The Majesty of the LORD in the Tribulation
God’s Judgment of the Church through Babylon
My reader, are you able to harmonize the scriptures and behold the wondrous message of the Book of Revelation? Profoundly glorious lessons are herein crystalized for the Tribulation Saints of the future! Have your ears been unstopped to hear the loud announcement of the Majesty of the LORD in every detail of the natural during the Tribulation Period of the future? Perhaps not. There’s no shortcut to understanding the Mystery of Mysteries: the Book of Revelation! It has confounded wise men of all ages. I, myself, before understanding the transition from the Wilderness to the Civilization and, more specifically, the similarities and differences between the Wilderness Experience #1 and the Wilderness Experienced #2, how that there is an equally miraculous display of glory in each but through contrastingly different means, I was incapable of interpreting the prophetic and metaphorical symbolism depicted in the Book of Revelation. Especially, I speak of the prophetic metaphors utilized in the first 6 Trumpets.
My unlearned disposition caused me to hope for a miraculous display of “wonders in heaven above” and “signs in earth beneath” as I thought they would be (Acts 2:19), something that could not be mistaken as ordinary, natural, common, or general experiences among mankind. Howbeit, having been thoroughly corrected by the Majesty of the LORD in the Tribulation Period of the Assyrian and Babylonian Captivities and the Doctrine of the Wilderness expounded therein, I have come to see the equaled glory and harmonious miraculousness displayed in that the Heavens do Rule the natural! I have come to see the otherworldly origins of that which is naturally and ordinarily earthly; and all of this, to the glory of the righteous who are made to “sing for the Majesty of the LORD” amidst the Tribulatory Judgments of God-through-angel exactitude (Isa. 24:14-16)! Tarry with me for a while, my reader; behold this wondrous sight!
On this vein I wish to continue a discussion about the Wonders & Signs of the Last Days, but for fear of losing my reader I am compelled to pause for a moment of reflection. If you aren’t following my terminology used heretofore nor the logic of the statements being made, I entreat you to go back and study the 1st Tribulation Period (Wilderness Experience #2) suffered by the Jews in the Babylonian Captivity as it is expounded by the prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel. An exhaustive study of the primary doctrines forged in this exemplary Tribulation Period can be found in the commentary on Ezekiel 20:1-21:32. This is a vitally relevant portion of Holy Scripture that correlates with the Trumpets of Revelation 8-9. A list of essential subjects addressed in this portion of the Commentary are, as follows:
The Dire Necessity of Judgment in a Tribulation Period
The Church: it’s God & it’s Law
The Original & Definitive Wilderness Experience of the Exodus Generation
The Wilderness Experience of the Tribulation Period
The Doctrine of the Wilderness According to Hosea
A Near Annihilation & the Purging of all Rebels & Transgressors
The Spawning of Damnable Heresies to Overthrow the Faith of Tribulation Saints
Ordinary, Natural, Common, & General?
The Doctrine of the Majesty of the LORD
The Gospel Message: The Majesty of the LORD in every detail of the Tribulation
Majestic, Miraculous, Celestial, & Meticulous!
Truly, one would be hard-pressed to interpret the Book of Revelation in how it utilizes the Doctrine of Babylon without having given due audience to the voice of the former prophets whose prophesying amounts to 100 Chapters of Holy Scripture during the ministries of Jeremiah and Ezekiel! Likewise, one would be hard-pressed to interpret the Book of Revelation – the foretelling of the final & ultimate Tribulation Period – without knowing the Gospel Message of all Tribulation Periods which is, namely, the Majesty of the LORD in every detail of the Tribulation. One must comprehend God’s Majesty, I say, in the otherwise ordinary, natural, common, and general experiences of life. One must comprehend how, shockingly, these things become majestic, miraculous, celestial, and meticulous when God utilizes Babylon to judge the Church which, in the Gentile Church Age, is worldwide! On this vein, consider the following signs of the times which pertain to the Last Generation – the one foreseen in Revelation 7, the same one which will experience the alarming woefulness of the Trumpets in Revelation 8-9; and, in considering the following, look at the Book of Revelation as a divine tribute to the Majesty of the LORD!
