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Amazing Facts

Seven Seals

Joe Crews

Seven Seals Part 1

The number 7 has long been connected with luck or good fortune.

An ancient source now proves that 7 is more than a superstitious lucky number.

I'll be back in a moment with the amazing facts.

Hello, this is Joe Cruz and the amazing facts broadcast, facts which affect you.

That John the Revelator was exiled to the lonely little isle of Patmos because of his testimony for Jesus.

It was believed by the cruel Roman emperor who placed him there that his influence for Christianity would now be entirely destroyed.

But instead of this, we find that John was chosen of God to be his special prophet.

And on that little rocky island, John was privileged to look in some of the most rapturous scenes ever beheld by man, and he wrote them down as a permanent record for generations to come.

This is why we have now the tremendous record of prophecy in the Bible book of Revelation.

1 of the most thrilling pictures portrayed in the pages of John's book is that which shows the development of the Church from the time of Christ right down to the very end of the world.

In 7 pictures under the symbols of seals, a perfect chronological vision was given to John, revealing the history of the Church.

Now the vision actually opens in Revelation 5, 1, and he has there a view of heaven itself.

He said, And I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne a book written within, and on the backside sealed with 7 seals.

Now here John sees 1 seated on a throne with a book in his hand.

By the way, books in those days were in the form of scrolls rolled together.

And this 1 was sealed within and also on the backside, and it was sealed with 7 seals.

Apparently the revelator was impressed that this scroll contained something of very, very great importance.

Yet nobody was seen worthy to unloose the scroll and reveal the contents of it.

John wept over it as we read the story here in the Bible, and In verse 2, I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof?

And no man in heaven, nor in earth, neither upon the earth, was able to open the book, neither to look thereon.

And I wept much, because no man was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither to look thereon." Now this dramatic scene made an overwhelming impression on the mind of John, and we can well understand why he wept, really, because nobody was found worthy to understand the things written and the important scroll.

But in the midst of his sorrow John is interrupted by another voice.

And as we read on in verse 5, And 1 of the elders saith unto me, Weep not.

Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the 7 seals thereof.

And I beheld, and lo, in the midst of the throne, and of the 4 beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a lamb, as it had been slain, having 7 heads and 7 eyes, which had the 7 spirits of God sent forth into all the earth." Now, in reading this description, friends, let's remember that these things are given to us in types and symbols.

You'll notice the predominance of this word 7, which exemplifies perfection throughout the book of Revelation.

Here Christ is brought into the picture as he had been slain, we're told, from the foundation of the world.

The representation here is of a perfect sacrifice with perfect knowledge and perception of everything in earth as well as in heaven.

So only 1 being could be found worthy to unloose the seals and look on the scrolls, and that was Jesus Christ Himself, the Lamb of God.

As He took the scroll to unloose it, All the assembled multitude of heavenly beings lifted their voices in singing a new song, as described in verse 9.

And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof.

For Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood, out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nations." All right, now we are prepared to see the unfolding and unveiling of the contents of this important book, or scroll, beginning in chapter 6, verse 1.

And I saw, when the Lamb opened 1 of the seals, and I heard, as it were, the voice of thunder, 1 of the 4 beasts, saying, Come and see.

And he that sat on him had a bow, and a crown was given unto him, and he went forth conquering and to conquer.

Now notice that the first representation is a white horse, revealing and symbolizing the purity of that first period of the Church's history.

The Apostolic Church, of course, did go forth with great victory to conquer the world for Christ.

There was a bold, fresh fearlessness about those who went forth from Pentecost to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ.

As the text says, they went forth conquering and to conquer.

Now Paul was an example of the tremendous courage manifested by those early preachers of the way.

Paul said, for I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it's the power of God unto salvation.

He, of course, had not seen as the other disciples the actual healing and preaching ministry of Jesus, but nevertheless he had been an eyewitness of that power on the road to Damascus as Christ was revealed to him.

No wonder then that there was such boldness in the preaching of the gospel in those days.

The disciples knew what they were talking about because they had been with Jesus.

They had actually seen with their own eyes the mighty power of his ministry.

