White Throne Judgment - Revelation 20:11-15

OK, just so it's clear, the last couple of weeks we've had this handout that covers three weeks and that's still available. Last week was as I was going through some slides, there was some material there I didn't have included in the handout. And rather than having you take a bunch of copious notes, and try to get all the detail down.

I said I'd have a handout to cover that, and so that's what's available here this morning. So that's a supplemental supplement, if you can handle that. And so feel free to grab that. And Lord, we also, let's see. I've got something that's a little heavy on my heart, so bear with me here. I'm a little distracted.

Okay, so anyway, you have amidst the handouts that we've been having for the last three weeks, the White Throne Judgment. And this is number 48 in the Revelation series, dated today as Revelation 20, 11-15. So, this passage, verse 11-15, not that many verses, but a real heavy passage. Why would the white throne judgment be a heavy passage? How come? It deals with judgment. Yep. Okay. And what kind of judgment? What's that? The final. Okay. The final for who? For unbelievers, will every single last unbeliever be there? Yes? That's close.

And here's the only reason why there's an exception. And remember, the Lake of Fire, who are the first inhabitants? The beast and the false prophet. and also those who take the mark of the beast during the tribulation period. All the rest of the unsaved from all time are here. They go directly.

The way we put it is, do not pass go, do not collect anything. So that's the only exception. All the rest of the unsaved, with the exception of those from all time, are here at the White Throne Judgment. Yes? So they must have the worst of the Judgments. I mean, they don't need to go through... Yes, somehow the White Throne Judgment is bypassed because they simply go directly to the Lake of Fire. They are the first inhabitants.

Well, and that's a point that we'll get into. You're quite correct. Not everybody who goes to hell gets the same consequences. And we're going to take a look at that here this morning. So let's examine this passage. It just starts off right into the passage on verse 11.

Then 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. So John had seen some incredible things. Here's heaven and earth. Here's everything that we've ever known, physically. Here's everything we've ever known, and it just goes... vanishes from sight. An interesting sort of description, where it fled away. It's like it goes... just gone. I think it refers to the same time, the same event.

So we haven't had the millennium yet. Yes, the millennium has already occurred. This is at the end of time for this present heavens and earth. Yeah, this is at the end of time for this present heavens and earth. So here is... this White Throne. This is the illustration we had last time, the big diagram, and here is the White Throne judgment here, right at the end of this present Heavens and Earth. And so here is Christ, the Judge, at this point. Let's see. White Throne judgment. Here is a timeline for the White Throne judgment.

In other words, we had Christ's first coming, the Church Age, You see that little green arrow as I'm putting that in there, assuming that we're close to the time of the rapture. Then the rapture, the second coming, the millennium, and then this is the white throne judgment right at the end on into eternity.

Yes? So when we talk about this particular heaven, we're talking about the second heaven or the created heaven, right? Which heaven? Yeah, the present heavens and earth, which is our universe. Yes. Yeah. But I think it also includes, I think it also includes the present heaven as well. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. And here's why when we get into the next chapters, what we're going to see is we're going to see a creation of a new heaven and a new earth, and we'll see that described in two chapters. And one of the reasons that I think it is significant that the present heaven is replaced, think about the present heaven right now. Why would God replace it? Because you're right, and what corruption are we talking about?

Satan rebelled, and how many angels? One third of the angels went with him. Pardon? Yes, that's right, but it was a place where there was rebellion. Right now, even at this present time, does Satan have access to the heavenly throne room? Yes, see? So it is a place that has a tainting, if you will. The present heaven has a tainting in the place of being a place of rebellion, as being a place that is tainted by sin.

So God will create a new heavens and a new earth. Now, so here's the white throne judgment. You have this list, white means righteousness, in all these verses in the book of Revelation. I want you to add one more. There's a space right here in Revelation 20, verse 11, is one more place where white means righteousness. So here is the Great White Throne.

It's interesting, I understand that one of the Freemasons' recitations makes reference to, you know, we'll see you there at the White Throne Judgment. You do not want to be at the White Throne Judgment. That's a serious mistake. It's not a great meeting place. And it's not a place to come get your reward in any positive sense. So, that's a serious mistake. Now, let's take a look at the top of page 2 there.

Matthew 28.18, And Jesus came up and spoke to them, speaking to the disciples, saying, All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth.

