The Divine Intermission

      When Jesus first introduced the end-times to His disciples in the Olivet teaching, the Holy Spirit inspired four accounts. Three versions are recorded in the Gospels, showing the events from earth’s perspective. A fourth account is given in Revelation, showing the events from heaven’s perspective.
       These parallel recordings all follow the same sequence of events, yet enable us to see the events from different perspectives. It is next to impossible to tell an involved story that spans several thousand years across the nations of the world in just one vision.
        In His wisdom, Jesus gave John the Revelation in two parts. The first part sets the stage and tells the main story in a sequential overview. We can think of this part of the Revelation as the “Cliff Notes” version. The second part takes advantage of something else that is familiar to anyone who watches sports: instant replays from different camera angles.
         Chapters 8 and 9 showed us part of the 7th seal that is the wrath of that Day (the 7th Day). The seal contains 7 trumpets that include three woes. Chapter 9 ends with the 6th trumpet that is the second of the three woes. When we turn to chapter 10, we expect to hear the 7th trumpet and see the final woe revealed. Instead, John seems to take a food break! He is instructed to eat a “little book.” Doing so enables John to prophesy again in greater detail.
        Since this break is obviously intentional, we have to ask, “Why, especially at this point?” Why not have John eat the little book after revealing the 7th trumpet with the third woe? It would make more sense to the natural mind to finish the overview and then prophesy the details.
          End-Time Lesson: I said earlier that the Holy Spirit knows how to guide us through the epic saga of the ages. He understands our human limitations. He knows we often have a hard time absorbing all the details at once, which is why Heaven calls for an intermission. To cover every angle of every end-time event all at once would blow our minds. It is so involved, as only the All-Knowing God can set it forth.
      With the general overview in place, we can now see the supplemental visions—the different camera angles available to us—to get a better idea of what shall transpire during Christ’s millennial reign over the earth. That is, the 7th Day, the Day of the Lord, the last Day in God’s prophetic plan of redemption when counting from Adam and creation.
         This same time period is also called the 3rd Day when counting from the start of Jesus’ ministry. To see how this numbering works, check out the Resources Tab on this website to see the various timelines, charts, and chronologies that describe  God’s prophetic Day Code timetable. This intermission signals a shift, a retelling of the same events of the overview in more detail. It features Christ’s work in the Age to Come.