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The Seven Thunders:

Revelation 10:3-4 – “…and when he had cried out, the seven peals of thunder uttered their voices.  When the seven peals of thunder had spoken, I was about to write; and I heard a voice from heaven saying, ‘Seal up the things which the seven peals of thunder have spoken and do not write them.’ ”

The thunder in apostle John’s apocalyptic vision represents the voice of God.  Psalm 18:13 – “The Lord also thundered in the heavens, and the Most High uttered His voice, hailstones and coals of fire.”

The following are more Scripture passages on the thunder of God:

• Job 26:14 – “Who then can understand the thunder of His power?”
• Job 37:2-4 – “Listen closely to the thunder of His voice, and the rumbling that goes out from His mouth.  Under the whole heaven He lets it loose, and His lightning to the ends of the earth.  After it, a voice roars; He thunders with His majestic voice, and He does not restrain the lightnings when His voice is heard.”
• Job 37:5 – “God thunders with His voice wondrously…”
• Psalm 29:3-4 – “The voice of the Lord is upon 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 majestic.”
• Psalm 104:7 – “At Your rebuke they fled, at the sound of Your thunder they hurried away.”
• 1 Samuel 2:10 – “Those who contend with the Lord will be shattered; against them He will thunder in the heavens, the Lord will judge the ends of the earth…”
• 2 Samuel 22:14 – “The Lord thundered from heaven, and the Most High uttered His voice.”
• Revelation 4:5 – “Out from the throne come flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder.”

The event of the seven thunderous voices speaking occurs near the very end of the seven year tribulation.  The fall of Babylon has just occurred.  The armies are gathering for Armageddon and the Seventh Trumpet is about to sound.

In Scripture, thunder is often a mark of judgment as exemplified in the verses previously.  That is definitely the case here as well.

The seven thunders are speaking of a lot more fury, wrath and judgments to come from the Lord God Almighty.  There are, of course, the seven seals, the seven trumpets and the seven bowls of the wrath of God in the Book of Revelation.  However, that isn’t all that will happen.  There is more, much more, wrath slated for the world with the seven thunders judgments, because of all its iniquities.

What the thunders said was indeed sealed, however: Amos 3:7 – “Surely the Sovereign Lord does nothing without revealing His plan to His servants the prophets”.  In the Book of Revelation it is further written: Revelation 10:7 – “…but in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, then the mystery of God is finished, as He preached to His servants the prophets”.  Also: Amos 4:13 – “For behold, He who forms mountains and creates the wind and declares to man what are His thoughts…the Lord God of hosts is His name”.  Romans 15:4 – “For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us”.  Although what the thunders proclaimed were sealed, God affirms to us that He always tells us ahead of time what He is planning to do.

The prophets in the Old Testament wrote about other woes besides the Seven Seals, Seven Trumpets and Seven Bowls that are in the Book of Revelation.  In my opinion some of these woes, plagues and curses in their writings may be a few of the seven thunders judgments.  The woes are separate from the Book of Revelation’s other judgments, yet they are in a similar vein.

Many verses of the prophets’ inspired writings have been included in this five-part series to give the reader detailed insight concerning the End Times.  It would be prudent to read everything carefully to gain further knowledge and understanding.  Difficult times are right ahead of us.

As well, the prophets wrote about many near and far prophecies.  That is, prophecies that would be fulfilled relatively soon after they were first written and then history will repeat itself with these same prophecies occurring once again in later times.  I have quoted Scripture where I believe it falls into this category.  Some is open to interpretation so everyone will need to decide for themselves.

The following is a case in point.  Though this prophecy of Ezekiel’s was written during Judah’s Seventy-Year Babylonian Captivity, predicting calamities for them because of all their iniquities, how much more does it apply to this day and age.  As the seven letters to the seven churches in Revelation 2 and 3 were written to the local churches, they also are just as relevant today.

