what did the old, drunken sailor mean when he said, "the day of judgement is at hand"?

The quote exemplifies Christie’s use of foreshadowing to increase the suspense of the novel. The reader understands in the first chapter that each character introduced will be, in some way, involved in a murder. In this quote, it becomes clear that Blore will certainly be one of the murdered. The old man that Blore meets on the train acts as a wise seer that accurately predicts Blore’s own death. The old man has no other part in the story except to intensify the reader’s own sense of foreboding.