Session 2 Revelation 6 and 7

As we begin this chapter we must understand from chapter 6 – 19 is what is known as the 70thweek of Daniel found in Daniel 9: 24-27

Daniel was praying nearing the end of the dispersion of Israel and Gabriel brought him this message

Verses 24 “A period of seventy sets of seven has been decreed for your people and your holy city to finish their rebellion, to put an end to their sin, to atone for their guilt, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to confirm the prophetic vision, and to anoint the Most Holy Place.

Israel was supposed to give the Lord and the land a Sabbaths rest every 7 years, they hadn’t done it for 490 years so the Lord caused them to go into captivity for 70 years, giving the Lord and the land the owed Sabbath rest.

Verses 25, 26 

Now listen and understand! Seven sets of seven plus sixty-two sets of seven will pass from the time the command is given to rebuild Jerusalem until a ruler—the Anointed One—comes. Jerusalem will be rebuilt with streets and strong defenses, despite the perilous times.

26 “After this period of sixty-two sets of seven, the Anointed One will be killed, appearing to have accomplished nothing, and a ruler will arise whose armies will destroy the city and the Temple. The end will come with a flood, and war and its miseries are decreed from that time to the very end.

From the time of the release from captivity until Christ birth, death and resurrection to the time of the 2nd abomination of desolation that took place in 70 AD (first one was around 176 BC) are covered in these verses.

Then Daniel 9:27

The final abomination of desolation and the rise of the Anti-Christ will be covered in chapters 6-19 of revelation

The ruler will make a treaty with the people for a period of one set of seven, but after half this time, he will put an end to the sacrifices and offerings. And as a climax to all his terrible deeds, he will set up a sacrilegious object that causes desecration, until the fate decreed for this defiler is finally poured out on him.”

Notice final set of seven (years) but at 3 ½ years he will violate a treaty and desecrate the temple until God ends it all for Satan.

2 Thessalonians 2 (read this on your own) tells us that we will be taken out of here before the anti-Christ is revealed as he must be revealed in order to gain a peace treaty but we must be removed in order for the allow him to be revealed as Paul talks about our gathering away

before we get into Chapters 6 and 7 we need to understand the purpose of the tribulation we find that in Hosea 5:15

Then I will return to my place

until they admit their guilt and turn to me.

For as soon as trouble comes,

they will earnestly search for me.”

When did God leave His place? When he became a man and lived on earth. He will stay there until the Jews turn back to Him repenting and earnestly seeking Him

In my opinion, and many others this is the reason for the tribulation period to bring the nation of Israel to their Messiah.

Everything that is about to unfold is happening so that God can fulfill his promises to the nation of Israel, that is part of the reason the church is already gone because this is about Israel not us.

The tribulation begins after the lamb opens the scroll, the lamb doesn’t open the scroll until he receives it from the Father and he doesn’t take it until the 24 elders dressed in white (representing the righteousness of Christ) laying down there crowns (which we read they have based on Jesus epistles to the churches) because the elders represent the church so the church must be in heaven before the tribulation takes place.  

If you compare the vision of the throne of God that  is in Isaiah chapter 6 and Daniel 7 they are very identical to John vision with one exception, they do not see the 24 elders Paul expressed in Ephesians 3 that the church was hidden from the Old testament.

We begin with the first four seals, the four horseman of the apocalypse

Revelation 6: 1-17

As I watched, the Lamb broke the first of the seven seals on the scroll. Then I heard one of the four living beings say with a voice like thunder, “Come!”

John actually saw this not a vision!

2 I looked up and saw a white horse standing there. Its rider carried a bow, and a crown was placed on his head. He rode out to win many battles and gain the victory.

The crown he wears is a victors crown not a ruling crown. Carrying a bow as opposed to Christ’s sword later. This is the anti-Christ translated instead of Christ) (actually should be t and in Daniel 8:25 we are told he is a master of deception we have already read that he will make a treaty and then break it. He appears as a man of peace but really is a man ready to make war.  The bow may also reflect a covenant as the “rain – bow” was by God to Noah, it could be a Holy Spirit pun showing that he comes with a false covenant.

According to scripture, he will be handsome, brilliant, a master politician, he will be from the roman empire which means he could be from Europe but is most likely Assyrian. The only real description of this person is found in Zachariah 11:17 

“Woe to the worthless shepherd,

Who leaves the flock!

A sword shall be against his arm

And against his right eye;

His arm shall completely wither,

And his right eye shall be totally blinded.”

Many believe this is why the mark of the beast will either be on the forehead or hand because it will be to emulate the wounded one who survived the head wound but was left with a blind eye and arm that would not work

3 When the Lamb broke the second seal, I heard the second living being say, “Come!” 4 Then another horse appeared, a red one. Its rider was given a mighty sword and the authority to take peace from the earth. And there was war and slaughter everywhere.

Very simply this is just war, robbing much of the world of any peace but the man of lawlessness will bring peace.

5 When the Lamb broke the third seal, I heard the third living being say, “Come!” I looked up and saw a black horse, and its rider was holding a pair of scales in his hand. 6 And I heard a voice from among the four living beings say, “A loaf of wheat bread or three loaves of barley will cost a day’s pay. And don’t waste the olive oil and wine.”

Lamentations 4, Jeremiah 14, black refers to famine and to eat bread by weight implies scarcity (Leviticus 26 Ezekiel 4). What this implies because oil and wine are luxuries. We have world-wide famine because of politics, so the poor will suffer and the rich will keep getting richer

7 When the Lamb broke the fourth seal, I heard the fourth living being say, “Come!” 8 I looked up and saw a horse whose color was pale green. Its rider was named Death, and his companion was the Grave. These two were given authority over one-fourth of the earth, to kill with the sword and famine and disease and wild animals.

