Study 8 – The book of Revelation by Neville Clark – Enfield’s Special Effort 2016 – The Rainbowed Angel

The book of Revelation by Neville Clark –

Study 8 –  Enfield’s Special Effort 2016 –

 The Rainbowed Angel

 

Reading Revelation Chapter 10.

We finished our consideration of

the things which must shortly come to pass

in our day last night, in a time line of the 6th and 7th vials of Revelation Ch 16. That is the 50 year time period between the return of the Lord Jesus Christ to judge the household and the commencement of the of the millennial thousand years. And we explained that time period with reference to a few major events. So that if the Lord came today, Armageddon, we believe, would be in 10 years time, according to that time-line. Ten years after that, in, lets call it year 20, the city of Rome would be destroyed. 30 years after that in year 50, great Babylon, the entire edifice of the kingdom of men would be destroyed, and the millennial reign of 1,000 years would then commence.  You would appreciate, therefore, just how significant that is to us. The 50 years time period would be a period of intense activity for the saints. This is the first work we would be engaged in after the completion of the judgment seat.

You can imagine that as time runs out for the world the saints will wrestle with the kingdom of men to save anyone from it that can possibly be saved before that kingdom and all those associated with it are destroyed at the 50th year. In order to do that certain judgments will be poured out upon an unbelieving world.in order to convert them. You will remember that in the book of Revelation there are four great epochs of judgment.

They are called the seals, the trumpets, the vials and the thunders.

You remember that the seventh seal opens up into the seventh trumpet, and the seventh trumpet opens up into the seven vials, and the seventh vial opens into the seven thunders. And you will remember also that we are at this particular moment in time right at the end of the 6th vial.The 6th vial concludes with the battle of Armageddon.

We are about to commence, at least, in 10 year time, let’s say, the seventh vial, and the seventh vial is the seven thunders, and Revelation Ch 10, you see, is where we read of the seven thunders. The fourth great epoch of judgment upon the kingdom of men that is contained in the book of Revelation. And in Revelation Ch 10, you’ve got a “little book,” you read it in V 2. I say a little book, we really mean a “little scroll,” although the text says “a little book.” “And he had in his hand, that is the angel with the bow, he had in his hand a little book opened, and he set his right foot upon the sea and his left foot upon the earth.

Now Bro Thomas in Eureka, calls this little scroll, and these are his words, now listen carefully, “The most important fragment of the Apocalypse,” he says it is “the most important fragment of the apocalypse,”  because it contains the catastrophe of the plot, without which all the rest would be of little interest to the believer because that scroll contains the judgments of the seventh vial which exhausts the wrath of deity, and the victory of the saints, and rests for a thousand years.”

You see the significance of that, brothers and sisters, as Bro Thomas rightly says, this little scroll in v 2 contains the catastrophe of the plot because it unfolds the seven thunder judgments which will finally bring the end, the ultimate demise, of the beast, that is great Babylon, and its associated systems. to the world, and usher in the 1,000 years of the millennial reign of the Lord Jesus Christ. But you know the great irony of those words in V 2, as significant as this little fragment is, this little scroll, we’ve got no idea what it says! We don’t know what it says. You see John saw the scroll and the scroll was opened in front of him and he read the scroll, and he was about to pick up his pen v 4 and he was about to write down for us what the contents of that little scroll were and he was told not to write. Instead he was told to seal those things up. I’ll show you,  says the Lord, I’ll show you the contents of that little scroll, but I won’t let you show anybody else, including my other servants, to whom this apocalyptic letter is being written.

And that’s interesting, you know, because way back in chapter 5, you might recall, there was a scroll with seven seals and no man in heaven and earth could open the seven-sealed scroll back in chapter 5.  No one could open the scroll or loose the seals thereof, the record says, even the strong angel of with the loud voice, in the early verses of Ch 5, couldn’t touch that scroll, and John wept, because no one in heaven or earth could open that scroll, until the lamb came. And now the tables are turned. He’s given a prophecy himself you see, and he reads it and then he closes it, so that no one in heaven or earth can open that scroll. And the consequences of that, Brothers and Sisters, is that I can’t tell you exactly what these seven thunders contain. But we do know what they are going to accomplish, and we do know when they are going to accomplish it. As a consequence of that  we can put an enormous amount of color on this chapter, even if we can’t define the precise detail. And that’s what we are going to do.

