Posts

Featured Article

Redemption of the Nations

By
Image
SYNOPSIS:   The nations and the kings of the earth are found in New Jerusalem because of the redemptive work of the Lamb.
The Book of Revelation presents images that are jarring, paradoxical, and, occasionally, subversive.  They challenge human wisdom and institutional explanations of how God works. His plans to consummate His sovereignty over the earth, overthrow His enemies, and judge the nations are not according to the expectations and desires of the carnal mind. Just as his contemporaries did not understand what kind of Messiah Jesus was, so interpreters often fail to comprehend the Lamb presented in Revelation.
Post a Comment
Read more

Fourth Trumpet

By
Image
SYNOPSIS:  The fourth trumpet causes a partial darkening of the sun, moon, and the stars - Revelation 8:12.
The image of the darkening of a third of the sun, moon, and the stars is based on the ninth plague of Egypt when the darkness endured for three days:  “Moses stretched forth his hand toward heaven, and there was a thick darkness in all the land of Egypt three days; but all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings” (Exodus 10:21-23).
Post a Comment
Read more

Third Trumpet

By
Image
SYNOPSIS:  The third trumpet produces a “great star” that falls onto the sources of freshwater, embittering them – Revelation 8:10-11.
The description of the third trumpet includes imagery from the first plague of Egypt when Yahweh struck its sources of freshwater. As Moses warned, God struck all the  freshwater sources so the “Egyptians could not drink of the water of the river,” turning their waters “into blood.” Thus, the “fish that are in the river will die and the river shall become foul” (Exodus 7:17-21).
Post a Comment
Read more

Second Trumpet

By
Image
SYNOPSIS:The second trumpet harms much of the commerce on which Babylon and the “inhabitants of the earth” depend – Revelation 8:8-9. 
The second trumpet sounds, upsetting the sea, thus, disrupting a third of all commerce on it. In the book of Revelation, the “sea” is vital to the commerce on which “Babylon” depends, and it is the source of evil and chaos. In part, this explains why no “sea” is found in New Jerusalem. In the symbolical world of Revelation, the “sea” is linked to the “Dragon” and the “Beast” (Revelation 15:1-5, 18:17-21, 20:13, 21:1).
Post a Comment
Read more

First Trumpet

By
Image
SYNOPSIS:The first trumpet unleashes a plague based on the seventh plague of Egypt, but with modifications – Revelation 8:7. 
The first four trumpets use imagery from two events out of the history of ancient Israel – The “ten plagues” of Egypt, and the judicial pronouncement by Jeremiah against the Neo-Babylonian Empire. The “plagues” are based on the seventh, first, and ninth plagues of Egypt, the “hail,” “blood,” and “darkness” (Exodus 7:15, Jeremiah 51:25).
Post a Comment
Read more

Overview of the Seven Trumpets

By
Image
SYNOPSIS: An overview of the Seven Trumpets and the several intervening events – Revelation 8:7-11:19.  
Structurally, the Seven Trumpets follow the same pattern as the Seven Seals. The series begins with the first four trumpets. Like the first four seals, the first four trumpets form a group distinct from the last three. The group is followed by fifth and sixth trumpets. Then, several events interrupt the series before the seventh trumpet sounds.
Post a Comment
Read more