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In 1938, a Dupont scientist by the name of Roy Plunkett had been experimenting on developing a better coolant gas when he accidentally discovered a slippery, durable solid substance that covered his experiment container. He gave it the name tetraflouroethylene, but we know it better as Teflon. A number of years followed before a French inventor developed the process to cover his wife’s cooking pans with Teflon. Since that time, the product has become a household name. It’s so synonymous with the capacity to keep from sticking, that the name is used as an adjective to describe some people. The Gambino crime boss, John Gotti, had a penchant for avoiding criminal charges. He bore the name “Teflon Don” to convey his ability to wriggle out of facing justice. The day came when the Teflon Don image crumbled as Gotti entered prison after failing to shake racketeering charges. Judgment finally caught up with him.
Had they known of the future product, believers living in Asia Minor may have had the feeling that their oppressors were made of Teflon. They suffered while their oppressors went free. Economic loss, alienation from the community, and even death because of the gospel did not bring outcries from the public against government perpetrators or from the government against public perpetrators. Injustices against believers took place with no justice in sight. Oppressors seemed to be made of Teflon.
On the contrary, that’s one assurance found in Revelation. No one wears Teflon before the judgment throne of God. The martyrs cried under the throne, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, will You refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” (6:10). Subsequently, the Church received assurance that every act against the people of God will be properly judged by our Lord.
Yet the picture of judgment is much larger than this. John shows us that ultimately, judgment is about eternal justice before God and not simply addressing temporal issues affecting believers. As the apostle weaves the story of redemptive history, he takes us through the trials of life, temporal judgments, global opposition to the gospel and the church, distinguishing marks of both believers and unbelievers until the time that Christ returns triumphantly as King of kings and Lord of lords. Then judgment begins. Peter tells us, “For it is time for judgment to begin with the household of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?” (1 Pet. 4:17) John seems to expand on that statement by giving us a picture of the universality of the Day of Judgment. Each of us will stand before God in judgment. Only those whose names are written from the foundation of the world in the Lamb’s book of life will know joy in judgment. What does the Day of Judgment pose for us? Let’s consider this passage under three headings: the Judge, the judged, and the judgment.
We’ve already seen judgment language throughout Revelation. Chapter six calls it “the great day of their wrath” in which none can stand (6:17). Chapter ten refers to it as the time when “the mystery of God is finished” (10:7). Chapter eleven pictures it as the sounding of the seventh trumpet and declaration of the third woe, when the time comes “for the dead to be judged, and… to reward Your bond-servants the prophets and the saints and those who fear Your name, the small and the great, and to destroy those who destroy the earth” (11:14-18). Chapter fourteen reveals it as the time when “the Lamb was standing on Mount Zion,” and the angel announces, “Fear God, and give Him glory, because the hour of His judgment has come” (14:1-7). This chapter also refers to it as the time when those worshiping the beast will “drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is mixed in full strength in the cup of His anger; and he will be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever” (14:9-11). The image of the wine press being trodden from the harvest of unbelievers gathered from the earth closes out the chapter (14:17-20). Heaven resounds with praise to the Lord in chapter nineteen, “Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God; because His judgments are true and righteous; for He has judged the great harlot who was corrupting the earth with her immorality, and He has avenged the blood of His bond-servants on her…Hallelujah! Her smoke rises up forever” (19:1-3). The chapter ends with the beast and false prophet thrown in the lake of fire (19:20), and that continues with Satan thrown into the lake of fire in chapter 20:10.
Then John gives one of the most powerful yet succinct statements in all of Scripture regarding judgment. Every word weighs upon the mind with the scene of the Day of Judgment. He begins with the Judge on His throne.
As his vision continues, John writes, “Then I saw a great white throne.” Some interpreters, particularly in the dispensational tradition, identify this “great white throne” as the place where only unbelievers are judged, in distinction from “the judgment seat of Christ” before which only Christians shall stand (2 Cor. 5:10). In that tradition, four different judgments are identified. However, adding various days of judgment doesn’t fit well with either John’s perspective on judgment—that has a solitary judgment day—or with the overall teaching of Scripture. In Romans 14:10, we’re told, “For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God.” Paul addresses believers in the preceding verses and then identifies believers and unbelievers in the ones that follow (cf. 14:7-10; 11-12). Jesus taught that all men will stand before Him in judgment. “But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left” (Matt. 24:31-33).