But before we do that, let’s just understand something about

the wider context of Revelation Ch 10 in the book of Revelation.

You see, the surrounding chapters are the seven thunders, the second great epoch of judgments upon the kingdom of men. Chapters 8, 9 and 11 contain the seven trumpets which are judgments upon the Christian Roman Empire, between the fall of paganism and 324 AD when Constantine Christianized the Roman Empire, and the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. That’s the epoch of time, some 16,17 hundred years, that’s the epoch of time over which these seven trumpets are blown. And I will show you what I mean because it is very significant, you look at Ch 9:1. Ch 9:1 tells you that the fifth angel sounded so that the trumpets begin in Ch 8. You’ve got four trumpets blown on chapter 8 on the Western Roman Empire, as a consequence of which, as we have discussed this morning with the Sunday School, in 476 AD the Western Roman Empire fell. By the time you get to chapter 9 you’ve got the fifth trumpet blown on the eastern Roman Empire, and it ushers in the empire of the Saracens, Ch 9:1. This is Muhammad, the Muslim empire. V 13 of Ch 9,  “And the sixth angel sounded,” and among others, are the Ottoman Turks and the fall of Constantinople is presided over in the last half of Revelation Ch 9. Judgment on the Eastern Roman Empire. So V 1 of Ch 9, the 5th, V 13 of Ch 9, the 6th trumpet.

Now come across to Ch 11. Ignore Ch 10, and come straight to Ch 11 and V 15. It says, “And the 7th angel sounded,” there’s the 7th trumpet you see of the epoch of the the trumpet judgments and that 7th trumpet. Look at it in v 15. The 7th angel sounded, there were great voices in heaven saying “The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ.”

So the 7th trumpet begins the kingdom age. In fact, for the purists, you will appreciate that the 7th trumpet includes all the period after it which involves 7 vials and 7 thunders. And so it is true at a high level to say that the 7th trumpet ushers in the kingdom age, but there’s a little more detail than just the blowing of the 7th trumpet. Nevertheless, the point is, v 15 of Revelation 11 begins the 7th trumpet, that means, that is Vs 1-14 of Revelation 11 are part of the 6th trumpet. But the 6th trumpet as you found began back in Ch 9:13. You see what has happened here, Rev Ch 10 has been inserted in the midst of the 6th trumpet judgment. A judgment that began, that trumpet was blown in Ch 9:13 and runs all the way through to Ch 11:14 where in v 15, this 7th trumpet was blown. Can you see, that. Ch 10 has broken in half the 6th trumpet of Rev 9 and 11? There is no haphazardness about that, look at v 7 of Rev 10. “But in the days of the voice of the 7th angel when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God shall be finished.” Now the 7th angel that was being spoken about in Revelation 10:7 is the 7th angel of Rev 11:15, that’s the 7th trumpet angel. So the point is that Rev 10 knows that it is breaking into the context of the 6th angel because it says in Rev 10 that this chapter will be fulfilled when the 7th angel blows his trumpet. Here’s the question, “Why does Rev 10 break the 6th trumpet, why does it come right in the centre of the 6th trumpet judgment?”

Well, because of Rev 11:7, a big problem begins in Rev 11 and v 7. You see, these trumpet judgments as I explained were the first four on Western Europe which resulted in its fall to the barbarian hordes. The next two on eastern Europe resulting ultimately in the fall of Constantinople in the 6th trumpet. But whilst all that chaos was happening in eastern Europe, a very terrible thing was arising in Western Europe. A beast came to  life again in Western Europe. And you read of that in v 7 of Rev 11, “When they shall have finished their testimony the beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them.” A beast comes back to life again and starts persecuting the saints in Western Europe even though God is judging by way of his trumpets the eastern Roman Empire. This is the first mention Ch 11:7, this is the first mention in the book of Revelation of the beast. He is the breast of the sea. He is a Catholic beast. He climbs out of obscurity and he starts to destroy everything that the apostle John stands for. And the Lord gives the saints, you see, a vision, and tells them that despite what the beast does, its days will be numbered. There will come a time when God will judge him and kill him. That is the vision of Rev 10. It was given to assist the saints in Western Europe, particularly, who were suffering under the onslaught of the beast and the Roman system for the things they believed. His days would be numbered. He would be judged and that judgment would come by 7 thunders which would result in his ultimate destruction. That is the context of Revelation 10 in the book of Revelation.

