The Judgement Seat of Christ - Study Series
The Great White Throne Judgment
“God has a memory cache far more immense and precise than all the data banks on the planet put together. He will not need to subpoena your records from Google. He already has it all. And one day everyone will give an account.” – Daniel Kolenda
THE GREAT WHITE THRONE JUDGMENT (REV. 20:11–15)
Scripture teaches that one day, all the dead will be raised—both believers and unbelievers—and they will all be judged(Dan. 12:2; John 5:28-29; Acts 24:15). But those who never received God’s gift of salvation in Christ will be raised specifically to a resurrection of damnation. They will appear before the Great White Throne, be judged for their wicked deeds, and cast into the lake of fire (Rev. 20:13-15). This judgment is the ultimate act of God’s justice, conclusively judging those who refused to believe. But it is also an act of mercy toward creation, when God forever cleanses the earth of sin.
I remember as a boy, hearing the preacher say, “If your sins aren’t under the blood of Jesus, one day they will follow you to the judgment.” I thought to myself, “That must be an exaggeration. There is no possible way that God could have such a massive memory bank.” But that occurred in my young mind before the days of the Internet, when computers were little more than glorified calculators. Things have changed since then, haven’t they? Now it’s easier to imagine God’s colossal, all-inclusive database.
These days, I can almost discover people’s entire life story just by visiting their Facebook pages or Twitter feeds. I can find out what they had for breakfast this morning and what they watched on television last night. You can find out where they were born, what they do for a living, what interests they have, and much more.
I’m sure you’ve heard that some search engines keep records of all your Internet searches and keystrokes. Imagine someone a hundred years from now investigating your life and getting hold of every search you did on the Internet, every website you visited, and all your social media pages—Facebook, Pinterest, YouTube and Twitter. They might know more about you than your own family members do. Yet God has a memory cache far more immense and precise than all the data banks on the planet put together. He will not need to subpoena your records from Google. He already has it all. And one day everyone will give an account.
A salacious bit of recent news offers a forewarning of that day. It featured a website that assists people to have adulterous affairs—the Ashley Madison website. Someone hacked the site and exposed 30 million people on the Internet—their names, addresses, and credit card numbers. The motto of the website was “Life is Short, Have an Affair.” Perhaps they need a new motto: “Be Sure Your Sins Will Find You Out.”
“Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that will he also reap” (Gal. 6:7). There is coming a day, my friend—whether you get hacked or not —that all the sins not covered by the blood of Jesus will be exposed. In fact, the Bible tells us that, in that day, men will crawl under the rocks and they will ask the mountains to fall on them to hide them from the face of the One who sits upon the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb (Rev. 6:16). That day is coming. And for many, that is bad news.
The good news is that you do not have to appear at The Great White Throne Judgment. If you surrender your life to Jesus, His blood washes away your sins. He forgives you; He wipes your slate clean. “There is now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 8:1, NKJV).
I hope that, if you are not a believer, you will surrender your life to Jesus today. He loves you, died for you, and does not want you to carry the weight of your sin any longer. Jesus already took the judgment for your sins so you don’t have to be judged for them. He took the penalty on your behalf on the cross. But, if you reject His offer to pay your debt, then you will have to pay for it yourself. That’s the purpose of the Great White Throne Judgment.
To this point, our list of God’s judgments should make a sober impression on our souls. It establishes that His judgments are real, they are just, and they are merciful. Even though believers will be spared the final judgment, we still live our lives before the One who, by His very nature of love and justice, evaluates all things. For believers, He is the One with whom we have to do. That is why even David said, “My flesh trembles for fear of You, and I am afraid of your judgments.” And that is why Paul referred to a coming judgment for believers that produced in him “the fear of the Lord” (2 Cor. 5:11).
And so we come to the last judgment of this discussion: The Judgment Seat of Christ. We will spend the most time here because this is the judgment that will test the works of Christians. Even though true believers are exempt from God’s judgment of condemnation, we are not exempt from His judgment of evaluation. The Bible teaches that our expectation of this future judgment helps us to live for the Lord in the present age. Paul calls such motivation, “the fear of the Lord” (2 Cor. 5:11).
