Buy at Amazon.com

Last time we ended with the blowing of the sixth trumpet, and now we will take another break from the action to be given more background information. This is the second parenthetical section of Revelation and it will set up the majesty that is the seventh trumpet.

This section of Revelation will show us that God fully intends to speak to His people prophetically during the tribulation period. God will not leave His people in the dark during the darkest days of history, but He will speak to us and give us direction when we need it the most.

The Seven Thunders

  • This angel carries great authority, and looks physically different
  • Stands on the sea and the land
  • Announces that the seventh trumpet ushers in something important
  • They mystery of God will be revealed at the seventh trumpet

The Seven Thunders

  • No accident John heard this
  • There is more to be revealed in the end times

The Scroll

  • Just like Ezekiel’s scroll from Ezekiel 3:1-3
  • Tastes sweet but turns their stomachs sour
  • Represents the reality of prophecy: sweet to hear from God, but difficult to bear up under the weight of it when confronting people—prophecy is truly a bittersweet reality of God’s kingdom

The Two Witnesses

  • Is it a real or figurative temple?
  • John is asked to measure it, which makes it seem like it will be real
  • 42 months & 1,260 days—first reference in Revelation matches Daniel’s 3-1/2 years—the last half of the Great Tribulation
  • They have great power and authority. They are divinely protected
  • The Beast (have not yet been introduced to him) will kill them at the end of 3-1/2 years
  • Sodom and Egypt? Why is Jerusalem called this?
  • Great rejoicing over their death
  • Resurrected as everyone watches their ascension to heaven

Seventh Trumpet

  • The earth is becoming God’s kingdom forever
  • God is going to “begin to reign” now that the seventh trumpet has been sounded
  • Time to judge the dead and reward the prophets
  • Destroy those who have destroyed the earth with their sinfulness
  • Paul speaks about this event in 1 Corinthians 15:52:

51Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed— 52in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

This is the moment that God will rapture His beloved bride—we will indeed be “caught up” (in Latin, “rapio”, or “rapture”) as Paul also calls it in 1 Thessalonians 4:17.

We will see that as soon as Jesus’ bride is raptured (taken away, “caught up”), God will now pour out His wrath on earth and make it His own. The Seventh Trumpet brings to a close the 1,260 days of the Great Tribulation, and now this “mystery of God” will be revealed.

Pin It on Pinterest