Revelation Class #26 - The Seventh Angel

       We are now up to Chapter 10 in Revelation. You may remember from last week's section at the end of Chapter 9 we said that we don't really understand what these horses are. There are a lot of different theories. These horses with heads like lions and out of their mouths proceed fire, smoke and brimstone. One theologian has said the fire, smoke and brimstone represent war, famine and death. Another one said no, it's the colors red, blue and yellow which represent the colors of the Babylonians as their army came in. But I said at the end that the important thing to realize here is in verse 20.

       Revelation 9:20 And the rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, so as not to worship demons, and the idols of gold and of silver and of brass and of stone and of wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk; (21) and they did not repent of their murders nor of their sorceries nor of their immorality nor of their thefts.

       What we need to understand here is these are not plagues against Christians. There is a lot of stuff in the world today about how we're going to have to endure all this tribulation at the end times. Even if you believe that Revelation is futuristic, what's important to understand here is no one with the mark of God, (remember back in the first part of the chapter it says the locusts with the power of  scorpions were told they should not hurt the grass of the earth nor any green thing, nor any tree, but only the men who do not have the seal of God on their forehead.) So these plagues, whatever they are, no matter what you believe, are only against the ungodly. Those who do not have the mark of God. In spite of this, they did not repent. That's repeated twice, verse 20 and 21. they did not repent of their idolatrous worship and they did not repent of their wicked deeds.

Q: If the rest of mankind did not repent, where were the Christians?

A: It doesn't say, does it? You can look at it a couple of different way. The Christians have already repented. They are already marked with the seal of God remember. They have already repented. So these are the ungodly that are being talked about. So the rest of mankind who are not saved, did not repent.

         Revelation 10:1 And I saw another strong angel coming down out of heaven, clothed with a cloud; and the rainbow was upon his head, and his face was like the sun, and his feet like pillars of fire; (2) and he had in his hand a little book which was open. And he placed his right foot on the sea and his left on the land; (3) and he cried out with a loud voice, as when a lion roars; and when he cried out, the seven peals of thunder uttered their voices. (4) And when the seven peals of thunder had spoken, I was about to write; and I heard a voice from heaven saying, "Seal up the things which the seven peals of thunder have spoken, and do not write them" (5) And the angel whom I saw standing on the sea and on the land lifted up his right hand to heaven, (6) and swore by Him who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and the things in it, and the earth and the things in it, and the sea and the things in it, that there shall be delay no longer, (7) but in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, then the mystery of God is finished, as He preached to His servants the prophets.

       Who or what is the other strong angel? Another strong angel? Who do you think this angel is? It's got to be Jesus. There's no doubt, or shouldn't be any doubt, in anybody's mind. He's clothed with a cloud. How do we see God represented in the Old Testament when He was leading Israel out of bondage, out of sin and darkness and into the promised land? How do we see God pictured? Clothed with a cloud. The Shekinah glory cloud. That's what is being represented here, I believe. John is referring back to the Old Testament and the Jews would have understood that.

Q: Are there other verses in other books of the Bible that point out Jesus as being an angel?

A: Yes, absolutely. Throughout the Old Testament you consistently see this "theophany," this appearance of God. The "Malach Yahweh" it is called. The Angel of the Lord. When God appeared to man, if you remember Lot, when the three appeared to him, one of them was the Malach Yahweh, the angel of the Lord. Very clearly that is God. When you look at the verses in the Old Testament, it says this Malach Yahweh appeared and Yahweh said... So it's very, very clear that is God in human form speaking to man. You see that over and over again throughout the Old Testament. So yes, remember "angel" simply means messenger. So he was a messenger of God, and Jesus is a messenger of God. He is the final messenger.

Comment: In the Old Testament there were angels in Daniel, for instance. Daniel tried to worship the angel and he said no, don't worship me, I'm just like you.

       We see that in Revelation, we see that the angel of Yahweh, the Malach Yahweh, accepted worship. Just as Jesus accepted worship. Jesus did not ever say to anybody do not worship me. When they fell down and worshipped him, he accepted the worship because he is God, and he is the only one worthy of worship.

