Revelation | Week 4

Pastor Bill Bush · Mar 25, 2018

Big Idea

Every person will stand before one of two judgment seats, and knowing what's coming next should shape what you do with your life now.

Because of Jesus, believers can face their future with hope rather than fear. Scripture describes two judgment seats: the Bema Seat, where Christians will answer for what they did with the time, talents, treasure, and testimony God gave them, and the Great White Throne, where those without Jesus answer for their own deeds. Both are presided over by the same Savior who died to bring people to Himself, so the real question isn't whether God wants you, but whether you want Him.

Key points

1
1Revelation is hard to understand, but it's given so that knowing what happens next changes how we live now.
Pastor Bill opens with the 'Irish wristwatch' meme illustration, comparing the difficulty of the phrase to the difficulty of Revelation's prophetic, ancient literary style. He names the series' big idea he's repeated all series: if I know what's happening next, it should impact what I do now, and frames this final week as 'the tale of two judgments.'
2
2Believers will stand at the Bema Seat and answer for what they did with what God gave them.
Working through 2 Corinthians 5:9-10 and 1 Corinthians 3:11-15, Pastor Bill explains that Christians will be judged not for sin but for whether they built their lives on Jesus with things of eternal value (gold, silver, jewels) or worldly, temporary things (wood, hay, straw) that burn up in the fire, resulting in reward or great loss.
3
3Four things God gave us that we'll answer for: our time, talents, treasure, and testimony.
He walks through each category, asking whether believers spend their time with God, use their spiritual gifts to serve the church, trust God with their finances rather than the world's way, and use their story of God's grace to build others up. He connects this to his own calling to preach and challenge the church, saying preachers are held to a higher standard.
4
4The Great White Throne judgment is for those who never truly knew Jesus, and ends in the lake of fire.
Reading Revelation 20, Pastor Bill traces the sequence: Satan bound a thousand years, the millennial reign of Christ, Satan's brief release and final defeat, then the resurrection of the unsaved dead judged by their own deeds before the Great White Throne, with anyone not written in the book of life thrown into the lake of fire.
5
5Hell is not God torturing people; it's the complete, terrifying removal of His presence.
He corrects popular images of hell (Dante's inferno, demons with pitchforks, cosmic torture chamber), arguing instead that hell is simply God stepping back and letting people have the eternity without Him that they wanted, pointing to Jesus' cry 'my God, my God, why have you forsaken me' as a glimpse of what separation from God feels like.
6
6Both judgment seats are presided over by the same Jesus who died for us, so the real question is whether we want Him.
Pastor Bill closes the teaching by reminding the church that the King who judges is the same suffering servant who went to the cross, so no one need fear trusting Him. He reframes the whole message around one question: God wants you, but do you want Him?

Application

Pastor Bill frames the choice as a question to sit with: when your life is assessed, how will you do?

Examine your time, talents, treasure, and testimony
Believers should honestly ask whether they are spending these on eternal things or on what will burn up, since every Christian will answer for what they did with what God gave them.
Serve in your church with your gifts
If you call this your church but aren't serving, Pastor Bill says something is wrong with how you're following your Lord; use your spiritual gifts to reach people and build up the body.
Trust God with your finances even when it's tight
Give financially to the church as an act of trust in God rather than the world's way, remembering that everything already belongs to Him.
Examine yourself before taking communion
Before taking the bread and cup, ask which judgment seat you're heading to and how you're doing, using it as a chance to remember, reflect, and recommit.
Turn to Jesus if you never truly have
If you've never confessed Jesus as Lord and believed God raised Him from the dead, pray now to put your faith in what He did for you rather than in yourself.

