'Jacob's Trouble' is also referred to as: 'a time, times and half a time', or 'forty-two months', or '1260 days'. It will include a terrible period, that of 'the seven bowls of wrath' (Revelation 16). People will then be terrified of the things that will come upon the world (Luke 21:26). The Lord Jesus foretold about this: 'For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever will be. And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened” (Matthew 24:21-22). God has another unique plan for His people Israel in the glorious Millennial Kingdom of Christ (Jeremiah 31:7). Therefore, His people, or at least a remnant of them ("all Israel"), will be saved: "Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass away, till all these things come to pass" (Matthew 24:34).

John had to prophesy again
It is remarkable that John was instructed to eat the scroll that was in the angel's hand. Its content probably concerns chapters 11 to 19. In the original text it is called a small scroll, because at that time there were no books yet. It is smaller than the scroll of the Lamb, from chapter 5. For Christ is greater than the prophet-servant John. John had to become one with the prophetic message, so he had to eat the scroll (Psalm 119:103). It tasted sweet in his mouth, but it was also heavy on his stomach, because it became bitter (cf. Ezekiel 2:9-3:3).
What does this mean? The promises of God's Kingdom are glorious. And of course also His ultimate plan of salvation for the nations. But the judgments on the unrighteous people who would not repent will be great. And that weighs heavily on his stomach, but he also had to speak about this on behalf of God (verse 11). The question we must ask ourselves is: “Do I dare to speak only about God's love, or also about His judgment.” Because the Bible is honest about that: 'He who has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life” (1 John 5:12).

Revelation 10 - No more delay

We are still here under the sixth trumpet judgment, where the prophet saw another 'mighty angel' descend from heaven. He resembles Christ, the Angel of the Lord, or is a very high-ranking angel. It is remarkable that he places his feet on the earth and on the sea and that he has a scroll in his hand that the prophet John had to eat. It tasted sweet as honey to him, but it made his stomach bitter.

In any case, it is clear that the 'mighty angel' resembles the Lord Jesus, because according to John he was: 'clothed with a cloud, and the rainbow was on his head, and his face was like the sun, and his feet were like pillars of fire” (verse 1). This is very similar to the description of the Son of Man in chapter 1, with the heavenly vision of God on the throne (Revelation 4:3), Christ's ascension (Acts 1:9), and His return (Daniel 7:13).
But because of the way John dared to ask the angel: 'Give me the little book' (verse 9, ESV), I cannot imagine that that angel is Christ Himself. We should probably think here of a very high angel, for he is great and strong and has been given great power and glory, which corresponds to the glory and majesty of Christ. The voice of the angel (roaring like a lion) also resembles the voice of the Lord, who is 'the lion of Judah': ' And the Lord roars out of Zion, and lifts up his voice from Jerusalem, and heaven and earth tremble' ( Joel 3:16). When the angel had cried, the seer heard seven thunders. Thunders, like the roaring voice of the Lord, are associated with God's judgments (Amos 2:3-8; Revelation 8:5).

The Mystery of the Seven Thunders
When John wanted to write down what the seven thunders had spoken, he was forbidden to do so. He had to seal it, which means he had to keep it secret (cf. Daniel 12:4). The best explanation of this is that we are not to add anything to it (Revelation 22:18). Much is revealed to us in the Bible book of Revelation, such as about the Great Tribulation, but it is not for us to know everything and apparently not for the prophet to say everything. This may correspond to a similar experience that Paul probably also had, when the Lord had caught him up into paradise and there he heard 'unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for man to utter' (2 Corinthians 12: 4).

