Reviews and Views

…in my opinion.

Book of Revelation – Chapter 8

Seventh Seal

With the opening of the seventh seal comes seven angels. Their role is to blast a warning of each subsequent judgment. We have seen the release of the four-horse riders. Conditions on earth are worsening rapidly. But we are told that this is just the beginning of sorrows. Satan is cast out of heaven and thrown to earth during these trumpet judgments in this chapter.

“And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about half an hour.” This silence gives time to contemplate what was coming next in the trumpet blasts. Also, God uses this time to receive and weigh the prayers of His Tribulation saints. He waits while His tormented and terrified people on earth pray. 

Trumpets blown do not act as a siren of impending danger but to summon attention to what will happen next. These blasts call for the advancement of God’s judgment upon the earth’s inhabitants. Seven trumpets go to the seven angels. They prepare to blast their trumpets as another angel cast the “fire of the altar” to earth. Notice that the first four trumpets are war trumpets. The last three trumpets are woe trumpets. The angel standing at the altar is the Lord Jesus Christ himself because of His ministry to GOD and man (1 Timothy 2:5). He adds incense (effectiveness) to the prayers offered by the saints of GOD on earth. These prayers are for vengeance and answered judgment. The silence ends! “The prayers of God’s people have tipped the balance in favor of heaven’s immediate resumption of hostilities” John Phillips commentary, page 118.

First Trumpet – The Brewing Storm

Hail and fire mixed with blood fall upon the earth. One-third of all trees and 100% of all grass burned; an ecological disaster without parallel in history. Mass destruction like this can toss people in leadership out and lead to a mass depopulation of the globe.

Second Trumpet – The Boiling Sea

“As it were,” a great mountain burning with fire was in the sea, cast. Since “as it were” was used, we understand it as symbolic and not literal. Yet ships seem literal enough. One-third of the sea becomes blood, one-third of the sea creatures die, and one-third of the ships become sunk or damaged. If the description is symbolic, the sea is well-known as godless humanity. A mountain frequently symbolizes a great nation. “The mountain mentioned here in the Apocalypse is a volcano, a burning mountain” John Phillips commentary, page 120. Besides a volcano, the mountain crashing into the oceans could be a giant meteor—much damage results.

Third Trumpet – The Banished Star

Now a giant step forward in the judgment process is taken. A colossal star falls from heaven. It burned brightly like a lamp. “Wormwood” was its name because it causes the lakes, rivers, and water sources to become bitter, poisonous, and cause death. The effect will be to embitter the earth’s waters so that the water is undrinkable. It’s easy to see how chaos and terror will result. Humans can only survive a couple of days without water. Those people in the affected water areas will become so desperate they will drink the bitter waters and die by the thousands, if not millions. 

This star is Satan himself, cast out of heaven to earth in a symbolic sense. He is bitter since he knows that his time is short. Bitterness in men causes many people to die. Strong support for this view comes from Revelation chapter 13. The Beast will already be here in the world, as yet benign. But now Satan arrives. Satan’s plans for the planet are only a step or two away from maturity.

Fourth Trumpet – The Blackened Sky

The fourth trumpet brings significant changes everywhere. The sun darkens, giving off less light, and the moon, therefore, reflects much less sunlight at night. But even one-third of the stars darken and can not be seen. An angel loudly said, “Woe, woe, woe,” to earth’s inhabitants because of the other trumpets yet to sound. Now we see that the old natural order is breaking apart. Convulsions seem to break out everywhere with the true Church gone. With the gradual removal of restraints completed, Satan with his fallen angels are on earth, and all traditional guiding lights are gone. The worst is yet ahead! The first 3.5 years of the Tribulation are not nearly as severe as the final 3.5 years. Matthew 24:8 describes this first half as the beginning of sorrows, with the last half described as the Great Tribulation. As the Tribulation hour approaches its climax, the judgments become more severe and the loss of life more significant.

January 25, 2024 Posted by | Last Days | , , , , | Leave a comment

Book of Revelation – Chapter 5

John sees a book or a scroll with seven seals. God holds it up for someone worthy to take the scroll and open the seals. But no one is worthy; no man, no angel, none who rule, none of all God’s creatures. What does the scroll represent? The scroll represents the title deed to the earth and coming judgments. But silence follows with no one worthy. At this point, there has been no sign of the Lamb (the Lord Jesus Christ). But at that moment, He steps forward into the spotlight, filling the universe’s stage with His presence, every eye on Him with endless applause erupting throughout heaven. Christ takes the scroll. As long as it remains sealed, Satan will completely control the planet.

Jesus stands as a Lamb as having been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, representing the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth. The seven horns speak of powerfulness, and the seven eyes represent knowing everything. The Lamb of God (John 1:29) earned the right by redemption to the earth’s title deed and is the only One worthy to open the seals. He is worthy of being praised for time and eternity because of His sacrifice. Everyone in heaven breaks out in praise and singing and amens!