So the point that John makes by “a great white throne,” demonstrates that this is the Day of Judgment for all men—believers and unbelievers. The “great white throne” is synonymous with the judgment seat of Christ and the judgment seat of God. The universality of His judgment is shown by “the great and the small” standing before His throne.
More so, John wants us to get a feel for the throne that he saw. When he cannot fully describe something or when he has nothing earthly with which to compare it, John typically uses the adjective “great.” Does that imply an enormous size of the throne? Or does it describe its distinction as the only throne of judgment? He seems to convey the idea of majesty by the term. John is struck by the majestic appearance of this solitary throne before which all of humanity stands. Before it are the multitudes; yet the throne is “great,” not the multitudes.
The color “white” points to the purity and holiness of this throne. There is no hint of injustice or ill-motives or negligence or unrighteousness in the judgments exercised by this throne.
And it is a “throne,” the place of authority. The throne is introduced in 1:4 and repeatedly used throughout Revelation to emphasize God’s authority as Creator and Sovereign over all creation. His throne requires justice in His righteous rule, and provides sufficient power to carry it out.
In the opening vision of heaven, John saw “One sitting on the throne” (4:2). He repeats this identity of the Lord God throughout the book in typical Jewish reverence for the holy name of God. Now John sees “Him who sat upon it.” He sits on the throne. He is never unnerved by the rebellion of the nations. The psalmist writes of the Sovereign’s perception of the nations in uproar and in defiance, “He who sits in the heavens laughs” (Psa. 2:4). The divine repose shows that He confidently rules the nations and just as confidently, judges every man according to his deeds.
It is at just this point that we wonder: is it God the Father on the throne or the Lord Jesus Christ? The answer is “Yes.” John has used the image of One sitting on the throne to refer to the Father throughout the book. Other passages refer to God the Father as Judge and still others refer to Jesus Christ as Judge.
Peter wrote that the Father is the “One who impartially judges according to each one’s work” (1 Pet. 1:17). James adds, “There is only one lawgiver and Judge, the One who is able to save and destroy” (4:12). Paul refers to “God’s righteous judgment” (2 Thes. 1:5).
Yet, Jesus declared that the Father “gave Him authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son of Man” (John 5:27). Peter taught Cornelius and his household in Caesarea that Jesus Christ “is the One who has been appointed by God as Judge of the living and the dead” (Acts 10:42). Paul told the skeptics at Mars Hill, God “has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead” (Acts 17:31).
Herman Bavinck perceptively wrote, “Scripture repeatedly attributes this judgment to the Father…Still he accomplishes this work by Christ, to whom all judgment has been given, whom he has appointed as judge… and who will therefore summon all human beings before his judgment seat and judge them according to what they have done” [The Last Things: Hope for this World and the Next, 140]. How fitting that the Son of God who became one of us, lived a sinless life, died an atoning death, rose victorious from the grave, and has been proclaimed among the nations through the gospel, that He be the Judge. He rightly judges all of those whom He has redeemed, parceling rewards according to His good pleasure. But He also rightly judges all that have rejected His atoning death and the sufficiency of His sacrifice for their sins [cf. Anthony Hoekema, The Bible and the Future, 256, that spurred my thinking on this point]. “The judgment will mean the total subjugation of all his enemies, and the completion of his kingdom, after which he will deliver the kingdom to God the Father (I Cor. 15:24)” [Hoekema, 256].
John’s description of our Lord on His throne overwhelms the senses. He saw “Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them.” As grand and massive as earth and heaven are in our eyes, they will flee from the presence of Christ on His throne! Let that soak in for a moment. We rightly marvel at the grandeur of the earth and the heavens. Yet not even the biggest and grandest things that our eyes have beheld can stand before the face of our God on His throne! Yet there is a reason for this on the Day of Judgment. The creation itself was marred by the fall of man. When sin entered the world it affected the cosmos. That’s why Paul writes about creation being “subjected to futility,” groaning and suffering the pains of childbirth while waiting for the final application of redemption to the whole creation (Rom. 8:18-25). Peter tells us that “the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up” (2 Pet. 3:10). Jesus calls it “the regeneration when the Son of Man will sit on His glorious throne…” (Matt. 19:28). Isaiah writes, “For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former things will not be remembered or come to mind” (65:17). Peter summarizes, “We are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells” (2 Pet. 3:13).