Now let’s think about the context of Revelation 10 in the entire Bible.

You want to think of Ezekiel. You see Rev 10 lifts an entire story out of the prophecy of Ezekiel. Ezek Ch 1. And as soon as we start looking at this you will see as you have just read the record of Rev 10, you will see the immediate links with the prophecy of Ezekiel. In Ezek 1, and v 4, this is what it says. “I looked and behold a whirlwind came out of the north and a great cloud and a fire enfolding itself and brightness was about it and out of the midst thereof as the color of amber out of the midst of the fire.” So Ezekiel sees a great cloud come out of the north in Rev 10:1 John sees and angel clothed with a cloud. V 27 of Ezekiel Ch 1. And, he says, I saw as the color of amber, as the appearance of fire, round about within it, from the appearance of the loins upwards and the appearance of the loins downward, I saw as it were the appearance of fire. and it had brightness around about it.

And so what Ezekiel saw in Ch 1 was in fact two visions. He says, the cherubim comes from the north, wheels, eyes and lightning speed, moving like this in all directions. And upon the top of the cherubim he sees the man on the throne. The Cherubim was in fact a vehicle to bear the glory of God, and on the top of that vehicle was a man on a throne and he looked like v 27, he is the color of amber and the appearance of fire. So that is the vision that Ezekiel sees in Ezekiel Ch 1. Well, it tells you in Rev 10:1, that this rainbowed angel had legs like pillars of fire, borrowed directly from here, V 28 of Ezekiel 1, “as the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain.” So round about this man on the throne in Ezekiel was a rainbow, just like you read in Revelation Ch 10:1, a rainbow over his head. Well, that’s interesting, but look at this. Ch 2:9, And when I looked, says, Ezekiel, behold an hand was sent unto me, and lo, a roll of a book was therein. The man on the throne had in his hand a little scroll, that’s Revelation 10:2. And he spread before me, he opened the scroll before me, says Ezekiel, And it was written within and without and there was written therein, lamentations and mourning and woe. The thunders of Revelation Ch 10 would be part of the woe trumpet of Revelation Ch 11. They would be judgments, lamentations, mournings, and woes, can you see? Ezekiel 3:1. Moreover he said to me, Son of man, eat that you find, eat this roll and go and speak to the house of Israel. Ezekiel is told to eat the scroll. John was told in Revelation 10:9, Eat that little book. Eat that scroll. Read it for yourself, don’t disclose to the other servants what is contained in it, and destroy the evidence. Eat the scroll, John. Ezekiel 3:14 And then the spirit lifted me up and took me away and I went in bitterness in the heat of my spirit, but the hand of Yahweh was strong upon me. He went in bitterness of spirit because of course, Ezekiel’s going to go to the nation and the nation wouldn’t hear him. When John ate the scroll in Revelation 10:10, you see “it was bitter in my belly.” It was the same bitterness, why? Well because when the thunders are poured out by John to the world, the world won’t hear him. V 15 of Ezekiel 3. And then I came to them of the captivity of Tel Aviv and I dwelt by the river of Chebar, I sat where they sat and remained there astonished seven days, he says. So Ezekiel is sent to his people. John, it says in Revelation 10:11, would be sent to peoples and nations and tongues and kings. Can you see, this is line for line, the entire story of Revelation Ch 10 has been lifted directly from Ezekiel Chs 1, 2 and 3. And then finally V 7 of Ezekiel 3, But the house of Israel will not hearken to thee Ezekiel, because they won’t hearken to me, because all the house of Israel are impudent and hard-hearted. And as a consequence of the thunders being poured out on the nations in Revelation Ch 10, they would be angry and they would blaspheme, that ‘s the language of Revelation 11 and Revelation 16, that’s the international response to the appeal to render service to the Lord Jesus Christ. So that’s the story of Revelation 10, brothers and sisters, in the visions of Ezekiel, Chs 1,2 and 3.

