The term translated as “judgment” echoes the many passages contained in the Old Testament prophets where the Lord promised judgment on the nations for their godlessness and their abuse of his people Israel (e.g., Isaiah 13:1 – 24:23; Jeremiah 46:1 – 51:64; Ezekiel 25:1 – 32:32), all of which receive their climax in the final judgment when Christ returns to judge the living and the dead. In the present passage, too, the term does not intend us to think only of the judgment reserved for the Last Day. As was clear from Revelation 6:1–17, God’s judgments press upon this fallen world throughout the centuries of the new dispensation (even as it did in the old dispensation; see Genesis 3:17–19; Leviticus 26:14–46; Deuteronomy 28:15–68). Among their purposes, God’s judgments are intended to prompt repentance and obedience to the instruction to fear God and give him glory.
7 And he said with a loud voice, “Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come, and worship him who made heaven and earth, the sea and the springs of water.”