Then out of the smoke came locusts upon the earth, and power was given them, as the scorpions of the earth have power. They were told not to hurt the grass of the earth, nor any green thing, nor any tree, but only the people who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. Revelation 9:3-4
I have been reading Revelation with a fresh perspective the past few weeks. This devotion is the fifth and final look at the seals and trumpets of Revelation 5-11 as if they represented the first and second comings of Christ Jesus.
We have the advantage of hindsight when comparing Christ’s first coming to the seals that He opens in Revelation 5-8. However, for His second coming, we must rely on the spiritual symbolism written in God’s biblical feasts. Jesus fulfilled each of the four spring feasts (Passover, Unleavened Bread, First Fruits, and Pentecost) at His first coming. Christ Jesus was and is the Lamb of God sacrificed for us on Passover (1 Cor. 5:7). Because He was sinless, Jesus was our Unleavened Bread (1 Cor. 5:6-8). At His resurrection Jesus was the First Fruits from the dead (1 Cor. 15:20-23). Christ Jesus blessed us with His Holy Spirit at Pentecost (Acts 2:1-4). In the same manner, the three fall feasts that God ordained in Leviticus are a prophetic predictor of Christ Jesus’ second coming.
At Christ Jesus’ first coming, He was a suffering servant – the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. At His second coming, Christ will be a Conquering King!
The fall feast season begins with The Feast of Trumpets. Trumpets are symbolic of the return of the Lord Jesus Christ (Matt. 24:31; 1 Thess. 4:16). The Day of Atonement is the second fall feast which is a day of repenting before God. The final fall feast is The Feast of Tabernacles at which the people of God were to rest from their harvest labors and rejoice in God’s presence. I do not claim to understand all the symbolism involved, but I do see some correlations in the seven trumpets of Revelation. Let me just point out two: 1) A trumpet calls people to repentance (Rev. 8:13). 2) All of heaven rejoices when a trumpet proclaims the installation of King Jesus (Rev. 11:15).
I am going to leave the discovery of further correlations to the diligent student. I have listed a couple of resources at the end.
Many Christians avoid and even fear the book of Revelation. In truth, the revelation was originally given as an encouragement to the early church who were suffering intense persecution. The encouragement is, “Hold fast! Your Conquering King is coming!”
Christians need not fear the judgments and tribulations described in Revelation. Those tribulations are only for those who “did not repent of the works of their hands, so as not to worship demons and idols . . . and they did not repent of their murders nor of their sorceries nor of their immorality or of their thefts.” (Rev. 9:20-21). In fact, a blessing is promised to those who read and heed the revelation (Rev. 1:3).
Beloved, if you have trusted in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, then you have nothing to fear. You have been sealed for the day of redemption (Eph. 4:30). The judgment of the unrepentant cannot touch you. And one day, soon, our Conquering King will come to crush the evil doers. Amen!
Resources:
Celebrating Jesus in the Biblical Feasts by Dr. Richard Booker, Destiny Image Publishers
A Prophetic Calendar: the Feasts of Israel by Jill Shannon, Destiny Image Publishers