There will be a resurrection preceding the judgment of the great white throne. It will be the resurrection to judgment spoken of in John 5:29. The resurrection to life, also spoken of in the same verse, will have taken place 1000 years earlier. There will be two resurrections; all raised in the first resurrection are raised for heavenly blessing and all raised in that last resurrection are raised for judgment.
The first resurrection is "from among the dead," for all who died unsaved will be left in their graves when the saved are raised. But at length the time will arrive when those who died in unbelief—died unrepentant—shall be raised. It will then be the resurrection "of the dead" not from "among" the dead, for there will be no unraised dead left when the final resurrection takes place. Then every single human being that died, refusing the testimony that God had given him, will be raised to stand trial.
Before the Millennium begins, the "first resurrection" will be completed and it will be said, "But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished" (Rev. 20:5). But after the Millennium has run its course, and the time has come for the dissolution of the present earth (making way for the "new heavens and new earth"), then the rest of the dead shall be raised to stand trial before the great white throne.
"And I saw a great white throne, and Him that sat on it, from whose face the heaven and the earth fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God [the throne]; 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. 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. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire." Rev. 20:11-15.
What a solemn scene is unveiled before us in these verses! A great white throne—that dazzling whiteness of light from the holiness of Him who sits on the throne. On earth men hate the light because their deeds are evil, but there they will be exposed by the exceeding brilliance of His holiness. Nothing can then be hid. It will also be a great throne by reason of the greatness of the Judge—the Lord Jesus Himself—and by reason of the magnitude of the judgment—not one of the many, many millions who died in their sins escaping.
And then the books are to be opened. Sins long forgotten, sins considered only trivial, and secret sins will all be brought out as evidence when the records will be opened. Every sin is to be called to remembrance, and the dead are to be judged "according to their works." Yes, "God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing" (Eccles. 12:14). Men may treat sin as a light matter, but God does not. Well may the psalmist say,
"Enter not into judgment with thy servant: for in Thy sight shall no man living be justified." Psalm 143:2.
The only way that any can escape the judgment of God is to be under the shelter of the blood of Christ. John 5:24 shows that by hearing the words of the Lord Jesus and believing God who raised Him from the dead we shall not come into judgment. For every true Christian the judgment is passed; it was borne by his blessed Substitute on the cross. Not one sin remains to be charged to the believer in Christ; not one sin will be overlooked or forgotten when the unsaved stand before the great white throne.
Then the book of life is to be opened to prove that their names were not written therein. God will take care to show His righteousness in passing sentence. Although He has to give account to no one, He will show by the books both the positive (their actual sins) and the negative (their names not being found in the book of life), evidences that they deserve the judgment that is to be passed.
The sea will give up its dead. Think of all that have perished in the seas; not one will be missed. O the folly of men that imagines that death is the last of them. How much wiser it is to believe God and accept His way of escape from coming wrath. God has faithfully warned that "after death the judgment," and He has provided a Savior for all who will have Him.
Then death and hell—hades—will deliver up the dead in them. Death, the place of the body, and hades, the confines of the soul, will deliver up their whole contents that all may be judged according to their works—their entire population emptied out to be cast into "the lake of fire." As there will then be no further use for death and hades, they are said to be cast into the lake of fire. Death, the last enemy, is said to be destroyed (1 Cor. 15:26).
The lake of fire is called the "second death." This does not mean the annihilation of the wicked. Scripture bears out the fact that the punishment of the wicked is eternal, just as the blessing of the saved is eternal. In the same chapter (Rev. 20) the devil, the beast (head of the revived Roman Empire) and the false prophet (the antichrist) are to be "tormented day and night forever and ever" in the lake of fire. The beast and the false prophet will have already been there for 1000 years. Many deceivers have written to soothe the fears of men saying that God will annihilate the wicked completely. This most certainly is not true and is only the result of rebellious men's wish that it might be so.
In Ephesians the unsaved are spoken of as "dead in trespasses and sins." They are viewed as morally dead toward God—their souls separated morally from Him. Now it is evident that such moral death does not mean annihilation. No, it is man morally away from God and living in sin.
Then there is the case of one who dies physically. Life has gone from his body and he is said to be dead—it is the body without the spirit. But that does not mean that the man has ceased to exist, or has been annihilated, or is unconscious. Luke 16 shows that even though an unconverted man dies, his soul still lives in hades. That man had conscious existence in the unseen world and was capable of remembering and having remorse even in that state. His body had been buried, but even while awaiting the last resurrection and the judgment of the wicked dead, he was tormented in hades.
Death for the Christian certainly is not ceasing to exist. The thief that got saved on the cross was to be with Christ in paradise, and Paul desired to depart and be with Christ which is far better (Phil. 1:23). Certainly ceasing to exist was not far better than serving the Lord here below, but Paul looked forward to being with Christ when he had left this world and his body had been committed to the grave. So then we see that death in each of these instances does not mean annihilation and neither does it when speaking of the second death—the lake of fire.
Moral death is the separation of the soul of man morally from God.
Physical death is the separation of the soul and spirit from the body.
The second death is the separation of the whole man—body, soul, and spirit—from God for all eternity. An eternity of woe.
Reader, if not yet saved, stop and consider your destiny—the lake of fire—if you die unsaved. 0 do be warned and flee from the wrath to come. And if you die unsaved, the very gospel verses that you have read and perhaps know by heart will rise up to taunt you in that awful, eternal separation from God, the source of all light, in "outer darkness."
Fire is often used to describe God's judgment, and so it is here. It is His holiness punishing sin as it must. But remember that He in love gave His only Son to die in order to save guilty sinners. But how shall any escape if they refuse or neglect so great salvation? Escape for such is impossible, for God must punish sin.