7 And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle; and on their heads were as it were crowns like gold, and their faces were as the faces of men.
8 And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as the teeth of lions.
9 And they had breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron; and the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle.
10 And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and their power was to hurt men five months.
11 And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon.
12 One woe is past; and, behold, there come two woes more hereafter.
7 And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle
In chapter two of his book, Joel shows us a blending of the plague of locusts together with the threat of the Assyrian army
But he is looking forward into the future and the Day of the Lord
He describes the “locusts” and we hear the trumpet
Joel 2
1Blow a trumpet in Zion;
sound an alarm on my holy mountain!
Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble,
for the day of the LORD is coming; it is near,
2a day of darkness and gloom,
a day of clouds and thick darkness!
Like blackness there is spread upon the mountains
a great and powerful people;
their like has never been before,
nor will be again after them
through the years of all generations.
3Fire devours before them,
and behind them a flame burns.
The land is like the garden of Eden before them,
but behind them a desolate wilderness,
and nothing escapes them.
4Their appearance is like the appearance of horses,
and like war horses they run.
5As with the rumbling of chariots,
they leap on the tops of the mountains,
like the crackling of a flame of fire
devouring the stubble,
like a powerful army
drawn up for battle.
John begins a series of descriptions which are simultitudes or representations that establish what he is seeing and his lack of words to convey what he has obviously never laid eyes on before
He does his best to explain what he is experiencing
Many have taken these verses and opted to spiritualize these visions because of the fantastic and otherworldly descriptions
Others have allegorized these descriptions to the point of normalizing them into a future time depicting military conflict with current technology
Yet nowhere does this passage provide license for symbolic or allegorical interpretations
These represent the closest similarity that John knew for describing what he was seeing
If this was only allegory or symbolism then he wouldn’t have given such excessive details and wasted so much time on this matter
The most important thing is to ask the question:
What did John see and what did he relate it with in his own world view?
It doesn’t matter what we see from this century
Our perspective is wrong regardless of what we interpret if we don’t try to consider what they believed
As far as they were concerned, there was only two different realms:
Natural and supernatural
Visions of Yahweh were incorporated from views that came from the time and from already existing aspects of well known Eliohim who were not Yahweh, but these aspects were used to show that He was the ultimate incarnation of any being who was considered a god
We don’t know very much about the spiritual realm
We can speculate that this group coming from the abyss is demonic in that they have been locked away for an evidently unknown period of time
It can also be speculated that these creatures are a kind of infernal Cherubim by the link of having the horse, man, lion, and scorpion combined together
We don’t know the real size of these “locusts” other than their similarities to natural locusts and the fact that their sting doesn’t kill
This could mean that they are the size of natural insects
They are like locusts in how they swarm and fly, but they are far from locusts physically
Remember that we are not expected to completely understand what we are reading but to believe that what God calls forth will be real and terrifying
As we saw earlier, both John and Joel use similar terminology to describe these creatures
We can also tell that John gets his information from Joel 1 and 2
This judgment in Joel is based on the plague of locusts in Exodus 10
Notice that the blowing of the trumpet is announced at the beginning and end of Joel 2
Their appearance is like the appearance of horses; and like swift steeds, so they run. With a noise like chariots over mountaintops they leap, like the noise of a flaming fire that devours the stubble, like a strong people set in battle array.
Before them peoples are in anguish;
all faces grow pale.
(Joel 2:4-6)
In verse 6 some translations use “nations” instead of “peoples”
The word used here is “Ammim” and it stands for more than just Israel so even Joel is aiming for a future time in his vision
Joel saw this natural local plague of his own day as a type or model of the coming plague as God’s sovereign judgment in the guise of an invading army in the Day of the Lord, something that, in his own day, would bring calamity, chaos, and death
Similar in appearance to horses
Revelation 9:7
Joel 2:4
The association with horses comes to us through three factors:
The heads of locusts and horses are similar in appearance
The German and Italian words for locusts is “Hay-Horse,” and “Little Horse”
Both locusts and human armies advance swiftly
The Locusts wings resemble the sound of chariot wheels
Notice that they are not in battle but advancing towards the enemy
In the Testament of Solomon, king Solomon encountered a demon who was similar to a lion with wings
“When Solomon heard this, he got up from his throne and went outside into the vestibule of the court of his palace, and there he saw the demon, shuddering and trembling. He asked him, “Who are you?”
The demon answered, “I am called Ornias.”
Solomon ordered him, “Tell me, O demon, to what zodiacal sign you are subject?”
He answered, “To Aquarius. Those who are obsessed with lust for the beautiful virgins on Earth, these I strangle in their sleep. If there is no desire to sleep, I changed into three forms. Whenever men become enamored of women, I metamorphose myself into a beautiful female, and I take hold of the men in their sleep and play with them. After a while, I again take to my wings and fly to the regions in the sky. I also appear as a lion, and I am commanded by all the demons. I am the offspring of the archangel Uriel, the power of God.”
Jewish tradition held that in Sheol there were angels of darkness who were in authority over thousands of scorpions
Deuteronomy 28 predicted that Israel will suffer the plagues of Egypt “in the latter days”
Is this what we are witnessing?
John is about to begin a detailed description of the locusts
The use of “likeness” and repeated “like” let’s us know his inability to precisely describe what he is seeing
He is also evidently trying to represent his understanding of how these visions relates to the Old Testament prophetic tradition
on their heads were crowns of something like gold
These are crowns,
John does not use simile to describe the crowns, but to describe the material out of which they were made
Something like gold
These crowns differentiate these creatures from natural locusts
This could be from the actual shape of the heads of these creatures possibly ending in a crown shaped form that resembles gold although this could relate to their hair
their faces were like the faces of men
This also indicates they are intelligent rational beings and not normal locusts.
they had hair like women’s hair
Jeremiah describes something very similar
Jeremiah 51
27“Set up a standard on the earth;
blow the trumpet among the nations;
prepare the nations for war against her;
summon against her the kingdoms,
Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz;
appoint a marshal against her;
bring up horses like bristling locusts.
The word for “Bristling,” is “sāmār” and it describes a short, stiff, coarse hair or filament that is not soft to the touch and possibly painful tissue as it relates to an insect whisker or long antennae
This “hair” that John is describing seems to be long like a woman’s hair
their teeth were like lion’s teeth
Joel also describes the plague of his day as a “Nation with teeth of a lion”
Joel 1:6-7
For a nation has come up against My land, strong, and without number; His teeth are the teeth of a lion, and he has the fangs of a fierce lion. He has laid waste My vine, and ruined My fig tree; He has stripped it bare and thrown it away; its branches are made white.
In John’s description, these teeth are said to be “Lion like” while Joel’s description of the teeth as “Their teeth were lion’s teeth”
In Joel’s vision these natural creatures use these teeth to consume and strip all vegetation
Johns mentions these teeth to parallel the original vision of Joel in order to indicate the same except here the difference is that their goal is to destroy the green grass and trees in Joel
Here, for John, their victims are humans
It never says that they would use these teeth against the humans
Only that they would strike with their tails
And they had breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron;
Breastplate
This may denote an actual breastplate or the just the chest, the part of the body covered by a breastplate
“thōrakas” is the word from which we get thorax, the second or middle region of the body of an arthropod
and the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle.
Joel and John both agreed that the sound of their flight is compared to a great number of chariots drawn by horses into battle
Joel 2:5
“With a noise like chariots Over mountaintops they leap, Like the noise of a flaming fire that devours the stubble, Like a strong people set in battle array.”
10 And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and their power was to hurt men five months.
“Kentra,” or “stings” is used to describe a pointed stick
It was also used to figuratively describe the power of death to hurt
The sting denotes not only the ability to pierce but also the extreme pain of a sting in those days
Johns use of current mythology and supernatural events
Joel gives us the description of the locusts in terms similar to a human army
Now John takes this language further to describe human or human like beings as locusts and giving us eight characteristics, all we have looked at already, which some suggest, correlate to the northern barbarians who were seen as a major threat to the Roman Empire
The resemblance of horses readied for battle
The crown’s could be the “blond hair” (something like gold) when tied with a headband to look like a crown
Blond hair, especially long hair, was virtually unknown in the Mediterranean world and the Near East and was much more common among the tribes to the north of Rome
Roman men and soldiers wore short hair in their times
I’m sure we have all heard of the reasoning behind Paul’s decision to claim that men should not have long hair
1 Corinthians 11
2Now I commend you because you remember me in everything and maintain the traditions even as I delivered them to you. 3But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, the head of a wifea is her husband,b and the head of Christ is God. 4Every man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his head, 5but every wifec who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head, since it is the same as if her head were shaven. 6For if a wife will not cover her head, then she should cut her hair short. But since it is disgraceful for a wife to cut off her hair or shave her head, let her cover her head. 7For a man ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God, but woman is the glory of man. 8For man was not made from woman, but woman from man. 9Neither was man created for woman, but woman for man. 10That is why a wife ought to have a symbol of authority on her head, because of the angels.d 11Nevertheless, in the Lord woman is not independent of man nor man of woman; 12for as woman was made from man, so man is now born of woman. And all things are from God. 13Judge for yourselves: is it proper for a wife to pray to God with her head uncovered? 14Does not nature itself teach you that if a man wears long hair it is a disgrace for him, 15but if a woman has long hair, it is her glory? For her hair is given to her for a covering. 16If anyone is inclined to be contentious, we have no such practice, nor do the churches of God.
The belief at the time was that the length of women’s hair helped to retain sperm from their husband
If a man had long hair it would retain semen and go against his natural ability to procreate
They had the faces of men
Teeth of a lion
Breastplates of iron were worn by soldiers and horses during battle
Their wings sounded like horses running into battle
This army was readied for battle
The power they received as with the pain they were to inflict was that of a scorpion through stingers in their tails
Not only does this description resemble the northern armies but it describes something else known by John and his readers
This invading force also resembles “The Manticore”
A mythical creature with a human head, the body and teeth of a lion, and the tail of a scorpion
The manticore was included in some medieval bestiaries with, not all, but some of the following illustrations:
A thick-maned (and long-bearded) manticore wearing a Phrygian cap
In many cases, it was colored red, brown, and at times, blue with clawed feet
One depiction illustrated it as a long haired blonde
Most manuscripts did not bother detailing scorpion tails but gave it a long cat’s tail
When included, it had either an oddly pointed tail or one with an extraordinary spike on the end of a tail covering in spikes from end to end
We have other Scriptural references to consider with this group
Most literature from this time employed animal like descriptions in order to describe the fierceness, strength, and looks of demons
Horses prepared for battle
Notice that they are not currently in battle, just preparing for it, running towards a fight
Crowns like gold
Exodus 39
30They made the plate of the holy crown of pure gold, and wrote on it an inscription, like the engraving of a signet, “Holy to the LORD.” 31And they tied to it a cord of blue to fasten it on the turban above, as the LORD had commanded Moses.
