EXAMINING REVELATIONS CHAPTERS 7 & 8
Chapter 7:
1-17: 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. From the tribe of Judah 12,000 were sealed, from the tribe of Reuben 12,000, from the tribe of Gad 12,000, from the tribe of Asher 12,000, from the tribe of Naphtali 12,000, from the tribe of Manasseh 12,000, from the tribe of Simeon 12,000, from the tribe of Levi 12,000, from the tribe of Issachar 12,000, from the tribe of Zebulun 12,000, from the tribe of Joseph 12,000, from the tribe of Benjamin 12,000. After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice: "Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb." All the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying: "Amen! Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God for ever and ever. Amen!" Then one of the elders asked me, "These in white robes--who are they, and where did they come from?" I answered, "Sir, you know." And he said, "These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore, "they are before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will spread his tent over them. Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst. The sun will not beat upon them, nor any scorching heat. For the lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; he will lead them to springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes."
The Futurist view:
Dispensational Premillennialists believe that the faithful of the Church will have been raptured before the sealing of the 144,000 and the great multitude. Those being sealed are those who turn to Christ during the great tribulation and are thus protected from the events associated with the seven last plagues. Other Futurists, who don’t hold to the rapture idea, believe those sealed are the faithful of the church and they will be supernaturally protected from the tribulation. All Futurists believe the 144,000 represent Jews who will be converted to Christ just prior to His return. The great multitude is felt to represent gentile converts or a combination of both Jewish and Gentile converts. Some Futurists believe these converts represent martyred Christians who come out of the great tribulation and are literally standing before the throne of God. Others believe the language relating to their status before God is symbolic and speaks of the Christians spiritual relationship with God after being converted.
The Preterist view:
Preterists see the sealing of the 144,000 and the great multitude as pertaining to God providing a way for the Christians to escape the city of Jerusalem and surrounding areas before the Roman invasion. Preterists point to what Christ said in the Olivet Discourse about seeing the abomination that causes desolation standing in the holy place being the signal to flee to the mountains. Preterists will show from both scriptural and secular history that this abomination standing in the holy place took place during the Roman/Jewish war. The historian Eusebius writes of the Jewish Christians being warned by a prophetic oracle to flee the city just before the Roman siege began. Historians show the Christians escaped to the city of Pella beyond the Jordan River.
Preterists also point out that the 144,000 could not pertain to Israelites becoming converted just prior to a yet future return of Christ. In Revelation 14:1-4, the 144,000 are identified as the firstfruits to God and the Lamb. Apostle James, in his letter addressed to the “twelve tribes scattered among the nations,” said, “He chose to give us birth through the word of truth that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created” (James 1:1, 18). James is addressing his contemporaries as the firstfruits. A reading of the New Testament scriptures clearly shows that the first converts to Christianity were from the tribes of Israel. Since the concept of firstfruits appears to be identified with those Israelites who became Christians in the first century, it would place the 144,000 in the first century. If the 144,000 are to first make their appearance in our future they could hardly be considered the “firstfruits.” They more appropriately would be labeled the last fruits.
Preterists, as do some Futurists, believe the language relating to the status before God of those sealed is symbolic and speaks of the Christians spiritual relationship with God after being converted.
Chapter 8:
1-13: When he opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and to them were given seven trumpets. Another angel, who had a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense to offer, with the prayers of all the saints, on the golden altar before the throne. The smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of the saints, went up before God from the angel's hand. Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and hurled it on the earth; and there came peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning and an earthquake. Then the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared to sound them. The first angel sounded his trumpet, and there came hail and fire mixed with blood, and it was hurled down upon the earth. A third of the earth was burned up, a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up. The second angel sounded his trumpet, and something like a huge mountain, all ablaze, was thrown into the sea. A third of the sea turned into blood, a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed. The third angel sounded his trumpet, and a great star, blazing like a torch, fell from the sky on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water-- the name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters turned bitter, and many people died from the waters that had become bitter. The fourth angel sounded his trumpet, and a third of the sun was struck, a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of them turned dark. A third of the day was without light, and also a third of the night. As I watched, I heard an eagle that was flying in midair call out in a loud voice: "Woe! Woe! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth, because of the trumpet blasts about to be sounded by the other three angels!"
The Preterist view:
Preterists view the representations associated with opening of the seventh seal as all pertaining to Gods judgement upon Israel which brought about the destruction of the temple and the downfall of Jerusalem along with much of Israel and communities of Jews living in various parts of the Empire. The prayers represented by incense are viewed as the prayers of first century persecuted Christians. The censer filled with coals of fire from the alter and hurled down to the earth is paralleled with the manner in which God instructed ancient Israel to take fire from the altar and burn a city against which God brought judgement. Preterists see judgement coming from the same censer that held prayers as indicative of Gods response to the prayers of the Christians for relief from the persecution leveled upon them by the Jews.
