My purpose in this letter is to have a space in which I can comment on a number of smaller things in the book of Revelation, including the trumpets and seals before we move forward into the larger issues of the fulfilment of the Feast of Tabernacles in the life of the Church.
In the last letter, I set us free from any need to force the elements of John’s vision to fit together through time according to the layout of his vision. Thus, we are free to see every point as it fits with and comes out from the larger patterns of God in the gospel.
It is not human history that governs our knowledge of the revelation of Jesus Christ, but God’s great patterns fulfilled through us. And the most important pattern for the ordering of the gospel and our covenant with God is the Ark of the Covenant in the Tabernacle of Moses. You will find a complete view of what that means in Symmorphy IV: Covenant.
And I saw the seven angels who stand before God and seven trumpets were given to them. And another angel came and stood at the golden altar, having a censer, and much incense was given to him, that he will offer it with the prayers of all the holy ones upon the golden altar before the throne. And the smoke of the incense went up in the presence of God with the prayers of the holy ones, out of the hand of the angel. And the angel took the censer and filled it out from the fire of the altar and cast it into the earth; and there were thunders and noises and flashes of lightning, and an earthquake.
And the seven angels, having the seven trumpets, prepared themselves to sound the trumpets (Revelation 8:2-6).
As you can see, the structure of John’s visions is built upon the Tabernacle pattern. For that reason, we must see how these trumpets are bounded entirely by the revelation of the pattern of the Covenant.
Here is what happens just after the sounding of the seventh trumpet, the “last trumpet.” – And the sanctuary of God inside of heaven was opened and the Ark of His Covenant was seen inside of His sanctuary [the place of His dwelling], and they became flashes of lightning and voices and thunders and an earthquake and great hail (Revelation 11:19).
We know, of course, that the “place of His dwelling” is the Church (Ephesians 2), and the Ark of the Covenant is Christ written upon our hearts, our being filled with all of God and revealing God to all. Again, 2 Corinthians 3:3, the expansion of Ephesians 3:17, stands above and shows us how to comprehend every single line in John’s vision.
So, in-between the entrance of the Church into the Holiest to the Ark of the Covenant being revealed to all, the seven trumpets are sounded by the seven angels.
A trumpet is to get people’s attention. The “Feast of Trumpets” is meant to get people’s attention fixed on one sacrifice for sins forever, so that they might run with all their might into the Holy of Holies, into the Feast of Tabernacles, God among us.
In the journey of Israel, the trumpet blast was used to get people’s attention, either to pack their bags, because the Ark is about to go forth, or to call the people to worship, or to give warning that enemies are approaching. A trumpet was sounded as the call to battle.
It was the sounding of the trumpets that brought down the walls of Jericho, not the weapons of the men of Israel.
The sounding of the trumpets in John’s visions seems to be filled with dark things; if you want to know what these things mean, you will have to turn to the experts who have it all figured out. All I can see is that God is unsuccessful in getting people’s attention.
And the rest of the men who were not killed by these blows, did not even change their minds out of the works of their hands, so that they would not worship the demons and the gold… And they did not change their minds out of their killings nor out of their drugs nor out of their pornography nor out of their thefts (Revelation 9:20-21).
This isn’t God “doing things to humans.” This is humans doing things to humans. Man is the master, and death flows only out of him. People love to blame God for the terrible consequences that come out of the human and the Christian refusal to partake only of Life.
I do want to say this about both the trumpets and the vials. We live in an electrical universe, and all the laws of the universe and the solar system are first electrical laws inside of which other subordinate laws, like gravity, operate. More than that, understanding the electrical nature of the solar system allows us to accept the testimony of our forefathers, that what they say they saw is what really happened, including the testimony of the Hebrew tribes.
Science will demonstrate quite soon that the history of the solar system and the surface of the earth is only several thousand years old. All the claims of “long ages” of geological change have long ago been falsified. It is a theory that has already fallen to the ground, except for the religious investment in the non-scientific story of evolution. Science is that which is observable, measurable, and duplicatable. If a scientist cannot demonstrate the process by which a frog turns into a bird in such a way that the process can be measured, described, and even duplicated, then the idea CANNOT be science, no matter the hardness of the foreheads proclaiming it. The same holds true for the so-called “black holes.” None of what they claim can be duplicated or observed inside of any actual science. It is fantastical imagination only.
