What will it take for repentance? Revelation 9

Revelation 9:

The Fifth and Sixth Woeful Trumpets

Revelation 9:1-21

Timothy McKeown

The purpose of the Great Tribulation is for God’s righteous judgment to fall on the earth, bringing many to repentance, but amazingly many do not, as seen in chapter 9.

Yet God is merciful, not bringing complete judgment, but allowing for one fourth of the earth to die in the fourth seal judgment and for another third to die in the sixth trumpet judgment. With half of earth’s humanity killed by the end of the sixth trumpet, so many of the rest of the world’s population still will not repent. 

¹ Then the fifth angel sounded: And I saw a star fallen from heaven to the earth. To him was given the key to the bottomless pit. ² And he opened the bottomless pit, and smoke arose out of the pit like the smoke of a great furnace. So the sun and the air were darkened because of the smoke of the pit.

The fallen star. The King James Version says “I saw a star fall from heaven,” but the word “fall” is actually better translated as “having fallen.” In other words, the “star” had already fallen, but when that star fell is not known. Because the following sentence says, “to him” was given the key to the abyss, it is likely a fallen angel, likely even the devil, to whom is given a key to release the locusts. Jesus said He saw Satan fall like lightening from the sky (Luke 10:18). Later in Revelation, it is recalled that the dragon, Satan, was cast to earth with his angels, which were a third of the stars or one third of the angels (Rev. 12:1-13). Isa. 14:12 says that Lucifer had fallen from heaven, but Job 1:6 says that he was still able to appear before God in heaven. This fallen star then opens the pit, and the spiritual realm is so thick that it affects the physical realm of the sun and the air.

God will wait for his total judgment for at least another 42 months (Rev. 11:2-3, 12:6, 13:5). As the fifth seal dealt with the souls under the altar in heaven, the fifth trumpet deals with the demons confined to the “bottomless pit” (Greek: abusso abusso; NASB, NIV: “abyss” ), a term mentioned seven times in Revelation and also in Rom. 10:7 and Luke 8:31, where the demons did not want to be sent.

 ³ Then out of the smoke locusts came upon the earth. And to them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power. ⁴ They were commanded not to harm the grass of the earth, or any green thing, or any tree, but only those men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. ⁵And they were not given authority to kill them, but to torment them for five months. Their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it strikes a man. ⁶ In those days men will seek death and will not find it; they will desire to die, and death will flee from them. ⁷ The shape of the locusts was like horses prepared for battle. On their heads were crowns of something like gold, and their faces were like the faces of men.

The locusts. If these locusts are the worst of the fallen angels which God has bound since their fall, Satan will loose these very hideous demons to spread the worst havoc yet upon the earth, both physically and spiritually. The devil, though fallen, is not currently bound in the abyss, sometimes seen as Hades or hell. Some have speculated that these locusts are John’s feeble description of military helicopters, using first century terminology and identifications. While Satan will use and take control of man’s military in the Tribulation, this description is much more foreboding and menacing.

John was able to see with spiritual eyes what fallen angels would become after thousands of years trapped in a tortuous bottomless pit. They swarm and destroy as locusts. They are powerful and painful as scorpions. Shaped like horses prepared for battle indicates their organized power. That they have things like crowns of gold and faces like men may mean that they will possess the rulers of the land.

 ⁸ They had hair like women's hair, and their teeth were like lions' teeth. ⁹ And they had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the sound of their wings was like the sound of chariots with many horses running into battle. ¹⁰ They had tails like scorpions, and there were stings in their tails. Their power was to hurt men five months. ¹¹ And they had as king over them the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, but in Greek he has the name Apollyon. ¹² One woe is past. Behold, still two more woes are coming after these things.  

The hair of women may also indicate their seductive power as seen in verse 21. Aggressively, their lion-like teeth are vicious and unstoppable but their pain comes from their stinging, lightening-quick tails.

Defensively, their iron breastplates give indication that they are impenetrable to attack.  Nevertheless, they are still limited and commanded to not harm the plants or those with the seal of God on their foreheads and are limited from killing those who do not have God’s seal. They torment without killing for five months, presumably to allow for repentance. The fact that those having the seal of God would not be tormented will be a great incentive to get saved! Still, many do not.

