Come Follow Me LDS- Revelation 1-11 Part 2, New Testament

'Thrones & Seals'

-  Revelation describes a Throne Scene in the Holy of Holies

-  The Four Beasts

-  The 24 Elders

-  The Seven Seals

A few late night editing errors on this episode. One edit chopped up the Egyptian judgement scene. It is Anubis, a male Egyptian god that is the escort of dead souls to the judgement scene. He is typically holding the balance. It is Maat's feather that is on one of the balances. Maat is a female goddess. Her feather represents goodness.

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all right in this episode we are going

to cram in revelations chapter 4 through

11 and most of this we're just going to

kind of take a cursory view of what is

happening in here there's so much

symbolism and it's written in a way

that's supposed to be studied over and

over and over again and so we kind of

just have to go across the surface here

a little bit dip down here and there and

give some meanings and symbolism and

some understanding about this book so

it's not so foreign to all of us but

we're going through eight chapters here

so here we go

chapter four I want to start with verse

one here it just opens up like this it

says after this I looked and to behold a

door was opened in heaven so remember

from the last episode chapters 1 through

3 we understand clearly that this is

temple imagery and that what he's

talking about here this vision that he

has is given in words of symbolism in

words that are what you might call

apocalyptic words not doomsday words but

revelatory visionary works and this is

focused in in a temple setting so here

in chapter 4 we move from where we've

gone through some of the other objects

of the temple including the Holy of

Holies but more of a an overall temple

setting here and we move into the throne

of God and the Holy of Holies here so

that's where chapter 4 really focused us

that focuses us in here I've seen

several commentaries that talked about

this transitioning going now from what

we've seen on the earth and now we start

moving toward heaven although we've

already been talking about the temple

and the temple is of bringing together

right of Earth and of heaven here so

this is really instead of heaven so to

speak it is heaven but think of the Holy

of Holies again I want you to take a

different view of these things and

looking at everything in a temple

setting so imagine here we are going

through the veil and so as it says after

this I looked and behold a door was

opened and have

think of okay we've gone through the

veil here and we're looking into the

Holy of Holies that's how I would

interpret this says in verse two and

immediately I was in the spirit and

behold a throne was set in heaven and

one sat on the throne okay so that's

what we're gonna get here in this

chapter is a description of the throne

room right which is the Holy of Holies

we get a description of the one sitting

there that he had Jasper and sardine

these are the two stones on the high

priests chest the beginning one and the

ending one right they had twelve

different stones on their on their

breastplate if you will which makes a

lot of sense right it represents Israel

all of Israel so this is more Temple

imagery here and there was also a

rainbow that was round about him this

would be a representation of the

Covenant that was given to Noah right it

was part of the new and everlasting

covenant so we're talking about a higher

law a Melchizedek law which makes sense

when you're talking about the throne

again Melchizedek is the king of Salem

the king of Jerusalem and then in verse

four were told about 24 elders that are

around the throne and this is very

common again what we need to think about

here is other visions and about a temple

we're not sure exactly what these

twenty-four or at least I don't know

what these 24 elders really represent in

the temple right whatever what are the

objects here and could be something that

was on the backside of the veil or it

could be other things that were inside

of the Holy of Holies Joseph Smith says

that in Section 77 that these are a

representation of 24 leaders of the

church from these seven areas these

seven churches that are there around the

throne that they're righteous leaders

another thing to think about is if you

went back to Joshua the Book of Joshua

you would see that it was common to take

12 rep representatives of the tribes of

Israel one from each one of the tribes

these would be for example princes and

then possibly twelve patriarchs it seems

to

allude to this in chapter 21 of the book

of Revelation another thing to look at

with 24 is that there were 24 different

courses of the priests remember that

Zechariah Zechariah the father of john

the Baptist when he was in the temple he

was there because it was his assignment

of his course as a priest and these 24

courses would rotate throughout the year

two times per year so 24 is a common

administrative number think about the

priests of Noah how do we know that they

had about maybe 23 24 well first of all

the Sanhedrin the smaller Sanhedrin’s in

the cities in Judah had 23 members and

then perhaps there would be one more

that would be leading it

so 23 or 24 maybe 23 plus a king or a

governor the priests of Noah how many

women did they take of the of the

Lamanites the daughters of the Lamanites

we can also think about the Kirtland

