The Great White Throne Judgment

The Rest of the Dead

and the Great White Throne Judgment

By Timothy C. McKeown 

Revelation 20:5-15

Which would you rather stand before: the “Bema” (based on the Greek word “bema”, duh!) Judgment Seat of Jesus Christ, judged for your works, both good and bad, or the “Great White Throne” Judgment Seat of God, judged according to your works and whether your names are written in the Book of Life? 

While both sound awesome, one judgment is clearly for believers (the first one) and the other is clearly for unbelievers (the title of this study). One determines the works of this life in terms of rewards, the other judgment renders guilt and condemnation for those whose names are not recorded in the Book of Eternal Life.

 

⁵ (The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.) This is the first resurrection…¹⁰ The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.

The rest of the dead spoken of in verse 5 are those who are not a part of the first resurrection. While the term “second resurrection” is not used, it is inarguably implied with and linked to the term “second death.” What happens to the unbelieving and unsaved souls of those who have died and are not resurrected at the Rapture or at the end of the Tribulation?

They are clearly not brought back to life, meaning that they are dead physically and not resurrected until after the thousand years; spiritually, they are sent to “hell” (Greek: hades or “hades”). This is found in the parable of Lazarus and the rich man, found in Luke 16:19-31:

¹⁹ “There was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day. ²⁰ But there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, full of sores, who was laid at his gate, ²¹ desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table. Moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. ²² So it was that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died and was buried. ²³ And being in torments in Hades, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. ²⁴ Then he cried and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.’ ²⁵ But Abraham said, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted and you are tormented. ²⁶ And besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, so that those who want to pass from here to you cannot, nor can those from there pass to us.’ ²⁷Then he said, ‘I beg you therefore, father, that you would send him to my father’s house, ²⁸ for I have five brothers, that he may testify to them, lest they also come to this place of torment.’ ²⁹ Abraham said to him, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.’ ³⁰ And he said, ‘No, father Abraham; but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ ³¹ But he said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead.’”

Several things can be discerned about the unbelieving dead from this story. 

1) After death comes the judgment on whether a person will be sent to a place of rest or a place of torment. (See also Heb. 10:13) 

2) After death, while the physical body may be buried without any discernible difference between the believers and unbelievers, both go immediately to their eternal destination. 

3) There is an awareness of what goes on both on earth in real time as well as in the other place eternal resting place. 

4) After death, there is no second chance and no ability to move from one abode to the other. 

5) Both believers and unbelievers are recognizable, and also have attributes similar to those when they had physical bodies (fingers, tongue, bosom, etc.)

Hades

Hell (Gr: hades) is spoken of four times in Revelation: “I am he that lives, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.” (Rev. 1:18);  “And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.” (Rev. 6:8) and then again twice in this chapter, verses 13 and 14.

Jesus also spoke of it in contrast to heaven in Matthew 11:23 and Luke 10:15. In Matthew 16:18, Jesus said the gates of hell would not prevail over the church. Jesus’ soul went to hell, according to Old Testament prophecy, quoted in Acts 2:27 and 31, and according to Christ’s own prophecy that the dead in the graves would hear the voice of the Son of Man (John 5:28). 

Jesus told the thief on the cross that “today, you will be with Me in paradise,” (Luke 23:43), which was not yet located in the third heaven, seen by Paul (2 Cor. 12:4). This is also affirmed by Jesus when He told Mary Magdalene on Resurrection Sunday that He had not yet ascended to the Father (John 20:17). 

Instead, paradise at that time was located in a separate place of hell than where unbelievers were tormented. At the resurrection, Jesus brought with Him the spiritual souls of those who had believed prior to His Resurrection as part of the captivity that was led captive by Christ to heaven (Eph. 4:8).

Gehenna

The ultimate location of hell will be in the “lake of fire” in Revelation or “everlasting fire” in Matt. 25:41, often referred to in the Greek as “gehenna” (geennh), where the whole physical body and soul will be cast after the resurrection (Matt. 5:29-30, 10:28), never to be quenched (Mark 9:43-48).  It was prepared for the devil and the fallen angels (“And the angels who did not keep their proper domain, but left their own abode, He has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day” Jude 1:6), but those who are not found in the Book of Life will also be cast there (Rev. 20:15). It is where the devil is cast into at the end of the thousand years (Rev. 20:10)

Tartarus

When the angels fell, some of them were cast into the deepest part of hell (“For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell (Gr. Tartarus, “to be cast down”) and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment” 2 Pet 2:4). Jesus also said that some parts of hell will be more tolerable than others (Matt. 10:15, 11:22, 24).

¹¹ Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them. ¹² And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books. ¹³ The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works. ¹⁴ Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. ¹⁵ And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.

This “Great white throne” judgment is different from another Judgment spoken of in Scripture. That one is clearly for believers, those whose names are found in the Book of Life. Paul wrote about it in Romans 14:

¹⁰ But why do you judge your brother? Or why do you show contempt for your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. ¹¹ For it is written: "As I live, says the Lord, Every knee shall bow to Me, and every tongue shall confess to God." ¹² So then each of us shall give account of himself to God. ¹³ Therefore let us not judge one another anymore, but rather resolve this, not to put a stumbling block or a cause to fall in our brother's way.

This obviously is for believers and the better and more common manuscripts say this is the judgment seat of Jesus Christ, (not judgment seat of God, as read in translations other than King James/New King James). It is again mentioned in 2 Corinthians 5:

¹⁰ For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. ¹¹ Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are well known to God, and I also trust are well known in your consciences.

This “bema” seat judgment of believers does not determine whether we go to heaven or hell, but rather what kind of rewards we shall receive, as mentioned in 1 Cor. 3:12-15. According to John 5:24, when we receive Christ, we will never come into judgment in relation to our sins, but instead, we have passed from death into life.

“Him who sat on (the throne)” is shown to have a fearsome and terrifying face, and if it were possible, those in heaven and earth would flee away, but “there was not place found for them.” Since believers are already resurrected, we are no longer considered “dead” and will not face that judgment. The sea contains the unbelieving dead, alone with death and hell (Gr. hades). The books apparently record all the works that the dead, small and great, have ever done. But that alone is not what causes the dead to be cast into the lake of fire, but rather the fact that their names were not found written in the Book of Life.

Hebrews 12:23 says those in the church, the believers, are written in heaven: “to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect.” That fact should cause us to rejoice more than anything else, according to Luke 10:20: “Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven.”

On the following pages are some pictures depicting the Book of Revelation, the prophetic days of Scripture, the judgment of rewards, the scriptural rendering of the “underworld”, the first and second resurrections in detail, and an enlargement of the final judgments for believers and unbelievers.