THE LAST GREAT DAY

(The Great White Throne Judgment)

Let us be glad and rejoice during this festival of God, the last Moed in His Covenant Calendar year.  This festival is called the Last Great Day.

We have had a glorious time of prayer, study, and fellowship during the 7-day Feast of Tabernacles.  Now comes the Last Great Day, the 8^th day as it is also called.   

Leviticus 23:34-36, The 15^th day of the seventh month shall be the Feast of Tabernacles for seven days to the LORD. …verse 36 says, For seven days you shall offer an offering made by fire to the LORD.  On the eighth day (which is today) you shall have a holy convocation (convocation means: a formal meeting, or formal gathering), and you shall offer an offering made by fire to the Lord.  It is a sacred assembly, and you shall do no customary (or servile) work on it.

That is all it specifically says about this 8th day in the instructions for observing it.  Numbers 29:35 and Nehemiah 8:18 mentions the same.   But you can see what it represents in other areas of scripture.  As we know, the festivals of God are His blueprint for the plan of salvation for mankind:  The Feast of Tabernacles is for 7 days, and pictures the millennial rule of Jesus Christ. Then comes the 8^th day – a holy day, which is significant.  

If we look at the progression of events just after the millennial reign of Jesus Christ, as well as what Jesus Himself said on that day when speaking, we get a clearer picture of what this day is pointing towards. 

First of all:

In review, the 1,000 year millennium is an amazing time of rest for man and all the earth.  Scriptures give a ton of Biblical description of this time ahead.

1. Remnant Israel will get a heart for God (Isaiah 1:24-28, Amos 9:9-10, Zechariah 13:1, Hosea 14:4, Joel 2:32, Ezekiel 36:26, Zechariah 13:8-9, Micah 2:12, 7:19-20)
2. Remnant Israel will regret its past sin and rejection of Jesus (Isaiah 1:29-31, Zechariah 12:10-14, Ezekiel 36:21-22, Hosea 3:5).
3. All nations will be taught the ways of God (Micah 4:2, Isaiah 11:9).

That 1,000 years will be glorious:  true peace on the earth; the rebuilding of the waste places; think of all the destruction by the end of the Tribulation period; it pictures happy families, happy animals, the restoration of the earth to how God meant it to be for us. 

But the 1,000 year rest is NOT THE ULTIMATE REST God has for His people. 

In the first six verses of Revelation 20, it talks about the devil being bound for a thousand years that he would not deceive the nations UNTIL the thousand years are finished, as well as who rules and reigns with Christ during the 1,000 years.  But beginning in verse 7 it talks about what happens after the millennium. 

AFTER the Millennium 

When the thousand years are completed, Satan is loosed for a brief time, and that is to prove and test those who never got to experience anything other than the peace and goodness of God during the millennium.  Those who were born during the 1,000 years were never tempted by him, and as we can see the devil does his thing all over again, and gathers a multitude against the saints in Jerusalem.  God sends fire down to consume them, then casts the devil into the lake of fire were the beast and false prophet were cast. 

The devil’s time is officially over forever.  Now for the next step:

The Great White Throne Judgment

Revelation 20:11-15, “Then I saw a great white throne and Him who 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, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books. The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works. Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.  And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.”

This is what most think that 8^th day is about – the final judgment when the rest of the dead (not part of the 1^st resurrection vs 5) are raised and judged by what is written in the books, according to their works. But it is much more than that!

The fact it is the 8^th day, means “the Beginning” of something, or “New Beginning.”  Revelation 21:1-12, and verses 22-27 says,

A New Heaven and a New Earth

“Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea.  Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God.  And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.”

Then He who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.” And He said to me, “Write, for these words are true and faithful.”

And He said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts.  He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son.  But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.  Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls filled with the seven last plagues came to me and talked with me, saying, “Come, I will show you the bride, the Lamb’s wife.” And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, having the glory of God. Her light was like a most precious stone, like a jasper stone, clear as crystal.  Also she had a great and high wall with twelve gates, and twelve angels at the gates, and names written on them, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel.”

Verse 22,” But I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light.  And the nations of those who are saved shall walk in its light, and the kings of the earth bring their glory and honor into it.  Its gates shall not be shut at all by day (there shall be no night there). And they shall bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it.  But there shall by no means enter it anything that defiles, or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.”

Chapter 22:1-6 says,

“And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb.  In the middle of its street, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.  And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall serve Him.  They shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads.  There shall be no night there: They need no lamp nor light of the sun, for the Lord God gives them light. And they shall reign forever and ever. Then he said to me, “These words are faithful and true.” And the Lord God of the ^[b]holy prophets sent His angel to show His servants the things which must shortly take place.”

This is what the Last Great Day of the Feast, the 8^th day, is about the New Beginning – the New Heaven and the New Earth.  God and man living, and being together, into eternity!

John 7:37, “On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink.  He who believes in Me, as the scripture has said, out of his being shall flow rivers of living water.”

So, the Last Great Day, the 8^th day, pictures the New Beginning.  The time when Satan and his kingdom are destroyed, cast into the bottomless pit, and the rebellion extinguished forever.

The Great White Throne judgment is for those who were not in the first resurrection. They are raised to life for judgment according to their works.  All those not found written in the Book of Life will be cast into the lake of fire, which is the second death.

Finally, everything becomes new.  The first heaven and the first earth pass away. A new heaven and earth, with New Jerusalem, come down from God out of heaven as a bride adorned for her husband.  This is the TRUE REST of God for eternity.  This day pictures the beginning of a brand-new season just ahead of us! 

This general overview pictures not only that which is ahead; but an overview of right now, and what should be our personal stance before the Lord.  The war has already been won by our Redeemer, as written from the beginning.  All we are to do is STAND IN HIS VICTORY!

And as we stand, we are to Praise our God and Rejoice!

What an amazing God we serve! 

Blessings to all!!!