{"id":3912,"date":"2014-11-26T21:33:50","date_gmt":"2014-11-27T03:33:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.markmallett.com\/blog\/2010\/12\/the-last-judgments\/"},"modified":"2020-05-27T21:08:09","modified_gmt":"2020-05-28T03:08:09","slug":"the-last-judgments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.markmallett.com\/blog\/the-last-judgments\/","title":{"rendered":"The Last Judgments","gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"text"}]},"content":{"rendered":"
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I believe\u00a0that the vast majority of the Book of Revelation refers,\u00a0not to the end of the world, but to the end of this era. Only the last few chapters really look at the very end\u00a0of\u00a0<\/em>the world\u00a0while everything else before mostly describes a “final\u00a0confrontation” between the “woman” and the “dragon”, and all the terrible effects in nature and society of a general rebellion that accompanies it. What divides that final confrontation from the end of the world is a judgment of the nations\u2014what we are primarily hearing\u00a0in this week’s Mass readings as we\u00a0approach the first week of Advent, the preparation for Christ’s coming.<\/i><\/p>\n

For the past two weeks I keep hearing the words in my heart, “Like a thief in the night.” It is the sense that events are coming upon the world that are going to take many of us by\u00a0<\/em>surprise, if not many of us home. We need to be in a “state of grace,” but not a state of fear, for anyone of us could be called home at any moment. With that, I feel compelled to republish this timely writing from December 7th, 2010…<\/i><\/p>\n

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\nWE\u00a0<\/strong>pray in the Creed that Jesus…<\/p>\n

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…will come again to judge the living and the dead<\/span><\/strong>. \u2014Apostle’s Creed<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

If we consider that the Day of the Lord is not a 24 hour period<\/em><\/a>, but an extended period of time, a “day of rest” for the Church,\u00a0according to the vision of the Early Church Fathers (“a thousand years is like a day and a day like a thousand years”), then we can understand the coming General Judgment of the world to contain two components: the judgment of the living<\/em> and the judgment of the dead<\/em>. They constitute one judgment spread over the Day of the Lord.<\/p>\n

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Behold, the Day of the Lord shall be a thousand years.<\/strong>\u00a0\u2014Letter of Barnabas,\u00a0The Fathers of the Church,\u00a0<\/em>Ch. 15<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

And again,<\/p>\n

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\u2026this day of ours, which is bounded by the rising and the setting of the sun, is a representation of that great day to which the circuit of a thousand years affixes its limits. <\/strong>\u2014Lactantius, Fathers of the Church:<\/em> The Divine Institutes, Book VII, <\/em>Chapter 14, Catholic Encyclopedia; <\/em>www.newadvent.org<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

What we are approaching now in our world is the judgment of the living<\/em>…<\/p>\n

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THE VIGIL<\/p>\n

We are in a period of watching <\/em>and praying <\/em>as the twilight of this present era continues to fade.<\/p>\n

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God is disappearing from the human horizon, and, with the dimming of the light which comes from God, humanity is losing its bearings, with increasingly evident destructive effects.<\/strong> <\/span> \u2014<\/strong>Letter of His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI to All the Bishops of the World<\/em>, March 10, 2009; Catholic Online <\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Then will come midnight, <\/em>when this “time of mercy” we are presently living in will give way to what Jesus revealed to St. Faustina as the “day of justice.”<\/p>\n

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Write this: before I come as the just Judge, I am coming first as the King of Mercy. Before the day of justice arrives, there will be given to people a sign in the heavens of this sort: All light in the heavens will be extinguished, and there will be great darkness over the whole earth. Then the sign of the cross will be seen in the sky, and from the openings where the hands and the feet of the Savior were nailed will come forth great lights which will light up the earth for a period of time. This will take place shortly before the last day<\/em><\/strong>. \u2014Divine Mercy in My Soul<\/em>, Jesus to St. Faustina, n. 83<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Again, the “last day” being, not a single day, but a period of time that begins in darkness culminating in the judgment of the living<\/em>. Indeed, we find in St. John’s apocalyptic vision, as it were, what seem like two<\/em> judgments, though they are really one<\/em> spread out over the “end times.”<\/p>\n

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MIDNIGHT<\/p>\n

As I have presented in my writings here and in my book<\/a>, the Apostolic Fathers taught that there would come a time at the end of “six thousand years” (representative of the six days of creation before God rested on the seventh) when the Lord would judge the nations and purify the world of wickedness, ushering in the “times of the kingdom.” This purification forms part of the General Judgment at the end of time.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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The more noteworthy of the prophecies bearing upon “latter times” seem to have one common end, to announce great calamities impending over mankind, the triumph of the Church, and the renovation of the world.<\/strong> \u2014Catholic Encyclopedia<\/em>, Prophecy, www.newadvent.org<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

We find in Scripture\u00a0that the “end times” bring a judgment of the “living” and then<\/em> the “dead.” In the book of Revelation, St. John describes a judgment upon the nations<\/em> that have fallen into apostasy and rebellion.<\/p>\n

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\"\"Fear God and give him glory, for his time has come to sit in judgment [upon]\u2026 Babylon the great [and]\u2026 anyone who worships the beast or its image, or accepts its mark on forehead or hand\u2026 Then I saw the heavens opened, and there was a white horse; its rider was called “Faithful and True.” He judges and wages war in righteousness\u2026 The beast was caught and with it the false prophet\u2026 The rest were killed by the sword that came out of the mouth of the one riding the horse\u2026 (Rev 14:7-10, 19:11, 20-21) <\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

This is a judgment of the living<\/em>: of the “beast” (the Antichrist) and his followers (all those who took his mark), and it is worldwide. St. John goes on to describe in Chapters 19 and 20 what follows: a “first resurrection<\/a>” and a “thousand\u00a0year” reign\u2014a “seventh day” of rest for the Church from her labors. This is the dawning of the Sun of Justice<\/a> in the world, when Satan will be chained in the abyss. The consequent triumph of the Church and renovation of the world constitute the “afternoon” of the Day of the Lord.<\/p>\n

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THE LAST EVE<\/p>\n

Afterward, the Devil is released from the abyss and commences a final assault on the People of God. Fire then falls, destroying the nations (Gog and Magog) who joined in the last attempt to destroy the Church. It is then,<\/em> writes St. John, that the dead<\/em> are judged at the end of time<\/em>:<\/p>\n

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Next I saw a large white throne and the one who was sitting on it. The earth and the sky fled from his presence and there was no place for them. I saw the dead, the great and the lowly, standing before the throne, and scrolls were opened. Then another scroll was opened, the book of life. The dead were judged according to their deeds, by what was written in the scrolls. The sea gave up its dead; then Death and Hades gave up their dead. All the dead were judged according to their deeds. (Rev 20:11-13)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

This is the Final Judgment that includes all those who are left alive on earth, and everyone who has ever lived\u00a0[1]<\/sup><\/a>cf. Matthew 25:31-46<\/span><\/span>