judged
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WHO WILL BE JUDGED AT THE GREAT WHITE THRONE ? |
It has long been taught that all unbelievers of every dispensation will be judged at the great white throne. Let us consider this teaching by searching the scriptures.
Rev. 20:11- 12 reads, “Then I saw a great white throne and Him who was seated on it. ….Books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books”.
Please note that they were judged “by what they had done”. But man has always been saved by grace through faith in every dispensation, including the dispensation of Law.. In Rom. 4:3 Paul quotes Gen. 15:6 when he writes, “Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness“. And in the next verses Paul writes, “Now when a man works his wages are not credited to him as a gift, but as an obligation. However, to the man who does not work but trusts God, ….his faith is credited to him as righteousness”. (Rom. 4:4-5) Even though Abraham lived before the dispensation of Law, we know that salvation was by grace through faith for the entire dispensation of Law because in the next verse Paul writes that, “David says the same thing when he speaks of the blessedness of the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works; ‘Blessed are they whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will never count against him”. (Rom. 4:6-7) So Paul, in verse 5 tells us that for the man who trusts God, his faith is credited as righteousness. And then, by the Holy Spirit tells us that David says the same thing in Psalms 32:1-2. We must conclude that those who lived in the dispensation of Law, as well as every dispensation, are saved by grace through faith.
The fact that those who will be judged at the great white throne by what they had done should make us, at least, consider the question as to who was judged and why they were judged by what they had done?
Let us back up a little to Rev. 20: 4-6. “….And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony for Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshipped the beast or his image and had not received his mark on their foreheads or their hands.” This tells us that John is speaking of those who went through the great tribulation, he is not speaking of all souls from the beginning of time. The scope of what John is writing about in this chapter is limited to the tribulation and does not include all ages and dispensations from the beginning of time. Let us go on with verses 4-5, “They (i.e. those who had not worshipped the beast during the great tribulation) came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years. (The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.)” To say that the “rest of the dead” in this verse applies to all ages is to take this phrase entirely out of context. The context is clearly contrasting those who did not receive the mark of the beast during the tribulation with those who did. The former will reign with Christ in His millennial reign, the latter will be raised after the millennial reign. Let us go on with verse 6, “Blessed and holy are those who have part in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them …..”. We see in Rev. 20:14 that “The lake of fire is the second death.” Who are those who are cast into the lake of fire? The rest of the dead of Rev. 20:5.
Most Bible believing Christians will agree that Revelation is in large part about the tribulation. We read in Jer. 30:7 of “Jacob’s trouble” which the context will show to be the great tribulation. Also in Daniel chapter nine we read of the 70 weeks, the last half of the last week being the great tribulation (compare Matt. 24:15-29). It is important to note that in Dan. 9:24, “Seventy sevens are decreed for your people and your holy city”. This, of course, refers to Israel and Jerusalem. Since the tribulation is centered on Israel, those judged at the white throne judgment will be those of Israel who worshipped the beast, i.e. the anti-Christ during the tribulation.
I’m sure to most readers of this paper this seems like a very limited view of the great white throne judgment. Perhaps it would be good to look at the scope of the entire book of the Revelation and get a feel for the context of Rev. chapter 20. It is important to realize the extremely Jewish character of the book of Revelation. For example, we read in 1:5-6, “To Him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by His blood, and has made us to be a kingdom of priests to serve His God and Father….”. When we read Exodus 19:6 we will see that it is to Israel that the Revelation is addressed. Ex. 19:3 reads, “Then Moses went up to God, and the Lord called up to him and said, ‘This is what you are to say to the house of Jacob and what you are to tell the people of Israel”. And Ex. 19:6 reads, although the whole world is Mine you will be for Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation”.
Nowhere do we read of the Church being a kingdom of priests. The only New Testament reference to a kingdom of priests is in I Peter 2:9, “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation…”. But we must note that Peter wrote his epistle to “the elect strangers scattered throughout…..”, (I Peter 1:1) i.e the dispersed of Israel. The Greek word “diaspora” translated here “scattered” occurs three times in the New Testament. In John 7:35 we read, “The Jews said to one another, ‘Where does this Man intend to go that we cannot find Him? Will He go where our people are scattered among the Greeks?” In this verse, it is obvious that “diaspora” refers to the scattered of Israel. The second occurrence of “diaspora” is found in James 1:1, “To the twelve tribes scattered among the nations”. The reference here is also obvious. The third occurrence is in I Peter 1:1. We find in this matter a perfection in the Word of God which one would expect. That is, that the Greek word “diaspora” refers to the scattered of Israel.
