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And
I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and
to them were given seven trumpets. (Revelation
8:2)
In the previous segment,
we examined the question, Why will the
censer in Revelation 8:5 be thrown down? In
this segment, I would like to discuss when
the censer will be thrown down. People often use
Jesus remarks in Matthew 24:36 as though
these words pertain to the Second Coming
His appearing in clouds of glory during the
seventh bowl (See Revelation 16:17-21; 6:12-17),
but this is not the case! I believe that when
Jesus said, No one knows about the day
or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the
Son, but only the Father, He was
referring to the commencement of the Great
Tribulation. It is important to remember that the
Second Coming will be a procession of many events
that take 1,335 days to complete. Jesus said, For
in the days before the flood, people were eating
and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up
to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew
nothing about what would happen until the flood
came and took them all away. This is how it will
be at the time of the coming of the Son of
Man. (Matthew 24:38,39) Did you notice
that Noah and his family entered the ark and no
one was aware of it? The antediluvians knew
nothing about what would happen until the flood
came and took all them away. Were the
antediluvians forewarned about the flood? Yes,
Noah had preached for 120 years. Were they caught
by surprise? Yes! They were totally distracted by
the affairs of life on the day that Noah
and his family entered the ark. The great
door of the ark was shut and they did not have a
clue that Gods mercy had run out.
This is Jesus point in Matthew 24.
The parallel in our day
will be just as sad. Gods corporate mercy
for Earth is about to run out and the censer will
be cast down. Who understands the nearness and
gravity of this matter? Just before Jesus
ascended to Heaven, His disciples wanted to know
the timing of His return. Notice this text: So
when they met together, they asked him,
Lord, are you at this time going to restore
the kingdom to Israel? He said to them:
It is not for you to know the times and
dates the Father has set by his own
authority. (Acts 1:6,7) Here is a
question for your consideration: When Jesus spoke
these words to His disciples, were His words a
perpetual decree for Christians in all
generations or was it meant to be a timely
statement? In other words, was Jesus really
telling His disciples that none of His future
followers know the times and dates which the
father has set? As you consider the answer for
this question, you also have to address the fact
the books of Daniel and Revelation contain 18
prophetic time periods in them. Even more, at
this time in history, we know that several of the
18 prophetic time periods in Daniel and
Revelation occurred after Jesus spoke
these words to His disciples. Knowing all this,
His words have to be understood in this way: When
the time comes for the fulfillment of prophecy,
God sees that His children are given an
understanding of the times and dates He has set
by His own authority.
The reason this
understanding is important is because at this
very moment, no one knows the day and hour when
the censer will be cast down and the Great
Tribulation will begin. The censer will be cast
down like a thief in the night at an hour
when we think not. (Matthew 24:43,44)
However, the date of the Second Coming is clearly
stated in the book of Daniel! From the
time that the daily sacrifice [the service at
Heavens golden Altar of Incense] is
abolished and the abomination that cause
desolation [the universal death decree for
the saints] is set up, there will be 1,290
days. Blessed is the one who waits for and
reaches the end of the 1,335 days. As for
you, [Daniel] go your way till the end.
You will rest [in the grave], and then at
the end of the [1,335] days you will rise [in
the glorious resurrection] to receive your
allotted inheritance. (Daniel
12:12,13, insertions mine) Remember,
the date of the Second Coming cannot be known
until the censer is cast down, but when it
happens, we can start counting.
At
the Exact Moment
John wrote, And
I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and
to them were given seven trumpets. (Revelation
8:2) The Bible indicates that seven mighty angels
stand before Gods throne. They are eager
servants of the Most High, ready and capable to
fulfill any mission that He might command. As a
group, these seven angels are mentioned three
times in Revelation. They are the seven angels of
the seven churches (Revelation 1:20), the seven
angels of the seven trumpets (Revelation 8:2) and
the seven angels of the seven bowls (revelation
15:1). At a point in time, these seven angels are
given seven trumpets. Can we know the date of
this event? For many years, I have pondered this
question because the enormity of events
accompanying the seven trumpets is so serious.
The seven trumpets are seven first plagues
that precede the seven last plagues! Here
is a point to consider. Keep in mind; I do not
have the final word on Bible prophecy. I, too, am
a Bible student searching for answers. It is my
studied conclusion that the seven angels were
given the seven trumpets in April 11, 1994, and
my reasons for this conclusion are as follows:
First, I believe
Gods patience with Jews and Gentiles alike
ended when the Jubilee Calendar expired on April
11, 1994.* Since I cannot begin to explain the
Great Week in this short article, I
will present this abbreviated observation. It
appears that God granted three Great Days (1,470
years) for the Jews. Sunday, Monday and Tuesday
of the Great Week were granted to them as
trustees of the gospel. Each Great day is 70
weeks (490 years) in length and the 70 weeks of
Daniel 9 make up Great Day of Tuesday. Then, God
granted four Great Days as the time of the
Gentiles (1,960 years). Wednesday, Thursday,
Friday and Sabbath of the Great Week were granted
to Gentile believers as trustees of the gospel.
