10 Reasons WHY the Seals, Trumpets, and Bowls Unfold Sequentially (i.e., Consecutively)

Bible Prophecy Daily

Dr. Alan Kurschner, in his last episode, gave the context to the unfolding of the seals, trumpets, and bowls. In today's episode, Dr. Kurschner outlines 10 reasons against the concurrent-recapitulatory interpretation of the book of Revelation while arguing for the consecutive-progressive framework. Seals, Trumpets, Bowls – At the Same Time or One After the Other? Consecutive-Progressive The prewrath position interprets a sequential chronological framework for the seals, trumpets, and bowls. That is, the seal-trumpet-bowl septets (sets of seven) will happen in a consecutive-progressive fashion, with each septet consecutively following each other. For example, the trumpet septet cannot begin until the seventh seal is opened; and the bowl septet cannot begin before the seventh trumpet is blown. The last judgment element of the day of the Lord’s wrath will be the seventh bowl. Accordingly, the seventh seal and the seventh trumpet serve as transitions to the next set of God’s climaxing judgments, culminating with the seventh bowl. Concurrent-Recapitulation Posttribulationists subscribe instead to a concurrent-recapitulation framework with the septets occurring at the same time with the judgment elements giving different emphases or perspectives. For example, it is said that the sixth seal, sixth trumpet, and sixth bowl describe the same event from a different angle. Accordingly, the last element in the day of the Lord’s wrath describes the seventh of each septet; thus, the seventh seal, seventh trumpet, and seventh bowl are the same event from different perspectives. And there are those posttribulationists who hold that it does not describe the exact same event, but they affirm that the three elements occur roughly at the same time. For all practical purposes, the main point is that both of these posttrib interpretations do not view the trumpets and bowls occurring after the seventh seal is opened. It is noted that this debate does not hinge on whether each judgment element within the septets succeed each other; that is not the issue. The main question is: Do each of the three septets themselves succeed each other (consecutive) or do they simultaneously unfold (concurrent)? Dr. Kurschner's aim is to demonstrate that the concurrent view is flawed. He argues for the consecutive nature of the three septets, showing that the seventh seal does not depict the culmination but the introduction to the day of the Lord via the seven trumpets and culminating in the seven bowls. Why Recapitulation? There are two main observations from the book of Revelation that lead posttribulationists to conclude the concurrent-recapitulation theory is correct. First, they will point out that the septets possess a similar structure, thinking these depict the same events with different emphases. They draw attention to at least two observations: (1) the first four elements of each septet share a structured unit, and (2) the first two septets, the seals and trumpets, each contain a parenthetical section between the sixth and seventh element. However, this is a non sequitur (no pun intended) to reason that because they share similar forms, therefore they must possess the same content and occur at the same time. It is a fallacy to equate similarity with identity. The second observation is where their theory either falls or stands. They will point out similarities between the sixth and seventh element of each septet, along with their parenthetical sections, concluding all three describe the end. They argue that since there cannot be “three ultimate ends,” it follows that they recapitulate the trumpet and bowls back into the seals giving a composite of a single event (see the chart above). Marko Jauhiainen pinpoints their key argument for the recapitulation theory. He writes, [R]egarding the septets, the recapitulation theory seems to be logically necessary only if one sees the ‘end’ narrated or described before the seventh bowl....