Ready to go? Okay, thanks.
Good morning. I think in the interest of time I'm going to go ahead and start. You know, I know that many of our numbers are still out there somewhere, finding their way. So I'll read a passage from Revelation 8, the first few verses, and then we'll pray, and then we'll start. Revelation 8, verses 1 through 6. Let's hear God's word. When the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. Then I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them. And another angel came and stood at the altar with a golden sensor, and he was given much incense to mingle with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar before the throne. And the smoke of the incense rose with the prayers of the saints from the hand of the angel before God. Then the angel took the sensor and filled it with fire from the altar, and threw it on the earth, and there were peals of thunder, voices, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake. Now the seven angels who had the seven trumpets made ready to blow them. Let's pray. Almighty and all gracious Lord, we need to hear your word this morning. We come to you in many different states of mind this morning. Probably none of us, particularly, ready and prepared for your word, and yet we have come, Lord, and we've come to hear your voice. And so we ask that your spirit would be with us to move powerfully in our lives, to work in our hearts, to make them ready to listen, and ready to obey. O Lord, help us as we struggle sometimes to understand your word. We confess to you our ignorance, we confess to you our slothfulness, and we pray that the blood of Christ would apply to those sins as well this morning and that you would graciously forgive our sins, that you would meet with us and be pleased to bless us, for we come in the name of Jesus our Lord. Amen. All right, we are in chapter 7 today. If you will recall, just thinking back over your outline, if you happen to have an outline, that's good. If you don't, I'll just try to refresh your memory a little bit. The way that I think Revelation is divided up, advise itself up, is besides a sort of prologue, an introductory section, and an epilogue. There are, I believe, four main visions, four main visions in Revelation, and each one of those then has a sort of aftermath after it, well, actually accept the last one, but we'll get to that later. There's usually an aftermath in which some of the things that are introduced by the vision proper, the vision itself, are then played out and worked out in different ways as either Jesus or one of the angels reveal something more to John. So, we're in the second of those major visions, the second of those major visions that started in chapter 4, and constituted chapters 4 and 5, and you remember what's going on in chapter 4 and 5? Anybody, chapters 4 and 5, John is taken up, he's shown an open door and told to come up, and he is there in the heavenly throne room. Right, right, that's chapter 5 that the scroll, that's right, the scroll is handed to the Lamb, standing as those slaying, and the Lamb is the only one in heaven, earth, and under the earth that has found worthy to break the seals that hold the scroll shut. He's the only one worthy to break them and to open the scroll, and we've seen last week how of those seals were broken, and what we have looked at what John saw when each of those seals was broken. And we have suggested, and this is the interpretation that we have taken, we meaning I, basically, that the sixth seal introduces us, gives us a vision of the last day, the events that lead right up to the coming of Christ, if not the coming itself, leading right up to the last day. And we have people crying out, falling us to the mountains and rocks, hide us from the face of the Lamb who's seated on the throne, and from, excuse me, the face of whom we've seen on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand before it. The wrath of the Lamb is quite a jarring concept, and we think of a Lamb, we use a little metaphor as gentle as a Lamb, a meek as a Lamb. Here it is the wrath of the Lamb that is about to be poured out, and it is like, well, it's like no other wrath, the wrath of the Lamb and the one who sits on the throne. So this takes us to the first vision of the last day in Revelation, and again, we're only in chapter 6, and just to remind you of this principle that we call it, when recapitulation, right? Recapitulation, where we see that some of the same things, same events, or complex events, come in for mention several times in Revelation. In other words, what John sees kind of comes back around, it recapitulates itself. And so we have the last judgment, already in chapter 6, we're going to see other pictures of the last judgment as we go, and so we're seeing what happens before the last judgment, and that great day. So here we start then with chapter 7. Remember, we've seen six of the seven seals open. One is left to be opened, and now we come to a section where I've just called it in your outline an interlude. An interlude, an interlude, simply