Revelation 20

CHAPTER 20THEME: The MillenniumIn the twentieth chapter we are dealing with the Millennium in relationship to Christ, Satan, man, the tribulation saints, the resurrections, the earth, and the Great White Throne. Unfortunately, a great many men in the past have thought that chapter 20 is not very important because the Millennium, the thousand-year period, is mentioned only here in Scripture, and therefore, they have practically dismissed this chapter altogether. It is true that the Millennium is mentioned only in this chapter, and it is mentioned as “a’ thousand years.” Let’s not argue about semantics. Millennium comes from the Latin word that means “one thousand.” Millennium means a thousand years any way you slice it. You can call a person who believes in the Millennium a chiliast, and chiliasm is the way the early church spoke of it, because in the Greek chiliasm means “a thousand” also. I hope we understand that millennialism, chiliasm, and the thousand-year reign of Christ all refer to the same thing. Chapter 20 is the division point for the three main schools of eschatology: Postmillennialism assumed that Christ would come at the conclusion of the one thousand years. Man would bring in the Kingdom by the preaching of the gospel. This was an optimistic view which prevailed at the turn of the century. At that time it looked like there might be a great worldwide turning to Christ and the world would be converted. This viewpoint has become obsolete as it could not weather the first half of the twentieth century, which produced two world wars, a global depression, the rise of communism, and the atom bomb with which worldwide destruction is imminent. Amillennialism has become popular only in recent years and has largely supplanted postmillennialism. The addition of the prefix a- simply negates the belief in the Millennium. Amillennialism holds out no false optimism and has, for the most part, emphasized the coming of Christ. Its chief weakness is that it spiritualizes the thousand years, as it does all the Book of Revelation. It fits the Millennium into the present age. Dr.

B. B. Warfield’s interpretation is that the Millennium is going on in heaven while the Tribulation is going on down here on the earth. My belief is that in heaven they have a millennium, not just for a thousand years, but from eternity to eternity. Most amillennialists fit the Millennium into the present age, and all the events recorded in Revelation are somehow fitted into the facts of history like pieces are fitted into a crazy quilt. Frankly, I think that the results of this viewpoint are about the same: you come up with a crazy quilt. Premillennialisms, on the contrary, takes chapter 20 at face value, as it does all of the Book of Revelation, applying the literalist interpretation unless the context instructs otherwise. Let me cite the example we gave from chapter 19 where it says that, when the Lord Jesus comes, out of His mouth goes a sharp two-edged sword (see Rev_19:15). Does this mean that a literal sword goes out of His mouth? I believe that Scripture makes it very clear that the sword is the Word of God. Paul writes, “And take …the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Eph_6:17). With that kind of instruction, I do not see how we can misunderstand what John is talking about, but you must have a scriptural reason for your interpretation.

