End times series:
Revelation 7-8
By Liaf
OK folks, up to now we started off the Tribulation in Revelation chapter six. Chapter seven is a little interlude. Revelation has several parenthetical chapters or passages that "focus in" on something specific. This has the function of elaborating on something that was broadly mentioned before. As usual, we shall open our King James Bibles to Revelation chapter seven.
Revelation 7:1-8: 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.
And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea,
Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.
And I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel.
Of the tribe of Juda were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Reuben were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Gad were sealed twelve thousand.
Of the tribe of Aser were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Nepthalim were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Manasses were sealed twelve thousand.
Of the tribe of Simeon were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Levi were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Issachar were sealed twelve thousand.
Of the tribe of Zabulon were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Joseph were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Benjamin were sealed twelve thousand.
Before any trial or tribulation is to start, notice that 144,000 people are to receive the seal of God on their foreheads (later the beast will require a mark on people’s hands or foreheads as a counterfeit). Who are these people? They are from the twelve tribes of the children of Israel. Different religious groups have all kinds of theories as to who these 144,000 people are. And inevitably, each group believes that belonging to their group assures you that you may be one of the special 144,000. There is no reason to read more into this passage than what is there. These are people from twelve tribes of Israel. "Twelve tribes?" you may ask, "I thought you teach that ten are lost." They are----- in this age. Before the time of the end will come, recognition will be brought forth for at least this many people in order for them to be sealed. You may have heard a lot of prophecy about Israel gathering in end times before Christ’s Second Coming. In addition, some "lost tribes" people teach that the two sticks in Ezekiel 37 are rejoined at this time (i.e. the house of Israel and house of Judah). Their justification for this belief is the fact that all the tribes are mentioned. To a degree, I do believe there will be a "man-inspired" reason to regroup. However, I believe there will be a greater gathering at Christ’s Second Coming. There are several scriptural passages that point this out. For 144,000 people to realize what tribes they are in is just a drop in the bucket compared to the vast population size of Israel, even if they dwindle during the Tribulation. Notice there are actually two tribes missing in this list. Keep in mind that Manasseh was a sub-tribe of Joseph, so in that sense the mention of Manasseh and Joseph is really one tribe. The birthright tribe of Ephraim is not there. In addition, the tribe of Dan is missing. Where are they? Don’t ask me. I have NO IDEA why God excluded those tribes. There may be a clue regarding Ephraim found in an end time passage of Isaiah 11:13. Since Judah is in this list, and there is some sort of adversity with Ephraim, that may be a possible answer. Rest assured, however, that even these tribes will ultimately be gathered with land allotments according to the prophet Ezekiel.
What is the purpose of this sealing on their foreheads? The clue is given in Matthew 24 and the previous chapter of Revelation we just read. Matthew 24:14 says, "And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come." And again in Revelation 6 it says, "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: And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled." If you remember, I stated that there would be martyrdom (fifth seal) but Jesus also pointed out that the Gospel of the Kingdom would be preached. "Are these the martyrs?" you may ask. No. They will be the preachers. 144,000 of them! And notice they will get the message out to all nations. Whenever I hear nations, I have this prejudice if you want to call it that. I always think of the nations that Israel became in their "lost" state. Gentiles (non-Israelites) were included only as an extension as revealed to Paul. Therefore, would it make sense that many of the Israelites are in the nations yet? I think so, until the Lord gathers ALL of them when he returns. It makes sense that the Lord would use 144,000 Israelites, in His mercy, as a Light to the nations for one last chance for everybody to repent. "What about the martyrs?" you may persistently ask. Let’s read on:
Revelation 7:9-17: 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;
And cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb.
And all the angels stood round about the throne, and about the elders and the four beasts, and fell before the throne on their faces, and worshipped God,
Saying, Amen: Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might, be unto our God for ever and ever. Amen.
And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they?
And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple: and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them.
They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat.
For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.
The next few verses describe the martyrs of the fifth seal and those that Jesus mentioned in Matthew 24. These are the converts of the preaching of the 144,000 sealed people of God. Notice they are conscious after death and with the Lord until the resurrection and his return. Notice the great multitude compared to a specific 144,000 people of Israel.