The earth and the heaven flee from God’s presence, “and no place was found for them.” What does this mean? George E. Ladd writes, “Therefore, before the new redeemed order can be inaugurated, God’s judgment must fall upon the old order; but this judgment is not one of destruction but the prelude to re-creation…the end of this judgment upon the old order is not its final destruction but the emergence of a new order” [A Commentary on the Revelation of John, 272; I found Ladd’s full explanation to be exceptional and helpful]. Augustine in the fourth century agreed: “For it will be by a transformation rather than by a wholesale destruction that this world of ours will pass away” [Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture: Revelation, XII, 344]. Andrew of Caesarea concurred (6th C.) concerning the totality of this transformation in every detail, “And there will be found no longer any place for change” [345].
He actually introduces the opening statement of the next chapter by this declaration. “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there was no longer any sea.” The Day of Judgment is the culmination of redemption, the re-ordering of everything in absolute submission to the Creator, the endless display of the glory of God without interruption or denigration; it is the divine, eternal recovery of everything lost and marred in the fall. The effectiveness of the redemptive work of Jesus Christ the Lord, seated on the throne, accomplishes this.
With economy of words, John offers the most sobering picture: all of the dead standing before the throne, being judged out of the books opened before them. Who is being judged?
You realize the irony of the statement: “I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne.” We’ve already encountered similar irony in a much grander fashion: “I saw…a Lamb standing, as if slain” (5:6). An earlier statement offers a hint of what is transpiring. “The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were completed.” (20:5). John pictures the resurrection of the dead—believers and unbelievers, standing before the throne. It is the certainty that when this life is over, the physical body decays while the soul of the believer is with Christ (2 Cor. 5:8), and the soul of the unbeliever, separated from God, awaits the Day of Judgment. Our Lord told of the day when “all who are in the tombs will hear His voice, and will come forth; those who did good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment” (John 5:28-29). So, what John sets forth is the resurrection of life for believers and the resurrection of judgment for unbelievers. Jesus pictured this in Matthew 25:31-33 when all the nations or peoples are gathered before Him to be separated as sheep and goats. Paul taught this resurrection of all men by stating that every knee would bow before Christ and every tongue would confess Him as Lord; that includes believers and unbelievers (Rom. 14:11; Phil. 2:10-11). In other words, there is the bodily resurrection at the Day of Judgment. Believers receive glorified bodies that are fitted for heaven while unbelievers receive bodies fitted for eternal destruction.
John helps us understand the universality of this resurrection to judgment by the phrase, “the great and the small.” None are excluded. No “Teflon Dons” will exist on the Day of Judgment. Though men will long for a place to hide, the omniscient Lord will gather all before His searching gaze.
A number of interpreters indicate that this judgment is only for unbelievers. However, the statement, “the great and the small,” plus the opening of “the book of life” for those redeemed by Christ, indicates that this is universal judgment. There would be no need to open “the book of life” for the unbelieving. Martyn Lloyd-Jones said of this passage, “…it does seem to be clear that, on this great day, believers and unbelievers will stand together, and judgment will be pronounced out of these records” [Great Doctrines of the Bible: the Church and Last Things, vol. 3, 244]. “And the sea gave up the dead which were in it.” The sea claimed believers and unbelievers alike. Ancients considered it irreverent to not be buried, so those lost at sea had been denied the dignity of burial. Their bodies became food for the creatures of the sea [cf. Simon Kistemaker, NTC: Revelation, 547-548]. But ultimately, the sea cannot hold the dead when God commands it to give forth its prey. Neither can Death and Hades because Christ, as the one that has conquered death by His resurrection and is now, alive forevermore, has “the keys of death and of Hades” (1:18). “And death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them.” Death and Hades are viewed with temporary powers that hold the dead until God commands the day of resurrection [Kistemaker, 548]. Then, for believers, the triumphant taunt is complete: “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” (1 Cor. 15:55).
