Multiple "Final" Judgments?

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

Final judgment scenes occur several times in the Book of Revelation. The three sevenfold series of “seals,” “trumpets,” and “bowls of wrath” all culminate in the final judgment, and each time judgment is punctuated by terrestrial and celestial upheaval. These three judgment scenes are in addition to the “Great White Throne of Judgement” when the wicked are cast into the “Lake of Fire.”

This becomes problematic if the Book’s chapters are assumed to be in chronological order. It would mean that multiple final judgments must occur before the “Great White Throne of Judgment,” and the “descent of New Jerusalem to the Earth.” However, if the chapters are not in chronological sequence, the several judgment scenes point to the same final event.

[Thunderstorm - Photo by Stefano Zocca on Unsplash]

The opening of the Sixth Seal produced “a great earthquake <…> the sun became black as sackcloth of hair and the full moon as blood”; basically, terrestrial, and celestial upheaval. This description portrayed the “Day of the Lord,” the time of the “wrath of God and the Lamb. It was marked by “a great earthquake <…> and every mountain and island were moved out of their place.”

The description of the Sixth Seal includes verbal links to the “Great White Throne of Judgment” when 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.” This series culminated in judgment, universal upheaval, and loud “voices, claps of thunder, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake” - (Revelation 8:1-6, 20:11-18).

Likewise, the Seven Trumpets concluded 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. Moreover--:

• “And there was opened the temple of God that is in heaven. And there was seen in his temple the ark of his covenant; and there followed flashes of lightning, and voices, and claps of thunders, and an earthquake, and great hail” – (Revelation 11:19).

The same phenomena occurred at the end of the Seven Seal Openings - “flashes of lightning, voices, claps of thunder, an earthquake” – but with the addition of “great hail.” What is described is not another interim stage that must precede the end, but the end itself - (Revelation 11:15-19).

The Seven Bowls of Wrath also concluded with a scene of judgment accompanied by the same visual and audible phenomena as the Seal Openings and the Seven Trumpets. The Seven Bowls were called the “last plagues” because they completed the “wrath of God”:

• “And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from his power; and none was able to enter into the temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels should be finished <…>  And the seventh poured out his bowl upon the air; and there came forth a great voice out of the temple, from the throne, saying, It is done! And there were flashes of lightning, and voices, and claps of thunder; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since there were men upon the earth, so great an earthquake”- (Revelation 15:8, 16:17-18).

Babylon and all the cities of the earth fell. This was followed by “flashes of lightning, voices, claps of thunder, and a great earthquake,” plus “great hail”; moreover, “every island fled, and no mountains were found,” effects that paralleled the Sixth Seal Opening, and the “great hail” of the Seventh Bowl of Wrath paralleled the Seventh Trumpet with its addition of “great hail.”

THE GREAT WHITE THRONE

At the end of the Thousand Years, Satan was released to “gather the nations to the battle <…> Gog and Magog.” This Satanic army “surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city.” However, as soon as the saints were encircled, “fire descended from heaven and devoured” the forces arrayed against the followers of the Lamb. Afterward, Satan was “cast into the Lake of Fire and Brimstone” - (Revelation 20:8-10).

The final demise of Satan was followed by the “Great White Throne of Judgment.” Before it, the “earth fled and heaven and place for them was not 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 “Book of Life” was cast into the “Lake of Fire” - (Revelation 20:11-15).

Death and Hades were cast into the Lake of Fire. The “one like a Son of Man” declared at the beginning of the Book that he held “the keys of Death and Hades,” and he consummated that authority by destroying them at the final judgment. This is why the angel rejoiced that “death will be no more” when he announced the arrival of “New Jerusalem” in the next chapter of Revelation – (Revelation 1:18, 20:14, 21:4).

The end of death in Chapter 20 is conceptually parallel to the Apostle Paul’s declaration that the “last enemy, death” will be overthrown when Jesus arrives to raise the dead and consummate his reign at the ‘Parousia’:

• “For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be abolished is death <…> But when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory!” – (1 Corinthians 15:25-26, 15:54).

There are too many verbal links between the several judgment scenes of Revelation to be nothing more than coincidence. All three sevenfold series climax in the final judgment, and the Seven Seals and Seven Trumpets both conclude with the destruction of the wicked and the final vindication of the righteous. Both the Seven Seals and the Seven Bowls of Wrath produced upheaval on Earth and in the heavens.

In Revelation, there is one final judgment, not several. The series of “seals,” “trumpets,” and “bowls of wrath” are not consecutive but concurrent. In each case, the same final judgment is in view, and the description includes items found at the end of each series, the “flashes of lightning, voices, claps of thunder.”

From its start, the Book of Revelation moves forward inexorably to the end of the age, the judgment at the “Great White Throne,” and the arrival of “the Holy City, New Jerusalem.”

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SEE ALSO:

• The Just Judgment of God - (The arrival of Jesus will mean vindication and rest for the righteous, but everlasting loss for the wicked - 2 Thessalonians 1:5-10)

• Final Events - (In writing to the Corinthians, Paul outlines the events that will occur at or shortly before the arrival or ‘Parousia’ of Jesus on the Day of Christ)

• The Absent Church? - (The vision of John being summoned to Heaven is not a portrayal of the rapture of the Church)

• The Death of Death - (The arrival of Jesus at the end of the age will mean the termination of the Last Enemy, Death - 1 Corinthians 15:24-28)