Revelation 14:6 – Revelation 15:6

The Close of Mercy and the Seven Last Plagues
_________________________

page l 1 l 2 l 3 l 4 l 5 l 6 l

-2-

We know the first people to be sealed are the 144,000.

 

Revelation 7:3   “Do not harm the land or the sea or the trees until we put a seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God.

 

Revelation 7:4   Then I heard the number of those who were sealed: 144,000 from all the tribes of Israel.”

 

The Bible does not tell us how the 144,000 will be tested, but we know they will be tested before the Great Tribulation begins – before the four angels release their judgments.

 

However, we can be sure that their testing will be difficult and thorough because they will be tested as everyone will be tested during the Great Tribulation.

 

In summary, the judgment of the living will begin when the censer is cast down and the first angel’s message begins. The testing of mankind will last 1,260 days.

 

I am guessing, but I believe that –66% of the saints will be tested and sealed priorto the fifth trumpet! Remember, when the devil arrives, he will not be able to torment those who have the seal of God:

 

Revelation 9:4   They [the locusts – demons] were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any plant or tree, but only those people who did not havethe seal of God on their foreheads.

 

Revelation 9:5   They were not given power to kill them, but only to torture them for five months. And the agony they suffered was like that of a sting of a scorpion when it strikes a man.”

 

In other words, I suspect that Jesus will “squeeze” out the last third of the redeemed after the fifth trumpet sounds.

 

To make this point clear, consider this:

 

There is a fourth angel’s message that will be proclaimed during the sixth trumpet. Remember, the third angel’s message is given when the fifth trumpet sounds because the lamb-like beast rises from the abyss.

 

We know from Scripture that the devil will be on Earth for 5 months before the sixth trumpet sounds, and when the sixth trumpet sounds, the devil and his angels will kill a third of mankind in order to set up the image to the beast – the devil’s one-world church/state. At that time, the mark of the beast will be tattooed on the survivors of the sixth trumpet (two-thirds of 1,000 equals 666).

This is the final call that Jesus sends throughout the Earth after the third angel’s message. This message will be proclaimed during the sixth trumpet. The beauty of knowing this now is that we can see how Jesus does everything possible to save one human being. Look at this message:

 

Revelation 18:1   After this I saw another angel coming down from heaven. He had great authority, and the earth was illuminated by his splendor.

 

Revelation 18:2   With a mighty voice he shouted: “Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great! She has become a home for demons and a haunt for every evil spirit, a haunt for every unclean and detestable bird.       

 

Revelation 18:3   For all the nations have drunk the maddening wine of her adulteries. The kings of the earth committed adultery with her, and her merchants of the earth grew rich from her excessive luxuries.”

 

Revelation 18:4   Then I heard another voice from heaven say: “Come out of her, my people, so that you will not share in her sins, so that you will not receive any of her plagues;

 

Revelation 18:5   for her sins are piled up to heaven, and God has remembered her crimes.”

 

The Holy Spirit will really torment the wicked with this message. There will be no rest, day or night for those who rebel against the Holy Spirit. (The cessation of this torment at the end of the 1,260 days explains why the wicked are so happy when the Two Witnesses are finally killed. Remember how the wicked celebrate and send gifts to one another in Revelation 11?)

 

The fourth angel’s message plainly declares that Jesus still has sheep in Babylon:

 

“Come out of her, my people, so that you will not share in her sins…. “

 

For mathematical reasons, the 6^th trumpet lasts for –222 days (a little more than 7 months). I believe the devil will be on Earth, masquerading as God for a total of 445 days (this is the last third of the 1,335 days allotted to the Great Tribulation. So, the last 445 days looks like this:

 

    5 months  – 5th trumpet (148 days)

  - 7 months  - 6th trumpet (222 days)

-2.5 months – 7^th trumpet and the seven bowls = (75 days)

 

Ok, now that we have briefly looked into the judgment of the living…

 Now that we have briefly looked into the first four angel’s messages….

 Now that we have studied the seven trumpets, the 144,000 and the Two Witnesses….

 

Now that we have studied the rise of the composite beast and the physical appearing of the lamblike beast….

 

You are ready to hear this!

 

Revelation 14:14   I looked, and before me was a white cloud, and seated on the cloud was one “like a son of man” with a crown of gold [stephanos] on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand.

 

Revelation 14:15   Then another angel came out of the templeand called in a loud voice to him who was sitting on the cloud, “Take your sickle and reap, because the time to reap has come, for the harvest of the earth is ripe.”

 

Revelation 14:16   So he who was seated on the cloud swung his sickle over the earth, and the earth was harvested.

 

Revelation 14:17   Another angel came out of the temple in heaven, and he too had a sharp sickle.

 

Revelation 14:18   Still another angel, who had charge of the fire, came from the altar and called in a loud voice to him who had the sharp sickle, “Take your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of grapesfrom the earth’s vine, because its grapes are ripe.”

 

Revelation 14:19   The angel swung his sickle on the earth, gathered its grapes and threw them into the great winepress of God’s wrath.

 

Revelation 14:20   They were trampled in the winepress outside the city,” and blood [ofthe grapes] flowed out of the press, rising as high as the horses’ bridles [about 4 feet] for a distance of 1,600 stadia [the length of the Jordan river in John’s day. 625 feet x 1600 = 1,000,000 feet or 200 Roman miles].

 

Trampled outside the city: (Notice the significance of location)

page l 1 l 2 l 3 l 4 l 5 l 6 l

-2-

[TOP]