keras said:
[SIZE=11pt]Revelation 1:1-2 [/SIZE]The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him so that He might show His servants what must soon take place. Happy is the one who reads aloud this [SIZE=11pt]Rev. 6 The ‘Lamb’ broke the first five seals - this must have been done in ancient times as these [/SIZE] prophecies have already commenced, as in Zechariah 6 and with the persecution of Christians.
[SIZE=11pt]Zechariah 6:1-8. These are parallel verses about the four horsemen who range over the earth. They were released and given power over a quarter of the earth’s people. This is actually about the number of people killed by wars, famines, disease, etc, since then and still to come, before the Return. [/SIZE]
Ancient times? No keras, John was taken up to heaven in Rev 4 so God could give Him a vision of the 70th week. The six seals are a part of the 70th week.
Rev 4:1 NIV After this 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.”
keras said:
[SIZE=11pt]THE FIFTH SEAL- tells of those saints who have been killed for their faith, throughout the ages. They wait for the completion of their numbers, now and up to the end.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]Therefore, the first five seals have been opened. The world and all its people are now suffering under these curses. But it gets worse, for the next event must be:[/SIZE]
I would disagree. These are specifically martyr's who have died in the GT and are resurrected at the first resurrection. I don't think "waiting a little longer" in Rev 6:11 consists of 2,000 years. The Greek word for little is "mikros" which means small. The Greek word for longer is "chronos" which means time. They were waiting a "small amount of time".
The 5th seal is open right after the abomination of desolation in the middle of the 70th week, and the "waiting a little longer" ends at the 7th trumpet which opens at the end of the 70th week in Rev 11:18...
Rev 6:10 NIV They called out in a loud voice, “How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true,
until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?”
Rev 11:18 NIV The nations were angry, and your wrath has come.
The time has come for judging the dead, and for rewarding your servants the prophets and your people who revere your name, both great and small-- and for destroying those who destroy the earth."
keras said:
[SIZE=11pt]THE SIXTH SEAL –[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt] Rev. 6:12-17 [/SIZE]A great earthquake, the sun is darkened, the moon red, stars fall to the earth, the sky will be like a scroll rolled up. People will hide in caves from the wrath of the Lord.
[SIZE=11pt]Isaiah 2:12-21 [/SIZE]On that Day, the Lord will arise and strike the world with terror. People will hide in caves to escape the dread presence of the Lord.
[SIZE=11pt]Isaiah 34:1-5 [/SIZE]The Lord’s judgement descends on the people doomed for destruction, for the Lord’s anger is against all the nations. The sky is rolled up like a scroll.
[SIZE=11pt]Joel 2:1-11 [/SIZE]The Day of the Lord is coming – a Day of darkness, the earth shakes, a vast and countless host appears, the like has never been known, nor will be again. Their appearing is a devouring fire, the flame of their passing leaves a desolate wasteland.
[SIZE=11pt]Isaiah 13:9-13 [/SIZE]See, the Day of the Lord is coming, a cruel day, with wrath and fierce anger – to make the land desolate and destroy the sinners within it. The sun and moon will be darkened as I punish the world for its evil. The heavens will tremble and the earth will shake.
[SIZE=11pt]Isaiah 30:26-28 [/SIZE]On the Day that the Lord saves His people, the sun will shine with seven times its usual brightness. The Lord will come from afar, His anger blazing and His doom heavy, His breath a devouring fire. [SIZE=11pt]Reference: REB some verses abridged[/SIZE]
None of these prophecies can be related to the Return of Jesus in His glory, or the sheep and goat judgement.
The "Return of Jesus" as you call it begins with rapture keras. "His Coming Parousia" begins with RAPTURE.
If you don't believe the sheep will be separated from the goats at rapture then, maybe it's an event you need to experience personally...
1 Thess 4:15 NIV According to the Lord's word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming
(parousia) of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep.
keras said:
The Trumpet and Bowl punishments of the Tribulation will happen in the 3½ years before the Return.
I would disagree on your timeline. The trumpets will occur in the middle of the last 3.5 years after the GT and when the Day of the Lord begins (see picture below). Trumpets will continue to the end of the 70th week, even the fifth trumpet will last five months alone! After the 70th week is complete Jesus will land on the Mount of Olives and pour out the 7 bowls for 30 days in Dan 12:11. The number 30 represents mourning, and the mourning process will occur in those 30 extra days after the 70th week...
Num 20:29 NIV and when the whole community learned that Aaron had died,
all the Israelites mourned for him thirty days.
Deut 34:8 NIV The Israelites
grieved for Moses in the plains of Moab
thirty days, until the time of weeping and mourning was over.
Zech 12:10-14 NIV “And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication. They will look on me, the one they have pierced,
and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child,
and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son. 11
On that day the weeping in Jerusalem will be as great as the weeping of Hadad Rimmon in the plain of Megiddo. 12
The land will mourn, each clan by itself, with their wives by themselves: the clan of the house of David and their wives, the clan of the house of Nathan and their wives, 13the clan of the house of Levi and their wives, the clan of Shimei and their wives, 14and all the rest of the clans and their wives.