Another week has
passed bringing more and more signs of the end as told to us in the Word of
God. With all of the questions I have
been receiving, I thought I would share an article from Jack Kelley, while a
few years old, is none the less very informative concerning the days we are
living in right now.
Have The
Seal Judgments Begun?
A Bible Study by Jack Kelley
Judging from some of the questions
I’ve received lately, people are really getting impatient for the end times to
begin in earnest. For years fringe groups have been claiming that the seal
judgments have already begun, but it looks to me like this opinion is suddenly
becoming more popular.
The Seal judgments are now being
compared to the “birth pangs” of Matt. 24:4-8 by people who say the real
end times judgments won’t begin until after the great multitude of Rev. 7:9 arrives in Heaven. They say these
saints are the church, and claim that we’ll be raptured between the seal
judgments and the trumpet judgments that begin in Rev. 8:6. There are several reasons why
this cannot be correct, but perhaps the most obvious is that the destiny of
these believers is not the same as that of the Church. According to Rev. 7:15 they will serve God day and
night in His temple, but there is no Temple in the New Jerusalem where the
Church will be (Rev. 21:22) and the Rev. 7 multitude is neither called kings
nor priests.
What’s
The Big Hurry?
Some of this impatience is
undoubtedly prompted by the dissatisfaction people feel about the current
condition of our world. In the US, a recent poll shows that only 32% of the
population thinks our leaders are taking us in the right direction. People are
beginning to realize that the lowest unemployment rate in 5 years doesn’t mean
that more people are finding jobs. They know that the labor force participation
rate, having been at or above 66% for most of the time between 2003-2008 has
been dropping since 2009 and is now at 63.3%. Where is the rest of the
workforce? Most have either accepted low paying and/or part time work or have
simply given up on trying to find a job. Either way they’re no longer looking
for work, so the government doesn’t consider them to be unemployed. People also
understand from their own experience that the middle class is steadily losing
economic ground, and that the dollars we have don’t buy as much as they used
to.
And just this week one of our most
highly respected prophecy scholars disclosed his belief that the time for
praying the US out of our problems has ended. In effect, He said God gave us
fair warning and we didn’t pay attention. He identified the recent presidential
election as our response to God’s warning, and said it marked the point of no
return for us. Citing passages from Jeremiah and Ezekiel where God told the
prophets to stop praying for Israel because He had stopped listening, this
scholar stated his belief that our judgment has also been irrevocably
determined and prayer will no longer help. Based on these and other
circumstances it’s no wonder that many people who read about the Seal judgments
in Revelation 6 see indications that they’re already here.
Long time readers of my articles
know that I don’t believe the United States can be prayed out of our situation
either. For me it’s a matter of there being no place for a strong US in end
times prophecy. I’ve said before that I believe people who are praying for
America’s recovery are unknowingly praying against God’s plan for the end of
the age. He never gave the Church a homeland on Earth and He never promised to
save the USA, which He considers to be just another gentile nation.
But neither my esteemed colleague
nor I believe we’re already in the Seal judgments. The circumstances we’re
currently experiencing are certainly similar to the Seal judgments, although
much milder, but certain specific conditions have not been met for them to have
actually begun.
Now if you don’t believe that the
Bible teaches a pre-tribulation rapture, and if you don’t believe that Israel
and the Church have separate destinies, you may not see some of this the way I
do. But based on my understanding of Bible prophecy, the events of the Book of
Revelation will begin unfolding this way.
Have
You Read The Book?
In Rev. 1:19 the Lord gave John instructions
on writing the Bible’s most comprehensive prophecy of the End of the Age. He
said, “Write, therefore, what you have seen, what is now, and what will take
place later.” Many scholars believe these instructions effectively divide
the book into three parts. The things John had seen are contained in chapter 1.
The things that were in John’s present are described in chapters 2-3 and the
things that will take place later begin in chapter 4 and fill the rest of the
book.
Strictly speaking the seven churches
of Rev. 2-3 were the only addressees of the
book of Revelation (Rev. 1:11). Each one
was an actual congregation that deserved both the commendations and the
criticisms Jesus gave them. If you’ve visited the sites of these seven
churches, as I have, you know that all them disappeared long ago. Why did Jesus
choose them as opposed to other churches of the day?
Many scholars who have studied Rev. 2-3 see that with their particular
challenges and viewed in the order in which they’re mentioned, these seven are
not just a handful of long gone 1st century churches but are representative of
the entire Church Age. They say the reason the Lord chose them was to provide
this concise look at the Church’s past, present and future.
Accepting this view makes Rev. 2-3 instructive to the entire Church
age, because the problems He identified there are still with us. It’s also
consistent with the structure of the book, which is to render things in signs.
In the Greek language of Rev. 1:1 John used
the word “semaino”, which means “to give a sign, or signify”, to describe how
he was commanded to write. It means that through out the book certain words and
phrases are meant to signify something else. The dragon, the beast, and the
woman who rides the beast are three obvious examples.
In his gospel, John used this same
word on three occasions to explain that a particular phrase was intended to
refer to something else. In John 12:33 Jesus used the phrase “lifted
up” to signify his crucifixion. John 18:32 explains that one of the
reasons the Jewish leaders took Jesus to Pilate is so he would be crucified, to
fulfill the words He had spoken, signifying the kind of death He would die.
