< Revelation chapter 8
TABLE OF CONTENTS for this study
When the fifth angel blew his trumpet, I saw a star that had fallen to earth from the sky. The star was given the key to the shaft of the bottomless pit. [This and what follows from this is the first of the three catastrophic woes.]
[The translation "bottomless pit" when translated back through Greek to Hebrew refers to Sheol. While Sheol is a Hebrew term that refers to every aspect of the state of death in This World, before The World To Come, here in this context of the Revelation the key to Sheol, or the bottomless pit, that is given is the key to that aspect of the state of death in which evil and fallen spirits are contained during the time of this world. Here we will see that certain evil spirits having qualities like those of locusts are loosed upon the earth for a given time.
The star that is seen is an angel of a star. This angel that is given the key to the bottomless pit is not one of the holy angels of the revelation, those carrying out the merciful judgments of God, but is itself a fallen angel. This angel had already fallen to the earth when the vision coming from the blowing of the fifth trumpet begins. The vision begins with this fallen angel being given the key to the bottomless pit.
This is the first time when it is made known that the letting loose of fallen angels upon the earth is an element of the final judgment upon the world. From the beginning of history, right up to this time of the final judgment in the world, which is the time of the end of history, the world had knowingly or unknowingly worshipped and served fallen angels. The world had been greatly deluded about the nature of these powers. Never did they fully believe that they were fallen powers. In later times, many peoples came to believe that these powers were actually powers of their own minds.
Now, in the process of the revelation of the Messiah of Israel, it is the judgment of God Almighty that the world should see the true nature of the fallen angels. The fallen angels from the sky do not love the human beings. Rather, like the demons that are created from below, they seek to torment them and would kill all humans if they were allowed. In this way, God will bring the world to face the truth that the powers and abilities of these fallen angels and demons that humans covet and sometimes have gained through science or sorcery are not good powers at all, but being powers stolen from being under the authority of God have become evil powers, capable only of producing evil.]
It opened the shaft of the bottomless pit, and smoke came out of the shaft like the smoke from a large furnace. The sun and the air were darkened with the smoke from the shaft.
[It is necessary to understand clearly how the authority of the opened seals was granted progressively and in a cumulative manner. As each seal of the scroll of authority for the judgments of Israel's redemption and her Messiah's revelation were removed, the authority granted under each seal remained in force as the next seal was opened.
As we now see the judgments being enacted, we need to see how each one requires the various forms of authority granted through the opening of the different seals. Here, the smoke from the shaft into Sheol could not have been allowed to rise except for the authority of the opening of the fourth seal, the seal over the authority of Death itself, to bring the supernatural powers of Death and Sheol upon the earth.
There are powers of evil in the sky and there are powers of evil on the earth and beneath the earth. When the evil among the rulers of the nations rises they call evil good and good evil. This is the very source of their magic, their sorcery. Therefore just as God brought plagues through miracles upon the Egyptians that measure for measure overpowered the magic of the Egyptian sorcerers, so He now in the end of time turns the evil of the fallen angels in the sky and the demonic evil in the underworld against the evil of the rulers of the earth and their followers, that evil might be known as evil and good as good.]
Locusts came out of the smoke onto the earth, and they were given power like that of earthly scorpions.
[In Egypt the locusts were natural but the spirit by which they gathered and came upon Egypt was not natural. Then in the beginning of Israel's redemption, as now at the end of Israel's redemption, locusts gather to devour the power of those who held Israel captive. Both now and before they gather at the command of God but in a spirit of demonic force.
Before in Egypt, the all consuming hunger of the locusts was unleashed to create the image of the utter devastation caused by the evil of rebellion against God. Now that image of consuming hunger has become the thing itself. It is not just hunger but supernatural demonic hunger to destroy and cause devastation in the earth, to torture and kill with ferocity. Its poison is like the scorpion striking with its tail and its target which it strikes is the human conscience.]
They were told not to harm the grass on the earth, any green plant, or any tree. They could harm only the people who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads.
They were not allowed to kill them, but were only allowed to torture them for five months. Their torture was like the pain of a scorpion when it stings someone.
[The natural locusts in Egypt, though they came in supernatural swarms, came only to harm the crops of Egypt. Now the locusts that come are supernatural locusts of hunger to destroy and consume all life. But they are harnessed and restrained from consuming all life for the sake of the children of the tribes of Israel and those who are united with them in one faith, sealed in their foreheads with the seal of God, (in accordance with the authority granted in the opening of the sixth seal).
Though these demons released from the bottomless pit are spirits of devouring locusts, they are controlled by the power of this very revelation of Yehoshua HaMashiach (Jesus Christ) from devouring the life force of either crops or trees or any wild vegetation. They are not even allowed to utterly devour and consume the souls of the human beings, who are their true prey upon the earth.
They are only allowed to demonize and afflict their bodies and souls with supernatural pain. It is in the measure of 1/3, the measure of warning. Not 1/2 of the year, that is, for 6 months, not 1/4, that is for 3 months, not precisely for 1/3, that is for 4 months, but for 1/3 extended toward but cut short of 1/2, that is for 5 months.
And this period of time only, in order to declare to those who fear that it is the power of the demons in control that it is not them but the Almighty One who sits upon the throne in heaven and the Lamb who stands before Him, who unleashes them and leashes them, to warn the inhabitants of the earth that they will receive measure for measure for their evil deeds. And more, this judgment, like all the judgments, will be shown to the nations to be a measured judgment for the sake of the children of the tribes of Israel, that the world might know that it is for their sakes that God shows mercy to Humankind.
How shall those tormented by the demonic locusts know that it is the One who sits upon the throne in heaven and the Lamb who stands before him who is the one who unleashes and who leashes the demonic locusts? The nations shall know because they will see that the locusts cannot harm the children of the tribes of Israel nor those who stand in the faith of Israel with them, who are sealed in their foreheads with the seal of God. Yet all others are struck as with a scorpion's tale in their minds and are tormented, being unable to know right from wrong on any level, being unable to discern what is true, being unable to keep from following liars and idolizing them, being unable to escape the torments of addiction to immorality.]
In those days people will seek death, but never find it. They will long to die, but death will escape them.
[Again, as said above, this comes through the authority of the opening of the sixth seal, (Rev. 6:16). First and foremost this applies to Israel for the final purging of Israel. This is that final purging of Israel of those in Israel who are fallen away from God and His covenant, His Messianic Torah claim upon them, (as spoken of in Luke 23:30 Hos. 10:8).
Yet, because God already provided redemption for corporate Israel in heavenly places by the death and resurrection of the Lamb, Yehoshua HaMashiach, in the time of the Edomite rule over Jerusalem, through this purging all Israel will be saved. All the children of Israel, together with all members of all families of the earth who will stand with them in faith will, in the end, be found sealed in their foreheads with the seal of God. And because of this salvation of Israel which now is and which is to come, God now commands all people everywhere to repent and believe the Good News of Israel and Her Messiah, (see Acts 17), and accordingly this prophecy of the last judgement is extended to all peoples and nations, (Isa. 2:19).
What is the true meaning of this prophecy? It is that at that time of the last judgment of history people will rather face in shame the Angel of Death in person, face to face, than to face in shame the Lamb of God in person, face to face. But they will not escape their role in humanity, they will not escape the great tribulation, the great correction of the human race upon the earth, in this way. They will not be able to escape into the arms of Death.]
The locusts looked like horses prepared for battle. On their heads were victor's crowns that looked like gold, and their faces were like human faces.
[While these entities are called locusts because they serve in the role of locusts and because they have as their core characteristics the characteristics of locusts. There spirit is arrogance, greed and the devouring hunger of Sheol. And now their arrogance is filled with triumph because they have escaped the confinement of Sheol and they feel their spirit has free reign upon the earth. But unlike true locusts they are not natural. They are aliens, demonic beings, created in the underworld for no other purpose than this judgment at the end of human history. And when God's purpose in the judgment is accomplished they will be gone.]
They had hair like women's hair and teeth like lions' teeth.
[Were their physical attributes purely metaphorical expressions describing psychological states the metaphors would be representative of spiritual forces even more terrifying than the physical entities. But these are truly evil spirits. Are these descriptions of entities that are demonic and technological mixes that will be seen in the near future? Certainly, if Yochanan had set about to describe a vision of some of the flying war machines of today those descriptions might have seemed to have similar properties of appearance as these entities. However, unlike the angelic horses and riders of the next trumpet vision, it seems that these demonic entities afflict their victims without using any physical medium other than the minds of their victims themselves.
In the last analysis it can be seen that these entities, and those to come after these, are not themselves simply futuristic machines, even animate machines. Even though they may or may not be visible to human sight, these are demonic entities that are able to affect not only the body of their prey but also their spirit, their soul, their mind. While these spirits are indeed like tech armoured warrior-like, cyborg-like demons, they are in fact only demons.
What is most revealing is that they also resemble women. Just as fallen angels from the beginning coveted the qualities of human women, so here they have imitated human women and have turned those imitated qualities to evil use. Their is an evil seductiveness to these locusts. They gain entry and access for their poison through the forehead, through the eyes, through the mind, of those who are not sealed by the seal of God. They are invited through an open door, opened with fascination to a human face and the hair of a woman and to golden crowns and to a mouth having lion's teeth into the mind. There they dominate and bring torment for five months with a sting of poison like that of a scorpion's tale.]
They had breastplates like iron, and the noise of their wings was like the roar of chariots with many horses rushing into battle.
[A resistance will be found in those whose minds the locusts seduce and torment, at least in some. But the locusts will be built with a defense against this resistance, and they will come in giant swarms.]
They had tails and stingers like scorpions, and they had the power to hurt people with their tails for five months.
[Once again it is repeated that this judgment is a measured judgment. Even the form of poison is intended not to be a fatal form of poison. Although it is a form of poison that could be fatal, it is decreed by God in the Revelation of Israel's Redeemer, that it not be fatal, or that its power last for too long.]
They had the angel of the bottomless pit ruling over them as king. In Hebrew he is called Abaddon, and in Greek he is called Apollyon.
These locusts demons had golden crowns of victory on their heads because their god is the god of this world, and though he has free reign upon the earth his time is short. Therefore the wrath of his arrogance is great. The revelation is first in the Hebrew language for the children of Israel, but as I began explaining above is also extended to the nations, and is therefore also in the Greek. Here the greatest fallen angel, the present god of this world, manifests himself as Abaddon, the ruler of death itself, though he is only the con artist who deceived the world into serving sin and to becoming enslaved to sin and the realm of death; in the end he will be proven to not be the true ruler over death at all, although he is the god of all unholy destruction.]
The first catastrophic woe is over. After these things there are still two more catastrophic woes to come.
[By this narrative in the revelation we continue to keep track of the place where we are in the vision of the blowing of the seven trumpets. We have now seen the vision coming with the blowing of the fifth trumpet. Next we will see the visions coming with the blowing of the sixth trumpet. This will take us into and through chapter 10, where we will come to the seven thunders. It will then take us half way through chapter 11, where we will learn of the two witnesses. After this (the second woe), we will come to the blowing of the seventh trumpet (which is the the third and final woe). The visions coming with the blowing of the seventh trumpet will include all remaining judgments of the revelation, including the seven bowel judgments, the defeat of the Beast, the destruction of Mystery Babylon, the appearing of the Mashiach of Israel and his wedding and his millennial reign upon the earth.]
When the sixth angel blew his trumpet, I heard a voice from the four horns of the gold altar in front of God.
[The voice is coming directly from the authority of the prayers of the martyrs.]
It told the sixth angel who had the trumpet, "Release the four angels who are held at the great Euphrates River."
[These are from the four quadrants of the empire of Alexander the Great. Had they not been imprisoned at the Euphrates River at that time the world would have completely united under the Hellenistic empire. At this time of the end of history they will be released in order that there will soon be one world government united against the God who chose Israel and Jerusalem. For this is the purpose of God in order that He might reveal the will of the children of Adam and put an end to their rebellion.]
