> > Ezekiel 38:18-20
"And it will come to pass at the same time, when Gog comes against the
land of Israel," says the Lord GOD, "that MY FURY will show in My face.
For in My jealousy and IN THE FIRE OF MY WRATH I have spoken: 'Surely
in that day there shall be a GREAT EARTHQUAKE in the land of Israel, so
that the fish of the sea, the birds of the heavens, the beasts of the
field, all creeping things that creep on the earth, and ALL MEN WHO ARE
ON THE FACE OF THE EARTH SHALL SHAKE AT MY PRESENCE. The mountains
shall be thrown down, the steep places shall fall, and EVERY WALL SHALL
FALL TO THE GROUND.'
Every
wall worldwide will fall. Every building will fall. The cities of the
nations will fall. It will be the end of civilization as we have known
it. It will be the end of the Tribulation, not the beginning.
Rev 8:5
tells us about it, saying, "And the angel took the censer
(representing the asteroid), and filled it with fire of the altar, and
cast it into the earth: and there were voices, and thunderings, and lightnings, and an EARTHQUAKE." This is the worldwide earthquake.
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Hi Marilyn,
The problem with this, is that the angels with the
Trumpets are coming out to sound, but do not sound until after this
angel casts the fire in the censer to Earth. The Trumpet Judgments
and Bowl Judgments will take place after this event; not immediately
before Jesus returns. Don't forget that the 5th Trumpet is 5 months in
length. See how the angel with the censor is inbetween the
introduction of the 7 angels with the trumpets and when they sound?
Revelation 8
1 When He opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. 2 And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and to them were given seven trumpets. 3
Then another angel, having a golden censer, came and stood at the
altar. He was given much incense, that he should offer it with the
prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which was before the
throne. 4 And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, ascended before God from the angel’s hand. 5
Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and
threw it to the earth. And there were noises, thunderings, lightnings,
and an earthquake.6 So the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound.
I
have been intrigued by the view that the Seal Judgments are an overview
of the entire Tribulation, and I can see some of the support for that.
If I'm understanding correctly, that is not your view here, because of
what you quoted above that shows that the angels are about to sound the
Trumpet Judgements as the angel is hurling the censer of fire to the
Earth. I have tried to remain open to the "overview" theory, but I am
not yet convinced of it.
One thing I do know, is that:
That which has been is what will be, That which is done is what will be done, And there is nothing new under the sun.
Everything, especially end time related, seems to
go in repeating cycles. Actually, that's exactly what it is: the cycle
of birthpangs. They will increase in frequency and intensity. The
point is, just because we see similar Judgments that occur more than
once like a global earthquake, or trees being burned, or an asteroid
(star) hitting Earth, we should be careful to make the assumption that
they are one and the same event. Because of the progressive nature of
the Judgments, I believe that they will all occur in order; all
twenty-one. I also believe that anything that might have happened in
an earlier Judgment that is similar, will be even worse in the
subsequent Judgment. In other words, I see them all as separate
events, occuring in order, with increasing and worsening consequences.
The same could be said for the parallels between
the Gog and the Magog War and the Seal Judgments that I show on my
website. They may be the same event, or they may be at different times
with similar outcomes, with the Gog and Magog War occuring before the
covenant is confirmed, instead of at the beginning of it. I lean
towards the Seals describing the Ezekiel war, because the Gog and Magog
War is the point in time that God will be turning back to Israel, which
is what Daniel's 70th week is all about (plus it fits nicely with the
seven years of burning weapons):
Ezekiel 39
6 “And I will send fire on Magog and on those who live in security in the coastlands. Then they shall know that I am the LORD. 7
So I will make My holy name known in the midst of My people Israel, and
I will not let them profane My holy name anymore. Then the nations
shall know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel.
There are many reasons for placing the Gog and
Magog war at the beginning of the Tribulation. Because of this I
believe that there may be more than one global earthquake. Many believe
that there will be a global earthquake at the time of the rapture (the
"sudden destruction") in addition to the one at the end of the
Tribulation. I'm not even sure that the earthquake in the Gog and
Magog war will be global as I explain in the following letter:
If not, then the 6th Seal does not describe the Gog and Magog War.
I do thank you for your letter. It's good to
continue to re-evaluate what the Scriptures are really saying. It can
be maddening to try to sort all of this out, but it can be fun too. :)
Maranatha!
Amy Van Gerpen