The gospel actually reached out to cover the entire world in the days of the Apostle Paul according to Colossians 1.23.

Thus we have a view of the first period of the history of the Christian Church as it began to grow up into its worldwide scope.

This period would probably cover in general the times of the Apostles and their ministry.

And of course it was represented in the vision here by the white horse going forth to conquer.

But now we read Revelation 6, 3 and 4 describing the second seal.

And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second beast say, Come and see.

And there went out another horse that was red, and power was given to him that sat there on to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill 1 another.

And there was given unto him a great sword." Notice something now, friends.

The color of the horse has changed from white to red, denoting a gradual change in the purity of that early Church.

Worldliness began to creep in, and the zeal of the people waned as the Apostles passed off the stage.

In Acts 20, 29, and 30, Paul actually prophesied of a departure from the faith soon after his own death.

He said, After my departure, grievous wolves shall enter in, not sparing the flock.

And sure enough, we find that divisions did arise.

Men set themselves up to lord their authority over the Church of God.

In 2 Thessalonians 2, 3, and 4 we read about a falling away that would come, a man of sin or mystery of iniquity would arrive, seeking to destroy the original truth of the gospel.

Paul said the mystery of iniquity was even working in his day.

There were inroads of pagan ideas gradually gaining ground within the church.

Of course, we know that those things were finally fully revealed, and many of them stand fully revealed in our own time as well.

But it was only like 11 working in the days of the Apostle Paul.

The general time period of the Second Seal reaches down to about 323 or approximately the time of Constantine the Great.

Now Constantine was the first so-called Christian emperor of the Roman Empire.

As he went out to fight a battle, the Battle of Melville Bridge, he was reputedly converted by seeing a flaming cross up in the sky, a vision, and underneath that flaming cross it said, In this sign conquer.

Now he thought that meant he should be a Christian in order to win his battles and that his army also should be a Christian army, so he really marched them through a river and professed Christianity, told them they were all now baptized, and those pagans by the million were taken right into the Church.

Afterwards, it was the determination of Constantine to build up the influence and prestige of the Church.

In order to do this, he actually brought in many of the pagan doctrines and ideas of the heathen world to establish the authority of the church that he had espoused.

That was a very sad, sad, tragic period of the church's history, friends, when there was such a deplorable compromise made with paganism and so many false doctrines crept right into the Church.

But now we go on to the third seal revealed in Revelation 6, 5 and 6.

And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see.

And I beheld, and lo, a black horse, and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand." Now, friends, here we see a complete turning away, our departure from the original purity of the gospel.

Spiritual darkness descended as more and more Gnostic and heathen influence infiltrated the Church.

We see almost the opposite of the apostolic purity now.

The balances here symbolize a spirit of commercialism that became rampant at this period of the Church's history.

Substitutes were set up for the actual commands of God and Christ.

In general, the spirit extended from the time of Constantine to about 538, when some drastic steps were taken to actually put down the Law of God and to dispense with some of the commandments contained in the 10 Commandments.

How very fitting, then, that this period of the Church's history should be symbolized by a black horse.

Verses 6 and 7 bring to view the fourth seal under the symbol, then, of a pale horse.

Now this fourth seal is very, very important, friends, so I hope you'll follow closely.

We've had the white horse and the red horse and the black horse showing how the doctrines of the church would be changed and how paganism would come in.

But now we come to a horse that is neither white, red, or black.

Let's read what the prophet says about it.

And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see.

And I looked, and behold, a pale horse, and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him, and power was given unto him over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beast of the earth.

Now here we come to the time of the persecution period of history, friends, the Dark Ages, beginning in general about 538 A.D.

And extending for almost a thousand years.

Now during this time, more than 50 million martyrs laid down their lives for the truth's sake.

This period actually continued almost to the time of the Protestant Reformation.

And time would fail us to describe the awful inquisitions of some of the Roman emperors and their successors.

Christians were thrown to the wild animals and the arenas.

Thousands upon thousands died because they refused to yield up the faith delivered to them through Christ.

In Matthew 24, 22, Jesus said, For the elect's sake those days shall be shortened.

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

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Seven Seals Part 2

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