While Preterists view much of the wording associated with the seals as apocalyptic language so common in prophetic writing, they do see some parallels to what actually occurred. In reference to the trees and grass being burned up it’s noted that Josephus laments about how the Roman armies cut down all the trees and leveled the gardens outside the city of Jerusalem in order to have materials to build ramps to scale the walls of the city. Josephus wrote that the beautiful suburbs outside the walled city were laid waste due to the war (Wars, V1:1:1).
In reference to events associated with the second trumpet, Preterists point to Josephus writing about a battle that took place on the Sea of Galilee where many Jews were killed and the lake was full of blood, dead bodies and shipwrecks (Wars, 111:10:9).
As to the mountain burning with fire being thrown into the sea, Preterists see this as symbolic of Jerusalem known as Mount Zion being burned by the Romans as gentile nations are sometimes referred to as the sea.
The third trumpet speaks of a star called wormwood making the waters bitter. Wormwood is used by OT prophets in speaking of judgement upon Israel for failure to do Gods will (See Jeremiah 9:13-25 & 23:15, KJV). Preterists take note of wormwood in the OT pertaining to judgement upon Israel and view its use in the Revelation as pertaining to judgement upon Israel in the first century.
Reference to the sun, moon and stars turning dark is viewed as symbolic language describing the fall of Israel. This same type of language was used by Ezekiel in describing judgement brought upon Israel by Babylon (Ezekiel 32:7-11).
This chapter ends with an eagle flying through the air pronouncing a triple woe upon the inhabitants of the Earth. The Greek word translated “earth” is gee. It appears 252 times in the NT and can mean either earth or land. Context best determines how this word should be rendered. By context, it is often seen in the NT to refer to the land of Israel. Since Preterists view the Revelation as pertaining to the first century judgement upon Israel, Preterists feel that gee is better translated as land in the Revelation.
The word “eagle” in this passage is translated from the Greek word aetos. The KJV and NKJV of the scriptures use Greek manuscripts that have the Greek angelos in place of aetos and therefore render it as “angel.” Biblical scholars believe aetos to be the correct wording as it is found in most of the ancient manuscripts. This brings an interesting possibility relative to the Preterist view of the Revelation.
It is interesting to note from the writings of Josephus, that when the Romans burned the temple, they brought their ensigns to the temple area, set them up against the eastern gate and offered sacrifices to them. The Roman ensigns were eagles. In speaking of conditions extant at the time of His return, Christ said “Where there is a dead body, there the eagles (Greek aetos) will gather” (Luke 17:37). Some Preterists believe Christ is speaking metaphorically of the death of Old Covenant Israel at the hands of the Roman armies who are here represented by eagles. The reference in the Revelation to an eagle announcing three woes is seen as representative of the Romans involvement in the final destruction of the temple and the city. Preterists cite Jeremiah 4:13 and Hosea 8:1 as examples of God referring to eagles as representing judgement against Israel.
The Futurists view:
Futurists see the events associated with the seventh seal as representative of events yet to occur in our future. Some Futurists take a quite literal approach to what is written while others view what is written as symbolic. Futurists view use of the censer in the same way the Preterists do but believe it is Gods judgement upon the entire earth at the end of the church age in response to the prayers of the saints.
Many Futurists see the hail, fire and burning of grass and trees as literal events orchestrated by God. Some Futurists see all this as the result of nuclear warfare. The mountain falling into the sea is felt by some to be representative of a modern Babylon made up of a revived Roman Empire headed by the antichrist and a false religious system. This system is seen as thrown into the sea of nations and creating great havoc on the earth. Futurists point out that in Jeremiah 51:25, ancient Babylon is referred to as a “destroying mountain.” Some futurists point out that the Revelation speaks of “something like a huge mountain” and not an actual mountain. It therefore could be an enormous meteor or represent a nuclear bomb. A nuclear bomb exploded in the ocean could easily destroy many ships and kill a great deal of marine life, turning the water red with blood.
Futurists see the star called wormwood as symbolic of a political or religious leader misleading the people of the earth or viewed more literally as an actual heavenly body of some sort or a nuclear device contaminating the waters. One Futurist claims that the name for the Russian nuclear power plant Chernobyl, which experienced a meltdown, is the Russian word for wormwood and therefore sees in this a foreshadowing of what is prophesied in the Revelation.
Some Futurists see the darkening of the sun moon and stars as symbolic of judgement upon the political/religious powers of the revived Roman Empire. Some see the darkening due to nuclear warfare while others see direct interference by God in the normal operation of these heavenly bodies.
Like Preterists, most Futurist commentators agree that eagle and not angel is the proper translation in this passage. Futurists, however, do not view the eagle as representing Rome bringing judgement but simply as a messenger, possible the fourth living creature who is described as an eagle and is seen before the throne in chapter 4:7.
