Category: Final Judgment

Persecution, Second Death, Seven Churches, Tribulation

Faithful Until Death

David R Maas

The church of Smyrna is only one of two of the seven Asian churches that received no correction, the other being Philadelphia. What set this congregation apart was the level of persecution that it endured because of its “testimony,” and its steadfast refusal to “eat meat offered to idols” and otherwise compromise with the Greco-Roman culture. Its members stood firm in their refusal to participate in the imperial idolatry of Rome, and consequently, they suffered “tribulation” and persecution due to false accusations against them made by Satan’s agents.

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Beast from the Sea, Inhabitants of the Earth, Lake of Fire

Caesar’s Devotees

David R Maas

The group called the inhabitants of the earth represents men who are omitted from the Book of Life because they give their allegiance to Caesar. In Revelation, the group labeled the “inhabitants of the earth” is unrelenting in its hostility to the “Lamb” and those who follow him “wherever he goes.” Its members even celebrate the violent deaths of his “Two Witnesses.” Unlike the “nations” and the “kings of the earth,” this group is beyond redemption, and the names of its members are excluded from the “Book of Life.”

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Final Judgment, Rapture, Seven Churches

Kept from the Hour

David R Maas

In the third chapter of Revelation, Jesus promises to “keep” overcoming saints in the city of Philadelphia “from the hour of trial” that is coming upon the “inhabitants of the earth.” A comparison with similar passages demonstrates that this “hour” refers to the time of judgment when those whose names “are not written in the Lamb’s book of life” experience the “second death” in the “Lake of Fire.”

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Day of the Lord, Final Judgment, Lake of Fire

Multiple Judgments?

David R Maas

Final judgment scenes occur several times in Revelation. The sevenfold series of “seals,” “trumpets,” and “bowls of wrath” all culminate in the final judgment, and each time it is punctuated by terrestrial and celestial upheaval. And these three “judgments” are in addition to the one that occurs as the “Great White Throne of Judgement” when the wicked are cast into the “lake of fire.”

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Day of the Lord, Final Judgment, Seven Trumpets

The Seventh Trumpet

David R Maas

When the seventh seal was opened, a half-hour of “silence” ensued before the seven angels began to sound their “trumpets.” During that interlude, the prayers of the “saints” were heard ascending to the throne of God. Now, when the “seventh trumpet” sounds, “loud voices” declare the triumph of the kingdom and the possession of the nations by the “Lamb” as promised in the second Psalm.

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