Judgment and reconciliation
The 'mighty angel' who saw John standing on the earth and the sea, lifted his right hand to heaven and swore by God: 'there will be no more delay'(verse 6). The coming of the Kingdom has seemed far away for so long, but it is now very imminent. The time of judgment and revenge and also of reconciliation has arrived for Israel. The pangs of 'Jacob's Trouble', from which the Kingdom of God is born, cannot be postponed by anyone.
We read about 'Jacob's Trouble': 'For thus says the Lord: We hear the cry of anguish, fear and no salvation. Ask, see, whether a man bears; why do I see every man with his hands on his hips as one in labor, and every face has turned a corpse color? Woe, for that day is great, without equal; it is a time of trouble for Jacob; but from it he will be saved. It shall come to pass in that day, declares the Lord of hosts, that I will break the yoke from off their necks, and I will loose their bonds; strangers shall no more serve them, but they shall serve the Lord their God, and David their king, whom I will raise up unto them” (Jeremiah 30:5-9 cf. Micah 4:9-10).

Jacob's Trouble
'Jacob's Trouble' is also called in Scripture 'the Great Tribulation' and begins when the seventh angel blows the trumpet (Revelation 11:15). The seventh trumpet is also 'the third woe': 'but in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall sound, the mystery of God is also accomplished, as he declared to his servants the prophets' (verse 7).

for money. These things clearly show that the devil is still “the god of this age” and “the prince of the world” (2 Corinthians 4:4). The Kingdom comes when the King comes! And until then, we continue to pray, “Thy Kingdom come.”

Who does this disaster not affect?
Revelation 9 is not talking about natural locusts, because they are not allowed to harm the grass, bushes and trees, but only to people who have not been sealed by God (verse 4). The only group that meets this requirement is indicated in chapter 7: the 144,000 from the twelve tribes of Israel. The torments will be so terrible (as from a scorpion bite) that people will long for death. God will allow this for a period of five months!

The four bound angels at the Euphrates
The year is fixed, the date is fixed and what time on that day is fixed, when four bound destroying angels, who are bound at the Euphrates, are released under the sixth trumpet. It is established with the Lord, not with us! That is why it is impossible to predict the year, month, day and hour of Christ's return! He said:'No one knows the day or hour!' (Matthew 24:36,44). Repentance, life transformation, and expectation are the true fruits of studying the prophetic Word (Romans 13:11-14).
Traditionally the Euphrates has been the area of ​​all kinds of occult powers. There the first sin was committed and people turned away from God. Babylon was also built there with Nimrod as ruler, who was a forerunner of the Antichrist. It is also the area where the confusion of tongues began and where the city of Babylon will be rebuilt in the end times (Revelation 18) and from where the antichrist will probably come (Isaiah 10:12; 14:4).
There the rebellion against God began and there it will end, before Christ accepts His Kingship! (Revelation 19:6).

The second woe: an army of 200 million
The four destroying angels have power over an army of 200 million horsemen. They were ordered to kill a third of the people. That amounts to approximately 2 billion deaths. In my opinion we should not confuse this with Revelation 16:12, with the kings from the rising of the sun. After all, this is about the end of the Great Tribulation, when China and possibly countries such as Japan and India will advance to Jerusalem. No, we must follow the order in Revelation, because this second vision in Revelation 9 is also about a terrible infernal army. The seer describes them as:
• horses with riders
• with fiery red, gray-blue and light yellow armor
• with horse heads that looked like lions' heads
• from their mouths came fire, smoke and brimstone
• with a snake's head on their tail

Of course, it may be that John was under the fifth and sixth trumpets saw earthly armies, such as: soldiers, chemical weapons, helicopters, fighter jets and tanks. Some prophecy interpreters think of a combination, that demonic powers control earthly armies (cf. Revelation 16:13-14; Daniel 10:13, 20). But I prefer to stick to the literal interpretation of Scripture. Because the devil has supernatural armies and so at Christ's second coming we also read about armies from heaven (Revelation 19:14; Zechariah 14:5; Matthew 13:49-50).

And they did not repent!
It is very sad that the people who survive these disasters do not want to convert. They continue to sin, such as worshiping other gods, sorcery, theft, murder and fornication. Paul says, “But the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith, following deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons” (1 Timothy 4:1). And at the end of Revelation an angel of God says:'Whoever does wrong, let him do more wrong; he who is filthy, let him become filthy still; whoever is righteous, let him be even more righteous; he who is holy, let him be sanctified still more” (Revelation 22:11).
A holy walk in life is what a born-again Christian should distinguish himself from the world. Don't you too?: 'But you are completely different: you have come to know Christ' (Ephesians 4:20).

