Successive Judgments in Revelation | TheLastDays
When the seven letters to the churches conclude, the book shifts into high gear. John is taken straight up to heaven’s throne room. From there he will have a front row seat observing the increasingly terrible judgments which will strike the earth in the Last Days. The opening of the first of the Seven Seals connects directly to the Birth Pains on Jesus’ Matthew 24 Timeline. The last of the Seven Bowls is the final judgment in Revelation which comes at the end of the Great Tribulation, right before Jesus returns. This steady unfolding of successive judgments in Revelation gives us a perfect, unbroken and straightforward Timelines upon which all the other events in the Book can be attached. This won't answer the question, "When is judgment day coming?" But it will give us a definite sequence of judgments to mark on the calendar once they begin. Judgment day is coming at the very end of the successive judgments in Revelation like the caboose on a freight train.
After this I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven! And the first voice, which I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet, said, "Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this." Revelation 4:1
All scripture citations are from the English Standard Version (ESV) unless otherwise noted.
A Second Timeline Backbone
The events of the Last Days, strewn all over the pages of scripture as they are, compose a very perplexing puzzle for those who would sort them out. The principle adopted here is there are not one but two “backbone” timelines which provide an elegant framework upon which all the other parts can be attached in their proper order and positions. What would the human body be without such a skeletal frame? It would be exactly what this body of literature is without it—a hopeless muddle of mis-aligned parts. If these timelines didn’t already exist, we would have to invent them. Mercifully they have been given to us.
The primary timeline is the one given to us first by Jesus Himself. It is the one recorded by Matthew which provides the answers we need as the Master responded to the disciple’s questions about what would be “the sign of your coming and the end of the age.”[i] Jesus began with a brief description of typical future events leading up to the period near the end of the age which He called the birth pains. These he said would be followed by a great tribulation. In the middle of that time would come the abomination of desolation when the antichrist would be enthroned in the Temple in Jerusalem. At the end of the three and a half years following that sacrilege, He would return to set things right. That’s it: simple, straightforward, with a lot of good hooks for attaching other matching passages of scripture, including some of Daniel’s visions and Paul’s prophecies.
Sixty decades later, Jesus gave additional revelation to John on Patmos. That complicated an otherwise simple timeline. The events in the Book of Revelation are such a jumble that it seems to defy linear analysis or any close connectivity to the prophecy of Jesus, beyond a few obvious moments. Yet, the prophecies of Daniel, Jesus, Paul and John must somehow harmonize for a satisfactory understanding of the End Times to arrive. With historical material, even if it is future history, that harmony can only happen through a timeline. Fortunately, a second straightforward timeline has been given us. It is right there in plain sight in the Book of Revelation—the successive judgments in Revelation which unfold steadily from the throne room. By connecting this timeline to that of Jesus, many more passages of End Times scriptures can find their proper place and perhaps be even better “seen” in the context of the surrounding parts.
The successive judgments all issue from the throne room of the Almighty God. John is present the whole time, though he is also “spirited away” to observe other events that run concurrently with these judgments. The first judgment is the first of the Seven Seals as it is opened. The last one is the last of the Seven Bowls as it is poured out. From beginning to end there runs a continuous succession of judgments, all faithfully observed and recorded by John. This is our second timeline. Wonderfully, it begins exactly where that of Jesus begins—with the beginning of the Birth Pains. It ends exactly where that of Jesus ends—with the final battle and His Return. By aligning these two timelines with each other, it is possible to find even more points where they connect. This in turn facilitates adding the other, concurrent actors and events described in the book.
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The throne room of God is a noisy, busy place. Between the worship and the business there is never a dull moment. For one whole chapter of the Book John chronicles for us the extraordinary activities and personages that surround the most prized piece of real estate in the universe. We have been engaged in a six millennia-long war because one depraved celestial being wanted that seat for himself. You would have to be out of your mind to think you could take it from the “One seated upon the throne” but the battle continues. In fact, once the worship dies down, the seals will be broken, and the counterstroke of heaven will be loosed.