Q: So when we read these verses in the Old Testament, is the word that they're using a different word for angel?

A: No. In Hebrew it's Malach, which means messenger. In Greek, the word is angelos, which means messenger. We translate it angel. We translate both of them angel. It simply means messenger.

Q: What I'm trying to get at here is, it does say that God created all the angels. So I'm thinking, well did God create Jesus?

A: No.

Q: I know that. But how do I interpret when they talk about the angel as being Jesus, how do I know that it's Jesus if they're using the same Hebrew or Greek word? What's the distinction there?

A: Again, it's context, context, context. The created angels don't accept worship. The angel of Yahweh does. The angel of each of the seven churches in Revelation is a messenger, it is probably the pastor, as I believe. It is the one who brings the message of God.

       The angel who wrestled with Jacob was a preincarnate Christ.

Comment: There is one of those situations where they offer a sacrifice and the angel consumed it...

Response: I'm not familiar with that, but I'll look it up later. There are times in the Old Testament where there was a sacrifice and fire came down from heaven and consumed the sacrifice. That's what you see in the Old Testament tabernacle when they first started the sacrificial system. They put the pieces of the sacrifice on the altar, and fire came down from heaven and burned up the sacrifice. Remember that was holy fire, they had to keep that fire burning. Then that fire was used whenever they would go in and put a city under the ban. When a city was "corban". They didn't just start a fire and burn the city down. They actually took coals from the altar; the fire of God's judgment, and went in and burned down that city. God very clearly said to use only fire from the altar.

Comment: That's a good point to remember because what they're doing is so awesome. They're offering up all of Jericho.

Response: Absolutely. Everything in Jericho was set aside, was "corban", it was dedicated to God. It was to be sacrificed to God. They were God's hosts. That's exactly what it says. They were God's judgmental army. Just as we as Christians are God's judgmental army. We don't think about that very often, but we will sit in judgment of the ungodly, because we are part of the host of God. Do not say in your heart that Yahweh your God has driven them out before you because of my righteousness Yahweh has brought me into possess this land, but it is because of the wickedness of these nations that Yahweh is dispossessing them before you. What we see is that they are God's judgment against the ungodly. It's not because of their righteousness, they have been chosen by God to bring light into the darkness, to bring judgment against the ungodly. Just as Christians have been chosen by God to bring light into the darkness, to bring judgment against the ungodly.

Q: My first question is, so this is the seventh angel?

A: No. This is another strong angel.

Q: So there's a seventh angel?

A: Right.

Q: It says "another strong angel" which seems to connect them to the six previous ones.

A: A lot of people believe that this is the seventh angel. But it's a different angel. John very clearly says "I saw another strong angel..." In chapter 8 v2 he says "And I saw the seven angels who stand before God; and seven trumpets were given to them." and he goes through and the angels are all sounding..."

Q: This angel isn't part of that seven?

A: No. This angel is a different one. Another strong one. A distinction. He's not the seventh angel. We know that because of what it says about him. He is "clothed with a cloud; and the rainbow was upon his head" we see that in Ezekiel 1, we see that in Exodus 14, we see that in Revelation 1.

In Judges 6:8 where it says "Yahweh (the Lord) sent a prophet to the sons of Israel, and he said to them... and then in v11 Then the Malach Yahweh (angel of the Lord) came and sat under the oak... and in v12 The Malach Yahweh (angel of the Lord) appeared to Gideon and said Yahweh is with you... (13) Then Gideon said to him, "O my lord, if Yahweh is with us, why then has all this happened to us?" v14 is the important one - And Yahweh looked at him and said "Go in this your strength and deliver Israel from the hand of Midian. Have I not sent you?"

       Very clearly there the messenger of Yahweh, this is the Malach Yahweh, the angel of the Lord. In the verse there he said "And Yahweh said to Gideon...." Very clearly this is the angel of the Lord. So the angel of the Lord, the Malach Yahweh, is Yahweh. It is an incarnation of God himself.