You cannot spiritualize Scripture on any basis you choose, although that is the present custom and the popular method today. In the premillennialist interpretation, the one thousand years are treated as one thousand years, and Christ comes at the beginning of the Millennium. Chapter 20 makes it clear that there can be no Millennium until Christ comes. In the first nine verses of this chapter, we have the word for a thousand years repeated six times. It must be pretty important to put that kind of emphasis on it. The early church believed in what was known as chiliasm, the belief in the literal thousand-year reign of Christ. Those who rejected that position were considered to be in a state of heresy. Later on there came in the teaching that the thousand years would be established by the church. The church would produce a perfect world, and then Jesus would come and find everything in apple-pie order. But that is not the way this section of Scripture presents it. He is coming in judgment, and if everything were in apple-pie order, there would be no need to put down rebellion and to judge and make war. It has not been too long ago that men actually believed that the church was going to build the Kingdom down here on this earth. Back in 1883 a commentator, Justin A. Smith, made this statement: But upon the other hand, what a tremendous force is the Christianity of today when all is said. Is it conceivable that this auspicious power, which is so rapidly taking possession of the wide earth, can dwindle into the imbecility which some millennarians appear to predict for it? Those of us who are premillennialists would be called a bunch of pessimists back in 1883 because we are predicting that the world is going to get worse and that there will be apostasy in the church. This man did not believe that, for he goes on to say: It has been said that in twenty-five years more, if the present rate of progress continues, India will become as thoroughly Christian as Great Britain is today. There will be thirty millions of Christians in China, and Japan will be as fully Christianized as America is now. The old systems, they tell us, are honey-combed through and through by Christian influence. It looks as if a day may soon come when these systems, struck by vigorous blows, will fall in a tremendous collapse. Meantime, every weapon formed against Christianity breaks in the hand that holds it. Already, the Lord’s right hand hath gotten Him victory. But look at Great Britain today, for exampleit is as bad off as India is. They talked bravely in those days, but they do not talk that way today. In the book The Problems of Evil, the author made this statement: The civilization of Europe, or to call it by its true name which derives from its origin, the Christian civilization, is visibly making the conquest of the world. Its triumph is only a matter of time. No one doubts it. There are quite a few who doubt it today. In fact, the so-called European civilization, or Christian civilization, is going down the drink and has largely disappeared already. These men belittle the twentieth chapter of Revelation. I consider Dr. B. B. Warfield to be the greatest scholar that this century has produced, and I was educated under his system, but he says that there is no reference to such an age as a millennium here on this earth “save in so obscure a portion as Revelation 20.” He pays no attention to all of the Old Testament where God made a covenant that He would establish this Kingdom on the earth through One in David’s line. Dr. Rothe many years ago said: Our key does not open. The right key is lost. Until we are put in possession of it again, our exposition will never succeed. The system of biblical ideas is not that of our school at all. In speaking with a student who had read a premillennial book and was enthusiastically telling him about it, Dr. R. L. Dabney, an honored theologian of the South in the past, said, “Probably you are right. I never looked into the subject.” He was a great scholar but was honestly admitting that he had never studied prophecy! The late Dr. Charles Hodge, who wrote two ponderous tomes on theology (and that was the theology I studied when I was in school), very frankly said that eschatology wasn’t his bagonly he didn’t use that expression: The subject cannot be adequately discussed without taking a survey of all the prophetic teaching of the Scriptures, both of the Old Testament and the New. This task cannot be satisfactorily accomplished by anyone who has not made the study of the prophecies a specialty. The author, knowing that he has no such qualifications for the work, proposes to confine himself in a great measure to a historical survey of the different schemes of interpreting the scriptural prophecies relating to the subject. Today all that has changed. There is a lively interest in prophecy, but I wish there were more who were as honest as Dr. Hodge was and would say, “I really haven’t studied the subject as I should have.” Unfortunately, a great many men are speaking on the subject of prophecy who have not actually studied it. This is a very important and vital subject. I do not claim to have any specal qualifications for it at all, although I have studied it for forty years and have given a great deal of attention to it, even in the years past when it was largely ignored. But I think it is dangerous today that many are edging up to this matter of setting dates for the rapture of the church.

I believe that the Rapture is absolutely a dateless event. It may be tomorrow, but it may not be tomorrow. We need to recognize that we are living in a period in which we are not given dates, but we are seeing the setting of a stage. I do not know what God has in mind for the future, but I do know that He sure has things in position. I think it is obvious that I am premillennial and also pretribulational, and the reason is that I believe this is what John is teaching here. If you disagree with me and accept one of these other positions, you are in good company. Some of the finest men I have known hold a different viewpoint from mine, but if you want to be right, you will want to go along with me, of course! First of all, there can be no Millennium until Satan is removed from the earthly scene. You could not have an ideal state down here as long as Satan is running loose. In the second place, the curse of sin must be removed from the physical earth before a Millennium can be established. Scripture prophesies that the desert will blossom like a rose. If you live along the coast in California, the desert blossoms like a rose, but in eastern California, the desert is not blossoming like a rose. The curse of sin has not yet been removed from this earth. In the third place, the resurrection of the Old Testament saints must take place at the beginning of the thousand years. If they were raised before the Great Tribulation, they would have to stand around and wait for the Millennium. There is no need for them to do that, and the Lord is not going to raise them until the Tribulation is over. Daniel makes this very clear: “And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book. And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt” (Dan_12:1-2). This is talking about Israel.

