December 29

The Courtroom Where Excuses Die

One day the lights are going out on every excuse, every delay, and every lie people told themselves about God. Revelation 20 is the moment when mercy is no longer offered and the Judge takes His seat. Not poetry. Not symbolism to soften the blow. This is where history stops running and stands still before God.

John writes that he saw Satan bound, shut up, and sealed for a thousand years ~Revelation 20:1–3. The deceiver of the nations is silenced. No more lies. No more excuses. No more whispering in the dark. God allows rebellion its full run, then seals its end forever.

The last rebellion is defeated, and Satan is thrown into the lake of fire along with the beast and the false prophet ~Revelation 20:10. Then the scene changes. Then the fear comes. John says he saw a great white throne and Him that sat on it, from whose presence the earth and the heaven fled away, and there was found no place for them ~Revelation 20:11. Creation itself cannot endure His presence. There is nowhere to go. No place to hide. No distraction left. When God sits to judge, everything else fades away.

The dead appear. Not some of them. All of them. Great and small. Famous and forgotten. Powerful and weak. Poor and wealthy. Standing before God ~Revelation 20:12. There is no pecking order here. No deference to status. No weight given to influence. No religious branding. Everyone stands exposed. Scripture is plain that no creature is hidden from His sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account ~Hebrews 4:13. This courtroom has no blinds and no closed sessions.

Books are opened. Not opinions. Not feelings. Records. God keeps perfect accounts. Jesus warned that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment ~Matthew 12:36. Nothing is lost. Nothing is glossed over. Nothing is pushed aside. The dead are judged according to their works ~Revelation 20:12, and that should terrify anyone who rejected Christ, whether by outright unbelief, by hearing the gospel and turning away, by preferring sin over submission, or by reshaping Christ into something safer than the real Son of God. Jesus warned that many would say “Lord, Lord” while never doing the will of the Father, calling that self-deception, not salvation ~Matthew 7:21–23. If you stand by your works, you will fall by your works.

Another book is opened, which is the Book of Life ~Revelation 20:12. This is the dividing line. Not morality. Not church attendance. Not good intentions. Jesus said plainly that he who believes on the Son has everlasting life, and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him ~John 3:36. If your name is not written there, there is no appeal. Revelation says just as plainly that if anyone was not found written in the Book of Life, he was cast into the lake of fire ~Revelation 20:15.

Death and Hades themselves are thrown into the lake of fire ~Revelation 20:14. This is called the second death. Not annihilation. Not sleep. Jesus described it as outer darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth ~Matthew 25:30. This is conscious loss. Final separation. Eternal punishment. Jesus said it is better to enter life maimed than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched ~Mark 9:43. He did not soften His words, and neither should we.

This courtroom is nothing like human courts. There is no defense attorney to misstate facts. No jury to sway. No mistrial. God is both Judge and standard at the same time. He judges the world in righteousness ~Psalm 9:8. Abraham asked, shall not the Judge of all the earth do right ~Genesis 18:25. The answer is yes. Every time. His verdict is final, and His justice is clean.

Grace is available now. Today is mercy’s window. Scripture says God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance ~2 Peter 3:9. Christ already bore judgment for those who believe. There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus ~Romans 8:1. Outside of Him, condemnation remains.

Revelation 20 is a warning written in firelight. The courtroom is coming. The books will open. The throne will be set. The only safe place is not in your works, your goodness, or your excuses. The only refuge is Jesus Christ. Flee to Him today, because once that throne appears, time will be over, and the verdict will not change.

Zechariah 14:1-21
Revelation 20:1-15
Psalm 148:1-14
Proverbs 31:8-9

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