King of the Abyss. Among those loosed will be the beast which will ascend out of the abyss (Rev. 11:7, 17:8), who is likely the king and the (fallen) angel of or in charge of the abyss. The name “Abaddon” means “destruction” and “Apollyon” means “destroyer.” Although the beast and the false prophet are cast into the lake of fire alive at the beginning of the millennium, Satan is cast into the abyss for the 1,000 years (Rev. 20:1). Still, there are two more woes left.

¹³ Then the sixth angel sounded: And I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God, ¹⁴saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.” ¹⁵ So the four angels, who had been prepared for the hour and day and month and year, were released to kill a third of mankind.

   An interval of perhaps five months occurs between the fifth and sixth trumpets, as now angels (likely fallen) are released to kill a third of mankind. The result of this will mean that more than one half of the world’s population has died since the beginning of the Tribulation. The four angels empower the army of the 200 hundred million horsemen.

If some of the previous trumpets and seals have been thermonuclear explosions, it is possible that all modern devices using computers would be rendered obsolete. This is a result of the electromagnetic pulse which occurs with any nuclear explosion. The electromagnetic pulse (EMP) does not hurt the human body, but will fry all unprotected computer chips which are virtually all automobiles, airplanes, trains, etc. In the 1950s, relatively low level nuclear explosions resulted with EMP effects as far away as 800 miles in all directions. It is not unrealistic to see how battles will return to literally hand-to-hand combat and third world and primitive societies would clearly have the upper hand.

¹⁶ Now the number of the army of the horsemen was two hundred million; I heard the number of them.

It has been reported since the 1960s that China has stated that it could immediately raise an army of 200 million. Yet others believe this army is spiritual and demonic rather than physical. Unlike in other places, here John does not say it is “like” an army of horsemen, but rather that it is literally 200 million men on horseback. He didn’t have to guess, someone, likely his angel guide, told him of the number. Such a literal interpretation in John’s day would have been impossible but now is very likely to be a literal fulfillment.

¹⁷And thus I saw the horses in the vision: those who sat on them had breastplates of fiery red, hyacinth blue, and sulfur yellow; and the heads of the horses were like the heads of lions; and out of their mouths came fire, smoke, and brimstone. ¹⁸ By these three plagues a third of mankind was killed--by the fire and the smoke and the brimstone which came out of their mouths. ¹⁹ For their power is in their mouth and in their tails; for their tails are like serpents, having heads; and with them they do harm.

John resumes in using similes by saying “like” or “as” in describing the heads of the horses as being like lions. Whether these are literal horses or if they are instruments of modern-day warfare is not really relevant. What is relevant is the destruction which comes with this sixth woe and the lack of repentance.

²⁰ But the rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, that they should not worship demons, and idols of gold, silver, brass, stone, and wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk. ²¹ And they did not repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts.

Worship of demons and idols of gold, silver, brass, stone, and wood can simply mean materialistic people or can mean literal idolatry. Also, the word for “sorceries” is the Greek word from which we get pharmaceuticals. Murders, drug use, illicit sexual acts, and thefts are sins, but they will keep in rebellion against God.

 Takeaways from Revelation 9:1-21

1)  God is ever patient for repentance, but He is not forever patient. God will bring justice to the earth. 

2) There will be "aliens" in the last days, but not from other planets, but from the spiritual dimension and realm. UFOs are consistently seen as lights and exercising remarkable movements which are impossible in our current technology. Therefore, the demons released from the abyss may not be UFOs, but ISBs: Identified Spiritual Beings.

3)  As the demons torture but do not kill, we should remember there are things worse than death for the believers. Whether we live or die, do all for the glory of Christ. "so now also Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death." Philippians 1:20

4) Sin is sin, no matter the size, big or small. God wants repentance, not for the sake of merely stopping from sinning, but to return to Him in holiness.

 

Four takeaways from the four trumpets

Revelation 8:

The Seventh Seal and the First Four Trumpets 

Revelation 8:1-13

Timothy McKeown 

Following the tumultuous sounds of shouting and singing of the numberless heavenly host of the redeemed found in Revelation chapter 7, there is an ominous silence in heaven in Revelation 8:1. 

Like the first four seals, the first four trumpets are divided from the final three trumpets. The results of these Trumpet Judgments are:

¹⁾ hail, fire, and blood, destroying a third of the trees and grass;
²⁾ something like a mountain burning thrown into the sea, destroying a third of the sea and its contents;
³⁾ a great star falling from heaven, destroying a third of the freshwater; and
⁴⁾ the darkening of the sun, moon, and stars by a third. As tremendous as the first four judgments are, the final three come with three woes from an angel, signifying that they will be even worse. 