We can see these creatures as having a counterfeit authority, receiving crowns from a source other than Yahweh (King of the Abyss), yet even so, being used by God sovereignly for judgment
These crowns are not regal crowns “Diadem” crowns but “Laurel” wreath crowns, the kind given to those who win races and are victorious in battle
Faces like men
No riders are apparent here
The leader of this group is Abaddon or Apollyon
Still they are referenced as having faces like men or people, representing the visible determination of the expression on the faces of the creatures
This also could come from the fact that we, as humans, tend to see our reflection in things that don’t seem to make sense
“Face pareidolia” is the phenomenon of seeing faces in everyday objects – is a very human condition that relates to how our brains are wired.
Evidently, we process these ‘fake’ faces using the same visual mechanisms of the brain that we do for real ones.
So they have a similar appearance of men’s faces but they are not men
Hair of women
This could also speak to the counterfeit authority given to these creatures because it reminds us, and possibly Johns audiences, of a plot to steal the kingdom of David
2 Samuel 14
25Now in all Israel there was no one so much to be praised for his handsome appearance as Absalom. From the sole of his foot to the crown of his head there was no blemish in him. 26And when he cut the hair of his head (for at the end of every year he used to cut it; when it was heavy on him, he cut it), he weighed the hair of his head, two hundred shekelsa by the king’s weight.
2 Samuel 15
1After this Absalom got himself a chariot and horses, and fifty men to run before him. 2And Absalom used to rise early and stand beside the way of the gate. And when any man had a dispute to come before the king for judgment, Absalom would call to him and say, “From what city are you?” And when he said, “Your servant is of such and such a tribe in Israel,” 3Absalom would say to him, “See, your claims are good and right, but there is no man designated by the king to hear you.” 4Then Absalom would say, “Oh that I were judge in the land! Then every man with a dispute or cause might come to me, and I would give him justice.” 5And whenever a man came near to pay homage to him, he would put out his hand and take hold of him and kiss him. 6Thus Absalom did to all of Israel who came to the king for judgment. So Absalom stole the hearts of the men of Israel.
7And at the end of foura years Absalom said to the king, “Please let me go and pay my vow, which I have vowed to the LORD, in Hebron. 8For your servant vowed a vow while I lived at Geshur in Aram, saying, ‘If the LORD will indeed bring me back to Jerusalem, then I will offer worship tob the LORD.’” 9The king said to him, “Go in peace.” So he arose and went to Hebron. 10But Absalom sent secret messengers throughout all the tribes of Israel, saying, “As soon as you hear the sound of the trumpet, then say, ‘Absalom is king at Hebron!’” 11With Absalom went two hundred men from Jerusalem who were invited guests, and they went in their innocence and knew nothing. 12And while Absalom was offering the sacrifices, he sent forc Ahithophel the Gilonite, David’s counselor, from his city Giloh. And the conspiracy grew strong, and the people with Absalom kept increasing.
David Flees Jerusalem
13And a messenger came to David, saying, “The hearts of the men of Israel have gone after Absalom.” 14Then David said to all his servants who were with him at Jerusalem, “Arise, and let us flee, or else there will be no escape for us from Absalom. Go quickly, lest he overtake us quickly and bring down ruin on us and strike the city with the edge of the sword.” 15And the king’s servants said to the king, “Behold, your servants are ready to do whatever my lord the king decides.” 16So the king went out, and all his household after him. And the king left ten concubines to keep the house. 17And the king went out, and all the people after him. And they halted at the last house
2 Samuel 18
Absalom Killed
1Then David mustered the men who were with him and set over them commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds. 2And David sent out the army, one third under the command of Joab, one third under the command of Abishai the son of Zeruiah, Joab’s brother, and one third under the command of Ittai the Gittite. And the king said to the men, “I myself will also go out with you.” 3But the men said, “You shall not go out. For if we flee, they will not care about us. If half of us die, they will not care about us. But you are worth ten thousand of us. Therefore it is better that you send us help from the city.” 4The king said to them, “Whatever seems best to you I will do.” So the king stood at the side of the gate, while all the army marched out by hundreds and by thousands. 5And the king ordered Joab and Abishai and Ittai, “Deal gently for my sake with the young man Absalom.” And all the people heard when the king gave orders to all the commanders about Absalom.
6So the army went out into the field against Israel, and the battle was fought in the forest of Ephraim. 7And the men of Israel were defeated there by the servants of David, and the loss there was great on that day, twenty thousand men. 8The battle spread over the face of all the country, and the forest devoured more people that day than the sword.
9And Absalom happened to meet the servants of David. Absalom was riding on his mule, and the mule went under the thick branches of a great oak,a and his head caught fast in the oak, and he was suspended between heaven and earth, while the mule that was under him went on. 10And a certain man saw it and told Joab, “Behold, I saw Absalom hanging in an oak.” 11Joab said to the man who told him, “What, you saw him! Why then did you not strike him there to the ground? I would have been glad to give you ten pieces of silver and a belt.” 12But the man said to Joab, “Even if I felt in my hand the weight of a thousand pieces of silver, I would not reach out my hand against the king’s son, for in our hearing the king commanded you and Abishai and Ittai, ‘For my sake protect the young man Absalom.’ 13On the other hand, if I had dealt treacherously against his lifeb (and there is nothing hidden from the king), then you yourself would have stood aloof.” 14Joab said, “I will not waste time like this with you.” And he took three javelins in his hand and thrust them into the heart of Absalom while he was still alive in the oak. 15And ten young men, Joab’s armor-bearers, surrounded Absalom and struck him and killed him.
16Then Joab blew the trumpet, and the troops came back from pursuing Israel, for Joab restrained them. 17And they took Absalom and threw him into a great pit in the forest and raised over him a very great heap of stones. And all Israel fled every one to his own home. 18Now Absalom in his lifetime had taken and set up for himself the pillar that is in the King’s Valley, for he said, “I have no son to keep my name in remembrance.” He called the pillar after his own name, and it is called Absalom’s monument to this day.
Absalom’s hair, represented his beauty and arrogance
His attempt to take the kingdom away was a failure but many died in the process
This long hair is not meant to say that these creatures are feminine but to convey the image of a strong pagan presence
The hair represents strength
Lions teeth
In a very similar way, this demonic horde is gathered in direct rebellion against the kingdom of God
They would be stinging, persecuting, and tearing apart every man, especially those who love the Father, if not for God’s mercy
Breastplates of iron
These breastplates were made of iron and they serve the purpose of chaos, war, and death
This is in stark contrast to another breastplate
One that was made for Aaron, the High Priest, and for a special purpose
Each tribe was represented by a stone and that was placed, along with the Urim and thummim, upon or into the breastplate
This breastplate was used for judgment
Exodus 28
6“And they shall make the ephod of gold, of blue and purple and scarlet yarns, and of fine twined linen, skillfully worked. 7It shall have two shoulder pieces attached to its two edges, so that it may be joined together. 8And the skillfully woven band on it shall be made like it and be of one piece with it, of gold, blue and purple and scarlet yarns, and fine twined linen. 9You shall take two onyx stones, and engrave on them the names of the sons of Israel, 10six of their names on the one stone, and the names of the remaining six on the other stone, in the order of their birth. 11As a jeweler engraves signets, so shall you engrave the two stones with the names of the sons of Israel. You shall enclose them in settings of gold filigree. 12And you shall set the two stones on the shoulder pieces of the ephod, as stones of remembrance for the sons of Israel. And Aaron shall bear their names before the LORD on his two shoulders for remembrance. 13You shall make settings of gold filigree, 14and two chains of pure gold, twisted like cords; and you shall attach the corded chains to the settings.
15“You shall make a breastpiece of judgment, in skilled work. In the style of the ephod you shall make it—of gold, blue and purple and scarlet yarns, and fine twined linen shall you make it. 16It shall be square and doubled, a spana its length and a span its breadth. 17You shall set in it four rows of stones. A row of sardius,b topaz, and carbuncle shall be the first row; 18and the second row an emerald, a sapphire, and a diamond; 19and the third row a jacinth, an agate, and an amethyst; 20and the fourth row a beryl, an onyx, and a jasper. They shall be set in gold filigree. 21There shall be twelve stones with their names according to the names of the sons of Israel. They shall be like signets, each engraved with its name, for the twelve tribes. 22You shall make for the breastpiece twisted chains like cords, of pure gold. 23And you shall make for the breastpiece two rings of gold, and put the two rings on the two edges of the breastpiece. 24And you shall put the two cords of gold in the two rings at the edges of the breastpiece. 25The two ends of the two cords you shall attach to the two settings of filigree, and so attach it in front to the shoulder pieces of the ephod. 26You shall make two rings of gold, and put them at the two ends of the breastpiece, on its inside edge next to the ephod. 27And you shall make two rings of gold, and attach them in front to the lower part of the two shoulder pieces of the ephod, at its seam above the skillfully woven band of the ephod. 28And they shall bind the breastpiece by its rings to the rings of the ephod with a lace of blue, so that it may lie on the skillfully woven band of the ephod, so that the breastpiece shall not come loose from the ephod. 29So Aaron shall bear the names of the sons of Israel in the breastpiece of judgment on his heart, when he goes into the Holy Place, to bring them to regular remembrance before the LORD. 30And in the breastpiece of judgment you shall put the Urim and the Thummim, and they shall be on Aaron’s heart, when he goes in before the LORD. Thus Aaron shall bear the judgment of the people of Israel on his heart before the LORD regularly.
God would answer questions and reveal the tribe that needed the priests attention by illuminating the stones
This breastplate represents the breastplate of the Perfect High Priest, Jesus Christs ministry for us
He bears our names close to His heart
Not so with the breastplates of iron
They are to separate them from man, us from God
They were meant for war and chaos
There is another breastplate
Not of judgment or chaos
The breastplate of righteousness
Ephesians 6
14Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness,
Righteousness, the protection of Jesus
God sees us through His righteousness
1 Thessalonians 5
8But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation.
Paul breaks it down for us in 1 Thessalonians by stating that we are able to put this breastplate on through faith and love
Most importantly, we are allowed to put this breastplate on because of His faith and love for us
Where does this breastplate come from?
Isaiah 59
The LORD saw it, and it displeased hima
that there was no justice.
16He saw that there was no man,
and wondered that there was no one to intercede;
then his own arm brought him salvation,
and his righteousness upheld him.
17He put on righteousness as a breastplate,
and a helmet of salvation on his head;
he put on garments of vengeance for clothing,
and wrapped himself in zeal as a cloak.