1-17: 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. From the tribe of Judah 12,000 were sealed, from the tribe of Reuben 12,000, from the tribe of Gad 12,000, from the tribe of Asher 12,000, from the tribe of Naphtali 12,000, from the tribe of Manasseh 12,000, from the tribe of Simeon 12,000, from the tribe of Levi 12,000, from the tribe of Issachar 12,000, from the tribe of Zebulun 12,000, from the tribe of Joseph 12,000, from the tribe of Benjamin 12,000. After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice: "Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb." All the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying: "Amen! Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God for ever and ever. Amen!" Then one of the elders asked me, "These in white robes--who are they, and where did they come from?" I answered, "Sir, you know." And he said, "These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore, "they are before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will spread his tent over them. Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst. The sun will not beat upon them, nor any scorching heat. For the lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; he will lead them to springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes."
The Futurist view:
Dispensational Premillennialists believe that the faithful of the Church will have been raptured before the sealing of the 144,000 and the great multitude. Those being sealed are those who turn to Christ during the great tribulation and are thus protected from the events associated with the seven last plagues. Other Futurists, who don’t hold to the rapture idea, believe those sealed are the faithful of the church and they will be supernaturally protected from the tribulation. All Futurists believe the 144,000 represent Jews who will be converted to Christ just prior to His return. The great multitude is felt to represent gentile converts or a combination of both Jewish and Gentile converts. Some Futurists believe these converts represent martyred Christians who come out of the great tribulation and are literally standing before the throne of God. Others believe the language relating to their status before God is symbolic and speaks of the Christians spiritual relationship with God after being converted.
The Preterist view:
Preterists see the sealing of the 144,000 and the great multitude as pertaining to God providing a way for the Christians to escape the city of Jerusalem and surrounding areas before the Roman invasion. Preterists point to what Christ said in the Olivet Discourse about seeing the abomination that causes desolation standing in the holy place being the signal to flee to the mountains. Preterists will show from both scriptural and secular history that this abomination standing in the holy place took place during the Roman/Jewish war. The historian Eusebius writes of the Jewish Christians being warned by a prophetic oracle to flee the city just before the Roman siege began. Historians show the Christians escaped to the city of Pella beyond the Jordan River.
Preterists also point out that the 144,000 could not pertain to Israelites becoming converted just prior to a yet future return of Christ. In Revelation 14:1-4, the 144,000 are identified as the firstfruits to God and the Lamb. Apostle James, in his letter addressed to the “twelve tribes scattered among the nations,” said, “He chose to give us birth through the word of truth that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created” (James 1:1, 18). James is addressing his contemporaries as the firstfruits. A reading of the New Testament scriptures clearly shows that the first converts to Christianity were from the tribes of Israel. Since the concept of firstfruits appears to be identified with those Israelites who became Christians in the first century, it would place the 144,000 in the first century. If the 144,000 are to first make their appearance in our future they could hardly be considered the “firstfruits.” They more appropriately would be labeled the last fruits.
Preterists, as do some Futurists, believe the language relating to the status before God of those sealed is symbolic and speaks of the Christians spiritual relationship with God after being converted.
Chapter 8:
1-13: When he opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and to them were given seven trumpets. Another angel, who had a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense to offer, with the prayers of all the saints, on the golden altar before the throne. The smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of the saints, went up before God from the angel's hand. Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and hurled it on the earth; and there came peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning and an earthquake. Then the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared to sound them. The first angel sounded his trumpet, and there came hail and fire mixed with blood, and it was hurled down upon the earth. A third of the earth was burned up, a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up. The second angel sounded his trumpet, and something like a huge mountain, all ablaze, was thrown into the sea. A third of the sea turned into blood, a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed. The third angel sounded his trumpet, and a great star, blazing like a torch, fell from the sky on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water-- the name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters turned bitter, and many people died from the waters that had become bitter. The fourth angel sounded his trumpet, and a third of the sun was struck, a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of them turned dark. A third of the day was without light, and also a third of the night. As I watched, I heard an eagle that was flying in midair call out in a loud voice: "Woe! Woe! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth, because of the trumpet blasts about to be sounded by the other three angels!"
The Preterist view:
Preterists view the representations associated with opening of the seventh seal as all pertaining to Gods judgement upon Israel which brought about the destruction of the temple and the downfall of Jerusalem along with much of Israel and communities of Jews living in various parts of the Empire. The prayers represented by incense are viewed as the prayers of first century persecuted Christians. The censer filled with coals of fire from the alter and hurled down to the earth is paralleled with the manner in which God instructed ancient Israel to take fire from the altar and burn a city against which God brought judgement. Preterists see judgement coming from the same censer that held prayers as indicative of Gods response to the prayers of the Christians for relief from the persecution leveled upon them by the Jews.
