An Anonymous poster recently wondered if 1/3 of mankind perishes in the book of Revelation. No, the number is much larger. But, how large? I don’t know, as I’ve never done the math. Now is the time to do the math. The carnage in Revelation starts in chapter 6. I will calculate the death total in the order in which it appears.
[This note written AFTER I did the calculations. Surprisingly, while there is massive carnage and death, only three verses give the total actual deaths of humans, as a percentage!]
If you’ve never read Revelation, or it’s been a long time, you might enjoy reading this summary. You will have a basic, but solid, understanding of what Christians are talking about regarding End Time events. Except for one or two snarky comments, I offer no commentary when reviewing each chapter. It’s a Sgt. Joe Friday presentation; “Just the facts, Ma’am.” I do present Conclusions and Observations afterwards. This is presented on purpose to be a quick read (about 15 minutes), a revealing of the main themes of each chapter, while ignoring fluff-stuff.
I think you will be shocked at the level of bloodshed and violence, including torture.
I titled this “GOD’S Great Reset” because that’s exactly what it is. A great many people — believers, and non-believers alike — achingly long for the Judgement of God. We ache for God’s vengeance and justice to be meted out to what we see as Great Evil consuming our world. Who can blame them? Those who suffer have been crying out for thousands of years. But, to such people I ask; “Do you have any idea how gruesome that judgment will be? What makes you think YOU will survive? Be careful what you wish for!”
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Starting Wiki Population: 7,674,000,000 (The remaining population after each carnage will be in parenthesis)
REVELATION 6
Seal 1: White horse. The rider has a bow, a crown, and is “bent on conquest” — No deaths
Seal 2: Red Horse, takes away peace and “makes people kill each other” — Deaths not given
Seal 3: Black Horse, economic ruin (a day’s wages for a loaf of bread) — Deaths not given.
Seal 4: Pale Horse. Rider named Death. Hades follows him. Death comes via “sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth“—- 25% die (1,918,500,000 die / 5,755,500,000 left)
Seal 5: Souls of martyrs in heaven. They cry out in a loud voice to God “to avenge our blood” — No deaths.
Seal 6: Massive earthquakes all over the glove. Sun turns black. Moon turns blood red. Stars fall from heaven. The heavens recede “like a scroll being rolled up“. EVERY mountain and island was “removed from its place” Every human on earth begs for death. — Deaths not given
REVELATION 7
144,000 from the 12 tribes of Israel get seals on their foreheads. Billions of people (“a multitude that no one could count”) clothed in white robes wave palm branches and tell God how great He is. ALL the angels., elders, and four living creatures do likewise.—- No deaths.
REVELATION 8
Seal 7: Seal opened. Silence in heaven for 30 minutes. Then 7 angels with 7 trumpets appear. An angel appears with a golden censer which contains “the prayers of all God’s people“. The angel hurls the censer on the earth which results in “thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning and an earthquake“.—- No deaths.
Trumpet 1: Hail and fire mixed with blood. One third of earth, trees, and all green grass burned up. — Deaths not given.
Trumpet 2: Huge burning mountain thrown in the sea. One third of sea turns to blood. One third of everything living in the sea dies. One third of ships sunk . — Deaths unknown.
Trumpet 3: A star named Wormwood crashes into one third of the rivers and springs. One third of the rivers turn bitter. — Deaths unknown but, “Many people died”
Trumpet 4: One third of the sun, moon, and stars are struck and are “turned dark”. An eagle appears and cries out that the next three trumpets (three “woes“) will be even worse. — Deaths not given. (But, I’m guessing that if one third of the sun goes dark say, at noon, that by 12:15 the entire population of the world would be Frozen Popsicles.)
REVELATION 9
Trumpet 5: The first “woe”. An angel falls to earth and is given the key to the Abyss … which produces smoke like “from a gigantic furnace“. The sun and sky are darkened. Again.
