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Trumpet Intermission (Revelation 10)
5 The angel who I saw standing on the sea and on the land lifted up his right hand to the sky, 6 and swore by him who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and the things that are in it, the earth and the things that are in it, and the sea and the things that are in it, that there will no longer be delay, 7 but in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, then the mystery of God is finished, as he declared to his servants, the prophets.
This description must be kept in the context of what we just finished studying about the 7 thunders and the timing involved in when their messages might be recognized and appreciated. We compared a number of passages about sealing and unsealing that led us to see that things are not hidden by God arbitrarily but rather to protect vital information from being exposed to the toxic corrosion of the slander of the enemy to discredit and dismantle it in our thinking. Many of God's warnings given through His prophets were labeled as conspiracies to discredit them and get people to ignore them, while in fact the leaders themselves were actually the ones who were indeed acting out conspiracies while accusing the ones seeking to expose them as merely conspiracy theorists who should be silenced. We see that same pattern being carried out today with similar effectiveness.
From that perspective, we now look at this angel standing on both sea and land and raising his right hand in a posture of great authority to swear by the highest Source of all authority something extremely important. We saw a parallel description of this angel last time in Daniel (quoted later here) where he is seen raising both of his hands to heaven, though in that description his announcement had to do with timing between the time when Daniel was alive extending down to our time in recent history. Here we find ourselves on the other end of that time period looking at a similar prophecy declaring this time that there is to be no more delay.
The question that should raise itself immediately in our mind is, what is it that is not to be delayed any longer? Is it the time prophecy of the angel in Daniel or is the delay relating to something far more immediate in this context? What about no more delay in knowing what the 7 thunders just announced?
I personally feel strongly that we are currently either living in, or are on the very verge of the time when the power of the messages of thunder heard by John is to be released into our experience. These thunders may not be as much intellectual ideas to be articulated but more along the line of awareness both in our spirit as well as in our intellect that fulfills Jesus' predication of the coming time when God's true worshipers will worship Him the way we were originally designed to do.
But the hour comes, and now is, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such to be his worshippers. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth. (John 4:23-24)
swore by him who lives forever and ever
What is the significance of swearing by the One who lives forever and ever?
Contrast this with the mainstream version of creation now being forced on the whole world as the context for our beliefs about our origins. Evolution is the antichrist of the truth about creation and has seeped into nearly all of how we think about reality and how to perceive what is credible. Religion has done a superb job of amalgamating godless evolution and a creator that is a bit too impotent to form our entire world ecosystem in six literal days. This amalgamation is not new but has been the methods used ever since sin took control of the human race. Amalgamation of humans and animals is suspected as being one cause the flood was allowed to destroy the entire planet in Noah's day. Jesus told us that the days of His second coming will be just like it was in the days of Noah. But amalgamation extends far beyond simply playing god in the arena of genetics as we are seeing happen all over the place today. Religion is doing the same thing with the truth as science is doing with nature, and the results are equally dangerous.
who created heaven... the earth... and the sea and the things that are in it
Don't miss the fact that this angel is standing on two of these things listed here – the sea and the earth. This is no coincidence. We are being reminded that there is a God in heaven who is the author and creator of these things that define where we live and how we perceive reality, and that God is from eternity past to eternity future, regardless of any notions otherwise we may cling to in resistance to the truth. This God is love, and to deny the truth about our creation and the Owner of everything and everyone in existence is to choose darkness in place of light.
I have a question to ponder here. What might this angel represent? Are we to assume that it is merely a heavenly being portrayed as delivering a message from God? Or is it possible that, like other angels such as the first three mentioned in Revelation 14, an angel can represent a powerful message of truth delivered through God's loyal followers on earth?