While Preterists view much of the wording associated with the seals as apocalyptic language so common in prophetic writing, they do see some parallels to what actually occurred. In reference to the trees and grass being burned up it’s noted that Josephus laments about how the Roman armies cut down all the trees and leveled the gardens outside the city of Jerusalem in order to have materials to build ramps to scale the walls of the city. Josephus wrote that the beautiful suburbs outside the walled city were laid waste due to the war (Wars, V1:1:1).
In reference to events associated with the second trumpet, Preterists point to Josephus writing about a battle that took place on the Sea of Galilee where many Jews were killed and the lake was full of blood, dead bodies and shipwrecks (Wars, 111:10:9).
As to the mountain burning with fire being thrown into the sea, Preterists see this as symbolic of Jerusalem known as Mount Zion being burned by the Romans as gentile nations are sometimes referred to as the sea.
The third trumpet speaks of a star called wormwood making the waters bitter. Wormwood is used by OT prophets in speaking of judgement upon Israel for failure to do Gods will (See Jeremiah 9:13-25 & 23:15, KJV). Preterists take note of wormwood in the OT pertaining to judgement upon Israel and view its use in the Revelation as pertaining to judgement upon Israel in the first century.
Reference to the sun, moon and stars turning dark is viewed as symbolic language describing the fall of Israel. This same type of language was used by Ezekiel in describing judgement brought upon Israel by Babylon (Ezekiel 32:7-11).
This chapter ends with an eagle flying through the air pronouncing a triple woe upon the inhabitants of the Earth. The Greek word translated “earth” is gee. It appears 252 times in the NT and can mean either earth or land. Context best determines how this word should be rendered. By context, it is often seen in the NT to refer to the land of Israel. Since Preterists view the Revelation as pertaining to the first century judgement upon Israel, Preterists feel that gee is better translated as land in the Revelation.
The word “eagle” in this passage is translated from the Greek word aetos. The KJV and NKJV of the scriptures use Greek manuscripts that have the Greek angelos in place of aetos and therefore render it as “angel.” Biblical scholars believe aetos to be the correct wording as it is found in most of the ancient manuscripts. This brings an interesting possibility relative to the Preterist view of the Revelation.
It is interesting to note from the writings of Josephus, that when the Romans burned the temple, they brought their ensigns to the temple area, set them up against the eastern gate and offered sacrifices to them. The Roman ensigns were eagles. In speaking of conditions extant at the time of His return, Christ said “Where there is a dead body, there the eagles (Greek aetos) will gather” (Luke 17:37). Some Preterists believe Christ is speaking metaphorically of the death of Old Covenant Israel at the hands of the Roman armies who are here represented by eagles. The reference in the Revelation to an eagle announcing three woes is seen as representative of the Romans involvement in the final destruction of the temple and the city. Preterists cite Jeremiah 4:13 and Hosea 8:1 as examples of God referring to eagles as representing judgement against Israel.
The Futurists view:
Futurists see the events associated with the seventh seal as representative of events yet to occur in our future. Some Futurists take a quite literal approach to what is written while others view what is written as symbolic. Futurists view use of the censer in the same way the Preterists do but believe it is Gods judgement upon the entire earth at the end of the church age in response to the prayers of the saints.
Many Futurists see the hail, fire and burning of grass and trees as literal events orchestrated by God. Some Futurists see all this as the result of nuclear warfare. The mountain falling into the sea is felt by some to be representative of a modern Babylon made up of a revived Roman Empire headed by the antichrist and a false religious system. This system is seen as thrown into the sea of nations and creating great havoc on the earth. Futurists point out that in Jeremiah 51:25, ancient Babylon is referred to as a “destroying mountain.” Some futurists point out that the Revelation speaks of “something like a huge mountain” and not an actual mountain. It therefore could be an enormous meteor or represent a nuclear bomb. A nuclear bomb exploded in the ocean could easily destroy many ships and kill a great deal of marine life, turning the water red with blood.
Futurists see the star called wormwood as symbolic of a political or religious leader misleading the people of the earth or viewed more literally as an actual heavenly body of some sort or a nuclear device contaminating the waters. One Futurist claims that the name for the Russian nuclear power plant Chernobyl, which experienced a meltdown, is the Russian word for wormwood and therefore sees in this a foreshadowing of what is prophesied in the Revelation.
Some Futurists see the darkening of the sun moon and stars as symbolic of judgement upon the political/religious powers of the revived Roman Empire. Some see the darkening due to nuclear warfare while others see direct interference by God in the normal operation of these heavenly bodies.
Like Preterists, most Futurist commentators agree that eagle and not angel is the proper translation in this passage. Futurists, however, do not view the eagle as representing Rome bringing judgement but simply as a messenger, possible the fourth living creature who is described as an eagle and is seen before the throne in chapter 4:7.
posted by Stacy at 10:22 PM
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