A legion of truly scary and fearsome locusts (like scorpions) come forth from the smoke, led by the “Destroyer”. They have hair like a woman and teeth like a lion. (Nancy Pelosi?) They are not allowed to harm anyone having “the seal of God on their foreheads”. They may harm, but not kill, everyone else. The locust’s Marching Orders; “only to torture them for five months.” Once again, people pray for death but, it won’t be given. — No deaths.
Trumpet 6: Four angels who have been hanging out for eons “at the great river Euphrates” are finally released. There are “two hundred million” enemy mounted troops stationed by the Euphrates.—- One third of humanity dies (1,899,315,000 die / 3,856,185,000 left) .The people left alive still refuse to repent.
REVELATION 10
Interlude: A “mighty angel” comes down from heaven. This is an interesting angel.
[The angel is robed in a cloud, has a rainbow above his head, a face like the sun, legs like fiery pillars (one foot on the sea and one on land), roars like a lion (which results in “seven thunders” speaking — but we’re not allowed to know what they said). The angel is holding a little scroll. The narrator eats the scroll, which is sweet to his tongue but bitter in his stomach.]
The most important takeaway in this chapter is this; the angel reveals that when the 7th trumpet sounds “the mystery of God will be accomplished”. —- No deaths.
REVELATION 11
Two witnesses prophecy in Jerusalem for 42 months. They have power to cause droughts, turn water into blood, and “strike the earth with every kind of plague as often as they want“. They are like Superman … they kill anyone who tries to harm them via “fire [which] comes from their mouths.”
After 42 months the Beast kills them. [First mention of the Beast. It is the same as Beast #1 in Rev. 13.] For three and a half days all the inhabitants of the earth rejoice and give each other gifts because these two witnesses caused all people great torment. Then they are resurrected and go”up to heaven in a cloud“.
Immediately, a great earthquake rocks Jerusalem and 7,000 die. —- Deaths (7,000 die / 3, 856,178,000 left). This time the survivors “gave glory to the God of heaven.“.
REVELATION 12
This chapter opens with heavy symbolism dealing with Israel and Jesus.
The reader is introduced to a “woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head.” She’s about to give birth but “an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on its heads” tries to prevent it, and fails. The dragon’s tail also sweeps “a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth“.
Then war breaks out in heaven. Satan loses. Satan is hurled to Earth, along with his angels. Satan is really pissed off. The dragon (Satan) tries to kill the woman and child. He fails. The dragon decides to wage war against the woman’s offspring, which are “those who keep God’s commands and hold fast their testimony about Jesus“—- No deaths.
REVELATION 13
The Dragon is standing by the seashore when a Beast with 10 horns and 10 heads arises from the sea. The Beast blasphemes God and wages war against God’s people. All the rest of the people love the Beast and the Dragon. The beast suffers a fatal wound on one head.
A second Beast rises … this one out of the Earth. It is even more powerful than the first Beast. It heals the fatal head wound of the first Beast. The second Beast makes everyone get a “666” mark on their foreheads. The number represents a man. The 2nd Beast gives power to the 1st Beast so that the 1st beast can kill people who don’t worship it. —- Deaths unknown.
REVELATION 14
144,000 worship God on Mt. Zion.They sing a song. No one else knows how to sing this song. The 144,000 are all virgins.
One angel “flying in midair” was shouting that people need to fear God for judgment is coming, Another angel flying around announced that Babylon has fallen. A third angel announces that anyone who took the mark is really screwed – being tormented with burning sulfur forever. This endless torture is done in the presence of angels and the Lamb. —- Total deaths unknown.
An angel sitting on “a white cloud” tells one “like the son of man” to “Take your sickle and reap”. Another angel with a sickle joins in. Another angel in charge of fire also joins in. They reap. One angel swings his sickle and throws the grapes (people) into “the great winepress of God’s wrath“. The blood rose “as high as the horses’ bridles for a distance of 180 miles” —- Deaths unknown. [One author calculated that that amount of blood would require almost 12,000 times the current population of the planet Earth! Read here, That’s A Lotta Blood!