This brings to mind the clothing of God, not that He requires any
But to get a better idea of Yahweh as King, we need to visualize Him with His Kingly garments and His ring and Crown Jewels
Here in Revelation and in many other texts, we get a description of God on His throne
In each occasion we see Him described in all His wonderful glory
A side note on those who were “Sealed”
The first and only mention of “seal” or “Clotham” in Hebrew, comes to us in Genesis 38
Judah had three sons:
Er
Onan
Shelah
Er, the eldest, had a wife named Tamar, and he died
Tamar was given to Onan, to carry on his brothers family, but Onan also died
Now Tamar must be passed onto Shelah, but he was too young
So Judah tells her to wait until Shelah is of age
Now Judah was afraid to give Tamar to Shelah as a wife because he suspected that she might be cursed and cause his only son to die like his brothers
Tamar realized what Judah was doing as she still remained a widow when the time came and passed
So she decided to take matters into her own hands
She dresses as a prostitute and sets up shop where Judah would pass by
He does pass by and, not knowing who she was, Judah solicited her services
These verses pick up where they are agreeing on the price of a young goat and they are ironing out the details
Genesis 38
12In the course of time the wife of Judah, Shua’s daughter, died. When Judah was comforted, he went up to Timnah to his sheepshearers, he and his friend Hirah the Adullamite. 13And when Tamar was told, “Your father-in-law is going up to Timnah to shear his sheep,” 14she took off her widow’s garments and covered herself with a veil, wrapping herself up, and sat at the entrance to Enaim, which is on the road to Timnah. For she saw that Shelah was grown up, and she had not been given to him in marriage. 15When Judah saw her, he thought she was a prostitute, for she had covered her face. 16He turned to her at the roadside and said, “Come, let me come in to you,” for he did not know that she was his daughter-in-law. She said, “What will you give me, that you may come in to me?” 17He answered, “I will send you a young goat from the flock.” And she said, “If you give me a pledge, until you send it—” 18He said, “What pledge shall I give you?” She replied, “Your signet and your cord and your staff that is in your hand.” So he gave them to her and went in to her, and she conceived by him. 19Then she arose and went away, and taking off her veil she put on the garments of her widowhood.
20When Judah sent the young goat by his friend the Adullamite to take back the pledge from the woman’s hand, he did not find her. 21And he asked the men of the place, “Where is the cult prostituteb who was at Enaim at the roadside?” And they said, “No cult prostitute has been here.” 22So he returned to Judah and said, “I have not found her. Also, the men of the place said, ‘No cult prostitute has been here.’” 23And Judah replied, “Let her keep the things as her own, or we shall be laughed at. You see, I sent this young goat, and you did not find her.”
24About three months later Judah was told, “Tamar your daughter-in-law has been immoral.c Moreover, she is pregnant by immorality.”d And Judah said, “Bring her out, and let her be burned.” 25As she was being brought out, she sent word to her father-in-law, “By the man to whom these belong, I am pregnant.” And she said, “Please identify whose these are, the signet and the cord and the staff.” 26Then Judah identified them and said, “She is more righteous than I, since I did not give her to my son Shelah.” And he did not know her again.
From this we can see that this seal, cord, and staff were significant in showing who a person was and what family they were from
The “seal” was in the form of a “Signet” ring with very unique engravings that identified the wearer
So it represents a person’s name and family
A seal is associated with a king’s name and authority
As we have seen in the example of the seven sealed scroll, this shows that this scroll was an official, legally binding document that is the property of Yahweh and can only be opened by an official authorized party, the Lamb
“Seals,” in Greek, is “Sphragis” and it means the same thing as the Hebrew word for “seals,” “Chotham”
So what has been written by God in this scroll is now sealed with His Name and by His Own authority
The seal of righteousness
Romans 4
1What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh? 2For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. 3For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.” 4Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. 5And to the one who does not work but believes ina him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, 6just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works:
7“Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven,
and whose sins are covered;
8blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.”
9Is this blessing then only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? For we say that faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness. 10How then was it counted to him? Was it before or after he had been circumcised? It was not after, but before he was circumcised. 11He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. The purpose was to make him the father of all who believe without being circumcised, so that righteousness would be counted to them as well, 12and to make him the father of the circumcised who are not merely circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.
We are sealed with the Holy Spirit
2 Corinthians 1
21And it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us, 22and who has also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.
2 Timothy 2
19But God’s firm foundation stands, bearing this seal: “The Lord knows those who are his,” and, “Let everyone who names the name of the Lord depart from iniquity.”
Lastly we see the 144,000 sealed by God
Those who go through the tribulation but who will be protected because they are His
Can you see the image of Yahweh on His throne in the Temple of Heaven
Dressed in His kingly attire
With His signet ring (Chapter 5) and His jewelry? (Precious Stones chapter 4)
Wing sounds
“the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle.”
This sound could very well be the demonic horde rising up in opposition to the cherubim
Ezekiel 10
5And the sound of the wings of the cherubim was heard as far as the outer court, like the voice of God Almighty when he speaks.
Chapter 9 and 10 are parallels with what John is describing here in Revelation
Stinging tails
“And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and their power was to hurt men five months.”
These creatures are prohibited from doing what comes naturally to them
I am confident that they would rather rip and tear flesh apart with their teeth and scourge men through with their sharp tails
But they cannot
The king with two names
“And they [locusts] had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon.”
Abbadon means “Destruction”
Apollyon means “Destroyer”
It is very interesting that only here and chapter 16 is the Hebrew language mentioned
Revelation 16
12The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up, to prepare the way for the kings from the east. 13And I saw, coming out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits like frogs. 14For they are demonic spirits, performing signs, who go abroad to the kings of the whole world, to assemble them for battle on the great day of God the Almighty. 15(“Behold, I am coming like a thief! Blessed is the one who stays awake, keeping his garments on, that he may not go about naked and be seen exposed!”) 16And they assembled them at the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon.
What we have in Scripture could be seen as a reference to this Angel King and the mentioned Hebrew language
The siege of Jerusalem by the Assyrian king, Sennacherib
This could be the backdrop for what we are about to see here in Revelation
After having previously conquered the rest of the world (Meg. 11b), Sennacherib equipped a massive army against Hezekiah, consisting of 45,000 princes, each enthroned in a golden chariot and accompanied by his ladies and courtesans, 80,000 warriors in coat of mail, 60,000 swordsmen, and numerous cavalry (Sanh. 95b). With this vast army Sennacherib marched on Judea in accordance with the disclosures of his astrologers, who warned him that he would fail to capture Jerusalem if he arrived too late. He rested at Nob and from a raised platform observed the Judean capital, which appeared weak and small to him. When his warriors urged him to attack, he bade them rest for one night before storming the city the next day. This delay spared Jerusalem since Saul’s sin against the priests at Nob was fully expiated on that very day (Sanh. 95a). That night, which was the eve of Passover, the entire army was annihilated when Hezekiah and the people began to recite the Hallel Psalms (Ex. R. 18:5). The death of the Assyrians occurred when the angels permitted them to hear the ḥayyot (“celestial beings”) sing praises to God (Sanh. 95b). Their souls were burnt, although their garments remained intact (Ex. R. 18:5). Sennacherib and his two sons were among the few survivors. On his return to Assyria, Sennacherib found a plank which was part of Noah’s ark and made it an object of worship. He vowed that if he prospered in his next ventures he would sacrifice his sons to it. His sons overheard this vow and put him to death (Sanh. 96a). They fled to Kardu where they released the many Jewish captives there. With them they marched to Jerusalem and became proselytes. The well-known scholars *Shemaiah and *Avtalyon were the descendants of these two sons of Sennacherib (Git. 57b; Targ., II Kings 19:35, 37).
Jewish Virtual Library
He came as a would be destroyer
His messenger spoke in the Hebrew language in order to intimidate Israel
Isaiah 36
1In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and took them. 2And the king of Assyria sent the Rabshakeha from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem, with a great army. And he stood by the conduit of the upper pool on the highway to the Washer’s Field. 3And there came out to him Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the secretary, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder.
4And the Rabshakeh said to them, “Say to Hezekiah, ‘Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria: On what do you rest this trust of yours? 5Do you think that mere words are strategy and power for war? In whom do you now trust, that you have rebelled against me? 6Behold, you are trusting in Egypt, that broken reed of a staff, which will pierce the hand of any man who leans on it. Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust in him. 7But if you say to me, “We trust in the LORD our God,” is it not he whose high places and altars Hezekiah has removed, saying to Judah and to Jerusalem, “You shall worship before this altar”? 8Come now, make a wager with my master the king of Assyria: I will give you two thousand horses, if you are able on your part to set riders on them. 9How then can you repulse a single captain among the least of my master’s servants, when you trust in Egypt for chariots and for horsemen? 10Moreover, is it without the LORD that I have come up against this land to destroy it? The LORD said to me, “Go up against this land and destroy it.”’”
11Then Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah said to the Rabshakeh, “Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, for we understand it. Do not speak to us in the language of Judah within the hearing of the people who are on the wall.” 12But the Rabshakeh said, “Has my master sent me to speak these words to your master and to you, and not to the men sitting on the wall, who are doomed with you to eat their own dung and drink their own urine?”
13Then the Rabshakeh stood and called out in a loud voice in the language of Judah: “Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria! 14Thus says the king: ‘Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able to deliver you. 15Do not let Hezekiah make you trust in the LORD by saying, “The LORD will surely deliver us. This city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.” 16Do not listen to Hezekiah. For thus says the king of Assyria: Make your peace with meb and come out to me. Then each one of you will eat of his own vine, and each one of his own fig tree, and each one of you will drink the water of his own cistern, 17until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and wine, a land of bread and vineyards. 18Beware lest Hezekiah mislead you by saying, “The LORD will deliver us.” Has any of the gods of the nations delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria? 19Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? Have they delivered Samaria out of my hand? 20Who among all the gods of these lands have delivered their lands out of my hand, that the LORD should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?’”
21But they were silent and answered him not a word, for the king’s command was, “Do not answer him.” 22Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the secretary, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder, came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn, and told him the words of the Rabshakeh.
2 Kings 18
3In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and took them. 14And Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria at Lachish, saying, “I have done wrong; withdraw from me. Whatever you impose on me I will bear.” And the king of Assyria required of Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talentsb of silver and thirty talents of gold. 15And Hezekiah gave him all the silver that was found in the house of the LORD and in the treasuries of the king’s house. 16At that time Hezekiah stripped the gold from the doors of the temple of the LORD and from the doorposts that Hezekiah king of Judah had overlaid and gave it to the king of Assyria. 17And the king of Assyria sent the Tartan, the Rab-saris, and the Rabshakeh with a great army from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. And they went up and came to Jerusalem. When they arrived, they came and stood by the conduit of the upper pool, which is on the highway to the Washer’s Field. 18And when they called for the king, there came out to them Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebnah the secretary, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder.
