C. 9f,§89₁156
Boek Openbaring §8,9,11,15,16, Oordelen Uitgelegd: Bazuin en Schaal van Efeze-Gemeentetijdperk (1)
Shalom!
^ With trumpets and bowls is concentrated on the chapters 8, 9, 11, 15 and 16.
More of history and future is found with the prophecies of God's trumpets and bowls.
^ In this new series, I deal with the (seals and) trumpets and bowls topics mainly from the point of view of local churches and their believers. It differs from brother Branham's line when in 1963 the Holy Spirit led him to speak of the seals from the perspective of all the Christians worldwide.
Under the explanation of the seals, I mentioned and discussed both approaches {especially 6h, 6l and 6m§6(8)10}.
Prayer of the servants who are preparing for the coming of their Lord (cf. Luke 12:47), Bert
1$: In the first church age, the believers' first love for God faded away. It had been God's main rebuke to the believers of the Ephesian church age (Rev. 2:4).
In his days, the apostle John had taught that our love for God is shown by how much we love our brothers/sisters. There should be a readiness to die for each other as the Lord Jesus had been the example for us. In that way God has loved and loves us (1John 4:20-21).
1s, 1-2$: According to the later revealed first seal, the main problem among the believers had been the anti-Christian spirit in some of them, of what John also had spoken (6l§6(8)10, 1John 2:18-19).
In 53 the revival of the church age of Ephesus had started and in 170 the Holy Spirit joined the next revival of the church age of Smyrna (6i§6(8)10, 1-7$).
1T1B: According to bBranham in different churches, the revivals were dying out at different times. Thus, sometime after 170, the last Ephesian revival went out.
Then in heaven the first trumpet was blown (and the first bowl was poured out), and the lampstand of the Ephesian church was removed from its place (1b§1-3/2b§45, Rev. 2:5).
1T: The symbol of the first heavenly angel's trumpet reads as follows, Rev. 8:7, <Then the first {angel} sounded his trumpet, and hail and fire mixed with blood were hurled down upon the earth. A third of the earth was burned up, along with a third of the trees and all the green grass.>
The earth/land is once again the land of God's promise (cf. 3c§12, Rev. 12:15-16).
¤ It represented the churches of the Ephesian age. The trees and green grass represented believers and their spiritual and physical children. Every believer would be like a tree, Ps. 1:3, <He is like a tree planted by streams of water, yielding its fruit in season, whose leaf does not wither, and who prospers in all he does.>
The judgment of the trumpet was directed at those believers who did not continue in the revival spirit, who did not continue hungry and thirsty for God's great works.
¤ Based on God's judgment, a third of the believers in the churches of the Ephesian age and all their children died spiritually. Without continuing the revival meetings no one came anymore to faith and God allowed a third of the believers to withdraw totally.
Blood represents both Salvation, and God's Judgment and death (Ex. 12:13).
¤ The believers in question had started to follow Jesus Christ and had potentially been spiritual people whose names had been in the Scroll of Life (Rev. 13:8b).
Having strayed from the hiking path of revival, a third part of them were erased from the Scroll of Life, (cf. Luke 10:20), cf. Rev. 3:5, <“…. Like them, he who overcomes will be dressed in white. And I will never blot out his name from the Book of Life, but I will confess his name before My Father and His angels.”>
¤
1B: On the same earth/land, that is, within the churches of the same died out revival, the fate of so-called Christians was described. Together with the execution of the trumpet judgment, the first bowl was poured out (8c§89₁156, Rev. 8:5 and 15:7-8), Rev. 16:2, <So the first {angel} went and poured out his bowl on the earth, and loathsome, malignant sores broke out on those who had the mark of the beast and worshiped its image.>
Borderline Christians were not true believers at all. Their names had never been in the Book Scroll of Life. Outwardly they had been Christians. But inside they had not wanted to become spiritual Christians.
¤ By this bowl God opened the eyes of the surrounding people. Everywhere was noticed bad painful abscesses, unholy behavior of the Christians in question.
At that time, the beast was the state of the Roman emperors, and the image of the beast was the system of its idols. Not bowing to them would have meant big trouble. They had not been ready for that. They never had had such love that they had been ready to die for the Lord Jesus. It had been much easier to keep silent about Jesus and uncritically accept the ‘culture’ of that time. As a result, Satan had been able to mark with his mark those whose names from the beginning had not even been in the Scroll of Life. Their coming to faith was not ordained at all (3b§12, Acts 13:48).