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Specifications #2 – Timing

After the 144,000 are sealed, the four winds of God’s wrath will be released and the Great Tribulation will begin. According to the specifications of the fourth seal, the number of casualties will be 25% of Earth’s population. Jesus will initiate the Great Tribulation with sudden and overwhelming destruction. (1 Thessalonians 5:3) The punitive judgments in the fourth seal, the four winds of Revelation 7, and the first four trumpets harmoniously align.  (See the chart below) At this very moment, the only thing holding back the commencement of the Great Tribulation is a single command given to the four angels! (Revelation 7:3)

Please review the following verses so you can thoughtfully consider the two questions that follow: “After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the Earth, holding back the four winds of the Earth to prevent any wind from blowing on the land or on the sea or on any tree. Then I saw another angel coming up from the east, having the seal of the living God. He called out in a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm the land and the sea: ‘Do not harm the land or the sea or the trees until we put a seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God.’ Then I heard the number of those who were sealed: 144,000 from all the tribes of Israel.” (Revelation 7:1-4 Italics mine)

Question #1: Why do we need to know about this delay?

Question #2: Will the sealing of the 144,000 be determined by character or by timing? In other words, will Jesus wait for the 144,000 people to become sanctified and “pure in heart” before He seals them or will Jesus wait for the appointed time to arrive to select 144,000 people and seal them?

Question #1 Examined

The delay in Revelation 7 is foretold because the final generation needs to know that God’s wrath is overdue before it is released. This fact helps us understand the events recorded in Revelation 8:3-5. In other words, God’s patience with sin and sinners expires before the 144,000 are sealed. This is why the four angels are empowered and sent to Earth, but told to wait until He has sealed the 144,000. The phrase, “the four winds of Earth,” is a word picture of global destruction and upheaval. The release of the four winds (coming from the north, east, west and south) implies powerful, but unseen forces that will chaotically scatter and sweep away all that the human race has built. Consider the following brief scenario that will be presented in greater detail in the next segment of this study:

The Bible says there are seven angels that stand before God. (Revelation 8:2) These exalted angels are ready to carry out any command that proceeds from the throne. I understand that these seven angels were given seven trumpets in the Spring of 1994 because Earth’s cup of iniquity became full at that time. Four of the seven angels have been sent to Earth to harm this planet because God’s patience with Earth has ended. Before the angels could harm the land, the sea and trees, Jesus restrained them with a command. The Lord put these angels on hold until His 144,000 servants are sealed. Again, the last generation needs to know that God’s wrath is overdue and Jesus has put global destruction on hold until the time comes for 144,000 servants to be sealed. Please examine the chart below.

The Matrix Aligns Revelation 6:7-9, Revelation 7:1-8, Revelation 8:2-7

Years ago, I heard Evangelist Billy Graham make a comment that went something like this, “If God does not do something soon about the degeneracy of the United States, He will owe Sodom and Gomorrah an apology.” Dr. Graham was right. The only reason that Jesus has not done something about Earth’s degeneracy is timing. Jesus imposed a short delay in Revelation 7:3 and the inhabitants of Earth have been living on borrowed time since 1994.

Question #2 Examined

Will the sealing of the 144,000 be determined by character or by timing? In other words, has Jesus been waiting for 144,000 people to become sinless so that they can be sealed, or is Jesus waiting for the appointed time to arrive and seal the 144,000?

The answer to Question #2 is timing. Jesus is waiting for the appointed time to arrive before selecting and sealing 12,000 from each of the twelve tribes. (Revelation 7:4) Contrary to what some denominations teach, Jesus is not waiting on 144,000 people to become sinless, a person could argue the Great Tribulation will never start because a sinner cannot become sinless. A sinner may go for a period of time without sinning, but this does not make him sinless! Once a sinner, forever a sinner! This is why Adam and Eve had to be cast out of the Garden of Eden. Because we have carnal natures, we are sinful within. We cannot remove our carnal natures. At best, we can subdue our carnal desires through the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit (Romans 7-8), and millions of people have experienced victory over their carnal natures for centuries. Jesus could have sealed 144,000 people centuries ago if He wanted, because at any given time there are enough people on Earth who love the Lord with all their hearts, minds, and souls, to accomplish all the Lord wants to do. Remember how Elijah thought he alone had been faithful to the Lord during Israel’s apostasy and the Lord politely informed the beleaguered prophet that He had seven thousand people in Israel who had not worshiped Baal? (1 Kings 19:18)

We have already noticed that when the sealing occurs, each tribe in Israel will be larger than 12,000 people. In other words, when the time comes for sealing, Jesus will have more than 12,000 people in each tribe from which to choose! This proves that Jesus is not waiting on 144,000 people to become sinless. At the appointed time, He will choose the best from each tribe (as firstfruits) to be His servants. These loyal servants will answer the call and endure the trials and tribulations of being His prophets. 

