Chapter 6

CHAPTER 6
The Great Day of His Wrath is Come

The Day of the Lord has begun! Christians, having been rescued from the wrath to come via the rapture, are with God in heaven. The peoples of the world, after realizing their error in following the antichrist, will be in a fear stricken panic. They have seen Christ in the clouds, and they have had an epiphany and are scared to death. The big question is what will happen next?

After the rapture occurs, many other catastrophic events—all part of the Day of the Lord—will occur during this time. These events are succinctly listed in Revelation and will encompass the seventh seal and the trumpet and vial (or bowl) judgments. We will examine these events individually, so we can get a feel for what this time will be like.

The Seventh Seal

The first judgment of the Day of the Lord is the seventh seal:

And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour. And I saw the seven angels which stood before God; and to them were given seven trumpets. And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel’s hand. And the angel took the censer, and filled it with fire of the altar, and cast it into the earth: and there were voices, and thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake. And the seven angels which had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound. (Rev. 8:1-6)

When the seventh seal is opened, the first thing that we notice is that there is a time of silence in heaven. This silence indicates to me that something very important and sobering is about to occur. It is plausible to theorize that there may also be a great silence in the hearts and minds of the people left on earth after the rapture, after having just seen Christ in the clouds and witnessing the disappearance of millions of people. I am sure that they will be pondering the events that just took place and the events that are about to unfold. The next thing we see is that fire is cast to the earth. This may indicate a meteor shower or horrific lightning storms. There is another earthquake and the seven trumpet judgments are permitted to begin.

Scripture tells us that this pouring out of wrath is the result of the prayers of the saints in connection with the persecution they have suffered at the hands of the antichrist and his followers (Rev. 6:10-11). God’s vengeance is a just recompense for the wickedness that the world has committed. So the seventh seal consists of “fire” cast to the earth, a great earthquake, and seven more judgments known as the trumpet judgments.

The First Trumpet
The first trumpet judgment is found in Rev. 8:7:

The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.

Several interpretations have been offered as to what this judgment entails, including a meteor shower, fire and brimstone literally falling from heaven, and severe thunderstorms with huge hail and catastrophic lightning. Although we cannot be sure, I feel that the language of the text lends itself to the latter interpretation. That is, the judgment consists of horrific thunderstorms with devastating hail and fire. One of the main reasons leading me to this conclusion is that the language in the passage is very similar to the language in Ex 9:22–23:

And the Lord said unto Moses, Stretch forth thine hand toward heaven, that there may be hail in all the land of Egypt, upon man, and upon beast, and upon every herb of the field, throughout the land of Egypt. And Moses stretched forth his rod toward heaven: and the Lord sent thunder and hail, and the fire ran along upon the ground; and the Lord rained hail upon the land of Egypt.

We see here a local judgment on the land of Egypt consisting of horrific thunderstorms with devastating hail and fire. It is interesting to note that the hail caused fire to run upon the ground. This may be what is known as ball lightning, which has been observed frequently in modern times. This phenomena is caused by the air being super-charged with static electricity. I remember as a boy at scout camp a thunderstorm came across the bay toward where we were standing. As it approached, ball lightning eerily sizzled as it moved erratically about fifteen feet above our heads. It could have just as easily occurred on the ground. Another possible cause is electrically charged hail lying on the ground. While I feel the most likely scenario is horrific thunderstorms with hail, whatever this judgment is, it will result in one-third of all the trees on the earth being burnt up and all the grass being burnt up.

The Second Trumpet...

 

End Times Synopsis

What does the Bible—the only sure source of prophecy—say about the end times? This is something everyone should know; yet many have a serious lack of understanding in this area. In order to help others understand what will eventually, and maybe sooner than you think, transpire on the earth I have put together a synopsis of the major prophetic events listed in scripture.

Before I present the synopsis let me tell you the criteria by which I arrived at this synopsis. The following is an excerpt from The Coming Epiphany regarding this.

There are many books on the market that deal with biblical prophecy. Why is this book different? Why listen to me? Who am I to say what is right or wrong? Should you listen to me because I have been involved in preaching and teaching God’s Word on a daily basis for the last 20 years, or because I have memorized and meditated on scripture every day for the last 23 years, or because I have a Master of Divinity degree from a conservative fundamental Christian university, or because I have fasted and prayed over this book? No, even though credentials have their place, you should not listen to anyone because they have “credentials.” You should only listen to me or any Bible teacher or preacher because what they say agrees with the Word of God. We all have the responsibility before God to go to the scriptures ourselves and see if what we are being taught agrees with all of scripture just like the Bereans did. “These [Bereans] were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so” (Acts 17:11).

