In the book of Revelations, chapter 10, verse 3, it speaks of seven thunders that uttered their voices, and when John heard them, he started to write down what they said, but was stopped. John was told to seal up what those seven thunders said, for it was not time to make it known.
Rev 10:3-4 “And cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roars: and when he had cried, seven thunders uttered their voices. (4) And when the seven thunders had uttered their voices, I was about to write: and I heard a voice from heaven saying to me, Seal up those things which the seven thunders uttered, and write them not.”
Because of the placement of these seven thunders in the tenth chapter, many assume that they utter their voices after the opening of the seventh seal, which appears in the eighth chapter, but this is not the case. The chapters of the book of Revelations are not placed in chronological order, as we will discover during our study of that book.
With the guidance of the Holy Spirit, I will attempt to show exactly what these seven thunders are, when they will sound, and what their purpose is. To do this I will point to some scriptures that tell us what these thunders are, quote some words that were spoken by a great man of God that I knew, and point out what God has revealed to me about what will happen when these thunders do occur.
We’ll start by quoting what another brother said while delivering a series of messages on the seven seals during the month of March 1963. This brother was William M. Branham, a vindicated prophet of God who carried a ministry of divine healing around the world, without any doubt sent by God due to the many signs and wonders that were exhibited during his ministry.
While preaching on the seventh seal, Brother Branham said, “The seven thunders that were not written will be revealed to get the Bride together for rapturing. We hardly have enough faith for healing; our faith must increase to be raptured. We will find where these thunders are written.”
So Brother Branham, who successfully had thousands of verified healings during his services, said that the faith of the believers was not nearly high enough to be ready for the rapture, when the Lord returns for His Bride. It must increase, and it will take the revealing of those seven thunders to do it. He went on to say, “It will take those seven thunders to wake the Bride up.”
Now what are these seven thunders that utter their voices? Let’s look at a few scriptures and see if we can get an understanding of what they are. The scriptures teach us “by two or three witnesses every word will be established.” Our witnesses will be the prophet Samuel, Job, David, and the Lord’s Apostles.
2 Sam “The Lord thundered from heaven, and the most High uttered his voice.”
Job 37:5 “God thunders marvelously with his voice.”
Job 40:9 “Have you an arm like God? Or can you thunder with a voice like him?”
Psa 18:13 “The Lord also thundered in the heavens, and the Highest gave his voice.”
Psa 104:7 “At your rebuke they fled; at the voice of your thunder they ran away.”
John 12:29 “The people therefore, that stood by, and heard it, said that it thundered: others said, an angel spoke to him.”
Samuel, Job, David in his Psalms, and the Lord’s Apostles testify that when God speaks from Heaven, His voice sounds like a great roar of thunder. So many times throughout the scriptures the voice of God speaking is referred to as thunder, and where some may hear the voice, others say that it just thundered.
Take for an example, as is recorded in John 12:28 through 30. When God spoke, some of those present heard the voice of God, and some only heard what sounded like thunder. It doesn’t say who heard the voice and who heard what only sounded like thunder, but I believe that believers were the only one’s that heard the voice, and the unbelievers heard only the sound of thunder.
Without a doubt, I believe that the seven thunders in Revelations, chapter ten, is none other than the voice of God speaking from Heaven, and the believers will hear and understand what He will say, but unbelievers will only hear the roar as of thunder.
But this is what will wake the Bride up, and this is what will increase the faith of those who will be taken in the Rapture. Throughout the years, God has sent many prophets, apostles, and evangelists to speak His Word to the people and instill in them that only their faith can produce results. Only their faith in His Word can produce healing, salvation, and other works that He would like for His children to be doing. But even with all the miracles and wonders God has exhibited throughout the generations, the faith of the people is still weak.
Jesus asked a question as is recorded in Luke 18:8. “When the Son of man comes, shall he find faith on the earth?” If, as Brother Branham said, we do not have enough faith for our own healing, how can we have enough faith to believe that we will lift off this earth and meet the Lord in the air when the rapture occurs? When He returns, will He find faith in us? I think not, because we will not buckle down and believe what His Word says.
So to wake the Bride up and prepare her for the Rapture, God will speak from Heaven and the results of what He says will cause the faith of the saints to increase and prepare them for the Rapture. That is what those seven thunders of Revelations chapter ten are—the voice of God speaking seven times to His people on the earth. And when this occurs, some great and marvelous supernatural things will occur and will get the attention of those who are looking for the return of Jesus.
If witnessing divine healing does not produce the faith that God expects us to have, what will? If hearing the testimony of those who have seen the dead brought back to life does not do it, what will?
I believe that God will speak once again to His people, either through an anointed individual or directly to the people on earth, and will cause some great supernatural things to happen that will increase the faith of born again believers.
These seven thunders that utter their voices will be God speaking to His people in these last days and will occur just before Jesus Christ returns for His Bride, the born again, Spirit filled believers, who make up the Body of Christ.
Brother Branham thought that one day we would find in a written form the explanation of those seven thunders, and it would be convincing enough to cause the faith of born again believers to be increased to the level needed in order to be raptured. But it is hard for me to believe that anything written could do that, in light of the fact that we have had the written form of God’s Word for so long and our faith is still insufficient.
In the beginning, God spoke directly to His people. He spoke directly to Adam and Eve in the garden and on down to the time of Moses, until the people became so fearful that they did not want God to speak directly to them any more. Then God began to speak to His people through the prophets.
After the prophets, God sent His only begotten Son and spoke to His people through Him. Since that time in history, we have had God speaking to us through His written Word. God has tried every way throughout the past thousands of years to get the people to hear and believe His Word, but we still lack the level of faith He would like for us to have. Jesus gave an example of the level of our faith in the seventeenth chapter of Matthew when He said that if our faith was only the size of a grain of mustard seed, nothing would be impossible for us to do.
If it is true what Brother Branham said, and I believe that it is, we do lack the faith necessary to be raptured. And if those seven thunders will be the cause of the raising of our faith to be raptured, then what else could they be but the voice of Almighty God speaking to His people, once again, from Heaven.
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