Revelations

The Seals

There are so many prophesies about the end times that they have confused a great number of people. Among the most prolific interpretations of prophesy is that written by Darby at the end of the 19th century.  His interpretation of Biblical prophesy, known as dispensationalism, was (and is) widely accepted.  However, the key to all Biblical prophesy must be the words of Jesus. Any prophesy that doesn't conform to His words must be assumed to be about something else.

So let’s look at the Seals in the book written by John.  Let’s look at Revelations Chapter six.

I watched as the Lamb opened the first of the seven seals. Then I heard one of the four living creatures say in a voice like thunder, "Come!"

I looked, and there before me was a white horse! Its rider held a bow, and he was given a crown, and he rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest.

 When the Lamb opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, "Come!"

Then another horse came out, a fiery red one. Its rider was given power to take peace from the earth and to make men slay each other. To him was given a large sword.

 When the Lamb opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, "Come!"

I looked, and there before me was a black horse! Its rider was holding a pair of scales in his hand. Then I heard what sounded like a voice among the four living creatures, saying, "A quart of wheat for a day's wages, and three quarts of barley for a day's wages, and do not damage the oil and the wine!"

 When the Lamb opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, "Come!"

I looked, and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth.

 When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar (the place of sacrifice) the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained.

·        "How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?" They called out in a loud voice.

·        Then each of them was given a white robe,

·        and they were told to wait a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and brothers who were to be killed as they had been was completed.

 I watched as he opened the sixth seal.

1.      There was a great earthquake.

2.      The sun turned black like sackcloth made of goat hair,

3.      the whole moon turned blood red,

4.      and the stars in the sky fell to earth, as late figs drop from a fig tree when shaken by a strong wind.

5.      The sky receded like a scroll, rolling up,

6.      and every mountain and island was removed from its place.

Then the kings of the earth, the princes, the generals, the rich, the mighty, and every slave and every free man hid in caves and among the rocks of the mountains. They called to the mountains and the rocks, "Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?"

The Seventh Seal

When he opened the seventh seal, there was:

1.      silence in heaven for about half an hour.

2.      seven angels who stand before God and to them were given seven trumpets

3.      Another angel, who had a golden censer, came and stood at the altar.

a.      He was given much incense to offer, with the prayers of all the saints, on the golden altar before the throne.

b.      The smoke of the incense,

c.      together with the prayers of the saints, went up before God from the angel's hand.

4.      Then the angel took the censer,

a.      filled it with fire from the altar,

b.      and hurled it on the earth;

c.      and there came peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning and an earthquake.

The Angels and Trumpets

 Then the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared to sound them.

1.      The first angel sounded his trumpet,

a.      There came hail and fire mixed with blood that was hurled down upon the earth.

                                                              i.            A third of the earth was burned up,

                                                            ii.            a third of the trees were burned up,

                                                          iii.            And all the green grass was burned up.

2.      The second angel sounded his trumpet,

a.      Something like a huge mountain, all ablaze, was thrown into the sea.

                                                              i.            A third of the sea turned into blood,

                                                            ii.            a third of the living creatures in the sea died,

                                                          iii.            And a third of the ships were destroyed.

3.      The third angel sounded his trumpet,

a.      a great star, blazing like a torch, fell from the sky on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water— the name of the star is Wormwood

                                                              i.            A third of the waters turned bitter,

                                                            ii.            Many people died from the waters that had become bitter.

4.      The fourth angel sounded his trumpet

a.      a third of the sun was struck,

b.      a third of the moon,

c.      And a third of the stars, so that a third of them turned dark.

                                                              i.            A third of the day was without light,

                                                            ii.            and also a third of the night.

5.      The fifth angel sounded his trumpet,

a.      A star falls from the sky to the earth.

                                                              i.            The star was given the key to the shaft of the Abyss.

                                                            ii.            When he opened the Abyss, smoke rose from it like the smoke from a gigantic furnace.

                                                          iii.            The sun and sky were darkened by the smoke from the Abyss.

b.      Out of the smoke locusts came down upon the earth and were given power like that of scorpions of the earth.

