to send you David’s booklet called What Is Christianity? and a Bible study by mail absolutely free. These are free for you if you don’t know Jesus Christ, you’re not yet a Christian, or if you’re new to the Christian faith. Call us at 800-75-BIBLE in the U.S. or 888-75-BIBLE in Canada. And Bible by Numbers is 24253. And we’ll send these free resources your way. You can also request them on our website, davidhawking.org. David’s son Matt’s here, and together we have something for you that’s going to make your Christmas even more special. Bring the Christ of Christmas, Emmanuel, the greatest gift of all time, powerfully into your holiday this season with the Hope for Today Christmas Package. Yeah, the Hope for Today Christmas Package includes David’s 87-page booklet, Jesus Christ the Reason. And it’s a beautiful book just to look at, Matt. Yeah. Plus a three-message miniseries also titled Jesus Christ the Reason. And with this package, David’s going to take you into God’s Word to discover afresh the wonder of our Savior, whose birth brought the greatest gift of all time to our lost world. Order the Hope for Today Christmas package for just $20. And prayerfully consider adding a donation. And please do pray for us whenever you hear or remember. Hope for Today. Amen. And to get your copy of the Hope for Today 2025 Christmas Package, call us at 800-75-BIBLE. That’s in the U.S., 800-75-242-53. Or in Canada, call us at 888-75-BIBLE. That’s 888-75-242-53. And you can also go to DavidHawking.org to order. That’s DavidHawking.org. Now, if you feel like God might be putting it on your heart to support the ministry of Hope for Today with a financial gift, you can send your donation right now to Hope for Today, Box 3927, Tustin, California, 92781. That’s in the U.S. Or in Canada, Hope for Today, Box 15011, RPO7OAKS, Abbotsford, B.C., V2S 8P1. Or call us to give at 800-75-BIBLE. Again, that’s in the U.S. Or in Canada, call 888-75-BIBLE. Bible, again, is 24253. Or contribute online at davidhawking.org. Let’s get back to David.

SPEAKER 01 : 24:10

Oh my, what a passage we have. And you know, folks, one of the most awesome statements you can ever read in the Bible is found here in Revelation 20, verse 15. It says, “…and whosoever was not found written in the book of life…” was cast into the lake of fire. Yes, friends, there is a hell, and according to the Bible, the punishment will last forever. I don’t want it to happen, and I certainly don’t want it to happen to any of you. Make sure that you put your complete trust and dependency upon the Lord our Messiah. Yeshua HaMashiach, Jesus Christ, you’ve got to trust Him. He died for your sins. He rose again from the dead. And according to the Bible, you must believe in the death and resurrection of our Lord Yeshua in order to spend eternity with Him, with the joy of the Lord in your heart. So this has been a pretty exciting study. And my friends, what’s coming next, starting with chapter 21, we’re going to see that things are going to be quite a blessing very soon now. God bless you.

SPEAKER 03 : 25:41

Well, thank you, David. And friend, if you missed any part of today’s program and would like to listen again, just go to davidhawking.org. Click on the radio tab. You’ll find the most recent broadcast waiting for you, but only for a limited time. So check that out today. Again, davidhawking.org. Simply click on the radio tab. Well, next time on the broadcast, David charges ahead with his study in the book of Revelation. So be sure to invite a friend to listen along with you as we bring you the Bible, the whole Bible and nothing but. You got it. The Bible right here on Hope for Today.