THE NOISE OF THUNDER- Judgment of the "SEA"
THE NOISE OF THUNDER – Judgment of the “SEA”
Preached by: Pastor Carolyn Sissom
Sunday, June 6, 2010
“THE SEVEN THUNDERS UTTERED THEIR VOICES”
(Rev. 10:3)
Rev. 6:1: “And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying come and see. And I saw…
The noise of thunder speaks of “God’s voice of authority being heard. It comes with His presence and increases with the number of voices that are speaking in one accord (Rev. 14:2; Rev. 19:6). In Ex. 20:13 the thunder showed that God was on the mountain. It is also a revelatory voice for those who have ears to hear; a revelation of God’s desire.” (Van Tanner—The Seven Thunders of God)
As Christ takes the scroll of destiny and proceeds to break one seal after another, the unveiling properly begins. His action in heaven determines events on earth.
Rev. 8:8-9: And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea; and the third part of the sea became blood; and the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life; and the third part of the ships were destroyed.”
This “as it were a great mountain burning” is a literal description of the B.P. Horizon oil rig. It was seven stories high, went miles below the sea, and the platform was seven foot ball fields wide. The oil is red like blood. The environmentalists have already declared that a third part of the Gulf of Mexico has been affected. Yesterday, I heard that 31% of the Gulf is now affected. The ships have not yet been destroyed, but one-third of the fishing industry has been destroyed in the affected waters. This is a warning of a greater judgment yet to come.
6/5/10 – quote from P. J. Hahn, director of coastal Zone Management in Louisiana Plaquemine Parish---“That’s what it looks like down here---like the Gulf is bleeding. This is going to choke the life out of everything.”
This past week I researched the anatomy of all of the “second’s” in each of the groups of seven within the Book of Revelation. If we view the groups together, all the ones and twos, etc, then we are experiencing five judgments of group two as literal judgments happening now. Brother Van rightly interprets these judgments as spiritual. Symbolically the “sea” represents the heart of carnality and unredeemed humanity.
I believe in the dualistic interpretation of scripture both literal and spiritual. The action in heaven determining the events in the earth.
“Noise of Thunder” “When the Lamb opened one of the seals, I heard as it were the noise of thunder…”– Seal 2; Rev. 6: 3-4: “And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second beast say, come and see. And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another; and there was given unto him a great sword.”
I counted sixteen (16) wars which are presently being fought around the world in the year 2010: Afghanistan, Chechnya, Columbia F.A.R.C., Columbia Hostages, Democratic Republic Congo, Georgia, Iraq, Israel and Palestine, Laos, Nagorno Karabakh, Nepal, Philippines, Somalia, Sudan, Uganda, Naxalite-Maoist insurgency. This does not include 22 other conflicts around the world. This does not include the Mexican Drug War, the U.S.A. illegal immigration conflict, and the conflict between North and South Korea.
The appearance of the horsemen marks the beginning of birth pains which herald the winding up of the age. (Mk. 13:8)
The blood-red color of the horse is in keeping with the mission of its rider, which is to sow strife and slaughter on earth.
Second Trumpet Angel; Rev. 8: 8-9: This is “as it were a great mountain being thrown into the sea”.
The first four trumpets let loose on mankind plagues paralleled in the Exodus narrative of the plagues of Egypt, but more deadly in its effect. The last three trumpets announce calamities more frightful still, (the three woes of verse 13).
This past week, we saw on our television screens a plague of frogs in Greece, and a plague of grasshoppers in the U.S.A. The weather channel has revealed to us large hail stone 2-1/2 to 3 inches in diameter. I researched 895 earthquakes worldwide with estimated 250,000 deaths year to date. The sun was darkened in Europe as a result of the volcano in Switzerland. We stand at the threshold of Iran having nuclear power capable of fulfilling Rev. 9:13-21 which is the second woe. “And the sixth angel sounded and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God. saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates. And the four angels were loosed which were prepared for an hour and a day, and a month, and a year, to slay the third part of men.”
(Vs.20-21) “And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of heir hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood; which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk. Neither repented they of their murders, not of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, or of their thefts.”
Plagues and similar disasters, which bring out the best qualities in some people, bring out the worst in many others. Samuel Pepys speaks of the Plague of London (1665) as making us more cruel to one another than if we are dogs; Thucydides makes a similar observation in the Plague of Athens over 2000 years earlier. God has pledged His ready pardon wherever a glimmer of repentance is shown, but what if men persist in impenitence?
Angel 2 Rev. 14:8: “And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all “nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.”