Revelation 9 - A demonic invasion of earth

The fifth and sixth trumpets are also the first and second 'woe' in the Apocalypse. There will then be a completely new phase in the time of judgment. For example, the Earth was previously hit by natural disasters from the cosmos. But during the first and second woes, two terrible demonic invasions will come upon the earth. The question is whether these infernal armies will operate visibly or invisibly?

We should not want to act like a prophet by wanting to see more than the prophet John saw, but submit ourselves to Revelation. Speculation, fantasy, and sensationalism should never be the goal when studying prophecy: “Know this above all, that no prophecy of the Scripture is of any private interpretation” (2 Peter 1:20). It remains an interesting question where we should stop when examining the prophetic Word. Yet it remains, and continues to appear, that a literal interpretation is the safest explanation. Also for Revelation 9, although that seems humanly unimaginable!

The angel of the abyss
When the fifth angel blows the trumpet, an angel with the key of the pit of the abyss will fall to earth like a shooting star from heaven. It is not surprising that this angel will fall from heaven. Paul calls the devil “the prince of the power of the air” (Ephesians 2:2) and says that we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against evil spirits in the heavenly places (Ephesians 6:12).
No matter how much it seems, this is not Satan himself in my opinion (Luke 10:18; Isaiah 14:12), because he will only be cast out on earth in the middle of 'the Last Week' (Revelation 12:9). The demonic beings in this pit have 'the angel of the abyss' as king over them. His name is 'Apollyon' in Greek and 'Abaddon' in Hebrew and means 'destroyer'.

The underworld
The abyss (Abyssos) is not hell (Gehenna) nor is it the realm of the dead (Hades). It is a dwelling place where fallen angels are confined (Luke 8:31). It is similar to Tartarus, which may be a different place in the underworld than Abyssos. Tartarus is a prison and place of punishment for fallen angels (sons of God), who committed sexual intercourse with women in the time of Noah (2 Peter 2:4; Jude:6). As a result, giants came to earth (Genesis 6:4). At the time of Christ's Millennial Kingdom, the devil will also be bound in the underworld, in the Abyssos (Revelation 20:3). Hell is 'the lake of fire and brimstone', which is the place of final judgment, for both lost man and fallen angels. It is the most terrible place (Revelation 20:10,14-15).

The pit of the abyss opened
The seer saw that when the bottomless pit of the abyss was opened, a huge thick smoke came out of it. This darkened the sun and the atmosphere. Creatures like locusts emerged from the smoke. Their king is 'the angel of the abyss'. Locusts have no king (Proverbs 30:27). That these are not natural locusts is also evident from the description of their shapes (verses 7-10).

The first woe: a hellish army from the abyss
Demons can appear in all kinds of guises. For example, Paul says that Satan masquerades as 'an angel of light' (2 Corinthians 11:14). Johannes describes the infernal army from the abyss as if it were a scene from a science fiction film. But this concerns the reality of things to come in 'the Day of the Lord' (cf. Joel 2:2-11). The forms of the locust creatures looked like some kind of infernal cherubim. They had the following characteristics:
• looked like horses
• wreaths like gold on their heads
• faces that resembled human faces
• hair like that of women
• teeth like lions' teeth
• breastplates like iron armor
• wings that sound like the drone of many chariots or horses
• tails like scorpions and stings

These hellish armies will probably be visible in the end times. Even now demons are active on earth. They are not visible to us now, but their influence is great in the world! These powers incite anti-Semitism, Christian persecution, false teachings, terrorist attacks, wars, occultism, paranormal healings, pornography, homosexuality, drug addiction and greed

apostles' teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers' (Acts 2:42).

