Segment VIII
page 3 of 3
Revelation’s
Matrix Begins to Grow
A =
The sealing of the 144,000
B =
The numberless multitude standing
around the throne
C =
The seventh seal
The Matrix Grows
In our earlier study,
we discovered that the timing of the
first seal is a critical matter.
Because some things have to be
understood before they can make sense
and other things have to make sense
before they can be believed, the
books of Daniel and Revelation are
hard to understand at first. God is
very clever. He had the cryptic books
of Daniel and Revelation written out
thousands of years ago so they would
be included and widely distributed as
part of the Bible. But, God had them
written in such a way that no one
could figure them out what they meant
until the book of Daniel would be
unsealed at the appointed time of the
end. However, once the rules of
interpretation were discovered, the
books of Daniel and Revelation become
perfectly harmonious because the four
rules produce a matrix that
determines the timing for everything
written in these two books. We saw
the value of this matrix when we are
able to determine that the seventh
seal on the Books of Life would be
broken at the end of the millennium.
Please examine the
chart above again and notice an
interesting feature. Prophecy #1 in
Revelation (Revelation 4:1-6:17)
covers six seals, and then Prophecy
#2 begins with a discussion about the
144,000, but ends with the seventh
seal. (Revelation 7:1-8:1) The same
thing happens with the seven
trumpets! Prophecy #3 (Revelation
8:2-9:21) discusses six trumpets, and
then Prophecy #4 begins with a
discussion on the Two Witnesses.
(Revelation 10: 1-11:14) Then,
Prophecy #5, which describes the
seventh trumpet, follows Prophecy #4.
The separation of the seventh seal
from the six seals and the seventh
trumpet from the six trumpets has
been a mystery for centuries. I
believe God had Revelation written
this way to force us into using valid
rules of interpretation. Then, when
the book of Daniel would be unsealed
and valid rules of interpretation
discovered, the all important matrix
would reveal the timing of each event
presented in Daniel, as well as
Revelation.
Great White Throne
Judgment
At the end of the
seventh millennium, the holy city,
New Jerusalem, will descend from
Heaven with all the saints inside.
(Revelation 21:2) After the city
comes to rest, the wicked will be
resurrected from their graves.
(Revelation 20:5) The wicked, from
the time of Cain to the last person
who was killed at the Second Coming,
will number in the tens of billions.
Keep in mind that 99% of the wicked
did not see the Second Coming because
they were sound asleep. On that sober
day, two great classes of people will
gaze at each other. The saints,
already a thousand years old but free
of the aging process, will see the
miserable and degenerate condition of
the wicked. The wicked will rise from
their graves just as they went to
their graves. They will be astonished
as they study the gleaming walls of
the New Jerusalem. The wicked will
see family members, friends and
individuals who they regarded as
poor, weak, unsophisticated and
uneducated. Generals, kings,
presidents, scholars, wealthy
tycoons, religious leaders and greedy
employers will be found standing
outside the city. (Matthew 7:14;
19:24)
Jesus will resurrect
the wicked for three reasons:
- First, He will
confront them will the
results of His judgment bar.
Jesus will have a
face-to-face meeting with
each of His created beings.
He wanted every wicked person
to know that He personally
investigated every record and
He wants every wicked person
to know why that person was
not granted eternal life. To
put His investigation and
decision beyond controversy,
Jesus will open the books of
deeds and present the
evidence to each person,
showing the wicked person the
record of his life. Each
wicked person will be forced
to face the unvarnished
truth. “For God will
bring every deed into
judgment, including every
hidden thing, whether it is
good or evil.” (Ecclesiastes
12:14) “For we must
all appear before the
judgment seat of Christ, that
each one may receive what is
due him for all the things
done while in the body,
whether good or bad.”
(2 Corinthians 5:10) Jesus
will conclude this segment of
the Great White Throne
judgment by saying that He
could not save anyone who
committed the unpardonable
sin, and the sound of His
gavel will declare a finished
work. The wicked were
denied eternal life because
they rejected the authority
of the Holy Spirit. (Matthew
12:31,32) After reviewing the
evidence and hearing
Jesus’ decision, the
wicked will kneel out of fear
and confess with a heart like
Esau, “In the Lord
alone are righteousness and
strength…” (Isaiah
45:24) Remember, Esau
regretted that he sold his
birthright for a dish of
food, but his heart remained
unchanged. (Hebrews 12:17)
- The second
reason Jesus resurrects the
wicked is so they can provide
restitution. During the
millennium, the saints were
required to go over the
records of the wicked and
determine the amount of
restitution each wicked
person must pay. “Do
you not know that the saints
will judge the world? And if
you are to judge the world,
are you not competent to
judge trivial cases? Do you
not know that we will judge
angels? How much more the
things of this life!” (1
Corinthians 6:2,3) “I
saw thrones on which were
seated those who had been
given authority to judge. And
I saw the souls of those who
had been beheaded because of
their testimony for Jesus and
because of the word of
God…” (Revelation
20:4) This will shock some
people, but the golden rule
is iron clad. It cannot be
violated. “As you did
unto others, the same will be
done unto you – with
additional penalties.”