So the four angels who were ready for that hour, day, month, and year were released to kill one-third of humanity.
[These four powers over the four military principalities of the earth which were removed from their place by God's decree for Jerusalem's sake. They were to be imprisoned only until atonement had been provided for Jerusalem's unfaithfulness and until she was ready to be brought to repentance. Then, when she was prepared to stand with her Redeemer against the world these angels would be released.
Therefore it was at this well planned hour that these angels were being released back to rule from their heights over the nations. When the four principle angels are released the armies of angels that serve them are released with them.]
The number of cavalry troops was 200,000,000. I heard how many there were.
[While this number may also represent in a symbolic manner the number of human soldiers who will be animated by these angelic forces, its direct reference is to the number of angelic forces themselves, as we will see. That Yochanan hears the number but we are not told how means that it has a certain symbolic meaning in reference to what is concealed from the world but will be revealed through those who are sealed in their foreheads by the seal of God.]
This was how I saw the horses in my vision: The riders wore breastplates that had the colour of fire, sapphire, and sulphur. The heads of the horses were like lions' heads, and fire, smoke, and sulphur came out of their mouths.
[These horses are spirits, just as the demons from the bottomless pit of Sheol were spirits, just as the angels, the military forces that ride these horses are spirits. But these horses are a species of angels who come to animate the armies of the nations to build a world empire by their military might. Because this involves a kind of reproduction on the kingdom of Alexander it means the final resolution of the wars between the king of the north and the king of the south that have been going on all through the centuries.
These descriptions show that these angelic horses are not just military spirits but that they are, as it were, military industrial spirits, able to inspire military intelligence and technology, as well as to animate military force. Just as these spirits appear as natural horses in supernatural form with supernatural abilities, so the will inspire industry and technology that rises to a virtually supernatural level in the human armies that they animate.]
By these three plagues—the fire, the smoke, and the sulphur that came out of their mouths—one-third of humanity was killed.
[We see a scenario represented in which it is almost as if military vehicles are each equipped with weapons producing nuclear firepower with nuclear radiation. These visions of the Revelation of Yehoshua HaMashiach were to be accessible not only to us at the end of time but also to those who lived at the time it was received. Although at that time it was already known where gunpowder was to come from, gunpowder was not yet itself invented as such. On one level, therefore, the vision reveals the overwhelmingly frightful reality that we already see everyday in our own age, that sulphur based fire and smoke should contain projectiles of death coming out of the mouths of all military vehicles. But a hint is given in the description of the angelic military horses that, with their riders, represent and animate these earthly forces.
The description informs us that each of the three elements are to be understood as plagues. While this can be read as saying that it is the three elements working together that have the power to kill 1/3 of the earth's population, the hint is that these elements in the end will represent a form of destructive power where each of these elements acting also individually have the power to kill. We see this now in the case of nuclear power. The sulphur, that is to say the chemical element, the exploding radioactive material, as well as the fire, the blast-wave, and the smoke, the radiation, all separately have the power to kill. From this vision of the military technology of these horses, then, one could envision anti-God angelically inspired human-made drone military vehicles each equipped with small nuclear warhead mounted rocket launchers at their mouth.
But again, the word of God puts a limit on the amount of destruction these armies can do to Humanity. It is the same measure. 1/3 of the human race will be destroyed in the wars that lay the foundation for creating one world government in opposition to the government In the heavens of the One who sits upon the throne and against the Lamb, and on the earth in opposition to a Torah governed Israel and therefore in opposition to the Jewish city of Jerusalem.]
For the power of these horses is in their mouths and their tails. Their tails have heads like snakes, which they use to inflict pain.
[The opposition to God of these four angels and their armies that is here being allowed is itself the judgment that comes with the blowing of this trumpet. Before now this level of opposition to God was not allowed. At this point, at this appointed day and hour and year, it will be allowed. Not only are 1/3 of all people killed but this warfare, which appears to be taking place throughout the world, is actually directed mostly at the Jews and those who stand with them in one faith. These are the martyrs the victims of the four heads of these horses and their riders.
Together with God's martyrs there are multitudes more of the citizens of the earth who are killed at this time. But there are many more people who are wounded and afflicted with pain. These are the victims of the serpent tails. Primarily, the serpent tails are the agents of the military propaganda and ideology of these armies. They do not kill outright, but like the serpent in the garden, target the soul and seek to destroy it from within. This is to say the one world government is, here, still restrained and not completed. It is still coming to power.]
The rest of the people who survived these plagues did not repent from their evil actions or stop worshiping demons and idols made of gold, silver, bronze, stone, and wood, which cannot see, hear, or walk.
[It is still primarily the Jewish people as a whole who God is judging, in order to bring them to repentance. But it is also, with them, all the people of every family and nation, (see Acts 17).]
They did not repent from their murders, their witchcraft, their sexual immorality, or their thefts.
[There is virtually a complete correspondence to the seven Noahide Laws listed here. 1). Idolatry (see the verse above). 2). Murder. 3). Witchcraft is listed in the place of blasphemy. The basis of sorcery is calling good evil and evil good. The application of this for the sake of power is in using the name of God blasphemously to accomplish one's own will. 4). Immorality. 5). Theft.
This is exactly the list of sins prohibited by the Seven Noahide Laws based on Talmudic exegesis. The Talmudic exegesis, (which was only written down many years after this revelation was given), is of each of the words of the universal commandment given to Adam in the Garden of Eden by Hashem God, to eat freely of all the fruit of the trees that God provided for them, (Genesis 2:16).
The exception, the one prohibition left of this list here, is the prohibition not to eat of the limb torn from an animal, which was made explicit at the time of Noah. This sin would involve the eating of blood. It would also imply the sin of any form of cruelty to animals in the procurement of food. That the Revelation is here saying that the citizens of the world also did not repent of this sin can be gathered from the fact that this list is a reference to the complete list of the Noahide laws. The apostles expected repentance in regard to the list of sins above on the part of any gentiles who desired to attach themselves to the community of Israel in the name of Yehoshua HaMashiach, referring to the list comprehensively by naming the sin of immorality. In the case of these believers they also added the prohibition of eating blood, (see Acts 15).
In regard to the other Noahide law that is not listed here, to create courts of justice, it is the message of the whole Book of the Revelation of Yehoshua HaMashiach, (Jesus Christ), that the nations will never create courts of true justice on their own but will do so only when Mashiach rules over them for one thousand years.
This verdict being stated here marks the end of this chapter of judgment. This is so even though there is one more trumpet to be sounded. Nevertheless, this verdict being given here is telling us that everything that could be done to warn the world to repent before judgment upon the earth comes in full has been done. Judgment must now come in full measure. Since until now the judgment has been mitigated for the sake of the children of Israel, and since the full measure of judgment will come in accordance with the word of their testimony, the revelation will now come to show a vision in which is concealed and revealed the power of the testimony of those sealed with the seal of God in their foreheads. This vision comes with seven thunders in chapter 10.
Friday, December 23, 2016
Sunday, December 18, 2016
Revelation 8 with inline interpretive notes
< Revelation 7
TABLE OF CONTENTS for this study
The Seventh Seal
When the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.
[The removal of the sixth seal has allowed all that was written on the front side of the scroll to be read. But there was still another seal to be opened.
The opening of the seventh seal allowed the scroll to be unrolled completely. Although there was nothing written on the last section of the front side of the scroll, this seal being broken allowed the scroll to be turned over, so that it could be read on the other side and re-rolled again as it was read.
Accordingly, there was silence in heaven for about a half hour while the scroll was being turned over and the empty section at the end of the one side and the beginning of the other side was passed over. As soon as what was written on the backside of the scroll began to appear the visions resumed.
This silence in heaven in the midst of the revelation, while the scroll is being turned over, is like the calm in the eye of the storm. It is representative of the absolute power and sovereignty behind the revelation, which comes from the One who is beyond, the One who is seated upon the throne, who wrote the scroll on the front side and the back and sealed it with seven seals on the top of the scroll, and who handed it to the Lamb to be opened.
This quality represented by the silence in the midst of the revelation signifies the concealment which is found in the midst of the revelation. This concealment is first and foremost the concealment of the Lamb himself, how he could not at first be found, but was only found after a search was made for him through all the heavens and earth.
This silence in heaven for about an half an hour is not an intermission, as some would imagine. It is itself the heart of the revelation. It is signifying that the power of the revelation comes always, at every point, from the One who is beyond, and this is the key to understanding. This silence is the key to hearing the seven thunders, which will remain silent to us, unless we learn the meaning of this silence, to hear and understand it. This silence, this turning over of the scroll of revelation, teaches us that the knowledge of the revelation cannot be received or attained by human will or effort or accomplishment. It is the test of faith, which is the source of faith.
It is this silence in heaven, for the sake of the turning over of the scroll, in order that what is written on the reverse side to be read and the scroll to be rolled up again as it is read, which signifies the concealment of the Messiah of Israel, his death in this world and resurrection in a new creation and his ascension into heaven, where he and all that he is and brings is concealed from this world for about the space of an half an hour of heavenly time. This is the source of all concealment in the revelation of the Messiah of Israel, the concealment of the brilliance of his light, so that it does not utterly and forever blind the children of Adam.
Through this silence, this suspended breath in heaven, in the midst of the revelation of eternal life, the grace of God is made possible toward the world. This is the secret in the revelation of God, which can be received only by faith in the Lamb which was slain for the redemption of Israel.
The secret of the divine silence will now progressively come to an end with the revelation that comes through the opening of the seventh seal and the rolling of the scroll to the beginning of all that will be read there on the other side of the scroll — which is all the remainder of our book.
Though the words and force of the Book of the Revelation of Yehoshua HaMashiach (Jesus Christ), the judgments of his coming are made known to the world, and because of the meaning of the silence, which is the secret of the concealed words of the seven thunders, within it, the revelation is actually given only to the servants of God. What is revealed to the world serves as a warning to repent, a warning given by the servants of God, those who will serve as witnesses before God against those who in the end do not repent, though they were warned.
The six necessary measures of authority for bringing the final judgment to the earth have been given to the angels of God. This was done with the opening of the first six seals of the scroll. The seventh measure of authority, that to bring about the final end of judgment and revelation in the earth, by the sovereign grace of God, through mitigated judgment, has now also been given through the opening of the seventh seal of the scroll that was handed by the One who sits upon the throne to the Lamb who had been slain.
During the authority of the sixth seal, which was the authority to immediately commence with the action bringing final judgment upon the earth, the action was interrupted for the sake of sealing the minds of the servants of God with understanding. We will see now that this act of sealing the servants of God, as formed in the perfect representation of corporate Israel redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, had the effect of being an act of mercy toward the whole world. For it is this that mitigated the judgment that would come by the agency of the angels endowed with the authority of judgment upon the world.
The scroll has now been fully unsealed and turned over. We begin to see what is revealed by what is written on the reverse side.]
Then I saw the seven angels who stand before God, [in the place where the seven lamps, the seven spirits of the Shechinah, and the Lamb stood], and seven trumpets [announcing the final redemption of Israel, the end of history, and calling for the repentance of the world] were given to them.
And another angel came and stood at the altar [with all the martyrs of God and of the Lamb beneath it] with a golden censer, and he was given much incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar before the throne, [lest the judgment that was now coming not have an assurance, for those who would look for it, of mercy and salvation] and the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, rose before God from the hand of the angel.
Then the angel took the censer and filled it with fire from the altar and threw it on the earth, and there were peals of thunder, rumblings flashes of lightning, and an earthquake.
[Multiple peals of thunder are explicitly mentioned here in association with the opened seventh seal. This highlights for us, upon the conclusion of the great half hour silence in heaven, how thunderous the silence of mystery was that was associated with the opening of the sixth seal. For at no time was any loud and thunderous sound said to be heard with the opening of the sixth seal, as it was with the opening of all other seals. When he heard the children of Israel and all people on the earth calling for the rocks to fall upon them, it would have been all the more pronounced to Yochanan, because there was no thunder echoing and rumbling in the background, only silence. All the visions that took place after the opening of the sixth seal, all dialogue heard during those visions, took place against a background of silence.
