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Bible Study Course Lesson 3 – 4
Many people spend all their time trying to guess at the identity of characters in Revelation, eagerly anticipating the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem and the coming of the man of sin and the two witnesses. They enjoy guessing what the mark of the beast might be, what 666 means, what the seven thunders uttered – things like that. I don’t. I like to deal in facts, and guessing about what might come is mostly a waste of time. Now if the Bible clearly reveals something – like the mark of the beast – I’m all for knowing it. But guessing about whether the “mountain of fire” is planet X, or whether the “sea turning to blood” is an algae bloom bores me. I have talked a lot about prophecies in these lessons, because most of the Bible is prophecy in one way or another – the resurrection of the saints, the salvation of the second fruits, even the coming of Christ was itself a fulfillment of prophecy.
Prophecy matters – it’s important or God wouldn’t have put it in the Bible. But end time prophecy, specifically, is among the least important parts of the Bible. A period of 3, 5, or maybe 10 years cannot be that important compared to the scope of eternity or the breadth of the law. I’d much rather understand the law, or how to rule our carnal nature. So I won’t spend much time talking about end-time prophecy because it simply isn’t that important. What is more important? Matthew 6:33-34. That literally says not to worry about “the morrow” – about what’s coming in prophecy! Is prophecy the most important part of the Bible? Matthew 23:23. Is prophecy profitable for everyone? 1 Corinthians 14:22. When we need to understand soon-coming prophetic events, won’t God make sure we do? Amos 3:7.
But do we, personally, need to fear those things? Read all of Psalms 91, especially verses 7-11. You don’t need to build an underground bunker to be protected – what do you need to do? Luke 21:36. You need to watch yourself and make sure that you are WORTHY of God’s protection in those terrifying times. If you do that right, you won’t need to prepare anything else! And if you don’t do it right, all your preparations will be worthless! (Amos 5:18-20). Will stocking up on silver for trade during the apocalypse help? Zephaniah 1:18. What will happen to their gold when the end times come? Ezekiel 7:1-19. But what will true Christians be like at the same time? Isaiah 54:13-17. The key is not knowledge of world events, the key is a firm understanding AND OBEDIENCE to the golden rule – the laws of God! If you have that, everything else falls in place on its own! Because if you are righteous, you have nothing to fear from the end times! (Ezekiel 14:12-20).
SPECIFIC END-TIME EVENTS
All that said, you do need to understand the basic sequence of events in the end times – if for no other reason than that much of the Bible refers to these events in passing, and you need to know what it’s talking about. So to start, we’re going to merge and harmonize the two clearest lists of end-time events, Matthew 24 and Revelation 6. I want you to learn to do this for yourself, without me giving you the answer. So before you keep reading, stop, put the lesson down, and read those two chapters. Then go back and write down the key events in two columns and put them side by side. Try and match them up and see what you get.
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It is commonly believed that Revelation is a sealed book, which no one can understand; and certainly itseems that way! But is that true? Revelation 1:1. Notice the name of the book is REVELATION – think about that name! Webster says a “revelation” is “an act of revealing or communicating divine truth”. Revelation is given to REVEAL and communicate divine truth! Not to hide it! Read Revelation 22:10 – God told John NOT to seal it, or hide it, but to make it known! Next, most assume JOHN was the revealer of these secrets; some Bibles even title this book “The Revelation of St. John the Revelator” – but was John the Revelator? Revelation 1:1-2. This was the revelation of Jesus Christ, which His Father gave to Him! John was just a WITNESS, a secretary of sorts, who merely wrote down what he saw – but the REVELATION came from Jesus Christ, NOT JOHN!
Now skip down to the TIME FRAME of this prophecy; Revelation 1:10. John was, in the spirit, PROJECTED into the “Day of the Lord”. When is that? Isaiah 13:6,9; Isaiah 34:8, Ezekiel 30:2-3, etc. This is another huge key to prophecy – hundreds of times in the Bible, it refers to a day of the Lord.
