What is going to happen at the coming judgment? What will determine the outcome of this judgment for each person? As we shall see, the answers to these questions may have a tremendous impact on the rest of your life! Let’s begin our quest for these answers by turning to one of the last chapters in the last book of the Bible, the book of Revelation.

Revelation 20:11-15 says: “Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, the great and the 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 from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.”

According to this passage, everyone will be judged based on two things. First, we will be judged by our own works. 2 Corinthians 5:10 says, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.” These things are written in the “books” that are opened.

This makes clear the importance of what we do while our physical body is still alive, because our actions are being recorded, and we will be judged by those actions. It is important to note that, while we are still living in our physical body, we have the opportunity to change our actions and affect the outcome of our judgment.

This passage in Revelation 20 also makes it clear that there is one other thing that will determine the outcome of the judgment each of us will face. This second thing is even more important than our works. The most critical thing for each of us, according to this passage, is whether our names are found to be written in “the book of life.”

In addition to the books being opened that records all of our works, “another book was opened, which was the book of life.” Then “anyone not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.” This lake of fire is referred to as “the second death.”

Our physical bodies will have already died. That was the first death. Revelation 20 says that this lake of fire is the second death. This lake of fire is where the Devil, the beast, and the false prophet will be cast, and where they “will be tormented day and night forever and ever” (Rev. 19:20, 20:10). According to Matthew 25:41 and 46 the place of “eternal punishment,” “the eternal fire” was “prepared for the devil and his angels.” These are spiritual beings with an eternal existence and will therefore be thrown into a place of eternal torment.

Every person needs to be most concerned with what it says in Revelation 20:15; “Anyone not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.” Anyone whose name is not found in the book of life and is thrown into the lake of fire will experience “the second death.” The second death will not kill the physical body. That has already died.

I believe the second death will kill the soul and the resurrected spiritual body. After being judged according to their works, every person that is not found written in the book of life will be thrown into the lake of fire, and will experience the second death, the death that destroys their soul and their resurrected spiritual body.

1 Corinthians 15:42-44 says, “So It is with the resurrection of the dead: . . . sown a natural body, raised a spiritual body.” In Isaiah 66:22-24 God says, “As they leave, they will see the dead bodies of the men who have rebelled against Me; for their worm will never die, their fire will never go out.”

Jesus warns in Matthew 10:28: “Don’t be afraid of those who kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul. Rather, fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in Gehenna” (WEB). This passage makes it clear that the soul is not immortal. It is not eternal. A person’s soul can be killed, destroyed by God. If anyone’s name is not found written in the book of life, that person will be cast into the lake of fire, the second death. The death that they experience there will be the death of their soul and the death of their resurrected spiritual body.

According to Romans 6:23, “The gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” 1 John 5:11 confirms this, saying, “And the testimony is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.” These passages make it very clear that eternal life is in Jesus Christ. Apart from Him no one has eternal life. Life that is not eternal does not live forever. Therefore, any person who does not have Christ dwelling in them does not have eternal life, and shall be destroyed, dying in the second death.

Evidence that man is mortal and will not live forever apart from receiving eternal life in Jesus Christ can be seen at the end of the account of the fall of man in the Garden of Eden. Genesis 3:22-24 says: “Then the Lord God said, ‘Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might stretch out his hand, and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever’— therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden, to cultivate the ground from which he was taken. So He drove the man out; and at the east of the garden of Eden He stationed the cherubim and the flaming sword which turned every direction to guard the way to the tree of life.” Until the issue of man’s sin was dealt with, God would not allow man to receive eternal life and live forever.

In Exodus 32:33 God says to Moses: “I will erase whoever has sinned against Me from My book” (HCSB). In Psalm 69:28 the psalmist asks God to let those that persecute His righteous ones “be erased from the book of life and not be recorded with the righteous” (HCSB). In Revelation 3:5 Jesus assures His faithful ones, “I will not erase his name from the book of life, and I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels.”

It is apparent from these passages that everyone’s name is originally written in the book of life. However, those that have sinned against God will have their names erased from the book of life. This is why Jesus’ death on the cross was so important. By His death, Jesus made purification for our sins. Hebrews 1:3 says, “When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.”

All of those that believe God raised Jesus from the dead and confess Jesus as Lord, submitting to Jesus as God’s ultimate authority, receive forgiveness of sins in Him. Romans 10:8-10 says, “The word of faith which we are preaching, that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in in salvation.” Colossians 1:13-14 says: “For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”

In Matthew 26:28 Jesus says: “For this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” Luke 24:46-47 says: “Thus it is written, that the Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead the third day, and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem.”

I John 3:5 tells us that Christ appeared “in order to take away sins.” In promising to make a new covenant with His people, God says, “And this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins” (Romans 11:27).

This forgiveness of sins that we can have by faith in Jesus the Christ prevents our names from being erased from the book of life, because the blood of Jesus does not just cover up our sins, it takes away our sins. If we have received forgiveness of our sins by faith in Jesus, we can be assured that our names will not be erased from the book of life and that we will not be among those that experience the second death by being cast into the lake of fire.

Works of the law, and good works, cannot save us from this second death. Only faith in Jesus, resulting in our confession of Him as Lord, and our total submission to Him as God’s authority in heaven and on earth, can save us from the second death. Our works will only affect the outcome of the initial judgment that we all shall face when we stand before the great throne of God’s judgment, where we will receive recompense based on the things that we have done, whether good or bad.

Unbelievers have a much greater concern than just being judged according to their works. If they have not believed in Jesus and submitted to Him as Lord, they will not have availed themselves of the benefit of His redeeming work on the cross. They are therefore still in their sins, and their names will have been erased from the book of life. Their destiny, apart from believing in Jesus and submitting to Him, is the second death, the lake of fire.

Unbelievers will only have the opportunity to repent and come to faith in Jesus as long as their physical body is alive. As soon as they experience the first death, the death of their physical body, it is too late. Their destiny is sealed. The second death has become inevitable for them. For this reason, I implore you, if you have never obeyed the gospel, allow yourself, right now, to be persuaded of the truth as it is in Jesus.

Remember, the one thing that will determine if we suffer the second death at the great white throne judgment is whether or not our name is found written in the book of life. Only if we have received forgiveness of our sins by faith in Jesus, can we be assured that our names will not be erased from the book of life.

The other thing we need to remember is that we can never please God in our own strength, working according to our own understanding and our own wisdom. Only Jesus Christ, by the power of His Spirit that indwells every true believer, can please God. He does this by strengthening us and enabling us to live lives of obedience to the leading of the Holy Spirit. If we have the Spirit of Christ, we must allow that Spirit to lead us and empower us to live a life of total submission to Jesus Christ as Lord. Only a life of loving God and loving others as ourselves will please Him. Only these works, done by the equipping and empowering of the indwelling Spirit of Christ, will stand and receive a reward.

How is it with you? Do you have confidence to stand in that inevitable day of the coming judgment at the great white throne?

Writings By Jon von Ernst

The Lord of All Things Series - A Trilogy of Truth 
Books in this series:
Book 1 - The Gospel of the Kingdom
Book 2- The Victorious Christian
Book 3 - Walking in the Light  -  Following in His Steps

*- Audio of these books are available free of charge at thepureword.net.