Revelation Charts
A COMPARISON BETWEEN THE SEAL, TRUMPET AND BOWL JUDGMENTS
They appear to all describe the same events, the same judgments.
SEAL JUDGMENTS | TRUMPET JUDGMENTS | BOWL JUDGMENTS |
Rev 6, 8:1 (also see Ezek 14:21, Ezek 38 & 39) A description of the means of judgment in the trumpet and bowl judgments | Rev 8-9, 11:15-19 (Ezek 14:21; sword, famine, beasts, plagues) Initial results of the application of the seal judgments on earth | Rev 16 Rev 10:11; repeat the prophecy, John Continuing results of the application and/or reapplication of the seal judgments on earth |
| 1-White Horse Judgment: a new world leader bent on conquering the world is revealed. | 1-Hail and fire as one third of earth is consumed by fire. This likely describes a nuclear war. | 1-Those involved in the fallout from the nuclear war suffer from radiation burns and sores. |
| 2-Red Horse Judgment: the rider is given power to make men want to kill one another. Luke 21:25-26 says nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea. Men will faint in terror, knowing what is coming, a heavenly body. The sores, pain and suffering continue to get worse. | 2-A space body of some sort, likely an asteroid, hits one of the oceans, likely the Indian Ocean, with the shock killing one third of all sea life and destroying one third of ocean going craft. This causes famine, plagues, terror, and the resulting fighting, death and chaos. Luke 21:25-28, Matt 24:29. | 2-The terrible result of the asteroid hitting the ocean continues to affect the other oceans on earth until all sea life dies. The asteroid hit may trigger a deep ocean methane eruption or some other unknown mechanism that severely compounds the effects of the asteroid hit. |
| 3-Black Horse Judgment: the rider is given power to cause worldwide inflation, famine; shortages of food, pollution of fresh waters, etc. | 3-Satan is expelled from heaven and confined to earth. He is raging mad and takes out his venom on earth. The fallout from the asteroid hit and nuclear weapons poisons one third of the earth’s rivers. | 3-The fallout from the asteroid hit and nuclear weapons continues to affect the pure water on the earth as all springs and rivers become poisonous to drink. |
| 4-Ashen Horse Judgment: the rider is given power to cause death using war, famine, plagues, pandemics, terror, etc., Ezek 14:21. The rider is given power to kill one fourth of the people on earth. They face death and its companion, Hades. | 4-The fallout from the asteroid hit, nuclear weapons and ancillary mechanisms encircles the earth and blackens the sky, changing the climate and resulting in increased heat, famine and plagues. | 4-Resulting effects of the combined nuclear wars and asteroid hit cause climate changes resulting in greatly increased temperatures. The ozone layer may be destroyed. People are seared by the intense heat and curse God. They refuse to repent. |
| MID-POINT OF TRIBULATION | MID-POINT OF TRIBULATION | MID-POINT OF TRIBULATION |
| 5-Ravages of the first four judgments continue. There is a resurrection and rapture of 2 witnesses and 144,000; a gleanings rapture so to speak. The evil angels who had just been released onto earth from the Abyss take their vengeance out on the people of the earth. | 5-First Woe. Satan and his angels, who are now on earth without access to heaven, create a plague. This may refer to especially evil angels who are released from the Abyss. They cover earth tormenting unbelievers into accepting the antichrist as God. They also collect believers into concentration camps in Israel where they are killed, then resurrected and raptured to heaven. | 5- The sores, pain and suffering continue to get worse. The darkness and heat continue to plague the earth and people continue to curse God. They refused to repent. We may be seeing pandemics and microbiological terrorism. |
| 6-Huge earthquake (Ezek 38:18-22), with all expected results, sky blackened, “stars” (missiles, angels or debris from outer space?) falling to earth, possible shift of earth’s axis, earth’s rotation and even its orbit, etc. | 6-Second Woe. Satan and his angels continue their terrorism of earth and this time inflict death on one third of humanity. This may be a nuclear war involving four Muslim nations in the middle east. Mankind still failed to repent and turn to Christ. No believers left on earth. There is an earthquake. | 6-The nuclear war and the intense heat in the middle east cause the rivers in the area to completely dry up. This paves the way for the huge army from the east to travel to Israel and Armageddon becomes imminent. |
| 7-Silence in heaven as Jesus, all the angels and believers in heaven return to earth at the 2nd coming. It is silent in heaven for ½ hour (1 week) before they begin to go back and forth between earth and heaven. Then there is heavenly joy as Jesus reigns on earth for 1000 years. | 7-Third Woe. The seventh trumpet signals the return of Jesus to earth in great power to pronounce his final judgment on the wicked earth and its inhabitants. There is a huge supernatural earthquake and large hailstones (Ezek 38:18-22). | 7-Jesus returns at his 2nd Coming, defeats Satan, the antichrist and all of those who worship them. The result is described as a huge earthquake (Isa 29:6, Zech 14:5) and super large hailstones. Jesus uses his supernatural power to restructure the earth and return it to its original pre-sin state. |
