Sunday, November 9, 2014

Revelation 10 - God will wait no longer

PARENTHESIS BETWEEN THE 6TH & SEVENTH TRUMPET

The world is now given its final warnings before the Great Tribulation (last half of the 7 years) begins. These are the Seven Thunders and the Two Witnesses that God will send to Israel to warn His people to “get right” with Him while there’s still time. After the end of the Battle of Ezekiel chapters 38-39, God will have brought every living Jew to Israel, leaving none behind:
Ezekiel 39:28: Then my people will know that I am the LORD their God -- responsible for sending them away to exile and responsible for bringing them home. I will leave none of my people behind..

Even though many will have already been martyred during the Seal and Trumpet judgments, especially among those who’ve turned to Jesus, there will still be a huge population of religious Jews in Israel with a fully functioning Temple:
Daniel 9:27: He will make a treaty with the people for a period of one set of seven, but after half this time, he will put an end to the sacrifices and offerings. Then as a climax to all his terrible deeds, he will set up a sacrilegious object that causes desecration, until the end that has been decreed is poured out on this defiler."

The Abomination of Desolation will put an end to the sacrifice and offerings, but that won’t happen until the middle of the last 7 years, described in Revelation 13.

The trumpet judgments, which cover the second quarter of the Tribulation are described in chapters 8 and 9. But, we have now reached a parenthesis in Revelation 10:1-11:13 before the seventh trumpet. Revelation 11:14 constitutes the last of the trumpet judgments, which follows chronologically Revelation 9:21 (And they did not repent of their murders or their witchcraft or their immorality or their thefts).

There is still one terror (woe) left and it contains the seven vial judgments.

(1) THEN I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven, surrounded by a cloud, with a rainbow over his head. His face shone like the sun, and his feet were like pillars of fire.

  • Then:
    • After the 5th and 6th angels blew their trumpets in chapter 9 and the remaining inhabitants of the earth (after 1/3 are killed) still did not repent.
  • Another mighty angel:
    • “Another” (allos) means “another of the same kind.” The mighty angel is an angelic being of the same kind, but different (another) from either the sixth angel in 9:13 or the mighty angel in 5:2.
    • I don't believe this is Jesus because this angel is the same kind as before and will swear by God in verse 6, which is inappropriate for Christ. Nor is it any of the seven angels with trumpets. However, many others believe this is Jesus Christ, based on the description given of the angel as being in a position of great power over the earth and as possessing majesty.
  • Coming down:
    • Commentators note that John’s vantage point is now earth and not heaven. He watches as the mighty angel comes down from heaven.
    • Later, another angel, not called mighty, but having great authority, comes down from heaven to announce the impending fall of Babylon in Revelation 18. The angel who binds Satan, an assignment necessitating great authority and power, also is said to come down from heaven in Revelation 20.
  • Feet ... fire:
    • His feet like pillars of fire speak of judgment.

(2) And in his hand was a small scroll, which he had unrolled. He stood with his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land.

  • Small scroll - Greek biblaridion:
    • By now, the Lamb’s book has had all seven seals removed (Revelation 8:1+) and probably lies completely open too. As intriguing as these similarities may be, this book is undoubtedly not the seven-sealed scroll for it is said to be smaller and in 5:1 the 7-sealed scroll is described by the Greek word biblion, whereas here the diminutive form is used, biblaridion. Even so, many expositors believe it's the same scroll, only now unrolled.
  • Right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land:
    • The theme of this chapter is the declaration of God’s intention and right to take possession of the earth—both land and sea—and to bring to fulfillment the many prophetic themes found in Scripture which point to the establishment of God’s kingdom on earth.
    • Spanning the earth and the sea symbolized the formal taking possession of both; or the formal expression of the purpose to do so. Joshua took possession of the promised land in Joshua 1 and Jesus is preparing to take possession of the earth. Remember that Satan offered the world to Jeus in Luke 4:5-6.
      • Joshua 1:3-4: I promise you what I promised Moses: 'Everywhere you go, you will be on land I have given you --  from the Negev Desert in the south to the Lebanon mountains in the north, from the Euphrates River on the east to the Mediterranean Sea on the west, and all the land of the Hittites.'
      • Luke 4:5-6: Then the Devil took him up and revealed to him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. The Devil told him, "I will give you the glory of these kingdoms and authority over them -- because they are mine to give to anyone I please.

(3) And he gave a great shout, like the roar of a lion. And when he shouted, the seven thunders answered.

  • Seven thunders:
    • At first, you might think this was simply a poetic way of describing the rumble of thunder, but verse 10:4 makes it clear that the thundering sounds were actual voices speaking words.
    • Thunder, as we have seen on Mt. Sinai, indicates God’s presence. Throughout the Old Testament and in Revelation 4-6, thunder is associated with the judgment of God on the earth. In the gospel of John 12:29, God's voice sound like thunder to those who did not understand his words. These seven thunders deal with God’s presence, God’s judgment and possibly were God’s voice.
      • John 12:28-32: Father, bring glory to your name."Then a voice spoke from heaven, saying, "I have already brought it glory, and I will do it again." When the crowd heard the voice, some thought it was thunder, while others declared an angel had spoken to him. Then Jesus told them, "The voice was for your benefit, not mine. The time of judgment for the world has come, when the prince of this world will be cast out. And when I am lifted up on the cross, I will draw everyone to myself."
    • Psalm 29 is often called “the Seven Thunders of God”. In that Psalm, seven times the voice of the Lord thunders over the earth in judgment.

(4) WHEN the seven thunders spoke, I was about to write. But a voice from heaven called to me: "Keep secret what the seven thunders said. Do not write it down."

  • Keep secret:
    • Evidently, the message is sealed and is never revealed in this book.
    • The Apostle Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 12:4 that there was a time when he, too, was caught up into heaven, and heard, he says, "things so astounding that they cannot be told".
    • Walvoord: “This illustrates the principle that while God has revealed much, there are secrets which God has not seen fit to reveal to man at this time.”
  • Do not write it down:
    • This implies that John was writing everything down that he heard and saw.

(5) THEN the mighty angel standing on the sea and on the land lifted his right hand to heaven.

(6) And he swore an oath in the name of the one who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and everything in it, the earth and everything in it, and the sea and everything in it. He said, "God will wait no longer.

