Then I saw
a great white throne and him who was seated on it. The earth and the heavens
fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. Revelation 20:11
The great
white throne is a final judgment seat.
It’s great (powerful, final) and white (holy and righteous). Some believe final judgment is a two step
process.
“When the Son
of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious
throne. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will
separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the
goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the
goats on his left. Matthew
25:31-33
The
first judgment separates the righteous (those who are right with God) from the
unrighteous (those not right with God).
The
second judgement, the great white throne, is for believers only, where they
must account for all their sins.
But I tell you
that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless
word they have spoken. Matthew 12:36
For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so
that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living. You, then, why do
you judge your brother? Or why do you look down on your brother? For we will
all stand before God’s judgment seat. It is written:
“ ‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord,
‘every knee will bow before me;
every tongue will
confess to God.’ “ So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God.
Romans 14:9-12
Why would
we have to give an account of our sins if we’ve been forgiven by Jesus’ death
on the cross? A legal formality…a
reminder…a final period at the end of our sentence. We see and acknowledge our sin and plead
guilty, but Jesus declares paid in full.
We are truly free from the world and move on to true freedom with God.