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 Sermon > Sunday Morning Service |
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Title |
Heaven(8) - The Great White Throne Judgment (1) |
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Speaker |
Rev. Jaerock Lee |
Bible |
Revelation20:11-15 |
Date |
2007-01-14 |
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Revelation 20: 11-15
"Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them. [12] And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, 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. [13] 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, every one of them according to their deeds. [14] Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. [15] And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire."
Introduction
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
This is the 8th session of the "Heaven" lecture series. After the saved souls spend their time in the Millennium Kingdom with our bridegroom, the Lord, there will be The Great Judgment. I will talk to you about how this judgment will be carried out.
This passage is the scene of the Great Judgment that the apostle John saw and recorded. Revelation 20:11says that John saw the great white throne and Him who sat upon it. He saw God who is the judge of the Great Judgment.
Here, because the light coming from God the Judge was so white and bright, he said it was a "great white throne."
We call this judgment the Great White Throne Judgment because God carries out this judgment while sitting on the Great White Throne.
What do you first feel and think of when you think of this Great White Throne Judgment?
There shouldn't be anybody who is worried or who is afraid of this judgment.
You should rather be full of hope and expectation, thinking what rewards you will receive.
The Great Judgment of our God is not biased, or done in favor of the strong ones, but is absolutely fair and precise. I hope you will remember that there is a great judgment like this, and live a more faithful life not only before men but also more faithfully before God.
I pray in the name of the Lord that, by doing so, the day of the Great Judgment will be a most honorable and joyful day for you.
Body
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, in July 1982, when I was praying for the opening of the church, God showed me a scene of the Great Judgment.
At that time, there were the Lord and Moses in front of the throne of God, and those who were playing the role of jury were lined up around the throne.
So, in previous sermons and in the books, I explained that God is very accurate and without error in His judgment, and yet He conducts the Final Judgment with the Lord playing the role of the advocate with His love, and Moses playing the role of the prosecutor, and those who play the role of the jury. Yes, this explanation is correct.
But as I have been going through the spiritual training, God the Father has been explaining to me about the spiritual spaces in more depth, and He has let me know more about the Great Judgment, too.
He has let me know about the place where the judgment will take place, and also about the proceedings of the judgment.
But He also let me know that He was going to explain about this in more depth in the Revelation Lecture series.
We cannot understand the spiritual realm with the concepts of physical space. We have to understand about the spiritual spaces.
That is why as the level of my spiritual training goes up and I come to know more about spiritual spaces, God explains to me in more depth. Therefore, you should not try to understand the contents of this sermon with the concept of physical space, or you may misunderstand it or you may not understand it at all.
Now, I will tell you about the Great White Throne where the Father God will sit and conduct the judgment.
God's real throne is located in the fourth heaven, and there is also another throne at the apex of the third heaven, the peak point of New Jerusalem.
God usually stays in the fourth heaven, but there is a place for Him to stay when He comes down to New Jerusalem.
For example, even the kings on this earth always stay at their palaces, but when they went somewhere else for inspections or rest, they have other special places to stay.
In the same way, the real and original throne of God is located in the fourth heaven, but when He moves to another place due to a certain reason, there will be another throne for Him.
Also, the 'throne' does not just mean that it is a chair. It is a much wider concept including the throne itself and the space around it.
The throne of God the Father in New Jerusalem shines with the light of glory and is surrounded by a rainbow. The rainbow gives peace and fullness of Spirit to those who look at it. But the Great White Throne where God will conduct the judgment has a very different meaning.
Even the saved souls will feel such great authority from the throne that they will not be able to lift their heads up. Those who are not saved will fear and tremble greatly looking at the throne.
Brothers and sisters, then, where is the Great White Throne Judgment going to take place?
If you have read the book 'Heaven II', you already know there will be a temporary throne located outside of New Jerusalem to conduct the Great Judgment. Where is this place that is outside of New Jerusalem?
It is in this first heaven on this earth where we are living.
In the last session, I told you that at the end of the Millennium Kingdom, the evil spirits that had been confined in the bottomless pit will be set free to tempt the men of flesh on this earth, and the men of flesh will try to attack the castle where the men of spirit will be living.
At this time, God will bring down fire from heaven to destroy these men of flesh and the evil spirits will go to either the lake of sulfur in hell or to the bottomless pit.
When the judgment for the evil spirits is done this way, this earth will be quiet and peaceful again, and then, God the Father will come down to this earth to conduct the Final Judgment.
When He created the heaven and earth in the beginning, He came down to this earth along with God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, as said in latter part of Genesis 1:2, "the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters."
