Preparing for the Seventh Trumpet

Actually, as I have said so many times in the past, the tenth and eleventh chapters of the Book of Revelation should be considered as one chapter. They tell of the time leading up to the blowing of the seventh and last trumpet, and finally the blowing of the trumpet itself.

This passage ought to be of special importance to us because Paul tells us that at the blowing of the last trumpet the bodies of the victorious Christians will be changed into immortality.

But in the days when the seventh angel is about to sound his trumpet, the mystery of God will be accomplished, just as he announced to his servants the prophets. (Revelation 10:7)

Notice the expression: "Is about to sound."

There will be a period before the seventh angel sounds his trumpet, perhaps the most significant time of earth’s history. From my point of view, we are entering that period now.

There is a "mighty angel" who announces this period of preparation (Revelation 10:1). The symbolism of his appearance portrays God’s Throne, righteousness, judgment, and power. Also that he has a message for us.

Ours is a day of spiritual power. The titans of the spirit world are facing one another. God is facing Satan. The Holy Spirit is facing the False Prophet. Christ is facing Antichrist. Righteousness is facing unrighteousness. Holiness is facing moral filth. Stern obedience to the Father is facing disobedience and lawlessness. Truth is facing the massive lie the world spirit is.

The voice of the seven thunders, perfect power, is sealed until the witnesses are judged, and worldliness, uncleanness, and self-will have been removed from them. This judgment is taking place today for those who are seeking the Lord Jesus and cooperating with the Spirit of God.

There have been two thousand years of delay, but there shall be delay no longer. The mystery of God, which is that Christ (Messiah) is in us, will be brought to the fullness of revelation.

We then are commanded to eat the scroll, not read it, but eat it. The Word of God, which is Christ, the Consuming Fire of Israel, must be formed in us. God’s Word of truth, holiness, righteousness, and stern obedience to the Father, is sweet in our mouth but it is the bitterness of death in us. Only then are we prepared to prophesy about "many peoples, nations, languages, and kings."

Today the household of God, especially those who are crying "Not my will but Yours be done" (the Altar of Incense), are being judged (measured). Everything in our personality that is not of the image of God is being exposed. We are to follow the Spirit of God in confessing, denouncing vehemently as wickedness, and renouncing vigorously all the spiritual darkness of our personality that is being revealed.

While we are being judged and cleansed, the "outer court," the part of God’s Kingdom that is not to be part of the coming witness, will be left for the nations to do as they will (shall be "trampled on"). We see that today, even in the United States, as the values once esteemed by us are regarded as garbage to be thrown away.

This division between God’s holy people, and the people of the world, including worldly "Christians," will continue for a specified time. This period is described symbolically as forty-two months, or three and one-half years. It is obvious that the division between righteousness and unrighteousness has begun already.

During this time, after the saints have been judged, an unprecedented "Elisha" anointing will cover the victorious saints. They will bear witness to "many peoples, nations, languages, and kings." They shall bear a true witness of the Person, will, and way of God, and of the soon coming to the earth of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ. We are being prepared for this now, as the Spirit of God tells us to give over our life to Christ so He might live in us.

And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. (Matthew 24:14)

When God has decreed (after the symbolic three and one-half years) that the nations have been warned adequately of the coming of the Kingdom to the earth, the double-portion of the Spirit will be lifted from the saints. That which had hindered the full revelation of Antichrist, the man of sin and lawlessness, shall be removed.

Now the work of God will be tested. Worldliness, the lusts of the flesh, and self-determination will flourish. The love of the majority of the believers will grow cold. Some of the saints will fall, as the process of refining continues. Some of the saints will be persecuted to the point of death. This is the hour of evil, and the Divine testimony will be nearly extinguished. It will be given to Antichrist to ascend into the heavens and block the prayers of people. It no longer will be possible to reach Christ or to receive the Holy Spirit.

However, there will be a remnant in Zion in whom there will be deliverance, even during the darkest of the moral darkness.

At the appointed hour, at the end of the second set of the symbolic three and one-half years, the witness will be revived. The victorious saints, those in the spirit world and those still living on the earth, will be revived. Their bodies will be transformed and they will be caught up to Christ in preparation for their descent with Him. The battle of Har-Magedon will be fought, and then the Kingdom of God will be installed on the earth by the Lord Jesus Christ and those who have been faithful to Him.

This is the time when the seventh trumpet will be blown, the hour when "the kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ." God has taken to Himself His great power and will govern the earth through Christ and the saints. God’s will shall be done in the earth as it is done in Heaven.

Now the dead will be judged. Now all who reverence and obey God will be rewarded. Now those who at present are destroying the earth shall themselves be destroyed.

Now God’s eternal temple, Christ and His Body, which always is in Heaven, shall be revealed. The Ark of His Covenant, the transformed personalities of the saints will be seen by angels and people. Now it will be clear that it is the God of Heaven who has sent the Lord Jesus Christ to the earth, and that He loves His saints as He loves His Son, the Lord Jesus.