Revelation - Part 3 - Lecture 3

Introduction: These transcripts of Kay Arthur's lectures on Revelation (Parts 2-4) are provided as a service to the body of Christ with the written permission of Precept Ministries International. This material is the property of Precept Ministries International and all rights are reserved. The transcripts are for the most part verbatim with deletions identified by the characters (… ). The utilization of italics, bolding, hyperlinks and pop up notes represent editorial additions. Any written additions are identified by the designation "Ed note". Note that all text in blue identifies a link or popup. All reference are the NASB unless otherwise indicated. Please note that these lectures by Kay Arthur supplement the excellent Precept Upon Precept inductive Bible study on the Revelation. Click the following links to view each division of this encouraging study and note that you can also download the first lesson of each of the 4 parts:

Revelation - Pt 1 - Revelation 1-3, 10 lessons

Revelation - Pt 2- Revelation 4-22, 12 lessons

Revelation - Pt 3- Revelation 4-22, 11 lessons

Revelation - Pt 4 - Revelation 4-22, 14 lessons

If you can find a local Precept class studying Revelation, I would strongly encourage you to join the class, as I know of no other study available anywhere in the world that will equip you so thoroughly to discern the signs of the times and cause you to live expectantly as you look for Christ's Return!

Index to Revelation Lectures
Kay Arthur

Click Here for other "Futuristic" Resources on Revelation
Click here for Kay Arthur's Older Lecture Series on Daniel

Rev Pt 3 Lecture 3:
When Will the Mystery of God
Be Finished?
Kay Arthur

Click following for literal chapter by chapter chart summary of:
Revelation 4-10
Revelation 11-16
Revelation 17-19
Revelation 20-22

Are there things about God which are a real mystery to you? Do you wonder why the Jews have not believed on Jesus Christ since the gospel came first to the Jews and they rejected Him? Will they stay in rejection? Why is Jesus not reigning right now? If God is omnipotent, why doesn’t He step in and intervene and deal with the nations who are in godless rebellion, opposing the gospel of Jesus Christ? Why is it that evil men seem to triumph over God’s people who are suffering, even losing their lives? Where is God? Today we will look at the time when the MYSTERY OF GOD IS FINISHED and it is a mystery no more!

He has told us that He is coming quickly (Greek = en tachei), suddenly, quickly, rapidly.

Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to render to every man according to what he has done. (Rev 22:12).

Those of you that are studying, who are disciplining yourself for the purpose of godliness (1Ti 4:7-note), those of you that are determined to hang on in order to understand the book of the Revelation and the sign of His coming and the end of the age, you will be rewarded.

Rev 4 & 5 we are suddenly transported with John up to heaven and what he is shown in Rev 4 through 22 are “the which shall take place after these things.” (Rev 1:19) After what things? After the things Jesus has said to the churches in Rev 2 & 3. Our timeframe is that Rev 6-22 follows chronologically what Jesus has to say to the churches in Rev 2 & 3. Yes those 7 literal churches have disappeared but Kay believes the 7 letters are to the churches down through the ages.

Revelation 3:10 ‘Because you have kept the word of My perseverance, I also will keep you from the hour of testing, that hour which is about to come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell upon the earth.11 ‘I am coming quickly; hold fast what you have, in order that no one take your crown.

There is an HOUR that is coming on THE WHOLE WORLD. Why? In order to test those who dwell upon the earth (the “earth dwellers”). So you can know that Revelation 4 follows (not just in the chapter successions but in time) Revelation 2 and Revelation 3.

In Revelation 4 and Revelation 5 John is caught up to heaven and we have seen a glimpse of God, seeing that He is worthy and that Jesus Christ is worthy to take the SCROLL that is in the hand of God and to break the 7 seals. As Jesus takes the scroll and breaks the 7 seals, the breaking of those seals begins in Rev 6 (6 Seals).

Revelation 6:12-17: "And I looked when He broke the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth made of hair, and the whole moon became like blood;13 and the stars of the sky fell to the earth, as a fig tree casts its unripe figs when shaken by a great wind.14 And the sky was split apart like a scroll when it is rolled up; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.15 And the kings of the earth and the great men and the commanders and the rich and the strong and every slave and free man, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains;16 and they *said to the mountains and to the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb;17 for the great day of their wrath has come; and who is able to stand?”

We think of a Lion but not a Lamb having wrath. This is the Lamb Who is the Lion from the tribe of Judah, the Lamb that has been slain and Who has shed His blood in order to purchase a multitude from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. This Lamb has a side of wrath. And those on earth are crying out because they know that “Their Wrath has come”, where this verb, "has come", is Aorist Active Indicative. Aorist is “punctiliar” but in this verse does not tell you the specific time. Active voice means the subject performs the action of the verb. Indicative mood is the mood of reality and describes certainty. So the Great Day of their Wrath has come. Who is able to stand?

