February 13, 2013

• Moving Along in Scripture
  ((Part I of II: Following Precedence))

  As addressed in last week’s series (Revelations in Revelation), we are on the cusp of the Trump Judgments of Revelation 8.  I say that, but still feel the need to clarify that verse one – or what was designated by some dude to BE verse one of chapter 8 – was split away from chapter 7, and referred to a period of time that occurred within chapter 7.  This is VERY important, because it changes everything for me.  It means chapter 7 is parenthetical and not chronological, as I have always held.

  Having said, we’re not at the trump judgments, yet.  Which, btw, I equate to ‘The Wrath’.  And maybe I should explain something, here:  The Tribulation period is the 7+ year period of the end times.  It begins with the ‘covenant with many’ given in Daniel 9:27… which went into effect 01/01/07.  In my opinion, we are presently embarking on our sixth year of being in the tribulation.  Irony, there… year of the snake – the sixth animal of the Chinese zodiac, but I digress.  The Tribulation is is NOT the same as ‘The Wrath’.  That doesn’t begin until the Trump Judgments start.  The Seal Judgments are a part of the Trib, but Messiah called them only the ‘Beginning of Sorrows’.  They aren’t the actual wrath.  That comes next.

  I do not hold a pre-Trib rapture view – I believe the rapture to be pre-Wrath.  You can read more about this on my sidebar, I don’t have time to explain why here/now.  But this was one of the beliefs that I’d had to change (and warred with myself over)… when the SMS began, and I was still here, I could no longer be a pre-Trib believer.  It blew my mind, and you might remember.  But as I’ve said before, Truth is more important to me than staying in that comfortable place of what I want to believe, so in the end, I had to admit that everything I’d been taught by the church was wrong.  It even flew in the face of scripture:  there were three sets judgments and then final judgment in Egypt with Moses, and God’s people only had to experience the first set.  Likewise, there are three sets of judgments in Revelation, and while the church’s pre-Trib stance says God’s people won’t be there for ANY of the judgments, precedence says we’re here for the seals, but like Israel in Egypt, we won’t experience the last two sets (Trumps and Vials).

  The timeline I gave last week showed that the Book of Revelations takes us (in ch 1-6) from the Apostolic era (when the apostles lived) to 2010.  It showed that ch7a took place at the same time as chapter six… and that ch8:1 happened as part of the SMS… it kicked-off the second half of 2010 for ‘about the space of half an hour’ (or approximately three and a half  years).  Which takes us to 2013… THIS year.

  So what are we looking in the face, next? 
  That’s the question.

  The first thing to talk about is ch7b… which is the rapture.  It hasn’t happened yet.  In my pre-Wrath stance, I see that as happening BEFORE the Trump judgments kick off.  But ch8:1 came before that.  So the question I’m pondering at the moment is… do ch8:2-5 happen before ch7b, or not?  I’d never considered that, before.  Until last week, I was a chronological girl, remember?  Now all of that is out the window.  The facts, the events that have occurred, proved my assumptions wrong.  I have to make a change… and that means considering that other things might happen before the rapture.  And as for what those things are?  Let’s take a look:
  

  Rev 8:2-5  And I saw the seven angels which stood before God; and to them were given seven trumpets.  And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne.  And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel’s hand.  And the angel took the censer, and filled it with fire of the altar, and cast it into the earth: and there were voices, and thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake.
  

  Just like before the seal judgments, we’re back in Heaven, looking at the action before the Throne.  Verse two is the handing out of the trumpets, but oddly, the angels don’t prepare themselves to play these things when they’re given them.  That doesn’t happen until verse six… there’s another event BEFORE anything is even prepped for the Trumps.  So, then, why give them the trumps BEFORE that event?  Why not put verse two right before verse six?

  
  http://www.cervantesdesign.com/revelations/images/seven_trumpets.jpg

  I backed up to see if what happened before the first set of judgments matched what is happening before the second set of judgments.  You know how I am about patterns.  So back in ch5:8, Yeshua the Lamb took the seals from the hand of Yehovah.  But He didn’t even consider opening the seals for another six verses.  JUST like what we’re seeing in ch8. 

  • What happened in those six verses?  Beasts and elders bowed before the lamp, “having VIALS OF ODOURS, WHICH ARE THE PRAYERS OF THE SAINTS”.  And every creature gave glory to God.

  • And what happens in ch8 between the taking of the trumps and the preparation to blow them?  Four verses.  And in those verses, we have an angel “having a GOLDEN CENSER… THAT HE SHOULD OFFER IT WITH THE PRAYERS OF THE SAINTS”.  And the angel filled the censer with fire from the altar, and cast it to the earth.

  I’m seeing some parallels, here, are you?  Both times, heavenly beings had some kind of a container, both times these containers had something in them that wafts, and both times the containers were accompanied by the prayers of the saints.  Both times, the being(s) did something after having those prayers.  Both times, the judgments didn’t begin until after what they were doing was finished.
  

  Vials of odours/prayers – Glorifying God – Seals opened
  Censer of incense/prayers – Fire thrown to earth – Trumps blown

  There is a BIG difference between singing praises and throwing down fire, though.  True that one is Creator directed and the other creation directed, but I don’t really… it’s odd.  But it still seems to be a pattern, and it seems like – although we didn’t have any role in the opening activities before the seals, we DO get to witness something having to do with the opening activities before the trumps.  Because it’s thrown AT us.

  Tomorrow?  I want to talk about the things that are soon to be cast to Earth.
  

  • 11:39 am
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