Pilgrim Heart

Useful Website

I've just come across this website www.bible-researcher.com

It has a wealth of resources from some excellent writers - check it out!

The Radiance of the Majesty of God's Presence

Not so long ago I would have been sceptical about this sort of thing, but as I'm coming to a deeper understanding of God's glory now I'd say, "with God nothing is impossible."

What the Thunders Said

So what did the Thunders say? What was so amazing and wonderful that John was not permitted to record it? Well first let's consider the imagery of what is going on here. There are no new prophetic images in the book of Revelation - everything we find here has already been seen earlier in the Bible.

The Thunders were thundering in response to the lion's roar voice of the Mighty Angel. This angel should be taken as being Jesus himself, everything about his description points to that. Back in the book of the prophet Amos we read:

For the Lord does nothing without revealing his secret to his servants the prophets. The lion has roared; who will not fear? The Lord God has spoken; who can but prophesy? (Amos 3:7-8)

So Amos shows us that when God roars, prophets prophesy. Amos uses the literary device of parallelism: the Lord revealing his secret to the prophets is the Lion roaring; and when the Lord speaks, prophets must prophesy.

Applying this illumination from Amos back to what we have read in Revelation, we can see that the Thunders are in fact the prophecies of God's prophets, which in one sense includes all members of the Church (see Numbers 11:29 and 1 Corinthians 14:31). This is why John was not permitted to record what the Thunders said; they were not speaking the eternal, inspired word of God: what they said was not Scripture. Remember what John was told:

And when the seven thunders had sounded, I was about to write, but I heard a voice from heaven saying, "Seal up what the seven thunders have said, and do not write it down." (Rev 10:4)

Now contrast this with what John is told toward the end of the book of Revelation, which emphasises the distinction between Scripture and prophecy:

And he said to me, "Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near." (Rev 22:10)

So, how can we know what the Thunders said? Because you've probably heard it many times before: whenever the Spirit-filled people of God gather as those who have an ear to hear the Lion's roar of heaven then you will hear those Thunders as men and women prophesy the now word of God out of the heavens and into the earth.

The Seven Thunders Revealed

Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven, wrapped in a cloud, with a rainbow over his head, and his face was like the sun, and his legs like pillars of fire. He had a little scroll open in his hand. And he set his right foot on the sea, and his left foot on the land, and called out with a loud voice, like a lion roaring. When he called out, the seven thunders sounded. And when the seven thunders had sounded, I was about to write, but I heard a voice from heaven saying, "Seal up what the seven thunders have said, and do not write it down." (Rev 10:1-4 ESV)

Ever wanted to know what the seven thunders said, and why John wasn't allowed to write it down? I'm currently preparing for a short trip to Norway this weekend where I shall be sharing at a prophetic conference. I will be sharing about the impact of the prophetic word and its part in God's restoration purpose.

I will post more fully when I return: I shall also let you know what the seven thunders said, and why John was not permitted to record it.