THE SEVEN THUNDERS
Revelation 10:4 “Now when the seven thunders uttered their voices, I was about to write; but I heard a voice from heaven saying to me, ‘Seal up the things which the seven thunders uttered, and do not write them’”
Up to this moment John had been writing everything which had been revealed to him since the vision started, he even wrote down the things that he did not understand, and in
many instances he was given an explanation to the meaning of those things that he did not understand.
But here, all of the sudden, he is told not to write down the information that he was just privileged to hear from the seven thunders as they uttered their voices. We know that he heard it, but he was not allowed to share it with the rest of us, which begs the question, why?
If you read my book Man’s Final Destiny, you know that I believe that the letters to the seven churches comprise the entirety of the Church Age from the physical perspective, and that the seven seals comprise the entirety of the Church Age from the spiritual perspective, about a two-thousand-year period so far.
In the same manner, I believe that the seven trumpets reveal the entirety of the first half of the Wrath of God which lasts 1260 days, and that the seven thunders cover the same time period from the physical perspective, but for some reason the physical revelation, which would make it a lot easier for us to understand this time period, is kept from us.
Revelation 10:7 “But in the days of the sounding of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound (the trumpet), the mystery of God would be finished, as He declared to His servants the prophets.”
What the seven thunders spoke is part of the Bible, and it must be fulfilled exactly as the Lord revealed it to His prophets, even though it was not revealed to us, but this part of Scripture will not be revealed to humanity until the sounding of the seventh trumpet takes place, then this mystery of God will be completed.
Since God sealed it from us, it would be foolish for us try to know the details of what the message was, but we can extrapolate what the general content of the message is, since we have the spiritual revelation given to us of that same time period during the blowing of the seven trumpets.
In other words, if we know what the general context of a book is about, we may not know the particulars if we have not read it, but we can clearly ascertain what the emphasis of the message is that such a book would be detailing.
In our case, we can take a look at the last verse of the spiritual revelation of the seven trumpets and find out what the Lord’s emphasis during these 1260-day period was. Since chapters eight and nine of Revelation deal with that time period from the spiritual perspective.
Revelation 9:21 “And they did not repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality of their thefts.”
From God’s perspective He is trying to get as many people to heaven as possible and spare them from His Day of Wrath, but they have to be willing to confess and renounce their sins, and if they do not repent, they cannot enter into the holiness of His heaven.
We also know from the spiritual revelation of chapters eight and nine that, God in His great mercy, allows those who rejected the free offer of salvation as proclaimed during the Church Age in the Gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, to experience hell here on earth, for an interval of five months, figuring that those who did not really think that heaven or hell were real, would change their minds and repent when faced with the reality of an eternity of pain that finally sinks in into their hearts, where the seat of their understanding abides.
Jeremiah 17:9-10 “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it? I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind (most secret parts), even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings.”
So that we can clearly extrapolate that since the human heart is desperately wicked, and only God truly knows how wicked, that if he would have revealed to humanity during the age of grace what the seven thunders uttered, that there was a plan B, just in case they missed the rapture, that many of those who are believers now might have said to themselves after hearing the Gospel that, well if I miss it there is another way for me.
And since God truly knows the wicked condition of the human heart, it may be that those who still did no repented after their encounter with hell for five months, could not do so because they heard the Gospel previously, were convicted by it, and rejected it by saying to themselves, well, I’ll believe it when I see it.
For we know that without faith it is impossible to please God.
I know that in my rational mind I do not want any kind of hell or demonic encounters, ever, even if it is for just five months, no sir, there is no plan B as far as I am concerned, I much rather believe now and along with my faith in the Truth of the Word of God, enjoy the benefits of my salvation in the here and now, which are many, and rejoice as I fervently look for His appearing, as He returns to take me home with Him and to spared me from the Day of His Wrath.
I do not know what the mechanics for salvation will be for those who missed the rapture and find themselves in a real hell on earth, for that is what John was not allowed to write, and I do not want to know, for its one less temptation for us to face, but it will involve dying, for once the rapture takes place the only way to heaven is through the door of death.
Since we know the type of martyrdom that those who get saved during the second half of God’s Wrath entails, which is beheading for refusing to take the mark of the beast, we can be pretty sure that the type of death required before entering heaven will not be pretty either for those who missed the Grace of God.
Is their required sacrificial death so horrible that our Lord refused to published it before its time?
Or is it so simple that it would have undermined the effectiveness of the Gospel during the time of Grace?
I’ve come to the conclusion that is neither one of these two extremes.
Revelation 10:10-11 “Then I took the little book out of the angel’s hand and ate it, and it was as sweet as honey in my mouth. But when I had eaten it, my stomach became bitter. And he said to me, ‘You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, tongues, and kings.’”
The angel tells John to take this little book and to eat it, and then he gives John the bad news first and then the good news last. He tells John that it will make his stomach bitter, but that it will be sweet as honey on his mouth.
John, on the other hand, looks at the good news first, he says that it is as sweet as honey in his mouth but that it then soured his stomach.
In biblical understanding, eating something is representative of the embracing of a doctrine deep within the heart. The doctrine here is the teaching of salvation and the consequences of damnation.
From our present-day perspective as Christians, our salvation is as sweet as honey to our mouths, for as it is written:
Ephesians 2:8 “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God.”
For us today there is grace and nothing more, for the bitter cup of all our sinfulness was poured out in full measure upon Jesus on the cross.
The night before He was crucified, as He was praying in agony in the Garden of Gethsemane, He asked Father God if there was anyway that He could avoid drinking from the bitter cup that was so full with all our sins, knowing that it was for that reason that He came, but that’s how loathsome it was to Him, but we are told that for the joy that was set before Him He endured the cross, for the sweet taste of victory that would follow His sacrificial death.
But for those who will miss the rapture, they have treated the blood of Jesus with contempt, and by so doing they have forfeited the grace that could have been theirs and escape the hour of trials, so that now they must drink of the cup of their own bitterness as they are turned over to the law of God which declares that the soul that sinned shall surely die.
But there is still the nectar of honey left for them if they pass the test and repent by recognizing once and for all that without God there is no hope for life and no hope for them.
And that was the message that John was told to prophesy to the peoples and nations and tongues and kings.
Without God there is no hope and without the Word of God there can be no salvation.
We are living under the Dispensation of Grace which is so sweet to our taste, those who miss the rapture will find themselves living under the Dispensation of God’s Law overnight, and it will taste so bitter to the desperately wicked human heart that is so bound by selfish ambitions.
But we rejoice in the fact that in whatever situation, or in whatever dispensation, the love of God always makes a way of escape.
But why would anyone turn their backs on the sweetness of the Gospel of Grace? You do not have to die in your sins, and if our Lord returns while you are still alive, you do not have to be left behind to drink from the bitter cup of your own sinfulness.
Say yes to Jesus and He will deliver your soul today into eternal life.
Proverbs 16:21 “The wise in heart will be called prudent, and sweetness of the lips increases learning.”