This is a condensed summary of a very detailed study of the letters, trumpets, bowls and seals of The Book of Revelation which goes verse by verse through the relevant sections of the Book. The Interpretations in the study and the summary below are based on the replacement of the numbers and Biblical symbols in the Biblical text with their interpreted meanings.
The seven seals appear to summarise the Church age from the viewpoint of a series of enfolding events. The opening of the seals reveals the state of God's people at their various stages, what is in store for them (declared by The Trumpets) and what the outcome will be (the Bowls) during that period in time. The opening of each seal details the successive external forces that would be at work, both collectively on the church as a whole, and individually, in the life of the followers of Jesus. They are called seals, because the events spoken of were sealed or hidden away, having been determined by the foreknowledge of God, but their contents hidden and unknown until they came to pass, or are revealed in prophecy, as is the case here.
The Trumpets are the declarations of the key events of that era relating to the followers of Jesus, both collectively and individually. They delineate the conditions which would characterize the successive stages in their progress.
The bowls represent what is "poured out" on the people of that era, and are therefore the consequences or outcome of the events taking place at that time.
God has opened the door wide for them and no one can shut it. Though they have little power, God will keep them safe and they will be victorious and become a pillar in God's sanctuary.
The break of the strangehold of the Romnan Catholic Church on christianity, culminating in the removal of the Pope as the spiritual ruler of Europe in 1798, was heralded by the birth of the Protestant revival of the 18th and 19th centuries. The door to fulfilling Jesus' commision to his followers - "Go into all the world and preach the Gospel" - had been pushed wide open. Local Protestant congregations flourished, many with little or no financial backing. Their focus became the bringing of people throughout the world into the kingdom of God through missionary networks. The treasure they went searching for, spoken of by Jesus in the parable of the Pearl of Great Value (see below), were the lost souls of humanity. Many paid the ultimate price, giving up their lives by becoming missionaries to obtain that treasure. It is significant that the gates of the New Jerusalem and the treasure sought by the merchant in the parable are both pearls.
The Sixth Parable of the Kingdom of Heaven: The Pearl Of Great ValueA merchant seeking fine pearls finds a highly valued pearl. He obtains it by selling all that he owns in order to raise the buying price.
At first, this the sixth parable appears to be little more than re-hash of the fifth parable, in which a man finds a treasure hidden in a field, and goes out and buys the field in order to obtain the treasure for his own. But here, the circumstance are quite different. The find is not accidental but deliberate. This man is a merchant who knows what he is looking for and when he finds it, obtains it by selling all that he owns in order to raise the buying price.
That this parable appears to be set in the great missionary era of the 19th century adds weight to the theory that the merchant represents the missionary, and the sixth age as the missionary age. The merchant is the christian who is industrious in doing "God's work" - the product they promote and distribute is the gospel of Jesus. In that era, the Protestant churches developed a real passion to win the lost souls of the world for Jesus. Many missionaries paid the ultimate price - death or a lifetime of service in a foreign land in oder to obtain the spiritual treasures waiting to be unearthed in the mission fields of the world. The price they paid was high - walking away from family, friends, employment, security, a home, to give up years of their life in the service to others.
There is a great earthquake, signs and wonders in the earth and sky, and the conviction of sin through preaching of the word
At this juncture, it is appropriate to be again reminded that the Book of Revelation is written in type or symbolism, therefore we must not jump to the conclusion that there will necessarily be a physical earthquake or that the sun, moon and stars will begin behaving eratically either. The expectation of a string of physical calamities prior to Christ's return is unrealistic. Remember, Jesus said it would be as it was in the days of Noah - people eating, drinking, getting married, and they won't know what has hit them until after it has happened.
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Interpretation: In Acts 2:20, Peter quotes Joel 2:28-32 with reference to what was happening at Pentecost - the sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood - which is repeated here. Verses 13-14 deal with disturbances in the heavens - perhaps this is "another Pentecost", a fair assumption that during the period of the sixth seal seems to cover, the church experienced a rebirth - the 20th century charismatic movement. "The sun turned black like sackcloth made of goat hair, the whole moon turned blood red" appears to be a reference to the purging of the church that took place in the 19th century via the Holiness Movement. "The late figs drop from a fig tree" is perhaps a reference to the 19th century wave of revival as the 'fig tree is shaken' to allow the fruit of the Kingdom (the teachings of Jesus) to fall beyond the tree (the home church) and reach the world at large.
