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A key guideline of this Commentary for the understanding of the Book of Revelation is that these “Seven Chains of Prophecies and Visions” do not form a single consecutive chain on the Timeline of the Common Era, each one taking up where the previous one ends, but rather seven distinct chains. In their projections and applications, each chain starts at a particular place on the Timeline, may or may not be parallel to a certain extent with others, but does END, ALL of THEM, with specific events that culminate in the final, definitive, for-all-time, destruction of the material universe and material time itself.

3 minutes 40 seconds to read the “Short Dialogue with a Young, Professional, Self-Assured Woman.”

Este tema en ESPAÑOL

About 8 minutes to read the study: Chain 1 of Prophecies. Edition of June 18, 2026. 6:39 pm.

Are you perchance WALKING BLINDLY into the FUTURE? The Living God of love and mercy wants you to have LIGHT about the FUTURE so that what is ahead will not “SURPRISE YOU like a THIEF in the NIGHT.” 1 Thessalonians 5:1-8.

"The Book of Revelation: Its Astounding Relevance
for the 20th and 21st Centuries."

Section 2, Part 2 of the REVELATION Commentary.

WALKING through the FUTURE by means of SEVEN CHAINS of PROPHECIES validated as WORTHY to BE BELIEVED by previous ones already fulfilled. 

Chain 1 of the series is IDENTIFIED and STUDIED.

The FIRST CHAIN is composed of the Sixth and Seventh Seals of the Book of Revelation. A "SO GREAT AN EARTH-QUAKE, SO MIGHTY" occurs. The SUN becomes black as sackcloth. The MOON becomes like blood. STARS fall from heaven. MOUNTAINS and ISLANDS are moved from their place. RULERS of nations and purely secular business, industrial, financial, academic, health-care, social, media moguls and activists, etc., FLEE to CAVES.

Critical TIMELINE orientation. 

How to ESCAPE the traumatic, absolutely terrifying EVENTS of the Sixth Seal.

Second Dialogue with Self-Assured One and Mr. Skeptic on "Stars Falling to Earth."

Skip the following First Dialogue with Self-Assured One, going to the continuation of the exposition on this subject.

Short Dialogue with a Young, Professional, Self-Assured Woman on the "Validity and Relevancy of Prophecies about the End of Earth and Time."
Dialogue

A young, professional woman speaks out against such prophecies. She says: “I don’t think you should be a party to spreading such a negative, ugly, sinister, fear-mongering outcome for our planet Earth. The sun, moon, and stars have existed for billions of years, and so has Earth. Natural phenomena like earthquakes, tsunamis, and volcanic eruptions have occurred for millions of years and caused great damage at times but our Earth continues, and humanity continues, becoming ever more and more intelligent, productive, and conquering. Our young, dynamic,

AI-empowered generation gives no importance whatsoever to those old prophecies of the superstitious, ignorant peoples who lived before our present enlightened Age of AI, intelligent, highly productive Robots, Quantum computers, vast worldwide communication networks, etc.”

REPLY. Dear Professional Self-Assured One, no doubt you and your “AI-empowered Generation” are accomplishing impressive feats in digital realms. Personally, some of them, such as Gemini 3.1, are a great help to me. “Quantum Computers?” I understand practical ones to be years off yet, if ever. Is that not so?

Now, from a strictly, absolutely verifiable scientific standpoint, those “millions and billions of years” you posit for the existence of the material universe are out there in the netherworld of the “Theoretical and Speculative,” for it is an oxymoron that no human being was back there, or went back there, to personally guarantee that all things noted did thus exist and evolve. I will not contravene your observations on “Natural Phenomena” except to observe that, if they should increase significantly, like more and much more powerful earthquakes, planet Earth and its human inhabitants, with all their “creations,” might be shaken to their foundations, with powerful tsunamis, many volcanoes erupting, and voracious fires raging through cities, towns, and countryside.