temple which is a little bit different

right

as far as what was emphasized as

compared to the Nauvoo temple and other

temples today in the Kirtland temple you

had 12 pulpits on one side that

represented inside that represented the

Aaronic priesthood and then you had 12

pulpits that represented the Melchizedek

Priesthood so maybe there's a way to

look at this where you had

representatives of Israel which would be

the people and representatives of the

Melchizedek patriarchs that would be on

that would be representing God chose a

Smith in building out Nabu Nabu he had

planned to create 24 different buildings

there under the names of those courses

of the priests that Zechariah was a

member of so 24 is a very common number

for administration that you would think

of coming out from the throne of God

where you have governance because that's

how that works 24 is a number that you

would you might expect to be there

another thing to think about as we go

through this

description of the throne and what's

around it is for example the first

vision of Lehi that's an important one

to embed in your mind not just his

vision of the Tree of Life

that one's important also that's a

temple vision but the first vision that

he has is more of a holy of Holy's

vision and that's in Chapter one of

first Nephi that's what the Book of

Mormon basically opens up with that is

the original revelation that is put in

there by Nephi is about Jesus Christ as

the king and the con courses of angels

that were around him so very similar to

what we get here in this description and

then we get a few other things that are

around the throne for example the John

talks about there were seven lamps right

again this is probably a menorah it says

it's before the throne so it's hard to

know if this is something that was

outside of the veil that you would

expect to be in the holy place out with

the bread of the presence and the

libations the wine along with the altar

of incense which is where it is most

commonly thought of where the menorah is

but there may have been another menorah

and the information about that menorah

has been lost and that may have been in

the Holy of Holies so seven candles

inside of the Holy of Holies would also

make sense being before the throne and

these are images that are found in other

visions also throughout for example the

Old Testament Ezekiel you really need to

take a look at Ezekiel Ezekiel Zechariah

Isaiah Daniel you get these types of

objects also that are found throughout

some of these other visions there are

visions about the temple or they are

visions that Moses and Abraham already

also had that helped build the temple

based on those visions and then in front

of the throne there was also a great

crystal or a sea of glass now Joseph

Smith in Section 77 says that this is

the earth in its immortal

state right so that this earth is going

to become a celestial sphere and that

when that happens it's going to be like

a the surface will be just like a sea of

glass like a great Urim and Thummim

what's interesting again is that

thinking about the Holy of Holies and

temple imagery again when in in the

temple after they had built the Temple

of Solomon they eventually created an

additional throne it appears a larger

throne instead of just the Ark of the

Covenant and the Ark of the Covenant

became the footstool to the throne so

that was God the Ark of the Covenant

became God's footstool

well it seems that the things inside of

that Ark of the Covenant are things that

are temporal it's the manna of heaven

right so the flesh kind of represents

the flesh of God it's Aaron's rod and

it's the lower law tablets or the ironic

tablets that Moses brought down from

Sinai the second time and we have many

references that say that the footstool

is the earth and that's typically what

it represents it can also represent

adversaries and in a sense mortality all

the things that we go through and

mortality adversity enemies and the

earth so when the king sits on the

throne when Jehovah sits on the throne

and puts his feet on the Ark of the

Covenant then that becomes the footstool

and it acts as the earth and here we

have the sea of glass before the throne

Joseph Smith saying that the sea of

glass is the earth and then John talks

about these four beasts that are around

the throne these are separate from the

24 elders perhaps we're talking about

cherubim here perhaps we're talking

about Seraphim protectors perhaps out

around the throne but something to

consider here also is kind of the

verbiage of these are beasts and

sometimes they have the head of this the

face of that or four different faces the

body of a lion different pieces of

different beasts and so think about the

creation story right again

the temple is made of the creation story

in the Garden of Eden story and so there

you have several different beasts that

are created there's a lot more behind

that than just thinking well this is

part of what was created animals mean

things and so here we have these strange

animals these beasts that are around the

throne of God that represent animals in

a spiritual and a temporal state in part

of the creation process that are also

probably protectors and therefore they

are they can also act as adversaries to

us trying to get to the throne of God in

a short description of them in verse 7

and the first beast was like a lion and