We can understand then that it might have seemed to Yochanan, (and so, perhaps, should seem to us who receive the revelation through him), that the accompanying silence, the absence of any thunderous sound, during the visions of the opening of the sixth seal were that much more profound because the visions showed a time of great fear upon the earth as well as a time of introduction to the greatest secrets of God. Indeed, that silence, that lack of accompanying thunder during the opening of the sixth seal might have seemed so profound in the experience of Yochanan that it may have seemed itself to simply culminate in the complete silence in heaven for the half hour.
Now all that silence, all that mystery, begins to be broken with multiple thunderings and the rumblings of the heavenly voice following the opening of the seventh seal and the beginning of the multiple visions that will come with the reading of all that is written on the backside of the scroll.
We see also that it is out of the censer, (carried by the angel of the censer of the incense of the prayers of the holy people beneath the altar), that the multiple thunders come. And these multiple thunders are an allusion to the seven thunders of chapter 10, as we will see.
It is when coals of the altar are added to this incense and thrown down upon the earth, that the thunderous sounds now come, with lightning and earthquakes warning of the tribulations of judgment. All that follows, in the blowing of the seven trumpets and what follows from them, will be like coals of fire mixed with the prayers of the incense of the holy people under the altar, the vengeance of God mitigated by grace, strict justice mixed with mercy.]
The Seven Trumpets
Now the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared to blow them.
[All seven angels now stand in line before the throne of the One who sits upon the thrown. As said above, this is the place of the seven spirits of the Shechinah and the place of the Lamb. All seven angels have their horns raised to their lips and are ready to blow them, one after the other. Therefore all these seven judgments are to be understood as together being one progressive judgment, and heard as one warning to the world.]
The first angel blew his trumpet, and there followed hail and fire, mixed with blood, and these [hailstones of ice, fire and blood.] were thrown upon the earth. And a third of the earth was burned up, and a third of the trees were burned up, and all green grass was burned up.
[Supernatural Hail comes as the first judgment because the judgment of hail in Egypt was the turning point judgment in Egypt, where the pride and will of Pharaoh began to be broken. As we will see later, the judgment of hail is representative of all the specific judgments that result in the redemption of Israel from captivity to the nations.
This vision coming with the blowing of the first trumpet is meant to speak to the judgment found at the beginning of chapter 7, in the midst of the opening of the sixth seal, of the four angels of the four winds of the earth, holding back those winds from blowing upon land, sea or trees. There the judgment was to be absolute, the suffocating of all life upon the earth. Here we see that judgment has been mitigated. it is a judgment of the selective force of fire, and it is restrained to being 1/3 of the vegetation of the earth. It should not just be that such a great portion of the earth is burnt by fire that brings fear of judgment and repentance. It should be that it was the will of the wrath of God to end all life on the earth, as it was in the days of Noah. But just as then, for the sake of the Righteous One to come, the Lamb, God spared Noah and his family, so now for the sake of Israel, the family given to the Lamb, represented by the 144,000 children of the tribes of Israel in the vision, and for the sake of their testimony, God's will is modified, so that He will spare all whom He can in the earth. It is this truth, more than all else, knowing this to be the only source of God's mercy, that should bring the fear of God and repentance to those who dwell upon the earth.]
The second angel blew his trumpet, and something like a great mountain, burning with fire, was thrown into the sea, and a third of the sea became blood.
[Because, for the sake of the children of Israel, the whole earth is not suffocated due to the wrath of God, but His wrath is eased and only 1/3 of the earth is burnt by fire instead, this results in the sea not being affected directly by that judgment. The sea, then, because it was sparred for the sake of Israel, and the redemption of Israel, will be the place of the beginning of the testimony of the redemption of Israel. As the Red Sea was split for the sake of the redemption of Israel, after that the judgments in Egypt began with the turning of the Nile River to blood, so now all the seas of the world, among all nations, will be turned to blood. Yet again, this is for the sake of the testimony of the redemption of Israel. Therefore, due to the prayers of the holy people beneath the altar in heaven, the testimony of the redemption of Israel from among the nations shall begin with 1/3 of the seas being turned to blood.]
A third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed.
[By this it is signified that it is not only the life that the oceans are in themselves that shall be, in this measure, turned into death, but also the life that they represent to the commerce of the nations that shall be, in this measure, turned to death.]
The third angel blew his trumpet, and a great star fell from heaven, blazing like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on l the springs of water.
The name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters became wormwood, and many people died from the water, because it had been made bitter.
[There are two levels to the reason for the wrath of God toward the world. One is the rebellion of Adam and the corruption of all goodness in which He made Adam. This is the reason for the Flood that He sent upon the world in the time of Noah. The second is that even when, out of His grace for the sake of the Righteous One whom He would send, He sparred the family of Noah and called Abraham and Sarah and chose Israel, to provide a way of redemption and repentance, the world rebelled even more, despising His purpose in setting Israel apart unto Himself. Instead, in its rebellion, the world designed and built its societies, its cities and nations and empires, in accordance with the imagination of its pride, seeking for itself to sit in the place of God. In its war against God the world sought to claim Israel as its own. If it could not, then it was determined to destroy Israel. And for this reason, God's wrath was kindled at the deepest level against the world. Nevertheless, for the sake of the Lamb who was slain for Israel, to fulfill God's purpose in Israel, and for the sake of the prayers of the faithful of Israel, God determined to overcome the rebellion of the whole world not by destroying the world but by redeeming Israel from the love of the world and from subjection to its power. Now, therefore, when this testimony began to be given through the blowing of the first two trumpets, the blowing of the third trumpet announced that the judgment of God in the earth would take the form very explicitly of the redemption of Israel. Just as Israel had been redeemed out of Egypt, so Israel would be redeemed out of captivity to all the nations. Just as the redemption of Israel from Egypt had begun with judgment upon the Nile River, by turning it to blood, so the redemption of Israel from among all the nations would immediately begin with judgment upon all the earth's rivers and sources of life-giving water, by turning them to blood. But just as it was already signified that the judgments bringing about this redemption were not to condemn the world but to save the world, so in the turning of the rivers to blood also would be mitigated by the prayers of the holy witnesses and would begin in 1/3 measure.
What is more, before in Egypt it was not revealed openly before all the world that the poisoning of the Nile and turning its life-giving waters into waters of death was done through the power of the fallen angels worshipped in Egypt being destroyed and thrown into the river. But now, openly before all the world, it would be revealed that it would be through the defeat of the very powers that the nations relied upon that their rivers and springs would be polluted with the wormwood of death.]
The fourth angel blew his trumpet, and a third of the sun was struck, and a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of their light might be darkened, and a third of the day might be kept from shining, and likewise a third of the night.
[The judgments leading to the redemption of Israel from Egypt began with the Nile River being turned to blood and ended and ended with absolute darkness covering the land of Egypt. There were those in Egypt who thought that the sun must be the greatest power, the greatest god. Instead of longing for knowledge of the God of heaven and earth, the longed for knowledge of the sun, the power that they could see with the pride of their own minds. When absolute darkness covered the land of Egypt the proud minds of the Egyptians could see nothing and could understand nothing. There was no pride left to them except the pride of their hearts and with it the pride in their firstborn sons. In this way the nations today have not changed from that long past nation of Egypt. The thoughts of the nations today long to know the stars. Their thoughts center all things on the sun and long to harness the power of the sun, both its power on the earth and its power to stand as one among the stars. There are fallen angels who come from the realm of the stars who flatter the vain children of the earth and feed them knowledge through the illusions of light. For the sake of the redemption of Israel from among the nations and the salvation of the world, God will cast down the powers and principle rulers of these high places, which rule this fallen world in the day and in the night. He will cast them down at first by measure, in order that all the world might fear Him and repent. He will overcome the pride of their minds. In the end, nothing will be left to them but the pride of their hearts, for they will be prepared to die in failure, as the children of Adam before them, always thinking that they die leaving the legacy of their empire, their world to their children, to their firstborn. But God will yet overcome even this pride and will redeem Israel from it.]
Then I looked, and I heard an eagle [an emblem and agent of the Shechinah] crying with a loud voice [the coming seven thunders are hinted to] as it flew directly overhead “Woe, woe, woe to those who dwell on the earth, at the blasts of the other trumpets that the three angels are about to blow!”
[A significant aspect of the mystery of the Book of the Revelation of Yehoshua HaMashiach (Jesus Christ) and of the Scroll opened by the Lamb, also, will be found in the arrangement of its composition. This is especially true when it comes to the visions that arise with the blowing of the last three trumpets. Unlike previous visions, the visions that come with branching visions and with amplified and nested visions. This becomes progressively the case as we move from the fifth trumpet to the sixth and then to the seventh. For example, the visions of the judgments of the seven bowls are all contained within the vision array that comes with the blowing of the seventh trumpet. The three woes announced here by the angelic eagle is not meant to add to the multiplicity of visions. It is intended to help us to see the larger design, which Yochanan saw. It is meant to help prepare us for the severity and importance of the judgments and of the revelation that will come with the blowing of the last three trumpets. It is also meant to help us retain the view of Yochanan who all through the time of the blowing of the seven trumpets saw all seven angels standing before the One who sits upon the throne, with their trumpets to their lips, showing that all were to be understood together as one, even the last three, where many, many visions and much revelation would occur, right up to the end of our book.]
TABLE OF CONTENTS for this study
The Seventh Seal
When the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.
[The removal of the sixth seal has allowed all that was written on the front side of the scroll to be read. But there was still another seal to be opened.
The opening of the seventh seal allowed the scroll to be unrolled completely. Although there was nothing written on the last section of the front side of the scroll, this seal being broken allowed the scroll to be turned over, so that it could be read on the other side and re-rolled again as it was read.
Accordingly, there was silence in heaven for about a half hour while the scroll was being turned over and the empty section at the end of the one side and the beginning of the other side was passed over. As soon as what was written on the backside of the scroll began to appear the visions resumed.
This silence in heaven in the midst of the revelation, while the scroll is being turned over, is like the calm in the eye of the storm. It is representative of the absolute power and sovereignty behind the revelation, which comes from the One who is beyond, the One who is seated upon the throne, who wrote the scroll on the front side and the back and sealed it with seven seals on the top of the scroll, and who handed it to the Lamb to be opened.
This quality represented by the silence in the midst of the revelation signifies the concealment which is found in the midst of the revelation. This concealment is first and foremost the concealment of the Lamb himself, how he could not at first be found, but was only found after a search was made for him through all the heavens and earth.
This silence in heaven for about an half an hour is not an intermission, as some would imagine. It is itself the heart of the revelation. It is signifying that the power of the revelation comes always, at every point, from the One who is beyond, and this is the key to understanding. This silence is the key to hearing the seven thunders, which will remain silent to us, unless we learn the meaning of this silence, to hear and understand it. This silence, this turning over of the scroll of revelation, teaches us that the knowledge of the revelation cannot be received or attained by human will or effort or accomplishment. It is the test of faith, which is the source of faith.
It is this silence in heaven, for the sake of the turning over of the scroll, in order that what is written on the reverse side to be read and the scroll to be rolled up again as it is read, which signifies the concealment of the Messiah of Israel, his death in this world and resurrection in a new creation and his ascension into heaven, where he and all that he is and brings is concealed from this world for about the space of an half an hour of heavenly time. This is the source of all concealment in the revelation of the Messiah of Israel, the concealment of the brilliance of his light, so that it does not utterly and forever blind the children of Adam.
Through this silence, this suspended breath in heaven, in the midst of the revelation of eternal life, the grace of God is made possible toward the world. This is the secret in the revelation of God, which can be received only by faith in the Lamb which was slain for the redemption of Israel.
