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Amazing Facts

Seven Seals

Joe Crews

Seven Seals Part 1

Seven Seals Part 2

Many Americans have talked to Ulsters who saw the stars fall in 1833.

That phenomenon has never been scientifically explained.

I'll be back in a moment with the amazing facts about star falls and a blood red moon.

Hello, this is Joe Cruz in the Amazing Facts broadcast, facts which affect you.

In our last broadcast we introduced a thrilling subject from the book of Revelation, the 7 horses of the Apocalypse, or the 7 seals of Revelation.

We discovered that these 7 pictures actually portray a perfect history of the Church from the time of the apostles right on down to the end of the world.

We covered 4 of the seals on our last broadcast, and now we come to the fifth seal described for us in Revelation 6, verses 9-11.

And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw unto the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held.

And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth.

And white robes were given unto every 1 of them, and it was said unto them that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellow servants also, and their brethren that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled." Now here we come into a period representing the Great Reformation period, an era when the truth is vindicated in spite of the terrible persecutions that had swept away hundreds of thousands of innocent victims.

Now those martyrs are recognized for their true heroism and courage.

In the symbolic language of the prophecy, white robes are ascribed to them, robes of righteousness.

Their fidelity to truth is now recognized as being a great mark of heroism.

Just as the blood of innocent Abel is represented as crying from the ground in the book of Genesis, crying for vengeance.

So here the blood of the martyrs who had died for their faith is represented as crying out also for vengeance on the persecutors.

The unjust death of those Christians demanded vengeance.

It was the work of the Reformation leaders and the introduction of the printing press especially which made it possible to vindicate the multitudes who had gone down to ignominious death during the Dark Ages.

Now let's be reminded right at this point that the truth was not entirely wiped out by that long period of persecution.

Refugee groups fled back into the mountains and hid in the caves of the earth to preserve the true doctrines of apostolic Christianity.

I believe another book of Acts could be written concerning the heroism of those persecuted minority groups who sought to preserve the purity of the gospel during times of extreme persecution.

So far our investigation has brought us down very close to our own modern times.

The sixth seal actually does introduce a period of signs that lead us right up to our own day in world history.

Now we begin reading verses 12-17, And I beheld, when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood.

And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind.

And the heaven departed as a scroll, when it is rolled together, and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.

And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, And the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens, and in the rocks of the mountains, and said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb.

For the great day of his wrath is come, and who shall be able to stand?" Now, friends, here is a period of great physical signs that lead up to the actual appearance of Christ in the heavens, the Second Coming of Jesus.

That period of persecution was to be cut short according to the words of Christ in Matthew 24, you remember He said, Except that time be shortened, the very elect would perish.

It should have continued right on up until 1798, according to certain other prophecies of the Bible.

But it was cut short because of the Protestant Reformation which began at that time.

In Matthew 24, 29, Jesus said, 24 Immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun shall be darkened, and so forth and so on.

It was actually true that these great physical signs, phenomenon of nature, did take place just as soon as the terrible persecutions had subsided.

You will notice, according to the prophecy, that the first sign was to be a tremendous earthquake, and it was November 1, 1755, when that historic Lisbon earthquake took place.

4000000 square miles of territory was affected by it, and 60, 000 people died in just 6 minutes' time.

Some people might say, well, that was just another earthquake.

But listen, friends, twenty-five years after that, the next sign described here in Revelation actually took place, and that was the sun becoming black as sackcloth of hair and the moon becoming as blood.

It was May 19, 1780, when this great phenomenon took place.

It was never understood, never has been even until this day.

It began about 10 or ten-thirty in the morning.

Suddenly the entire light of the heavens just seemed to fade away.

The animals, of course, thought that night had come.

So the cows came in, the chickens went to roost, people had to light candles in order to read ordinary print at midday, mind you, now this is happening in the middle of the day.

It was generally felt that the Day of Judgment had arrived, because nothing like it had ever been seen before, and neither has anything like it appeared in the years since.

Now listen, when the moon did appear on the night of the great darkness, it didn't shine at all even though it was supposed to be a full moon.

It actually, when it did come forth, it actually had the appearance of blood.

Now Joel made a prophecy many, many years before, in fact hundreds of years before in his writings in Joel 2, 30 and 31.

