“And
cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roareth:”
(Revelation 10:3a).
The loud voice (noted elsewhere in 1:10; 5:2, 12; 6:10; 7:2, 10; 8:13;
11:12, 15; 12:10; 14:7, 9, 15; 18:2) focuses on a time when the whole world
hears a special message with power. The description “as when a lion roareth”
means it is given with unusual distinctness and force.
God “roars” like a lion in the Old Testament (Hosea
“The controversy had waxed stronger and more determined from age to age, and
will continue to do so, to the concluding scenes when the masterly working
of the powers of darkness shall reach their height. Satan, united with evil
men, will deceive the whole world and the churches who receive not the love
of the truth. But the mighty angel demands attention. He cries with a loud
voice. He is to show the power and authority of His voice to those who have
united with Satan to oppose the truth. [MS59 (1900)]”[1]
John does not share with us what the loud voice said. But one almost
shudders imagining a majestic Being, clothed with a cloud, whose head is
encircled with a rainbow, with feet like giant columns of fire and His face
as bright as the sun suddenly roaring like a lion! His mission is clearly to
instill fear. There is something that man must quickly respond to. God’s
authority and power must now materialize. That will unfold in the next
chapter during the last gospel cry to the whole world.
This is the only place in Revelation where Jesus is actually “shouting” like
a lion. It conveys His omnipotent power to defend His chosen ones.[2]
It concomitantly reveals His terrible justice against the rejecters of His
grace within a framework of time.[3]
“and
when he had cried, seven thunders uttered their voices. And when the seven
thunders had uttered their voices, I was about to write: and I heard a voice
from heaven saying unto me, Seal up those things which the seven thunders
uttered, and write them not”
(Revelation 10:3b-4).
The first phrase, “and when he had cried” (kai
hote ekraxen),
sets what follows in a timing sequence. While Jesus holds the open
(unsealed) portion of Daniel, He shouts with power and authority worldwide,
and then come the Thunders.
There is a graphic portrayal elsewhere in Revelation where such imagery is
alluded to. It is the white horse of the first Seal. That represents God’s
purified people, with Jesus as the rider holding a crown of victory. They
are going out conquering and to conquer. God then begins to show His power
and authority.
Thus we have this sequence:
Open Book (unsealed, ready to understand)
Loud Cry (heaven’s call to understand)
Seven Thunders (explanation)
|
God’s People Understand
|
Loud Cry (of His witnesses)
(white horse – “prophesying again” –
What are those Seven Thunders? They
explain the open book. Is it possible they are messages that God’s people
are also to bring to the world right at the end?
Thunders are warning events.
It is good to sit back for a moment and remind ourselves of where we are.
“Setting his right foot on the sea, and His left upon the dry land, shows
the part which He is acting in the closing scenes of the great
controversy with Satan.”[4]
The open book is the unsealed portion of
Daniel.[5]
That
book contains prophetic periods that would go to the very eve of the
consummation.[6]
Those messages contain instructions regarding the closing scenes of earth’s
history that are to be given at the appointed time, as part of the
Loud Cry.[7]
It is at the Loud Cry that “Daniel will stand in his lot.” That means it is
then that those messages will be applicable to the world.[8]
When Daniel stands in his lot, it will be the time when the open book with
the three angels’ messages goes to all the world [MS59 (1900)].[9]
How do those Seven Thunders fit in? They can be none other than the messages
that were sealed in Daniel. The article “the” before the Seven Thunders
means that they are specific and familiar. Did Jesus speak before in
language of the time of the end in the sealed portion of Daniel? It was in
the chazown portion – Daniel 8–12! That’s amazing – absolutely
stunning! We can know what those Seven Thunders say by looking into that
open book!
“These [thunders] relate to future events which will be disclosed in their
order. Daniel shall stand in his lot at the end of the days”
[MS59 (1900)].[10]
It is at this hour that the messages of this open book are to be shouted
like a roaring lion so that everyone will hear. God gave us a little clue as
to when this message is to be given. When the white horse Seal was opened,
it thundered. That is the time the 144,000 (white horse) are to go out and
bear Daniel’s message to the world. It is the first of the Seven Thunders.
There is an amazing message that unfolds in this verse. John heard what the
Seven Thunders spoke. But he was told not to write it down. In fact, they
were to be sealed, just like a portion of Daniel’s was. Thus we have an open
book and seven sealed messages!
What could that mean? The book was open and ready to be understood. But the
Seven Thunders, which spoke, must wait until a later time to be grasped!
That little book was the once-sealed portion of Daniel.
“The book that was sealed was not the book of Revelation, but that portion
of the prophecy of Daniel which related to the last days. The Scripture
says, ‘But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the
time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be
increased’ (Dan. 12:4). When the book was opened, the proclamation was made,
‘Time shall be no longer.’ (See Revelation 10:6.) The book of Daniel is now
unsealed, and the revelation made by Christ to John is to come to all the
inhabitants of the earth. By the increase of knowledge a people are to be
prepared to stand in the latter days.”[11]
When was the book unsealed? “Since 1798 the book of Daniel has been
unsealed.”[12]
When will the Seven Thunder messages be unsealed? “After these seven
thunders uttered their voices, the injunction comes to John as to Daniel in
regard to the little book: ‘Seal up those things which the seven thunders
uttered.’ These relate to future events which will be disclosed in their
order. Daniel shall stand in his lot at the end of the days. John sees the
little book unsealed. Then Daniel’s prophecies have their
proper place
in the first, second, and third
angels’ messages to be given to the world. The unsealing of the
little book was the message in relation to time.”[13]
From the Biblical setting of sealing in Daniel 12 and the expressions in
this verse, we can see that the Seven Thunders and Daniel’s sealed portion
are the same. E. G. White’s allusions are similar, but she is more specific
when she ties the wording from Daniel 12 to those thunders. As we’ve noted
previously, this is to be proclaimed to the world with the three angels’
messages.