The secret of the divine silence will now progressively come to an end with the revelation that comes through the opening of the seventh seal and the rolling of the scroll to the beginning of all that will be read there on the other side of the scroll — which is all the remainder of our book.
Though the words and force of the Book of the Revelation of Yehoshua HaMashiach (Jesus Christ), the judgments of his coming are made known to the world, and because of the meaning of the silence, which is the secret of the concealed words of the seven thunders, within it, the revelation is actually given only to the servants of God. What is revealed to the world serves as a warning to repent, a warning given by the servants of God, those who will serve as witnesses before God against those who in the end do not repent, though they were warned.
The six necessary measures of authority for bringing the final judgment to the earth have been given to the angels of God. This was done with the opening of the first six seals of the scroll. The seventh measure of authority, that to bring about the final end of judgment and revelation in the earth, by the sovereign grace of God, through mitigated judgment, has now also been given through the opening of the seventh seal of the scroll that was handed by the One who sits upon the throne to the Lamb who had been slain.
During the authority of the sixth seal, which was the authority to immediately commence with the action bringing final judgment upon the earth, the action was interrupted for the sake of sealing the minds of the servants of God with understanding. We will see now that this act of sealing the servants of God, as formed in the perfect representation of corporate Israel redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, had the effect of being an act of mercy toward the whole world. For it is this that mitigated the judgment that would come by the agency of the angels endowed with the authority of judgment upon the world.
The scroll has now been fully unsealed and turned over. We begin to see what is revealed by what is written on the reverse side.]
Then I saw the seven angels who stand before God, [in the place where the seven lamps, the seven spirits of the Shechinah, and the Lamb stood], and seven trumpets [announcing the final redemption of Israel, the end of history, and calling for the repentance of the world] were given to them.
And another angel came and stood at the altar [with all the martyrs of God and of the Lamb beneath it] with a golden censer, and he was given much incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar before the throne, [lest the judgment that was now coming not have an assurance, for those who would look for it, of mercy and salvation] and the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, rose before God from the hand of the angel.
Then the angel took the censer and filled it with fire from the altar and threw it on the earth, and there were peals of thunder, rumblings flashes of lightning, and an earthquake.
[Multiple peals of thunder are explicitly mentioned here in association with the opened seventh seal. This highlights for us, upon the conclusion of the great half hour silence in heaven, how thunderous the silence of mystery was that was associated with the opening of the sixth seal. For at no time was any loud and thunderous sound said to be heard with the opening of the sixth seal, as it was with the opening of all other seals. When he heard the children of Israel and all people on the earth calling for the rocks to fall upon them, it would have been all the more pronounced to Yochanan, because there was no thunder echoing and rumbling in the background, only silence. All the visions that took place after the opening of the sixth seal, all dialogue heard during those visions, took place against a background of silence.
We can understand then that it might have seemed to Yochanan, (and so, perhaps, should seem to us who receive the revelation through him), that the accompanying silence, the absence of any thunderous sound, during the visions of the opening of the sixth seal were that much more profound because the visions showed a time of great fear upon the earth as well as a time of introduction to the greatest secrets of God. Indeed, that silence, that lack of accompanying thunder during the opening of the sixth seal might have seemed so profound in the experience of Yochanan that it may have seemed itself to simply culminate in the complete silence in heaven for the half hour.
Now all that silence, all that mystery, begins to be broken with multiple thunderings and the rumblings of the heavenly voice following the opening of the seventh seal and the beginning of the multiple visions that will come with the reading of all that is written on the backside of the scroll.
We see also that it is out of the censer, (carried by the angel of the censer of the incense of the prayers of the holy people beneath the altar), that the multiple thunders come. And these multiple thunders are an allusion to the seven thunders of chapter 10, as we will see.
It is when coals of the altar are added to this incense and thrown down upon the earth, that the thunderous sounds now come, with lightning and earthquakes warning of the tribulations of judgment. All that follows, in the blowing of the seven trumpets and what follows from them, will be like coals of fire mixed with the prayers of the incense of the holy people under the altar, the vengeance of God mitigated by grace, strict justice mixed with mercy.]
The Seven Trumpets
Now the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared to blow them.
[All seven angels now stand in line before the throne of the One who sits upon the thrown. As said above, this is the place of the seven spirits of the Shechinah and the place of the Lamb. All seven angels have their horns raised to their lips and are ready to blow them, one after the other. Therefore all these seven judgments are to be understood as together being one progressive judgment, and heard as one warning to the world.]
The first angel blew his trumpet, and there followed hail and fire, mixed with blood, and these [hailstones of ice, fire and blood.] were thrown upon the earth. And a third of the earth was burned up, and a third of the trees were burned up, and all green grass was burned up.
[Supernatural Hail comes as the first judgment because the judgment of hail in Egypt was the turning point judgment in Egypt, where the pride and will of Pharaoh began to be broken. As we will see later, the judgment of hail is representative of all the specific judgments that result in the redemption of Israel from captivity to the nations.
This vision coming with the blowing of the first trumpet is meant to speak to the judgment found at the beginning of chapter 7, in the midst of the opening of the sixth seal, of the four angels of the four winds of the earth, holding back those winds from blowing upon land, sea or trees. There the judgment was to be absolute, the suffocating of all life upon the earth. Here we see that judgment has been mitigated. it is a judgment of the selective force of fire, and it is restrained to being 1/3 of the vegetation of the earth. It should not just be that such a great portion of the earth is burnt by fire that brings fear of judgment and repentance. It should be that it was the will of the wrath of God to end all life on the earth, as it was in the days of Noah. But just as then, for the sake of the Righteous One to come, the Lamb, God spared Noah and his family, so now for the sake of Israel, the family given to the Lamb, represented by the 144,000 children of the tribes of Israel in the vision, and for the sake of their testimony, God's will is modified, so that He will spare all whom He can in the earth. It is this truth, more than all else, knowing this to be the only source of God's mercy, that should bring the fear of God and repentance to those who dwell upon the earth.]
The second angel blew his trumpet, and something like a great mountain, burning with fire, was thrown into the sea, and a third of the sea became blood.
[Because, for the sake of the children of Israel, the whole earth is not suffocated due to the wrath of God, but His wrath is eased and only 1/3 of the earth is burnt by fire instead, this results in the sea not being affected directly by that judgment. The sea, then, because it was sparred for the sake of Israel, and the redemption of Israel, will be the place of the beginning of the testimony of the redemption of Israel. As the Red Sea was split for the sake of the redemption of Israel, after that the judgments in Egypt began with the turning of the Nile River to blood, so now all the seas of the world, among all nations, will be turned to blood. Yet again, this is for the sake of the testimony of the redemption of Israel. Therefore, due to the prayers of the holy people beneath the altar in heaven, the testimony of the redemption of Israel from among the nations shall begin with 1/3 of the seas being turned to blood.]
A third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed.
[By this it is signified that it is not only the life that the oceans are in themselves that shall be, in this measure, turned into death, but also the life that they represent to the commerce of the nations that shall be, in this measure, turned to death.]
The third angel blew his trumpet, and a great star fell from heaven, blazing like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on l the springs of water.
The name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters became wormwood, and many people died from the water, because it had been made bitter.
[There are two levels to the reason for the wrath of God toward the world. One is the rebellion of Adam and the corruption of all goodness in which He made Adam. This is the reason for the Flood that He sent upon the world in the time of Noah. The second is that even when, out of His grace for the sake of the Righteous One whom He would send, He sparred the family of Noah and called Abraham and Sarah and chose Israel, to provide a way of redemption and repentance, the world rebelled even more, despising His purpose in setting Israel apart unto Himself. Instead, in its rebellion, the world designed and built its societies, its cities and nations and empires, in accordance with the imagination of its pride, seeking for itself to sit in the place of God. In its war against God the world sought to claim Israel as its own. If it could not, then it was determined to destroy Israel. And for this reason, God's wrath was kindled at the deepest level against the world. Nevertheless, for the sake of the Lamb who was slain for Israel, to fulfill God's purpose in Israel, and for the sake of the prayers of the faithful of Israel, God determined to overcome the rebellion of the whole world not by destroying the world but by redeeming Israel from the love of the world and from subjection to its power. Now, therefore, when this testimony began to be given through the blowing of the first two trumpets, the blowing of the third trumpet announced that the judgment of God in the earth would take the form very explicitly of the redemption of Israel. Just as Israel had been redeemed out of Egypt, so Israel would be redeemed out of captivity to all the nations. Just as the redemption of Israel from Egypt had begun with judgment upon the Nile River, by turning it to blood, so the redemption of Israel from among all the nations would immediately begin with judgment upon all the earth's rivers and sources of life-giving water, by turning them to blood. But just as it was already signified that the judgments bringing about this redemption were not to condemn the world but to save the world, so in the turning of the rivers to blood also would be mitigated by the prayers of the holy witnesses and would begin in 1/3 measure.
What is more, before in Egypt it was not revealed openly before all the world that the poisoning of the Nile and turning its life-giving waters into waters of death was done through the power of the fallen angels worshipped in Egypt being destroyed and thrown into the river. But now, openly before all the world, it would be revealed that it would be through the defeat of the very powers that the nations relied upon that their rivers and springs would be polluted with the wormwood of death.]
The fourth angel blew his trumpet, and a third of the sun was struck, and a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of their light might be darkened, and a third of the day might be kept from shining, and likewise a third of the night.
[The judgments leading to the redemption of Israel from Egypt began with the Nile River being turned to blood and ended and ended with absolute darkness covering the land of Egypt. There were those in Egypt who thought that the sun must be the greatest power, the greatest god. Instead of longing for knowledge of the God of heaven and earth, the longed for knowledge of the sun, the power that they could see with the pride of their own minds. When absolute darkness covered the land of Egypt the proud minds of the Egyptians could see nothing and could understand nothing. There was no pride left to them except the pride of their hearts and with it the pride in their firstborn sons. In this way the nations today have not changed from that long past nation of Egypt. The thoughts of the nations today long to know the stars. Their thoughts center all things on the sun and long to harness the power of the sun, both its power on the earth and its power to stand as one among the stars. There are fallen angels who come from the realm of the stars who flatter the vain children of the earth and feed them knowledge through the illusions of light. For the sake of the redemption of Israel from among the nations and the salvation of the world, God will cast down the powers and principle rulers of these high places, which rule this fallen world in the day and in the night. He will cast them down at first by measure, in order that all the world might fear Him and repent. He will overcome the pride of their minds. In the end, nothing will be left to them but the pride of their hearts, for they will be prepared to die in failure, as the children of Adam before them, always thinking that they die leaving the legacy of their empire, their world to their children, to their firstborn. But God will yet overcome even this pride and will redeem Israel from it.]
Then I looked, and I heard an eagle [an emblem and agent of the Shechinah] crying with a loud voice [the coming seven thunders are hinted to] as it flew directly overhead “Woe, woe, woe to those who dwell on the earth, at the blasts of the other trumpets that the three angels are about to blow!”
[A significant aspect of the mystery of the Book of the Revelation of Yehoshua HaMashiach (Jesus Christ) and of the Scroll opened by the Lamb, also, will be found in the arrangement of its composition. This is especially true when it comes to the visions that arise with the blowing of the last three trumpets. Unlike previous visions, the visions that come with branching visions and with amplified and nested visions. This becomes progressively the case as we move from the fifth trumpet to the sixth and then to the seventh. For example, the visions of the judgments of the seven bowls are all contained within the vision array that comes with the blowing of the seventh trumpet. The three woes announced here by the angelic eagle is not meant to add to the multiplicity of visions. It is intended to help us to see the larger design, which Yochanan saw. It is meant to help prepare us for the severity and importance of the judgments and of the revelation that will come with the blowing of the last three trumpets. It is also meant to help us retain the view of Yochanan who all through the time of the blowing of the seven trumpets saw all seven angels standing before the One who sits upon the throne, with their trumpets to their lips, showing that all were to be understood together as one, even the last three, where many, many visions and much revelation would occur, right up to the end of our book.]
