The Great White Throne

Many say that the scene at the throne shows that only the wicked are judged, that "Christians" are not judged, but are accepted without it. We see in in several text in the Bible...

Daniel 7:9-11 King James Version (KJV)
9 I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire.
10 A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him: thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened.
11 I beheld then because of the voice of the great words which the horn spake: I beheld even till the beast was slain, and his body destroyed, and given to the burning flame.

Revelation 4:3-5 King James Version (KJV)
3 And he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone: and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald.
4 And round about the throne were four and twenty seats: and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and they had on their heads crowns of gold.
5 And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices: and there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God.

Revelation 7:9-10 King James Version (KJV)
9 After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands;
10 And cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb.

Revelation 20:11-15 King James Version (KJV)
11 And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.
12 And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.
13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.
14 And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

There is a judgment that is made and as Adventist we hold it as the Investigative Judgment and we see this being applied at the Second Coming..

Matthew 16:27
For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works.

And you see Christ not only says it but repeats it in Revelation...

Revelation 22:12
And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.

So what is the purpose of the Great White Throne judgement scene..

God's judgment is not a one time thing.
There are several phases of judgment.

DANIEL 7 pictures the investigative judgment. The context shows it taking place after the 1260 years (time,times and half time) It is a judgment of the little horn (a period of time when a power claiming to be Christians was ruling) It is the judgment of all professed followers of God and Christ.

Daniel 7:9-11, 13-14,
People are not present at that judgment, only the ancient of days and thousand times thousands of angels.
The Son of Man (Jesus as the representative of the human race) is brought before this court and declared worthy to receive the dominion and power etc.
He presents the names of overcomers before the Father and the angels (as we see in Rev. 3:5)
These will be the ones that inherit the earth with Jesus in the future.
Daniel 7 is about the investigative judgment to see who the real Christians are and who the fake Christians are, BEFORE the second coming.


Revelation 5 is Christ being declared worthy to take the scroll and do His priestly work prior to the second coming.


Revelation 6(last part) and 7 take us to the very end of present earthly history, when the investigative judgment is finished. Revelation 7 shows the saved who were sealed and are taken to heaven at the second coming. While Revelation 6 shows the distress of the lost dashing to hide from Christ and His brightness at the secondi coming.

Revelation 20
The great white throne takes place AFTER the 1000 years. Christ's 2nd coming happened 1000 years earlier. This is a third coming! Everyone that ever lived is alive. The saved had been with Christ in heaven for 1000 years are in the New Jerusalem with Christ. The wicked, who were dead for 1000 years, have been raised, and are intent on conquering the city. All will see Christ on that white throne. They will see everything He did to save all who would believe. The wicked will see how they rejected the Life Giver, and His kingdom, now, after acknowledging God's perfect love and justice, they face the eternal second death from which there is no return.

I am studying it as all the evangelicals talk on it but each one has their own personal interpretation, and mostly distorted or in the wrong place in the timeline. We Adventist are blessed with the SOP, but we tend to get to complacent and just quote it and only superficially grasp some of these important points...

Totally agree!
Even Adventists often just pull up a text concerning the judgment without any regard to the timeline and over arching process by which God fully discloses His love and justice.

The judgement isn't just to evaluate the individual's spiritual condition, (though that is part of it) but it is a thorough process by which God shows how His government is the way of love and justice, that He will not force anyone to worship Him, but even to rebels He freely offers a redemptive plan at great cost to Himself! His character of love did everything to save mankind and those lost are lost because of their refusal to escape from the bondage of sin by accepting his redeeming, cleansing plan.
And those saved, even though they too were sinners, did value and accept His forgiveness and cleansing, refining power, inviting Him into their hearts and lives.

When this earth's example of what diverting from God's perfect government is like, ends, every being in the whole universe will have all doubts removed about God and His law, and all will joyously exclaim, Just and true are all your ways, Oh God!