The first four trumpets
When the seven angels before the throne have prepared to sound the trumpet, they will blow the trumpet one by one. When the first four angels sound the trumpet, the planet will most likely be affected by a disturbance in our solar system. A brief description of this:
Trumpet 1: Glowing meteorites will burn 1/3 of the ground, trees and grass.
Trumpet 2: Because a great burning mountain is thrown into the sea (a great burning meteorite), 1/3 of the sea is turned to blood, 1/3 of the creatures in the sea perish, and 1/3 of the ships perish. We may have to think of the Mediterranean Sea (cf. Revelation 13:1-2).
Trumpet 3:A large star (meteorite) burning like a torch will fall on 1/3 of the rivers and water sources. The name of this star is Wormwood (means: bitter). The gas tail of this comet is poisoning a large part of the rivers and water sources. Many people will die from drinking the contaminated water.
Trumpet 4: The sun, moon and stars are 1/3 affected. As a result, 1/3 of the day has no light and so does the night (cf. Isaiah 13:9-10; Amos 5:20).

At that time, the predicted plagues of Egypt literally came true. Therefore, I see no reason why the plagues in Revelation should not come true. We should therefore not spiritualize the judgments from Revelation, but take them literally!

Woe, woe, woe to the inhabitants of the earth.
The last three trumpets are announced by an angel in the form of an eagle, with three contractions. It is a prophetic proclamation from heaven that will be audible and visible throughout the earth: 'Woe, woe, woe to those who dwell on the earth, because of the remaining voices of the trumpet of the three angels who are yet to sound!' (verse 13). The first woe is the fifth trumpet, the second woe is the sixth trumpet, and the third woe is the seventh trumpet. Under these three last trumpets, hell will break loose on earth and the devil and his minions will be cast out to the earth. In my next article in The Searchlight you can read more about this, including about a hellish army that will rise from the abyss over the earth.

Revelation 8 - The seventh seal and the first four trumpets

The apostle John saw that when the Lamb opened the seventh seal, something extraordinary happened. There was a silence in heaven for about half an hour. Usually there is always praise (cf. Revelation 4:8; 7:15). It is as if heaven is holding its breath here for the terrible judgments that will come. Truly a calm before the storm, but also a moment of preparation.

From the seventh seal come seven trumpet judgments. These judgments will include a terrible period for the inhabitants of the earth (cf. Psalm 98:4-9; Zephaniah 1:14-16). But this is not the end yet, for from the seventh trumpet will come another seven bowls of wrath, during the last three and a half years of 'the seventieth week of the year'. Then the plagues no longer come partially, but completely on earth. Even though the trumpet judgments are not yet complete, it will already be extremely intense and frightening for the earth's inhabitants. The earth will be hit by unprecedented disasters from space.

Different trumpets in the Bible
We encounter different types of trumpets in the Word. After all, with the Rapture of the Church there will also be a trumpet sound (1 Corinthians 15:51). We should not confuse it with the last trumpet in the Apocalypse. For at the Rapture there will be no judgment trumpet as in Revelation, but a salvation trumpet to gather the Church together and deliver it from the wrath to come (1 Thessalonians 1:10; 4:15-18).
We should also not confuse the trumpet call of the Rapture with the gathering of God's people (Israel), after Christ has returned as Judge and King, at the end of the Great Tribulation (Matthew 24:30-31). Then the people will return in faith to the promised Land and they will truly see their Savior and Messiah (Ezekiel 39:29; Luke 1:33).

The golden altar in heaven
John saw seven angels standing before God in the heavenly sanctuary (verse 2). They are perhaps the highest in the angelic hierarchy, who are involved in the judgment process here. Then he saw another angel (some think of Christ) who stood at the altar with a golden censer. The smoke and incense are symbolic of the prayers of the saints ascending before God. Then will be fulfilled what not only the martyr souls have cried out under the heavenly altar (Revelation 6:9-11), but for which the saints of all time have prayed: “Thy kingdom come!”