Sunday, December 11, 2016
Revelation 7 with inline interpretive notes
< Revelation chapter 6
TABLE OF CONTENTS for this study
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Study Of The Four Winds - Revelation of Yehoshua HaMashiach website
The 144,000 of Israel Sealed
After this, [that is to say, after the first visions of the sixth seal more consequences of opening the sixth seal follow. The chapter has changed, but we are still being shown the nature of the authority that is given to the angels of judgment through the opening of the sixth seal. So far, we have seen that the authority under the sixth seal is to begin full scale judgment in the earth, which will bring about the end of natural history. So now, "after this..." we see a vision of angels involved in the actual commencement of final judgment: ]
I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth that no wind might blow on earth or sea or against any tree.
[The sixth seal has been opened. Authority is given for the final judgment upon the earth to begin to take place. All air currents, all winds, are about to be stopped. As a result, the earth will be made to suffocate even while it is dying of thirst. The four angels who control all of earth's weather are prepared to immediately bring about this judgment on the earth.* It is a moment of great suspense in which it is to be understood with complete clarity that If this judgment goes forward there will be no air currents at all on the earth, therefore no moisture would be able to rise from the oceans to fall upon the continents and their would be no exchange of oxygen with other gases for the maintaining of life.
Suddenly this this scene is interrupted. We remember that there is one more seal to be opened. And for the sake of what is yet to be revealed through the opening of that seal, this total judgment which seems about to be let loose upon the world will be stopped at this point, and, as we will see, the exercise of this authority will be put into other hands.]
Then I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, with the seal of the living God, [in the midst of the opening of the seven seals of the scroll, at the time when the sixth seal has been opened, we hear of another seal, the seal of God], and he called with a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm earth and sea, saying “Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees, until we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads.”
[We will see even more clearly later that there is a direct correlation of authority between this seal, the seal of God, which will now be placed upon, or in, the forehead of the servants of God, and the sixth and seventh seal of the scroll which is being unrolled, which is the scroll of the revelation of the world's judgment and Israel's final redemption — the scroll which the Lamb is in the midst of opening.
The relationship between these different seals, those on the scroll and that placed on or in the forehead of those named, is the relationship between what is revealed openly to the world in the Book of the Revelation of Yehoshua HaMashiach (Jesus Christ) and what is concealed from the world within that book and mysteriously revealed through that same book only to the servants of God. This principle will be understood clearly through the revelation of the seven thunders in chapter ten.
We need to be completely clear. All the visions of the sixth seal demonstrating its authority to initiate the final act of judgment, (which we read about in chapter six), are brought together and focused into this one action we are now reading about, (in the first verses of chapter seven), the action of giving authority to the angels in control of the earth's winds to harm the sea by stopping all air currents. While this judgment begins, and is comprehended by threatening to harm the oceans, we are told specifically that it will not only harm the oceans but will harm the whole earth.
Most emphatically, this authority is the authority for complete and absolute judgment. If it is carried out in a way that is unmitigated, as threatened here, no further judgment would or could occur. It does not just threaten to bring death to the oceans of the earth, it threatens to bring death to the whole earth, by bringing death to all the trees of the earth. But suddenly this act of judgment is stopped for the sake of certain servants of God. Who are these servants of God? How and why are they involved in mitigating the judgment that is threatened to come upon the whole earth?]
And I heard the number of the sealed, 144,000, sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel:
[The first thing that is revealed about the servants of God being spoken of is the number of those servants of God who are sealed with the seal of God. This number is 144,000, 72+72x1000. Later, we will see that the number has a symbolic value that is related to the symbolic quality of the Lamb. Immediately here we are told that the first aspect of this symbolic number is that it is a representative number.
The second thing is that this number is said to be representative of the tribes of the sons of Yaakov (whom God called Israel). We are learning that this vision of this select number is representative of the corporate whole of Israel. The corporate whole of Israel is not described as being composed of a simply homogenous collection of individuals but of a deliberately and precisely designed structure of twelve families forming one whole family nation in union with the revelation of the Lamb and of the One who sits upon the throne, as we will see.]
12,000 from the tribe of Judah were sealed,
12,000 from the tribe of Reuben,
[These numbers emphatically highlight the importance that it is Israel as a family nation, precisely designed and described by the sovereign God, which is here being symbolically, representatively sealed with the seal of God. What does it mean, then, that these are souls of Israel and of the twelve tribes of Israel in particular? Are there not more than 12,000 souls in the family tribe of Judah, or the family tribe of Reuben, etc? Yes, there are ultimately many more souls in each tribe than this. But here it is this number that is sealed in order to represent the perfect whole, the corporate structure as chosen and designed by the God of Israel.
And what of those from among the nations which are grafted into the redeemed nation of Israel, as we read in Romans chapter eleven. Are they represented in this vision also? Yes. As we will see, they are also represented. What, then, is the nature of this symbolic representation?
Even though there is a great open revelation made known to us through this numbering and sealing of the tribes, the aspect of a remaining concealment within the revelation is also introduced to us here. It is openly revealed that God sees Israel as a perfect formation of twelve perfectly formed tribes. It remains still concealed in this vision how all souls who will ultimately be saved through the redemption of the house of Israel are represented by this perfectly designed number.
As we continue, we will see more fully what is openly revealed to us by the sealing of the family tribes of Israel in these numbers. But we will also see right away that the question is raised as to how it can be that an equal number from each tribe is sealed when, until now, in accordance with the judgment of the word of God upon Israel, none of the tribes except one has been preserved as a tribe. This question is the first aspect of explicit concealment that remains in the revelation. Other explicit aspects of concealment will also be revealed.
These aspects of concealment revealed in the Scroll (or Book) of The Revelation of Yehoshua HaMashiach (Jesus Christ), which was given to Yochanan (John), ultimately lead to the seven thunders in chapter ten, which Yochanan hears but is forbidden to write down. By reading and hearing the record of the revelation clearly, we will come to understand how that all that is revealed in concealment in the revelation is comprehended in those seven thunders, in what Yochanan heard them say, and in what those sealed with the seal of God in their foreheads, like Yochanan, can also hear them say.]
12,000 from the tribe of Gad,
12,000 from the tribe of Asher,
12,000 from the tribe of Naphtali,
12,000 from the tribe of Manasseh,
[All of the apparently lost tribes of the northern kingdom of Israel are listed. They are shown to be essential to the wholeness of a redeemed Israel. Again, as the readers and hearers of the revelation, at this point, it is not clearly revealed to us, how it can be, and what it means, that an equal number from each tribe is sealed, when only the tribe of Judah has openly been preserved as a tribe in history.
We are nevertheless told that it is the sealing of the equal number of 12,000 from each of these tribes that forestalls the judgment of the immediate absolute death of the planet by asphyxiation. In other words, the corporate wholeness of Israel as the family nation, designed by the God of Israel, is sealed with the seal of God in their foreheads, that is to say, in their understanding, and we are told that it is their being sealed in this way that brings this mitigation of the world's judgment.
Another element of concealment within revelation and revelation within concealment that is introduced here is the arrangement of the list of the tribes. Not only does this arrangement have great significance in its overall structure in relation to the different arrangement of the lists of the tribes given in the Torah, but also the equal inclusion of the family tribe of Levi in its ordered place in this list brings a strong illumination of mystery to this revelation.]
12,000 from the tribe of Simeon,
12,000 from the tribe of Levi,
[The mystery of the design and structure of Israel, as the corporate portion of the family of Adam chosen by the Creator for the redemption of Adam, begins not only with Yaakov's (Jacob's) twelve sons, but with his blessing of his twelve sons just before his death. Among the twelve distinct blessings describing the infrastructure of the house of Israel, Yaakov revealed three most pronounced blessings. One had to do with the moving of the blessing of the firstborn from its place with Reuven (Rueben). This led us to the mystery of the preservation only of the tribe of Yehudah (Judah), and ultimately to the Lion of the tribe of Yehudah, whom we have seen revealed above.
The second of those most pronounced of Yaakov's blessings, as will be seen, had to do with Yosef (Joseph). And a third had to do with Shimon (Simon) and Levi. Shimon and Levi were blessed with the chastisement of being scattered within Israel among the different tribes of Israel. This was the first clear indication that there would be a problem with the preservation of the corporate wholeness of some, if not all, the twelve tribes of Israel. In the case of Levi, it would turn out that this blessing of chastisement, of being scattered in Israel, would be formalized into an institutional form.
Levi was made into the priestly tribe of Israel, where the cohenim, the priests of Israel, could only be taken from the tribe of Levi. Accordingly the Levites could not make their camp in the circle of the camps of the tribes of Israel, nor could they have a territory of their own, for they had to serve all tribes in the camp of the tabernacle, and they had to serve all the tribes in all the territories. Now, how and why this came about was itself a great mystery.
It came about that the tribe of Levi was dispersed in this manner, in accordance with Yaakov's words, only because of the sin of the golden calf, in which the tribe of Levi was without guilt, which resulted in the disqualification of the the firstborn of all the other tribes for the priesthood. Accordingly, the tribe of Levi was not counted, when the tribes were counted by the commandment of God, in the same way that the other tribes were counted.
That the tribe of Levi should here, in the revelation of judgment and the final redemption, be listed and counted in the same manner as the other tribes has great symbolic significance It is a clear testimony to the glory of the Lamb who was slain and to his complete atonement for the sin of the golden calf and all other sins of Israel on a corporate level. In this image of the 144,000 members of the twelve tribes we are seeing a picture of the fulfilled promise that God would make all Israel to be a kingdom of priests. This is entirely a testimony to the Lamb. In order for this glorious testimony to the Lamb, through both Shimon's and Levi's equal inclusion with the other tribes in the perfect corporate representation of Israel and her redemption, one of the other tribes had to be concealed in the revelation.
It could not be that what Yaakov had done in making Yosef into two tribes could be undone. One tribe still had to be "separated from his brothers" to hold, as it were the place of the mystery of Yosef (Joseph) that the tribe of Levi had held before. It is the tribe of Dan that has this honor of holding the place of concealment within the great revelation at this point. This is the first formal concealment in the revelation that we have come to and, as will be seen in due time, it is this that leads directly to the concealment of the seven thunders and what they say which Yochanan hears but is not permitted to write down.]
12,000 from the tribe of Issachar,
12,000 from the tribe of Zebulun,
12,000 from the tribe of Joseph,
12,000 from the tribe of Benjamin were sealed.
[We see that it is addressed by the use of the name Yosef (Joseph) instead of Ephraim in the list why it is that first the tribe of Levi and now the tribe of Dan is set apart in a concealed manner from the other tribes. This is as follows:
Yaakov foresaw by prophetic spirit that one tribe would have to be concealed from among its fellow tribes due to sin, as Yosef was concealed from among his brothers. This is also the reason for the descent into Egypt and the covenant of redemption. Consider the nature of this blemish! If from its foundation there were only eleven fully visible tribes of Israel, the nation of Israel, as a result, would not be sanctified as being corporately whole before the world. Israel's testimony to the name of the true God would be irrevocably, marred. Therefore Yaakov designated the two sons of Yosef as full stature tribes of Israel ahead of time.
For it was certain that, measure for measure, the tribes of Israel, one by one, or all against one, would be separated from there brother tribes until complete repentance was accomplished. This is the mystery of the place and role of Yosef, which mystery Yaakov, by his prophetic authority formalized and instituted in Israel. In the light of this, what is the significance of the tribe of Ephraim not bing referred to by name but as the tribe of Yosef in this list?
The tribe of Ephraim is not being dishonoured because its name is not used, as if Yaakov's action was not undone with regard to the tribe of Manasseh but was undone with regard to the tribe of Ephraim, so that his descendants could not be called by his name but only by the name of Yosef. Rather. The tribe of Ephraim is being honored by being called the tribe of Yosef. Likewise, the tribe of Levi and the tribe of Dan, each of which in their time were set apart from the other tribes for the sake of Yosef were also honoured in this role.
