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.
The church of Laodicea has become prosperous, wealthy and in need of nothing. Their works (outworking of their faith in practical ways) are not totally godly, but neither could it be said they are unglodly either. They are as 2 Tim 3:5 puts it, 'Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof'. They are like lukewarm water that is too warm to drink yet too cold to wash in, and therefore are totally useless in the Kingdom of Heaven.
The Laodicean church has grown wealthy and become self sufficient - prosperous and in need of nothing and they do not realise they are in a wretched, blind, pitiable (have missed the mark but cannot see it), poor (in terms of God's riches) and naked state. They are not ashamed of their condition, being blind to it. Does that remind you of a church you know? God calls on them to get serious with themselves and repent, and refine their spirits as if with the application of fire, so that anything of little value goes and all that is life is purity.
In his letter, Jesus impores the church to see the reality of their situation - they are not at one with Him, and He is in reality only on the perimiter of their lives but invites them to open the door to Him, let Him in and begin to enjoy a life in communication with Him. But to do this they first have to overcome their old nature that still dictates the sort of person they are.
A net is cast over a wide area and produces a large catch. Fishermen then go through the catch and extract the best fish and throw the rest away.
The parable seems to be saying that these will be the last events before the end of the world, but that is a result of the translation of the original text into old English and then into modern English. What it is actually saying is that the casting of the net and hauling in the catch will take place first, and then at a later time, the good will be sorted out from the bad, at which time the bad will be discarded. There is nothing in the original text, as was written prior to its translation into modern languagres, that even remotely suggests these events will herald the end of the world. If it suggests the end of anything, it is the end of the church era and not the world, as the Church and not the world at large is the subject matter of the Book of Revelation. The way that the church's impact on modern day Western society has gone from being at the centre of community life to almost total irrelevance in the space of a century seems to support this.
The dramatic reference to wailing and gnashing of teeth is made by Jesus in a number of parables he told, and are warnings to those who believe they are in the inner court of the kingdom - there are criteria to being there, and if they don't meet those criteria, they will be shut out, even though they believe they have a right to be there. Their shock and horror at being shut out, and annoyance at themselves for not heeding the warnings such as the one to Laodicean church, is reflected in their response.
.Silence in heaven, then judgement, new heaven and earth created.
Interpretation: The reason for the silence in heaven is not stated; I suspect it the same silence experienced in a classroom when the teacher is about the read out the results of an exam the pupils have just sat. Its the time when "well done, good and faithful servant" will be heard by some, "and depart from me I new knew you" by others.
The opening of the seventh seal is preceded by the vision of the sounding of seven trumpets. As this is a time of reckoning, each trumpet blow takes us back to the opening of one of the first six seals, each declaring a message from God for the Church at that time.
The final proclamation is a call for the Lord of the Harvest to put forward his sythe and proceed with the spiritual harvest of those who call themselves followers of Jesus. It is perhaps a pause in time when those in the body of the Church will be judged (counted, examined and their exact spiritual condition determined) to see who makes it into the seventh sector and who doesn't; a time to sort out the wheat from the tares (Matt 13: 37 - 43); a time when the net is pulled in, the catch is sorted and the good fish are placed into baskets while the worthless ones are thrown away (Matt 13: 47 - 50) - see also Revelation 14:14-16; Joel 3:12, 14; Micah 4:12-13; Joel 2:31; Daniel 2:35; Jer. 25:31.
Rev. 14: 1 returns us to the the vision of the Seven Seals from the place where the vision was put on hold (Rev. 7: 4). John sees Jesus and the 144,000 who bear his name and not the name of the Beast - the wheat, the fish in the baskets - and then there follows visions of what happens next, including the revealing of the New Jerusalem. The content of these visions are covered in separate, supplementary chapters. Some of these visions throw additional light on the seven-stage journey of the church, filling in the details about things, people and places encountered by the church on its journey. The first is that of the Two Witnesses (Rev. 11), A Woman Clothed In The Sun (Rev.12), followed by two Beasts (Rev. 13).
