Posts from August 2023

The image of seven angels blowing trumpets in Revelation 8-11 echoes the basic message of the opening of the seals seen in chapters 4-7 – God’s judgement against all unrighteousness. Like the brief pause between the opening of the sixth and seventh seals when John saw those who are saved being “marked” to protect them against the coming judgement, the “break” between the sixth and seventh trumpets heightens the readers’ anticipation – “What will happen next?” During this break, John…

The eighth chapter of the revelation brings us to the conclusion of John’s vision of the book (scroll) with seven seals. After the opening of the first six seals in chapters 4-6 and the “pause” seen in chapter 7, the final seal of the book is now opened. The opening of the seventh seal, which had concealed the contents of the book, might seem to suggest that “the end is near.” The appearance of the Lamb (ch. 6) had begun…

Chapter 4 begins the “hard” part of the revelation – the symbolic section of the vision John saw, that many readers find so challenging and difficult to understand. As noted previously, one of the reasons modern readers struggle to understand the revelation is because this style of literature is virtually unknown in modern western culture. Chapters 4-22 can be divided into a series of visions that share many common themes, even though the particulars of the visions themselves might seem…