  • Created:
    •  John 1:1-3: In the beginning the Word already existed. He was with God, and he was God. He was in the beginning with God. He created everything there is. Nothing exists that he didn't make.
  • Wait no longer:
    • Habakkuk 2:2-3: Then the LORD said to me, "Write my answer in large, clear letters on a tablet, so that a runner can read it and tell everyone else. But these things I plan won't happen right away. Slowly, steadily, surely, the time approaches when the vision will be fulfilled. If it seems slow, wait patiently, for it will surely take place. It will not be delayed."
    • Daniel 11:35: And some who are wise will fall victim to persecution. In this way, they will be refined and cleansed and made pure until the time of the end, for the appointed time is still to come."
    • 2 Peter 3:9: The Lord isn't really being slow about his promise to return, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to perish, so he is giving more time for everyone to repent.
    • In Revelation 14:15, the angel is instructed to "Use the sickle, for the time has come for you to harvest; the crop is ripe on the earth."
    • The KJV says there should be time no longer, but the implication that time ceases at this point is obviously untrue. The NIV translates it there will be no more delay.
    • When the angel says, “God will wait no longer,” he means that once the seventh trumpet is sounded, God will act swiftly to establish His righteous rule on earth. Evidently, the seal and trumpet judgments will take some time to unfold, giving earth-dwellers time to repent (6:15-17; 9:20-21), but the bowl judgments will come very quickly allowing little or no time for repentance (16:1-17). 
    • For 2,000 years, the world and even the visible church has pushed Him out. The world is a colossal wreck. God has put up with man’s insults long enough. Man has had his chance; governments of earth have had their chance; the visible church has had its chance. There can be no further delay.
    • The apostate power on earth is to be openly dealt with. The sounding of the seventh Trumpet heralds the pouring out of the concentrated wrath of God on the guilty and apostate scene. The blows are short, sharp and unsparing (Revelation 16:1-21).
    • Ray Stedman: "We read in Acts that the early Christians expected Jesus to return in their day. Paul certainly expected it in his lifetime. There are many places where it is clear that they were looking for his coming two thousand years ago. Every generation of Christians in every century since has been expecting the Lord to return in their time, but he has not come yet. Today we are expecting the Lord to return, probably before this century ends, and yet he may not. But when the seventh angel sounds, the Angel says, "there will be no more delay!" Then that strange, mysterious reluctance of God to carry out what he has so long promised will not only end, but will be explained as well. That is what we may look forward to. And when it happens, God will begin his reign on the earth."
    • God will wait no longer to answer the question of “How Long” from (6:10) and the prayers of the saints in 8:3-5.
    • A man clothed in linen made an oath almost identical to the mighty angel; he showed Daniel this specific time period that the mighty angel announces is coming to an end, which is "time, times, and half a time," or 3 ½ years in length:
      • Daniel 12:6-7: One of them asked the man dressed in linen, who was now standing above the river, "How long will it be until these shocking events happen?" The man dressed in linen, who was standing above the river, raised both his hands toward heaven and took this solemn oath by the one who lives forever: "It will go on for a time, times, and half a time. When the shattering of the holy people has finally come to an end, all these things will have happened."
      • The "time, times, and half a time" in Daniel 12:7 is the last 3 ½ year period leading up to the Kingdom Age, when Israel's power will be completely "shattered" in the middle of the Tribulation. This period of trouble, worse than anything ever experienced on earth, begins when Michael stands up to protect Israel and ends with deliverance of the Jewish believers who will enter the Kingdom and receive their inheritance.
      • This 3 ½ year time of trouble is also described in Revelation 12, when Michael stands against Satan and throws him out of Heaven. The Hebrew word translated "shattering" in Daniel 12:7 can also mean "scattering." The "abomination of desolation" in the middle of the Tribulation "shatters" Israel's power. The beast takes over Israel and desecrates the temple, and the Jews lose their sovereignty as a nation and physically scatter; one-third of them find protection in the wilderness until the Lord returns to establish His Kingdom; the other two-thirds of the Jews perish (Zechariah 13:8-9).

      • Above image from: http://trackingbibleprophecy.com/revelation10A.php

(7) But WHEN the seventh angel blows his trumpet, God's mysterious plan will be fulfilled. It will happen just as he announced it to his servants the prophets."

  • RSV translates as follows:  “In the days when the seventh angel is to blow his trumpet, the mystery of God will be fulfilled…”
  • When the seventh angel blows his trumpet:
    • This does not happen until 11:15, after a period spread out over at least forty-two months (11:2) or 1,260 days (11:3)—the prophetic equivalent of Daniel's "time, times and half a time". The accent falls less on no more delay (verse 6) than on the fact that what is to come is God's mystery (verse 7). Because the future is in God's hands, it is bright, despite all the terrible things John has seen.
  • Seventh ... trumpet:
    • This trumpet, the third terror or woe, introduces the seven bowl judgments that will cover the events of the last three and one-half years of the Tribulation described in chapter 16. Most of what occurs from chapter 12 - 15 are scenes in heaven describing events which will occur on earth.
  • Mysterious plan:
    • The 'mysterious plan' is his total redemptive purpose, which includes the judgment of evil and the salvation of his people.
    • Kelly identifies this “mysterious plan'” as the secret of His allowing Satan to have his own way, and man too (that is to say, the wonder of evil prospering and of good being trodden underfoot). God checks, no doubt, the evil in a measure, partly through human government and partly through His own providential dealings.
  • Fulfilled - Greek teleo:
    • The mystery is fulfilled or finished in the sense that God would then have no more to reveal about these kingdom plans beyond what He revealed to John. He had revealed His plans for the future kingdom to His servants the prophets in former times, but only partially:
      • Hebrews 1:1-2: Long ago God spoke many times and in many ways to our ancestors through the prophets. But now in these final days, he has spoken to us through his Son. God promised everything to the Son as an inheritance, and through the Son he made the universe and everything in it.
  • Announced:
    • The word "announced" is literally "to preach the gospel, or good news" (Greek euangelizo). The purpose of the mighty angel's oath is to assure John that the "bad news" of the first six trumpets is not God's last word.

(8) THEN the voice from heaven called to me again: "Go and take the unrolled scroll from the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land."

(9) So I approached him and asked him to give me the little scroll. "Yes, take it and eat it," he said. "At first it will taste like honey, but when you swallow it, it will make your stomach sour!"

  • Approached:
    • John is still on earth, not on heaven, to be near the angel standing on the earth and sea.
  • Little scroll (the small scroll in verse 2):
    • The clue to the scroll's contents may be within the last verse of chapter 10: "You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, languages, and kings." The scroll is the judgments of the Tribulation and how God's plan will transpire. Upon eating it (taking it in), it is sweet, as we discover that the Lord is indeed bringing his kingdom to the planet and putting an end to evil. But, upon "digesting" it (discerning its meaning and contemplating it), we realize the "bitterness" that must take place, as billions die in the cataclysmic judgments that pound the earth.
  • Take it:
    • John could not be handed the scroll, he had to go and take it from the angel. It is the same with us in the Christian life; we must extend our hand to the Lord as He offers us His plan and purpose.

(10) So I took the little scroll from the hands of the angel, and I ate it! It was sweet in my mouth, but it made my stomach sour.

  • Psalm 19:9-10: Reverence for the LORD is pure, lasting forever. The laws of the LORD are true; each one is fair. They are more desirable than gold, even the finest gold. They are sweeter than honey, even honey dripping from the comb.
  • Jeremiah 15:16-19: Your words are what sustain me. They bring me great joy and are my heart's delight, for I bear your name, O LORD God Almighty. I never joined the people in their merry feasts. I sat alone because your hand was on me. I burst with indignation at their sins. Why then does my suffering continue? Why is my wound so incurable? Your help seems as uncertain as a seasonal brook. It is like a spring that has gone dry." The LORD replied, "If you return to me, I will restore you so you can continue to serve me. If you speak words that are worthy, you will be my spokesman. You are to influence them; do not let them influence you!
    • These verses Jeremiah should strongly speak to us, those who "bear your name"!
  • Ezekiel 2:8-3:3: Son of man, listen to what I say to you. Do not join them in being a rebel. Open your mouth, and eat what I give you." Then I looked and saw a hand reaching out to me, and it held a scroll. He unrolled it, and I saw that both sides were covered with funeral songs, other words of sorrow, and pronouncements of doom. The voice said to me, "Son of man, eat what I am giving you -- eat this scroll! Then go and give its message to the people of Israel." So I opened my mouth, and he fed me the scroll. "Eat it all," he said. And when I ate it, it tasted as sweet as honey.
  • The little book symbolizes God's message which contains both assurance to believers (honey) and terrible, horrible judgments of God’s holy fury to unbelievers (bitter).
  • Swete: “Every revelation of God’s purposes . . . is ‘bitter-sweet,’ disclosing judgment as well as mercy.”
  • Warren Wiersbe-The Bible Exposition Commentary: “God will not thrust His Word into our mouths and force us to receive it. He hands it to us and we must take it. Nor can He change the effects the Word will have in our lives: there will be both sorrow and joy, bitterness and sweetness. God’s Word contains sweet promises and assurances, but it also contains bitter warnings and prophecies of judgment. The Christian bears witness of both life and death (2 Corinthians 2:14–17).”
  • God wanted him to digest the message of the book so that it would change him personally. The eating of this book by John is a picture of understanding the Bible and then applying it to experience by faith.

(11) THEN he said to me, "You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, languages, and kings."