because, literally, it is an interlude between the six and the seventh seal. All right, does this mean that what we see in this interlude, which is basically all of chapter 7, happens historically, chronologically, between the six and the seventh seal, or what happens, let's say, as the sixth seal is opened, and then what happens, seventh seal is open. Well, I would say no, not necessarily, because remember, again, we're seeing John given these visions. And again, he's seen the climax of human history already. Now, what he's going to see is not necessarily after that, but it just follows that in his visionary experience. Does that make sense? Let's go on to chapter 7 and see how this works out. Yes, that's what I'm saying. Chapter 7, verse 1, John says, 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 the earth or sea or against any tree. Then I saw another angel ascend from the rising of the sun. That would be from the east. Then I saw, okay, with the seal of the living God, and he called with a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm Earth and sea, saying, do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees till we have sealed the servants of our God upon their foreheads. And I heard the number of the seal, 144,000 sealed out of every tribe of the sons of Israel. 12,000 sealed out of the tribe of Judah, and you can read through the rest of that, 12,000 through the tribe of Joseph, verse 8, 12,000 sealed out of the tribe of Benjamin. After this I looked and behold a great multitude which no man could number. From every nation, from all tribes and peoples and tongues, stand them before the throne and before the Lamb clothed in white robes with palm branches in their hands and crying out with a loud voice, salvation belongs to our God who sits upon the throne and to the Lamb. And all the angels stood around the throne and around the elders, and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne, and worshiped God, saying, amen. Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might. That would be a sevenfold blessing there. Be to our God forever and ever, amen. Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, who are these clothed in white robes? And when said they come? I said to him, sir, you know. And he said to me, these are they who have come out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore are they before the throne of God and serve him day and night within his temple? And he who sits upon the throne will shelter them with his presence. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore. The sun shall not strike them nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Well, quite a magnificent revelation there in that chapter. And it consists, you could easily divide this chapter from verses 1 through 8 and then verses 9 to the end. If you looked at that, maybe you noticed that as you went through the first, is when John sees these four angels, four corners of the earth, and how he can see all this, we're not told. He sees this and another angel rising from the east saying, do not harm earth, sea, and trees until we have sealed the servants of God on the foreheads with the seal of God. And then he hears the number of the sealed. How many? 144,000. And then we have the listing of the various tribes and 12,000 from each tribe, 12 times 12,000, 144,000. Then he sees another related vision of an innumerable host. No one could number. And there are praises in heaven for these have come out of a great tribulation. And then we have a wonderful description, verses 15 and following, of these people, and that they serve the Lord day and night in his temple, and how he shall protect them, he shall the Lamb, shall lead them to streams of living water, and God will wipe away every tear. This is a marvelous, wonderful comforting vision, which again comes as an interlude between the 6th and the 7th seal. And I think those interpreters are right who say that this comes then as a vision of comfort for the Christians in the midst of these seven seals. There is a sort of delay of the climax here in a sense. And we have the 6th seal, but we don't have the 7th. But before the 7th seal we have these visions of comfort given to believers. We have a number of basic interpretative approaches to both these sections of chapter 7. When we hear about the 144,000 sealed, who are we talking about? What is the ceiling, when does it take place, and who are the people? Again, we have talked about basic approaches to revelation, and here you see those different approaches playing out differently. One approach says, take it literally as literally as possible. These would be literal physical Jews, that is Israelites. 