Chronology of the Seals in Revelation 6…..Part Ten

As I have previously suggested, due to the complexity of what is involved in the Sixth Seal event, the event may unfold over several days. This is suggested in ancient writings and visions by some of the Biblical patriarchs which were discovered in cache’s of ancient documents including the Dead Sea Scrolls. One of these is purported to have possibly been written by Thomas — possibly the Apostle Thomas. (Note: This document has no connection to the “Gospel of Thomas”, which has gnostic leanings, and was probably written by a different man by the name of Thomas.)  Below are the main points Thomas was said to have received in a vision and then transcribed. After the listing of the basic events of the eight days, I will add commentary for each one. I want to make clear that I am not suggesting that this supposed writing by Thomas is to be considered infallible, inspired Scripture. I am however going to show that what was written about his vision does not contradict the inspired prophecies in the Bible. He does add some details that, while not contradicting Scripture, may provide some details that could possibly play out in real life, and…very soon!

• • Day 1: “On the first day of the judgment there will be a great marvel. At the third hour of the day there shall be a great and mighty voice in the firmament of heaven, and a great cloud of blood coming down out of the north, and great thunderings and mighty lightnings shall follow that cloud, and there shall be a rain of blood upon all the earth. These are the signs of the first day.”
• • Day 2: “On the second day there shall be a great voice in the firmament of the heaven, and the earth shall be moved out of its place; and the gates of heaven shall be opened in the firmament of heaven toward the east, and a great power shall be sent (smoke of a great fire shall be belched) forth by the gates of heaven and shall cover all the heaven even until evening. And there shall be fears and tremblings in the world. These are the signs of the second day.”
• • Day 3: “And on the third day, about the second hour, shall be a voice in heaven, and the abysses of the earth shall utter their voice from the four corners of the world. The first heaven shall be rolled up like a book and shall straightway vanish. And because of the smoke and stench of the brimstone of the abyss the days shall be darkened. Then shall all men say; I think that the end draweth near, that we shall perish.” 

• • Day 4: “And on the fourth day, at the first hour, the earth of the east shall speak, the abyss shall roar; then shall all the earth be moved by the strength of an earthquake. On that day shall all the idols of the heathen fall, and the buildings of the earth, before the might of the earthquake.”

• • Day 5: “And on the fifth day, at the sixth hour, there shall be great thundering suddenly in the heaven, and the powers of light and the wheel of the sun shall be caught away, and there shall be great darkness over the world until evening, and the moon and stars shall be turned away from their ministry. On that day all nations shall hate the world and despise the life of this world.”

• • Day 6: “And on the sixth day there shall be signs in heaven. At the fourth hour the firmament of heaven shall be cloven from the east unto the west. And the angels of the heavens shall see above the earth the host of the angels looking forth out of heaven. Then shall all men flee unto the mountains and hide themselves from the face of the righteous angels, and say: ‘Would that the earth would open and swallow us up!’ And such things shall come to pass as never were since this world was created. Then shall they behold Me coming from above in the light of My Father…Then shall the spirits and souls of all men come forth from paradise and shall come upon all the earth; and every one of them shall go unto his own body, where it is laid up, and everyone of them shall say: ‘Here lieth my body’ And when the great voice of those spirits shall be heard, then shall there be a great earthquake over all the world, and by the might thereof the mountains shall be cloven from above and the rocks from beneath. Then shall every spirit return into his own vessel and the bodies of the saints which have fallen asleep shall arise. Then shall their bodies be changed into the image and likeness and the honour of the holy angels, and into the power of the image of mine Holy Father. Then shall they be clothed with the vesture of life eternal, out of the cloud of light (and witnesses) which hath never been seen in this world; for that cloud cometh down out of the highest realm of the heaven from the power of my Father. And that cloud shall compass about with the beauty thereof all the spirits that have believed in me. Then shall they be clothed, and shall be borne by the hand of the holy angels like as I have told you aforetime. Then  also shall they be lifted up into the air upon a cloud of light, and shall go with me rejoicing unto heaven, and then shall they continue in the light and honour of  my Father. Then shall there be unto them great gladness with My Father and before the holy angels.”

