An Introduction to End Times.

Part 4 The Tribulation and On (cont’d)

Continuing Evangelism – Section 4c

Revelation Chapter 7

This chapter could be a parenthetical section illustrating God’s continuing desire to draw people to Himself, even through these troubled times.

Angels are told to hold back the earthly disasters of Chapter 6 pending the sealing of special evangelists from twelve tribes of Israel. God would not want to leave a spiritual vacuum on the earth and, without the presence there of the Holy Spirit (per 2Thess 2:7) or the Church, God’s ‘salvation’ would not be presented to the world. Thus 144,000 Jews are ‘sealed’ by God to spread the word. Incidentally note the absence, from the list, of Ephraim and Dan (cf. Num 13:4-15). See also 1Ki 12:25-30.

Verses 9 to 17 describe those who have been ‘saved’ by the special evangelising force so far during the Tribulation. Their white robes show them to be ‘cleansed’ by the blood of Jesus. But, note, unlike Christians from the Rapture or earlier they do not sit on thrones or get rewards (‘thrones’ entitle them to sit in judgement as opposed to only reigning (cf. 1Cor 6:2-3, Rev 20:4), ‘crowns’ are symbolic of ‘rewards’, see End Note (a), yet to come. However verses 16 and 17 suggest that they are well cared for after what they must have been through at the hands of the Antichrist.

Revelation Chapter 8

Seal seven.

I see verse 1 as a continuation from chapter 7 (remember, the division of the bible into chapters was not part of its original structure) and possibly representational of the Millennium (Rev 20) when Jesus rules on the earth ‘with a rod of iron’ (Ps 2:9; Rev 12:5; 19:15). Surely this would be a time when ‘God in heaven’ could take a break!

This would tie in with the broadly held view that the seventh seal, the seventh trumpet and the seventh bowl (both see later) all describe one and the same event, but seen from different viewpoints, or in different ways, all depicting the completion of God’s judgements upon the earth.

Others however, perhaps more wisely, see this silence as a precursor to even greater coming judgement following the opening of the seventh seal, perhaps with God, meanwhile, in his infinite patience, just waiting – in case any ‘last minute’ believers should come forward!

I believe the section from verse 2 of chapter 8 to the end of chapter 9 (verse 9:21) to be a continuation of God’s judgements as we work through the first six trumpets.

Verses 3 – 5. This priestly role has been interpreted in many ways, including that of being taken to represent our great high priest, Jesus, himself, fulfilling his role as our intercessor and offering the prayers of all the saints to the Father.

Trumpets one, two, three and four.

Verses 7 to 12 can be seen as divine action taken against the earth in the form of fire, food and other shortages, poor water supply, and darkness, as we move through the first four trumpets. This is followed in verse 13 by a warning of three woes to come.

Revelation Chapter 9

Trumpet five.

Verses 1 to 11. An angel comes to earth and is allowed to release demons (‘given a key’ – by God) who were specifically told to torture, not kill, ‘unsealed’ (unsaved) humans for five months; as opposed to harming earthly matter or introducing natural calamities. Think of this as a ‘carrot and stick’ approach, by God, to bring souls into the Kingdom – and the ‘stick’ is getting harder! (See also Lk 8:31, 2Pet 2:4; and Jude 6).

I am reminded of Hebrews 10:26-31. ‘If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. 

Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 

How much more severely do you think a man deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God under foot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace? 

For we know him who said, “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” and again, “The Lord will judge his people.” 

It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.’

Trumpet six.

Verses 12 to 21. The first woe is over. At the sound of the sixth trumpet a voice commanded that the four angels bound at the great river Euphrates be let loose.

These four angels, loosed now during the first half of the tribulation, have been held for just this occasion. They in turn release a force of 200 million troops from the east across the Euphrates. They kill a third of – (the remainder of?) – mankind. In which case, this combined with the killings in Rev 6:8 now equals half the population of the world as we know it, ie. three and a half out of seven billion dead through major tragedy. This is just the early stages, the run-up, to the battle of Armageddon. Can you imagine it?

The passage now covered in verses 17 to 19 is in the terminology of the time of John, but, in present day vision, could be representational of tanks, guns, flame-throwers and other weapons of atomic warfare.

In verses 20 and 21 we see that even with all this happening, there is such hardness of heart that people still fail to repent, or even recognise, their situation!

Next time: Approach of the Great Tribulation

An Introduction to End Times.