In the case of Ezekiel, the vision here, is of the man of one on the vehicle of the Cherubim You know what happens to this Cherubim, they are bearing the glory of God here in Ezekiel Ch 1, but because of the apostasy of the nation of Israel, the Cherubim take the glory of God out of the Temple at Jerusalem they move to the east wall, they go over the east wall, they shoot off out to the east and they leave the temple, that is the temple in Jerusalem, in Israel, they leave it without the presence of God. Why do they do that? Well, so that the Babylonians can come in and destroy it, because of the impudent hearts of the nation of Israel.

By the time you get to Ezekiel Ch 40, 41, we read of Ezekiel’s temple, the new temple in Jerusalem, rebuilt upon the ashes of a re-conquered city, and from he east, the Cherubim bring back the glory of God, don’t they, now what does that symbolize? Well of course, by then, we are into the kingdom age, Christ has come, the saints have got eternal life, it is the saints that bring the Lord Jesus Christ at that point back through the east gate, sealing the east gate, never to be used again because the King came in through the east gate and the glory of God comes now, in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ and inhabits the temple of the future age, Ezekiel’s Temple. So the Cherubim that removed the glory of God were angelic, but the Cherubim that bring it back are the saints the immortalized Saints of the future age. A remarkable story in Ezekiel.

Now come to Revelation Ch 10, what happens here? Well, now we are in the kingdom age of course, in Revelation Ch 10. And as you read V 1, you see, every phrase is significant. Look what he says. “I see another mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as it were, the sun and his feet as pillars of fire.” Another mighty angel he says, the point here is that this is not one of the trumpet angels that we have been reading about in Revelation 8 and 9, this is a Mighty Angel. The angel of Ch 5:2, you know, who couldn’t open the seven sealed scroll, he was a Mighty Angel, same word, a very powerful angel, and he came down from heaven. That means he came from the government of the future age. 2 Peter 3:13, describes the kingdom of God as a “new heaven” and a “new earth wherein dwells righteousness,” and in the language of the prophets, you see, “Heaven” is a symbolic word, describing government. “Earth” is a symbolic word describing the subject peoples over whom that government rules. but Christ will inherit the throne of his father David in Jerusalem. So when you read “heaven” here in the book of Revelation, it simply means Christ’s government in Jerusalem. So this angel comes from the government and the government that we are speaking about of the Lord Jesus Christ, is the restored throne of David in Jerusalem. It is a literal government, that’s what “heaven” represents.

And he is clothed with a cloud,  Well the Angel here in v 1 represents the Lord Jesus Christ, the “cloud” represents the saints. Heb 12:1 says that the saints are a “cloud of witnesses.” Revelation 1:7 says that Christ “comes with clouds,” and when he comes, “every eye shall see him. Well if those clouds in Revelation 1 were literal clouds, no eye could see them. No eye could see them.” But these clouds are clouds of people, of immortalized saints you see. Now just pause and consider that for a moment. Paint the picture of that in your mind. You’ve got an angel with a rainbow over his head, clothed  or wrapped up in a cloud, that represents the Lord Jesus Christ, clothed with the saints. Now when we were baptized, It tells us in Gal 3:27, that we “put on Christ.” and that’s because, of course, we have a certain nature that we bear that we continually fall prey to, and as it were, we wear the Lord Jesus Christ as a garment of righteousness. So when the Father looks upon us he imputes righteousness to us. He sees us as righteous, though inherently we are nothing of the sort. But this is the opposite in v 1 here. Here is the Lord Jesus Christ clothed with the saints. Think about what that means, brothers and sisters. There is something immediately very powerful and very humbling about that. It is one thing for us to be clothed with the Lord Jesus Christ, it is another thing entirely, for him to be clothed with us. It does just make us pause and consider what state your wedding garment is really in. But this is what we are called to isn’t it. This is exactly what we are called to.

He had a rainbow over his head,

it says, the rainbow in Genesis 9:16, is the symbol of the covenant that God would never destroy man again, it is the symbol of the eternal covenant and therefore a symbol of immortality. His face was like the sun in V 1. In Matt 13:43, the righteous shall shine forth as the sun, so this is the face of righteousness. And his feet were like fire, and the margin, will take you straight back to Revelation 1:15, speaking the multitudinous Christ of that Chapter.

