The Last Hour

Revelation moves inexorably from the death of Jesus to the final day when God judges the wicked and vindicates the righteous.

At the conclusion of his ‘Olivet Discourse,’ Jesus gave the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats. On the day when the “Son of Man arrives in glory,” his angels will gather all nations before him for judgment, and he will divide them into two groups. One will receive “everlasting destruction,” and the other, “everlasting life” – (Matthew 25:31-46).

The Book of Revelation does not reference this parable, but its visions reflect the same process of sifting humanity that began in Christ’s ministry, a process that will continue until the end of the age when humanity is divided into two groups for final judgment - Those who follow “the Lamb wherever he leads,” and the Inhabitants of the Earth who give their allegiance to the “Beast from the Sea.” There will be no third alternative.

[Clock Photo by milan degraeve (Belgium) on Unsplash]

In his self-sacrificial death, Jesus became “the Faithful Witness,” and “the Firstborn of the Dead” upon his resurrection. Consequently, he now reigns supreme on the Messianic Throne as “the Ruler of the Kings of the Earth.” His realm extends to “the uttermost parts of the Earth” as foretold in the second Psalm, and even the dead are not beyond his reach – (Revelation 1:4-6):

• “Ask of me, and I will give you the nations for your inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for your possession” – (Psalm 2:8).

• “And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as one dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying, Fear not! I am the first and the last, and the Living one. And I was dead, and behold, I am alive for evermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades” – (Revelation 1:17-18).

Even now, the risen Son of Man is “shepherding the nations,” and like any good caretaker, he is separating the “sheep” from the “goats” in preparation for the final hour:

• “For the Lamb that is in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd and will guide them unto fountains of waters of life. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes” – (Revelation 7:17).

• “And she was delivered of a son, a male child, who is to shepherd all the nations with a rod of iron” – (Revelation 12:5).

The final settlement of all accounts will not occur until the final “day” and “hour” when all humanity stands before “the Great White Throne of Judgment.” At that time, everyone whose name is “written in the Book of Life” will receive everlasting life, while anyone whose name is not written in the Book will be cast “into the Lake of Fire.”

On that final day, we will discover to our glory or horror that our everlasting destiny was determined by how we responded to the Lamb and the Beast today, whether we embraced the former or the latter - (Revelation 21:24).

In the city of Sardis, the Risen Jesus summons the church to repent and remain ever vigilant; otherwise, he will “come as a thief,” and there will be no way for the assembly to know “in what hour I will come upon you” – (Revelation 3:1-3).

To the saints of Philadelphia, Christ promises to keep them from “the hour of trial” that will come on the “whole habitable earth.” This “final hour” represents the time of final judgment. The promise to the church is not escape from persecution, but that its faithful members will not partake of “the Second Death” – (Revelation 3:10).

When the Sixth Seal was opened, it revealed the Day of the Lord. The final event will include:

• “The stars of heaven will fall to the earth, and the heavens will be withdrawn as a scroll rolling itself up, and every mountain and island will be shaken out of their place <…> the great day of the wrath of the Lamb <…> and of He who sits on the Throne” - (Revelation 6:12-17).

When the Sixth Trumpet sounded, four angels were released that had been “prepared for the hour and day and month and year.” When the Seventh Trumpet sounded, the final victory of the kingdom of God was declared - (Revelation 9:14-15):

• “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 for ever and ever <…> And the nations were angry, and your wrath came, and the time of the dead to be judged, and the time to give their reward to your servants the prophets, and to the saints, and to them that fear your name, the small and the great; and to destroy them that destroy the earth” – (Revelation 11:15-18).

Likewise, when the Sixth Bowl of Wrath was emptied, “the Kings of the Earth” were gathered to the final battle on “the Great Day of God Almighty.” There, the forces of the Beast were destroyed, at the place called ‘Armageddon’ – (Revelation 9:14-15, 16:12-16).

THE HOUR OF JUDGMENT

In the fourteenth chapter of Revelation, an angel proclaimed: “The hour of his judgment has come.” This is the moment of the fall of Babylon and the destruction of those who have given homage to the Beast and its image.

That great hour will culminate in two “harvests” (“For the harvest of the earth is ripe”): The “reaping” of the righteous, and the “ingathering” of the “vine of the earth,” and the latter will be cast into the “winepress of the wrath of God.” Likewise, in Chapter 18, the destruction of Babylon arrives “in one hour,” and she is “laid waste” in the very same moment - (Revelation 14:1-20, 18:10, 18:17-19).

The series of Seals, Trumpets, and Bowls of Wrath all culminate in the final judgment. When the Sixth Seal is opened, the Day of Wrath arrives for the unrepentant. The Seventh Trumpet announces the day of judgment for the wicked and the vindication of the righteous. And the seventh Bowl of Wrath completes the wrath of God - (Revelation 6:12-17, 11:15-19, 16:17-21).

The Book of Revelation is about far more than history’s final few years. Its visions provide a broad sweep of the great cosmic war that has been raging between the Lamb and the Dragon since the enthronement of Jesus. This war will end with the Son of Man’s final victory in the city of “New Jerusalem” following the Great White Throne of Judgment.

The exaltation of the Slain Lamb to the throne has set events into motion that must conclude in the judgment of the wicked and the vindication of the righteous.

All this is the outworking of God’s redemptive plan that Jesus began to implement following his Death and Resurrection. He is “the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” Christ is the Firstborn of the Dead, and the “beginning of the (new) creation” – (Revelation 3:14).

The return of the Son of Man at the Last Hour will consummate all things set into motion thousands of years ago, which is why the Book of Revelation concludes with the exclamation - “Yea! I come speedily. Amen! Come, Lord Jesus!”

For the overcoming saint, that hour will mean vindication and life everlasting in the City of New Jerusalem. For the impenitent man or woman, it will end in the Second Death in the Lake of Fire. When the clock strikes twelve, for the unprepared, it will be too late.

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SEE ALSO:

• 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)

• 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)