So as you can see, this chapter focused in on those who would be the preachers of the gospel and those who would be the martyrs. We are now ready to go onto Revelation chapter eight. The interlude in chapter seven is complete and chapter eight continues the main course of events previously addressed.
Revelation 8:1-2: And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour.
And I saw the seven angels which stood before God; and to them were given seven trumpets.
Before we read further, notice that the last seal was opened, and then seven trumpets were given to seven angels. After the seal judgements come the trumpet judgements. Now many folks believe that the seventh seal opens seven trumpets. They perceive this in the same way as those little toy barrels we used to play with as kids. Do you remember those barrels? A smaller barrel was inside a larger one. Inside the smaller one was a smaller barrel until there were about five or six barrels inside each other. Again, there is no reason to make any assumptions about the seventh seal. The seventh seal is simply silence. This is a short sabbatical reprieve before the next set of judgements that come.
Revelation 8:3-5: And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne.
And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel's hand.
And the angel took the censer, and filled it with fire of the altar, and cast it into the earth: and there were voices, and thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake.
Before the trumpets sound, the prayers of the saints are mentioned and compared to the altar of incense in the tabernacle. The censer was what the priest waved with the aromatic smoke. What were the saints praying? This is an assumption on my part (but not an unreasonable one) that they were praying, "Thy Kingdom Come". This was and is the prayer of a true saint throughout the ages. If we pray, "God help me here, heal me there, give me this or that…" and do not pray for his Coming Kingdom (where all troubles will be taken care of), we are fooling ourselves and using God as a big Genie to solve our self-centered problems. We do not care about His Kingdom or His Will. We are merely seeking relief to our temporal problems. Besides, the things we usually pray for are perishable things anyway. We should pray for the eternal things. The coals of fire in the tabernacle represented judgement (where sin was judged and destroyed). The angel took the fire from the altar and cast it to Earth showing that more judgement was to come. To put it colloquially, the saints got "burned" throughout the ages so that they prayed for God’s merciful Kingdom to come. They will get their answer soon. Now the Earth will get "burned" for all the sin and persecution against the saints.
Revelation 8:6-13: And the seven angels which had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound.
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.
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;
And the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life, died; and the third part of the ships were destroyed.
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;
And the name of the star is called Wormwood: and the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter.
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.
And I beheld, and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters of the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels, which are yet to sound!
John is merely describing what he saw. These judgements are straightforward and are not symbolic. If the Bible has symbols, it will interpret itself there or in some other scripture. These four trumpets are natural catastrophes that occur. Notice in each case, a third part of something is affected. This shows the hand of God (because of the number three) is in these judgements. In addition, a third of heaven fell with Lucifer. This shows God’s hand in punishing a representative number of that which is fallen. The first trumpet judgement sounds like some sort of fall-out. Many assume this is a nuclear exchange taking place that will affect a third of the Earth. I reserve my opinions as to what this really is. Like I said, John was merely describing an event in the terms that he knew of in his day. The second and third trumpet sounds like some sort of large meteor, debris, or something similar. The first affects the ocean and the second affects the rivers and causes contamination. Wormwood is defined as "any of several low composite herbs of the genera Artemisia or Seriphidium" and biblically represented bitterness, affliction, and suffering. In other words, a star from heaven that has the characteristics of this herb would make anything it contaminated very bitter (both literally and as punishment). Again, some feel this is the debris from the incident with the first trumpet. However, I reserve my opinions and I have no problem with accepting the fact that each of these are distinct, separate judgements. Although a lot of men and animals are killed, the majority still exist to experience the horror of all these judgements. Sometimes the uncertainty of not knowing what will happen is worse than the punishment itself. And yes, some people will actually make it through the Tribulation to the end. The forth trumpet is astronomical disturbances. This may affect the Earth, but the verses here seem to indicate that these events are more geared to scare the bejesus out of people. Then an angel flies along and says, "Woe, woe, woe". What was he "woe-ing" about? The verse interprets itself: by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels, which are yet to sound! There are three terrible things to come yet. Woe! Woe! Woe!