Revelation: Lesson 4

Overview

Three Cycles, One Story

Revelation's seven seals, seven trumpets, and seven bowls (censers) are not a chronological countdown but three parallel cycles covering the same span of time—from the cross to Christ's return. Each cycle ends at the same place: the end of this world. Reading them this way frees us from speculation about timelines and refocuses our attention on the One who sits enthroned over history. The number seven itself, woven throughout Revelation (seven churches, seven lampstands, seven stars, seven angels), is the number reserved for God's holy and complete action, modeled on the seven days of creation. Revelation is therefore not chaos described—it is God's perfect, sovereign work being unveiled.

The Seals and the Trumpets

The first four seals release the four horsemen: conquest, the taking of peace, famine, and death Revelation 6. These have ridden across every age of history since the cross, and they ride only by God's permissive will. The fifth seal shows the martyrs beneath the altar, robed in white and told to rest a little longer—a comfort for those who have lost loved ones in Christ, who are now in full Sabbath rest in His presence, not anxiously watching us. The sixth seal pictures the terror of the end for those without Christ; but for those claimed by Him, there is no need to hide, for we are His own possession 1 Peter 2:9.

The seventh seal opens with silence in heaven Revelation 8:1-5—the silence of a humanity that has no defense before God Romans 3:10-19—and launches the trumpets. The first four trumpets Revelation 8:6-13 bring upheavals in nature reminiscent of the plagues on Egypt Exodus 7-10: hail and fire, the sea turned to blood, waters made bitter as wormwood, the darkening of sun and moon. Each strikes a "third"—judgment is real but partial, a merciful warning rather than total destruction. Wormwood pictures the bitterness of the human heart turned from God Proverbs 5:3-4, and creation itself groans under sin's curse, awaiting redemption Romans 8.

The Prayers of the Saints and the End

One of the most striking details comes at the start of the trumpet cycle: the censer of incense mingled with the prayers of the saints is hurled to the earth, and judgment follows. God hears His people. Vengeance belongs to Him, and our prayers for help, for justice, for mercy in a broken world are not lost—they rise before His throne and He acts. The seventh trumpet Revelation 11:15-19 and the seventh bowl Revelation 16 both arrive at the same destination: a voice from the throne declaring, "It is done."

Pastoral Application

We are not meant to map these cycles onto headlines or guess the date of the end. Every generation has thought itself the last; Paul did, Luther did, and we often do. What we are meant to do is take comfort. The horsemen ride, but only as far as God permits. The trumpets sound, but by the authority of the Lamb. The bowls are poured out, but mingled with the prayers of God's people. Suffering will come—Jesus told us plainly the world would hate us as it hated Him—but nothing surprises our sovereign Lord, and the victory is already His. For those in Christ, the end is not terror but joy.

Transcript

Lord, we thank you for your grace, we thank you for your word, we thank you that your 3s

word is indeed truth and you lead us by your spirit into all things that are true. 8s

Lord, open our minds, open our hearts to your word this morning. 14s

Use this time of study together to draw us closer to you as your faithful servants. 18s

Lord, let us use what you reveal to us today in our daily lives, knowing that 23s

ultimately you are sovereign, ultimately you are almighty and ultimately you have 30s

you have won the victory and you reign and will continue to reign for all time and 37s

all eternity. Lord, we thank you for this time of study and we lift all of this to 43s

you in the name of Jesus. Okay, so before we recap, we're going to recap-ish. So I just 48s

want to start with the number seven. So as we're going through, there are so many things 59s

that are symbolic and some of the things I know I've said we're going to come back, we're 63s

going to come back to the throne room. We're going to talk about the 144,000, we're going 69s

to talk about the church militant and the church triumphant and we will, I promise, 74s

and it's a lot to cover in today. Today we have two more after today or we have, yeah, 79s

we have two more after today, yeah. Yeah, okay, perfect. I'm glad you all know. It's a 84s

lot to cover but the reason why we're passing over like the interlude in between these 91s

seals in between the trumpets, in between the sensors, the reason is because these 101s

three cycles of legs, these three cycles are covering the same time period. It's covering 109s

the time period of the cross till the end of time. We don't know when that is. And so 116s

we're going to come back and we're going to study the seven trumpets today and we're 131s

going to look at the seven bowls or the seven sensors and that's all over the same period 134s

of time. And we don't know when it will end. But really it should be a word of comfort 141s

because we know as we read in Revelation, we know that these are set forth, the seal 149s

is set forth, the trumpet is blown by the authority of God. And so we know that all is 157s

still under his command which means that we do not have to fret. I said last week that 166s

you know as we see, we're going to talk about the horseman again really quick here. But 174s

as we see these horsemen ride and we see everything, I mean the battle at every angle 177s

and coming at us, we know that God is in control and we know that Jesus told his disciples 182s

you will suffer. There will be suffering. You will suffer for my name. We know that the 191s

world hated him and that the world will hate us because of him. He tells us that point 196s

blank. So it's not a surprise to him. It shouldn't be a surprise to us. And we can take 200s

comfort knowing that God is still in control and that nothing is taking him by the price. 211s

