I haven’t been a Christian in decades, but the more this
virus stuff, Trump, and global warming continues the more I think maybe the
prophets were correct. In any event, it
would be a good thing if we would nip this stuff in the bud. We’ve already got the ones checked
below. Some would say we have all of
them.
- A summary of Jesus' words in Matthew 24 shows that the end times will involve the following:
- ü wars and rumors of wars
- ü nation rising against nation, and kingdom against kingdom
- ü famines and earthquakes
- ü false prophets coming in Jesus' name
- ü many people being deceived by false prophets
- false prophets performing signs and wonders
- persecution of true believers
- ü people's love of God decreasing
- ü the gospel preached in the whole world
- ü the "abomination of desolation" (a world leader who makes himself out to be God)
- ü great tribulation
- alterations in the sun, moon, stars
- Jesus' true followers gathered to Him
- Jesus' return
- Jesus' judgment of people on earth
It’s not my intention here to judge anyone’s religious
beliefs. My goal is to take a frank look
at the prophecy in Revelations and how it might apply to current events. Likewise, it is not a political statement for
or against the sitting leadership of the western world.
For a long time, longer ago than 2016, we’ve been letting
things slide. In fact, long before any
of us were born, the world was plagued with rulers who were allowed to make
really bad decisions. There have always
been wars. There have been many times of
“great tribulation”. The bible book of
Revelation, written about 95AD, gives a list of things that will signal the
coming of an apocalypse. Revelation 6
tells of a book/scroll in God's right hand that is sealed with seven seals. The
Lamb of God/Lion of Judah opens the first four of the seven seals, which
summons four beings that ride out on white, red, black, and pale horses. The
number of horsemen as four is important, as four is the number associated with
creation ( the four living creatures) or the earth (the four winds).
Seven Seals are opened, setting the apocalypse in
motion. In the first Seal, a white horse appears, whose crowned rider
has a bow with which to conquer. (6:1–2)
In early times, this was seen as a positive-the coming of God in this
form signaled the victory of Jesus.
Jesus on a white horse is also referenced later in Revelations. After about 1850, people began believing it
was actually descriptive of war and the coming of the antichrist. Napoleon
Bonaparte was the first leader to be thought of as “the antichrist”. Others have been suggested since then, but
only in the last seventy years or so has North America started thinking its
leadership and potential leadership might apply. Presidents Eisenhower, Nixon,
Clinton, George W Bush, Obama and Trump and leadership hopefuls including
Hillary Clinton, Ralph Nader and Adlai Stevenson II, have all been suggested as
potential antichrists by some group or another.
In the Second Seal, a red horse appears, whose rider has a
"great sword". (6:3–4) The
color red, as well as the rider's great sword, suggest that blood is to be
spilled. The sword held upward may
represent war or a declaration of war.
This image is seen in heraldry as well as military symbolism. Swords held upward signify war and entering
into battle. The world has almost always
been at war somewhere, but this is symbolic of a “great war” of conflict involving
morality, prosperity and spirituality.
More recently, the interpretation has been that this horseman is sent to
reclaim Christianity as the only path to righteousness. In all of these suggestions, the red horse
has already made more than its fair share of appearances.
Third Seal gives us a black horse whose rider is carrying "a
pair of balances in his hand", and a voice then says, " A quart of
wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius; but do not
damage the oil and the wine.". (6:5–6)
Usually this is understood to be famine, but some interpret him as holding
scales of Justice. Perhaps the famine is
to be caused by mishandling of the crops out of greed and ignorance, and the
rider’s appearance shows that justice will come. That justice would likely be, then, in the
form of famine. For a long time, it was
the poorest countries who suffered famine.
We have been taught that the people of Africa are especially vulnerable. Lately though, conversations about US
families in poverty and the absolute necessity of free lunches or breakfasts in
schools to feed the children have also become more common. Certainly the issue of hunger in North
America can be tied to greed. Corporate
policies and government protections and supports have manipulated the food
production significantly. This is
evidenced not only by the existence of hunger in our country, but also by the
ever increasing prices on the food that allows us to live.
From the Fourth Seal, a pale horse appears. This rider is Death, and Hades (which,
ironically, is a Pagan belief) follows him. Death is granted a fourth part of earth,
“to kill with sword, with hunger, with death, and with the beasts of the earth.”
(6:7–8) This is the only horseman
specifically given a name (Death), His pale
skin supports the symbolism. Some interpretations
go on to suggest the pale horse reference is clearly to some great “pestilence”
that will come upon the earth after a devastating war, followed by famine and
the dead left unburied. This connects
the Revelations prophecy with the book of Ezekiel and the Four Judgments of
Jerusalem. In the Gospel, Matthew tells
us it is just the beginning of sorrows.
More than once in the history of the world has death taken a fourth of
the earth’s (known) populace, especially in the five known mass extinctions.
Perhaps pandemics should also be considered as pestilence with a significant
death toll.
