“And I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it…” (Revelation 20:11-15, NASB)

The final judgment day is coming. It is called The Great White Throne judgment day. It may be sooner than we think. No one can escape it. God will judge every unbeliever according to what he or she has done, and they will receive just punishment in the lake of fire. John writes in today’s passage,

“And I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds. And death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.”

See if you can imagine the scene as described in this passage. What can you see? The “great white throne” in today’s passage is the judgment seat of God, where everyone raised during the “second resurrection” will have to face. Revelation 20:5-6 says that those who died in Christ during the Tribulation will be raised to life in the “first resurrection,” and the “rest of the dead” came to life after the thousand-year reign of Christ. Anyone who is not part of the first resurrection will be part of the second resurrection and will face God and His great white throne. Jesus said, “Do not marvel at this; for an hour is coming, in which all who are in the tombs shall hear His voice, and shall come forth; those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment” (Jn.5:28-29). Apostle Paul also taught, “But there is an order to this resurrection: Christ was raised as the first of the harvest; then all who belong to Christ will be raised when he comes back” (1 Cor.15:23, NLT). Apparently, there are two kinds of resurrection, those of the righteous and the unrighteous, and that there is some sort of order in who will be resurrected first. In summary, everyone who went to his or her grave without Christ will be raised up to stand before the great white throne of God. Therefore, this great white throne judgment of God is a day of judgment for all the unbelievers.

As to the manner of judgment, it says that there were many “books” (plural) that were opened, and people were judged from the things which were written in them. In other words, God has a record book of life for every one of us, and He is recording everything that we have said (Mt.12:36), everything that we have done (Eccl.12:14), and everything that we have even thought about (Rom.2:16). Nothing can escape God. Notice that there is “another book” (singular) that was opened, which is also called the “book of life.” However, the content of this unique book is not about what people have done, but rows and rows of recorded names. Verse 15 says that those whose names were not found written in this book of life were “thrown into the lake of fire.” Revelation 21:27 calls this book the “Lamb’s book of life.”

So, what is the difference between the many “books” and this single “book?” The “books” (plural) represent the book of life for every human being, but the “book” (singular) represents Jesus’ book of life, where he has recorded every name who put his or her trust in him. Therefore, we can see that the process of judgment of the unbelievers is twofold. First, they will be judged according to what is written in their own book of life. And they will be found guilty because the Bible says that there is no one righteous, not even one. Second, they will be judged according to what is written in the Lamb’s book of life. They will be found guilty again because their name will not be found listed there. Had they put their faith in Christ and their names recorded in that book, it would have cancelled out the guilty verdict they would receive from the first book. As a result, they will be found doubly guilty of their sinfulness and their rejection of the one who died for their sins. The Great White Throne Judgment Day is coming. No one will be able to escape it.

• Why is God’s judgment seat called “the great white throne?”
• What do you think are the main differences between people’s “book of life” and the “Lamb’s book of life?”
• How should we live our lives knowing that our every deeds are recorded in our books of life?