And John 5, 21, 22, and 27, For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom He wishes. For not even the Father judges anyone, but He has given all judgment to the Son. And He gave Him authority to execute judgment because He is the Son of Man. So who's going to be on the throne at the White Throne Judgment? Jesus. Yeah. What these verses are telling us, He is the one who will have authority there. So the one sitting on the throne here is the Lord of Glory. Yeah?

Are believers going to be present at all? We're going to answer that very shortly, but that is an excellent question. That's a very good question. Did you hear what she said? Are believers going to be present at all? And we're going to answer that because that's a very good question.

So as we get down here, this, you know, from whose presence, Christ, from whose presence heaven and earth fled away, no place found for them. All the things that we spend our time on here. Skyscrapers, overpasses, you know, the clothes in the closet, everything, all gone. And so the loss of your car won't seem as big a problem, right? Yeah. So all the material universe is done away with, just gone. So even the space where they were before just disappears.

Now, in verse 12 and 13, which is the bottom of page 2, 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 now we're beginning to answer Jessica's question. 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 the death and Hades gave up their dead which were in them, and they were judged, every one of them, according to their deeds."

Here is the key thing. Notice what books are there. What's that? The Book of Life was there, okay? So that's one kind of book. That's not the only book, is it, right? What other books are there? The Book of Deeds or the Book of Works. Same idea. That's the other book that's there. Now, why do you need two books? And actually, what you're going to have here at the white throne, you've got the Book of Life. And whose names are in that? The believers, right? But guess what? Everybody who's there, Is their name in the Book of Life? No. As a matter of fact, what's going to happen is their name will not be there, which is why they're there.

That determines that they're there at the White Throne. In other words, really look at it, the Book of Life is there, to show, you know, are you saved or not saved? That's the reason for the Book of Life. The Book of Works is actually there for a different purpose, and we're going to be taking a look at that, but notice the emphasis on judging according to the deeds. Okay? Yeah? So I was thinking the other day, kind of interesting, that Hebrews chapter 11 is kind of the introduction to the Book of Life.

Yes, here are some saints, kind of a roll call of saints through the ages there. So here are these who are standing here, and the Greek has the dead. They're not the dead in Christ, they're just the dead. And the other things, great ones and small ones. You know, we have this term in our current culture and the ability to broadcast things instantly and electronically and have them show up all over the world. We have this term called celebrities. This will include celebrities as well as people or people would say, well, who was that? Big names, no names, but all of them there.

Now, part of the question that was asked in the middle of page three, there are two numbers. Number one there, those who believed both of this the church age and from the creation of mankind until the very end of the millennial kingdom, these will not be subject to this judgment. So there's the question, will any believers be there? There's no indication that any believers will be there. None whatsoever. Why would there not be any believers here at this judgment? Yeah, this would be a difficult thing to be present at.

But I thought we were co-reigning with Christ. We are. So why wouldn't we be there with Him? What's very interesting, let's ask this question. Can Christ be in more than one place at once? Yeah. And that's, I think, the answer to this circumstance. There's no indication that believers will be present here. Paul revealed in 1 Corinthians, we'll be judging angels. So we will have a place of judgment, but there's no indication that we have a place of judgment here. But that's a very good question, Bruce.

The first bullet, we know for certain that those of the church age are not included in this judgment because 2 Corinthians 5.8 and Philippians 1.23 tell us that for a church age believer to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord, but like Him. And believers are not to be judged here at this judgment. They have already been judged, not for condemnation, but for reward. We're not in this judgment present to help or assist the Lord, and we ourselves have already been judged, and our names are in the Book of Life.

Does the Bema Judgment happen prior to the White Throne Judgment? Yes. The answer is yes. The Bema Judgment happens prior to the White Throne Judgment. I'll even give it a number of years, 1,007 years. 1,007 years earlier. Okay? So you're saying before the tribulation period?

Yeah. Right at the time we are raptured, we will be with the Lord and the beam of judgment will be in place. Okay, and that beam of judgment is for that second sentence. 1 Corinthians chapter 3 verses 10-15, and that's referenced here in the third bullet. What's that? The beam of judgment takes place after we're taken up to be with the Lord.

And what's interesting is you look at these judgments, they don't seem to take time or happen in the context of time. Here's a white throne judgment and you'd think judging all these people would take a lot of time, right? Because they're going to go over all these things person by person. But time doesn't seem to be an issue. So it doesn't by itself seem to have the context of time like we know it.

