Revelation 20:11, commentary and pictures

The great white throne is God and the Son of God seated in supreme majesty and power as King of kings and Judge at the final judgment, from whose face and presence the earth and the heaven flee away until no place is found for them. It belongs to the close of the thousand years after Christ's second advent, when the wicked dead are raised for the second resurrection and stand, small and great, before God in universal judgment. The books that record every life are opened with the book of life, and each is judged out of what is written according to works by God's holy law as the only unerring standard, with those found in the book of life facing no condemnation and those not found cast into the lake of fire, which is the second death. As the eye of Jesus looks upon them the wicked are conscious of every sin and stand condemned and speechless with no defense, and sentence is pronounced to depart into everlasting fire breathed from God that consumes them and purifies the whole earth. The redeemed stand around God and the throne without fault in white robes of Christ's righteousness, so to stand there faultless requires removing every defect of character beforehand, living with reference to the judgment, and daily surrender to Christ in obedience to His commandments.

Throne Vision Described

The verse shows a great white throne and the One seated upon it at the final judgment, who is God and the Son of God enthroned in supreme majesty and power as King of kings and Judge. The earth and the heaven flee away from His face and presence until there is found no place for them. He sits to pronounce sentence upon the rebels against His government and to execute justice upon those who transgressed His law and oppressed His people. This momentous appearing calls for awe and for living continually with the awareness of being in God's presence.

The scene takes place before the assembled inhabitants of earth and heaven, with a vast assembly gathered and the dead, small and great, standing before God in a universal judgment. The books that record names and deeds are opened, and every person is judged from what is written in them according to works, with eternal life or eternal death at stake. Every act, secret motive, sin, and instance of unfaithful dealing is then revealed and must be acknowledged.

The throne descends from heaven and is set amid overwhelming divine presence and glory. An exceeding bright light comes from God upon the throne and is shed around Jesus as He pleads His blood before the Father for the remnant not yet sealed. By that intercession the threatening powers and winds that would fall upon the earth are restrained and held back until God's servants are sealed in their foreheads. Human life and work therefore stand in the sight of heaven and will be brought into review before God.

The Judge's countenance displays supreme divine majesty, commanding dignity, authority, indignation, and divine light illuminating His face. His searching eye sweeps the multitude and rests upon each individual, reading inmost thoughts, hidden motives, and the soul, so that sinners feel arraigned before the tribunal of God to answer for their deeds and cannot withdraw their gaze. As soon as His eye looks upon the wicked they become conscious of every sin committed, seeing where their feet diverged from purity and holiness and how far pride and rebellion carried them in violating God's law. At that appearing He is also seen seated as Judge upon a great white cloud, while the earth reels in space before Him and His murderers flee from the presence of His glory.

Prophetic Time and Place

The great white throne belongs to the close of the thousand years after the second advent. It stands in the interval between the first and second resurrections, when the wicked dead are raised. At the end of the one thousand years the wicked are called from the dust in the second resurrection to receive their reward and suffer the second death. They have not been exalted in heaven at death but have mouldered to dust and remained there until that time, so claims that the wicked go at death to be exalted with holy apostles make no difference between the precious and the vile and throw doubt on God's word. Then every saint who sleeps has been awakened from the prison house of death by the voice of the Son of man, and whoever disowned Christ and betrayed Him in the person of His saints sees the result of his work.

Through the thousand years the righteous reign as kings and priests with Christ and judge the wicked. They compare the deeds of the wicked with the Bible and determine each case according to what was done in the life. The punishment due to each is assigned according to works and recorded in the book of death. Satan and the evil angels are also judged by Christ and the righteous. The saints mete out that judgment in unison with Jesus, and the wicked afterward receive according to it.

The execution follows the throne scene after the wicked are raised and gathered around the Holy City. Gathered there they hear their final sentence from the King that they must depart into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels. Then fire breathed from God consumes them, and this is the execution of the sentence meted out through the thousand years. The same fire purifies the whole earth, melting the mountains with fervent heat and the atmosphere also and consuming all the stubble. The earth is thus cleansed of evil by fire, as the old world was destroyed by the Flood.

