The Delay in the Sounding of the Seventh Trumpet

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The Third Vision

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Here John sees another vision before the seventh trumpet is sounded. Basically this vision was for John's edification. He saw a "mighty Angel" coming down from heaven, wrapped in a cloud with a rainbow over his head. This Angel is believed to have been the Christ with His glory veiled in a cloud but His identity given away by the rainbow which is a sign of the covenant, a part of the very presence of God as indicated by its presence in the throne room.

His face was like the "sun", again relating to His glory. (Reflected in the face of Moses on Mt. Sinai and Paul on the road to Damascus.) His feet and legs were like "pillars" of fire which indicates purity.

Notice how He stood. His right foot on the sea, His left foot on the ground. This denotes His absolute power over the whole world.

Notice what He had in His hand. A small scroll. This was not the scroll that He had taken from the Fathers hand, this scroll contained information that John was not permitted to write down but was to memorize.

Standing with one foot on the sea and the other on land, and with a loud voice He cried out the instructions to John. Then He declared that what the "seven thunders" had said would be sealed up and not written down. Then He declared that there should be no more delay. The King James translates this improperly, "There shall be time no longer." This has been mistakenly interpreted as the end of time. But that is not what is being said here. It is not "time" that has been done away with here, it is "delay" - no more delay.

Then He instructed John to take the little scroll and eat it. He was saying to John, before you publish what you have seen you must digest it and understand the "revelation".

Notice how the "eating" of this scroll would affect John. It was sweet in his mouth but sour in his stomach. The scroll was this "revelation" or prophecy of God which John was told to deliver faithfully. David once said, "The ordinances of God are sweeter than honey to the believer", but surely they are bitter to the unbeliever.

You, perhaps, have said, at one time, that you would like to know your own future but most of us, when we consider the possibilities, might find the knowledge bitter.

Christ was making it clear to John that the information that He had given him was not to satisfy nor give him pleasure it was to make him an instrument of communication to the world. His presence in the throne room and the honored place that John had received must have been sweet to this exiled and perhaps imprisoned man but the reality of the facts of this book must have been a bitter pill to take.

Lets refresh our memory:

  1. When the seventh seal on the Lambs Book of God was broken, 7 Angels with 7 trumpets lined up. As each blew his trumpet, a great disaster occurred.
  2. As the first trumpet was sounded, a great storm of heresies came upon the church.
  3. As the second trumpet was sounded, a mighty nation was was destroyed.
  4. As the third trumpet was sounded, a great religious figure fell from out of heaven.
  5. As the fourth trumpet was sounded, a third of the people were confused and lost understanding.
  6. As the fifth trumpet was sounded, Satan was cast out of heaven into the bottomless pit. From the pit came the forces of evil that brought riots, superstition, idolatry and cruelty. All that would poison a person's soul.
  7. As the sixth trumpet was sounded, a great destruction came upon the world and one third of the worlds population was killed.
  8. Between the sixth and seventh trumpet, the Lord appeared to John and gave him a small scroll to eat. It was sweet to the mouth but bitter to the stomach.


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