25% of the earth will be destroyed. The phrase “wild animals” could be translated beast and the most devastating beast on the earth are microscopic as we are seeing now, that can easily destroy a ¼ of the earth

Ezekiel 14:21 reflects this 

“For thus says the Lord God: “How much more it shall be when I send My four severe judgments on Jerusalem—the sword and famine and wild beasts and pestilence—to cut off man and beast from it?

9 When the Lamb broke the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of all who had been martyred for the word of God and for being faithful in their testimony. 10 They shouted to the Lord and said, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you judge the people who belong to this world and avenge our blood for what they have done to us?” 11 Then a white robe was given to each of them. And they were told to rest a little longer until the full number of their brothers and sisters—their fellow servants of Jesus who were to be martyred—had joined them.

We see those who have been martyred throughout history have a special place with the Lord, they have truly entered in to rest and there will be a special time of celebration for them when all who are going to be martyred will be fulfilled….we will see later those Gentiles who come to Christ during the tribulation are all martyred as they will not take the mark of the beast and so the full measure of the martyred will be complete before the second coming. God avenges the blood of the saints

12 I watched as the Lamb broke the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake. The sun became as dark as black cloth, and the moon became as red as blood. 13 Then the stars of the sky fell to the earth like green figs falling from a tree shaken by a strong wind. 14 The sky was rolled up like a scroll, and all of the mountains and islands were moved from their places.

Revelation chapters 6, 11, 13, talk about severe earthquakes….Isaiah 13, Joel 2, talks about the sun being darkened and then Isaiah 13, 24; Joel 2, and Matthew 24. None of these instances are allegorical so we can assume these events will actually happen as the scripture says here in chapter 6. This could be a nuclear winter, meteor shower, we don’t know for sure what is happening here but we know it will happen.

15 Then everyone—the kings of the earth, the rulers, the generals, the wealthy, the powerful, and every slave and free person—all hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains. 16 And they cried to the mountains and the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of the one who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb. 17 For the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to survive?”

Remember when we studied Joshua, the kings hid in caves then he sealed the caves until he was ready to deal with them….Even the greatest among the nations will fail and they begin to fear the wrath of God but they will not yet repent and most never do.

Before every seventh event there is a pause, a “selah” so to speak and that is what chapter 7 is all about

Revelation 7:1 – 17

1 Then I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds so they did not blow on the earth or the sea, or even on any tree. 2 And I saw another angel coming up from the east, carrying the seal of the living God. And he shouted to those four angels, who had been given power to harm land and sea, 3 “Wait! Don’t harm the land or the sea or the trees until we have placed the seal of God on the foreheads of his servants.”

4 And I heard how many were marked with the seal of God—144,000 were sealed from all the tribes of Israel:

5 from Judah12,000 from Reuben12,000 from Gad12,000 6 from Asher12,000 from Naphtali12,000 from Manasseh12,000 7 from Simeon12,000 from Levi12,000 from Issachar12,000 8 from Zebulun12,000 from Joseph12,000 from Benjamin12,000

Praise from the Great Crowd

OK let’s check your history….what two tribes are not listed here?

Dan and Ephraim (sort of), Ephraim is covered by Joseph

Problem with Dan

Dan was troubled and rebellious all throughout his history in Judges 5:17 we read he stayed home when Deborah/Barak lead the armies against the Canaanites…Dan had left his love of being part of the family

1 Chronicles 1-8 details the nation of Israel leaves out Dan

Leviticus 24, Judges 18 and shows that he was used to bring idolatry entered the land

Lead in apostasy under Jeroboam against Rheboam in 1 Kings 12 and 2 Kings 10

One of the sites of the idolatrous golden calf that Jeroboam set up for false worship to keep people in Israel and away from Jerusalem in Judah

Deuteronomy 29:18+ talks about God removing the root of any tribe who is idolatrous.

Dan does however inherit land in the Millennium (Ezekiel 48) His tribe because of their idolatry are not sealed with protection but some will survive

The sealing is so they can become supernatural evangelist so they can share the Gospel without harm coming to them. Once again, the Gentiles of other Jews who may come to Christ during this time will be martyrs that will be added to the numbers of martyrs and they will be avenged and honored by the Lord 

9 After this I saw a vast crowd, too great to count, from every nation and tribe and people and language, standing in front of the throne and before the Lamb. They were clothed in white robes and held palm branches in their hands. 10 And they were shouting with a great roar,

“Salvation comes from our God who sits on the throne

and from the Lamb!”

Slightly different group than those that were with the Elders in that they cried out with a loud voice rather than singing. Palm branches rather than crowns

11 And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living beings. And they fell before the throne with their faces to the ground and worshiped God. 12 They sang,

“Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom

and thanksgiving and honor

and power and strength belong to our God

forever and ever! Amen.”

13 Then one of the twenty-four elders asked me, “Who are these who are clothed in white? Where did they come from?”

14 And I said to him, “Sir, you are the one who knows.”

Then he said to me, “These are the ones who died in the great tribulation. They have washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb and made them white.

These are redeemed but not like the Elders. The Elders were redeemed prior to the tribulation these were redeemed out of the tribulation. By the ministry of the 144.000. The Holy Spirit’s function is more as he did in the OT rather than the indwelling we have now but the conviction that was there in the OT is there to bring these to Christ

15 “That is why they stand in front of God’s throne

and serve him day and night in his Temple.

And he who sits on the throne

will give them shelter.

16 They will never again be hungry or thirsty;

they will never be scorched by the heat of the sun.

17 For the Lamb on the throne

will be their Shepherd.

He will lead them to springs of life-giving water.

And God will wipe every tear from their eyes.”

Why are they weeping? I believe it is lost opportunities; these rejected Christ until the tribulation, all they could have done had they come to Him earlier in life