2. THE GREAT WHITE THRONE JUDGMENT
As we've seen from our previous chapter, the Scriptures plainly teach there is a place called Hell. While the reality of fire judgment seems to be the worst punishment, yet I want you to notice that in Hell they remember. Luke 16:25, "But Abraham said, Son, remember..." Memory can be a blessing or a curse. Here it will be a curse for the unsaved will remember eternally with no escape.
I read the other day about a famous picture in an art gallery in Brussels. This picture is entitled. "A View of Hell." The central figure is a man with folded arms and a familiar cocked hat on his head. There is no name given, but there is no need, for he is at once identified as Napoleon Bonaparte. On the face of the Emperor there is a look of amazement and astonishment mingled with dread and fear. He looks about him and beholds an awful scene.
In the light of the flames burning about Napoleon, you can see back of him the ranks of the slain in battle. Little children stretch out clenched fists at the emperor. Mothers with agony on their countenance surround him. They are holding up the bleeding, amputated arms and legs of the slaughtered. One woman has the head of her husband in a sack, and another carries the torso of a dead and mangled body. A raw and bloody arm, severed at the shoulder, is thrust close to the face of Napoleon. At one side is a naked body, upheaved with a sword plunged into the abdomen. On the faces of the children, the wives, and the mothers are depicted rage, horror, anger, hate, and infinite pain and sorrow. It is a terrible picture. It represents Napoleon in Hell remembering the agony which he caused through a lifetime.
I feel constrained to say that if a man has no hope in Christ he has nothing. If you are outside of Christ, no matter who you are, you are facing eternity in a place called Hell.
General William Booth of the Salvation Army used to tell the story of a family in the city of London well known to Salvation Army workers. The members of this family were avowed enemies of the gospel and infidels concerning the faith. There were four members of the household - father, mother, son, and daughter. They were so positive in their antagonism to the gospel that they had publicly declared they did not want a Christian to enter their home at any time. But a young Salvation Army girl had a great yearning for the souls of these people and she was determined to try to enter their home and bear at least one testimony for Jesus Christ. And so one day, climbing up the stairs to where they lived, she came to the landing just below the open door of their apartment. As she paused for breath, she heard the tones of a man in mature years, strong, firm and confident, saying, "Hold on, my son, hold on! You are sick now. It may be you must even die, but we know there is nothing beyond. We have reasoned it all out. We have read all the books. We know all the arguments. We have exploded the Christian myth long ago. There is nothing but a step into the dark and then sleep, peaceful and permanent. Do not be afraid. Hold on! Hold on!"
Then there was a moment's silence, after which the sobbing voice of a women cried in great and yearning tenderness: "O my precious boy! Mother's heart breaks for you, but you must not be afraid. You will be going to sleep directly as gently as ever you did when a babe on Mother's bosom. You remember that we investigated all the questions relating to any possible life beyond this. You know our faculties were all strong and vigorous when we reached the definite and deliberate conclusion that there is nothing beyond but darkness, and death is but a step into it, and then sleep. Son, hold on! Hold on!"
Again there was a heartbreaking pause. Then as the Salvation Army girl waited, she heard the voice of the boy's sister as she said, "O my brother, do not falter now. All real knowledge, conviction, and understanding of life and death came to you in the days of health. Do you not remember the books we read, the arguments we made, and the conclusions to which we came? Just hold on now for a little while, then all will be over and you will sleep. There is nothing beyond; just hold on."
And then wavering upon the air, a voice laden with great tragedy of despair, between choking gasps for breath. said, "Hold on? That is the trouble! There is nothing to hold on to! There is nothing to hold on to as I go out into the dark." My friend, without Christ, there is nothing to hold on to. If you have not placed your hand in the nail-scarred hand of Jesus, then you have nothing to hold on to. Eternity will not only mean darkness but it will be full of suffering, torment, and everlasting woe for you.
Look to Jesus. Receive Him now as your Saviour. Believe in Him. He has said, "He that believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in Me shall never die" ( John 11:25,26).
THE RESURRECTION OF THE UNSAVED
In Revelation 20:13 we read, "Death (the grave) and Hell (Hades) delivered up the dead which were in them." This is a picture of the unsaved dead being resurrected. You will recall in our previous chapter how we saw that only the spirits of the wicked dead are in Hades. The spirits of the righteous dead were taken up to Paradise with Christ and are now with Him.
The resurrection of the unsaved dead will take place one thousand years after the resurrection of the righteous, that is, one thousand years after the second coming of the Lord. This is inferred in Revelation 20:5, "But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished." This event leads to the Great White Throne Judgment as described in Revelation 20: 11-15: "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. 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. 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."
God's Word teaches that there is coming a day when men and women who have rejected Christ as their Saviour must stand before God in Judgment. While the world is primarily occupied with living - making money and having things - one day the activities will cease and each unsaved person will meet God. The first fact to notice about the Great White Throne Judgment is that no righteous people from among the dead will be there. Only the dead who have rejected Christ will stand before God at this judgment. What a scene it will be! Here will stand the king and servant, the rich and poor, the high and low. There will be no escape for them.
