Revelation - Part 9
Notes
Transcript
1 When the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.
The 7th Seal
The 7th Seal
I want to remind us about the first 6 seals before we proceed.
Seal 1
was the white horse with a sword.
It represents war
It matches what Jesus said about Kingdom vs Kingdom.
Seal 2
A red horse with a bow
It represents another kind of war
Nation vs Nation
People against people
Division - Which we have seen, and are seeing very clearly today.
Seal 3
A black horse with scales
It represents high inflation, higher than ever in history.
This inflation will likely cause food scarcity
We are starting to see this kind of inflation today in many parts of the world, and even the richest nations are being touched by it.
Seal 4
A grayish green horse
We said it represents death, famine and disease on a large scale.
Seal 5
is the prayers of the saints
A call for Justice
A call for the rapture
But they were told to wait a little longer.
Seal 6
This is clearly describing the end of the World as we know it.
Seal 7
And what happens after the end of the world…
Silence.
If this scroll represents the history of the world,
the final seal says nothing.
Just silence in Heaven.
All those who are saved take half an hour of silence for the end of the world.
It was such a small amount of time compared to the eternity before them,
But a very long time from John’s perspective.
Imagine that part of the vision.
He’s just seen the world end
And a beautiful picture of heaven
And then Silence for 30 whole minutes
A New Scene - 7 Trumpets
A New Scene - 7 Trumpets
The very next verse changes scenes again.
We are being whipped around with John on these visions.
It can be difficult to keep up with John if you don’t pay close attention.
We know we are changing scenes because John says:
Then I Saw…
2 Then I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them.
3 And another angel came and stood at the altar with a golden censer, and he was given much incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar before the throne,
4 and the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, rose before God from the hand of the angel.
5 Then the angel took the censer and filled it with fire from the altar and threw it on the earth, and there were peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake.
6 Now the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared to blow them.
Now, after the 7th seal, a new scene opens up.
A scene where 7 Angels are preparing to blow 7 trumpets.
We have already discussed evidence that these 7 angels are the 7 Spirits of God in an earlier lesson in this series.
So, we won’t rehash that.
Before the angels blow the 1st trumpet, there is a scene around the golden altar.
3 And another angel came and stood at the altar with a golden censer, and he was given much incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar before the throne,
recall the 5th seal with me.
In fact, let’s read it again.
9 When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne.
10 They cried out with a loud voice, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?”
11 Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been.
When the 5th seal is opened, there are these cries of the saints from under the altar.
They are told to wait a little longer.
And then we read about the end of the Earth with the opening of the 6th seal.
Surely something happens between the 5th and 6th seal.
Does it make any sense at all for these prayers of the saints to be heard, and them be told to wait a little longer for Justice, and then the world ends???
No, there must be more between the 5th and 6th seal.
A lot more.
Here’s how I tie the 7 trumpets into the space between the 5th and 6th seal.
We will see that the 7 trumpets and 7 bowls of wrath cannot happen before the 6th seal. We need an earth for the earth to be harmed.
Before the 1st trumpet blows, we see the prayers from under the altar addressed again. This is a certainly flashback to seal 5.
3 And another angel came and stood at the altar with a golden censer, and he was given much incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar before the throne,
4 and the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, rose before God from the hand of the angel.
That’s a flashback to seal 5, and what happens right after seal 5. It didn’t tell us this part in chapter 6, but it is picking up where seal 5 left off here.
After they cried out for justice, they were told to wait a little longer
And then we see those prayers reach a certain point where God can smell the incense of those prayers so to speak, and at that point, God begins to act.
This happened when Cornelius sent his prayers up in Acts chapter 10 also…
It was a sweet smelling savor to the lord
Eventually those prayers led to God sending Peter to preach to Cornelius.
A similar thing is happening here.
The prayers of the saints from heaven for those saints still on earth finally reach God’s nose.
And he sends out the 7 angels with 7 trumpets.
Justice is being served.
The First Trumpet
The First Trumpet
7 The first angel blew his trumpet, and there followed hail and fire, mixed with blood, and these were thrown upon the earth. And a third of the earth was burned up, and a third of the trees were burned up, and all green grass was burned up.
So, Trumpet 1 is certainly the start of Justice.
Here is a running theme through these first few trumpets
1/3.
God isn’t ending all the life on Earth yet.
He is just hitting the first 1/3rd in this pass.
Another recurring theme is “from heaven to earth”
Most of these trumpets depict something falling from heaven down to earth.
This shows us the source and destination of the Judgment
Trumpet 1:
Instrument of Justice: Hail and Fire, mixed with blood.
Target of Justice: Earth, Trees, green grass.
Scope of Justice: 1/3 of the Earth, 1/3 of the Trees, All green grass.
I think it is very clear from reading this, that we have not seen the 1st trumpet blow.
I can’t think of one thing in history that could account for this scale of destruction.
1/3 of all trees
1/3 of all land
and 100% of all the green grass… burned up.