And he said, I will show wonders in the heavens and the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.

The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of the Lord come.

Another Old Testament prophet, Isaiah, had spoken in similar language in Isaiah 13, 10.

He says, For the stars of heaven, and the constellations thereof, shall not give their light, the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine." Now, friends, all those things took place exactly according to the blueprint of the Bible, first the earthquake, and then the dark day, and then the moon turning to blood.

And the next startling event was described as the stars of heaven falling, as though fig trees were being shaken by a mighty wind.

And this took place on November 13, 1833.

It was doubtless 1 of the most sublime demonstrations in the heavens ever beheld by the eyes of man.

Hundreds and hundreds, yea, thousands of stars were seen at the same moment, and the skies falling and shooting in every direction, exactly as though some unripened fruit was being shaken off a tree.

Now there are many, many people who have talked to those who actually saw the falling of the stars in 1833 and have been able to absorb something of the terror and fear of impending judgment which gripped the world at that time.

In fact, I talked to a man myself who actually saw it.

He was a little boy about 6 years old and he told about hanging on to his mother's skirt as that terrifying event took place.

Now immediately after verse 13, which describes the falling of the stars, we read this verse, "...and the heaven departed as a scroll when it was rolled together, and every mountain and island were moved out of their places." In other words, friends, according to the great timetable of heaven, The next event is the coming of Jesus and the clouds of heaven.

We're actually living between verses 13 and 14 of Revelation 6.

Everything else has been fulfilled, and we're waiting for that grand climax of history, the rolling back of the clouds of heaven, and the appearing of Jesus Christ.

It has been now, what, about a hundred and forty-five years has it since the last sign was given?

A very, very little remains in this world to be fulfilled as far as Bible prophecy is concerned.

The close of probation, the 7 last plagues being poured out, and then verse 14 will take place.

The heavens will roll back, and the mountains and islands will be moved out of their places by the great earthquake that will take place at that day, at the last day.

Now, friends, there remains just 1 more seal to be opened, and it is revealed in Revelation 8, verse 1.

The entire seventh chapter is thrown in here between the sixth and the seventh seal, and it describes a great world movement, a message that will be carried everywhere to prepare the world for the coming of Jesus.

And then chapter 8, verse 1, brings the revelation of the seventh seal.

And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour.

It only tells us that there was silence in heaven.

This could only mean that heaven is emptied momentarily of its inhabitants because you know about those millions and millions of angels there who are singing constantly the praises of God, but now suddenly all that music and that singing is silenced, and these 10000 times 10000 singers who constantly sing their praise before the throne of God are put to silence.

But as we discovered under the sixth seal, the end of the world has come and Christ and all the angels come down to intervene in human history.

The saints of God will be translated now and taken to that heavenly home.

So this 1 half hour of time when heaven is silent is undoubtedly prophetic time.

Now you know, of course, in the Bible a day represents a year in prophecy.

According to Ezekiel 4, 6, I have appointed thee each day for a year.

Now, if we apply this prophetic yardstick, 1 half hour of time would be just about a week of regular days.

So this would be the time, no doubt, that Christ and all the angels would be coming here to this earth to receive the saints of God to take them back to the glories of heaven.

The living saints will be translated and given that glorious immortal body just like Jesus had after His resurrection.

And then altogether they will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord.

Think of the joy of that moment, the glory that will be revealed at that time, friends.

Only 2 classes of people will be here then, the ones who cry for the rocks and mountains to fall on them and hide them from the face of Jesus, And then the other group who will look up and say, Lo, this is our God, we've waited for Him and He'll save us.

Let me ask you something, which group are you going to be in?

No 1 can escape that moment of divine intervention, no 1 can fail to be present on that day.

We'll either be here living at that time or we will be resurrected at that time if we are faithful.

And, oh, friends, I pray that we will be faithful whether we are sleeping in the grave at that time or whether we are alive at that time.

I pray that we will be among the faithful.

You know, there are so many strange ideas about how Christ will come.

Some people look for a gradual conversion of the entire world.

Others expect a dramatic unexpected appearance of Christ in the heavens.

Well, the Bible is clear and simple on it, friends, and it speaks with amazing detail.

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Seven Seals

Seven Seals Part 2

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