the second beast like a calf and the

third beast had a face as a man and the

fourth beast was like a flying eagle and

then in Chapter five we start to get to

the seals

that are going to be opened this is an

important thing to understand this is

verse 1 and I saw in the right hand of

him that sat on the throne a book

written within and on the backside

sealed with seven seals there's always a

book in these visions look at look at

these different visions throughout the

Old Testament look at the vision of Lehi

there's a book this is the Word of God

it is the mission it is a record of

history many people say that the veil in

the temple had written on it the history

of the world which could be part of the

creation story and the story of the

Garden of Eden and why it's there but it

says that it's written within and on the

backside right Ezekiel says the same

thing and so in other words what you

want to think of here is not a book in

our sense but actually a scroll and

because it's written on the front side

and on the back side it means it's full

its complete everything's there that's

what's that saying that everything that

is supposed to be there is there here

we're looking at probably a history of

the world and we think about seals what

we're thinking about here right is the

wax or some type of a metal or wax seal

probably that's

scroll so you can think of the seals as

the seven seals around the outside of

the scroll but probably not that

wouldn't make a lot of sense you can

think of the first seal on the outside

of the scroll and you would unroll it

until it hits a second seal right and

then that seal would have to be broken

and then you would be able to continue

to read further that's more than likely

what that would represent and the

seal would be the seal of God and this

is what you would have typically back

then with a will and testament

now Joseph Smith says of these seals in

the book what he says is we are to

understand that it contains the revealed

will mysteries and the works of God so

that's a very broad description right

the hidden things of his economy we talk

a lot about the spiritual economy here

concerning this earth during the seven

thousand years of its continuance or its

temporal existence so is seven thousand

exact is seven thousand a symbol I don't

know but most scholars would tell you

that these seven seals and what we're

going to go over here is a

representation of what's happening in

John's time right it's going to lead up

to what happens with the Romans and the

destruction of the temple the absolute

slaughter of the Jewish people very very

very tragic what the Romans did to them

and there's probably a lot of that that

would be true that speaks directly to

the people of John's time a lot of these

things probably already happened in fact

most of them probably already happened

that people are using as these seals and

how they represented the times of John

in the first century and so it would

become more of a description of hey

and an understanding and a an

affirmation of yes this is what happened

and this was all planned and this is why

but Joseph Smith says that these seven

seals represent the seven thousand years

so he's got a different view of this

that doesn't mean it can't represent

both so I wouldn't be against one or the

other

obviously there are principles that are

in

here and it could very well be that John

in the vision is seeing a representation

of the history of the world playing out

over 7,000 years more or less

symbolically at least but he's also

applying it to his time that would make

sense these are universal principles

that would happen in the in what plays

out in mankind's history

think about Lehigh's vision of the Tree

of Life right it's about his family but

it's not just about his family

so it's an immediately about him there

that's his environment his surroundings

but it's told in with spiritual

principles that's what these visions are

and so it really applies to all of us to

all mankind to all of God's sons and

daughters for Lehi the great and

spacious building may very well have

been in my mind I think I see him

thinking of it as the corrupted Temple

in Jerusalem the actual Temple of

Jerusalem the Temple of Solomon I don't

know if that's true but I can see that

happening because that's his environment

whereas for us that might be a great

corporate building or a government

building or whatever it might be right

so there's principals that are

there that can be used in the immediate

time and overall in a universal sense

for all of the history of mankind now

something that's interesting about this

and these seven seals is that with a

Roman will a will and testament mmm it

would be the same thing would be a

scroll and it would have seven seals on

it and you could not affect the will and

put it into effect until all seven seals

had been broken and the whole thing had

been written

and only someone with the proper

authority could open that up and break

those seals in verse two here we get and

I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a

loud voice who is worthy to open the

book and to loose the seals thereof now

a strong angel here might be Gabriel

right Gabriel means strength of God more

or less so it could be Gabriel it might

be Michael that he's seeing or maybe

another angel but it's saying who is

worthy to open these seals up so again

