LECTURE VI
THE OPENING OF THE SEVEN SEALS 6:1-17; 8:1. 2 .
Chapter five of Revelation closes with a picture of the Son of God, taking into His hands the title deed to the earth, and receiving praise and worship from the hosts of the redeemed, as well as from myriads of angels. Chapter six continues the vision, again with no break in the thought; and we follow the events, through the eyes of John, as, one after another, the Lion of the tribe of Judah breaks the seven seals a_nd opens the scroll. Strange and startling are the things which pass before our eyes; and this is our lesson today-the open ing of the seven-sealed book.
A FoREVIEW OF THE PERIOD REPRESENTED BY THE SEVEN SEALS
Before we take up this study in some detail, let us note .first of all that chapter six tells of the opening of six of the seals. Then a parenthesis follows in chapter seven; and the breaking of the seventh seal, as recorded in 8: 1, 2, introduces the seven trumpet judgments. In like manner, as we shall see later, six of the trumpet judgments are described in chapters eight and_nine; while another parenthesis follows, in 10: 1- 11: 14, before the se·:enth trumpet judgment is pictured in 11 : 15-18. And in the same manner, the six bowls of the wrath of God are described in 15: 1-16: 12. Then follows a brief parenthesis, in 16: 13-16, before the seventh angel pours out his vial into the air. All of this, even to the most minute detail, reveals a divine plan. Not only are the three main divisions of the book logic ally set forth; not only are the various groups of seven plainly marked out; but even the sub-divisions also follow a well defined and logical plan. Six opened seals, a parenthesis, then the seventh seal, introducing the trumpets; six trumpet judgments, a parenthesis, then the seventh trumpet; six bowls of wrath, a parenthesis, then the seventh-marked evidence of the Master-mind that planned it all.
Made with FlippingBook flipbook maker