W.B WEST jr. Edited with introduction by BOB PRICHARD THE WORLD'S LAST DAY REVELATION CHAPTER 20: 11-15 "Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen" (Revelation 1:7). "Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away" (Mark 13:31). "But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up." (2 Peter 3:10). "And the heaven departed as a scroll when it rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places" (Revelation 6:14). "And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any 1
more pain: for the former things are passed away" (Revelation 21:1-4). Every man and woman who has lived since Adam and Eve, except those who are now living, has had a last day upon this earth. He or she may have died in infancy, in childhood, in the bloom of youth, in middle life or in old age, but to each of them, the last day in this world has come. Every person living today knows that he will have a last day. He may die a natural death in which loved ones will be around him speaking softly and endearingly and bidding him good-bye as his face fades in the twilight of time. He may die in an automobile or airplane crash or in some other unexpected way, but his last day will come! Although one by one we are all going down the valley, the time is coming when this world will have its last day. People will experience time no more. Kings and queens on their thrones, governmental presidents in their chairs, legislators in their seats, governors in their offices, armies in their quarters or on their battlefields and ambassadors in other lands will witness the world's last day. Doctors with their patients, teachers in their classrooms, business and professional people in their offices, workers in factories, farmers in fields, ministers in their pulpits and mothers in their homes with children in their arms will witness the world's last day. We know not when the world's last day will be, but we know definitely that there will be the last day for this world and all that is in it. In Southern Europe in the Middle Ages, there were those who believed the world was coming to an end in their lifetime. They sold all they had and dressed themselves in white, flowing garments for the end, but it did not come. Across the decades and centuries there have been many date setters for the world's last day, but all have missed it. Truly, only God knows when it will be. "But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father" (Mark 13:31). That we do not know the time of the world's last day does not lessen its reality and 2
certainty. Truly, this unknowable increases the importance of being ready for the world's last day. Whenever it comes, eternity will come into time and these realities will become experiences: the second coming of Christ, the general resurrection, the final judgment, hell and heaven. Many passages underscore the reality of the second coming of Christ. "And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven" (Acts 1:10-11). Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also" (John 14:1-3). "And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation" (Hebrews 9:27-28). "Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen" (Revelation 1:7). How is He coming? He will come as He went. He "shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven" (Acts 1:11). "Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in" (Psalm 24:7). "And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints" (Jude 14). "Every eye shall see him" (Revelation 1:7). 3
Why is He coming? He is coming to gather His own unto himself. "And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power" (2 Thessalonians 1:7-9). The words of John 5:28-29 demonstrate the certainty of the general resurrection: "Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation." Paul said, "If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable" (1 Corinthians 15:19). Paul understood our desire to know of the resurrection. "For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven" (2 Corinthians 5:1-2). He explained the nature of the resurrection by comparing the natural and the spiritual body: "It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption: it is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power: it is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body" (1 Corinthians 15:42b-44a). The "Why?" of the resurrection is explained by the fact that "flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God" (1 Corinthians 15:50). The world's last day underscores the reality of the final judgment. The world's last day will witness the final assize of all time, when God will judge the uncounted teeming millions for all time and for all eternity. Not until "heaven and earth are passed away" will the judgment begin. There never has been and there never will be any other such a judgment. "For we 4
must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad" (2 Corinthians 5:10). "And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent: because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead" (Acts 17:30-31). John gives a graphic portrayal of the judgment: 11 "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. 12 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. 13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell a delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works." (Revelation 20:11-13) "And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it," (20:11a). It is great a great throne because it is God's. The thrones of the Roman emperors were nothing in comparison to the great throne of God. Their power was limited while God was and is all powerful. The emperors could be only one place at a time while God was so great the He could be everywhere. If one made his bed in Sheol or took wings of the morning and dwelt in the uttermost parts of the sea, God would be there (Psalm 139:8-10). The white throne is emblematic of the stainless purity of the God Who sits upon it. Its whiteness also indicates the clear light that will reveal all lives of men. Note there is only one throne, in contrast to the many thrones of Revelation 20:4. His throne is supreme, and He is the Supreme Judge. The Caesars will not be the judge. Preachers, elders and critics will not be the judge, God and Jesus as One will be the judge. "For the Father judgeth no a hell: or, the grave 5