So with that being said, I do want to talk about the number seven really quick. And last 222s

year Pastor Ibel did a series or an adult education on numbers. So if you're interested 229s

in the numbers within scripture, I encourage you to go to our YouTube channel and under 235s

the classes area you can find that class or that series of classes. But we're going to 242s

talk a little bit about the number seven because this is really important. We have these 251s

cycles of seven plagues. So revelation is really there's a lot of seven that comes up in 256s

revelation. Remember the prophetic message is given to the seven churches. Christ is amongst 265s

the seven lamp stands which are the churches. He holds the seven light seven stars in his hand 272s

which are the seven angels of the churches. We have these three cycles of the visions that 279s

John receives and they're all seven. All of this seven fold pattern which if you haven't been 287s

to service yet today, you're going to hear a great sermon on pattern. But this seven fold 294s

pattern is modeled after those seven days of creation. So we have the seven days of creation 299s

and that number seven in scripture is generally reserved for God. The number seven is generally 307s

reserved for God for his holy and complete presence for his holy and perfect creative activity 316s

especially in relation to the seven day. On the seventh day we have the Sabbath and that is 323s

when we have that fullness of rest, the Sabbath rest. There are, we have the 21 scenes that were 332s

given to John in this presentation. We have a purpose or the Lord gives that purpose of that 342s

pattern so that it draws our attention to it and we can see it. The other reason for this seven 352s

fold pattern is because that number seven is reserved for God and his holiness and his perfection 364s

and his perfect action, then we see that revelation itself is from God and it is part of his 371s

holy and perfect action upon creation, humanity, right? So the other thing that we want to keep in mind 384s

with these seven cycles is that this has been happening for all of our history, right? And we can 397s

think of our immediate history, you know, the history that all of us have been alive, you know, 408s

and some, I mean, so that history kind of starts earlier for some of us. But, but, you know, what? 414s

I just mean that we have some seasoned saints and that's wonderful. So, so, so, so, you know, you think about, 425s

you think about the four horsemen, we're going to go back to the horsemen here. Where are we? Okay, so these are 441s

that first, we have the first seals and I realized something that would might be helpful. I'm going to write down 449s

exactly where all of these are in the scripture so we can come back or in revelation so we can come back at any time. 457s

So the first four are the four horsemen. We have the white horse, a horsemen, we have the red, the black, the pale ring. So, with the 464s

white horsemen comes this, this power grab, right? It's through military force, we have tyranny in here. From the cross to now, 474s

have we seen power grabs? Have we seen military tyrants? Yes, absolutely. And it's not just a one-time thing. It's continuous because this, this horsemen continues to 488s

ride. All under, all under the, the stopping hand of the Lord. The Lord does not let the horsemen ride past what he allows. And remember, we have, we have the act of will of God, 503s

we have the permissive will of God. He permits these horsemen to ride. They ride as a consequence of sin. They ride as a consequence of, 518s

of the devil having, having his impact on us as far as luring us in. And so we, we get taken in by, and I say we, it's a general we, but even in our own lives, you know, whether it's in business or with relationships, we still can get taken in by the white horsemen. 531s

The second one is, is the, the, what did I write there, taking peace from the earth, okay? I did not know what I wrote there. Okay, so taking peace from the earth. And then we have the black horsemen where there's famine and scarcity. 553s

We have the pale green horsemen which is death and hate. So all of this, all of this has been happening for history. And it will continue to happen. And we, as humans, we will try to conquer any of this. 573s

We're not able to, we're not able to, but we take comfort knowing that the Lord does, the Lord will, that this does have an end. It does come to an end when we don't know. That is not for us to know, but we do know that it comes to an end. 591s

So the four horsemen are in Revelation chapter six, one through eight. Then we have the fifth seal, which with that one we have the saints beneath the altar. And, and we are going to talk more about the saints and the church militant and the church triumphant. 612s

But, but they're told the saints are the, the martyrs and white roads, the white road martyrs and they're told to wait, wait and rest a little while longer. And this is, this is the church. This is all who have died in faith, all who the Lord has, has called home to be in his presence in paradise already. 637s