Wonders & Signs in the Last Days
Blood, Fire, Vapor of Smoke, the Sun to Darkness, & the Moon to Blood
“And I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke: The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable Day of the Lord come: And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” – Acts 2:19-21
“And the fourth angel sounded, and the third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars; so as the third part of them was darkened, and the day shone not for a third part of it, and the night likewise.” – Rev. 8:12
Notice the description used by the Prophet Joel in Joel 2:30, saying, “pillars of smoke”. This gives further detail into the event being spoken of in comparison to Peter’s rendering of the happening, calling it, “vapour of smoke” (Acts 2:19). Literally speaking, and to the astonishment of the entire world of heathen men, nuclear explosions result in a pillar of smoke stretching from earth-to-heaven! Can you recall the magnitude of such a pillar of smoke, my reader? How you wondered at it when you first beheld it on video or photograph?
Before understanding the essential subjects of the Doctrine of Babylon forged in Jeremiah & Ezekiel (as listed above), I would have been unable to believe that the “fire” and “pillars of smoke” of Joel’s prophecy are in reference to the use of nuclear bombs (Joel 2:30) and that the “blood” is a result of widespread death (Acts. 2:19). Furthermore, I would have been in disbelief that when “the sun shall be turned into darkness” so that it does not show for “a third part” of the day, or when the moon and stars will be “darkened” by “the third part” (Rev. 8:12), that any of this was directly referencing the natural consequences of nuclear fallout and pollution, as one might call it. I disdained the thought of interpreting the “wonders in heaven” to be something ordinarily natural, as one might erroneously think (Acts 2:19). For example, when the moon will be turned into blood the citizens of earth will be inclined to believe that this resulted as an ordinary and natural consequence of the immense pollution caused by nuclear bombs, world war, the meltdown of nuclear reactors, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, and all associated wildfires. Notably, air pollution changes the color of light passing through the atmosphere. In my former persuasion, and no doubt that of the abjects of the Tribulation to come, I would have refused the idea that the falling star, Wormwood, could possibly be a manmade weapon of mass destruction that will poison “a third part” of the rivers and fountain of waters on earth (Rev. 8:10). Little did I know, however, that this perception is in line with the apostates and heretics of old in the Tribulation Periods of pastime, that they secularized what God was utilizing from the natural to their own destruction! …and dare we do the same?
I know, when thinking of widespread death (“blood”), nuclear explosions (“fire”), and the unimaginable pollution of nuclear fallout (“vapour of smoke”), the first thought wouldn’t be that this is the “blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke” that God promised to show unto the world (Acts 2:19). These events wouldn’t appear to be God’s wonders and God’s signs in heaven above and earth beneath, but man’s. Do you agree? It all appears to be a reasonable consequence of sinful man destroying themselves by war to the catastrophic upheaval of earthly life, doesn’t it? Therefore, it doesn’t appear that this is that which was spoken, when God said: “I will shew wonders…and signs” (Acts. 2:19). According to the Majesty of the LORD in the Tribulation, however, it is divinely wondrous that God is in complete control over the natural! On this wise, very specifically, these events are a miraculous signal of what God is showing to the world to the end that they might know they are in the Last Days. Albeit, to truly behold this one must be immersed in the point and purpose of tribulation prophecies and heavenly revelations of God’s unseen government of the natural through angels, and how that thereby Heaven rules Earth.
This interpretation does not make void a superior and ultimately literal fulfillment of Joel 2:30 as foretold in Joel 3:15-16, which is fulfilled in the Vials (see the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, & 7th Vials). Simply put, the Trumpets are an inferior manifestation of divine judgment comparatively to the Vials. Nevertheless, the Trumpets do announce the Day of the LORD through Babylon (an inferior Day of the Lord) according to the nominal pattern of the prophesied word in multi-sensed inferior – to – superior fulfillments, only this time they’re back to back in a climactic finale!
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My reader, with this doctrine in clear view one can realize the implicit significance to many aspects of the heavenly vision given to John recorded in Revelation 1-6. Earthlings should wonder at how John, the Revelator, unveils the Majesty of the LORD in Heaven in reference to the happenings of the lower world! Unprecedented details for an unprecedented Tribulation have been provided in this revelation to assure all saints and convince all sinners that the Heavens do Rule. Even so, what appears to be chaotic and uncontrolled from an earthly perspective is the contrary from a heavenly perspective.
