By Tiantian
Revelation 20:11–12 says, “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 were written in the books, according to their works.”
When discussing the great white throne judgment, many brothers and sisters believe based on these two Bible verses that it will just be for unbelievers who don’t
have faith in God. They think that when the end of the world comes, the Lord Jesus will judge every person according to their deeds, and all unbelievers will be condemned and punished. However,
all believers are absolved because they have already accepted the Lord Jesus’ redemption, so they won’t need to be subjected to the judgment, but will be able to directly enter into the kingdom
of heaven. But is that the case? This will be the focus of our fellowship today.
First, we need to be clear that these two verses from the Book of Revelation were from a vision that John saw. How visions are ultimately fulfilled isn’t
something that we can fully explain just based on the literal meaning of the scripture. It’s only something we can truly understand after God’s work has come to fruition. What God can
conceive of far outstrips our capability as humans; His work is wondrous and unfathomable, so we cannot delimit it based on our own notions and imaginings. So then, what does the Bible say
about God’s work of judgment in the last days? Let’s take a look at what the Bible says. “[F]or He
comes to judge the earth: with righteousness shall He judge the world, and the people with equity” (Psalms 98:9). “And He shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many
people” (Isaiah 2:4). “He that rejects Me, and receives not My words, has one that judges him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day”
(John 12:48). “For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God” (1 Peter 4:17).
These prophecies mention things like “judge the world,” “judge … the people,” “judge among the nations,” and “judgment must begin at the house of God.” We
can see very clearly from this that when the Lord returns in the last days, He is to judge all nations and all peoples with a righteous disposition, not to judge unbelievers, as we’ve
imagined. God’s work of judgment in the last days begins at the house of God, unfolding with the group of people who accept God’s salvation of the last days. That is to say, when God
returns in the last days, He reveals the way of judgment, and all those who accept His work of judgment of the last days are recipients of His judgment, cleansing, and complete salvation.
The work of judgment beginning at the house of God is to make this group of overcomers before the disaster. This is the group, the “144,000 victorious male children,” in the Book
of Revelation prophecy. They are the ones who will be able to enter into the kingdom of heaven and gain eternal life, and this is the fulfillment of the prophecy in Revelation: “And I
looked, and, see, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with Him an hundred forty and four thousand, having His Father’s name written in their foreheads. And I heard a voice from heaven, as
the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps: And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before
the four beasts, and the elders: and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth. These are they which were not defiled
with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb wherever He goes. These were redeemed from among men, being the first fruits to God and to the Lamb. And in their
mouth was found no guile: for they are without fault before the throne of God” (Revelation 14:1–5).
Some of you may now be wondering, “We’ve sinned, but we’ve confessed and repented to the Lord, and our sins have been redeemed, so we should be able to
get into the kingdom of heaven. Why do we also have to accept God’s judgment?”
Why Do We Need to Accept Judgment After Our Sins Are Redeemed?
We all know that the Lord Jesus was crucified to do the work of redeeming mankind of his sins, so after accepting Him as our Savior, when we’ve
sinned, we can confess to Him, and then He’ll redeem us of those sins. Then, we’ll no longer be condemned to death under the law. However, this doesn’t mean that we aren’t
inherently sinful, and it particularly doesn’t mean that we are people who adhere to God’s will, who can just go straight into the kingdom of heaven. Let’s look at a couple of
passages of God’s words to better understand this. God says, “The sins of man were forgiven through the agency of the incarnate God, but this did not mean that man no
longer had sin within him. The sins of man could be forgiven through the sin offering, but as for just how man can be made to sin no more, and how his sinful nature may be
extirpated completely and transformed, he has no way of solving this problem.” “For all that man may have been redeemed and forgiven of his sins, it can only
be considered as God not remembering the transgressions of man and not treating man in accordance with his transgressions. However, when man, who lives in a body of flesh, has
not been set free from sin, he can only continue to sin, endlessly revealing his corrupt satanic disposition. This is the life that man leads, an endless cycle of sinning and
being forgiven. The majority of mankind sin in the day only to confess in the evening. This way, even though the sin offering is forever effective for man, it will not be able
to save man from sin. Only half the work of salvation has been completed, for man still has a corrupt disposition. …”
We can see from God’s words that the Lord Jesus’ work of redemption was to redeem us of our sins; this was just because God would no longer
remember our sins that are in violation of the law, but in fact, our sinful natures have not been removed. We still can’t help but frequently sin and resist the Lord.
Consider all of the following. We pray and confess every day, but then continue committing the same sins, which is brazenly lying to God. In our interpersonal dealings,
whenever someone says or does something that encroaches upon our own interests or our dignity, we develop a grudge against them and may even take revenge when we get the
chance. When we see that a preacher is particularly good at delivering sermons, we start to adulate them and when we encounter an issue, instead of praying and seeking
with God, we look to that person to resolve it. We listen to whatever they say, whether or not it accords with the truth. This is precisely worshiping an idol. On top of
all that, the moment we gain some sort of position in the church, we don’t care about anyone else or even God, but just wield our power unilaterally, demanding that
brothers and sisters listen to us. We get angry and irritated with whoever won’t listen to us and will sometimes strike out at and rebuke them. When we encounter some
undesirable things like natural and man-made disasters, we still develop grievances, misunderstanding and blaming God, and may even be in danger of departing from God. The
list goes on. All of us do these kinds of things to a certain extent. This shows that in our faith, we just verbally acknowledge the name of God but we’re unable to adhere
to the Lord’s path. We are just like what the Lord Jesus referred to when He said, “He that rejects Me, and receives not My words.” God is righteous and
holy, so naturally the kingdom of heaven is also holy, and no filth can remain within it. It’s just as the Lord Jesus said: “Truly, truly, I say to you, Whoever commits sin is the servant
of sin. And the servant stays not in the house for ever: but the son stays ever” (John 8: 34–35). God’s disposition will tolerate no offense. Those of us who do
not adhere to God’s words are full of corrupt dispositions and are all servants of sin, so how could we be worthy of entering the kingdom of heaven? God is faithful; He is
saving mankind, and thus He will save mankind fully. This is why God has prophesied another stage of the work of judgment in the last days in accordance with what we as
corrupt humanity need, and in accordance with His own work plan. It is to thoroughly cleanse us of our corruption so that we may be qualified to enter the kingdom of
heaven. Just as the Bible prophecy says: “I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He
will guide you into all truth: for He shall not speak of Himself; but whatever He shall hear, that shall He speak: and He will show you things to come” (John
16:12–13). “He that rejects Me, and receives not My words, has one that judges him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day”
(John 12:48). “He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches” (Revelation 2:7). We can see here that when the Lord returns in the
last days He is to express truths, to do the work of judgment beginning with the house of God through His words. This is the great white throne judgment work spoken of in
the Book of Revelation. It is to fully cleanse us of our sins and to allow our corrupt dispositions to be transformed, so we may become people who truly submit to and love
God, and so we may receive God’s full salvation. This is why it’s so critical for us to accept God’s judgment work of the last days, so we may be fully saved and enter into the kingdom of heaven!
To be continue…
Source From: Find the Shepherd
Recommended for you:
1. 15 Bible Verses About Judgment – Why God Does the Judgment Work in the Last Days
2. The True Meaning of “No One Knows the Day or the Hour”