  • Prophecy again:
    • Victorinus, who wrote the first commentary on Revelation in the late third century, understood this phrase to indicate John’s subsequent release from Patmos for how could John deliver what he must prophesy if he were to remain on Patmos?
    • “You must prophesy again,” indicates that this chapter has been an interlude. It was an intermission between the first half of John’s message of judgment and the second half. The first half was unbearable and unbelievable; now, John begin the second half and is recommissioned to prophesy again. The response of the people does not determine the message.

This interlude marks the half-way point between the first half and second half of the 7-year tribulation. The Great Tribulation now begins. In 11:14, we learn that the terror or woe of the sixth Trumpet is over.

Revelation 11:1-4: THEN I was given a measuring stick, and I was told, "Go and measure the Temple of God and the altar, and count the number of worshipers. But do not measure the outer courtyard, for it has been turned over to the nations. They will trample the holy city for 42 months. And I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will be clothed in sackcloth and will prophesy during those 1,260 days." The second terror is past, but look, now the third terror is coming quickly.

NOTES:

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Sunday, November 2, 2014

Revelation 9 - The 5th and 6th trumpets, 1st terror


Above image from www.neverthirsty.org/pp/series/REV/REV016/R0161.html

Ryrie Study Bible: "In this chapter there are more occurrences of the words 'as' and 'like' than in any other chapter in the Bible, which shows how difficult it was for John to describe the scene which he saw in the vision." In fact, I capitalized all the "like's" to remind us that John's trying to describe something he doesn't understand. I'm sure my great-grandfather would describe a jet airplane in the sky as a fire-breathing flying bird-like monster and would have been terrified had he seen one.

We're on a new chapter, but we're on the same topic: There are still seven angels giving trumpet blasts one at a time. After each trumpet blast, something bad happens to the earth. Chapter 9 covers trumpet blasts #5 and #6.

THE FIFTH TRUMPET

(1) THEN the FIFTH angel blew his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen to earth from the sky, and he was given the key to the shaft of the bottomless pit.

  • Then Greek "meta touto":
    • After Revelation 8:13: THEN I looked up. And I heard a single eagle crying loudly as it flew through the air, "Terror, terror, terror to all who belong to this world because of what will happen when the last three angels blow their trumpets."
      • Notice there are 3 terrors mentioned here and in 9:13.
      • One clue that helps us determine time in Revelation is the Greek phrase, "meta touto," which is translated, "after these things" or "then." This tells us when something is definitely chronological.
  • FIFTH angel ... trumpet:
    • Revelation 8:13: Then I looked up. And I heard a single eagle crying loudly as it flew through the air, "Terror, terror, terror to all who belong to this world because of what will happen when the last three angels blow their trumpets.
  • Trumpet:
    • This trumpet is called the first terror (woe in KJV) in verse 12.
  • Star ... had fallen:
    • The meaning here is one of descent to accomplish the task assigned to the angel, not a fall in position. 
    • We know that this star is not a literal star because this star is given a key.
    • A few verses earlier (in 8:10), we were introduced to a flaming star that fell from heaven, but it is not the same star as here. Thomas notes, “The star’s receipt and use of ‘the key of the pit and the abyss’ (vv. 1-2) shows that it stands for an intelligent being.”
    • It is too soon for Satan to be cast out of heaven permanently since the Beast he incarnates when he is cast out of heaven comes out of the pit months after the time of this fifth trumpet. The Beast comes out of the pit just prior to the seventh trumpet just before he kills the two prophets who have completed their 1,260-day testimony (Revelation 11:7). If this were actually the time when Satan and his angels were cast out of heaven by Michael and his angels, there should be a description of more than one star falling from heaven. This angel appears to be on an assignment and does not appear to be an angel being banished from heaven.
  • Key:
    • Since the key was given to another, then the giver must have the ultimate authority.
    • We know that Jesus Christ holds the key to the bottomless pit. He took the key away from Satan when He (Jesus) went there, preached and brought captivity captive out with Him, Ephesians 4:8.
    • This angel still has the key when he locks Satan in the bottomless pit for a thousand years after the tribulation is over in Revelation 20:1-2:
      • Then I saw an angel come down from heaven with the key to the bottomless pit and a heavy chain in his hand. He seized the dragon -- that old serpent, the Devil, Satan -- and bound him in chains for a thousand years.
  • Bottomless pit (abyss):
      • The Greek in this case, reads phear tes abussou, literally, "pit of the abyss" or as in the NIV, "shaft of the Abyss."
      • It seems to be synonymous with the term "tartarus" in 2  Peter 2:4, a place where evil angels are held in prison.
      • The "bottomless pit" is a preliminary prison, not their final abode, which is the lake of fire.
      • The Greek word abyssos is found seven times in Revelation (9:1, 2, 11; 11:7; 17:8; 20:1, 3).
      • Many argue it is the center of the earth, but that doesn't make sense. Is the black hole, from which nothing can escape (not even light) at the center of our galaxy the bottomless pit?

      • Above image from http://astrobob.areavoices.com/
      • The demons of the Gerasene demoniac pleaded with Christ that He not send them to the abyss (Luke 8:31), and Satan will eventually be bound there during the millennium (Revelation 20:1-2). In Jude 1:6, we are told that certain angels who did not keep their own domain, but abandoned their proper abode, are being kept in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day (2 Peter 2:4).
      • Luke 8:31: The demons kept begging Jesus not to send them into the Bottomless Pit.
      • 1 Peter 3:19: So he went and preached to the spirits in prison --
      • 2 Peter 2:4: For God did not spare even the angels when they sinned; he threw them into hell, in gloomy caves and darkness until the judgment day.
        • Hell in 2 Peter 2:4 is tartarus.
      • Jude 1:6: And I remind you of the angels who did not stay within the limits of authority God gave them but left the place where they belonged. God has kept them chained in prisons of darkness, waiting for the day of judgment.
      • Revelation 1:17-18: I am the living one who died. Look, I am alive forever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and the grave.
      • Revelation 20:1-2: Then I saw an angel come down from heaven with the key to the bottomless pit and a heavy chain in his hand. He seized the dragon -- that old serpent, the Devil, Satan -- and bound him in chains for a thousand years.

(2) When he opened it, smoke poured out as though from a huge furnace, and the sunlight and air were darkened by the smoke.

  • Smoke:
    • In Revelation, smoke usually relates to judgment, doom and torment. What John saw resembled to him like smoke billowing out of an active volcano.
  • Darkened:
    • Revelation 8:12: Then the fourth angel blew his trumpet, and one-third of the sun was struck, and one-third of the moon, and one-third of the stars, and they became dark. And one-third of the day was dark and one-third of the night also.

(3) THEN locusts came from the smoke and descended on the earth, and they were given power to sting LIKE scorpions.

  • Locusts:
    • These "locusts" are not insects of a huge plague, but fierce demons who ordinarily are kept in special confinement in the abyss. These are obviously not "natural" locusts.
    • They must not destroy any plant life and they can only torment, but not kill, the unbelievers. The believers are protected by God (as they were in the Egyptian plagues).
    • These locusts are led by the destroying angel who is probably Satan's commander of the dimension called the underworld.
    • Exodus 10:14-15: And the locusts swarmed over the land of Egypt from border to border. It was the worst locust plague in Egyptian history, and there has never again been one like it. For the locusts covered the surface of the whole country, making the ground look black. They ate all the plants and all the fruit on the trees that had survived the hailstorm. Not one green thing remained, neither tree nor plant, throughout the land of Egypt.

(4) They were told not to hurt the grass or plants or trees but to attack all the people who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads.

  • Grass ... plants ... trees:
    • Grass, green things and trees are mentioned here where trees were the only vegetation listed in chapter 7.
    • They are not to touch very thing natural locusts naturally devour.
  • Seal of God:
    • Those with the seal of God would, presumably, include the 144000 Jewish Christian evangelists and those whom they win to Christ. Therefore, this fifth trumpet must chronologically follow the sealing in Revelation 7:1-8, under the sixth seal.
    • It is an allusion from Ezekiel 9:4: He said to him, "Walk through the streets of Jerusalem and put a mark on the foreheads of all those who weep and sigh because of the sins they see around them."

