11 Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. 12 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. 13 And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. 14 Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. 15 And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.
Comment: This short passage answers a few eternal questions!
Q1: Does death mark the end? Who of the Dead were called to Judgement on this day? The answer is a) The great and the small – no escape by status! b) interpreting a bit but the concept is that whether buried and turned back to dust, eaten by maggots, left in the open to be eaten by wildlife or buried at sea to be eaten by sea creatures or just rotted away, burnt, drowned whosoever was a person will be there!
Q2: How many books will be opened? We are not given a number, but we are told that there are two types! One group of these types, which I read to be only one, but large enough to contain the names of all those who are going to live with God in Heaven in the multi-mansioned place which Jesus describes in John ch 14, and of which we get a glorious picture in the next two chapters of this book! The picture is that those going into ‘heaven’ have been given their passport to enter during life, before death! The other group of books which I assume to be enormous in number contains the life story of everyone who has ever lived! I wouldn’t be surprised if aborted foetuses have pages for themselves as they are people!
Q3: How do you get a passport to heaven and does it mean scott free – no further responsibility? The business of being born again, being saved, repentance and belief, choosing to walk God’s way as explained in His book and the words of Jesus is fundamental about getting your passport to enter God’s Eternity. These terms are about ‘sonship’ (and being politically correct I should probably say ‘childship’) being restored by the perfect sacrifice of Jesus for us in His Life and supremely in the whole Easter Event! God still expects us to live good lives! He hates evil and loves justice and goodness! To express a personal opinion which, I think is Bible based but is not specifically spelt out in the Scriptures, is that heaven will be beautiful beyond belief for all who enter but not exactly the same for everyone! And I think basically think the same about hell. The place where God is not but may well be different for Hitler and a ‘good but unbelieving’ person!
In 1 Corinthians 2:9 Paul writes, “as it is written,
What no eye has seen, nor ear heard,
nor the heart of man imagined,
what God has prepared for those who love him”
Prayer: Thank You, Father, that You call us to be Your children, forgiven and reconciled in ‘the now of our lives’!