12,000 from each tribe means 12,000 from each tribe. And they are sealed somehow with the seal of God. And this is, when does this happen? In this interpretation it would happen right towards the end of history just before the coming of Christ. Sometime during the great tribulation, so these would be, in this, this is the dispensational or more broadly pre-millennial point of view, that the dispensational view, especially the church has already been raptured, taken away from the earth. And these are then Jewish people who convert during a seven-year tribulation period. That is one approach. Another approach that we have called the preterist approach would want to see this as happening in the first century. It all happened in the first century before Jerusalem fell, and this had to do with sealing the believing Jews at the time before Jerusalem was destroyed. The preterist, meaning past, all this has taken place in the past. The view that I think is better is that this is concerning not literal Jews or literal Israelites, but concerns the church as the new Israel, which is very much a New Testament theme. If you think back to 1 Peter 2, you are chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, borrowing all the terms that characterize old covenant Israel, applying into the church, any number of New Testament places we could look at. This would be, therefore, an ideal, not a real number, a symbolic number. I don't know where we would find, you know, 12,000 naphtaliites today, gaddites, ashurites, even if you could certainly find 144,000 Jews, but how do you divide those up into the tribes, the so-called lost tribes? So, I think it is talking about the spiritual Israel Christians, and I think it's talking about, as to the question of when, I think it's talking about really the whole era between the first and second advent, the inter-advent era, when the servants of God are sealed with the seal of God. Now, we do have some indication, I think, of that, when, in, for instance, 2 Corinthians 122, Paul says, in verse 21, but is God who establishes us with you in Christ, he has commissioned us, he has put his seal upon us and given us his spirit in our hearts as a guarantee. There is, and the New Testament reality of a ceiling, I don't know if you remember, this is happening to you, but you were sealed, you were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, as he says in also Ephesians chapter 1, verse 13, in him you also who have heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and have believed in him, you were sealed with what? With the promised Holy Spirit, which is the guarantee of our inheritance, until we acquire possession of it. Again, the ceiling of the Spirit is the guarantee to us of a future inheritance, and that, in a sense, is what is going on, I think, in Revelation 7. We are being sealed with the seal of God, which is the Spirit, unto the revelation at the great day, unto the inheritance, so we are being sealed and protected, that's, a seal would be God's sign of ownership in ancient world, even today, sometimes you put your seal or your stamp on something, you market. It belongs to you, and God's seal on us means we belong to him, so the 144,000 are sealed with the seal of God, they belong to him, like Old Testament Israel, and all the tribes of Israel. Another indication that makes me think this is the right approach is already in Revelation, we've learned about a sort of antagonism in the opposition between Jews and Christians, and the question over the identity of who really is the Israel of God, who really are Jews. In chapters 2 and 3, letter to the Smyrnaans and the Philadelphians, both, we have some people there who say they are Jews and are not but lie. So there is contention in the situations of these churches about the identity of the people of God, who really is a Jew, who really is, and Israelite. And of course the Christian doctrine from Jesus, Paul, Peter, and the rest of the apostles is that those who believe in Jesus are the true Israel, Paul says not all are Israel, but are of Israel. So that's what I think is going on with the feeling of the servants of God, 144,000, any strong descent out there on that. I know that for some of you this will be reading against the grain of what you've probably heard, but it's going to get worse, it's going to get much worse. Dale.
Well, that's right, there's always a comeback.
That's an ideal number.
The way he has identified us is somehow being of one tribe or another, which would be a history discovered? Well, that's, yeah, right, you'd like to find out you really are a gadite after all, maybe some of you have been wanting to be for a long time. It's probably on some computer genealogical programs somewhere. But, well, you know, that's easier, I think, to digest, Dale, if we're taking a symbolic approach, if we're allowing for a symbolic approach, that is that we could be divided out. If there are 144,000 of us, and there are definitely more, then it's easier. We're already in a symbolic mode to say that 12,000 are gadites, 12,000 are Levites, or not Levites, even mentioned here. That gets to another one of the problems, and that is that this list of the 12 tribes corresponds to no Old Testament list. If you read through them, you'll find that one tribe is left out. The tribe of Dan is left out altogether, and the half tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh show up, as two tribes, remember, and their father