Tag: Revelation

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What Happens Next? Revelation 10, The Angel With A Little Scroll

Although God has hidden some of the future from us, a mighty angel reveals that the sounding of the seventh trumpet will bring about the full completion of his plan. God’s word is both sweet and bitter to those for whom he gives it. – Kendell H. Easley

  • Although one would expect John to move directly into the 7th and final trumpet, chapter 10 serves as an interlude of sorts – to build anticipation and ensure us that God has a plan and he is working it to perfection. It will be completed in His way and on His timetable.

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What Happens Next? Revelation 8, The 7th Seal/4 Trumpet Blasts

8 When the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.

  • After the intermission of chapter 7, we return to the opening of the 7 seals mentioned back in chapter 5.
  • John’s report of the events continues from a heavenly perspective.
  • Chapter 8 is largely a display of God’s judgment on sin through a series of trumpet blasts.
  • “When the Lamb” – John reminds us briefly of what was stated in 5.6-10, that Christ is the only one worthy to open the seals.
  • “silence in heaven for about half an hour” – until now, John’s description of heavenly events largely revolves around continual worship of the godhead…”day and night they never stop, saying, ‘Holy, holy, holy, Lord God, the Almighty, who was , who is, and who is to come” (4.8). This is no doubt a signal that something big is about to happen.
  • The opening of the 7th seal is really the continuing of the unfolding of the judgment scroll of chapter 5. A telescoping of sorts.
  • “What he sees and hears better described as angels blowing trumpets rather than as reading the contents of a scroll. Another way to think about this is that the seven trumpet judgments (and seven bowl judgments of chapter 16) are what is written on the scroll. After the seventh seal is broken, the scroll unrolls to reveal its contents.” – Kendell H. Easley, Revelation, vol. 12, Holman New Testament Commentary (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1998), 142.

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What Happens Next? Revelation 7: Sealed, Standing, & Saved

  • Revelation 7 gives us a picture of believers just before God’s final judgment(s) in verses 1-8, and after the judgment(s) are completed in verses 9-17.
  • Chapter 7 reminds us that God is in the saving business from start to finish. It has major implications on the doctrines of eternal security and election (see verses 3-4).
  • Chapter 7 reminds us that everyone that is sealed by God will, no doubt, receive the promise of eternal life.

More than once in Revelation an interlude halts the flow of an unfolding series. The events of chapter 7 fall between the breaking of the sixth and seventh seals. The events of chapter 10 and most of 11 fall between the blowing of the sixth and seventh trumpets. If Revelation was intended as a strict chronological composition, this would be distressing, but this is a literary masterpiece that communicates through sight and sound, so the interludes heighten our anticipation. We will be very anxious to find out what happens when the seventh seal is broken and the seventh trumpet is blown. – Kendell H. Easley, Revelation, vol. 12, Holman New Testament Commentary (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1998), 124.

  • Chapter 7 gives us a glimpse of what heaven will be like for those who trust in Jesus.

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What Happens Next? Revelation 6: Six Seals of Seven

  • After visions of the worship of God and the worthiness of Christ in the previous two chapters, we are now drawn down to see the rebellion of the earth.
  • Revelation contains 3 different series of God’s judgments – the seals, the trumpets, and the bowls. – John Phillips has said:
    • The seals – the world is ruined by man
    • The trumpets – the world is ruined by Satan
    • The bowls – the world is rescued by God (Exploring Revelation, 95)
  • Chapter six contains six of the seven seals mentioned earlier in chapter 5.2. If you remember, the seals are representative of God’s judgment, thus in this chapter, we will begin to see and understand what that looks like.
  • As a reminder, depending on one’s end times view, some may see these as specific future events and others may see these as general descriptions which happen throughout the course of history until the return of Christ. Regardless, many of the conclusions of these seals have large agreement among various scholars.
  • The seals seem to progressively increase in intensity as the Holy Spirit’s restraint is removed from the earth.

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What Happens Next? Revelation 5, Jesus Is Worthy

5 Then I saw in the right hand of him who was seated on the throne a scroll written within and on the back, sealed with seven seals.

  • “In the right hand” – a position of prestige, importance, or honor.
  • “right hand of him” – God, for the first time in Revelation is described in human-like terms.
  • Scholars have debated the nature of this unnamed scroll, but this most likely a scroll of judgment when you look at it’s placement within the context of Revelation. This scroll was probably originally mentioned in Ezekiel 2.9-10

And when I looked, behold, a hand was stretched out to me, and behold, a scroll of a book was in it. And he spread it before me. And it had writing on the front and on the back, and there were written on it words of lamentation and mourning and woe.

 

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What Happens Next? Ch. 4, A Heavenly Throne

4 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.”

  • A simpler translation: After I had seen all these things, I dreamed again and saw that there was an opening (door) into heaven. And the person who had a voice like a trumpet spoke to me again and said, “Come up here and I will let you see the things that will happen after this.
  • “After this I looked” – “Vision one of Revelation is complete; vision two (4:1–16:21)—the longest of the four—is about to begin. In vision one John saw and heard Christ on the earth. Vision two begins with John taken to heaven. As he wrote the vision down, John included what he saw and heard in heaven as well as what he saw on earth. As we will observe when we reach chapter 12, this great second vision ends with John seeing two fantastic dramas that explain the why and the how of the consummation (12:1–14:20; 15:1–16:21).” – Easley, K. H. (1998). Revelation (Vol. 12, pp. 73–74). Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers.

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What Happens Next? Revelation 3:7-13, to the church at Philadelphia

A little background concerning the church at Philadelphia:

  • not a large city, but commercially busy.
  • prone to earthquake disasters.

7 “And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: ‘The words of the holy one, the true one, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, who shuts and no one opens.

  • “the holy one” – “In the Bible “holiness” is the very essence of God, the quality that makes God what he is, different and set apart from human beings. It carries a sense of separateness from sin, of exclusiveness, of uniqueness”(Bratcher). Also a Messianic designation, meaning God’s servant or one who does God’s will. Thus when we combine Jesus’ self description here in this verse we end up with something like “the true, faithful divine Messiah-servant of God”.

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What Happens Next? Revelation 3:1-6, to the church at Sardis

A little background concerning the church at Sardis:

  • About 30 miles SE of Thyatira, a city located in a fertile area (thus commercially important), but was really known for their dedication to the arts, especially music. One might think of Sardis as an ancient New Orleans. Much of the “entertainment” found on Bourbon St. could be found in Sardis as well.

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What Happens Next? Revelation 2:18-29, to the church at Thyatira

A Bit of Background Concerning the Church at Thyatira

  • Although we’re uncertain how the church came to be in Thyatira, Acts 16.14-15 mentions the conversion of Lydia who was from the area.

12 and from there to Philippi, which is a leading city of the district of Macedonia and a Roman colony. We remained in this city some days. 13 And on the Sabbath day we went outside the gate to the riverside, where we supposed there was a place of prayer, and we sat down and spoke to the women who had come together. 14 One who heard us was a woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple goods, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul. 15 And after she was baptized, and her household as well, she urged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay.” And she prevailed upon us.

  • A small city, but important for trade. The major road that led to Pergamum ran though Thyatira.

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