(5) They were told not to kill them but to torture them for five months with agony LIKE the pain of scorpion stings.

  • Five months:
    • The period of locusts is five months: May - September.
    • Besides here and verse 10, I could find only one other direct reference to a five-month period of time in the Bible: Luke 1:22-25: When he finally did come out, he couldn't speak to them. Then they realized from his gestures that he must have seen a vision in the Temple sanctuary. He stayed at the Temple until his term of service was over, and then he returned home. Soon afterward his wife, Elizabeth, became pregnant and went into seclusion for five months. "How kind the Lord is!" she exclaimed. "He has taken away my disgrace of having no children!"
    • Genesis 7:24: And the water covered the earth for 150 days.
      • 150 days = 5 months (5x30)! A time of judgment.

(6) IN THOSE DAYS people will seek death but will not find it. They will long to die, but death will flee away!

  • Revelation 6:15-16: Then the kings of the earth, the rulers, the generals, the wealthy people, the people with great power, and every slave and every free person -- all hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains. And they cried to the mountains and the rocks, "Fall on us and hide us from the face of the one who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb.

(7) The locusts LOOKED LIKE horses armed for battle. They had gold crowns on their heads, and they had human faces.

  • Looked like:
    • John had certainly never seen such a thing before and could only describe them in terms that he and people of his time could grasp. He was a first century man called upon to describe twenty first century warfare. But he had to do it in such a way that all the generations in between could interpret it as well. Even today, we can't relate these so-called locusts to anything in our world. They're clearly a demonic manifestation of some sort.
    • Suggestions that these locusts actually describe something such as the “helicopter gunships of the Antichrist” are interesting, but purely speculative, and don’t fit all the details.

    • Above image from photobucket.com
    • The locusts may be presented to us as an army, but if this were merely a human war, Christians would not be safeguarded either.
  • Crowns: Greek - stephanos

(8) Their hair was long LIKE the hair of a woman, and their teeth were LIKE the teeth of a lion.

  • Hair: Locusts don't have "hair", except on their legs.

(9) They wore armor made of iron, and their wings roared LIKE an army of chariots rushing into battle.

(10) They had tails that stung LIKE scorpions, with power to torture people. This power was given to them for five months.

(11) Their king is the angel from the bottomless pit; his name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek, Apollyon -- the Destroyer.

  • King:
    • Identifying him as Satan is tempting, but the text only calls him an angel. The appearance of Satan later (12:3, 9) is much more dramatic than the introduction of this angel.
    • These are not real locusts because they have no king: Proverbs 30:27: Locusts -- they have no king, but they march like an army in ranks.
  • Destroyer:
    • As the destroyer, Satan himself is the one chiefly responsible for all the forms of destruction in this life, from the Garden of Eden to the last battle at the end of the Millennium (Genesis 3 - Revelation 20). In many ways, the Scripture is in essence a portrait of two, of Satan and his destruction, and the Savior and His deliverance.

(12) The FIRST TERROR is past, but look, TWO MORE TERRORS are coming!

  • Revelation 8:13: THEN I looked up. And I heard a single eagle crying loudly as it flew through the air, "TERROR, TERROR, TERROR to all who belong to this world because of what will happen when the last three angels blow their trumpets."
  • Two more terrors:
    • One down, two to go. It's going to get even worse!

THE SIXTH TRUMPET

(13) THEN the SIXTH angel blew his trumpet, and I heard a voice speaking from the four horns of the gold altar that stands in the presence of God.

  • Gold altar:
    • This is an allusion to the altar of incense in the Tabernacle (cf. Exodus 30:2,3,10). There are two altars mentioned in this section: the altar of sacrifice under which the souls of the martyrs were found (cf. Revelation 6:9-11), and the altar of incense upon which the prayers of God's people are placed (cf. Revelation 8:3-5). The horns were an OT symbol of power. Both the incense altar and altar of sacrifice had horns.

(14) And the voice spoke to the sixth angel who held the trumpet: "Release the four angels who are bound at the great Euphrates River."

  • Four angels ... bound:
    • Because these angels are bound, it may be a reference to evil angels (cf. Jude 1:6), but these are not bound in the abyss.
    • Scripture does not record when or why God bound these angels, but evidently He restricted them as punishment. Perhaps He imprisoned them when Satan rebelled against Him.
  • Euphrates River:

    • Above map from www.thinglink.com/scene/320978959846080514
    • In Revelation 16, John describes the seven bowls of wrath that will be poured out at the very end of this age.  One verse in that chapter has special application to how the armies from the east will gain easy access to the land of Israel at the end: Revelation 16:12: Then the sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great Euphrates River, and it dried up so that the kings from the east could march their armies westward without hindrance.
    • It was the eastern frontier of the Roman Empire in John's day. In the first century people would have thought of the Parthians - the only warriors the Romans could not and did not defeat. This would be the area of modern-day Iran (Persia).
    • The River hasn't been dried up yet allowing the Kings of the East to cross. That comes later in Revelation 16:12.

    • Above image from http://endtimestruth.com/world-war-iii/the-attack-of-china/

(15) And the four angels who had been prepared for this hour and day and month and year were turned loose to kill one-third of all the people on earth.

  • Hour ... day ... month ... year:
    • The expression “for this hour and day and month and year” refers not to the duration of their activity, but to the fact this occurs exactly on the hour of God’s appointment, i.e., the exact hour of the day, month, and year that God ordained it. They execute God’s will in God’s timing.
    • Matthew 24:36:  "However, no one knows the day or the hour when these things will happen, not even the angels in heaven or the Son himself. Only the Father knows."
  • Kill:
    • The demonic locusts described earlier in the chapter were restricted to tormenting mankind. But these four angels have the authority to kill on a massive scale.
  • One-third:
    • If added to the one-fourth in Revelation 6:8, that would be over half the world's population (post-rapture): And I looked up and saw a horse whose color was pale green like a corpse. And Death was the name of its rider, who was followed around by the Grave. They were given authority over one-fourth of the earth, to kill with the sword and famine and disease and wild animals.
    • This will result in approximately half the population of the earth alive at the beginning of the Tribulation being dead at the end of this judgment.
    • With this additional third, that means that over 3 billion people will have died by the time this is over, and the Great Tribulation hasn't even begun yet.
    • There is a repeated pattern of “a third” - which reminds one of the percentage of angels who fell from Heaven with Satan in rebellion.
    • It may be that the army here described continues to fight until the time of the second coming of Christ, and the number slain is the total number involved in the conflict.

(16) They led an army of 200 million mounted troops -- I heard an announcement of how many there were.

  • Army:
    • The Greek word for “army” is plural. This is not one army but several armies which have come together to make war. Since the army will not come to power until the four demons are released from their bonds at the Euphrates River, it implies the demons are the leaders of these armies. This also suggests that since the leaders are demons, the 200 million army is composed of demons too!
  • 200 million:
    • Is this the army of Ezekiel 38-39?
    • The combined Allied and Axis forces at their peak in World War II totaled about 70 million. China has 2,285,000 active frontline soldiers plus 2,300,000 active reserve personnel; fit for military service 281,240,272.
    •  Is this a human army or are these demons? Most likely both!
    • Incredibly, in the day that John penned these words there wasn’t even that many people in the entire world. For most of history, the fulfillment of a prophecy like this would have been impossible. Most Bible scholars considered the prediction to be more symbolic than literal.
    • From the words of Daniel, Ezekiel and John, there is a picture being formed of several powerful military alliances attacking Israel at the end. Remember, the Lord said in Zechariah that he will gather all nations to do battle in the Middle East:
      • Zechariah 14:2: On that day I will gather all the nations to fight against Jerusalem. The city will be taken, the houses plundered, and the women raped. Half the population will be taken away into captivity, and half will be left among the ruins of the city.
    • An army of 200 million mounted soldiers would cover an area one mile wide and 85 miles deep, by some accounts.