19And the Rabshakeh said to them, “Say to Hezekiah, ‘Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria: On what do you rest this trust of yours? 20Do you think that mere words are strategy and power for war? In whom do you now trust, that you have rebelled against me? 21Behold, you are trusting now in Egypt, that broken reed of a staff, which will pierce the hand of any man who leans on it. Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust in him. 22But if you say to me, “We trust in the LORD our God,” is it not he whose high places and altars Hezekiah has removed, saying to Judah and to Jerusalem, “You shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem”? 23Come now, make a wager with my master the king of Assyria: I will give you two thousand horses, if you are able on your part to set riders on them. 24How then can you repulse a single captain among the least of my master’s servants, when you trust in Egypt for chariots and for horsemen? 25Moreover, is it without the LORD that I have come up against this place to destroy it? The LORD said to me, “Go up against this land and destroy it.”’”
26Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, and Shebnah, and Joah, said to the Rabshakeh, “Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, for we understand it. Do not speak to us in the language of Judah within the hearing of the people who are on the wall.” 27But the Rabshakeh said to them, “Has my master sent me to speak these words to your master and to you, and not to the men sitting on the wall, who are doomed with you to eat their own dung and to drink their own urine?”
28Then the Rabshakeh stood and called out in a loud voice in the language of Judah: “Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria! 29Thus says the king: ‘Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able to deliver you out of myc hand. 30Do not let Hezekiah make you trust in the LORD by saying, The LORD will surely deliver us, and this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.’ 31Do not listen to Hezekiah, for thus says the king of Assyria: ‘Make your peace with med and come out to me. Then each one of you will eat of his own vine, and each one of his own fig tree, and each one of you will drink the water of his own cistern, 32until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive trees and honey, that you may live, and not die. And do not listen to Hezekiah when he misleads you by saying, “The LORD will deliver us.” 33Has any of the gods of the nations ever delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria? 34Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah? Have they delivered Samaria out of my hand? 35Who among all the gods of the lands have delivered their lands out of my hand, that the LORD should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?’”
36But the people were silent and answered him not a word, for the king’s command was, “Do not answer him.” 37Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the secretary, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder, came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn and told him the words of the Rabshakeh.
2 Chronicles 32
1After these things and these acts of faithfulness, Sennacherib king of Assyria came and invaded Judah and encamped against the fortified cities, thinking to win them for himself. 2And when Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib had come and intended to fight against Jerusalem, 3he planned with his officers and his mighty men to stop the water of the springs that were outside the city; and they helped him. 4A great many people were gathered, and they stopped all the springs and the brook that flowed through the land, saying, “Why should the kings of Assyria come and find much water?” 5He set to work resolutely and built up all the wall that was broken down and raised towers upon it,a and outside it he built another wall, and he strengthened the Millo in the city of David. He also made weapons and shields in abundance. 6And he set combat commanders over the people and gathered them together to him in the square at the gate of the city and spoke encouragingly to them, saying, 7“Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or dismayed before the king of Assyria and all the horde that is with him, for there are more with us than with him. 8With him is an arm of flesh, but with us is the LORD our God, to help us and to fight our battles.” And the people took confidence from the words of Hezekiah king of Judah.
Sennacherib Blasphemes
9After this, Sennacherib king of Assyria, who was besieging Lachish with all his forces, sent his servants to Jerusalem to Hezekiah king of Judah and to all the people of Judah who were in Jerusalem, saying, 10“Thus says Sennacherib king of Assyria, ‘On what are you trusting, that you endure the siege in Jerusalem? 11Is not Hezekiah misleading you, that he may give you over to die by famine and by thirst, when he tells you, “The LORD our God will deliver us from the hand of the king of Assyria”? 12Has not this same Hezekiah taken away his high places and his altars and commanded Judah and Jerusalem, “Before one altar you shall worship, and on it you shall burn your sacrifices”? 13Do you not know what I and my fathers have done to all the peoples of other lands? Were the gods of the nations of those lands at all able to deliver their lands out of my hand? 14Who among all the gods of those nations that my fathers devoted to destruction was able to deliver his people from my hand, that your God should be able to deliver you from my hand? 15Now, therefore, do not let Hezekiah deceive you or mislead you in this fashion, and do not believe him, for no god of any nation or kingdom has been able to deliver his people from my hand or from the hand of my fathers. How much less will your God deliver you out of my hand!’”
16And his servants said still more against the LORD God and against his servant Hezekiah. 17And he wrote letters to cast contempt on the LORD, the God of Israel, and to speak against him, saying, “Like the gods of the nations of the lands who have not delivered their people from my hands, so the God of Hezekiah will not deliver his people from my hand.” 18And they shouted it with a loud voice in the language of Judah to the people of Jerusalem who were on the wall, to frighten and terrify them, in order that they might take the city. 19And they spoke of the God of Jerusalem as they spoke of the gods of the peoples of the earth, which are the work of men’s hands.
The LORD Delivers Jerusalem
20Then Hezekiah the king and Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, prayed because of this and cried to heaven. 21And the LORD sent an angel, who cut off all the mighty warriors and commanders and officers in the camp of the king of Assyria. So he returned with shame of face to his own land. And when he came into the house of his god, some of his own sons struck him down there with the sword. 22So the LORD saved Hezekiah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem from the hand of Sennacherib king of Assyria and from the hand of all his enemies, and he provided for them on every side. 23And many brought gifts to the LORD to Jerusalem and precious things to Hezekiah king of Judah, so that he was exalted in the sight of all nations from that time onward.
This King from the Abyss, this Antichrist beast from Revelation 11 and 12
Those who follow him, this Gog of Amos, as Abaddon do so because he speaks their language and they accept his deception intellectually symbolized by the mark on the forehead
Those who follow him as Apollyon do so, not from what he says, but in order to keep from getting stung by the mark on the hand
This king is also the “Destroyer of the Gentiles”
Jeremiah 4
5Declare in Judah, and proclaim in Jerusalem, and say,
“Blow the trumpet through the land;
cry aloud and say,
‘Assemble, and let us go
into the fortified cities!’
6Raise a standard toward Zion,
flee for safety, stay not,
for I bring disaster from the north,
and great destruction.
7A lion has gone up from his thicket,
a destroyer of nations has set out;
he has gone out from his place
to make your land a waste;
your cities will be ruins
without inhabitant.
8For this put on sackcloth,
lament and wail,
for the fierce anger of the LORD
has not turned back from us.”
Jeremiah 6
26O daughter of my people, put on sackcloth,
and roll in ashes;
make mourning as for an only son,
most bitter lamentation,
for suddenly the destroyer
will come upon us.
Other reasons for this listing of his Hebrew and Greek names is the idea that he will persecute both Jews and Gentiles Christians and in judgment we see biblically the Jew first
He is the “Son of Perdition”
The beast that you saw was, and is not, and will ascend out of the bottomless pit and go to perdition. And those who dwell on the earth will marvel, whose names are not written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world, when they see the beast that was, and is not, and yet is. (Rev. 17:8)
He will go into perdition or destruction
Biblical names often refer to personal characteristics but they can also refer to contemporary events and destinies
Apollyon will be a destroyer but this characteristic could also point to his destiny
2 Thessalonians 2
1Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers,a 2not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word, or a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. 3Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessnessb is revealed, the son of destruction,c 4who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God. 5Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things?
Then Paul tells us the destiny of this king
6And you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time. 7For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way. 8And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming. 9The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, 10and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. 11Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, 12in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
But the angel said to me, “Why did you marvel? I will tell you the mystery of the woman and of the beast that carries her, which has the seven heads and the ten horns. The beast that you saw was, and is not, and will ascend out of the bottomless pit and go to perdition. And those who dwell on the earth will marvel, whose names are not written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world, when they see the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.” (Revelation 17:7-8)
All of this leads to what can be seen as an example of a representation of Gods final deliverance of His people and the judgment of the evil earthly kings and their representatives in the heavenly realm
Now we are beginning to see a side of God that we don’t normally notice or for that matter want to look into or believe in
I can totally understand the Gnostic view of a bad god in the Old Testament and the different good god that we encounter in the New Testament but the truth is that these two are One and the same especially as we move further into Revelation
Here in these various judgments we find that God’s mercy, as we see it, has ceased
Once God’s wrath is unleashed, we will see less of love and mercy and more death,terror, and agony inflicted upon mankind and the earth
We find that the warnings of the prophets was not empty
We find that love and mercy are switched with judgment and wrath that mankind, however evil his inclinations may be, pale in comparison to what awaits them from God
Eventually, change and repentance will cease to be allowed
The last saint will come to salvation and everything will be cut off and everyone will have their fate’s written down
It will finally be too late
Homosexuality used to be a crime in most states fifty years ago, but now you are considered guilty of a hate crime if you speak against homosexuality. How could things turn upside down so quickly? I think it is a demonic blindness. The media has spoken favorably of homosexuality for a long time, but in the last few weeks I have seen mainstream newspapers publishing “heart warming stories” of incest between generations, and writing in a way that shows that they want them to have rights too. And some of them are so sickening that it shows the demonic written all over it. Our nation deserves this judgment and nothing but God’s grace can avert it.
And that is my third application. It is not a platitude to say that politics won’t fix our nation. If you vote one of Satan’s children into politics, he might be a conservative now, but how long will he be a conservative if Satan unleashes locusts upon him? Not long. Now it is true that Christians can surround such a person with protection, just like Nebuchadnezzar and later Darius had it. But the books of Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther show how tenuous that situation can be. And without a wall of protection, they are vulnerable. I have seen politicians go to Washington with family values and being against homosexual marriage, and within a few years of being in that demonic bee-hive they are not only pro-homosexual, they are practicing homosexuals. They are under the influence of demonic locusts. Voting conservative unbelievers into Washington will not help. Nothing but the Gospel has power against the demonic, and it is high time that Christians focused all of their efforts on getting Christians with good worldview and a close walk with Jesus elected.
But it is not enough to have a Christian elected. He must be prayed for constantly. And he himself must guard his heart. We saw with Kintner how easy it is for a Christian to be taken down. Revelation 12 does not promise that Christians can oppose Satan successfully with conservative principles. There are three conditions to success given in Revelation 12:11. It says,
And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.
The three conditions to success against demons are: 1) rightly using the blood of the Lamb, 2) rightly using a Scriptural testimony or speech, and 3) a life dedicated to Christ no matter what the cost – not loving their lives. Christians must learn how to moment by moment cleanse their own sins in the blood and they must learn how to resist demons with the blood of Christ. They need to learn how to engage in spiritual warfare with their speech. And thirdly, they need to be sold out to the word of God even if it is embarrassing. We must place the Scriptures on our lips in the public square if we hope to batter down the gates of Hades. It must become personalized – the word of their testimony. When you have hard-core Christians like that in politics, things could be turned upside down. When you have hard-core Christians like that in business, or the media, or science, or wherever, those industries will be turned upside down.