Which, that is a word of comfort for us who have lost loved ones. We know that they are currently in Sabbath rest, in full rest in the presence of the Lord. 660s

They're not worried about the horsemen that are riding. They're not worried about us, this side of heaven. And, I know that that's a, that's sort of this idea that, you know, oh, my, my brother's sister, spouse, whoever is looking down on us from heaven, no, they're not worried about us. 679s

Which is good, which is good. We don't want our loved ones worrying about us. We want them in that Sabbath rest and peace where scripture tells us that they are. 698s

So, then we have the six, so that's six, that's revelation. That's revelation six, nine through eleven. And then, then we have the sixth seal. And that's, that's the end in its terror. 717s

That's the end in its terror. And that's where we hear about the, the mountains falling and, and the people terrified and, and, and wishing for the mountains to fall on them so they don't have to face the Lord. 742s

And, it's, it's scary. It's not scary for us because we know we don't have to hide from the Lord. We know we can't hide from the Lord. 757s

It's not scary for us because we, we have been called and claimed and we are already the Lord. 774s

We don't have to hide because we're seen through Christ. In our, in one of the readings today, in 1 Peter, he says that we are, we have been taken as, or for his possession, for the Lord's possession. 786s

We are called to be his people, called as, as his nation, as his race. So, so we're not hiding. And that is in Revelation six, 12 through 17. 801s

Yes, 12 through 17. So then we have the seventh seal. And the seventh seal is Revelation eight. So you'll notice we jump. So that's Revelation eight. And that is, um, one through five. 820s

And we jump. So there's an interlude here. And this is where we're going to come back. We'll come back to this interlude here. But here we have the seventh seal. And this is where, um, where the seventh seal introduces this, this second fold or this second seven fold vision. 835s

So, so we go through the seals. We get to this seventh seal. And it, it's introducing us to bring us back to that point in time to the cross. And we're going to start over. And we're going to see with the trumpets what's going on. 855s

So let's open up to Revelation chapter eight. 874s

Okay, Revelation chapter eight. There are a couple of things that are really cool about, well, there are lots of really cool things in this. So, and I said, we just have so much, so much and so little time. Okay. 887s

So let's go ahead and just read the, the first five verses beginning chapter eight, verse one, when the lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. Okay, we have to pause here for a second. 899s

Okay, so love this silence. Remember in Romans where it says that, that, that, you know, all are, it's quoting from Psalms and saying that none are righteous, not even one, no one speaks after God. And it says that all will be before the Lord and not a mouth, not a single mouth will be able to speak because not a single person is outside of sin. 913s

None of us can stand before the Lord and excuse ourselves or say, we are worthy in our own right. All is silent. Okay, let's continue. And I saw the seven angels who stand before God and seven trumpets who were given to them. 943s

Another angel with a golden sensor came and stood at the altar. He was given a great quantity of incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar that is before the throne. And the smoke of the incense with the prayers of the saints rose before God from the hand of the angel. Then the angel took the sensor and filled it with fire from the altar and threw it on the earth and there were peels of thunder rumbling splashes of lightning and an earthquake. 961s

So, so this seventh seal is opening, opening up the next sevenfold. But it's interesting that really we get a little bit of an introduction to both the trumpets and the sensors or the bolts. 986s

And it's really interesting to notice that the trumpets are handed to seven angels. We have seven angels of the church. The sensors are filled with the prayers of the saints. They're filled with incense with smoke. Very interesting that these bold are filled with the prayers of the saints. 1003s

And then it says that the sensor is poured out verse four. The smoke of the incense with the presence of the saints rose before God from the hand of the angel. Then the angel took the sensor and filled it with fire from the altar and threw it on the earth. 1026s

And all of the stuff that happens out of that which we go through in the bowls of wrath, we will see these. But it's just very interesting that it is the prayers of the saints. 1045s

And what does the Lord tell us? He says vengeance is mine. Those prayers of the saints are offered up to the Lord. 1060s

The Lord, we are promised He will answer our prayers. Part of our prayers are a result of the evil and wickedness that's in this world. 1070s

And so this sensor or these sensors that will be poured out, they are mixed with our prayers because our prayers for help, our prayers for safety, for security, for health, for everything that's for the Lord to deal with. 1084s

And we're shown here, he deals with it for us. Vengeance is his, not ours. Okay. So we're going to go with the trumpets. So our first four trumpets are in Revelation 8 6-13. 1101s

Okay. Revelation 8, what did I say 6-13? Okay. Thank you for listening. I appreciate that. Those are the first four trumpets. And it's pretty interesting. The trumpets, so the trumpets are going to be upheavals in nature. 1124s

