After the great white throne descends, things get really scary. This devotional reading looks at how time ends as the earth passes away.
Nuggets
- The cause that elicited the response was the arrival of the great white throne with Christ seated upon it.
- The world as we know it dissolves.
- Seeing the earth disappear is going to be disturbing, to say the least.
I’ve been waiting for months to get to this verse, and I have technical problems in the middle of it. That is why this devotion didn’t show up Tuesday. Ugh!
The joy of seeing Jesus descend on the great white throne quickly turns scary. That cause turns into a serious effect for this world.
Again, there is a lot to look at. Let’s jump right in.
Let's Put It into Context
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From His Presence
“… From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them” (Rev. 20: 11 ESV)
The cause that elicited the response was the arrival of the great white throne with Christ seated upon it.
I admit. I always thought the trigger of the destruction of earth was the arrival of God. I don’t know if I just didn’t read it closely enough, or I was told that.
But this his refers back to “Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it …” (Rev. 20: 11 ESV), which refers back to “The one who conquers and who keeps my works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron …” (Rev. 2: 26-27 ESV).
Jesus conquered sin and death and was the victor at the Battle of Armageddon.
But then why would it go back to that battle when there is another “battle” just a few verses before? “And they marched up over the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, but fire came down from heaven and consumed them, and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever” (Rev. 20: 9-10 ESV).
That battle doesn’t even have a commander listed. We are just told that the enemy shows up and is immediately defeated by fire coming from Heaven.
Doesn’t that sort of give us the commander? That would make Him God.
And doesn’t that sound like a God thing rather than a Jesus thing? The only fire from Heaven that we know Jesus talking about related to John and his brother James (Lk. 9: 54). In that instance, He refused to order the fire strike.
God, however, wasn’t adverse to using fire as punishment. That was how Sodom and Gomorrah was destroyed. “Then the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the Lord out of heaven” (Gen. 19: 24 ESV).
So, conceivably, it could be referring to God on the white throne. Let’s see what people more knowledgeable than I have to say about it.
Clarke thinks it is “the indescribable Jevhovah” who is sat on the throne, so it was His presence from which the earth and sky fled. Ellicott agreed as, up to this point, it has always been God on the throne (Rev. 4: 3; Rev. 5: 1).
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(I feel better now. Someone else feels as I did.)
But Ellicott brought up a very good point. He wrote, “… but we must not understand this as excluding the Son of God, who sits with His Father on His throne (Revelation 3:21), and who, as Son of Man, declared that He would sit upon the throne of His glory and divide ‘all the nations’ as a shepherd divideth the sheep from the goats (Matthew 25:31-32; comp. also Revelation 6:16; Revelation 11:15-18).”
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Matthew Henry thought it was Jesus on this throne. So, let’s look at the verses Ellicott cited.
- “The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne” (Rev. 3: 21 ESV emphasis added).
- “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne” (Mt 25: 31 ESV emphasis added).
- “Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, calling to the mountains and rocks, ‘Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb’” (Rev. 6: 15-16 ESV emphasis added).
- “Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “‘The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever’” (Rev. 11: 15 ESV emphasis added).
So, the votes go Jesus, Jesus, God, God. It’s a tie!
I guess it depends on where the focus is. Is it on Jesus the Judge, or God the Creator Who destroys His creation?
Yes, I think the earth would be nervous about being judged and would flee. But I also think only God the Father would destroy what He created.
But then I go back to that one verse. “The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne” (Rev. 3: 21 ESV emphasis added).
It sounds like They are Both on one throne. And I get that. “I and the Father are one” (Jn. 10: 30 ESV).
Maybe this should go in the UNR book – understanding not required.
Time to move on.
Earth Passes Away
“… earth and sky fled away ...” (Rev. 20: 11 ESV)
The world as we know it dissolves.
Revelation 20: 11, in the English Standard Version, says that the earth and sky flee. This departure is also described elsewhere.
- “But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed” (II Pet. 3: 10 ESV emphasis added).
- “Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look at the earth beneath; for the heavens vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like a garment, and they who dwell in it will die in like manner …” (Isa. 51: 6 ESV emphasis added).
- “… In the fire of his jealousy, all the earth shall be consumed; for a full and sudden end he will make of all the inhabitants of the earth” (Zeph. 1: 18 ESV emphasis added).
- “For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished” (Mt. 5: 18 ESV emphasis added).
Pass away. Dissolved. Vanish. Consumed. Sudden end.
Die. Break down. Go away. Devoured.
Scary business, right? This all sounds very final.
That is especially true when we hook it with the suddenness of the appearance of the great white throne.
But what does that mean?
One answer could mean the planet Earth and its atmosphere. That – I think – is a given.
Benson talked about elements melting as if they were cast into a furnace. He talked about dissolution and removal.
This goes along with what Peter said. “But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up” (II Pet. 3: 10 NASB).
Pass away, dissolved, vanished, consumed, and destroyed suddenly would mean noisy. I bet volcanic explosions and earthquakes are noisy. Some elements of both may be included here.
If the elements are the building blocks, that would lead us to think total destruction. But then Benson qualified it to say earth no longer existed in its present state.
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Whatever happens, we cannot diminish the fact that it happens because of His mere presence. Not Jesus casting judgment. But because of Who He is.
The sinful earth passes away because it cannot stand in the presence of the pure Divine Being. Sin cannot stand in the presence of purity.
Doesn’t that verify the superiority of God and Jesus over this world’s laws and beliefs?
Go back to what Peter said. “But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar …” (II Pet. 3: 10 ESV).
