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Part Three continues the series discussing what perhaps the seven thunders said to apostle John in Revelation 10 3:4.  John was commanded to seal up the things spoken, so we can only speculate. However we do gain insight into possibilities by studying the written Word.

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Isaiah 26:21 – “For behold, the Lord is about to come out from His place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity; and the earth will reveal her bloodshed and will no longer cover her slain.”

The Lord has a Day of Vengeance planned for all the wicked of the earth:

• Deuteronomy 32:34-35 – “Is it not laid up in store with Me, sealed up in My treasuries?  Vengeance is Mine, and retribution, in due time their foot will slip; for the day of their calamity is near, and the impending things are hastening upon them.”
• Isaiah 34:8 – “For the Lord has a day of vengeance, a year of recompense for the cause of Zion.”
• Isaiah 63:4 – “For the day of vengeance was in My heart, and My year of redemption has come.”
• Jeremiah 46:10 – “For that day belongs to the Lord God of hosts, a day of vengeance, so as to avenge Himself on His foes; and the sword will devour and be satiated and drink its fill of their blood.”
• The Lord Jesus Christ speaking about the End Times: Luke 21:22 – “ ‘…because these are days of vengeance, so that all things which are written will be fulfilled.’ ”  Meaning: … so that all Old and New Testament prophecy will be fulfilled.

  God keeps His Word.

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Through His Old Testament prophets, the Lord describes all the devastation and destruction He has planned:

• Isaiah 10:3-4 – “Now what will you do in the day of punishment, and in the devastation which will come from afar?  To whom will you flee for help?  And where will you leave your wealth?  Nothing remains but to crouch among the captives or fall among the slain.  In spite of all this, His anger does not turn away and His hand is still stretched out.”
• Isaiah 10:23 – “For a complete destruction, one that is decreed, the Lord God of hosts will execute in the midst of the whole land.”
• Isaiah 13:6 – “Wail, for the day of the Lord is near!  It will come as destruction from the Almighty.”
• Isaiah 13:9 – “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.”
• Isaiah 24:1-6 – Judgment on the Earth: “Behold, the Lord lays the earth waste, devastates it, distorts its surface and scatters its inhabitants…the earth will be completely laid waste and completely despoiled, for the Lord has spoken this word.  The earth mourns and withers, the world fades and writhers, the exalted of the people of the earth fade away.  The earth is also polluted by its inhabitants, for they transgressed laws, violated statutes, broke the everlasting covenant.  Therefore, a curse devours the earth, and those who live in it are held guilty.  Therefore, the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men are left.”
• Isaiah 28:2 – “Behold, the Lord has a strong and mighty agent; as a storm of hail, a tempest of destruction, like a storm of mighty overflowing waters, He has cast it down to the earth with His hand.”(hail, storms, floods were discussed in Part 2)
• Isaiah 28:22 – “For I have heard from the Lord God of hosts of decisive destruction on all the earth.”
• Lamentations 3:47 – “Panic and pitfall have befallen us, devastation and destruction…” (terror was discussed in Part 1)
• Hosea 7:13 – “ ‘Woe to them, for they have strayed from Me!  Destruction is theirs, for they have rebelled against Me!  I would redeem them, but they speak lies against Me.’ ”
• Joel 1:15 – “Alas for the day!  For the day of the Lord is near, and it will come as destruction from the Almighty.”
• Amos 5:9 – “It is He who flashes forth with destruction upon the strong, so that destruction comes upon the fortress.”
• Micah 6:13 – “ ‘So also I will make you sick, striking you down, desolating you because of your sins.’ ”
• Micah 7:13 – “And the earth will become desolate because of her inhabitants, on account of the fruit of their deeds.”
• Zephaniah 1:14-16 – “Near is the great day of the Lord…a day of wrath is that day, a day of trouble and distress, a day of destruction and desolation, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness, a day of trumpet…”

“These will pay the penalty of eternal destruction,

away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power.” – 2 Thessalonians 1:9

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The plague/curse/woe of darkness was Egypt’s ninth plague.  Exodus 10:21-23: – “ ‘Stretch out your hand toward the sky, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, even a darkness which may be felt.’  So Moses stretched out his hand toward the sky, and there was thick darkness in all the land of Egypt for three days.  They did not see one another, nor did anyone rise from his place for three days, but all the sons of Israel had light in their dwellings.”