Following the Great Tribulation period will be the resurrection of the Old Testament saints (see Isa_25:8-9). Only Christ will raise the dead (see Joh_5:21, Joh_5:25, Joh_5:28-29), so He must come for that purpose. In the fourth place, the Tribulation saints are included in the resurrection of the Old Testament saints, and they reign with Christ during the Millennium. Finally, the Millennium is the final testing of man under ideal conditions. This is the answer to those who say there is nothing wrong in man which circumstances and conditions cannot change. Man is an incurable, an incorrigible sinner. Even at the end of the Millennium, he is still in rebellion against God. The rebellion in the human heart and the depraved nature of man are impossible for any man to comprehend. If you and I could see ourselves as God sees us, we could not stand ourselves. But we think we are pretty good and that we are very nice peopledo we not? The Millennium is the final testing of mankind before the beginning of the eternal state. The Millennium is God’s answer to the prayer, “Thy kingdom come.” When we pray the prayer which we mistakenly call the Lord’s Prayer, we say, “Thy kingdom come …in earth, as it is in heaven” (Mat_6:10). That is the Kingdom which He is going to establish here on earth, and it is called the Millennium. This is the Kingdom which was promised to David (see 2Sa_7:12-17; 2Sa_23:5). God took an oath relative to its establishment (see Psa_89:34-37). This is the Kingdom predicted in the psalms and in the prophets (see Ps. 2; 45; 110; Isa_2:1-5; Isa_11:1-9; 60; Isa. 61:3-62:12; 66; Jer_23:3-8; Jer_32:37-44; Ezek. 40-48; Dan_2:44-45; Dan_7:13-14; Dan_12:2-3; Mic_4:1-8; Zec. 12:10-14:21). All of the prophets spoke of this Kingdom, the minor prophets as well as the major prophetsnot one of them missed it.

These are but a few of the manifold Scriptures that speak of the theocratic kingdom which was the great theme of all the prophets in the Old Testament. This is the kingdom, the theocratic kingdom, that is coming here upon this earth.

Revelation 20:1

SATAN BOUND ONE THOUSAND YEARSThe opening verses of chapter 20 describe what is to precede the Millennium. Let me give you my translation of these verses: And I saw an angel coming down out of the heaven, having the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, the old serpent who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, and cast him into the abyss, and locked and sealed (it) over, that he should deceive the nations no longer, until the thousand years should be finished: after that he must be loosed for a little time. You will notice that the thousand years are mentioned two times in verses Rev_19:1-3; they are mentioned a total of six times in the twentieth chapter. It is true that the Millennium is mentioned only in one chapter, but God mentions it six times. How many times does He have to say a thing before it becomes true? He mentions it more than He mentions some other things that people emphasize and think are important just because they occur once or twice in Scripture. Six times the thousand years are mentioned, and here it is in relationship to Satan. There are some expositors who separate this section from the Millennium, classifying it as the closing scene of the Day of Wrath. This view takes the edge from the sharp distinction that there will be on earth at the removal of Satan. His incarceration and total absence from the earth change conditions from darkness to light. He is the god of this age; he is the prince of the power of the air, and his power and influence in the world are enormousbeyond the calculations of any computer. His withdrawal makes way for the Millennium, for with him loose, there can be no Millennium. Therefore, we see that Satan’s relationship to the Millennium is this: he must be removed from the earth’s scene before it can take place.

Men talk about bringing peace on this earth, about producing prosperity, and all that sort of thing. The world system will finally be headed up in the Antichrist, and he will not be able to accomplish peace and prosperity, although for a while it will look as if he will. But as long as Satan is abroad in this world, you cannot have a Utopia down here. You cannot have an ideal situation with him loose. “An angel…. laid hold on the dragon"Satan’s great power is reduced, for an ordinary angel becomes his jailor and leads him away captive (see Jud_1:9; Rev_12:7-9). “The abyss” is a better description of the prison than is “the bottomless pit.” In either case, it is not the lake of fire, which we shall see in verse Rev_19:10. “After that he must be loosed for a little time” is one of the imponderable statements of Scripture. Why is Satan loosed after God once had him put in the abyss in chains? Dr. Lewis Sperry Chafer’s answer to this question is significant: “If you will tell me why God let him loose in the first place, I’ll tell you why God let him loose in the second place.” Why did God let him loose? God has a great purpose in it. This is the great problem of evil: Why has God permitted it? Well, I believe that God is working out a tremendous program which is the mystery of God that is yet to be revealed to us. It is going to be revealed someday, and all He is asking us to do is to walk with Him by faith. We need to trust God and know that whatever He is doing is right. I remember one time when my dad took me with him on a trip in his horse and buggy. A storm came up out there in west Texas and, being just a boy, I was frightened. The wind was blowing up a real storm, and we were getting wet. I never shall forget that my dad put his arm around me and said, “Son, you can trust me.” I just snuggled right up to him and trusted him, and we got through the storm. My earthly father is gonehe died when I was fourteen. I didn’t have my earthly father very long, but I have had a heavenly Father now for a great many years whom I trust through the storms of this life. In all these problems that come up, I wish I had the answers to give you, but I don’tso let’s both trust Him. I once read a book on the problem of evil. When I finished the book, we still had the problem of evilthe author did not solve it. It took him about two hundred pages to say what I can say in one sentence: I do not know the answer to the problem of evil. But, my friend, we will get the answer someday if we walk by faith. God had Satan incarcerated for one thousand years because there could not be a Millennium without that.