REVELATION 15
Announces 7 more angels are coming with 7 more plagues … bowls of wrath.
[Note: This could be a prophecy about America. Just when you thought things couldn’t possibly get any worse, well … they can!]
Meanwhile, people who had been victorious over the beast “held harps given them by God” and are singing “Great and marvelous are your deeds, Lord God Almighty.” —- No deaths.
REVELATION 16
Bowl 1: Ugly festering sores break out on those who have The Mark. —- No deaths.
Bowl 2: The sea turns “into blood like that of a dead person” EVERY living thing in the sea dies. —- No human deaths.
Bowl 3: All rivers and springs turn into blood. —- No deaths.
Bowl 4: Sun scorches people with fire. —- No deaths.
Bowl 5: The Beast’s Kingdom (Earth) plunged into darkness. People gnaw their tongues in agony. —- No deaths.
Bowl 6: The Euphrates is dried up to prepare the way for the Kings of the East. Three demonic spirits that look like frogs perform signs and gather the Kings of the world for the big battle. —- No deaths.
Bowl 7: An angel pours the bowl into the air. A voice says “It is done”. The biggest earthquake of all time occurs. The cities of the nations collapse. EVERY island and mountain disappears. Hailstones weighing 100 pounds fall on people. —- Number of deaths not given. But, it must have been very many.
REVELATION 17
The Babylon chapter. There is a woman bedecked in gold, precious stones and pearls and the name written on her forehead is, “Babylon The Great, The Mother Of Prostitutes And Of The Abominations Of The Earth.”
She is sitting on a scarlet beast with 7 heads and 10 horns. The main clue as to who she represents is this; “The seven heads are seven hills on which the woman sits”. [It’s Rome.] The 10 horns are 10 kings who wage war against the saints … for “one hour”. Shock and awe! The beast and 10 kings eventually turn on the prostitute and “they will eat her flesh and burn her with fire”. —- Deaths not given.
REVELATION 18
First God warns his people regarding Babylon; “Come out of her, my people, so that you will not share in her sins, so that you will not receive any of her plagues.“
The rest of the chapter chronicles the lament of the entire world at the fall of Babylon– from kings to merchants to consumers, they all weep — for many “grew rich from her excessive luxuries“.
An angel picks up a boulder the size of a millstone, casts it into the sea, and proclaims : “With such violence the great city of Babylon will be thrown down, never to be found again.” Auf Wiedersehn, Babylon. —- Deaths not given.
REVELATION 19
The first half of the chapter shows all of heaven rejoicing over the fall of Babylon; great multitudes, the 24 elders, the 4 living creatures, a voice from the throne, and more great multitudes. And a partridge in a pear tree.
Then the heavens open up, and a rider named “Faithful and True” appears on a white horse. The writer of Revelation gives enough clues to identify the rider as Jesus. Then an angel “standing in the sun” cries out to the birds “flying in midair”;
—- “Come, gather together for the great supper of God, so that you may eat the flesh of kings, generals, and the mighty, of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all people, free and slave, great and small.”
And then, rather matter-of-factly, almost anticlimactically, with little fanfare, in a mere 109 words (NIV) — the Beast and False Prophet are thrown alive into the lake of fire. The Kings of the Earth and their massive armies are killed by “the sword coming out of the mouth of the rider on the horse”. —- Deaths unknown, but must have been many millions.
And thus ends the carnage portion of God’s Great Reset.
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But, what about the rest of the Great Reset? How does the story end?
— REV. 20; Satan is cast into the Abyss for 1,000 years. Those who did not take The Mark are brought back to life and reign with Christ 1,000 years. The rest of the dead, the non-martyrs, come to life after the 1,000 years. This is “the first resurrection“. Something called “the second death” will have no power over them and, they also, reign with Christ for 1,000 years.