A Problem
There is an interesting problem that we must discuss.
“John heard the mysteries which the thunders uttered, but he was commanded
not to write them.
“The special light given to John which was expressed in the seven thunders
was a delineation of events which would transpire under the first and second
angels’ messages. It was not best for the people to know these things, for
their faith must necessarily be tested.”[14]
Many conclude that this relates to the 1844 era, which confuses one’s
understanding of these verses. Preceding this thought, E. G. White already
said that they were related to the three angels’ messages. The proclamation
to fear God and give Him glory for the hour of His judgment has come and
For the advent pioneers who did proclaim the initial application of the
first two messages: “It was not best for the people to know these things,
for their faith must necessarily be tested.”[15]
She also had some very pointed words relative to the 1843 prophetic chart
used by many early advent evangelists.
“I saw that the figures of the chart were as God would have them, and that
His hand was over and hid a mistake in some of the figures, so that none
should see it till His hand was removed.”[16]
“I have seen that the 1843 chart was directed by the hand of the Lord, and
that it should not be altered; that the figures were as He wanted them; that
His hand was over and hid a mistake in some of the figures, so that none
could see it, until His hand was removed.”[17]
“His hand covered a mistake in the reckoning of the prophetic periods.”[18]
What mistake? The chart was redone in 1850. All the figures related to
Daniel 12 and what the pioneers originally tried to compute from those three
periods were removed. Why? Their faith had to be tested during and following
the great disappointment of 1844.
If they had understood those figures, there never would have been an Advent
Movement. In God’s great mercy and foreknowledge, He withheld understanding
of the Seven Thunders and the prophetic periods of Daniel. Though the
“little book” was open, when it was studied, God permitted a mistake in
their understanding of its figures so a great Advent Movement would occur.
He reserved the true understanding for the final generation, who would need
to apply those incredible messages to the Loud Cry[19]
and the three angels’ messages.
What Do the Seven Thunder Voices Say?
What are those seven “future events” which occur after 1900? Prophecy is
event-driven. We must look at those prophecies that were related “to time”
[MS59 (1890)].[20]
As we begin to dig deeper, remember that this imagery of Jesus, the open
book and the thunders all relate to “the closing scenes of the great
controversy with Satan.”[21]
The 144,000, represented by the white horse or first Seal of Revelation 6,
are the loud voices for Jesus in proclaiming these messages to the world.
They come on the scene after the 2300-year prophecy of Daniel
8:14 as living saints to finish the work. The timed prophecies that
were sealed include:
1.
The Hebrew portion of the
chazown vision of
Daniel 8–12: “As he came near the place where I was standing, I was
terrified and fell prostrate. ‘Son of man,’ he said to me, ‘understand that
the vision concerns the time of the end.’ ... He said: ‘I am going to tell
you what will happen later in the time of wrath, because the vision concerns
the appointed time of the end” (Daniel
2. The 1260-day prophecy of Daniel 12:7: “And I heard, but I understood not: then said I, O my Lord, what shall be the end of these things? And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end” (Daniel 12:8-9).
3.
The 1290- and 1335-day prophecies which
wouldn’t be understood (figuratively sealed) until the time Daniel would
“stand in thy lot:” “But go thou thy way till the end
be: for thou
shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of the days” (Daniel
What does thunder symbolize? In the Old Testament when God spoke, it was
often portrayed as the sound of thunder (Job 26:14, 37:5; Psalm
Let’s look even closer to this period of earth’s history.
1.
Daniel 8:14 states that there would be a
time after
the 2300 atonement evenings and mornings when God’s people would become holy
(qodesh
nisdaq). That begins to be fulfilled for
the living saints at the first Seal when the 144,000 are declared eternally
secure through the image of the white horse. That is a time of thunder. The
judgment of the living has begun (Revelation 11:1).
2.
The next event begins a tie to one of the
Daniel 12 periods. It is when the “daily” or God’s Sabbath rest is taken
away by an abomination, the Sunday law. This will lead to desolation. A
1290-day period commences. It ends with the close of probation.
3. The next declaration comes with Jesus’ words that “Time would be no longer” (10:6). This commences the 1260-day prophecy of persecution (Daniel 12:7) and begins the “appointed time” of Daniel 8:19 and ends the tarrying time of Habakkuk 2:2-3. It is during this period that God’s wrath occurs. At the end of the three and a half years persecution ceases.
4.
The 1335 days begin with the abomination and
end with two more precious and wonderful events: the deliverance of God’s
people and the special resurrection (Daniel 12:1-2). The deliverance of the
saints (Daniel 12:1-2) and the time of the seventh Trumpet or third
woe on the earth’s
inhabitants coincide with the end of the 1260 days of Daniel 12:7. God’s
voice declares, “It is done” (Revelation
The voice of restraint not to write what he heard is likely God the Father’s
command since Jesus is there with the open book. If it were He, John would
undoubtedly have referred to the “angel.” Why was he not to write that part
of his revelation? It wasn’t to be understood contextually till later. But,
there is another overriding reason: It was already recorded by Daniel. Could
that voice have been an angel? Likely not. John had been advised to write
what he saw and heard. Only God could counter that divine command.