Joseph. Joseph had two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, and we find 12,000 tribe of Manasseh. Ephraim is not there. Manasseh is there, and his father Joseph is there, and that makes up the lack of Dan. Again, if you're trying to press this, I don't know what symbolic import that might have. Rather than maybe Dan is missing because Judas of the 12 apostles is missing. Maybe there's a correspondence there, but if you're trying to press it literally, then I think you have even greater difficulties, understanding why. Even if God knows where they are, and there haven't been intermingled somewhere, I don't know. I think at least I've given some of the reasons why the other view makes a lot more sense to me. We do have a very strong and basic teaching in the New Testament about the church as the true Israel. Who is really the Israel of God? Well, it's those who believe in Jesus. That's another image. Jesus is divine. We are the branches, and those branches that don't bear fruit are locked off, and those that abide in him remain. That is the first eight verses. I think it's a picture of God sealing His saints. Again, we have the sealing idea in the New Testament that we are sealed with the Holy Spirit. Then we come to the second major part of the chapter, verses nine and following, where we have an unnumbered multitude, an innumerable multitude. Now, who is this? We've just seen 144,000, now an innumerable multitude. Well, I think they're the same group. The same group, even though the numbers don't match up. Remember back in chapter five, when John is told not to weep because the lion of the tribe of Judah has conquered the lion of the tribe of Judah, and he turns and looks, and instead of seeing a lion, he sees a lamb. So he's told one thing, it's a lion, he looks, and he sees a lamb. This is what happens in visions and in the Bible sometimes. I think that's what's going on here. He hears a number, 144,000. He looks, and it's innumerable. Keep in mind, again, the 144,000, as I would take it, is symbolic. It's not a literal number. There are vastly more than 144,000. They're safe. So here is the innumerable multitude, but no one can number. From every tribe, every nation, all tribes and peoples and tongues. Now, who are these people? I've said they're the same group, but the difference, or one difference, I think is that in the first part of the vision, he sees them yet on earth about to go through or going through a tribulation and they're sealed with God's protective seal on their foreheads. In verse 9 and following, now he sees them in heaven. Now he sees them come out of the great tribulation, which the angel says in verse 14. These are the who have come out of the great tribulation. So they've already died and they're in heaven before the throne. Again, we're having into a particular way of looking at revelation, because again, another way of looking at revelation would picture these as resurrected and in the millennial kingdom on earth. That's the way the pre-millennials would look at this. The resurrection has occurred and this is a vision of the millennium on earth and this is the innumerable multitude that is saved. I think there are several indicators that what we're seeing is a heavenly scene still. It's heavenly because we read of them being before the throne in verse 9. Before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes with palm branches in their hands. We've seen a picture of the throne already and the throne is in heaven. We've had no indication that the throne has moved to earth at this point. They're also said to serve God in his temple day and night. When we get to the new heavens and new earth in chapter 21, chapter 21 and 22, one thing we'll read that is striking about the new heavens and new earth is that there is no temple in the new heavens and new earth. Because the Lamb, because God and the Lamb are the temple and they have no need of a temple because everything is holy. It fits with the imagery and revelation of the temple as the heavenly temple that is there now. We saw John brought into that temple in chapters 4 and 5. Again, I think this picture is the present heavenly realm where God is on his throne and there is a temple in heaven the one the earthly temple was patterned after. Does that make sense? I think I saw a hand over here, Andy. Okay, just very briefly, pre-millennial, particularly dispensational timeline, dispensational being a brand of pre-millennialism. We have the rapture of the church, one take place, all believers are taken from the earth and then we have a seven year tribulation period. There are variations of this. Some people say that the church is taken up in the middle of the seven year tribulation period. I see some nodding heads, we have some real cognoscendi in here, some people who really know or in the know of dispensationalism. There is maybe a three and a half year division in there, seven year tribulation period and then Christ returns. You could say, you know, he returns at this time for his saints and he returns this time with his saints. That's