Revelation: Part Three

Part Three: Breaking the 7 Seals on The Scroll

The Lamb is the only One worthy enough to open the 7 seals (Rev 5:4-5), so He does and this is what happens when each seal breaks (Rev 6-8:5):

1st seal. White Horse with Rider: Victory—carries bow, crown on head: “He rode out to win many battles and gain the glory!” [we like that one]

2nd seal. Red Horse with Rider: War—“was given a mighty sword and the authority to take peace away from the earth. And there was war and slaughter everywhere.” [we certainly don’t like that one]

3rd seal. Black Horse with Rider: Justice—“its rider was holding a pair of scales” [we hope we’re saved from that one]

4th seal. Green Horse with Rider: Death and the Grave—“These two were given authority over ¼ of the earth, to kill with the sword and famine and disease and wild animals” [we hope never to meet these two]

TIME OUT: Let’s stop after these 4 Horsemen and regroup. God has given power and authority to these four—and that may be difficult to swallow, but if you have a pretty good understanding of the Old and New Testament God [one and the same, never changing, uncreated, all-powerful, just, true, and filled with unfailing love] then you know that He acts on and allows whatever it takes to win back His wonderful children—even this. It will all make sense later (both in the book of Revelation and in life). The only two things that will last forever are eternal souls and the Word of God.

These three things we can know for sure: “For the Lord is good, His unfailing love continues forever, and His faithfulness continues to every generation” (Psalm 100:5).

5th seal. Altar of Martyred Souls: who shout “How Long, O Lord, before You judge the people who belong to this world and avenge our blood for what they have done to us?!”—they are given white robes and are told to rest a bit longer “until the full number of their brothers and sisters had joined them.”

6th seal. Geological Chaos: earthquake, sun goes black, moon turns blood red, stars fall out of the sky, the sky is rolled up like a scroll, and the mountains and islands are moved. In essence, the earth is shaken to its foundations—just to notify all who were not sure: this is the end time.

**Before the 7th seal, 4 angels place the Seal of God on the foreheads of those (his servants) left on earth—a total of 144,000 from the 12 tribes of Israel [12,000 from each tribe]—however, interesting that the tribes of Dan and Ephraim are left out—though they are not listed they are not left out…
quick history catch up!
*original 12 born to Jacob:
Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Issachar, Zebulun, Joseph, Benjamin
—Levi=God’s priests with no land, and Joseph’s 2 sons replace him in his inheritance—
*12 tribes given camping spot in wilderness and land in Canaan:
Reuben, Simeon, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, Gad, Asher, Ephraim, Manasseh, Benjamin, Dan, Naphtali
*In this list (Rev 7:4-8), however, Dan and Ephraim are simply not listed because Levi and Joseph are listed but they are not left out entirely.
*In Ezekiel 37:16-19 God says He will join Ephraim and the Tribes of the North [Dan was the head of the 3 northern Tribes (Numbers 2)] and will reconcile them or join them irrevocably to Judah. So they are not left out, but unnamed perhaps because of this Old Testament Prophesy so that both Levi and Joseph can be listed in this list in Revelation.

** The Multitudes, aka, us: Massive crowd too large to count in white robes with palm branches sing out and worship the Lord; “these are the ones who died in [or came out of] the great tribulation. They have washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb and made them white.”—This is the rest of us—the multitudes—who know and believe but are not from a “tribe” of Israel. It says very little about how we “died” or “came up out of” great tribulation; nor does it describe the time of “great tribulation” or suffering at all. What is that about? I want to know more! Is it that we were taken up and those of the 12 tribes listed above are still on earth with the Seal on their foreheads? I’m not sure.

7th seal. Fire and Brimstone: silence throughout heaven for 1 hour; 7 angels with 7 trumpets, another angel with gold incense burner “to mix with the prayers of God’s people as an offering” then to “fill the incense burner with fire from the altar and throw it on the earth”—chaos once more—“and thunder crashed, lightning flashed, and there was a terrible earthquake.” This can be a confusing portrait of events in heaven—sounds a bit more like hell with all the chaos and destruction, the fire and silence from worshiping God, however it is not and Peace will come and reign forever—this simply must pave the way and happen first.

Picture all of this happening—unfolding along a timeline we do not know with events we cannot understand.

All of this is why I believe that it is much easier and clearer to detect good and evil and to love the Lord as Savoir forever NOW rather than later—imagine trying to sort out all that in the midst of fire falling from heaven and the end of the physical world/ existence as you once knew it.