• • Day 7: “And on the 7th day, at the eighth hour there shall be voices in the four corners of heaven. And all the air shall be shaken, and filled with holy angels, and they shall make war among them all day long. And on that day, shall mine elect be sought out by the holy angels from the destruction of the world. Then shall all men see that the hour of their destruction draweth near.”

• • Day 8: “And when the seven days are passed by, on the eighth day, at the sixth hour there shall be a sweet and tender voice in heaven from the east. Then shall that “angel” (Jesus) be revealed which hath power over the holy angels, and all the angels shall go forth with him, sitting upon chariots of the clouds of mine Holy Father, so, rejoicing and running upon the air beneath the heaven to deliver the elect that have believed in me. And they shall rejoice that the destruction of this world hath come.” 

What I find uncanny about what is transcribed above is how closely it follows a number of prophetic scriptures. Even though we don’t consider this ancient writing “inspired” scripture, it is a powerful confirmation of many scriptures that are inspired and offers details to events that are very near their fulfillment — especially in light of recent geological and cosmic discoveries and observations.

Below, you will find my commentary on the eight days described above in the ancient Dead Sea scroll.

Day One describes a mighty Voice from the firmament and a rain of blood coming upon the earth. At first thought, this might sound like something out of a horror film and might consequently be ignored. Some of the strange things, however, that have occurred in the last few years tell us that truly, some very anomalous things are going on! We have had dozens of reports of rivers, lakes, and other bodies of water turning blood red. Sometimes a scientific reason is suggested, like the red algae bloom which causes a red tide. For most of the occurrences, however, we are offered no scientific reason or logical rationale. Some people are aware of these remarkable events, but there are other things unfolding today that very few are aware of. For instance, there is a significant increase in cosmic particles that are hitting our planet and building up in the ionosphere of the earth causing the atmosphere to become increasingly dense. The atmosphere is being compressed and also heating up. Due to the changes in the atmosphere and the continuous increase in the onslaught of space particles, meteorites, and other space debris, scientists are now expecting the beginning of red rainstorms in the very near future. As our planet is experiencing an increasing number of “atmospheric rivers” and “rain bombs”, is it a great stretch to believe that the earth could experience rain looking like blood? The Book of Revelation does tell us that the oceans, lakes, and rivers will turn to blood!

Day Two describes the earth being moved out of its place. We find a couple passages of scripture in Isaiah giving a similar description: 

13 Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth will move out of her place, in the wrath of the LORD of hosts and in the day of His fierce anger. 14 It shall be as the hunted gazelle, and as a sheep that no man takes up…Isaiah 13:13-14a

19 The earth is violently broken, the earth is split open, the earth is shaken exceedingly. 20 The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall totter like a hut; its transgression shall be heavy upon it, and it will fall, and not rise again. Isaiah 24:19-20

These descriptions are almost beyond belief for most people in our modern age — with the exception of those who have gone through great earthquakes like the 9.5 in Chile in 1960; the 9.2 in Alaska in 1964; the 9.2 in Indonesia in 2004; or the 9.0 in Japan in 2011. The people who were near the epicenters of these megaquakes witnessed the horrible noise, the heaving and splitting open of the earth, and the resulting devastation. What is described in these ancient prophecies is a cataclysm of a much higher level. The description is of the planet being under such duress that it is shaken to its core and moved right out of its regular orbit around the sun! None of us have ever experienced, nor can we imagine what it would be like to go through something so traumatic and earth-shattering. 

