In verse 9, John sees the fifth of seven seals on a great book opened. The image he sees is of a myriad of souls of those who were slain for the gospel (good news) of Jesus under the altar. This is a reminder that those who lived and died for Jesus are safe. John is told that more tribulations must happen before they can be avenged.

The sixth seal, in verse 12, is opened and there is a sequence of natural disasters. First is a great earthquake, followed by a darkening of the sun and moon, then followed by a hail of fiery rocks (stars) falling from space. Here, as is common with any discussion of prophesy, we ned to refer back to another section of the Bible that ties in with these predictions. In Matthew 24:15 and Mark 13:14 Jesus warns that when we see the "abomination of desolation" standing in the inner temple of Jerusalem, the "holy of holies", to flee from Judea. He continues, saying that this will begin the great tribulations of the world. In both books, Jesus starts out the explanation by refering to a major calamity (see The Warnings of Jesus). This calamity is the great earthquake that John saw. I do not expect you to take my word for this; As we continue, the fact that both timelines refer to the same time period will become evident.

Jesus continues his prophesy, refering to a darkening of the sun and moon, the same as John saw. These, according to Jesus, will happen immediately after the tribulation of the earthquake. Now, observation has shown that volcanic activity can easily release enough soot into the air to blot out the sun, and knowing that volcanic activity and earthquakes go together, it is logical to presume that the darkening of the sun and moon are caused by the earthquake and associated volcanic activity. Immediately after this, we see the falling of the stars to earth, a very convincing analogy to a major meteor shower. Science has just recently begun to look for asteroids that are near the earth's orbit, and are finding an alarming number. It is not a very long reach of the imagination to suppose that the orbit of the earth could take it through an asteroid field large enough to cause severe devastation on the planet.

The next occurance is the sign of Jesus in the heavens. Referring to Revelation Chapter 7, John sees four angels holding the four winds so they do not blow. This is another consequence of the massive earthquake and volcanic activity. All weather is created by the uneven warming of the earth - take away the sunlight and weather will cease to change day-to-day. Here we have a period in which the sun cannot be seen, cities are in ruins, massive numbers of people are dead (presumably), and the only thing you can see outside is a dark black sky. There is no breeze, only stillness and ruin. But this is only the beginning. The angels are instructed to "hurt not the earth" until the 144,000 can be gathered. Here we need to introduce not one, but two new areas of prophesy that mirror these predictions. The first is in Revelation Chapter 13.

Here John is seeing a new vision, one which starts at the beginning of the world. He sees a symbolic vision of Satan's temptation of Adam and Eve, as well as the story of how all evil in the world came from that one sin. In Chapter 13, he begins to see again the beast with seven heads and ten horns. The details mimic the other predictions for this terrible nation (see The 4 Horsemen), but then extend the prior prophesies. The beast will overthrow the earth, and all who are not true believers will worship it. The next part of the vision concerns a second beast, having all of the authority of the first, but looking like a lamb. As a rule of thumb, any time the Bible begins referring to a lamb, look for a reference to Jesus, God's sacrificial Lamb. Here, the second beast is not a lamb but looks like one. This is the Antichrist.

This is a good point for a little more modern interpretation. "Christ" is not interpreted in the King James version of the Bible - it is the original Greek word. The interpreters apparently were unable to properly interpret it, so it was left as-is. Christ is not Jesus' last name. It means the same as "messiah" in Hebrew, or roughly is analous to "Savior". It refers to one who was foretold to come who would have the Annointing of God on him. Now, the Annointing was not available to anyone who wanted it in the Old Testament, because of Adam's sin. Once sin entered man, he was unable to interact directly with God, for His presence would have killed man. The only just way around this was to send a perfect man, one who did not inherit the sin of Adam, to pay the price for Adam's sin. Jesus took that role, being concieved of a virgin, and paid for Adam's sin. His resurrection was due to the fact that he was the Word in human form and was unjustly killed. Thus, God was left able to resurrect Him, at the same time wiping out the sins of mankind. "Christ" refers to Jesus the Savior, but also refers to His Annointing from God. Hence "Antichrist" refers to the opposite - one annointed by Satan and sent to destroy mankind rather than save it.

This is the second beast - the one that looks like a lamb. His appearance is a disguise intended to decieve as many as possible into worshipping him and therefore Satan. This is, after all, Satan's ultimate goal - for man to worship him. That is why he was thrown out of Heaven - for trying to be as God Himself. The verses mentioned indicate that the "abomination of desolation" is actually a graven image of Satan. Remember that Satan is not ugly, nor does he have two horns and carry a pitchfork. No, Satan was the most beautiful of all the angels, and he could (and probably will) use that fact to convince the masses to worship his image. Humanity has a habit of equating "good" with "beautiful", a habit that will eventually destroy many.

Referring baak to Revelation 13, it is here that John sees the "mark of the beast", a mark or indicator on each person's forehead or right palm. This is not a social security number! Social security is a United States program - the mark of the beast may be similar, but it will be world-wide. This will also probably be some form of monetary policy, as John states that "no man might buy or sell" unless he has the mark or the number of his name. This indicates some sort of electronic ID, as numbers are usually used as passwords. The concept is alarmingly similar to the use of credit cards or "smart" cards today. This is not intended to scare you out of using either device - they are not (yet) he mark of the beast. I only wish to point out that the technology exists now for a global monetary policy, even if the political climate does not.

Beginning in Revelation Chapter 14, John here sees again the 144,000 standing with Jesus. This ties us back into our original discussion of the sixth seal. The second line that needs to be considered at this time begins in Revelation Chapter 19. Here, in Verse 11, John again sees Heaven opened, and he sees a white horse (not the same one that appears in the first seal) with it's rider named "Faithful and True". This is a clear reference to Jesus, and His armies (Verse 14) are clothed in fine linen, as are the 144,000 elect spoken of earlier. We now have three visions of the same time period, and as yu will see, they all agree on the type and sequence of events to come. Rememvber, these events will happen; The question is when, not if. If you want to know more about how you can be ready when they come, may I suggest Trinity Broadcasting, Kenneth Copeland Ministries, or Christ for all Nations. Any one of these, or any of the links in these pages, will be happy to help you protect yourself against the terrors to come.

The Warnings of Jesus
The Four Horsemen
The Mark of the Beast
Who Is the Anti-Christ?
Hell Does Not Exist
The End of the World
Nostradamus
Minor Prophets

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