THE
SEVEN TRUMPETS
Lesson 14
Part 1 / Page 1 of 2Review
Our previous study
focused on the seven seals. Because the
seals are chronological in nature, it is
critically important that we establish when the
seals begin to open if we are to identify their
relationship to time. In our last lesson,
we saw how Daniel and Revelation harmoniously
combine and bring us to the conclusion that 1844
is the year that Jesus received the book sealed
with seven seals. The harmony of the sum of
prophetic parts brings encouragement and
enlightenment to students of prophecy! Even more,
we shall see in this lesson that
Revelations sequences internally harmonize
with 1844.
The issue of the
worthiness of Jesus as our High Priest also
brings us to 1844. Remember, in the Old
Testament, the High Priest had to be found worthy
and his sacrifice accepted before he could
officiate on behalf of Israel! Leviticus 16
The previous lesson also
suggested that three seals were open within a
short period following 1844. As the drama
requires a stage, the first three seals prepare
the earth for the next three seals. In
addition, there is historical evidence supporting
the interpretation given to the first three
seals. The cumulative influence of the
first three seals has been steadily
growing. We will discover in this lesson
just how well the senior angels of the first
three seals have been at their work!
The fourth seal
Carefully review the
fourth seal: When the Lamb opened the
fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth
living creature say, Come! I
looked, and there before me was a pale
horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades
was following close behind him. They were
given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by
sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts
of the earth. Revelation 6:7,8
The strongest internal
evidence that the fourth seal is the next to be
opened is that the devastation described in this
seal has not yet occurred. The fourth seal
indicates that 25% of the earth will be destroyed
by these four dreadful judgments. Why will
Jesus open the fourth seal and send these four
terrible judgments throughout the earth?
An angry God
There is much confusion
about the character of God in the world today. By
misrepresenting the character of God, the devil
has lead many to either hate or ignore God.
Even worse, the devil has lead most of the
Protestant world to regard Jesus much like a
heavenly Santa Clause. By over-emphasizing the
great compassion and mercy of Jesus, and
diminishing the legitimacy of Gods
commandments, many are ignorant of the teachings
of Jesus that require obedience. As the bumper
sticker says, Jesus is either Lord over all
or Hes not Lord at all!
Think about your own
character for a moment. Have you ever had
someone misrepresent you before people that
didnt know you? Even worse, has
someone spread lies about you among those who
knew you? How hard is it to overcome
slanderous falsehoods.
The Bible declares that
God is love. Divine love is the balance
between justice and mercy. Jesus is
all-merciful, and yet, He requires justice.
He wants people to live as He lives. The
prophet Micah wrote, He has showed you, O
man, what is good. And what does the Lord
require of you? To act justly and to love
mercy and to walk humbly with your
God. Micah 6:8
The Bible tells us that
Jesus is very capable of anger, and in times
past, his wrath has broken out upon individuals,
cities, nations, and even the world! Review
these four stories in your Bible that
demonstrates the wrath of Jesus:
- Individuals:
Korah, Dathan and Abiram (Numbers 16)
- Cities:
Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 19)
- Nations:
The Philistines (Joshua 5:13-6:27)
- Earth:
The flood (Genesis 6,7)
Each of these stories
brings out a very important truth. Jesus
rises up in anger and wrath when His mercy and
patience no longer has a redeeming effect.
The truth hurts
Satan is delighted when
people believe that salvation comes by
assumption. Many popular preachers and
evangelists preach Christ without the
cross and consequently become
popular. They excite multitudes with
stories of powerful miracles. They proclaim
ecstatic messages about the power of Jesus and
talk extensively about healing from sickness. But
few clearly define sin and say that we can and
must obtain victory over it. People
dont like to have their sins pointed
out! Think about it. If Jesus were
alive were alive upon the earth today, His
teachings would be meet with the same rejection
as when He walked upon the earth. When it comes
to sin, the truth hurts today just like it hurt
when He walked upon the earth.
The problem is that we
human beings have a hard time seeing our own
faults. Without a clear definition of sin
we cant appreciate or understand the
malignancy of sin. By watering down the high
standard of righteousness, Satan has led this
nation (and all the others) into greater
sin. Consequently, problems without
solutions escalate.
We cannot appreciate the
salvation of Jesus without an understanding of
the offensiveness and power of sin. Until
we comprehend some of the magnitude of sin, we
cannot appreciate the meaning of being
saved. Until we admit our helplessness to
overcome sin, we cannot appreciate the
transforming power of Jesus nor can we realize
our desperate need for His great love.