as we open the scroll slowly we get to

another seal that has to be broken and

then another seal and then all seven

portions of the will and testament are

read out to who to those who are going

to inherit and be the benefactors of the

will that's us that's God's will and

back to the environment of the throne

here John says that they that he had

seen a lamb in the midst of the elders

that had been slain it had seven horns

and seven eyes which are the seven

spirits of God sent forth into all of

the world now something different here

right sent forth is someone who has sent

forth is an apostle that's what the term

is in Greek and Joseph Smith and the

Joseph Smith translation actually

changes the seven horns and the seven

eyes of the Lamb of the slain lamb to

twelve horns and twelve eyes and says

that this implying that this is the

priesthood and the apostles and this

is exactly what Lehi sees right he sees

one that is brighter than all the rest

wanted that is greater than all the rest

and then he sees twelve around him so he

seems something similar might not be

exactly the same doesn't need to be it's

the principle that counts that's what

spirituality is that's what spiritual

things are they are principles truths

and then the slain lamb

that's like a slain lamb takes the book

out of the right hand of who is sitting

on the throne so this would be God the

Father and by the way I mean again if

we're talking about not just imagery

here with the temple we could very well

be talking about temple drama things

that are known to individuals here from

an older tradition that had been lost so

when we talk about the Lamb of God we

may not just be talking about the idea

of Passover it might be a reference to a

temple drama this would make all the

sense in the world if somehow in the

temple drama there was something that

represented a slain lamb or that this is

one of the titles of the Son of God in

the temple drama and so when we say the

Lamb of God it's a reference also to a

character to Jehovah the Son of God in

the temple drama that's speculation but

if you look at the scriptures that way

again with temple imagery and drama you

start to glean a lot more information

and you can corroborate some of that

with some of the other parts of the

scriptures but once he takes the book

from the father who is sitting on the

throne the four beasts and the 24l

elders all bow down and worship Him and

they have incense that's going up which

represents the prayers of the saints so

it's like he's been given the mission so

to speak or maybe he's completed the

mission

maybe that's what a representation is

piece a slain lamb and maybe looking

forward to what he's going to do in the

atonement but it might be that he's

already done it now but he now has that

authority in that title and they say to

him in verse 9 thou art worthy to take

the book and to open the seals thereof

for thou wast slain and hast redeemed

redeemed us to God by thy blood out of

every kindred and tongue and people and

nation so his sacrifice is what gives

him the authority it's kind of

interesting about how you would maybe

envision that in a vision think about

Joseph Smith there was a time where as

he was trying to translate the Book of

Mormon that when he was in a

bad mood he was mad at his wife once at

Emma and he went to translate and he

just couldn't do what he couldn't see

what he was supposed to see the words

did not come to him he had the right

devices the stone whatever else he used

to had etc but he couldn't see it and so

he had to go and ask for forgiveness and

ask for weeping and to repent and then

he came back down to translate he didn't

have the authority at that time he

didn't have the power to be able to do

something like that spiritually and here

once so here we learn a little bit about

spiritual authority and worthiness and

as we're going through here we're also

getting of course references to Ezekiel

and to Zechariah and to Daniel and to

Isaiah and of course to the Psalms which

are choruses and drama utterances of the

temple most of what we hear in here can

be found in those areas and it says in

verse 10 that these four beasts and the

24 elders then say and he has made us

unto our God kings and priests or Queens

and priestesses so again all temple

drama and all part of the plan of

salvation in verse 11 goes into the

beasts and the elders and there were ten

thousand times ten thousand and

thousands of thousands we can go to some

more things there but we don't have time

so then we go over to chapter six and

here we start to get the seals that

start to open so we're just going to go

over a little bit of the description of

these seals and what happens here so in

the first seal one of the four beasts

comes and says come and see and I saw

and behold a white horse and he that sat

on him had a bow and a crown was given

unto him and he went forth conquering

and to conquer and so a white horse this

would be a very common thing for the

king of a victorious battle to come out

on a white horse this is probably

something referring more to God's side

write something on God's side something

that he conquered and this is where we

get the whole

four horsemen as well right that's the

first four horsemen the B says come and

see the first seal is opened and we get

the first horsemen on a white horse and

then the second B says come and see and

