Revelation of Jesus 14, Seven seals intro

This video lays the foundation for understanding one of the most important but also most enigmatic sections of the Book of Revelation: the Seven Seals.

The seven seals, which take up over 20% of the book of Revelation, lay the foundation for understanding the rest of the book.

Right after the conclusion of the messages to the seven churches that reveal to us the timeline of what is happening to God’s people from the 1st century AD till the end of times John is given a revelation of a scene of what is taking place in Heaven.

“I looked, and there before me was a door standing open in heaven. And the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.” At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it” (Revelation 4:1,2).

Introduction to seven seals

In earlier videos, we saw that this section is a scene from the sanctuary in heaven, which is the model that was used to create the Old Testament sanctuary and its services. The open door indicates the beginning of the day of atonement, which was the only day of the year that the high priest went through the door that separated the holy place from the most holy place, where the throne of God was located.

The day of atonement was a solemn day of judgment for the children of Israel. This suggests that Revelation chapters 4 and 5, with its sanctuary scene and open door, is the beginning of the judgment that was symbolized by the Day of Atonement.

In this life, we make every effort to avoid having to go to court, but there is no avoiding God’s judgment: “For all of us must appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each may receive recompense for what has been done in the body, whether good or evil” (2 Cor. 5:10).

God’s judgment

However, God’s judgment is fundamentally unlike a human trial. God’s judgment is not designed to find out if people are guilty.

In a human trial, the accused is considered to be innocent until proven guilty, and there is an investigation, examining the evidence to determine guilt or innocence. But God, who sees the heart and motives, declares in advance that “There is none righteous, no, not one” “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” and “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 3:10, 23, 6:23). Sin and death are the default.

Judgment is not needed to prove that people are guilty; it is designed to declare people righteous and qualified for eternal life. “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved” (John 3:16,17). Furthermore, when the prophet Daniel was shown a vision of the judgment, he saw that “The Ancient of Days came and pronounced judgment in favor of the saints of the Most High, and the time came when they possessed the kingdom” (Daniel 7:22).

You can read the full transcript of this video here