Satan has cleverly worked through the large
religious systems of the world to disguise
sin. In general, people dont
understand what sin is, nor do they know how to
obtain victory over it! But the everlasting
gospel has the answer! This is another
reason why the gospel must go to the world.
It must expose the religious systems of the world
for what they are!
The devil has encompassed
the 7 great religious systems in the world so
that they serve his purposes. In very general
terms, the premise of each system is:
1.
Atheism: This system teaches there
is no God. Man is supreme.
2.
Heathenism: This system is ignorant
of the living God and creates its own god(s) as
needed.
3.
Eastern Mysticism: This system
teaches that man is immortal and can become God.
4.
Judaism: This system teaches that
man is saved by obedience to the laws of God.
5.
Islam: This system teaches that man
is saved through obedience to the teachings of
Mohammed.
6.
Catholicism: This system teaches
that man is saved through obedience to the
teachings of the church.
7.
Protestantism: This system teaches
that believing that he is saved saves man.
As you look at these
seven systems, youll notice they neatly fit
into one of three categories:
- There
is no salvation, for there is no God.
- Man
saves himself through obedience.
- Assuming
he is saved - saves man.
The worlds 7
religious systems are built on false
assumptions. (This is not saying that God
does not have sincere people within each
system. God claims those living up to all
they know to be right as his children.
(Review lessons 5 and 6.) But falsehoods, once
assumed or accepted, lead people away from
Gods truth and ultimately, people do
terrible things in the name of God. Jesus
warned his disciples, They will put you out
of the synagogue; in fact, a time is coming when
anyone who kills you will think he is offering a
service to God. They will do such things
because they have not know the Father or
me. John 16:2,3
Back to the fourth seal
Jesus has prepared a
final test for the world to find out who loves
Him and His truth. The test is carefully
made to test our love for principles of
righteousness. It will not be enough to be
sincere and dedicated when the test is
applied. Hitler was sincere and dedicated to
his terrible ideas and the world suffered at his
hands. Sincerity is not the most important
element in life. The most important point is
Truth. Who loves and seeks for more of
Gods Truth? Who lives up to all the
truth he knows? Who loves the truth of God
so much that he would be willing to suffer or die
for its sake?
John saw the saints
struggling to defend truth at the end of the
world. He say, The dragon was enraged
at the women and went off to make war against the
rest of her offspring those who obey
Gods commandments and hold to the testimony
of Jesus. Revelation 12:17 As he watched,
John saw the martyrdom of the saints that occurs
during the fifth seal and John was told,
This calls for patient endurance on the
part of the saints who obey Gods
commandments and remain faithful to Jesus.
Revelation 14:12
In 1844, Jesus began
judging the dead. Their deeds and actions
are recorded in the books of record. But
how does Jesus judge the living? Their
lives are still being lived out. They
continue to make choices. Because the world
is so diverse with languages, cultures and
religious beliefs, God designed the judgment of
the living in such a way that the living wills
choose their own eternal destiny. As each
person makes his decision about the gospel, Jesus
eternally seals him or her in it!
Heres a brief scenario:
Jesus sends His four
dreadful judgments to awaken and arouse the earth
to the sinfulness of its course. These four
judgments (also described in Ezekiel 14) arrest
the indifference of the people of earth to the
gospel so they can hear the final gospel. These
four judgments are so extensive that every mind
on earth is forced to consider them. While
people are considering the meaning of the
judgments, they will be open to hear the
everlasting gospel that contains an explanation
of the judgments. As the people of earth
contemplate the full gospel, they are invited to
do something that most have never done
yield their lives to the truth contained in the
Bible. The gospel clearly calls for
obedience to the King of kings. This is how the
Bible becomes the center of a great
controversy. This is why John says of the
saints, they
obey Gods
commandments and remain faithful to Jesus.
Revelation 14:12 Satan, on the other hand, sees
to it that circumstances will be so difficult
that no one will be able to obey Gods
commandments unless they are willing to live by
faith! The saints wont be able to buy
or sell! Much more will be said about this in
lessons 17-19. The point is that salvation
will only come by faith and the saints will have
the faith to obey!
Trust and obey
James clearly saw the
true relationship between obedience and
faith. He says, You see that a person
is justified by what he does and not by faith
alone...I will show you my faith by what I
do. James 2:24
So what moves God to send
judgments upon peoples and nations? Notice
what Jesus said to Isaiah, see, the Lord is
going to lay waste the earth and devastate it; he
will ruin its face and scatter its
inhabitants
the earth will be completely
laid waste and totally plundered. The Lord
has spoken this word. The earth dries up
and withers, the exalted of the earth languish.
