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REVELATION
4-6
SEGMENT III
page 1 OF 4
When Was the First
Seal Broken?
We are faced with a
substantial mystery when it comes to dating the
events described in Revelation 4-6. As you might
expect, Christianity is divided on this topic.
Advocates of a pre-tribulation rapture believe
Revelation 4 will occur in the future because
they believe the breaking of the first seal marks
the beginning of the Great Tribulation. Prior to
the twentieth century, a majority of Christians
believed Jesus was found worthy to receive the
book sealed with seven seals at His return to
Heaven in A.D. 30. Since the Christian community
is poles apart on this subject today,
let us take a moment to consider the substance of
both views.
Will the Church Escape
the Great Tribulation?
Advocates of a
pre-tribulation rapture believe the seven seals
are broken after the rapture. They base some of
their reasoning on the idea that John was
ruptured to Heaven to see the Great
Tribulation from the safety of Heaven. They
believe that Johns experience parallels the
Churchs experience in the last days.
However, the question rises, What does
Johns trip to Heaven have to do with the
church being ruptured before the Great
Tribulation begins? John did not physically
leave the isle of Patmos and go to Heaven. John
says that he was taken to Heaven in the
spirit in a vision. (Revelation 4:2;
9:17) Similarly, Paul says he visited Heaven in
visions that were so real that he thought he was
actually there! He saw and heard many wonderful
things that he could not express in words. (2
Corinthians 12) Even though Paul experienced this
wonderful privilege, Paul did not escape
incarceration or martyrdom. Emperor Nero beheaded
him because of his faith and commitment to Jesus.
Legend has it that the Romans also tried to kill
the prophet John by throwing him into a pot of
boiling oil. When the Romans saw that John was
miraculously saved from death, he was set free.
The point is that Paul and John did not go to
Heaven, and they did not escape tribulation and
death. If Jesus did not spare His closest
disciples from tribulation and death (nine of the
twelve died as martyrs), and if Jesus
handed over the saints to the little
horn for tribulation and death during the 1,260
years of the Dark Ages (Daniel 7:25), why would
He spare end time Christians from
forty-two months of the Great Tribulation?
(Revelation 13:5)
The strongest rebuttal to
the doctrine of a pre-tribulation rapture is
this: The rules of apocalyptic prophecy do not
permit a pre-tribulation rapture. Johns
experience in Revelation 4 cannot represent the
experience of the Church during the Great
Tribulation because John is sent back to Earth!
In Revelation 10, John is told to eat a little
book that was given to him and he is told to
prophesy again to kings and nations. (Revelation
10:11) If John (representing the Church) is in
Heaven during the Great Tribulation, how could
John (representing the Church) accomplish this
assignment without returning to Earth? There is
nothing within the four rules, the five essential
doctrines or within Revelation 4-6 that puts
believers in Heaven prior to the Great
Tribulation. In fact, the Bible actually says,
the saints will be on Earth during
the Great Tribulation. He [the
beast, the crisis government] was given power
to make war against the saints and to conquer
them. And he was given authority over every
tribe, people language and nation. (Revelation
13:7) The followers of Jesus will be persecuted
for forty-two months and many will be slain
during the fifth seal. (Revelation 6:9-11; 12:11;
13:5; 20:4; Daniel 12:12) The Bible also
indicates that a large number of Christians will
survive the Great Tribulation to see Jesus appear
in the clouds of glory! The doctrine of a
pre-tribulation rapture will rupture when the
Great Tribulation begins. Millions of Christians
will discover they were misled. Why do Christians
want to run and hide from their prophetic
destiny? The final accomplishment of the body of
Christ (the Church), though weak and feeble as it
is, will be a stunning victory over the beast and
its image through the power of Christ. (1 John
5:4; Revelation 20:4)
What Does Church
History Offer?
The historical view of
this topic has flaws, too. Down through the
centuries, Christians have generally believed the
scenes in Revelation 4 began a few years after
Jesus ascended to Heaven. The idea has been
perpetuated ever since the book of Revelation
began circulating at the beginning of the second
century A.D.. but this view is faulty for several
reasons. Here are two:
- There
is nothing within Revelation 4-6
indicating Jesus was found worthy to
receive the book sealed with seven seals
shortly after He returned to Heaven.
Nothing is said in Revelation 4-6 about
timing, except that Jesus had been slain.
(Revelation 5:6) The timing of the
convocation in Revelation 4-6 is not
stated in Revelation because it was
sealed in the book of Daniel, and the
book of Daniel was sealed until the time
of the end! Early Christians did not have
Daniels rules or Daniels
matrix, so they assumed that Jesus had
been found worthy to receive the book
sealed with seven seals shortly after He
returned to Heaven. This assumption, like
the assumption that Earth stood still and
the Sun orbited around Earth, was
harmless, but it introduced more
confusion than it resolved. In the
sixteenth century, before Copernicus
proved that Earth orbited the Sun, the
orbits of heavenly bodies were very
difficult to calculate. However, once
astronomers understood that Earth
traveled around a stationary Sun, the
orbits of heavenly bodies became much
easier to determine. The same holds true
on the timing of Revelation 4-6. Once the
timing of Revelation 4-6 is properly
determined from Daniel 7 and 8, the
purpose of the book and the meaning of
the seven seals are not hard to
understand.
- Apocalyptic
prophecy is written in such a way that it
has to be distorted to make sense if
valid rules of interpretation are not
used. This means the intended meaning of
the seven seals will be distorted if
their timing is not correctly determined.
Even though we have not examined the
meaning of the seven seals, a short
presentation on the fourth seal can
demonstrate how prophecy has been
distorted for many centuries. Here is 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)
A person does not have to
be a serious Bible scholar to see that when the
fourth seal is broken, the results will be
deadly. In fact, the riders name is
Death, and the grave (Greek: Hades),
like a persistent vulture, follows close behind
Death to consume the dead. The Bible says they
will have the power to kill 25% of Earths
population. They will kill with Gods four
deadly judgments: sword, famine, plague and wild
beasts. (Ezekiel 14:21) The question naturally
rises, If the fourth seal occurred in the
past, when did God deliberately kill 25%
of Earths population with His four deadly
judgments?
Before I respond to this
question, please examine two statements spoken by
God Himself. These passages are profound because
God identifies His four deadly judgments and
justifies their use. The first passage is a
selection of verses taken out of The Song
of Moses. The Israelites were required to
memorize and sing this song. (Incidentally, this
song will also be sung in Heaven! See Revelation
15:3) The second statement was spoken to Ezekiel
just before King Nebuchadnezzar was sent to
plunder and totally destroy Jerusalem in 586 B.C.
Take a few moments to absorb these divine
declarations because the breaking of the fourth
seal means death to a huge number of people.
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