Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Evangelical
Politics and Religion
Are the Seven Seals God’s wrath? Revelation #4

Are the Seven Seals God’s wrath? Revelation #4

Last updated on: June 12, 2023 at 9:19 am by Rob Dalrymple

Are the Seven Seals God’s wrath? Revelation #4 2023-06-12T09:19:57-08:00 Rob Dalrymple

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

I have been trying to draw attention to the fact that for many Christians their understanding of God and wrath in the book of Revelation runs radically counter to how God has revealed Himself in Scripture. Yet, many apparently have no problem with this.

Tim Lahaye, whose famous Left Behind series, which has sold 70 million copies, not only proclaims in his books that God will strike the earth and its inhabitants with plagues and horrible catastrophes but seemingly rejoices at such:

“LaHaye stopped just short of telling MSNBC that the tsunami that killed some 200,000 people on December 26, 2004, was God’s will. He makes little secret of the fact that he views earthquakes, floods, and global environmental deterioration as signs of the fulfillment of Bible prophecy. Floods and environmental calamities should be a cause for Christian concern, but not prophetic excitement.”[1]

As I said in my last post: “If we conclude that the Seven Seals, Seven Trumpets, and the Seven Bowls depict God inflicting wrath upon the unbelieving world, so that those who survive may repent, then, as I have said in the previous posts, God is a moral monster, who, at the end of the day, is no better than any other despot.”

Sex and war sell

I was asked recently, if this is not what the Bible and the book of Revelation are about, then why do so many believe this? Why is this teaching so popular? Why are we so attracted to the popular end times scenarios?

For one, we love believing that we are the good people and “they” (fill in the blank here _______ with whomever you want to include as among the “they”) are the bad people.

Also, what Jesus really said is hard. Let’s face it. It sounds a lot better to blame all of the world’s ills on everyone else. It sounds a lot better to acknowledge that I’m pretty good. It sounds a lot better to believe that if things start getting tough, God’s going to rescue me from this place.

What then does the Book of Revelation say?

This naturally raises the question: Does not the book of Revelation tell us that God strikes people and the creation with terrible plagues in the last days? And the answer is, “No.”

Let me begin with the Seven Seals (Rev 6:1-17; 8:1, 5).

They are not divine judgments.

The first four Seals (Rev 6:1-8) describe the inevitable consequences of what happens when humanity rules apart from God. The tragic result of human rule is violence, famine, death, and destruction.

This should not be surprising. It is what Genesis tells us. Adam and Eve decide to rule by their own wisdom and not God’s (As I noted in an earlier post, Adam and Eve did not “Fall” they “Failed”) they failed to rule by submitting to God’s wisdom. And in the very next story in Genesis Cain murders Abel (Gen 4:1-15).

The Seals, in other words, depict the consequences of what happens when, as Paul would say, God hands us over to our own desires (Rom 1:18-32). David Barr notes that the first four Seals, “form a logical and consistent series that has often been acted out in history: first a conqueror appears, followed by war, famine, and death.”[2]

Revelation is about God’s love for humanity and His creation

As I have been arguing through our study of the book of Revelation (you can view the study on my YouTube channel, or by tuning in to the Determinetruth podcast), the book of Revelation is setting forth a narrative. In that narrative, God’s people are suffering and they cry out to God, “How long?” (Rev 6:10-11). The reply is essentially, “Not yet.”

The Seven Seals and the Seven Trumpets represent the “not yet” part of the story.

The reason for the not yet is because God desires to see the nations redeemed! And the means by which the nations come to know Christ is us! As I say in my upcoming commentary, it is through the faithful, loving, and sacrificial witness of God’s people that the nations come to know Christ. Of course, we must note that our faithful, loving, and sacrificial witness is manifested in the midst of suffering.

This is what it means to Follow the Lamb! Jesus loved us and suffered for us so that we might have life. Now, He calls us to do the same. This is what it means to “carry your cross and follow Me” (see Mark 8:34).

This is why the popular end times stuff is so wrong! This is why it is so dangerous!

NB: In case you were wondering, “Yes” I do believe that there will be a judgment day. And “No,” unfortunately, I do not believe that everyone will be saved. My point has been in this series of posts, that God does not use wrath to bring people to repentance. He loves them. And He manifests His love to them so that they may believe. However, there will come a day when those who refuse to believe will face the final judgment.

Our goal is to keep these posts free of charge. I do not intend to ever hide them behind a paywall. I can only do this if those of you who have been blessed by them and can afford to give ($5, $10, $25, or more/month) do so. You can give a tax-deductible contribution by following this link.

Please share this post and let others know about determinetruth.