Is it possible that this angel could represent people who are sealed with the Spirit of God with the truth about God's heart, who reflect that truth in the way they think and relate to those around them? Could it be that this angel is reflected in the bold authority exercised by such individuals collectively asserting the truth in every venue representing the entire surface of our planet? Might what they say correspond to the messages just released by the 7 thunders and now reiterated by this powerful movement that was foreshadowed by the boldness of the early believers who confronted similar opposition from intimidation and persecution in the days of the original apostles?
there will no longer be delay
I heard the man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand to heaven, and swore by him who lives forever that it shall be for a time, times, and a half; and when they have made an end of breaking in pieces the power of the holy people, all these things shall be finished. (Daniel 12:7)
A long white robe was given to each of them. They were told that they should rest yet for a while, until their fellow servants and their brothers, who would also be killed even as they were, should complete their course. (Revelation 6:11)
Therefore rejoice, heavens, and you who dwell in them. Woe to the earth and to the sea, because the devil has gone down to you, having great wrath, knowing that he has but a short time.
(Revelation 12:12)
The seventh poured out his bowl into the air. A loud voice came forth out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, "It is done!" (Revelation 16:17)
He said to me, "It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give freely to him who is thirsty from the spring of the water of life." (Revelation 21:6)
"In a very little while, he who comes will come, and will not wait. But the righteous will live by faith. If he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him." (Hebrews 10:37-38)
But don't forget this one thing, beloved, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow concerning his promise, as some count slowness; but is patient with us, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
(2 Peter 3:8-9)
in the days of the voice of the seventh angel
There is not a lot in Scripture that I can find related to this phrase in the days of the voice... However, I sense that it should at least be considered as something important to ponder. Given the enormous potency of what follows – the mystery of God is finished – I believe the timing given here has to have equal significance. Here are a few passages that might provide some clues that may or may not be useful.
Jacob called to his sons, and said: "Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which will happen to you in the days to come." (Genesis 49:1)
My mouth will speak words of wisdom. My heart shall utter understanding. I will incline my ear to a proverb. I will open my riddle on the harp. Why should I fear in the days of evil, when iniquity at my heels surrounds me? Those who trust in their wealth, and boast in the multitude of their riches-- none of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give God a ransom for him. For the redemption of their life is costly, no payment is ever enough, that he should live on forever, that he should not see corruption. (Psalms 49:3-9)
In the days of those kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed, nor shall the sovereignty of it be left to another people; but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever. (Daniel 2:44)
Shepherd your people with your staff, the flock of your heritage, who dwell by themselves in a forest, in the midst of fertile pasture land, let them feed; in Bashan and Gilead, as in the days of old. "As in the days of your coming forth out of the land of Egypt, I will show them marvelous things." The nations will see and be ashamed of all their might. They will lay their hand on their mouth. Their ears will be deaf. They will lick the dust like a serpent. Like crawling things of the earth they shall come trembling out of their dens. They will come with fear to Yahweh our God, and will be afraid because of you.
Who is a God like you, who pardons iniquity, and passes over the disobedience of the remnant of his heritage? He doesn't retain his anger forever, because he delights in loving kindness. He will again have compassion on us. He will tread our iniquities under foot; and you will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea. You will give truth to Jacob, and mercy to Abraham, as you have sworn to our fathers from the days of old. (Micah 7:14-20)
"Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me; and the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, behold, he comes!" says Yahweh of Armies.
"But who can endure the day of his coming? And who will stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner's fire, and like launderer's soap; and he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi, and refine them as gold and silver; and they shall offer to Yahweh offerings in righteousness. Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasant to Yahweh, as in the days of old, and as in ancient years.
I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against the perjurers, and against those who oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and who deprive the foreigner of justice, and don't fear me," says Yahweh of Armies. "For I, Yahweh, don't change; therefore you, sons of Jacob, are not consumed."
(Malachi 3:1-6)
As it happened in the days of Noah, even so will it be also in the days of the Son of Man. They ate, they drank, they married, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all. Likewise, even as it happened in the days of Lot: they ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built; but in the day that Lot went out from Sodom, it rained fire and sulfur from the sky, and destroyed them all. It will be the same way in the day that the Son of Man is revealed. (Luke 17:26-30)