For why was Yosef made into two tribes, even when the full measure of corporate Israel had to be measured through twelve and only twelve tribes? This mystery is at the very heart of the mystery of God which will be revealed in the revelation of the seven thunders, as promised by the oath of the angel in chapter 10 verse 7. Once again, we will see that this is entirely to give a testimony to the glory of the Lamb who was slain.]
After this I looked, [after the 12,000 of each of the twelve tribes of Israel are sealed as one corporate nation another vision is given] and behold a great multitude that no one could number from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb [these surround the formation of the 144,000, which, we will see, are with the Lamb. All who are in this multitude are] clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands [as upon the entrance of Mashiach into Jerusalem], and [they are heard] crying out with a loud voice:
“Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”
And all the angels, [not some but all], were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying,
“Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”
[In the generation of the shlichim (apostles) of Yehoshua the Messiah it was known that the angels desired to look into the mysteries of Israel's salvation, (1 Peter 1:12). In this vision of the sealing of the minds of the 144,000 of all the twelve tribes of Israel with understanding all the angels, together with the martyrs of the Lamb, see and understand what they have for so long been seeking to understand.
What is it that the number 144,000, as representative of Israel, reveals to them? The number is itself derived from the 12 tribes of Israel. As there are two houses of Israel, there are two mothers of Israel, Leah and Rachel.
In a perfectly symmetrical balance 6 tribes would be apportioned to each house. Each of these symmetrically apportioned tribes would contribute their divinely received gifts and attributes to all 12 tribes, in order to magnify the testimony of the 12 tribes to the Lamb and to the One seated upon the throne. This is represented by (6x12)x2, which is 72+72, with is 144. The magnification of this number by 1000 represents its completely redeemed corporate wholeness, as in, "as the stars of heaven, so shall your seed be," that is, multiplied in radiance of light through the perfect corporate wholeness of divine redemption.
The received tradition of the rabbis points to the 72 letters found in each of the three verses of Exodus 14:19-21. These verses read as follows:
14:19 Then the angel of God, who had been going in front of the Israelite camp, moved and went behind them, and the pillar of cloud moved away from in front of them and stood behind them.
יטוַיִּסַּע מַלְאַךְ הָאֱלֹהִים הַהֹלֵךְ לִפְנֵי מַחֲנֵה יִשְׂרָאֵל וַיֵּלֶךְ מֵאַחֲרֵיהֶם וַיִּסַּע עַמּוּד הֶעָנָן מִפְּנֵיהֶם וַיַּעֲמֹד מֵאַחֲרֵיהֶם:
72 Hebrew letters
20 And he came between the camp of Egypt and the camp of Israel, and there were the cloud and the darkness, and it illuminated the night, and one did not draw near the other all night long.
כוַיָּבֹא בֵּין | מַחֲנֵה מִצְרַיִם וּבֵין מַחֲנֵה יִשְׂרָאֵל וַיְהִי הֶעָנָן וְהַחשֶׁךְ וַיָּאֶר אֶת הַלָּיְלָה וְלֹא קָרַב זֶה אֶל זֶה כָּל הַלָּיְלָה:
72 Hebrew letters
21 And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the Lord led the sea with the strong east wind all night, and He made the sea into dry land and the waters split.
כאוַיֵּט משֶׁה אֶת יָדוֹ עַל הַיָּם וַיּוֹלֶךְ יְהֹוָה | אֶת הַיָּם בְּרוּחַ קָדִים עַזָּה כָּל הַלַּיְלָה וַיָּשֶׂם אֶת הַיָּם לֶחָרָבָה וַיִּבָּקְעוּ הַמָּיִם:
72 Hebrew letters
Not only do these three verses speak about the mercy (verse 19) and judgment (verse 20) of the One who sits upon the throne, (his mercy as expressed toward Israel and his judgment as expressed toward Egypt), they also speak (verse 21) of these two opposing attributes working in complimentary opposition with one another to produce the redemption that ultimately reveals the glory of the one true God.
These three verses as a whole can be described in terms of 3 camps of the children of Israel, each camp composed of 4 tribes, (24+24+24, or 72), representing a testimony to these three attributes, the attribute of mercy, the attribute of judgment and the attribute of beauty or divine spiritual balance between mercy and judgment, or, in other words, the divine spiritual symmetry producing rectification. As both Yaakov and Moshe represented the distinct individual attributes of the the sons of Yaakov (Jacob) when they blessed them, so it is to be understood that each tribe, according to these attributes give their testimony to the Lamb and to the One seated upon the throne.
144,000, then, is a number which symbolically represents the redemption of the world in a very precise and specific way. It is through the atonement for Israel, and this is in the exact form that it was designed corporately by God, in judgment and mercy, provided by the Lamb of God, with two or three witnesses (camps of the children of Israel) to give witness to each divine attribute. As a result, for this complete great testimony, 12 tribes are required, and the perfect magnification of that number is 144,000.
Now that the foundation of the revelation has been laid out in this way, we will go on in the opening of the seventh seal to see in full clarity the fullness of the revelation of Yehoshua the Messiah of Israel.
In order that the readers and hearers of this revelation take what has here been revealed to heart, so that they might be truly be counted among the servants of God and go on to hear, with Yochanan, what the seven thunders say, one of the elders steps up to address Yochanan (John).]
Then one of the elders addressed me, saying,
“Who are these clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?”
[Yochanan is addressed in this way because it is time that the servants of God, those to whom this revelation was sent, were beginning to understand it's concealed as well as its revealed meaning.]
I said to him, “Sir, you know.”
[Yochanan responds in this way because, even if he is beginning to understand, he knows that the revelation comes from above and the authority of its interpretation must come from above.]
And he said to me, “These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
[All who keep their faith into the end and do not deny the name of the Lamb and his testimony to the name of the One who sits upon the throne are represented here. Specifically, according to the words that the Mashiach of Israel spoke to those in his gathering at Philadelphia, (Revelation 3), they are represented by the martyrs who come out of a great tribulation, "that will try all the earth" at a certain time at the end of history.]
“Therefore [because they are faithful martyrs] they are before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence [from all efforts of the prosecutor to prosecute them for any of their sins].
They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat.
For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water, [he will guide them through the great tribulation because through their faith they already stand with him, protected by his shed blood] before the throne [of the One whose wrath has been poured out, as in the day of the Passover lamb,] and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”
_______________________
*Footnote on the four winds
How could it be possible for the four angels of the four winds to literally stop all the winds on the earth? Since winds are created by the relationship of high pressure points and low pressure points in the atmosphere it would seem that it would be necessary for the angels to be able to somehow average the highs and lows of pressure in the atmosphere. Is this something that could even be atmospherically possible? Hurricanes and hurricane winds are the classical example of high and low pressure differences.
We see a threat of more and greater hurricanes coming with global warming. Is it possible that global warming could reach a stage where the opposite effect occurred? Instead of stirring up the atmosphere, could a truly greenhouse effect occur that averaged out temperatures and pressures at a higher level to such an extent that winds more or less ceased? Or some could some scientific/technological experimental attempt to control global warming by seeding the atmosphere with some chemical or other backfire and produce this result?
We don't really need the answers to these questions. It is enough to look at the carbon dioxide levels in our present atmosphere, arising from changes from the time of the Industrial Revolution until now, to realize that it is possible for our atmosphere to be either over-balanced or imbalanced in a way that could "suffocate" all life on the planet. By the use of the word, "suffocate", I do not simply mean literally asphyxiate, "deprive of oxygen, or destroy the oxygen/CO2 ratio. I intend to use the word, "suffocate" in a more general, symbolically generic way to mean "death by choking out the life of the earth," in one way or another.
TABLE OF CONTENTS for this study
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Study Of The Four Winds - Revelation of Yehoshua HaMashiach website
The 144,000 of Israel Sealed
After this, [that is to say, after the first visions of the sixth seal more consequences of opening the sixth seal follow. The chapter has changed, but we are still being shown the nature of the authority that is given to the angels of judgment through the opening of the sixth seal. So far, we have seen that the authority under the sixth seal is to begin full scale judgment in the earth, which will bring about the end of natural history. So now, "after this..." we see a vision of angels involved in the actual commencement of final judgment: ]
I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth that no wind might blow on earth or sea or against any tree.
[The sixth seal has been opened. Authority is given for the final judgment upon the earth to begin to take place. All air currents, all winds, are about to be stopped. As a result, the earth will be made to suffocate even while it is dying of thirst. The four angels who control all of earth's weather are prepared to immediately bring about this judgment on the earth.* It is a moment of great suspense in which it is to be understood with complete clarity that If this judgment goes forward there will be no air currents at all on the earth, therefore no moisture would be able to rise from the oceans to fall upon the continents and their would be no exchange of oxygen with other gases for the maintaining of life.
Suddenly this this scene is interrupted. We remember that there is one more seal to be opened. And for the sake of what is yet to be revealed through the opening of that seal, this total judgment which seems about to be let loose upon the world will be stopped at this point, and, as we will see, the exercise of this authority will be put into other hands.]
Then I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, with the seal of the living God, [in the midst of the opening of the seven seals of the scroll, at the time when the sixth seal has been opened, we hear of another seal, the seal of God], and he called with a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm earth and sea, saying “Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees, until we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads.”
[We will see even more clearly later that there is a direct correlation of authority between this seal, the seal of God, which will now be placed upon, or in, the forehead of the servants of God, and the sixth and seventh seal of the scroll which is being unrolled, which is the scroll of the revelation of the world's judgment and Israel's final redemption — the scroll which the Lamb is in the midst of opening.
The relationship between these different seals, those on the scroll and that placed on or in the forehead of those named, is the relationship between what is revealed openly to the world in the Book of the Revelation of Yehoshua HaMashiach (Jesus Christ) and what is concealed from the world within that book and mysteriously revealed through that same book only to the servants of God. This principle will be understood clearly through the revelation of the seven thunders in chapter ten.
We need to be completely clear. All the visions of the sixth seal demonstrating its authority to initiate the final act of judgment, (which we read about in chapter six), are brought together and focused into this one action we are now reading about, (in the first verses of chapter seven), the action of giving authority to the angels in control of the earth's winds to harm the sea by stopping all air currents. While this judgment begins, and is comprehended by threatening to harm the oceans, we are told specifically that it will not only harm the oceans but will harm the whole earth.
Most emphatically, this authority is the authority for complete and absolute judgment. If it is carried out in a way that is unmitigated, as threatened here, no further judgment would or could occur. It does not just threaten to bring death to the oceans of the earth, it threatens to bring death to the whole earth, by bringing death to all the trees of the earth. But suddenly this act of judgment is stopped for the sake of certain servants of God. Who are these servants of God? How and why are they involved in mitigating the judgment that is threatened to come upon the whole earth?]
And I heard the number of the sealed, 144,000, sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel:
[The first thing that is revealed about the servants of God being spoken of is the number of those servants of God who are sealed with the seal of God. This number is 144,000, 72+72x1000. Later, we will see that the number has a symbolic value that is related to the symbolic quality of the Lamb. Immediately here we are told that the first aspect of this symbolic number is that it is a representative number.
The second thing is that this number is said to be representative of the tribes of the sons of Yaakov (whom God called Israel). We are learning that this vision of this select number is representative of the corporate whole of Israel. The corporate whole of Israel is not described as being composed of a simply homogenous collection of individuals but of a deliberately and precisely designed structure of twelve families forming one whole family nation in union with the revelation of the Lamb and of the One who sits upon the throne, as we will see.]