Jesus said, “For the
same way you judge others,
you will be judged, and with
the measure you use, it will
be measured to you.”
(Matthew 7:2) The doctrine of
judicial equilibrium is a
marvelous study. It teaches
that whenever we do wrong,
God requires that we make
every effort to restore the
damage and make it right. If
we refuse to make it right,
God will see to it that
restitution is extracted at
the appointed time, even if
we are unwilling. This is why
Paul wrote, “Do not
take revenge, my friends, but
leave room for God’s
wrath, for it is written:
‘It is mine to avenge; I
will repay,’ says the
Lord.” (Romans
12:19) During the millennium,
the victims of crimes will
determine the amount of
restitution that will be
extracted from their wicked
assailants, and the currency
of restitution will be paid
in full through suffering in
a lake of burning sulfur. The
wicked will burn and suffer
according to the decisions
made by their victims.
God’s law demands it.
Contrary to what most
Christians believe today, God
does not forgive sin. He is
willing to transfer the guilt
away from the sinner, but in
God’s economy, sin always
requires atonement. Only
after restitution has been
totally paid will the wicked
be allowed to perish. Many
wicked people have committed
horrible crimes and gone to
their grave thinking they got
away with murder. Can you
imagine their surprise when
they learn they have been
awakened from the sleep of
death to provide restitution
for their deeds by suffering?
Do not forget, the saints
will also pass judgment on
Lucifer and each demon. The
culpability of Lucifer and
his demons will be completely
exposed and the saints will
judge them during the
millennium. In the end,
justice will be served to
achieve the perfect
equilibrium that God’s
wrath requires.
- Of course, the
third reason for the
resurrection of the wicked is
the breaking of the seventh
seal. This will be the only
moment in the history of the
universe when everyone who
had life is alive. Billions
of people and angels will be
present. The wicked will be
positioned outside the city
with Lucifer and his angels,
and the saints will be
positioned inside the city
with the angels of God. At
this point, Jesus has
something to say to everyone
(literally everyone who has
ever lived). When Jesus
breaks the seventh seal, He
will show angels and humans
alike that He is eternal God,
a member of the eternal
Trinity, possessing every
attribute of God. As such, He
is responsible for the
creation of everyone present
and that He was not willing
that anyone should perish. He
will explain that He was
willing to die for angel or
human before He created them.
The love of Jesus for His
creation will be revealed to
every being that draws
breath. This touching
revelation takes half an
hour. Perhaps the
presentation will be
presented with clips of
events that actually
happened, like a giant movie,
using the sky as a giant
screen. Everyone will
understand the magnitude of
Christ’s love. Everyone
will know that He is God.
Everyone will see the
Creation, the Fall, the
Redemption and the
Restoration. Everyone will
see that Jesus truly loved
His children and that he was
willing to die – from
the beginning – for
everyone that sinned without
defiance.
After the seventh seal
is broken and the half-hour
presentation come to an end, Jesus
will then show, what the Father knew
from the beginning. The books of
record and the Book of Life will be
found to be identical. The choices of
angels and humans alike were recorded
as they happened, and even though the
Father foreknew the rise and the
price of sin, He authorized the
creation of life anyway. (Hebrews
1:2) After the Book of Life has been
opened, seven eternal truths will be
confirmed before the assembled host:
- God has
perfect foreknowledge. He
does not use His
foreknowledge to manipulate
the choices and affections of
His children. God treats and
respects His children on the
basis of infinite love.
- God is love.
Even though He foreknew the
rise of sin and the price of
redemption, He created
children and gave them the
freedom anyway.
- God grants the
power of choice to His
children. They are free to
love Him and serve Him or
they are free to hate Him and
rebel against Him. God does
not control or manipulate the
choices of His children.
- God’s
ways are not righteous
because He arbitrarily
declares Himself righteous.
God’s way are righteous
because He has proven to be
righteous during the presence
of sin and rebellion. The
Book of Life will prove that
God uses His omnipotence,
omniscience and omnipresence
to insure that eternal rule
of the law throughout His
expanding universe. He does
not use these incredible
powers to secure His position
on the throne.
- God is
unbelievably humble and
unselfish. As God, Jesus was
willing to forfeit His
eternal existence so the
offspring of Adam and Eve
might have the possibility of
recovering all that was lost
through sin.
- God’s
government is based on
principles of righteousness
and justice. Because God is
subject to His own
unchangeable laws, Jesus
agreed to die as a perfect
substitute in man’s
place so that everyone who
believed in Him should not
perish, but have everlasting
life.
