Before we consider the teaching of Revelation 20, concerning the Great

White Throne, let us gather what we may from the testimony of 2 Peter,

chapter 3.  He speaks of:

of the Lord (2 Pet. 3:10).

of God (2 Pet. 3:12).

new

heavens and a new earth (2 Pet. 3:13).

of the age (lit.) (2 Pet. 3:18).

The wording of the Authorized Version obscures the relation of the day of the

Lord with the day of God, the Revised Version is nearer to the original:

'But the day of the Lord will come as a thief; In The Which the heavens

shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall be dissolved

with fervent heat, and the earth and the works that are therein shall

be burned up.

'Looking for and earnestly desiring the coming of the day of God, By

Reason of Which the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the

elements shall melt with fervent heat?' (2 Pet. 3:10,12 R.V.).

'In the which', 'by reason of which' clearly distinguishes the one from

the other.  The day of God succeeds the day of the Lord and is beyond the

dissolution of heaven and earth.  For that day, said Peter, we look, and that

day of God is explained further to be:

The new heavens and new earth.

The Day (pre -eminently) of the age hemeran aionos (2 Pet. 3:18).

The Millennium is not the goal, the goal is the Day of the Age,

the Day of God, symbolized in the typical Scriptures as 'the

eighth day' the first day of a new week.

When we consider the opening of the seals, we find that the sixth seal

(Rev. 6:12 -17) takes us to the frontier of the Millennium.  The sun becomes

black, the moon like blood, the heavens depart as a scroll, the day of His

wrath is come.  There can be no more than one occasion when the heavens

depart as a scroll.  Psalm 2 speaks of the gathering of the kings and rulers

of the earth and is quoted in Acts 4:26,27 of Christ.  The kindling of the

wrath of the Son is parallel with the passage quoted from Revelation 6.

Let us now turn our attention to the Great White Throne.  We observe

that this judgment is twofold.  First there is a judgment of works, and this

is followed by the judgment that issues in life or the second death.  The

judgment that will be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah can scarcely be

made to fit in here, neither can the judgment of the unevangelized Gentile

world be easily aligned here as it is described in Romans 2:6 -16.  The

latter at least is a judgment according to 'deeds' (Rom. 2:6), and of course

may be all one and the same as this judgment of Revelation 20, but for the

moment the decision is not vital to our quest.  The Gospel preacher often

refers to the Great White Throne in language that exceeds anything written in

Revelation 20.  Instead of this chapter telling us that 'whoever stands

before the Great White Throne is necessarily damned', the reverse is the