This is a symbol therefore of the militant manifestation of the Lord Jesus Christ. Fire is a symbol of judgment. 2 Thes 1:8 says Christ will come in flaming fire, to take vengeance upon them who know not and obey not the gospel. So this is the vision you’ve got in front of you here, The Lord Jesus Christ, clothed with the saints, in fact, having just judged the world, in fire. And we know, from V 2, that the judgment has been completed. And it tells you in V 2, that in addition to the fact that he has got a little book opened in his hand, he’s got his right foot upon the sea, and his left foot upon the earth. that means that he has put all thing under his feet. Now which things in particular has he put under his feet? Well, he’s put the beast of the earth of Revelation 13: 11 under one foot, and he’s put the beast of the sea of Revelation 13:1 under the other foot. He is standing upon earth and sea, all the territory, all the dominion once controlled by the breast. He has destroyed the beast by the time you get to Revelation 10:2. I make that point, because we often call this the march of the rainbowed angel. The problem is that the angel has stopped marching. He is now standing. He has completed his march. If we had to date the fulfillment of this prophecy therefore in terms of our fifty year time line, this would be year 50. He has completed his march. He has conquered, as it were, land and sea. He is in control of everything.

So the chapter begins with the completion of the whole picture.

This is where things finally end up. And in his hand, he’s got this book, and this book is how he is going to get to this finished position in these opening verses. And here is the book in V 2, a little book opened, and that is fascinating, because do you know, there are three words in the book of Revelation for the word “book.” There is the word “biblos,” often translated bible, speaking of 6,000 years of history of man, “biblos” is often used to describe the book of life, it is the most common word for “book” The second word is the word “biblion,” and that’s the word that is used for the scroll, the scroll with seven seals back in Ch 5. Now the seven sealed scroll back in Ch 5 does not encompass 6,000 of man’s history, it only encompasses 2,000 years of man’s history, because that scroll was opened in the first century and rolls forward to the kingdom age. It is not a “biblos” it is a “biblion,” a smaller segment of history. But this word here, this word book here, is the third word, it is the word “bibliaridian.” It means a little book, that is a very short segment of history. And the reason this is a little book you see is because all this book contains is seven thunders and those seven thunders are the thunders of the seventh vial which will occupy 40 years. Let’s just be clear on that. We talk about the 50 year time period that Christ takes, if Christ comes today, in 10 years there’s Armageddon, and Armageddon is the end of 6th vial. There’s 40 more years to year 50, which is the seventh vial. So this little book is the seven thunders of the seventh vial and it will take 40 years to outwork. Therefore, it is only a little portion, you see, of prophetic history, a very small portion of the prophetic time-line, a “bibliaridian,” a little book. And he cried with a loud voice as when a lion roars and when he had cried, seven thunders, uttered their voices. There’s the contents of the book, so the angel reads out the little book, and there’s a clue there, because the Lion roars.

Who is the lion of Revelation?

Well, it’s easy, it’s the Lord Jesus Christ. he is the “Lion of the tribe of Judah,” in Revelation 5:5. So what does it mean do you suppose when it says “the lion roars?” Well Isa 42:13 says, that Yahweh will go forth as a mighty man. He shall stir up jealousy like a man of war. He shall cry, yea he shall roar, and shall prevail against his enemies, so when the lion roars, it is a symbol of judgment against his enemies, Isa 42:13. And when does the lion roar? Joel 3:16. Yahweh shall roar from Zion and utter his voice from Jerusalem. He roars, at Armageddon. That’s when the lion first roars, you see, at Armageddon. And John says that when this lion roars, seven thunders utter their voices, that’s what happens when the lion roars. So there’s the timing of the thunders of  Revelation Ch 10, they come after the battle of Armageddon, in fact during 40 years after the battle of Armageddon in the period of the seventh vial. Right after Armageddon when Christ is enthroned on Zion, and they result in the complete subjugation of the beast of the earth, the beast of the sea and the toppling of the kingdom of men. That’s what will happen when the seven thunders utter their voice.

