The First Interlude: More About The 144,000 Witnesses (Revelation 7:1-17) – Part 2

Posted on May 18, 2022 by Stephen Nielsen

Here are six points to consider:

1. They are all Jews from twelve tribes.These witnesses are not Jehovah’s Witnesses, or Mormon elders, or some symbol of the church. They are Jews. And even though most Jews today don’t know which tribe they belong to, God does. They are not lost to Him. He will select twelve thousand from each of the twelve tribes that are listed in Revelation 7:5-8.

2. Israel will become the evangelistic nation she was meant to be.When Israel rejected Jesus her Messiah, she experienced a spiritual hardening. But the bible says (in Romans 11:25) that that hardening will not be permanent. When the fullness of the Gentiles comes (when the complete number of elect Gentiles are saved) and the Rapture occurs, then God will turn His focus on Israel. The 144,000 Jewish witnesses will be the first fruits of a new redeemed Israel; and…

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The First Interlude: The 144,000 Witnesses and The Great Multitude (Revelation 7:1-17) – Part 1

Posted on May 15, 2022 by Stephen Nielsen

Studying Bible Prophecy

Suddenly, as the cosmic disturbances were still stirring and as people were still hiding from the wrath of God (as I believe that all of the judgments will be continuous), God gave John another scene to look at; a scene, which we will call an interlude, to show us how God throughout the Tribulation will be working to evangelize and redeem certain ones who will choose to believe in Him.

This interlude will answer the question posed in Revelation 6:17: Who is able to stand? That is, who is able to survive the wrath of God during the Tribulation? The answer found in this seventh chapter is that two distinct groups will survive: 1) the 144,000 Jewish witnesses, and 2) their converts who will be martyred but immediately raised into heaven.

So, this, in general terms, is the purpose of this interlude: to give us this wonderful news of souls…

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The Sixth Seal — Revelation 6:12-17

Posted on May 12, 2022 by Stephen Nielsen

Studying Bible Prophecy

When the Lamb broke the sixth seal, John looked and saw (and may have experienced) a great earthquake. There have been many earthquakes recorded in the bible, and many more in this present day. But this one and also the one at the very end of the Tribulation (Rev. 16:18) will be the greatest in world history. In fact, they will be more than earthquakes. MacArthur writes, “All the earth’s faults will begin to fracture simultaneously, resulting in a cataclysmic, global earthquake.”[1]

Another author, Hal Lindsey, in his commentary of Revelation, There’s A New World Coming, says of this passage that this quake will be “the granddaddy of them all.”[2]

And he believes, because of the description here (verses 12-14), that the quake will be set off by a nuclear explosion. Lindsey comments particularly on verse fourteen:

Do you know what happens in a nuclear explosion? The…

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The Fifth Seal — Revelation 6:9-11

Posted on May 9, 2022 by Stephen Nielsen

Studying Bible Prophecy

When the Lamb broke the fifth seal John immediately got a vision of the heavenly temple; and his focus was under the altar of incense where he saw the souls of those who had been slain.

Who are the souls under the altar? These are the souls of the redeemed who were martyred very early in the Tribulation. It is possible that they were saved just after the Rapture of the church, as a result of the preaching of the 144,000 witnesses.

There is another group in Revelation 7:9-17, that is mentioned as a “great multitude” and as “ones who come out of the great Tribulation.” This is possibly a later group, which are from the last half of the Tribulation, and that is mentioned in Revelation 6:11 as “their fellow servants and their brethren who were to be killed even as they had been…” Or, it may be that…

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The Fourth Seal — Revelation 6:7-8

Posted on May 6, 2022 by Stephen Nielsen

Studying Bible Prophecy

In the breaking of the fourth seal John looked up and saw an ashen horse; and its rider’s name was Death; and one called Hades was following him.

An ashen horse. The ashen horse and its rider give us an image of death—or of dead bodies. And the one who follows him, Hades, tells us that all who die will soon stand before God and will be given a judgment of eternal hell. Thus, we may be sure that those who die under this seal are not believers; for when believers die, they will go straight to heaven to be with the Father.