We read in Rev. 1:5-6 that the kingdom of priests is Israel. We cannot apply this phrase to the Church which is His Body (not a nation) without doing a great injustice to the written Word of God. This is not to say, of course, that when we read in Rev. 1:5, “to Him who loves us and has freed us from our sins through His blood…” that only Israel was so blessed. Of course not! It does tell us however, that John’s revelation was written specifically to Israel and that all Bible believing Christians could read and understand this Book better if it is understood to be addressed to Israel.
One last thing that shows the Jewish character of Revelations is the number of Old Testament quotations and references found in it. In the Gospel of Matthew (the Hebrew Gospel) there are 92 references to the Old Testament. In Hebrews there are 102 and in Revelation there are 285.
I am suggesting that the entire book of Revelation is about a very specific time, (the tribulation, the second coming of Christ and the Lord’s Day) and it centers on a very specific people, Israel. (The reader is invited to read the paper on this site, The Tribulation Is Not World Wide for evidence of the very limited scope of the tribulation and of the book of Revelation.)
OTHER PASSAGES IN THE BIBLE THAT HAVE TO DO WITH RESURRECTION AND JUDGMENT
IN THE OLD TESTAMENT
Daniel 12:1-2 is a passage which speaks of resurrection and judgment. “At that time Michael, the great prince who protects your people, will arise. There will be a time of distress such as has not happened from the beginning of nations until then. But at that time your people, everyone whose name is written in the book of life, will be delivered. Multitudes who sleep in the dust will awake, some to everlasting life and others to shame and everlasting contempt.” How are we to understand this passage, who does it concern, when will this judgment take place? Does it concern everyone who ever lived whose name is written in the book of life?
Some of these questions are answered in the passage itself. Note for example, the phrase “your people” appears twice. That tells us that this passage is about Daniel’s people, Israel.
What is the time that is spoken of in this passage? We are told that it is about the time of the greatest distress, i.e. the great tribulation. This makes sense, the tribulation is to be centered on Israel who is Daniel’s people.
We read of those whose name is written in the book of life. While it is true that believers of the dispensation of the mystery have their names written in the book of life, I believe that to make Daniel 12:1-2 apply to believers of all dispensations is take the phrase “book of life” in Daniel out of context and force a meaning that the context will not allow.
The fact that Daniel 12:1-2 refers to the judgment at the great white throne is clear in that it refers to the tribulation, and to those whose names are written in the book of life. The reader will recall that both these phrases come in the context of the great white throne judgment of Revelation 20.
The phrase, “Multitudes who sleep in the dust will awake, some to everlasting life and others to shame…” is similar to the one in John 5 and will be discussed later in this paper.
IN THE NEW TESTAMENT
There are several passages in the New Testament about judgment. We will not look at passages that speak of the judgment of the resurrected Church, the Body of Christ, as that is a judgment of rewards. There are also passages in the New Testament of judgments that do not refer to those who are resurrected but of those who are alive when our Lord returns, Matthew 25 is an excellent example of that. As those passages do not impact on our study of those resurrected to be judged at the great white throne, we will not look at those either.
Other than the passage in Revelation 20 about the great white throne judgment there are two passages in the New Testament that will impact on our study. The first one is in John 5:25-29. John 5:25 reads, “….a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of Man, and those who hear will live.” And then in verses 28-29 He says, “Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear His voice and come out – those who have done good will rise to live and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned”.
In verse 25 “the dead will hear the voice of the Son of Man and those who hear will live“. But in verses 28-29 we are told that all in the graves will hear His voice and come out but not all will live. “Those who have done evil will rise to be condemned”. There seems to be a contradiction in this passage. That is to say, in verse 25 our Lord says those in their graves who hear His voice will live. But in verses 28 and 29 He says that some of those in the grave who hear His voice will not live but be condemned.
The key to understanding this passage is to note that both statements begin with “A time is coming”. The time referred to in verse 25 is when the Lord returns at the beginning of His millennial reign when “the dead in Christ will rise first” (I Thess. 4:16). The “time is coming” in verse 28 is after the millennial reign, i.e. when the 1,000 years were over at the great white throne when “the dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books (Rev. 20:12). I realize that this view seems a bit contrived but without this time distinction our Lord is contradicting Himself, and we know that that is absolutely impossible.