some of the terminology that sometimes use. So Christ returns and then is the millennium thousand years and then is the last judgment. Okay, that's your basic dispensational timeline. So what we would be talking about in chapter seven would be according to that view, the churches in heaven, and these are Jews on earth, 144,000, and then we're giving a picture of the millennial kingdom in the rest of chapter seven, where they follow the Lamb in the midst of the throne as their shepherd. And what I'm suggesting is that, well, this is going to do everything up for you, but I'll put it across here. All right, this whole period is the great tribulation, but it's also the millennium. And that will boggle your minds for a while. I think Rob has still has unbelievers. Well, I think that is one of the great problems for that view, but I think if you can hold on, Rob, I would want to hold that till later when we actually get to chapter 20. Well, that will be one of the coup d'et-grosses. We'll put out at that point. Yes. Well, that would be a thousand years as it would be a symbolic number for the time basically between the first and the second coming of Christ. I know the wheels are churning, but this is all right, because it will keep you coming until we get to chapter 20. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. Exactly. And I think that is a key concept, really, that Dale just brought up there. The New Testament uses the term last days to refer to the days in which the New Testament was being written and the whole period from then till now. Last days, Harold's time shall come, where I think was some future time. So last days, you just try to have to be very attentive to the context. Yeah. And even that could be, that could be just a prediction, the way they're starting to get now, it's going to be that way. It's going to be that way for the whole time. Yes, in the front row here. I think so. I think there's an indication that just before Christ returns, things will get worse for the church. How bad and how long that lasts. I don't know, but that again, we'll talk about at a later point. And right now, any other questions about the Millennium? I'm going to say no, too. Any other questions about the Millennium? If it's not specifically about the Millennium? Okay, yes. The rapture, I would say, is almost concurrent with the time of the judgment. When Christ comes back, he comes back in the saints or rapture to be with him, and then there's the judgment. So the rapture is there, but it's not here, and then followed by seven years of tribulation. Yes, Carlin? Yes. Yes. And we will get to that in chapter 12. Oh, thanks for bringing that up, Carlin. That was good. Yes. Bob, that was really low. I'm sorry. There's also higher criticism, Bob, which, you know, sometimes, yes. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Right. Okay. Now, back to, I think there's a lot more to say about this. Actually, the description, particularly, of the innumerable multitude. After John sees them, verse 10, they cry out and they attribute their salvation to God, who sits on the throne and to the Lamb, and all the angels, the elders, the living creatures fall in their faces, and also bring glory and praise to God. The sevenfold blessing, blessing, glory, wisdom, thanks, giving honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever, Amen. And then there is a sort of a puzzle, a riddle posed to John by one of the 24 elders. We are not told which one, but one of the 24 elders. Who are these clothes and white robes? And when's have they come? John says, you know, what you would probably say when you don't know the answer, sir, you know. And he said to me, these are they who have come out of the great tribulation. They have washed the robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. First of all, the Bob's question of the great tribulation. Yeah, I do think that that stands for. It's another way of characterizing really the whole time. Jesus said in John 1633, in the world you have tribulation, but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world. There is going to be tribulation for Christians in this world. It may not hit every one of us in quite the same way that it, you know, hits someone else. And some will literally have to give up their lives for Christ and some won't. But the tribulation I think is, I think characterized the whole period. Remember back in chapter 1 verse 9, John says, I, John, your brother, who share with you in Jesus the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance. And again, I think this goes back to the the paradox of the book of Revelation in a sensual paradox of the Christian faith that the time of the kingdom he says, I share with you the kingdom, but I share with you the tribulation. At the same time, John lived in the first century. He didn't live, you know, at the end, you know, seven year tribulation period. So yeah, I would say that this is talking about the whole period. And then we have the save being saved, being redeemed, entering heaven throughout the period.