If you wish to view this blog on your smartphone through the Determinetruth app simply download the “tithe.ly church” app on your smartphone and insert “determinetruth” as the church name you wish to follow. Once it is loaded, simply click on the “blog” icon and it will automatically load.

If you would like to have Rob speak at your church or organization in person or via Zoom, please let us know by filling out the contact info on the Contact me tab on this site.

[1] Rossing, The Rapture, loc 132. I must confess that I struggled greatly looking through the popular dispensationalist literature. As I reviewed this literature in order to discern their view of hope in the book of Revelation, I continued to find the distorted sort of enthusiasm that relished in war and environmental devastation. This view is grossly self–focused. The rapture is good news for individual Christians, but bad news for the world and its inhabitants.

[2] Barr, Tales, 2622-23.

Progressive Christian

Politics and Religion

Education and Religion

Biblical Interpretation

About Rob Dalrymple

Rob Dalrymple is married to his wife Toni and is the father of four fabulous children, and two grandchildren. He has been teaching and pastoring for over 33 years at colleges, seminaries, and the local church. He has a PhD in biblical interpretation. He is the author of four books (including Follow the Lamb: A Guide to Reading, Understanding, and Applying the Book of Revelation & Understanding the New Testament and the End Times: Why it Matters) as well as numerous articles and other publications. He is currently completing a commentary on the book of Revelation titled, “Revelation: a Love Story” (Cascade Books, pending 2024). You can read more about the author here.

Previous Post

June 5, 2023

Is God a moral monster? The book of Revelation and wrath #3

Next Post

June 19, 2023 Are the Seven Seals God's wrath? #5

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category 000 1 Cor 11:17-34 1 Corinthians 1 John 1 Peter 1 Thessalonians 1 Timothy 10 Commandments 2 Corinthians 2 John 2 Peter 2 Thessalonians 2 Timothy 3 John 666 Abortion Acts 2:42 Ahmaud Arbery AIPAC All Saints Day America antisemitism BDS Beast Betting Bible Bible study Biblical Interpretation Biden Book of Acts Boycott Campus Protests Catholicism Ceasefire Chavez Ravine Christian Nationalism Christian Zionism Christianity Today Christmas Church Colossians Communion Convict Leasing Covid-19 Craig Blaising creation Crucifixion Daoud Nassar Deception Deconstruction Democracy Devotional guide Discipleship Easter Eden Education Election End-times Ephesians Eschatology Ethnic Cleansing Evangelicalism Evangelicals Evolution Fall Famine Fascism FIFA Freedom of Speech Galatians Gary Burge Gaza Gaza; Genocide; Boycott Genesis Genocide George Floyd Global Warming God's will Gospel Gospel of John Gospel of Luke Gospel of Mark Gospel of Matthew Government Grace Great Prostitute Hamas Harris healthcare Hebrews HeGetsUs Holy Spirit Holy Week Honor Father and Mother ICJ Immigration Indigenous peoples day Iran Israel Israel Palestine Itamar Ben Gvir James Jesus Joel Willits Jude Just war Justice Kamala Harris Kingdom Of God Kings and Queens land of Israel Law (OT) Lazarus Les Miserable LGBTQ+ Love Luke Mahmoud Khalil Man of Lawlessness Mark Mark of the Beast Marriage Martin Luther King Jr Mercy Mexican Repatriation Military-Industrial-Complex Ministry Mission Money NAFTA Nakba Netanyahu New Creation New Testament Nicaragua Nicodemus Non Violence Occupation Pacifism Palestine Parable Paul Peace Pentecost Peonage Philemon Philippians Politics Poor Power Prayer Pride Month Priests Pro-life Propaganda Prophesy Prophet Qatar Queen Elizabeth Racism Reconstruction Redemption Reformation Resurrection Revelation Roe v Wade Romans Romans 13:1-7 Rome Russia Sabbath Samaritan Seals Sermon Settlements Slavery Spiritual gifts Taxes Tent of Nations Terrorism The Beast Theology Titus Torture Trump truth Ukraine Uncategorized Veteran's Day War Warsaw Ghetto wealth Wedding Women World Cup 2022 Worldview Worship Wrath Yemen Zionism

Select a Month September 2026 May 2026 February 2026 November 2025 October 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 August 2018 June 2018 May 2018 March 2018 September 2017 July 2017 May 2017 November 2016 October 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

In Revelation, what is the correct sequence of events in the End Times?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Mark of the beast given, dragon cast to earth, beast rises, false prophet rises Beast rises from sea, dragon cast to earth, mark of the beast given, false prophet rises Dragon cast to earth, beast rises from sea, false prophet rises from earth, mark of the beast given False prophet rises, dragon cast to earth, beast rises from sea, mark of the beast given

Support this
Column