Chris, you wrote at the end of your book on Psychology:
I want to share with readers some of the events of God's wrath coming to this world because I know that this is not taught much in church buildings. In context, the Lord Jesus Christ has come back and taken His elect with Him, but everyone else who has ever lived will remain on the earth, and after a span of 30 minutes, the most horrible things you could imagine will pour down onto the children of disobedience.
There will be burning and destruction, with entire continents being split apart:
And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit. And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power. And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads. And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months: and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man. And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them. And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle; and on their heads were as it were crowns like gold, and their faces were as the faces of men. And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as the teeth of lions. And they had breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron; and the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle. And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and their power was to hurt men five months.
-Revelation 9:2-10
Could you please explain why, if the elect have already been taken by Christ at his return, it would be necessary to instruct the locusts to hurt 'only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads'?
I'm assuming these are the 144,000 which were sealed in Revelation 7, so please correct me if I'm wrong:
2 And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea, 3 saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads. 4 And I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel.If these are the servants of God, why would they be left behind after everyone else was taken?
This chapter goes on to describe others who were standing before the throne:
9 After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands; 10 and cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb. 11 And all the angels stood round about the throne, and about the elders and the four beasts, and fell before the throne on their faces, and worshipped God, 12 saying, Amen: Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might, be unto our God for ever and ever. Amen.
13 And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they? 14 And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. 15 Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple: and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them. 16 They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. 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.I highlighted the part where it says these people came out of 'great tribulation' but what great tribulation is being referred to? It just says 'great tribulation' not 'The Great Tribulation.' For all I know, these could be all the saints who have ever been martyred, from Stephen all the way down to those yet to lose their lives for the cause of Christ. I would say all of these endured 'great tribulation,' but again, I don't know if this is what this passage is referring to or not.
I have read Revelation a LOT, but I still get confused over the timeline of what happens when, especially in regards to events immediately preceding and following the return of Jesus Christ to earth.