Now again, there are certainly other ways you can take that. But one, you know, I'm trying to point out that there are so many aspects to these different approaches. This is the one that I think makes the most sense of the most data. And I think fits in with the rest of the New Testament quite well. But so that's coming out of the great tribulation. Then we have this very jarring, another very jarring image of those who have, you know, why are there robes white? They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Now, of course, we know what that means. You know, we're privileged to know what that means. But think of it for a moment, just how striking an image that is, washing your robes in the blood of the Lamb, and that makes them white. You know, completely strange and astonishing, but how wonderfully true spiritually. And that's the only way that our garments are made clean. Remember, he told the church at Sardis that they needed to clean their garments. And we'll read this later on in the book of Revelation. Chapter 22 verse 14, Blessed are those who wash their robes, blessed are those who wash their robes, and we know how they get them clean. 12-11, we read of those who have conquered by the blood of the Lamb. So it's again the blood of the Lamb that provides us our victory and provides us our pure and spotless garments to stand before the throne. They have white robes, and they are before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple. That indicates their priests. They serve in his temple, like the priests served in the Old Testament temple. In chapter 1 verse 6, we're already called a kingdom of priests here on earth. And he who sits upon the throne will shelter them with his presence. Another promise of the presence of God to these who have overcome and come out of the great tribulation. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore. No famine of wheat, barley, oil, or wine will ever hurt them again. Read about in the 1st and 2nd of the seals it was broken, famine, and so forth. They don't have to worry about being hungry, thirsting, or being scorched by the sun. But now I think the image shifts a little bit from there being priests to them being lambs, sheep, because they're being shepherded by a lamb, the lamb in the midst of the throne. And this terminology, this phraseology should remind you of particularly Psalm 23. He will guide them to springs of living water. Out striking, again, that we are sheep and the lamb is also sheep. He's a lamb. The lamb has been slain to keep the rest of the sheep safe.
Low, the good shepherd for the sheep is slaughtered. The slave has sinned and the sun has suffered. Great to him that we sometimes sing at communion time. So we're giving a reassuring vision, assuring Christians of God's protection of them throughout the time of their tribulation on earth, and a vision of them in glory being shepherded by the lamb, where no sun can scorch, where no famine can threaten them. They're safe within his fold, and they serve him day and night in his temple forever. This then brings us to the end of chapter 7, and ready for the opening of the seventh seal as chapter 8 begins.
And here's the passage that we read at the beginning of the class this morning. When the lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. And then John sees the seven angels, given seven trumpets, and another angel standing at the altar with a golden sensor, given much incense to mingle with the prayers of the saints. And verse 4, the smoke of the incense rose with the prayers of the saints from the hand of the angel before God, and then something very dramatic. The angel takes that sensor, the sensor he'd been holding that had been smoking with the incense and the prayers of the saints, and he fills it with fire from the altar and does what with it.
Throws it down, casts it down to the earth, and amidst, attended by, peels of thunder, voiceless flashes of lightning and an earthquake, and now the seven angels with the seven trumpets make ready to blow. You get a very dramatic image if you try to think about it happening, and as John sees this happening. Again, we're talking about a vision, we're talking about an apocalyptic vision. He's able to see the earth, and the sensor going down, being thrown down upon the earth. Okay, after everything else we've seen with the six seals, when the seventh is broken, I don't know about you, but I'm not expecting quietness and stillness and silence. But that's what happens when he opens the seventh seal, silence in heaven, for the space of about half an hour. How many people have speculated on the reason for that, and what all that means, I see some giggles back there, and do we have an interpretation back? Oh, okay. See, I know one, it's kind of funny, but I'm not going to say. Right, right. I don't know what he means. Ask him after class, is John Hill back there? No relation, that's right. You know, some have said that this indicates that there are no women in heaven, but I can test that, I personally love such a view like that, because I've actually heard research proves that men talk more than women. So Mrs. Richie says it's true, so there you have it. See, I don't even want to honor such an interpretation, you know, by a mention of it, so I won't. More seriously though, as I said, various interpretations have been made. I think the best one I've heard is that it is preparing, is the silence that prepares for the hearing of the prayers of God's people. And this is a worship service in