another horse goes out and that one is

red and this is the same color that the

dragon has in the real important chapter

of chapter 12 in the book of Revelation

and this typically is going to mean

death and sin and this horse goes out

and this Horseman goes out and takes

peace away from the earth and then the

third seal is also introduced by a third

of the third beast and the seal is

opened and there's a black horse and it

says that he has a the balances in his

hand right so what are those balances

mean we usually think of something like

maybe Lady Liberty and that's an

important coupling right of Lady Liberty

along with the balances because you have

to have justice which is what the

balances are to be able to have Liberty

without justice you can't have Liberty

but here in looking at justice what we

might think of is judgment and also

possibly if you look at this possibly

commerce that would be how you create

commerce right is by measuring different

things and making trades on the balances

but if we think of it at least as a

judgment it's something that's going to

wreak havoc on mankind because we make a

lot of bad decisions in Egyptian

religion it's the same thing when you go

to the underworld and you're led there

by Anubis and she's gonna put on one

side of the balance her feather and that

feather is pureness and goodness and

you're going to be on the other side of

the balance and so you need to equal

that feather that feathers weight and by

the way I would guess that that is also

for the Egyptians part of temple drama

of their temple and then the fourth seal

is opened and the fourth beast comes and

says come and see and then there is a

fourth horse and a fourth horseman it's

a pale horse and his name that of him

that sat on him is death and

and he kills with the sword and with

hunger and with death and with the

beasts of the earth and those beasts

again could be could be actual beasts or

they could be lower level less spiritual

men and women I think it's kind of

interesting when we get to the sixth

seal the beasts are done right there's

been four beasts four seals

now we get to the fifth seal and there's

no beast that introduces it but it says

here in verse nine and when he had

opened the fifth seal I saw under the

altar the souls of them that were slain

for the word of God and for the

testimony which they held now what we

might think about of what is poured

under the altar well this would be the

blood of the animal sacrifices so if

you're talking about what you suffer

because you stand up for the Word of God

both in John's day because this would

represent his day as their starting to

be a lot of persecution in the second

half of the 1st century against the

Christians and one thing to consider

about that persecution and why it might

rise is because they are separating

themselves from the Jews and remember in

the Roman world there were only ten

approved religions and for a long time a

long time 10 20 maybe 30 years the

Christians were viewed as a Judah sect

of Judaism but as it was more and more

separated in the Jews were

separating themselves also from the

Christians the know screen you may have

had the emergence of an 11th religion so

to speak that was not lawful and would

give more allowance and license to the

persecution of these Christians but the

sacrificial animals the blood would be

poured underneath the altar and

sometimes when we hear about for example

even all the way back to the Cain and

Abel story when Abel is killed by Cain

the Lord says that Abel's blood cries up

to him and so in a sense what John's

vision here is saying is that the Saints

and their blood those that have been

killed or

we can think of it spiritually those

have been at least persecuted they are

there their cries are coming up to the

Lord from the altar the burnt offering

and the smoke going up to the Lord this

is also what happened on the day of

atonement with the ball and the goat

that were sacrificed and that blood was

used actually to purify the Holy of

Holies the Ark of the Covenant the

temple the land the people and in a

sense then the blood of the Saints here

who are standing up for the word of God

also would do that it helps to purify

things that's how it seems to me anyway

and to those that have been persecuted

and have died for the name of

Christianity and for the Lord John sees

each of them getting white robes and

then he sees the sixth sealed also

without a beast he sees the sixth sealed

opened and this is where we get kind of

the apocalyptic the real apocalyptic

language here well we have an earthquake

the Sun becomes black and the moon

becomes as blood and the stars of heaven

fell unto the earth even as a fig tree

casteth her untimely figs when she is

shaken of a mighty wind and the heaven

departed as a scroll I don't know think

of the veil you could certainly roll

that up when it is rolled together and

every mountain and Island were moved out

of their place and the kings of the

earth and the great men and the rich men

and the chief captains and the mighty

men and every bondman and every free man

hid themselves in the dens and in the

rocks of the mountains and said to the

mountains and rocks fall on us and hide

us from the face of him that sitteth on

the throne and from the wrath of the

Lamb well this is then complete justice

right so as the world gets further and