Next, opened seals and revealed judgments get discussed in Chapter 6.

January 18, 2024 Posted by | Last Days, Religion | , , | Leave a comment

Book of Revelation – Chapter 6

Jesus Christ has the right to judge and rule the world. Under the seal judgments, we see man ruin the world. Meanwhile, on earth, evil men are growing worse and worse. With the denial of all authority, wicked things invented, with the destruction of the globe at stake, it is time for God to intervene in human affairs. With seals broken one by one, we see any restraint increasingly removed from the earth. Events recorded under these seals are extensions of things that are very evident in today’s world. The chief difference is that the Church will be gone.

First Seal

Release of the rider on the white horse believed to be the Antichrist. He has a crown, a bow without arrows, and goes to conquer. He is all-victorious and wins his victories relatively peacefully through deception. This rider represents the blasphemous philosophies of the last days, those anti-Christian ideologies that prepare men’s minds for the devil’s gospel and the ultimate reception of the strong delusion, the great lie of 2 Thessalonians 2:3-12. (John Phillips commentary, page 96). By the hand of the Antichrist, misery occurs during the four seal judgments. Those coming afterward are not. The one on the red horse breaks any peace that the Antichrist previously brokered. Keep in mind that coming events always cast their shadows before them. The white horse rider is not yet abroad, for the great Restrainer is still here, the book (scroll) is still sealed, and the Church is still on earth.

Second Seal

The second rider is released. He has the power to take peace from the earth, rides a red horse, and carries a great sword. The rider symbolizes the belligerent policies of the last days. He personifies world war on a scale never before known on earth, a war that will make the conflicts of this century seem like scenes in a stilted (unnaturally formal) play. Until the Lord Jesus Christ comes back in power, war must go on and on until at last war itself is personified, mounted on a blood-red horse, and sent forth with a great sword to summon men to the Apocalypse terrible battles. There is a belief that at this time, RUSSIA will attack Israel before Armageddon in Ezekiel 38 and 39. This war of Ezekiel occurs close to or during the Tribulation hour because the facts presented in Revelation tie in harmoniously with Ezekiel’s prophecy.

Third Seal

With the third seal opened, a black horse appears. The rider carries a pair of balances in his hand, symbolizing the blighted prosperity of the last days. After the war of Revelation chapter 6, verses 3 and 4 will come famine and inflation, which usually follow any conflict. Ezekiel 4:10, 11, 16 refer to this. The oil and the wine are luxuries of the rich. Untouchable, the black horse rider proceeds to the staples of the poor, the wheat and barley. These are to be measured out a pinch at a time. This rider symbolizes the blighted prosperity of the last days. We hear the price for wheat and barley. A single loaf of bread will cost an entire day’s wages. Yet hunger will not be satisfied. People will spend everything they have just for the necessities of life. As the Tribulation continues, precious metals will become worthless. A digital system implemented by the Antichrist will replace gold, silver, paper money, and crypto-currencies. Today, the average American dog has a higher protein diet than most people worldwide. Another shortage is firewood along the fringes of the world’s deserts as people search for something to heat what little food they find. This dreaded rider is not yet abroad, but we see his shadow.

Fourth Seal

Now a pale horse appears. The name of the rider is DEATH, and HELL follows with him. This rider is the deadliest. Death destroys the body then Hell swallows up the souls and spirits of those he kills. He has power over a fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, hunger, death, and pestilence or beasts. As this rider moves forth, war and famine continue to plague humanity. Pestilence rise as war and famine move through an area. Epidemics rage the world’s population. Rats carry as many as thirty-five different diseases. A quarter of the world’s population dies through this fourth rider’s brutality taking nearly 1.98 billion people.

Fifth Seal

With our attention drawn to the brazen (or brass) altar, we see the souls of those slain for the Word of God. In verses 9 and 10, they cried loudly, saying, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, do you not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?” Those crying with a loud voice are Tribulation saints composed of elected Israelites and Gentiles converted by the preaching of the 144,000 Jewish evangelists. These persecuted saints and martyrs are not part of the Church, already in heaven. You will notice that souls are saved during the Tribulation hour the same way souls are saved today – through the precious shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Because the believers of the Tribulation hour proclaim Christ crucified, they lose their lives. These Tribulation saints cry for vengeance because they are not under grace, which will be appropriate once the age of grace is over and conditions revert to a pre-Christian era. Instead, they want blood. Seeing fulfilled prophecy, this group of saints wonders how much longer their loved ones, still alive, must suffer. The Lord speaks to them about having a little more patience. There will be one more wave of persecution in chapter 20, verse 4. Here is only a preview of the terrible persecutions that will engulf the globe in the coming days of the Tribulation hour. 