Sometimes it says “in that day”, “a day comes”, “the day of the Lord”, or here in Revelation “the Lord’s day” which has the exact same meaning. All of these phrases refer to the time when Christ returns to judge the world and resurrect the saints. So that gives us the time frame for the book of Revelation – it’s about the events leading up to, and culminating in, the “day of the Lord” spoken of so much in the Old Testament! Remember how Jesus stopped reading in mid-verse in Isaiah 61:2? John was sent, in vision, to the REST of that verse – to see “the DAY of vengeance of our God”! For more proof, simply read Jeremiah 46:10. “The day of the Lord” is grammatically identical to “the Lord’s day”. And it’s the day of God’s VENGEANCE, and Revelation certainly depicts a God full of wrath to vent on an evil world! (Revelation 6:17, 19:15).
So Revelation 1:10 has nothing to do with a certain day of the week; it is referring to the day of God’s wrath; it gives us a time stamp of John’s vision (compare to Ezekiel 8:3), and it sets the stage for all the rest of Revelation. The first three chapters of Revelation are prophecies of God’s true church as it goes through seven eras from the time of John to the return of Christ; this is a fascinating study all by itself, but that’s for another day. Chapters 4-5 depict Jesus going to heaven after His resurrection and receiving His office. Lots to talk about there, but again, that’s for another day. Finally in Revelation 6:1 we get into the specific endtime prophecies, as the Lamb starts to open the seals on this book. But before we get into that, what is this book – and how did it get sealed?
What does it mean when God seals something? Isaiah 29:11. Does God sometimes deliberately seal prophecies? Daniel 12:4. And they are sealed until WHEN ? Daniel 12:9. Excepting people – which is a different type of “sealing” – the only thing God seals is understanding, usually of prophecies. Often, these are hidden so they cannot be understood until the proper time.
The best modern analogy is when the military classifies a file. It’s SEALED, marked “top secret”. Why would God do this? Well, it’s like when you’re playing chess; you don’t want your opponent to know what you’re planning until AFTER it’s too late to do anything about it! Paul talks about this in 1 Corinthians 2:8. When you think about it, if Satan hadn’t crucified Christ, where would we be? Suppose for a moment that Satan had decided not to kill Him. You and I wouldn’t have His blood for our sins. We couldn’t be forgiven! So Satan unwittingly played right into God’s hands!
There are prophecies throughout the Old Testament that speak of Jesus’ sacrifice – Isaiah 53:7 for instance – but they were SEALED! And no one could understand them, not even Satan with all his wisdom. Because you can be sure if Satan and his minions – the princes of this world – had KNOWN just how much the murder of Jesus would help mankind and hurt Satan’s cause, he “would not have crucified the Lord of glory”! Here’s a question – are there things you and I understand that the ANGELS desire to know – and don’t? 1 Peter 1:12. And can we understand things that David, Elijah, and Moses COULD NOT UNDERSTAND? Luke 10:24. God sealed these prophecies – He classified these files, so to speak – because He did not want the other side to understand until it was too late to stop the plan! Many other prophecies have been sealed for the same reason, not to be revealed until the end time – OUR TIME! That’s why we can make such clear sense out of these prophecies that men have been trying in vain to understand for thousands of years!
The most advanced prophecies in the Bible at the time of Christ were Daniel’s. This is why Daniel is so much like Revelation. But some of Daniel’s prophecies were too advanced, and even Daniel wasn’t permitted to understand them and explain them (Daniel 12:8-9). Notice what God commanded Daniel in Daniel 12:4. He said SEAL THE BOOK! Get that! A book was SEALED! Until when? The TIME of the END – the end-time! Why? Because they were ENDTIME prophecies that God didn’t want “leaked” until the end was almost upon us!
Now we fast-forward to Revelation 5:1, and we see a book – surely that same book sealed in Daniel! Revelation 5:2-5 say no one is able to unseal that book – until Jesus “prevailed” and was found worthy. So then Jesus took this book – this book of PROPHECY (Revelation 5:7) – from the hand of His Father, who was on the throne! And that is the PROPHECY His Father gave to Him (Revelation 1:1)! Each time Jesus pops off one of these seals, it becomes possible for man to understand that segment of prophecy as Jesus “declassifies” the document! And so as each seal is opened, John sees a vision of what happens as prophecy progresses towards the return of Christ!