Was this the same place where they said we knew you and he said I never knew you? That's actually at a different time and that's a judgment of Jews prior to the beginning of the millennium. Because the issue in the Sermon on the Mount and in all of Matthew is entrance to the kingdom. Isn't the reason the great white throne judgment won't take time is because Yeah, that time relates to things here on on planet Earth. Whereas this takes context in a place, your time doesn't seem to matter.

Yeah, actually an elective a couple years back on the Sermon on the Mount, and that's the passage you're talking about, and what I'll do is I'll email you that. kind of going through that passage. Because the issue in the Sermon on the Mount is entrance into the kingdom, and it's directed to Jews prior to the time of the millennium, at the end of the tribulation period. So the real question for the Jews that Jesus was putting forward is, are you getting into the kingdom? Remember, the Jews' assumption was, I'm Jewish, of course I'm getting into the kingdom. And he was saying, not so fast.

Number two here, those who were judged out of the tribulation period were sent directly into the lake of fire. So believers and those who were judged out of the tribulation period are the two groups that are not here. Aside from these two major groups, all the debt of humanity of all time will be at this judgment. Wealth and position won't matter. It won't matter if you've got all kinds of influence. You can even have a degree from a seminary and you'll be here.

Because that doesn't save anybody, right? I had a chance to read a pamphlet one time, it was a brief one, but it was written by a pastor who said, I was a pastor for 50 years and then I was saved. But it's possible that there are people who are pastors and not saved. It won't matter if a person died with the most toys, they still won't win.

Nationality and religion won't matter. There will be a great many who will gather before this great white throne that will have been very, very religious while on earth. Perhaps even sincere. This world may have even considered some of them as icons of religion. I would say unless something happens, the Dalai Lama will show up here. Icons of religion will show up here. Even being religious counts not one bit when it comes to eternal life. Only faith in Christ will save. Only believing. Page 4.

So verse 13 gives us some insights about the source of these dead who appeared before the great white throne. The sea gave up the dead which were in it. Death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them. In ancient times, there was a dread about dying at sea. And so I think that's why he makes a distinction here. Those who died at sea and those who died on land, it seems to make a distinction here. There was this great dread about dying at sea as if that was some of the worst kinds of fates.

Death and Hades give up their dead as well. These two entities are mentioned in Revelation chapter 1. In 118 we read that the glorified Lord Jesus Christ has the keys of death and Hades. Having keys of these means that Christ has exclusive authority of access to and control over death and Hades.

Death is the event of separation of the earthly body from the soul. And one of the things we continue to try to get across at Holly Hills is that as a general insight, when the Bible talks about death, death is looked upon as separation, both the Old Testament and the New Testament. It's not the end of something, it is a separation of soul and body. And it's also true as we were identified with Christ, we were separated from the law, the world, and the sin nature. So death as separation is a key insight here. Wasn't one of the living creatures dead?

I don't believe so. I'd have to take a look at that. I don't recall that. But let's take a look at that and we'll bring that up. Verse 14, then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And by the way, that's just one of the places you're wondering, what's the second death? Here's a passage that tells you that's what it is. It's the lake of fire. The last enemy to be abolished is death. If the last enemy to be abolished is death, what's happening here? Death is abolished for whom?

For believers, right? The unbelievers, they get the second death. The unbelievers get the second death here. What was their first death? This is a physical death. Now here is the second death, which is the lake of fire. So this first death, physical death, separates the soul from the earthly body. That separation is to Hades, the place of the dead. Here is the second death, which is the lake of fire. It's a permanent separation. And then in verse 15, I'm on page 5 here, top of page 5. And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

So in this verse, John comes back to the matter of these books, and so will we. The books are records, and they provide the opportunity for facts. They are factual, historical records of each person. Ever heard of a historical record that has an error?

Yeah, it happens. These won't. These won't have errors. It won't be an oops thought, you know? It was just some sort of bureaucratic bongo. I don't know why you're here, you know? Sorry about that, you know? We'll get it patched up, I hope. No, it's not like that, okay? None of these oopses. This has no oopses. No mistake.

Now, let's take a look at these books, starting in the Old Testament, in Exodus, and it gives references in Exodus, Deuteronomy, Psalms, Isaiah, Daniel, and then in other books outside of that. In the New Testament, there seems to turn a corner in the meaning and use of the books, and we'll take a look at that.

