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The Tribulation Pt 4: The Last Seal is Broken, The Trumpets Prepare to Sound
Picking up from Part 3, we pause for a bit in the course of the seals being broken for John to describe to us a series of events that transpire in both heaven and earth:
“After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth, so that no wind would blow on the earth or on the sea or on any tree. And I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, having the seal of the living God; and he cried out with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was granted to harm the earth and the sea, saying, “Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees until we have sealed the bond-servants of our God on their foreheads.” And I heard the number of those who were sealed, one hundred and forty-four thousand sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel: from the tribe of Judah, twelve thousand were sealed, from the tribe of Reuben twelve thousand, from the tribe of Gad twelve thousand, from the tribe of Asher twelve thousand, from the tribe of Naphtali twelve thousand, from the tribe of Manasseh twelve thousand, from the tribe of Simeon twelve thousand, from the tribe of Levi twelve thousand, from the tribe of Issachar twelve thousand, from the tribe of Zebulun twelve thousand, from the tribe of Joseph twelve thousand, from the tribe of Benjamin, twelve thousand were sealed. (Revelation 7:1-8, NASB)
Here, we find out that God has four angels at this point who are in charge of "the winds" upon the earth. In continuing to read, we find that this is done to prevent harm from begin done to the land, seas or trees until the tribes are sealed by the Lord. So, with this in mind, it seems fair to conclude from text that the "winds" represent forces that would sweep across the planet, both the gentiles "sea" as well as Israel "land". The "trees" most likely would represent vegetation, which always seems to suffer in warfare. It would seem that the Lord puts an abrupt halt to all activity until his chosen from the 12 tribes can be sealed, and he ensures that nothing will interrupt it.
What scripture makes clear here is that people from the tribes from Israel and not those of the church (who is long since safely out of harm's way by this point) are receiving the seal. This could not happen before the Rapture; under the Age of Grace, there is no difference between Jew and Gentile in the Church:
“For Moses writes that the man who practices the righteousness which is based on law shall live by that righteousness. But the righteousness based on faith speaks as follows: “DO NOT SAY IN YOUR HEART, ‘WHO WILL ASCEND INTO HEAVEN?’ (that is, to bring Christ down), or ‘WHO WILL DESCEND INTO THE ABYSS?’ (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead).” But what does it say? “THE WORD IS NEAR YOU, IN YOUR MOUTH AND IN YOUR HEART”—that is, the word of faith which we are preaching, that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. For the Scripture says, “WHOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on Him; for “WHOEVER WILL CALL ON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED.”” (Romans 10:5-13, NASB, emphasis mine)
But the time of the Tribulation is the final “week” in Daniel’s prophecy, and one of the things mentioned is that it will be the time for Israel to finish her responsibilities before the Lord:
“Seventy weeks have been decreed for your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sin, to make atonement for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy place. So you are to know and discern that from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince there will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; it will be built again, with plaza and moat, even in times of distress. Then after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing, and the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. And its end will come with a flood; even to the end there will be war; desolations are determined. And he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering; and on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate, even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who makes desolate.” (Daniel 9:24-27, NASB, emphasis mine)
This is one major reason I don’t believe the Church will be here for the Tribulation: Jew or Gentile, there is no distinction between believers in the Lord in the Church. Therefore, they would not be able to fulfill the divinely-given responsibilities of Daniel chapter 9 appointed to the nation of Israel. The Age of Law has to be reinstated as to finish its’ appointed time and for prophecy to be fulfilled (which existed until Pentecost, so Jesus’ sacrifice is still valid even under the Law); this is what Jesus meant by “I have not come to abolish the Law, but to fulfill it”. (Matthew 5:17, Romans 3:31)
Next, John tells us of a number of people greater that he could count:
"After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches were in their hands; (Revelation 7:9, NASB)
John sees a vast number of people from every walk of life and part of the planet before Jesus; so many, in fact, that he couldn't count them all. White robes, the sign of purity and righteousness, are indicators that they are washed in Christ's blood and are "clean" of sin. The palm branches, long a sign of peace, are held by all of them. I take this to mean that they have "peace" with the lamb, i.e. that their sins are forgiven and that there is no judgment against them. They do not stand in judgment before him, but in salvation and under his mercy. As they stand there, they are crying to him:
" After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches were in their hands; and they cry out with a loud voice, saying, “Salvation to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.” And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures; and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying, “Amen, blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might, be to our God forever and ever. Amen.” (Revelation 7: 9-12, NASB, emphasis mine)
Their identity is settled in the next passage:
“Then one of the elders answered, saying to me, “These who are clothed in the white robes, who are they, and where have they come from?” I said to him, “My lord, you know.” And he said to me, “These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. “For this reason, they are before the throne of God; and they serve Him day and night in His temple; and He who sits on the throne will spread His tabernacle over them. “They will hunger no longer, nor thirst anymore; nor will the sun beat down on them, nor any heat; for the Lamb in the center of the throne will be their shepherd, and will guide them to springs of the water of life; and God will wipe every tear from their eyes.””(Revelation 7:13-17, NASB, emphasis mine)
This indicates that these people are Tribulation believers; those who trusted in the Lord, and paid DEARLY for it. They are the same ones who were under the altar in Revelation 6:9-11, and were asked to wait for a little while, until their numbers were completed. Here, we see that their numbers have swelled so staggeringly, that they cannot be counted! This is the fruit of the 144,000’s testimony, and a demonstration of Israel returning to her place as the nation God intended to “show the way”.
