HEAVEN AND HELL CONTINUED

Only Christ is worthy to unleash judgments on the world. Christ will dole out justice tempered with mercy. The judgments are described in three sets of seven. The judgments are not punitive but disciplinary. They are meant as reality checks to led people to get right with God

The Seven Seals Read Revelation 6:1-17 In reading the accounts of the destruction of Jerusalem written by Josephus, you would think that from September 66AD until September 70AD there was living hell in the City. According to the Preterist all the seals were popped open and the judgments poured out on Jerusalem. As soon as these ravages were ended the trumpets each sounded and there was more hell, fire, and brimstone.

First seal: a white horse is released, whose crowned rider was given a bow to conquer. Romans have conquered Israel. Christian preterists believe that the Tribulation was a divine judgment visited upon the Jews for their sins, including rejection of Jesus as the promised Messiah.

Second seal: a red horse is released, and the rider is given a great sword to take peace away from the Earth. The war between Rome and Israel started in 66CE. Jews defeated Gallus on 67CE. In 68CE, Vespasian laid siege to Jerusalem. Third seal: a black horse is released, whose rider has a pair of scales in his hand. The prices represented the prices one would see in the time of famine.

From the historian Josephus on the siege of Jerusalem Throughout the city people were dying of hunger in large numbers, and enduring unspeakable sufferings. In every house the merest hint of food sparked violence, and close relatives fell to blows, snatching from one another the pitiful supports of life. No respect was paid even to the dying; the ruffians [anti-Roman zealots] searched them, in case they were concealing food somewhere in their clothes, or just pretending to be near death. Gaping with hunger, like mad dogs, lawless gangs went staggering and reeling through the streets, battering upon the doors like drunkards, and so bewildered that they broke into the same house two or three times in an hour.

Need drove the starving to gnaw at anything. Refuse which even animals would reject was collected and turned into food. In the end they were eating belts and shoes, and the leather stripped off their shields. Tufts of withered grass were devoured, and sold in little bundles for four drachmas.

Fourth seal: an ashen horse is released, whose rider's name is Death, and following this horseman is Hades. Authority is given to them to wipe out a fourth of the Earth by sword, famine, pestilence, and wild beasts. Thousands of Jews died of starvation and disease during the siege. Thousands more died when the Romans conquered Jerusalem on September 7, 70 CE. Of those spared many were sent to Rome to die in the arenas with wild animals.

Fifth seal: The souls of the slain cry out "How long, O Lord, holy and true, will You refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth?"; They were given white robes for being martyrs for the "word of God" and told to wait for their brothers who are also destined to be slain. This may refer to some of the early Christians who were in Jerusalem in 70CE. It could also refer to the 144,000 (a symbolic number) early Christians (which were mostly if not all Jews) that escaped Jerusalem before the siege.

Sixth seal: "And there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth made of hair, and the whole moon became like blood; and the stars of the sky fell to the earth. The sky was split apart, and every mountain and island were moved out of their places." Mankind seek refuge in caves and mountains asking that they die there rather than face the wrath of the Lamb. I could not find any reference to this seal and the preterist view. The only thing close to this view is that what happens when this seal is opened is symbolic of the end of an age. This is true since Sacrificial Judaism was gone when the Temple was destroyed and rabbinical Judaism took its place and Christianity begin to break away from being a Jewish sect.

Seventh Seal - Prelude To The 7 Trumpets I think by looking at the seals from this perspective we can see that the preterist view that these things happened around 70AD is a possibility.

Final judgment does not come until Christ returns. Read Revelation 20:7-10 There is no big Armageddon battle, just an execution as the evil armies are destroyed.

This doesn’t have anything to do with modern politics or international relations. None of these will force the return of Christ. None of these will be signs of his return.

For first century Christians, Revelation was not a call to arms, but to say a farewell to arms. For first century Christians, Revelation was not a call to be ready to kill, but a call to be ready for martyrdom. For first century Christians, Revelation was a call them to trust in Christ to dole out the judgments.

First century Christians were a small minority with no government or army to protect them. Martyrs receive a special place at the side of Christ. Read Revelation 20:4

The bottom line for us is to keep an eye on the finish line. There will be a final accounting for the deeds done in the body. When we pray thy kingdom come, we need to remember that we are praying for no more opportunity for repentance

Take a snap shot of where you are right now. If today is you last day, and you are held accountable for you actions, how would you fare?