I also saw the dead – Revelation 20:12

BeingsPreviously: Earth and heaven fled – Revelation 20:11b

The scripture

Rev. 20:12 – I also saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne … (HCSB)

I also saw the dead

Evidently these are unbelievers of all time summoned to final judgment. They are “dead” in three ways. First, they are spiritually dead, separated from God by their unbelief. Second, they are physically dead, having died and now having been physically resurrected to stand in judgment. Third, they are everlastingly and irreversibly dead; once their judgment is complete, they are cast into the lake of fire where they experience unending separation from their Creator and are shackled with the reality that God has given them what they desire: the freedom to live independently of Him for eternity.

John describes them as “the great and the small.” They are the famous and the obscure; the mighty and the frail; the elderly and the young; the educated and the unschooled; the peerless and the impoverished; the gifted and the ordinary; the blunt and the arcane; the religious and the atheistic; the moral and the decadent; the violent and the gentle; the arrogant and the fearful.

God is no respecter of persons. He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous (Matt. 5:45). Christ’s offer of salvation is open to Jew and Greek, male and female, slave and free. The kingdom of heaven is populated with people every tongue, people, kindred, and nation, and there is equal representation before the great white throne.
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Sheol and the afterlife

Woman is walking towards g

This is the second in a series of articles about the afterlife and the unseen realm.

Is there conscious existence beyond the grave? Where did Old Testament saints go when they died? Do the wicked really suffer forever in hell? Should you believe in ghosts?

These are important questions about the afterlife and the unseen world. Most religions deal in some way with these questions and appeal to a variety of authorities to provide answers.

This series explores the manner in which God’s Word describes life beyond the grave and the unseen world. In this column we examine the Hebrew term Sheol.  In future columns we address Hades, Gehenna, Tartarus, and other terms.
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Earth and heaven fled – Revelation 20:11b

Previously: A great white throne – Revelation 20:11

The scripture

Rev. 20:11b – Earth and heaven fled from His presence, and no place was found for them. (HCSB)

Earth and heaven fled

John remarks, “Earth and heaven fled from His presence, and no place was found for them” (v. 11b). The idea of earth and heaven – the created order for mankind’s habitation – fleeing from their Creator seems to personify the passing away of “the first heaven and the first earth,” to be replaced with “a new heaven and a new earth” (Rev. 21:1).

The earth’s wicked stand in final judgment before God. They are about to be cast into hell for their sins. The redeemed already have been glorified. Therefore, God is putting an end to sin – and with it, an end to the consequences of sin in the created order. This has been His plan since eternity past and He has communicated it to us throughout human history.

The Fall results not only in death for Adam and Eve and their descendants; it results in a curse upon the earth (Gen. 3:17-19). Even so, before that curse is pronounced, the Lord promises a Redeemer – a virgin-born Savior who crushes the head of Satan and ultimately reverses the effects of the Fall (Gen. 3:15).

Throughout the Old Testament, we see several hundred prophecies of this promised Messiah and learn that He is to be born of a virgin in Bethlehem Eprathah (Isa. 7:14; Micah 5:2); that He is divine and will establish an everlasting kingdom (Isa. 9:6-7); that He is to suffer an excruciating death but conquer the grave (Ps. 16:9-11; 22:12-18); that in His suffering and death He is to bear the penalty for our sins (Isa. 53:3-6); that He is to  heal the broken-hearted (Isa. 61:1-2); and that He is to judge people and restore the earth to its sinless perfection (Isa. 66). We see the prophecies of the Suffering Servant fulfilled in Jesus of Nazareth.
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Ten biblical truths about the afterlife

This is the first in a series of articles about the afterlife and the unseen realm.

Three-year-old Colton Burpo had a near-death experience (NDE) while on the operating table. When it was over, he described his “three minutes in heaven” in vivid detail, including encounters with Samson, John the Baptist, and Jesus, who had sea-blue eyes and owned a rainbow-colored horse.

Colton’s father, a Wesleyan pastor, believes the lad’s experience was real because he shared it with “the simple conviction of an eyewitness.”

You may read Colton’s story in Heaven is for Real: A Little Boy’s Astounding Story of His Trip to Heaven and Back, which ruled the best-seller list for 44 weeks. Millions of people have devoured the book, watched the youngster’s appearances on TV shows, and viewed the major motion picture based on his story.

Less popular but equally intriguing are books about NDEs in which people “die” for brief periods and experience the horrors of hell. To Hell and Back by cardiologist Maurice Rollins, for example, tells us that hellish NDEs have to be recorded and verified immediately after the person “returns” or the horrifying memories are repressed.

In any case, stories like Colton’s appeal to our desire to know more about the afterlife.

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A great white throne – Revelation 20:11

Previously: The lake of fire – Revelation 20:10

The scripture

Rev. 20:11 – Then I saw a great white throne and One seated on it. Earth and heaven fled from His presence, and no place was found for them.  (HCSB)

A great white throne

In contrast to the heavenly “thrones” upon which people sit and from which they are given authority to rule (verse 4), John now describes “a great white throne” upon which God sits to judge the wicked standing before Him. Specifically, the One seated on the throne is Jesus, to whom the Father has given all judgment (John 5:22). John describes the throne as great and white to indicate the purity of Christ and the awesome weight His judgments carry.

John sees a similar throne in heaven in Revelation 4, but the circumstances are vastly different.

The One seated on the throne in Revelation 4 is surrounded by a rainbow, indicative of God’s covenant promises; but the throne in Revelation 20 is stark and singular, for there are no further hopes to fulfill.

The throne in Revelation 4 is surrounded by 24 elders that cast their crowns before Him and declare His worthiness; but the throne in Revelation 20 stands alone, for there is no reward to share with the wicked standing there, and no praise from their lips.

The throne in Revelation 4 features lightning and thunder as warnings of God’s power and as invitations to repent; but the throne in Revelation 20 is silent and eerily calm, for the end of grace has come.

The throne in Revelation 4 witnesses the seven-fold Spirit of God, which bears testimony of Christ and woos people to turn to Him for salvation; but the throne in Revelation 20 has no flaming torches and no still, small voices.

The throne in Revelation 4 has before it a glassy sea to indicate heavenly peace and security; but the throne in Revelation 20 is barren of such harbors because the wicked have rejected the Person who offers them peace.

The throne in Revelation 4 receives thunderous praise and joyful exultation from heavenly creatures and redeemed people; but the throne in Revelation 20 receives only silence because the ones standing before it have no praise to give and no defense to offer.

There is something stark and terrifying about the throne in Revelation 20, as we are about to discover.
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