Bottom line: Jesus is waiting for the appointed time of the end to arrive (Daniel 8:19); the time set by the Father. (Acts 1:7) When we approach the day that is 1,335 days from the end of the sixth millennium of sin, the 144,000 will be selected and sealed. Then, the delay imposed in Revelation 7:3 will end – right on time. God’s judgments will begin on time. Jesus is waiting on the “Grand-Father’s” clock to chime and when it does, He will declare the delay is over (Revelation 10:6) and the four winds of His wrath will be released. Before we leave Question #2, please consider the following points:

Parallels to Consider

According to rule One of apocalyptic prophecy, each apocalyptic prophecy has a beginning and ending point in time. The sealing of the 144,000 in Revelation 7:1-8:1 follows Rule One. For centuries, Bible students have asked, when does Revelation 7:1-4 occur? Please examine these two texts and notice that in each case, four angels are involved (bold text and insertions mine):

Revelation 7:1 “After this I saw four angelsstanding at the four corners of the Earth, holding back the four winds of the earth to prevent any wind from blowing on the land or on the sea or on any tree.”

Revelation 9:14,15 “It [the voice from the Altar of Incense] said to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, ‘Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.’ And the four angels who had been kept ready for this very hour and day and month and year were released to kill a third of mankind.”

These texts identify two groups of angels. The first text (Revelation 7) describes four angels sent from God’s throne to harm Earth. The second text (Revelation 9) describes four angels (actually four fallen angels, e.g., demons) who will be let out of the abyss during the fifth trumpet. During the sixth trumpet, the four demons in the second text will be released at a specific hour to kill a third of mankind. (Review the boldfaced words in the text.) Since the four demons in Revelation 9 are held back until the appointed hour, day, month and year arrives, the four angels in Revelation 7 are waiting for the exalt hour, day, month and year to do their work. With God, timing is everything.

God’s four angels and Lucifer’s four angels will be allowed to kill the same number of people during the Great Tribulation. Look at the math: After the fourth seal is broken, 25% of Earth’s population will die. In round numbers, currently Earth’s population is about six billion people. Therefore, Earth’s population will be reduced to 4.5 billion people by the destruction of the first four trumpets.  When the sixth trumpet sounds (890 days later), one third of mankind will be killed by Lucifer’s four angels. One third of 4.5 billion is another 1.5 billion people! The net result is that both groups of angels kill the same number of people. This balance is not a mere coincidence. God has deliberately and purposefully determined the properties of the Great Tribulation.

God has determined that the battle for the hearts and souls of mankind will be a “fair fight.” If the devil were given complete control of Earth, he would destroy the whole world in a single day. Therefore, the devil will be restrained at each step of the way because God insists that the survivors must remain free to exercise their power of choice. The Great Tribulation will be a powerful vortex that will force the living into choosing whom they will honor and obey. This is why worship will surface as the all-important issue during the Great Tribulation. When the people of Earth see the overwhelming death and destruction caused by God’s wrath, the topic of worship will become highly important, because worship will be viewed as a prerequisite means to appease God so that His anger will cease. Desperate circumstances will force the survivors into making a tough decision about whom they will obey. The consequences either way will be very difficult. This vortex explains why the Great tribulation is called, “a time of wrath.” (Daniel 8:19; 11:36; Revelation 15:1)

It is interesting to discover that during the Great tribulation, whatever Jesus is allowed to do, the devil is allowed to do. Jesus will have 144,000 servants speaking for Him and the devil will have thousands of religious and political authorities speaking for him. Evil can neither conquer good, nor can good destroy evil until Jesus comes. Jesus wants the people of Earth to make an informed and intelligent decision as to whom they will obey. (Matthew 24:14) This is why He seals 144,000 prophets before the Great Tribulation begins. The world will hear the testimony of Jesus through the mouths of His servants the prophets.

When we study the fifth trumpet in the next study, we will see another incredible balance: At the end of the 1,335 days (Daniel 12:12) allotted for the Great Tribulation, Jesus will physically appear in clouds of glory to gather up His children. To be fair, 890 days into the Great Tribulation, the devil will be granted the privilege of appearing in clouds of glory. He will masquerade as Jesus, pretending to establish a kingdom of peace on Earth for 1,000 years! (Revelation 9:1-11) These matters are introduced at this point because you need to be aware that the forces of good and for evil will remain “balanced” until all people on Earth makes their decision, then Jesus will declare the verdict, “Let him who does wrong continue to do wrong; let him who is vile continue to be vile; let him who does right continue to do right; and let him who is holy continue to be holy. Behold, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done.” (Revelation 22:11,12)

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