As you read through the opening of the seals, you see the first seal is a white horse whose rider has a crown and bow and “conquers”. But this must not be MILITARY conquering, because the second seal is WAR – military conquering. So the first seal must have been something else – some other sort of conquering! The third seal is a shortage of grain – famine. The fourth is death. The fifth shows the ancient and medieval martyrs were only a TYPE – a small fulfillment – of the brutal end-time persecution of the true saints yet in our future. The sixth shows signs in heaven – darkness, blood, earthquake, wind, etc. What are these six seals – in plain language? Revelation never tells us. Because Jesus already did! Now turn to Matthew 24:3. The disciples asked what the SIGNS would be of His impending return.
What are the first words out of Jesus’ mouth? “Take heed that no man deceive you”! His first prophecy is then of false Christs, deception, and false ministers claiming to serve Christ (Luke 21:8, another version of this prophecy, adds that last detail). In a nutshell, Jesus’ first warning is about “religious deception”. What is His second warning?
Matthew 24:6-7 – WARS! Now compare this with what you read in Revelation 6; the first seal was of a man riding a white horse, with a crown, a bow, and who “conquered” but NOT MILITARILY! Then the SECOND seal was of WARS! Here Jesus’ second warning is identical to the second seal; that could be a compelling “bridge” if it is valid. Now think about the first seal; the man rides a white horse. Who else rides a white horse? Revelation 19:11. So this first horse is a COUNTERFEIT of the TRUE Jesus’ horse! The man wears a CROWN – so does the Pope, the COUNTERFEIT of the TRUE Jesus!
What does the man conquer? If it isn’t a military conquest, then it must be a SPIRITUAL conquest – and surely the Pope has “conquered” most of the world, spiritually! Just as Daniel prophesied he “made war with the saints, and prevailed” (Daniel 7:21). Not a military war, but a spiritual war! Also read Revelation 13:7. This then, is the first horseman of the Apocalypse – religious deception! The second seal is plainly stated – war, just as Jesus stated war would be the second sign. Then Jesus’ third warning was famines. Compare what the third seal was (Revelation 6:5-6). So the second and third warnings/seals are identical, and we have identified the first warning/seal as religious deception; that’s 3 of 3!
The fourth warning in Matthew 24:7 is pestilence (pests, plagues). And the fourth seal (Revelation 6:7-8), death, includes death by hunger, beasts of the earth, and “death” – presumably disease. Jesus also mentions earthquakes, which Revelation did not mention at this time. But that’s what we do, find bridges, add the prophecies together, and let the missing pieces fill themselves in!
That’s the four horsemen of the Apocalypse, right there from Jesus’ lips – in order! Are you beginning to see how EASY prophecy is to understand, when you just get out of the way and let the Bible make sense of itself? After that, what’s the next thing Jesus warns us to watch for? Matthew 24:9-14. And what’s the fifth seal? Revelation 6:9-11. Do you see the parallels? These are BOTH warnings of religious persecution; of the saints being martyred; of a time of great trouble for God’s people, a time you might well live through! So the fifth seal is the same as that time of persecution spoken of by Jesus!
After that, Jesus digresses to talk about the coming fall of Jerusalem (Matthew 24:15-20), which was literally fulfilled in 70 AD, but which is only a TYPE of a fulfillment yet coming in your future, all lumped into the 5th seal. He continues the thought in Matthew 24:21-24. He again digresses, by His own admission (Matthew 24:25), then picks up the story flow again in Matthew 24:29 saying immediately AFTER the tribulation (persecution) of those days (the fifth seal), there will be signs in heaven; the sun and moon won’t shine, etc. This is the event you studied at the end of the last lesson.
Now compare that – remember, this now is the SIXTH warning Jesus gives us – with the SIXTH seal, Revelation 6:12-15. It’s the EXACT SAME WARNING! So we don’t need to guess what the seals are. Jesus gave us the CLEAR EXPLANATION of the mysterious seals of Revelation; He laid it out step by step; deception, war, famine, death, persecution of the saints, the signs in heaven, and then comes the SEVENTH SEAL!