Now here’s the question, What are the seven thunders? What do we know about these seven thunders? Well, as I explained, we don’t know a lot because the book’s been sealed, but I’ll show you what we can infer. Come with me to Psalm 29.  Look at this. Now we are trying to open a book which has been closed and all we can do is hunt around for threads that scripture offers us as to the contents of that book. But what do you think of this? Psalm 29. Now as you look at this Psalm, you’ll just have to appreciate that the Psalm breaks into three sections. V 1 and 2, it is only a very short Psalm as you can see, that verses 1 and 2 are an introduction. That it is a call to worship, that’s what the Psalm begins with.  Vs 3 to 9 are the story of the Psalm and Vs 10 and 11 are the conclusion, a blessing. So we have a call to worship in the first two verses, we have the story of the Psalm, verses 3 to 9 and we have a concluding blessing in verses 10 and 11. But what is the story of the Psalm? What is the story of verses 3 to 9? Well, in fact, it is the story of a great storm, actually, a great storm that comes in from the sea, it begins at the top of the land and it runs all way down to the land and expends itself and blows itself out in the south. Look at it, you can see it very clearly, right at the end of verse 3, Yahweh is upon many waters, so there’s the Mediterranean sea where the storm begins, then at the end of verse 5, he’s breaking the cedars of Lebanon, Verse 6, He makes them skip like a calf, Lebanon and Sirion. Now Sirion in Deut 3:9 is Mt Hermon. So we’ve come in from the Mediterranean, into Lebanon across down to Hermon and then v 8 says, Yahweh shakes the wilderness of Kadesh, so the storm blows itself out down in the south and Kadesh in the Negev, and the storm is finished. And when it is finished, it says in verse 10, Yahweh sits upon the flood, Yahweh sits as king forever, Yahweh gives strength to his people, Yahweh will bless his people with peace. So when the storm’s finished, God’s people are at rest, they are at peace, it’s all resolved. And you might say, in a literal sense, well, that’s true of every storm isn’t it? The raging tempest, the fury of the elements, the destruction of everything in its path, so that by contrast when the story is over, everything is at peace. Well, yes, but now look closely, what’s the Psalmist actually saying here? Verse 1. Give unto Yahweh, you mighty, give unto Yahweh glory and strength, give unto Yahweh the glory due to his name, worship Yahweh in the beauty of holiness. Give glory and strength to Yahweh, he says, that means submit your strength to God, and give him the glory. Worship him, that’s the call of the opening verses. And the consequence of the story of the Psalm is, that by the time you get to the last line of verse 9, everyone speaks of his glory, and as a result of that, verse 11, Yahweh will give them strength, he gives strength to his people and he gives them peace. So here’s a call to give your strength and give your glory to God. Obviously, there is some resistance to that, and the storm rushes down the length of the land and when the storm has exposed itself back out into the sea, then Yahweh gives strength to his people and then he blesses them with peace in the concluding words of the Psalm.

Now that’s the fulfillment of a major biblical prophecy.

In Luke 2:14, Glory to God in the highest, on earth peace, and goodwill to men, meaning God’s goodwill to men. So the cry of the angels in Luke 2:14 was, Give glory to God in the highest, and if you do, there will be peace on earth, and God’s good will to men. Glory, peace and strength, these are the very same words of the Psalm, you see, but there’s more to it than that, because this storm has a name. What is the name of the storm in Psalm 29? Well, you read it over and over, verse 3, the voice of Yahweh is upon the waters, verse 4, the voice of Yahweh is powerful, the voice of Yahweh is full of majesty, Verse 5, the voice of Yahweh breaks the cedars, Verse 7, the voice of Yahweh divides the flames of fire, v 8, the voice of Yahweh shakes the wilderness, verse 9, the voice of Yahweh makes the hinds calve. How many times did I read that, seven times. The voice of Yahweh occurs seven times. The storm is called the voice of Yahweh, you see in Psalm 29, and what sort of voice is it? Verse 3, the voice of Yahweh is upon the waters, the God of glory thunders. He thunders! doesn’t hie? These are the seven thunders of Psalm 29. You see what is happening here? There is a call to acknowledge God in verses 1 and 2 of Psalm 29 but there is no response, so the voice of God thunders seven times, and as a result of that all the earth’s at rest. The whole problem has been resolved and the storm has blown itself out, and there is peace across all of mankind. In the words of Revelation 4, the sea is glass. The sea is glass.