Conditions Existing in the World Shortly Before the Beginning of the Seven Year Tribulation Period
| CONDITIONS IN THE WORLD, LUKE 17 | THE WAR OF PSALMS 83 | THE WAR OF GOG AND MAGOG, EZEK 38-39 |
| ♦ Jesus said that we should be able to recognize the season of his coming return to earth. He gave us a few signs to look for involving Israel (the fig tree). The twigs of the fig tree have become tender and the leaves have come out. This signals that Israel is back in her land, has become a nation again and Jerusalem is again a part of the nation. | ♦ A very common interpretation of conservative prophecy scholars is that the war of Gog and Magog of Ezek 38-39 begins the seven year tribulation period. When the war begins Israel is living in peace and contentment. How did they get into a state of peace and contentment? | ♦ Luke 17:26-30 leads me to believe that the rapture takes place on the very day that the seven year tribulation period begins. For the first 3 ½ years of the tribulation the Jews are living in a state of terrifying freedom as the first four judgments unfold. For the next 3 ½ years they lose their freedom and are under the persecution of the antichrist. |
| ♦ Jesus said that the beginning of the end times would be as it was in the time of Noah before the flood. There were no signs that a historic rain was coming, but God’s people were making themselves ready. The people of the world had become extremely sinful and were rejecting God. | ♦ There is a short description in Ps 83 of a war that might provide the answer to that. There we see the nations that share a border with Israel forming an alliance and plotting to destroy Israel and wiping out their very name. This includes Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Gaza and Egypt. | ♦ As the war of Gog and Magog begins we find Israel living in peace until they are suddenly attacked by an alliance of Magog with the Middle Eastern Muslim countries, excluding those who share a border with Israel. We see that God supernaturally brings defeat to these countries that attack Israel. |
| ♦ Otherwise things in the world seemed normal. People were doing all of the ordinary things of life including eating and drinking, marrying, etc., up to the very day that the floods came. There will continue to be wars and rumors of wars around the world. | ♦ Ps 83 does not give the results of this plot, but the rest of the Psalm consists of a prayer for God to wipe out these countries. We do see an end time description in Zech 12 of Israel consuming the surrounding peoples, right and left. | ♦ The fact that Ezek 39 says that Israel will use the weapons that they capture as fuel for seven years leads to a puzzle. If the war of Gog and Magog starts at the beginning of the tribulation, how is it that Israel can use the captured weapons as fuel for seven years, since in the last 3 ½ years they will be under persecution and 50% will be in hiding? |
| ♦ As the end time approaches there will be a large falling away from God as people fail to recognize that Jesus is God and the only way to the heaven. There will be a large apostate religion that gains worldwide acceptance. | ♦ This would seem to be a scenario that would allow Israel to live in peace and contentment for a short period of time. It would also help explain how the coming antichrist could seemingly be referred to in prophecy as a Canaanite and an Assyrian. | ♦ This leads some, including Ron Rhodes in his book “Northern Storm Rising,” to conclude that this war begins 3 ½ years before the start of the tribulation period. I don’t buy that because the description in Ezek 38 of the start of the war matches the description in Revelation of the first two seal judgments. |
| ♦ Although we should be able to recognize the season of Jesus’ return, no one will know the day or hour. We must remain ready because he will come at a time when we do not expect him. | ♦ How then will Israel use the weapons for fuel for seven years? Zech 14:2 says that in the end times ½ of Jerusalem will go into exile and ½ will remain there. It is the ½ that remain who will continue to use the weapons for fuel, even while they are being persecuted. | |
| ♦ At the time of the general rapture, two men will be in the field, one will be taken and the other left; two women will be grinding with a hand mill, one will be taken and the other left. This happens on the very day that the tribulation begins. | ♦ There is a huge earthquake that accompanies the destruction of the armies of Magog. This may involve the nuclear weapons of the first judgment and/or the asteroid of the second judgment. It is viewed as supernatural and leads many to believe in Jesus, soon after the rapture of all believers to heaven. The antichrist brokers a peace treaty ending this war. |
