Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Before The White Throne

I saw the great white throne, Christ in his place;
A vast flood of men, all that did e'er live;
And a torn, bloodstained old earth, now His base,
To be made new, for those He did forgive!
Hell yawned, its sulphur fire prepared for them
Who would hear, "Depart! I never knew you!"
There Satan kneeled, who'd tried to supplant Him,
Sullen and bound, ne'er more evil to do!
Near the throne, angel-scribes, each with a book
Holding the records of each earthly deed;
Written names of all who Jesus' Lordship took.
Then pealed the trumpet; let Judgment proceed!
I gathered my sparse and half-rotten fruit,
Kneeled under His throne in awe, but resolute!

"And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulphur where the beast and false prophet had been thrown. They would be tormented day and night forever. Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated upon it. Earth and sky fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that was in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. If anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire." (Revelation 20:10-15)

By this time, Jesus will have returned to earth, gathering all the saved, both living and dead. This is the first resurrection. He has His complete Kingdom of joint-heirs with Him, all with new and imperishable bodies, and He has dressed them in pure white robes. Then He has destroyed the huge army of lost persons gathered at Armageddon and has thrown the Antichrist and False Prophet into the burning lake of sulphur. He has made the second and last resurrection, given the living and dead new and imperishable bodies, and gathered them for the final judgment. He is in His paramount role of God, and has the throne set up, taking His seat upon it. He is the Judge who will welcome His followers into their inheritance and condemn the great multitude of lost sinners to the lake of fire for eternity. All the dead who ever lived, including aborted babies, have been resurrected, and they have rejoined their souls. "Death and Hades" are places where lost souls were taken at the death of their bodies and tormented until the last resurrection. Note that they, too, are destroyed so that they will never afflict the Kingdom of God again. (It is speculation by me, but "death" might be a place of rest for the aborted; when resurrected they might be given imperishable bodies like the others, and at judgment welcomed into the Kingdom of God.) Those whose names are not written into the book of life are tossed into the burning lake and tormented forever.

Christians are called "saints" after they enter heaven. They have continued to commit sins after they become Christians, even though they try hard not to. They are forgiven for all sins and are perfectly sinless in heaven; they are worthy then of the name "saint". God would have done the same for every person. You need not go into condemnation, no matter how sinful you are or have been. Call upon the name of Jesus now; He will do the rest.

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