¹ When He opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. ² And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and to them were given seven trumpets.

If you notice, there is nothing that occurs with the opening of the seventh seal, except for silence, followed by noises, thundering, lightnings, and an earthquake, then the trumpets. Likewise, nothing occurs with the seventh trumpet, except for noises, thundering, lightnings, and an earthquake, then the seven bowl judgments.

Therefore, some have concluded that the seventh seal is all seven trumpet judgments combined and the seventh trumpet is all of the bowl judgments combined. The trumpet is likely that of a shophar, a ram’s horn, rather than the silver tube called a khatsotsrah, which we would think of more like a trumpet or a cornet and used more in worship and music (2 Chronicles 5:12-13, 20:28). It was a shophar that was used to signal judgment, as in Exodus 20:18, “Now all the people witnessed the thunderings, the lightning flashes, the sound of the trumpet (shophar), and the mountain smoking; and when the people saw it, they trembled and stood afar off.”

It will be a shophar that is blown as the final trump shall sound when the Lord will come in the air over Israel, Zechariah 9:14. “Then the Lord will be seen over them, And His arrow will go forth like lightning. The Lord God will blow the trumpet (shophar), and go with whirlwinds from the south.”

A shophar brings fear and calamity: “If a trumpet is blown in a city, will not the people be afraid? If there is calamity in a city, will not the Lord have done it?” (see Amos 3:6).

Joel 2:1 said a trumpet (shophar) would be blown in Israel (Zion) as the Day of the Lord draws near.

The angels who stand before God could have very well included Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God (Luke 1:19), and also appeared to Daniel (Daniel 8:16, 9:21). John Sinclair wrote “The Eyes of Texas,” and said it would be Gabriel who “blows his horn”, but with all due respect, the Bible does not say that.

However, the Bible clearly says that the last trump for the church will sound at the Rapture, before the Tribulation: 1 Corinthians 15:52, “In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.”

Again in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17, “For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.”

Nor are these trumpets the final trumpet to be sounded before Christ returns to the earth, because that occurs at the end of the Tribulation (see Matthew 24:29-31). These sounding of trumpets occur within the seven-year Tribulation Period.

³ Then another angel, having a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne.
⁴ And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, ascended before God from the angel's hand.
⁵ Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and threw it to the earth. And there were noises, thunderings, lightnings, and an earthquake. ⁶ So the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound.

Another angel, an eighth, comes with the censer, which was used to offer up burning coals and incense on the altar within the veil of the holy of holies (Leviticus 16:12). This angel is not, as some have theorized, Jesus Christ, for the passage does not say that the angel intercedes, but that he offers incense “with the prayers.”

Only Christ and the Holy Spirit intercede for us to the Father (1 Timothy 2:5, Romans 8:26). As mentioned earlier, this incense symbolizes the prayers of the saints (see Revelation 5:8). It should be noted that heaven does not pattern itself after the earthly, but rather the earthly patterns itself after the heavenly (see Hebrews 9).

The fire from the altar represented the testing times experienced by the saints on earth, and the incense is the prayers that accompany that testing. Verse 5 reminds readers of Isaiah 29:6, when God’s judgment was mixed with an earthquake, noise, and thunder in His judgment against the wicked in Jerusalem (Ariel). 

 

⁷ The first angel sounded: And hail and fire followed, mingled with blood, and they were thrown to the earth. And a third of the trees were burned up, and all green grass was burned up.
 ⁸ Then the second angel sounded: And something like a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea, and a third of the sea became blood. ⁹ And a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed.
¹⁰ Then the third angel sounded: And a great star fell from heaven, burning like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water. ¹¹ The name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters became wormwood, and many men died from the water, because it was made bitter.
¹² Then the fourth angel sounded: And a third of the sun was struck, a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of them were darkened. A third of the day did not shine, and likewise the night.

The first trumpet mingles the hail (atmospheric) and fire (meteorological) judgments with the destruction of humans and animals (blood), as well as trees and grass, and likely other vegetation as well. Many of these judgments are like those of Exodus 7-11. These plagues are worse than those of the Exodus.

