Final Day and Hour
SYNOPSIS - Revelation moves
inexorably from the Death and Resurrection of Jesus to the Great Dénouement,
the final day when God judges the wicked and vindicates the righteous.
![]() |
By Michael Busch on Unsplash |
All the men and women who served Jesus by emulating his life of
self-sacrificial service will find themselves standing at his “right hand.”
All the others will be sent to his “left” to hear his dreaded words - “Depart from me, accursed ones, into the everlasting fire, which has been
prepared for the Devil and his angels.” But to the “sheep” who
followed him “wherever he went” he will declare – “Come ye blessed of my Father! Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from
the foundation of the world” - (Matthew 25:31-46).
The book of Revelation makes no direct
use of this parable. However, its visions reflect the same outlook - With the
Death, Resurrection and Exaltation of Jesus, the process of sifting humanity began
and is now continuing until all mankind is divided into two groups – Those who
follow the “Lamb,” “tabernacle in heaven,” and have his Father’s
name “written on their foreheads,” or those who render homage to the “Dragon,”
are the “inhabitants of the earth,” and are “branded” with the “mark
of the Beast.” There is no third alternative - No neutral middle ground.
The redemptive process began with the
execution of an (apparently) impotent messianic pretender by the mighty Roman empire,
that is, the “slain Lamb,” the true “Lion of the Tribe of Judah”
– (Revelation 5:6-12).
Likewise, the marginalized and impoverished Christian
congregations scattered among the cities of Asia were no threat to the
World-Power of their day.
But this tiny movement was only the beginning of the reign of the Lamb, a process that would continue throughout the present age and culminate in his dominion over the entire Cosmos and the total subjugation of all his enemies.
Despite this day of small beginnings, the “faithful
witness” given by Jesus in his sacrificial death meant his resurrection from
the dead, the “firstborn of the dead,” and his exaltation to reign on
the Throne of God. Jesus is the promised messianic “son” appointed to
rule the nations - Already, after his resurrection, he was declared the “Ruler of the kings of the earth.”
Already, he is even “shepherding the nations” to achieve their
redemption and residence in the “city of New Jerusalem” – (Psalm
2:1-9, Revelation 1:4-6, 12:5).
However small the churches of Asia may have
been in John’s day, by the end of the age, the present reign of the Lamb will
produce a vast “innumerable multitude” of men
and women “purchased from every nation,” a redeemed company that will “stand”
triumphant before the Lamb and the Throne in the New Creation – (Revelation
7:9-17).
In the book of Revelation, the
redeemed company of “saints” is comprised of men and women from every
nation, people, language, and tribe. Likewise, the “inhabitants of the earth”
also include men and women from every nation and ethnic group. Membership in
either group is NOT determined by ethnicity, nationality, wealth,
or social status, but by whether one “follows the Lamb wherever he goes”
or renders homage to the “Dragon” by taking the “mark” of its
earthly vassal, the “Beast.”
An individual can move from one group to the
other by changing his or her allegiance. For example, although the “kings of
the earth” are predominately hostile to the Lamb throughout much of the
book, at least some of them are found later enjoying the glories of “New
Jerusalem.” The final settlement of accounts does not occur until the final
“day” and “hour,” ultimately, when all humanity stands before the
“Great White Throne of Judgement” – (Revelation
21:24).
Thus, for example, the Risen Jesus warned the
Church at Sardis to repent
and remain ever vigilant, otherwise, “I
will come like a thief, and in nowise will you know in what hour I
will come upon you”- (Revelation
3:1-3).
To the faithful saints in Philadelphia,
Jesus promised to keep them from the “hour of trial” that
was going to come upon the “whole habitable earth” – (Revelation 3:10).
The opening of the sixth seal by the “Lamb”
revealed the final “day of wrath,” nothing less than the long-awaited
(and dreaded) “Day of the Lord” when the “stars of heaven fell to the earth, and the heavens were withdrawn as a
scroll rolling itself up, and every mountain and island were shaken out of
their place.” It will be the “great
day of the wrath” of the Lamb and the One Who Sits on the Throne, “and
who will be able to stand?” - (Revelation 6:12-17).
