Judgment is a major theme in the book of Revelation. An earlier post stated that while the object of such judgment is clearly the world as a whole, within that global scope the text puts a particular emphasis on God’s judgment of the worldly church which conforms to the overall worldly system. Indeed, that is precisely one of the main pastoral issues John’s letter seeks to address: insofar as the world and the worldly church are essentially indistinguishable the same outcome awaits both.

A similar pairing of two closely related entities happens when we look at the subjects (in a grammatical sense) of judgment. God—either directly named as such, or in the person of Jesus Christ—is clearly the primary actor who decrees and executes judgment, as we see in repeated expressions about “God’s wrath” or (paradoxically) “the wrath of the Lamb.” Yet God is not alone in prosecuting the work of judgment on the world and worldly church. His partners in this undertaking are the saints, i.e. all of his faithful people who “overcome the world.”

Before looking at the specific data in Revelation, let us briefly observe that the full-Bible reader should find nothing theologically new or shocking in the idea of God’s people as active instruments in his execution of judgment. The Levites in general (Ex 32:27-28), and the line of Phinehas in particular (Num 25:4-13, Ps 106:30-31), secured God’s covenant on their priestly role through their zeal in obediently killing their idolatrous brethren. Most notably, the armies Israel themselves—not disease, wild beasts, or famine—were the primary instruments in the conquest of Canaan. Throughout Scripture prophets like Moses regularly decree the coming of God’s plagues and destruction upon a people. These prophets generally do so in a participatory manner that expresses their own approbation with God’s displays of anger at sin (e.g. Neh 13:25). In some cases, a prophet like Elijah even appears to take personal initiative in promoting acts of judgment without the text informing us that “the word of the Lord” told him to do so (e.g. 1 Kings 18:40). In 1 Corinthians 6:2 Paul expects the church to know that “the saints will judge the world,” with precedent from passages such as Dan 7:22 and Mt 19:28.

Turning to Revelation we likewise have the following:

• The final major judgment passage in the book (chp. 20) explicitly portrays those faithful to the testimony of Jesus as having “authority to judge” (vs. 4).
• The “two witnesses” in chapter 11 send Moses-and-Elijah-like plagues upon the earth “as often as they wish” (vs. 6). Note well: it is not “as often as God commands,” but “as often as they wish!”
• The sealed book/scroll of chapter 5-6 brings a series of deadly forces upon the earth, but John initially weeps loudly when it appears no one would be able to open it (5:3-4).
• The cry to God from the martyrs opened by the fifth seal is, “How long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?”
• The “saints and apostles and prophets” are instructed to “rejoice” over the destruction of Babylon (18:20) and indeed they do so without any sign of reluctance (19:1-3).
• The prayers of the saints are the “incense” which invokes the seven trumpets (8:3-4). This has thematic confirmation in the clear allusion to Jericho where it was the responsibility of the Hebrew people to march, blow trumpets, and shout, in order to bring forth the “fall” of a great city (cf. Rev 14:8). Also, the seventh trumpet is the reign of Christ leading to His praise and worship (11:15-17), and if the capstone of the trumpets is the great desire of our hearts then it is logical that the saints also favor the precursor trumpets.
• Once again, the golden bowls of 5:8 are filled with “the prayers of the saints,” and it is those same bowls, when poured out, which constitute the final round of seven-fold judgment on the earth. (Vss. 5:8 and 15:7 are the only places in the book where “golden bowls” appear.) “Thus the Apocalypse presents the judgment cycles of seals, trumpets and bowls as God’s direct response to the effective prayers of the saints” (Brian Tabb, All Things New).

More support could be given, nuances could be fleshed out, and balancing principles could be acknowledged. But for now we just wish to make one point, and sufficient evidence to establish the basic principle has been given, namely: the book of Revelation portrays God’s people as willing, participatory, agents in His judgment of the world. The saints (at least in some sense) desire the judgment to come, their prayers are conducive toward that end, at least some of their representative “prophets” have authority to call forth such judgments, and they ultimately celebrate with joy and relief when the present form of this wicked world is destroyed.