There are few people more religious in human history than today’s astronomers and biologists, etc., etc.; they believe so fervently in so many things they cannot see or know.
So, leaving my rant, what I mean to say is that the normal electrical functioning of our solar system will likely continue as it has always been, that is, with occasional spikes or dips in the flow of electrical power coming down the arms of the Milky Way and feeding into our sun. Solar system catastrophe beyond all human imagination has happened before, many more times than once. It is only reasonable that it will happen again. This is not a stretch of thinking, but a normality of thinking.
The Old Testament, along with all early accounts of humans on this earth, is filled with descriptions of solar-system-wide catastrophes that massively impacted our earth and all human life upon it. A miracle almost as great as creation on the one hand and the resurrection of Jesus on the other, is that our earth has retained its capacity to provide us with life and that we humans have survived.
What if a spike of electrical power, that is, a slight increase in the number of electrons flowing down the arm of the Milky Way, were to hit our sun? You see, an increase of, say, 10% (I am not an electrical scientist), would exceed the carrying ability of the sun to discharge. Yet that power must discharge; it requires a larger surface area and will create that larger surface area by splitting the sun apart. That means that the solar system would return to a binary star system, just like God created it and as it was before Noah’s flood. And – by the way, Noah’s Ark is clearly seen, it’s there, it’s real, it’s Noah’s Ark, exactly as the Bible describes it. It’s pretty convincing evidence that the Bible has recorded the truth.
Another result would be that Venus would turn back into a visible comet, and its electrical tail would engulf the earth as it passed over us. That entwining of massive electrical discharge in the upper atmosphere would bring back into human seeing such things as owl-eyes, dragons, Valkyries, and so on. It would, to say the least, freak everyone out. This effect from a visible tail of Venus was normal human experience over centuries, primarily from 1462 BC, when Venus came the closest to earth, until around 862 BC, when Venus slowly moved into its present orbit. That visible tail from Venus, however, continued in a lesser fashion into Roman times.
The great earthquakes, the super volcanic outpourings, and the shifting of the continents did not happen millions of years ago. They happened every time Venus came close to the earth. Even today, the fluctuations of earthquakes and volcanic explosions are ruled entirely by the flow of electrical power through our solar system. A spike in that flow, something treated as “normal” in the Bible, will be the cause of renewed great earthquakes and the explosions of super volcanoes. And yes, we could still see continents shifting and islands appearing or vanishing away.
It is entirely possible that the trumpets and the vials include a seeing of these normal catastrophic events continuing in the human experience, things put somewhat on hold by the cross and resurrection of Christ.
The exodus from Egypt took place during the greatest time of solar system catastrophe in-between the breakup of Saturn at the beginning of Noah’s flood until today. The entire earth was covered with darkness, and all peoples across the earth tell the story of their ancestors surviving only because of a bread that was found upon the ground each morning. Ancient peoples did not steal this “myth” from one another. They all separately lived through it.
So if the first time an eagle carried God’s people upon its wings into the wilderness to meet together with God was filled with solar-system-wide electrical events that were overwhelming and fully visible to humans, and that struck the earth in many different forms, why should it be any different today? Catastrophe is normal and historical; there is no such thing as slow uniformitarianism. The evidence that dinosaurs were wiped out by the flood and that humans and dinosaurs existed together on a very different earth before the flood is solid and convincing.
We live in an exciting solar system, and we are heading into adventurous times. Be sure to put on your seat belts, that is, put on the Lord Jesus Christ!
Any discussion of creationism or of many of the events described in John’s vision that does not include a full understanding of the electrical nature of our solar system and it’s electrical and catastrophic recent history, can be nothing more than groping at things inside of total fog.
And – as whatever happens, happens, we will say, “This is that, shown to us by the Word God speaks.”
BUT – what we are interested in is purpose. The trumpets are for getting people’s attention; the vials are for eliminating the rule of death coming through human arrogance and rebellion. Attachment
AnOrderedLayoutofRevelation.pdf
Now, I would like you to go back through the chart I have titled “An Ordered Layout of Revelation.” I have placed a PDF of this chart on the website so that you can easily print it out as one page. Notice what is different about this layout. Everything in it pertains to the revelation of Jesus Christ, that is, to God and us together in all things. Every single one of these points of the outline is an action of God and us together. By using Biblical participles, we have changed our seeing of these things.