THE SEVENTH SEAL
Revelation 7 pauses the story flow to tell of “sealing” the saved from the four corners of the Earth before the arrival of the seventh seal. Think of it as branding people that are God’s, before He starts to punish the Earth, so He’ll be able to see clearly who is His and who is not. Revelation 8:1-6 resumes the story where it left off, at the seventh seal. Remember, these seven seals covered the entire book of prophecy; as each was removed, John saw what was underneath – but the seventh seal is not like the others. This time instead of seeing a specific plague, curse, or event, he sees SEVEN TRUMPETS. That’s because the seventh seal is divided into seven trumpets. The trumpets aren’t happening at the same time as the seals – that isn’t what the Bible says. The Bible said the opening of the seventh seal REVEALED seven angels with seven trumpets!
So out of the seventh seal came the seven trumpets. These prophesy doom of various sorts – keep reading from Revelation 8:7 and read on into chapter Revelation 9:21. I won’t try to interpret each of these symbols – it can be done, but this course isn’t about giving you the answers; it’s showing you how to get them for yourself. The point is, these are symbols, and the Bible must explain them, according to the rules you’ve learned in this course. For now, we’ll study only the big picture. The first four trumpets are called “winds” (Revelation 7:1, compare to Matthew 24:31, Daniel 7:2, Zechariah 2:6, etc.), the last three are called “woes” (Revelation 8:13, 9:12, 11:14). This is a good example of the Bible’s carefully chosen repetitiveness. If God says “Woe, woe, woe”, it’s because three woes are coming.
Likewise, if he says “Babylon is fallen, is fallen” it’s because it happens twice. (Revelation 18:2). This is another key to understanding the Bible – God doesn’t stutter. He said exactly what He meant – we only have to listen. So far, you have read about only six trumpets. Revelation 10:7 talks about of the coming – but not the arrival – of a final trumpet. Then chapter 11 digresses a bit to talk about the two witnesses – again, another lesson – who are resurrected and ascend to heaven (Revelation 11:11-12).
The resurrection of the two witnesses must happen at the time Jesus comes back, the same time as the general resurrection of the firstfruits, because “those who are still living when he comes will not in any way precede those who have previously fallen asleep” (1 Thessalonians 4:15-17, Phillips translation). This is a reliable bridge, because the reward is specifically given to all the saints at the same time – and the two witnesses cannot “in any way precede” Abraham, Enoch, or you – if you are worthy when the time comes.
Just a few verses later we see this happened at the very END of the sixth trumpet/second woe (Revelation 11:14), and the very next section (Revelation 11:15-18) describes the return of Christ and the resurrection of the saints! But notice what else Revelation 11:18 says – “thy WRATH IS COME” – so when the seventh trumpet first blows, the saints are resurrected, and it’s time for God’s WRATH to be spent on everyone else! Revelation IS told in sequence. It doesn’t always seem like it, but the stories are not in random order.
But ask yourself – when you tell a story, don’t you sometimes pause, back up to bring your audience to up speed on another sequence of events, then continue the main thread of the story? So does God. Here, He pauses the end-time narrative and backs up thousands of years in Revelation 12 to talk about the history of the true church, then chapter 13 talks about the Beast – to bring all the story lines up to speed – then chapter 14 continues the original time sequence and talks about the resurrected saints (Revelation 14:1-4). Notice that it is spoken of as PAST TENSE – “these WERE redeemed from among men” – because it is then FINISHED, for they WERE redeemed! And they can at this point follow the Lamb “wherever He goes” because they are “like Him” and they “see Him as He is” (1 John 3:2)!
The rest of Revelation 14 is another minor digression, then chapter 15 gets back to the main story flow with the SEVEN LAST PLAGUES. What are these plagues? “In them is filled up the wrath of God” (Revelation 15:1). These seven last plagues ARE the wrath of God! Remember what Revelation 11:18 said when the seventh trumpet sounded? “Thy WRATH IS COME”. So when the seventh trumpet sounded, the saints were resurrected, and then the seven last plagues of God’s wrath BEGAN! Just as the seven trumpets came out of the seventh seal, the seven last plagues came out of the seventh trumpet! Read Revelation 15:1-4. Notice particularly that, while these final plagues are being poured out on the Earth, the saints are no longer there (verses 2-4). They were there for all the others, but are pointedly excluded from these. The rest of chapter 15 and all of chapter 16 describe the seven last plagues, and men’s reaction to them. Notice Revelation 16:16 speaks of the gathering together to “Armageddon”. This is a bridge we’ll need later. Just remember this happens at the sixth vial.
