The Book of Revelation is a book that generates myriads of questions from those who delve into its pages. In our last articles, we have been attempting to answer some of those questions which are often asked. Here are four more.
#1 – What is the marriage and marriage supper of the Lamb (19:7-10)?
In Revelation 19:7, the declaration is made that it is time for the marriage of the Lamb. The scene is in heaven, and the bride is seen in beautiful apparel which represents the gracious rewards given by the Bridegroom to His bride. This would tell us that when the marriage is ready to take place that the judgment seat of Christ has just taken place, since the church is seen as rewarded. The purpose of marriage is to unite two people and create a wonderful new relationship which includes the two being together, where one goes the other goes. For Christ and His bride there is no more separation. When He returns to the earth, so does His bride.
But then a future event is spoken of to which “blessed” persons are invited. That future event is the marriage supper of the Lamb. The marriage supper is a picture of the messianic kingdom. This imagery was used by the Lord Jesus in Matthew 22 as He discussed His coming kingdom. Blessed people are the ones who get to enter and experience this time of great joy and marvelous blessing. The marriage is in heaven, but the marriage supper is on the earth; that is, the revitalized earth of the messianic age. It is that 1,000-year period where peace, joy, and righteousness prevail and the curse has been lifted from the earth. Even in our own culture and time, the marriage and the wedding reception, or dinner, are often in two different locations. The marriage might be in a church while the reception/supper is several miles away in another setting. This will be the case in the marriage and marriage supper of Jesus, the Lamb. Blessed is the one who will be part of these grand events.
#2 – Revelation speaks about the “book of life.” What is this book? Who is in it, and can a person be removed from it?
The “book of life” is mentioned a number of times in Revelation (3:5; 13:8; 17:8; 20:15; and 21:27). It has been suggested that this book contains the names of all who are born into this world (a book, therefore, of physical life), or some propose it is a register of all believers including professing believers (who will eventually see their names blotted out of the book). But the “book of life” is best understood as a divine listing of all those who will receive the blessing of eternal life. In Philippians 4:3, the Apostle Paul uses this same imagery and applies it to those that labor with him in the ministry. And in Revelation 20:15, the issue is spiritual life, not physical life. Those who are not in the book of life are dispatched to the lake of fire; telling us that they are unbelievers. That believers only are found in the book of life is supported by 21:17 where no one on the new, eternal earth in the New Jerusalem can be there if not found in the book of life. Revelation 17:8 says that those in the book of life were written there from the foundation of the world; that is, it is the elect of God who are in the book. Followers of the Antichrist (those who by choice worship him) are not found in the book of life even though they are physically alive on the earth (13:5). We should note that there are many books that are mentioned in the Bible. These books are not to remind God of something He might forget but are there to give clear evidence to a person’s spiritual condition or to their reward or their punishment. We should also be aware that books in the OT are different from the NT book of life. In the OT, these are referencing a book of covenant blessing, a register of the covenant people of Israel. An Israelite could be blotted out of the book and forfeit the privileges of living in the theocracy (note Exo. 32:32-33).
It is probably Revelation 3:5 that gives Bible students the most trouble, as it speaks of a name being “blotted out” of the book of life. This is part of the letter to the church at Sardis where the “overcomer” is being addressed. The overcomer is likely another name for the believer, who overcomes in Christ (cf 1 John 5:4-5). This then is a powerful promise of what will not be his fate. The promise is that the believer shall never (a double negative is used strengthening the promise) be blotted out of the book of life. It is not a threat of something that could happen but a promise of what will not happen. It is similar to the promise to the overcomer in the church at Smyrna (2:11), where the overcomer (believer) is assured that he will not “be hurt by the second death”; that is the lake of fire.
#3 – When during the seven-year Tribulation period do the Seal, Trumpet and Bowl judgments take place?
These three series of judgments have been located in a variety of spots by Bible scholars. When all the evidence is in, it seems best to place the Seal judgments in the first half, the Trumpet judgments in the second half and the Bowl judgments in the second half right before the 2nd Coming of Christ to the earth. There are some reasons to support this positioning of the judgments.
The concept of “birth pangs". Foundational to the placing of the three series of judgments as described above is the Old Testament concept of birth pains. It was used by the prophets to speak of God’s judgments and then was used by the Lord Jesus in His discussion of the end time judgments (Matt. 24:8). Birth pains are a unique kind of pain because: (1) they get worse as time goes by and the time of the birth gets closer; and (2) the time between the pains becomes less and less as the time of the birth draws near. When Jesus generally described the end time judgments of God, He said the initial ones (wars, earthquakes, famines etc.) were just the beginning of God’s judgments, indicating that the birth pains would continue throughout the entire period.
The statements within the Book of Revelation. When the 7th Seal is broken and the next series of the Trumpet judgments come, there is an emphasis on 1/3 of the earth being harmed by these judgments (7:7-12). But in the last series of judgments (the Bowls of God’s wrath), not 1/3, but the entire earth suffers under the judgments, showing that things are getting worse and worse (16:1-21). So, for example, in the trumpet judgments 1/3 of the oceans turn to blood, but in the Bowl judgments all the oceans are turned to blood.
Furthermore, the testimony of an angel (8:13) is that the final judgments are the worst of all. He says “woe, woe, woe” to the earth dwellers because the final three trumpets are the worst judgments yet. It is essential to keep in mind that the 7th trumpet (also identified as the “3rd woe”) is in fact the last series of 7 judgments (the Bowl judgments). The 7th trumpet is the final, terrible series of God’s judgments and it appears to come quickly, one right after the other. This angelic statement verifies the point that the concept of “birth pains” is what the world will experience; it will be far more painful at the end of the tribulation right before the kingdom of Messiah is “birthed” into the world.
Jesus’ statement that the 2nd half of the tribulation is the “great” time of judgment. As Jesus, in Matthew 24, talked about the future judgments, He was clear that things will get worse once the “abomination of desolation” is set up in the Jerusalem temple. It is the 2nd half of the tribulation that is “the great one” (24:21); and that if God had chosen to have this uniquely terrible time be more than 3 ½ years, then no human being would survive (24:22).
These statements and terms, when combined together, point to the second half of the tribulation being far more severe in the judgments of God than the 1st half. The judgments are worse and they come closer together as the time for the “birth” of the messianic age gets closer.
#4 – Why does Revelation speak of things happening “shortly” or “quickly” when, in fact, almost 2,000 years have gone by? That doesn’t seem very quick to most of us.
These words, as they are translated, can be confusing. These words appear to be timing words, but they are not. They are not chronological indicators telling us when something is going to take place, but rather qualitative indicators telling us how things will take place. The family of words (tachos; tachy) are best translated as “suddenly” or “swiftly”. “Tachos” in Revelation should be translated as descriptive of the manner in which things happen (that is, “suddenly”). For example, when the Lord returns it will be suddenly or swiftly. The “adverb of manner” does not describe when the events occur, but the manner in which they occur. So, we would translate these events as taking place suddenly. (This is the position taken by key Greek lexicons such as Liddell and Scott, and Bauer, Arndt and Gingrich).
Those holding to an AD 70 fulfillment of Revelation and the Olivet Discourse (Preterism) insist that a first century fulfillment is required by these words. But, when we see the proper understanding of these words, no such fulfillment is required by these words. After some 2,000 years, the events of Revelation have not yet been fulfilled but when they are fulfilled, they will take place suddenly. We probably should not speak of the “soon” coming of the Lord and of these events, but rather they are imminent, and once the time does come these events will come swiftly