They're upheavals in nature. And we're going to read through these. But notice that the plagues that are introduced and ushered in through these first four trumpets. They're really reminiscent of some of the judgments and some of the plagues that God strikes Egypt with in Exodus. 1144s

In Exodus 7-10, we see those 10 plagues that come upon Egypt through the hand of the Lord. And so these, we're going to see a lot of similarities. So let's go to chapter 8, verse 6-13. 1164s

Now the seven angels who had the seven trumpets made ready to blow them. The first angel blew his trumpet and there came hail and fire mixed with blood and they were hurried to the earth. And a third of the earth was burned up and a third of the trees were burned up. And all green grass was burned up. 1180s

So let's just take another little pause. The third then is partial. It's not total destruction, but it is partial destruction. So every single plague that we're going to read about, it destroys part or a third of the earth. 1201s

And the destruction of the earth affects humanity. Any destruction of earth is suffering for humanity. So we continue in verse 8. The second angel blew his trumpet and something like a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea. 1222s

A third of the sea became blood, a third of the living creatures in the sea died and a third of the ships were destroyed. The third angel blew his trumpet and a great star fell from heaven blazing like a torch and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water. The name of the star is warm wood. A third of the waters became warm wood and many died from the water because it was made bitter. 1242s

So warm wood is a bitter poison and it represents the bitterness of the human heart, the sorrow of the human heart. Let's go to, keep your hand here in Revelation, but let's go back to Proverbs, which is in the middle of the Bible right after Psalms, just a little bit before Isaiah. 1269s

We're going to go to chapter 5 of Proverbs. And we're going to read in verse 3 and 4, for the lips of a loose woman drip honey and her speech is smoother than oil. But in the end, she is bitter as warm wood, sharp as a two-edged sword. There's the bitterness, it may sound sweet, it may seem sweet. The human heart. 1292s

We have bitterness, we have sorrow and it's not good. So in Jeremiah, in the prophet, the prophet Jeremiah, he's told by the Lord that he needs to give the people warm wood to eat and bitter water to drink because of their sin. 1321s

And then we also learn that God in his mercy and God alone in his mercy can make that bitter pure and can make that water pure and sweet. 1339s

So warm wood here is the bitterness, the bitterness that we have. So then we have the fourth one, so let's go back to Revelation chapter 8. 1355s

And we are going to find ourselves in verse 12. The fourth angel blew his trumpet and the third of the sun was struck and a third of the moon and a third of the stars so that a third of their life was darkened. A third of the day was kept from shining and likewise the night. 1370s

Okay, it's not total darkness. In Egypt, remember, one of the plagues was total darkness and it was to last three days. So there was a time limit on there. 1390s

It's not total darkness, but there is no time limit on this. So you hear about, we hear those first four, we hear the plague of the water being poisoned in Egypt. 1405s

The Nile was turned to blood. We have the hail coming down in Egypt. We have the hail. We have the darkness. So there is a lot of similarities or there are a lot of similarities. 1420s

So then, and we see that in these four trumpets, we see that humanity is made to suffer through judgment upon the earth. In Romans, Romans, I think it's pretty sure it's chapter 8. 1443s

It says that all of creation grows, waiting, waiting for the day of redemption. It is not just mankind that is under the curse of sin or that deals with the curse of sin. 1456s

It is all of creation. So when the Lord comes again, we have a full redemption. We have a full redemption for his people and we have a full redemption and we're going to get to the end. So I don't want to jump there. 1476s

But a lot of this, again, I want to emphasize, what sounds scary really is also good news and comfort for us. Not that this horrible stuff exists or is happening, but that it's under the control of God. 1493s

And that ultimately, as we are going to find, as we read about the saints, those who are in the Lord, we're in the Lord. And we know that the triumph, the victory ultimately is ours and is for us. 1514s

So then we have the fifth and sixth trumpets coming out in Revelation 9, 1 through 20, or 1 through 21, 5th and 6th trumpets. 1530s

And we have the demons coming from the abyss, we have the last battle. Then we have the seventh trumpet in Revelation 11. Notice again, we have these skips. Revelation 11, 15 through 19. 1555s

And with that, we have the end and its joy. Okay. So, and there's a reason why I'm kind of, we're going to run out of time, but I want to write this down. So we have a chart. And I know you don't know what this is, but that's okay. 1575s

So then we have the sensors. I'm going to tell you where we can find the sensors. So these are seals. Wait, are these seals? No. Yes, seals. Oh my gosh, trumpets and then sensors or bowls. 1592s