- Now that the
knowledge of good and evil
has become universal, people
redeemed from the penalty of
sin will forever use their
influence to prevent sin from
occurring again.
When the universe
comprehends these demonstrated
truths, the saints will fall on their
faces before Jesus saying, Jesus is
Great! Jesus is just too good too
great to describe. Single-handedly,
He exonerated the government of God
and redeemed sinners from their sins!
What a God! The angels of God will
rejoice at this revelation of Jesus
as they see the contents of the Book
of Life. Everyone present knows that
the Father’s character has been
revealed through Jesus. The saint and
the angels will fall on their faces
before Jesus praising Him for His
goodness and generosity to them.
Saints and angels of God will again
declare that Jesus is worthy! The
Godhead can be trusted. The Godhead
is worthy of nonnegotiable faith.
As saints and angels
of God rejoice over the contents of
the Book of Life, Lucifer, his demons
and the wicked multitude are moved to
anger. There is no one to blame for
their position outside the city, but
themselves. There is nothing they can
do so save themselves from the
suffering that is about to be
extracted from their flesh. As they
gaze on the glorious holy city and
the rejoicing saints, they feel
darkness, loneliness, despair, and
strangely, their hatred for God
rises. Lucifer seizes the moment, he
marshals the mighty host to make war
against Jesus, inspiring them to take
the city by force: “They
marched across the breadth of the
earth and surrounded the camp of
God’s people, the city he loves.
But fire came down from heaven and
devoured them. And the devil, who
deceived them, was thrown into the
lake of burning sulfur, where the
beast and the false prophet had been
thrown. They will be tormented day
and night for ever and ever.” (Revelation
20:9,10) This torment, which occurs
day and night forever and ever,
reflects the demands of restitution.
The wicked will suffer in full until
their debt is paid in full. “But
the cowardly, the unbelieving, the
vile, the murderers, the sexually
immoral, those who practice magic
arts, the idolaters and all liars
– their place will be in the
fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is
the second death.” (Revelation
21:8)
The book of Revelation
indicates that Jesus will create a
new Heaven and a new Earth.
(Revelation 21:5) After doing this,
Jesus will do something even greater!
“Then the end will come, when
he hands over the kingdom to God the
Father after he has destroyed all
dominion, authority and power. For he
must reign until he has put his
enemies under his feet. The last
enemy to be destroyed is death.”
(1 Corinthians 15:24-26) Jesus
will once again hand over His
exceeding great authority to the
Father so that He might live among
His creation as one of us. What does
this action say about the character
of God? I can think of nothing other
than this: God is love.
Summary of the Seven
Seals
Even though this study
was broken into eight segments, this
has been a very long study. I hope
you have found this information
helpful. The next time you read
through this study, it will make more
sense because you will know the end
from the beginning. The story of the
seven seals is huge and I am grateful
for the opportunity to share the
results of my investigation with you.
The first apocalyptic prophecy in
Revelation is dedicated to the seven
seals because there is no grander
topic than the revealing of all that
Jesus is. He is worthy to receive
worship, praise, honor, strength,
glory, wisdom and power. Even
in our wildest dreams, we could not
have invented a God with the
attributes of Jesus! He is more than
we can possibly understand.
In summary, the Father
wrote the Book of Life before life
was created. He prerecorded the
history of angels and humans. He then
sealed the book with seven seals so
that no one could view the
contents of the book until the
appropriate time. In 1798, Jesus was
found worthy to receive the book and
began breaking the seals. As each
seal is broken, a new revelation
about Jesus occurs:
Seal 1:
The salvation of Jesus
Seal 2: The
teaching of Jesus
Seal 3: The
judgment bar of Jesus
Seal 4: The
authority of Jesus
Seal 5: The
faith of Jesus
Seal 6: The
glory of Jesus
Seal 7: The
deity of Jesus
As we look at the
prophetic matrix, the fourth seal is
the next seal to be broken. This seal
marks the beginning of the Great
Tribulation. The stage is set and the
hour is almost here for earth’s
final curtain. For six thousand
years, Earth has been a theater of
conflict between good and evil. The
drama of sin is almost over. We are
very close to the Second Coming. The
next revelation of Jesus will be
awful and awesome at the same time.
The declaration of His sovereignty
will soon occur.
At the end of the
seventh millennium, the drama of sin
will come to a close when the seventh
seal is broken and the contents of
the Book of Life are exposed. Because
the Book of Life will be found to be
identical with the books of record,
the Father will eternally silence the
charge that He used His foreknowledge
to manipulate the choices of His
children and the outcome of events.
The universe will see that even
though God knows everything and has
all power, He can be explicitly
trusted to respect the power of
choice that He grants to each of His
children. Every question about His
integrity, character and government
will be resolved when the seventh
seal is broken because an open Book
of Life will say everything that
needs to be said.
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