Wednesday Bible Study- the seals prelude

 

I am staying in Revelation, I am being drawn to examining the the three sets of seven judgments in Revelation.  Probably because 90 % never read Revelation, and out of the 10% that did, 90 % had no idea what was going on.  So I want to explain that as simply as I can- and that means I have to lay some groundwork.  First off, in the "Churches" section about Philadelphia, I called it 'the Church raptured', and it strikes me that I need to touch on what that means.  Here we enter territory that not all good Christian scholars agree on- I will explain my view, very briefly- with a just-as-brief few verses to back up what I believe.

According to Paul in 1 Thessalonians, there will come a time in the future- maybe not too far off, by the state of this world- where he tells them:

1Th 4:16  For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 

1Th 4:17  Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. 

Now some don't take this to mean it will occur anytime before the last moment, when Christ comes to judge the evil nations.  But that makes no logical sense, when you look here:

2Th 2:3  Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, 

2Th 2:4  who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God. 

2Th 2:5  Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? 

2Th 2:6  And you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time. 

2Th 2:7  For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way. 

2Th 2:8  And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming. 

What restrains the Lawless One?  The Holy Spirit.  And how is He removed?  The only way is for every believer- within each of whom the Holy Spirit dwells- to be "out of the way".  That is basically why I believe in the coming Rapture of the Church.  Why is that important in this story?  Think about the story of Jesus bringing Lazarus back from the dead.  What did Jesus say to cause this? "Lazarus, come forth!"  Many Biblical scholars believe that, if Christ had not named Lazarus, ALL the dead would have came forth.  Now, when Jesus finished the letters to the seven churches, what does he say to John next?

Rev 4:1  After this I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven! And the first voice, which I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet, said, "Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this." 

Note the first- "speaking to me like a trumpet".  Notice in 1 Thessalonians, " a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God..."  Note the second, the voice doesn't say, "JOHN, come up here..."  I think it is possible that John came up with the Church in the Rapture, and what he wrote we will all see! And what we see is the very throne of God!  And there, I want to cut to the next uber-important thing to me.  Note how John describes the occupant of the throne...

Rev 4:3  And he who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian, and around the throne was a rainbow that had the appearance of an emerald. 

Rev 4:4  Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and seated on the thrones were twenty-four elders, clothed in white garments, with golden crowns on their heads. 

Rev 4:5  From the throne came flashes of lightning, and rumblings and peals of thunder, and before the throne were burning seven torches of fire, which are the seven spirits of God, 

Now before I go down the bunny trail of who the 24 Elders were, look past that to that last part.  The Holy Spirit- the 'seven spirits', 7 being the sign of completeness in God, was/is/were torches of fire.  A couple of important (but get-to-later) things happen; and then Jesus makes His appearance:

Rev 5:5  And one of the elders said to me, "Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals." 

Rev 5:6  And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. 

So God the Father sits with the Seven Spirits before Him, and Christ comes with the Seven Spirits as PART of Him.  What gives?  Well, first of all, we see the tri-unity of God:  Father on the throne, Son before the throne, Spirit entwined with each.  Now believe me, I am no scholar, I am just trying to show things as I see them, after much reading, researching, listening, and praying.  It seems to me here that the fire aspect is God in His Holiness; the eyes, His omnipresence; the horns, His power.  Because, the fire takes me to the burning bush, and God telling Moses, "Remove your shoes, you stand on HOLY ground."  Eyes sent out into all the earth makes me think of the indwelling Spirit, seeing all we see and do.  And horns in prophecy are always physical might.  

The task set before the Lamb that was slain is to open the seals.  Many scholars say that the scroll sealed is the title deed to the earth, given to Adam, lost to Satan, who dared not open it because his fate would be revealed.  Through His death and resurrection, Christ regained the deed, and now we are all there to see it opened.

Now that the stage is set, one last bit of fun before the horrors the earth is about to receive.  I always considered that the 24 Elders- purely on the basis of the numbers- would be the 12 sons of Israel, with Ephraim removed in favor of Joseph, and Dan in favor of Manasseh, because of the extreme idol worship that their tribes committed- and the 12 Apostles, Paul taking the place of disgraced Judas.  If this were true, then Heavenly John would be watching earthly John watching the scene.  I would mention that as there is no time in heaven, there would be no paradox there; however, I would have to eat those words when the seventh seal was broken (we'll get there, Lord willing), so let's just use the Chuck Swindoll Rule:  If God don't say it, we don't know it.