(17) And in my vision, I saw the horses and the riders sitting on them. The riders wore armor that was fiery red and sky blue and yellow. The horses' heads were LIKE the heads of lions, and fire and smoke and burning sulfur billowed from their mouths.

  • If this describes a natural army of men, then the weird description might speak of modern, mechanized warfare. John may describe modern machinery in the only terms he can, and the result is this weird, grotesque, terrifying account.

(18) One-third of all the people on earth were killed by these three plagues -- by the fire and the smoke and burning sulfur that came from the mouths of the horses.

  • This seems to be a picture of modern warfare rather than of ancient weapons. This indicates that though there may be a disarmament in the early phases of the time period between the rapture and the second coming, by this time, namely toward the close of the tribulation, modern means of war are once again being fully used. The world that longs for peace and seeks to attain it by the worship of the beast of Revelation 13 will learn the sad lesson that there can be no peace until the Prince of Peace rules.
  • One-third:
    • Refers back to the one-third in verse 15.

(19) Their power was in their mouths, but also in their tails. For their tails had heads LIKE snakes, with the power to injure people.

  • Some argue this is tank warfare. Some argue it is some sort of futuristic war machines. Again, John was using his best "first century language" to describe what He saw.

(20) But the people who did not die in these plagues still refused to turn from their evil deeds. They continued to worship demons and idols made of gold, silver, bronze, stone, and wood -- idols that neither see nor hear nor walk!

  • Refused:
    • As God used the plagues on Egypt as a motivation for (1) Egyptians to believe and serve Him and (2) Israel to stay faithful and serve Him (cf. Deuteronomy 27-28), so these similar plagues were meant to turn unbelieving mankind back to their creator, but they refused. Their stubborn unbelief had become a settled state of rebellion (cf. Romans 1:24,26).

(21) And they did not repent of their murders or their witchcraft or their immorality or their thefts

  • What a horrible and grim picture the Spirit of God has painted for us of these final days!!! Men will hold nothing sacred anymore. Not life, not marriage or the family or sex, not one’s health, nor the property and rights of others. Man will be given over completely to sensual indulgence and he will do anything to satisfy his cravings.
  • Did not repent:
    • The number one reason people won't accept the Gospel has nothing to do with its truth, but with the refusal to change one's lifestyle.
  • Murders:
    • Note that the passage says “murders” (plural). Murder will be rampant. No one will think anything of killing another human being. The ‘law of the jungle’ will prevail. This would also include abortion.
  • Witchcraft (sorcery in the KJV) Greek - pharmakeia:
    • We get the English term "pharmacy" from this Greek word pharmakeia for witchcraft or sorceries (plural). This may have been a reference to magical potions or poisoning, like the wormwood mentioned earlier. In the ancient world, drugs were often used to induce "religious" experience. Drugs will be a big part of the Tribulation. In the Tribulation practically everyone will be on drugs and men will kill and steal to get them.
    • Sorcery per se describes an occult practice in which the adherents claim to have supernatural powers and knowledge, including the ability to foretell the future and to summon evil spirits through charms and magical spells.
    • Revelation 18:23:  Her nights will be dark, without a single lamp. There will be no happy voices of brides and grooms. This will happen because her merchants, who were the greatest in the world, deceived the nations with her sorceries.
  • Immorality (sexual) Greek - Porneia:
    • The pace of sexual sins is increasing and lines being crossed that were unthinkable 10 years ago. Television, movies and the internet have removed any barriers to limits. Homosexual marriage is becoming acceptable and legal.
    • Porneia looks at sexual sins and perversions of every type.
    • Apparently, there will be a complete breakdown in the institution of marriage and we're almost there!
    • More than 70,000 women are sexually assaulted every year in the US. (1 every 45 seconds) It is the most rapidly growing violent crime in the country.
    • Domestic violence is more widespread than ever. Each year between 2 and 4 million women are battered; 1,500 women are murdered by their intimate partners; 1.8 million elderly are victims of maltreatment; 1.7 million child abuse reports are filed. Fornication covers living with someone before you are married, being married and dating someone else and covers all homosexual acts.
  • Thefts:
    • This is the Greek word klemma, “a thing stolen,” or “theft, stealing.” This too is plural and draws our attention to the complete moral breakdown where men will lie, steal, cheat and defraud at every turn.

There is another interlude between chapters 9 and 10 (the sixth and seventh trumpet) like the interlude that separated the sixth and seventh seals. (7:1-17).

Things happen in groups of seven in the book of Revelation. First were the seven seals of the scroll, then the seven trumpet judgments followed by seven bowls of wrath. Between the sixth and seventh of each these is always a parenthesis. This structural parenthesis make a chronological summary of Revelation next to impossible. That's why it is often so hard to follow - because we assume that it is written chronologically in order of events, and that makes it hard to understand:

  1. Between the sixth and seventh seals, we are introduced to the 144,000.
  2. In the next chapter, between the sixth and seventh trumpets, we see John eat a book, measure the temple, and introduce us to the two witnesses.
  3. Between the sixth and seventh bowls of wrath, we see the unclean spirits that prompt Armageddon.

Revelation 10:1-11: Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven, surrounded by a cloud, with a rainbow over his head. His face shone like the sun, and his feet were like pillars of fire. And in his hand was a small scroll, which he had unrolled. He stood with his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land. And he gave a great shout, like the roar of a lion. And when he shouted, the seven thunders answered. When the seven thunders spoke, I was about to write. But a voice from heaven called to me: "Keep secret what the seven thunders said. Do not write it down." Then the mighty angel standing on the sea and on the land lifted his right hand to heaven. And he swore an oath in the name of the one who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and everything in it, the earth and everything in it, and the sea and everything in it. He said, "God will wait no longer. But when the seventh angel blows his trumpet, God's mysterious plan will be fulfilled. It will happen just as he announced it to his servants the prophets." Then the voice from heaven called to me again: "Go and take the unrolled scroll from the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land." I approached him and asked him to give me the little scroll. "Yes, take it and eat it," he said. "At first it will taste like honey, but when you swallow it, it will make your stomach sour!" So I took the little scroll from the hands of the angel, and I ate it! It was sweet in my mouth, but it made my stomach sour. Then he said to me, "You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, languages, and kings."

C.S. Lewis from his book “Mere Christianity”: "God is going to invade this earth in force. But what's the good of saying you're on his side then, when you see the whole natural universe melting away like a dream and something else, something it never entered your head to conceive comes crashing in. Something so beautiful to us and so terrible to others that none of us will have any choice left. This time it will be God without disguise; something so overwhelming that it will strike either irresistible love, or irresistible horror into every creature. It will be too late then to choose your side. There is no use saying you choose to lie down, when it's become impossible to stand up. That will not be the time for choosing; it will be the time when we discover which side we really have chosen, whether we realize it or not. Now, today, in this moment, is our chance to choose the right side. God is holding back to give us that chance. It will not last forever; we must take it or leave it."

LUCIFERIAN DOCTRINE (from www.raptureready.com/featured/kelley/rev9.html):

"There is a belief floating around that’s as old as mankind but in the last days will become a religion that deceives almost everybody. It’s called the Luciferian Doctrine and understanding it helps explain why the world won’t turn to its Creator in this, the worst time in human history.

"The Luciferian doctrine is named of course after Lucifer, a Latin name meaning, “light bearer.” It holds that Lucifer is the Angel of Light, the good guy trying to enlighten the people of the world in preparation for the spiritual evolution necessary to bring peace to all mankind. According to Luciferian Doctrine our physical evolution is finished and all we need to do now is throw off the bonds of Judeo-Christian thinking to complete our spiritual evolution and enter into our long awaited Utopian Era.