The Sealed Scroll As soon as Jesus finished dictating the seven letters to His churches, He whisked John straight up to heaven. Astounding things will be revealed to him there, but first John receives an eye-popping view of the glorious One who sits on the throne. That faith-building experience will help prepare him (and us) to endure the grim visions of the earth-wrecking actions to come. Those events, however, cannot be released unless Someone can be found who is worthy to unseal the scroll that contains them. Just when all seems lost, our Hero strides into view looking like the very image of His victorious sacrifice. Heaven and earth explode into praise.
The Four Horsemen Who would have thought that unsealing a scroll could wreak this much havoc or bring such pandemonium? This scroll, however, contains the exact timeline for the release of God’s judgments upon the earth. Even the breaking open of the seals releases cataclysmic events. Once that first seal is broken the End Times moves out of the realm of biblical theory into lived experience. Nightmarish experience. The horsemen who ride forth as the first four seals are broken hold a terrifying place in the church’s collective memory. But what will we do when waking life becomes this nightmare?
The Final Three Seals Opening the first four seals sent forth the notorious Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (with a fifth one following behind). Those riders and their horses became seared in our collective memory. These three are equally memorable, if not as well known. There is the jarring sight of martyrs beneath heaven’s altar, of literal earth-shaking events of stupendous magnitude and an extraordinary vision of how God sometimes answers prayer. Most ominous of all is the half hour of absolute silence that follows the opening of the seventh and final seal.
The First Four Trumpets Will we ever be able to listen to trumpets again after this? And not remember what followed? Probably. These trumpets are being sounded in heaven as both warnings and announcements of the judgments that will be released with each one. Only heaven will hear the sound and prepare their hearts for the grisly events to follow. On earth, however, ignorance will not be bliss. These judgments will come with a shock wave of surprise. Except for one group. Those who are studying up on what the Lord is showing us will be prepared to weather the storms that get unleashed when the seven angels blow their horns.
Trumpets Five and Six If the first four trumpets were like canon shots, these are howitzers! In both events fallen celestial beings and demonic hordes are unchained from where they had been imprisoned in darkness forever. Or, at least until this moment arrives. Small wonder that an angel shouts out woes to the earth just before these trumpets get sounded. Sadly, it seems as if none of the lost are listening—not to the trumpets, not to the Word of the Lord, not even to these massively adverse circumstances.
The Seventh Trumpet This trumpet’s importance can be gauged by what came before and after. Beforehand, a truly colossal angel shouted out that this seventh blast was about to be sounded. It’s significance? There would be no more delays—only “days” were left for the judgments yet to come to be completed. Afterwards, the temple was opened, and such a holy riot of sounds and sights broke forth that it was like the Lord’s appearance at Sinai all over again. Be warned earth: Heaven’s kingdom is on the way! The full reign of our God over the world has begun.
The Seven Plagues The judgments inflicted by these seven plagues are excruciating painful. These are judgments of wrath with no redemptive purpose for those who receive them. Naturally, we want to know if any believer will be around during this final stage of the Tribulation. Nothing in the example of Noah’s flood or Moses’ plagues gives us any reason to suppose we won’t. Noah and his family stayed in the ark until the flood waters receded. Moses and the children of Israel remained in Egypt until after the tenth plague ended. That’s the Biblical precedent. We need to prepare in case the Lord stays true to form.
The Seven Bowls Of all the terrible judgments which John saw being levied against the earth’s inhabitants, these are far and away the most dreadful. Every judgment until now has contained between the mystery of its purpose and its awful outworking, the possibility of redemption for someone, anyone who could heed the warning and repent. That is no longer even a hoped-for possibility. No one upon whom these fearful judgments fall has any intention of repenting. These punishments carry with them the unabated wrath of God for unrepented sin. Period. Tragically, the punishment Jesus endured for sin now fully lands on the backs of sinners who adamantly refuse to shelter under God’s provision of mercy.
Next Piece of the Puzzle
The Throne Room The throne room of God is a noisy, busy place. Between the worship and the business there is never a dull moment. For one whole chapter of the Book John chronicles for us the extraordinary activities and personages that surround the most prized piece of real estate in the universe. We have been engaged in a six millennia-long war because one depraved celestial being wanted that seat for himself. You would have to be out of your mind to think you could take it from the “One seated upon the throne” but the battle continues. In fact, once the worship dies down, the seals will be broken, and the counterstroke of heaven will be loosed.
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Endnotes
[i] As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, "Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?" Matthew 24:3