Multiple Final Judgments?

Each of the three sevenfold series of Revelation concludes with a final judgment scene that transpires at the end of the age.

Final judgment scenes occur several times in the Book of Revelation. The sevenfold series of Seals, Trumpets, and Bowls of Wrath all culminate in the final judgment, and each time, the end of the series is punctuated by the same terrestrial and celestial phenomena.

These three judgment scenes are in addition to the “Great White Throne of Judgement” following the Thousand Years, when the wicked are thrown into the “Lake of Fire” – (Revelation 20:11-15).

[Thunderstorm - Photo by Stefano Zocca (Bologna, Italy) on Unsplash]

The portrayal of several final judgments becomes problematic if the Book’s chapters are interpreted to be in chronological order. That must lead to the conclusion that multiple final judgments occur before the arrival of the holy city, New Jerusalem, described in Chapter 21.

However, if the chapters are not in strict chronological sequence, then the several judgment scenes all point to the same final event.

The opening of the Sixth Seal produces “a great earthquake <…> the sun became black as sackcloth of hair and the full moon as blood.” This is a description of terrestrial and celestial upheaval. The image represents nothing less than the “Day of the Lord,” the time of the “wrath of God and the Lamb. That day will be marked by “a great earthquake <…> and every mountain and island were moved out of their place” - (Revelation 6:12-17).

The Sixth Seal includes verbal links to the “Great White Throne of Judgment.” In Chapter 20, John “saw a great white throne and he who sat upon it. From his face, the earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them” - (Revelation 20:11-18).

And so, the Series of Seven Seals culminates in “the Day of the Lord,” the time of judgment and universal upheaval, and the series concludes with loud “voices, claps of thunder, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake” - (Revelation 8:1-6).

The Series of Seven Trumpets concludes with loud voices in heaven declaring the consummation of the Kingdom of God, the vindication of the righteous, and the judgment and condemnation of the wicked:

• “And the seventh angel sounded; and there followed great voices in heaven, and they said, The kingdom of the world is become the kingdom of our Lord, and of his Christ: and he will reign forever and ever” - (Revelation 11:15).

Like the Seven Seals, the Seven Trumpets conclude with “flashes of lightning, voices, claps of thunder, an earthquake,” but with the addition of “great hail” to the list of phenomena. What is described is not another interim stage that must precede the End of the Age, but the arrival of the End itself - (Revelation 11:15-19).

The Series of Seven Bowls of Wrath also ends with a scene of judgment accompanied by the same visual and audible phenomena as the first two sevenfold series - (Revelation 16:17-21).

The Bowls of Wrath are called the “last plagues” since they complete the “Wrath of God.” After the seventh angel emptied the Seventh Bowl, a loud voice proclaimed, “It is finished.”

Babylon and all the cities of the earth fell, and this was followed by “flashes of lightning, voices, claps of thunder, and a great earthquake,” plus “great hail.” At this time, “every island fled, and no mountains were found,” effects that parallel the Sixth Seal (“…and every mountain and island was moved out of its place” - Revelation 6:14).

Moreover, the “great hail” unleashed by the Seventh Bowl of Wrath parallels the “great hail” that fell on the Earth when the Seventh Trumpet sounded.

THE GREAT WHITE THRONE

At the end of the Thousand Years, Satan is released to “gather the nations to the battle <…> Gog and Magog.” The Devil’s army “surrounded the camp of the saints, and the beloved city.”

The actual final battle is not described. As soon as the saints were encircled, “fire descended from heaven and devoured” the military force that was attacking the Church. Afterward, Satan was “cast into the Lake of Fire and Brimstone” - (Revelation 20:8-10).

The punishment of Satan was followed by the “Great White Throne of Judgment.” Before the Throne, the “earth fled and heaven, and no place for them was found.” The “books” were opened, and the “dead were judged out of the things written in the books.” Anyone whose name was not written in the Lamb’s Book of Life was thrown into the Lake of Fire - (Revelation 20:11-15).

There are too many verbal links and conceptual parallels between the several judgment scenes of Revelation to conclude more than one final judgment is intended. All three sevenfold series climax in the same judgment, and the series of Seven Seals and Seven Trumpets both conclude with the destruction of the wicked and the vindication of the righteous.

Both the Seven Seals and the Seven Bowls of Wrath produce upheaval on the Earth and in the Heavens, most likely, in preparation for the arrival of the New Creation.

Thus, there is one final judgment in the Book of Revelation, not several.  The Seals, Trumpets, and Bowls of Wrath are not consecutive but concurrent.

In each case, the same judgment scene is in view, and the description includes items found at the conclusion of each series (“voices, claps of thunder, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake”).

From the start of the Book, Revelation moves inexorably toward the End of the Age, the final judgment at the “Great White Throne,” and the arrival of the city of New Jerusalem and the New Heavens and the New Earth.

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SEE ALSO:

• The Day of the Lord - (Jesus will arrive and gather his people on the Day of the Lord, and in the New Testament, this event becomes the Day of Christ)

• The Arrival of Jesus - (The arrival of Jesus will mean the resurrection of the dead, the commencement of the New Creation, and the final judgment)

• Gathering the Elect - (The saints will be assembled before Jesus on the Last Day, and the wicked will be collected for judgment and cast from his presence)

• On the Clouds of Heaven - (Portions of Daniel’s vision of the Fourth Beast with the Little Horn are applied to Jesus and his saints in the New Testament)