There are several references given here in the bullets, Luke, Philippians, Hebrews, and of course a number of them in Revelation. On the following page, on page 6, there is a table. Going through each of these, what's interesting is when I taught through Revelation back, I started in 2001 right after the 9-11 event, and we encountered this term, Book of Life, several different times. And interesting, as I came to it, I said, we won't address this in detail yet, because I wanted myself to have a chance to go through it in great detail and to look at what the various passages said. And so what I've done is summarize those in this chart.

Here is the cultural background for the term the Book of Life. in any particular city or designated population of ancient times, they would keep a list of those who were living citizens. And if someone died or moved away, their name was blotted out. But they kept an ongoing list of living citizens. And so That was kind of the cultural background. When you said book of life, everybody in that time understood what a book of life was, because it was kind of like the citizen's role.

And so starting from that idea, you look at Exodus 1714, for example, the top of the list, and its reference there is to physical life, people actually living physically. And that was the usual use of the term Book of Life in ancient times. As you go down the list, there is also a couple of places in the next column, or a few places in the next column, Millennial Life, those who are living during the Millennial Kingdom. And Psalms has a few passages that have actually reference to physical life here on Earth, just like we're living now, and living during the Millennial Kingdom. And so it's a matter of going through those passages and looking at the context of each one to say, how is this Book of Life terminology used?

In addition to that, I have reference in the passage to being blotted out or included. So there's a variation that way. So I looked at every single passage from that standpoint. In some cases, you notice there isn't any indication of either blotted out or included.

It's just simply a reference to the Book of Life. Once you get into the New Testament, the usage of the Book of Life changes. That's where it begins to be used in terms of having eternal life. And notice that all of them in the New Testament are used that way. Including this passage we're looking at here. and one that we'll see again in the next chapter in Revelation 21. So when we get to this passage here in Revelation, what is it talking about? They bring the book of life there, to this place of the white throne judgment, and it's there to show that people's names are not in it.

You're not among the list of those who have eternal life. That's why you're here. But the judgment isn't done just with that. Why? We have another set of books and that's to determine what eternal punishment will be in place. So the book of life is only to determine why you're here.

Yeah, you had a question? Question. Yeah. In the Old Testament you're referring to these areas called the millennial life. Right. As opposed to eternal life. Yes. people that were saved, but they are not co-reigning with Christ? It is actually both, because in some cases it's blotted out and you won't be in the Millennial Kingdom.

In other cases, it is in reference, and I think the last three that are listed there, it is in reference to those who are saved. But both of those, they're looking at the kingdom. And think about it for the Jews, and that's what the target audience is here. For the Jews, their thought is everything's about the kingdom. Everything's about the kingdom. Does the kingdom refer just to the I put in here the Millennial Kingdom as what it's specifically looking forward to, but what we find is that the Millennial Kingdom is in this present heavens and earth, and for the Jews, the kingdom actually continues into the new heavens and new earth, as we'll see shortly when we get into chapters 21 and 22. But we make the designation the Millennial Kingdom because that's where the kingdom begins, and it's right here on the present heavens and earth.

Now, let me go through a few more slides here. This is a white throne. The top part of it's been broken off, but it's an example of a judgment seat during the time. So when that was a term that John would use, they had an understanding of it. It was a place In this case, it was at a synagogue because, you know, we think of coming to church and hopefully that's not this place of punishment and condemnation. In New Testament times, a church is a place where you might also be fined and whipped. It was a place of not just where you came together to worship, but you might also be a place of judgment. And when the Romans came in, they weren't allowed to carry out death penalties, but in the synagogues they did carry out fines and whippings and other kinds of judgments under the law, just not the death penalty during the Roman era.

Here is, with it reconstructed using the parts that are available, how that throne might have looked. When John wrote white throne judgment, they understood. This is where the judge in the synagogue would sit and pronounce judgment for punishments. We talked about white meaning righteousness, and that's on your handout.

There are the passages. Here is, for example, the Dead Sea Scroll of Isaiah, the one that's in the best condition. And so you can imagine a scroll like this that has the Book of Life, the list of all those who basically have eternal life. First death is physical death, second death is a lake of fire. Okay. Now let's take a look. You have a supplement. Here is the mostly New Testament doctrine of proportional punishment.

