Chapter 10

• Mighty angel – description is similar to the description of Gabriel in Daniel 8
  • Hebrew word for mighty = gibbur, close to Gabriel
    • What is Gabriel – the messenger, what is this angel doing – giving a message
      • Last act of Gabriel? Some see this as passing of the torch of being God’s messenger – now its up to the people of God
• What is the message?
  • Speaks and the “seven thunders” speak but John is told not to share what he hears
    • We’d expect another series of calamities but that doesn’t occur
      • Reasons:
        1. The end is near – By eliminating the thunders God has shortened the time until the end
           • Mark 13:20 – “And if the Lord had not cut short those days, no one would be saved
        2. We’re not supposed to know – even with all that is being revealed there is still information we don’t have
           • Which makes trying to figure all this out so we can mark our calendars an issue
• The angel then swears an oath – there will be no more delay, the time is at hand, the blowing of the 7th trumpet will mark the conclusion of Go’s plans

The Little Scroll

• Idea – the little scroll contains the church’s roll in God’s plan
  • Ezekiel – told to eat a scroll that contains the message he is supposed to prophecy
    • In the same way John is receiving the word that he (and by extension all people of God) will deliver
      • The Message
        1. Is sweet – Christ is victorious, God has won, “there will be no more delay,” Salvation is at hand
        2. Its also bitter – its bitter the longer you sit with it. Because the manner of that victory is death. And for those who pronounce it the threat of death will be there
           • The plan of God is sweet to the taste but it makes us sick because the plan is death. The world says victory comes from war and violence, God’s plan is to let the world crush itself on that mistake, but that’s gonna lead to issues for those who don’t buy into that way of thinking because evil won’t go down without a fight.

Chapter 11

• John is told to measure the temple
  • Problem – the temple has been destroyed
    • Given rise to the idea that a third temple needs to be built
      • The other option is that this is symbolic
        • The inner courts are the people of God, the faithful, the sealed 144,000 that we have already heard of who are being protected from the worst of the wrath
          • The rest are outside trampling and being trampled. How can they be both?
            • God has used the faithless against the faithless – Persians and Babylonians
            • As they trample they don’t realize they’re being trampled too
        • Either way, they trample for 42 months
          • 3.5 years, half of 7
            • Number of incompleteness
• At the same time? Two witnesses are speaking on behalf of God
  • Two witnesses were needed in ancient courts for testimony to be accepted
  • They’re testifying for 1260 days – 3.5 years
  • Who are they – the faithful testifying the truth to a world that doesn’t want to hear it, the Old and New Testament (people have received the truth of God in two forms but still missed it)
    • Either way, the witnesses are killed – prophets tend to be killed
      • Who kills them – here is our first introduction to the beast
      • Not content with killing them, the beast makes a mockery of them by  leaving their bodies out
        • It isn’t enough to reject them, an example has to be made
      • The forces of evil then celebrate, they think they’ve won, until they see a sign that no, God has not abandoned these witnesses
        • Verse 13 – the work of the witnesses wasn’t in vain. Neither is ours. Even when it seems that what we do for the Kingdom has no impact, God is still working
• 7th Trumpet
  • We don’t see what happens on earth, just the celebration that God has won
    • Third woe – final judgement
    • Most people say this is the end of the story – what comes next are the details. We’ve seen what happens in heaven, now we’re going to see in detail what is happening on earth
    • We’ve seen that God has won, the rest of the book explains how