Revelation 8 Describes
The 7th Seal

Rev 8:1 And when He broke the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.2 And I saw the seven angels who stand before God; and seven trumpets were given to them.

There are 7 Seals, 7 Trumpets and 7 Bowls and there is much debate about how relate to one another. Are they all going on at one time? Are the trumpets simply a magnification of the seals? How do they relate to one another? As you have done your homework and let the text simply speak for itself, you have seen that there is an order so that as we start in Rev 6 we are moving chronologically (as you watch and mark your time phrases you see that one follows another). When you get to the 7^th Seal, you realize that the whole Seal is now broken and out of the 7^th Seal comes 7 trumpets. So we can conclude that…

The 7^th Seal initiates the 7 Trumpets & is accompanied by silence in heaven for about a half an hour.

Rev 8:3 And another angel came and stood at the altar, holding a golden censer; and much incense was given to him, that he might add it to the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne.4 And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, went up before God out of the angel’s hand.5 And the angel took the censer; and he filled it with the fire of the altar and threw it to the earth; and there followed peals of thunder and sounds and flashes of lightning and an earthquake.

Have you prayed and prayed and prayed to God, asking Him for justice on the face of the earth? Have you ask God for deliverance? Have you been asking why wicked men seen to prosper and as Psalm 73:4 says their “body is fat” and they don’t experience trouble? Have you beseeched God for justice? Have you ask Him to stop sin? You may have thought that your prayers were not answered. But God has stored all of these prayers before the throne. Now the angel comes up to the ALTAR OF INCENSE before the veil that separated the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies. When the High Priest went into the Holy Place on the day of atonement, (Yom Kippur, the only day of the year that the priest would enter the Holy of Holies to make sin offerings) he would go up to the altar of incense. The High Priest would take the poles of the altar and lift up the altar of incense before the Lord as he had lifted up the veil leading into the Holy of Holies (with the Ark of the Covenant). He would wave the incense before the Ark and before the Lord so that he would not be killed.

What God is telling us is that the Mystery of God is going to be finished. You don’t understand why He hasn’t answered your prayers. You can know this: He has all of your prayers before Him. He has not ignored them. It has just not yet been time. In Rev 8, the angel takes the golden censer and he casts it to the earth. All of those prayers are about to be answered.

Rev 8:4 And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, went up before God out of the angel’s hand.5 And the angel took the censer; and he filled it with the fire of the altar and threw it to the earth; and there followed peals of thunder and sounds and flashes of lightning and an earthquake.

So at the 7th Seal we see Lighting, Thunder and Earthquake. We saw occurrences before the 7 Seals.

Rev 4:5 And from the throne proceed flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder. And there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God

So you see Thunder and Lightning before He even starts breaking the seals. Then when you get to the 7^th Seal you see the Thunder and Lightning with the addition of an earthquake and with them begin the 7 Trumpets.

Four Trumpets in
 Revelation 8

One thing that is repeated with the Trumpets is 1/3 of whatever is touched by God in judgment. So you clearly see the Trumpets are different than the seals and that they follow the seals. Out of the 7^th Seal comes the 7 Trumpets.

Three Trumpets Remaining =
 Three Woes

These 3 trumpets are also the 3 Woes that come upon “those who dwell on the earth”.

Rev 8:13 And I looked, and I heard an eagle flying in midheaven, saying with a loud voice, “Woe, woe, woe, to those who dwell on the earth, because of the remaining blasts of the trumpet of the three angels who are about to sound!”

Compare to Rev 3:10 where same phrase “who dwell on the earth” is seen.

In Rev 8:13 if the “are about to sound” then you know that there is a progression of time.

THE FIRST WOE

Rev 9:1 And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star from heaven which had fallen to the earth; and the key of the bottomless pit was given to him.

Because of the torment, men will seek death but cannot even die. They cannot even commit suicide during this 5 month period. This clearly shows us the truth of Rev 1:18 “…I have the keys of death and of Hades” and of Rev 3:7 “Who has the key of David, Who opens and no one will shut, and Who shuts and no one opens”. So men cannot die because Jesus has shut the door to death and He alone holds the keys to death and Hades!

Rev 9:12 The first woe is past; behold, two woes are still coming after these things. (After these things shows that these events are occurring chronologically.

THE 6TH TRUMPET:
THE 2ND WOE

Rev 9:13 And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God,14 one saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.”15 And the four angels, who had been prepared for the hour and day and month and year, were released, so that they might kill a third of mankind. (the judgments connected with the trumpet are always in “1/3’s”.)