When the sixth trumpet sounded, the “second
woe,” four angels were released who were “prepared for the hour and day
and month and year” to unleash final forces that would kill a third
of mankind - (Revelation 9:14-15). Similarly, when the sixth
bowl of wrath was poured out the “kings of the earth” were
gathered by demonic spirits to the battle of the “great day
of God Almighty” – (Revelation 16:12-16).
In the same “hour” in which God resurrected
the “Two Witnesses,” a great earthquake destroyed
a tenth of “Babylon” in anticipation of the imminent judgment announced
by the sounding of the seventh trumpet, the “set time for the dead to be
vindicated, and to give their reward to your servants the prophets, and to the
saints, and to them who revere thy
name—the small and the great—and to despoil them who were despoiling the earth” - (Revelation 11:11-19).
In Chapter 14, an angel proclaimed: “The hour of his judgment has
come.” The arrival of this last “hour” will mean the
fall of end-time “Babylon” and the final destruction of all men and
women who rendered homage to the “Beast.” And this “hour” will
culminate in two “harvests” - (“For the harvest of the earth is ripe”) –
The “reaping” of all the
righteous who were prefigured in the “firstfruits”
of the 144,000 undefiled priests standing on “Zion,” but also in the
final “ingathering” of the fruit of the “vine of the earth” to be
cast into the “winepress of the wrath of God” - (Revelation 14:1-20).
![]() |
Photo by Stefano Zocca on Unsplash |
In the vision of the destruction of the “Great Whore, Babylon,” her judgment arrives “in one hour.” Likewise, she will be “laid waste in one hour” - (Revelation 18:10, 18:17-19).
Each of the three sevenfold series of seals, trumpets
and “bowls of wrath” culminates in a scene of final judgment of the
wicked. Thus, the sixth seal opening produces the “Day
of the Lord,” the day of the “wrath” against the unrepentant and the
disruption of the present created order in preparation for the arrival of “New
Jerusalem from heaven.” The seven seal results in judgment being “cast
onto the inhabitants of the earth,” followed by “claps of thundering, loud voices, flashes of lightning, and
an earthquake” – (Revelation
6:12-17, 8:1-6).
The sounding of the seventh trumpet means
nothing less than the consummation of God’s kingdom, the day of the judgment for
the wicked and vindication for the righteous, with all this followed by “flashes of lightning, loud voices, claps of thundering, an earthquake,
and great hail” – (Revelation 11:15-19).
And the emptying of the last and seventh “bowl of wrath” causes
a voice from before he Throne to declare, “It is finished!”
The completion of the “seven bowls of wrath” causes the “cities of the
nations” to fall and “Babylon the Great” to drink the cup filled with
the “fury of the wrath of God.” The series of seven bowls ends with “flashes of lightning, loud voices, claps of thunder, and a great
earthquake,” plus “great hail like talents
descending out of heaven upon mankind.” Like the sixth seal
opening, “every island fled, and the mountains were not found”
– The old creation
reaches its inevitable end - (Revelation 16:17-21).
The book of Revelation is about far more than just history’s
final few years, the “Great Tribulation,” or the nation of Israel. Its vision
provides a broad prophetic sweep that begins with the past Death and resurrection of Jesus, presents a graphic picture of his present reign on the messianic
Throne, with all events moving forward like a rushing river to a single point at
the end of the age – The day on which all God’s enemies are destroyed, the
wicked are judged, the righteous are rewarded, the old Creation is replaced by
the “new heavens and earth.”
All this is the outworking of God’s redemptive plan put into
motion by the self-sacrificial death of the Lamb. Jesus is the “alpha and
the omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end,” the “firstborn
of the dead” and the “beginning of the (new) creation.” Just as his
first coming set all this in motion, so his future arrival will consummate all
things. This is why the book concludes with the exclamation - “Yea! I come speedily. Amen! come, Lord Jesus!”
Comments
Post a Comment
We encourage free discussions on the commenting system provided by the Google Blogger platform, with the stipulation that conversations remain civil. Comments voicing dissenting views are encouraged.