02/11/2025
EXPLORING THE RAPTURE: WHEN AND HOW DOES IT HAPPEN (4)
By David Olawoyin
In my previous article, I noted that the first seven chapters of Revelation present an overview of the book’s prophetic timeline for the present global order. This is consistent with the book’s symbolism of the recurring number seven, which signifies completion or fullness. The remaining fifteen chapters mostly zoom in to reveal greater detail about specific parts of the framework established in the first seven chapters.
Beginning of New Things
Just as the number eight begins a new cycle—as in the “eighth day” of the week, which is actually the first day of a new week after the seven days of the previous week—so does the first verse of the eighth chapter of Revelation signify the beginning of a new global order. It is the beginning of a new age when “the kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever” (Revelation 11:15).
Technically, this verse is part of the first seven chapters, as it represents the opening of the seventh seal, but its separation to the eighth chapter highlights how its marks the beginning of new things.
But the verse is curiously “empty”—“silent”: “When He opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour” (Revelation 8:1). When each of the first six seals was opened, John saw a visionary scene depicting a major phase of world history. But on the opening of the seventh seal, nothing was revealed—just silence.
Why?
It is the mystery about which Christ said, “no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only” (Matthew 24:36)—the mystery of the time of His return and the associated events (1 Corinthians 15:51–52). Other Scripture passages tell us some things about the event, which could stimulate our imagination and animate our expectations, but we need to wait patiently until that time arrives to see exactly how it happens. This need cannot be overemphasized (Romans 8:23–25; 1 Corinthians 15:35–38; 1 John 3:2).
What Could It Look Like?
This brings me to the images I have used to illustrate this series—which may puzzle some. A reader on Facebook commented on one of them: “This shows an alien flying saucer. It has nothing to do with the so-called rapture.”
Admittedly, the illustrative images may be jarring to some, but they are meant to stimulate the minds of the spiritually enterprising to imagine what the Rapture might look like.
I recognize that this explorative association of the Rapture with alien spacecraft may come across as bizarre to some. However, it is not arbitrary but consistent with what we know from Scripture. For instance, the prefigurative rapture of Elijah involved an extraterrestrial vehicle that caused Elisha to exclaim in awe (2 Kings 2:11–12). Also, Ezekiel saw a vision of extraterrestrial beings who piloted huge, swift, and luminous wheel-shaped spacecraft, which he described as “awesome” (Ezekiel 1:13–21). And we know that extraterrestrial beings—“angels” or “aliens”—will be involved in the Rapture (Matthew 24:31, 25:31; see also Ecclesiastes 1:9–10).
This idea can only make the predicted extraordinary event of the Rapture more relatable to the contemporary believer or seeker. As I have noted elsewhere, the saints being “caught up” (1 Thessalonians 4:17) could be likened to what is commonly called “alien abduction”—a phenomenon about which a Harvard researcher and Pulitzer Prize winner concluded: “I have come to see the abduction phenomenon as an extraordinary mystery that I cannot explain, but which seems to be both real and of profound psychological and spiritual significance.”
Little Regarded but Highly Significant
The rest of Revelation 8–9 is about the Seven Trumpets. As previously noted, the trumpets zoom in on certain aspects of the Seven Seals, especially the sixth seal of divine judgment.
Then we arrive at Revelation 10, another favorite of mine—a little-regarded but highly significant and potentially consequential chapter. While the chapter is well known to eschatology students—particularly because of its mysterious Seven Thunders, the unwritten part of Scripture—it has not been sufficiently put in practical perspective.
The chapter reveals a “mighty angel” who comes down from heaven with “a little book open in his hand” (Revelation 10:1–2). This is an interesting proposition considering all the debates and questions about the authenticity and fidelity of our present Bible, and how some critics like to argue that Christ, the author of the Christian faith, never wrote a single word.
It is noteworthy that the description of this mighty book-bearing angel as having “a rainbow…on his head” matches Christ’s association with the “Messenger of the covenant” in Malachi 3:1. The rainbow is given as a covenant sign in Genesis 9:11–13, and the Greek word angelos, translated “angel” in Revelation 10:1, means “messenger.”
Now we understand that the Christian faith authored by Christ is precisely what it is—faith: a personal, spiritual revelation and conviction that no amount of studying a book can substitute. (Hebrews 11:1–6). Christian study is most productive when it builds on existing faith, just as Scripture exhorts, “giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge” (2 Peter 1:5).
Nevertheless, this does not end the debate about the nature of our Bible and the argument that Christ never wrote a word—something that should stir greater interest in the book brought by the mighty angel. Of course, there have been counterfeit claims of divinely authored and supernaturally delivered books, but that should only deepen our quest for the genuine.
Practical Exploration
So, what is this open book in Revelation 10?
The best biblical answer, consistent with the progression of the Revelation narrative, is that it is the same as the sealed book held by the One (God the Father) on the central throne in Revelation 4, unsealed by the opening of the Seven Seals. The slain Lamb (Christ the Son, the Redeemer) was the only one worthy to open the book, and it has been fittingly described as containing the plan of redemption and representing the title deed to all that is redeemed and reclaimed.
Internal evidence suggests that this divine book delivered by the mighty angel is actually the Book of Revelation delivered to John. Recall the introduction:
“The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants… And He sent and signified it by His angel to His servant John… Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it” (see Revelation 1:1–3).
That’s compelling, and it only underscores the noted importance of the Book of Revelation to faithful Christian practice and witness—especially today, though many continue to downplay or dismiss it.
Nevertheless, within the overarching futuristic framework and logical unfolding of Revelation, John’s instruction to take the book from the angel and eat it, and the need for him to “prophesy again about many peoples, nations, tongues, and kings” (see Revelation 10:8–11) suggests that the chapter also has a prophetic significance.
The suggestion here is about the possibility of a great messenger, or “man of God,” with a Johannian anointing being used to deliver a definite message in the “time of the end”—in a way that resolves all the theological debates and doctrinal controversies that have plagued the church age, enabling a clear and unified witness by the people of God in the latter days (cf. Daniel 12:9-10). For continuity with the preliminary experience of John, this message could consist of an explicit decoding, or unsealing, of the book of Revelation.
This idea of an end-time significance of Revelation 10 is made more compelling by the fact that some details of the chapter strikingly parallel another biblical witness about the build-up to the primary subject of this series—the return of Christ and the Rapture of the global Church consisting of Jews and Gentiles.
(To be continued.)
*****************
Christian Community Reader’s Digest is a publication of Christian Community Online. Visit and share with us at https://christiancommunity.online/ , and read more articles at https://medium.com/christian-community-online . Except otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations in this article are from the New King James Version of the Bible.
Image by Secoura from Pixabay.
We are an online community of Christians around the world. Diverse in origin, experience, and location, we share “one faith, one Lord, one baptism” – and one love. Our desire is to revive and nurture the spiritual passion, sense of community, and “lively hope” of the early Christians in a ...