SYMBOLISM OF THE TEN PLAGUES
It is important to notice the saints suffer the seven seals and the seven trumpets with everyone else. In particular, they are there for the three woes; but they are spared the seven vials of the wrath of God. Here we are going to build a bridge back to Egypt and show the same pattern happened there. Everyone knows about the ten plagues in Egypt. What not many have noticed is that Israel suffered the first three plagues with Egypt, but they were protected during the last seven plagues! The story of the ten plagues starts in Exodus 7:14 and continues up into chapter 12, but the key fact you need to notice is the first three plagues happened to everyone; the water turning to blood, the frogs, the lice, all of them happened all over Egypt, and Israel as well (Exodus 8:4-6 for example).
After the third plague (corresponding to the third woe), God made a DIVISION between the two nations: Egypt, who throughout the Bible represents sin, the world, Satan’s kingdoms, the beast, etc.; and Israel, who are God’s people, a symbol for the saints, the church, etc. Read Exodus 8:21-23. Notice that! God put a DIVISION between HIS people and this early prophetic “type” of the BEAST! So that the plagues that affected the BEAST would not in any way affect the SAINTS! He continued to do this for the next seven plagues; see for example Exodus 8:4, 9:25-26, etc. These things, Paul said, happened to Israel “for our admonition UPON WHOM THE ENDS OF THE WORLD ARE COME” (1 Corinthians 10:11). These things were written for you and me to help us understand END TIME PROPHECIES!
They are bridges to help us understand things like the plagues, and the fact the saints escape the last seven vials, but like Israel, must partake of the first three woes. This digression is just to illustrate that bridges don’t necessarily come from the “prophetic books”, but can be found in the experiences of random nations or individuals anywhere in the Bible. God wrote it that way (1 Corinthians 10:11). Now read Revelation 16:17 which announces the END; “it is done”, the voice says. This is the last plague, at the end, at the final return of Christ. Some denominations teach that all men are destroyed by the plagues of Revelation and the Earth lies desolate for 1,000 years after that – but read for yourself; after God said “it is done”… are there still men on the Earth, or not? Revelation 16:21. Men still exist, granted a lot fewer men, but NOT EVERYONE IS DESTROYED BY GOD’S WRATH!
Chapters 17-18 digress again to talk about the great whore and the beast, and their judgment (most of which happens before Jesus’ return); chapter 19 picks up the main story flow again with the wedding supper. This depicts the resurrected bride of Christ – the church – being symbolically married to Christ and thus invested with official authority entitling them to be “kings and priests”. This ceremony is taking place during the seven last plagues, it seems, because remember the saints are resurrected at the seventh trumpet (1 Corinthians 15:52) – before the first plague (Revelation 11:15) – that’s one bridge – and we saw the nations gathering together at the sixth plague to “Armageddon”, which is the second bridge; and in Revelation 19 we find Jesus about to go to that same battle.
So we know this ceremony must take place between those two events – traditionally, a wedding feast lasted a week (Judges 14:10-12), which implies that these two events are only a week apart. After all, God is merciful and won’t drag out the suffering of mankind any more than absolutely necessary to make His point. Pick up the story flow again in Revelation 19:11. Notice these ARMIES following Him (Revelation 19:14). Who are they? The answer is easy when you ask another question: what are they wearing? Who else wears that, and “follows the Lamb wherever He goes”? Revelation 19:8, Revelation 14:4. So it is the SAINTS who ride out of heaven to go with Jesus to the battle of Armageddon; the resurrected saints, as their first act as kings and priests, following Jesus to finally help Him revenge all disobedience, now that THEIR OWN obedience is fulfilled! (2 Corinthians 10:6).