But what has happened is the opposite. Christians have cast off the Old Testament law and they are no longer experts in the book. They don’t even believe in the book. So there goes the first condition for success.
No longer do they treat sin as very consequential, and their solution for statism is to elect statists. It makes no sense. They don’t apply the blood of Christ to politics or culture. So there goes the second condition for success.
And they are not sold out to Christ no matter what the cost. So there goes the third condition. No wonder we are loosing the battle in America.
We are in trouble. We desperately need a Reformation of the church of Jesus Christ from the ground up. Nothing but a total makeover of the church will be sufficient to stem the tide in America. But if there is a makeover, not even the gates of Hades can withstand a church like that (Matt. 16:18). Pray with me that God would indeed raise up a church that can take on these powers of the Abyss. Amen.
come to the sixth trumpet, and I need to speak again about chronology and timing issues. And I think you will find this first major point to be interesting. Chronology is not most people’s favorite thing, but this is a little different.
And I think it has perhaps been a mistake for me to constantly convert Hebrew and Seleucid dates to our modern Gregorian Calendar. I’ve done that to try to make it easier to understand. But because there are so many differences of opinion on how to convert those dates, my doing so may actually confuse you when who read the literature.
If you stick to the Hebrew calendar that was used by John and by the Hebrew historians there is an absolute mathematical precision. I believe there is a precision with Gregorian dates too, but it involves too many assumptions. So from here on in I will probably simply refer to the Hebrew dates. I am in the process of making a time-line that has all of the dates. So if you want to see the conversions, you can. I think Josh and Tobias will be making that available online. And this week I uploaded a bunch of new dates that relate to this book.
The sequence: Revelation has a very precise chronology
So point number I says, “The sequence: Revelation has a very precise chronology.” We have been seeing that point by point in chapters 5-9, and we can see that again here. And because it is constantly being denied, I need to constantly affirm it.
This trumpet is blown after the events of verses 1-12 (“Then”; verse 12 – “One woe is past. Behold, still two more woes are coming after these things.”)
Verse 13 says, “Then…” That word indicates a sequence. And while some want to diminish the time sequence here and simply translate that as an “And,” if you look at the previous verse, I don’t see how that is possible. Verse 12 says, “One woe is past. Behold, still two more woes are coming after these things.” Notice the time sequence. Trumpet five is past; it is finished. And the next two woes are yet to come. I don’t know how so many people can gloss over this time sequence – including many partial preterists. But it is important to note.
John’s time sequence follows a calendar that calculates down to the hour (“the hour and the day and month and year” – v. 15)
And then comes John’s statement in verse 15, “So the four angels were released — they had been prepared for the hour and the day and month and year — so that they might kill a third of mankind.” But especially notice the phrase, “prepared for the hour and the day and month and year.” John’s chronology follows the Hebrew calendar, and the more I have studied the chronology of the events, the more I have been astonished at the details involved in figuring out chronology. And what makes it especially complicated is converting their days (which begin at 6 pm) and their months (which are lunar, and don’t line up with our months) to our Gregorian calendar. It sometimes makes your head spin. If you do not account for every hour and every day, you can be off in your calculations. That is why I am so thankful to have a calendar program that does this automatically. And I have also spent countless hours over the past few years poring over the writings and the mathematical calculations of calendar experts, and you can understand why there are differences that arise.
So I plan to stick to the Hebrew, Roman, and Seleucid dates of the ancient historians. They match perfectly to the day in my calendar program. But without boring you to tears (which I don’t plan to do), I can’t as fully awe you with the amazing wonder of Biblical timing. But let me assure you that there is a marvelous pattern and symmetry in God’s plan for the ages. I’ll just give you a few hints from my conclusions.
Let’s go back to Pentecost (which was at the beginning of chapter 8) – and actually, I will go back to the first Pentecost in AD 30. And I want to show you some hints of why that was such a pivotal date, and why it is a pivotal date in the book of Revelation.
My calendar program shows that it is exactly 77,777 weeks from Moses’ burning bush to Pentecost. What is the significance of that? Both were commissions to leaders to form a new covenant community. But what an amazing number: 77,777[2]
Here is a second wierd “coincidence” – it was exactly 77,700 weeks from the dedication of the Tabernacle and the Holy Spirit manifesting His presence with God’s people in that Tabernacle under Moses to the time of Pentecost in Acts 2 when the Spirit again manifested His presence with His people. Why the even number? Exactly 77,700 weeks. Well, the number seven is the number of completion and perfection.
Third, that was an exact number of Jubilee cycles. A jubilee cylce was 50 years and had prophetic significance of bringing liberty.
Fourth, Acts 2 was exactly 7 weeks from Christ’s death. That number 7 keeps cropping up. And I will skip over a bunch of other cool correlations of ages past with Pentecost.
Since we are focused on the war against Jerusalem, let me point out some things that are just too exact to be mere coincidences.
Is it by accident that the AD 70 temple was burned on Ab 9, the very date that it was burned by Nebuchadnezzar in the Old Testament?
And even more strange, is it an accident that it is exactly 240,000 days from that first temple destruction to this temple destruction? Exactly 240,000 days! That is just too weird to be a coincidence.
Is it an accident that this also happened to be 77,770 weeks after Moses died?
Is it by accident that the Roman armies surrounded Jerusalem in AD 70 exactly 40 years to the very day that Jesus was crucified (on Ab 14, or Nisan 14 – different Hebrew names for the same month)?
Is it an accident that this very day was a lunar eclipse? No, it was symbolizing Israel’s lights going out – the end of that nation.
Is it by accident that Cestius blew his trumpets of war on the very day that the first angel blew his heavenly trumpet of war? No. The Feast of Trumpets was God’s warning of judgment for Israel. And that brief war was the last opportunity that any people had to flee. And Eusebius says that all Christians heeded that warning. And by the way, The Feast of Trumpets always occurs on Tishri 1, which is always a noon moon (cf. Psalm 81:3-4). There is prophetic significance to all of these things.
Is it by accident that the second angelic trumpet corresponds with the next festival trumpet blast – Tabernacles?
Is it by accident that the third angelic trumpet corresponds with the next festival trumpet blast – the Day of Atonement? No. There are no accidents. My paper on the Festivals of Israel show that they were prophetic statements of the ending of the Old Covenant and especially the ending of the temple. There is only one festival that is yet to be fulfilled – it is the Feast of Purim, which points to the salvation of Israel in the future and even greater blessings to the Gentiles – but no temple. All the previous festivals had to be fulfilled while the temple was still standing.
Is it by accident that from Moses’ first reading in Deuteronomy (after the forty years and the last unbeliever from the wilderness generation had died), to the time that Titus sells the survivors into slavery (after the forty years preceding AD 70) is exactly 77,777 weeks? Wow! That is another perfect correlation of exactly the same number. Coincidence? I think not.
Is it by accident that Jerusalem fell in a Jubilee year? I think not.
These are not coincidences. God is following a pattern that showcases both His sovereignty and His mercy – to those who have eyes to see. And so it is not simply a “throw away phrase” (as some people treat it) when verse 15 speaks of the timing of these events being down to the very day and hour. And we will be digging into some cool stuff on the 1260 days and the 42 months when we get to chapter 11.
Verse 13-21 serve as the introduction to or overview of the entire sixth trumpet (covering 42 months), and 10:1-11:14 deal with two other things that happened during those 42 months.
But having said that, I do want to point out that there is a structure that needs to be noted in this sixth trumpet if we want to be exact in our interpretation. Most commentators treat chapter 10:1 through chapter 11:14 as two interludes. And it is true – they are. But they still occur during the time of the sixth trumpet. The explanation for the odd structure is pretty simple. In verses 13-21 of our chapter God gives an overview of the entire sixth trumpet – from 67-70 AD. It is kind of an introductory summary of what will happen. Then in chapters 10 and 11 he outlines two other things that occur during the period of that sixth trumpet. So you can treat these verses kind of as an introduction.
And by the way, it is the only way to explain how one third of mankind is killed. To my knowledge, one third of mankind is not killed in AD 67, but by the time we get to 69 (the year of the four emperors) there is civil war and massive numbers of Romans and other nationalities die from civil war, famine, plague, and other means. So verses 13-21 are going to cover the next three years, right up to the time before the seventh trumpet, and then chapters 10 and 11 will deal with two topical subjects that occured during that same period of time. Does that make sense? Well, enough on the structure.
God is sovereign over this war (v. 13a)
The next point says that God is sovereign over this war that Vespasian brings. And of course, we have been seeing that John keeps harping on that point over and over again in these visions. God is sovereign. We even saw His sovereignty in the amazing calendar numbers that I have already given to you. But you can clearly see it once again in the first phrase of verse 13: “So the sixth angel trumpeted…”
We have been seeing that heaven’s armies are more critical to world history than man’s armies. I was reading again in Josephus this past week, and was reminded of three times that Titus was almost killed by the Jews, yet miraculously escaped. Two times he fought his way through such a huge throng of Jewish soldiers that Romans and Jews alike were astonished. He should have been dead. Now, Titus attributes that escape to his gods. Josephus attributes it to Jehovah. But it is clear that heaven’s armies were guiding this war from start to finish – and you can come to that conclusion just by reading the secular histories. It was one strange war. But it is good to be reminded that we have angels involved in these battles.
God’s heavenly kingdom responds to earth’s prayers (v. 13b)
But it was more than just the angels. The kingdom of heaven, as directed by Jesus Christ, is impacting the earth. And that is symbolized by the second clause in verse 13: “and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar that is before God.” What is the golden altar? Well, he has defined that as the altar of incense in chapter 8:3. Take a look at that.
Rev. 8:3 Then another angel, having a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne.
Now, Jews would have already known what it was. But even for us, it has already been identified as the altar of incense that symbolizes the prayers of the saints. So this voice of Jesus Christ that is directing the armies of heaven is a direct result of the prayers of the church on earth. Is prayer important? Absolutely, yes! I don’t know how you could describe it as being more important than this verse does.
But it mentions the four horns of the golden altar, and anyone who was familiar with the temple rituals would realize that those four horns were one of the most powerful images of God’s mercy. The sacrifice would be made in the outer court on the bronze altar and some of the blood would then be brought and smeared on the horns of the golden altar. This symbolized the fact that God’s mercies flow only because of the merits of Christ’s death, and our prayers are effect only because of Christ’s atonement and His prayers.