       10:1 ...clothed with a cloud and the rainbow was upon his head, and his face was like the sun, and his feet like pillars of fire; Chilton points out that that description is very much like what we see in Exodus. Here was God standing before the Israelites and what did they see for forty years? Pillar of cloud, pillar of fire. Two pillars, not one. M.G. Kline did a very exhaustive study on the images of the spirit where he proves, I think almost conclusively, that there was not one cloud. There were two pillars coming out of this cloud and that represented the legs, the feet of God standing upon the Earth. So that's what we see here. ...his feet like pillars of fire; Those who understood that's what the Israelites saw in the desert, when they read this they would know it was God. They knew what was being talked about here.

Comment: I read somewhere that his feet on the ocean and his feet on the land represent dominion over the whole earth.

Absolute dominion!  Let me digress just a moment here... What are the three functions, if you will, of Jesus Christ? What are the three positions that he fills? Prophet, priest and king. Now turn back to Revelation 7:1 After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth... (v2) And I saw another angel (in addition to the four) ascending from the rising of the sun, having the seal of the living God; and he cried out with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was granted to harm the earth and the sea, (3) saying "Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees, until we have sealed the bond-servants of our God on their foreheads." What is this angel functioning as? Thinking back to Ezekiel 9 where God says to this man in the white linen, go out and place the cross on the forehead of those whom God would save... Who was that man in the white linen? What was he functioning as? He was functioning as a prophet. He was going out and telling people about Jesus Christ. Look at Revelation 8:2-5 And I saw the seven angels who stand before God; and seven trumpets were given to them. (3) And another angel (not one of the seven) came and stood at the altar, holding a golden censer; and much incense was given to him... What is he functioning as? A priest. That's what the priests did. He took the censer, he took the incense and put it on the golden altar. He was the one who trimmed the lamps and burned the incense representing the prayers of the saints going up before God.

       So we see another angel acting as prophet, another angel acting as priest and in chapter 10, we see another angel acting as king. His feet on the land, his feet on the sea...absolute dominion over the world. No doubt about it. All three of them are Jesus Christ. Absolute subjection. In Psalm 110:1 this absolute subjection of Jesus Christ over the whole world.

       10:2 and he had in his hand a little book which was open. And he placed his right foot on the sea and his left on the land; (3) and he cried out with a loud voice, as when a lion roars; Chilton says this is another indication of who this was. Why would this angel speak like a lion. Does that ring any bells with anybody? He's the lion of Judah. Jesus Christ was the lion of Judah. So if you're steeped in that Old Testament tradition, you read this, there wasn't any doubt in the minds of John's readers John was talking about here. There is only a doubt in our minds because we don't have the Old Testament background; because we've been bombarded with all of this other stuff all of our Christian lives. That's where C.S. Lewis got his concept of the lion in the Chronicles of Narnia. The lion was Christ.

       10:4 And when the seven peals of thunder had spoken, I was about to write; and I heard a voice from heaven saying, "Seal up the things which the seven peals of thunder have spoken, and do not write them." Why in the world does Jesus tell John don't write what you heard? Didn't he tell him before to write down these things? We don't know why. It doesn't say. It may be, as Chilton and others point out, that even though this judgment upon Jerusalem which is coming up in Chapter 11, even though this judgment upon the ungodly church and ungodly state is so terrible, there are other things that are not to be revealed to us in this life.

Q: What do you think of thunder being personified in speaking?

