vinsight4u,
Please don't think I am attacking your sincerity. I'm merely pointing out certain things that MOST people haven't thought about--and likely never will. I'll let you in on a little secret: I spent most of my life refusing to be baptized (in water) because John the Baptist said, 'surely I baptize with water; but He who comes after me shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire.'
In fact, I applied my, and
countless others, misinterpretation of John's meaning. The true meaning can be further understood by hearing what Jesus said; 'Except a man be born of WATER AND of the Spirit, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God.'
The Apostles baptized with water--every single time... in the name of "Jesus". John baptized unto repentance, only. Jesus... or rather His Apostles, baptized into the death and burial of Christ for the remission of sins (imputed righteousness), and Jesus then gives the gift of the Holy Spirit; the Comforter; Himself... which is the power of His resurrection. This is why Paul had certain disciples re-baptized:
Ac 19:1 And it came to pass, that, while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul having passed through the upper coasts came to Ephesus: and finding certain disciples,
2 He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost.
3 And he said unto them, Unto what then were ye baptized? And they said, Unto Johns baptism.
4 Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus.
5 When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.
And all those years I went about being a "Christian" who was not going to enter the Kingdom of God. Funny how things come to pass for so many different reasons (though I suspect they are all to impress upon us the Grace of God); ain't it? Seems that when we rely on the teachings of man, rather than on the teachings of the Holy Spirit, through the word of God... we end up with flawed teachings.
The problem with the transition from Chapter 7 to 8--just as in a number of other places--is perhaps that the divisions, which were made by the editors and others who "print" the Bible, apply that break
improperly?. This occurs in other places as well. Did God screw up? No--more likely people screwed up. Or perhaps this is exactly how God wanted His word printed... to make sure that the understanding would not come to those who shouldn't understand?...
I've often wondered if this might be the verse that reveals that fact:
2Ti 2:15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
Or this one:
Isa 28:9 Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts.
10 For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little:
11 For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people.
It's the same idea behind why Jesus taught in "parables":
Mr 4:11 And he said unto them, Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God: but unto them that are without, all these things are done in parables:
The following example gives a clearer idea of what I mean about the
divisions...
Re 7:17 For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.
18 And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour.
Re 8:1 And I saw the seven angels which stood before God; and to them were given seven trumpets.
Does that seem to make more sense--other than for the issue of the succession of trumpets
following seals?
In the case of Revelation
6, when the 6th Seal is opened... this is a depiction of the "great day of His wrath". If the day of His wrath happens under the 6th Seal, how is it the seven Vials (which is the wrath of God filled up) are not supposed to happen until AFTER the 7th Seal is opened???
This is why it is CRITICAL to understand that the timing of events is NOT tied to chapter breaks or even the succession of chapters to each other.
The
6th Seal, 7th Trumpet, and 7th Vial are ONE and the SAME event. (You can study these individually and you will see they are not different events in time or succeeding from one group to another.)
In most cases in Revelation (this particularly applies to why many people associate the timing of events as being tied to the succession of chapters), when you read the words, "
and I saw" or "
after this I beheld", this generally indicates a different set of circumstances (or another scene, if you will.) If the circumstances (scenes) are different, perhaps the timing is different, too?
You might think of Revelation as a grouping of dozens of separate scenes in the same movie... sorta like flipping channels on a TV where ALL channels are playing the same movie... they just didn't all start running at the same time. You can flip from one channel, where the movie is 30 minutes in... to another channel, where the movie is 57 minutes in... and then to another, where the movie is 13 minutes in. All the same movie... but the different scenes on different channels are not in succession.
This is also part of the reason why people have the idea that the church gets beamed out before the Tribulation. The fact that John saw the souls of saints at the 5th seal, and then those who came out of great tribulation under the 6th seal... shows there must be something unseen regarding the timing. Why didn't the ones who came out from great tribulation appear under the 5th Seal? After all, the 6th Seal is the great day of His wrath: right? But we still have all those trumpets and vials yet to go??
Babylon being punished--double? That's just God's way of making sure we know how He feels about "man-made religion". I doubt that God's wrath needs any refilling. When you've been wrathed by God, even once, I don't think there's much left in need of any re-wrathing.