What a wonderful symbol. Though it may have seemed like the whole world was falling apart, God was answering the church’s prayers and God was being merciful to the church. Sometimes judgments on God’s enemies are a mercy to the church. Don’t think God has failed you if He starts taking down statist governments in the next few years and we enter into financially tough times.
But I do want to spend more time on prayer because these chapters become a turning point for the church. The church had undergone incredible persecution. That persecution ended in Israel because Jews were now so preoccupied with defending themselves from Rome that they had no time to persecute the church. So starting in chapter 8:1-6 the prayers of the saints were continually streaming to the golden altar in heaven. It was those prayers that started this whole series of trumpets. And it was those same prayers that are leading to the judgments of this sixth trumpet.
Without prayer we have no victory. Please turn to Psalm 76. I think this Psalm is such a vivid reminder of what must happen to the church worldwide if we are to see the enemies of the church come under judgment and for the church to emerge as a world-conquering force once again. It will require powerful God-centered prayer. Psalm 76 says,
Psa. 76:1 In Judah God is known; His name is great in Israel. 2 In Salem also is His tabernacle, And His dwelling place in Zion. 3 There He broke the arrows of the bow, The shield and sword of battle. Selah
Selah means, “Let’s pause and think about that for a minute.” And we should. What was God’s tabernacle? Jesus said that it was intended to be God’s house of prayer for all nations. It was par excellence a place of prayer.
But notice that it was in that Tabernacle where God’s people were gathered for prayer that the definitive difference in Israel’s battles was made. The victory was not simply achieved out there on the battlefield. It was in this house of prayer that God broke the arrows of the bow and the shield and sword of battle.
But then Asaph goes on to say that these prayers must be God-centered, not comfort centered. Our prayers must be passionate for the kingdom and consider God to be more glorious and excellent than winning or gaining plunder. So verse 4 continues:
4 You are more glorious and excellent Than the mountains of prey. 5 The stouthearted were plundered; They have sunk into their sleep; And none of the mighty men have found the use of their hands. 6 At Your rebuke, O God of Jacob, Both the chariot and horse were cast into a dead sleep. 7 You, Yourself, are to be feared; And who may stand in Your presence When once You are angry? 8 You caused judgment to be heard from heaven; The earth feared and was still, 9 When God arose to judgment, To deliver all the oppressed of the earth. Selah 10 Surely the wrath of man shall praise You;
Can God use the wrath of the ungodly to undo their kingdom and to bring praise to His name? Yes He can. He did that by turning the wrath of the Jews that had been burning hot against the Christians and moving it against the Romans. And He did that by turning the wrath of the Romans that had been persecuting the Christians and using it against the Jews. Those two enemies of God undid each other. But even after the war, God continued to glorify Himself with both Roman and Jewish persecutions. So verse 10 again: “Surely the wrath of man shall praise You…”
With the remainder of wrath You shall gird Yourself.
11 Make vows to the LORD your God, and pay them; Let all who are around Him bring presents to Him who ought to be feared. 12 He shall cut off the spirit of princes; He is awesome to the kings of the earth.
That is the kind of faith that Revelation was designed to inspire in God’s people. It helps us to look at current events through new eyes.
God’s heavenly armies are more powerful than Satan’s armies (v. 14)
And verse 14 of Revelation 9 gives yet another encouragement. It shows how God’s heavenly armies are more powerful than Satan’s armies. If you are a glass-half-empty type of person you will focus on how scary it is that these demon princes have been loosed. “What are we going to do?” But if you are a glass-half-full type of person, you will notice that those demons were bound and couldn’t do anything until it served heaven’s purposes. And you will notice that God’s angelic armies are tougher and more powerful than Satan’s armies – “saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, ‘Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.'” If this good angel can unbind four demons and their armies, we ought to be impressed with the valor of our angels, not discouraged over the strength of Satan’s armies.
These demons are in the region where Vespasian’s armies come from (“Euphrates”)
The word “Euphrates” is also significant for the first century Jewish readers. It conjures up numerous Old Testament passages where the enemies of Israel came from – from the north; from the Euphrates (Jer. 6:1,22; 10:22; 13:20; 25:9,26; 46:20,24; 47:2; Ezek. 26:7; 38:6,15; etc.). And this has made some commentators say that this passage must then be referring to a hundred million human soldiers (or if you hold to the minority text, two hundred million human soldiers). It is humans, after all, who came from the north in the Old Testament. But as we will see, everything about these mounted enemies demonstrates that they are demons, not simply men.
But it is not exclusive of human armies. The demons are somehow connected to those human armies. But the focus is on demons. So, just as verses 1-12 show the images in Titus’ armies that pointed to the demons they worshiped, these were images on Vespasian’s legions that pointed to the demons that they worshiped.
The images of the demons were the images on the shields and banners of Vespasians’ four legions
So let’s examine the images on Vespasian’s four legions.[3] And that they are images can be seen from a number of proofs. First, look at verse 17. It says, “And in the vision I saw the horses…” Visions were characteristically symbolic. Second, the comparative particle ὡς (hos), which means “like” or “as” (not literally identical, but “like” or “as”) is used ten times in this chapter, the adjective ὁμοίως (homoios), which means “like” is used four times, and the noun ὁμοίωμα, which means similar to or likeness to is used once. All of those words are clearly pointing to the fact that you cannot take these as literal horses and literal riders. Literal horses don’t have snakes as tails. So these are clearly symbols of demons.
If you look at the map of the siege, you will see the specific Legions used by Titus and Vespasian. The four new legions that Vespasian brought up were IV (Scythia), V (Macedonia), VI (Ferrata), and X. They join with XII and XV. And there were parts of some other armies that were present as well. And if you analyze the symbols of these armies, they make perfect sense.
First of all, verse 17 says that the horses had heads like lions. The two symbols of Legio V were the eagle and the lion. You can see a coin minted in honor of that legion with an eagle and a lion.
Legio XII from the Euphrates also had an image of lion on their standards – in this case a flying lion. And interestingly, the cavalry assigned with these units had their horses wear head-armor shaped like a lion’s head. I found a surviving specimen that is also in your outlines. So the horses literally wore that symbol of a lion on their heads. So did the standard bearers: The symbol of Legio IV was a flying horse. So the Roman legions tried to imitate the demons they worshiped as closely as they could.
What about the fire that came out of their mouths and the tails like a serpent? Most commentaries only focus on the fact that these armies torched everything, including Jerusalem and temple. But the imagery of the armies themselves connects them with smoke and fire. For example, the Chimera god, an example of which I have put in your outlines, , has a head like a lion and a tail like a snake with the tip of the tail being the snake’s head. The Chimera had different shapes. So these are a collage of images. According to ancient legend, the Chimera was reputed to breath fire out of its mouth. Moderns tend to look at gods like this with amusement, but the ancients feared them and they worshiped them.
But fire and smoke issuing forth may also be connected with two of the gods represented by two of Vespasian’s legions – the gods Zeus and Neptune. The Tenth Legion’s god, Neptune, worked very closely with Apollo, the demonic king mentioned in verse 11. And the main animal associated with him was horses. And both gods had lightning and fire associated with them. In fact, the Twelfth Legion’s symbol was a lightning bolt, to connect them with that. The shields of Legio V Macedonia are of fire and smoke. And I have given you an image of that as well – one of their shields.
And note the red, yellow, and blue that was on that shield and on all the other armor of those Legions. Verse 17 says, “those who rode them had breastplates of fiery red, hyacinth blue and sulfur yellow.” And I have three pictures that show those typical colors for the legions. Those are the three colors that the legions wore.
The location of Legio VI was up until recently unknown, and thus the question marks on the map. But recent archaeological evidence places them in the Megiddo Valley, exactly where Revelation 16:16 places them.[4] So that summarizes the four legions from the Euphrates and how they symbolized the demons that they worshiped. And those gods or demons had up until now been bound at the Euphrates. It is a composite description just like the demons in verses 1-12 were. So Vespasian and Titus join forces in the Spring of AD 67, and they begin an aggressive campaign of war.
These demons were used to kill a third of mankind (v. 15)
Let me give you one more point, and that is seen in verse 15: “So the four angels were released — they had been prepared for the hour and the day and month and year” and here comes the phrase we haven’t dealt with yet: “—so that they might kill a third of mankind.”
Most Partial Preterist commentaries try to get around this last statement since it seems exaggerated to them. Was a third of mankind really killed at this time? If you read the premillennial arguments against our position, this is claimed to be a slam-dunk argument against us. And I am not at all satisfied with any of the Partial Preterist replies that I have read so far. So this is a serious issue that deserves at least a few minutes of consideration.
Let me first of all discard some lame arguments that have been used by our own camp. Mullholland suggests that all of humanity is divided up into three groups of unequal size: a group sealed by God, a group judged by God, and a group who is neither sealed nor judged but is given opportunity to repent. So one third of those groups are killed on his interpretation. But that seems forced. It seems to refer to one third of mankind, not one of three very unequal groups. So I am not satisfied with that explanation.
Others in our camp apply this to men in Israel alone. While that is technically possible, it doesn’t fit two facts: First, far more than one third of Jews were annihilated throughout the empire. Second, it doesn’t seem to fit the context of idolatry of literal idols in verses 20-21. Jews didn’t worship idols of wood, stone, bronze, and gold. It seems better to take this as a reference to mankind within the Roman Empire or Mankind in general. We have almost no idea of death figures in China and other parts of the world from this time, so I could not say one way or the other of whether one third of the world’s population died. I suspect not.
But there are four arguments as to why this is most probably related to the world of the Roman Empire. First, in the parallel section in chapter 16:14 the demons from the Euphrates go out of the beast’s mouth, so that connects it to Nero; to Rome. We are not talking about China or North America. Second, he speaks of the kings at the Euphrates, so that is the second connection that would seem to indicate that it is Gentiles, and goes beyond Jews. But the Euphrates is still within the Roman Empire, so it excludes China. Third, he uses the Greek term οἰκουμένης, which is defined in the dictionary as usually applying to the Roman Empire (or the world as an administrative unit under Rome). And last, it speaks of them coming to the land of Israel to wage war at Megiddo. Rome came to Megiddo, but China didn’t. And our passage also speaks of the demons coming from the Euphrates – the place where the auxiliary units combined with Vespasian’s four legions that were brought to Israel. And the point is that these demons would be unleashed not just upon Israel (which is where many Partial Preterists restrict this demonic activity), but also upon the whole empire during the next three and a half years. This is a covenantal judgment against both Israel and Rome.
But it still brings up the question, “Did one third of mankind in the Roman Empire die between the years AD 67 and 70?” And I believe the answer is “Yes.” Now, Futurists will say, “No way. There is no evidence of this massive number of deaths.” People like Tim LaHaye have recently been going on a frontal attack against Partial Preterism, and this is one of their arguments. Well, I beg to differ with them – there is evidence.