The prayers of all the saints answered
The prayers of the saints will ultimately have a great impact on the inhabitants of the earth, because those prayers will turn against them, with all that entails! So many prayers seemed to go unfulfilled, but ultimately find their fulfillment when the Lord reclaims the earth. Is it not true that many people in the world place their trust in human qualities, education, status, power, money and violence? Those who look down on the prayers of the saints think that Christians are weak people, with little influence in the world. What a mistake! This is evident from this Scripture. For as a prelude to the trumpet judgments, the prayers of the saints are cast to the earth together with the fire of the altar: 'And the angel took the censer, and filled it with the fire of the altar, and cast the fire to the earth; and there were thunders, and voices, and lightnings, and an earthquake” (v. 5).

Persevering in prayer
Unfortunately, we see that many believers wrongly underestimate the necessity of prayer. James 5:16 proves the opposite: "The prayer of a righteous man availeth much, having power." Many local churches do not have prayer meetings because there are no prayers. Due to the hustle and bustle of the day, many do not get around to personal prayer and Bible reading. Paul says in his letter to the Colossians: “Continue in prayer, being watchful and giving thanks” (4:2). And to the Philippians: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God” (4:6). For example, we read about the first church in Acts: 'And they continued steadfastly in the

A selection of 144,000 from Israel will be sealed in the Tribulation. That sealing means that they are God's property. This makes them immune to God's wrath and the evil one (cf. Ezekiel 9:4). The seer saw that the seventh seal judgment could not be broken until the 144,000 had been sealed on their foreheads, which is the mark of ownership of the Lamb and the Father (Revelation 14:1). No damage will be done to the earth, the sea and the trees until they are sealed (verse 3; Revelation 8:7-8).
In this current dispensation of grace, born again Christians have also been sealed, but that is an inner sealing with the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:13). They were bought and paid for with Jesus' blood (1 Peter 1:18-19) and therefore free from judgment (Romans 5:9). We see the opposite happening with those who are Satan's property during the Great Tribulation. They are marked with: the mark, the name of the beast, or his number (Revelation 13:16-18).

The Gospel of the Kingdom
It may be possible that the 144,000 will be converted in the future through the testimony of “the two witnesses.” These would probably be Moses and Elijah (cf. Matthew 17:3). Their task during the first half of the Tribulation is to prophesy in Jerusalem (Revelation 11:3). The 144,000 still have an evangelistic task on earth during the Great Tribulation, after the sixth seal. They will call on people to repent, because His coming and Kingdom are then at hand: 'And this Gospel of the Kingdom will be preached in all the world for a testimony to all nations...'< /span> (Matthew 24:14). Through the judgments of the Lamb and the testimony of the two witnesses and the 144,000, an innumerable crowd from all nations will come to faith in the Lord Jesus in the end time.

The countless multitude in heaven
In my opinion, it is clear from verse 11 that the countless crowd is no longer on earth, but in the heavenly temple, where we read about the angels around the throne, the elders and the four living creatures. Before the throne in heaven they worship Him “day and night” (verse 15).
There is no night in heaven, right? That is correct: “There will be no more night” (Revelation 22:5). But the expression “day and night” is used five times in Revelation, not to distinguish between day and night, but in the sense of “everlasting.” Just see Revelation 20:10 regarding hell. And in Revelation 4:8 concerning heaven, it says: 'And the four living creatures (four creatures) had each of them six wings, and were full of eyes round about and within, and they had no rest day or night, saying, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was and who is and who is to come.' You could say: In heaven there is no night at all and in hell it is always night.

Revelation 7 - The 144,000 and the countless multitude

In Revelation 7 we read about the second and third visions of the sixth seal judgment. I covered the first of these in the previous Searchlight and that concerns a violent earthquake and the darkening of the sun and moon (Revelation 6:12-17). This is talking about the 144,000 sealed on earth and an innumerable host in heaven. The question is: who are these end-time redeemed ones? And should we distinguish between these two groups?