That final resurrection and judgment complete Christ's triumph with His church and bring the destruction of Satan and his followers. This outcome fully reveals God's plans. Before the fire falls the saints are inside the city with Jesus at their head, then Jesus calls the blessed to inherit the kingdom prepared from the foundation of the world, the gates are shut, and the saints rise to the top of the wall. There Jesus wears a brilliant sevenfold crown within a crown while the saints wear crowns of purest gold decked with stars shining like the sun, with faces shining in the express image of Jesus, and the wicked see what they have lost. Then after the purifying fire the saints inherit the whole earth made new, glorious and beautiful, with shouts of glory alleluia.

The prophecy is a great and solemn day just upon us and soon to come, very near and soon to be fulfilled. The great white throne draws one year nearer with each passing year toward home and the mansions Christ is preparing. Its nearness is shown by the withdrawal of the Spirit of God from the world and by floods, fires, cyclones, and earthquakes in different places. Because judgment is set and the books are opened and the dead are judged according to the things written in the books, everyone should live with reference to it instead of hurrying to and fro with business without ever thinking of it. Being that near means feelings cannot rule and not one word from the Lord can be neglected, whether palatable or unpalatable, and it calls for searching heart, motives, spirit, and feelings to be in harmony with heaven, for new and entire consecration in keeping with increased light, and for rising to high privileges in oneness with Christ to be changed to His image and enjoy His presence forever.

Judgment Proceedings Revealed

The dead, small and great, stand before God to be judged and to receive reward according to deeds done in the body, with every person facing God in a universal judgment. The sea, death, and hell give up their dead to be judged, every man according to his works. The earth and heaven flee from the face of the One seated on the great white throne, and no place is found for them when this judgment sits.

The books that record lives are opened, and another book, the book of life containing names, is opened. The dead are judged out of the things written in the books according to their works, each meeting his own record, with the burden of each passing year sealed up to be opened then. Those whose names are written in the book of life have had every case already decided and face no condemnation at that throne. Anyone not found written in the book of life is cast into the lake of fire, which is the second death and the sentence of eternal death.

It is a tribunal from which there is no appeal, where not one transaction is hidden from God. Every act, word, thought, motive, spirit, secret sin, and instance of unfaithful dealing is revealed from the heavenly records and ledger and must be acknowledged, with each case tested and each person answering for words and deeds. People met in life will bear witness for or against, according as faithfulness encouraged them in righteousness or failure led them from Christ. As soon as the eye of Jesus looks upon the wicked they are conscious of every sin committed, seeing where their feet diverged from purity and holiness and how far pride and rebellion carried them in violating God's law. The temptations indulged, blessings perverted, messengers despised, warnings rejected, and mercy resisted all appear as if written in letters of fire, while worldly pleasures, riches, and honors lose their value and righteousness alone is seen as worth, with chosen character showing allegiance and the results of transgressing God's commandments laid plain.

The wicked recognize their guilt and have no defense or excuse. They vainly try to hide from Christ's divine majesty and stand condemned and speechless, unable to offer the excuses by which they now evade known duty and shield themselves from what they knew God required. God's justice in the final judgment will be seen and acknowledged by the heavenly universe, with the rebellion's guilt and its punishment shown to be just. After that revelation the wicked perish with their cases forever settled and no further probation, the judgment including not only outward sins but also good that could and ought to have been done but was neglected.

Law Standard and Verdicts

The final trial proceeds by laws already made known, not uncertain ideas but certain truth, the decisions of an unerring and infallible Judge, so no one is measured by human opinion or human standards but by His verdict. God's holy law is the only unerring standard by which every soul is judged, every case is tested, and the fitness of every character for heaven is decided. The ledger of heaven is opened about the throne, thoughts, words, and motives are revealed from the heavenly records, and the congregated multitude are judged according to deeds done in the body, with each guilty name registered as weighed in the balance and found wanting as a transgressor of God's commandments. Every case will then be decided as each person is justified or condemned according to obedience to God's law and His requirements, or disrespect for it and disregard of them.

To do His will is to obey His commandments, including the definite day He specified to be kept, and no one can trifle with sacred eternal interests or trample His law with impunity. Those who rejected His sign, exalted a false rest day, and led others to do so will see that they refused the message of mercy by which they could have been saved. On the last great day that law will stand as the standard of righteousness before both the obedient and the disobedient. The wicked will be convicted that their actions came from depraved character and furthered the rebellion begun in heaven, bringing cruelty, dishonor to the Creator, and misery into the world, while the law they disobeyed was their life, since obedience would have brought happiness and peace and produced sanctified love, beauty of character, holiness, and purity.

