What is the Meaning of the Seven Thunders?
So far, we have looked into the meaning of the opening of the seven seals in the Book of Revelation and are now exploring the seven thunders.
But before we get into the seven thunders, we thought we would take a close look at the word “seven”!
The Word Seven
The word seven is in the Bible 465 times. Most frequently it is found in the Book of The Revelation of Jesus Christ. There, we find the word seven 48 times. We read of seven churches, seven Spirits of God, seven golden candle sticks, seven lampstands, seven stars, seven lamps of fire, seven seals, seven horns, seven eyes, seven angels, seven trumpets, seven thunders, seven thousand people, seven heads, seven crowns, seven plagues, seven vials—or bowls, seven mountains, and seven kings.
W. E. Vine
The word seven, described by W. E. Vine, generally expresses completeness. Although used by John the apostle in the Book of Revelation, the word seven is not mentioned in the Gospel of John. This special numeral can also mean full, abundant; or perfect completion.
Seven Thunders
The two-word term seven thunders appears only three times in the Word of God. All these three are in Revelation 10 verses three and four. This chapter creates a pause between the sounding of the sixth and seventh trumpets, because God’s judgment is about to intensify greatly. Further and more severe disasters are pending and imminent as the prophesy progresses toward the end of the end times. The sixth angel had sounded his trumpet in Revelation 9:13, but the seventh angel will not sound his trumpet until Revelation 11:15. The break between these last two trumpets is given in the eleven verses of Chapter 10.
Break Between Two Trumpets
Revelation 10:1-3a
I saw still another mighty angel coming down from heaven, clothed with a cloud. And a rainbow was on his head, his face was like the sun, and his feet like pillars of fire. He had a little book open in his hand. And he set his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land [representing God’s absolute sovereignty over all the earth], and cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roars.
The Seven Thunders / Seal it Up
Revelation 10:3b-7
When he cried out, seven thunders uttered their voices. Now when the seven thunders uttered their voices, I was about to write; but I heard a voice from heaven saying to me “Seal up the things which the seven thunders uttered, and do not write them.” The angel whom I saw standing on the sea and on the land raised up his right hand to heaven and swore by Him who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and the things that are in it, the earth and the things that are in it, and the sea and the things that are in it, that there should be delay no longer, but in the days of the sounding of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, the mystery of God would be finished [brought to perfect completion], as He declared to His servants the prophets [Isaiah 11; Jeremiah 31; Ezekiel 36, 37; Daniel 7; Zechariah 14; Matthew 6:10].
The Little Book – Eat
Revelation 10:8-10
Then the voice which I heard from heaven spoke to me again and said, “Go, take the little book which is open in the hand of the angel who stands on the sea and on the earth.” So I went to the angel and said to him, “Give me the little book.” And he said to me, “Take and eat it; and it will make your stomach bitter, but it will be as sweet as honey in your mouth.” Then I took the little book out of the angel’s hand and ate it, and it was as sweet as honey in my mouth. But when I had eaten it, my stomach became bitter.
Thundering and Lightning
When we hear loud thunderings and see lightnings flashing, we can trust in God that He is in control and is displaying His power—audibly, visually, and resultantly. An annual average of over five thousand forest fires of the western U.S. and Rocky Mountains are reported to be caused by lightning. [Source: National Interagency Fire Center].
This statistic will worsen during the Tribulation period:
Revelation 4:5a
And from the throne [in heaven] proceeded lightnings, thunderings, and voices…
Revelation 8:5
Then the angel took the censor, filled it with fire from the altar, and threw it to the earth. And there were noises, thunderings, lightnings, and an earthquake.
Middle of the Seven-Year Tribulation
In the middle of the seven-year Tribulation, when the Antichrist takes over the temple of God in Jerusalem, God, from His temple in heaven will exhibit His powerful disdain.
Revelation 11:19
Then the temple of God was opened in heaven, and the ark of His covenant was seen in His temple. And there were lightnings, noises, thunderings, an earthquake, and great hail.
Revelation 16:17-18
Then the seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and a loud voice came out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, “It is done!” And there were noises and thunderings and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such a mighty and great earthquake as had not occurred since men were on the earth.
Job 37:5
God thunders marvelously with His voice; He does great things which we cannot comprehend.
Psalm 18:13
The LORD thundered from heaven, and the Most High uttered His voice, hailstones and coals of fire.
Psalm 29:3-4
The voice of the LORD is over the waters; the God of glory thunders; the LORD is over many waters. The voice of the LORD is powerful; the voice of the LORD is full of majesty…
Psalm 29:7
The voice of the LORD divides the flames of fire.
Warnings
As God’s wrath is prophesied to build up and bring on more and more catastrophic tragedies, the last verse in Revelation chapter 10 describes one of God’s angels giving instruction to John: he is to give all of earth’s living readers—including the coming Tribulation period inhabitants—continued and more severe warnings for the impending and eternal consequences.
Revelation 10:11
And he said to me, “You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, tongues, and kings.”
Sweet and Bitter
The angel in Revelation 10:11 commanded John to eat the little book which would be sweet in his mouth but bitter in his stomach. The LORD caused Ezekiel to eat the scroll with writings on it, and it was like honey in sweetness in Ezekiel’s mouth (Ezekiel 3:1-3). It is sweet to read of God’s triumph over Satan and how all sin will be done away with, but it is bitter to contemplate the eternal doom of all who reject the Savior. We, too, need to eat—that is, absorb and digest—God’s Word.
Conclusion
While there is a pause between trumpet six and seven, we hear seven thunders. That’s it!
A voice from heaven instructs to seal up the things which the seven thunders uttered, and do not write them. Consequently, we don’t know the meaning of the seven thunders.
Check back in two weeks for our blog post on the Seven Trumpets.
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For a deeper study into Jesus’ next coming and the signs of the time check out our 3-in-1 Study Guide:
“Digging Deep into the Revelation of Jesus Christ”.
It is a one-of-a-kind reference for anyone striving to understand the Book of Revelation in the Bible.
This study guide for the Book of Revelation is revolutionary and unique.
On each page it contains:
-the original scripture,
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