Sixth Seal

What follows next is a blind panic and chaos on earth. Why? With the opening of the sixth seal comes a great earthquake. Is this a “great earthquake” Yellowstone or some combination of volcanic eruptions? This earthquake is so vast and destructive that mountains and islands move out of their usual places, a very tectonic movement. So much ash rises, there is a reduction of sunlight, temperatures plunge, and boulders and rocks from the explosion thrown high into the atmosphere now fall back to earth. The earthquake shakes everything stable, including society. With damaged infrastructure, travel stops and utilities quit working. It is so wide-ranging that there is complete panic. Men lose all hope and can find no place to hide from the anarchy that grips the globe. Notice there are four earthquakes in the Book of Revelation:

  1. Here in chapter 6, verse 12
  2. chapter 8, verse 5
  3. chapter 11, verse 3
  4. chapter 16, verses 18 and 19

The first four seals have been under the administration of the Antichrist. The 6th seal begins the judgments from heaven. But we remember that the Church is in heaven during this hour! No wonder half of the world’s population dies through the manifold (many & various) catastrophes that bombard the earth thus far.

The above is a lot to absorb as the scenes of punishment occur. Yet humanity continues to blame God and refuses to repent. If you are willing, join me next in Chapter 7, a parenthesis or pause about the seals.

January 18, 2024 Posted by | Last Days, Life, Religion | , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book of Revelation – Chapter 3

Sardis was the fruitless church that began in 1520 A.D. and will extend into the Tribulation period. Christ first commended it as He did the previous churches. It had a name but was dead, shining solely by the light of a brilliant past. This church forgot the magnitude of its heavenly calling and its holy character. “It is far better to begin small and grow than begin with great plans, all of which dry up and come to nothing” (John Phillips commentary, page 62). Here we see God calls for a fivefold revival package:

  1. Be watchful or alert, knowing that now it is high time to awake out of spiritual sleep (Romans 13:11).
  2. Strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die. Salvage the little good that remained in their bastion of dead orthodoxy.
  3. Remember or recall the former days of their salvation when filled with purity and zeal.
  4. Hold fast or retain the simple truth of the gospel and discard the excess baggage of pomp and ceremony.
  5. Repent or change their minds. It was a call for the entire church, not just a few individuals.

The problem at Sardis is a similar problem with the other churches in compromising with the world system, the flesh, and the devil. But there were and are a few that do not. They possess a genuine salvation experience that will remain eternally in the book of life.

Philadelphia church covers the years from 1750 A.D. until the Rapture. It was a feeble church but was a missionary-minded one, dedicated to spreading the gospel. Though a minority, for they had “a little strength,” they did keep His name. There was no rebuke of the Lord for this church. He assures the church that it will be saved from that hour by the Lord’s coming in the sky. What is coming will be a situation on earth worse than anything before when the Antichrist reigns and the Great Tribulation period begins. We see in verse 12 the promise to those who are faithful:

  1. They become pillars in the temple of GOD;
  2. They have the name of GOD written upon them, thus identifying them and allowing them access into the city of GOD – the New Jerusalem (Revelation 21 & 22);
  3. They have the (Christ’s) new name written upon them. This new name of Christ entitles them to be His servants, where they shall see His face (chapter 22, verses 3 and 4).

The final of the seven churches is Laodicea. This church covers the years from 1900 A.D. to the Tribulation hour. 

Laodicea church, the “fashionable” church, is where materialism was a perennial problem. It drowns its spiritual influence whenever any church has ridden the crest of material affluence. When Christ called out to “the angel of the church of the Laodiceans,” it was to say that the church at Laodicea was none of His. The Lord never dilutes nor distorts the truth. There is no hiding behind little disguises and safe conventions. Laodicea is a deluded church marked by complete compromise with the world. It is the present-day church’s archetype or very typical example. Only God alone knows how serious the present situation is. This era is a highly prosperous one. Her people have erected elaborate church structures worth millions of dollars. Although buildings are necessary for worship and service, we need to see that they should be humble structures rather than the latest multi-million dollar architectural monstrosities that glorify men. God describes the Laodicean church as:

  • Wretched and miserable and poor, because riches usually make one sad (very unhappy) and pathetic (distressful). 
  • Blind because they cannot see the need of the millions who are dying without the Savior and going into eternal loss.
  • Naked, both now and in eternity, don’t have Christ’s robe of righteousness (2 Corinthians 5:21).

Then, Christ gave instructions:

  1. Buy gold tried in the fire from Christ, that you may be rich ( 1 Peter 1:7); where the trial of our faith is more than of gold;
  2. Buy white clothing – a reference to the garments of salvation and the robe of righteousness in (Isaiah 61:10);
  3. Anoint your eyes with eyesalve, that you may see – This speaks of illumination which only the saved share. (1 Corinthians 2:14). 