12,000 from the tribe of Judah were sealed,
12,000 from the tribe of Reuben,
[These numbers emphatically highlight the importance that it is Israel as a family nation, precisely designed and described by the sovereign God, which is here being symbolically, representatively sealed with the seal of God. What does it mean, then, that these are souls of Israel and of the twelve tribes of Israel in particular? Are there not more than 12,000 souls in the family tribe of Judah, or the family tribe of Reuben, etc? Yes, there are ultimately many more souls in each tribe than this. But here it is this number that is sealed in order to represent the perfect whole, the corporate structure as chosen and designed by the God of Israel.
And what of those from among the nations which are grafted into the redeemed nation of Israel, as we read in Romans chapter eleven. Are they represented in this vision also? Yes. As we will see, they are also represented. What, then, is the nature of this symbolic representation?
Even though there is a great open revelation made known to us through this numbering and sealing of the tribes, the aspect of a remaining concealment within the revelation is also introduced to us here. It is openly revealed that God sees Israel as a perfect formation of twelve perfectly formed tribes. It remains still concealed in this vision how all souls who will ultimately be saved through the redemption of the house of Israel are represented by this perfectly designed number.
As we continue, we will see more fully what is openly revealed to us by the sealing of the family tribes of Israel in these numbers. But we will also see right away that the question is raised as to how it can be that an equal number from each tribe is sealed when, until now, in accordance with the judgment of the word of God upon Israel, none of the tribes except one has been preserved as a tribe. This question is the first aspect of explicit concealment that remains in the revelation. Other explicit aspects of concealment will also be revealed.
These aspects of concealment revealed in the Scroll (or Book) of The Revelation of Yehoshua HaMashiach (Jesus Christ), which was given to Yochanan (John), ultimately lead to the seven thunders in chapter ten, which Yochanan hears but is forbidden to write down. By reading and hearing the record of the revelation clearly, we will come to understand how that all that is revealed in concealment in the revelation is comprehended in those seven thunders, in what Yochanan heard them say, and in what those sealed with the seal of God in their foreheads, like Yochanan, can also hear them say.]
12,000 from the tribe of Gad,
12,000 from the tribe of Asher,
12,000 from the tribe of Naphtali,
12,000 from the tribe of Manasseh,
[All of the apparently lost tribes of the northern kingdom of Israel are listed. They are shown to be essential to the wholeness of a redeemed Israel. Again, as the readers and hearers of the revelation, at this point, it is not clearly revealed to us, how it can be, and what it means, that an equal number from each tribe is sealed, when only the tribe of Judah has openly been preserved as a tribe in history.
We are nevertheless told that it is the sealing of the equal number of 12,000 from each of these tribes that forestalls the judgment of the immediate absolute death of the planet by asphyxiation. In other words, the corporate wholeness of Israel as the family nation, designed by the God of Israel, is sealed with the seal of God in their foreheads, that is to say, in their understanding, and we are told that it is their being sealed in this way that brings this mitigation of the world's judgment.
Another element of concealment within revelation and revelation within concealment that is introduced here is the arrangement of the list of the tribes. Not only does this arrangement have great significance in its overall structure in relation to the different arrangement of the lists of the tribes given in the Torah, but also the equal inclusion of the family tribe of Levi in its ordered place in this list brings a strong illumination of mystery to this revelation.]
12,000 from the tribe of Simeon,
12,000 from the tribe of Levi,
[The mystery of the design and structure of Israel, as the corporate portion of the family of Adam chosen by the Creator for the redemption of Adam, begins not only with Yaakov's (Jacob's) twelve sons, but with his blessing of his twelve sons just before his death. Among the twelve distinct blessings describing the infrastructure of the house of Israel, Yaakov revealed three most pronounced blessings. One had to do with the moving of the blessing of the firstborn from its place with Reuven (Rueben). This led us to the mystery of the preservation only of the tribe of Yehudah (Judah), and ultimately to the Lion of the tribe of Yehudah, whom we have seen revealed above.
The second of those most pronounced of Yaakov's blessings, as will be seen, had to do with Yosef (Joseph). And a third had to do with Shimon (Simon) and Levi. Shimon and Levi were blessed with the chastisement of being scattered within Israel among the different tribes of Israel. This was the first clear indication that there would be a problem with the preservation of the corporate wholeness of some, if not all, the twelve tribes of Israel. In the case of Levi, it would turn out that this blessing of chastisement, of being scattered in Israel, would be formalized into an institutional form.
Levi was made into the priestly tribe of Israel, where the cohenim, the priests of Israel, could only be taken from the tribe of Levi. Accordingly the Levites could not make their camp in the circle of the camps of the tribes of Israel, nor could they have a territory of their own, for they had to serve all tribes in the camp of the tabernacle, and they had to serve all the tribes in all the territories. Now, how and why this came about was itself a great mystery.
It came about that the tribe of Levi was dispersed in this manner, in accordance with Yaakov's words, only because of the sin of the golden calf, in which the tribe of Levi was without guilt, which resulted in the disqualification of the the firstborn of all the other tribes for the priesthood. Accordingly, the tribe of Levi was not counted, when the tribes were counted by the commandment of God, in the same way that the other tribes were counted.
That the tribe of Levi should here, in the revelation of judgment and the final redemption, be listed and counted in the same manner as the other tribes has great symbolic significance It is a clear testimony to the glory of the Lamb who was slain and to his complete atonement for the sin of the golden calf and all other sins of Israel on a corporate level. In this image of the 144,000 members of the twelve tribes we are seeing a picture of the fulfilled promise that God would make all Israel to be a kingdom of priests. This is entirely a testimony to the Lamb. In order for this glorious testimony to the Lamb, through both Shimon's and Levi's equal inclusion with the other tribes in the perfect corporate representation of Israel and her redemption, one of the other tribes had to be concealed in the revelation.
It could not be that what Yaakov had done in making Yosef into two tribes could be undone. One tribe still had to be "separated from his brothers" to hold, as it were the place of the mystery of Yosef (Joseph) that the tribe of Levi had held before. It is the tribe of Dan that has this honor of holding the place of concealment within the great revelation at this point. This is the first formal concealment in the revelation that we have come to and, as will be seen in due time, it is this that leads directly to the concealment of the seven thunders and what they say which Yochanan hears but is not permitted to write down.]
12,000 from the tribe of Issachar,
12,000 from the tribe of Zebulun,
12,000 from the tribe of Joseph,
12,000 from the tribe of Benjamin were sealed.
[We see that it is addressed by the use of the name Yosef (Joseph) instead of Ephraim in the list why it is that first the tribe of Levi and now the tribe of Dan is set apart in a concealed manner from the other tribes. This is as follows:
Yaakov foresaw by prophetic spirit that one tribe would have to be concealed from among its fellow tribes due to sin, as Yosef was concealed from among his brothers. This is also the reason for the descent into Egypt and the covenant of redemption. Consider the nature of this blemish! If from its foundation there were only eleven fully visible tribes of Israel, the nation of Israel, as a result, would not be sanctified as being corporately whole before the world. Israel's testimony to the name of the true God would be irrevocably, marred. Therefore Yaakov designated the two sons of Yosef as full stature tribes of Israel ahead of time.
For it was certain that, measure for measure, the tribes of Israel, one by one, or all against one, would be separated from there brother tribes until complete repentance was accomplished. This is the mystery of the place and role of Yosef, which mystery Yaakov, by his prophetic authority formalized and instituted in Israel. In the light of this, what is the significance of the tribe of Ephraim not bing referred to by name but as the tribe of Yosef in this list?
The tribe of Ephraim is not being dishonoured because its name is not used, as if Yaakov's action was not undone with regard to the tribe of Manasseh but was undone with regard to the tribe of Ephraim, so that his descendants could not be called by his name but only by the name of Yosef. Rather. The tribe of Ephraim is being honored by being called the tribe of Yosef. Likewise, the tribe of Levi and the tribe of Dan, each of which in their time were set apart from the other tribes for the sake of Yosef were also honoured in this role.
For why was Yosef made into two tribes, even when the full measure of corporate Israel had to be measured through twelve and only twelve tribes? This mystery is at the very heart of the mystery of God which will be revealed in the revelation of the seven thunders, as promised by the oath of the angel in chapter 10 verse 7. Once again, we will see that this is entirely to give a testimony to the glory of the Lamb who was slain.]
After this I looked, [after the 12,000 of each of the twelve tribes of Israel are sealed as one corporate nation another vision is given] and behold a great multitude that no one could number from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb [these surround the formation of the 144,000, which, we will see, are with the Lamb. All who are in this multitude are] clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands [as upon the entrance of Mashiach into Jerusalem], and [they are heard] crying out with a loud voice:
“Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”
And all the angels, [not some but all], were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying,
“Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”
[In the generation of the shlichim (apostles) of Yehoshua the Messiah it was known that the angels desired to look into the mysteries of Israel's salvation, (1 Peter 1:12). In this vision of the sealing of the minds of the 144,000 of all the twelve tribes of Israel with understanding all the angels, together with the martyrs of the Lamb, see and understand what they have for so long been seeking to understand.
What is it that the number 144,000, as representative of Israel, reveals to them? The number is itself derived from the 12 tribes of Israel. As there are two houses of Israel, there are two mothers of Israel, Leah and Rachel.
In a perfectly symmetrical balance 6 tribes would be apportioned to each house. Each of these symmetrically apportioned tribes would contribute their divinely received gifts and attributes to all 12 tribes, in order to magnify the testimony of the 12 tribes to the Lamb and to the One seated upon the throne. This is represented by (6x12)x2, which is 72+72, with is 144. The magnification of this number by 1000 represents its completely redeemed corporate wholeness, as in, "as the stars of heaven, so shall your seed be," that is, multiplied in radiance of light through the perfect corporate wholeness of divine redemption.
The received tradition of the rabbis points to the 72 letters found in each of the three verses of Exodus 14:19-21. These verses read as follows:
14:19 Then the angel of God, who had been going in front of the Israelite camp, moved and went behind them, and the pillar of cloud moved away from in front of them and stood behind them.
יטוַיִּסַּע מַלְאַךְ הָאֱלֹהִים הַהֹלֵךְ לִפְנֵי מַחֲנֵה יִשְׂרָאֵל וַיֵּלֶךְ מֵאַחֲרֵיהֶם וַיִּסַּע עַמּוּד הֶעָנָן מִפְּנֵיהֶם וַיַּעֲמֹד מֵאַחֲרֵיהֶם:
72 Hebrew letters
20 And he came between the camp of Egypt and the camp of Israel, and there were the cloud and the darkness, and it illuminated the night, and one did not draw near the other all night long.
כוַיָּבֹא בֵּין | מַחֲנֵה מִצְרַיִם וּבֵין מַחֲנֵה יִשְׂרָאֵל וַיְהִי הֶעָנָן וְהַחשֶׁךְ וַיָּאֶר אֶת הַלָּיְלָה וְלֹא קָרַב זֶה אֶל זֶה כָּל הַלָּיְלָה:
72 Hebrew letters
21 And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the Lord led the sea with the strong east wind all night, and He made the sea into dry land and the waters split.
כאוַיֵּט משֶׁה אֶת יָדוֹ עַל הַיָּם וַיּוֹלֶךְ יְהֹוָה | אֶת הַיָּם בְּרוּחַ קָדִים עַזָּה כָּל הַלַּיְלָה וַיָּשֶׂם אֶת הַיָּם לֶחָרָבָה וַיִּבָּקְעוּ הַמָּיִם:
72 Hebrew letters
Not only do these three verses speak about the mercy (verse 19) and judgment (verse 20) of the One who sits upon the throne, (his mercy as expressed toward Israel and his judgment as expressed toward Egypt), they also speak (verse 21) of these two opposing attributes working in complimentary opposition with one another to produce the redemption that ultimately reveals the glory of the one true God.
These three verses as a whole can be described in terms of 3 camps of the children of Israel, each camp composed of 4 tribes, (24+24+24, or 72), representing a testimony to these three attributes, the attribute of mercy, the attribute of judgment and the attribute of beauty or divine spiritual balance between mercy and judgment, or, in other words, the divine spiritual symmetry producing rectification. As both Yaakov and Moshe represented the distinct individual attributes of the the sons of Yaakov (Jacob) when they blessed them, so it is to be understood that each tribe, according to these attributes give their testimony to the Lamb and to the One seated upon the throne.
