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