Dreadfulness Last Judgement — E.A. Johnston

The Universality of the Great White Throne Judgment

Some say that the righteous shall not stand at the Great White Throne judgment mentioned in Revelation 20, but they will appear at a separate judgment for believers only. But this modern theory goes against Holy Scripture, and I will prove today, friends, that every mother's son, saved and unsaved, shall stand before the Great White Throne, and the dreadfulness of this last judgment should not be lessened by two different judgments on two different locations at two different times.

For God should judge the entire world in the most public and solemn manner. And on that great and terrible day, the whole world will be brought into judgment to stand before Christ Jesus as He sits in majesty on a Great White Throne.

You will be there, friend. Your loved ones will be there. Everyone you ever came in contact with during your life will be standing there with a point of finger at you and say, Why didn't you tell me about Jesus?

Every human who ever lived will stand in that great crowd on that day to be a participant and a witness to that grand decise where books will be opened, lives will be revealed, and what was done in secret shall be revealed as every life is brought beneath the intense scrutiny of God's Holy Spirit.

Humanity Summoned Before the Final Court

This great courtroom scene will be jam-packed with humankind from every civilization and every generation. The antediluvians will stand there who drowned in the flood. The inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah will stand there as examples of the ungodly.

The Ninevites who repented at the preaching of Jonah will stand there as a testimony. Every martyr who died for Christ and the sake of the Gospel will stand there for all the world to see and bear testimony.

There will be a dreadfulness to the last judgment unequaled in history. It will be one of the most awful, solemn things that ever occurred where the presence of the One on that throne is so great that even the earth and heaven flee away.

The books will contain the evidence. The angels will be bailiffs. And if I may so speak, the devil will be the prosecution in that heavenly courtroom scene. Cases will be reviewed. Evidence will be presented.

The Book of Life and Judgment According to Works

There'll be no rush or hurry, and there is no jury. One singular omission determines one final destiny. You are either written in the Book of Life or you are not written there. Those whose names are written in that Book of Life are justified and not condemned.

Those whose name is not found written in the Book of Life will be cast into the lake of fire. The judge of all the earth sits there in review with eyes of fire and shall not the judge of all the earth do right.

Every man will be judged according to their works, whether good or evil. The righteous will be rewarded for their works or they will suffer loss. The unsaved will be presented with all the evidence of God's witness in their life where they will be without excuse to turn to God and believe on His Son.

Their life of rebellion to God and their rejection to the Christ will be proved and demonstrated beyond a shadow of a doubt to prove they are guilty and deserve the sentencing of the law in eternal damnation.

Books will be opened on that day. A book of one's biography of every action, word, and thought and the motive behind each one. The other book opened is the Word of God for that which God gave man for the rule of his actions while in this life shall be then made the rule of their judgment as their life is held up against the strictness and severity of God's law.

Public Vindication and Rewards for the Saints

But God will take care of His own on that day. God will honor His saints in the most public manner before all the angels and before all mankind. They each will be publicly acquitted, commended, and crowned in front of the entire world.

There is no secret society with a secret ceremony but an open public record with spotlights on it for all the world to see like a great graduation ceremony with diplomas handed out. So will there be rewards of recognition for service rendered to the king.

For the saved, there'll be a time of great celebration and great jubilation. Applause will be heard. Songs will be sung as rewards are handed out. The Hallelujah Chorus will be singing as you receive your rewards for faithful service to King Jesus.

The Believer's Reward and Loss at Christ's Judgment

You will hear your master say as his Lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant. Thou hast been faithful over a few things. I will make thee ruler over many things. Enter thou into the joy of the Lord.

For we have this record of that day for the believer as seen in 1 Corinthians chapter 3 which states, For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ now. If any man build upon this foundation, gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble, every man's work shall be made manifest.

For the day shall declare it because it shall be revealed by fire and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.

If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss, but he himself shall be saved. Yet so is by fire. Oh, what a time this will be, friends, for the redeemed in Christ on that day. What a tremendous joy it will be to receive our rewards for the gold, silver, and precious stones of a life lived unto Christ in the gospel.

There is no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus. This is like a flower show at the county fair where rewards are handed out for excellence. But oh, the sadness for the believer who misspent his life, who has to bend over and scoop up the ashes of a wasted life and press them into those nail-pierced hands.

Though he'll suffer loss, nevertheless, he is saved. Yet so is by fire. But to the unsaved there'll be a time of trembling before that awful throne of justice. There'll be flashes of lighting and ground-shaking peals of thunder as lives are exposed and black sins are dragged out like vipers by the tail.

The Condemnation of the Unrepentant

Instead of songs, there'll be sorrow. Instead of cheers of well done, there'll be condemning accusations. Backed by full evidence of guilt, no crime against the sovereign will go unnoticed or be omitted.

No sin will be covered up. The devilry and hell of one's life will be exposed for all to see. Mouths will be stopped, for we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before God.

It is only right that the condemned should be judged and condemned by the very person they have rejected, the Lord Christ, who shed his own blood to give them an opportunity to be saved, who many times called and invited them to come to him for pardon of sin, that they might be saved.

But now they'll be condemned by the very one whose salvation they spurned, whose wooing offers they neglected, and the nail-pierced Christ they rejected, whose blood they trampled and despised, whose many calls they refused, and whose own sins nailed him to that bloody tree.

The bitter tears of anguish they'll be released on that day will be deafening. The cries of regret and remorse which fall upon deaf ears for justice will be strict and severe to them on that terrible day as they stand there before that great white throne and their lives are exposed and reviewed.

The heat of that burning lake behind them will flash upon their guilty souls. Then finally the verdict is read, Guilty! Take them away, ye that work iniquity, I never knew you. The guilty rebels will be bound hand and foot by strong angels and carried to and cast into that boiling lake of fire.

Revelation's Vision of the Final Judgment

Listen to this incredible scene, friend, of the final judgment day from the book of Revelation in chapter 20. Listen to God's word. 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.

And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them, and they were judged every man according to their works, and death and hell were cast into the lake of fire.

This is the second death, and whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. If you are not born again, then you are hell-bound, and you are in need of a Savior from sin in the person of Christ Jesus who is the only remedy and refuge for sin.

Salvation Through Another's Righteousness

You cannot stand at the last judgment in your own merits. You must stand in the merits of another. Listen, friend, let me close with the following story. I am reminded of a story about a man traveling through the city of St. Louis, and it's a Sunday, and he's a Christian.

So he parks his car at a downtown church and goes inside to worship. Once he's in there, he realizes that he is the only white person in an all-black church, so he takes his seat on the back row. Up on the platform is the well-dressed elderly pastor who is speaking on his subject for that Sunday morning.

His subject is heaven. He begins his sermon by saying,. Some folks call heaven paradise. Other folks call it Abraham's bosom. I like to think of heaven this-a-way. Here is Jesus, just returned from his earthly ministry.

He stands there at the pearly gates, and old Gabriel greets him. Hello, Jesus. Sure is good to see you, Jesus. We sure missed you up here, Jesus. Sure is good to have you home, Jesus. But wait, who's that with you?

Is that that thief from the cross? Oh, no, sir. We can't have no thieves up here. He's not welcome here. Jesus replied, Never you mind, Gabriel. Never you mind. And just then, Jesus put his arm around the thief and declared, He's with me.

The Urgency of Repentance Before Judgment

I like that story, don't you, friend? If you have not trusted this blessed Savior, Receive him now before it's too late. Soon he will come in judgment on this world. When his anger shall burn as an oven,.

And then you shall meet him as your judge. Repent before it's too late.