Tag Archives: the Tribulation

The Lamb and the 144,000 Witnesses (Revelation 14:1-5)

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In this blog we will concentrate on the relationship between the witnesses and Jesus the Lamb during the seven-year Tribulation.

Revelation 14:1-5. Then I looked, and behold, the Lamb was standing on Mount Zion, and with Him one hundred and forty-four thousand, having His name and the name of His Father written on their foreheads. 2 And I heard a voice from heaven, like the sound of many waters and like the sound of loud thunder, and the voice which I heard was like the sound of harpists playing on their harps. 3 And they sang a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders; and no one could learn the song except the one hundred and forty-four thousand who had been purchased from the earth. 4 These are the ones who have not been defiled with women, for they have kept themselves chaste. These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes. These have been purchased from among men as first fruits to God and to the Lamb. 5 And no lie was found in their mouth; they are blameless.

Indeed, right from the start John noticed the meeting they were having on Mount Zion, which, as Ray Steadman points out was within the limits of Jerusalem.2  Ray Steadman also points out that…

Jesus Christ will be on earth during this time and will reveal Himself from time to time to these Jewish disciples, just as He appeared to His followers during those remarkable forty days after his resurrection.3  

Now the question is, what is the meeting about? Well, I think that since the earth was about to experience the great Tribulation, and be warned of it by angels (Rev. 14:6 ff), that this meeting is somewhat of a commissioning and for encouragement. I think it will be very much like when Jesus met with His twelve disciples on a mountain just before His ascension.

But it will also be like a great rally and a time of worship. And they will experience music and worship like nothing they have ever experienced.  Heaven itself will come down to them. They will hear a voice from heaven like the sound of many waters and like thunder, and the sound of harps, and singing by the redeemed in heaven. They will sing a new song. And only the 144,000 will understand what they are singing.

I have a feeling that these kinds of meetings will take place more than just this once. I think Jesus will meet with them quite regularly—as often as is needed during this incredibly evil and hard time. They will need constant encouragement if they are going to daily preach His gospel to the world. And they in fact will remain chaste and blameless. 

2 Ray Stedman, What On Earth Is Happening? (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Discovery House Publishers, 2003), p. 93.

3 Ibid., p. 93.

The Woman, the Child, and the Dragon – From Revelation 12:7-12

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Stephen Nielsen's avatarStudying Bible Prophecy

This is my second blog on the mid-tribulation events, from Revelation 12:1-15:4. Please go to my first blog to get critical introductory information. That blog covered verses one through six. We return now to the next set of verse, verse 7-12.

Verses 7-12.  And there was war in heaven, Michael and his angels waging war with the dragon. The dragon and his angels waged war, 8 and they were not strong enough, and there was no longer a place found for them in heaven. 9 And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. 10 Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying,

“Now the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His…

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The Tribulation Temple and the two Witnesses

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Stephen Nielsen's avatarStudying Bible Prophecy

Revelation 11:1-2.Then there was given me a measuring rod like a staff; and someone said, “Get up and measure the temple of God and the altar, and those who worship in it. 2 “Leave out the court which is outside the temple and do not measure it, for it has been given to the nations; and they will tread under foot the holy city for forty-two months.

After John eats the little book and is told to keep warning the people about the coming judgments, he is next given a measuring rod and is told to measure the temple, the altar and the worshippers. We are not told why he is to do this, but we could make some conjectures.

Looking at it in a spiritual way, I think we can see the measuring as how God is evaluating the spiritual conditions of the temple and its people. Tim…

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The Second Seal (Revelation 6:3-4)

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Stephen Nielsen's avatarStudying 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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Personalities in the Tribulation: The Two Witnesses

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Stephen Nielsen's avatarStudying Bible Prophecy

The two witnesses are much like the 144,000 Jewish witnesses in that they are set apart for the Lord to do His will. However, there is a difference: the 144,000 witnesses, as far as we can tell, have no special powers, except that they are protected by the seal of God. But these two witnesses are just like Moses and Elijah and have great powers from God. They are not only commissioned to preach the gospel but to warn the people of what’s to come and to bring down fire from heaven (a prophetic ministry).

Now before we get into a verse-by-verse study of Revelation 11:3-13, I think it will be beneficial to mention that there are two problems: 1) We don’t really know who these characters are. Most agree that they are Moses and Elijah come back to life; or perhaps Enoch and Elijah. 2) The second problem is…

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Update: My dreams, My Reading, My Writing, About Zelensky

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Well, I feel like Spring is officially here in Minnesota. I went for a long walk yesterday along the bank of the Mississippi river. The river is up from where it was last summer; it was almost all dried up. Hopefully, if we get more rain the river will be at its normal height again.

My Dreams

I had one of my re-occurring dreams last night. I very often have dreams where I am quite aggravated over painters that I have hired. I suppose it’s because of some unresolved things in my mind. Early in my painting business (in the 80s and early 90s) I hired a lot of painters. And some of them weren’t too experienced or reliable. So, I suppose that’s why I’m having these crazy dreams of painters doing crazy things where I end up getting very aggravated at them. I really should pray about it to resolve some of those issues—whatever they are, maybe anger issues.

My Reading

I’ve been reading books by Dinesh D’Souza, all about our country’s issues, like slavery and racism and lies our country’s leaders tell us, etc. D’Souza is very smart and I trust what he is saying, but, at the same time all of it is weighing on me. I know that God has opened the door for me to read this stuff; it’s almost like taking a class in American history and learning the truth about things—things that most history books won’t tell you. I hope and pray that I can put it to good use—maybe just blogging, which is what I have been doing.