Interestingly, by the way, this storm begins on many waters at the end of verse 3, it says so, and it ends up in verse 10 with Yahweh sitting upon a flood. And in Rev 17:1 when Christ comes there’s a great whore sitting upon many waters and by the time you get to Revelation 19 and verse 6, John says, I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude as the voice of many waters and as the voice of mighty thunderings saying, Hallelujah, for the Lord God omnipotent reigns. So the great whore sits upon many waters but by the time the judgements of God are finished, It’s many waters that say The Lord God omnipotent reigns. Or as the Psalmist might otherwise say in verse 10, Yahweh sits a king forever. Now what’s the point? The point is, here’s the Old Testament version of the seven thunders of Revelation Ch 10. Remarkable isn’t it? I’ll show you one other thing. Who is the author of the Psalm? Who wrote Psalm 29? Well it tells you in the superscription, that David wrote the Psalm. Well what’s the background to Psalm 29? Well, you’ve got the clue in v 2. Give unto Yahweh the glory due to His name, worship Yahweh in the beauty of holiness, and your margin will take you straight to 1 Chron 16 and verse 29. 1 Ch 16:29 is when David brought the ark up to Zion, and this Psalm concludes in verse 9 with Yahweh in his Temple. Something David never ever did. What that means is that there must be a future application of this Psalm, because David never did, well he certainly brought the ark to Zion, but he never did bring it into the Temple, that was to wait for another man after David. And what did David do, brothers and sisters immediately after he brought the ark to Zion? Why, he began seven military campaigns. What for? to subdue all his enemies round about. So what do you think will be the result of John’s thunders in Revelation 10 will be? Seven military campaigns to subdue all the enemies round about. They will commence after the battle of Armageddon, and for forty years, will subdue the nations. They will bring peace to the earth prior to the commencement of the millennial age, and very possibly, John’s seven thunders will use the natural elements of destruction, just like Psalm 29 does. Why would I suggest that? Well, come back now to Revelation, and this time to Revelation 16. Now why Revelation 16, well because Revelation 16, of course, is the seventh vial. This is the high-level description of the seven thunders, it just calls it the seventh vial, but we know already that the seventh vial contains the seven thunders. So Revelation Ch 10 is outworked in the last five verses of Revelation 16. And look at v 21 of Revelation 16. And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent, and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail, because the plague thereof was exceeding great. There’s the natural elements, you see, of the seven thunder judgments coming upon men and men’s response to the judgments of God, as that storm rushes across the beasts of Europe. Isn’t that remarkable? Psalm 29 used the natural elements, the seventh vial it appears, also uses the natural elements. We would conclude therefore, that the seven thunder judgments that were spoken about in Revelation 10 are non other than the seven military campaigns of the greater than David and will most likely use natural elements as you have described here in Revelation Ch 16 and as are also described in Psalm 29.

Now come back to Revelation 10, because there’s more. Verse 4, it says, that when the seven thunders had uttered their voices he was about to write when he heard a voice from heaven saying, “Don’t write those things John, don’t tell them the intimate detail of those seven thunders, let them work it out, we’ll reveal it later.” And then in v 5, the angel which I stand upon the sea and upon the earth, he lifted up his hand to heaven and he swear by him that lives for ever and ever, and look at this, heaven and the things that therein are, earth and the things that therein are, sea and the things that are therein, that there should be time, or delay, no longer. Now I find that absolutely fascinating, why, why is that fascinating? Well look, heaven, earth and sea. Now you might not know where else in the book of Revelation those words occur, because we haven’t yet done our afternoon study, but I will show you. Come across the page to Revelation 14, Revelation 14:6,

The structure of the 50 year period.

