29th May 2024 – Revelation 8
8 When the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. 2 Then I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them. 3 And another angel came and stood at the altar with a golden censer, and he was given much incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar before the throne, 4 and the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, rose before God from the hand of the angel. 5 Then the angel took the censer and filled it with fire from the altar and threw it on the earth, and there were peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake.
6 Now the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared to blow them.
7 The first angel blew his trumpet, and there followed hail and fire, mixed with blood, and these were thrown upon the earth. And a third of the earth was burned up, and a third of the trees were burned up, and all green grass was burned up.
8 The second angel blew his trumpet, and something like a great mountain, burning with fire, was thrown into the sea, and a third of the sea became blood. 9 A third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed.
10 The third angel blew his trumpet, and a great star fell from heaven, blazing 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 people died from the water, because it had been made bitter.
12 The fourth angel blew his trumpet, and a third of the sun was struck, and a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of their light might be darkened, and a third of the day might be kept from shining, and likewise a third of the night.
13 Then I looked, and I heard an eagle crying with a loud voice as it flew directly overhead, “Woe, woe, woe to those who dwell on the earth, at the blasts of the other trumpets that the three angels are about to blow!”
The seventh seal, as we have already pointed out, opens out into the seven trumpets of God. The significance of this is that what is next unfolded to the Apostle is another vision, which we may take as covering the same ground as the previous two have done, - the entire dispensation of grace from the Ascension of Christ to His Second Coming, developing the theme a little further than the last. Thus, in chapters 8-11, John sees the course of world histo- ry from another standpoint, leading up to its final climax and judgment. That this is how the trumpet judgments should be interpreted seems to be borne out by the fact that there are sev- eral marked similarities between them and the seals in chapters 4-7. Thus in both, the first four stand distinct from the last three, and also between the sixth and seventh seals we have interjected the subsidiary visions of the Church militant and the Church triumphant, while be- tween the sixth and seventh trumpets we have other subsidiary visions, the little book, the seven thunders, and the measurement of the temple of God. The two series of visions are not however identical but show development. They do not follow one another chronologically so much as stand alongside one another in the complicated pattern which is life as the Christian knows it. The trumpets follow the seals in this sense that if the seals represent the persecution of God's people, the trumpets are God's judgments on the persecutors, not however final judgments, but warning judgments, to lead men to repentance. (This is the force of the words 'neither repented they' in 9:21). Finally, the vision of the seals, as someone has put it, shows us the way through trouble to rest; the trumpets show us the way through conflict to victory.
28th May 2024 – Revelation 7:4-17
4 And I heard the number of the sealed, 144,000, sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel: 5 12,000 from the tribe of Judah were sealed,12,000 from the tribe of Reuben,12,000 from the tribe of Gad,6 12,000 from the tribe of Asher,12,000…
27th May 2024 – Revelation 7:4-17
4 And I heard the number of the sealed, 144,000, sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel: 5 12,000 from the tribe of Judah were sealed,12,000 from the tribe of Reuben,12,000 from the tribe of Gad,6 12,000 from the tribe of Asher,12,000…
26th May 2024 – Revelation 7:4-17
4 And I heard the number of the sealed, 144,000, sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel: 5 12,000 from the tribe of Judah were sealed,12,000 from the tribe of Reuben,12,000 from the tribe of Gad,6 12,000 from the tribe of Asher,12,000…
25th May 2024 – Revelation 7:4-17
4 And I heard the number of the sealed, 144,000, sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel: 5 12,000 from the tribe of Judah were sealed,12,000 from the tribe of Reuben,12,000 from the tribe of Gad,6 12,000 from the tribe of Asher,12,000…
24th May 2024 – Revelation 7:4-17
4 And I heard the number of the sealed, 144,000, sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel: 5 12,000 from the tribe of Judah were sealed,12,000 from the tribe of Reuben,12,000 from the tribe of Gad,6 12,000 from the tribe of Asher,12,000…
23rd May – Revelation 7:1-3
7 After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth, that no wind might blow on earth or sea or against any tree. 2 Then I saw another angel ascending from the rising…
22nd May 2024 – Revelation 6:9-17
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 witness they had borne. 10 They cried out with a loud voice, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you…
21st May 2024 – Revelation 6:9-17
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 witness they had borne. 10 They cried out with a loud voice, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you…
20th May 2024 – Revelation 6:9-17
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 witness they had borne. 10 They cried out with a loud voice, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you…