In the second chapter of the Book of Acts we find that the New Testament Church has come into being with the visitation of God Himself in the form of His Holy Spirit.  This has caused a city-wide stir within Jerusalem which has brought thousands of people to where the disciples had gathered to observe Pentecost.  Upon hearing and seeing the Greek-speaking disciples speaking openly about the wonderful works of God in dozens of other languages, the confused people wanted to know what was happening.  Peter explained, saying “This (phenomenon) is that which was spoken (prophesied) by the Prophet Joel: ‘… in the last days ….'”  Peter then gave a short summary of the future of the earth and its people from that day until the return of Jesus Christ (16-21).

This series will explore what is recorded as prophecy concerning the final era of man’s control of the world.  We will do so by opening the seven seals of Revelation and “seeing” what the Apostle John described in chapters 6,8,9 and 11.  We will study what the seven seals had kept secret for thousands of years.  Since the time John recorded what he saw concerning the last 3 1/2 years of this world, religious men have attempted to explain its symbolism by applying his intellect to the task.  Man has always failed for two reasons: 1) he did not have revelation from God concerning the symbols, and 2) it was not the God-determined time for mankind to understand them.  The word “Revelation” is the English rendering of the word “apocalypse,” meaning to reveal something that was previously hidden.  The revelation of the meanings of the symbols found in the Bible’s final book were made known to a man named Herbert W. Armstrong in the early 1930’s.  Over the years he traveled the world sharing what God had revealed to Him.  Through television and radio he preached Bible Truths to all who would listen.  He preached Truths that had not been heard since the time of the original apostles.  The Almighty had declared that it was time for the Truth about the Book of Revelation to be known.

Today a minutely few men are being used by God to share His Truth/Word (Jn. 17:17) via radio, television and the world wide web.  Their message concerning the time element for the end of the age is urgent because all of the signs God gave mankind pointing to Christ’s return have been manifested, except one, which could come to pass very quickly.  Having this information tells Truth seekers that they are living in the very last of the last days of this world.  We are, as someone said, the “terminal generation.”  It is important that those who truly seek God know what the seven seals of Revelation mean and how they affect our lives in these end times.  Let us begin to learn God’s Truth about this important subject.

In 2 Peter 1:12 the apostle, writing to God’s people, said that he would exercise all diligence in reminding them to be ESTABLISHED IN THE PRESENT TRUTH.  The PRESENT TRUTH he was referring to involved the coming Kingdom of God that Christ will establish on earth following His return and how they must conduct their lives in order to enter it (vss 10,11).  The Word “established” meant that they must have that Truth firmly rooted in their hearts (minds) and be always walking in obedience to it.  Peter used the expression PRESENT TRUTH relative to God’s Word to stress the saints’ need to have ever more of God’s Truth so that they can mature in Him.  The maturing saint would be given more Truth as he believed and obeyed the truth he had received from the Lord.  Once that Truth was established (believed and obeyed), the Lord would reveal deeper Truths to him to the end that the saint would, “come to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ” (Eph. 4:13).  Only those who do so will enter God’s earthly kingdom and live there eternally.  Peter was reminding the church that “Unto whom much is given, much is required” (Lk. 12:48).  Man must grow in faith (belief) in God’s Truth and in obedience to it.  Only those who do will be given more Truth.  Those who refuse to believe and obey the Truth they have received will lose the Truth he has been given (Mk. 4:24,25).  These are the “works” kingdom seekers must perform.  The Apostle James proclaims that faith without such works is dead faith (2:14,17,18,20,24,26).

Truth such as that written above is received only by revelation from the Lord.  Revelation is received either by personal study of the Word or by being taught it by someone who had received it from on high.  God then calls the recipient to believe what he has been told.  But we must always beware of false revelation.  An old saying notes warns: “All that glitters is not gold.”  Not everything spoken in a spiritual sense, not everything declared to be “a word from the Lord” is of Him.  Satan is also a spirit and can do miraculous things.  Each of the cults (churches) that make up professing Christendom is the result of someone receiving “revelation from the Lord” that “revealed” a better way than His stated way.

Because of these “voices” from on high,  we must prove that the revelation, truth, etc. someone is putting forth is of God and not from “the prince of the power of the air … who works in the children of disobedience”(Eph. 2:2).  Satan is the master of deception.  He can make a death-producing lie sound like a life-giving truth.  His deception of Adam and Eve is a perfect example of his persuasive powers.  Not surprisingly, his lie concerning a matter is always more self-pleasing than the Lord’s Truth about the matter.  For this reason the Apostle Paul warned the church to “Prove all things” relative to what they were told (1 Thes. 5:21).  After doing so the saint must embrace the Truth and reject everything else.  With rare exception, what one hears in church will not pass the proof test.  The headline/sound byte might be true, but the fine print is always ignored, causing the believer to misapply the headline.  To prove the rightness of a statement one must consult the standard which defines rightness.  In sports, it’s the rule book.  In cooking it’s the recipe.  In industry it’s the owners manual.  In the church it’s man’s experience.  Among God’s saints it’s His Holy Bible.

The Prophet Isaiah tells us how to use God’s manual to prove what is and is not of Him.  In 28:9-13 the prophet lays out the exact method to be used in verifying spiritual information.  He asks: “Whom can He (God) teach knowledge? and whom can He make to understand doctrine?”  He goes on to say that God can teach only the one who studies His Word “precept upon (added to) precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little.”  He then repeats the rule for emphasis.  With that in mind let us begin our study of the seven seals of the book John, in vision, saw God give to the Lamb.

By studying the Old Testament we know that the book had been written by the Prophet Daniel thousands of years earlier.  It was a book about the future of God’s people, specifically those living at “the time of the end.”  When God had finished laying out for him the future of mankind and had told him to write it in a book.  He then told Daniel to “seal up the book.”  When Daniel told Him that he did not understand what he had written, God said that it was not for him or anyone else to understand “for many days.”  He explained that at the end of the age He (God) would reveal to His true ministers the meanings of the symbols found in the book.  It is Daniel’s sealed book that John saw in vision being opened by the Lamb.  The opening of each seal revealed a portion of the future in symbolic form.  With the opening of the first seal we are shown what began immediately after the founding of the New Testament Church in 31 A.D.  In the following posting we will see what had been hidden beneath that first seal.  The “time of the end” has arrived.  L.J.