Chapter 1: What vision does John experience at the beginning of Revelation?
Hey Bible Readers, I'm Tara Lee Cobble and I'm your host for The Bible Recap.
Yesterday when we left off, John was in a vision of God's throne room and Jesus had just taken the seven-sealed scroll from the Father's right hand because Jesus was the only one worthy to open it. Today he begins opening the seals, one by one. As he opens the seal, it releases more of the scroll so more of the story can be read.
It would be kind of like if a piece of paper were folded up seven times and each time you unfold it, you see more of what's written. With the first four seals, we see four horses and four horsemen. These are commonly referred to as the four horsemen of the apocalypse. By the way, the word apocalypse in Greek is the English word revelation.
So these could also be called the four horsemen of the revelation. They are all enemies of God. And even though one is on a white horse, don't let that fool you. He's a counterfeit of Jesus, who also rides a white horse later in this book. They bring death, disease, and destruction. But notice that these enemies of God still only operate under his jurisdiction.
They come out when his seraphim give the command. They bring destruction, but any authority they have is tightly held by God and is only temporarily given to them for accomplishing his purposes of judgment on the earth. They are never in control, and God's reign is never in question. The three final seals pertain to God's people. Seal number five gives us a glimpse of the martyrs.
Seal number six is the great day of the Lord we've been reading about throughout scripture. Then, after this, we see the 144,000, which is probably a symbolic number that represents a much larger multitude. Some believe this represents specifically the promised remnant of the Jews, and others believe it represents all believers from all time.
We'll link to two articles about this in the show notes. Then there's silence in heaven followed by the prayers of God's people. Then seven angels blow seven trumpets. And just like with the seals, the first four trumpets the angels blow bring disaster on earth and in the skies.
The fifth trumpet references a star falling from heaven, and this may be a reference to Satan's fall, like we've read about in Isaiah 14 and Luke 10. He seems to manage a locust attack, which is probably symbolic. Locusts in scripture sometimes refer to armies, but these locusts aren't allowed to kill any of God's kids. The sixth trumpet will bring about a plague and more death.
But what's even sadder about all this death and destruction is that 920 tells us it doesn't yield repentance. The people continue in their idolatry. This is a lot like when God brought plagues in Egypt and Pharaoh didn't repent. Seeing God's power and knowing the truth doesn't change what a person believes in their heart.
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Chapter 2: What do the first four seals reveal in Revelation?
He plants one foot on earth, one foot on the sea, and reaches his fist to the heavens, then declares God's sovereignty over those three realms.
Then he says the seventh trumpet will sound when the mystery of God is fulfilled, which some believe is the return of Jesus and the initiation of his kingdom, and others believe this is the gathering of the remnant of Israel after the inclusion of the Gentiles. God tells John to get the scroll from the angel and eat it, so he does. This isn't our first scroll-eating situation in Scripture.
You may remember that from Ezekiel if you were with us in the Old Testament. This hurts his stomach, but it tastes sweet, which might mean its judgments are hard to stomach, but ultimately there's still goodness to it. Then someone, presumably God, tells John, you must again prophesy about many peoples and nations and languages and kings.
And that's what John will begin doing in the last half of the book, which we'll read tomorrow. Before we jump into chapter 11, we have to talk about the actual timeline of John's visions. Some people think this book was written in the mid-60s, and others think it could have been written as late as the early 90s. All in the first century, of course.
Something really important in Israel's history happened between those two time periods, and it impacts the way people read this book and this chapter in particular. In 70 AD, which is between the early potential date and the late potential date, Rome destroyed Jerusalem, including the second temple. And even though Jerusalem itself has been rebuilt, the temple hasn't.
In fact, some Jews say it's impossible to rebuild it since they've lost the Ark of the Covenant and the temple furniture. And many Christians believe it doesn't need to be rebuilt because God's spirit dwells in his people now, not in a building. And there are probably 20 other opinions on top of these, but that's what you need to know as far as the background for chapter 11.
Because if this chapter was written in the 60s, the temple still stands. But if it was written in the 90s, the temple is gone. In his chapter 11 vision, John visits the temple to measure it. Most people who lean toward the early writing date believe that Rome's destruction of the temple and Jerusalem has fulfilled this prophecy already.
Others believe the temple will be rebuilt and that this vision is literal. And still others believe it's symbolic and that this represents God's current dwelling place, his people. Then God says his holy city will be trampled for 3.5 years. And all those same theories apply to this as well. It already happened, it will literally happen, or it will symbolically happen to his people.
There are two witnesses that show up here as well. God calls them lampstands and olive branches. Because of the way the churches were lampstands earlier in this vision, some believe these two lampstands represent the faithful witness of the church in the end times. Some compare them to Moses and Elijah because they bring blood and fire.
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Chapter 3: Who are the 144,000 mentioned in Revelation?
And the reality is, it's probably not going to go exactly like I planned anyway. Right, parents? So I want to learn about this. I want to know it. But I want the driving force behind my thoughts to be love for Christ and eager anticipation of His return. Because the kingdom of God isn't for people who are afraid of hell and pain. The kingdom of God is for people who love God.
And I believe you're here because you love him. I believe you know he's where the joy is.
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Chapter 4: What happens when the seven angels blow their trumpets?
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