Dear Professional Self-Assured One, what does, indeed, trouble and concern me is how you praise “Humanity” but do not recognize and, consequently, do not praise any “Supreme Original Creator of All Life and Matter.” Well, then, let me ask you: From the smallest, one-cell physical organism to the quarks, gluons, protons, neutrons, and electrons of atoms, have any of those “So Intelligent Human Beings,” including geniuses of the highest order, been able to create from scratch a completely new one similar to any of them? A new atom, a new one-cell, living, physical organism, never seen on Earth before. How about creating in a petri dish a totally new tomato seed in such a way that it will germinate and sprout, resulting in a new, live tomato-bearing plant better than any on Earth now? To argue that “Evolution has done, over eons of time, more or less that very thing, starting with inert, dead matter,” is surely one of the most unscientific, illogical, and indefensible assertions that could ever be made! To begin with: How did that "inert, dead matter" itself come into existence? Is "DARWINIAN EVOLUTION" a force with a mind, will, and overriding plan of its own? Clearly, those who believe in it invoke it as if it did have.

So you have boldly taken your stance with those who belittle, even despise, “PROPHECIES,” especially in this context of “Planet Earth and all the material universe coming to a violent, everlasting END.” Just touching a little on this subject, I ask: How is it possible that those “superstitious, ignorant humans of the past," in their evolutionary development, would, could ever make the quantum jump from their lowly, animal state to fully sentient beings capable of achieving cosmic and world views that include detailed, prophetic projections of the sudden, catastrophic, total END of their own habitat and the heavens above it?

For now, I leave you with a summation made by Gemini 3.1 as of June 2026. “Hinduism and Buddhism teach that the material earth will experience a fiery, catastrophic physical destruction, but view it as a recurring phase in an infinite loop of cosmic rebirth. The Koran describes the end of the material world not as a natural fade-out, but as a sudden, violent, and complete cosmic cataclysm. The Aztecs and Incas viewed the end of the earth as a violent, elemental restructuring required to reset a cosmic cycle. North American tribes generally view "the end" as a phase of profound physical purification and spiritual transition into a new world era.”

Of course, there are also the very explicit, dramatic prophecies and visions on the subject by the teacher Jesus of Nazareth and his personally appointed apostles as recorded in the New Testament of the Bible. Free, as I hold them to be, of the influences of religions distorted and diluted by beliefs in idols, icons, a multiplicity of gods, goddesses, saints, priests and priestesses, “holy” men and women, philosophers from the more or less sane to the weird on the fringes of lunacy, religious megalomaniacs, self-appointed prophets and prophetesses, etc., etc. Those of Jesus and his apostles are, Dear One, the ones I could hope you would give some serious attention to, lest you be shockingly and awfully surprised by events that indifferent, pure secularism and a proud self-confidence might deprive you of wisely anticipating. Respectfully, Homer Dewayne Shappley

Skip this dialogue
Study begins
The First Chain of Prophetical Texts Identified and Explained

nevertheless, always arriving at the point and the hour when said “territory” is violently shaken and "...the ELEMENTS shall be DISSOLVED with fervent heat, and the earth and the works that are therein shall be burned up.” 2 Peter 3:10-12

Dear Reader, please take a moment to consider a  key orientation of this paragraph and the next one. Reading the Book of Revelation from Chapter 1 to the end of Chapter 22, as I have done scores of times, is not like traveling forward on a single highway, straight ahead all the time, without ever returning to travel the same stretch of road. Rather, it is like exploring an immense territory, varied to the highest degree, taking different routes, but not always starting at the same point, nor always seeing the same landscapes or scenes, but, 

This type of exploration of the “Territory of the Universe and of Time,” with incursions into the “Celestial Regions” above, is made possible by the “different routes” traced by the Prophecies and Visions of the Book of Revelation, corroborated and expanded in some areas by prophecies given in other books of the Sacred Scriptures of the New Testament of Jesus Christ, and, in some cases, by data in the Old Testament.