What is at issue is what each one has done with His only begotten Son, His own messenger to the world who came as a living epistle of the law, lived the law of His government, and was an expression of His character. The wicked world is brought before the judgment throne to answer for treason against Heaven's government and for nailing to the cross the One who came to cleanse from pollution, crucifying the Son of God afresh and putting Him to open shame by rejecting the truth when the light of heaven was presented. They have no defense or excuse, and the sentence pronounced against them is eternal death. Men who now reject His law identify themselves with those who crucified Him on Calvary, and all must at last choose either Christ the truth or Satan the first great rebel, apostate, robber, murderer, and chief of liars.

Christ no longer stands at Pilate's bar, but Pilate, Herod, and all who mocked, scourged, rejected, and crucified Him will face the wrath of the Lamb, with their deeds appearing in their true character. They will be obliged to answer that they hated Jesus and cast Him out, crying crucify Him and choosing Barabbas in His stead. To them it will be said, I never knew you, depart from Me, for God will assuredly avenge the death of His Son, and that day is God's vengeance. Christ made moral power and grace available so sinners could be changed in character and become doers of His words and fit for the kingdom, and their works, including good they could and ought to have done but neglected, show whether they accepted that provision. His sacrifice testifies that God could not change His law but gave His Son so humanity could have another trial and choose obedience, and each may be saved by obeying the light given, for those obedient here will be obedient in heaven, and God will not take to heaven those who have no respect for His law, though He forces no one.

The wicked dead are not in heaven but have mouldered to dust and remain there until the second resurrection at the end of the thousand years, when they are called forth to receive their reward and suffer the second death. Claims that the wicked are ushered into heaven at death and exalted there, as was claimed for Thomas Paine teaching with the holy apostles, are a deception of Satan the father of lies to make no difference between the precious and the vile and to throw doubt on the word of God.

Redeemed Gathered in Glory

The great white throne is the gathering place of the saved in Paradise and in the kingdom of glory, where the ransomed and the overcomers gather round about God and the throne. There the redeemed stand without fault, for sinful tendencies and imperfections have been taken away through Christ's blood, and they are cleansed from sin and made faultless through Him. His glory and moral perfection shine through them as they share the dignity and privileges of angels.

Those who stand there have overcome and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb through penitence and faith in the remaining time of probation. They are clothed in the white robes of Christ's righteousness, with crowns of immortal glory and palm branches of victory. They are sons of God and children of the heavenly King, whose lives run parallel with the life of God.

To stand around the throne is to enter heaven and to see the King in His beauty in the city of God. Only those who obey God's commandments and accept the law of Jehovah as the rule of life will stand there, and none who refuse that law will enter heaven. This belongs to those who do not claim free grace while continuing in transgression, but who reform when light dawns, become loyal to God through strength obtained from the Saviour, and lead a new and purer life while mercy lingers so as to be found accepted in the solemn scrutiny.

There the faithful share the joy of Jesus as they behold those brought to Christ through their prayers, labor, work, loving sacrifice, and faithful missionary sowing whose results were never seen in this life. They will see souls saved through their faithful work, including others whom those converts in turn helped to save. Each redeemed person will then see and know just how much his own instrumentality accomplished in the great work of saving the souls standing before the throne.

The redeemed lay their crowns at Jesus' feet and praise Him forever. They lift songs of triumph and victory and praise to God and to the Lamb and to the One seated on the throne, saved eternally in the kingdom of glory. They rejoice together and share the joy of the Lord in a heavenly home where no shadow will ever darken.

It will be a grand meeting in the city of God around the great white throne, a joyful reunion for God's faithful people separated in this life by death, distance, and mission labor, not expecting to meet again on earth. Loved ones and brothers will meet again there, singing the song of triumph and victory together. There will be no more sorrow and no more separation, but happiness in dwelling together in peace and glory throughout the ceaseless ages of eternity.

By faith the persecuted are to look ahead to receiving there white robes, crowns, and palm branches of victory, and to being greeted as overcomers by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony, where every one will be rewarded as his works have been and heaven is gained or lost at last. Every advance of the confederacy of evil brings God's people nearer to that successful end of their warfare at the throne. That evil confederacy will finally be destroyed.