Many see in the 144,000 the Church militant on earth and in the countless multitude the great Church triumphant in heaven. The traditional idea of ​​the Church is that the number 144,000 is a symbolic number indicating its fullness (12 x 12,000). But why shouldn't we just take this number literally? The fact that there is symbolism in the numbers does not take away from their literalness. Why Revelation 7 cannot be about the Church is evident from the fact that it has already been raptured (Revelation 3:10; 5:9-10).

The Replacement Theology
In replacement theology there is no view of God's future plan of salvation for Israel. The prophecies in the Old Testament about the Kingdom of Peace are applied to the Church on earth, instead of to the believing remnant of Israel in the future Kingdom of Peace. If you have no view of the Millennial Kingdom and of God's plan of salvation for Israel, then you must also spiritualize the 144,000 from the twelve tribes. But John certainly heard that there were 144,000 from all the tribes of the children of Israel (verses 5-8). So this is really about Israel!

The 144,000 and the countless multitude
A "dispensationalist" is someone who interprets the Word literally and distinguishes the dispensations. The term 'dispensation' is simply a Biblical concept (cf. Ephesians 1:10, NSV). Someone like Johannes de Heer, the founder of The Searchlight, was also a 'dispensationalist', because he made a distinction between Israel and the Church. In Revelation we must also rightly divide (divide) the Word, by distinguishing between the 144,000 of Israel and the countless multitude of the Gentiles, because Scripture clearly teaches this! What are the differences? Importantly, we note that with both the 144,000 and the countless multitude, the seer begins with the words: 'After this I saw' (verse 1 and 9). So he saw two different visions in chapter 7. In the first, the saved on earth and in the second, the saved in heaven. So we see that the 144,000 come from all the tribes of Israel and are called firstfruits (Revelation 14:4). They are an advance on 'all Israel' who will be saved (Romans 11:26). But the countless crowd comes from all peoples, tribes and nations (verse 9) and came to repentance after the rapture of the Church:

“These are they who come out of great tribulation…” (verse 14).

The tribes of Dan and Ephraim are missing
In Revelation 7:1-8 the tribes of Dan and Ephraim are missing, but Joseph and Levi have been replaced. It is not surprising that no one from Dan and Ephraim is sealed. For example, Ephraim is known for its idolatry and apostasy (Hosea 7:8,11). And Dan is compared to a serpent. Church father Irenaeus therefore assumes that the antichrist comes from the tribe of Dan (Genesis 49:16-17; Jeremiah 8:16-17). However, we see that Dan and Ephraim are there again in the Kingdom of Peace (Ezekiel 48). Then instead of Levi, because no land promises were made to Levi. And Ephraim instead of Joseph his father, because of Joseph came Manasseh and Ephraim. So we see that in Revelation 7 it is about a literal sealing of those from the tribes who will be His servants during the Tribulation, but in Ezekiel 48 it is about the division of the Land according to the twelve tribes during the Kingdom of Peace.

Safeguarded from God's wrath

The fourth seal: the rider on a pale horse
The rider of this corpse-colored horse ('chloros' is pale green) will kill a quarter of the earth (which would be about 1.5 billion people today). This Apocalyptic horseman is called 'death and the realm of the dead'. Then the earth will be ravaged with wars, famines, pestilence and wild beasts. And this still concerns the seal judgments. The trumpet and bowl judgments, which are even more violent, are yet to come!

The fifth seal: the souls under the altar
The earthly tabernacle was a shadow of the heavenly. So John saw souls at the entrance to heaven under the altar. These come from a different dispensation than the raptured saints and therefore do not belong to the Church. They were converted at the beginning of the time of judgment and were killed because of their testimony. Apparently these martyred believers were already seen as a danger and threat in society.
They do what does not belong to the Church, namely praying for revenge. Compare this with Stephen's testimony in Acts 7:59-60.