THE 7TH TRUMPET:
 THE 3RD WOE

Woe to those who are dwelling upon the earth because of what is happening to them (5^th trumpet: so tormented them that they wanted to die and the 6^th trumpet sounded and 1/3 of them did die)

Remember the Seals, Trumpets and Bowls are all a result of Jesus taking the Scroll that is in the hands of God and breaking it’s 7 Seals.

Rev 11:14 The The second woe is past; behold, the third woe is coming quickly. 15 And the 7^th angel sounded; and there arose loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord, and of His Christ; and He will reign forever and ever.”16 And the twenty-four elders, who sit on their thrones before God, fell on their faces and worshiped God,17 saying, “We give Thee thanks, O Lord God, the Almighty, who art and who wast, because Thou hast taken Thy great power and hast begun to reign. (So you know that from the 7^th Trumpet = 3^rd Woe God has begun to reign!) 18 “And the nations were enraged, and Thy wrath came, and the time came for the dead to be judged, and the time to give their reward to Thy bond-servants the prophets and to the saints and to those who fear Thy name, the small and the great, and to destroy those who destroy the earth.”

Is it not a mystery to us why God has not moved to destroy those who are destroying His creation and why He has not brought forth His Son to reign? Has it been a mystery why God has not rewarded those who persevered faithfully? When the 7^th TRUMPET (=3^rd WOE) begins to sound, THE MYSTERY OF GOD IS FINISHED!

Next to Rev 11:15 you might write "Rev 10:7"

Rev 10:7 but in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, (THE TRUMPET) then the mystery of God is finished, as He preached to His servants the prophets.

Some say that since “about to sound” is a present subjunctive it could be translated “when he shall sound” the trumpet, the mystery of God is finished. All that has been a mystery to you will then be finished! And you also know that the time has come for Jesus Christ to reign and the nations are enraged over this. His wrath comes and the time comes for the dead to be judged and the reward to be given to His bondservants, etc. So that when the 7^th Trumpet sounds the mystery of God is finished and all of these things take place.

Now, the question is does “nations enraged, Thy wrath came, etc” all occur instantly? No, because out of the 7 seals came the 7 trumpets. Out of the 7^th trumpet (or the very sounding of that trumpet) comes 7 bowls

THE SEVEN
BOWL JUDGMENTS

Rev 15:1 And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous, seven angels who had seven plagues (=7 BOWLS), [which are] the last, because in them the wrath of God is finished.

So when the 7TH TRUMPET sounds (Re 11:15) what you see in Rev11:19 is lightning, thunder, another earthquake and a great hailstorm. So we see lightning and thunder from the Throne of God and see similar cosmological disturbances when the 6TH SEAL is broken and then when the 7TH TRUMPET is sounded.

So the 7 SEALS become 7 TRUMPETS
which in turn give rise to 7 BOWLS

and

The 7 Bowls Are
THE LAST!

Why? Because IN THE BOWLS the WRATH of GOD is FINISHED. When did the wrath of God begin? In the 6TH SEAL we learned that the wrath of God ''has come and who is able to stand?'' (Rev 6:16, 17). We know that in the 7th Bowl that the wrath of God is finished, done, complete.

Rev 16:1 And I heard a loud voice from the temple, saying to the seven angels, "Go and pour out the seven bowls of the wrath of God into the earth."

FIRST BOWL
(Rev 16:2)

loathsome and malignant sore upon the men who had the mark of the beast. So we know that the men that are living during this time have the MARK OF THE BEAST, 666 (the number of a man).

SECOND BOWL
(Rev 16:3)

Poured into the sea and it became blood ''and every living thing in the sea died.'' In the 2nd Trumpet only 1/3 of sea became blood and only 1/3 died (8:8-9) but now EVERYTHING in the sea dies!

THIRD BOWL
(Rev 16:4, 5, 6, 7)

Fresh waters turned to blood. Remember that the MYSTERY OF GOD IS FINISHED and the time has come to JUDGE those who came against the prophets and against God's people.

Rev 16:4: And the third angel poured out his bowl into the rivers and the springs of waters; and they became blood. 5 And I heard the angel of the waters saying, "Righteous art Thou, who art and who wast, O Holy One, because Thou didst judge these things; 6 for they poured out the blood of saints and prophets, and Thou hast given them blood to drink. They deserve it. " 7 And I heard the altar saying, "Yes, O Lord God, the Almighty, true and righteous are Thy judgments."