Now let me just refresh your memories about the structure of the 50 year period. Christ comes in the future, let’s say that is today. In ten years time we have the battle of Armageddon, in 20 years time we have the destruction of Rome, What happens between years 10 and 20? Between Armageddon and the destruction of Rome? Well you see there is an international appeal to the world to submit to the rule of the Lord Jesus Christ. It’s called “the mid-heaven proclamation,” It is a proclamation as Revelation 14 describes it of the everlasting gospel, the gospel of the kingdom age, and this is what you read in Revelation14:6 and 7. Here the mid-heaven proclamation which is a summons to the world to repent and to submit to the rule of the Lord Jesus Christ. I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them who dwell on the earth, to every nation, kindred, tongue and people. Now what is this gospel, what does it say. It says, v 7 Fear God, give glory to him, for the hour of his judgment is come and worship him that made heaven, earth, sea, and the fountains of water. Can you see that? This is the gospel of the future age, the everlasting gospel means “gospel of the age.” The gospel itself is the words of Revelation 14:7. It is a summons to the world to submit themselves to the Lord Jesus Christ and to the God who made heaven and earth and sea, the exact  language of Revelation Ch 10:6. The exact language almost of Psalm 29:1, Give God the glory and strength. Ok, just bear that in mind, because look at V 6 of Revelation 14. It says that this gospel, this everlasting gospel, this gospel of the age, is going to be preached to whom? Well, to every nation, kindred, tongue and people. Now that’s immensely powerful, why?

Well, pause now and consider the story of Revelation 10.

The angel stands, he’s got an open book. John reads the book, he’s about to write the book down. The angel says, “Don’t write it down, John, close up the book. This book is going to appeal to the world from the God who made heaven, earth and sea, now roll up that book and eat it. eat it. You’ve seen it, now you eat it. Then dispose of the evidence entirely. ”  Why? What’s the reason it was given to John, and he had to eat the book and not tell us what were the contents of the book? Well we are given the reason in the last verse of Revelation 10. He said to me because John, you must prophesy again to many peoples, nations, tongues and kings That’s the exact language of Revelation 14:6. That’s the exact group of people that the everlasting gospel is going to go to.  And the language of Revelation 10:6 is the exact language of the everlasting gospel. What do you think that means. I can only read this one way, brothers and sisters, that the apostle John himself will lead the proclamation of the everlasting gospel. He is the one who is going to go to the world that is lead the proclamation of that gospel to the world, to many peoples, nations, tongues and kings to  tell them to submit to the God who created heaven and earth and sea. It will be John himself who leads the charge of the everlasting gospel between years 10 and 20 of that 50 year period we have just discussed, the ten years immediately succeeding the battle of Armageddon, that’s John’s work. So don’t tell them yet, John what those seven thunders contain, you are going to tell the world that if they don’t submit to the the rule of the Lord Jesus Christ, seven thunders will usher upon them, go and tell them John and try and save their lives. And John said, I was about to write it, and he said “no,” and so I ate it, and it was sweet in my mouth, but it was bitter in my belly, he said. It was extremely bitter in my belly. Why was that? Well, it was sweet because the message was very palatable. It was bitter, because they wouldn’t listen. What would they say? Revelation 16:21 says, they will blaspheme God for that everlasting gospel. They will not hear! Well what is the consequence to them? Poof! Rom is destroyed. And they blaspheme again. What’s the consequence? The beast is destroyed, and only then, you see, is the earth at rest. And it is John, brothers and sisters, who will superintend that work. A remarkable work.

When it is all done, and the beast is destroyed.

Now, look at this. And when it’s all done, and the beast is destroyed, Rev 11:15 says, that then the seventh angel sounded and there were great voices in heaven. The Kingdoms of this world have now become the kingdom of our Lord and his Christ, and he shall reign for ever and ever. So there’s voices, voices of Psalm 29, and v 16, the four and twenty elders which sat before God on their seats, they fell upon their faces and worshiped God. Now there were 24 elders when David brought the ark up to Zion, 24 courses of priests, 24 courses of singers, so this is modeled on David’s bringing the ark up to Zion. And where did it all finish in the Psalm, in Psalm 29? Well, V 19 of Revelation 11, And the Temple of God was opened in heaven and there was seen in his Temple the ark of his covenant. The Ark finally lands in the Temple. The Lord Jesus Christ is now entered through the east gate,  buoyed up by the Cherubic vehicle of the saints, and he’s entered the Temple, and the millennial reign is about to begin. The ark is in his Temple. The kingdom of men is dead, the beast is a carcass on the ground, and the millennial reign can begin. But the bittersweet nature of these thunders was that it may be the sweetness of the accomplishment of the purpose of God, the thrill of opening the kingdom age, the thrill of taking that message to the gentiles, but the bitterness of the process, because it will not be a smooth transition from where they are today to the kingdom age for the nations. John will take the truth to the world, brothers and sisters, but they will reject it.