man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son" (John 5:22). "From whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them." (20:11b). That the heavens and the earth are not able to stand before Him implies the greatness and holiness of God. The brightness of His countenance dissolved the universe and annihilated the laws which governed it (Acts 17:30-31). Paul exhorted Timothy, "I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom" (2 Timothy 4:1). "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." (20:12-13). - The dead -- great and small -- all stand before God. The sea gave up her dead. Death and Hades gave up their dead. The oceans of the world and seven seas have been the graves of multiplied millions. In John's day, the wreck of ships was a common occurrence in Mediterranean lands. Death and Hades gave up their dead. The uncounted billions of graves in every clime of all time will open for their occupants to stand before the great Judge of the universe. The mausoleums and burial urns of the world will stand ajar for the souls of men and women to appear before God and Jesus in the final judgment. Hades, or Sheol, its Hebrew counterpart, the unseen world, will give up it dead. All who have died from Adam until the last day of time will come forth for the last judgment. The small and great, as men evaluate, will be there. God is no respecter of persons. We must all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. The multi-millionaire and the penniless 6
pauper, the highly educated and the ignorant, the potentates of all time and the powerless of every clime, the man who has a good Christian home and the homeless wanderer, the saint and the sinner, the young and the old, the preacher and the elder, the song leader and the deacon will be at the judgment. Elijah and Jezebel, Isaiah and Ahaz, Cain and Abel, Jeremiah and Jehoiakim, Daniel and Belshazzar, Mattathias and Antiochus Epiphanes, Paul and Nero, John the apostle and Domitian, Polycarp and Trajan will be there. However separated all of these have been in time, they will be together at the judgment. By what will they be judged? Not by a religious paper or by the creeds of men. John states it in these words: "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." (20:12b). - John names two kinds of books. The books that contain the records of the deeds of men are first mentioned. Daniel prophetically spoke of it in these words: "thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened" (Daniel 7:10). The idea in Daniel, Revelation and elsewhere is that God keeps a record of the deeds of all men. Every man is the author of his own story in life. God accurately records it in His book. Every man writes his own judgment and that which judges him. We may not want to meet it again, but we must meet it again. Every unkind word we say will meet us again. Every sin we commit will face us again. John Keble, in "The Effect of Example," has written these lines: The deeds we do, the words we say, Into still air they seem to fleet, We count them ever past; But they shall last, In the dread judgment they And we shall meet. 7
The book of life is the second book of judgment. " and another book was opened, which is the book of life" (20:12). The idea of the "book of life" occurs often in the Bible. Psalms 69:28 states: "Let them be blotted out of the book of the living, and not be written with the righteous." Paul referred to his fellow-workers "whose names are in the book of life" (Philippians 4:3). To the overcomer in the church in Sardis, Jesus promised: "I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels: (Revelation 3:5). The Apocalypse of Baruch foretold the day when "the books shall be opened in which are written the sins of all those who have sinned, and again also the treasuries in which the righteousness of all those who have been righteous in creation is gathered" (2 Barauch 24:1). Verse 15 gives the final rewards and sentences for those judged: 15 "And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire." Jesus spoke of this, the greatest separation of all time and eternity in Matthew 25. "And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal" (Matthew 25:46). Hell awaits the sinner. 8 "But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death." (Revelation 21:8). - Heaven, the home of the soul, awaits the saved. The souls of men, wherever and whenever they have lived, have longed for a life better than this one. Abraham looked for that city with foundations, realizing he had no continuing city here. Paul longed for that better place: "For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better" (Philippians 1:23). All the martyrs revealed in the book of Revelation died that they might live. 8
The finale of all the book of Revelation is in the last part of the 20th and all the 21st and 22nd chapters. They present the total climax. The book is unfinished without them. Special attention should be given to the powerful words of Revelation 21:1-7 and 22:1-5. 14 And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. 15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. 1 1 The Holy Bible : King James Version. electronic ed. of the 1769 edition of the 1611 Authorized Version. Bellingham WA : Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1995, S. Re 21:8 9