“And out of the Throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices: and there were seven lamps of fire burning before the Throne, which are the seven Spirits of God.” – Rev. 4:5
“And the Temple of God was opened in Heaven, and there was seen in His Temple the ark of His testament: and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail.” – Rev. 11:19
Evidently, an unmoved God is Majestically in command of everything that moves in heaven and earth. An unshaken God is the fortitude of the unshakable Kingdom amidst the thunderous voice of God’s command! Shockingly, though, the divine commandments are in a book (Rev. 5:1)! The ancient record of God’s commandments have been written in a book because God was waiting for a Man worthy to be enthroned as the overseer and enforcer of the Mystery of Redemption in the unfulfilled blessings and woes of all pastime covenants and prophecies, and so break the seals. “Who is worthy to open the Book, and to loose the seals thereof? …behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the Book, and to loose the seven seals thereof” (Rev. 5:2, 5)! HALLELUJAH! At this, knowing full well the implications that follow, the innumerable company of angels do worship the Lamb!
“And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the Throne and the beasts and the elders: and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands; Saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing.” – Rev. 5:11-12
What a Majestic Scene! In clear view, we see the Man: “the Lord of Sabaoth” (Jas. 5:4)! …a humble Man. This is He who was called, Jesus of Nazareth; the Man who refused His rightful command of angel legions so that the scriptures might be fulfilled through His death upon a Tree (Matt. 26:52-54). “But how then shall the scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be?”, He attested. Yet, how different is the position of this most glorious Person in Heaven when the apostle John looked on with amazement to see,
“…lo, in the midst of the Throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth. And He came and took the Book out of the right hand of Him that sat upon the Throne.” – Rev. 5:6-7
Demonstrably, Jesus of Nazareth assumes His rightful command of angel armies with the same integrity as before – for the book! Ah, it is for the book! Jesus does presently reign so that the scriptures might be fulfilled! Forthright, therefore, we see the 7 Seals being opened one by one in the organized unfolding of redemption and wrath for the foretold and long-awaited End of the World. Hence, upon the opening of the book and, thus, the unfolding of divine judgment pertaining to the End of the World, we read of newly realized applications of ancient doctrines which were forged in former Tribulation Periods.
Beginning with Revelation 7-9, in a cursory overview, we read of the sudden halting of divine judgment in the constraining of Four Angels at the Four Corners with the Four Winds (Rev. 7:1-3), the gracious Sealing or Marking of the Saints in preparation for the Tribulatory Judgments which are at hand (Rev. 7:4-17, 9:4), the Casting of Hot Coals from Heaven-to-Earth indicating the divinely governed angelic operation that is ready to commence (Rev. 8:2-6), and in relationship to the judgments being executed we read of the Hurting or Non-Hurting of the Green and the Dry Trees and Grass of the Earth (Rev. 8:7, 9:4).
Four Angels at the Four Corners with the Four Winds
My reader, how shall we understand the practical meaning and natural implication of the heavenly situation, except there be pastime tutorials which interpret the present and future events of the Book of Revelation? In other words, how shall we comprehend the significance of these four angels or the power of their “hurt” that they will inflict, except it be harmonious with the destroying angels of pastime Tribulation Periods (Ezek. 9:1-11)? Or, how shall we interpret the standpoint of the four angels at “the four corners of the earth” or the “four winds of the earth” that they hold in their grasp (Rev. 7:1), except the doctrine of the Four Winds has already been forged in Biblical Church History (Four Winds: Jer. 49:36, Dan. 7:1-3, Ezek. 37:9, Jer. 49:36; East Wind: Jer. 18:17, Isa. 27:8, Ezek. 17:10, 19:12, 27:16; Scattering into the Winds: Ezek. 5:10, ,12, 12:14-15, 17:21; Four Corners of the Earth: Isa. 11:12, Jer. 49:36; Destroying Wind: Jer. 51:1)?
The Sealing / Marking of the Saints & the Casting of Hot Coals
In the same manner, how shall we understand the practical meaning and natural implication of the heavenly situation depicted in that Hot Coals are cast form Heaven to Earth, the Trumpets begin to sound, and the Trees, Grass, and Green Things of the Earth are suffering according to the Sealing / Marking of angels? My reader, the halting of the angels at the four winds was for precautionary preparations, I say, because there is a stalling of the final seal-breaking because there needs to be a searching before there is a slaughtering as depicted in Ezekiel 9. In other words, there must be a sealing / marking before the four angels at the four corners of the earth (“to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea” – Rev. 7:2) will be permitted to go forth and fulfill the injurious mandate given to them by God (Rev. 7:1-3).