Its people defile the earth; they have disobeyed
the laws, violated the statutes and broken the
everlasting covenant. Therefore a curse
consumes the earth; its people must bear their
guilt. Therefore earths inhabitants are
burned up, and very few are left. Isaiah
24:1-6 Isaiah was well aware of the hardness of
the peoples hearts. He said,
When your judgments come upon the earth,
the people of the world learn righteousness.
Through grace is shown to
the wicked, they do not learn righteousness; even
in a land of uprightness and they go on doing
evil and regard not the majesty of the
Lord. Isaiah 26: 9,10
Jesus loves mercy and He
loves justice
Jesus holds each person
accountable for his or her deeds. When people get
away with murder, lying, stealing and cheating,
evil rapidly grows. Its like nuclear
fission. Its a chain reaction that
cant be stopped. The runaway result
is that sin spreads until almost every person is
controlled or contaminated with it. When
peoples, cities, nations or even the world
reaches a point where love has no redeeming
effect, Jesus sets His mercy aside and steps in
with redeeming judgments. These judgments
are sent to arouse people with the sinfulness of
their course!
Ezekiel 14:12-27 gives a
very clear explanation of the four judgments used
in the fourth seal. The word of the
Lord came to me: Son of man, if a
country sins against me by being unfaithful and I
stretch out my hand against it to cut off its
food supply and send famine upon it and kill its
men and their animals, even if these three men
Noah, Daniel and Job were in it, they
could save only themselves by their
righteousness, declares the Sovereign Lord.
Or if I send wild beasts
through that country and they leave childless and
it becomes desolate so that no one can pass
through it because of the beasts
Or if I
bring a sword against that country and say,
Let the sword pass throughout the
land
Or if I send a plague into that
land and pour out my wrath upon it through
bloodshed, killing its men and their
animals
How much worse will it be
when I send against Jerusalem my four dreadful
judgments sword and famine and wild beasts
and plague; to kill its men and their
animals. Yet there will be some survivors
sons and daughters who will be brought out
of it. They will come to you, and when you
see their conduct and their actions, you will be
consoled regarding the disaster I brought upon
Jerusalem every disaster I have brought
upon it. for you will know that I have done
nothing in it without cause. Ezekiel
14:12-23
Notice the prophecy of
Hosea: The days of punishment are coming,
the days of reckoning are at hand
because
your sins are so many and your hostility so
great, the prophet is considered a fool, the
inspired man a maniac. Hosea 9:7
Through Moses, God warned
the Israelites, If you obey the Lord your
God and keep his commandments and decrees that
are written
the Lord thy God shall bless you
in the land you are entering to possess. But if
your heart turns away, and you are not obedient,
and if you are drawn away to bow down to other
gods and worship them, you will certainly be
destroyed. Deuteronomy 30:10-18
New Testament warnings
If you think that the
above warnings only apply to Old Testament days,
consider the following warnings from the New
Testament:
Peter said, For if
God did not spare angels when they sinned, but
sent them to hell, (the Greek word translated
hell is tartarosas the Greek
equivalent to the bottomless pit), putting them
into gloomy dungeons to be held for judgment; if
he did not spare the ancient world when he
brought the flood on its ungodly people, but
protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and
seven others; if he condemned the cities of Sodom
and Gomorrah by burning them to ashes, and made
them an example of what is going to happen to the
ungodly
the Lord knows how to rescue godly
men
and to hold the unrighteous for the day
of judgment. II Peter 2:4-9
Revelation says,
Come out of her (Babylon), my people, so
that you will not share in her sins, so that you
will not receive any of her plagues; for her sins
are piled up to heaven, and God has remembered
her crimes. Therefore in one day her
plagues will overtake her: death, mourning and
famine. She will be consumed by fire, for
mighty is the Lord God who judges
her. Revelation 18:4,5,8
John says, I saw in
heaven another great and marvelous sign: seven
angels with the seven last plagues last,
because with them Gods wrath is
completed. Revelation 15:1
From the above examples,
it is evident that god has sent and will send
judgments upon the world either in an effort to
save or to punish. We need to notice two
specific points.
First: In a case of
corporate judgment (judgments upon groups of
people), God initially offered mercy to those who
would turn from wrong. In Noahs day,
the ark was opened to whomsoever would get on
board. In Sodom and Gomorrah, God
couldnt even find ten righteous people, but
did save Lot and some of his family. In
Jericho, the harlot Rehab and her family were
saved. In Nineveh, the entire city was
saved through repentance!
While cities, nations and
earth itself may fill up their cups of iniquity,
God seeks to save those who love Him and spares
them from His judgments. II Peter 3:9 say
that (Jesus) is patient with you, not
wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to
repentance!
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