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UCGia Bible Insights Thursday, April 02 2020
The book of Revelation not only describes in detail the events leading up to Christ’s return, but also reveals what will happen beyond that time in heaven and on earth.
The Book of Revelation, the last book of the New Testament, could be viewed as history written in advance.
Revelation 6:2-8, for example, outlines the same conditions Jesus Christ described in the Olivet Prophecy presented here in the Book of Revelation symbolically as the four horsemen of the apocalypse. The white horse represents a powerful, conquering religious deception, the red horse warfare, the black horse famine and the pale horse represents the sickness and disease inevitably following warfare and food shortages. According to this prophecy, war, violence, starvation and disease may take hundreds of millions of lives. “. . . And power was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword, with hunger, with death, and by the beasts of the earth” (Revelation 6:8).
The book of Revelation goes on to expand on the events described in the Olivet Prophecy through a series of seven “seals.” In the time of the Apostle John, who was inspired to write this book under the inspiration of Jesus Christ (Revelation 1:1-2), official correspondence was customarily fastened with a wax seal. To read what was inside, the seal had to be broken and the scroll unrolled. This is what John saw in vision describing the breaking of the seals on seven prophetic scrolls.
The opening of the first six seals provide further information concerning the major events and trends leading up to Christ’s return and continue to expand on the conditions described in the Olivet prophecy:
The seventh and last seal is divided into seven “trumpets,” which are not described in the Olivet Prophecy and are sometimes referred to as “the seven trumpet plagues.” Chapters 8 and 9 of the Book of Revelation describe the events to occur at the first six trumpets:
After all this tragedy we are told mankind in general still refuses to turn to God. “But the rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, that they should not worship demons, and idols of gold, silver, brass, stone, and wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk. And they did not repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts” (Revelation 9:20-21).
Fortunately, as a result of God’s mercy and His desire to save humanity from their sins (I Tim 2:4) the blast of the seventh trumpet announces the triumphant return of Jesus Christ to earth. “The kingdoms of this world” come under Christ’s dominion as the Kingdom of God is at last established.
Bible Study Course - Lesson 5
Many people believe the book of Revelation is all about bad news. Although it reveals where our actions and decisions will take us, it also shows how mankind will finally experience a world of peace. Is the book of Revelation relevant today? Is it possible for us to understand it? Can we know to whom it was written and why? What are the meanings of its mysterious symbols? Once you grasp the message of Revelation, you too, will see that it contains the most remarkable message of hope ever written. Its fundamental message is plain and its conclusion certain.
© 2023 United Church of God Australia
All correspondence and questions should be sent to . Send inquiries regarding the operation of this Web site to .