GETTING THE MESSAGE/The reality of a final judgment

In Revelation 8:1-5, Christ, the Lamb of God, opens the 7th seal of the scroll, which points to the completion of redemptive history. The end will come with the final judgment of God. The main thing we learn from this passage is the reality of a final judgment.

When the Lamb opens the 7th seal, “there was silence in heaven for a half an hour.” The silence points to solemnity, the short time of half an hour means the time has finally come. The prophet Zephaniah wrote, “Be silent before the Lord God for the day of the Lord is near… a day of wrath is that day, a day of ruin and devastation.”

The worst of sinners enjoy some degree of God’s patience. For the present time God is patient and the kindness of the Lord leads to repentance. But the Day of Judgment will come, and we are warned of the finality of it. 

Devils know it is coming and tremble; it is men who scoff and say, “Where is this day you speak of?” We need to hear the words of the Lord Jesus about his coming in judgment: “Then the king will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of the Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.’

We need a fear of the Lord. The fear of the Lord is mixed with faith. It teaches us an awe of God and his holy nature. But it also teaches us the goodness of God and to seek his mercy. David says, “The fear of the Lord is clean,” meaning to set ourselves under his watchfulness and to gain an admiration of God’s attributes.

The second thing we learn is that the prayers of the saints have the Day of the Lord in view (verses 3-4). The prayers of the saints are ascending before God like the smoke of incense. The “golden altar” reminds us of Christ’s sacrifice and the access he gained for us to God’s throne. 

In chapter 6, the saints in heaven are praying, “How long” before you avenge the evil of the world and the persecution of your people? God endows his redeemed people with a desire to see his glory in the final separation of good and evil. The saints on earth, in faith, pray “Come quickly, Lord Jesus.” Prayers are part of God’s purpose in glorifying himself and blessing his people.

Christians pray for many things, and it is a great comfort to think of your prayers ascending before God like a fragrant offering. Such is the grace given to us in Christ. This passage teaches us to pray for God to glorify himself in Christ’s return and final judgment. In the meantime, we are to do all the good we can on earth in Christ’s name and proclaim that salvation is in Christ alone.

The third thing we see is the nature of God’s judgment (verse 5). The judgment is preceded by “peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake.” These descriptions take us back to the giving of the law at Mt. Sinai. When Christ returns and judges men, it will be on the basis of God’s perfect justice. Christ met the law’s requirements by keeping the law perfectly and paying the total debt of sin for his people. No sinner can meet these requirements.

One objection of men to the judgment of God is that the way it is described in the Bible is not just or fair. But man’s intuition about justice and what is right is hardly adequate to determine what the Sovereign, Holy God should do or will do. Who are you, O man, to instruct the living, eternal God. God does not conform to us. He offers mercy, a Savior, to sinners.

Another objection is that many unbelievers have better character and more virtue than some Christians. This is undoubtedly so. Christians are taught by God to be of a humble, loving nature according to the faith they profess, but it is not always practiced.

Nevertheless, if a man is a true Christian, his hope on the Day of Judgment is to stand before God in Christ’s perfect righteousness according to the law of God. The unbeliever will stand on his own virtue and character, which will not pass the test of God’s holy scrutiny. It is not men who judge, it is God. It is not men’s standard we are judged by; it is God’s.