First Chain of Prophecies

The SIXTH SEAL definitely contains prophecies about the END of the MATERIAL UNIVERSE and TIME. The apostle John, while on the isle of Patmos, writes, in 95 CE, the following:

The First Chain of Prophecies and Visions is composed of the Sixth and Seventh Seals revealed in Revelation 6:12-17 and 8:1.

Revelation 6:12-17. 12 “And I saw when he opened the SIXTH SEAL, and there was a "GREAT EARTHQUAKE; and the SUN became black as sackcloth of hair, and the whole MOON became as BLOOD; 13 and the STARS of the heaven fell unto the earth, as a fig tree cast her unripe figs when she is shaken of a great wind. 14 And the HEAVEN WAS REMOVED as a scroll when it is rolled up; and every MOUNTAIN and ISLAND was moved out of their places. 15 And the KINGS of the earth, and the PRINCES, and the CHIEF CAPTAINS, and the RICH, and the STRONG, and every bondman and

"The WHOLE MOON became as BLOOD."

freeman, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains; 16 and they say to the mountains and to the rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: 17 for the great day of their wrath is come; and who is able to stand?” Revelation 6:12-17 ASV

Observations and Explanations

Timeline orientation

1. Critcial TIMELINE orientation. It is found in verse 17, the last verse of the above text. The date on Earth’s calendar is “the GREAT DAY” when the “WRATH” of the “only living God,” and of his Son, “the Lamb,” comes. It is, then, indisputably, the LAST DAY of TIME and, therefore, the LAST DAY of the visible, material, temporal world. 2 Corinthians 4:18

Now, we learn from what the apostle Paul teaches “by the Word of the Lord” that just previous to when the catastrophic, mind-blowing visions of the Sixth Seal unfold, two magnificent, glorious events take place before the divine “WRATH” begins to be manifested. They are recorded in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18.

“FIRST…” When “the Lord himself shall descend from heaven, with a shout… the dead in Christ shall rise first.” These are the true, faithful followers of God and Christ who, at the moment of their physical death, were judged worthy to be taken to Paradise (Luke 16:19-31; 23:43), where they would await the appearance of Jesus Christ “a second time, apart from sin.” Hebrews 9:28

Second.  “…then we that are alive [the true, faithful followers of God and Christ who are physically alive on earth on the Day of the Second Coming], that are left, shall together with them be caught up in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air.” 1 Thessalonians 4:17. 

Among them are those who were martyred for their faith in “Armageddon.” The "enemies" of God, guilty of killing them, are startled beyond measure and filled with “great fear” when they behold them, resurrected, standing “upon their feet.” Their astonishment and fear are multiplied a thousandfold when they see them go “up into heaven in the cloud.” Revelation 11:7-13

All those who are thus “caught up… to meet the Lord in the air” (1 Thessalonians 4:17), “will God bring with him,” that is, with Jesus in his appearance “a second time, apart from sin” (Hebrews 9:28; Revelation 19:15), escaping, as prophesied by Jesus, the catastrophes related in Seals Six and Seven. Luke 21:36

It is immediately AFTER these two events that the “WRATH” of God and Christ is unleashed.

2. Who, then, is left on planet Earth on that “Great Day” after, suddenly, the good, righteous, just believers in God and Christ are “caught up in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air?” Answer: Logically, all citizens of planet Earth who are NOT, lamentably, at the beginning of that day, “good, righteous, just believers in God and Christ,” whatever their number may be all around the globe of Earth. Who have stored “up wrath for” themselves “in the day of wrath, when God’s righteous judgement is revealed. He will repay each one according to his works: eternal life to those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor, and immortality; but wrath and anger to those who are self-seeking and disobey the truth while obeying unrighteousness.” Romans 2:5-7. Intelligent Reader, do you take due notice of how these words written by the apostle Paul harmonize perfectly with those written by the apostle John in Revelation 6:15-17 with reference to “wrath and anger to those who are self-seeking and disobey the truth while obeying unrighteousness”?

