The Seals of Judgment and God's Protection

The Seals of Judgment and God’s Protection (Revelation 6 -7)

I. INTRODUCTION TO THE SEVEN SEALS

A. Jesus took the scroll that was sealed with seven seals from the hand of the Father (Rev. 5:7). It represents the title deed of the earth and the action plan required to cleanse the earth. One by one Jesus opens each seal which releases a terrifying judgment against the wicked.

B. The 7 seals are literal (not merely symbolic), future (their greatest fulfillment is future), progressive (increasing in intensity) and numbered (released in a sequential order).

C. Each seal leads to the unfolding of the next seal in a natural way. For example, the Antichrist of the first seal (Rev. 6:2) leads us to a World War in the second seal, which in turn causes famine and economic crisis in the next seal then pestilence and disease, etc.

D. The timing in which Jesus opens the seals is one interpretive key to Revelation. I believe Jesus has not yet opened the scroll. It was not opened at the time of Jesus’ ascension (30 AD) but sometime after Rev. 2-3 (90 AD; Rev. 4:1), and only after the bowls of prayer are full (Rev. 5:8). 1 After these things…I will show you things which must take place after this. (Rev. 4:1) 8 When He (Jesus) had taken the scroll…the 24 elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. (Rev. 5:8)

E. God’s judgments will be released against the Great Harlot and the Antichrist by a mature worldwide prayer movement in the way that Moses released the plagues of Egypt. God’s judgments against the wicked in the first 4 seals are a result of God taking His restraining hand off of evil men, thus allowing them to sin in an unrestrained way against one another. The Antichrist here acts against the Harlot yet the devastation reaches back to his worldwide empire.
F. The seven seals are released by Jesus, the Lamb of God (Rev. 5:5; 6:1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 12; 8:1). Jesus releases the seal judgments against the Harlot and the Antichrist’s empire. The purpose of all 7 seals is to release judgment on the kingdom of darkness to hinder the Antichrist’s empire from spreading evil, from persecuting the saints, while causing unbelievers to cry out for salvation. 1 I saw when the Lamb (Jesus) opened one of the Seals; and I heard one of the four living creatures saying with a voice like thunder, "Come and see." (Rev. 6:1)

G. We receive the same 2-fold call that John received to come and see. John was to come or draw closer to God to position his heart to understand God’s heart and then to see or to pay attention. H. God’s judgment is not on the saints. His judgments remove all that hinders love.Principle of judgment: using the least severe means to reach the greatest number at the deepest level of love without violating anyone’s free will. 9 God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through…Jesus. (1 Thes. 5:9)

II. FIRST SEAL: ANTICHRIST'S POLITICAL AGGRESSION

III. SECOND SEAL: WORLDWIDE BLOODSHED AND THE FINAL WORLD WAR (REV. 6:3-4)

IV. THIRD SEAL: FAMINE AND ECONOMIC CRISIS (REV. 6:5-6)

V. FOURTH SEAL: DEATH TO ¼ OF THE EARTH’S PEOPLE (REV. 6:7-8)

VI. FIFTH SEAL: PRAYER RELEASING JUDGMENT (REV. 6:9-11)

VII. THE SIXTH SEAL: COSMIC DISTURBANCES (REV. 6:12-17)

VIII. FIRST PARENTHETICAL SECTION: WHO CAN STAND? (REV. 7:1-17)