HOW MANY JUDGMENTS ARE THERE IN REV CHAPTERS 6-19? ARE THERE KEYS TO UNRAVELING THIS PUZZLE?
In Revelation chapters 6-19 Jesus presents us with glimpses of the end times. In these chapters Jesus’ earthly apostle John is shown visions of what will happen in the seven year tribulation period. This period will be in what are called the “end times.” This begins with a rapture of the saints of God on the very first day so that Jesus’ bride will not have to endure the time of great wrath. That is followed by two consecutive 3 ½ years periods of wrath. The first half begins with a nuclear war involving Israel. A charismatic world leader will negotiate a seven year peace treaty involving Israel and her enemies. During the next 3 ½ years the world will be recovering from the effects of the nuclear war as well as several seemingly catastrophic natural disasters. Mankind will be so busy in recovery and trying to stay alive that they will not have time for widespread war. However neighbors will be killing neighbors in attempts to just stay alive. At the very middle of the 7 year period the charismatic world leader will be revealed as the one we like to call the “antichrist.” He will go into the temple in Jerusalem that was likely built in the preceding 3 ½ years and declare that he is God and demand to be worshipped. He will declare war on Israel and all who have become Christians in the previous 3 ½ years. During the next 3 ½ years there will be wide scale war as well as a continuation of large natural disasters on earth. Revelation chapters 6-19 break down the terrible disasters in this 7 year period into what are referred to as 3 sets of 7 judgments. These judgments are called the seal, trumpet and bowl judgments, with each set containing 7 separate judgments. It is quite difficult to determine the exact timeframe of each judgment during the 7 year period. It is also quite difficult to determine whether there are 7 judgments described in three different ways or 21 totally separate judgments spread across the 7 years. However the Bible does give us several clues to help us in solving this puzzle. In the information that follows below I will present several of the clues that I have identified in my studies. We will later present our conclusions.
1. Daniel and 1 John were both written by disciples/prophets of God who wrote apocalyptic books. Both presented three separate arguments to prove a single thesis. Daniel presented a picture of all of the future empires of the world starting in his time, at the Babylonian captivity in the 6th century BC, and carrying through until the end times. He presented this same picture using three very distinctly different sets of images, with each set of images giving us a different mental picture of the same set of future events. John did the very same thing as he wrote the book of 1 John. In this book he presented three distinctly different sets of arguments proving the same single thesis, namely ways that we can be certain that we have eternal life in heaven. John presented these arguments using three sets of seven things that clearly show whether or not we will have eternal life. We can identify these three sets of arguments by the key repeating introductory phrases that John uses, which are (1) by this we know, (2) we know that and (3) other phrases using the word “know.” There are exactly three sets of seven of each phrase in the original Greek language text. As we analyze the content of what John is presenting we see that John has used John 6:14 as the outline for proving his point. In John 6:14 Jesus says “I am the way, the truth and the life; no one comes to the Father except through me.” If God worked through both Daniel and John in the very same way to present his truth, namely by repeating the same set of information using three sets of seven mental pictures of the same things. He most likely did the same thing in Revelation. Go to our studies of 1 John and Daniel on the site for a much more complete discussion and analysis of these topics. They do make a compelling argument for one set of 7 judgments presented in three separate ways for emphasis. God always wants at least 2-3 witnesses according to Paul.
2. A very close analysis of the mental pictures being presented for the three sets of seven judgments of Revelation shows that the like numbered judgments in each of the three sets seem to contain different aspects of the same picture or event(s). After many hundreds of hours of comparative analysis I came to the following conclusions:
a. The 7 seal judgments are descriptions of what the future judgments will be and give some key information about each judgment but they do not represent the application of the judgments themselves.
b. The 7 trumpet judgments are the initial application of the means for achieving the goals of the 7 seal judgments.
c. The 7 bowl judgments seem to be applied in two different ways. They are closely associated with the 7 trumpet judgments in both ways as follows.
i. First they represent the continuing effects of the means for achieving the goals of the 7 trumpet judgments. For example the 1st trumpet judgment seems to represent the effects of a nuclear exchange. The trumpet judgment would represent the initial effects of the bomb blasts which would include tremendous initial blast damage, extremely high winds emanating out for many miles in every direction from the blast, raging fires spreading out in every direction, great initial loss of life, thousands of severe injuries needing immediate attention, great panic and tremendous initial emergence situations of all sorts, tremendous property, wild life, animal, vegetation loss, etc. As we said above the first bowl judgment would then be applied in two ways. First the initial effects of the nuclear bomb blast would subside but there would be effects that would last for up to seven or more years from the initial explosion. These would include the fact that the blast would hurl tremendous amounts of debris, radioactive material and acids into the upper atmosphere. It would take up to seven years for these particles to filter down to earth poisoning water and causing radiation sickness, etc. for huge numbers of people worldwide. There would be huge numbers of people who would receive radioactive effects from the initial blast that would last for years, causing cancers, etc. and often result in slow painful deaths. The ground and material around the blast area would become hazardous for many years and would have to be abandoned for long periods in many cases. There would be continuing anger, fear, feelings of hopelessness, loss of public services such as electricity and clean water for long periods, loss of mobility through lack of fuel, lack of telephone and other communication services, lack of availability of food and medicines because of disruption in distribution networks, etc. etc.
ii. Second, all of the bowl judgments seem to be reapplied in total in the seventh trumpet judgment at the Second Coming of Jesus. This is the grand finale of the greatest fireworks display in history as Jesus said in the following in Matt 24:21-22 about the last 3 ½ years of the tribulation period; “21 For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now—and never to be equaled again. 21 For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now—and never to be equaled again. 22 “If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened.“What I will do next is show some of the clear similarities in the language of the like numbered judgments of Revelation to help support our conclusion that there are only 7 separate judgments, with each being reapplied in a very short timeframe as a grand finale at the Second Coming of Jesus.
