The Opening of the Seventh Seal (8:1) 8:1 And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour. This chapter opens with the announcement that the seventh seal is opened. This is the last of the seven seals marking the prophetic judgments of God. With the opening of the seventh seal the narrative is resumed from the close of chapter 6. Though simply introduced, the seventh seal is obviously the most important development up to this point. Containe...

The Sign of the Seven Angels with the Plagues (15:1-2) 15:1-2 And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvellous, seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath of God. And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God. Chapters 15 and 16 of Revelation bring to consummation the ch...

The Command to Pour out the Vials (16:1) 16:1 And I heard a great voice out of the temple saying to the seven angels, Go your ways, and pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth. The seven angels to whom were given the seven plagues symbolized in the seven vials are now commanded to pour out their divine judgment upon the earth. The voice is undoubtedly the voice of God which is described as coming out of the Temple and as being a “great” voice (Gr., megale„s), a word which o...

In the broad program of divine dealings with the Gentiles, the sovereignty of God over creation is revealed in an unusual way. Although God in His sovereign grace has allowed Gentiles to assume great power and in the words of Christ, “Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled” (Luke 21:24), the consummation of this program inevitably brings the Gentiles before God for much-deserved divine judgment. The history of the world has demonstrated...

The Certainty of Divine Judgments The subject before us is a very serious one and also a comprehensive one from a doctrinal standpoint. The Scriptures tell us plainly in Hebrews 9:27 that “it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.” This means that every soul anywhere in all the world, past, present, or future—every human being who has ever walked the face of the earth—some day will stand before a holy, omniscient, all-powerful God who will judge according ...

The Resurrection at the Second Advent One of the major revelations concerning the second coming of Christ is the prediction of the resurrections which will take place at that time. According to Revelation 20:4-6, the event described as the “first resurrection” takes place immediately after the second coming. The Apostle John records the vision in the following words: “And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that had ...

[President and Professor of Systematic Theology, Dallas Theological Seminary, Editor, Bibliotheca Sacra.] Denial Of Imminency Taking advantage of the fact that the word imminent is not a scriptural word, but an induction from scriptural facts, Robert Gundry attempts to deny the imminency of the rapture by redefining the term. The word imminent, of course, is not used in Scripture, but has normally been considered to represent the view that the rapture could occur at any time. Even some...

[President and Professor of Systematic Theology, Dallas Theological Seminary, Editor, Bibliotheca Sacra.] [EDITOR’S NOTE: This series, begun in Bibliotheca Sacra with the January-March, 1975 issue, is now published in book form under the title The Blessed Hope and the Tribulation (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1976). This article is adapted from chapter 9 in the book. The series will continue through the January-March 1978 issue.] The relationship of 1 Thessalonians 5 to th...