The second trumpet signals a massive object, to a mountain burning with fire, hitting the sea. Whether it is a meteor or an object made by God, it is not coincidental. It may be circling the solar system even now, waiting for God’s precise timing. The massive tidal waves from such an event will damage all of the ships in the surrounding area, so perhaps one third of all ships will be in that section of the sea or ocean. One needs only to look at the “red tide” of the Gulf of Mexico, caused by dead and poisonous microorganisms which would undoubtedly result from such a catastrophe, to see the application of this verse. Or it could be that God, who miraculously turned water into wine, and through Moses turned the Nile River to blood, is able to turn water into actual blood, either naturally through the bloating deaths of animals of the sea, or miraculously. This is similar, but different, than the second bowl judgment in which every creature in the sea dies.

The third trumpet shows not a mountain but a star, or a bright object. The Greek does not demand a literal star, but a heavenly object. This object will poison the water. It is interesting to note that the Russian translation for this word “wormwood” is “chernobyl.” The worst nuclear disaster which occurred in the Russian city of Chernobyl in 1986 could be a foreshadow of this deadly judgment. According to the World Almanac, (2003), the United States and Russia have 10,000 nuclear bombs each. Just one of these bombs would create an inferno that would burn trees, grass, automobiles and buildings within 100 miles of the detonation (Revelation for Today, Dr. N.W. Hutchings, pg. 87). This is also like the third bowl judgment, when all rivers and springs will be affected.

Fourthly, the sun, moon, and stars will be darkened. On the fourth day of creation, God created the sun, moon and stars. Now at the end of the world as we know it, the heavenly bodies are diminished by a third.  This is not the same as Matthew 24:29, which says, “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.” This prophecy from Matthew will occur after the Tribulation and may coincide with the fourth bowl judgment or Revelation 21:23 which says there will be no need for the moon or sun.

You may have noticed the repetition of “one third”; in fact, I do not think anyone could have missed it. Why is one third repeatedly mentioned? I am not sure, but I will attempt to answer that question at a later point of this study.

 

¹³ And I looked, and I heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, "Woe, woe, woe to the inhabitants of the earth, because of the remaining blasts of the trumpet of the three angels who are about to sound!"

Tim LaHaye says this warning informs us that “as horrible as the first four trumpets have been, they will be surpassed in misery by that which is to follow.” (Revelation Unveiled, pg. 168). The word “woe” or sometimes translated “alas” is used in seven verses[i] of Revelation.

Woes are also pronounced by Christ in His denunciation of Chorazin and Bethsaida (Luke 10:13) and also of the scribes and Pharisees, whom He calls blind guides and hypocrites. He also says woe to those with child in the Tribulation (Matthew 24: 19) and of Judas (Matthew 26:24). Four times He says woe in the “Sermon on the Plain” to those who are rich, to those who are full, to those who laugh now, and to those of whom are spoken well.

Chapter 9, 10 and 11 speak of the final three trumpets, the seventh is not sounded until Revelation 11:15.

FOUR TAKEAWAYS from the four Trumpets:

1) Before the Tribulation, and all of the chaos that is described in Revelation, at the Rapture, there will be a blast from the LAST trumpet for us, the church. Make sure you will be taken by faith in Christ at the LAST TRUMPET for believers, to avoid the judgments of the seven trumpets. “in 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.” 1 Corinthians 15:52.

2) Our prayers, every one of them, are heard in heaven. If the prayers, made with the incense during the Tribulation, are heard in all of the tumult of Revelation 8, they are also being heard by God in heaven today. The Holy Spirit and the Lord Jesus Christ Himself lives to ever intercede for us. “Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him (Jesus, our High Priest), since He always lives to make intercession for them.” Hebrews 7:25

3) In the fiery trials we go through in this world and for those who read this in the times of the Great Tribulation, God’s hand is always on the thermostat, and His eye is always on the clock. “¹² Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you; ¹³ but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy.” 1 Peter 4:12-13

4) No matter how dark the times may seem or even actually literally be, Jesus Christ is the Light of the World. When we walk with the Lord, in the light of His Word, what a glory He sheds on our way; While we do His good will, He abides with us still, and with all who will trust and obey.  “Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, ‘I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.’ ” John 8:12 

 

---

[i] See https://timothymckeown.blogspot.com/2016/11/11-blessings-or-woes-answer-is-seen-in.html for a comparison of seven woes and seven beatitudes in Matthew and there are also seven woes and beatitudes in Revelation. 

