Opening the Seventh Seal
READ D&C 88:92-93 and TPJS 319:2
“Judah must return, Jerusalem must be
rebuilt, and the temple, and water come out from under the temple, and the
waters of the Dead Sea be healed. It will take some time to rebuild the walls
of the city and the temple, &c.; and all this must be done before the Son
of Man will make His appearance. There will be wars and rumors of wars, signs
in the heavens above and on the earth beneath, the sun turned into darkness and
the moon to blood, earthquakes in divers places, the seas heaving beyond their
bounds; then will appear one grand sign of the Son of Man in heaven. But what
will the world do? They will say it is a planet, a comet, etc. But the Son of
Man will come as the sign of the coming of the Son of Man, which will be as the
light of the morning cometh out of the east.”
What
event marks the opening of the Seventh Seal?
The Great Sign of the Coming of the Son
of Man (see also Matthew 24:37-38, JST).
What
is the great sign in heaven of the coming of the Son of Man?
It is Christ
Himself, coming with His entourage in glory from the presence of God, through
the portal from Heaven to Earth.
READ Revelation 8:1 and D&C 88:95
What
might be the cause of a “silence in the heavens”?
A dramatic silence – the calm before the
storm.
A silence of pain – depression and
despair at what is happening on the earth.
A silence of withdrawal – the Lord has
nothing more to say – He removes Himself to see if they will repent but all
humanity except Zion continues to descend into darkness without His Spirit (see
D&C 43:24-25).
What
does a “half hour” symbolize?
A short time.
After the sign of the coming of the Son
of Man, we don’t have much time left to repent.
But luckily “short time” can be relative
– in the BoM, the Nephites had 34 years to repent from the sign of Christ’s
birth to the destruction of their society at His death.
READ Revelation 8:3-4
What
does the smoke represent?
The prayers of the Saints ascending to
God.
Prayers asking for deliverance from the
tribulations.
Prayers asking for deliverance from
enemies.
Prayers asking for the coming of the Son
of Man, as per the Sign of His Coming – the hosannah shout or pleading prayer:
God come to us now – please save us now.
READ Revelation 8:6
Why
are trumpets usually sounded?
To announce something important – like a
king coming.
In this case, it is to announce the
coming of the plagues or tribulations that will cause the final destruction of
the wicked.
And to announce the coming of Christ.
READ Revelation 8:12-13
What
might the “third part” represent?
A part – significant but not a majority.
Could be a symbol of the Telestial or
fallen - those who follow or are trapped by Satan – similar to the third part
of the host of heaven who followed him (see also D&C 76:102).
What
does a “three times woe” mean?
It is a final judgement.
There is no coming back from it – no more
chances for repentance – it is a sealing up to destruction.
Out of the Bottomless Pit
READ Revelation 9:1-4
Who
is the “star” which fell from Heaven with the key to the bottomless pit?
Lucifer (see Luke 10:18).
What
does the “bottomless pit” symbolize?
Hell and the evil spirits who dwell there.
The worst tendencies of the carnal,
sensual and devilish natural man on earth.
Why
does Lucifer release smoke from the pit?
To obscure our vision.
To veil the world in darkness – smoke
shuts out the light of the sun and blinds our eyes (see Moses 7:26, 1 Nephi
8:23 and 1 Nephi 12:17).
Hate, contention, greed, pride, revenge,
and tradition are all sources of “smoke”.
What
are the locusts that come out of the smoke?
Armies going to war.
Like orcs from The Lord of the Rings, the
image of locust warriors is unnatural, vicious, savage, strong, cunning,
relentless, never ending – inhuman or part animal (see also Joel 1:4, 2:3-9).
They will fight in “seasons” (i.e. 5
months of “locust season”) – the fighting will have times of rest, but not
necessarily peace – the war is coming back until it is finally resolved.
And Satan is their King – the angel with
the key – Adaddon and Apollyon both mean “destroyer”.
READ Joel 2:1-17, 21-23, 27-32
How
does Joel say we should deal with these plagues of war?
Turn to the Lord – cry unto Him – beg for
deliverance.
Offer a broken heart and contrite spirit
– repent.
He does not say we should take up arms
ourselves.
READ Revelation 9:20-21
What
is the advantage of worshipping a God without ears or eyes?
We don’t have to answer to them – they
won’t judge us or destroy us for disobedience because they don’t see or hear
what is really going on.