Scripture and scripture alone is the standard by which everything must be judged. Unfortunately, many approach end-times scriptures with a predetermined theological mindset and then try to make scripture fit into their theology. What sets this book apart from all the rest is that it attempts to approach the topic with all of scripture, and scripture alone, as its basis. A theological belief is then formed on the basis of what all of the scriptures dictate.

In this book scripture will be interpreted according to the following principle: “When the plain sense of scripture makes common sense, seek no other sense; therefore, take every word at its primary, ordinary, usual, literal meaning unless the facts of the immediate context, studied in the light of related passages and axiomatic and fundamental truths, indicate clearly otherwise.”[1] In other words, scripture will be interpreted literally unless it is evident that a symbolic interpretation is warranted by the text. Theological systems will then be evaluated in light of what the Bible says and not the other way around, as many books on this topic do.

Many end-times books also are based solely or partly on various extra-biblical ancient and modern-day prophecies. It is apparent that many of these prophecies are man-made or even demonic in origin, and even though they may contain some truth, they do not contain all truth and thus cannot be trusted. The only sure foundation that we have for faith and doctrine is the Word of God. When this book uses extra-biblical sources, it is only to support a point that has already been made from the scriptures.

In this book, I will endeavor to present what the whole of scripture says with regard to prophetic events and not necessarily what any theological system dictates. I ask that you would prayerfully compare what I present with scripture. If I have been accurate in presenting the truth of God’s Word—and these pages represent the truth of what is to come—then all of scripture will agree with what I am stating. And in all of your prophetic study, whether through this book or any other, let me remind you of one of God’s wonderful promises: “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering” (James 1:5–6). I pray that this book will be a blessing to you.

A proper understanding of biblical prophecy is extremely important and is essential to the life of the believer (or unbeliever, for that matter). Without it, regardless of your spiritual background, you could be caught off guard and be unprepared for what is going to take place on the earth in the near future. Should this occur, you would most likely place yourself in spiritual and or physical jeopardy. If the rapture occurs and you are left behind, you will most likely suffer a terrible fate. Thus, I beseech you to take very seriously the information presented in this book, for it will be of such profound importance that I liken it to the importance of Christopher Columbus saying that the world is round.[2]

Here is the synopsis;

1. Last 7 years begins. (Dan 9:27)
2. Seal 1: Conquering political and or religious force begins to take over the world. (Rev 6:1,2)
3. Seal 2: World War III begins. (Rev 6: 3,4)
4. Seal 3: World wide economic collapse, famine. (Rev 6:5,6)
5. Seal 4: Plagues, death, ¼ of world’s population dies. (Rev 6:7,8)
6. Antichrist performs abomination of desolation. (2 Thes 2:1-4)
7. Ministry of 2 witnesses begins. (Rev 11:1-15)
8. Antichrist takes over the world. (Rev 13:5-9)
9. Seal 5: Worldwide persecution of Jews and Christians. (Rev 6: 9-11)
10. Seal 6: Signs of the sun, moon, and stars, worldwide earthquake, appearance of Christ in the sky, Christians raptured, wrath of God begins. (Rev 6:12-17)
11. America (end times Babylon) destroyed in a nuclear holocaust. (Rev 17:16-18:24)
12. Sealing of the 144,000 (Rev 7)
13. Seal 7: 7 Trumpet judgments. (Rev 8:1-6)
14. Trumpet 1: Horrific hail and fire, 1/3 of plants burned up. (Rev 8:7)
15. Trumpet 2: Meteorite/Volcano explodes in the ocean, 1/3 ships and sea life destroyed. (Rev 8:8,9)
16. Trumpet 3: Comet explodes on the earth, 1/3 of fresh water poisoned, many men die. (Rev 8:10,11)
17. Trumpet 4: 1/3 of sunlight removed. (Rev 8:12)
18. Trumpet 5: First woe—Demon locusts, men tortured. (Rev 8:13-9:12)
19. Trumpet 6: Second woe—Demon army, 1/3 of men die. (Rev 9:13-21)
20. Ministry of 2 witnesses ended. (Rev 11:1-13)
21. Trumpet 7: Third woe—7 Vial Judgments. (Rev 11:14-19)
22. Vial 1: Boils on men. (Rev 16:1,2)
23. Vial 2: Sea turned to blood. (Rev 16:3)
24. Vial 3: Freshwater turned to blood. (Rev 16:4-7)
25. Vial 4: Great heat. (Rev 16:8,9)
26. Vial 5: Darkness. (Rev 16:10,11)
27. Vial 6: Euphrates dries up. (Rev 16:12-16)
28. Vial 7: The Lord Jesus Christ and His saints return to the earth and defeat the antichrist and his armies at Armageddon with 100-pound hailstones. Great earthquake, every island and mountain destroyed, America the Babylon sinks under the ocean. (Rev 16:17-21, Rev 18:21, Jer 51:42)
29. Jesus is anointed as King of the World and the Millennium begins! (Rev 19)