The Fifth Seal narrative tells that "Under the
altar", appeared the souls of martyrs for the "word of God", who
cry out for vengeance. They are given white robes and told to rest until the
martyrdom of their brothers is completed. (6:9–11) It is generally assumed that “their brothers”
are initially fellow Jews, but the idea has now expanded to include anyone who
has such a strong belief that they would die for it. These martyred souls were comforted, and told
that they should rest for a "little season," sometimes suggested to
be about 3½ years. It would be hard to
say whether this has happened already, largely because the reference is so vague. Most interpret it to mean that the martyrdom
comes from a violent death as a result of a conflict. There are many modern day references among
religions that speak of the value of martyrdom.
After the feminism movement, even the “stay at home mom” could be
considered a form of martyrdom. Radical Muslims
made every possible reference to the hijackers from 911 being martyrs. The idea is just too vague to quantify.
The Sixth Seal is a doozy.
Opening that seal brings an earthquake so large that "the sun
becomes black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon like blood" (6:12). Then
things start to fall from the sky, mountains and islands move, and people hide
in caves. (6:15). Survivors call upon
the mountains and the rocks to fall on them, so as to hide them from the
"wrath of the Lamb" (6:16). Another
Pagan theology rears its not necessarily ugly head. From those, 144,000 from the Twelve Tribes of
Israel are marked as servants of God on their foreheads (7:1–8) The Futurist view of this seal will be the
literal cosmic disturbances caused by nuclear war or a global earthquake that
causes volcanic debris to pollute the atmosphere. That will turn the moon blood red and the sun
dark. It also foretells massive meteor
showers. The Idealist interpretation is representative
of the end of the age when Christ returns.
His return brings upheaval and justice.
There is some validity that this, too, has begun in modern day. There seems to be a significant increase of
seismic activity, including the awakening or emergence of volcanoes that were
previously thought to be dead. While
there doesn’t seem to really be an increase in the number of meteor showers,
there is certainly a greater awareness of them.
Our connected society often reports on spectacular, reoccurring meteor
shows. Up for challenge is the idea that Jerusalem and Judaism in general is
enjoying a comfortable amount of global support right now. In a more literal connection, there are many
instances of underground “safety spots”, ranging from the presidential bunker
to home basements.
The Seventh Seal introduces the seven trumpets (8:1–5). This signals "Silence in heaven for
about half an hour" (8:1) which is sometimes interpreted as a 70-year
period from Emperor Constantine’s defeat of Licinius (A.D. 324) to Alaric’s
invasion of the Roman Empire (395). The prayers are those of the Christians
martyred by Rome. The seven trumpets represent the seven judgments that God had
in store for the Roman Empire.[17]
Futurists and Idealists have a more positive spin on the passage. The “silence” is the hush of expectancy (for
the verdict on the guilty) as well as the prayers of Christians who will be
martyred in the last three and a half years of the “end-time”. Judgements are thought to be both negative for
sinners and positive for the faithful, and a quiet time in heaven to facilitate
focus-like the lull before the storm. It is also telling the story of seven trumpets
being sounded. Darkness, hail and devastating
fire, the fall of a mountain into the ocean, a star named Wormwood falling and
poisoning a third of the water supply, and lots of thunder and lightening are
happening until from out of the smoke, locusts arrive. These have human faces and hair, lion’s
teeth, and breastplates of iron. The
sounds of their wings is said to resemble "the thundering of many horses and
chariots rushing into battle" (9:7–9).
At one point, a woman clothed in a white robe, with the sun at her back,
with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars" who
is pregnant with a male child. (12:1–2) That particular image hearkens back to
Christ’s birth as well as the goddess mythology of several pagan sects. A great Dragon (with seven heads) , waits for
the birth of the child so he can devour it. His efforts are thwarted, and he
ends up waging war against the rest of her offspring, those who are presumably those who keep the faith and loyalty to God
and/or Jesus. The dragon gives power to “A Beast with seven Heads” who emerges
from the sea who the people of earth begin to follow. The Beast has the mark “666” and is a fierce
opponent for the believers until the “Lamb” stands on Mount Zion with "first
fruits" and is victorious.
This seventh seal has quite a lot it reveals. Angels, creatures, and even a harlot are represented
with various levels of influence. Eventually
the martyrs are resurrected. Ostensibly
all of this happens in the span of a week, but the bible has way of dancing around
the literal time frames of most things.
Revelations makes clear, however, that all these things will happen
before “the Rapture” where Christians believe they will be collected by God and
rewarded with eternal life in heaven.
The locust description brings an image of space travel/UFOs, especially
the thunderous wings. People have long
been afraid of the 666, claiming it as the mark of the devil. Over time, the number has shown up in lots of
references from the Molar mass of the high-temperature superconductor to being
considered lucky in China.
Are we in the “end times”?
Is there even a real possibility that there is an end to our days? More
important to that is whether or not we think we are. Some welcome the Rapture, others fear
it. Some believe that what happens on earth
is all karma. Regardless of your
spirituality, these are strange days indeed.
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