What kind of death is this? First of all, we know that the rider (Death) and his follower (Hades) has the authority (or the power) granted to them from God to bring death to a fourth of the earth. Hence, death to around one billion people will…

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The Third Seal — Revelation 6:5-6

Posted on May 3, 2022 by Stephen Nielsen

Studying Bible Prophecy

In the breaking of this seal John looked and saw a black horse; and the one who sat on it had a pair of scales in his hand.

A Black Horse

Most commentators would agree that the black horse is a symbol of famine, and some would add disease. I agree, because the hunger of famine is caused by a food shortage; and that food shortage—particularly fresh fruits and vegetables—would cause sickness and disease.

A Pair of Scales

The scales here, used to weigh food items, indicates to the reader that there will be a scarcity of food that will need to be rationed. Moreover, the voice that is heard in the center of the four living creatures saying, “A quart of wheat for a denarius [a day’s wage], and three quarts of barley for a denarius; and do not damage the oil and the wine,” gives us a true…

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The Second Seal (Revelation 6:3-4)

Posted on April 22, 2022 by Stephen Nielsen

Studying Bible Prophecy

The second seal was broken by the Lamb just as the first one was, and John again heard another living creature (the second living creature) say, “Come and see.” Notice that in the first four seals all of the four living creatures (or cherubim) are involved. That is, in the second seal the second cherubim speaks; in the third seal the third cherubim speaks; then in the fourth seal the fourth cherubim speaks. So it seems that they all have their parts, one for each seal.

A red horse. The blood-red horse is a symbol of war. It is what Jesus spoke of in Matthew 24:6-7. And from the language of the text, that the rider was granted to “take peace from the earth, and that men would slay one another,” this indicates that after a short time of peace, suddenly peace was taken away through war—war all over the…

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The First Seal Judgment — Revelation 6:1-2

Posted on April 19, 2022 by Stephen Nielsen

Studying Bible Prophecy

As you can see from the text, the biblical record of the seal judgments—as well as all of the judgments—are quite short. For that reason, and since this is such an important subject, I will endeavor to look at each part thoroughly.

The Lamb Breaks the Seals

Before we get to this first seal, there are a couple of points that I want to go over. First of all, it comes to our attention that the Lamb breaks the seals. Why does the bible use the term “Lamb” and not “Jesus” or “the Lord?” Why use this name? What is the significance of the name Lamb here?

Well, I’ll give it a try. First of all, using the term “Lamb” will be a constant reminder to us, and to all, that He was and is the true Passover Lamb (Is. 53:7); He is the One whom the Jews were believing…

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Personalities in the Tribulation: Jesus Christ – Part 2

Posted on April 13, 2022 by Stephen Nielsen

Studying Bible Prophecy

Certainly, Jesus Christ must be included in the list of Tribulation personalities; for He is the underlying theme of Revelation. He is the central figure. In my study I have found seven different titles for Jesus Christ: Lamb, Son of man, Jesus, Faithful and True, Word of God, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. We will highlight these titles as we present Him to you in chronological order as He appears in the Tribulation. In an earlier blog I wrote on Jesus the Lamb. In this blog we will deal with the six other of His names.

The Son of man will be the leading reaper in the judgment (Rev. 14:14-16). In this vision of John’s, he sees a white cloud and one like a son of man sitting on the cloud. I think we can be fairly sure that the Son of man is Jesus, because He has…

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Personalities in the Tribulation: Jesus Christ

Posted on April 9, 2022 by Stephen Nielsen

Studying Bible Prophecy

The Lamb is worthy to break the seals (Rev. 5:1-14). Here in John’s vision, God held in His hand a book that was sealed up with seven seals. And the question was asked by an angel, “Who is worthy to open the book and to break its seals?” And no one was found in heaven or on earth to open the book. And John began to weep. But then one of the elders said to…

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