What could it mean for the gates of heaven to be opened to the east and a great power belched forth, covering the earth and causing great fear and trembling? We can only guess but we were told that things in the cosmos would be revealed that would cause men to die of heart attacks. The physician Luke was inspired to write these words:

25 And there shall be signs in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars; and on the earth distress of nations, with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring; 26 men’s hearts failing them from fear and the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Luke 21:25-26

There are many things in the cosmos of which man has little knowledge. Even in our own neighborhood, the Solar System, there are heavenly bodies that are a great threat to life on Earth. As big as our planet may seem to us, the earth in relation to God’s universe is less than a speck of dust! Here are a few examples to give us some perspective:

• The largest planet in our Solar System is Jupiter. 1,300 earths would fit inside of this massive planet. 
• Our sun is so large that it would take 1,300,000 earths to fill it!
• One of the largest stars known to astronomers in the universe is called VY Canis Majoris. It is so large that it would hold 9.3 billion of our suns within it! That is billion with a “b”!

This tells us how small humans are! It also tells us there are things in our universe that we cannot fathom and over which we have no control. Only our Creator GOD has control over all of His creation. The things God has planned to use in judging a wicked and rebellious human race will truly humble man. We serve an awesome, all-powerful GOD!

Has God ordained that a very large heavenly body would come close enough to cover most of the sky for a day? He could! Is it something that brings such a violent reaction from earth’s core that the earth emits a combination of magma, plasma, or other elements? That is geologically very possible. Whatever it is, it will cause mankind great fear! What was it that caused three hours of darkness at the crucifixion of Christ? It is scientifically impossible for our moon to cause an eclipse more than a few minutes at a time. The only other possibility is the passing of a large heavenly body between the sun and the earth at that time. Every heavenly body is at the beck and call of its Creator and God had it all perfectly timed. 

Day Three brings about an additional judgment. For the third day in a row, a voice is heard, either out of the firmament, the sky, or from the heavens. At the third sounding of the voice, the visible sky rolls up like a scroll. Could it be that our three dimensional world is then opened up to another dimension? Maybe the dimension where the Throne of God is located? We find in Revelation 6:16 that earth-dwellers are given a glimpse of the One on the Throne, and the Lamb of God, not as a suffering Messiah, but rather as the All-Powerful Son of GOD Himself!

As this unveiling unfolds, the earth itself once again reacts and the abyss of hell opens up in several locations and is opened to the surface of the planet. The smoke, brimstone, and stench will utterly saturate the earth. Is this so hard to imagine? We all know what methane and sulfur smell like. Apparently, there will be such a large amount of this coming from inside the earth that it will turn the atmosphere dark. We have seen, either in person, or on screen, what happens when a volcano explodes. Can you imagine 50 or 100 volcanoes violently erupting all at the same time? Even that may not compare to what is here described! 

Day Four: According to Thomas’ prophecy, this is the day when there will be a gigantic earthquake. This earthquake, however, will be like no previous earthquake. It hasn’t been until the last few years that geologists have openly spoken of the possibility of a worldwide earthquake. Today they do. Because new fault lines have been forming all over the world in the past few years, a worldwide quake has become a major concern. In Revelation 6, we have an interesting description:

12 I looked when He opened the sixth seal, and behold, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became like blood. 13 And the stars of heaven fell to the earth, as a fig tree drops its late figs when it is shaken by a mighty wind. 14 Then the sky receded as a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved out of its place…Revelation 6:12-14

The Book of Revelation records another great judgment in which there is a worldwide quake but the two great quakes are not identical. In this 6th Seal earthquake, every mountain and island is moved out of place. In the 7th Bowl Judgment, every mountain is knocked flat and every island in the sea is sunk underwater. In Thomas’ vision, man’s “idols” were knocked down as well as the cities of the earth. Man’s idols in his vision could very well be all of the architectural marvels that man has such great pride in. It’s just a thought. 

