Shincheonji lesson 108: Revelation 6: the judgment of the sun, moon and stars of the former heaven, part two

Lesson 108 · Advanced

Based on the full Closer Look lesson study

Main verses used

Links open the NET Bible.

What SCJ teaches

This section comes from class notes that an attendee wrote down during SCJ’s 9-month Bible study seminar, posted with the full Closer Look study. They are not SCJ’s printed curriculum, so the wording is the note-taker’s.

The yeast and the review

The class begins by calling this “the most precious time in all of God’s work because it is the last of God’s work.” Students are “the most blessed among all people because we have access to understanding the Bible from Genesis to Revelation,” and “God chose us from the field because He wants us to be part of His kingdom rather than part of the judgment.” The review of the first four seals repeats that the rider on the white horse is Jesus and the horse is New John, and that the bow, sword and scales are all the word. The notes say some told him “Get out of here!” and so judgment began.

The fourth seal, again

Death is “God’s angel,” and “this killing is spiritual in nature, not physical.” Hades “acts as a collector.” The spirits work through a person “described as beast-like.” The notes compare it to Adam and Eve, whose spirits died at once. A fourth of the earth means a fourth of the people, killed first, while the other 75% remained: “The remaining number that had to be killed was 75%.” They die in thirds in Revelation 8, 9 and 12.

The fifth seal

The martyrs under the altar are from the first coming, and their white robes (Revelation 19:8) acknowledge their righteous acts. Their “brothers” are called that “because they once possessed the word of Christ, but they did not repent.” The “inhabitants of the earth” are the destroyers who invaded, and “People inherit both the title and responsibilities of the spirit that uses them,” as in Matthew 23:33-35. The martyrs’ blood is avenged in Revelation 16 and 18.

The sixth seal

The earthquake is the shaking of hearts at the Tabernacle Temple. From Joseph’s dream in Genesis 37:9-11, “a small microcosm that reflects all of God’s chosen people,” the notes conclude: “So the sun, moon, and stars are the pastors, evangelists, and saints.” “The mountain represents the headquarters (HQ)” and “The islands represent the branch churches,” of which “over 70” are mentioned. The rocks and caves are Babylon’s churches. This is the end of spiritual Israel, read alongside Joel 2 and Matthew 24:29-31.

The field is not the destination

The instructor asks what a student will say to God if he asks, “Why didn’t you flee when I told you to?” They might say it felt strange or uncomfortable, but “God didn’t call us to be comfortable – He called us to be in the specific place He designated.” The destination is the barn, Mount Zion. For the tests, “Some questions, like question two, may not be clear yet because we haven’t covered those topics,” and a student can raise a question “with your evangelist during your next meeting.”

In SCJ’s own books

Each passage was checked against the scanned page image; page numbers are as printed.

The Physical Fulfillment of Revelation, Lee Man-hee (Shincheonji Press), page 138:

“The physical bodies of the martyrs were killed in glory while they were preaching the words of God and Jesus. The spirits of the betrayers, however, are killed in shame because they refuse to repent when their sins are recounted to them in Rv 2-3. Their number is completed as they are killed a third at a time at the hands of the destroyers (Rv 8-9).”

Page 141:

“Every mountain and island is moved from its place when the branch churches of the tabernacle of the seven golden lampstands, which are in the world like islands in the sea (Rv 17:15), become gentile possessions instead of belonging to God.”

The same page says that when the sun becomes black, “the heart and spirit of the pastor of the tabernacle become as dark as night.”

How the lesson notes compare with the books

  • The branch churches. Same teaching. The notes say “The islands represent the branch churches,” and Physical Fulfillment p. 141 says the branch churches “are in the world like islands in the sea”.
  • The brothers who are killed. Same teaching. The notes call them brothers because they once had the word, and p. 138 says they are fellow servants and brothers “because, despite living in a different era, they became one family with the martyrs when they were born again of God’s word.”
  • The thirds. Difference. The notes say a fourth die first and then a third each in Revelation 8, 9 and 12. Physical Fulfillment p. 138 says they are killed “a third at a time at the hands of the destroyers (Rv 8-9).” The page does not name Revelation 12. Needs checking.

