In the Apostles Creed, Christians affirm that the Lord Jesus will one day return to “judge the living and the dead.” This final judgment has always been a part of essential Christian belief. Indeed, to deny the coming day of final judgment would be to deny a host of specific passages in the Bible. Denying the Lord’s return in judgment would also undermine the grand narrative of human history to which the Bible testifies, in which final justice will be accomplished. During his ministry, Jesus warned his hearers of the judgment to come and cautioned them to be ready to face it: to turn from their sin that they might receive eternal salvation.

In Acts 1 we are told that in just the same way that Jesus ascended into heaven, so will he one day return. That is, Jesus’ return will be physical and public. Jesus’ first advent was longed for and anticipated for many generations. And then one day, some 2,000 years ago, he arrived just as had been prophesied. The Lord’s second coming is just as sure as his first and will take place before the eyes of the whole world.

This passage is one of several depictions of the final judgment in the Book of Revelation. In some of the other depictions, John describes the presence of fire and hail and other phenomena which are meant to capture the intensity of the Lord’s wrath against wickedness. In each description John uses language to describe the nearly indescribable and so, as he often does, he employs symbolic language. Here the Lord is depicted as wielding a sharpened sickle to harvest the earth. When he returns he will harvest his redeemed unto eternal life. But he will also gather together unto judgment those who have denied him and spurned his grace. The terrible description of blood is meant to convey the costliness of the rejection of God and the finality of his judgment. John aims to shock his readers into spiritual reality. What he describes sharpens the choice that we all must make. Either we will be among the first fruits of God’s redeemed people whom he harvests upon his return. Or we will be among the grapes of wrath.

“When the judgment finally comes, it will only serve as an underlining of the decisions that we have been making all our life” (Bewes, 104). But let us remember that even those who turn to Jesus in their final moments will be saved just as the thief on the cross. Certainly we must never presume that the Lord will give us the time or the willingness in our final moments to repent. However the depths of the Lord’s mercy are such that not a single sinner who repents, even in his final moments, will be turned away by the saving Christ.