How terrifying: ‘a darkness which may be felt’.

There were three hours of darkness as our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ was dying on the cross, for OUR sins.  Matthew 27:45 – “Now from the sixth hour darkness fell upon all the land until the ninth hour.”

Darkness is prophesied in the Book of Revelation.  The fourth trumpet causes a third of the sun, moon and stars to be struck so that a third of them turn dark, (Revelation 8:12).  The sun and sky are darkened by the smoke from the pit when the abyss is opened at the fifth trumpet (Revelation 9:2).  The fifth bowl of the wrath of God “poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and his kingdom became darkened’ (Revelation 16:10).  This is similar to Egypt’s ninth plague as mentioned earlier.  And the sixth seal of prophecy (Revelation 6:12-13), is quoted near the end of this article.

God incrementally increases the portion of the cup of His wrath with the seal and trumpet judgments in the Book of Revelation.  It starts with one quarter portion of wrath with the first seals (Revelation 6:8).  The first trumpets dispense out one third portion of God’s wrath (Revelation 8:7-12).  The cup of the wrath of God is full strength (Revelation 14:10) for all Beast worshipers.  Babylon is slated to actually receive a double portion of wrath from God (Revelation 18:6).

The darkness woes prophesied in the Book of Revelation describe a partial judgment.  A full cup of the wrath of God of darkness is logical.  It is my own personal speculation that this full cup of wrath of darkness, which will have total, global ramifications, might be a thunder judgment.  This will occur with the sixth seal and follow immediately into the Day of the Lord, at the seventh trumpet. 

Egypt’s ninth plague of darkness “was a thick darkness in all the land of Egypt…they did not see one another” – Exodus 10:23.  The darkness won’t be just black, ominous clouds or nighttime without moonlight.  Darkness can also come in the form of black smoke clouds from fires, global fires.  Deadly forest fires can create massive smoke-filled clouds which can extend great distances, even to other countries, as the wind currents carry them along.  In Part Two, volcanic eruptions were discussed.  They also can create darkness with their gigantic clouds of ash.  There will be dark, heavy storm clouds.  And then there will be the darkness, which can be felt, from our Creator, according to His plans.

Just as the fire judgment is a precursor to the lake of fire, darkness is also a sign of things to come for those who choose to reject God.  As the Lord Jesus said, “ ‘Throw out the worthless slave into the outer darkness, in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ ” – Matthew 25:30.

Darkness is one of the Lord’s modes of judgment.  Egypt’s ninth plague of darkness could very well be a warning to us.  “For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us…” – Romans 15:4.

Darkness:  

• Isaiah 5:30 – “In that day…behold, there is darkness and distress; even the light is darkened by its clouds.”
• Isaiah 30:27-28 – “Behold, the name of the Lord comes from a remote place; burning is His anger and dense is His smoke; His lips are filled with indignation and His tongue is like a consuming fire; His breath is like an overflowing torrent, which reaches to the neck, to shake the nations back and forth in a sieve…”
• Jeremiah 4:28 – “For this the earth shall mourn and the heavens above be dark, because I have spoken, I have purposed, and I will not change My mind, nor will I turn from it.”
• Ezekiel 30:2-3 – “ ‘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 34:12 – “a day of clouds and darkness” – NIV; “a cloudy and gloomy day” – NASB; “in the cloudy and dark day” – KJV
• Amos 5:18 – “…for the day of the Lord…it will be darkness and not light…”
• Amos 5:20 – “Will not the day of the Lord be darkness instead of light, even gloom with no brightness in it?”
• Nahum 1:8 – “…and will pursue His enemies into darkness.”
• Zephaniah 1:15 – “A day of wrath is that day, a day of trouble and distress, a day of destruction and desolation, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness…”
• Job 3:4-5 – “May that day be darkness; let not God above care for it, nor light shine on it.  Let darkness and black gloom claim it; let a cloud settle on it; let the blackness of the day terrify it.”
• Job 5:14 – “By day they meet with darkness, and grope at noon as in the night.”
• Isaiah 51:6 – “…for the sky will vanish like smoke, and the earth will wear out like a garment and its inhabitants will die in like manner; but My salvation will be forever, and My righteousness will not wane.”