In verse 20: Christ calls out, “Behold, I stand at the door….” 

Here we have the picture of Christ standing outside the latter-day church rather than the heart of an individual. Overcomers are granted to sit with Christ and His Father in heaven. We have now concluded the last warning to the churches for one last time.

Next, we join John in the future, starting with chapter 4.

January 11, 2024 Posted by | Culture, Last Days, Life, Religion | , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book of Revelation – Chapter 4

The future lies ahead for John and us who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. What comes next is an incredible view of heaven and the events that soon occur on earth’s inhabitants. 

Chapters 2 and 3 covered the letters to the seven churches that span the present age of grace in which we now reside. You will notice that the Church is not mentioned again in Revelation until the end of the book. That is because the Church is in heaven and not on earth.

After completing the history of the seven churches, John sees a door open in heaven. The door only opens twice in the book of Revelation. Verse 1 allows the saints into heaven as Jesus leads us home, also known as the Rapture. A second time, toward the end of Revelation, the Lord Jesus Christ leads the armies of heaven to earth to set up His millennium kingdom.

One may ask, “What is the Rapture?” It is the literal, visible, bodily coming of Jesus Christ to call out of this world, literally and bodily, every born-again believer; first the dead, then the living. Remember that no man can know the date or the time of this event. Do take notice that the dead in Christ shall rise first as told to us in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17. Then all of us who are alive will be caught up into the sky to meet the Lord Jesus Christ in the twinkling of an eye.

There is a difference between the Rapture and the Revelation of Christ. This truth needs to be fully understood because it is the basis for understanding the Book of Revelation, prophetic truth, and the placement of signs. There are two aspects, or stages, in the process of Christ’s second coming. The first phase is the Rapture of the Church (described in chapter 4), which removes the believer from the Judgments of chapters 6 to 18. The second phase is called the Revelation (described in chapter 19), which restores the believer to earth as he returns with Christ to planet earth. The intervening chapters 6 through 18 will cover seven years called the Tribulation (or the time of Jacob’s trouble).

Earth’s inhabitants experience seven years of incomparable judgments immediately following the Rapture. These judgments end with the Battle of Armageddon when heaven’s door swings open a second time (chapter 19, verses 11-16) so that the believer may exit heaven with Christ for the return trip to earth. Wars stop, peace reigns, and the millennium kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ operate from Jerusalem.

What is meant by “the time of Jacob’s trouble?” The Church will not be on earth during the Tribulation hour. The Tribulation is Israel’s time of suffering. See Jeremiah 30:7 and Daniel 12:1. In Daniel 9:24, we read, “seventy weeks are determined upon thy people (Israelites) and upon thy holy city (Jerusalem).” The seven years of Tribulation is the final of the 70th week of Daniel 9. The Church, the bride of Christ, elected to be His sweetheart and wife for all eternity, is not in view during the Tribulation.

The future begins in Chapter 4 and Chapter 5. The starting point focuses on events in heaven, followed by what occurs on earth during the Tribulation in Chapters 6 through 18.

John focuses on the throne as he looks around now that he is in heaven. The throne is a throne of God’s governance. John uses jasper and sardine stone to describe what he saw. “Jasper emphasizes the hardness connected with the government of God. His laws are fixed and firm, unyielding and unrelenting” (John Phillips commentary, page 82). When Christ rules the earth, it will be with a rod of iron, symbolically hardness and unyieldedness. “The sardine stone suggests the holiness connected with the government of God, for Sardis is a deep, fiery, flashing red. It reminds us that ‘our God is a consuming fire’ (John Phillips commentary, page 82).

A rainbow encircles the throne that John describes like an emerald. The color has to do with the earth. The circle symbolizes perfection. God’s judgment will be flawless and also formal. Notice the 24 seats or thrones around God’s throne. We are witnessing a court in session. All things will be done orderly and decently. Coming is a fearful judgment with all the lightning and thundering and voices coming out of the throne. A sea of glass like a crystal was before the throne. God’s final judgment will be transparent and fixed. Peace and calmness surround the throne of God. The Church is at rest in heaven before the storm hits the earth. 

In describing the four beasts, John uses the words “like a” and “as a,” meaning that the descriptions are all symbolic and not literal. Most of Revelation is literal, but the symbolic will use these similar words for symbolic meaning. Chapter 4 ends in a glorious moment in heaven. The crowned saints lay their rewards at the feet of Jesus. They lay aside their rewarded glory to add to His glory. 

Next is Chapter 5 – the book with the seven seals.

January 11, 2024 Posted by | Culture, Last Days, Religion | , , , , | Leave a comment

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