This is a time of judgement (lightning, thunder, earthquake, hailstorm) when the roll is called, a stock-take is made and a conclusion is reached.
Interpretation: Those who were deemed in the census to be worthy to come into the inner sanctuary, directly into God's presence, are ushered in and join in the chorus with others in thanksgiving to God.
A time of the judgement, lightening, thunder, earthquake, hailstorm.
Interpretation: the seventh bowl (the consequences or outcome of the events taking place at that time) and the seventh trumpet (declarations of the key events of that era relating to the followers of Jesus) are near identical, which indicates the Revelation has reached its conclusion. That does not mean we have reached the end of the world, or even the end of the church, but that the church has reached the place the whole journey illustrated by this series of "sevens" will bring the true church to. This is not the end, but a new beginning, a doorway to the place where we can enjoy the benefits of the battles fought and victories won (The Millenium), now that the good has been sorted out from the bad, and the bad discarded.
from 1945 AD (?)
The state of the church of Laodicea and the casting of the nets of the seventh Parable of Jesus seem to point very much to the present era in which we are now living. During the 20th century the church increasingly became involved in mass evangelism, initially through Evangelists like Billy Graham and more recently, by using the media - television, radio, the internet. Their mass evangelism net is cast wide and many of those it gathers will be rejected because they do not meet the requirements. This may occur because the gospel being preached is one of 'joy and prosperity' that attracts many rather than 'take up your cross and follow me' that lacks broad appeal.
But in this parable, the casting of the nets to obtain a giant catch is only the beginning of the illustration - what follows is a sorting out of the catch which occurs at a later time - the good will be sorted out from the bad, at which time the bad will be discarded. The Seventh seals, trumpets, bowls and not only skip over the state of the church in this era, but focus totally on the outcome of the journey taken that the "Sevens" of the Book of Revelation documents. This is not the end of the church's story, but a new beginning of what the Revelation describes as a period of one thousand years, commonly referred to as the Millenium (this is dealth with in the next chapter).
So are we now at the end of the world? No. The first few verses of Chapter 1 tells us the Book of Revelation was given to the church to document what would happen to it - the world is not mentioned here so we are given no reason to believe that the Book of Revelation has anything to do with the end of the world, as is often stated. So are we now at the end of the church? In terms of its place in God's dealings with mankind, perhaps; we don't know and when that is revealed will most probably not be within our life times. God had other ways of reaching mankind before the Church era, so he might well have something diferent for those after it. Then again, The Book of Revelation is about God's dealings with his people, not with mankind at large, so perhaps to even consider what happens next for mankind at large is not something we should concern ourselves with. After all, the Revelation is about His people's journey, not that of the world.
Of greater relevance is tha the journey described in the Book of Revelation mirrors many similar "journeys" documented in the Bible which can shed light on the reason for and function of the "Sevens" through which God's people (both as individuals, and collectively as the church) all pass. In Genesis Chapter 1, the earth is described as passing through a six-stage "creation" process, which is completed on day six. The seventh day is a day of reckoning where God reflects on his workmanship, but this is not the end. Far from it. The earth is now ready to fulfil the purpose for which it was created; day 7 is followed by day 8 - a new beginning.
When the Children of Israel left Egypt, their journey began with the Angel of Death looking for the blood on the doorposts and lintels to signify who was leaving and who would be left behind. It finished with the crossing of the River Jordan into the Promised Land. But that wasn't the end; rather, it opened the door to a new beginning, the next phase - taking the land that God had promised them.
The disciples of Jesus had 3 1/2 years of teaching from Jesus, (signifying the half-way point on the journey from ungodliness (zero) to spiritual perfection (seven) as well as being one third - the number of God's chosen 'remnant') but when he left them, it wasn't the end. After a period of 40 days (40 signifies the passing of a generation and beginning of a new one) along came the day of pentecost and a new beginning - and the birth of the new Church era.
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