Escape events

HOW to ESCAPE the TERRIFYING EVENTS of the “GREAT DAY” of “WRATH” of GOD and CHRIST

Dear Reader, if this “Great Day,” this Last Day of earthly time, should come during your lifetime, would you be among the ones NOT EXPECTING IT, unable to escape the fearful, traumatic events that will transpire? You can "escape all these things that shall come to pass. " Luke 21:36. The merciful, loving Living God says that if you will BELIEVE in him and his Son, Jesus Christ, REPENT of your sins, and BE BAPTIZED (immersed in water) “for the forgiveness of sins,” maintaining your faith and good conduct to the end of your life, you will be saved from “WRATH” should you be alive on earth when the “Great Day” dawns. And saved eternally should you die before that “Day.” Here are just a few of the many texts of the Sacred Writings of the New Testament of Christ that guarantee it. Mark 16:16; Acts 2:36-47; 8:26-40; 22:16; Romans 2:4-10; 6:3-7; Galatians 3:26-28 and 1 Peter 3:21.

EVENTS of the “GREAT DAY” of DIVINE“WRATH”

Earthquake

3. EVENT. A “GREAT EARTHQUAKE” occurs on that “Great Day” of the “Wrath” of God the Father and Christ Jesus. Revelation 6:12; 11:13 and 19. An earthquake, singular, but “A GREAT EARTHQUAKE, such as was not since there were men upon the earth, so great an earthquake, so mighty.” Revelation 6:18.

Perhaps “a Great Earthquake” all along a massive, long, branching fault line from the “Land of the Rising Sun” (Japan) to parts of China, India, the Philippines, Indonesia, Pakistan, and Turkey. Or the one beginning in Alaska, down through the USA, Central America, the Caribbean, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Chile. “…so great an earthquake, so mighty… such as was not since there were men upon the earth.”

Sun like sackcloth

4. EVENT. “…and the SUN became black as sackcloth of
hair…”  Revelation 6:12. “Sackcloth of hair.” “A coarse
cloth of goat or camel's hair or of flax, hemp, or cotton.”
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sackcloth.
Sackcloth is not pitch black but semitransparent. Thus
does “the SUN” become on that “Great Day,” the last
one for the material universe and time. A state caused
perhaps by the “…so great an earthquake, so
mighty,” with many volcanoes erupting along
the fault lines and uncountable, enormous
conflagrations breaking out and raging through
cities, industrial complexes, warehouses full of
flammable materials, forests, vast fields of
grains, cotton, etc. Since the unbelieving
“kings… princes… chief captains… rich,” etc.
have time to FLEE and hide themselves in
caves and rocks, it is to be deduced that they
would have light enough, oxygen enough, and
time enough to do just that.

Darkness begins to move across the face of the sun, greatly reducing its brightness.

With regard to this “EVENT” and the following two, the Teacher Jesus of Nazareth, whose “testimony” is the “spirit of prophecy” (Revelation 19:10), proclaimed during his earthly ministry: “And there shall be SIGNS in SUN and MOON and STARS; and upon the earth distress of nations, in perplexity for the roaring of the sea and the billows.” Luke 21:25

Moon as Blood

“…the WHOLE MOON,” and not just a portion of it. “…the WHOLE MOON” perhaps seen as though unusually up close, like the full “Harvest Moon” on a clear autumn night, but

5. EVENT. "...and the whole MOON became as BLOOD..." It did not become blood but “AS BLOOD,” that is, the color of blood. A state also possibly caused by the “…so great an earthquake, so mighty,” as noted in Number 5, above, for “the SUN.” Of course, the Creator God has the power just to make the moon become “as blood,” no other factors involved.

nothing normal about it for it is “AS BLOOD,” a chilling, bone-shaking sight of the direst premonitions for the worst people on Earth when the “Great Day” of God’s “wrath” begins to unfold.

Stars fall

6. EVENT. "...and the STARS of the heaven fell unto the earth, as a fig tree cast her unripe figs when she is shaken of a great wind." Revelation 6:13. 

