Hey, Bible readers, I'm Tara Lee, Cabal, and I'm your host for The Bible Recap.

Yesterday, when we left off, John was in a vision of God's throne room, and Jesus had just taken the seven sealed scroll from the Father's right-hand because Jesus was the only one worthy to open it. Today, he begins opening the seals one by one. As he opens the seal, it releases more of the scroll so more of the story can be read. It would be like if a piece of paper were folded up seven times and each time you unfold it, you see more of what's written. With the first four seals, we see four horses and four horsemen. These are commonly referred to as the four horsemen of the Apocalyptic. By the way, the word Apocalyptic in Greek is the English word revelation. These could also be called the four horsemen of the revelation. They are all enemies of God. Even though one is on a white horse, don't let that fool you. He's a counterfeit of Jesus, who also rides a white horse later in this book. They bring death, disease, and destruction. But notice that these enemies of God still only operate under His jurisdiction. They come out when his Seraphim give the command.

They bring destruction, but any authority they have is tightly held by God and is only temporarily given to them for accomplishing His purposes of judgment on the Earth. They are never in control and God's reign is never in question. The three final Seals pertain to God's people. Seal number 5 gives us a glimpse of the martyrs. Seal number 6 is the great day of the Lord we've been reading about throughout Scripture. Then after this, we see the 144,000, which is probably a symbolic number that represents a much larger multitude. Some believe this represents specifically the promised remnant of the Jews, and others believe it represents all believers from all time. We'll link to two articles about this in the show notes. Then their silence in heaven followed by the prayers of God's people. Then Seven Angels blow seven trumpets. And just like with the Seals, the first four trumpets the angels blow bring disaster on earth and in the skies. The fifth trumpet references a star falling from heaven, and this may be a reference to Satan's fall, like we've read about in Isaiah 14 and Luke 10. He seems to manage a locus attack, which is probably symbolic.

Locusts in scriptures sometimes refer to armies, but these locus aren't allowed to kill any of God's kids. The sixth trumpet will bring about a plague and more death. But what's even sadder about all this death and destruction is that 9:20 tells us it doesn't yield repentance. The people continue in their idolatry. This is a lot like when God brought plagues in Egypt and Pharaoh didn't repent. Seeing God's power and knowing the truth doesn't change what a person believes in their heart. In fact, sometimes it can even hardened their heart all the more because it's such an affront to their ego. Just when we think we'll hear the seventh trumpet, another angel shows up with another scroll. He plants one foot on earth, one foot on the sea, and reaches his fist to the heavens, then declares God's sovereignty over those three realms. Then he says the seventh trumpet will sound when the mystery of God is fulfilled, which some believe is the return of Jesus and the initiation of his kingdom. And others believe this is the gathering of the remnant of Israel after the inclusion of the Gentiles. God tells John to get the scroll from the angel and eat it, so he does.

This isn't our first scroll eating situation in scripture. You may remember that from Ezekiel if you were with us in the Old Testament. This hurts his stomach, but it tastes sweet, which might mean its judgments are hard to stomach, but ultimately there's still goodness to it. Then someone, presumably God, tells John, You must again prophesy about many peoples and nations and languages and kings. That's what John will begin doing in the last half of the book, which we'll read tomorrow. Before we jump into Chapter 11, we have to talk about the actual timeline of John's visions. Some people think this book was written in the mid-60s, and others think it could have been written as late as the early 90s, all in the first century, of course. Something really important in Israel's history happened between those two time periods, and it impacts the way people read this book and this chapter in particular. In 70 AD, which is between the early potential date and the late potential date, Rome destroyed Jerusalem, including the second temple. And even though Jerusalem itself has been rebuilt, the temple hasn't. In fact, some Jews say it's impossible to rebuild it since they've lost the arc of the covenant and the temple furniture.

Many Christians believe it doesn't need to be rebuilt because God's spirit dwells in his people now, not in a building. There are probably 20 other opinions on top of these, but that's what you need to know as far as the background for Chapter 11, because if this chapter was written in the '60s, the temple still stands. But if it was written in the '90s, the temple is gone. In his chapter 11 vision, John visits the temple to measure it. Most people who lean toward the early writing date believe that Rome's destruction of the temple and Jerusalem has fulfilled this prophecy already. Others believe the temple will be rebuilt and that this vision is literal. And still others believe it's symbolic and that this represents God's current dwelling place, His people. Then God says His holy city will be trampled for 3.5 years. And all those same theories apply to this as well. It already happened. It will literally happen, or it will symbolically happen to His people. There are two witnesses that show up here as well. God calls them lampstands and olive branches. Because of the way the churches were lampstands earlier in this vision, some believe these two lampstands represent the faithful witness of the church in the end times.

Some compare them to Moses and Elijah because they bring blood and fire. Some compare them to Joshua, the high priest, and Zareubabil, the leader of the people. So while lots of people maybe know, who knows who knows? Here's what we do know. God gives his people power in the midst of tragedy. When the enemy appears to be winning, God proves he can't be defeated. He sustains his anointed. When the seventh angel blows his trumpet, that was my God shot for today. Verse 15 says, The Kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever. Scholars are quick to point out that this vision and revelation isn't necessarily happening in chronological order. This sounds like things are getting tied up with a bow, but we aren't past all the death and destruction quite yet. But God lets us catch our breath here with this reminder. Jesus reigns supreme over all of this, and his reign will never end. There's a lot of dark stuff on these pages. It's true, and it all should be taken seriously. I don't skim over it because I'm dismissive of it.

It's just that I know how fear and control can often get in the driver's seat when we read Revelation. Many people who talk about Christ's return end up fearing it more than looking forward to it. I don't want to dread it more than I long for it. Here's an analogy I'm not equipped to offer, but I'll give it a shot anyway. If you've given birth to a baby, did you spend more time being excited about it and buying clothes and decorating the nursery, or more time focused on what labor pains would be like? When it comes to Christ's return, I want to paint the nursery walls, I want to pick out booties, I want to get excited about it. Do I need to know the birth plan? Absolutely. But it's only a fraction of the story. It's only the beginning. And the reality is it's probably not going to go exactly like I planned anyway, right parents? I want to learn about this. I want to know it, but I want the driving force behind my thoughts to be love for Christ and eager anticipation of his return. Because the Kingdom of God isn't for people who are afraid of hell and pain, the Kingdom of God is for people who love God.

And I believe you're here because you love him. I believe you know, he's where the joy is.

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The songs your church has been singing on Sunday mornings to the songs you've heard on your favorite Christian radio stations, find out what songs from the year made it into Hope Nation's Best of 2023 song battle. Click the link in the show notes to watch worship leader Cody Carnes and Logan from the band Cain compete to see who knows the song's best.