THE SEVEN SEALED BOOK
and a different pre-trib rapture view
To the Church,
the Body of Christ, of which I am most grateful to be a part.
The Sign Appearance of Christ includes the rapture and occurs after the opening of the 6th Seal.
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Let's recap some in view of the above chart. In accord with what I have put forth so far, Christ opened the first four seals as early as late in the first century, not long after John received The Revelation. This means that the particular liberties granted to Satan and exercised by the four horsemen for the post-Apostolic era of the Church (see Appendix #5), have been forces to be reckoned with by the Church (and the world) since that time. Hence, the first four seals are shown to have been opened early in the Church Age.
Like unto a major battle, many in our ranks have suffered and died as martyrs. With Christ's opening of the 5th Seal, John receives a vision of the cry of these martyrs for justice. Because their question, "How long?" reflects that a significant period of time has transpired, and because they are assured that it will be yet "a little season" before their blood is avenged, this fits His opening of this seal nearer the end of the Church Age, closer to the time of the rapture. This means that He may have already opened it as well, and I submit that He has. The martyrs are informed that during this little season, more will be killed "as they were." This certainly fits the seven year period of Daniel's 70th Week ("a little season") and what will happen to the two witnesses, the 144,000, and those who refuse allegiance to the Antichrist.
Though we do not know how much longer the Church Age will last, we know that it will end with the rapture, which is shown to occur after the opening of the 6th Seal. Therefore, as the rapture could happen today, so can Christ's opening of this seal. I can almost envision the Lord, upon opening this seal, coming for His Church. When He does, He will "descend from Heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air" (I Thess. 4:16-17). This will take place "In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye" (I Cor. 15:52), hence, part of the reason for my understanding that the appearance that He will make at this time will be on the order of a glimpse.
As John beheld with the opening of the 6th Seal, the signs heralding the time of the last days' Day of the Lord judgment will be seen at this time (Rev. 6:12), in accord with Joel's prophecy. It reads thus: "The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible Day of the LORD come" (Joel 2:31). These signs could be said to occur in the wake of the resurrection and the rapture of the Church. Note that this view is reinforced by Peter's appeal to this prophecy on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2:16-21, esp. vs. 20). It is amazing that Joel's prophecy gives defining marks of both the beginning and the ending of the Church Age---TO THE VERY DAY. For example, while the Church Age began on THE DAY of Pentecost, it will end on THE DAY that the Church is raptured, which is THE DAY that the 6th Seal will be opened, which is THE DAY that God's Day of the Lord judgment will begin. Talk about precision---Thank you Joel! Also, at this same time, the bottom is going to drop out of things in this world, to the tune of the rest of John's account of the 6th Seal (Rev. 6:13-17) and what will follow.
Obviously, it is not until the 7th Seal is opened that the Seven Sealed Book can actually unfold. But, because of the absence of any mention of a time frame (and other evidences), this opening of the 7th Seal can also occur the same day that the Church is gathered to glory and the 144,000 Jews are sealed. After this last seal is opened, John writes, "there was silence in Heaven about the space of half an hour" (Rev. 8:1). Try to imagine the drama and suspense of this book being now ready to unfold.
It easily fits that everything within the covers of the Seven Sealed Book pertains to the period of the last days' Day of the Lord judgment, hence, THE DAY OF THE LORD would be a fitting title for this book, as I have proposed (PROPOSITION H). On the same day as the rapture, when God's Day of the Lord judgment begins, John sees seven angels that are given seven trumpets and of what occurs after each trumpet is sounded. This will be a big focus of PART II.
For now, what happens relating to the first five trumpets and some of the 6th Trumpet period connects with preparations for the fulfilling of Daniel's 70th Week. Important to note is that it is during the 6th Trumpet period (Rev. 9:13 thru 11:14) that we find the first numerical evidences in The Revelation (and all of the New Testament) pointing to this seven year period (Rev. 11:2-3). According to Revelation 11:3-14, the midpoint of this "week" of years will mark the close of the 6th Trumpet period (note the "is past" of vs. 14).
Finally, the 7th Trumpet (Rev. 11:15-19) will herald that period that will result in COMPLETE CLOSURE FOR THIS WORLD (PROPOSITION 10). This period will take in the last half of Daniel's 70th Week and will continue through the Last Judgment, commonly referred to as the Great White Throne Judgment (Rev. 20:11-15). The highlight of this period will be Christ's Second Advent, the Battle of Armageddon, and His Millennial Reign (Rev. 19:11-20:6). After the Last Judgment, time, as we now know it, will end, and eternity, as we will know it, will begin. From another angle, the last days' Day of the Lord judgment will bring to an end this world and time as we know it, after which, we will enter eternity. Revelation 21 begins John's account of that and what it holds for God's children. Let's read some of that together:
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1 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.
2 And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of Heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
3 And I heard a great voice out of Heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God.
4 And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.
5 And He that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And He said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.
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PROPOSITION W
The title of my work could easily and rightly be, THE SIXTH SEAL RAPTURE OF THE CHURCH. One reason I did not choose this title was to avoid the possibility of my view being too quickly confused with other 6th Seal rapture views, from which it greatly differs. Another is the difficulty some may initially have of seeing a work so titled being able to represent a pre-trib rapture view. Of course, this difficulty can arise because of what is so commonly believed about the seals, that being that they represent judgments of God that will take place during the time of Daniel's 70th Week. I hope that what I have shown so far has convinced the reader otherwise and of the need for this belief to be rethought. Moreover, I am hopeful that the title I have chosen---THE SEVEN SEALED BOOK and a different pre-trib rapture view---will result in more openness (at least initially) to what I am trying to show.