Revelation 20:4

SAINTS OF THE GREAT TRIBULATION REIGN WITH CHRIST ONE THOUSAND YEARS And I saw thrones and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them; and (I saw) the souls of them that had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus, and for the Word of God; and whosoever worshiped not the wild beast neither his image, and received not the mark upon their forehead, or upon their hand. And they lived again and reigned with Christ one thousand years. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection; over these the second death hath no authority [Gr.: exousian], but they shall be priests of God and of the Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.Many are going to die for Christ in the Great Tribulation period, but they will live again and reign with Christ one thousand years. The Tribulation saints are going to trade in three and one-half years for one thousand years. I would say they are getting a pretty good deal. Those three and one-half years will be rugged and terrible, but the thousand years are going to be wonderfulimagine living and reigning with Christ upon this earth! This prophecy is like any other prophecy in Scripture: “Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation” (2Pe_1:20). That is, you cannot just lift out a verse of Scripture and base doctrine on it; you need to have the corroboration of other Scriptures. When this passage here is treated as a dignified statement of literal facts, it becomes reasonable, and it fits into the entire program of prophecy which we have been following. Any attempt to reduce it to the lowest common denominator of fanciful and figurative symbols makes the passage an absurdity. To spiritualize this passage is to disembowel all Scripture of vital meaning, making the interpretation of Scripture a reductio ad absurdum. The thrones are literal; the martyrs are literal; Jesus is literal; the Word of God is literal; the Beast is literal; the image is literal; the mark of the Beast is literal; their foreheads and their hands are literal; and the thousand years are literal. It is all literal. A thousand years means a thousand years. If God meant that it was eternal, I think He would have said so. If He meant it was five hundred years, He would have said so. Cannot God say what He means? Of course He can, and when He says a thousand years, He means a thousand years. The Greek word for “resurrection” is anastasei, which means “to stand up, a bodily resurrection.” It is rather difficult for a spirit to stand up, and those who spiritualize this section are at a loss to explain just how a spirit stands up! This is the same word used by Paul in 1 Corinthians 15 for the resurrection of Christ and believers. “And I saw thrones and they sat upon them” is the one statement that is not entirely clear. Who are “they”? It is my judgment that they must be the total number of those who have part in the first resurrection, which includes the saved of all ages. The first resurrection began with the resurrection of Christ. Then it is followed by the resurrection (at the Rapture) of His church sometime more than nineteen hundred years laterbut before the Great Tribulation (see Rev. 4). At the end of the Great Tribulation is the resurrection of both the Tribulation saints (“the souls of them that had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus, and for the Word of God; and whosoever worshiped not the wild beast”) and the Old Testament saints (see Dan_12:1-2). The diagram above gives the resurrection as a parade. Christ, the firstfruits of resurrection, leads the parade. It is a rather simple and naive notion to think that somehow or another the world is going to end, Jesus will come, the dead will be raised, He will put the good guys on one side and the bad guys on the other, they will move into eternity, and that is it. My friend, God follows a very definite program; He always has, and He moves intelligently. The Tribulation saints and the Old Testament saints will evidently reign on this earth with Christ. I believe that David will be His vicegerent. The church, which is the bride of Christ, will reside in the New Jerusalem where she reigns with Him from that exalted place and, I believe, over a great deal of God’s creation. Christ will commute from the New Jerusalem to the old Jerusalem on this earth. And I suppose that the church also will travel back and forth between its heavenly home and the earth. Multitudes of both Israel and the Gentiles will enter the Kingdom in natural bodies, not having died. These are the ones, together with those who are born during the Millennium, who are tested during this millennial period. As Christ in a glorified body mingled with His apostles and followers, so the church in glorified bodies will mingle with the multitudes in their natural bodies here on the earth. In glorified bodies, the church will be able to move out into space. That will be the first time I will do any space traveling. I can assure you of that. Gravitation will not be able to grab me by my pants and pull me back to the earth in that day. “They shall be priests of God” refers to the entire nation of Israel. This was God’s original purpose for Israel: “And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel” (Exo_19:6). Abraham was a priest in his family. Levi was the priestly tribe, with the family of Aaron serving as high priest. In the theocratic kingdom here on this earth, the entire nation of Israel will be priests. In Scripture there is more prophecy concerning the Millennium than of any other period. The Kingdom was the theme of the Old Testament prophets. I do not know how else you would interpret it. In our day we hear very little about the minor prophets. There is a great silence, a great vacuum and void, when it comes to the teaching of the minor prophets, yet all of them look forward to the Millennium, that Kingdom which is coming on the earth.

