If we would understand prophecy, we must be familiar with the entire content of the seventh seal. This is the secret to knowing the prophecy of this book. When I was young, I thought that the seventh trumpet merely consisted of the seven bowls and that the seven trumpets were the unique content of the seventh seal. Holding that concept, I found it difficult to grasp the whole book of Revelation. However, after a number of years, I saw that the seven trumpets are the unique content of the seventh seal, but that the seven bowls are simply a part of the content of the seventh trumpet. The seventh trumpet includes a great deal more than just the seven bowls. As we have pointed out, the seventh trumpet includes both negative and positive things.
Verse 19 unfolds the scene in heaven after the trumpeting of the seventh trumpet. This verse says, “And the temple of God which is in heaven was opened, and the ark of His covenant was seen and His temple; and there were lightnings and voices and thunders and an earthquake and great hail.”Four earthquakes are predicted in this book. The first (6:12) is in the sixth seal, the second (8:5) is before the seven trumpets, the third (11:13) is between the sixth and seventh trumpets, and the fourth (v. 19) is both here in the seventh trumpet and in the seventh bowl (16:18-20), which constitutes the close of the negative content of the seventh trumpet.
Here in this verse, which is continued by 15:5, we see that the temple of God was opened. The throne with the rainbow in 4:2-3 is the center of all the judgments executed over the earth in chapters six through eleven on the negative side; whereas the temple with the ark is the center of all God’s accomplishments in the universe carried out in chapters twelve through twenty-two on the positive side. The throne with the rainbow, the center of the first section, is for God’s judgment. The temple with the ark, the center of the second section, is for God’s building. Firstly, on the negative side, we have God’s judgment, and secondly, on the positive side, we have God’s building. For God’s judgment, the throne with the rainbow is the center, and for God’s building, His temple with His ark is the center.
God’s judgment is fully accomplished in the first section of the book. The main thought of the second section is God’s building. Who will be the temple? God’s people, mainly the church. Who is the ark? Christ. Therefore, the center of God’s building in eternity will be Christ and the church. We are not under the throne with the rainbow—we are in the temple with God. We are not under God’s judgment—we are in God’s building. Antichrist and the unbelievers will all be under God’s throne with the rainbow, but we are here in the temple with the ark, in God’s building with Christ.
What light the Lord has shown us! After the sounding of the seven trumpets in the first section, all the mysteries will be over, all the judgments will be carried out, and all the exercise of God’s administration will be completed. Only one thing will remain to be continued—God’s building. Because of this, the view, the scene, the sight, in heaven is changed from the throne with the rainbow to the temple with the ark. What do you see today—the throne with the rainbow or the temple with the ark? We see the temple with the ark. We see Christ and the church. This vision is not for us to be holy or spiritual; rather, it is for us to be built up. We all must see the temple with the ark for God’s building.
When the temple of God in heaven is opened and the ark of His covenant is seen in His temple, there are lightnings, voices, thunders, an earthquake, and great hail (v. 19). This is the same as what will transpire after the pouring out of the seventh bowl (16:17-21). Lightnings, voices, and thunders are solemn declarations of God’s wrath in His judgment. The earthquake and the great hail are the actual judgment. By the earthquake, which will be the greatest in history, the cities, including the earthly Jerusalem and Rome, Babylon the Great, will be shaken and will fall (16:19). By the great hail, men will suffer the exceeding great plague (16:21). This will be the end of the great tribulation.
The book of Revelation is divided into two sections. The first section, consisting of chapters one through eleven, affords us a brief sketch, a general view of things. Since it is merely a sketch, it does not contain the details. Therefore, the following section, consisting of chapters twelve through twenty-two, gives us the details of the main items contained in the first section. Every chapter contains some details. For example, without chapters twenty-one and twenty-two, we would never know the details of the New Jerusalem mentioned in 3:12. The two sections of Revelation resemble the first and second chapters of Genesis. Genesis 1 gives a general record of God’s creation, especially of the creation of man. Genesis 2 supplies the details concerning God’s creation of man. Just as we need Genesis 2 to supplement the general picture of Genesis 1, so we need the second section of Revelation to supply the details of the crucial items mentioned in a general way in the first section.