Who are the 144,000?

  Revelation 7:

The 144,000 on Earth &

The Innumerable Multitude In Heaven

Revelation 7:1-17

Timothy McKeown

Chapter seven begins the first stated resumption of the relationship of God with the nation of Israel. For 2,000 years, God has dealt with His people through the church, and now He will be relating to His first chosen people with whom He he related for 2,000 years before Christ, ever since the days of Abraham.

We have seen the opening of the first six seals and there is an interlude here before the seventh seal. Nothing in the previous six seals specifically dealt with Israel but here in chapter seven, it is clear that God is indeed working with the nation of Israel and specifically the twelve tribes.

 

¹ After these things I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, on the sea, or on any tree.

It is obvious to us today that this is figurative language. The four corners phrase is symbolic of the “ends of the earth” (distant lands in all directions) as seen in a comparison of two passages from Isaiah.

⁵ “Do not be afraid, because I am with you. I will bring your descendants from the EAST and gather you from the WEST. ⁶ I will say to the NORTH, “Give them up,” and to the SOUTH, “Do not keep them.” Bring my sons from far away and my daughters from the ENDS OF THE EARTH.”  (Isaiah 43)

¹¹ It shall come to pass in that day that the Lord shall set His hand again the second time to recover the remnant of His people who are left, from ASSYRIA and EGYPT, from PATHROS and CUSH, From ELAM and SHINAR, from HAMATH and the ISLANDS OF THE SEA. ¹² He will set up a banner for the nations, and will assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the FOUR CORNERS OF THE EARTH.  (Isaiah 11)

Since the four “corners” of the earth are figurative, could it be that the “four winds of the earth” is symbolic as well?

Yes! In the Old Testament, the “four winds” were figurative of armed forces scattering the nation of Elam (Jeremiah 49:35 - 39); of a prophetic breath to bring life into an army in the valley of the dry bones (Ezekiel 37:7 - 10); of four military powers which took the place of the large horn (Daniel 8:8, 11:4); and the various directions that Israel was scattered. Virtually all of the “four winds” symbols from the Old Testament showed military might. Therefore, here in Revelation 7, for the four winds to be held and “should not blow on the earth” likely means that during the Tribulation there will be a time of peace, a calm before the storm, definitely after the tumultuous Rapture and after the opening of the first six seal judgments.

² Then I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God. And he cried with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was granted to harm the earth and the sea, ³ saying, “Do not harm the earth, the sea, or the trees till we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads.” ⁴ And I heard the number of those who were sealed. One hundred and forty-four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel were sealed:

During this interlude, nothing would hurt the land (earth), the waters (sea) or the plants (trees). This time allows 144,000 Jewish virgin male believers in Christ (see Revelation 14:4) to be sealed on their foreheads. They are called the “firstfruits” unto God, perhaps the very first Jews who will receive salvation after the Rapture and during the Tribulation. The four angels are not only able to withhold harm, they are also granted the power to inflict harm.

But from the east a fifth angel arises, this one with a “seal of the living God.” The seal will mark the 144,000 with redemption, which could mean they were sealed with the Holy Spirit. We too in the church age are also sealed with the Holy Spirit for the Day of Redemption. “Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us is God, who also has SEALED us and given us the SPIRIT in our hearts as a guarantee” (2 Corinthians 1:21-22). See also Ephesians 1:13 and 4:30.

Twelve is the number of God’s people, whether in the Old Testament and the twelve tribes, or in the New Testament and the twelve apostles. Twelve times twelve thousand means that God will seal not only the 144,000 but also all of His people whom He will redeem during this Tribulation.

⁵ of the tribe of Judah twelve thousand were sealed; of the tribe of Reuben twelve thousand were sealed; of the tribe of Gad twelve thousand were sealed; ⁶ of the tribe of Asher twelve thousand were sealed; of the tribe of Naphtali twelve thousand were sealed; of the tribe of Manasseh twelve thousand were sealed; ⁷ of the tribe of Simeon twelve thousand were sealed; of the tribe of Levi twelve thousand were sealed; of the tribe of Issachar twelve thousand were sealed; ⁸ of the tribe of Zebulun twelve thousand were sealed; of the tribe of Joseph twelve thousand were sealed; of the tribe of Benjamin twelve thousand were sealed.