And what this what this is to present is the second the second part of the other part. Hello? Tess? Tess? Okay, yeah. The second part of the White Throne Judgment is, one, you are here because your name is not in the Book of Life. See? You can't find it anywhere, okay?

But the other part, the other part is judgment according to works. And let's talk about, let's look at the bullets that we find there. The first one is actually an identification truth for unbelievers. We talk about the identification truths and take great joy in presenting them, but there is an identification truth for unbelievers, and that is that they are in their trespasses and sins. The things that they do, generated out of the sin nature for the unbeliever...

See, as a believer, you're in Christ, right? But the unbeliever is where? He's in his trespasses and sins. He's in them. Here's Ephesians 2, 1 through 3 and verse 5. Unbelievers are now dead in their trespasses and sins and transgressions. They're separated from God's life. And we find it in 1 Corinthians 15, 17, that is, without Christ's actual historical death and resurrection, he wrote, you are still in your sins. Jesus told the Pharisees, I said to you that you will die in your sins. Unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.

You're in them. Isn't that something? It's an identification truth that's often overlooked. But the unbeliever, they're stuck in the sins that they carry out. As they carry them out, they're still in them. Yeah. So you could say that you are either identified or separated. Yeah.

In other words, if you look at it, yeah, you're either in Christ or you're not, and that's a bad thing. That's a very precarious place to be, to be in your sins. So see, when Christ died for your sins, it wasn't just He took the penalty. Did He? Oh yes, He did. But the other thing is, is He took you out of the place of being in those sins.

That's what's often overlooked. Yeah. And also, that's an AORX camp faith issue, right? It's a point in time, so it's not a process. That's right. You're either one place or you're not. And it's not going to change what you have. And here's the interesting thing.

Here's Paul, who was writing to the Corinthian believers, and he had chapters and chapters about all the sins they were carrying out, but the very first chapter, what does he say? He says, By God's doing, because you believe, you are in Christ Jesus. So God did that. But the unbeliever, because he hasn't believed, is still in the sins. They're stuck in them. It is only God, by Christ's doing, it is only God who can take us out of that position of being in our sins.

Yeah? Do we know what language the names were written in the books? Okay, you asked the question, do we know what language the names are written in the books? That's a very good question. The only indications we have are from Hebrew and Greek. I don't know if I have an answer to that question. Yes. The eternal language? Yeah. Good question. I don't know that we have an answer to that. I get the impression that it will be understandable. Nobody's going to be saying, but wait a minute, I don't understand that. So now, I'm going to jump to the third bullet, God's wrath is now upon and will come upon unbelievers for their sins. So very interesting that you're in the sins, God's wrath is upon the sins, you're stuck there.

The unbelieving Gentile sins will be judged by the law of conscience, and the unbelieving Jew's sins judged by the law of Moses. Romans basically, you know, two and three have to spell out. In either case, it will be their sins as measured by a principle of law for which they will be condemned because they don't believe. And then the next bullet down, both believers and unbelievers are and will be judged on the basis of their deeds. The King James has works, which is fine. the believer for reward and the unbeliever for degree of condemnation and punishment.

We have several references there. Actually, when you give the total count, there are 50 passages that talk about people being judged, Old and New Testament, people being judged according to their deeds. And that's why a lot of people will get the impression, oh, I'm good enough to be saved, or I'm too bad for God to save me, or things like that. This judgment that is repeatedly in Scripture, even in the passage we're looking at today, about being judged according to their deeds, is not the judgment for salvation.

It is a judgment for reward, in the case of a believer, or punishment for an unbeliever. So the last bullet there, at the Great White Throne Judgment, which will only include unbelievers, Christ will judge on the basis of the absence of the unbelievers' names from the Book of Life, which is why they will be there. and why they will be headed for the Lake of Fire. He will also judge them on the basis of their works or deeds, the criteria for relatively or greater or lesser judgments and condemnations in the Lake of Fire.

The person who is basically nameless, but doesn't believe, will not have the same punishment as Adolf Hitler. Will they both be in the lake of fire? Yes. Adolf Hitler will pay for his sins. Just think about this. Christ paid for what sins? All of them. He paid for the sins of the whole world. Everybody. No exceptions.

