Revelation 20:11 - Exposition

And I saw a great white throne. And I saw; introducing a new phase of the vision (el. Revelation 20:1 , etc.). A throne is seen as in Revelation 4:1-11 .2; it is great, perhaps, by comparison with those mentioned in Revelation 4:4 ; white, because this is the colour of purity and all heavenly virtues (cf. Revelation 1:14 ; Revelation 2:17 ; Revelation 3:4 , etc.). And him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. The true reading, "before the throne," in the following verse makes it clear that God the Judge is here intended. Perhaps from Matthew 25:31 and John 5:22 we must infer that God the Son is meant. The destruction of the world is complete—"no place is found for them;" they are annihilated. Such an event is nearly always portrayed in the description of the last judgment in the Apocalypse and in the New Testament generally (cf. Revelation 16:20 ).