Part of the problem is that secular scholars are all over the map on what the population of the empire might have been. I have read numerous papers and books studying the demography of that period.[5] If Gibbon’s estimates for the population in the first half of the century are correct (and he has by far the highest estimate at 120 million) then the population was reduced by far more than one third. But others have estimated the Roman population before these years as 83 million (Moreau de Jonnes), 70-90 million (Michael Grant), 70 million (Beloch & Stein), 50-60 million (Finley), 50 million (Duncan, Jones, and McMullen), and 39 million (McEvedy). Well, if you are all over the map like that, it is almost impossible to use demography to prove fulfillment or non-fulfillment. Most people say that it was probably in the 55 million range. But if any of the first four estimates are correct on the size of the population, then liberals have no basis for questioning the inerrant Scriptures. God said that a third would die, and that is good enough for me. But because Premils have recently been bringing this verse up as an objection to Partial Preterism, I do want to deal with it for just a few more minutes to show that there was massive death during this time.
And my chief source of information is Tacitus, a Roman historian who lived during this time. When you read through his five volumes that cover 68-70 AD (they were titled, The Histories), you see language that describes absolute carnage during these years. And the carnage was not just against the Barbarians who had revolted. That was bad enough, but the civil wars had Roman legions fighting against other legions and decimating their numbers. Tacitus speaks of “vast numbers” of Roman soldiers being slain.[6] Nor were ordinary citizens exempt. Cremona was massacred, as were other regions.
So why don’t we read about these things more? Part of the problem is that many establishment scholars tend to doubt the carnage, and my suspicion on why they would doubt what the ancient historians say is because it mars their bright picture of Rome. And they also tend to downplay other significant changes in numbers. For example, on the diminished size of the city of Rome that I just referenced, Whitney Oates says,
On the face of it, this seems impossible. Despite the fact that … the city had suffered severely from disease and pestilence, we have no warrant to conclude that the city had decreased in size by over more than half. We are forced, therefore, to reject such an interpretation.[7]
And my response is, “Why? Why is the literal interpretation of the facts impossible?” And why do many scholars dismiss the genocides recorded by historians as being real genocides? It is only a hunch, but I think it is because they idolize Rome. For over 1000 years scholars have looked to Rome for the ideal model of a state. So if historians say that Julius Caesar killed one million Gauls in one conflict, and enslaved another one million, it must be hyperbole. Julius Caesar is too much of a hero to engage in genocide. That’s a dirty word – at least when it is used to describe Roman atrocities. Were there really one a half million Jews killed in Israel and 3-7 million more killed throughout the empire? They say that Josephus must have been exaggerating. It sounds too much like genocide, and it gets played down. Even Christians have idolized Greece and Rome. But Rome and Greece were demonic to the core and there is no good reason to idolize them. And I like the way Nic Fields pops this illusion in his recent 2014 history book that covers just the year AD 69. He says,
“Historians generally like to encourage us to remember Rome as a glorious font of western civilization. I find it difficult to agree with this proposal. Rather than be dazzled by its so-called glory, Rome is better seen as ‘that immense monument of human arrogance’. So from here on abandon any notions about the glory that was Rome or the noble legacy it ostensibly left us.”
And I say, “Amen.” By the time you finish his book, you will be sickened by Rome and all that it stands for. Rome’s brutality during these next few years depopulated a third of the empire.
Who all died? Let’s try to add it up the information that we have. Christians continued to die for more than a year – all the way up until June 9 of 68 when Nero died. As I mentioned in a previous sermon, the church was almost exterminated. As much as the church had advanced around the world, to be almost exterminated would hugely impact the world’s population. If the Roman Empire was 55 million (as most establishment scholars believe) and if Christians numbered in the multiplied millions (as we have already established), then we are already racking up some significant percentages. Let’s just assume a conservative figure of five million Christians. That would be almost 10% of the total population. It would be less if the higher estimates of the first four scholars were followed, but it is still significant. And if you follow the higher estimates, then it is a slam dunk that a third of the population died.
Jews are the next category that adds to this holocaust. They continued to be killed throughout the empire up until early 74. In fact, the lowest figure of Jews killed throughout the empire that could possibly be supported is 4 million (which is what some establishment scholars hold to), but several scholars have demonstrated that it is much closer to the seven million mark. If the Roman population was higher, then this figure would go up as well, because Jews comprised approximately 15% of the entire population[8] – 10% in the West and 20% in the East.[9] The Jewish deaths alone would have comprised over 10% of the population; and you need to add the Christians to that. So we are already nearing 20%. This would have had a devastating impact upon the population and economy of the empire. And we will deal with that subject in the second half of the book in much more detail.
But the German Batavians were slaughtered in their uprising, and other Barbarian uprisings were brutally suppressed. It is impossible to read through the five volumes of Tacitus’ The Histories, without being aware of a massive loss of life. Which, by the way, Fields points out was typical of Rome’s armies. Life did not mean much to them.
Then there were Roman legions fighting against other Roman legions in the civil wars of AD 69. The best of the best were up against each other. And they showed no mercy to the legions and the auxiliary armies that supported the losing emperor. Remember that AD 69 was the year of the four emperors, and there was civil war through that whole period. But the Batavians themselves were a powerful military, and they annihilated two Roman legions. Tacitus doesn’t give an exact number of legionaries killed, but he says that it was “vast numbers.” Two additional legions sided with the Batavians, which means that they were the losing side once Rome stomped on them. So we now have four legions in trouble. We don’t have percentages to add, but when Tacitus speaks of huge areas being heaped high with the dead bodies of Roman soldiers, there is something that needs to be added to the percentages we have already seen. It’s now higher than 20%.
But non-combatant Roman civilians also died all through the year 69, the year of the four emperors. Tacitus’ accounts turn your stomach at the brutality of Roman soldiers against their fellow Roman citizens. It was one of the things that made our founding fathers vow that there would be no standing army in America – they feared what an army could do to its own citizens. And actually, you don’t have to look beyond the War Between the States, do you? Armies unleashed upon our own citizens produced absolute carnage.
I’ll just give you a tiny paragraph from Field’s history book on the year AD 69 to give you a tiny glimpse. He talks about what happened to one town for siding with the wrong emperor. They had already lost many lives during the conflict, but Fields describes what happened to the citizens after the surrender had happened. He says,
In any war it is the civilian caught up in the conflict that suffers the most, and the inhabitants of this affluent town were to be no exception; despite a show of surrender, they fell victim to indiscriminate looting, rape and butchery, the most frightful forms of soldier licence, the last vices of war. A holocaust of death and destruction cleaned the entire town. …
The Flavians were now completely out of hand. They roamed unchecked through the town, raping and murdering, looting and destroying, and then they slept drunken on wine and lust and blood. Such was the rape of Cremona.[10]
And by the way, the statements that Tacitus, Seutonius, Cassius, and others give of the crazy behavior of the Romans fit our interpretation that these demons were unleashed upon Rome. Just as Josephus describes the Jews as being either insane or demon possessed during the years 68-70, Tacitus’ descriptions of the mob activities, suicides, mass killings and torture, and the crazed behaviors of barbarians and Romans alike seems to point to a time of demonization amongst the Romans as well.
And we haven’t even touched on those killed by plagues and fires during this time. R. Bagnall and B. Frier have pored over 300 census returns filed in Egypt during the first three centuries since the birth of Jesus and tried to come up with Demographic tables and mortality rates for Romans. Their conclusion was that life expectancy from birth for Roman females was between 20-30 years and males was between 22 and 25 years. If that was true, then something devastating must have happened during this time. The huge numbers of widows and orphans alone seems to point to vast numbers of males being killed in the latter part of the first century. So even though we do not have any slam-dunk numbers, neither do those who question this verse being fulfilled. And certainly there is abundant evidence of mass death that seems to credibly approach the 33% mark.
When we get to chapter 11 I will give you evidence of a tidal wave that covered the region of Lycia and a great deal of Egypt. Cassius didn’t say how many died, but it must have been an enormous number. So you would have to add that to the numbers.
I’ll give you just one more example of statistics that we have. Though the evidence is disputed, there is evidence that the city of Rome declined in its population tremendously between AD 14 and 200, going from 1,250,000 in AD 14[11] to 570,000 around AD 200. That would be a reduction of the size of the city by 55% in less than 200 years. Now, how much of that happened during these next three years, we do not know. But skeptics need to account for those kinds of things. They point strongly in favor of the Partial Preterist interpretation.
And to those who are still skeptical, I would point to the fact that there was a far worse reduction of the population under later emperors that is impossible to contest, so to dismiss this smaller number of one third as being ridiculous when they do not have any concrete evidence, is simply skepticism, not an argument. Tacitus is definitely on our side on this debate. And that is as much as I will deal with this question.
Conclusion
But let me end with five concluding applications. First, we have seen that you can absolutely trust the numbers and statistics of the Bible. The calendar statistics alone makes you realize that the Bible is inspired and inerrant if you weren’t already convinced of that. But we can trust the Bible completely and implicitly.
Second, God is never late. The saints in chapter 6 who were praying for judgment the previous year may have thought that He was late, but He was not. God was prepared down to the hour, day, month, and year. We can trust Him to be there when we need Him.
Third, we cannot trust civil governments to do what they have promised to do – especially if they are led by unbelievers. The book of Revelation makes it unmistakably clear that civil leaders can easily be moved by demons. Even if they want to fulfill their promises, they are limited in what they can do.
Which means fourthly, that we should not entrust too much power to civil governments. The apostle John will more fully address that issue in the second half of the book, where he describes civil governments as beasts and demonic. And in doing that, it is simply following the lead of the book of Daniel, which describes the demonic king Nebuchadnezzar as having “the heart of a beast” (Dan. 4:16). And the beast that Babylon was likened to was its god – a winged lion. It was a demon. So for his government to be described as that beast was to be described as that demon. The demon holds sway over Nebuchadnezzar. And Daniel 7:24 describes the conversion of Nebuchadnezzar in these words:
The first [beast] was like a lion, and had eagle’s wings. I watched till its wings were plucked off; and it was lifted up from the earth and made to stand on two feet like a man, and a man’s heart was given to it.
That shows the Christianization of Babylon making it rational. Once Nebuchadnezzar was converted, his empire was no longer described as a beast or as demonic. The only other government not treated as bestial and demonic was the kingdom that the Messiah was prophesied to establish.
And what is the point? The point is that we should desire Christians in office. Whatever good intentions an unbelieving politician might have, he is still under the sway of the wicked one – 1 John 5:19. And this was a truism in early America. They would quote David’s statement, “He who rules over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God.” Listen to what the first Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court, John Jay, said:
Providence has given to our people the choice of their rulers, and it is the duty, as well as the privilege and interest of our Christian nation to select and prefer Christian rulers for their rulers.”