After 1,000 years Satan is released. Satan gathers an enormous army – Gog and Magog (again!) – and loses. Again. At last, Satan is cast into the lake of burning sulfur forever and ever.
Next we see a great white throne, all the dead are there, and books are opened. One book is called the Book of Life. If you’re name is not in it, you will be thrown into the lake of fire.
— REV. 21; The “first earth” has passed away. This chapter is all about “a new heaven and a new earth” and a detailed description of the New Jerusalem.
The New Jerusalem comes down from heaven. It is spectacular with streets of gold as transparent as glass. The city is about 1,400 miles long on each side. Huge walls made with 12 layers of precious jewels. Twelve gigantic gates made from a single pearl (must have come from a really really Big Oyster).
There are no more tears, no death. The city doesn’t even need a sun or moon because the glory of God gives it light.
— REV. 22; More description of the beauty of heaven. There is a “river of the water of life” which flows from the throne of God and down the middle of Main Street. There is also a “tree of life” on each side of the river which yields fruit every month. The curse has been lifted.
An angel appears to John and announces that all this stuff described in Revelation “must soon take place”. Apparently there are people living outside the city gates; — “Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.”
People are warned not to add to this Revelation, and if they do “God will add to that person the plagues described in this scroll“. People are warned not to subtract from this Revelation, and if they do “God will take away from that person any share in the tree of life“.
The second to last verse of the Bible ends with Jesus saying “Yes, I am coming soon.”.
This is the Great Reset, from beginning to end, according to God.
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ANALYSIS ON NUMBER OF DEAD PEOPLE
The two main verses which give the the percentage of dead people are the 4th seal (25% dead) and the 6th trumpet (33% dead). At a bare minimum, this comes out to just under 50% of the world croaking …. about 3.8 BILLION people.
The number must be much higher than that, of course. All we can do is speculate and estimate;
— No sun! It seems the most deaths would occur in those instances where the sun turns dark; Trumpet 4 where 1/3 of the sun goes dark, Trumpet 5 where the sun goes dark, and Seal 6 where the sun turns black.
If you put a steamy cup of coffee in the refrigerator, it wouldn’t immediately turn cold. The Earth’s atmosphere will retain heat for a short while, and our molten core will provide some heat. But,it won’t last long. Within a year temperature will drop to -100 degrees. Also, all photosynthesis stops immediately. That can’t be good for food supply … for us, and animals. But, I think it is sheer terror and panic which will be the real killer … by the tens, if not hundreds, of millions. See How Long Would We Have If The Sun Went Out
— Other Horses: The red horse makes “people kill each other“. The black horse brings economic ruin.
— Earthquakes: Seal 6 and Bowl 7 bring massive worldwide earthquakes.
— Misc: Worldwide famines, drought, plagues of every kind, 100 pound hailstones, contamination of water, every mountain and island “removed from its place“, and a river of blood 180 miles long …… must certainly result in hundreds of millions of deaths.
— What Jesus said: What we do know is what Jesus said (Mt. 24:22) — “If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened.“. Indeed, the Terror of Tribulation would have wiped out all humanity, except for Jesus’ return.
But, all the terrors (7 seals, 7 trumpets, 7 bowls) actually DO take place! So, what is actually “cut short“? Well, the Tribulation itself was cut short to 7 years! In other words, God preordained, before time immemorial, that when the Tribulation comes that it would be limited (cut short) to seven years. Had it gone on any longer no flesh would have survived. The days of woe and tribulation, therefore, were shortened to seven years specifically for “the elect“.
Who are the elect? They are people still alive on Earth after the seven years of Tribulation. It can be no one else. The elect throughout the Bible is always a very small number. Many are chosen, but few are called. Jesus said, “Broad is the road that leads to destruction, and MANY enter through it. Narrow is the road that leads to life, and only a FEW find it.“
Based on the above, I am arbitrarily, but reasonably, estimating that a minimum of 95% of the world population will be dead at the end of the seventh year of woe and tribulation. I see 7,290,300,000 dead people.