When He made this earth on which the human cultivation would take place, God Himself came down to earth and searched what the earth needed and how He would make them, and He did make them with all His care.
God the Trinity came down to this earth at the beginning point of human cultivation and will also come down to this earth again at the time of the Final Judgment, the end time of human cultivation. At this time, the Lord has the form of the Son of man, and God the Father will put on a form for the period of the Great Judgment.
The Great White Throne Judgment will be conducted by God the Trinity who will come down to this earth in a certain form(that is personified). It is in this way that people will be able to understand that the things taking place in the Judgment are very real, and everyone will be able to see and hear everything that happens.
All Three of God the Trinity will put on a form, and even the spirit and souls of those who will be judged will have their bodies to stand before the Judgment Court.
The saved souls will have already received the resurrected body at the time of the Lord's coming in the air, and even the souls who will have been suffering in Hades will have appropriate bodies to receive their judgments.
In today's passage verse 13 says this about it, "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, every one of them according to their deeds."
It says,that the sea and death and the Hades gave up the dead which were in them.
First, 'sea' spiritually means this earth, namely the world. The bodies of those who die on this earth will be buried in the earth and go back to dust.
And, when the Great Judgment comes, the sea, namely this earth, will give up the bodies of those who died on this earth.
So, even those who are not saved will have their spirit and soul with their body to make it complete with the spirit, soul, and body. But the spirit of those who are not saved have only the character of the quickened spirit. But, it is just a dead spirit that cannot communicate with God at all.
Also, the body that they will have at the time of Great Judgment will not be spiritual body like the bright resurrected body. It will just be the body that will not perish or decay forever, having the attribute of existing forever.
For your information, for those who are not saved, the feeling of receiving punishment just in spirit, and the feeling of receiving the punishment along with the body are completely different.
When they have the body, the feelings are more real, and the pain experienced is greater, too.
After the Great White Throne Judgment, they will fall into the lake of fire or lake of sulfur, and the punishment itself there is much more painful than that of Hades. And on top of that, they will feel more pain because they will have the body now.
Next, what does it mean by saying the death will give up the dead?
As said that the wages of sin is death, those souls who are not saved will reach death, namely eternal punishment, as the wage of their sins.
But before the Final Judgment, they will have been receiving preparatory punishment in Hades.
And when these souls are set free for a moment from their punishment, the passage speaks of this time as the death giving up the dead.
These people can have a short rest being set free from the punishments of Hades, but when they think about the punishment they will receive after the Final Judgment, their heart will be so nervous, horrified, and terrified.
Lastly, what does it mean by the Hades giving up the dead? We can understand this only when we understand the concepts of the spiritual spaces, so please listen carefully.
Because it says that at the time of the Great Judgment the Hades will give up the dead, we may feel as if the souls who are not saved and are in the Hades will come out to this earth.
But as also written in the book 'Heaven II', they are the sinners who are not able to face God in judgment, so they will be judged in the Hades itself.
Again, it is those souls who are not saved that will stay in the Hades and be judged there, at the time of the Great Judgment.
Also, those souls who died and were saved while they were in the fetal stages, and stay in the upper grave will be judged in the upper grave itself.
And one important thing here is that, at the time of Great Judgment, the spaces of the first heaven, the upper grave, and the Hades will open, and they will become like one single space.
The upper grave and the Hades are certainly spiritual spaces, but unlike the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th heavens, they overlap with this earth.
So, when the spiritual gates to the upper grave and the Hades open in this physical space, it will look like they exist together on this earth.
You know you could see the the existence of the second heaven even on this earth, when the door to that space was opened.
For example, the clouds, that suddenly appear and disappear immediately, belong to the second heaven. But if you just see them without realizing it, you may just think they belong to the first heaven.
Likewise, at the Great Judgment, the spaces of the Hades will open, so the beings in the Hades will appear as though they are standing in the Judgment Court.
But as the darkness cannot intrude into light, even though the gate to the Hades is open, people there cannot come out to this earth.
They will be in the Hades, but because the spaces are open, they can physically see the setting of the Great Judgment, and they will also be judged as if they were standing in the court itself.
The souls who are not saved will be located at the left hand side of God's throne while those who are saved will be located at the right hand side of God's throne.
This placement was spoken by Jesus in Matthew 25:31-46, when He was talking about the Great Judgment in a parable.
He compared the righteous who are saved with sheep and those who are not saved with goat. He said in verse 33 that the sheep will be on the right, and the goats will be on the left.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, God the Father can judge without any error even if He does it by Himself, but when He conducts the judgment, He gives authority to Jesus and the Holy Spirit also. In the Bible, we can find some verses from which we can see that the Lord and the Holy Spirit also have the authority of judgment.
