Faith Baptist Church
4258 Botetourt Road
Fincastle, Virginia 24090
(540) 473-2325
The human soul is given by the will of God to every human being. At death the body goes to the ground and the conscious soul eventually returns to its creator, either immediately at death for the believer, II Cor.5:8, or at the end of time for the unbeliever. It is fully intact and fully operational. One day the soul will return to God and give an account. The saved will give an account for faithfulness to Christ, by dispensational group, as we pass on to glorification, and all the unsaved will give an account of their rejection of Christ at the end of time.
Today our study finds its setting at the great white throne (GWT) judgment seat of Christ. It takes place in the upper atmosphere somewhere. The only souls appearing before God now are lost souls which will be giving an accounting of their reasons for rejecting Jesus Christ. As one author says it’s not so much that most of mankind hates Christ, they just don’t want him.
Ecc.12:7 “Then the dust shall return to the earth as it was, and the spirit (soul) shall return to God, who gave it.”
v.12
Every class of unsaved mankind that lived past their age of spiritual accountability will stand before God; from powerful tyrants to sweet grannies. All will have an excuse. God being the eternal righteous judge will have before him two sets of books. One book as we will note is a single book and in it are the names of those who do not go into the lake of fire, 20:15. It is said these in this book belong to the Lamb of God, Rev.21:27.
No mention is made of any kind of judgment being passed on those whose names are found in the book of life. And why? Because they accepted Christ's judgment for their sins, and the believer’s works are judged, not for condemnation, but for reward.
The Greek word for life used here is zoes. This word refers to the life a person lives. This word is in contrast with another Greek word for life which is bios. Bios life refers to biological life alone. When God put soul life in man his biological life became animated. When the living soul of man goes out of the man his biological life ceases, but his soul life does not, Lk.16:19-31. As I said last week, the body needs a soul to live, but the soul does not need a body to live. Trust the word of God; there is life after physical death.
It is said the biologically dead at the GWT are judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. Notice the things they are judged for are not according to their sins. Their sins are not the issue at the GWT because all of their sins were paid for at Calvary.
I Jn.2:2 “And he (Jesus Christ) is the propitiation (satisfactory sin payment) for our sins, (believer’s sins) and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.” Jesus Christ paid for all sins including the unbeliever’s sins.
So the books opened up at the GWT refer to the good deeds lost mankind performed in hopes of appeasing God by their own efforts.
How were they judged? Jesus Christ as the judge will show the lost their works for salvation; after all, this is the issue at the GWT. Everyone at the GWT has rejected salvation sometime during their life. They will all have their day in court to defend their rejection of Jesus Christ as Savior. Regardless of how many good works they will have performed in life, no one will have added one cubit to his stature before God. No one will have been able to muster up the God kind of righteousness required to pay for and receive the forgiveness of sins. No one will be able to sneak into heaven; no one will just get lucky.
The things written in the books are a record of things they did to try and establish their own righteousness.
Rom.10:3 “For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.”
Gal.2:8-9 “For by grace are you saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God- not of works, lest any man should boast.” The question of who is saved is determined not in heaven but in life on earth. The sinner while living can either ask God for a free pardon of sin in Christ, or he can demand God give him a trial at the end of time.
v.13
All the unsaved dead are raised at this time regardless of the place of their death, whether the body was left at sea or the earth. Hades is the place of all departed lost from every period of time. Every person will be judged according to his/her works.
The most wicked to the most sincere are brought together. Hades and eventually Hell will be scattered with people who had the best of intentions, but in their hearts they have declared their independence and have chosen to say no to receiving Christ as Savior. The love of God cannot save them now. There is no purgatory, no second chance, and no reincarnation. The Bible says it is appointed once for men to die and then the judgment. Paul says in Acts 24:15 that there is a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and the unjust.
v.14 And death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. What John refers to in Rev.20:14-15 is the everlasting hell of the Bible. Jesus Christ warns mankind of the reality of Hell 40 times. He mentions hell 11 times more than he does heaven.
The second death as we have stated is eternal separation from God. God told Adam and Eve that the day they ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil that they would certainly die, Gen.2:17. The translation of that word die refers to two deaths, spiritual death and physical death. This is why Jesus Christ said in John 3:3 “Except a man be born again (spiritual rebirth) he cannot see the kingdom of God.” And again Christ said in John 3:7 “ye must be born again.”
Salvation guarantees you will never be separated from God; that you will spend eternity safe in the care of God. Some will say a loving God could never send a soul to hell but they are refuting what the word of God says from cover to cover. People want to tell God that he doesn’t know what he is talking about. On that dreadful day God will have the final say and he will have all the facts. They will be spread out before the lost person and no one will have an excuse. A video may be provided to show the person where they either turned down acceptance of the existence of God, or they refused to accept Christ for their salvation.
v.15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.
This is not the annihilation of a person to an eternal unconscious state for our Lord said those who go here will suffer everlasting weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth, Matt.24:51; 25:30; Lk.13:28. There is no such thing as soul sleep in the Bible for the lost or the saved.
Being on the church role or being baptized does not put us in the Lamb’s book of life. It does not put us in good standing with God.
A lot of people will one day claim they were on a church role and maybe even baptized. They may have been very moral and done a lot for their fellowman; perhaps they had been a good spouse or a good parent, but these have still forsaken the call to repent and receive Christ as Savior. Many may say, “See what I have done for you?” And our Lord will stretch out his hands and say, “See what I did for you?” If you were to die today which judgment will you pass before, the judgment of the just or the judgment of the unjust.