Day Five in Thomas’ vision tells of great thunderings from the heavens as the light of the sun, moon, and stars is taken away. The Bible has recorded an example of this in the past. It was during the ten plagues of Egypt that a great darkness came over Egypt. This darkness was so dense that light could not penetrate it. In the Book of Revelation we are told of a judgment with a darkness so thick and terrible that it brings an excruciating pain that causes people to gnaw their tongues. Can you imagine? The prophet Joel also spoke of darkness as a judgment:

30 And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth; blood and fire and pillars of smoke. 31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the coming of the great and awesome day of the LORD. Joel 2:30-31

As we look back at the prophecy of the Sixth Seal in Revelation 6, we find the people of the earth responding:

15 And the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains, 16 and said to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! 17 For the great day of His wrath has come and who is able to stand?” Revelation 6:15-17

After the events that have unfolded to this point, people will come to realize that all they had put their confidence in is really worthless, with no eternal value. But, if they turn to the Lord of all the earth, the Lord of Salvation, forgiveness and eternal life are available for the asking. Joel the prophet makes reference to this as well in his Old Testament prophecy:

And it shall come to pass that whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be deliverance, as the LORD has said, among the remnant whom the LORD calls. Joel 2:32

(NOTE: Joel tells us in chapter 2:30-31 that the wonders, pillars of fire and smoke, etc., come before the judgments of the Day of the LORD begin. This is also what we find in Luke 21:25-27. It is my contention that it is the Sixth Seal that closes out the Church Age and opens the door for the seven year time of Great Tribulation just prior to Messiah Jesus returning to set up His 1,000 year Millennial Kingdom in Jerusalem.)

Day Six in Thomas’ vision brings about the Resurrection and Rapture of the Church into the presence of the Lord. It is at this time that Thomas saw the unsaved peoples of the earth fleeing from what their attention was drawn to in the cloven sky. They saw the hosts of heaven looking down upon the earth… and earth dwellers ran to the rocks and mountains to try and save their lives! In John the Revelator’s vision, earth dwellers also saw God on His Throne and Jesus the Lamb of God standing beside Him…and they ran and hid! In Paul’s first epistle to the Thessalonians, we find these words:

16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words. 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18

As we look back at the vision, a description is given of the spirits and souls of the righteous dead being rejoined to their bodies and then all resurrected. As they are resurrected once again there is a very great earthquake all over the world; an earthquake so powerful that rocks within the mountains are broken in pieces, both within and outside of the mountains. 

There are those who believe that there may be a connection between resurrections from the dead and earthquakes, myself included. Do I believe all supernatural resurrections cause physical earthquakes? I don’t really know, but there are examples in the Scriptures that we can ponder:

50 And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit. 51 Then, behold, the the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split, 52 and the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; 53 and coming out of the graves after His resurrection, they went in to the holy city and appeared to many. Matthew 27:50-53 

And behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat on it. Matthew 28:2

12 And they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, “Come up here.” And they ascended to heaven in a cloud, and their enemies saw them. 13 In the same hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell. In the earthquake seven thousand people were killed, and the rest were afraid and gave glory to the God of heaven. Revelation 11:12-13

It has been postulated that the supernatural power necessary to resurrect a body has such a potent effect on its surroundings that it is possible it would cause an earthquake. This apparently happened when Jesus rose from the dead. There is also record of an earthquake at the resurrection of the saints in the city of Jerusalem and an earthquake also accompanied the resurrection of the two witnesses in the Book of Revelation. If there is anything to this theory, can you imagine the tremendous explosion of energy when all of the dead saints within the earth are resurrected at the same time? Interesting thought, for sure! The Apostle Paul had this to say about the resurrection:

50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption. 51 Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. 52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 53 For this corruptible must put on immortality. 54 So, when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” 1 Corinthians 15:50-54

Days Seven and Eight provide a synopsis of the devil and his angels being thrown out of heaven completely, and confined to the physical earth, and the Rapture of the Church into Heaven. There may be those who debate the validity of this happening at the beginning of Daniel’s 70th Week, but as Revelation 12 is carefully read and understood, we see that it is the Church that is raptured in this passage. The fallen Lucifer and his cohorts are then thrown out of heaven because they intend to destroy the Church before it can arrive. Once the Church — the Bride of Christ — is in the presence of her Bridegroom, the fallen one is no longer allowed access to God’s Heaven at all. The passage in Revelation reads as such:

1 Now a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a garland of twelve stars. 2 Then being with child, she cried out in labor and in pain to give birth. 3 And another sign appeared in heaven; behold, a great, fiery red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his head. 4 His tail drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth, to devour her Child as soon as it was born. 5 She bore a male Child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron. And her Child was caught up to God and His throne. 6 Then the woman fled into the wilderness, where she had a place prepared by God, that they should feed her there one thousand two hundred and sixty days.

7 And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, 8 but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer. 9 So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

10 Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, “Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down. 11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death. 12 Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea! For the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time.” 13 Now when the dragon saw that he had been cast to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male Child. Revelation 12:1-13

I included the entire text of the first 13 verses of this chapter due to the subject of this writing. There are some important things that need to be understood in this passage. With the Bible, there are almost always layers to prophecies and they often apply in different ways. Here in verse one, when it speaks of the great sign in heaven, the woman clothed with the sun, it is speaking of a literal “picture story”: portrayed in the heavens. It was given to today’s generation and fulfilled in September of 2017. The woman in this storyline in the heavens is Israel. Israel, the birthing mother, gives birth to the Church. Although the Church was established at Pentecost, it has been developing for the last 2,000 years and is ready to be “birthed” and delivered to its eternal destiny. This is where the Dragon comes into the picture. He has wanted to destroy the Church since its inception but has not been able to do so. Now that the labor pains are becoming stronger and more intense, he knows that the delivery of the Church is imminent and he intends to “kill” the Church before it can be removed from the earth. He will fail. The male Child born 2,000 years ago was of course Christ, the Messiah. But this male Child that will rule and reign with the Messiah, even with a rod of iron, is the Church. This is confirmed in Jesus’ letter to the Church in Thyatira:

25 “Hold fast to what you have until I come, 26 and he who overcomers, and keeps Muy works until the end, in him I will give power over the nations — 27 ‘He shall rule them with a rod of iron; they shall be dashed in pieces like the potter’s vessels’ as I also have received from My Father…” Revelation 2:25-27

It is the Church that is caught up to God and His throne. Sometime after delivery, the woman (Israel) has to flee into the wilderness. This is a Great Tribulation event when the Jews who finally find their Messiah through the ministry of the Two Witnesses and the 144,000 Jewish evangelists, have a refuge prepared for them at Petra, in what is now southern Jordan. There is much more to this passage than these few comments but these are the basics of the first few verses of Revelation 12. More details included in this fascinating chapter of Revelation will be made available in a separate study. 

So, is the vision of Thomas valid? As I made clear earlier, I would not consider it part of the actual inspired writings of the Bible, but his vision of the beginning of the Apocalypse appears to be quite plausible. Although we don’t know that the events of the Sixth Seal and the prophecies that unfold with it take eight days to complete, there is nothing in Scripture that says it could not take several days to fulfill. As will be pointed out in Part Eleven of this series, there are many major events in play during this passage of Scripture in Revelation 6 describing the Sixth Seal, not the least of which describes a massive meteor storm, shifting and breaking up of the earth’s crust. Personally, as I have stated many times, I believe the Sixth Seal is a powerful time marker. It signals the end of the Age of Grace — the Church Age. As the Seventh Seal is opened, preparations are made for the beginning of the Trumpet Judgments which open to the Bowl or Vial Judgments, which conclude Daniel’s 70th Week. 

In Part Eleven of this series, we will take a look at the relationship between the Sixth Seal, the Ezekiel 38-39 War of Gog and Magog, World War 3, Rapture of the Bride of Christ, and the End of the Age of Grace. 

If you don’t have a personal relationship with Jesus, humble yourself and bow your knee before Him TODAY.

Jake Geier

–To Be Continued in Part Eleven–