Revelation 19:19-20 is a bridge which ties directly to Revelation 16:14, 16. These are happening at the same time, John is just telling the story, as it was revealed to him – from many different angles. And regularly digressing to bring a different plot thread up to date with the others. You’ll find this same period bridged to Revelation 14:14-20, particularly verses 19-20 which is nearly identical to Revelation 19:15. Again, these are all the same story told from a different perspective, different starting time frame, or with a different point to make; just overlay all the ones with solid bridges, and you will understand all prophecy!
The story concludes, naturally, with Jesus and the saints winning the battle of Armageddon; then it relates what you’ve already studied about Satan being bound a thousand years, the coronation of the saints (Revelation 20:4), the release of Satan, the second resurrection, and finally the New Jerusalem.
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION
Most of what you’ve learned in the last dozen lessons can be seen, already merged, in Isaiah 29, which gives the best overall summary of end-time events in the entire Bible. Go ahead and turn there now. Verses 1-5 speak of the end-time trouble coming on the world, some of which is described clearly in Revelation. Then verse 6 speaks of the return of Jesus. By now you should recognize many of the signs associated with that – thunder, earthquakes, great noise, devouring fire, etc. In verses 7-8 we read of the nations that were gathered about Jerusalem at Armageddon, the ones that wind up fighting against Jesus when He returns, and who will be of course be defeated. Verses 9-10 talk about these nations being drunken (but not with wine!), and the prophets and rulers being blinded – compare that to Revelation 17:2.
When someone is drunk, they are in a fog – they don’t make sense, and don’t really understand when you talk to them. They also can’t see straight and they can’t walk down a “straight and narrow path”! Likewise spiritual drunkenness prevents men from understanding what God has written! Their eyes are spiritually closed, so the Bible makes no sense to them! So they can’t find the narrow gate to life! Isaiah 29:11-12 tells us almost word-for-word the situation of so many Christians today; those who say “I just can’t understand the Bible!” – so they ask their friends, and they say “I can’t understand it, I am not a scholar!” So they ask their preacher, and he can’t explain it either – “it’s sealed”, he says!
But it’s not sealed! It has been REVEALED! Read Revelation 1:1. This was not a sealed book! This is a REVEALED book, that’s why it’s called REVELATION!! But what must you have to understand God’s words? 1 Corinthians 2:10. And to whom does God give that? Acts 5:32. The book isn’t sealed! They’re just blind drunk! Why? What have THEY done that brought this drunkenness upon them? Isaiah 29:13 – their knowledge of God is taught by the precept of MEN! So because the nations have listened to the great whore and based their doctrine on HER commands, they can’t see the truth, hear God, say the truth, nor walk the narrow way that leads to life!
Today nearly every Christian on Earth obeys THOSE doctrines instead of what God plainly taught in the Bible. Not because it’s sealed, or because they’re not scholars, but because they don’t obey what they read in the Bible! So God prophesies dark times ahead for this world, before His return in Isaiah 29:14-16. But wait! There is hope after that! Isaiah 29:17-19 say “in that day” – which day? That same “Day of our Lord Jesus” Paul spoke of in 1 Corinthians 5:5, when “the spirit may be saved”! The second resurrection! In THAT day the deaf – the ones Isaiah just wrote about, who were blind, drunk and couldn’t understand – those deaf will HEAR the words of the book! The eyes of the blind shall SEE! Not just literally, but see the TRUTH! Hear the TRUE doctrine!
Because after the battle of Armageddon, the devil will be bound! (Isaiah 29:20, Revelation 20:2-3, 7-10). And without the terrible one to protect them, his servants will quickly fall – the scorner, those who encourage lawlessness, those who try to deceive the just by saying “the law is done away”! (Isaiah 29:21). And it is in that environment that the unsaved will find salvation! Isaiah 29:22-24. They will learn to fear God! And those who erred in spirit shall come to understanding! They will learn TRUE doctrine, not the false doctrines of the beast and the whore, but the doctrines plainly revealed in the Bible! The one you are having a chance to learn about today!
It is ironic that the book most people consider to be the most complicated in the Bible is actually one of the most simple. That’s why it’s called a REVELATION – because it has been revealed! The only reason people can’t understand it is they can’t stop talking about their opinions long enough to hear what the Bible plainly tells them. As you can see, there is no reason to spend a lifetime studying prophecy. It’s just not that complicated.
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