Revelation, Chapter 6 & 10 - The book of Seals

Two-Edged Sword Ministries

Before we roll into the book of Seals; lets first gather some background information. We recall in Revelation, chapter one what John was instructed to record.

Write what things you saw

, and what things are

, and what things are about to occur after these things. [Rev 1:19 NIV]

The first vision that John saw was the vision of Jesus Christ in Revelation one. Here we learnt that Jesus instructed John to send a message to seven of His churches. We also realized that the messages were correctly included in the book of Revelation as they were also reflecting the various stages in the church age. In other words, the things John saw is reflected by the readings in Revelation, chapters 1 to 3.

The things that are, are clearly reflected by Revelation, chapter 4 & 5. In this section, we learnt that God was sitting on his throne in Heaven surrounded by a special class of angelic beings, called living creatures, multitudes of angels and believers, 24 elders and the lamb which was clearly identified as Jesus. All of creation were waiting, as Jesus was the only One in all the heavens that was entitled to open up a book of Seals.

The things that will occur after these things is reflected from Revelation, chapter 6 to 19. This has not happened yet; as Jesus is still in Heaven. When the time comes for Jesus to open the book of seals, this is the time that multitudes of judgments are passed onto the earth, in what we know as the tribulation.

You might be wandering what happened to Revelation, chapters 6 to 9. The only reason we are jumping to Revelation 10; because it provides more details on the actual book of seals that is released in chapter 6. The book of Revelation does this on 3 or more occasions. God provides us with the story of what is going to happen and then He returns to certain details. Think of this as a magnifying glass. Zooming in and out. For now, we zoom in. [ I suggest you quickly recap on Revelation 10]

Now who is this mighty angel described in Revelation 10? Now it is of no doubt that the mighty angel is Jesus Christ himself.
Consider the following:

In Revelation 3, Jesus was described with face like the sun and with a white robe. The book as identified in Revelation 5 is the same book as the one that Jesus took from the right hand of God.

The roar of a lion is an association with the Lion of Judah.
In Joel 3:16, Jeremiah 25:29-35, the Lord is pictured as a lion in the day that the Lord sets his wrath on the earth.

We see further on in Revelation 10, the mighty angel makes an oath to God. An Angel has never made an oath to God in any scriptures.

It is interesting to note that John was told to eat the scroll and also that it tasted bitter. Eating something that is bitter has always inferred that some terrible woes were forecast to occur on the people of the prophet. There is no doubt that this once again signifies that Israel will receive harsh treatment during this period; before they are ultimately reconciled to God.

There are 2 major schools of believe as to when the book of seven seals is opened:

1) Those that believe the seals have been released many years ago, shortly after Jesus was crucified.

Their belief is based on the premise that there have been vast wars, famine, natural disasters and millions of Christians were killed during the reign of the Roman Emperors. The only problem with this viewpoint; is a critical one, which is according to seal six their is a great earthquake and the sun became black and the moon becomes red like blood.

This has never happened before in the history of our short time on earth. Also this description of the sun and moon is found in many scriptures referring to the day of our Lord; just before God ushers in His kingdom. It therefore follows that this school of thought has very little, if any at all, scriptural backing.

2. The Seals are opened during the tribulation.

The majority of Bible scholars and teachers believe that all these events occur during the 1st half of the tribulation. We believe, we will prove this without a doubt as we examine the seal judgments under a microscope.

Two-Edged Sword Ministries - South Africa

Revelation 6: The Seal details

Revelation 4 & 5:
The Heavenly Vision

Scripture quotations marked " NIV " are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by Permission of Zondervan Publishing house [1]