The Final Hour

The Book of Revelation moves from the Death of Jesus to the final day when God judges the wicked and vindicates the righteous.

At the end of his ‘Olivet Discourse,’ Jesus gave his 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. The “sheep” will receive “everlasting life,” but the “goats,” “everlasting destruction.”

The Apostle Paul possibly had this parable in mind when he described how on the last day God would take vengeance on those men who “disobeyed the gospel of our Lord Jesus.” They will receive “everlasting destruction from the face of the Lord.” In contrast, Jesus will be glorified in his saints who believed the Gospel – (2 Thessalonians 1:8-10.

[Clocks - Photo by Lucian Alexe on Unsplash]

The Book of Revelation does not reference Christ’s parable, but its visions reflect the same process of sifting humanity that began at the Cross and will continue until the final day when humanity divided into two groups appears before Jesus to receive judgment - Those who follow the “Lamb wherever he goes,” and those who give allegiance to the “Beast from the Sea” and its overlord, the “Great Red Dragon.” There will be no third alternative, no neutral position.

In his Death, Jesus became the “Faithful Witness,” and the “Firstborn of the Dead” upon his Resurrection. Consequently, he now reigns supreme. The Nazarene has become the “Ruler of the kings of the Earth,” and his realm extends to the “uttermost parts of the earth” as foretold in the Second Psalm – (Psalm 2:6-9).

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” when the nations will be brought before him – (Psalm 2:1-9, Matthew 25:31-46, Revelation 1:4-6).

The final settlement of all accounts will not occur until the last “day” and “hour” when all humanity stands before the “Great White Throne of Judgment.” At that time, everyone whose name is “written in the Lamb’s Book of Life” will receive everlasting life, while those whose names are not found in the Book will be cast “into the Lake of Fire” – (Revelation 21:24).

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

To the saints in Philadelphia, Christ promised to keep them from the “Hour of Trial” that will come on the “whole habitable earth.” In Revelation, this “hour” represents the time of judgment, the Great Dénouement of all things. The promise to the Philadelphian church is not escape from trials and persecution, but that overcoming believers will not partake of the “Second Death, which is the Lake of Fire” – (Revelation 3:10).

The opening of the Sixth Seal revealed the final “day of wrath,” the “Day of Yahweh” when 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.” It will be the “great day of the wrath” of the “Lamb.” For the wicked, there will be no escape – “For the great day of their wrath has come and who is able to stand?” - (Revelation 6:12-17).

• (Psalm 2:8-12) - “Ask of me, and I will give the nations for your inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for your possession. You will break them with a rod of iron; You will dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel. Now therefore be wise, O kings! Be instructed, you judges of the earth! Serve Yahweh with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the son, lest he be angry and you perish in the way, for his wrath will soon be kindled. Blessed are all they who take refuge in him.”

• (Isaiah 13:9-11) - “Behold, the Day of Yahweh is coming, cruel, with wrath and fierce anger, to make the land a desolation, and to destroy the sinners thereof out of it. For the stars of heaven and its constellations will not give their light. The sun will be darkened in its going forth, and the moon will not cause its light to shine. And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity, and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.”

• (Joel 2:30-32) – “I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth: blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke. The sun will be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible Day of Yahweh comes. And it will come to pass, that whosoever will call on the name of Yahweh will be delivered, for in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be those that escape, as Yahweh has said, and among the remnant, those whom Yahweh calls.”

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 and the time of judgment arrived - (Revelation 9:14-15, 11:11-19).

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.” The Book of Revelation links this great event to the return of Jesus:

• “Behold, I come as a thief” – (Revelation 16:12-16).

• “He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him” – (Revelation 1:7).

THE HOUR OF JUDGMENT

In Chapter 14 of Revelation, an angel proclaims: “The hour of his judgment has come.” This “hour” will include the fall of “Babylon” and the destruction of those who have given allegiance to the “Beast from the Sea.”

That “hour of his judgment,” singular, 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 “hour,” once again, in the singular number - (Revelation 14:1-20, 18:10, 18:17-19).

The series of Seals, Trumpets, and “Bowls of Wrath” all culminate in judgment at the “final hour,” the Day of Yahweh, and each series moves toward the same finale. 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).

• “And one of the four living creatures gave the seven angels seven golden bowls full of the wrath of God who lives forever and ever. 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, till the seven plagues of the seven angels should be completed. <…>  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!” – (Revelation 15:7-8, 16:17).

The visions of the Book of Revelation provide a broad sweep of the Great Cosmic War that has raged between the “Lamb” and the “Dragon” since Christ’s Enthronement.

This cosmic war will end with the Son of Man’s return and final victory, including the habitation of “New Jerusalem” by the redeemed of the Earth. His victory will also include the judgment of the Dragon, his beastly servants, and all men who chose to follow the Beast rather than the Lamb.

All this is the outworking of God’s redemptive plan that the “Lamb” 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,” the “firstborn of the dead,” and the “beginning of the (new) creation.” He will settle all accounts in the end, both for the righteous and the unrighteous.

Christ’s future return - At the “final 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!”

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SEE ALSO:

• Gathering His 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)

• The Great Cosmic War - (At the end of the age, Satan and his minions will launch an all-out cosmic war against the saints, the followers of the Lamb)

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

• Two Missing Events - (Two events must occur before the Day of the Lord comes, the Apostasy and the unveiling of the Man of Lawlessness)