So then, at the return of Christ, at the beginning of the millennium the “just” will be raised unto life. We know from other scripture passages that the just from all dispensations will be resurrected at the second coming of Christ, but this passage in John 5 is limited to Israel, as the secret concerning the Church which is His Body was not revealed to Paul until many years after Christ spoke the words recorded in John 5. After the millennium the unjust will be raised for judgment. As we have seen these are not the unjust of all times, they are the unjust of the tribulation, i.e. those who worshipped the anti-Christ.
Another passage having to do with the topic of this paper is found in Acts 24:14-15. Paul writes, “….I believe everything that agrees with the Law and that which is written in the Prophets, and I have the same hope in God as these men, that there will be a resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked.” Note Paul’s reference to the Law and the Prophets. The only reference I can find in the Old Testament to the resurrection of the wicked is Daniel 12:1-2. That scripture has been discussed above. As we have seen it refers to the great white throne judgment.
We might ask ourselves why out of all the times of history are the unbelievers of the tribulation raised to be judged for what they have done. I believe that the answer lies in Rev. 3:20 where we read that the time of testing will come upon the inhabited world to test Israel. (Please see the paper on this web-site The Tribulation Is Not World Wide for the reason for this translation of Rev. 3:10).
What is the tribulation all about? It is about Satan, with the anti-Christ as his agent, “pulling out all the stops”, so to speak, to try to get Israel, God’s chosen people, to forsake God and worship Satan. The very first commandment that God gave to His chosen people (“Thou shalt have no other gods before Me”) tells us how He would feel about them worshipping Satan. While it is true that Israel worshipped idols throughout their Old Testament history, there is no record of them having worshipped God’s arch enemy, Satan. I believe that the tribulation will be a very special time when those who are to be tested will have to choose between remaining true to the God of heaven and earth or worshipping Satan. Those who remain true to God and refuse to worship the anti-Christ or to receive the mark of the beast may lose their lives, but they will partake in the first resurrection and will live and reign with Him. Those who do receive the mark of the beast and who do worship the anti-Christ may save their temporal lives but will be judged at the great white throne and suffer the second death, i.e. they will be cast into the lake of fire.
Some might object that some unbelievers, i.e. those that live during the tribulation period and in the day of God’s wrath, will be subject to judgment and to the punishment of the second death, while most unbelievers will not be. Let us examine that objection.
While it is true in my opinion, that unbelievers of the end times are subject to punishment that unbelievers of other dispensations are not, it is also true that they will be the beneficiaries of many special signs and ministries of God. For example, Matthew 24:4-29 is a record of the signs of the end times given by our Lord to His disciples so that they might recognize them when the end comes. These signs are recorded for all who seek the truth concerning those days, and should prove to all who read it that God is the One true God. Note verse 5 were we are warned that false prophets will come and deceive many. Verse 15, “So when you see standing in the holy place the abomination that causes desolation, spoken of through the prophet Daniel-let the reader understand- then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains”. What further sign that the end times have arrived could anyone possibly want then an idol in God’s holy temple? And how could even the unbeliever not be convinced that God is Who He says He is when he is a witness to the fulfillment of prophecy in his own time.
As if that were not enough, we read in Rev. 11:3 of two witnesses, “And I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth”. We read in verse 5 of these two witnesses and the absolute proof of their being sent from God. “If anyone tries to harm them, fire comes from their mouths and devours their enemies”.
And as if that were not enough, let us consider Rev. 14:6-7, “Then I saw another angel flying in midair, and he had the eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on the earth-to every nation, tribe, language and people. He said in a loud voice, ‘Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of His judgment has come“. What could possibly be more convincing?
Yes, I believe that it is true that some unbelievers (those of the tribulation period and the day of God’s wrath) will be judged and punished whereas other unbelievers will not be. But those who will be judged and punished are given more advantages in hearing the truth than in other dispensations and will therefore, be without excuse.
APPENDIX
After having completed this paper, I studied all the occurrences of the Hebrew and Greek words translated “judge”, “judged”, “judgeth”, “condemn” etc. I have put the results of that study in a paper on this web-site A Study Of The Judgments Of God. That paper puts all the passages that have to do with God’s judgments into categories based on when those judgments will take place. It also proves that, except for the unbelievers of the tribulation, unbelievers will never be raised for judgment. May I respectfully encourage the reader to read that paper for further proof of the fact that there is no general resurrection of unbelievers.
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This paper has been written by Joyce Pollard