Elements of the prophecies of Revelation have seeped into our modern culture. Movies have been made about the Anti-Christ, and terms like Armageddon and apocalypse are used in everyday life. For those wishing for an in-depth discussion on the prophecies of the End of Days, please refer to the many sites on the web that are focused on Biblical study. This primer will focus on those prophecies which are discussed on this website.
The End of Days
God sent Jesus, in order to bring His salvation to the world. For this purpose, Christ was born, was crucified, and was then resurrected. With the resurrection of Christ, God the Father sent His Holy Spirit to be with all those who believed. As the Holy Spirit now dwells inside every Believer, they are able to speak directly to God. When Jesus walked this world, He told his disciples that He would return after His death. Paul, who brought the word of God to all the Gentiles (i.e. non-Jews), reminded the early church of Christ’s promise to return to this world. The End of Days refers to the time immediately preceding Christ’s return to this world.
The Book of Revelation, the last book of the Bible, tells us of the events that will occur in the End of Days. Much of it is cloaked in symbolism, so we must depend upon Biblical scholars for interpretation of many passages. John saw a vision from God and based on that vision, he wrote the book of Revelation.
The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse
The End of Days begin with Christ opening the first of seven seals. In Revelation 6:1-2, we are told:
And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see.
2And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.
Consensus interpretation of this passage says that the opening of the first seal and the arrival of the white rider, represents the unleashing of the Beast, aka the Anti-Christ, and his agents. The Anti-Christ will rise to power over a 10 nation mega-state and will lay claim to the newly rebuilt Jewish Temple on the Mount — however neither of these yet exist. The Beast and his agents are now working 24/7 to achieve their political and cultural agenda. They are seeking to makes changes in the world, in order to gain political domination, which will enable them to achieve their goals — and fulfill the prophecies of Revelation.
The opening of the second and third seals release two more horsemen. Revelation 6:2-6 says:
3And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second beast say, Come and see.
4And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword.
5And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand.
6And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.
The second and third horsemen bring with them the start of ongoing conflict and rising food/living costs. The impact of these horsemen, I believe, grows with time. Their impact has a compounding effect, and as we progress further and further into the End of Days, the conflict and suffering they bring will grow in magnitude.
However, it is not until the opening of the fourth seal, that things start to get real. Revelation 6:7-8 says:
7And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see.
8And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.
It is as if the second and third horsemen laid the foundation for the coming of the fourth horsemen. Death and Hades are given power over a quarter of the world, and they bring death by conflict, disease, and famine to those trapped in their domain. This site argues that the conflict regions of the Middle East and Africa represent the dominion of Death and Hades (as they represent approximately one quarter of the world). The implication is that things will only get worse in those areas.
The Fifth Seal — Persecution
The opening of the Fifth Seal is described in Revelation 6:9-11:
And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held:
10And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?
11And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.
Believers will enter into another period of persecution, where they will be killed for their faith. Given the scale of the slaughter of Christians in the Middle East and Africa, regions given over to Death and Hades, this site argues that the Fifth Seal has been opened and we are now waiting for Christ to open the Sixth Seal.
The Sixth Seal — A mystery
The Sixth Seal is a bit of a mystery, as it is described in Revelation 6:12-17:
And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood;
13And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind.
14And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.
15And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains;
16And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb:
17For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?
God created the Universe and the physical laws that govern it. Though it is possible that God will decide to use His Omnipotence to bring about the events described above, I would argue that God can also use the natural workings of His creation to accomplish the job. In one TOPICS essay, we speculate that a cataclysmic eruption of a supervolcano will serve as the natural force that will cause the events surrounding the opening of the Sixth Seal.
The Seventh Seal and the Seven Trumpets
The opening of the seventh and final seal will result in seven angels blowing seven trumpets in succession . This will result in world wide suffering and death, as each trumpet will bring with it a horrible event.
This site argues that the first three trumpets share one thing in common — they will all be driven by global warming. Revelation 8:6-11 says:
And the seven angels which had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound.
7The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.
8And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea: and the third part of the sea became blood;
9And the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life, died; and the third part of the ships were destroyed.
10And the third angel sounded, and there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters;
11And the name of the star is called Wormwood: and the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter.
Global warming will continue unabated. The high heat will worsen to the point where fires will burn down a third of the world’s forests. The ocean will also warm to the point where a red tide of global proportions will turn one third of the world’s oceans blood red, killing all marine life trapped within. The world’s fresh water will also warm, and it too will suffer from massive algae growth. Blue-green algae blooms will become prevalent, poisoning the one third of the world’s drinking water. This site will discuss scientific research which supports these arguments. Please read the relevant essays in the TOPICS section for a more detailed discussion on how global warming will be linked to the events described above.
The Beast, aka the Anti-Christ
The rise of the Anti-Christ is one of the more popularized prophecies of Revelation — more than one Hollywood movie has been about him. In the Book of Revelation, he is referred to as the Beast (the first of two, who will emerge in the latter stages of the End of Days). In Revelation 13:1-2, it says:
And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.
2And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.
The prophecies relating to the Beast tell us a number of things. First, he will come to power over a mega-state, formed from the political merger of 10 nations. Second, the Jewish temple will be rebuilt on the Temple Mount when he is in power — surely he will help facilitate that effort. Once the Temple is finished, the Beast will lay claim to it. He will proclaim himself as God and will command all under his dominion to worship him.
A second Beast will rise, commonly referred to as the false prophet, and he will perform great miracles to demonstrate the divinity of the first Beast. He will proclaim that only those with the mark of the Beast will be allowed to buy and sell in the newly proclaimed god-kingdom. Revelation 13:16-18 says:
And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:
17And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
18Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.
The Rapture
There is a teaching that says God will call up all living Believers to heaven, some time during the End of Days (more specifically, the period referred to as the Tribulation) — this is the event referred to as the rapture. By doing this, God will spare His Believers from some of the horrors that will engulf the world. Among those who believe in the Rapture, there is a wide debate as to its timing. Personally, I have no conviction on this matter. There are a couple of references in Revelation that implies Believers who are still on this world during the worst of the End of Days, will be marked by God, thereby sparing them from the wrath He visit upon those who worship the Beast.
This site argues that the world has already entered into the End of Days, and that the signs of the coming prophecies of Revelation can be seen all around us. By understanding those prophecies, we can then gain the ability to recognize their signs. Hopefully, by reading the TOPICS essays and the COMMENTARY entries, you will be able to gain the understanding to know and the sight to see. That is the goal of this website.