Ezekiel 7:1-9 – ‘Punishment for Wickedness Foretold’: “…’thus says the Lord God…“An end!  The end is coming on the four corners of the land.  Now the end is upon you, and I will send My anger against you; I will judge you according to your ways and bring all your abominations upon you.  For My eye will have no pity on you, nor will I spare you…then you will know that I am the Lord…an end is coming; the end has come…your doom has come to you, O inhabitant of the land.  The time has come, the day is near…Now I will shortly pour out My wrath on you and spend My anger against you; judge you according to your ways and bring on you all your abominations.  My eye will show no pity nor will I spare…then you will know that I, the Lord, do the smiting.”

The Day of the Lord

The phrase: ‘The Day of the Lord’ is widely acknowledged as the day of the Lord’s wrath and judgment on this sin-filled world.  The following verses on ‘the Day of the Lord’ detail specific events that will take place.  They also appear to give clues on what the seven thunders judgments might be.  Notice what happens in each passage.

• Isaiah 13:6 – ‘Judgment on the Day of the Lord’: “Wail, for the day of the Lord is near!  It will come as destruction from the Almighty.”
• Isaiah 13:9-11 – “Behold, the day of the Lord is coming, cruel, with fury and burning anger, to make the land a desolation; and He will exterminate its sinners from it…Thus I will punish the world for its evil and the wicked for their iniquity; I will also put an end to the arrogance of the proud and abase the haughtiness of the ruthless.”
• Isaiah 13:13 – “Therefore I will make the heavens tremble, and the earth will be shaken from its place at the fury of the Lord of hosts in the day of His burning anger.”
• Isaiah 22:5 – “For the Lord God of hosts has a day of panic, subjugation and confusion in the valley of vision…”
• Isaiah 27:12 – “In that day the Lord will start His threshing from the flowing stream of the Euphrates to the brook of Egypt, and you will be gathered up one by one, O sons of Israel.  It will come about also in that day that a great trumpet will be blown…”
• Jeremiah 25:32-33 – “Thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘Behold, evil is going forth from nation to nation, and a great storm is being stirred up from the remotest parts of the earth. “Those slain by the Lord on that day will be from one end of the earth to the other.”
• Ezekiel 30:2-3 – “Thus says the Lord God, ‘Wail, Alas for the day!’  For the day is near, even the day of the Lord is near; it will be a day of clouds, a time of doom for the nations.”
• Ezekiel 38:18-20 – “ ‘It will come about on that day, when Gog comes against the land of Israel,’ declares the Lord God, ‘that My fury will mount up in My anger.  In My zeal and in My blazing wrath I declare that on that day there will surely be a great earthquake in the land of Israel…and all the men who are on the face of the earth will shake at My presence…”
• Joel 1:15 – “Alas for the day!  For the day of the Lord is near, and it will come as destruction from the Almighty.”
• Joel 2:11 – “The Lord utters His voice before His army; surely His camp is very great, for strong is he who carries out His word.  The day of the Lord is indeed great and very awesome, and who can endure it?”
• Joel 3:14 – “Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision!  For the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision.”
• Amos 5:20 – “Will not the day of the Lord be darkness instead of light, even gloom with no brightness in it?”
• Obadiah 1:15 – ‘The Day of the Lord and the Future’: “For the day of the Lord draws near on all the nations.  As you have done, it will be done to you.  Your dealings will return on your own head.”
• Zephaniah 2:3 – “Seek the Lord, all you humble of the earth who have carried out His ordinances; seek righteousness, seek humility.  Perhaps you will be hidden in the day of the Lord’s anger.”
• Zephaniah 3:8 – “ ‘Therefore wait for Me,’ declares the Lord, ‘for the day when I rise up as a witness.  Indeed, My decision is to gather nations, to assemble kingdoms, to pour out on them My indignation, all My burning anger; for all the earth will be devoured by the fire of My zeal.’ ”
• Zechariah 12:8 – “In that day the Lord will defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and the one who is feeble among them in that day will be like David…and in that day I will set about to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.”
• Malachi 4:1 – ‘Final Admonition’: “ ‘For behold, the day is coming, burning like a furnace; and all the arrogant and every evildoer will be chaff; and the day that is coming will set them ablaze,’ says the Lord of hosts, ‘so that it will leave them neither root nor branch.’ ”
• Malachi 4:3 – “ ‘You will tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day which I am preparing,’ says the Lord of hosts.”
• 1 Thessalonians 5:2-3 – ‘The Day of the Lord’: “For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night.  While they are saying, ‘Peace and safety!’ then destruction will come upon them suddenly…”
• 2 Peter 3:10 – “But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up.”