(Luke 21:24) Thus, the probationary time allotted
to Jews and Gentiles, as trustees of the gospel,
has been completed. Since April 11,
1994, the cup of Gods patience with mankind
has been full. Today, that cup is overflowing
with guilt and the absence of Gods
judgments as puzzled thoughtful men like Dr.
Billy Graham who once said, If God
doesnt send judgments upon the United
States of America soon, He will owe an apology to
Sodom and Gomorrah. I believe the reason
God has not sent judgments is found in Revelation
7. Because mankind has not been able to fulfill
the purposes of God, He is about to select
144,000 people from all over the world to
accomplish what has not been done.

Second, a delay of
Gods wrath is described in Revelation
7:1-4. The Bible indicates that Gods wrath
is delayed until the 144,000 are sealed. God
wants us to know about this delay because He
wants us to understand that His wrath is due long
before the 144,000 are sealed. In other
words, Earths cup of iniquity becomes full
before the Great Tribulation begins. The sequence
of events flows together very easily. Suppose the
seven angels were given seven trumpets in 1994
because Gods patience with mankind reached
its limit. However, before the first four angels
can inflict harm to notoriously wicked places on
Earth, destruction is delayed because Jesus is
waiting for the arrival for a specific time, an
appointed time (Daniel 8:19) to select and seal
the 144,000. In other words, Jesus is waiting to
align coming events with the synchrony of the
Grand Week. The Grand Week
consists of seven days each day is a
thousand years in length. When all of the data is
brought together, it appears that the Second
Coming will occur at the end of the 6,000th
year of sin the year that marks the end of
the Friday millennium. If this conclusion is
correct, the 1,000 years of Revelation 20 will
start on time when the Great Day of
Sabbath begins, and Earth itself will rest from
the works of sin. It appears that Jesus has
delayed the commencement of the seven trumpets
since 1994. We are living in this
delay right now. Jesus is waiting for
the 6,000th year minus 1,335 days to
terminate His corporate intercession for Earth.
When the appointed time arrives, the censer will
be thrown down, the global earthquake will occur
and the seven trumpets will follow. With God,
timing is everything. (See Revelation 9:15.)
Last, the prophetic
matrix produced by the four rules of
interpretation that I follow forces the seven
angels in Revelation 8:2 to receive their
trumpets shortly before the censer is
thrown down. After the seven angels receive their
terrible assignments, the next prophetic event is
the casting down of the censer. Notice the
progression of these matters. First, Gods
patience with Jews runs out. Then, Gods
patience with Gentiles runs out. The Great Week
of Gods mercy ends (3,430 years) and seven
angels that stand before Him are given seven
trumpets. (April 1994) Then, before the first
four angels can hurt the Earth, they are told to
wait until the 144,000 are sealed. This
introduces the delay described in Revelation
7:1-4. When the appointed time arrives, 144,000
people will be selected and empowered, and Jesus
will terminate His corporate intercession for
Earth. Then, the censer at the Altar of Incense
will be cast down (revelation 8:3,4) and the
global earthquake will occur. (Revelation 8:5) I
believe there is a very short space of time,
perhaps thirty to sixty days (Revelation 8:6)
before the fiery hailstorm of the first trumpet
occurs. (Revelation 8:7)

Waiting
and Watching
The Great Tribulation has
not begun. The 1,260 days, the 1,290 days and the
1,335 days mentioned in Daniel 12 have not yet
begun. The 1,260 days of the Two Witnesses have
not begun. The 42 months in Revelation 13:5 have
not begun. The five months in Revelation 9:5 have
not begun. The 1,000 years of Revelation 20 have
not begun. However, each of these time periods
will occur on time. I suspect these events will
transpire soon, very soon. So you also
must be ready, because the Son of Man will come
at an hour when you do not expect him. (Matthew
24:44)
* Note from the
previous page: God instituted the Jubilee
Calendar at the Exodus. (Exodus 12:1) during the
operation of the jubilee calendar, God used the
weekly cycle of seven days to translate a day for
a year. (See the chart above.) Therefore, every
seventh year, counting from the year of the
Exodus was a Sabbath year and He commanded the
land to rest as a test of faith for the Jews.
(Leviticus 25:4) The presence of this calendar
explains why the seventy weeks of Daniel 9 have
to be translated as 490 years and the 2,300 days
mentioned in Daniel 8:14 have to be translated as
2,300 years. However, the time periods mentioned
in Daniel 12 (1,260 days, 1,290 days and 1,335
days), are not translated as a day for a
year because the Jubilee Calendar ended in 1994.
Here are two reasons: First, a week is limited to
seven days. The Great Week of 3,430 years ended
with the Great day of Sabbath. (Similarly, the
Grand week of 7,000 years will end with the Grand
Day of Sabbath.) Second, numerous time periods in
Daniel and Revelation that are not subject to the
day/year translation still need to be fulfilled.
This necessitates the termination of the
translation of a day for a year, which the
Jubilee Calendar demands. Therefore, I conclude
that the Jubilee Calendar ended in 1994.
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