My Writing on the Tribulation

I continue to write a book on the Tribulation. I write a little every day. I have a few sources, but I wish I had more. With future things I suppose it’s always hard to find material. My best source is the bible. But even the bible does not give me all that I want. God seems to hold back things that will happen. I’m now trying to write on the judgments: the seals, trumpets and bowls. But what the bible says is very brief. So, I am doing the best I can without extrapolating too much. Of course, I’m finding that the meaning of the seals for example will become clearer with the observation of what’s happening in the news—with wars and the economy, etc. For example, there is a lot of news now about how this Russia/Ukraine war could cause a global food shortage. And if that is occurring now, think of how it will certainly be a problem in the Tribulation.

What I have been hearing about Zelensky

Everybody seems to be really liking President Zelensky—for what he is saying and how he is encouraging his country to be strong and brave, and also how he is trying so hard to get counties to help. And have you heard of the latest song written about him, saying that he will be the superman of the world? Yes, I agree that he seems to be very antichrist-like. Yet he doesn’t appear to be boastful as we know the Antichrist will be. But maybe that will come later.

What I have been hearing lately is that he is not such a good fellow.

  • Someone from Ukraine reported that we can only believe half of what he says.
  • That he was installed with help of George Soros (a very evil and wealthy man, a thug)
  • That he is working for the World Economic Forum, which is pushing for a great Reset.
  • Since he is working toward The Great Reset (or build back better), that means that he may be trying to provoke Russia into war, and he may be intentionally trying to crash the economy and thus creating a world food crisis (which is what Biden is doing—with the aid of his advisors). Yes, it’s all in the plans: to tear everything down and start over.

Personalities in the Tribulation: The 144,000 Witnesses

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Stephen Nielsen's avatarStudying Bible Prophecy

A record of these witnesses is recorded for us in Revelation 7:3-8 and 14:1-5. Here are four important points to note about them.

1. They are Jewish and not part of the church. The 144,000 witnesses (or evangelists) are undoubtedly Jewish because they are from every tribe of Israel, twelve-thousand from each tribe (Rev. 7:4-8). Some have insisted that they are part of the church, but that is impossible since the church will be raptured.

Also, as Ron Rhodes has pointed out in his book, Israel on High Alert, “God had originally chosen the Jews to be His witnesses…to share the good news of God with all other people around the world (Isa. 43:10).” Well, as we know, and as Rhodes has pointed out, they failed at this mandate and did not even recognize Jesus as their Messiah. But in the Tribulation, they will finally fulfill this mandate as…

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Personalities in the Tribulation: The Unredeemed – Part 2

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Stephen Nielsen's avatarStudying Bible Prophecy

I don’t think that anyone can say how many unredeemed there will be on the earth during the Tribulation compared to the redeemed. As I already stated, there will be a great revival on the earth during the Tribulation and many will be saved. So, that hopefully will cut down the number of the unredeemed substantially. Also, because of so much death on the earth due to the great Tribulation, the number of the unredeemed will progressively decrease until all are gone just before the beginning of the new kingdom. In my study of this topic, I found the following seven points on the unredeemed.

4. They will continue in their sins (Rev. 9:20-21) Continued from part 1…

Drugs. From the word sorceries we get the word pharmacy, which infers drug use. I can imagine that drugs during the Tribulation will be legal and cheaper. And with all the pain…

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Personalities in the Tribulation: The Unredeemed – Part 1

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Stephen Nielsen's avatarStudying Bible Prophecy

I don’t think that anyone can say how many unredeemed there will be on the earth during the Tribulation compared to the redeemed. As I already stated, there will be a great revival on the earth during the Tribulation and many will be saved. So, that hopefully will cut down the number of the unredeemed substantially. Also, because of so much death on the earth due to the great Tribulation, the number of the unredeemed will progressively decrease until all are gone just before the beginning of the new kingdom. In my study of this topic, I found the following seven points on the unredeemed.

1. They will follow after the beast (Antichrist), and they will worship both the beast and the dragon, or Satan (Rev. 13:3-8). I think that even during the first half of the Tribulation, before it is revealed who the Antichrist really is, the world will…

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Update: Writing, Nazi Roots, Ukraine

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I feel its time for an update, but I’m not sure what to write. There are so many things coming at me, begging for my time. I continue to write my book on The Tribulation—that I think is the most important for me, that God wants me to do. All my writing of books I feel are given to me by the Lord, so I feel good about it. I couldn’t imagine writing any book that was not given to me, or led of the Lord.

I am also reading The Big Lie: Exposing the Nazi Roots of the American Left, by Dinesh D’Souza. I found it at Half Price Books. It’s a topic that I am really interested in, understanding who is lying, and exposing so much evil—finding the roots of evil in the world. It almost seems that some people see glamor and glory in evil works and genocide, etc.—the Hitlers, the Mussolinis, the Lenins, and so many more. Now we are seeing the evil craziness of Putin.; Satan is definitely behind it and in it.

I won’t go into it, but I’m fighting my own demons; depression, temptations, regrets, etc. But   each day is new; with His mercies that more than match each trial and trouble. His mercies are new every morning!

It’s such a sad reality, what is happening in Ukraine. It’s president and so many of its people are so bold and fearless, and I pray for them. And the Russian people are now seeing what kind of a leader they have. Eyes are being opened to truth. I pray for all people everywhere that the Holy Spirit has touched, that those convicted would let Him in. He stands and knocks at their heart’s door. Won’t they let Him in?