                                                              i.            They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any plant or tree, but only those people who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads.

                                                            ii.            They were not given power to kill them, but only to torture them for five months.

c.      The agony they suffered was like that of the sting of a scorpion when it strikes a man.

                                                              i.            men will seek death, but will not find it;

                                                            ii.            they will long to die, but death will elude them.

                                                          iii.            They had as king over them the angel of the Abyss, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek, Apollyon

6.      The sixth angel sounded his trumpet,

a.      A voice said to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, "Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates."

                                                              i.            And the four angels were released to kill a third of mankind.

                                                            ii.            The number of the mounted troops was two hundred million.

The rest of mankind that were not killed by these plagues

·        still did not repent of

a.      the work of their hands;

b.      murders,

c.      their magic arts,

d.      their sexual immorality

e.      or their thefts.

·        they did not stop worshiping

a.      demons,

b.      and idols

The Angel and the Little Scroll

 Then another angel from heaven doesn’t sound a trumpet.

·        He was robed in a cloud,

·        with a rainbow above his head;

·        his face was like the sun,

·        and his legs were like fiery pillars.

·        He was holding a little scroll, which lay open in his hand.

He planted his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land, and he gave a loud shout like the roar of a lion. When he shouted, the voices of the seven thunders spoke. And when the seven thunders spoke, I was about to write; but I heard a voice from heaven say, "Seal up what the seven thunders have said and do not write it down." He is the same angel Daniel saw earlier giving the same orders to John as he did to Daniel!

 This angel

·        Raised his right hand to heaven.

·        swore by him

·        who lives for ever and ever,

·        who created the heavens and all that is in them,

·        the earth and all that is in it,

·        the sea and all that is in it,

·        "There will be no more delay! But in the days when the seventh angel is about to sound his trumpet, the mystery of God will be accomplished, just as he announced to his servants the prophets."

John is then instructed to take the scroll and eat it.  He will have to prophesy against many lands and peoples.  It is the finding of the scroll of Daniel that triggers the prophets! This is when John tells us of two “witnesses”, prophets who will come in to the world.

1.      And I will give power to my two witnesses,

2.      and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth."

3.      If anyone tries to harm them, fire comes from their mouths and devours their enemies.

4.      They have power to shut up the sky so that it will not rain during the time they are prophesying;

5.      and they have power to turn the waters into blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague.

6.      when they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up from the Abyss will attack them, and overpower and kill them.

7.      Their bodies will lie in the street of the great city, which is figuratively called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified.  For three and a half days men from every people, tribe, language and nation will gaze on their bodies and refuse them burial.

8.      The inhabitants of the earth will gloat over them and will celebrate by sending each other gifts, because these two prophets had tormented those who live on the earth.

The Seventh Trumpet

The seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, which said:

"The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign for ever and ever."

Then:

·        The twenty-four elders, fell on their faces and worshiped God.

·        God's temple in heaven was opened

·        There were flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder,

·        an earthquake

·        and a great hailstorm.

·        The woman clothed with the sun,

a.      with the moon under her feet

b.      and a crown of twelve stars on her head.

c.      She was pregnant

d.      cried out in pain as she was about to give birth

Then another sign appeared in heaven:

·        an enormous red dragon — that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray

·        His tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky

·        The dragon stood in front of the woman so that he might devour her child the moment it was born.

·        She gave birth to a son, a male child,

·        who will rule all the nations with an iron scepter.

·        her child was snatched up to God and to his throne.

·        The woman fled into the desert.

·        There was war in heaven.

·        Michael and his angels fought against the dragon

·        The great dragon was hurled down. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.

Then a loud voice in heaven says:

"Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God,
      and the authority of his Christ.
   For the accuser of our brothers,
      who accuses them before our God day and night,
      has been hurled down.
 They overcame him
      by the blood of the Lamb
      and by the word of their testimony;
   they did not love their lives so much
      as to shrink from death.
 Therefore rejoice, you heavens
      and you who dwell in them!
   But woe to the earth and the sea,
      because the devil has gone down to you!
   He is filled with fury,
      because he knows that his time is short."