Part 4 The Tribulation and On (cont’d)

The Church in Heaven – Section 4b

Revelation Chapter 4 – The Church and Holy Spirit in Heaven.

From this point on (as you will recall from the note on Rev 3:22 in Part 3) there is no  contemporaneous reference to ‘the church’ in the Bible (the exception being in Rev 22:16). Immediately we can infer that the church, as we know it, is ‘no more’. In fact it has joined Jesus in heaven and all believers are now in their resurrection bodies (see 1Cor 15:52).

This view is strengthened by the reference in Rev 4:4 to the twenty-four elders. These elders, we can understand, represent all believers from the Old and New testaments, as indicated by the reference to their being dressed ‘in white’, signifying that they have been saved by the blood of Jesus. Furthermore they are wearing ‘crowns’. From various references in the bible you will see that ‘crowns’ are rewards given by Jesus (see End Note a). Incidentally these elders have to have been humans – angels have never held office, nor have they ever received ‘crowns’. I believe these twenty-four represent the twelve tribes of Israel and the twelve apostles in their resurrection bodies.

We also see in v.5 the ‘seven spirits (or the sevenfold spirit) of God signifying the presence of the Holy Spirit.

Revelation Chapter 5

This chapter introduces the sealed scroll and the search for someone worthy enough to open it. That person of course, is our Lord and in opening the seals he proves his right to the ownership of the world and sets about his full recovery of it from Satan. We are at the beginning of the 7 year Tribulation. Verses 9, 12, and 13 glorify the moment with respectively the ‘song of the saints’ (you purchased men for God), the ‘song of the angels’, and the ‘song of all creatures’.

Revelation Chapter 6

Seal one.

Here we begin the start of the first 3½ years of the Tribulation as described in Daniel 9:27 and elsewhere. Verse 2 describes the entry of the antichrist onto the world scene. Make no mistake, this is not a picture of Jesus. Jesus in scripture never went around with a bow (without arrows) and our Lord wears many crowns (Rev 19:12), not just one. This is a pretender, and the whole situation ties in with 2 Thessalonians 2:7-8.

Incidentally the absence of arrows is seen by some as indicating that although he is a man of war, bent on conquest, the Antichrist’s approach to a position of power in the world will, initially at least, be by diplomacy not force.

Seal two.

Verses 3 and 4 symbolise warfare and could readily depict a future invasion of Israel by Russia, say, and other nations as described in Ezekiel chapters 38 and 39.

Seal three.

Verse 5 suggests wide-ranging famine especially affecting the poor or underprivileged. Verse 6 adds the connotation that for those ‘in the know’ or having sufficient wealth, shortages will not be a problem and that within certain classes of the population luxury foodstuffs will still be available. Incidentally, ‘Do not damage the oil and the wine’ (v.6), could signify that God will protect those who believe in Him (these commodities are used in making sacrifices to God).

Seal four.

Verses 7 and 8 seem to depict the resultant deaths of all this warfare, amounting to a fourth of all the earth and presumably precedes the ‘third of mankind’ killed by the plagues in Rev 9:18. With the current population of the world approaching 7 billion, a fourth amounts to some 1.75 billion.

Seal five.

Verses 9 to 11 reveal the martyrs who have died so far during the tribulation; ‘slain … because of the testimony they had maintained.’ They are given white robes (signifying their redemption) and told to wait a little longer (perhaps through the Great Tribulation?) until those yet to die likewise, have joined them.

Seal six.

The terrible natural disasters described in verses 12 to 14, according to some, depict the wholesale breakdown of law and order prior to the Great Tribulation. However, the wording itself: ‘I watched as he opened the sixth seal. There was a great earthquake. The sun turned black like sackcloth made of goat hair, the whole moon turned blood red, and the stars in the sky fell to earth, as late figs drop from a fig tree when shaken by a strong wind. The sky receded like a scroll, rolling up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place.’ is reminiscent of Eze 38:19-20, Isa 13:10, Joel 3:15 et al, all depicting the actual time of the Day of the Lord. Furthermore the same wording is surely taken from Jesus’ own quotation of Isaiah (Isa 13:10, and 34:4) in Mt 24:29, which is followed, in Mt 24:30, by the words: ‘At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky …’, thus indicating that it is relating to the actual Second Coming which is at the end of the Great Tribulation.

Verses 15 to 17 indicate that at that time those who have hitherto rejected God will finally recognise their predicament, if not their error.

Next time: Continuing Evangelism