I can’t stress enough the potential thunder judgments I am about to suggest are purely speculative.  Readers, as always, be sure you discern everything you read or hear – on any social media, in any book, from any pulpit.

One possible thunder judgment might be the WOE OF TERROR, panic and confusion.  The following passages warn that these things will come on the whole earth, in the last days:

• Isaiah 13:6-8 – ‘Judgment on the Day of the Lord’: “Wail, for the day of the Lord is near!  It will come as destruction from the Almighty…they will be terrified, pains and anguish will take hold of them…”
• Isaiah 22:5 – “For the Lord God of hosts has a day of panic, subjugation and confusion in the valley of vision…” in the NASB
• Isaiah 22:5 – “The Lord, the Lord Almighty, has a day of tumult and trampling and terror in the Valley of Vision…” – in the NIV
• Isaiah 24:17 – ‘Judgment on the earth’ – “Terror and pit and snare confront you, O inhabitant of the earth.”
• Isaiah 28:19-22 – “… and it will be sheer terror to understand what it means…for I have heard from the Lord God of hosts of decisive destruction on all the earth.”
• Jeremiah 46:5 – “ ‘They are terrified, they are drawing back, and their mighty men are defeated and have taken refuge in flight, without facing back; Terror is on every side!’ declares the Lord.”
• Jeremiah 49:5 – “ ‘Behold, I am going to bring terror upon you,’ declares the Lord God of hosts, ‘from all directions around you…’ ”
• Habakkuk 3:7 – “I saw the tents of Cushan under distress, the tent curtains of the land of Midian were trembling.”
• Job 13:11 – “Will not His majesty terrify you, and the dread of Him fall on you?”
• Luke 21:10-11 – “Then He continued by saying to them, ‘Nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be great earthquakes, and in various places plagues and famines; and there will be terrors and great signs from heaven.’ ”
• Luke 21:25-26 – “ ‘There will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth dismay among nations, in perplexity at the roaring of the sea and the waves, men fainting from fear and the expectation of the things which are coming upon the world; for the powers of the heavens will be shaken.’ ”
• ‘Christ or Judgment’ – Hebrews 10:26-27 – “For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sin, but a terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries.”
• Hebrews 10:31 – “It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”

Events in the Old Testament describe when The Lord previously created terror and confusion against His enemies:

• Exodus 14:24 – “At the morning watch, the Lord looked down on the army of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and cloud and brought the army of the Egyptians into confusion.  He caused their chariot wheels to swerve, and He made them drive with difficulty; so the Egyptians said, ‘Let us flee from Israel, for the Lord is fighting for them against the Egyptians.”
• Exodus 23:27 – “I will send My terror ahead of you, and throw into confusion all the people among whom you come, and I will make all your enemies turn their backs to you.”
• Deuteronomy 7:23 – “But the Lord your God will deliver them before you, and will throw them into great confusion until they are destroyed.”
• Deuteronomy 28:20 – “The Lord will send upon you curses, confusion, and rebuke…on account of the evil of your deeds, because you have forsaken Me.”
• 1 Samuel 5:9 – “…the hand of the Lord was against the city with very great confusion, and He smote the men…so that tumors broke out on them.”  The First Bowl Judgment will also be tumors – Revelation 16:2 – “So the first angel went and poured out his bowl on the earth; and it became a loathsome and malignant sore on the people who had the mark of the beast and who worshiped his image.”
• 1 Samuel 5:11 – “…For there was a deadly confusion throughout the city; the hand of God was very heavy there.”
• 1 Samuel 7:10 – “…the Lord thundered with a great thunder on that day against the Philistines and confused them, so that they were routed before Israel.”
• Joshua 10:10 – “And the Lord confounded them before Israel, and He slew them with a great slaughter at Gibeon…the Lord threw large stones from heaven on them…and they died; there were more who died from the hailstones than those whom the sons of Israel killed with the sword.” History will repeat itself – in Revelation 16:21 – “And huge hailstones, about one hundred pounds each, came down from heaven upon men; and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail, because its plague was extremely severe.”
• Judges 7:22 – ‘Confusion of the Enemy’ – “…the Lord set the sword of one against another even throughout the whole army; and the army fled…”