A: When you look back to Mt. Sinai, what did the people hear when God spoke? When God spoke to them from the mountain.... Thunder! This incredible, shrieking trumpet, blowing wind, rushing water sound. Chilton believes that it was the sound of angels wings beating; those angels within the Shekinah Glory cloud...thunder. They were hearing God's voice and they thought of it as thunder. That was the closest thing they could think of. They didn't want to hear it! They told Moses to go talk to him. I pointed out at the beginning of this class that this sound is of God coming in judgment. When you look in Genesis after Adam and Eve sinned and they heard God walking (as it says in Hebrew) in the wind of the day, not the cool of the day, that's an interpretation. They ran and hid. Why did they run and hide? What you have here is this incredible shrieking trumpet, horrible sound of God coming in judgment. That's why they ran and hid. They didn't want to hear God. You see that throughout the Bible. This rushing wind, this sound of angels wings. As Chilton points out, probably this glory cloud is actually made up of the angels surrounding the throne and it's their wings that people are hearing beating forming this incredible cloud. It's mind boggling! I think what we're hearing here, the seven peals of thunder, is the voice of God. God is saying something to John that John is not supposed to reveal to us. That is only revealed for those who have a vision of heaven, or for those who are in heaven. So John was being shown something here that he was not to write down and reveal to us.

       Remember we're talking apocalyptic literature here, we're talking visions. What we tend to do is take things literally. If we take things literally from Revelation, we're going to wind up in trouble. When it says a third of mankind was killed, was an actual 33 1/3% killed? No. It just represents a portion. Because what you see are sevens, a seventh of this or a third of this, so we have to look at the overall thing here. I can't explain that really well. I can't pin that down because we tend to think in very distinct terms. This is clearly a vision.

Comment: It's too mind boggling for us and God realizes that.

       Yes. When he sees the angel, are his feet really like pillars of fire? Are there flames there? No. What he is seeing is the glory of Jesus Christ. He's not actually standing on the land and on the water. There's not a pillar of fire there. I think he's seeing a vision and he's describing that vision and what it means for that angel to have his feet planted on the land and on the sea means absolute dominion over the world. But he's not physically standing there. It's a representation of his absolute dominion.

       Why seven peals of thunder? I think it's the voice of God speaking. I think it has to do with the completeness - seven being a complete number.

Q: How come we can take the fact that the men are killed literally but not take the 1/3 part literally?

A: Because it's talking about God's judgment upon them. Did John see an angel with wings and a cloud wrapped around him, as it says in verse 1? I don't think he did. I think we tend to think that way, but I think what John is describing here is the messenger of God coming down out of heaven, clothed with the glory cloud. His majesty. His awsomeness. I can't imagine thinking in terms of this winged being with a cloud wrapped around his shoulders. There are people that think that way. I think this language is symbolic. I think it is designed to make people think about God in the Old Testament dwelling in the glory cloud.

       The question here is, when we read that 1/3 of mankind was killed, if there are one thousand men, we expect 333 1/3 to die. We are that literal in our interpretation. We have been bombarded with statistics. How many children do families have? 2.1 How do you have .1 child? See, we have this very literal scientific legalistic interpretation. That is not what's going on here in Revelation. This language is designed to bring to mind things from the Old Testament that the Christians of that time with a Jewish background would have understood, because they understood the Old Testament language.

(Discussion of pharaoh’s dreams..... barely audible)

Q: Why is Revelation in the language it's in?

A: Who was John writing to? Christians. What kind of Christians? Jewish Christians. Christians who had been raised with the Old Testament. They had been taught the Old Testament from the time they could understand. They could quote you large sections of the Old Testament. They didn't have the New Testament. It was just in the beginning stages. Most of the New Testament was complete by the time John was writing this, but they didn't have printing presses, so there wasn't a whole lot of them around. But they had been raised with the Old Testament scriptures. They knew about God in the Shekinah glory cloud. They knew that was the throne room of God. They knew there were two pillars there. That God was standing upon the earth and that represented absolute subjection. They knew that God spoke with peals of thunder and lots of shrieking trumpet sounds, because that had been drilled into them over, and over, and over again. So when John writes this stuff, that's exactly what they would have thought about.