Revelation 20:7

SATAN LOOSED AFTER ONE THOUSAND YEARS And when the thousand years are ended Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall come forth to deceive the nations which are in the four corners (quarters) of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to the war; the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. And they went up over the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down out of heaven, and devoured them. Although the entire Book of Revelation deals with last things, especially do these last few chapters. Here is the last rebellion of Satan and man against God. The Millennium is a time of testing of man under ideal conditions, as this passage demonstrates. As soon as Satan is released, a great company, who have been under the personal reign of Christ under ideal circumstances, goes over to Satan.

From where did such a company come is a worthy question. The answer lies in the fact that not only do multitudes enter the Millennium, but multitudes also are born during the Millennium (see Isa_11:6; Isa_65:20). This will be the time of the earth’s greatest population explosion. Disease will be eliminated. Since the curse of sin will be removed from the physical earth, it will produce enough foodstuffs to feed its greatest population. The human heart alone remains unchanged under these circumstances, and many will turn their backs on God and will go after Satan.

This seems unbelievable, but what about today? Satan is doing pretty well in our day. This rebellion following the Millennium reveals how terrible the heart of man is. Jeremiah said, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” (Jer_17:9). You and I do not know how vile we really are. We just cannot bring our old nature into subjection to God. “Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be” (Rom_8:7). These folk will live under ideal conditions during Christ’s thousand-year reign, and I think they will get a little tired of it. When He reigns, He is really going to be a dictatoryou had better stay in line or else.

But they do not like staying in line; therefore, when the opportunity is offered to them to rebel, they rebel. The nations of the earth again will come under the spell of Satan and will plot a rebellion. Because the rebellion is labeled “Gog and Magog,” many Bible students identify it with the Gog and Magog of Ezekiel 38-39. This is not possible at all, for the conflicts described are not parallel as to time, place, or participantsonly the names are the same. The invasion from the north by Gog and Magog in Ezekiel 38-39 breaks the false peace of the Antichrist and causes him to show his hand in the midst of the Great Tribulation. That rebellion of the godless forces from the north will have made such an impression on mankind that after one thousand years, that last rebellion of man bears the same labelGog and Magog. We have passed through a similar situation in this century. World War I was so devastating that when war again broke out in Europe, involving many of the same nations and even more, it was also labeled a World War, but it was differentiated by the number two. We have World War I, World War II, and people today are predicting World War III. I can use a further illustration from my personal life. In my family there were so many Johns on both sides of the family that my mother decided I should be J. Vernon McGee. My “J” stands for John, but I have never been called John. An uncle, two grandfathers, and my dad were all named John. So you will understand why I bear the name of J. VernonI had to be separated from that crowd. Just because we had a similarity of names does not mean that we were all the same person. The war in Ezekiel 38-39 relates to Gog and Magog I, and the reference here in Rev_20:8 is to Gog and Magog II. Although the names are the same, this is a different war, the last rebellion of Satan. Just because the two events involve the same names does not mean they are the same. In verse Rev_19:9 there is the dropping of the last “atomic bomb.” The phrase, “from God,” is actually not in the best texts. It simply means that natural forces which destroyed Gog and Magog I will destroy Gog and Magog II. This last resistance and rebellion against God was as foolish and futile as man’s first rebellion in the Garden of Eden. Here it is not the beginning but the ending of man’s disobedience to God. It is the finality of man’s rebellion. Nothing remains now but the final judgment.

Revelation 20:10

SATAN CAST INTO THE LAKE OF FIRE AND BRIMSTONE And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where are also the wild beast and the false prophet; and they shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever. This is a most solemn statement, and it is rejected by this lovey-dovey age in which we live. However, it is a relief to God’s child to know that the enemyboth his and God’swill at last be brought to permanent justice. There is nothing here to satisfy the curiosity or the sadistic taste. The fact is stated in a reverent reticence which is awe-inspiring. If man had written this, having said this much, he could not have restrained himself from saying more.

