Prophecy
6
The Six Seals
–
Revelation 4:1-6:17
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Why Is The Book of Life Necessary?
Before we
proceed further into this prophecy, a
brief explanation about the origin of
sin is necessary because The Book of
Life will solve several problems
created by sin. (A more comprehensive
presentation on this topic is found
in Prophecy 12.)
Long before
Jesus created Earth, a crisis
occurred in Heaven. It all started
when Lucifer, the highest created
being in the universe, became unhappy
with the Father because Lucifer
wanted more honor and authority than
the Father permitted him to have.
When Lucifer realized that he could
not have the honor and worship that
was given to Michael (Jesus Christ),
the archangel,[27]Lucifer
became anti-Christ. Motivated by
jealousy and sustained by endless
bitterness, Lucifer began a secret
campaign of sedition against
God’s government. Ultimately, he
led one-third of the angels into open
rebellion against the Father.
Prior to His
life on Earth, Jesus lived among the
angels as one of them. As the
archangel, Michael,[28] Jesus
looked like them and talked like
them. Later, when Jesus became a man,
Jesus looked like a man and talked
like a man. However, Jesus is far
more than an angel or a man. Jesus is
a member of the Godhead, the Creator
of everything that exists.[29] As God,
He has lived as an angel and a human.
Our Creator is willing to live as one
of His creation so that He might
reveal the wonderful ways and
character of the Father to His
creation!
Lucifer had a
serious problem with Christ. Lucifer
wanted to be exalted among the angels
like the archangel. After all,
Lucifer was the other covering
cherub. He cloaked his envy and
bitterness with self-righteousness.
He began to create doubts about
God’s integrity by twisting
topics that God had not yet
clarified. Lucifer discovered that
holy angels could be alienated from
God if he put the Father and Michael
(Jesus) in a suspicious light. For
example, everyone in Heaven knew that
the Father had foreknowledge. Lucifer
argued that since the Father already
knew what each angel would think and
do, the Father could not be outwitted
or overthrown. The Father was a
dictator and it was “His way or
the highway.” Lucifer claimed
there could be no freedom or
democracy in Heaven because the
Father was an all-knowing dictator.
The Father would prevent any angel
from improving and gaining a higher
place in His government. Lucifer
insinuated this was grossly unfair.
He used his own situation as proof.
Why should he be treated as a lesser
angel throughout eternity? Why should
one covering cherub be more highly
honored and worshiped? Lucifer preyed
on the other angels’ naive
sympathy and some of the angels
empathized with Lucifer’s
“unfair” situation. Lucifer
also told sympathetic angels that the
Father did not give angels the power
of choice because any choice that was
contrary to God’s way would be
considered rebellion. Further,
Lucifer asserted that the angels were
just eternal “slaves” and
the Father was nothing more than an
omnipotent control freak!
To ensure
that the angels took his arguments
seriously, Lucifer taunted the angels
with a law that no one understood at
the time. When He created the angels,
Michael declared to the angels a
“strange law.” This law
defined the penalty for sin which is
sudden death by execution. Jesus also
explained this law to Adam and Eve at
their creation. Simply stated, this
strange law says, “You will be
killed on the day that you sin.”[30]
Using
arguments that were skillfully and
logically framed to put the
government of God in the poorest
possible light, Lucifer convinced
one-third of the angels that the
Father could not possibly be a God of
love because “the sudden death
law” was inescapable. Lucifer
charged that if someone should happen
to exercise their power of choice in
a way that God did not like, the
result would be sudden death!
Lucifer’s arguments were so
sophisticated and convincing that
one-third of the angels lost their
respect, and finally, their love for
the Father and Michael, the
archangel.
Lucifer’s
political propaganda made the Father
appear to be a tyrant. Lucifer
positioned God’s strange law in
such a way that many of the holy
angels became angry with God. Lucifer
argued that God’s sudden death
law and God’s foreknowledge are
inseparable. Therefore, God is a God
of control; not love. Lucifer induced
animosity and prejudice toward the
Father and he taunted the angels who
chose to remain loyal to the Father
and Michael. Ridicule can be
intimidating, so Lucifer may have
added ridicule to his arguments to
further obscure the truth. Using
devious subterfuge against the
Father, Lucifer created two false
options: Either obey God and be His
eternal slave or exercise the power
of choice and immediately die. These
options, he claimed, do not represent
a God of love. Lucifer justified his
hatred for the Father and Michael
with this logic: The Father already
knows what we are going to do and He
has a law that justifies our death
should we step out of line. With God,
there is no choice. So, Lucifer
invited the angels to join with him
and together they formed a
“better government.” They
would not be the eternal slaves of a
powerful tyrant who claimed to be a
God of love.