further away from let's say the throne

of God and as we go from the throne this

description of the throne to the Beast

or the 24 elders and then out beyond out

into the world and into the people

geographically you're further and

further away from the throne and as we

are spiritually further and further away

from the throne then there are these

calamities and then after all of these

calamities in Chapter seven we get four

angels and then after all of these and

then still during the sixth seal the

breaking of the sixth seal and after all

these calamities in Chapter seven he

sees four angels that are standing on

the four corners of the earth

and they are holding the four winds of

the earth that the wind should not blow

on the earth nor on the sea nor on any

tree so I think what is interesting here

is that you have another four angels

that are out in the different cardinal

directions of the earth so to speak

north south east and west and what

chapter seven basically does here

throughout is it's going to answer

chapter six verse 17 which says who

shall be able to stand and this is this

is who is going to stand and these are

the four angels that are going to help

with this and they're keeping everything

remember we when we see the creation

what we see is order right you have

light and darkness you have the waters

above the firmament and below the

firmament you have the splitting of the

water in the land the splitting of the

different species of plants etc that are

going to grow and then the splitting of

the species of the animals and then you

have the splitting of man and woman

right you have order that's creating

order now everything needs to be brought

back together

in a sense but there are boundaries that

are placed in creation it's organization

that's all creation is it's taking chaos

and organizing it through faith and

gospel principles we do that every day

in our own worlds and so these four

angels are kind of holding these

boundaries so to speak holding up

creation because creation is falling

apart right now and so they're sent out

there to kind of hold up creation and

then another angel essentials don't hurt

anybody hold everything back until we

put the seal on all of the Christians

foreheads and then we get the number

that 144,000 and verse four says and I

heard the number of them which were

sealed and there were sealed an hundred

and forty and four thousand of all the

tribes of the children of Israel and so

basically there's 12,000 more or less

from each of the 12 tribes and that

makes up one hundred and forty four

thousand Joseph Smith says that these

are high priests and interestingly here

as they go down the list of each one of

the tribes of Israel here they leave out

the tribe of Dan which is very

interesting

they include Manasseh is one of the sons

of Joseph and they keep Joseph in here

as a tribe and they boot Dan out they

include the Levites sometimes the

Levites are taken out because they're

the priesthood holders at least as far

as territory we're a territory is given

the Levites are out and they make up

with that by taking out Joseph and

including his two sons Ephraim and

Manasseh but here Manasseh is listed and

Dan is not so I don't know why that

would be and then if you've listened to

me talk about the procession and the

palms you know for Palm Sunday that we

get with Christ as he comes into

Jerusalem on a donkey those palms may

have something to do with royalty and

celebration of a king so to speak but

they're also part of a ritual of the Day

of Atonement around an altar there

called lulav and here in verse nine we

get after this I beheld and lo a great

multitude which no man could number of

all nations and Kindred's this is the

Gentiles this is part of the Melchizedek

Priesthood this is full the fullness of

the gospel all Kindred's and people and

tongues stood before the throne like

we're still holding on to that throne

imagery and before the lamb clothed with

white robes and palms in their hands

again if we think about ritual these

visions are full of ritual if we learn

about the rituals and the dramas we're

going to understand a lot more about

what's going on in the scriptures and

they are saying

salvation to our God this could very

well be Hosanna Hosanna Hosanna Hosanna

which is a little more like God saved me

we say God saved the Queen

or God saved the king in a coronation

but that could be very similar to God

save me when you're talking about the

king being the savior and all the Angels

stood round about the throne and about

the elders and the four beasts and fell

before the throne on their face on their

faces and worshipped God and down in 16

they shall hunger no more neither thirst

any more neither shall the Sun light on

them nor any Heat

so back to a needy identic state right

perhaps we can talk about the Millennium

at this point and in 17 for the lamb

which is in the midst of the throne

shall feed them and shall lead them unto

living fountains of waters temple

imagery and God shall wipe away all

tears from their eyes

it's like Psalm 23 right some of David

Lord shall leave me beside the still

waters

and then in chapter 8 there was silence

for the space of about a half an hour

when the seventh seal was opened and

this is something we read throughout all

of the Old Testament and through the

doctrine covenants we get this silence

that happens and then I saw seven angels