Have you been crying out to God and it is a mystery to you why He allows ungodly men to continue to persecute BELIEVERS. If God is sovereign and sees all and is able to stop then why hasn't He done so and in fact will He ever stop them? The answer is ''yes'' because Rev 16:6 teaches that they are going to drink blood because they poured out blood.

FOURTH BOWL
(Rev 16:8, 9)

'men were scorched with fierce heat'', men who had burned others at the stake (many Believers have died at the stake).

FIFTH BOWL
(Rev 16:10, 11)

The First Beast's ''kingdom became darkened'', absolutely black because this Beast is energized by the Dragon, the prince of darkness (Ep 6:12- note ..our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but… against the world forces [kosmokrator [word study] from kosmos [word study] = world + krateo = to hold, ~Satan] of this darkness''). Those who come to Christ have moved ''out of darkness into His marvelous light'' (1Pet 2:9-note). His whole kingdom is black. And the events occurring during that time cause men to gnaw ''their tongues because of pain"… in agony they are chewing up their tongues! That is how overbearing the darkness is.

SIXTH BOWL
(Rev 16:12, 13, 14, 15, 16)

'The great river, the Euphrates… was dried up… and… spirits of demons… go out to the kings of the whole world… performing signs… to gather them (the kings) together for the war.''

SEVENTH BOWL
(Rev 16:17, 18, 19, 20, 21)

Rev 16:17 And the seventh angel poured out his bowl upon the air; and a loud voice came out of the temple from the throne, saying, "It is done." (See: Rev 15:1… seven plagues (bowls), which are the last, because in them the wrath of God is finished.'') 18 And there were flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder; and there was a great earthquake, such as there had not been since man came to be upon the earth, so great an earthquake was it, and so mighty. 19 And the great city was split into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell. And Babylon the great was remembered before God, to give her the cup of the wine of His fierce wrath. 20 And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found. 21 And huge hailstones, about one hundred pounds each, came down from heaven upon men; and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail, because its plague was extremely severe.

So with the Seventh Bowl ''IT IS DONE'' and you see BABYLON drinking the cup of God's WRATH.

the fall of babylon
in the seventh bowl

Remember that in the 7th Bowl BABYLON is remembered and given God's cup of wrath.

Rev 18:1 After these things I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority, and the earth was illumined with his glory. 2 And he cried out with a mighty voice, saying, "Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great! And she has become a dwelling place of demons and a prison of every unclean spirit, and a prison of every unclean and hateful bird.

Recall the TIME PHRASES:

Rev 18:8 ''in one day her plagues will come''

Rev 18:10 ''in one hour your judgment has come''

Rev 18:17 ''in one hour such great wealth has been laid waste!''

Rev 18:19 ' 'in one hour she has been laid waste!''

So what you see when the 7TH BOWL is poured out is that BABYLON FALLS. An angel testifies that this happens and that it happens in one day, in one hour… all laid waste.

Rev 19:1 After these things I heard, as it were, a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, saying, "Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God; 2 because His judgments are true and righteous; (the judgments in the Seals, Trumpets, Bowls) for He has judged the great harlot (Babylon) who was corrupting the earth with her immorality, and He has avenged the blood of His bond-servants on her. "

Isn't this what was going to happen when the MYSTERY OF GOD was FINISHED and God began to reign? What do we see beginning in God's judgments from that time onward? We see a DIRECT ATTACK against the Kingdom of the Beast and a DIRECT ATTACK against Babylon, Mother of harlots, who has committed fornication with the kings of the earth and who is drunk on the blood of the martyrs. Therefore, because of these true & righteous judgments we see the Great Multitude in heaven rejoicing.

A HALLELUJAH
CHORUS

Rev 19:3 And a second time they said, "Hallelujah! Her smoke rises up forever and ever… 6 And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude and as the sound of many waters and as the sound of mighty peals of thunder, saying, "Hallelujah! For the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigns.

Now, did God's REIGN began here? No. Remember the TIME PHRASE associated with the 7TH TRUMPET in Rev 11:17:

"O Lord God, the Almighty, who art and who wast,
because Thou hast taken Thy great power and hast begun to reign.''

So God reigns beginning at the 7th Trumpet and in so doing brings judgments against the beast's kingdom & Babylon which results in rejoicing in Rev 19.

Rev 19:7 "Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready." (the marriage supper of the Lamb) 11 And I saw heaven opened; and behold, a white horse, and He who sat upon it [is] called Faithful and True; and in righteousness He judges and wages war… 16 And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, "KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS." (Verse 17 is a call ''to all the birds [to]… assemble for the great supper of God'') 18 in order that you may eat the flesh of kings, (etc). 19 And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies, assembled to make war against Him who sat upon the horse, and against His army.