Third of mankind killed by fire, smoke and sulphur.
Interpretation: This great army of mounted troups at first appears to be on a gigantic raid of death and destruction, but verse 21 makes it clear that the object of these raids was to bring repentance for the work of their hands - worshipping demons, and idols, murders, magic arts, sexual immorality and theft. The third of mankind (God's people) being killed is symbolic speak for the Church's repentance, and subsequent death of the old prior to new birth, which brought about the great revivals (Weslyan etc) of the missionary era.
Though the riders bring a message of fire, smoke and sulphur (repentance, or face God's judgement), which was the message of the Reformation era and the Protestant movement that would follow a century or more later, the horses upon which they ride (the church denominations?) have tails like snakes, indicating that some of the false doctrines (stings in the tail) of earlier times have remained and infiltrated the new churches. There is also a refrence to a messenger with a little book (religious document) containing a message that is sweet to taste by when taken into the body, it brings indigestion. This could be a reference to the many cults that emerged during the missionary era that claim to bring inspired truth from God in their new books (The Book of Mormon?) but in fact are a perversion of the truth that brings spiritual indigestion to those who taste it.
Summary: It is interesting that this spiritual onslaught is described as a plague, no doubt because God often has to bring people to repentance with the use of plagues. The Church is also seen by many as a pest that needs eradicating, and its message of repentance and coming destruction is unpalatable to an unrepentant mankind. In the comparison with the plagues of Egypt, we are now up to the last plague, the plague of death on the firstborn whose household is not marked with blood on the door posts and lintels. The message is similar - have the covering of the Lamb or perish.
Three evil spirits (frogs) gather kings of the earth for battle on the great day of God Almighty.
Interpretation: The spiritual interpretation of this 'bowl' is the drying up of the waters of false teaching that flowed from Babylon (symbolised as the origin of false doctrine and personified in the Mithaian based teachings of the Roman Catholic Church), so that God's people could be liberated by the message preached during the Protestant Revival, opening the door to the missionary eras which brought the Gospel to the whole world - the East and West. Note the similarity between the sixth bowl and the sixth trumpet 9:14 in which the four angels (four corners of the earth) bound at the great river Euphrates are released and their troops (God's messengers) deliver the followers of Jesus from the control of the Beast.
Summary: The Sixth Bowl contains the first of three references in the Book of Revelation to the false prophet (inaccurate prophecies) and his coming together with Satan (deception, Satan meaming 'deceiver) and the Beast (religious administrative authority), symbolised as three evil spirits that look like frogs, which precipitates a major battle. Be reminded we are still talking in symbols here, so it is a spiritual battle and not physical, and the reference to Amageddon is symbolic of what the locality represents in scripture, which is a place of challenge and decision. It is where Elijah challenged God's people people: "Choose this day who you will serve". It seems an appropriate place for the same call to go out again, but to a different generation. The choice for the church and its people is to remain in prisoners of the Beast, or to reject its control over their lives and become true followers of Jesus.
1798 - 1945 AD
During this time the Christian community had settled into two factions, the Catholics (Roman and Authodox) and the Protestants. These would be the two Governments (Beasts) that emerged after the first beast was indured (1798) but not destroyed.
The establishment of the Protestant Movement and the various revivals of the 18th and 19th centuries flowing from it. These include the Methodist movement (the Wesleys), the Baptists, the Salvationists, the Quakers, the Puritans (who established a God-centred society in the New World, which they saw as the New Jerusalem, their colony being the birthplace of the USA), followed by the era of the Christian missionary, and then the Pentecostal revival of the early 20th century. The main focus of Protestant teaching was "holiness" (refining by fire); a third of mankind (those who serve The Lord) felt called to go through this death to self/refining-by-fire process.
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