Now, look at the span from Revelation 8:2 through Revelation 16:21. Consider all the elements of the revelation of Jesus Christ that are found in-between the sounding of the first trumpet and the pouring of the seventh vial. Open your Bibles to Revelation and mull over these passages inside the frame of thinking provided by the statements in the chart.
I intend to apply these participle statements as our seeing of each of these elements of John’s vision from here forward. And I have just added two chapters on the prostitute of Revelation 17-18, coming up soon. These are things we are seeing now upon this earth.
In the rest of this letter, however, as our discussion of the “visions of God,” I want to look more closely at Revelation 10, an unusual chapter on the one hand, yet familiar to other really odd Bible statements on the other hand. And look at how our chart has split this chapter into its two parts, first – hearing that the time is now, today, and second – sharing judgment with God.
As I consider the mighty things God is unfolding in my knowing and experience, personally, as well as what He is sharing with us together, I see how this chapter is become so critical to us, for it is through these two elements of Revelation 10 that we are joined utterly together with our Father in His INTENTIONS and DETERMINATION, that is, in His Pro-Thesis and Pro-Determination.
May I suggest that any vision that is not joining us together with Father in full symmorphy of heart, in purpose, knowing, and determination, cannot be a vision of God to us.
More than that, we are caught right now in the great Battle of the Ages, the Victory of the Lamb over all that accuses God. And this Battle is HUGE and REAL and NOW.
Let me explain what I mean. I have used the framework of “the next ten years,” not as any kind of predicting the future, but simply as a means of focusing our thoughts. Inside that framework, then, of the next ten years, from now until the end of 2029, say, I see, by determination, the step-by-step fulfillment of every Word God speaks right here on this earth through us as the revelation of Jesus Christ. And those steps of fulfillment are on the one hand, the fulfillment of Paul’s gospel in fulness in the Church here and now, and on the other hand, specific steps of victory over each thing that opposes and accuses.
Okay, Revelation 10. And I saw another strong angel, coming out of heaven, wrapped around with a cloud and a rainbow upon his head, and his face was like the sun, and his feet like pillars of fire, and having in his hand a little scroll being open. And he placed his right foot upon the sea, and his left upon the earth; and he screamed with a loud voice as a lion roars. And when he screamed, the seven thunders spoke with their voices. And when the seven thunders had spoken, I was about to write; but I heard a voice out of heaven saying, “Seal the things the seven thunders have spoken and do not write them.”
I have always been absolutely convinced that there is not one thing God gives to us in Scripture that is not meant for us here and now in all fullness, to know, to understand, and to fulfill. This line gives us an illustration of the absolute purposefulness of our Father.
The number of things inside of God that are of no meaning to us right now are without count – an infinite number of things, of which an infinite number will be shown to us through all the ages to come and another infinite number of things that will never be shown to us even though ALL that is God fills us full.
NOT ONE THING that is inside of God that is not relevant and even critical to us right now, upon whom the end of the age has come, has been recorded in the Bible. What is recorded is for us; what is not for us is not recorded.
The things spoken by the seven thunders is NOT for us, but the fact that the seven thunders spoke IS for us. And what that means we will know as we are able to say, “This is that.”
Yet I have defined this first half of Revelation 10 by its second part. – And the angel whom I saw standing upon the heaven and upon the earth, lifted up his right hand into heaven, and swore by the Living into the ages belonging to the ages, who created heaven and the things inside of it and the earth and the things inside of it, and the sea, and the things inside of it, “There will be no more delay! But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound the trumpet, the mystery of God will be completed as He Himself declared to His servants, the prophets.”
The mystery of God will be completed – TODAY. In that day – Today – KNOW that I am inside of the Father and you inside of Me and I inside of you.
We must remove all thought that anything of God given to us, God filling us full with all that He is, is anything other than TODAY, this moment.
Seven times the angel said to John, “HEAR what the Spirit is saying to the Churches.” Seven times the seven thunders spoke words that are not given to us.
God is saying to us, “KNOW what I HAVE given you today. Today, if you will hear My voice.”
Certainty. Our absolute confidence in certainty. Upon FIRM we stand.