The Lord created terror, panic and confusion against His enemies before.  He will do so again in the End Times.

Terror, on a localized scale, is already mentioned in the Book of Revelation at the fall of Babylon:

• Revelation 18:9-10 – “the kings of the earth…standing at a distance because of the fear of her torment…”
• Revelation 18:15 – “The merchants…will stand at a distance because of the fear of her torment, weeping and mourning…”
• Revelation 11:13 – “And in that hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell; seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.”

Zechariah’s second vision, the ‘Four Horns and Four Craftsmen’, is concerning the End Times.  Zechariah 1:21 – “…these craftsmen have come to terrify them, to throw down…the nations who have lifted up their horns against…Judah…”.  Click here for: The Lord’s Deliverance of Judah and Jerusalem First – Part One.  The article goes into detail describing how the Lord defends the remnant of Israel from the invading enemy armies just prior to Armageddon.

Further in Zechariah 14:13 – “It will come about in that day that a great panic from the Lord will fall on them; and they will seize one another’s hand, and the hand of one will be lifted against the hand of another.” Just like in Judges 7:22 previously.

And at Megiddo:

• Psalm 2:1-5 – “Why are the nations in an uproar and the peoples devising a vain thing?  The kings of the earth take their stand…against the Lord and against His Anointed…He who sits in the heavens laughs, the Lord scoffs at them.  Then He will speak to them in His anger and terrify them in His fury…”
• Revelation 6:15-17: “Then the kings of the earth and the great men and the commanders and the rich and the strong…hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains; and they said to the mountains and to the rocks, ‘Fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; for the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?’ ”
• Isaiah 2:10 – “Enter the rock and hide in the dust, from the terror of the Lord and from the splendour of His majesty.”
• Isaiah 2:19 – “Men will go into caves of the rocks…before the terror of the Lord…when He arises to make the earth tremble.”

A global terror from the Lord God Almighty is prophesied by Zephaniah.  This is a dreadful reality of things to come to those who are against God:

• Zephaniah 1:14-18 – “Near is the great day of the Lord…a day of wrath is that day, a day of trouble and distress…for He will make a complete end, indeed a terrifying one, of all the inhabitants of the earth.”

The NASB version titles ‘The Sixth Seal’ as “Terror”, Revelation 6:12.  This seal judgment just happens to follow chronologically the Angel and the seven thunders, 10:1-7 when the Angel states ‘there will be delay no longer’.  So the thunder judgments utter their woes and immediately afterwards the sixth seal is opened and actually brings forth terror.  Revelation 6:12-14 – “I looked when He broke the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black…and the whole moon like blood; and the stars of the sky fell to the earth…the sky was split apart like a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island were moved out of their places”.

Psalm 76:7-8 – “You, even You, are to be feared; and who may stand in Your presence when once You are angry?  You caused judgment to be heard from heaven; the earth feared and was still when God arose to judgment…’

More thunder judgments speculations in the posts to follow.

“Is it not because I have long been silent that you do not fear Me?” – Isaiah 57:11

Click here for: Speculations on the Seven Thunders – Part Two