Some say the seals, trumps, and bowls should be read in consecutive order; others say side-by-side.  I find it to be niether, so how do the seals and trumps relate one to the other?

It is a single scroll and on it is seven seals holding it from being opened. The scroll cannot by opened until ALL of the seals are broken. Even one seal would still hold the scroll shut.  The Seven angels are not handed the trumpets until after all the seals have been broken.  This makes it sound like the events of the seals will take place first, followed by the events of the Trumpets and so it will be consecutive. 

Imagine a kings scroll. The king has sent it to you because you are the town crier and must read the message inside to the people. As the messenger I tell you that I have heard rumors from the kings court that there was a list of very bad judgments in the scroll.  You break the first seal and. out pops a hologram. You see a rider on a white horse, and he rides out to conqure.   You break the second and another hologram of another rider. You continue breaking seals.  There are only three more to go. 

Now let's stop here and I'll ask you something. Can you read what is in the scroll yet? No. The last three seals still hold it shut.  Even though the riders have gone out there has been no effect seen on earth in the form of judgments.The angels haven't even been given the trumpets yet. 

So why the 7 seals on the scroll? Why not just have one seal showing it was from the King and then just open the scroll to these events of the 7 trumps? Because the information learned in the seals explains to us why the Trumps are going to be blown. 

If the first rider hadn't gone out to conquer...then the first trumpet wouldn't be blown. So they are connected in that way.  And yet these events do not happen sid-by-side. 

They aren't connected in that the moment the first seal is broken the first trump begins to blow. 

Once all the seals have been broken then we have all the information of what will start the end days and what will happen during those days.
 

Have any of the trumpets been blown? I believe they have.

I believe the seals have been broken in preparation for the end days and the first 4 trumps have blown.  Which you can read about in Chapter 9 on the right side of this web page. 

The events that the rider of the 4th seal will cause has of course not taken place. This rider causes great wars that still remains future.  In those wars their will be many martyrs added, as we see in the 5th seal. The information gleaned from the 4th seal is related to the 5th and 6th trumps. 

These events that happen in the trumps are caused by man, or should I say God turning mans wickedness against man. We have many examples of this in the Old Testament when God wanted to pass judgment on Israel for their wickedness towards Him and the Law...God called it His judgment... but he used Babylon or some other empire, to execute His judgment. Same sort of thing here in Revelation. God uses the things of the earth and people for His judgments. And each thing can cause another event to happen. If two nations go to war against each other then famine will come out of it in the country being bombed. Water sources can be contaminated. The sea might be effected because of an action taken during this war. God lists these things as different trumps but if the war hadn't happened then those things wouldn't have happened either. It is like a domino effect. 

When a Caliphate, or something like it, is set up by the Muslims (possible in Iraq). Then God will cause the first woe which is the 5th trump, to take place. He will allow Hell to be unlocked and that which is in it to be loosed on the world.  This was seen as the 4th rider in the seals. 

And they will rule over 1/4 of the nations (which could easily be Islamic nations) and go out to conquer the world using the sword (war) and causing famines, an effect of war, etc. But it will be with that which came out of hell leading it. Maybe that is only from the spiritual world or through demonic possession.. but the effects will be seen in the natural world. 

The effects of the 5th seal will be seen in the many martyrs being added to their number  because of the wars caused by the 4th rider. 

Then the signs of the 6th seal will be seen in the middle east. Which are also mentioned in Matt 24:31 as the effects seen in the sun and moon, etc.. 

I would like to back up a bit and bring in some of the other prophecies just so you can make comparisons. 

In the end days it will be like birth pangs. It will start slowly and then the pains will get harder and closer together until the last of the pains which cause the woman to push. In this case the birth of the new earth. 

The 6th seal begins the great pushing and the new earth is about to come into being. 

So we can compare this to the birth pangs talked about in the Olivet discourse. 

"You will hear of wars and rumors of wars. but don't be alarmed, these things must happen but the time is not yet." 

These are the 1st and 2nd seal 

"nations will rise against nation and kingdoms against kingdom." 

