In judgment and prophecy of Revelation, how is that possible? Is this clickbait or true? And why was this prophecy hidden?
Imagine a message so terrifying and filled with bloodshed that it goes beyond everything already spoken. Imagine a message so incredibly powerful that it had to be hidden from our fragile minds until the time of the tribulation, when it would finally be revealed. A hidden prophecy has yet to occur, and only one man knew this revelation.
The name of this prophecy is the Seven Thunders. Watch this video to the end and find out the worst events on this earth and in the Bible. The Old Testament contains 15 books of prophecy, but the New Testament has just one: Revelation.
John, an apostle, wrote it while he was in Ephesus. John and Mary, the mother of Jesus, moved there together. They lived out their lives in Ephesus, where they were also buried.
Revelation was penned toward the close of the first century. During that period, Emperor Domitian demanded that everyone burn incense to Caesar once a year on the Lord's Day. People had to stand before an altar, raise their hands, and declare, "Caesar is Lord.
" For early Christian groups, this was a severe challenge; their faith was evident: Jesus is Lord. They could not say "Caesar is Lord" without facing severe consequences. Now, it was crucial to see if the Christians would firmly hold on to their faith.
Even before this book was written, people were already dying for their faith, and this whole book is a guide for those willing to die for what they believe. Initially, the word "martyr" just meant "witness," but soon it became clear that being a true witness for Jesus might mean losing your life. That's why the meaning of martyr changed to someone who dies for their faith in Jesus.
John wrote the Book of Revelation, but it's written differently than John's gospel and his three letters. Here's why: The Book of Revelation was given to John in a unique way. God the Father gave it to Jesus; then Jesus gave it to an angel.
That angel then passed it on to John, who wrote it down for all the churches. No other book in the Bible came about in such a complex way. John wrote what he saw and heard, and sometimes what he saw was so extraordinary that the angel had to remind him 11 times to write it all down.
During his visions, John was taken up to heaven, where he heard various voices and choirs singing, and he had to make sure he wrote all of these things down. Revelation is an incredible book with a clear subject: the return of our Lord Jesus Christ to Earth. This event is predicted 318 times in the Bible, making it the most frequently mentioned prediction.
The Book of Revelation covers the events that occur before, during, and after the return of the Lord Jesus. It is here we see the hidden prophecy and the mysterious angel. It is here John hears this hidden prophecy.
The prophecy occurs in the middle of chapter 6 of Revelation. These chapters of Revelation focus on Satan's presence on Earth. This part of the book can be challenging to understand and apply.
Unfortunately, this is the bleak section; things will get significantly worse before they get better. However, it's important to note that the scenarios in these chapters represent the worst possible outcomes. Nevertheless, the depicted events are distressing enough.
The prophecy occurs during the judgments of the tribulation. The first of these judgments is the Seven Seals. The first seal introduces the Four Horsemen.
When the Lamb of God breaks the sixth seal, a great earthquake strikes, inflicting massive destruction and extraordinary astronomical phenomena. The sun goes black, the moon changes blood red, and the heavens recede like a scroll being rolled up. Every mountain and island was displaced from its place.
When the seven seal judgments are completed, one of the worst events in the second phase of the tribulation will begin. This is called the Seven Trumpets. Although trumpets are used in fantastic celebrations, these trumpets are not the same.
This is like a trumpet before a catastrophic war; you hear the trumpets and know that trouble is coming. Not all the trumpets come at once; each trumpet heralds the arrival of a new round of judgment on the people of the earth. No human will blow these trumpets; this responsibility will be given to another creature—angels.
Seven angels who stand in God's presence are given seven trumpets, which will be used to unleash these rounds of judgments. When the angel blows the first trumpet, a plague destroys one-third of the world's trees and consumes all grass. This judgment bears some resemblance to Egypt's seventh plague.
The second trumpet results in something like a huge mountain all ablaze being thrown into the sea. A third of the sea turns to blood, a third of the ships sink, and a third of the ocean's creatures die (verse 9). This judgment reminds us of the first plague God sent on Egypt.
The third trumpet judgment is like the second one, but it affects the world's fresh water instead of the oceans. The Bible says a great star blazing like a torch falls from the sky and makes a third of the water supply poisonous. The fourth trumpet brings changes to the sky.
The Bible says a third of the sun was struck, a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of them turned dark. A third of the day was without light, and also a third of the night. The sixth trumpet heralds the arrival of yet another demonic horde.
When the sixth trumpet blows, a voice from God's altar requests the release of the four angels who are bound at. . .
The great river Euphrates. It is in between the sixth and seventh trumpet that this hidden prophecy is revealed. And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud, and a rainbow was upon his head.
His face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire. And he had in his hand a little book open; and he set his right foot upon the sea and his left foot on the earth, and cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roars. And when he had cried, seven thunders uttered their voices.
And when the seven thunders had uttered their voices, I was about to write, and I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, "Seal up those things which the seven thunders uttered, and write them not. " And the angel which I saw stand upon the sea and upon the earth lifted up his hand to heaven. The seven thunders are not just regular thunder, but thunder-like voices sharing a message.
