The judgment before the great white throne perhaps will take place in the air because by then the heaven and earth will have fled away, and no place will be found for them (Rev. 20:11).
1. “A great white throne and Him who sat upon it” (Rev. 20:11; see also John 5:22, 27).
The One who will judge the dead at the great white throne will be the One who is spoken of here as “Him who sat upon it.” This One must be the Lord Christ. God has given all judgment to Him and designated Him as the Judge of both the living and the dead.
2. “Christ Jesus, who is to judge...the dead” (2 Tim. 4:1; see also Acts 10:42).
This verse says that Christ will judge the dead. God has established Christ as the Lord who will judge the dead. He will judge the living at His throne of glory, and He will judge the dead at His great white throne.
1. “I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne...And the dead were judged” (Rev. 20:12).
Those who are judged before the great white throne are the dead unbelievers. All the dead from every age will stand (standing implies that they had been resurrected) before the great white throne to be judged by the Lord. Those who stand in this judgment will not be saved believers. Since the believers were judged by God at the cross, they will not be judged again at this time related to eternal condemnation. However, those who have no part in the judgment of Christ at the cross must be judged at this time related to eternal condemnation and perdition.
2. “Judge...the dead” (2 Tim. 4:1; see also Acts 10:42).
Those who are judged at Christ’s throne of glory will be the living, that is, the living nations; those who are judged at the great white throne will be the dead, that is, the dead unbelievers.
1. “The dead were judged by the things which were written in the scrolls, according to their works” (Rev. 20:12).
The judgment of the dead unbelievers at the great white throne will be based on their actions which God recorded. God records in scrolls every single thing that one does while he is living. The Lord will judge according to this record, that is, according to everyone’s actions while they were alive.
1. “If anyone was not found written in the book of life, he was cast into the lake of fire” (Rev. 20:15).
The dead unbelievers who are judged at the great white throne, who were not found written in the book of life, will be cast into hell in the lake of fire to perish and suffer eternally. Since they sinned with the devil when they were alive, they will suffer the punishment of eternal flames with him for eternity.
The fifth and sixth judgments determine whether or not a person perishes. Both of these judgments are before thrones. One is before the throne of glory, and the other is before the great white throne. They are different from the judgment before the judgment seat of Christ. The judgment before the judgment seat determines whether a believer receives a reward or a punishment; the judgments before Christ’s throne of glory and the great white throne determine whether or not a person perishes.
The first four judgments of God are related to believers, whereas the last two are related to the nations and unbelievers. The believers have passed through the judgment at the cross, resolving the matter of eternal salvation and becoming the church, the children in the house of God. In the church, the house of God, believers can receive the judgment of the church related to blatant and unrepentant sins and can also receive God’s judgment of discipline in order to partake of and manifest His holiness. Prior to the Lord’s return, the believers will be raptured to the air to be judged before the judgment seat of Christ to determine either their reward or punishment. When the Lord returns, the living nations will be judged before Christ’s throne of glory to determine whether they will enter into eternal life or into eternal punishment. Then the dead unbelievers will face the final judgment at the great white throne at the end of the millennial kingdom to determine their eternal punishment. Through these six judgments every problem related to the satisfaction of God’s righteousness, holiness, and glory will be fully cleared up among both believers and unbelievers.
In addition to these six judgments, the Bible also speaks of angels being judged (2 Pet. 2:4; Jude 6). The judges in this judgment are the saved children of God (1 Cor. 6:3).