Those who don't avail themselves of that All you've got to do is believe. But those who don't avail themselves of that are setting aside Christ's payment and essentially saying to God, I'll cover it myself. Believe me, you don't want to be in that position, okay? And that's the position here.

And this is not just hypothetical, it's actually very practical. I can testify it in my own life, I can testify it as I counsel with others. If you have ever had a problem where you have had either internally or expressed outward, or both, a great anger about an injustice, ever been in that place? Maybe you just felt it, maybe you expressed it, but a great anger at an injustice, what I have to tell people is, There is no injustice that will not be dealt with.

None. Absolutely none. Every single injustice, and there are a great many in this world that never get recognized, every single injustice will be dealt with by God absolutely without exception. The ones that people know about, the ones that people don't know about.

And they will be dealt in one of three places. They will be dealt with on the cross, They will be dealt with sometimes in life. Sometimes we look at it and say, well, that was justice. But sometimes it doesn't happen here. But that's why this White Throne Judgment ends up being a place where we recognize God is a God of justice, of absolute justice.

Every work, large and small, will be judged. because these people have not availed themselves of the grace through Jesus Christ. They've said, I don't want Jesus to pay for my sins, I want to pay for my own, which is the most foolish thing you could possibly imagine. Yeah, I'd rather pay for my own. And that's just inconceivable once you've come to understand it.

Yes? Oh, yeah, I have no idea, yes. Yeah, let's take somebody else. They may have been looked upon as this is a good guy, but they didn't believe. Will they be in the lake of fire? Yes. Will their punishment be the same as Hitler's? No. Now here's something interesting.

While this is consistently taught in scripture, this idea of proportional punishment for sins carried out, we're not given a detailed description of what those punishments are like in scripture. So that's one of those things where it's taught, You want the details? You're not going to get them, at least not from God's Word. Yeah? That's the thing, if you look at, there are, even in New Testament times, there were books out that described in detail, if you were a murderer, you got this punishment, and if you lied, you got this one, and went through all the different descriptions. It's interesting that the Bible itself does not go there. It consistently teaches about these punishments, but does not detail what they are.

But the thing that we can look at is God is absolutely a God of justice. And getting this fixed in our head is really valuable and important. I've shared openly, in my earlier years I had a huge rage problem. And coming to grips with this was really important. in recognizing, hey look, God's going to take care of it. I do not have to try to make justice during my lifetime by stepping out in these various ways. And so a part of it is really recognizing what God's doing, who He is, He will deal with it. And He will deal with it with a level and kind of justice that will be absolutely fitting and appropriate. But what Adolf Hitler and his henchmen did, and I give that as just one example because there have been cruelties all throughout time, that will have its consequence.

Yes. Pardon? No. Yeah, it will for every single one be separation. And so though there are matters of degree, nobody that's here at the White Throne Judgment is going to get out alive, so to speak. They are going to experience that second death. And it's not going to be a good place, although there will be degrees.

And those who are worthy of greater judgment will receive it. Jesus said eleven times in the Gospels things like, it'll be worse for this one on the day of judgment than for that. This one will get the greater punishment over that one. And it's interesting as I look through the Bible, although the Bible teaches this doctrine of proportional punishment, it is only Jesus himself who will be the judge who makes those kinds of statements. It'll be worse for this one than for that.

Isn't that interesting? He's the one who knows. He's the one who will judge. Yeah, I think you brought that up. One thing that I never understood when they talked about, well, they talked about obviously Gentiles and Jews is one category. And they talked about different cities like Babylon and Jerusalem and things like that. And then Jesus talked about one city would have greater justice than another city.

But a city is nothing but people. It's a geographical relationship that's going to be destroyed. So what is he referring to? Does that mean that if you're a member of a particular city or a particular nation, that you're going to receive some of the judgment from that city? He's making reference to passages where Jesus said, it'll be worse for this city than for that one, for example.

And I think what you have to look at is, what's in this list of works? It is everything. And among those will be, and it's individual by individual, isn't it? Among those will be that that person's participation in this city's error. where they start cursing the Jews.

And then if you use, extrapolate on that, what you just said, then if you're a member of the United States, you could receive the judgment just because you're a member of this country. Yes, but let's also look at something else. Because these works are individual, it will come down to the question of what was your responsibility in that? So in other words, kind of like the remnant, so the people who lived in Jerusalem, even though Jerusalem was judged during Isaiah's time in Jeremiah, there was a certain number of people that escaped that judgment. Yeah, there's still individual consideration.