"But Lucifer’s being hindered in all this by the evil Adonai (Hebrew for Lord) Who, along with His followers, is working to thwart Lucifer’s grand plan, effectively preventing our spiritual evolution. In order for humanity to achieve Utopia those who insist on clinging to their obsolete Judeo-Christian faith have to be eliminated. The Great Tribulation is characterized in Luciferian Doctrine as the evil Adonai’s last great effort to destroy mankind’s “light bearer” and prevent our ascension into Utopia, keeping us in bondage to Him.

"Following the church’s disappearance, the Truth will become pretty scarce on Earth and the whole world will be deceived into believing the Luciferian Doctrine just as Paul warned would happen (2 Thessalonians 2:9-12). So naturally, thinking the Lord is the bad guy, they will become even more intense in their worship of Lucifer, hoping that he’ll prevail and bring an end to their suffering. (There is a way that seems right to man, but the end thereof is death … Proverbs 14:12) Lucifer, of course, is also widely known as Satan or The Devil."

NOTES:

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Sunday, October 19, 2014

Revelation 8 – Seventh Seal Opened

The Church has been raptured, the 144000 Jewish believers have been commissioned and a huge group of martyrs has arrived in Heaven. In many places on Earth, war rages unchecked, with its attendant famine and pestilence, and yet in other places peace still prevails. Now, God is about to open the last seal, fully open the scroll and unleash the 7 Trumpet judgments.
One of the difficulties in studying the next chapters is trying to determine whether the events are sequential or parallel or concurrent. H. Wayne House, Chronological and Background Charts of the New Testament: Some say the seals, trumpets and bowls are consecutive: the seals come first, are followed chronologically by the trumpets, which in turn are followed by the bowls. Others say the seals, trumpets and bowls are simultaneous: they all refer to the same phenomena, but are repeated to show the same phenomena from different angles or perspectives. Others say the seals, trumpets and bowls are telescopic: the trumpets are the content of the last seal, and the bowls are the content of the last trumpet.
W. G. Scroggie, The Book of the Revelation, pp. 167-169 says that the trumpets do not follow, but ARE the Seventh Seal. In like manner, he holds that the bowls constitute the seventh trumpet: Therefore, the Bowls do not double back over the Seal and Trumpet Judgments; neither is it correct to say that they follow the Trumpet visitations. They do not follow because THEY ARE THE SEVENTH TRUMPET CONTENTS. Scroggie goes on to note that the judgments of the bowls are poured out in quick succession.
(1) When the Lamb broke the seventh seal, there was silence throughout heaven for about half an hour.
  • Broke the seventh seal:
    • Notice in the above picture that the 7th seal must be broken before the scroll can be opened!
  • Seventh seal:
    • Chapters 6 and 7 present the six seals. The seventh seal contains the seven trumpets and the seven vials of judgments. The seventh seal contains the period of both trumpets and vials and is immediately followed by the Great Tribulation. The first six trumpets relate to the earth, the seventh to heaven (11:5).
  • Silence:
    • At Jericho, the priests blew their trumpets each day and the people kept SILENT. But on the SEVENTH day, they compassed the city seven times, sounded their trumpets SEVEN times and SHOUTED.
    • In his commentary on Revelation, Earl Palmer says, "It communicates in a dramatic way the full and awesome authority of God. Everything must wait for his kingly move."
    • It is the calm before the storm of judgment to come! The next set of judgments will be so catastrophic that heaven is silent in anticipation.
    • The twenty- four elders ceased to play their harps. Heaven’s angels hushed their singing. Cherubim and Seraphim ceased to praise God. The host of Heaven stood in awe. Think of Heaven standing in complete silence for the space of half an hour!
    • Per Psalm 22:2-3; 39:2; 62:1; 65:1, silence is the period between offering up a prayer and its answer, which tells us what we should do when we pray.
    • Psalm 46:10: "Be silent, and know that I am God! I will be honored by every nation. I will be honored throughout the world."
    • Habakkuk 2:20: But the LORD is in his holy Temple. Let all the earth be silent before him."
    • Zephaniah 1:7: Stand in silence in the presence of the Sovereign LORD, for the awesome day of the LORD's judgment has come. The LORD has prepared his people for a great slaughter and has chosen their executioners.
    • Zechariah 2:13: Be silent before the LORD, all humanity, for he is springing into action from his holy dwelling."
(2) And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and they were given seven trumpets
  • Seven Angels:
    • According to Revelation 8:2, there are seven angels "that stand before God." One of these is Gabriel. We know this because of information that he gave to Zacharias in the following words: “I am Gabriel! I stand in the very presence of God" (Luke 1:19). Gabriel brought a message to Daniel (Daniel 9:21). We have no clear information as to the identity of the other six that stand in the Almighty's presence, but Michael is probably another. Interestingly, the apocryphal book of Enoch, an ancient book that is not part of our Bible, gives the names of all seven angels. They are Uriel, Raphael, Raguel, Michael, Sarakiel, Gabriel, and Phanuel.
  • Trumpets:
    • Above from http://blog.churchoftherock.ca/revelation-revolution. Notice that the seventh trumpet is not sounded until chapter 11!
    • In Numbers 10, Moses ordered the manufacture of two silver trumpets that were to be blown on different occasions and for various purposes. One of the purposes of the trumpets was to call together at the door of the tent of meeting an assembly of the leaders of Israel. At times, the sounding of the trumpets was to announce the marching of the camp forward to another location. Sometimes, they were blown at the time of burnt offerings and sacrifices of peace offerings. At other times, they were sounded as a call to war (Numbers 10:9, Ezekiel 33:1-6). But, in the book of Revelation - they sound an alarm of war - the war of Heaven against earth.
    • Joel 2:1: Blow the trumpet in Jerusalem! Sound the alarm on my holy mountain! Let everyone tremble in fear because the day of the LORD is upon us.
(3) THEN another angel with a gold incense burner came and stood at the altar. And a great quantity of incense was given to him to mix with the prayers of God's people, to be offered on the gold altar before the throne.
  • Another angel:
    • There are 2 Greek words for another – állos and héteros. Héteros is another of a different kind and állos is another of the same kind. Therefore, this probably is another angel of the same kind as in verse 2. However, many of the expositors of Revelation identify this angel as Jesus himself because, in the Old Testament while marching through the wilderness, Israel is led by a great angel called “the Angel of Yahweh”.
  • Incense burner:
    • In the Old Testament order, the priests would burn incense upon the altar of incense, and the smoke would fill the Temple or the Tabernacle and would then ascend to heaven. Incense was symbolic of worship and prayer and a reminder that intercession to the Lord has the character of sweet incense. The altar in heaven is referred to seven times in this book (6:9; 8:3a, 8:3b, 8:5; 9:13; 14:18; 16:7). Commentators differ as to whether the altar is the altar of burnt offering or the altar of incense, although the latter is usually preferred.
    • Notice that there seems to be a contradiction as to the location of the incense burner! The Old Testament references seem to indicate that it was kept in the Holy Place, not in the Holy of Holies. In Hebrews, Paul says it was kept in the Holy of Holies! Why? The difference between the Golden Altar in Revelation 8:3 and that in the Temple is the absence of the veil that once separated the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies. Because the veil has been rent in two, we now have boldness to enter the Presence.
    • Exodus 30:7-9: "Every morning when Aaron trims the lamps, he must burn fragrant incense on the altar. And each evening when he tends to the lamps, he must again burn incense in the LORD's presence. This must be done from generation to generation. Do not offer any unholy incense on this altar, or any burnt offerings, grain offerings, or drink offerings.
    • Exodus 37:25-28: The incense altar was made of acacia wood. It was eighteen inches square and three feet high, with its corner horns made from the same piece of wood as the altar itself. He overlaid the top, sides, and horns of the altar with pure gold and ran a gold molding around the edge. Two gold rings were placed on opposite sides, beneath the molding, to hold the carrying poles. The carrying poles were made of acacia wood and were overlaid with gold.
    • Leviticus 16:12-13: he will fill an incense burner with burning coals from the altar that stands before the LORD. Then, after filling both his hands with fragrant incense, he will carry the burner and incense behind the inner curtain. There in the LORD's presence, he will put the incense on the burning coals so that a cloud of incense will rise over the Ark's cover -- the place of atonement -- that rests on the Ark of the Covenant. If he follows these instructions, he will not die.
