Revelation 20:11-15

Revelation 20:11: “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.
12 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.
13 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.
14 And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.”

Here we have the final judgment. This is Judgment Day (also known as the Great White Throne Judgment). As you can see, it takes place after Satan is cast into the Lake of Fire. This means it does not occur until the Tribulation has taken place, the antichrist has been defeated, the Millennial Kingdom has happened, and Satan has been defeated after being released from his thousand-year imprisonment.

There are a few points I want to bring out. First, as we see in verse 12, the people who are judged at this time are “the dead”. The only people who will be dead at this point in history are the wicked and those who died during the Millennial Kingdom. The Church will not be included in this judgment because they were resurrected at the Rapture and therefore are not dead. The Tribulation saints will be not included in this judgment because they were resurrected at the beginning of the Millennial Kingdom and therefore are not dead. In other words, this is not a general judgment of everyone.

Second, we see that Hell is emptied for this judgment (verse 13), and that after it is over the wicked are not cast back into Hell but instead are cast into the Lake of Fire. This means that no one will spend eternity in Hell. Instead they will spend eternity in the Lake of Fire. That is the final destination of the wicked.

Finally, we need to remember that the lost are actually raised from the dead for this judgment. This means that when they are thrown into the Lake of Fire, they are thrown into it alive. The “second death” is being thrown into the Lake of Fire, from which there is no escape. There is no hope for those who end up there – they have nothing to look forward to but endless, unbearable torment.