I am amazed at how many times this element of our Salvation, that is, confidence, is found throughout the New Testament hidden by the unbelief of the Calvinist translators. And when I say that, I do not mean that I see things in the Greek word meanings they did not see. I mean that the Greek word meanings are clear, but, because those clear meanings do not fit with Nicene unbelief, the translators have altered the words into something else – a Jesus faraway.
No other translators do this, only Bible translators.
Read through this first part of Revelation 10 again and hear CERTAINTY and TODAY. Then, I have called the second part of Revelation 10 as “Sharing judgment with God.” And by “judgment,” I mean travail. For God’s travail is His judgment for all things.
And the voice that I heard out of heaven was again speaking with me, and saying, “Go, take the little scroll having been opened in the hand of the angel standing upon the sea and upon the earth.” And I went towards the angel, saying to him, “Give me the little scroll.” And he says to me, “Take and eat it; and it will make your stomach bitter, but in your mouth, it will be sweet as honey.”
And I took the little scroll out of the hand of the angel and ate it; and it was inside my mouth as sweet honey; and when I had eaten it, my stomach was made bitter. And he says to me, “It is necessary for you to prophecy again concerning the chosen peoples and the ethnic peoples and languages and many kings.
As you know, Ezekiel also had this same experience, which he recorded in Ezekiel 3:1-15. Take the time to read that as well. It is pregnant with Spirit meaning, and the two visions are speaking of the same reality of our Today. “I have made your face strong against their faces.”
I want to share lines from a song my son recently wrote. He told me that this is the first song that came to him out of the truths of Christ that I share. It is a prophetic word to me, a vision of God. That is; it is a symbolic representation of a critical aspect of our union with Christ and of our sharing heart with God.
Eating the words of God that are sweet and bitter, both at the same time, is a picture of our present travail together with our Father.
Clinging to my chest, I carry you close. The winds and rain Batter around you.
We’ve far to go, But through this storm I’ve carried you. I will protect you.
Shame is no more. Fear, you’ve lost your hold.
This is a new song Of peace, Of a bubble in the storm. This is triumphant return And I’ve already won the war.
The curse of thanklessness Is gone, Cast off and thrown away. This is triumphant return And I’ve already won the war.
My son was picturing our travail, but from a man’s point of view, that of carrying a priceless treasure close to his chest safely through the storm.
Here is Jesus’ treasure, pressed closely to His chest. – Jesus, the source and the completion of our faith, who, looking instead at the joy and delight set before Him {the Church} endured the cross, thinking nothing of the shame (Hebrews 12:2).
This is the bitter sweetness of the Word. Nothing in all my writing of word gives me more joy than having written Symmorphy V: Life. Yet where are the people who will fill this vision – the Church?
Right now, they hate my guts; right now, they oppose everything I hold dear. – And when I say that, I am referring to a very present circumstance – a fitting example of God’s people all across this earth.
Rarely, though, will the righteous die for the sake of anyone; though on behalf of a good person, perhaps someone would dare to die. God, however, demonstrates and proves Himself [as] love into us, that our being still sinners [being hostile], Christ died for us, for our sakes (Romans 5:7-8). – By this we have known love, because He set forth his soul, His story of self, for us, for our sakes; and we also are committed to setting forth our souls for the sake of our brothers and sisters (1 John 3:16).
We cannot have what we want apart from all those millions of Christians who, right now, seem hell-bent on following after the beast and exalting death.
And so I have called this portion of Revelation 10, “Sharing judgment with God.”
This is Christ, in and through us, carrying His Church close to His Heart, a Heart now shared fully with us, all the way through all that lies ahead into all triumphant return into God made visible, Father at Home.
There has always been in the soul of the Christian the same Adamic impulse to “overcome” for one’s own relationship with Christ, one’s own “standing with Him in glory.”
But what is glory if it’s not winning the hearts of His people to Himself?
God’s people right now are a bitter, bitter pill to swallow, yet that is the Word we have eaten, and we have eaten it with joy. To share judgment with God is to demonstrate and prove Father Himself through us as love into them, even though they are hostile, to set forth our souls for their sake.
To say, “Yes, Lord,” is to eat of His travail, to carry that which seems to oppose all the way through the storm into JOY. This is the vision of God, the Ark of the Covenant, the revelation of Jesus Christ.
