revelations in Revelation: Christ the Sovereign
God forewarns the World with ‘Trumpet Blasts’ that history is reaching it’s climax. But if His own people avoid reading the book of ‘Revelation,’who will tell the World?
The Bible is a prophetic book. Nearly one in three verses looks forward to events which were still future at the time of writing. Predictive prophecy is the seal on the Bible’s inspiration. It lifts Scripture from being the words of man to the assurance that we are studying the word of God. Biblical prophecy is not solely the outcome of the Lord’s greater intelligence that enables Him to make more accurate predictions of future events than us. Nor is it the result of His foreknowledge that enables Him to reveal the future. The Lord states in Isaiah, “New things I declare; before they spring forth I tell you of them.” Isaiah 42: 9. Our God speaks the future into existence. He both determines and declares what will happen.
Our God is Sovereign and yet at times He can seem far distant. It is as if He has turned His back on the world. In our studies of twelve revelations of Jesus Christ from the book of Revelation we come to a section where we might well ask, where is Christ in all of this? The last study looked at the scroll and its seals. As the seals are opened a conflict is revealed: it is the struggle between two kingdoms. The kingdom of this world, intent on conquest, and the kingdom of heaven– intent on Salvation. The kingdom of the world brings war, famine and death. The martyrs, who represent the kingdom of God, are told to be patient during this time.
The Trumpets
This revelation of Jesus Christ looks at a large section of Revelation from chapter 8 verse 2 through to chapter 11 verse 18. The vision moves on from the conflict on earth into the spiritual realm. Looking ahead to chapter 12 we read that there is conflict in heaven. Satan is defeated and thrown down to earth. I believe that in this section the sounding of trumpets declares preceding victories in heaven. As a result demonic forces are cast down to the earth to wreak their havoc here.
With the first four trumpets it is the environment which suffers. First trees and grasslands are destroyed. Then the seas are polluted so that the fish die and ships are sunk. Water sources become undrinkable and sunlight is reduced.
Over thirty years ago when my father started Trumpet Sounds it was in the belief that these trumpets were already sounding. The twentieth century saw destruction of trees and grass lands on a vast scale. The seas became polluted harming the fish and in two world wars a vast tonnage of shipping was lost. Water sources have become contaminated and even the amount of daylight reaching the surface of the earth reduced. In some places over thirty percent daylight reduction has been recorded.
The woes and the Mighty Angel
The final trumpets announce three woes. Demons are released to torment men causing them to seek death. In the second wave of demonic attack evil angels are released to stir men up to war. John who receives this vision is staggered by the numbers involved. He emphasises that he heard the number which is two hundred million. This was in a day when the population of the entire Roman Empire was about seventy million. The result of this war is the death of one third of mankind. God allows this to happen to cause people to repent, but they refuse [Revelation 9: 21]
Chapter 10 introduces us to a mighty angel. Who is he? Is this a picture of Christ or another holy angel sent to bring further revelation to John? Personally I don’t think that he is either of these. Although this angel is magnificent in appearance he is not Christ. Following his incarnation Jesus is never referred to as an angel. In the introduction to the book, John recognises one like the Son of Man. The fact that John does not recognise this angel as the Son of Man excludes this being a vision of Jesus.
An alternative is that this is Michael the Archangel; his name means ‘who is like God’. Therefore to have a likeness to God is not unexpected. In Daniel 12: 1, Michael stands up to defend Israel in her time of trouble. In Revelation Michael is the one who leads the fight against Satan.
The great deception
However I don’t believe that this angel is Michael. The flow of the prophecy points to another angel. This one is the great deceiver intent on making the world believe that Jesus Christ has returned. In chapter 9 the angel of the bottomless pit is released. By chapter 11 the beast is active in the world. The beast, which ascends out of the bottomless pit, makes war against the two witnesses and kills them. Between these two events the beast has arrived on earth.
Chapter 10 describes the coming of the beast. It is Satan’s great deception. “The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they may be saved.” 2 Thessalonians 2: 9, 10.How powerful is Satan? I don’t know. But I believe that He will be able to put on ‘a pretty compelling show’. In the revealing of the man of sin every aspect of the return of Christ will, as far as Satan is able, be counterfeited. There will be signs and lying wonders designed to shake the faith of Christians. Remember the primary purpose of this deception is to fool Christians.The rest of the world has been deceived already.
If this interpretation is correct, it emphasizes the enormity of the deception that Satan plans to perpetrate on this world by displaying his proxy as Christ. The angel’s arrival follows the catastrophic war. He comes as the peace maker the world longs for and claims to be the one who can solve all the problems of the world.
Although this is a series about revelations of Jesus Christ in the book of Revelation, we need to pause and ponder this. This imitation Christ will bring great confusion to many Christians. Especially to those who have a sketchy knowledge of prophecy. According to their limited understanding, prophecy will appear to be fulfilled by this man of sin. Yet, for those who know their Bibles, there will be things which do not ring true. One great distinction between the coming of Christ and the appearing of the Antichristis that the Antichrist will be welcomed by the World while the coming of Jesus will fill people with terror.
Does this angel speak the truth?
The angel declares that when the seventh angel is about to sound, the mystery of God will be finished. Is that true? It is the seventh trumpet which announces the establishment of the kingdom of God [Revelation 11: 15]. Satan seeks to pre-empt this by declaring that the kingdom has come. Having been cast out of heaven, Satan knows that he has only a short time left [Revelation 12: 12]. This vision describes Satan’s strategy for blocking the completion of God’s work. With only a little time left, he offers the world his own Christ – an anti-Christ (‘anti’ meaning ‘instead of’rather than ‘against’) In his blasphemy he will pretend that it is all in accordance with prophecy. The ignorant will be taken in.
In this interpretation it is the voice from heaven, not the angelthat tells John to take the scroll. John having tasted the scroll understands the bitter outcome of Satan’s rule. He is commanded to warn the
world of the consequence of accepting Satan’s reign.The prophecies which follow contain that warning.
Where is Jesus?
In the midst of all this conflict and deception we may ask, where is Christ in this?In Revelation 9: 1 the fallen star is Satan. The verse goes on,“To him was given the key to the bottomless pit.” Who holds the key to the pit? According to Revelation 1:18 Jesus has those keys. Jesus is sovereign. The demonic powers held in the pit can only be released when Jesus decides that the time has come.
I prefer an alternative translation of 2 Thessalonians 2: 6, 7 which reads as follows; “And now you know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his own time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work, only He who now restrains will do so until out of the midst he comes.”Instead of the restrainerbeing taken out of the way it speaks of one who is restraining until the time comes for the man of sin to be revealed. It is Jesus Christ who restrains. In all the turbulence of these time Jesus is revealed as being in control. Satan, even in his bid to rule the world, is restrained by Christ.
This article focuses upon the Trumpet blasts which God sends to forewarn the World (and His people) that history is reaching its climax. God’s Moedim set out in Leviticus 23 are considered by many to provide a complete prophetic insight into the life, mission, ministry and ultimate achievement of the Lord Jesus. On God’s prophetic time-table, the next Moed (or meeting point) with God is the festival of Trumpets, which concludes the Church Age. The three Spring feasts have passed (History). Today the world is living through the Latter First Fruits period, which is God’s eternal harvesting period (Present). This period ends with a series of increasingly loud and urgent trumpet blasts. The three Autumn feasts, in terms of eschatology, still lie ahead (Future).