Revelation 7-8
[6/5/11]
Review – The First 6 Seals:
- Anti-Christ
- War
- Famine
- Death & Hell
- Christian martyrs under the throne in Heaven
- Armageddon; i.e.
On To This Week’s Lesson – A Parenthetical Chapter:
Revelation 7:1-17) (GW) After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth. They were holding back the four winds of the earth to keep them from blowing on the land, the sea, or any tree.
2) (GW) I saw another angel coming from the east with the seal of the living God. He cried out in a loud voice to the four angels who had been allowed to harm the land and sea,
3) (GW) “Don’t harm the land, the sea, or the trees until we have put the seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God.”
4) (GW) I heard how many were sealed: 144,000. Those who were sealed were from every tribe of the people of Israel:
5) (GW) 12,000 from the tribe of Judah were sealed, 12,000 from the tribe of Reuben, 12,000 from the tribe of Gad,
6) (GW) 12,000 from the tribe of Asher, 12,000 from the tribe of Naphtali, 12,000 from the tribe of Manasseh,
7) (GW) 12,000 from the tribe of Simeon, 12,000 from the tribe of Levi, 12,000 from the tribe of Issachar,
8) (GW) 12,000 from the tribe of Zebulun, 12,000 from the tribe of Joseph, 12,000 from the tribe of Benjamin were sealed.
QUESTION: Why were the 4 angels told not to “harm the land, the sea, or the trees” just yet?
ANSWER: The 144,000 Jewish evangelists had to be sealed first.
QUESTION: What is Chapter 7 doing between the first 6 seals and the 7th seal?
ANSWER: It’s explaining something mentioned in Chapter 6, which talks about the first 6 seals.
QUESTION: What is it explaining?
ANSWER: It’s explaining the 5th seal. It explaining where the Christians who were martyred came from.
9) (GW) After these things I saw a large crowd from every nation, tribe, people, and language. No one was able to count how many people there were. They were standing in front of the throne and the lamb. They were wearing white robes, holding palm branches in their hands,
10) (GW) and crying out in a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the lamb!”
11) (GW) All the angels stood around the throne with the leaders and the four living creatures. They bowed in front of the throne with their faces touching the ground, worshiped God,
12) (GW) and said, “Amen! Praise, glory, wisdom, thanks, honor, power, and strength be to our God forever and ever! Amen!”
QUESTION: What is this large crowd of people doing?
ANSWER: They were worshipping Almighty God.
13) (GW) One of the leaders asked me, “Who are these people wearing white robes, and where did they come from?”
14) (GW) I answered him, “Sir, you know.” Then he told me, “These are the people who are coming out of the terrible suffering. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the lamb.
15) (GW) That is why they are in front of the throne of God. They serve him day and night in his temple. The one who sits on the throne will spread his tent over them.
16) (GW) They will never be hungry or thirsty again. Neither the sun nor any burning heat will ever overcome them.
17) (GW) The lamb in the center near the throne will be their shepherd. He will lead them to springs filled with the water of life, and God will wipe every tear from their eyes.”
QUESTION: Who is this large crowd of people?
ANSWER: They are Tribulation saints. These are people who will be saved during the first 3½ years of the Tribulation Period.
QUESTION: Then where did the Christian martyrs mentioned in the 5th Seal come from?
ANSWER: They were converts of the 144,000 Jewish evangelists.
Revelation 8:1) (GW) When he opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.
QUESTION: What made Jesus, the very Son of God, worthy?
ANSWER: He won the victory.
More Review – The 7th Seal:
Revelation 8:1) (GW) When he opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.
QUESTION: What would cause silence in the home of eternal joy?
ANSWER: I believe that the opening of the first six seals in a panoramic view of the seven years of Tribulation.
NOTE: After the church is raptured, which I believe the calling up of John represents, we will see the removing of the seals which will allow a scroll to be opened, which reveals the contents of the scroll.
Revelation 5:1) (GW) I saw a scroll in the right hand of the one who sits on the throne. It had writing both on the inside and on the outside. It was sealed with seven seals.
Zechariah 5:1-4) (GW) I looked up again and saw a flying scroll.
2) (GW) The angel asked me, “What do you see?” “I see a flying scroll,” I answered. “It’s 30 feet long and 15 feet wide.”
3) (GW) Then he said to me, “This is a curse that will go out all over the earth. The one side of the scroll says that every thief will be forced away. The other side of the scroll says that everyone who takes an oath will be forced away.
4) (GW) I will send out a curse, declares the LORD of Armies, and it will enter the houses of thieves and the houses of those who take oaths in my name. It will stay in their houses and destroy the timber and stone.”
QUESTION: When the seven seals are removed, and the scroll is opened, what is in that scroll?
ANSWER: I’m convinced Zechariah’s flying scroll is the same one John sees in Heaven. This scroll reveals the judgments of God that are about to be poured upon the earth.
NOTE: The judgments are so terrible, and we raptured saints will get a panoramic view of them, that when the final seal is removed, and we know that what we just seen in glimpses in about to be unveiled in fullness upon the earth, we will stand in stunned silence for a half hour.