The original Greek for the first clause is:

The Greek Dictionary by Bill Mounce says that the Greek for “star” (ἀστήρ) means “…a star, luminous body like a star, luminary.” https://www.billmounce.com/greek-dictionary/aster.

https://biblehub.com/interlinear/revelation/6.htm

The Greek Dictionary by Bill Mounce says that the Greek for “star” (ἀστήρ) means “…a star, luminous body like a star, luminary.” https://www.billmounce.com/greek-dictionary/aster.

Falling stars dialogue
Dialogue with Self-Assured One and Mr. Skeptic about "Falling  stars."

Young Professional Self-Assured One quickly speaks up again, Mr. Unbelieving Skeptic vigorously nodding agreement. She observes rather disdainfully: “Whoa! Hold up! That makes no sense, for should even the smallest real star of the spiral of

the Milky Way Galaxy, where Earth is located, come a little close to Earth; the whole planet, with its Moon, would be altogether vaporized in a second. What, then, of your so-called ‘Most evil people’ who are still alive after the sun goes black, the moon, like blood, and the stars fall to the earth? That could not be. It is a bald inconsistency in a prophecy you assert to be worthy of being believed.”

REPLY. No doubt, respected Self-Assured One, what you say about a “real star hitting Earth” would be true. However, I think both of you are too quick to make assumptions. The text of the prophecy does not say that real, full-size stars will actually hit Earth, or that even just one will come close. It does not say that all the trillions of stars of the billions of galaxies that astrologers see in the universe will fall toward Earth. Not even all those of the spiral we are on in the Milky Way. Furthermore, it says nothing whatsoever about the material, physical consequences on planet Earth of the stars falling “unto the earth.”

Think about it. Is there not another possible, even probable, scenario? To wit: That the Creator and Sustainer of all those galaxies of stars will, in the act of bringing all material creation to an end, initiate actions that will result in the DEATH of all those stars. Some of them, perhaps a great number of them would then be seen by those “MOST EVIL PEOPLE trying to ESCAPE the WRATH of God,” as they FLAME OUT in the HEAVENS, crisscrossing the skies, FIERY REMNENTS FALLING to Earth. The whole, a most terrifying experience, indeed! “…men fainting for fear, and for expectation of the things which are coming on the world: for the powers of the heavens shall be shaken,” so prophesied Jesus of Nazareth. Luke 21:26

meteor-explodes-live-shot.jpg

Neither should you overlook or discard one of the meanings of the Greek word for “STAR.” Renowned Greek scholar Bill Mounce says the word can mean a “luminous body like a star.” METEORS, the larger ones called "Bolides," and all of them identified colloquially as "Shooting STARS" -Do you take due notice?- would fall in that category. And so would hot, burning fragments of burned-out, disintegrating

stars. In 2021, 9,629 sightings of meteors were reported. They occur in the mesosphere at altitudes from 76–100 kilometers (47–62 miles). And their velocity is 110,000 km/h (67,000 mph). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meteor

Of a truth, the fact that the “MOST EVIL PEOPLE” are still alive, breathing, and frantically seeking refuge during and after the traumatic EVENTS of the Sixth Seal underscores the logicalness of the above observations.

Heaven rolled back

7. EVENT. "And HEAVEN DEPARTED as a scroll rolled up..." Revelation 6:14 YLT. Other versions translate: “The heavens receded like a scroll being rolled up…” NIV. “The sky vanished like a scroll that is rolled up…” RSV. “And the heaven was removed as a scroll when it is rolled up…” ASV. “Then the sky receded as a scroll when it is rolled up…” NKJV. Many versions translate “SKY” instead of “HEAVEN” or "HEAVENS."

An artistic creation of a long scroll filled with galaxies, stars, etc., extending across a vast segment of space where other galaxies are seen, all in brilliant hues of blues, reds, etc.

Version of June 18, 2026. 6:39 pm. Continued development of the subject in progress.