“And books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; 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 death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, everyone of them according to their deeds.” With the books opened, nothing is hidden. The “deeds” of men—whether actions, thoughts, or words, do not escape the detailed examination and judgment of Him sitting on the throne. The metaphorical language of “books were opened,” implies that the consciences and inner recesses of the mind are exposed. Those professing to be Christians, yet not in reality, will not be able to hide behind their pretensions. Those spurning the gospel time and again will see the justice of God’s judgment for their rejection of Christ. Every law broken, every sin committed, every failure to pursue the will of God, and every defiant thought against the gospel comes to light at judgment.
“Well,” someone may say, “I don’t believe in a final judgment.” That doesn’t matter whether you believe it or not. Final judgment will come; and none can hide; none can escape standing before the throne of Him before whom earth and heaven flee.
From the time that God judged Adam and Eve for their sin in the Garden, final judgment has loomed before the human race. Often, God exercises temporal judgment against nations and people. Such acts of judgment can awaken the conscience to understand the seriousness of treating God as unholy or unimportant. Jesus warned, “Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matt. 10:38)/ That is precisely what John describes.
Most scholars consider the books to be used metaphorically, at least the multiple books that contain the deeds of men. It is “a direct allusion to the courtroom scene in Daniel 7,” where the Ancient of Days took His seat on the throne, “and myriads upon myriads were standing before Him; the court sat, and the books were opened” [Dennis Johnson, Triumph of the Lamb, 298; quote from Dan. 7:9-10]. “And the books were opened…and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds.” He is not establishing a works-oriented salvation but rather the record of men’s deeds demonstrate their failure to obey the Law of God and God’s justice in judging them. The God that created the world also commanded obedience to His Law. The creature’s existence relates directly to the Creator’s purpose; that of living totally to His glory, perfectly conforming to His will. Yet we’ve all sinned and fallen short of His glory (Rom. 3:23). “The books” unpack the details of thought, word, and deed—intentional sins and sins of omission.
Nothing is more sobering than to realize that God holds us accountable for every idle thought, idle word, and careless deed. “And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do” (Heb. 4:13). Justice will be meted out according to the measure of our offence against God—a holy God who has nothing to do with sin; whose eyes are too pure to behold sin. Dare we play lightly with this reality? Who of us can stand before the searching gaze of the omniscient God?
But there is another book beside the books that record our deeds: “and another book was opened, which is the book of life… And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.” The only thing that stands between any of us and the lake of fire is our name written in the Lamb’s book of life. In 13:8, John tells us that the book was written “from the foundation of the world.” He calls it, more precisely, “the book of life of the Lamb who has been slain.” In 17:8, he reminds us that all of those dwelling on the earth will bear the mark of the beast except the one whose name was written in the book of life from the foundation of the world. This book alludes to two wonderful truths. First, that a name was written before the world’s foundation points to election; and election highlights the grace of God in salvation. Second, it is the Lamb’s book of life, so it points to redemption; and redemption highlights the gracious provision of Christ to bear God’s judgment for us at the cross.
The juxtaposition of the two books puts all men in condition of deserving wrath. Our deeds—all of them—are recorded in the books. But the book of life declares the deliverance of the redeemed, even though we deserve God’s wrath. Is your name in the Lamb’s book of life?
The sentence at judgment, for those whose names are not written in the Lamb’s book of life, is the lake of fire. “And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.” John calls this “the second death.” Those redeemed by Christ die only once—physically. Those who refuse the gospel, who refuse to repent and believe in Jesus Christ die twice—physically and spiritually. I do not know what all is involved in “the lake of fire.” But this much I do understand of it: it is an unending death and destruction away from the mercy and kindness of God. It is the intensity of divine wrath justly administered against all who refuse to trust the Lamb of God.
Judgment is never an enjoyable subject. For the reality is that each of us deserves the wrath of God. Only the great mercy of God shown to us in Christ’s death on our behalf spares us the wrath of God. Is your name written in the Lamb’s book of life?
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