The Seven Seals
Seals 4,5,6,7

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Sixth Trumpet Timing

 

The fifth seal will be broken when the sixth trumpet sounds. In brief, when the sixth trumpet sounds, the devil will be allowed to kill a third of mankind. He will do this eliminate opposition to the establishment of his theocratic government. Many non-religious wicked people who remain in opposition to the devil’s power grab and a large number of saints will perish.

 

Revelation 9:13   The sixth angel sounded his trumpet, and I heard a voice coming from the horns of the golden altar that is before God.

 

Revelation 9:14   It said to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.”

 

Revelation 9:15   And the four angels who had been kept ready for this very hour and day and month and year were released to kill a third of mankind.

 

During the sixth trumpet, the final call for salvation will be given:

 

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

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

 

Revelation 18:6   Give back to her (the torture) as she has given; pay her back double (200%)for what she has done. Mix her a double portion from her own cup.”  

 

At this time, John heard another voice from heaven say:

 

Revelation 14:13   “Then I heard a voice from heaven say, “Write: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.” “Yes,” says the Spirit, “They will rest from their labor, for their deeds will follow them.”

 

Seals:   Today          4                         5  Many  Martyrs    6

 

------------X----------I--------------------I-----------------------I --1,000 Years >

 

Trumpets:                  1234------5------6-----------7

Bowls:                           7 First Plagues                 1234567

                                                                                 7 Last Plagues

 

Martyrdom will bring rest to the weary saints from the suffering and travail of the Great Tribulation and those who die a martyr’s death under the fifth seal will be specifically blessed. These martyrs will sleep through the seven last plagues and they will be resurrected shortly before Jesus appears in a special resurrection to see Jesus appear!

 

Every martyr will be resurrected shortly before the Second Coming to behold the victory of Jesus over His enemies.

 

Look at these two texts:

Daniel 12:12   “Blessed is the one who waits for and reaches the end of the 1,335 days.”

 

Revelation 14:13 says, “….blessed are those who die in the Lord from now on.”

 

So what is this promised blessing?

 

Revelation 20:4   “… And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony for Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or his image and had not received his mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years.”

 

One of the greatest blessings human beings can receive is to behold the victorious appearing of Jesus in the clouds of glory. This display of Jesus’ victory and glory will never happen again for never again will God have a planet in rebellion. Those who are resurrected at the Second Coming will see a revelation of Jesus Christ that has never occurred! (Sixth seal)

 

The martyrs will be resurrected just before the Second Coming to see “the Paul Harvey” – the rest of the storyand they will behold with their own eyes the destruction of God’s enemies! What a reward for remaining faithful!

 

Let’s review the fifth seal: 

 

Revelation 6:9   When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony [of Jesus] they had maintained.

 

Revelation 6:10   They called out in a loud voice, “How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the [wicked actions of the] inhabitants of the earth and avenge our [innocent] blood?”

 

Revelation 6:11   Then each one was given a white robe, and they were told to wait a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and brothers who were to be killed as they had been was completed.

 

Did you notice: “…. Until the number to be killed… was completed.”

 

This phrase tells us that God has already determined the number of saints that he will allow to be sacrificed. If the Father was willing to sacrifice Jesus for the salvation of one person [and we but faintly appreciate all that Jesus really is], how many human beings do you think God would be willing to sacrifice for the salvation of one more person? In God’s economy, the martyrdom of 10,000 people for the salvation of one person is a reasonable exchange – because God has the power of life.

 

God doesn’t have control over our will. The power of choice is ours! So, He is prepared to make a great sacrifice so that, if possible, we will make the right choice. This is one reason why He sacrificed a large number of saints.

 

Also, did you notice that both prophets and saints will be killed during the fifth seal?       

 

“…they were told to wait a little longer until the number of their fellow servants and brotherswho were to be killed as they had been was completed.”

 

The servants’ mentions here 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 Israel.”

 

Revelation 10:7   But in the days when the seventh angel is about to sound his trumpet, the mystery of God will be accomplished, just as he announced to his servants the prophets.”    