In that Sir Robert Anderson calls “the wild utterances of prophecy mongers,” we see that men do not hesitate to go farther than does the Word of God. The Word of God is very restrainedvery little is said about this subject of hell, or even of heaven. There are several facts here that contradict popular notions. First of all, the Devil is not in hell today. He is the prince of the power of the air. He is the one who controls this world to a large extent. God has limited him in our day, of course, but in the Great Tribulation period, he will have full rein for a while. In the second place, the Devil is not the first to be cast into hell. The wild Beast and the False Prophet will precede him by one thousand years. Finally, hell is described as a lake of fire and brimstone. The Lord Jesus is the One who gave the most solemn description of hell. Consider these Scriptures: “Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels” (Mat_25:41). “But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Mat_8:12). This ought to make anyone stop and think: How can hell be outer darkness and also a literal fire? Jesus Christ also said: “And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth” (Mat_13:42). “Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched” (Mar_9:44). In my thinking, fire is the best symbol that could be used of the reality that hell is. For instance, how are sins that men have committed in the spirit to be punished in the body? I believe that to be in outer darkness and the abyss is to be separated from God and to look back upon a life which has been misspent in this world. Can you think of any fire that would be hotter than for a man in hell to hear the voice of his son saying, “Dad, I followed you down here”?

This is a solemn thing. A man asked Dr. Bill Anderson, “Suppose we get over there and find out that what you preach about hell is not true at all?” Dr. Anderson replied, “Then I will just have to apologize and say that I must have misunderstood the Lord. But suppose we get over there and find that it is true? What then?” My friend, it is true; this is the Word of God that we are looking at.

We love Joh_3:16, but what do we think about this? Fire is a very weak symbol of the reality of what it means to be lost, to be separated from God for eternity. You cannot reduce these descriptions to something less than the reality, because a symbol is always a poor representative of the real thing. Nor can you dissolve this into the thin air of make-believe. The reality far exceeds the description, and human language is beggarly in trying to depict the awful reality. Hell is a place; it is also a state. It is a place of conscious torment. This is the language of the Word of Godyou cannot escape it.

Revelation 20:11

SETTING OF GREAT WHITE THRONE WHERE LOST ARE JUDGEDThe Great White Throne is what men mistakenly call the general judgment. It is general only in the sense that all the lost of all ages are raised to be judged here. All who are saved have been raised in the first resurrection. Even the Tribulation saints had part in the first resurrection. This is the second resurrection in which the lost are raised to be given an equitable, fair, and just evaluation of their works in respect to their salvation. A man on his deathbed said to me, “Preacher, you just don’t need to talk to me about the future. I’ll take my chances. I believe God is going to be just and righteous and let me present my works.” I told him, “You are right. He is just and righteous, and He will let you present your works. That is what He says He is going to do. But I have news for you: At that judgment nobody is saved, because you cannot be saved by your works. When you stand in the white light of the righteous presence of God, your little works will seem so puny that they won’t amount to anything at all.” The other day our little grandson brought to his grandmother some flowers that he had picked. I want to tell you, they were a sad looking bunch of flowers. With great pride he gave them to his grandmother, and his grandmother patted him on the head and thanked him for the lovely flowers. As I looked at that scene, I could not help but smile, but I also immediately recognized how solemn it is going to be when a lot of these goody-goody boys stand with their little, bitty bouquets in the presence of a Christ whom they have rejected. They expect that He will be like a grandmother who will pat them on the head and say, “What a smart boy you were!” My friend, this is solemn, and this is serious. You need Him as Savior in order to stand in His presence; you need to be clothed with the righteousness of Christ.