The sixth seal: a severe natural disaster
The Greek word 'seismos' means earthquake. This is a powerful shock that affects the entire planet. It is not unlikely that the position of the earth will be changed. Isaiah prophesied: “The earth totters like a drunken man” (24:19-20). Then all the mountains and islands will be moved from their places. Large cosmic debris (meteorites) will hit Earth. The sun will become black as sackcloth of hair and the moon as blood (cf. Joel 2:32). This is a simultaneous eclipse of the sun and moon. Astronomically speaking, these two things cannot go together. This major event therefore cannot be predicted by NASA (as with the four red blood moons in 2014-2015). This will be something extraordinary that will happen through direct intervention of God!
The entire earth will be afraid as the planet wobbles! It is sad that people do not repent, even though they know that God's wrath has come. They prefer to take shelter in the holes and rocks of the earth. And instead of praying to God, they plead with the rocks: 'fall on us and hide us from His face' (verse 16) . What foolishness. As a born-again Christian you can hardly imagine that, because His love and forgiveness is so much greater than the hopeless condition of man. Even during the Tribulation!

Revelation 6 - The first six seals broken

From Revelation 6 onwards, the time of judgment begins in the Apocalypse. Then a period begins in which Christ as 'Redeemer' will reclaim this earth and take public possession of it. Although the victory over the world has already been achieved through Christ (John 3:16; 16:11), this is not yet seen. That will only be revealed at His Revelation in the future, when the Lord Jesus returns!

The occupation of the earth will begin when the Lion of the tribe of Judah receives the Scroll of Redemption and breaks its seals (Revelation 5:5; 6:1; 8:1). The period of God's wrath will last seven years and runs parallel to 'the last week of the year' (Daniel 9:27). That period is called in the Bible: 'the Day of the Lord', 'the Hour of temptation' and 'the wrath of God and the Lamb'. Of these, the last three and a half years are the heaviest and are also called 'the Great Tribulation' or 'Jacob's Trouble'. In Malachi 4:1 it says:'For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven!'

The four Apocalyptic horsemen
Horses and riders appear in the first four seals. A horse is a powerful animal that can run very fast. Symbolically we see here that the judgments during the horseman judgments will be spread across the earth at an extremely rapid pace. Although the first four seal visions are only a small start to the tribulation, they will cause unprecedented chaos on earth!

The first seal: the rider on the white horse
Many see Christ in the first rider. The following facts show that it cannot be about Christ, because:
• The Lamb opens the first seal and therefore cannot sit on the white horse in my opinion.
• One of the four beings (a cherub) gives a command to the rider on the white horse. Would Christ allow himself to be commanded by anyone?
• A crown was given to him. In chapter 19 we see that Christ has many crowns. This rider is the antichrist. Christ foretold: 'I have come in My Father's name, and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, him you will receive” (John 5:43). He will be a religious, political and economic world leader. As head of the restored Roman Empire, he will make a seven-year covenant with Israel. That will be a lying covenant with death and Hades (Isaiah 28:15,18), because after three and a half years he will break the covenant and show his true face (Daniel 8:25; 9:27). Not only Christians, but also Jews, Muslims and New Age occultists expect a savior. Many will believe that the make-believe Messiah is the promised Savior (Revelation 13:8). What a deception! ‘No wonder! After all, Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light

(2 Corinthians 11:14).

The second seal: the rider on the red horse
This rider has a large sword in his hand, which represents slaughter, terror and bloodshed. He was commanded to take away peace on earth (Matthew 24:6). This is clear evidence that the antichrist comes first with false peace!
The violent rise of Muslim fundamentalism in the Middle East (and also in the West) and the brutal violence they use is very similar to Revelation 13:15 and 20:4,'and ( I saw) the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus...' Is it not Islam who denies both the Father and the Son?! This is the spirit of antichrist (1 John 2:22). A clear sign of the times!

The third seal: the rider on the black horse
Then the seer saw a rider on a black horse with a scale in his hand. Black is the color of mourning. There will probably be a food shortage due to wars and economic problems. A family will then have to live on food for 1 person per day (compare Revelation 6:6 with Matthew 20:2. One measure of wheat is the portion for 1 person per day). But no damage may be done to the stimulants (oil and wine), the secondary necessities of life. They will still be present in abundance.