​

The FOLLOWING SECTION comes after the LAST EVENT of those being studied.

Additional orientations on the Sequence of the
Seven Chains of Prophecies in Revelation

The Sixth Seal contains two more Vision-Prophecies portrayed in detail in Chapter 7 of the Book of Revelation.

Revelation 7:1-8 contains the Vision of the Sealing of the 144,000 of the children of Israel.

Revelation 7:9-17 relates the Vision of a “great multitude… standing before the throne of God… arrayed in while robes… that come out of the great tribulation,” the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures present. A scene similar to the one in Revelation 4.

​Logically, these two scenes take place before the very last moment of the “great day” of the “wrath of the Lamb” and of God the Father, when “the earth and the heaven” flee “away; and there was found no place for them.” Revelation 20:11. Many tremendous events quickly lead up to that “great day,” and more take place on that “great day” before the last second of material time is registered and “there is no more time.”  Revelation 10:5-7. No very exact sequence is published in any one particular text of the Book of Revelation.

We should also keep in mind that, while that “great day” may be 24 hours long, no more, it is also true that “one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” 2 Peter 3:8. Therefore, we may assume that “the day of the Lord…the day of God” that “comes as a thief in the night” (2 Peter 3:10 and 12; 1 Thessalonians 5:2) will be as long or short as he determines.

Now, after the two scenes in Revelation, Chapter 7, comes Revelation 8:1, and it contains the message of the Seventh Seal, which reads: “When the Lamb opened the SEVENTH SEAL, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.”

​At this critical point in our studies, let us take due notice. Revelation 8:1 DOES NOT CONTAIN a link to the First Trumpet, but rather marks the end of time, with the "silence in heaven for about half an hour" being the last event revealed through the series of the Seven Seals.

Revelation 8:2 begins a NEW CHAIN of Prophecies and Visions with the words: “And I saw the seven angels that stand before God; and there were given unto them SEVEN TRUMPETS.”

The division of the Sacred Scriptures of the New Testament into chapters and verses was not done by God but by fallible human beings. Into “chapters” by Stephen Langton, Archbishop of Canterbury, around 1205 CE. Into “verses,” by Robert Estienne, a French printer, in 1551, for the New Testament, and in 1555, for the full Latin Bible.

​Plainly, in a strictly logical division, Revelation 8:1 should have been Revelation 7:18, completing, thus, in that chapter the Chain of the Seven Seals.

NEXT. The SECOND CHAIN of the series of "Seven Chains of Prophecy in the Book of Revelation that conclude with the END of the MATERIAL UNIVERSE and TIME ITSELF." A Mighty Angel declares the END of TIME. The sounding of the Seventh Trumpet signifies that the TIME of the END has come. TIME to deliver the Kingdom to God, to judge the dead, to reward the prophets, good people, and those who fear his name, to destroy them that destroy the earth. The Temple of God in Heaven is opened.

Text and layout by the author Homer Dewayne Shappley. All rights reserved. Not to be sold in any format. The source should be properly identified in any published citation of the content.

A LIST of the CONTENT, with links, of the commentary "Revelation: Its Astounding Relevance for the 20th and 21st Centuries."

This is the title image for the 21st century Commentary on the Book of Revelation by Dewayne Shappley, composed of a horizon background in shades of blue with an explosion of red and white celestial forms on the horizon.
A light brown flat map of the world on a gold-tinted background with the words of the Great Commission in black, blue, and red.

Steps to take to be saved eternally according to the New Testament of Jesus Christ. And be blessed with the imperishable reward of living forever on "the New Earth with New Heavens." "Approaching God in Search of Pardon, Honor, and Eternal Life." Hear the true gospel. Believe that Jesus of Nazareth is the promised Messiah. Repent of sins. Publicly confess that Jesus is the Son of God. Be baptized (immersed in water) "for the forgiveness of sins." Concise text. 33 Bible texts cited. 2 video clips. 6 images. 4-minute read. Este mensaje en ESPAÑOL

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