Don’t you know that without this we are sinners and we are lost?We like to compare ourselves with other people: “I’m as good as the Joneses down the street.” Sure you are, but you ought to know about the Joneses! It was Samuel Johnson who said, “Every man knows that of himself which he dares not tell his dearest friend.” You know yourself, don’t you? You know things that you have covered up and smothered that you would not reveal for anything in the world. The Lord Jesus is going to bring them out at this judgment; while you are presenting your little bouquet, He is going to tell you about yourself. My friend, you need a Savior today. This is the Great White Throne, and the holiness of this throne is revealed in the reaction of heaven and earth to it: “from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away.” Of this, John F. Walvoord, in his book The Revelation of Jesus Christ, comments: The most natural interpretation of the fact that earth and heaven flee away is that the present earth and heaven are destroyed and will be replaced by the new heaven and new earth. This is also confirmed by the additional statement in Rev_21:1 where John sees a new heaven and a new earth replacing the first heaven and the first earth which have passed away. The One seated on the throne is the Lord Jesus Christ: “For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son…. For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself; and hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man. 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” (Joh_5:22, Joh_5:26-29). What is the work of God? It is to “…believe on him whom he hath sent” (Joh_6:29). Those who have done good are they who have accepted Christ, and they come forth unto the resurrection of lifethat is the first resurrection. They who have done evil come forth unto the resurrection of damnation and condemnationthat is the Great White Throne judgment.

Revelation 20:12

And I saw the dead, great and 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 out of the things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead that were in it; and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them; and they were judged every one according to their works. Yes, my friend, you will be able to get a fair trial there. Your life is on tape, and Christ happens to have the tape. When He plays it back, you will be able to listen to it, and it is not going to sound good to you, by any means. Are you willing to stand before God and have Him play the tape of your life?

I think He will have it on a television screen so that you can watch it, too. Do you think your life can stand the test? I do not know about you, but I could not make it. Thank God for His grace"For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God” (Eph_2:8). The dead are classified as the small and the great. They are all lost, for evidently some have their names written in the Book of Life. They had never turned to God for salvation. The Lord Jesus said that in His generation “…ye will not come to me, that ye might have life” (Joh_5:40). These folk standing before His throne had not come. These are books which record the works of all individuals. God keeps the tapes, and He will play them at the right time. There will be a lot of politicians who will have their tapes played in that day, and there will be a lot of public figureseven preacherswho will have their tapes played in that day, and they are not going to be happy about it. If you are saved, you are going to be happy about it. If you are saved, you are not going to stand before this judgment. Your works are to be judged as a child of God at the judgment seat of Christ, which will be for the purpose of rewards (see 2Co_5:10). The Great White Throne judgment is the judgment of the lost. Multitudes want to be judged according to their works. This is their opportunity. The judgment is just, but no one is saved by works. “And the sea gave up the dead that were in it.” Multitudes who have gone to a watery grave in which the chemicals of their bodies have been dissolved in the waters of the sea will be raised. God will have no problem with this. After all, they are only atoms. He just has to put them together again. He did it once; He can do it again. The graves on earth will give up their bodies; and hades, the place where the spirits of the lost go, will disgorge for this judgment.

Revelation 20:14

And death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death even the lake of fire. And if any were not found written in the book of life, he was cast into the lake of fire. You will notice that in my translation I have changed “death and hell were cast into the lake of fire” to “death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire.” Sheol or hades (translated hell in the New Testament) is the place of the unseen dead and is divided into two compartments: paradise and the place of torment (see Luk_16:19-31). Paradise was emptied when Christ took the Old Testament believers with Him at His ascension. “Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. (Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things)” (Eph_4:8-10).

Christ did two things: He gave gifts to men down here, but He also took with Him to heaven those Old Testament saints who had died and were in the place called paradise. But the place of torment will deliver up the lost at the judgment at the Great White Throne. All who stand at this judgment are lost, and we are told that they are cast into the lake of fire, which is the second death. The Lord also called it “outer darkness.” We believe that this is symbolic of something worse than literal fire or outer darkness. It is eternal separation from God, for death means separation. “Death,” the great final enemy of man, is finally removed from the scene. No longer will it be said, “In Adam all die” (see 1Co_15:22). Death is personified in this case, for it is man’s great enemy. In the Old Testament we read: “I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death: O death, I will be thy plagues; O grave, I will be thy destruction: repentance shall be hid from mine eyes” (Hos_13:14). And Paul writes: “The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death…. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?” (1Co_15:26, 1Co_15:55). “Hades,” the prison of lost souls, is likewise cast into the lake of fire. The lost are no longer in hades but in the lake of fire. This is where Satan, the wild Beast, the False Prophet, and their minions were consigned. If man will not accept the life of God, he must accept the only other alternative: eternal association with Satan. God never created man to be put in this place, but there is no other place for him. Hell was created for the Devil and his angels. I take it that it is a place where God never goes. The second death means eternal and absolute separation from God.