Stewardship Influence and Preparation

Every person will meet his own work and every jot of influence about the great white throne, rendering strict personal account to God for opportunities, privileges, time, means, and intellect, whether appreciated and improved by duty to fellow men, building up Christ's church, and winning souls by sowing truth in meekness and humility while trusting God to do His part. The good accomplished will be fully known there, and faithful work done now decides that meeting, for one who warned and entreated sinners to behold the Lamb of God may see souls saved through that instrumentality standing there also to testify to the warning. The summons to answer for things done in the body, all written in the book, may come without a moment's warning, with no sickbed, the next step into eternity, so preparation is dangerous to delay. God's searching eye examines how time, means, and intellect were used, including whether they were devoted to worldly idols, and following known light and working to please the Redeemer rather than self or any living mortal is required, because incautious words and hasty suggestions can turn minds in a wrong direction and ruin souls.

The record includes how people treated others and how they treated God, exposing unfaithful stewardship and requiring answer for what was entrusted. Withholding the tithe that belongs to God, hoarding wealth or investing it in unnecessary houses, lands, and costly furniture, or neglecting to use means to help others and advance God's work brings guilt and leaves the heart where earthly treasure is, so that one cannot meet the Lord in peace. Faithful stewardship must be practiced before that day, using possessions faithfully rather than hoarding them.

Faithfulness requires disposing of possessions, refusing to settle down to eat and drink and be merry or to stand idle while others struggle, refusing idle self-indulgence, using means to create increased facilities for giving the message, and reforming before it is forever too late, because the end is near and indolence in helping the perishing incurs guilt. The close of earth's history will soon bring people before the great white throne, so the present is the urgent time for work and opportunities to share truth must be used before that time to work and answer the last call is past.

Parents are held accountable for whether they obeyed God's Word and taught their children faithfully and acquainted them with Jesus as their best friend in youth instead of neglecting them to the enemy and disobeying Scripture and misleading others, with lives and work revealed and the record of every life made known. Workers, teachers, and those in positions of trust will meet the young and other souls entrusted to them there and face the eternal consequences of their manners, tempers, words, and example for the students' eternal good, bringing fear and trembling and a burden on the soul for the account to be given for souls presented as unready to meet the Lord in peace. Those found wanting are rejected and condemned, while those who trusted Christ and labored faithfully are commended, their labor acknowledged, and they enter the joy of their Lord, and faithful parents rejoice when their children are redeemed.

Work founded on love for God and His law will endure when tested, while work like hay, wood, and stubble will be consumed as worthless. Uncultivated manners and uncontrolled tempers that keep students from eternal good bring grave consequences, and teachers are called to lead toward eternal good through Christlike character and faithful instruction, valuing the prize of souls, God's approval, and eternal life. Those occupying positions of trust must be representatives of Jesus in goodness, holiness, love and compassion for tempted souls, valuing His blood-bought heritage and laboring with perseverance and energy proportionate to its cost, with no harshness, self-sufficiency, unkindness, indifference, coldness, harshness, or contempt, because to bruise the hearts of Christ's purchased ones is to bruise the heart of Christ. Incautious words and hasty suggestions that turn minds wrong, and unkindness that drives souls from Christ, will be met again, since a soul hurt is often a soul destroyed, and those with light and privileges are responsible for souls and will meet again those whom they have driven from Christ, bruised and wounded to death.

Conduct toward brethren in the church remains in memory and in heaven's books, including harsh words and unkind actions, or kind words spoken, sympathy given at the right time, vindication of a brother's case, and spiritual help given, affecting the record. In the judgment that record brings shame or freedom from shame, and after death there is no more opportunity to do good, recall an unkind word, confess a fault, or wipe away a painful impression. Therefore coldness and variance must now be put away, the heart melted into tenderness, and love shown in tender, thoughtful words and acts, so there will be no words and acts to be ashamed of at the throne.

Day by day and hour by hour every person is laying up material for that solemn day of final decision and binding up the whole life work for eternity, with the burden of record from each passing year sealed up to pass into eternity to be opened then when judgment sits and the books are opened. The record of the passing year remains unknown until revealed at the judgment, as a warning to heed every word God sends and to watch over what the record of a new year will be in world history and in individual history. Time spent in unsanctifying company passes into eternity with its burden of record, to be read with shame, revealing what a person might have been and what he actually did when he rejected warning, idling away time that belonged to God instead of studying the Bible and serving Him, though he was not his own but bought with an infinite price and his time, strength, and affections belonged to God.