Okay. So we have the bowls. We've got the first five sensors of wrath. And remember, these are the bowls of God's wrath that are being poured out. So we have the first five sensors are in Revelation 16, 1 through 11. 1610s

Then we have the sixth sensor in Revelation 16, 12 through 16. And that is Armageddon. 1630s

Okay. Then we have the seventh sensor in Revelation 16, 17 through 21. And that's again the end. Okay. 1648s

Now, what I want to do is I have a chart that we see the cycles next to one another, which I think will be helpful. Okay. 1665s

So we have the seals. We have the trumpets. And we have the sensors. Okay. All right. But before we go there, we are going to go here. But let's go to chapter 16 really quick. 1680s

Okay. Because it's the final bowl. And I just want to read the final bowl. Okay. Chapter 16 verses 17 and 18. The seventh angel poured his bowl into the air. And a loud voice came out of the temple from the throne saying, it is done. 1706s

And there came flashes of lightning rumbling, peels of thunder and a violent earthquake, such as had not occurred since people were upon the earth. So violent was that earthquake. 1734s

So with that final bowl, we see and we're told that God's judgment, God's wrath upon creation has an end. There is an end. We don't know when it will be. No one knows. And it's not our job to figure out. 1747s

It's not our job to research and try to find because everyone, every generation thinks they're in the end times. Martin Luther was so sure he was in the end times. Paul was sure he was in the end times. 1771s

I know there have been more than one occasions where I have said or other people have said like we have got to be in the end times. 1788s

We don't know. We don't know. And it's not for us to know. And that's okay. It's really hard for us to say that's okay because we're nosy. And we want to know everything. It's okay. 1801s

It's okay. We know there's an end. We know we are the Lord. It's okay. Okay. So let's go to the threefold or three sevenfold visions. So we have, we have the seals one through five. 1817s

And that's in six one through 11. Then we have scenes or the trumpet. Sorry. One through five. And that's in eight six through nine 12. 1837s

And then with the sensors, we have the sensors one through five. And that is in revelation 15, one through 16, 11. Notice the first five of each are lumped together. 1855s

So we get the first five. And then we have some interludes here and there. We're going to get to those. But then when we come back and start the cycle over, we're back to those first five. 1879s

We come back, start the cycle over and we're back to lumping them with first five. So then with this one, there's no battle scene with the seals. 1891s

With the trumpets, there's the great battle. And that is in nine 13 through 21. And with the sensor, there is Armageddon. 1905s

And that's 16 12 through 16. Which, you know, we hear about Armageddon and we think it's, and it's who we huge or is huge. But this is only four verses. 1926s

And that's because when I was researching, I'm like, that's really not as much as I thought it would be. But that's okay. That's good. 1938s

So then we have, and that's just a total aside because I can't, I don't filter. So then we have the here in the seal. We have the sixth seal. 1947s

So this was the sixth trumpet. This is the sixth sensor. So then with the sixth seal, we have the end of the world. 1958s

And this is in six 12 through 17. And then we have the seventh seal. And that introduces the second vision. 1974s

And then that's eight one through five. Okay. So here we have that cycle. Here we do have the great battle. Then with the seventh trumpet, we have the end of the world. 1992s

Or end of this world, I should say. And that is revelation 11, 15 through 19. And then over here we've had same thing. We have the great battle Armageddon. And we've got the seventh sensor, which is the end of this world. 2007s

And that's revelation 16, 17 through 21. We're not going to have three separate ends of this world. We're going to have one end of this world. 2033s

So we see how it, it just cycles through all the seals, the trumpets, the sensors, all current, all happening at the same time. 2047s

It's not that we're going to deal with all of this and then go to this. They were given to John in a revelation that was presented in an order, but it's all happening. And if you read John's writings, really, honestly, it's very in line with how he writes anyway. 2064s

John writes very spirally. Like if you think of a spiral staircase that you're going up and you're covering same stuff, and you're adding to it. So you're continuing over. 2086s

So that's very, very, very similar or very, very much called John writes. So we're going to leave the plagues. We're going to leave the plagues. And we're going to go to next week. 2106s

We're going to go to the throne room because I've been, this is not a pun intended. I promise I've been dying to get there. 2124s

As soon as the words came in and mouth, I'm like, oh my gosh, this is just, this is a dad joke. So we're going to, we're going to go to the throne room, which I'm so excited to get to that because it's really exciting. 2134s

And then we're going to also talk about the 144,000 and the church triumphant and church militant or church militant church triumphant. 2147s

So we're going to, and we're going to find a lot more joy, hope, and comfort than talking about the horseman writing. 2157s