It's not a blanket look, but if you look at it, did this city err? Yes, this city erred, or this country erred. So you look at the group, but as they come to the judgment, It'll be the question of what was their individual participation in what this whole city is guilty of. Obviously, for example, in our own country, we have leaders that have a part, you know, and people have been elected that make decisions. They obviously take a greater responsibility for decisions that are made that are ungodly. To the extent that citizens participate in that, they also have a responsibility. But the judgment is still by individual works, even though the summary by city fits.

I was going to make reference to what you said, that people that are in Congress and the government officials that decide and vote against these things, would also be like teachers and preachers, that those who are, if you are, what you're teaching to these people and leading these people one way or another, if you're teaching this to, if you teach non-belief to those, you will have a greater response. Yeah, and we have people who are, as far as I can tell, I would say people who seem to be more interested in making money, the televangelists, who are more interested in making money than they are in the gospel. And I think some of them will have to answer for that, for their great influence for evil, ultimately. and manipulation of people, having people give money to basically line their pockets, that's going to cost them. And just like the Scripture keeps reinforcing, and we saw it here in this passage, they will be judged according to their deeds.

And I look at it, you know, do I have things that the Lord has to judge? Yes. First of all, I've availed myself of the cross, and the Lord himself took the penalty. But for those who will not take that, the lake of fire has a penalty that will never end. And the evils that they've carried out, whether recognized by people or not, the evils that have been carried out, there's something they will pay for because they wouldn't let Jesus' payment cover them. And the difference is, did they believe or not? So what about it that some of these evangelists and preachers that are following this, and at some point in time they go, oh my gosh, that wasn't what I, what I taught for 50 years was an error.

Yeah. My motive was wrong. Yes, yeah. You know, it is quite possible for someone to believe late in life. Here's the thief on the cross, you know. How long were you saved? Oh, you know, a few hours maybe, you know. My dad's mother, so my grandmother on my dad's side, lived well into her 80s, was only a believer the last three weeks.

So a great deal of opportunity lost at a minimum. and things carried out. And I think each one of us can look back and say, boy, I sure wish I hadn't have done that. And I think there's a couple of different things. To the extent that we walk in sin now, there is in this life actual death for the believer.

That's Romans 6.23. The wages that the sin nature pays is death. So there is a consequence here. There's opportunity lost, and there is a death even for the believer.

In addition to which, for the believer, at whatever stage they believe, there is also the Bema Judgment, where we'll go to be before the Lord, and only what's done in righteousness with His life carrying it out in and through me, only what's done with that by His life is rewardable. And so as you read the last part of that, there are those who will walk through heaven's gates, and I say this obviously with some tongue-in-cheek, naked and smoking. They'll have nothing to say for... Will they be in heaven? Yes. But they will have nothing to say for what life has been here on planet Earth.

It's kind of amazing. And that's why the encouragement of, you know, there is an eternal reward. Not just do good things, but walk in fellowship with the Lord, and there's a reason for it. The Apostle John writes, he says, you know, do things so that you have a full reward. Don't lose what you could have.

Right. Yeah. Real quick. It's interesting to me that people, I guess they use it as an excuse that Mike Rosen was a very intelligent man, also Jewish, but not a messianic Jew. He said and said it several times that I've heard that he believes that it's just like a dog alongside the road.

When you die, that's it. And no more. It's hard for me to see how he could believe that as a Jewish person, you know, because of the That's Sadducee teaching, by the way. The Sadducees died out as a group, but there are still some that carry that on and don't recognize anything beyond this life. So that's Sadducee teaching, that you're here on this planet and when you're done, you're done. You do not exist.

When God breathes, God who is eternal, who breathes into a soul and makes it alive, that becomes eternal as well, right? And so it's either going to go someplace when you die. It's either up or down. Yeah, souls do not terminate. Souls don't terminate. Souls separate. We need to be done here because we're way past the second buzzer.

But yeah, lots of very real and intense subjects here. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you that you reveal these things, not because we want people to have nightmares and horrors and fears, but because it's important that we understand the reality. And while certainly We don't want to be overburdened and depressed by it. At the same time, we do want to have this perspective as you would have us have it. So we thank you for your amazing and marvelous mercy and grace. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.