FOOTNOTE: The city of Babylon is on the Euphrates River. It seemed to be the birthplace of idol worship and the earthly home for evil spirits. It is in mid-Iraq. The comment about the Euphrates River drying up in the 6th bowl judgment may be referring to the possibility that the source of evil spirits in the world will dry up. Jesus will destroy them at Armageddon and they will vanish from the face of the earth for 1000 years. Rev 16:12 presents the 6th bowl judgment as the water in the Euphrates River drying up to prepare the way for the Kings from the East. In the very next two verses we see three demonic spirits emanating from Satan, the beast and the false prophet. Is there a connection? I suspect so since we see Babylon playing such a large part in the judgments of Revelation.
Isa 8:7-8 may help us understand the role of the Euphrates in the 7th judgment at Armageddon. Here we see that the floodwaters of the Euphrates represented the Assyrians, the empire that was about to overcome the nation of Israel and destroy it in 719 BC. Likewise, we may interpret the Euphrates drying up to mean that the Assyrians (and Babylonians) will dry up, be destroyed and disappear. This may correspond to the fall of Babylon the great in Rev 17 and18. Rev 16:18 also says that the water in the river will dry up. Water often stands for spirits in the Bible. Thus we may also be seeing Satan’s angels being sent to the Abyss by God. We are told that this clears the way for the kings from the East to join the battle of Armageddon. The kings may be the saints in heaven in their glorified bodies returning with Jesus at the Second Coming. Rev 20:6 says the saints will be priests and will reign with Jesus for 1000 years while Rev 22:5 says that they will reign for ever and ever. As we know from the Old Testament Jesus will come from the east at the Second Coming. Gabriel came from the east when he appeared bringing messages about the birth of Jesus. It seems that when heavenly beings visit earth they always come from the east, Ezek 43:2, Rev 7:2. Is all of this a valid interpretation? It may be because we know that we cannot possibly understand Revelation unless we can understand the symbology that is being used. We also know that the meaning of the symbols can be inferred from other places in the Bible if we are diligent in our searches and can find them.
Anytime I see thunder, lightning and earthquakes in Revelation it makes me think of a resurrection and rapture. Jesus describes a rapture as being like lightning. If that is true then we see that there will be resurrections at the very beginning of the tribulation (Rev 8:5-6), one about five months past mid-tribulation (Rev 11:12-13) and one at the Second Coming (Rev 16:18). That is just what I would otherwise expect. That would mean that all believers who had died before the beginning of the millennium would have glorified bodies and would be on earth with Jesus for 1000 years.
Another key that may be telling us that there will be in effect only 7 judgments but described in three different ways is given in Rev 10:11 where John is told, “You must prophecy again about many peoples, nations, languages and kings.”
As you examine the common factors that are underlined in the above table you will likely see my point that the like numbered judgments have many features in common. This is especially true in the first five judgments. In the sixth and seventh judgments you might note that key features seem to overlap. This may be because the seventh judgment seems to last for only 5-10 days or so. Things seem to overlap as they happen so quickly as the sixth judgment effects merge quickly into the seventh judgment. I take much of this from the study of the prophetic aspects of the feasts of Israel, also described on this site. This seems to point to the Jewish people finally accepting Jesus and praying for his quick return on Atonement Day and then Jesus returning to save them during the feast of Tabernacles which starts five days later and lasts for another eight days.
From my experience, typical pre-tribulation scholars differ considerably from my interpretation of the way in which the seal, trumpet and bowl judgments overlay on the seven year tribulation period. They typically show all of the seal and the first six trumpet judgments taking place before mid tribulation. This clearly does not track with the details of the events taking place in these judgments as presented in Rev chapters 6-19. These judgments depict the end of earthly governments (mountains and islands) and worldwide disasters that kill about 2/3 of all people on earth. If this all takes place in the first half of the tribulation how can the second half be called the “great tribulation?” Something clearly does not track with reality here. My presentation of the judgments within the tribulation tracks very well with the details presented in Revelation.
You will gain significant additional insights into the topics that we are discussing if you also read the other articles in this section, and particularly the topics on the sequence of end time events. However, the most compelling arguments and insights may come from the study of the Battle of Jericho which directly follows the Roadmap to Revelation.
NOTE: Additional confirmation of the number and sequence of the judgments in Revelation 6-19 can be found in layer 5 of the Revelation Roadmap titled Mapping Joshua 6 Onto the Revelation Judgments. Also see other appropriate titles involving Revelation Judgments included in this section and also see the section titled Plain Language Summaries of Revelation.