05/01/2021 – Day 349 – Revelation 7 – 10 // “Teach this post-Christian culture about God and about command repentance. That’s the only message we have, without it, no one would be saved.” John MacArthur
Revelation 7:4 – The 144,000 are from the tribes of Israel. The restraint of the angels was for a season, until the number of saved reached a number known only to God. (I believe 12 squared times a 1000 points to an indeterminate number) Reviewing back to last week , we saw the cry of the martyrs in white robes in 6:10 “How long O Lord, holy and ture, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who who dwell on earth?” This is a multitude that John can’t really even hazard a guess of how many , it was so many souls. (see 7: 9-10)
We all ready have been told that end times will be marked with God’s word being preached to all nations. So it seems to connect that if that is so, that the martyrs in great multitudes come from “all” nations as well, as persecution is global during the Great Tribulation.
The footnote to 9:9 explains this seemingly mysterious account : “Joel 2: 1-10 relates a striking account of the Battle of Armageddon, the greatest of all battles. As this vision (which seems to entail flame throwing tank warfare) was given to him approximately 2,800 years ago, the prophet relates it to the only thing he has seen in battle – horse drawn carriages. Think of modern warfare and compare: fire goes before them (v. 3); they burn what is behind them (v. 3); they destroy everything in their path (v.3.); they move at the speed of a horse (30 – 40 mph, v. 4); their rumbling sounds like the noise of many chariots and the roar of a fire (v.5.); they climb over walls (v. 7); they don’t break ranks (v. 7); the sword can’t stop them (v. 8); they climb into houses (v. 9); they make the earth quake (v. 10).
Through the sixth trumpet sounding at the end of chapter nine, the global catacylism has reached such horrific proportions that a third of mankinds have already been killed. But man’s evil is so deplorable that they do not repent . (see verses 9: 20 -21)
Footnote on 9:21: “It is not your business to preach so many times, and to take care of this or that society, but to save as many souls as you can; to brings as many sinners as you possibly can to repentance.” John Wesley
“Teach this post-Christian culture about God and about command repentance. That’s the only message we have, without it, no one would be saved.” John MacArthur
Check out John Gill’s commentary on just verse 10:7. Please read not only the commentary itself, but all the connecting referenced scripture throughout this summary commentary. It is time well spent for further edification on the Book of Revelation. So , we will bring our understanding to new levels if we 1) realize the context of the verse such as the Joel reference above. and 2) in general, pull in all connecting scripture in particular with a foundation of Jesus’ own words on end times in the synoptic gospels. That is the foundation to build upon.
10:7: “but in the days of the sounding of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, the mystery of God would be finished, as He declared to His servants the prophets.”
https://www.biblestudytools.com/commentaries/gills-exposition-of-the-bible/revelation-10-7.html
And after all that, do we know it all? Of course not! For if we did, as I have noted in the past, our god would be way too small! As verse 10:7, notes the mystery will always be with us up until the Seventh Trumpet sounds and His Kingdom is Proclaimed!
Soli Deo Gloria!