Psalm 18:7-15 – “Then the earth shook and quaked; and the foundations of the mountains were trembling and were shaken, because He was angry.  Smoke went up out of His nostrils, and fire from His mouth devoured; coals were kindled by it.  He bowed the heavens also, and came down with thick darkness under His feet.  He rode upon a cherub and flew; and He sped upon the wings of the wind.  He made darkness His hiding place, His canopy around Him, darkness of waters, thick clouds of the skies.  From the brightness before Him passed His thick clouds, hailstones and coals of fire.  The Lord also thundered in the heavens, and the Most High uttered His voice, hailstones and coals of fire.  He sent out His arrows, and scattered them, and lightning flashes in abundance, and routed them.  Then the channels of water appeared, and the foundations of the world were laid bare, at Your rebuke, O Lord, at the blast of the breath of Your nostrils.”

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The Bible writes a great deal about the darkening of the sun, moon and stars, in the End Times.  So much so that these Scripture passages have been listed separately.  Notice how often this woe is actually prophesied, by so many of the different prophets.  The Lord is even quoted speaking on this subject in three of the four gospels.  Terrifying darkness.

Sun, Moon, Stars:

• Matthew 24:29 – “ ‘But immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.’ ”
• Mark 13:24 – “ ‘But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers that are in the heavens will be shaken.’ ”
• Luke 21:11 – “ ‘…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.’”
• Ecclesiastes 12:2 – “…before the sun and the light, the moon and the stars are darkened, and clouds return after the rain; in the day that the watchmen of the house tremble, and mighty men stoop…”
• 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.  For the stars of heaven and their constellations will not flash forth their light; the sun will be dark when it rises and the moon will not shed its light.  Thus I will punish the world for its evil and the wicked for their iniquity…”
• Isaiah 24:23 – “Then the moon will be abashed and the sun ashamed, for the Lord of hosts will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and His glory will be before His elders.”
• Isaiah 34:4 – “…all the host of heaven will wear away…”
• Ezekiel 32:7-8 – “ ‘And when I extinguish you, I will cover the heavens and darken their stars; I will cover the sun with a cloud and the moon will not give its light.  All the shining lights in the heavens I will darken over you and will set darkness on your land,’ declares the Lord God.”
• Joel 2:10 – “Before them the earth quakes, the heavens tremble, the sun and the moon grow dark and the stars lose their brightness.”
• Joel 2:30-32 – The Day of the Lord: “I will display wonders in the sky and on the earth, blood, fire, and columns of smoke.  The sun will be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes.  And it will come about that whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be delivered…”
• Peter quoted Joel’s prophecy in his sermon, Acts 2:17-21 – “And it shall be in the last days…I will grant wonders in the sky above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke.  The sun will be turned into darkness and the moon into blood, before the great and glorious day of the Lord shall come.  And it shall be that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
• Joel 3:15 – “The sun and moon grow dark and the stars lose their brightness.”
• Amos 8:9 – “ ‘It will come about in that day,’ declares the Lord God, ‘that I will make the sun go down at noon and make the earth dark in broad daylight.’ ”
• Revelation 8:12 – “The fourth angel sounded, and a third of the sun and a third of the moon and a third of the stars were struck, so that a third of them would be darkened and the day would not shine for a third of it, and the night in the same way.” (This is at the fourth trumpet with a third portion of the wrath of God, in the first half of the seven year tribulation.  The next verse concerns the end with the full wrath of God ensuing.)
• Revelation 6:12-13 – “I looked when He broke the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth made of hair and the whole moon became like blood; and the stars of the sky fell to the earth…”

Darkness, a possible thunder judgment, so utterly complete even the stars don’t shine.

“Will not the day of the Lord be darkness instead of light,

even gloom with no brightness in it?” – Amos 5:20

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Zephaniah 1:2-14 – Day of Judgment: “ ‘I will completely remove all things from the face of the earth,’ declares the Lord.  ‘I will remove man and beast; I will remove the birds of the sky and the fish of the sea, and the ruins along with the wicked; and I will cut off man from the face of the earth,’ declares the Lord…“I will cut off…the names of the idolatrous priests…and those who have turned back from following the Lord, and those who have not sought the Lord or inquired of Him…for the day of the Lord is near…I will punish on that day all…who fill the house of their Lord with violence and deceit…I will punish the men who are stagnant in spirit…near is the great day of the Lord…”

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

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