Yes, this time of judgment will come as a thief in the night, but the dispensation of that judgment is going to be loud. Everyone is going to know what is happening.
Saurin said that should remind us of the power of our Judge and His judgment against sin. He wrote, “Behold how far God carries His resentment against sin.”
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I would imagine that worldview people would question why doesn’t God just leave us alone and let us do what we want.
That wasn’t why we were created. We were created to worship God.
Besides, God does meet us where we are – but He doesn’t leave us there. He wants us to be like Jesus.
We also know that God can’t be where sin is. “You who are of purer eyes than to see evil and cannot look at wrong …” (Hab. 1: 13 ESV). To me, it would be logical to think that sin cannot be where God is.
That would explain why the earth fled. Being sinful, it cannot be in the presence of God.
Spurgeon may have given us an idea as to how this will happen. He wrote, “He has but to speak the word, and the servants of His omnipotence will rise, terrible in their destructive power.”
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Blair had a good reminder. What will be dissolved will be human glory. We cannot glory outside of God.
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True, mankind has done some really spectacular things. There have been many wonderful achievements that have made life easier and better.
But the achievement we need for eternity is salvation and sanctification.
No Place for Earth
“… and no place was found for them” (Rev. 20: 11 ESV)
Seeing the earth disappear is going to be disturbing, to say the least.
There is some question as to whether the earth will be totally destroyed or just changed. Most don’t think it will be totally destroyed.
Ellicott argued that John himself had already given us reason to believe it wouldn’t.
- “When he opened the sixth seal, I looked, and behold, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon became like blood, and the stars of the sky fell to the earth as the fig tree sheds its winter fruit when shaken by a gale. The sky vanished like a scroll that is being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place” (Rev. 6: 12-14 ESV).
- “The great city was split into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell, and God remembered Babylon the great, to make her drain the cup of the wine of the fury of his wrath. And every island fled away, and no mountains were to be found” (Rev. 16: 19-20 ESV).
I don’t know. I have two problems with that argument.
The first is it sounds like Ellicott is taking Revelation chronologically. I am not totally convinced that is the way it was written.
The second is that, if it was chronologically, how can Ellicott say that the scenery at the beginning and middle of the story reflect that at the end? If the seals are being opened, it isn’t the Day of the Lord yet. On top of that, the trumpets and bowls haven’t occurred yet – and during the pouring of the bowls is when things really get dicey.
Ellicott said that we have to be careful making decisions that bring expectations on poetical language. I don’t think Revelation is meant to be poetical or symbolic. I think God had John write it as simply as he could. God wouldn’t want to hide anything this important from us.
Why do we want Revelation to be symbolically and poetically written? Because we don’t want it to happen just as it says.
That isn’t a good enough excuse to ignore what John said. It is worse to want to rewrite it to make it more palpable.
I do agree with Ellicott is that John – and God – are more concerned about our moral and spiritual regeneration than physical regeneration. But then, that is one reason why I think this earth doesn’t make the cut.
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Spurgeon, too, thought the world would be refitted and renovated. He said that we should appreciate the beauty of the earth now, but we should never forget that this world is temporary.
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Spurgeon did caution us on what we should focus. He wrote, “Compared with the doom which will be inflicted upon the ungodly at the coming of Christ, the death of nature is nothing.”
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In other words, we should focus more on what is going to happen to us. Tom should focus on Tom’s spiritual condition. Sally should focus on Sally’s spiritual condition. Elaine should focus on Elaine’s spiritual condition.
Making the Connections #1
Spurgeon said that all earthly works would be burned in the fire. That means all things not of spiritual value will perish.
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Yes, the Matthew 25 to-do list includes good things that many people accomplish: feeding the hungry, visiting the sick, visiting prisoners, etc.
But if they aren’t done in Jesus’ name, they won’t be spiritual accomplishments. They will be burned up.
Making the Connections #2
We know that the end times will be like the times of Noah. “As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man” (Mt. 24: 37 ESV).
If the end times are going to be like those of the days of Noah, we should live like Noah, as he survived the flood.
Why did Noah survive? “… Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God” (Gen. 6: 9 ESV).
But how else did Noah live? Spurgeon said that he lived expecting rain. He lived knowing his world was temporary.
We should, too.
Making the Connections #3
Saurin made a great observation. How many of us go to watch a fire burn, like a house? If a crime has been committed, how many of us stand outside the crime-scene tape watching the proceedings?
Part of that is am I’m-glad-it’s-not-me mentality. If someone was killed on the crime scene – especially – how many say I’m glad it’s not me.
Part of that is an That-makes-me-immortal mentality. That way, we convince ourselves we won’t suffer a real death.
We just love this world and our lives on it so much, that we don’t get it. We think God will allow us to continue. He wrote, “A life formed on this plan might indeed exhaust a terrestrial love, but it could never reach the love of an infinite God.”
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We shouldn’t settle for less than the infinite love of God.
Making the Connections #4
Yes, there will be a time when all this will go away. In other words, time as we know it has a beginning and an end.
Time as God knows it didn’t have a beginning and will never end. Boston said that it has run uninterrupted.
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But it will be interrupted at some point. In fact, it will come to an end.
Only God knows when that time will be. Only God can bring that end to fruition.
How Do We Apply This?
- Strive for a practical holiness in every part of our lives.
- Long for our soul of eternity.
- Live like Noah did – righteous and blameless.
- Like Noah, live knowing this world is temporary.
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Father God. We don’t understand what will happen. What John has written scares us. But we put our faith and trust in You. We hold on to the hope of Your promises. However they come into being, we look for You. Amen.
What do you think?
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