    • Psalm 141:2: Accept my prayer as incense offered to you, and my upraised hands as an evening offering.
    • Luke 1:9-11: As was the custom of the priests, he was chosen by lot to enter the sanctuary and burn incense in the Lord's presence. While the incense was being burned, a great crowd stood outside, praying. Zechariah was in the sanctuary when an angel of the Lord appeared, standing to the right of the incense altar.
    • Hebrews 9:1-4: Now in that first covenant between God and Israel, there were regulations for worship and a sacred tent here on earth. There were two rooms in this tent. In the first room were a lampstand, a table, and loaves of holy bread on the table. This was called the Holy Place. Then there was a curtain, and behind the curtain was the second room called the Most Holy Place. In that room were a gold incense altar and a wooden chest called the Ark of the Covenant, which was covered with gold on all sides. Inside the Ark were a gold jar containing some manna, Aaron's staff that sprouted leaves, and the stone tablets of the covenant with the Ten Commandments written on them.
    • Revelation 5:8: And as he took the scroll, the four living beings and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp, and they held gold bowls filled with incense -- the prayers of God's people!
  • God’s people (saints in the KJV) – Greek = ton hagion:
    • The question is, who ARE these saints or God's people? Why are they praying? At the time of the removing of the seventh seal, the Church will be in Heaven, having been raptured before this time of terrible judgment.
    • We are not specifically told who the “God’s people” or saints are, but the implication of the passage is that the saints here are Tribulation saints, both Jew and Gentile believers who are living on earth during the Tribulation. Their prayer is that God would pour out His wrath on a rebellious world, but their desire is to establish His kingdom and will on earth.
(4) The smoke of the incense, mixed with the prayers of the saints, ascended up to God from the altar where the angel had poured them out.
  • Ray Stedman: “There is one prayer that the people of God in all ages have been praying that has never yet been answered. It is clear from the Scriptures that the saints of God prayed this prayer from the dawn of the race. Adam probably prayed it when he left the Garden of Eden. Noah undoubtedly prayed it when he came out of the ark into a new world after the flood. Abraham surely prayed it as he looked for a City yet to come. King David prayed it, and, when we come to the New Testament, all the apostles, including Paul, prayed this prayer. It is the prayer that Jesus taught his disciples to pray: "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven," (Matthew 6:10, Luke 11:2 KJV). That prayer has never yet been answered. We have not seen God's kingdom visibly on earth. Invisibly it is present in the church and is seen in the rule of God over the affairs of men, but visibly the prayer has never been answered. But when we come to the end of these three series of judgments we will find that the prayers of men are at last to be fulfilled.”
  • Clarke: "It is not said that the angel presents these prayers. He presents the incense, and the prayers ascend WITH it. The ascending of the incense shows that the prayers and offering were accepted."
 (5) THEN the angel filled the incense burner with fire from the altar and threw it down upon the earth; and thunder crashed, lightning flashed, and there was a terrible earthquake.
  • Thunder … lightning … earthquake:
    • Revelation 11:15,19: Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices shouting in heaven: "The whole world has now become the Kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign forever and ever." … Then, in heaven, the Temple of God was opened and the Ark of his covenant could be seen inside the Temple. Lightning flashed, thunder crashed and roared; there was a great hailstorm, and the world was shaken by a mighty earthquake.
    • Revelation 16:17-18: Then the seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air. And a mighty shout came from the throne of the Temple in heaven, saying, "It is finished!" Then the thunder crashed and rolled, and lightning flashed. And there was an earthquake greater than ever before in human history.
  • Ezekiel 10:2: Then the LORD spoke to the man in linen clothing and said, "Go in between the whirling wheels beneath the cherubim, and take a handful of glowing coals and scatter them over the city." He did this as I watched.
  • If burning incense is symbolic of the prayers of saints who are imploring God to act -- then returning that fire to earth is a symbol of answered prayer. In other words, we have now come to the time when God will answer the prayers of his people. What is the result?
  • The clear implication is that the censer is here used as a symbol of judgment, apparently in response to the intercession and prayers of the suffering saints in the midst of the great tribulation. The scene, therefore, is set for the judgment symbolized by the seven trumpets about to sound according to the next verse.
(6) THEN the seven angels with the seven trumpets prepared to blow their mighty blasts.
  • In Revelation 11:15, at the last of the blowing of trumpets, we learn that when the seventh angel blows his trumpet the same sounds are heard and an angel proclaims that, "The whole world has now become the Kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ". These sounds come at the end of each of the series of seven - the seals, the trumpets and the bowls of the wrath of God. Thus, we learn here at the opening of this seventh seal, when the great Angel casts the fire of God back upon the earth, that the day has come when God answers fully the prayers of his people.
  • Notice this occurs before the first trumpet is blown.
(7) The first angel blew his trumpet, and hail and fire mixed with blood were thrown down upon the earth, and one-third of the earth was set on fire. One-third of the trees were burned, and all the grass was burned.
  • John, along with the 24 elders representing the raptured church in heaven, is watching judgment fall on the earth.
  • This is very similar to the seventh plague that fell on Egypt during Moses' confrontation of Pharaoh, when hail and lightning came upon the whole land. Here, it is mingled with blood. Notice that the plagues of the first four trumpets all fall on creation.
  • Thrown Down:
    • Revelation 16:2: So the first angel left the Temple and poured out his bowl over the earth, and horrible, malignant sores broke out on everyone who had the mark of the beast and who worshiped his statue.
  • Third:
    • The word "third" is used eight times in these chapters 8 & 9 alone.
  • Hail:
    • Exodus 9:24: Never in all the history of Egypt had there been a storm like that, with such severe hail and continuous lightning.
  • Trees:
    • The word “trees” speaks of “fruit trees”.
  • All the grass:
    • This must refer to the complete destruction of the green grass within the one-third area, because green grass is protected in 9:4.
    • Wheat is a grass and its destruction would be catastrophic.
(8) THEN the second angel blew his trumpet, and a great mountain of fire was thrown into the sea. And one-third of the water in the sea became blood.
  • Great mountain (KJV: something like a great mountain):
    • John carefully said that this is not an actual mountain (note the use of the word like in the KJV), but it was a blazing mass as large as a mountain.
    • This may refer to nuclear devastation or a giant asteroid or meteor that comes from outer space, killing 1/3 of the aquatic life.
    • Tim LaHaye thinks it is likely an enormous meteorite crashing through the atmosphere. As a result, a third of everything living in the sea dies, and a third of the ships on the sea are destroyed.
  • Sea:
    • The sea may be a specific reference to the Mediterranean and not a reference to all oceans. For a person in the world in which John lived, the Mediterranean Sea was the sea.
    • Revelation 16:3: Then the second angel poured out his bowl on the sea, and it became like the blood of a corpse. And everything in the sea died.
  • Blood:
    • Exodus 7:19: Then the LORD said to Moses: "Tell Aaron to point his staff toward the waters of Egypt -- all its rivers, canals, marshes, and reservoirs. Everywhere in Egypt the water will turn into blood, even the water stored in wooden bowls and stone pots in the people's homes."
(9) And one-third of all things living in the sea died. And one-third of all the ships on the sea were destroyed.
  • Ships:
    • Clarkson’s Shipping Intelligence Weekly listed in 2012 58,900 cargo-carrying vessels. The World Fleet Monitor, which covers everything else (except fishing boats, naval and so on, listed 87,483 ships. Additionally, there are about 5,000 war ships in the world. So, the total would be 151,000 sea-going ships! So, about 99,000 ships would be destroyed!
(10) THEN the third angel blew his trumpet, and a great flaming star fell out of the sky, burning like a torch. It fell upon one-third of the rivers and on the springs of water.