heaven, and you would recall some solemn texts such as, the Lord is in his holy temple, let all your keep silence before him. It's the silence of awe in the presence of the Lord, making ready to worship him. I think that's pretty good, because what we're about to hear about are the prayers of the saints. And as the prayers are mingled with the incense, and the smoke goes out before the Lord, then the angel takes that censor and throws it on the earth, and then we read about the seven trumpets that are about to blow. There is going to be, I think it's inevitable, I'd see how you can avoid this connection between the prayers, the saints, and what is about to follow in the blowing of the trumpets and what happens afterwards. There seems to be a very strong connection between the two. So the prayers of the saints are influential in bringing about these judgments. And remember, the very censor that held the prayers of the saints is loaded up with coals and thrown down on the earth. And then we see, notice when we read about these seven trumpets and the judgments, notice the preponderance of fire in all of these. Again, as if it's picking up on this burning censor filled with coals from the heavenly altar. As we read through those, notice, look for fire and smoke, and where it's coming from. Now, ask to, just to something about the trumpets themselves, why trumpets? Why trumpets? We've had seals that belong to a scroll that are being broken. We understand something about that scroll, what that is. At least we've taken an interpretation on that. What about the trumpets? Where do they come from? Why are trumpets in heaven? Yeah, they were used in Israel to signal important events, sometimes to call to war, sometimes to call for convocations, gatherings of one kind or another, full moons, new moons, I should say new moons, and other gatherings of Israel. Any other symbolism or any other connections with trumpets that you can think of from the Old Testament? Yes, very good, exactly. They were used in temple worship. I'll go into that and give some verses for those who are interested. Ed, did you have... Right, they could announce the arrival of a king. Right. There's another incident that you all know of very well where trumpets seven, in fact, were used. Jericho, right. Right. When God came down to meet with Moses on Sinai, there was a great trumpet sound. When Israel left its encampment, the trumpet was to be blown. When it went to battle, a trumpet was to be blown. As we talked about convocations, a new moon or a jubilee year, trumpets are blown at the accession of a king. In the New Testament, we hear that when, at the time of his return, God will send out... The time of Jesus's return, God will send out his angels with the sound of a great trumpet to gather the elect. That's Matthew 2431. Paul tells the Thessalonians that Christ's descent will be accompanied by an archangels call in the sound of a great trumpet. They seem to herald the approach of God when he manifests himself on earth, Mount Sinai, and at the coming of Christ. Why trumpets here in Revelation? I think it's appropriate that, as was already mentioned, trumpets were also used in the worship of Israel. David, when he brought the ark to Jerusalem, actually appointed seven priests to blow trumpets. And you can read their names in, let's see, 1 Chronicles 15, verse 24, usually the names of those people. After the restoration, when Israel's brought back from captivity, these were reinstated, or seven priests with seven trumpets. Now, that we have seven angels with seven trumpets here in Revelation, seems then to pick up on that imagery of priests in the temple of God with trumpets. So, again, this would just be a reminder that we have a temple scene. We have a scene of worship in the heavenly temple. And these seven angels are acting as seven priests, seven priests from the old covenant worship. Remember, of course, again, this vision started in chapters 4 and 5 with the great scene of the heavenly throne room. There is, in fact, one text in 2 Chronicles 29 that almost looks like a model for what's happening here in terms of a worship service. It's described this way. This is after Hezekiah restored the temple worship in Jerusalem. It says, the Levites stood with the instruments of David, and the priests with the trumpets. Then, Hezekiah commanded that the bird offering be offered on the altar. And when the bird offering began, the song to the Lord began also, and the trumpets accompanied by the instruments of David, King of Israel. The whole assembly worshiped, and the singers sang, and the trumpeters sounded. All this continued until the bird offering was finished. Now, I'm not sure how closely to draw the parallel, but you have several of the elements there. You have an offering. We, chapter 5, a lamb standing as though slain, he's been offered. We have the souls of the saints under the altar in chapter 6 that have been sacrificed, that have been slain. You could even perhaps picture the judgments that are about to follow as a sacrifice, as a burning, a bird offering. That's about to consume part of the earth. And all this time, the trumpeters are blowing during this time, intermittently, whatever, however it happens. And so this, again, would fit with conceiving the whole scene in a sense as part of a worship service. That's going on in heaven, as strange as that may sound at first. Remember prayers are being offered, and the trumpeters blow in response to that. We have songs being sung in heaven in the book of