A careful look at the twelve tribes shows that one of Israel’s sons is omitted: Dan. Instead, Manasseh, Joseph’s first-born son, is included. Ephraim, Joseph’s second son and the one upon whom Israel laid his right hand of blessing, is also not mentioned here, but Levi, the priestly tribe which did not have land to possess, is mentioned.

It is likely that Joseph’s name and tribe is synonymous and inclusive of the tribe of Ephraim. It is very possible that the descendants of the tribe of Dan have become totally extinct in the world by the time of the Tribulation. Even though most Jews today do not know for sure what tribe they are from, it appears that God knows and will seal the descendants Himself. Further, it is not stated in Revelation that those who are sealed will know that they are of a particular tribe, but undoubtedly it will be revealed in heaven.

When I first did this study back in 2006, DNA research was not nearly as thorough as it is now. Not only would God know who was of what tribe, but we also can now ascertain from what lineage the Jews would be from.

⁹ After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands, ¹⁰ and crying out with a loud voice, saying, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” ¹¹ All the angels stood around the throne and the elders and the four living creatures, and fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, ¹² saying: “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom, Thanksgiving and honor and power and might, Be to our God forever and ever. Amen.” ¹³ Then one of the elders answered, saying to me, “Who are these arrayed in white robes, and where did they come from?” ¹⁴ And I said to him, “Sir, you know.” So he said to me, “These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

The scene suddenly changes to heaven again, as it did in chapter six. This time, the souls are no longer under the altar, but before the throne and before Christ, now clothed with white robes. In heaven, there will be “a great multitude” (heard again in Revelation 19:1 and 19:6), which cannot be counted.

A false religion erroneously claims that only 144,000 will be in heaven, but here the Bible clearly says that is not true. God knows the number who will be in heaven, but here John refrains from saying, as he did before, “ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands” (see Revelation 5:11). This does not yet include the 144,000, but these are those who came out of the Great Tribulation.

These in heaven could be those who were saved after the Rapture. They could be those who failed to believe in Christ prior to His glorious appearance, but after their family and friends had vanished from the earth, these who were left behind “washed their robes…in the blood of the Lamb.”

Do you see the parallel to Revelation 3? White garments are promised for those in Sardis, which had those who, if they did not watch, would be overtaken by Christ like a thief (see Revelation 3:3). Numerous professing “believers” may know about Jesus, but they themselves are not known by Christ. Perhaps they will become saved during the Tribulation.

The opening of the sixth seal in chapter six indicates that many know that the “great day of His wrath is come,” and even know that it is the “wrath of the Lamb.” (Revelation 6:16-17). All we know for sure is that there will be a great numberless multitude of people saved from every nation, tribe, people, and tongue during the Great Tribulation.

Palm branches are a symbol of victorious triumph and reminds us of the glorious triumphal entry Christ made on Palm Sunday, when the people shouted out Psalm 118:26, “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.” See Matthew 21:9, Mark 11:9, and John 12:13. Jesus said that Israel would not see Him again until they themselves shouted that same refrain (Matthew 23:39).

¹⁵ Therefore they are before the throne of God and serve Him day and night in His temple. And He who sits on the throne will dwell among them. ¹⁶ They shall neither hunger anymore nor thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any heat; ¹⁷ for the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to living fountains of waters. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

The worship of God is not mandated, it is intrinsic within those who are saved. They are granted no hunger, yet we will be able to eat. We shall never be thirsty, yet we can drink. The sun and its heat will not strike us, but the Lamb will never leave us, and His glory will enlighten us. And the blessed promise comes that God Himself will wipe away every tear, an occurrence which occurs again in Revelation 21:4, in which a promise comes which says crying will never occur again.

 

Our takeaway from this chapter:

Number one, (pardon the pun), God knows our number! He knows our genealogy; that is, where we came from, He knows where we are, and most of all, He knows where we are going.

Number two, God seals us now with His Holy Spirit, and we will never lose our salvation. Likewise, in the Great Tribulation, God’s servants will be protected until death, and then He will give them the crown of life.

Number three, God will keep His promises. The nation of Israel in Revelation will carry palm leaves to the Lord and recognize Him as the Lamb, they will look on Him whom they themselves pierced (Zechariah 12:10).

Number four, while there will be 144,000 Jewish men on the earth (later in heaven), the number of those who will be saved is going to be HUGE, a number that no human could ascertain. In all of the evil of the Great Tribulation, God brings good and He alone can bring good in the tribulation of your lives today.

