| End Of Times-Revelation-Opening Of Seals 4-6 Pt. 6d |
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End Of Time: Revelation: Opening Seals 4-6: Part 6d As Jesus opens the Fourth Seal, the voice of the Fourth Living Creature ways, “Come and see.” The Fourth Horseman of the Apocalypse rides upon a Pale horse. His rider was Death and Hades followed behind him. Power was given him to kill with the sword, hunger, and the wild beast of the earth. This power was over a fourth of the world’s inhabitants. Indeed this would represent a large percentage of the world’s population concerning the fact that know it numbers in the billions. This would represent a number of people even larger than those destroyed in Noah’s day (Unprecedented maginitude). Spoken by Jesus in Matthew 24:21. With technology the way it is today, it is not hard to envision destruction as such a scale! With the opening of the Fifth Seal, we see those under the altar who have been slain for the Lord. These are those who have been martyred during the Tribulation Period. Scholars are divided as to the identity of who these people are. On one hand the Dispensationalist contend that the Rapture has yet to occur, therefore these individuals cannot be Christians. Others such as Moorehead (of who’s camp I am in) contend that these are indeed (Pre rapture and pre millennial) Christians who are killed in the Tribulation Period. Take your choice. At the opening of the Sixth Seal there is a great earthquake: The sun becomes black, and the moon becomes as the color of blood. The scholar by the name of Mounce sees this Seal as heralding the beginning of the last days by the events of great cosmic disturbances that will take place in the heavens. Are these literal or symbolic in nature is another bone of contention. There are many areas of the world where we are over due for earthquakes of uncomparable magnitude. UltraDispensationalist such as E.W. Bullinger says it is impossible to interpret these passages in Revelaton Six as symbolic. The breakup of the cosmos signals the breakdown of human life that depends on cosmological order and stability. The imagery nonetheless is frightening and hard to grasp: Stars following like figs from trees, the sky receding as a scroll, and the mighty leaders and rulers of earth so terrorized that they seek to hide themselves in caves. Revelation 6:17 refers to such a day as “The Great Day of Wrath.” Our next lesson will cover Chapters Seven and Eight and the Opening of the last and great Seventh Seal! Tune in! Amen. |
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