Ezekiel 9 à Sealing / Marking of the Saints
Ezekiel 10 à the Casting of Hot Coals upon Jerusalem
Revelation 7 à Sealing / Marking the Saints
Revelation 8 à the Casting of Hot Coals upon Earth
Accordingly, in Ezekiel 9 & Revelation 7 we read of the Sealing or Marking of the Saints in preparation for Tribulatory Judgments. Likewise, in Ezekiel 10 & Revelation 8 we read of the Casting of Hot Coals that indicate the impending doom of the totality of the Tribulatory Judgments that will be unleashed by God according to the prayers of the saints. The organization of Revelation 7-8 in harmony with Ezekiel 9-10 conveys to the reader the certainty that a harmonious process in underway in both Tribulation Periods. Hence, one must understand the former before endeavoring the interpretation of the latter.
Angelic / Celestial Operations
Upon discovering this framework, the parallelism of Ezekiel 9-10 & Revelation 7-9, one must be sure to recognize that this operation is strikingly celestial! Angels serve as a vital component in how the Majesty of the LORD conducts the Tribulation Periods. Indeed, the glorious complexity of all that follows after the breaking of the 7th Seal is wondrously angelic! The manifold activities of heavenly and hellish angels are staggering to behold! For, after the withholding of the four angels at the four winds and, in turn, the angelic sealing / marking of the elect (Rev. 7), and upon the breaking of the 7th Seal (“there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour” - Rev. 8:1) - Heaven transitions from utter silence to the blasting of Heavenly Trumpets! Then, once again, angels are casting hot coals from Heaven’s altar (Rev. 8:3-5) while other angels are assembling bearing Trumpets and they’re preparing themselves to sound! Furthermore, we know that there are legions of angels that are poised to break into action at the sounding of each blast of Heaven’s Trumpets (Josh. 6:4-20, Num. 10:9, 31:6, Rev. 8:2, 6, Ps. 68:17-18, Heb. 12:22)! And, at the sounding of the 5th Trumpet, lo and behold: the defeat and casting down of the angel, Satan, “a Star” (Rev. 9:1, Lk. 10:18), and the opening of a “bottomless pit”, with the plagues therewith, alongside the ascending of an unprecedented army of fallen angels under Satan’s command (Rev. 9:1-20)! Moreover, there are four angels in particular that will be loosed to kill “the third part of men” at the sounding of the 6th Trumpet (Rev. 9:15)!
Howbeit before the commencement of all this, here’s the pause: in Revelation 7:3 we see the divine commandment, “HURT NOT the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed…”, and then later, after the sealing (Rev. 7:4-17), all the dry trees and dead grass of the earth and sea (all the unsealed of mankind) were targeted and smitten in the celestial operation (Rev. 9:4, Ezek. 20:47). This is key. There was a command to hurt not so as to give space for the searching and the sealing, and then came the hurting (Rev. 9:4)! Without surprise, this is perfectly harmonious with the celestial order demonstrated in Ezekiel 9:1-11 wherein there six angels with slaughtering weapons were stayed from their courses until the marker / sealer identified and exempted the righteous from soon-to-be judgment of the wicked.
Evidently, the sealed are the righteous men and women of the earth (Rev. 7:1-17, 9:4). They are the same people who were marked in the first Tribulation Period via the Babylonian Captivities (Ezek. 9:1-11). This being the case, however, and besides the easily interpreted attribute directly provided in Revelation 9:4 (that they are sealed), wherewithal shall we ascertain who or what the earth, sea, trees, grass, and green things of the prophecy are except that God has provided a divine tutorial of such word-usage in a pastime Tribulation Period?