Remember,
rebellion did not exist in the
universe before Lucifer began
campaigning against the Father and
even more, the angels had not
observed a single instance of the
“sudden death” law. They
had no knowledge of good and evil and
because no one had seen evil before,
Lucifer could make a compelling case
against God that appeared solid and
logical. Eventually, Lucifer’s
envy led him to commit conspiracy.
Lucifer convinced one-third of the
holy angels that the Holy Father was
unfair and unloving. Strange as this
may sound, the Father did not have a
legitimate way at that time to prove
Lucifer wrong. Of course, the Father
could have presented logical
arguments that would have silenced
Lucifer or He could have snuffed out
Lucifer’s life, but that would
prove nothing. God wisely allowed
Lucifer to spread sedition throughout
Heaven to test the angels’
faith. Would they obey God’s
first commandment? When tempted,
would they love God with all their
heart, mind, and soul? God permitted
the love and faith of His angels to
be tested in the same way that He has
allowed the love and faith of human
beings to be tested. Love and faith
in God cannot be validated until it
is tested and demonstrated. When
Lucifer’s rebellion reached
critical mass (one-third of
Heaven’s angels infected with
disaffection), God stepped into the
fray and ultimately, Lucifer and his
angels were cast out of Heaven.
When the
Father wrote The Book of Life, He
foreknew Lucifer would rebel, He
foreknew how Adam and Eve would fall
and He foresaw Jesus dying on the
cross. The Father foreknew all of
these things before any life was
created and He wrote them down.
Because God is eternally committed to
the principles of love, from the
beginning His primary concern was not
Lucifer’s rebellion or Adam and
Eve’s fall. Looking through the
corridor of eternity, the Father
planned a way for resolving the sin
problem so that the future likelihood
of sin would be extremely remote. God
does not want sin to occur a third
time. This explains why God allowed
Lucifer to exercise his freedom for a
period of time. He allowed
Lucifer’s willful rebellion to
test the faith and loyalty of His
angels.
Each angel
carefully considered Lucifer’s
arguments, and two-thirds of the
angels chose to remain loyal to the
Father even though they could not
answer Lucifer’s arguments.
Two-thirds of the angels chose to
remain faithful to God because they
were convinced that God is love.
Everyone understood that God had
given them the gift of life and He
had faithfully met every need. Before
Lucifer became evil minded, Heaven
had been a joyful place to live, but
Lucifer’s actions changed
everything. The angels that chose to
remain loyal did so because they
believed there was sufficient
evidence to justify their faith and
loyalty to God. For them, the
evidences of God’s love
outweighed Lucifer’s skillful
complaints.
Lucifer’s
defiance led to war and Lucifer and
one-third of the angels disappeared.[31] Suddenly,
there was an eerie silence in Heaven.
As the full impact of Lucifer’s
rebellion began to dawn on the
remaining angels, I am sure that many
hearts were broken. Close friends had
parted ways and loving relationships
were terminated. I am sure that human
words cannot describe the sadness
that the Father and Michael, the
Creator, felt that dark day.
After the
Father cast Lucifer out of Heaven,
Lucifer sought a place where he could
rule as lord and king. He was
determined to show the universe that
his ideas for government were
superior to God’s government.
Lucifer saw an opportunity to gain
control of a new creation when Jesus
created Earth. Maybe Lucifer reasoned
that it would be easier to start with
a new creation than to destroy an
existing government on some planet
and rebuild it. I am also sure that
Lucifer was fascinated with the
ability that God had given to Adam
and Eve to procreate. Again, Lucifer
saw an opportunity. If he could get
Adam and Eve to disobey God’s
law,[32] he
could grow an ever expanding kingdom
of subjects. What Lucifer did not
know, however, was that God had a
plan to redeem sinners should sin
occur without defiance. Satan did not
know that a plan of redemption was
prepared if it should become
necessary.
Bible
students know the story. Lucifer lied
to Eve, and Adam willfully sinned
because he loved Eve more than God.
(He violated the first law of love.)
Ever since that awful day, endless
cycles of sorrow, suffering, and
death have occurred on Earth. Of
course, the Father foreknew all these
things and before any of them
occurred, He wrote a complete history
of life before any life was created.
The Father perfectly sealed His book
with seven seals to keep the details
of His foreknowledge a secret. If the
information in The Book of Life was
prematurely released, it would be
very difficult for the Father to
overcome any accusation. For example,
consider this often repeated
argument: Since the Father knows who
will be saved and who will be lost,
He has predetermined who will be
saved and lost. When The Book of Life
is opened, this argument (and others)
will be proven false. So, the Father
wisely sealed up The Book of Life and
the contents will not be exposed
until the thousand years have ended.[33]
For the
greater good of the universe, the
Father did not execute Lucifer and
the angels, or Adam and Eve on the
day they sinned. He temporarily and
wisely stayed their execution to
allow sin and rebellion to fully
mature. Remember, God’s primary
objective is preventing a third
episode of sin. Therefore, the Father
wants everyone in the universe to
clearly understand the properties of
sin before He annihilates any sinner.