What the Bible says

  • Revelation 6:11 says who must be killed and how. Each of them was given a long white robe, and they were told to rest for a little longer, until the full number was reached of both their fellow servants and their brothers who were going to be killed just as they had been. (Revelation 6:11, NET)
  • Revelation 6:14 describes the sky, the mountains and the islands. The sky was split apart like a scroll being rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved from its place. (Revelation 6:14, NET)
  • Genesis 37:9-11 is Joseph’s dream. Then he had another dream, and told it to his brothers. “Look,” he said. “I had another dream. The sun, the moon, and eleven stars were bowing down to me.” When he told his father and his brothers, his father rebuked him, saying, “What is this dream that you had? Will I, your mother, and your brothers really come and bow down to you?” His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept in mind what Joseph said. (Genesis 37:9-11, NET)
  • Matthew 23:33-35 is Jesus’ warning to the experts in the law and the Pharisees. You snakes, you offspring of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell? “For this reason I am sending you prophets and wise men and experts in the law, some of whom you will kill and crucify, and some you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town, so that on you will come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Barachiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. (Matthew 23:33-35, NET)
  • Revelation 1:18 says who holds the keys of death and Hades. and the one who lives! I was dead, but look, now I am alive—forever and ever—and I hold the keys of death and of Hades! (Revelation 1:18, NET)
  • Hebrews 2:14 speaks of the power of death. Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, he likewise shared in their humanity, so that through death he could destroy the one who holds the power of death (that is, the devil), (Hebrews 2:14, NET)

Where SCJ’s reading conflicts with the Bible

This lesson continues reading Revelation 6 as judgment on the Tabernacle Temple. It says the fourth seal’s killing “is spiritual in nature, not physical,” with a fourth killed first and “The remaining number that had to be killed was 75%.” It says the “brothers” of the fifth seal are called that “because they once possessed the word of Christ, but they did not repent.” It reads the sixth seal’s sun, moon and stars as “the pastors, evangelists, and saints,” the mountains as the “headquarters (HQ),” the islands as “branch churches,” and the rocks and caves as Babylon’s churches. It closes by picturing God asking, “Why didn’t you flee when I told you to?” and reminding students that “God didn’t call us to be comfortable.” Revelation 6:9-17 says something very different about who is killed and who hides.

  1. 1. The “brothers” are faithful future martyrs

    The notes say the brothers are called brothers “because they once possessed the word of Christ, but they did not repent.” SCJ’s book says they’re betrayers “killed in shame.”

    Read the verses:

    • “I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been violently killed because of the word of God and because of the testimony they had given” (6:9).
    • “they were told to rest for a little longer, until the full number was reached of both their fellow servants and their brothers who were going to be killed just as they had been” (6:11).

    The brothers will be killed “just as they had been,” for the word of God and their testimony. They’re future faithful martyrs, counted with the martyrs’ “fellow servants.” The lesson turns them into the unrepentant. The text says the opposite.

  2. 2. Who “those who live on the earth” are
    • The martyrs cry, “How long … before you judge those who live on the earth and avenge our blood?” (6:10).
    • Throughout Revelation, “those who live on the earth” are the unbelieving world that worships the beast (13:8, 12; 17:8). They’re the persecutors of God’s people, not “the destroyers who invaded” one church.

  3. 3. Death and Hades are enemies, not God’s collectors

    The notes call Death “God’s angel” and say Hades “acts as a collector,” and that the killing is spiritual.

    • The fourth rider kills “with the sword, famine, and disease, and by the wild animals of the earth” (6:8). These are physical deaths.
    • Scripture calls death an enemy: “The last enemy to be eliminated is death” (1 Corinthians 15:26). The devil “holds the power of death,” which Christ came to destroy (Hebrews 2:14).
    • “Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire” (Revelation 20:14). Jesus holds their keys (1:18). (See Lesson 107.)

  4. 4. A fourth, then 75% in thirds
    • Revelation 6:8 says a fourth of the earth. The trumpets affect “a third” of various things (8:7-12; 9:15). Revelation doesn’t add these together into a program for killing the members of one church. Turning the fractions into a schedule is the course’s arithmetic, not the text’s. SCJ’s own book mentions only chapters 8-9, while the notes add chapter 12.

  5. 5. The sixth seal echoes Isaiah and Joel
    • “the sun became as black as sackcloth made of hair, and the full moon became blood red; and the stars in the sky fell to the earth” (6:12-13). This echoes Joel 2:31 and Isaiah 13:10, prophetic images of the Lord’s day of judgment.
    • “The sky was split apart like a scroll being rolled up” (6:14) echoes Isaiah 34:4: “the sky will roll up like a scroll.” In Isaiah, that judgment falls on “all the nations” (34:2).
    • The imagery belongs to universal judgment, not to the leadership of a Korean church.

  6. 6. Joseph’s dream: Father, mother, brothers
    • Jacob explains the dream immediately: “Will I, your mother, and your brothers really come and bow down to you?” (Genesis 37:10). It’s about Joseph’s family. Calling it “a small microcosm” of pastors, evangelists and saints adds a meaning Genesis doesn’t give. (See Lesson 59.)

