Revelation Chapter 8

The Seventh Seal

VERSE 1 continued “When He opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.”

“After the Bride of Christ is complete and the wedding ceremonies have subsided, a marriage supper will be prepared. The Bride will return down here to get her bridesmaids to come to this supper, but first the Great Company have to be made ready by entering into the Time of Trouble and washing their robes white in the blood of the Lamb (Rev. 7:14). They will be led into the wilderness “by the hand of a fit man” to get this experience (Lev. 16:21). Then they will be rescued with the destruction of the flesh so that the spirit may be saved (1 Cor. 5:5).

The Song of Solomon (8:8) reveals that the Bride will go to her companion, who is comely but has not been selected as the Bride because she is undeveloped (un-ripened wheat) has no breasts, i.e., is flat-chested. The purpose is to mature or develop this “little sister” so that she can continue to be the companion of the Bride and enjoy the after-ceremony.

While Psalm 45:14,15 states that the bridesmaids will follow the Bride into the King’s palace, it does not mean they will enter at the time of the wedding ceremony itself. Rather, the bridesmaids will be brought in afterwards. Today it is customary at weddings for bridesmaids to pick up the train of the bride and follow immediately after her. But in the antitype that is not the case, for the bridesmaids will not be at the marriage of the Bride and the Lamb, but will attend only the wedding supper.

An additional testimony of Holy Writ describes the void of silence:

“Though the fig tree may not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines; Though the labor of the olive may fail, And the fields yield no food; Though the flock may be cut off from the fold, and there be no herd in the stalls—Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.” (Hab. 3:17,18)

The innermost feelings of an enlightened class—the Great Company—are reflected in these verses. They also faintly suggest a prior chagrin in not being chosen as the Very Elect, even though their feeling of disappointment has been changed to one of consolation and joy (Jer. 8:20; Rev. 19:7–9). The subject content of the above prophecy indicates that this class is knowledgeable concerning the signs which portend the end of the age and that the converging rays of prophecy are then about to come to a focal point of fulfillment, thus marking the due time for the establishment of Christ’s Kingdom.

The Habakkuk prediction, therefore, discloses a future moment or interval of time, as it were, “betwixt and between” the ages, in which all six enumerated conditions will apply, namely:

1. The blossoming forth of the fig tree—that is, the Jewish nation—to a full restoration of divine favor (Jer. 31:31–34), though imminently near, is not yet fulfilled.

2.The other nations being, by implication, subsidiary vines or branches joined to Israel, the choice vine (Psa. 80:11,14,15), to derive fruitage, nourishment, and life under the terms of the New Covenant (Isa. 4:2; 25:6–9; Ezek. 17:22–24) is also not yet fulfilled.

3.There is a failure in the yield of the olive and its oil—that is, a temporary diminution of the Holy Spirit, to be followed shortly thereafter by its restoration, as pictured in the parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins (Matt. 25:1–13; 2 Kings 2:9–13).

4. A worldwide crop failure or extreme food shortage prevails with an accompanying cessation of all commerce (Isa. 8:21; 24:1–3); in addition, no new growth or yield of spiritual wheat is to be found, the call to be of the Bride class having terminated.

5.The Little Flock is absent, having been cut off in death from the earthly fold (2 Kings 2:11; 1 Thess. 4:17).

6. “No herd in the stalls” is a reference to the Ancient Worthies. Under the Law, the bullock offered in sacrifice, in lieu of or in Aaron’s stead (Lev. 16:6), represented the man Christ Jesus as an offering for sin (Isa. 53:10). A bullock in the type indicates perfect humanity (Psa. 51:19; Mal. 4:2,3). In the Habakkuk prophecy, the herd or bullocks (plural) picture those worthy ones (Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, etc.) not yet made perfect (Heb. 11:39, 40), not yet inSTALLed into office (Psa. 45:16), i.e., into their appointed places.”

In our next post we will take a look at this verse as it is explained by the Southern Wisconsin class.