The Final Judgment and the Last Things

Background

Reformed eschatology had taken a series of positions inherited from the catholic Christian tradition: a final, universal judgement of all human persons and angels at the end of the age; conducted by Jesus Christ as the appointed Judge; with eternal life for the righteous and eternal punishment for the wicked. Various alternatives circulated. Annihilationism — developed by some Socinians — held that the wicked would be finally destroyed rather than punished eternally. Origenist *apokatastasis* (universal restoration) — taught by some radical groups and (later) Peter Sterry — held that all rational creatures would eventually be saved. The premillennialists (Fifth Monarchy Men in their radical wing) held to two distinct resurrections separated by a millennial reign on earth, with Christ returning before the millennium. The Assembly handled the question briefly but firmly.

The Assembly’s handling

WCF XXXIII.1-3 articulates the doctrine in two short paragraphs. XXXIII.1: 'God hath appointed a day, wherein he will judge the world in righteousness by Jesus Christ.' XXXIII.2: 'the righteous go into everlasting life…the wicked, who know not God…shall be cast into eternal torments, and be punished with everlasting destruction.' XXXIII.3 closes with the pastoral use: the certainty of the day deters from sin and consoles the godly. The eternal punishment clause excludes annihilationism and universal restoration. The single-judgement framing does not adopt the premillennial double-resurrection scheme, but neither does it explicitly exclude it; the Assembly was broadly post-millennial in instinct without making millennial schemes confessional.