One interesting fact is that 1/3 of the Earth is covered by desert today… However, that is about the same ratio as it was 1000 years ago.
For Trumpet one to sound, we need some sort of catastrophic event to occur that burns 1/3 of the earth with hail and fire mixed with blood.
I don’t see any reason to think the hail (h-a-i-l) as in ice, fire and blood are not literal. These are typical plagues used by God to bring about Judgment on places like Sodom, Gomorra and Egypt. So, it seems likely, this 1st trumpet will be a massive literal hail storm mixed with fire and blood.
The 2nd Trumpet
The 2nd Trumpet
8 The second angel blew his trumpet, and something like a great mountain, burning with fire, was thrown into the sea, and a third of the sea became blood.
9 A third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed.
Instrument of Justice: A great burning Mountain.
Target of Justice: Salt Water, Sea Life, Ships
Scope of Justice: 1/3 of the Sea, 1/3 of the Sea Life, 1/3 of all Ships.
If John saw what looked like a massive mountain thrown into the sea, it was probably a meteor. That’s my opinion at least.
Just like the 1st trumpet, I do not see any reason to not take this literally.
The 3rd Trumpet
The 3rd Trumpet
10 The third angel blew his trumpet, and a great star fell from heaven, blazing like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water.
11 The name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters became wormwood, and many people died from the water, because it had been made bitter.
Instrument of Justice: A great star called Wormwood
Target of Justice: Fresh water, and many people.
Scope of Justice: 1/3 of the Fresh water, and unknown number of people.
There has been some opinions about this trumpet representing the Chernobyl disaster of 1986.
If you were big into Bible Prophesy and saw this event take place, I have no doubts as to why it feels like it fits.
the word Chernobyl could mean Wormwood
It did cause water to become bitter
And many people died or developed cancer that led to shorter lifespan.
However, there are several reasons I do not think Chernobyl fits the 3rd Trumpet.
It didn’t affect 1/3 of the fresh water on earth.
the nuclear plant was not hit by anything from the sky.
The nuclear plant is not a star
Less than 100 people died. This is no small number, but in light of the massive scale of destruction in the first 2 trumpets, is 100 people enough to equal “many people dying” as verse 11 says?
If Chernobyl is Trumpet 3, we must conclude that Trumpets 1 and 2 are not happening in order… because those trumpets could not have blown yet.
The last reason is the most difficult for me. They are numbered 1-7. It seems very unlikely that number 3 happened 40 years ago, and number 1 and 2 have not yet occurred.
Before we see the real Wormwood, I’d expect to see the massive hail storm and meteor that destroys 1/3 of the earth and 1/3 of the sea before we see 1/3 of the fresh water tainted… which didn’t even happen with Chernobyl.
If you really think about what John sounds like he is seeing, it is a nuke. Which is possible. However, I do think the trumpets are Judgements coming from God. If we allow for Wormwood to be nuke, or even Chernobyl, then we have to start allowing the plagues to be manmade plagues. This doesn’t really align with any past Judgment. I think God wants us to know it is Him judging the earth, and not just Him allowing us destroying it.
The 4th Trumpet
The 4th Trumpet
12 The fourth angel blew his trumpet, and a third of the sun was struck, and a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of their light might be darkened, and a third of the day might be kept from shining, and likewise a third of the night.
Instrument of Justice: Darkness
Target of Justice: Sun, Moon, Stars
Scope of Justice: 1/3 of the Sun, 1/3 of the Moon, 1/3 of the Stars, 1/3 of the Day, and 1/3 of the night.
When we get the 4th Trumpet, something starts to sound familiar.
Almost like 1st chapter of the Bible, but in reverse
In fact, all the events so far have began to undo creation a little at a time.
Here in the 4th Trumpet we are seeing the events of Creation Day 1 and 4 affected.
The 3rd Trumpet affected the Creation events of Days 2 and 6
The 2nd Trumpet affects the Creation events of Day 5
The 1st Trumpet affects the Creation events of Day 3.
It is as if God is uncreating.
So far, in these 1st 4 Trumpets we have not seen any indications that the rapture has taken place.
We have also not seen any indication that the 6th seal has happened again.
So, we are still sitting between Seal 5 and Seal 6 when the final verse of chapter 8 warns us…
13 Then I looked, and I heard an eagle crying with a loud voice as it flew directly overhead, “Woe, woe, woe to those who dwell on the earth, at the blasts of the other trumpets that the three angels are about to blow!”
There 3 Trumpets left
And this Eagle cries out three “Woes”
Woe here is a word that means “horror” or “Dreadful”
This gives us an indication that the last 3 Trumpets will be worse than the first 4.
And the first 4 Trumpets were pretty bad.
Looking ahead to next week,
We will move into Chapter 9
And we will be discussing the 5th and 6th Trumpet.
And just like we saw with the 7th Seal,
There is a long interlude between the 6th and 7th Trumpet in chapter 10 and part of chapter 11.