Who is Worthy?
Now that we
have considered some background
information on The Book of Life, let
us return to the story of the
courtroom scene and the angel’s
question, “Who is worthy?”
The Father is obviously looking for
someone who is capable of resolving
the sin problem so that His
government and policies can be
exonerated. The Father is planning
ahead. He is looking forward,
billions of years in the future. When
thousands of new worlds exist and an
infinite number of inhabitants have
been created, He wants everyone to
know that even though He has perfect
foreknowledge, He did not and He will
never use this divine power to
protect Himself from rebellion or
sin. He wants everyone to understand
that His “sudden death” law
is based on divine wisdom and love
for oncoming generations. Looking
back on sin’s drama, all future
creations will see that the Father
allowed Lucifer and sin to exist for
a few thousand years because He wants
all current and future beings to
understand the horrific consequences
of sin. Personally, I believe the
Father will dramatically expand the
number of children living in His
universe after the knowledge of good
and evil has been fully defined and
understood.
After the
truth about good and evil is exposed
to the universe, the “sudden
death” law will be viewed very
differently than before. Unlike human
governments that create laws on an
“as needed” basis, God does
not create moral laws on an “as
needed” basis. Consider this
scenario: At the end of the 1,000
years, God will resurrect all of the
wicked so that Jesus can review their
life’s record with them. Jesus
wants each wicked person to review
his or her life and realize that His
judgment of them was careful,
righteous, and fair. The information
in the Books of Record, as recorded
by angels, will be presented. Each
wicked person will be forced by the
evidence presented that his choices
were accurately recorded and that
Jesus judged righteously. (Every knee
will bow.[34])
After the
admission of the wicked takes place,
the seventh seal will be broken and
The Book of Life will be opened and
compared with the Books of Record.
Everyone will see that the contents
are identical. They will also see
that the names of the wicked were
blotted out of The Book of Life. This
feature makes the event very
interesting. Everyone will then be
forced by the evidence to admit that
God did not use His foreknowledge to
protect Himself from rebellion and He
did not use His foreknowledge to
determine the eternal destiny of any
being!
Later, when
the wicked advance on the Holy City
to destroy it, the saints will also
see the wisdom of the Father’s
“sudden death” law. Going
forward into eternity, the beauty of
this law is simple. It limits the
cancer of sin to one sinner.* By
destroying a sinner on the day that
he sins, the virus of sin cannot be
passed to another person. During the
drama of sin, the truth about good
and evil was completely revealed.
Once the universe properly
understands the curse of sin,
everyone will agree that God’s
love and His sudden death law are not
in opposition. Furthermore, everyone
will know that Jesus will not die
again to redeem sinners.
Consequently, anyone who deliberately
defies the laws of love will be
executed on the day he exhibits
defiance. There will be no excuse or
tolerance for rebellion. Because
God’s children will always have
the power of choice, there will
always be a possibility of sin
erupting in the universe, but God has
allowed sin to run its evil course in
Heaven and on Earth one time and this
drama will not happen again. If
defiance should rise again, it will
last one day.
* Note: When
the saints are taken to Heaven, none
will have a carnal nature. There will
be no predisposition toward sin or
rebellion toward God.[35] When
the carnal nature is removed,
committing sin will be more difficult
than sinners overcoming temptation.
This may be difficult to comprehend,
but throughout eternity, sinning will
not come naturally or easily.
However, rebellion and defiance will
always be possible because God grants
His children the power of choice.
I have
alluded to this point previously, but
I believe after the current drama of
sin is finished, Jesus will endlessly
create new planets and He will fill
them with new people. Suppose a
billion years from now a newly
created person is tempted to sin. I
believe the Father will, if
necessary, send all of the redeemed
from planet Earth to visit with that
newly created being. Ex-sinners will
try to reason with that being about
the horrible consequences of sin.
However, if God’s newly created
being chooses to defy God and
continue to rebel (as Lucifer did),
then God will act to protect the
universe from sin by annihilating the
sinner on the day that he commits
sin. If this should occur, all of the
watching universe will agree that
God’s action was appropriate.
These
substantive issues have been
discussed because breaking the seven
seals and revealing the contents of
The Book of Life is an extremely
important part of apocalyptic
prophecy. Even though the Father is
Almighty God and is omnipotent, He
needs two infallible witnesses who
can prove that He is love. The Book
of Life will serve as one witness and
the other witness must be a worthy
person who can break open the seven
seals and carry out the requirements
ordained in each seal.
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