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CLOSING THOUGHTS: 6 THINGS I WONDER ABOUT
1)- The writer of Revelation (supposedly, John) is going through an awful lot of gyrations to have God dispense of a few billion bad dudes. Doesn’t he know God is all-powerful? God could easily wipe out the human race with just one plague …. like, Covid-19. Or, maybe that’s what the Shit Shot is all about? Doesn’t he know God is all-knowing? God knows who the assholes are! Doesn’t he know God speaks things into happening? God only needs to say, “Hey, all you assholes. Die!” … and it would be done. Why, all this …. drama?
2)- Speaking of drama, the book of Revelation, as you have just seen and read, is a book of absolute maximum terror. Stephen King couldn’t write a more terror filler horror story. Stephen Spielberg couldn’t film it accurately … splashing all that blood and gore and suffering and pain on the big screen would make even the most hard-core psychopath vomit after five minutes.
Yet, we are to believe that God takes pleasure in all this? Recall what is said in Revelation 14 — “They will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb.” Recall that the locusts were told to “torture” people for five months. Recall that people cry out for death … and not even that final dignity is given for they haven’t yet been tortured enough. What kind of Deity is this really … this one which John imagines? Is this a God worthy of worship? Or, is there more to the story? Hmmm, stay tuned.
3)- I find the fifth seal (Rev. 6) to be particularly odd. This is where the martyred loudly cry out to God “How long … until you … avenge our blood?“. So, they’re in heaven, a fantastically wonderful happy place of joy, love, and forgiveness …. and people are still looking for revenge?? C’mon, man!
4)- I wish people would stop associating “666” with the Beast, or antichrist, or whatever. Stop getting your theology from TV or the movies. The one short reference to that number clearly states it is “the number of A MAN“. A man who lived at THAT time, and no other time, especially our time. Read The Untold Truth About The Antichrist
5)- When you read through the summary of Revelation 6 through Revelation 22 did you read anything which indicated the sudden disappearance (aka, the Rapture) of all Christians? I’ll answer that in case you didn’t read it — the answer is a resounding “No!”. Yet, all proponents of Rapture theology seek support for their position from the book of Revelation! This is very very odd. Hmmmm.
But, I didn’t summarize Chapters 1 thru 5. Is there anything in those chapters which indicate some kind of “Rapture”? Actually, there could be, in Revelation 3:10;
“ Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come on the whole world to test the inhabitants of the earth.”
The only escape hatch provided by the book of Revelation is the snatching away of believers BEFORE ANY EVENT IN REVELATION 6 – 19 EVEN STARTS. For a thorough (25 pages) understanding of this view read “The Rapture And The Book Of Revelation”
And this brings me to my final musings.
6) WHAT IF???
—- What if a non-literal interpretation of Revelation’s blood, gore, and mayhem relieves that book and its depiction of God of its odiousness? Wouldn’t that be worth investigating?
—- What if you change your thinking about the book? Do you think you will be cast into the lake of fire?
—- What if the real message of Revelation is about transformation, justice, and hope … and not about war, destruction, and despair?
—- What if God judges evil by restoring the world (Rev. 21:1) …. rather than destroying it?
—- What if Revelation was written to recount the suffering, persecution, and hopes encountered by first-century Christians and then Christians throughout time ….. instead of only one generation of Christians far off in some unknown future, now 2,000 years and counting?
—- What if everything you thought you knew about Revelation might be in error? Would you at least pursue truth more diligently? I hope so. You can handle the truth!
THE END
An Anonymous poster recently wondered if 1/3 of mankind perishes in the book of Revelation. No, the number is much larger. But, how large? I don’t know, as I’ve never done the math. Now is the time to do the math. The carnage in Revelation starts in chapter 6. I will calculate the death total … Continue reading “GOD’S Great Reset”
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