Number five, the Shepherd, the Lord, the Lamb, will dwell among us someday.

Number six, Sardis was a church in existence before the Rapture and they were warned to be ready for the Lord who will come like a thief in the night (Matthew 24:43; Luke 12:39; 1 Thessalonians 5:2, 4; 2 Peter 3:10; Revelation 3:3, 16:15).  

Number seven, no more crying there.

Revelation 6's fallen star

Revelation 6:

The Final Seal Judgments

Revelation 6:9-17

Timothy McKeown 

The first four seal judgments, or the four horsemen, represent the peaceful world conquest by the antichrist (1^st seal), the taking of peace from the earth, killing, and a great sword (2^nd seal), the world-wide famine, an inflationary economy, and the world’s wealth is protected (3^rd seal), and one-fourth of the world dying from war, starvation, martyrdom, and “beasts” of the earth. 

Note: this is the only place where “beast” (Gr.: therion) is not linked with the antichrist or the false prophet.
Antichrist: 11:7, 13:1-4, 14-15, 17-18, 14:9,11, 15:2, 16:2, 10, 13, 19:19-20; 20:4, 10;
Beast ridden by woman/whore: 17:8, 11-13, 17:3, 7, 11-13, 17:16-17;
False Prophet: 13:11-12. 

It’s possible that this foreshadows the two beasts killing people and especially believers in the Great Tribulation. After the fourth horseman of Death, followed by Hades, comes a scene from heaven.

 

⁹ When He opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held. ¹⁰ And they cried with a loud voice, saying, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” ¹¹ Then a white robe was given to each of them; and it was said to them that they should rest a little while longer, until both the number of their fellow servants and their brethren, who would be killed as they were, was completed.

 

The fifth seal depicts those who have been killed for the word of God and the testimony. Isaiah 34:2-3 says that God gave the nations for judgment and describes a stench because of the corpses. John does not list how many are slain, but these are among the first and they reveal at least five truths:
 ¹⁾ The dead are aware of events on earth and care about justice of those responsible.
 ²⁾ There is a concept of time and are told to wait “a little while longer,” so time in heaven is comparable to time on earth.
  ³⁾ While they have not been resurrected yet (see Revelation 20:4-6), they can receive robes, which they wear in Revelation 7:9.
 ⁴⁾ Saints cry in anguish, remembering their injustice, but recognizing God as “holy and true.” At some point in the future, God will wipe away their tears (Revelation 7:17, 21:4 with Isaiah 25:8).
 ⁵⁾ They were killed for word of God and testimony of Jesus (compare to Revelation 20:4, 12:11 and 17, and Revelation 1:9).

Why under the altar? According to John Gill’s Exposition of the Bible, “burning coals were taken off from the altar …and were brought in within the vail (sic), where incense was put upon them, which covered the mercy seat” (See Leviticus 16:12-13). Faithful martyrs are brought into heaven, like the burning coals were brought into the holy of holies, and with the prayers, are a sweet aroma of sacrifice before God (see Revelation 8:3-4).

It may be that this fifth seal is an interlude showing all of those who have been martyred during the Tribulation, and the sixth and seventh seal are at the end of the Tribulation. If so, the trumpet and bowl judgments would occur prior to the sixth seal being broken. See more about this at the end of the study. 

¹² I looked when He opened the sixth seal, and behold, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became like blood. ¹³ And the stars of heaven fell to the earth, as a fig tree drops its late figs when it is shaken by a mighty wind. ¹⁴ Then the sky receded as a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved out of its place.

This parallels with Isaiah 34:4 and with an inexplicable event which occurred less than 100 years ago.

On June 30, 1908, what is believed to be a meteor or a comet vaporized above the earth with fantastic consequences near the Tunguska in Russia. An eyewitness described what he saw: “I suddenly saw that directly to the North… the sky split in two and fire appeared high and wide over the forest. The split in the sky grew larger, and the entire Northern side was covered with fire. At that moment I became so hot that I couldn't bear it, as if my shirt was on fire; from the northern side, where the fire was, came strong heat. I wanted to tear off my shirt and throw it down, but then the sky shut closed, and a strong thump sounded, and I was thrown a few yards…After that such noise came, as if rocks were falling or cannons were firing, the earth shook, and when I was on the ground, I pressed my head down, fearing rocks would smash it. When the sky opened up, hot wind raced between the houses, like from cannons, which left traces in the ground like pathways, and it damaged some crops. Later we saw that many windows were shattered, and in the barn a part of the iron lock snapped.”