  • Star:
    • We will find a similar "star" in Chapter 9 when we hear the fifth and sixth trumpets of judgment: Revelation 9:1: Then the fifth angel blew his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen to earth from the sky, and he was given the key to the shaft of the bottomless pit.
    • The words used by John here are mevga Megas ajsthvr Aster, literally “Mega Asteroid” unlike the burning mountain, which fell on the sea.  This meteorite falls on 1/3 of the drinking water. This meteorite could very well be part of the first one, also being toxic in nature. This meteorite as it enters earth’s atmosphere could break up causing its toxicity to hit the drinking waters.
    • An object half a mile across packs a one-million-megaton punch, enough to threaten the globe, but objects this large are rare. "Tunguska-class" objects, that is, those measuring about 195 feet (60m) across, strike Earth far more frequently. Indeed, the class itself refers to an object that exploded above the Siberian taiga in 1908 with an estimated force of 10 megatons or more. (http://www.astronomy.com/)
  • Rivers …. springs of water:
    • Revelation 16:4-7: Then the third angel poured out his bowl on the rivers and springs, and they became blood. And I heard the angel who had authority over all water saying, "You are just in sending this judgment, O Holy One, who is and who always was. For your holy people and your prophets have been killed, and their blood was poured out on the earth. So you have given their murderers blood to drink. It is their just reward." And I heard a voice from the altar saying, "Yes, Lord God Almighty, your punishments are true and just."
(11) The name of the star was Bitterness. It made one-third of the water bitter, and many people died because the water was so bitter.
  • Bitterness = Wormwood in the KJV (Greek apsinthos)
    • This great star is very likely a comet, which breaks up when it enters the atmosphere and scatters itself throughout the earth, falling into the rivers and springs and poisoning them with what is probably a form of radiation. We have had, perhaps, a kind of a foregleam of this and a note of warning from God, in the terrible nuclear accident that happened in Russia some years ago. It occurred at a city named Chernobyl -- and Chernobyl is the Russian word for Wormwood! In Chernobyl, Ukraine, the worst nuclear accident in history exposed 6.6 million people to potentially lethal radiation, contaminating the Dnieper River and reservoir, one of Europe's largest water systems.
(12) THEN the fourth angel blew his trumpet, and one-third of the sun was struck, and one-third of the moon, and one-third of the stars, and they became dark. And one-third of the day was dark and one-third of the night also.
  • The results of the first three trumpets, results in what happens in the fourth. With the increase in volcanic activity and the burning of grass and trees, the earth being struck by two asteroids the billowing smoke fills the outer atmosphere as happened in the 1883 eruption of Krakatoa in Indonesia, the most violent volcanic event in recorded history. The eruption was equivalent to 200 megatons of TNT - about 13,000 times the nuclear yield of the bomb that devastated Hiroshima. The cataclysmic explosion was heard as far away as 3,000 miles. The clouds of ash were more than six miles high. It created a 120-foot tsunami wiping out islands and ships a mile away. The explosions hurled an estimated 11 cubic miles of debris into the atmosphere darkening skies up to 275 miles from the volcano. In the immediate vicinity, the dawn did not return for three days. The shock waves in the atmosphere circled the planet at least seven times. Within 13 days, a layer of sulfur dioxide and other gases began to filter the amount of sunlight able to reach Earth. The atmospheric effects made for spectacular sunsets all over Europe and the United States. Average global temperatures were up to 1.2 degrees cooler for the next five years. In the weeks following the eruption, fine fragments of rock fragments and dust were propelled miles into the stratosphere and began to make a ring around the equator. They would remain suspended there for years causing remarkable solar effects and atmospheric hazing as they bent the incoming light. Also, the enormous volumes of sulfur dioxide gas molecules that were ejected into the atmosphere combined with water to make sulfuric acid. These acidic aerosols sufficiently blocked enough sunlight to drop the Earth's temperature by several degrees for a few years. Their presence in the atmosphere also created spectacular effects over 70% of the Earth's surface. Effects such as halos around the sun and moon, and amazing sunsets and sunrises were seen. For years these particles would remain suspended in the atmosphere. Earlier, in 1815, the Tambora eruption caused global temperatures to be an average of five degrees cooler; even in the United States, 1816 was known as the “year without a summer.” Crops failed worldwide.
  • Sun, moon and stars:
    • Matthew 24:29: Just as the gathering of vultures shows there is a carcass nearby, so these signs indicate that the end is near. Immediately after those horrible days end, the sun will be darkened, the moon will not give light, the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of heaven will be shaken.
  • Dark:
    • The meaning seems to be: the sun’s power to light the day was removed for one-third of the time and the same was true for the moon and stars at night.
    • Exodus 10:21: Then the LORD said to Moses, "Lift your hand toward heaven, and a deep and terrifying darkness will descend on the land of Egypt."
    • Revelation 9:1-2: Then the fifth angel blew his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen to earth from the sky, and he was given the key to the shaft of the bottomless pit. When he opened it, smoke poured out as though from a huge furnace, and the sunlight and air were darkened by the smoke.
(13) THEN I looked up. And I heard a single eagle crying loudly as it flew through the air, "Terror, terror, terror to all who belong to this world because of what will happen when the last three angels blow their trumpets."
  • Eagle (Angel in KJV. Greek aetos):
    • It is quite evident that the eagle that John saw "crying loudly as it flew through the air, "Terror, terror, terror to all who belong to this world," was referring to the last three trumpet judgments, which are here called "terrors." The reason for this fact is that the latter three judgments are far more intense and destructive than the first three--although these seem almost to reach the limit of the endurance of men in the areas where they take place.
    • This is no ordinary eagle. The Greek uses the word normally translated angel, indicating some kind of supernatural message, sent to prepare the world for what's ahead.
  • Terror, terror, terror:
    • This possibly corresponds to the last three trumpets that are to come (cf. 9:12; 11:14; 12:12); it may also be a symbol of intensity (like "holy, holy, holy" of 4:8). In Hebrew a three-fold repetition is a superlative.
    • The angel's “terrors” or “woes” are well founded, because one-third of the earth's population will die in the next three trumpets.
    • The fifth angel that sounds with his trumpet calls forth the first terror, and the sixth with his blast causes the second terror to come forth with all its might. These are described in chapter 9. But the seventh trumpet--the third terror --does not call forth any definite specific thing that transpires upon the earth. Rather, it develops into the seven bowl judgments described in chapter 16.
    • Revelation 9:12: The first terror is past, but look, two more terrors are coming!
    • Revelation 11:14: The second terror is past, but look, now the third terror is coming quickly.
    • Revelation 12:12: Rejoice, O heavens! And you who live in the heavens, rejoice! But terror will come on the earth and the sea. For the Devil has come down to you in great anger, and he knows that he has little time."
  • Metzger (Breaking the Code. Understanding the Book of Revelation) says that the “judgments that follow each of the first four trumpets are elemental forces of nature, which are directed against the cosmos and which affect humanity indirectly.” He contrasts that with the “last three trumpets [which] call forth demonic forces, falling directly on humanity.”
  • Similarly, Ladd (A Commentary on the Revelation of John) says: “The forces of nature have fallen under divine judgment as a warning to sinful men [with the first four trumpet judgments]…” The fifth and sixth plagues will fall directly on the “persons of men.” He also says that an eagle is chosen because it has strong wings and has a wide perspective. “to all who belong to this world’ is a repeated expression in the Revelation designating the pagan world in its hostility to God (3:10; 6:10; 11:10; 13:8; 17:2.
  • As severe as the first four judgments have been, worse is yet to come. The first four attacked nature, with humankind affected indirectly. The next judgments will attack humanity directly. John is saying, “The worst is yet to come. You ain’t seen noth’n yet!”
  • Above image from http://www.thesecondcomingofchrist.org/
NOTES:


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