Revelation as well. Okay, we are just about out of time, but I would like to at least introduce the six trumpets, then, which follow. Just like the seven seals, the seven trumpets have, excuse me, a series of six, and then one. That is, the last one is set off by an interlude. Something is going to take place between the six and the seventh trumpet. Also, the first four trumpets accomplish their judgments that fall mainly upon the inanimate creation. The earth, the heavens, the sea, and the inland waters. The last three have to do more particularly with mankind, and pains that they endure. Once again, we're confronted with a question of your interpretative approach. Again, is this all happening, let's say, during this seven-year tribulation period? Is it all happening in the first century, the preters approach? Or is it happening at some time during the whole of the interadvent era, between the first advent and the second advent of Christ? The last one, the last approach is the one I think is most convincing. That's the way I would suggest that you look at it. Again, as you read through the judgments, notice the fire. In the first four, the fire is coming down from above, almost like echoing the sensor that's thrown down from the heavenly altar. In the fifth trumpet, smoke comes up from the pit below, almost like an imitation of the heavenly fire, but this one's coming from below, from the pits of hell as it were. I think we'll be able to go through the seven trumpets, at least the six trumpets fairly quickly next week, but that's any questions before we add Jerry. That's a good question, and over the years, people have held that view. I would tend to think more, not that they correspond with distinct periods in history, but that they may occur at any time over history. When interpreter, for instance, in looking at the second trumpet, which has a great mountain burning with fire thrown in the sea, and a third of the sea becomes blood and so forth, a third of the ships are destroyed, one interpreter that I like says that we should look at all disasters on sea in this light. There's a lot to think about here, and I think that's the way I would approach it. Whether it happened in the first century or with a Titanic, or what happened yesterday, I would think of that in the light of this. Well, that's another great question. What does it teach us about how we ought to pray? We have the impractory songs, and I think a common approach to those that we hear is, well, that was for Old Testament, Israel. So did this extractor in Revelation the Saints was saying, how long before you will avenge our clothe on those around you? Exactly. What I'm saying is, Revelation brings up that subject for us again. And in the New Testament, yeah, we're definitely told that vengeance is the Lord's, that we're not to take vengeance into our own hands, but to leave it to God. But in some sense, excuse me, imprecatory, well, sort of praying judgment upon someone. In a sense, I think if we are longing for God's justice, that this has to be a part of our prayer life. It has to be a part of our emotional life, not that we would be motivated to take things into our own hands. But if we're motivated by the things that motivate God, and one of those things is to execute justice upon His enemies, then at some point, at least, that has got to figure in our spirituality too. You could try to make a distinction between us on earth and those in heaven, that they're able to do that now with a clear conscience, you know, and we're not. But certainly if there is a purity in God's seeking justice upon His enemies, there could be a purity in our seeking the same thing, seeking justice against God's enemies. That's a good point. I was trying to recall, you don't see many of them in the New Testament, but that might be one. Part of His glory, got Romans 9 through 11, that part of His glory is the judgment on those who are hardened against Him.
Right. Right. We certainly probably feel no compunction in praying for the downfall of evil regimes of any kind, political or non-political, and what bothers us more is when we think about individuals. And we don't have many examples of that, but Dale brought up Paul and Alexander the Coppersmith, and here, I mean, Carolyn, I'm not sure exactly how we wrestle through this one and apply it. But I do think that Revelation brings that to the fore, and that there is certainly an aspect. Think of it with the saints in heaven. There is an aspect in which they participate with Christ in ruling, and they therefore participate with His judgment. Later on, when there are judgments on the earth, we'll hear an echo of a group in heaven saying, yay, Lord, holy and true, righteous are your judgments. If we follow along with God, if we go along with His judgments, we praise Him for them, and we will praise Him for the execution of His judgment upon humankind.
And it's good to struggle with that. When we're struggling, it's good to struggle with how to do that in a godly way. We have to do it in a biblical, following the biblical patterns. That's good. Well, we're playing to think about for next week. Let's close in prayer. Our God, we thank you for being with us this morning, for opening our eyes to many things, and yet we confess that still many clouds remain. We pray that you would work on our hearts to melt away the draws, to refine us in your purifying furnace. We commit to you our way this day, and pray that you would be honored by the worship that we give you in Jesus' name. Amen.