“the end.”
“Apocalypse” means “Revelation” = “uncovering something that was previously hidden.” In his “Revelation” the Apostle John is given a vision of the angels in heaven with a scroll with seven seals. The scroll contains God’s truth regarding the events leading up to and surrounding the end of the age and the return of Jesus Christ to earth to establish His kingdom. John began to weep because there was no one who was found worthy to open the scroll and to break its seals. But one of the elders told him to stop weeping because “the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that HE can open the scroll and its seven seals” (Revelation 5:5). JESUS can and will open the scroll and its seven seals! The opening of the seven seals, one by one, marks the beginning of Daniel’s “70th week,” the final seven-year period leading up to the final judgment and the establishment of Christ’s kingdom during the Millennium. As Jesus opens the seven seals He reveals the activity of the Antichrist on the earth, all under the watchful eye of Christ. As Jesus gave His disciples an overview of the time preceding His coming in Matthew 24:3-14, He was revealing what John would later see as the opening of the first six seals. The key to understanding these things is to recognize that Matthew 24:1-29 and Revelation 6:1-17 are parallel passages, both speaking about the same events and the same period of time. In these passages, God gives us an overview of the beginning of “the end,” and calls all who believe to watch and wait expectantly as we labor for the KING!