  7. 7. Mountains and islands

    The notes say the mountain is SCJ’s former church’s headquarters and the islands are its “over 70” branch churches.

    • “every mountain and island was moved from its place” (6:14). Later: “Every island fled away, and no mountains could be found” (16:20); “the earth and the heaven fled from his presence” (20:11).
    • These are pictures of creation itself shaken before God. They don’t describe one church’s headquarters and branches.

  8. 8. Everyone hides from the Lamb

    The lesson says the rocks and caves are Babylon’s churches.

    • “Then the kings of the earth, the very important people, the generals, the rich, the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains. They said to the mountains and to the rocks, ‘Fall on us and hide us from the face of the one who is seated on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb, because the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to withstand it?’” (6:15-17).
    • It echoes Isaiah 2:19: people go “into caves in the rocky cliffs … trying to escape the dreadful judgment of the Lord.” It’s all humanity facing the final day of wrath, not churches. (See Lessons 50 and 74.)

  9. 9. The white rider and the horse
    • The review says the rider is Jesus and the horse is New John. SCJ’s own book says “the riders are many different spirits” (Physical Fulfillment, p. 126). When Jesus rides a white horse in Revelation, he’s called “Faithful” and “True” and “the Word of God” (19:11-13), and the horse isn’t a man. (See Lesson 107.)

  10. 10. Matthew 23: Jesus’ own generation
    • The lesson uses Matthew 23:33-35 to say people “inherit both the title and responsibilities of the spirit that uses them.”
    • Jesus applied the warning to his hearers: “I tell you the truth, this generation will be held responsible for all these things!” (23:36). It isn’t a principle about spirits passing titles to later destroyers.

  11. 11. Calling it “the end of spiritual Israel”
    • Jesus promised: “I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overpower it” (Matthew 16:18), and “I am with you always, to the end of the age” (28:20). The church doesn’t end in betrayal. (See Lesson 60.)

  12. 12. “Why didn’t you flee when I told you to?”
    • The lesson pictures God asking students why they didn’t flee, and says God didn’t call us to be comfortable.
    • Jesus’ command to flee was about Jerusalem’s siege (Luke 21:20-21). He also warned against following reports that he is in a particular place (Matthew 24:26). Fear of God’s disapproval for not joining a group isn’t the same as obeying him. (See Lessons 44 and 90.)

  13. 13. Tests before reasons, questions to your evangelist
    • Students are told some test answers “may not be clear yet,” and to bring questions to their evangelist. Memorizing answers before knowing their basis, and keeping questions within the course’s channel, makes independent checking harder. (See Lessons 70 and 93.)

What the lesson is really for

This lesson continues mapping Revelation 6 onto SCJ’s history:

  • The killings are spiritual and scheduled by fractions.
  • The faithful “brothers” become unrepentant betrayers.
  • The sun, moon, stars, mountains and islands are a church’s leaders and branches.
  • Other churches are caves to hide in; flee or face God’s question.

The biblical answer: the martyrs and their brothers are killed “because of the word of God and because of the testimony” (Revelation 6:9-11). Death and Hades are enemies Christ defeats (1 Corinthians 15:26; Revelation 20:14). The sixth seal echoes the prophets’ images of the Lord’s day (Isaiah 34:4; Joel 2:31), and everyone, kings and slaves alike, hides from “the wrath of the Lamb” (Revelation 6:15-17). And Jesus’ church will never be overpowered (Matthew 16:18).

What’s happening behind the lesson

These notes are our reading of the lesson text, using Steven Hassan’s BITE model (behavior, information, thought and emotional control). They describe what the text does, not the teacher’s intent. Hassan notes that not every group uses every item. Source: Steven Hassan, BITE Model, Freedom of Mind.

  • Emotional: can frame discomfort as a test of loyalty. The notes say “God didn’t call us to be comfortable – He called us to be in the specific place He designated,” and picture God asking, “Why didn’t you flee when I told you to?”
  • Thought: can treat refusal as the cause of judgment. The notes say that when someone answers “no, thank you,” “judgment must follow.”
  • Information: can test before it explains (our reading). The notes say “Some questions, like question two, may not be clear yet because we haven’t covered those topics.” In our reading, a student is asked to study answers whose reasons come later.
  • Behavior: can send questions through the assigned evangelist. A student with an unclear question is told to “use it as a discussion point with your evangelist during your next meeting.”

Asking what a dream’s symbols stand for, as in Genesis 37:9-11, is not a control technique in itself.

Go deeper

Scripture quotations are from the NET Bible. Bible Vaccine Center and Closer Look Initiative are run by the same team.