(The Jewish method of execution was stoning.) And in John 21:19 Jesus told Peter he would
stretch out his hands and someone would lead him where he did not want to go.
According to John this was meant to signify Peter’s crucifixion.
Therefore seeing Rev. 2-3 as signifying the entire Church
Age is a reasonable interpretation. That being the case, then the phrase “the
things that will take place later” (literally, after these things) from Rev. 1:19 means that everything from Rev. 4 to the end of the book will come
after the Church Age has ended.
After
These Things
Rev. 4-5
contain a number of indications that these two chapters describe events that
take place right after the rapture of the Church. First, the 24 elders of Rev. 4:4 don’t appear in any earlier
description of the throne of God, so they’re new arrivals. In addition they’re
sitting on thrones (meaning they’re rulers) wearing white (meaning they’re
righteous) with crowns of gold on their heads. The word for crown John used is
stephanos. It refers to a victory crown and is the crown of an overcomer.
In Rev. 3:11 Jesus cautioned us to hold on so
that no one will take our crown, and in Rev. 3:21 He said, “To him who
overcomes I will give the right to sit with me on my throne just as I overcame
and sat down with my Father on His throne.” Crowns and thrones.
Singing to God in Rev. 5:9-10 (NKJV) they declare, “You
are worthy to take the scroll, and to open its seals; For You were slain, and
have redeemed us to God by Your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people
and nation, and have made us kings and priests to our God; and we shall reign
on the earth.”
This is a song only the church can
sing.
I agree it would be a bit of a
stretch to base our pre-trib conviction on such circumstantial evidence alone,
but by putting other clear verses like Isaiah 26:19-20, 1 Thes. 1:10, and Rev. 3:10 with it, the evidence becomes
much more concrete, and makes the pre-trib position more consistent with a
literal interpretation of Scripture than any other rapture view.
Also, in Romans 11:25-26 Paul made it clear that
Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of Gentiles
has come in. Once that happens, Israel will have one final chance to receive
the Lord’s salvation. We can also see this in Acts 15:13-18, where James explained that
Israel was being set aside while the Lord took from the Gentiles a people for
himself. After this He will turn His attention toward Israel again, their
Temple will be rebuilt, and they’ll have a final chance to seek the Lord.
This final opportunity is known to
us from Daniel 9:24-27 as Daniel’s 70th Week, the
last half of which is called the Great Tribulation. Both Romans 11:25-26 and Acts 15:13-18 indicate that Daniel’s 70th
Week will take place after the Lord has completed His plan to take for Himself
a people from the Gentiles. There will be a certain number of Gentiles taken
and when that number has been met we will be carried away to our ultimate
destiny in the Lord’s house (John 14:2-3) After that, Daniel’s 70th
week will begin. I believe Rev. 6-18 is a description
of the events that take place during Daniel’s 70th Week.
So the first thing we see is that
the rapture of the Church has to precede the Seal judgments. Since the Church
is still here, the Seal judgments can’t have begun yet.
But
Wait, There’s More
Rev. 6:1
tells us a rider on a white horse will appear after the events of Rev. 4-5 (the rapture). This rider is
thought by most to be an early appearance of the anti-Christ. The world won’t
recognize him as such, but will think of him as a great peacemaker. Daniel 8:25 says he will deceive many this
way, and in 1 Thes. 5:3 Paul
said the world will believe peace has arrived, but then destruction will come
upon them suddenly. So at the beginning of the Seal judgments, there will be a
short period of peace that the whole world will notice. That is not the case
today and it hasn’t been the case for a number of years. I believe this peace
will come right after Ezekiel 38-39, a war that God will use to draw
Israel back into their covenant with Him. If so, then the Seal judgments can’t
begin until after Ezekiel 38-39.
Suddenly peace will be taken from
the world again, as Paul indicated, and people will be dying in large numbers (Rev. 6:4). Inflation and food shortages
will become so acute that it will take everything an average person can earn in
a day to buy one day’s worth of food (Rev. 6:6). One fourth of the world’s
populated areas will suffer the effects of war, famine, and pestilence. Even
wild animals will take part in the carnage (Rev. 6:8).
People will die for the Christian
faith in large numbers. Their spirits will cry out to the Lord for vengeance
but the death and destruction will get much worse before it’s over (Rev. 6:9). Finally there will be a great
earthquake that sends the people of Earth running for cover. The Sun will turn
black and the Moon will turn dark red (Rev. 6:12-14). Everyone from the world’s
leaders to the humblest of men will look for a place to hide from God’s
judgment (Rev. 6:15-17).
Please note that this doesn’t mean
the coming wrath will begin at the end of the Seal judgments. The Greek words
of Rev. 6:17 describe continuous and ongoing
action. It means the post-rapture world will finally realize that what has been
happening through out the seal judgments is that the great day of God’s wrath
has already begun.
In
Conclusion
So, while many of the conditions
affecting the world today appear quite similar to those described in the Seal
judgments of Rev. 6, they are in fact much milder
previews of what lies ahead. The full impact of this first cycle of judgments
won’t be felt until after the Lord has made good on His promise to rescue us
from the time and place of their occurrence, and Israel has returned from their
long estrangement from God to once again be a covenant keeping nation.
But take heart, you who grow
impatient, because if you listen carefully you can almost hear the footsteps of
the Messiah. 05-04-13
Keep watching.
https://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/180-Israeli-students-quarantined-after-coronavirus-exposure-618455