When were they assembled? The SIXTH BOWL (Rev 16:12-16) when the "spirits of demons" went out ''to gather them together for the war of the great day of God, the Almighty.'' And now they are being destroyed. (Cp to phrase in Rev 11:18 ''destroy those who destroy the earth.")

Rev 19:20 And the beast was seized, and with him the false prophet who performed the signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image; these two were thrown alive into the lake of fire which burns with brimstone. 21 And the rest were killed with the sword…

Rev 20:1 And I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand. 2 And he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, (Cp. Rev 12) and bound him for a 1000 years, 3 … so that he should not deceive the nations any longer… ''

The opening of 7 Seals brings forth 7 Trumpets and when the 7th Trumpet is blown it brings forth 7 Bowls. At the 7th Bowl, Babylon is destroyed and Jesus comes from heaven on a white horse with His saints to make war with those who were assembled together in the 6th bowl. The Beast & the False Prophet are cast into the Lake of Fire. The Dragon is put into the B.P. (bottomless pit) for 1000 years. For the next 1000 years the Saints will rule and reign with Christ on the face of this earth (see Rev 5:10, 20:4,6, 22:5). At the end of the 1000 years the Dragon is let out of the BP (Rev 20:7-10) and he goes out to deceive the nations resulting in another war, Gog & Magog. After that, a New Heaven and New Earth come down in Rev21. But before that New Heaven & New Earth, we see the Great White Throne judgment, where death and Hades and the sea give up the dead who stand before God (Rev 20:11-14). Then heaven and earth flees away and John sees a New Heaven, New Earth and the Holy City Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God (Rev21:1ff). The New Jerusalem is in fact the BRIDE OF THE LAMB. That's the big picture.

THE TIME PHRASES
IN THE REVELATION

Rev 6:17 By the sixth seal we know that the Wrath of God has come.

Rev 7:3 Between the 6th and 7th Seals there is a sealing of 144,000 Jews, 12,000 from every tribe. This has to happen before the earth or the sea or the trees can be harmed. In the Trumpets you see the destruction of the trees, earth, etc. So you know that at this time these 144,000 are sealed before you can move into the judgments in the 7th Seal (which equates with the 7 Trumpets).

Rev 11:2 - They are measuring the Temple so we know there has to be a Temple (Jewish) on earth. But the court outside the Temple is not to be measured ''for it has been given to the nations; and they will tread under foot the holy city for 42 months. (3.5 YEARS)'' This statement does not seem to refer to the past 42 months. When does this occur?

Rev 11:3 "And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1260 days, clothed in sackcloth." So they will prophesy for 3.5 years.

Rev 11:7 And when they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up out of the abyss will make war with them, and overcome them and kill them. 8 And their dead bodies [will lie] in the street of the great city which mystically is called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified. (in JERUSALEM) 9 And those from the peoples and tribes and tongues and nations [will] look at their dead bodies for 3.5 days, and will not permit their dead bodies to be laid in a tomb. 10 And those who dwell on the earth [will] rejoice over them and make merry; and they will send gifts to one another, because these two prophets tormented those who dwell on the earth. 11 And after the 3.5 days the breath of life from God came into them, and they stood on their feet; and great fear fell upon those who were beholding them. 12 And they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, "Come up here." And they went up into heaven in the cloud, and their enemies beheld them. 13 And in that hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell; and seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven. 14 The 2ND woe is past; behold, the 3RD woe is coming quickly.

So the 2nd Woe is past after the Sixth Trumpet and is associated with 3.5 years of 2 witnesses prophesying, then being killed by the beast. Now at the end of the 6th Trumpet you see THE BEAST on the scene, not having been mentioned before in Revelation. And since these 2 fire breathing prophets were disposed of by THE BEAST, the earth dwellers are quite impressed with his ability to eradicate their two tormentors. Kay feels like the nations will tread under the Holy City for 42 months after the period marked by the sounding of the 7th Trumpet.

We are not finished yet and there is still more to come because there are so many time phrases that help us establish the progression of events. These time phrases are not just being pulled out of the air but are discerned by simply allowing the text to speak for itself.

The MYSTERY OF GOD
is almost finished

What will lead up to it and what will follow?

You are learning that now. The Word of God tells you. God does not hide what He is about to do from His bond-servants. He makes known His secrets to them. Don't miss next week.

Those of us who belong to Christ may look like we are losing now, but we are not because the Mystery of God is soon going to be finished and we will then be shown for what we truly are… a KINGDOM OF PRIESTS unto God and we will reign with Jesus Christ forever and ever.

The marriage supper of the Lamb is coming.
O Bride get ready!