Take it into your week

Scripture in this message

From the transcript
“the first one's in second Corinthians chapter five. And the writer here, what Paul's talking about is this church of believers is he's trying to encourage them”
From the transcript
“starting in verse nine. He says, so whether we are here in this body or away from this body, our goal is to please him”
From the transcript
“And then he says in verse 10, for we must all stand before Christ to be judged. We will receive whatever we deserve for the good or evil we've done in this earthly body”
From the transcript
“if you go back to first Corinthians, he doesn't explain what that judgment looks like, because he's already had a conversation with them about it. And it's recorded for us to know, and it's in the first Corinthians chapter three”
From the transcript
“So in verse 11, he says, for no one can lay any foundation other than the one we already have, Jesus Christ”
From the transcript
“Verse 12, anyone who builds on that foundation may use a variety of materials. So you have this foundation of Jesus, and then he goes, you're gonna build on it”
From the transcript
“a few verses down in verse 18, he says, you gotta understand this when he says, stop deceiving yourselves. If you think you are wise by the world standards, you need to become a fool to be truly wise”
From the transcript
“we're starting in chapter 20, and it says this. When I saw an angel coming down from heaven with the key to the bottomless pit and a heavy chain in his hand”
From the transcript
“those people with their mortal bodies, go read Isaiah 65, it says they will will live a lot longer. It'll be like the time right after the fall of man”
From the transcript
“You look in verse 11 and it says, I saw a great white throne and the one sitting on it, the earth and the sky fled from his presence but they found no place to hide”
From the transcript
“He says, for God so loved the world, he gave his one and only son. John three sixteen, you can't go to a football game without somebody holding up the sign”

7-day devotional

A personal reading plan from this message — scripture, reflection, and prayer for each day.

Day 1

Pastor Bill opened with a question most of us quietly avoid: which judgment seat are you heading to? It's not a comfortable question, but it's one of the most clarifying questions a person can sit with. The Bema Seat — the judgment seat Paul describes in 2 Corinthians 5 — is not a courtroom where a believer's salvation hangs in the balance. That has already been settled by what Jesus did. What's being evaluated there is something different: the quality of what you built with the life God gave you after you came to Him. Paul says the goal, knowing this, is to please Him — whether we are at home in this body or away from it. That word 'goal' matters. It implies direction, intention, effort. Not frantic striving, but purposeful living. The awareness that our days here are not just personal time to spend however we like — they are entrusted time. That reframe changes things. It doesn't produce fear for the person who knows Jesus; it produces focus. Today is a good day to ask honestly: am I living with any awareness that my choices here have weight beyond here?

For reflection

When you think about standing before Jesus and giving account for how you lived, what feeling comes up first — and what do you think that feeling is telling you?

Pray

Pray for an honest, unhurried moment with God today about the direction your daily choices are pointing.

Small-group discussion guide

For leading a group conversation about this message.

Open

This message asked us to think seriously about eternity — not to frighten us, but to help us live with our eyes open to what actually lasts.

Discussion questions

1
In 2 Corinthians 5:9-10, Paul says believers will 'appear before the judgment seat of Christ' to give account for what they did 'in this earthly body.' What stands out to you about the fact that this judgment is about reward or loss — not about salvation?
2
In 1 Corinthians 3:11-15, Paul describes two kinds of building materials — gold, silver, and costly stones on one hand, and wood, hay, and straw on the other. What do you think makes something fall into one category versus the other?
3
Pastor Bill said God will ask every believer what they did with the time, talents, treasure, and testimony He entrusted to them. How might that question reshape the way a community of believers thinks about everyday choices?
4
Pastor Bill described hell not as God punishing people, but as God withdrawing His presence entirely — leaving every longing and fear without any hope of relief. How does that framing change the way you understand what's at stake in the Great White Throne judgment described in Revelation 20:11-15?
5
Romans 10:9 says salvation comes from confessing Jesus as Lord and believing God raised Him from the dead — trusting what He did, not what we've done. Why do you think it can be hard for people to rest in that, rather than reaching for something they've contributed?
Related passage
6
Pastor Bill challenged us to consider both questions honestly before God: which judgment seat are we heading to, and how are we doing with what He gave us? As a group, what's one way we might help each other build with things of eternal value this season?

Pray together

Living with eternity in view — building on what lasts, and thanking God that the Judge is also the Savior

Topics

Eternal Accountability Judgment Day Living for Eternity Rewards in Heaven Salvation Invitation

Revelation | Week 4

Big Idea

Key points

Application

Take it into your week

Scripture in this message

7-day devotional

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5

Day 6

Day 7

Small-group discussion guide

Open

Discussion questions

Pray together