This is the 4th seal wars. This is probably what we will call WWIII. 
This is also the Gog wars where Israel will be taken by the beast. The two witnesses will begin their 1260 days during these wars. The 42 months of Jerusalem being trampled begins during these wars.

There will be famines. Wars like this always cause great famine in many countries that are being either attacked and also in countries that will be affected by the condition of the world at this time. Food sources will be low world wide. 

Now the last thing Jesus speaks about in this section is the earth quakes. I tend to equate these to the bombs of war and the great shaking of the ground they cause. But I could be wrong. The earth could begin a series of earthquakes during this time hitting in diverse places around the world. 

The information given in the 6th seal is what causes the 7th trump events to take place on the earth. The last of the birthpangs come very close together. And the same with the text here. One thing is almost on top of the other until the birth, or end of the age. 

If I have made myself understood well enough up to this point you can see that we can understand that there is a portion of time involved until the end i.e. the time until we pull out of Iraq, then time for a possible caliphate to be set up, time for the uniting of the beast. probably more time before they are ready to make war. Then once they begin to make war and nations rise up against nations will at at least 42 months more months. So it gives a general idea how close, or how far away the end is. depending on if you see the glass half full type personality or half empty. 

So the 6th seal is like the doctor yelling START PUSHING! 

I believe the events of the 6th seal begins with a nuclear bomb going off somewhere in the Middle East, maybe more than one. But that is what causes the sign in the sun and moon as far as being darkened and the mountains to move out of their place, etc., etc. Now things move fast. The four winds of heaven are held back. The angels seal the foreheads of the 144,000, the dead are prepared for their resurrection. The people in the area on earth near enough to worry about the nuclear bomb hide themselves in the the rocks (probably caves or underground cities) and hope the rocks will fall and seal them in. I think this is interesting and did a study of the underground cities in the middle east. They are many and unbelievably big. TO HIDE THEMSELVES FROM THE WRATH OF GOD. So the first bowl of wrath is malignant sores on men,  seemingly related to radiation. 

Also included in this seal is the 7 thunders, which I believe is telling the timing of the resurrection/rapture. And also the final days of the two witness wraps up at this point. Which is at it should be because there is only one "first resurrection" and we are being shown two people that will be in it as they are being resurrected from the dead. Indication that this is when the rapture of the living takes place, following the raising of the dead, two witnesses, included in that day. 

I believe the 7 thunders story tells us that as the 7th trump is about to blow and the resurrection/rapture is about to take place. So this means the 7th trump actually begins to blow in the timing of the 6th seal events.  In other words the nuclear bomb going off caused the domino effect of events that follow. It causes the bowls of wrath to begin to be poured out. Time to remove the saved and get rid of the wicked from the face of the earth and start over in a new world and new heaven. 
I believe this  is the reason Jesus comes back to save people out of Jerusalem at this particular time. And I believe to save the earth from total destruction because this would be the beginning of a full nuclear holocaust if things were aloud to continue. The next thing we see in the seals and the trumps and the last bowl of wrath... is the thunder and lighting and great hail and quaking of the earth. I believe this is the symbolism for the battle of Armageddon. 

So in the seals, trumps and bowls we have been shown all the events of the end days from start to finish. The rest of the chapters elaborate on these events adding more detail to these events. 

She is Israel

Revelation chapter 12 and 13 are like a historical time-line which brings us from the birth of Jesus until the end times.

Our image is what we see in the mirror. So what is the Image of the first beast? 

The first beast, the Image of the first beast, and the scarlet beast the harlot rides, are all the same Islamic Empire in different stages of it's existence.

666-The answer to the Mark of the Beast is understood according to Old Testament scripture and applied to modern times.

BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.

Satan uses this beast to war against Israel, the Harlot, and that war will ultimately bring this age to an end.

I find it very interesting that God uses these ancient names to tell us about where the last leader that attacks Israel will attack from. 

Personally I feel that He is being very specific, but so many well meaning experts have used these accounts to push their agenda, and the actual meaning of the Hebrew words have been ignored.
 

Seven Letters to Seven Churches?

First Great Tribulation, then the Rapture

Fall feasts