“And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree. And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the Living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea, Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.” – Rev. 7:1-3
“And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads.” – Rev. 9:4
“And say to the forest of the south, Hear the word of the LORD; Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall devour every green tree in thee, and every dry tree: the flaming flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from the south to the north shall be burned therein.” – Ezek. 20:47
Apparently, the earth and sea is made up of green trees and dry trees, and, green grass and dry grass (Rev. 7:1-3), and before the four angels release the divine judgment of the four winds upon the collective of mankind worldwide (a power that is synonymous with the 7-Trumpet Tribulatory Judgment), the righteous must be sealed / marked and thereby exempted from the judgments to come. If this is the case, and the interpretation is sure (scripture-interpreting-scripture), there must be a strictly spiritual use of the prophetic and metaphorical word-usage of green trees as opposed to dry trees referring to righteous people in contrast with wicked people. According to the above scripture, Ezekiel 20:47, this word-harmony is displayed in a vital moment of culminating prophecy by the Prophet Ezekiel – the Wilderness Experience.
The Wilderness Experience in Correlation
While expounding the mysteries of the Wilderness Experience #2 (Ezek. 20:33-44), which brings into view the entirety of things suffered by all 6 Captivities, the reference was made in a pointed address of the soon-to-be Captivities #4 & #5, and in a lesser sense #6 (Ezek. 20:45-21:7). In and through these latter Captivities (which will fulfill the prophecy given in Ezekiel 20:45-21:7), the arms of the Wilderness Experience would fully arrest every person left in the Kingdom of Judah – whether they be a green tree or a dry tree. Both the righteous and the wicked are drawn into the Wilderness Experience in both Tribulation Periods (see Ezek. 20:33-44 & Rev. 12:1-17), and therein is the glorious harmony!
“And the woman fled into the Wilderness, where She hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days.” – Rev. 12:6
“And when the Dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the Man Child. And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the Wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the Serpent. And the Serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood. And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the Dragon cast out of his mouth. And the Dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.” – Rev. 12:13-17
Don’t let the romantic language fool you, my reader! What God means by what He says is not what you and I would mean in our flesh (“thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself” – Ps. 50:21)! Remember, my reader, contextually speaking Hosea 2:14 and Hosea 2:3 are talking definitively of a parallel Wilderness Experience. This means that the merciless stripping and slaying of Israel in the Wilderness whereby the children of whoredoms do perish (setting her as in the day she was born), according to Hosea 2:3-4, is the exact same experience wherein the Lord allures Israel into the Wilderness and speaks comfortably to her insomuch that she sings in the Wilderness (as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came out of the Land of Egypt), according to Hosea 2:14-15. This Wilderness Experience exists in its most superior form at the End of the World, according to Revelation Chapter 12, and the culmination of all suffering that will take place during the last 3 ½ years is called the Great Tribulation (“a thousand two hundred and threescore days”, “she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time” – Rev. 12:6, 14). Much tribulation (Matt. 24:4-14) precedes the Great Tribulation (Matt. 24:15-42, Rev. 11:1-14), evidently, and God uses all of it to purge the backslidden Church and, in turn (through God’s judgment of Babylon), save the Jews!
In summation, the Wilderness of the Babylonian Captivities was a Tribulatory Operation that is strikingly harmonious with what is foretold in Revelation 7-11 in that, first and foremost, the righteous were sealed / marked and thereby protected from the soon-to-be fatal judgments inflicted by God’s Majesty via a celestial operation (albeit, notably, all are drawn into the Wilderness Experience; Ezek. 9:1-11 & Rev. 7:1-8:1), and then, at once, before the angels are actually loosed in their courses for a real time manifestation of the operation, a heavenly scene is revealed wherein hot coals are cast to the earth from the altar of Heaven (Ezek. 10:1-7 & Rev. 8:2-6). Notably, Ezekiel’s vision in Ezekiel 9:1-11 was a soon-to-be-accomplished vision of the future (in reference to the remaining population of Evil Figs) and, also, it was an accurate depiction of how the Tribulatory Judgments of the Tribulation were executed in real time via the 4th, 5th, & 6th Captivities; hereby, the ordering of the happening is harmonious in the accomplishment of the real time events wherein the celestial wields the natural to bring about the prophesied judgments of the Tribulation. Hence, the slaughtering of unsealed men by angels, in Ezekiel 9:5-11, is synonymously represented by the casting of hot coals over the City of Jerusalem in Ezekiel 10:1-7, just as the casting of hot coals over the earth, in Revelation 8:2-6, is a synonymous representation of the operation of angels (slaughtering & hurting) in Tribulatory Judgments upon the unsealed in Revelation 8:7-9:21.