Rev. 17: “One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls then came and spoke to me, saying, Come with me! I will show you the doom (sentence) judgment of the great harlot (idolatress) who is seated on many waters (Jer. 51:13). She with whom the rulers of the earth have joined in prostitution (idolatry and the wine of whose immorality (idolatry) the inhabitants of the earth have become intoxicated (Jer. 15: 15, 16. so he carried me away in the sprit into the wilderness; and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet colored beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet color, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication. And upon her forehead was a name written, Mystery Babylon, the Great, the Mother of Harlots and Abominations of the earth. (18:12)…And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her: for no man bus their merchandise any more. *18:17) “For in one hour so great riches is come to naught.
The Harlot is a mixture of politics, Jezebel and religion. We are watching a global economic crisis. Greece is in financial distress as well as Turkey. This oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico will affect the global economy because of the far reaching wealth of British petroleum. The United States of America has moved into unprecedented debt.
Any power which sets itself against the Lord and against his anointed one signs it own death-warrant (Ps. 2:2)
Rev. 13:1: “And the dragon stood on the shore of the sea, And I saw a beast coming out of the sea. He had ten horns and seven heads, with ten crowns on his horns, and on each head a blasphemous name (NIV).
VIAL 2; Rev. 16:3: “And the second angel poured out his vial upon the sea; and it became as the blood of a dead man and every living soul died in the sea.”
This judgment is still futuristic. There is a remarkable parallelism between the seven trumpet judgments of chapters 8-11 and the last plagues of chapter 16. In the first form of each series, the earth , The sea , Fresh water and sun are respectively affected. The next judgment being the judgment of the rivers and fountains. (If this Gulf Oil spill gets into the rivers then it is just a matter of time).
These judgments are more severe than their trumpet counterparts; where the former judgments affected one-third of the area in question, these affect the whole. The sixth plague in the present series, like the sixth trumpet-judgment, affects the Euphrates, and the emptying of the seventh bowl. These last plagues again resemble the plagues of Egypt. The ugly and painful sores is likened to the Egyptian plague of boils (Exod. 9:8) Again there is the judgment of the sea in verse 3 and every living soul died in the sea. The rivers and springs of water…became blood; As in the first plague of Egypt (Exod. 7:17).
Take special note of Verse 5. “the angel in charge of waters: In the Book of Revelation, the various natural elements and forces are all placed under the control of their appropriate angels in Jewish literature of this period. There are the four angels who control the four winds in 7:1. And there is an angel of fire in 14:18 “And another angel came out from the altar which had power over fire; and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle.
Some believe these angels are ministers. I believe these are angels.
Vial Angel 2 – Rev. 18: 1-3: “And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power, and the earth was lightened with his glory. And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her; and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.”
The Angelic announcement of Angel 2 in chapter 14 proclaimed the fall of “Babylon the Great’; and later, when the seventh bowl of judgment was emptied, “God remembered Babylon the Great and gave her the cup…of the fury of his wrath (16:19). The judgment of great Babylon is now portrayed in further vision.
The next verses in Rev. 18 describe the rise of the global kingdom of the anti-christ. (Vs.14) “These shall make war with the Lamb and the Lamb shall overcome them; for he is Lord of Lords and King of Kings; and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful. And he said unto me, The waters which you saw, where the harlot sits are peoples and multitudes, and nations and tongues. And the ten horns which you saw upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire
If prosperity is no proof of divine approval, neither does it arouse divine envy. Godlessness brings on its own destruction. When the sins of civilization reach their utmost limit and there Is no further room for repentance, the judgment falls with the decisiveness of the “large millstone” of (18:21).
In chapter 19: 1-5, “I heard…the roar of a great multitude in heaven: The collapse of godless rebellion and oppression on earth gives rise to jubilation in heaven. For mortal men, the vindication of God’s righteousness is a sobering spectacle, even when it is most welcome, for there is none who is not liable to His judgment in some degree. If you, O Lord, kept a record of sins, O Lord, who could stand? But saints and angels in heave with purified vision see this lower world in the light of God’s glory, and their praise need not be disturbed by uneasy reflections.
We stand at the end of one age with a vision of the new one. Let us be about our father’s business and bring in the Harvest. The most abject apostate and sinner may come if he will and accept the full and free benefits which the gospel provides.
There is still much to unfold in the Book of Revelation. Some will be spiritually symbolic and some will be literal. The Book is dualistic on many levels.
Carolyn Sissom, Pastor
Eastgate Ministries, Inc.
Quotes from K.J.V.
I entered into the labors of The International Bible Commentary by: F.F. Bruce; quotations as indicated from Van Tanner, The Seven Thunders of God; Comments and conclusions are my own and not intended to reflect the views of those who I entered into their labors.
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