Was there a judgment before the Last Judgment? (Catholic perspective)

Question

It is evident that the Last Judgment is the last one in the sense that it comes at the end of times, after which no other judgment will occur. However, the adjective "last" indicates that there have been previous judgment(s), of which the judgment of the End of Times will be the last one. Which are these other judgments? Do they refer to God judging the human race or the people of Israel? (e.g. The Deluge)

I notice though that the Catholic Church speaks of the General Judgment, which does not necessarily imply another one (although there is also the particular judgment).

PS: I think this issue transcends the Catholic Church, but I am content with an answer coming from such tradition.

Answer 1

There was no Jewish race in the antideluvian world. It started with Abraham.

According to the Old Testament the Flood was a judgment. God destroyed the world because of sin. That would mean He Judged the world as sinful.

There's a challenge though: an omnipotent God never destroyed the world in an attempt to destroy sin and then fail to destroy sin. This would mean He was not omnipotent, but instead was capable of making mistakes.

There was undoubtedly a flood if not many floods. The story is found in almost every race that had the written word. Geological evidence of flooding is found almost everywhere. It obviously wasn't world wide and was probably caused by a melting ice cap, not God.

There is no question many people looked on wide spread flooding as a judgement from an angry god. I don't think God is angry. I believe He is love like He says He is.

Answer 2

The "Last Judgment" is not a biblical term, but is taken from church tradition. Augustine, in The City of God book 20 ch. 1, states the following:

And when we speak of God's judgment, we add the word last or final for this reason, because even now God judges, and has judged from the beginning of human history, banishing from paradise, and excluding from the tree of life, those first men who perpetrated so great a sin. Yes, He was certainly excercising judgment also when He did not spare the angels who sinned, whose prince, overcome being, seduced men after being himself seduced. Neither is it without God's profound and just judgment that the life of demons and men, the one in the air, the other on earth, is filled with misery, calamities, and mistakes. . . . He judges, too, not only the mass, condemning the race of devils and the race of men to be miserable on account of the original sin of these races, but He also judges the voluntary and personal acts of individuals. . . . And men are punished by God for their sins often visibly, always secretly, either in this life or after death . . . In this book, then, I shall speak, as God permits, not of those first judgments, nor of these intervening judgments of God, but of the last judgment, when Christ is to come from heaven to judge the quick and the dead.

Answer 3

(This is answered from a Biblical, not Catholic perspective.)

Revelation 20 describes general judgments of mankind:

In verses 4–6, those that have been judged and saved before Jesus's return (a relatively small number of people) are converted to immortal spirit beings at the first resurrection:

And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them […]; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished.
This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.

In verses 11–13, the second general resurrection occurs a thousand years later. The vast majority of mankind is resurrected into the Kingdom of God as physical human beings, taught about God's way, offered salvation, and then judged.

And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.

(Notice that it says "they were judged every man according to their works", so this is not a resurrection of condemnation that many believe it to be.)

In verses 14–15, the small number of people that chose not to accept God's offer of salvation will be judged as incorrigible and then permanently destroyed:

And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

If something is worthy of being called "The Last Judgement", it is certainly this final judgment and condemnation. After this, all of humanity is now either an immortal spirit, living and working with their eldest brother Jesus, or non-existent, so no further judgment is possible.

Answer 4

Was there a judgment before the Last Judgment?

The short answer is yes.

According to the Catholic Church, there are three general ways to view “judgements” in an ecclesiastical manner.

The Last Judgement is often referred to as the General Judgement.

The universal judgment of the human race at the final resurrection of the dead. It is expressed in all the creeds that affirm that Christ now "sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty, from where He shall come to judge the living and the dead," i.e., the just and the wicked. This will be a social judgment because it will manifest to the world God's justice in condemning sinners, and his mercy in those who are saved. It will also be a total judgment by revealing not only people's moral conduct but all the accumulated blessings or injuries that resulted from each person's good or evil deeds. - General Judgement

This differs from the Particular Judgement which related to the individual soul at the moment of death.

The individual judgment of each human being immediately after death. It is a judgment in the sense that God irrevocably determines a person's lot for eternity, depending on his or her co-operation with grace during the stay on earth. - Particular Judgement

According to Catholicism, there is a phrase which is employed when explaining the the judgements of God as being God’s Divine Judgement(s) which can encompass events such as the Flood of Noah over humanity, the Cross over the kingdom of Satan, the plagues of Egypt, etcetera.

Divine judgment (judicium divinum), as an immanent act of God, denotes the action of God's retributive justice by which the destiny of rational creatures is decided according to their merits and demerits. This includes:

• God's knowledge of the moral worth of the acts of free creatures (scientia approbationis et reprobationis), and His decree determining the just consequences of such acts;

• the Divine verdict upon a creature amenable to the moral law, and the execution of this sentence by way of reward and punishment.

It is clear, of course, that the judgment, as it is in God, cannot be a process of distinct and successive acts; it is a single eternal act identical with the Divine Essence. But the effects of the judgment, since they take place in creatures, follow the sequence of time.

The Divine judgment is manifested and fulfilled at the beginning, during the progress, and at the end of time. In the beginning, God pronounced judgment upon the whole race, as a consequence of the fall of its representatives, the first parents (Genesis 3). Death and the infirmities and miseries of this were the consequences of that original sentence. Besides this common judgment there have been special judgments on particular individuals and peoples. Such great catastrophes as the flood (Genesis 6:5), the destruction of Sodom (Genesis 28:20), the earthquake that swallowed up Core and his followers (Numbers 16:30), the plagues of Egypt (Exodus 6:6; 12:12), and the evil that came upon other oppressors of Israel (Ezekiel 25:11; 28:22) are represented in the Bible as Divine judgments. The fear of God is such a fundamental idea in the Old Testament that it insists mainly on the punitive aspect of the judgment (cf. Proverbs 11:31; Ezekiel 14:21). An erroneous view of these truths led many of the rabbis to teach that all the evil which befalls man is a special chastisement from on high, a doctrine which was declared false by Christ.

There is also a judgment of God in the world that is subjective. By his acts man adheres to or deviates from the law of God, and thereby places himself within the sphere of approval or condemnation. In a sense, then, each individual exercises judgment on himself. Hence it is declared that Christ came not to judge but to save (John 3:17; 8:15; 12:47). The internal judgment proceeds according to a man's attitude: towards Christ (John 3:18). Though all the happenings of life cannot be interpreted as the outcome of Divine judgment, whose external manifestation is therefore intermittent, the subjective judgment is coextensive with the life of the individual and of the race. The judgment at the end of time will complement the previous visitations of Divine retribution and will manifest the final result of the daily secret judgment. By its sentence the eternal destiny of creatures will be decided. As there is a twofold end of time, so there is likewise a twofold eternal judgment: the particular judgment, at the hour of death, which is the end of time for the individual, and the general judgment, at the final epoch of the world's existence, which is the end of time for the human race. - Divine Judgement

Remember well that the Cross passed God’s judgment on Satan and his kingdom. His claims were destroyed; his claimed authority was invalidated. He is the archon, the ruler of this age only until God enforces the judgment of the cross after Christ’s return.

At the cross, Jesus “disarmed the powers and authorities” (Col. 2:15)