They are like the Wizard in the Wizard of
Oz – we can control them and get others to comply to our will, in the name of
the “god” we manipulate.
They are not a real or living God.
The Seven Thunders
READ Revelation 10:1-2 and D&C 88:12
What
does Michael’s (the mighty angel) standing on land and sea represent?
Putting all things under his feet –
conquering the elements and earth.
READ Revelation 10:3-7 and D&C
88:96-107
What
did the “seven thunders” say, which John sealed up?
First four thunders/voices/trumpets =
announce the resurrections of the Celestial, Terrestrial, Telestial, and Outer
Darkness inheritors, respectively.
Fifth = bow the knee and confess that
Jesus is the Christ.
Sixth = Satan’s grip and his apostasy
from light/intelligence/truth is broken.
Seventh = It is finished; the Lord has
overcome the World.
READ Revelation 10:10-11 and D&C
77:14
What
does the “little book” that John “eats” represent?
His ministry as a translated being on the
Earth to gather the tribes of Israel in the last days.
To prepare a people able to stand during
the Second Coming.
To restore “all things” to enable this to
happen.
Sweet = the few who receive his (John’s –
really Christ’s) words.
Bitter = the many who reject the message
in what seems like a fruitless ministry to the “called” who refuse to be
“chosen” (see also Ezekiel 2:7-3:3 and Jeremiah 15:15-20).
Also, there is a polarity between light
and dark – to understand and appreciate the light, you have to experience the
same amount of darkness or you will not get the whole context of the light and
misunderstand it.
The Two Witnesses in Jerusalem
READ Revelation 11:1-2
Why
would the Lord ask the angel to measure the Temple of God and the people who
worship there?
He is “taking the measure of” or
assessing the faithfulness of those who call themselves His Saints and their
relationship to a living God who can actually come to His temple (see also
Daniel 5:27).
What
is the significance of 42 months?
42 months = 3.5 years (see also
Revelation 12:14, where “a time” = one year); it’s not necessarily a literal
number, though, because it symbolizes an incomplete or imperfect period of time
– it’s not 4 years, which symbolizes a completed cycle.
This number represents a time of
spiritual famine (see also Luke 4:25) – a time of persecution, dissent and
apostasy (see also Amos 8:11-13).
God’s measuring of Israel finds them
wanting – they will be scattered by the Gentiles and will lose the rights of
the priesthood to them. Israel will
descend into a time of apostasy or spiritual famine.
READ Revelation 11:3-4 and Zechariah
4:12, 14)
In Zechariah’s record about the
repentance and return of Israel from captivity in Babylon & Persia, he
credits the return to two men, Joshua the High Priest and Zerubbabel the
Prince.
What
do both of these “callings” require?
An anointing – both the roles of king and
priest must be anointed to be deemed legitimate.
Symbolizing that they are filled with the
Holy Spirit.
They are the two “olive trees” or
“candlesticks” – representing olive oil which is also symbolic of the Holy
Spirit (and is used in the anointing).
Joshua and Zerubbabel are told that if
they will prepare the way for God’s servant, the Branch (see Zechariah 3:4-8)
by rebuilding the Temple so that God has a place once more on the Earth to
visit His people. John is telling us
that there will be future “Joshua and Zerubbabel’s” who will help Israel to be
reestablished after apostasy and rebuild the Temple so that the Branch (Christ)
can return to Earth.
Joseph Smith
was attempting to establish the Kingdom of God on Earth through the sealing of
men and women to Himself, and Himself to the Fathers in Heaven, as per Elijah’s
instructions – Joseph being essentially a “king and priest” to God – and was
attempting to build a Temple where Christ could come to return the High
Priesthood which had been lost (see D&C 124:40-48); sadly, he was murdered
before he could complete the work.
READ Revelation 11:5-12 and D&C 77:15
Who
are these two latter day “olive trees”?
Two prophets holding the High Priesthood
After the Order of the Son of God – with all of its sealing power.
Their ministry is to the Jews in
Jerusalem prior to the Second Coming, at the time of the “restoration”.
They are opposed by the “Beast” which
will be introduced in chapter 13 of Revelation.
READ Revelation 11:14-18
What
is the third woe?
The final destruction of the wicked –
which is perpetrated by the wicked upon each other when the Lord withdraws His
Spirit; and then finished by the Lord who will “destroy” the “destroyers” when
comes in glory, which they cannot abide.