For example, John 5:27 says, "He gave Him authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son of Man." Concerning the Holy Spirit, John 16:8 says, "And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment."
Likewise, Jesus the Son and the Holy Spirit will also participate in the judgment with the Father God. Jesus the Son and the Holy Spirit will guarantee that the judgment of God the Father is truly just.
It's because Jesus came to this earth in human body and experienced everything that men can go through, and the Holy Spirit also knows the heart of men very well.
For example, when God the Father made the judgment for one person as to which dwelling place he will go into and how great the rewards he will have, it will be according to the standards of the nine fruits of the Holy Spirit and the Beatitudes. Then the Lord and the Holy Spirit will speak about it once again with their experience of the life on this earth going through the human cultivation.
But this is not the end of the Judgment.
God the Father alone is very accurate and it is also very accurate because the Lord and the Holy Spirit speak once gain, and there is one more step to make it very sure.
I told you that there is a rank in heavenly kingdom in the second lecture of this heaven lecture series. In this rank, the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and the 4th in the rank, namely, Elijah, Enoch, Abraham, and Moses, will help with the Great Judgment of God the Trinity.
Now, for them to assist the Great Judgment, when will they have been judged?
They will not be judged before others, but they will be exempt from the judgment.
For Elijah and Enoch, the fact that they were taken alive itself proves that they were sinless. Abraham was the father of faith, and Moses had the greatest humbleness and meekness on the face of the earth, and he conversed with God like a friend even while he was on this earth.
Some may think Moses also died, but in Jude 1:9, we see that the archangel Michael disputed with the devil and argued about the body of Moses.
From this we can see that Moses' body was also taken to heavenly kingdom in a different way.
Abraham was also qualified to be taken up alive into heavenly kingdom, but to give Abraham the duty to take charge of upper grave, God allowed his physical death on this earth.
Likewise, Elijah, Enoch, Abraham, and Moses are recognized for their holiness and perfectness. So, they receive all the glory before the Great Judgment and they will have the perfect heavenly bodies.
They received all the glory and rewards for them before the Great Judgment, and will have the perfect heavenly body. However, they will not have gone into their personal dwelling places before the judgment. They will stay around the Throne of God or come to this earth by God's will helping with God's work. Also, at the Great Judgment, they will help with the judgment beside the throne of God.
Elijah and Enoch will not say much, but by the fact that they are the best fruits of human cultivation, they become the standard of judgment.
Abraham will assist (in testimony) from the standpoint of faith and Moses will assist from the standpoint of the Law. They will testify to the degree the person who is judged has obeyed the word of God and born fruit. These prophets will assist the judgment in this way.
Before, I explained that Moses would play the role of the prosecutor, because He will elaborate on the judgment in the viewpoint of the Law.
But the Great Judgment will not be done just by God the Trinity and the four prophets.
God the Father will also have the jurors to make the judgment very carefully, because it will decide eternal punishment or eternal life for the souls.
The Great Judgment will be made perfect including these jurors.
Then, who will be the ones who will play the role of the jurors, and how will the judgment be conducted after this? I will tell you about it in the next session.
Conclusion
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, to sum things up, I told you that the Great White Throne Judgment will be conducted on this earth, and the Judge, God the Father Himself, will come down here having a certain form.
On the right side of the throne of God will be the saved souls and at the left side of the throne of God will be those who are not saved. The souls who are not saved will not come before the throne of God, but they will still actually stay in Hades.
But because the gate through that space will be open, we will feel as if they are in the same space.
The Great Judgment will be carried out in this setting, and God the Father will not conduct it by Himself but He will also give God the Son and God the Holy Spirit the authority too. He makes them judges together with Him.
Also, there will be the four prophets who will be exempt from the Great Judgment who will assist in the Judgment, to make it more perfect.
Furthermore, God the Father will have the jurors, so that the Judgment will have the perfect constitution in its composition.
In this way, the Judgment will be made without any error for both those who will have eternal life and those who will have eternal punishment.
Even the things that you did in secret and a word that you spoke without any meaning will be judged, and you will receive the reward or the punishment.
That's why we believers should not do anything to cause any punishment, but do the things that will only be rewarded by God.
Hebrews 11:6 says, "And without faith it is impossible to please Himfor he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him."
I pray in the name of the Lord that all you members will please God with the deeds of faith during your life on this earth and receive many rewards on the Final Judgment Day.
Amen |
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