       Revelation 10:5 And the angel whom I saw standing on the sea and on the land lifted up his right hand to heaven, (6) and swore by Him who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and the things in it, and the earth and the things in it, and the sea and the things in it, that there shall be delay no longer,

       Some commentators say, 'see there, it can't possibly be Jesus Christ.' Why? He swore to Him who lives forever and ever. The Lord swears by himself. Why does God swear by himself? There's nothing higher! Why would I say, I swear to you in the name of Richard, that I'm going to preach a good sermon next Sunday? He is the faithful One. Amen! To swear by anything other than by God, is less than adequate. Jesus says if you're going to swear, don't swear by the gold of the temple, don't swear by the temple, don't swear by anything in the temple, swear by God. If you're going to swear or make an oath. What happens when we have a marriage ceremony? Dearly beloved we are gathered here today in the presence of God and this company, to swear this oath. What happens when we become members of the church? We're taking an oath. I promise to do these five things. But we have to remember, as the Westminster Confession of Faith says, don't take an oath lightly. But if you do take an oath, you better do it, because that oath is to God. So we see here God swearing by himself because there is no other.

       10:7 but in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, then the mystery of God is finished, as He preached to His servants the prophets.

       "When he is about to sound, then the mystery of God is finished," When did the seventh angel sound? When Jesus died for us. Revelation 11:15 And the seventh angel sounded; and there arose loud voices in heaven, saying, "The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord, and of His Christ; and He will reign forever and ever." When will that happen? Look at Daniel chapter 2 where it talks about the dream of Nebuchednezzar – the head of gold, the breast of silver, the feet and legs of clay and iron. He says in the interpretation of that dream v44 "And in the days of those kings (the kings are the feet, part of clay, part of iron) the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed, The kingdom of God was set up during the Roman empire. That's made more explicit in Daniel's vision in Daniel 7:13 I kept looking in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven one like a Son of Man was coming, and He came up to the Ancient of Days and was presented before Him. Who is he talking about here? He's talking about Jesus. (14) And to Him  (Jesus) was given dominion, Glory and a kingdom, that all the peoples, nations, and men of every language might serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which will not pass away; and His kingdom is one which will not be destroyed.

Q: When was the kingdom actually initiated?

A: In every gospel you find Jesus talking about when the kingdom of God comes and the very next thing that you find in every one of the gospels is the Mount of Transfiguration. Eight days later they went up to the mount and Jesus was transfigured. So I think very clearly that that was when he actually received the kingdom. God glorified him. God transfigured him in front of the apostles, and that the kingdom was from then on.

Q: I'm curious, what do the dispensationalists think when they see "His kingdom will not be destroyed"?

A: The dispensationalist believes that the kingdom is not yet set up. That it is future. But very clearly, in Daniel 2 and 7 the kingdom was set up in the days of the Roman empire. I think very clearly the dispensationalists are wrong. When you look at the dispensational theme of things it simply doesn't work. Jay Adams in his book The Time Is At Hand talks about dispensational dipolopia, or double vision. That if you accept what they are teaching, you wind up with two resurrections, two judgments, two of these, two of that. Because, when you look at Scripture, it's very clear that things happen a certain way. So if you don't believe that the kingdom is already established, you have to set up two of everything in order to agree with what Scripture is saying.

       That goes for the dispensationalists. The historic premillennial is biblical. We have historic premillennials even in our own presbytery, pastors that believe that.

Q: Would the historic premillennial believe in a general resurrection?

A: Yes. The general resurrection is in fact biblical. The resurrection of the dead, of the wicked to punishment and the resurrection of the righteous to eternal reward.

Q: The thousand year reign of Christ?

A: Yes, they do.

Q: The saints aren't resurrected first before the millennium?

A: No. That's the difference. The historic premillennial believes biblically that the saints are resurrected at the same time as the ungodly and there is a judgment and there is a heaven.

10:7 but in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, then the mystery of God is finished, as He preached to His servants the prophets. (15) And the seventh angel sounded; and there arose loud voices in heaven, saying, "The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord, and of His Christ; and He will reign forever and ever."