Back To This Week’s Lesson – The First 4 Trumpet Judgments:
Revelation 8:2-13) (GW) Then I saw the seven angels who stand in God’s presence, and they were given seven trumpets.
3) (GW) Another angel came with a gold incense burner and stood at the altar. He was given a lot of incense to offer on the gold altar in front of the throne. He offered it with the prayers of all of God’s people.
4) (GW) The smoke from the incense went up from the angel’s hand to God along with the prayers of God’s people.
5) (GW) The angel took the incense burner, filled it with fire from the altar, and threw it on the earth. Then there was thunder, noise, lightning, and an earthquake.
6) (GW) The seven angels who had the seven trumpets got ready to blow them.
QUESTION: Why is God showing John an angel offering incense, along “with the prayers of all of God’s people”?
ANSWER: Evidently the prayers of the saints over the centuries have much to do with God having to judge the world.
7) (GW) When the first angel blew his trumpet, hail and fire were mixed with blood, and were thrown on the earth. One-third of the earth was burned up, one-third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up.
Regarding “all the green grass,”
“a ‘court’ or ‘garden’, that is, (by implication of pasture) herbage or vegetation” [Strong].
Concerning “all the green grass,”
Some commentators believe this to mean all the green grass in the third area of the earth that is affected. Others believe it to mean all the green grass on earth.
NOTE: I tend to think that it refers to all the green plant life in the third part of the world that is affected by this judgment. Why? This is a judgment upon the third part of the earth.
QUESTION: What was the 1st Trumpet judgment of God?
ANSWER: Hail and fire, mixed with blood, destroys, by fire, all the vegetation in a third part of the world.
QUESTION: What would this judgment explain?
ANSWER: It explains the 2nd horseman. A food shortage will obviously result from this 1st Trumpet Judgment.
8) (GW) When the second angel blew his trumpet, something like a huge mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea. One-third of the sea turned into blood,
9) (GW) one-third of the creatures that were living in the sea died, and one-third of the ships were destroyed.
In regards to “a huge mountain burning with fire,”
“It’s not clear what this burning mountain is, but I believe John is describing an asteroid. Not just any asteroid, but one that is so enormous, that upon impact, it will melt, destroy, and disintegrate anything in its path. Imagine if you will a giant fireball the size of a country crashing into the ocean at a speed of 35,000 miles per hour. Forget about the heat and death of the sea creatures, the tidal wave that this impact will cause will be of epic proportions. The way I see it, any ships that are not immediately disintegrated from the intense heat will be destroyed by the giant tidal waves that follow. Needless to say, many people will die” [calvaryprophesy.com].
QUESTION: What was the 2nd Trumpet judgment of God?
ANSWER: A giant meteorite, asteroid, or comet will strike earth and land in the ocean. I don’t believe it to be the size of the above commentator, because I believe one that big would kill all life on earth. However, it will be of considerable size. The result will be the destruction of everything in a third of the world’s seas. That includes sea life, and all ships in that area of the seas.
NOTE: This will increase the food shortage. Sea food will be cut by a third. Ships that deliver sea food, and other foods, will be destroyed.
10) (GW) When the third angel blew his trumpet, a huge star flaming like a torch fell from the sky. It fell on one-third of the rivers and on the springs.
11) (GW) That star was named Wormwood. One-third of the water turned into wormwood, and many people died from this water because it had turned bitter.
QUESTION: What was the 3rd Trumpet judgment of God?
ANSWER: A smaller meteorite shower will strike the earth. It appears that God will cause these meteorites to strike the rivers and springs on earth. One third of the drinking water will be contaminated. Many will die drinking bad water.
NOTE: The first 2 Trumpet Judgments greatly decrease the supply of food. This one greatly decrease the supply of safe drinking water.
12) (GW) When the fourth angel blew his trumpet, one-third of the sun, one-third of the moon, and one-third of the stars were struck so that one-third of them turned dark. There was no light for one-third of the day and one-third of the night.
QUESTION: What was the 4th Trumpet judgment of God?
ANSWER: Just as God turned out the lights in the middle of the day during the crucifixion, He will turn out the lights for a third of the daytime and a third of the nighttime.
NOTE: Strange darkness in the middle of chaos will heighten the fears of the survivors to epic proportions.
13) (GW) I saw an eagle flying overhead, and I heard it say in a loud voice, “Catastrophe, catastrophe, catastrophe for those living on earth, because of the remaining trumpet blasts which the three angels are about to blow.”
Other Translations of “Catastrophe, catastrophe, catastrophe”
(KJV) Woe, woe, woe,
(BBE) (CEV) Trouble, trouble, trouble,
(GNB) O horror! horror! How horrible
(MSG) Doom! Doom! Doom
(NLT) Terror, terror, terror
QUESTION: What ominous warning follows the 4th Trumpet Judgment?
ANSWER: As bad as it has been, it’s about to get worse.