The mass of the object has been estimated at about 100,000 tons and the force of the explosion at 12 to 40 megatons of TNT, 2,000 times the force of the atomic bomb exploded over Hiroshima in 1945. It destroyed everything within a radius of 20 miles. Four hundred miles away, fishermen were knocked from their boats. A black rain fell over the valley and scabs broke out on animals not destroyed by the blast.

While the Tunguska explosion was not a fulfillment of Revelation’s prophecy, it is easy to imagine what devastation would occur if one or more “falling stars” actually hit the earth, and even split into various parts “as a fig tree drops its late figs when it is shaken by a mighty wind.” According to reports, that one meteor sent shock waves around the world twice. So devastating was that singular event that Vladimir Shaidurov of the Russian Academy of Sciences has theorized that the current global warming trend which has been experienced over the last hundred years could have been caused by the Tunguska Event. (http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/03/060314170208.htm)

The sun turning black is not likely a solar eclipse, they are frequent, predictable and limited in scope (a partial eclipse went over Israel this year and a full eclipse went over Turkey). While lunar eclipses make the appearance of the moon “like blood,” they are even more frequent than solar eclipses. Something of a magnitude greater than a natural occurrence is mandated from the text.

 

¹⁵ And the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains, ¹⁶ and said to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! ¹⁷ For the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?”

 

The sixth seal concludes similar to that of Matthew 24:29-31 “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened (not blackened), and the moon will not give its light (not like blood); the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.” 

However on a closer reading there are some differences (it occurs after the tribulation, just before Christ’s return, see also Mark 13:25). Also, later on in Revelation, there are more catastrophes in the sky (Revelation 8:12, 9:2, 16:8) and the islands “flee away” and the mountains will not be found (not just be “moved”).

While the beginning of the Tribulation is bad, imagine the earth becoming so violently rocked that Isaiah says, (from the people of the earth’s vantage point), the stars shake and the earth moved in its orbit. “Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth will move out of her place, in the wrath of the Lord of hosts and in the day of His fierce anger.” (Isaiah 13:13) This occurs at the end of the Tribulation, described also by Joel “The sun and moon will grow dark, And the stars will diminish their brightness. The Lord also will roar from Zion, And utter His voice from Jerusalem; The heavens and earth will shake; But the Lord will be a shelter for His people, And the strength of the children of Israel.”(Joel 3:15-16).

Jesus does give a description like Revelation 6:16 in Luke 23:30, but not in the “Olivet Discourse.” In Luke, He is not speaking of the end times. Rather, it is likely in regard to the destruction of Jerusalem, as He was speaking directly to people and their children who might be living in 70 A.D. Hosea also said there would be some who would call on the mountains and hills to fall on them as far back as the Assyrian captivity (Hosea 10:8).

The description Jesus gives in the Olivet Discourse is more like the end of the Great Tribulation, which is also found in Isa 13:6-10 “Wail, for the day of the Lord is at hand! It will come as destruction from the Almighty. Therefore all hands will be limp, every man's heart will melt, and they will be afraid. Pangs and sorrows will take hold of them; they will be in pain as a woman in childbirth; they will be amazed at one another; their faces will be like flames. Behold, the day of the Lord comes, cruel, with both wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate; and He will destroy its sinners from it. For the stars of heaven and their constellations will not give their light; the sun will be darkened in its going forth, and the moon will not cause its light to shine.” Hebrews 12:26 suggests more than one “shaking” of the earth and sky, based on Haggai 2:6-7, but again this is just before “the Desire of the Nations” appears.

If the seals are chronological and are completed before the trumpet judgments begin, then the people of the earth very well may mistakenly think He “who sits on the throne” and Christ is about to return. However, Revelation records that there are still more things which will take place in chapter 7 and following. If, on the other hand, the seals (especially the final two) run overlappingly and culminate with the final trumpet and bowl judgments, then all that is recorded in Revelation 7 and thereafter occurs during the fifth seal. The sixth and seventh seal would then occur just prior to the Lord’s return in chapter 19. 

Either way, the final seal judgments reveal to us how awesome is our God.