       So the seventh angel sounded in the days of the Roman empire, when Christ's kingdom came into being and it was in those days then the mystery of God is finished, as He preached to His servants the prophets.  In Amos 3: 7 Surely the Lord God does nothing unless He reveals His secret counsel to His servants the prophets. Who are His prophets? Preachers. Those who prophesy, those who explain the gospel of Jesus Christ. In the Old Testament, as I said before, there were prophets who were called specifically by God. They were given a vision of the heavenly council chamber. They were given a specific word of God to specific people and they went out and did that. They were ordained. They were set apart. They had the official stamp of God on them as prophets. They were an office of prophet. In the New Testament, there is no office of prophet, why? Because Jesus Christ was the final prophet. In Hebrews 1:1 God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, (2) in these last days he has spoken to us in His Son... You see Jesus was the final prophesy in which the mystery of God was revealed. That's exactly what John is saying here. then (in the days of Jesus Christ) the mystery of God is finished...

Q: In 1 Corinthians Paul says you should desire prophecy.

A: The gifts - you should desire to speak in tongues, but desire prophecy more. Desire the ability to explain the scriptures to people because it is the word of God that saves people, it's not tongues.

There were prophets in the days of Jesus, they were called by Jesus himself. They were confirmed of God in that prophetic office. But after the apostles, we believe in the reformed tradition, there were no apostles. So when I'm driving down the road and listening to the religious station and I hear someone say 'This is apostle so and so. I've been called of God to give you the word.' I'm going, 'Oh my Lord!' Because he doesn't understand what the Bible really says.

       Romans 16:25-26 Paul talks about this mystery. Paul says (25)Now to Him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery which has been kept secret for long angels past, (26) but now is manifested...

       You see there is no more mystery of God. The mysterion, the mystery is not mystery in the sense of we don't know who did it. The mysterion, the mystery of God has been revealed. It was something that was secret in the past, but now has been revealed.

       (26) ... now is manifested and by the Scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the eternal God, has been made known to all the nations,...

       How is the mystery of God revealed to people. Through Jesus and by Scripture. You want to know about God? Read the Word. It's simple as that.

Q: Didn't the apostles write the New Testament?

A: Right. How many apostles were there? There were at least 17. They are named in Scripture and there are probably more that are not called apostles in Scripture.

Q: So you're saying Luke was an apostle?

A: I think Luke very probably was an apostle. He certainly met all of the requirements of an apostle. He is explaining Scripture - he is prophesying in that sense. Romans 16:7-Andronicus and Junias were apostles. 1 Cor 4:6-11-Appollos was an apostle. Philippians 2:25 Epaphroditus, 1 Thessalonians 1:1 and 1:6-Silvanus and Timothy. So we have the original 11, Barnabus who was called to replace Judas, that's 12. Paul was 13, so adding these we have 19 that we know were apostles. We tend to think of the twelve. But they were distinct, they were separate. They were a group.

Q: Who were they called by?

A: They were called by God through Jesus Christ. An apostle in the Old Testament sense was someone who had a vision of the throne room of God, who was given a specific commandment by God to bring a specific word to a specific people. He had a direct commission from God. Did the apostles have a direct commission from God? You betcha. Did Paul have a direct commission from God? You betcha.

Q: So even the books that we aren't sure of the author?

A: Yes. I think there is very good evidence that Paul wrote Hebrews. 

Q: Was it common knowledge, or was it the church always accepted Hebrews was written by Paul?

A: Absolutely. Even though it doesn't say, even though some things are different about the way Paul wrote, it very clearly is biblical and very clearly professes to be part of the word of God. 

Q: Was Luke writing on behalf of Peter and was Peter overseeing it?

A: I don't know and I don't think that's necessary. I think very clearly Luke in Acts is part of Scripture. The church has accepted it as part of Scripture. It professes to be part of Scripture. I don't have a problem with Luke not being named an apostle in Scripture because I know that there were more than 12 apostles. I know that there were at least 19 named in Scripture and there were probably more. These were men who were called of God, Jesus Christ, who went out and spread the word and were given a direct commission by Jesus Christ. We don't really know how many there were