We read in verse 12 that "the books were opened." These books will contain the names of the unsaved people of all ages as they stand before God. They will also contain the Divine record of the lives of each individual. Every sin, every evil thought, every rejection of Christ will be recorded and will be displayed on this Judgment Day. "And another book was opened, which is the book of life." In this book the records of all of God's people are kept. And if the names found in the other books are not recorded in this book then there is no hope for them. It will be Divine proof that they have rejected Christ and deserve God's judgment. "And the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works." God knows every sin of every sinner and the record is now being kept. In that day the record will be revealed and each sinner will be judged according to his works. We may try to hide from God now. We may succeed in hiding our sin from others. But in that day nothing will be hidden from God. The wicked works of all the unsaved will be judged.
"And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them." We know, of course, that death holds the bodies of the dead and Hell holds the spirits of the wicked dead. None of the wicked dead will be overlooked or forgotten. All must stand before God. "And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. It is God's guarantee that sin will never enter into His new creation.
"And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire." Notice that God's final Judgment upon men and women is a judgment that takes place because their names were not written in the book of life. Their names may have been written upon the church rolls but they were absent from the book of life. They had never been born again.
http://www.tpgh.org/UAD.htm
Oklahoma braces for challenge to Ten Commandments law
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Backers of a new law authorizing a privately funded Ten Commandments monument on the grounds of Oklahoma's Capitol didn't get good news this week.
A three-judge panel of the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Monday that a similar display at the Haskell County Courthouse in Stigler was an unconstitutional endorsement of religion, prompting both sides to wonder if legal wrangling over the state law is next.
Chuck Thornton, deputy director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Oklahoma, the group that challenged the Haskell County display, said the group has concerns with the Oklahoma law but stopped short of saying a legal challenge was inevitable.
"Although I'm not going to commit to any course of action today, we at the ACLU are looking at the developments at the state Capitol concerning that monument," Thornton said.
The state bill, approved overwhelmingly last month by the Legislature and signed into law by Gov. Brad Henry, authorizes the placement of a privately funded a 3-by-6-foot Ten Commandments monument on the State Capitol grounds.
It also authorizes the attorney general or the Liberty Legal Institute, a Texas-based legal advocacy group, to defend the monument if it's challenged in court.
"I think everybody expects it to be challenged or they wouldn't have written a provision for defense in the bill," Attorney General Drew Edmondson said Tuesday.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2005 that Ten Commandments displays on government property must be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.
The court in the Haskell County case noted that commissioners knew of the monument's religious nature when they approved of it and that they supported and defended its installation.
But the House author of the new Oklahoma law, state Rep. Mike Ritze, said he was careful to avoid referring to the monument as a religious display, saying instead he is motivated by the historical context of the Ten Commandments.
Ritze's bill even directs that the Oklahoma monument use the same words as a display on the Capitol grounds in Texas that was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court.
"I took great care to ensure my legislation falls in line with Supreme Court rulings that have allowed for several monuments in the U.S. to remain," said Ritze, R-Broken Arrow.
But Edmondson said the words on the display are not the crux of the case, and that the Texas monument had been on display on the Capitol grounds for more than 40 years.
"How you spell 'Thou shalt not kill' is not the issue," Edmondson said. "The issue is how did it get there, why is it there, and in what context is it there. And that's where we may have difficulties.
"I think the experience at the state Capitol is closer to the experience in Haskell County than it is closer to Texas in terms of the facts and the situation involved."
http://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/2009-06-09-ten-commandments_N.htm
Ohio teacher accused of preaching in class sues district
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — An Ohio school teacher fired over accusations that he preached Christianity in class says in a $1 million lawsuit that his free speech and civil rights were violated.
John Freshwater, an eighth-grade teacher, also says he was harassed because of his religion, was defamed and suffered a hostile work environment.
The Mount Vernon school board created a work situation that allowed Freshwater "to be harassed by both administrators and co-workers on account of his religion," according to the lawsuit against the board and school administrators filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Columbus.
A message was left with Superintendent Steve Sharp on Wednesday seeking comment.
The Mount Vernon school board fired Freshwater last year, citing an internal investigation that found he had preached his Christian beliefs in class, in violation of the traditional separation of church and state.
Freshwater was also accused of using a scientific device to burn a cross image onto a student's arm and of keeping a Bible on his desk.
Freshwater says other teachers were permitted to keep Bibles on their desks.
Freshwater is seeking $500,000 in lost wages, pension pay and lost opportunity costs and $500,000 in punitive damages.
Freshwater also said he was discriminated against because of his involvement with the student group, Fellowship of Christian Athletes.
The lawsuit said an outside consultant's report that investigated Freshwater was incomplete and contained "scandalous allegations," which the lawsuit does not detail.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/2009-06-11-school-christianity_N.htm
Card draw decides Council election
PHOENIX The election came down to the high card.
With the final Town Council seat in the small Phoenix-area town of Cave Creek on the line, two candidates who tied with 660 votes apiece in a May runoff cut cards to decide the race.
The winner was Adam Trenk, 25, whose king of hearts beat out former Council member Thomas McGuire's six of hearts.
An obscure Arizona law dating to 1925 says election ties should be broken "by lot." It applies to all elected offices but the governor, secretary of state, attorney general, treasurer and superintendent for public instruction. Ties in those seats are determined by the Legislature.
While a first for Cave Creek and relatively rare, such events do happen from time to time in Arizona. Last year, two local school-board candidates rolled dice to decide a winner. In 1992, a game of poker resolved a stalemate in the primary for a state legislative seat.
http://washingtontimes.com/news/2009/jun/18/briefs-94987385/
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment