SHOW NOTES: - Head to our Start Page for all you need to begin! - Join the RECAPtains - Check out the TBR Store - Show credits FROM TODAY’S RECAP: - Article: Who Are The 144,000? - Article: Who are the 144,000 in Revelation? - Isaiah 14:12 - Luke 10:18 - Video: Revelation Overview (Part 2) - 2025 Prep Episode - TBR Start Page - Invite your friends to join you next year! - Become a RECAPtain! - Gift a RECAPtains subscription! PREP EPISODES (in case you haven’t listened yet): 1. Let's Read the Bible in a Year (Chronological Plan)! 2. How I Learned to Love (Reading) the Bible 3. Why Reading the Whole Bible is Important (interview with Lee McDerment) 4. Preparing to Read the Bible 5. Avoiding Common Mistakes: What to Look for When You Read the Bible 6. Reading the Bible in Community BIBLE READING & LISTENING: Follow along on the Bible App, or to listen to the Bible, try Dwell! SOCIALS: The Bible Recap: Instagram | Facebook | TikTok D-Group: Instagram | Facebook TLC: Instagram | Facebook D-GROUP: D-Group is brought to you by the same team that brings you The Bible Recap. TBR is where we read the Bible, and D-Group is where we study the Bible. D-Group is an international network of Bible study groups that meet weekly in homes, churches, and online. Find or start one near you today! DISCLAIMER: The Bible Recap, Tara-Leigh Cobble, and affiliates are not a church, pastor, spiritual authority, or counseling service. Listeners and viewers consume this content on a voluntary basis and assume all responsibility for the resulting consequences and impact. Links to specific resources and content: This is not an endorsement of the entire website, author, organization, etc.. Their views may not represent our own.
Full Episode
Hey Bible Readers, I'm Tara Lee Cobble and I'm your host for the Bible Recap. Yesterday when we left off, John was in a vision of God's throne room, and Jesus had just taken the seven-sealed scroll from the Father's right hand, because Jesus was the only one worthy to open it. Today he begins opening the seals, one by one.
As he opens the seal, it releases more of the scroll so more of the story can be read. It would be kind of like if a piece of paper were folded up seven times, and each time you unfold it, you see more of what's written. With the first four seals, we see four horses and four horsemen. These are commonly referred to as the four horsemen of the apocalypse.
By the way, the word apocalypse in Greek is the English word revelation. So these could also be called the four horsemen of the revelation. They are all enemies of God. And even though one is on a white horse, don't let that fool you. He's a counterfeit of Jesus, who also rides a white horse later in this book. They bring death, disease, and destruction.
But notice that these enemies of God still only operate under his jurisdiction. They come out when his seraphim give the command. They bring destruction, but any authority they have is tightly held by God and is only temporarily given to them for accomplishing his purposes of judgment on the earth. They are never in control, and God's reign is never in question.
The three final seals pertain to God's people. Seal number five gives us a glimpse of the martyrs. Seal number six is the great day of the Lord we've been reading about throughout Scripture. Then, after this, we see the 144,000, which is probably a symbolic number that represents a much larger multitude.
Some believe this represents specifically the promised remnant of the Jews, and others believe it represents all believers from all time. We'll link to two articles about this in the show notes. Then there's silence in heaven followed by the prayers of God's people. Then seven angels blow seven trumpets.
And just like with the seals, the first four trumpets the angels blow bring disaster on earth and in the skies. The fifth trumpet references a star falling from heaven, and this may be a reference to Satan's fall, like we've read about in Isaiah 14 and Luke 10. He seems to manage a locust attack, which is probably symbolic.
Locusts in scripture sometimes refer to armies, but these locusts aren't allowed to kill any of God's kids. The sixth trumpet will bring about a plague and more death. But what's even sadder about all this death and destruction is that 920 tells us it doesn't yield repentance. The people continue in their idolatry. This is a lot like when God brought plagues in Egypt and Pharaoh didn't repent.
Seeing God's power and knowing the truth doesn't change what a person believes in their heart. In fact, sometimes it can even harden their heart all the more because it's such an affront to their ego. Just when we think we'll hear the seventh trumpet, another angel shows up with another scroll.
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