The Greek word for thunder means to roar. In the Bible, thunder often shows God's judgment. In this verse, John saw a glimpse of the punishment God would send to the earth.
Just as John was about to write down the words spoken by the seven thunders, a voice from heaven told him not to write them down and to keep them secret. The same throne that sends out lightning and loud thunder gave the command to hide what the voices said. We don't know why these words were sealed, but it might be because the judgment they spoke about was too frightening to share.
The Bible never tells us what the message of the seven thunders was, so we can't guess. These are the only words in Revelation that are kept a secret. The seven thunders look like they are part of the series of judgments in the Book of Revelation.
I say "look like" because their words were not written down, so we can't know for sure if they are actually judgments. Still, since they come after the seal and trumpet judgments and before the bowl judgments, it seems like the mysterious thunders could also be judgments since thunder is often thought of as the voice of God in judgment. This idea makes it seem even more likely that these mysterious hidden instructions might be judgments too.
John MacArthur wrote of the seven thunders in his book, "Because the Time Is Near. " The seven peals of thunder did not merely make a loud noise but communicated information that John was about to write in obedience to God's commands. John had already written much of what he saw in his visions.
Later in Revelation, John would once again be commanded to write what he saw in his visions. The reason John was forbidden to record the message is not revealed. It may be that the judgments were simply too terrifying to be recorded.
Any speculation as to the content of their message is pointless. If God wanted it to be known, He would not have forbidden John to write it. They are the only words in the Book of Revelation that are sealed.
Let's focus on the part of the reasoning that describes things as too terrifying. In all the apocalyptic movies I've seen related to the tribulation, they are consistently sanitized. In other words, the horrific reality of the tribulation as depicted in the Bible's Book of Revelation is visually softened.
This is akin to the difference between cellophane-wrapped hamburger meat at a grocery store and the blood, filth, and messiness of a budget butchery. Even that comparison does not truly reflect the severity of what is to come. At the beginning of these marvelous visions, John was commanded to write in a book what he saw and heard: past, present, and future.
But when the thunders spoke, John was given another command. The seven thunders must have delivered a dire message. Before us are already the signs of blood, tears, famine, heartache, and heartbreak; killing, misery, hail, fire, burning mountains, demon monstrosities, and men begging to die yet unable to do so.
What John was forbidden to write must have been beyond human imagination and understanding. There is no need to speculate on the content of the thunders; your guess is as good as mine. However, you can be certain that the message concerned God's final tremendous and indescribable judgment when God lowers the boom in total destruction.
Imagine a message that surpasses the terror and bloodshed of everything that has been previously spoken. Or, if that's not the case, envision a message so immensely powerful that it must remain sealed from our sensitive minds until the moment it is revealed during the tribulation. Prophecy is meant to inspire us to witness, yet the reality of the judgments faced by souls in rebellion against God is often neglected in the good news message.
It is profoundly troubling that this critical aspect is frequently overlooked these days, especially considering the times that are approaching and the reality many will soon experience. However, it could be very true that the seven thunders serve as a delay for all the judgments being released on the world. Revelation 10:5-7 says, "Then the angel I had seen standing on the sea and on the land raised his right hand to heaven and swore by him who lives forever and ever, who created the heavens and all that is in them, the earth and all that is in it, and the sea and all that is in it, and said: 'There will be no more delay!
But in the days when the seventh angel is about to sound his trumpet, the mystery of God will be accomplished, just as he announced to his servants the prophets. '" The mighty angel gave a solemn oath declaring that the end is irrevocably set in motion. There should be delay no longer.
This also signifies that the seven Thunders are a moment of peace between the trumpet judgments, and this Angel is no ordinary Angel. When we study the Old Testament, for instance, we find that angels are mentioned 108 times. Angels interceded in the lives of the elders, Abraham and Jacob, as the Book of Genesis shows.
In the Book of Exodus, Moses also encountered angels during the Wilderness wandering. In total, the word "angels" or "angels" appears in the books of the Law, the writings of Moses, 32 times. The angels of God are introduced to us in the Scriptures as the hosts of Heaven.
Angels are real beings; they are not mythical figures or opinions. They are spiritual personalities that have a physical impact. Just like the demonic world is hidden, the angelic world is also hidden.
Angels surround us; their dynamic impact is undeniable. Although you may not see them, there is nothing that the angels of God do not observe. We might not be able to touch them, yet angels touch people.
There is nothing that can rise against you that matches the strength they form—the most beneficial bodyguards of the redeemed. Apart from excelling in physical strength, the angels also shine in intelligence. The angels are of different ranks; our Lord even used a military term in connection with angels.
At the time when Jesus was about to be taken in the garden, Peter got a sword and tried to protect Jesus, the one he had come to love. "And He will at once put at my disposal more than 12 legions of angels. " Of course, this upsets many people who comment on the Bible and gets them wondering all kinds of things.
What did they say that John wasn't allowed to share with us? If John wasn't allowed to tell us what they said, why did he even mention it? One reason could be to remind us that there are things in God's plan that remain a mystery.
These secrets should make us careful and humble when we try to explain or predict what will happen. This illustrates the principle that while God has revealed much, there are secrets which God has not seen fit to reveal to man at this time.