Another thing to notice is that they are praising the Lord on his throne, and the Lamb (Jesus). We do not hear them asking about "judging those on earth", as they were in the previous mention of them in Revelation 6...
...that's about to come.
“When the Lamb broke the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them.” (Revelation 8:1-2, NASB)
After the breaking of the Seventh Seal, All goes silent; not just quiet, but dead silent in heaven. The Greek word used here, ouranō refers not merely to the atmosphere of earth, but to God's realm outside of time and the universe, where his throne is located. There is no singing, praise being spoken, or anything at all from the elders, creatures, saints, angels, anyone.
Then we read:
“Another angel came and stood at the altar, holding a golden censer; and much incense was given to him, so that he might add it to the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, went up before God out of the angel’s hand." (Revelation 8:3-4, NASB, emphasis mine)
God is about to provide His answer to those who cried out in Revelation chapter 5 to be avenged:
“Precious in the sight of the LORD Is the death of His godly ones.” (Psalm 116:15, NASB)
In Hebrew, the word "precious" is the word yakar; this word literally means "precious, rare, splendid, or weighty". In other words, it means costly. To the Lord, it is costly when one of His dies, and holds great significance and value. He does not take it lightly, and the cries of those who were murdered have not fallen upon deaf ears.
This fits into what is happening in this passage: an angel takes a censer with incense and the prayers of the saints. He brings it before God so the prayers could go up before him. This indicates that God is giving his full consent and blessing to what is about to happen, because the next action is not prevented by him, indeed it is done in front of him! This is his reply to those prayers. The angel next fills the censer with fire from the altar.
Another side note I’d like to share with you is when Isaiah appeared before the throne of God:
“In the year of King Uzziah’s death I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple. Seraphim stood above Him, each having six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called out to another and said, “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the LORD of hosts, the whole earth is full of His glory.” And the foundations of the thresholds trembled at the voice of him who called out, while the temple was filling with smoke. Then I said, “Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I live among a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.” Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal in his hand, which he had taken from the altar with tongs. He touched my mouth with it and said, “Behold, this has touched your lips; and your iniquity is taken away and your sin is forgiven.” (Isaiah 6:1-7, NASB, emphasis mine)
We see that one coal from the altar was enough to temporarily cleanse Isaiah so that he could stand before the Lord and receive his instructions. The censer that the angel holds is FILLED with coals (fire) from the altar, and has fresh incense so it would CONTINUE burning.
“Then the angel took the censer and filled it with the fire of the altar, and threw it to the earth; and there followed peals of thunder and sounds and flashes of lightning and an earthquake." (Revelation 8:5, NASB)
The angel takes the censer, and flings it to the earth; the Greek word used here for "hurl" is balló, from where we get our word ballistic. It means "to cast out", so we can pretty much infer that the angel doesn't just drop the censer off the edge of heaven, shrug and walk back to the throne; he heaves this censer like an Olympic throwing hammer and hurls it with all of his might at the Earth…
It hits the planet hard enough to rock it to its’ very foundations, causing an earthquake, lightning and thunder. But scripture doesn't indicate that this is the end of God's reply to his saints' cries; the next event that comes up is this:
“And the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound them." (Revelation 8:6, NASB)
The next major wave of God's judgment is about to strike the planet; if the first seven were bad, the Trumpet Judgments outweigh their severity greatly.
In part 5, we'll witness the second wave of God's judgment on planet earth.
I bid you all peace.
YBIC,
-Sojo414
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