George H. Warnock — Eschatology
b4 — The Hyssop that Springeth Out of the Wall
End-Time Positioning: the Seventh Seal and the Seventh Trumpet
Warnock places his writing explicitly in an end-time frame: “We believe we are living in the day of the opening of the seventh seal, and swiftly approaching the hour of the blowing of the seventh trumpet.”
George H. Warnock, The Hyssop that Springeth Out of the Wall, hyssop2b.html, section “Take the little book, and eat it”
The seven thunders (Rev. 10:3-4) hold special end-time significance for Warnock: “The seven thunders seemed to have special significance for the end-time, because John was not permitted to reveal what was said. It would not have had vital meaning to the people of his time, as it would in the time of the end, when the mystery of God is to be finished.”
Ibid.
Interpretation: Warnock takes an end-time position identifying his own era (c. 1982) as the period of the seventh seal (Rev. 8:1), the approach to the seventh trumpet (Rev. 11:15).
The Little Book (Rev. 10) as End-Time Commission
The eating of the little book from Rev. 10 is for Warnock the central image of the end-time church’s calling. He quotes Rev. 10:10: “John went unto the angel, and took the little book out of the angel’s hand, and ate it up; and it was in my mouth sweet as honey: and as soon as I had eaten it, my belly was bitter.”
Ibid., quoting Rev. 10:10
This eating has a double effect: sweetness in the mouth, bitterness in the belly. Warnock interprets this eschatologically: “This message will not bring forth that Living Word for the nations of the earth until we EAT THE BOOK. True, it will be ‘bitter’ as you digest it, but it is only in the EATING of the Word that God would bring forth in this hour that clear, sanctified, pure and holy Word that proceedeth directly from the throne of God.”
Ibid.
Interpretation: Book-eating functions as an eschatological sacrament — the end-time church must not merely know the biblical revelation but inwardly digest it, including the suffering that accompanies it, before it can speak.
The End-Time Church as Priestly-Prophetic People for All Nations
After eating the book, John is commissioned: “Thou must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings.” (Rev. 10:11)
Ibid.
Warnock connects this to a universal prophetic calling: “O what a pure Word will come forth in that day! A pure Word to all nations! Here is a people who have eaten the Book, and knowing the bitterness of the Cross in their lives they will have become merciful and faithful priests to men of every color, tribe and nation. The bitter herbs of the Passover meal… the bitter hyssop of a broken and contrite spirit… will have completely removed all bitterness from their lives.”
Ibid.
Interpretation: The end-time church is not national but universal in character — shaped by suffering (Rev. 10:9-10), it speaks God’s Word to all peoples. This is simultaneously an ecclesiological and eschatological statement.
Universal Scope of Redemption
In hyssop1.html, Warnock develops the universal dimension of Abraham’s inheritance. He writes that at the end Abraham will stand “at the head of the line and will look upon his Seed which has sprung forth out of every tribe, and kindred, and tongue, and nation, and people,” quoting Rev. 5:9: “For Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by Thy Blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation.”
George H. Warnock, The Hyssop that Springeth Out of the Wall, hyssop1.html, section “Abraham, a Foreigner in his own land”
Warnock connects this explicitly to Gal. 3:29: the true Seed of Abraham is Christ, and all who are in him — “whether they be from the various countries of Europe, Russia, India, or the little remnant from the land of Israel and the Arabic nations surrounding them, or the people of China, Africa, Australia, New Zealand, or North and South America.”
Ibid.
Interpretation: Warnock’s eschatological vision has a strong universalist tendency: the ultimate gathering concerns literally all peoples and nations, united in faith through the one Seed, Christ (Rev. 5:9; Gal. 3:29).