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| Jas 5:16b The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. | October 13, 2008 |
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The Seven Seals and Seven TrumpetsRevelations can be one of the hardest books of the Bible to fully understand, and I think that I have found two of those reasons why it can be dificult to understand, and if its haed to understand its got to be hard to interpret. Now, I do refer to these as issue number 1 and issue number 2, but that does not mean that I figured out which is the hardest to understand and which is the easiest to understand. They both carry their degree of dificulty, but I think I can show you today how to make Revelations a little easier to understand. Issue number one: Revelations aparent lack of a definant time line. John records several events and few of them apear to run concurrently. In other words, where one event ends the next one doesn't seem to pick up right, but rather starts over or expounds further on a specific topic. For example: Rev 10:5 And the angel which I saw stand upon the sea and upon the earth lifted up his hand to heaven,
And... Rev 15:1 ¶ And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvellous, seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath of God. 'That there should be time no longer'. Even though this was the last trump, there is 12 more chapters in Revelations and alot more for us to study. And in 15:1 I saw 'another sign' which starts with seven plauges. We as linier beings need a starting point and an ending point to understand how some things work. We are born then we die, a day begins at midnight and ends the following midnight, we start school in first grade and finish school in twelth grade, we begin counting with number 1 and continue till we need no more numbers to fill our purpose. So when we start with Revelations chapter 1 and read until we reach the end of chapter 22 some issues leave us scratching our heads. One of the ways I found to begin to comprehend Revelations is to understand that John is given several visions and not one long vision. To demonstrate skip to verse 11 in the same chapter 10 that we just quoted. Rev 10:11 And he said unto me, Thou must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings. This immediately follows the seventh trump, which is last in a series of seven, and an angel swares that there should be time no longer. Now we see that John must prophesy again, and he does pick right back up in chapter 11 with yet another vision. When I reached this part of revelations I not only discovered that there is more than one vision, but I also noticed languge that indicated that this also depicted the last moments in time. v 6 ...time no longer... v 7 ...the mystery of God should be finished... v 11 ...thou must prophesy again. If I could trace backwards where this vision started then maybe I could begin to fit the rest of the visions in or around this one. If this ended with the seventh trumpet then linerly thinking tells us to find out what happened before the first trumpet sounded. Rev 8:1. And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour.
Here we learn that the seventh seal is opened and from there we get the seven angels that were given the seven trumpets. So the seven trumpets are a continuation of the seven seals and we first see the seven seals in chapter 5:1 Rev 5;1 And I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne a book written within and on the backside, sealed with seven seals. One other thing of note that should be mentioned here is not only is this the begining of this vision but also is the first vision of Revelations pertaining to the end times. Rev 4:1 ¶ After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter. Wow! is this for real? we have the first vision pertaining to the end times, (rev 4:1) the first of seven seals, (rev 5:1) the seventh seal producess seven trumps, (rev 8:1) and the seventh trump which signifies the end of time, (rev 10:6). Further examination the opening of the first seal confirms that this is tribulation that begins. 1. And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see.
A book sealed with seven seals. In chapter 6 we see six of the seals opened and the results of them being opened. Later on we see the seventh seal opened and as a result seven trumpets are sounded and each of those have a story to tell as well. As I said before we have a begining (the first seal) and an ending (the seventh trumpet)and a definate progresion in between. And as we'll see later on, other events that take place will fit with in this template of a timeline that we found. Issue number two: John's vivid visions that can only be discribed using words and terminology that they used in his time Lets start off by reading Revelations chapter 6: 1st Seal 1. And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see.
2nd Seal 3. And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second beast say, Come and see.
3rd Seal 5. And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand. 4th Seal 7. And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see.
5th Seal 9. And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held:
6th Seal 12. And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood;
The first piece of evidence I'd like to point out here is in the 5th seal. "under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God"..."How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?" These are souls that were slain (martyred), and asked the question how long before we are avenged on them that dwell on the earth. In other words, their murderers are still alive on earth at this time. The next point to bring up is in the 6th seal "Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?" The great day of his wrath (God's wrath) is come. God's wrath begins. Rev 7:1-3 And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree
Notice that from this point on, Angel's have the job to hurt the earth. They were also ordered not to hurt the earth until the 144,000 servents of God were sealed. Rev 9-17 After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands;
A great multitude which no man could number stood before the throne. These are they which came out of great tribulation. So, now we have three very important points 1)A great Multitude which no man can number, 2)And they came out of great tribulation 3)and earlier we had the wrath of the Lamb begining. Could we have a seven year period half of which is the great tribulation, the last half being the wrath of the Lamb, and somewhere in between the rightous are no longer here on earth? Understand that we found all this after the 6th seal and have yet to see the 7th seal. Rev 8:1. And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour.
Here we have the seventh seal bringing forth the seven angels with seven trumpets,thus continuing our timeline. Now we will take a look at what the seven trumpets brings. 1st Trumpet 7. The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up. 2nd Trumpet 8. And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea: and the third part of the sea became blood;
3rd Trumpet 10. And the third angel sounded, and there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters;
4th Trumpet 12. And the fourth angel sounded, and the third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars; so as the third part of them was darkened, and the day shone not for a third part of it, and the night likewise.
These are the first 4 Trumpets and the three other trumpets have a 'woe' attached to them. Which also indicate the next three are the worst yet. 5th Trumpet Rev 8;1. And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit.
Three points I would like to make here, one is that these locusts that are loosed were commanded to only harm them men that dont have the mark of God on there foreheads. which are the 144,000 of the tribes of the children of Isreal. If there were any that were rightous on earth that were not numbered in the 144,000, they would have been tormented by these creatures. But as we mentioned earlier all the rightous that came out of great tribulation are before the throne, serving him day and night. We also will see later that there are only unrepented man is left on the earth at this time, aside from the 144,000. The second point is that these locust torment men for the space of 5 months. If indeed this is the second half of the seven year period, then it would be aprximately three snd a half years. So lets see if we have any other time periods mentiond within these final trumpets. The third point is that the men seek for death but cant find it not only that but death will flee from them. 6th Trumpet 13. And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God,
Here we have the confirmation I was looking for in verse 20 and 21. "And the rest of the men which were not killed...repented not of their works." Phil Dowd
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