which stood before God and to them were

given seven trumpets and then another

angel comes and he has a golden censer

remember that's where they hold the

frankincense in their the heated

frankincense with the prayers or the

Saints that go up to God at the altar of

incense that's in front of the throne

and the veil so again we're still in the

temple then pay attention here and the

smoke of the incense which came with the

prayers of the Saints ascended up before

God out of the Angels hand and in

chapter 9 and the fifth angel sounded

and I would be the Trump the trumpet and

I saw a star fall from heaven under the

earth and to him was given the key of

the bottomless pit

and he has an army that had looks like

scorpions and other evil beasts so to

speak and he is called the destroyer

which in Hebrew is Abaddon and in Greek

is apollyon so a lot of different the

seven seals and a lot of different

images that we have around this throne

imagery this is about the Battle of

heavenly things against the Battle of

carnal and temporal things of Earth and

then in chapter 10 we're told that John

seals up a number of things so just like

there were a number of seals seven seals

that were opened on the scroll to read

everything there's some things that are

separate from that will and testament

that's to be read out to everybody that

he's to seal up and to not write

remember Nephi was the same way in his

vision he had a lot of things there that

he was not allowed to write and that

we're not allowed to read at this point

they had to be sealed up remember Nephi

and other prophets have been given the

commandment of sealing things up also

where they can't if they write

about it they can't allow it to be read

so somehow it is sealed I'm not sure

exactly what that means all the time so

this is part of a book that the angel

gives to John that's to be sealed so

just as the father had given a book to

the son to the slain lamb here an angel

is giving a book to John and he's to

write things and to seal things with it

and it says here that he took the book

and he ate it up and what that means is

when you take that and you eat it it's

just like taking the sacrament right

you're accepting this it's part of a

covenant so to speak you're consuming it

and just like you would expect about the

things of the Lord where there's tough

things and there's overcoming things and

joy afterward it says it shall make the

angel tells him that the book shall make

thy belly bitter but it shall be in thy

mouth sweet as honey and then in chapter

11 he's told to measure the temple

this is very common it's going to be at

this time probably when this is written

perhaps the temple is still there for a

few more years and then it's going to be

destroyed he's saying look everything's

going to be removed so you need to

measure up everything you need to have

everything in place says and there was

given me a reed like unto a rod and the

angel stood saying rise and measure the

temple of God and the altar and them

that worship therein then we get

something interesting in verse 4 here it

says referring to the power of two

witnesses it says these are the two

olive trees and the two candlesticks

standing before the god of the earth so

here we have kind of a parallelism of

trees and we say candlesticks maybe

menorahs so again what we're talking

about and Asherah maybe not the

fertility goddess but an era which is

represented by a woman which is a tree

we may also be talking about a menorah

that might be represented as a tree like

a tree of life and a tree of the

knowledge of good and evil just like it

says there's two trees here and these

are talking about the two witnesses that

like the later Nephi in the Book of

Mormon has power to have power to shut

heaven that it rain not in the days of

their prophecy and have power over

waters to turn them to blood like Moses

and to smite the earth with all plagues

as often as they will so these are all

Melchizedek Priesthood references these

are high priests and they are going to

be prophesying in Jerusalem and then

they're going to be killed and their

bodies are going to lay there for three

and a half days other places here in the

this chapter we have pure time periods

of three and a half years and here we

have three and a half days where these

bodies are going to lay in the streets

of Jerusalem because they've been killed

and then we wrap up here with of course

temple imagery and again we go back here

at the bottom of the chapter the to the

four and twenty elders

which are around the throne and they bow

down and they worship God but of course

outside of that priesthood or those that

adhere and worship God the nations are

angry and the Lord's wrath is to come

and judgment and the earth we are told

will be destroyed but in the end the

temple of God was opened in heaven and

there was seen in his temple the Ark of

his Testament and there were lightnings

and voices and thunderings and an

earthquake and great hail

so for triumph and for overcoming things

there has to be a lot of adversity to

create something greater requires chaos

you can't create without chaos and so

the greatest creations which is

ourselves becoming like the Lord there

needs to be the greatest destruction and

the greatest chaos and so we end chapter

11 here in the first eleven chapters of

course with temple imagery I'll talk to

you next time