Though Scripture does not state explicitly that the rapture will occur after the opening of the 6th Seal, we can accept the possibility as so if the evidence and other related prophecies bear this out. It's like putting two and two together and coming up with four. It may be wondered why such math has not netted the same answer for others. As I have come to see it, a primary reason is that the equation used by others has been skewed by some of the long accepted misinterpretations that have been put forth by scholars, most especially of Matthew 24:29-31. The extent of our study of what Jesus here said has resulted in my referring to this as our focal passage (see propositions T, U, and V). I can certainly see Satan delighting in a passage such as this being misinterpreted. On the matter of whether my own understanding of these verses is correct, in keeping with what I have said before, I merely enjoin the reader to prayerfully consider what I have tried to show and to come to his or her own conclusion.
Moving forward, because of another commonly held pre-trib belief that Christ will be invisible at His return for the Church (please don't start throwing tomatoes at me yet!), perhaps the greatest obstacle for some in accepting that this will happen with the opening of the 6th Seal is His being seen at this time. If this is an obstacle for the reader (which I could understand), I hope that before this thought is too quickly rejected that you will hear me out, as what I am going to show is much closer to what is commonly believed than it may at first be perceived.
First of all, let's look again at that part of John's account that relates to this, from Revelation 6:
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15 And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains;
16 And said to the mountains and rocks, FALL ON US, AND HIDE US FROM THE FACE OF HIM THAT SITTETH ON THE THRONE, AND FROM THE WRATH OF THE LAMB:
17 FOR THE GREAT DAY OF HIS WRATH IS COME; AND WHO SHALL BE ABLE TO STAND?
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Having been raised under the tutelage of prevailing pre-trib rapture thought, the thing of people seeing Christ at this time has been an obstacle for me as well. It's not that Scripture plainly points in a different direction (to be clarified in the next proposition), but my upbringing did, and so much so, that I used to wonder if Christ is actually even being seen here. I mean, it's not too difficult to envision these people being caught so unawares by the magnitude of what is happening that they cannot contain their sudden fear that the Lord is responsible, nor their dread of the possibility of facing Him. We know that many have reacted similarly in the face of far less catastrophes! To be sure, this may well be the nature of the reaction of some who will be left behind, especially those on our side of the earth.
However, something more literally in tune with the account and other scriptures is that Christ is indeed being seen here, but during a "sign" (Matt. 24:30) appearance that He will make in the sky over Israel. This would mean that the people left behind who do see or glimpse Him will be those who are in Israel's hemisphere. Understood this way, at the time of this event, no one left behind in our hemisphere will witness this appearance, which means that the experience for the unsaved over here will no doubt be as is so commonly imagined (like in the LEFT BEHIND book and movie series). But, what about the unsaved over there, on Israel's side of the earth?
In my concept of what we find in Scripture, to whatever extent Jesus reveals Himself to those left behind in Israel's hemisphere, the sight will be like nothing they have ever seen. Trying to envision God, "the Majesty" (Heb. 1:3), on His throne, and the Lamb "in the midst of the throne" (Rev. 7:17), I wonder. Realizing that the Lamb is Jesus Christ and that He is "the image of the invisible God" (Col. 1:15), and that in Him "dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily" (Col. 2:9), I wonder. Wondering, I feel I can almost glimpse the brightness that they must be seeing and the form of a throne with Christ in the midst. I can almost see these people having to turn away from such glory---glory brighter than the sun and a whole lot closer! In my concept, they will only get a glimpse,
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AND THEN HE WILL BE GONE.
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In harmony with what Jesus Himself said concerning the appearance of "the sign of the Son of man in heaven" (Matt. 24:30), I see this to be just that: Of a sign appearance that He is going to make, which will include the gathering or rapture of the Church (Matt. 24:31). Our focus on this and its implications will continue into the following proposition. For now, whatever one believes, John's account of the 6th Seal certainly supports an appearance of Christ at this time.
When it is understood that Christ will make an appearance after He opens the 6th Seal, how can we be certain whether this will be for the sign appearance I am drawing attention to and His gathering of the Church? While the complexity of prophecy can make for some difficulties in our comprehending, there is only one other option with this, and that makes things a lot easier. The only other option is that this is His return as the King of kings, and Lord of lords for the Battle of Armageddon (and everything that follows that), of which we have an undeniable account thirteen chapters later, beginning in Revelation 19:11. As a result of my findings, I have come to the conclusion that to believe Christ's appearance after the opening of the 6th Seal is the same as His return in Revelation 19 is a scripturally indefensible position. There are just too many evidences to the contrary, not to mention the fact that the 7th Seal would still be intact, along with everything that will happen after it is opened.
So, this is where we are: If you look at The Revelation from the standpoint of my different view, you will see the following two events relating to Christ's future return. One, the event of a sign appearance that He will make with His opening of the 6th Seal, at which time the rapture will occur (Rev. 6:12-7:17/ Matt. 24:29-31), and two, the event of His Second Advent some seven years later, at which time the Battle of Armageddon will occur (Rev. 19:11-21/ Matt. 24:26-28). Also, as will be brought out more the further we continue, you will see Daniel's 70th Week take place in between. This makes for a solid pre-trib (or pre-Daniel's 70th Week) rapture view, and in a most basic sense, similar to the common view, except I show the first four seals (and the probability of the fifth) being already open and the rapture occurring at the time that the 6th Seal is opened.
This would be a good place to consider my chart below (the first chart I ever did). It illustrates the big picture of the rapture view I am putting forth and how it relates to the Day of the Lord, the Seven Sealed Book, and eternity:
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