144,000, then, is a number which symbolically represents the redemption of the world in a very precise and specific way. It is through the atonement for Israel, and this is in the exact form that it was designed corporately by God, in judgment and mercy, provided by the Lamb of God, with two or three witnesses (camps of the children of Israel) to give witness to each divine attribute. As a result, for this complete great testimony, 12 tribes are required, and the perfect magnification of that number is 144,000.
Now that the foundation of the revelation has been laid out in this way, we will go on in the opening of the seventh seal to see in full clarity the fullness of the revelation of Yehoshua the Messiah of Israel.
In order that the readers and hearers of this revelation take what has here been revealed to heart, so that they might be truly be counted among the servants of God and go on to hear, with Yochanan, what the seven thunders say, one of the elders steps up to address Yochanan (John).]
Then one of the elders addressed me, saying,
“Who are these clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?”
[Yochanan is addressed in this way because it is time that the servants of God, those to whom this revelation was sent, were beginning to understand it's concealed as well as its revealed meaning.]
I said to him, “Sir, you know.”
[Yochanan responds in this way because, even if he is beginning to understand, he knows that the revelation comes from above and the authority of its interpretation must come from above.]
And he said to me, “These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
[All who keep their faith into the end and do not deny the name of the Lamb and his testimony to the name of the One who sits upon the throne are represented here. Specifically, according to the words that the Mashiach of Israel spoke to those in his gathering at Philadelphia, (Revelation 3), they are represented by the martyrs who come out of a great tribulation, "that will try all the earth" at a certain time at the end of history.]
“Therefore [because they are faithful martyrs] they are before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence [from all efforts of the prosecutor to prosecute them for any of their sins].
They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat.
For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water, [he will guide them through the great tribulation because through their faith they already stand with him, protected by his shed blood] before the throne [of the One whose wrath has been poured out, as in the day of the Passover lamb,] and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”
_______________________
*Footnote on the four winds
How could it be possible for the four angels of the four winds to literally stop all the winds on the earth? Since winds are created by the relationship of high pressure points and low pressure points in the atmosphere it would seem that it would be necessary for the angels to be able to somehow average the highs and lows of pressure in the atmosphere. Is this something that could even be atmospherically possible? Hurricanes and hurricane winds are the classical example of high and low pressure differences.
We see a threat of more and greater hurricanes coming with global warming. Is it possible that global warming could reach a stage where the opposite effect occurred? Instead of stirring up the atmosphere, could a truly greenhouse effect occur that averaged out temperatures and pressures at a higher level to such an extent that winds more or less ceased? Or some could some scientific/technological experimental attempt to control global warming by seeding the atmosphere with some chemical or other backfire and produce this result?
We don't really need the answers to these questions. It is enough to look at the carbon dioxide levels in our present atmosphere, arising from changes from the time of the Industrial Revolution until now, to realize that it is possible for our atmosphere to be either over-balanced or imbalanced in a way that could "suffocate" all life on the planet. By the use of the word, "suffocate", I do not simply mean literally asphyxiate, "deprive of oxygen, or destroy the oxygen/CO2 ratio. I intend to use the word, "suffocate" in a more general, symbolically generic way to mean "death by choking out the life of the earth," in one way or another.
Friday, December 2, 2016
Revelation 6 with interpretive notes
Then I saw the [one who appeared as a] Lamb [who had been slain] open the first of the seven seals [and begin to unroll the scroll. All seven seals refer to authority being granted in the revelation. We will see that the first four seals refer to authority, first to govern all judgments concerning the end of history in the earth, second, we will see that these take place specifically in the areas of social relations, livelihood and of the cutting short of life.]
[Immediately] I heard one of the four living creatures command with a voice like thunder, [the first of a series of seven recorded thunders], "Go!"
Then I looked [in a different direction], and there was a white horse [with a rider upon it]! Its rider had a bow, and a victor's crown had been given to him. He went out as a conqueror [having already conquered, ruling, therefore, and waging war with authority] to conquer [what remained to be conquered. This seal is the authority to govern all judgments in the earth.]
Then the lamb opened the second seal. [When he had broken the second seal and rolled out the second section of the scroll], I heard the second living creature [being understood to have the same voice of thunder as the first living creature, (without it needing to be stated) this being the second (here implicitly) recorded thunder in the series], command, "Go!"
And [in response to the command] a second horse went out. It was fiery red, and its rider was given permission to take [social] peace away from the earth [removing the basis of law and order], so that people began to slaughter one another [citizen against citizen, neighbour against neighbour]. So he [the rider on the red horse] was given a large sword [to provoke universal conflict and violence within society. This seal is the authority to govern all specific judgments upon human relations.]
Then he [the Lamb] opened the third seal [and unrolled the third section of the scroll]. I heard then the third beast [again, with a voice of thunder, — the third (implicitly) recorded thunder], command, "Go!"
[Right away] I saw a black horse; it had a rider who had a pair of balances in his hand. I heard a [still thunderous] voice coming from the midst of the four beasts saying, "A [standard] measure of wheat for one cent, and three [standard] measures of barley for one cent; [resulting in most producers being unable to earn a living from their produce], but see that you do not hurt the [price of] oil or wine". [This seal is the authority over all specific judgments in the realm of human livelihood. It is a measured authority, which will be seen to be for the sake of the servants of God.]
When the lamb opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, "Go!"
[Again, immediate following the thunderous command], I looked, and [this time] there was a pale green horse! [Yochanan: It was made known to me that] its rider's name was Death, and Hades [always] followed him. They were given authority over one-fourth of the earth to kill people using wars, famines, plagues, and wild animals [or other natural disasters].
[This seal is the authority over judgments that involve unnaturally cutting human lives short, before repentance has opportunity to be complete. A special measure of this authority must be granted in the time of the great tribulation, but this authority is so great that it has to be precisely measured to allow for the possibility of its being limited, lest no flesh should be saved.
The fourth authority (of the pale horse) was the authority to bring history to an end and therefore had to be a restrained authority, which will prove to be for the sake of God's choice to be gracious to the seed of Abraham. Accordingly, a new form of vision, (not the militant form of horses with riders being sent out), will be seen to be appropriate to represent the opening of the remaining seals and the authority which comes with them.]
[Now then, in a new order of vision we find]: When the Lamb opened the fifth seal,
I saw the [Temple] altar [in heaven]. And [it appeared that there were many] souls under the altar, [because their souls had been accepted as sacrifices in association with the Lamb who was slain, as will be seen. Yochanan: It was made known to me that these were the souls] of those who had been slain for the sake of the word of God and on account of the testimony they had given, [and as soon as I was made to know this]: They [this multitude of souls] cried out in a loud [thunderous] voice,
"Holy and true Sovereign, how long will it be before you judge and make our shed blood the reason for justice to all those living upon the earth?"
[Like in the opening of the first four seals, the opening of the fifth is accompanied with a great loud voice. Here it is the voices of the multitude of souls beneath the altar heard as one loud voice. Again, it is not stated explicitly here that this voice sounds like thunder, but this is understood, as this loud and thunderous voice immediately follows the opening of the seal, as did the thunderous voices of the four living creatures.]
Each of the souls [among the multitude of souls] under the altar was given a white robe, [to signify that their prayers have been heard in the cause of the justification of life, the cause of the Lamb].
They were told to rest a little longer until the number of their fellow servants, their [spiritual] siblings, was completed. For there were still those who would be martyred just as these souls had been.
[For the day and the hour of the appearing of Israel’s Redeemer is known only by the Father, in order that it may be known by all that when eternal justice and mercy are revealed together in the world through Israel’s final redemption it will be due to the judgment of the Father that justice should be revealed in this way. Reference is being made here to Revelation 10:7, as will be seen.
The prayer of the souls under the altar, like that of their Master, the Lamb who was slain, is not that the world should be condemned but that it should be saved, that their blood should be a cause for justice being revealed, but revealed in the form of mercy instead of in the form of eternal condemnation. The authority of the fifth seal is the authority granted to God’s martyrs, (that each of their lives should be heard as prayers), prayers that call upon the attribute of God's sovereignty, for God to transform through His sovereignty the pure wrath of His vengeance upon the world into an act of His sovereign grace toward the world. This authority grants that strict justice and the utter annihilation of the earth would be delayed for the sake of these prayers, in order that strict justice might be mitigated with mercy, (therefore the souls cry, “How long?”). This authority, therefore, grants that this mercy, resulting in the delay of the end of history and ultimately salvation, when it comes, might be understood to have come in answer to the prayers of, and for the sake of, the chosen people of God, here represented by God’s martyrs.
The authority of the sixth seal, (which follows), will be seen to be the authority to set the judgment of strict justice into motion. The authority of the seventh seal will be seen, then, to be like unto this authority of the firth seal. (For the whole of the revelation deals with the tension between justice and mercy and how strict justice is mitigated in the world through mercy for the sake of the Lamb and the chosen people). Explicitly then, the authority of the seventh seal will be seen to be the authority to set into motion the judgments and actions that bring about the revelation of the mystery of the grace of God in and through the complete and final redemption of the chosen people of God.
The authority of the sixth seal, which will now immediately be opened, is, then, the authority to set into motion the acts of strict justice, the acts of God’s wrath. This strict justice, expressed as wrath, will be said not only to be the wrath of the One who sits upon the throne but also the wrath of the Lamb. That is because mercy cannot be shown except where strict justice is first shown, as it is only the mitigation of strict justice. Where strict justice can be a force that results in death and destruction, mercy is a force that can transform death and destruction into life and creation, but only where mercy is able to justify life. Therefore no one was found worthy to open the seals of this scroll containing the secret of God’s grace and mercy toward the world deserving His wrath except the Lamb who was slain. For he alone was able to justify life for the world.
And in the opening of the fifth seal and in the opening of the seventh seal, set in tension within the opening of the sixth seal, it is revealed that at the heart of his justification of life for the world, that enables the Lamb to open the seals, is his giving power to his witnesses, through the testimony of their prayers and confessions and holy works, to have, together with him, the justification of life attributed to them. All of this will be made clear in the events which follow the opening of the seventh seal.
The opening of the sixth seal, which is the authority to initiate the acts of strict justice, will also be seen to be authority to end all delay to the end of history. The authority to allow for the possibility of delay to the end of history, (which allows for the possibility of mercy), was given under the opening of the fourth seal. The authority that is able to bring about that actual delay and call upon God’s sovereignty to transform strict justice into mercy was granted just now under the opening of the fifth seal. But mercy is an act of God’s sovereign grace and must be revealed to be so upon the basis of strict justice, as said above. Therefore, the opening of the sixth seal will begin with the authority of strict justice to destroy the world. It will then grant the authority to reveal how the sovereignty of God justifies transforming strict justice into mercy.]
Then I saw the lamb open the sixth seal. There was a powerful earthquake. The sun [appeared] clothed [as a mourner] in black mohair sackcloth, turning the full moon as red as blood. [Day was as dark as night and night was as dark as death.]
Stars began to fall from the black sky to the earth like a fig tree drops its fruit when it is shaken by a strong wind.
Then the sky itself vanished like a scroll being rolled up, [as if the prophecies that the present heavens would pass away were about to be fulfilled] and every mountain and continent was moved from its place [as if the whole earth was about to be remade].
Then the kings of the earth, the important people, the generals, the rich, the powerful, as well as common workers and all common citizens [tried to flee the cities] and conceal themselves in underground shelters and among the rocks in the mountains.
[There were multitudes who could not get into underground chambers.] They told the mountains and rocks, "Fall on us and hide us from the face of the One who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb.
For the great day of their wrath is come, and who [on earth] is able to face it? Who will survive it? Who would not rather die immediately than live to see the terrors of such wrath?"
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