 

The apostle John keeps a careful distinction between servants and non-servants throughout the book of Revelation. Notice this text:

 

Revelation 16:4   The third angel poured out his bowl on the rivers and springs of water, and they became blood.

 

Revelation 16:5   Then I heard the angel in charge of the waters say: “You are just in these judgments, you who are and who were, the Holy One, because you have so judged;

 

Revelation 16:6   for they have shed the blood of your saints and prophets, and you have given them blood to drink as they deserve.”

 

Look also at this text:

 

Revelation 18:24   “In her [the great whore] was found the blood of prophets and of the saints, and of all who have been killed on the earth.”

 

The point here is twofold. First, a Great Injustice is coming upon the saints and the 144,000 will be killed because of the Word of God and the testimony they maintain.

 

The maddening wine [the intoxicating doctrines] of false religion will cause the leaders of the world to act irrationally after the fourth seal is broken.

 

Insanity will rule the day. A spirit of confusion and anxiety will overtake the world. When religious and political leaders behold the sudden destruction of 25% of mankind, they will go bezerk in their efforts to appease God because they do not know God nor His plans. 

 

In their misguided efforts to appease God, the 144,000 and the saints will become objects of hatred because they will refuse to obey the decrees and laws of Babylon. Religious and political leaders will arrogantly and ignorantly interpret this defiance as behavior offensive to God.

 

The defiance of the 144,000 and the saints will perplex world leaders because they ignorantly think that God’s wrath will return unless everyone obeys the laws of Babylon. Therefore, they will persecute the people of God and think they are doing God a service! How twisted is this?

 

Jesus said:

John 16:1   “All this I have told you so that you will not go astray.

 

John 16:2   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.

 

John 16:3   They will do such things because they have not known the Father or me.”

 

Remember this, God has already determined the number of souls that he will permit to die as sacrificesfor the gospel of Jesus.

 

Revelation 13:10   If anyone is to go into captivity, into captivity he will go. If anyone is to be killed with the sword, with the sword he will be killed. This calls for patent endurance and faithfulness on the part of the saints.”

 

Finally, what are the primary purposes for human sacrifices during the fifth seal? I can think of two:

 

1.   The death of a martyr is a matter of choice – the martyr chooses to die rather than to submit. This defiance is the most powerful testimony that a person can offer.

 

Jesus will enable a large number of His people to die as martyrs because their humble but powerful testimony will influence the hearts and minds of those few people who haven’t made up their minds.

 

If Paul’s heart was touched by Stephen’s martyrdom, we don’t know. However, we do know that Paul was converted on the road to Damascus. He later wrote:

 

1 Timothy 1:13   “Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violet man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief.”

 

The point here is that many will persecute God’s people out of ignorance and unbelief. But, participating in the death of a good and honest person will be a point of torment through which the Holy Spirit can do some work.

 

We haven’t studied the Two Witnesses at this point, but I just want to say that the Holy Spirit will be tormenting people to receive Jesus as their Savior!

 

Revelation 14:11   “…. There is no rest day or nightfor those who worship the beast and his image, or for anyone who receives the mark of the beast.”

 

Eventually, the Holy Spirit will conclude His work. Every decision will have been made.

 

Revelation 11:10   ”The inhabitants of the earth will gloat over them [the death of the Two Witnesses] and will celebrate by sending each other gifts, because these two prophets had tormented those who live on the earth.”

 

The Holy Spirit is going to torment everyone with “a whole lot of trouble” until they either accept Jesus or the Two Witnesses are killed. Jesus can read our hearts and minds and He knows how to judge. This is how Jesus could pray for those who crucified Him: “Father forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing…” 

 

When the Great Tribulation begins and religious and political leaders set up a crisis government to appease God, the persecution of the saints will begin. Later on, the persecution will become deadly. A time is coming when millions of innocent saints will be killed in the name of God because they defiled the laws of Babylon. In other words, wicked people will kill innocent people just like Cain killed Abel and they will think that they are doing God a service!

 

The ultimate deception occurs when right becomes wrong and wrong becomes right. 

 

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