That momentous event calls for awe and for living with awareness of being in God's presence and with reference to the great and solemn day just upon us and soon to come, instead of hurrying to and fro with business without ever thinking of it. It demands waking from sleep, discerning the signs of the times, and changing from unreadiness for the Lord's appearing and unfitness to belong to the redeemed family into preparation to meet the record, with the withdrawal of the Spirit from the world and floods, fires, cyclones, and earthquakes in different places as signs that coming and judgment are near. Remembering these future events strengthens character and keeps people from becoming selfish, self-absorbed, irritable, or weak. Day by day all are deciding between eternal life and eternal death, with eternal life or eternal death at stake in a final universal judgment where every person faces God and is judged by works.

Preparation requires new and entire consecration and new dedication of soul, body, heart, and strength, abiding in Christ with Christ abiding within and with plans and work united with Christ to meet that day without shame, doing daily duty and surrendering to Jesus one day at a time. Magnified non-essential cares and worldly gain must not be allowed to occupy time, since gaining the whole world profits nothing if the soul is lost, and the pressing present question is whether one's own name is written in the book of life, for those whose names are written there have every case already decided and face no condemnation at that throne. The great white throne draws one year nearer with each passing year toward home and the mansions Christ is preparing, calling for consecration in keeping with increased light and privileges, rising to high privileges in oneness with Christ, claiming the exceeding great and precious promises, being made partakers of the divine nature, presenting the body a living sacrifice, pressing heavenward, and being filled with all the fulness of God.

To stand there faultless with a spotless record that none is ashamed to meet requires removing every defect of character beforehand, for the books will be opened and all judged from what is written in them. Probationary time is now granted with opportunities and privileges to make calling and election sure by improving every talent, being faithful stewards over self, keeping the soul in God's love, having simple increasing faith, depending on God, adding faith, virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and charity, and prizing this precious time. A life of surrender to Christ that overcomes selfishness and serves God and others prepares a person to stand free from stain, with character made white through the Lamb's blood by penitence and faith, pictured as washing robes in His blood. Standing with a spotless record for time and eternity requires changes now in business and religious life, ordering dealings to keep calm hallowed peace, leaving a record of godly example, cultivating tender love and kindly affection, refusing to pattern evils seen in others, guarding the spirit against unsanctified traits, taking time to pray and help in the church, and fully surrendering to God for His high and noble work.

Living as if standing before the throne now gives earnestness and fervor to warn sinners, speak words in season to souls perishing out of Christ, plead earnestly for them to come to Jesus that He may take away sins, stir the church to activity, make Christ's religion the main business of life, and work with self-denying sacrifice and anxiety for souls bought at infinite price whose value is measured by Calvary. Faithful work now decides that meeting. Those who rejected God's message will then have no valid reason to give for refusing to unite with His messengers or accept the light sent them, with questioning and doubt exposed before the Lord, and excuses for failing to serve God will not make imperfect lives a reason to doubt the truth, since the Bible gives a sure standard that transforms character to purity and uprightness in word and deed, and Christ is the pattern.

The lost will then fully realize the meaning of Christ's sacrifice on Calvary and what they forfeited by refusing loyalty to God, including the joy of pure fellowship, but too late, when the time to work and answer the last call is past. Each sees the whole life plainly, with worldly pleasures, riches, and honors losing value and righteousness seen as the only thing of worth, recognizing chosen character marked allegiance and what transgression means, seeing what might have been in intellectual and spiritual growth if physical and mental powers had been devoted to God instead of weakened through excess and passion, bringing agony and vain longing to live life over. The throne is also joined to hope of seeing Christ there after death and finding refuge in Him, being changed to His image, longing to see Jesus and be with Him, and eternal life enjoying His presence forever.

God's word will judge people rather than be judged or altered by them, and before the great white throne each is judged according to works from the books opened. There the infallible Judge of the living and the dead makes decisions no one may cancel, revise, or selectively accept to suit preference, with every nation and individual violating God's will facing retribution. People will be judged at the last great day by light from God's throne shining on the path, so those with access to Scripture are accountable to apply its words and cleanse hearts from sin. Because that throne is very near, feelings cannot rule and not one word from the Lord may be neglected, whether palatable or unpalatable, calling for searching heart, motives, spirit, and feelings to be in harmony with heaven with help from Jesus to get right.

Being fit to dwell with God's family gathered there requires learning to live in peace here, for those unprepared to live in peace here are unprepared for that heavenly family. Kindness, patience, courtesy, and forbearance at home prepare for that peace, while sin brings darkness and bondage and right-doing brings peace and holy joy.