When you once take the demonic into consideration, voting for an unbeliever doesn’t make sense. If even a compromised Christian like King David could be moved by Satan to do a horrible statist thing – the census, think of what Satan can do in moving other politicians.
My last application is that we should bring our prayers before the throne of grace and seek God’s mercy for His church. These kinds of culture battles will ultimately be won by spiritual warfare alone. And when we are praying, it is good to keep in mind that God’s ultimate goal is righteousness exalting every nation of the world – the kind of righteousness that the nations at the end of this book have. So pray. Make wise use of the golden altar of incense. Amen.
Translation of the Majority Text by Wilbur M. Pickering – The Sovereign Creator Has Spoken. The first word “And” was changed by me to “Then.” ↩
My calendar program is the one developed by E. W. Faulstich. The figures can be cross-checked with calculations he has done in his collected writings. ↩
Conybeare and Howson pointed out that Rome had four legions in the neighborhood of the Euphrates. See their Life and Epistles of Paul, p. 603, footnote 2. See also Tacitus, Anals, 4.5 and Josephus, Wars, 3.1.3; 3.4.2; 5.1.6; 6.1.3; 7.1.3. See Zuleika Rodgers, Making History: Josephus and Historical Method, (Leiden: Brill, 2006), p. 354. The four legions from the Euphrates were Legio IV (Scythia), V (Macedonia), VI (Ferrata), and X. ↩
Surveys conducted by Israeli archaeologist Yotam Tepper found Roman coins and roof tiles stamped with the name of the Sixth Legion. ↩
Some of the articles I have read are, Raymond W. Goldsmith, “An Estimate of the Size and Structure of the National Product of the Early Roman Empire,” (Yale University); Walter Scheidel, “Roman Population Size: The Logi of the Debate,” (Stanford University, July 2007); Whitney J. Oates, “The Population of Rome,” Classical Philology, vol. 29, no. 2, (April, 1934), pp. 101-116; L. Friedländer, Roman Life and Manners under the Early Empire, trans. A. B. Gough (London: Routledge, 1913), IV, 17‑28; C. Herschel (The Two Books on the Water Supply of the City of Rome of Sextus Julius Frontinus [Boston: Estes, 1899]); Nic Fields, AD 69: Emperors, Armies & Anarchy, (South Yorkshire: Pen & Sword Books Ltd, 2014); Edwin M. Yamauchi & Marvin R. Wilson, “Census,” in Dictionary of Daily Life in Biblical & Post-Biblical Antiquity, (Peabody, Massachuesetts: Hendriksen Publishers, 2014); Turchin, P., Scheidel, W., & Spencer, C. (2009). Coin Hoards Speak of Population Declines in Ancient Rome. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 106(41), 17276-17279. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/40485178; Michael Grant, The World of Rome (Cleveland: World Publishing, 1960), http://www.questia.com/read/1506664/the-world-of-rome. ↩
Histories, Book III, says, “the ground was strewn with a vast number of mangled and lifeless bodies.” But similar language can be seen all through books I-V. ↩
http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Journals/CP/29/2/Population_of_Rome*.html ↩
Paul Barnett, BEhind the Scenes of the New Testament, (Downer’s Grove, Ill.: Inter-varsity, 1990), p. 158. ↩
Neil Faulkner, Apocalypse: The Great Jewish Revolt Against Rome AD 66-73 , (Gloucestershire, Eng: Tempus, 2002), p. 38; Seven Cities of the Apocalypse and Roman Culture , Roland H. Worth, Jr., (New York: Paulist, 1999), p. 72. ↩
Fields, Dr Nic (2014-03-31). AD69: Emperors, Armies and Anarchy (Kindle Locations 2447-2452 and 2461-2463). Pen and Sword. Kindle Edition. ↩
See calculations at http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Journals/CP/29/2/Population_of_Rome*.html Estimates of the population range from a low of half a million to a high of eight million residents of the city of Rome. 1.25 million was an estimate first established by Gibbon, and is argued for in this essay using a variety of methods. ↩
Eschatology
Eschatology › Partial Preterism
Eschatology › Judgments
Eschatology › Hades or Hell
Angelology › Demonology
Support Dr. Kayser
Biblical Blueprints runs on donations and coffee. You can help Dr. Kayser stay awake while working by buying him and his team more coffee.
Want to know next time Dr. Kayser publishes?
By submitting this form, you are consenting to receive emails from: Biblical Blueprints, 5858 Wenninghoff Rd, Omaha, NE, 68134, US, biblicalblueprints.com. You can revoke your consent to receive emails at any time by using the SafeUnsubscribe® link, found at the bottom of every email. Emails are serviced by Constant Contact.
Contact us at info@biblicalblueprints.com
“All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.” – 2 Timothy 3:16-17
Home
Categories
Edit
It’s been three weeks since I have preached on Revelation, so let me give a quick review of where we have been recently. We have been seeing that there has been a perfect sequence of the six seals moving into the seven trumpets from the Spring of AD 30 to the Fall of AD 66, where we ended chapter 8. And we saw every detail perfectly fulfilled, including every mountain and island in the Mediterranean moving up or disappearing from sight. Recent meteorological studies have clearly shown how that all happened in AD 66. The fourth trumpet was the last passage of chapter 8, and it describes the spectacular things that happened in the sun, moon, and stars at the very time that the Roman legions under Cestius were defeated. The historians of that day say that the soldiers were terrified with these signs in the heavens. We also saw that when Cestius’ armies fled from Israel, it gave a tiny window of opportunity for Christians to flee from Jerusalem. And Eusebius indicates that every Christian except for the two prophets in chapter 10 did indeed escape and stayed under the protection of Pella for the duration of the war.
So Cestius was defeated at the end of chapter 8. Almost immediately a messenger was sent to Nero who commissioned Titus and Vespasian to punish Israel. And connecting this passage with the parallel in the second half of the book we saw that the dragon who controlled Nero issued forth orders to other demonic princes at the same time. So chapter 9 (the fifth trumpet) starts on Dius 24, of AD 66 and continued until Veadar 25 or AD 67, or exactly five months (150 days). And that fifth trumpet describes the demons that were symbolized by Titus’ armies so perfectly. All of their armor, their banners, their standards, and their horses armor were decorated with symbols of their gods – what we call demons. And we saw that the demons described in the first half of the chapter brought torment for the next five months, but not death. It’s the only period during that war when there is torment without death. So that was the fifth trumpet.
The sixth trumpet, which is verses 13-21, perfectly describes the symbols of the gods of Vespasian’s legions who came down from the Euphrates. And we saw last time that these armies literally had images of lions on the heads of their horses, and breastplates and armor of red, hyacinth blue, and sulfur yellow, just as verse 17 describes. And we looked at the symbols on those legion’s shields that show fire, smoke, and brimstone. They also had griffins with tails of serpents. So we saw that those symbols were very literally present and could be seen throughout the Roman armies. Last time I showed you numerous photos documenting those symbols.
In fact, so perfectly do each of the symbols in verses 1-21 match the various legions that descended upon Israel, that many commentaries only see the Roman soldiers being described. But that is a big mistake. This chapter is describing the demons that the Roman armies worshiped. It’s showing a behind-the-scenes glimpse of what was driving the human armies. Certainly the human armies put symbols on their men and on their horses to imitate what they thought the demons looked like. But they did that because they worshiped actual demons (as verse 20 explicitly says). And this chapter is preoccupied with what those demons were doing. And we spent a great deal of time on the demons in the last three sermons. Those millions of demons were actually far more scary than the ferocious Roman armies who worshiped them.
So let me summarize the two sections of chapter 9. The gross-looking armies in verses 1-12 are the demonic hordes that were associated with Titus’s armies. His army had Apollyon as its patron god. We saw from the book of Acts that Apollyon had been bound in the pit less than sixteen years earlier, and now he and his armies were unleashed from the Abyss. And so we looked at modern spiritual warfare and why it is legitimate to bind demons to the Abyss.
What about the creatures in the second half of the chapter? Well, we saw that the gross-looking armies in verses 13-21 are not human at all – they are clearly the demonic hordes that were associated with Vespasian’s armies up there at the Euphrates. So the first half of the chapter describes the demons associated with Titus’ armies, and the second half of the chapter describes the demons associated with Vespasian’s armies.
And verse 16 says that there were one hundred million demons at the Euphrates. The New King James says two hundred million, but I pointed out last time that 100% of our Ecclesiastic Greek Text (f35) and 2/3 of all Greek manuscripts in existence have one hundred million. I have been preaching from the Majority Text, and the New King James does not always reflect that in the book of Revelation. But either way, it is a pretty scary number, isn’t it? If you were part of those four human legions that came from the Euphrates, you had one hundred millions demons to contend with. What a scary thought.
So just imagine a massive army of one hundred million demons either marching or flying the 500 or so miles from Babylon to Israel. Anyone who had eyes to see would know that Israel was in deep trouble. But we saw last time that it wasn’t just Israel that was in trouble. Over the next three years these demons would produce a blood-lust in the Roman soldiers that would result in one third of all the Roman Empire being killed – which is exactly what verse 18 says. With the death of Nero, Rome fell apart with legions fighting legions and barbarian uprisings leading to disaster. So verse 15 says, “So the four angels were released—they had been prepared for the hour and the day and month and year—so that they might kill a third of mankind.” And that is repeated in verse 18.
So there are three years between the Spring of AD 67 and the Spring of AD 70, when the seventh trumpet sounds, and ushers in the last six months of the first half of the seven year war. Those three years are years of absolute terror being unleashed not just upon Israel, but upon the whole Roman empire. Last time as I added up the estimates of the numbers of deaths of Christians, Jews, Romans, and Barbarians, that the death-toll hovers right around the one third mark. The statistics are horrifying.
More details about these heavenly angels and creatures
Well, last time we didn’t quite get finished with the chapter. So this is going to be an odd sermon. We are just going to have a potpourri of lessons that we missed. And let me pick up something from verse 14 that someone had a question on. In verse 14 God tells the sixth angel, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.” We already dealt with the binding to some degree, but some have wondered how those four angels were bound. And the answer is, “I don’t know.” Perhaps God put something akin to an electric fence bracelet on their necks to keep them within certain boundaries. Maybe they had good angels keeping them back. Maybe God put up some kind of a spiritual barrier. We aren’t told. We just know that they had freedom to roam the region of Euphrates, but they had no freedom to leave that territory. We have spoken before of territorial spirits; well, sometimes they are territorial through no choice of their own. God restricts their movements.
But however it was that they were bound, this sixth angel somehow has the power to remove that restriction. So again, this introduces us to this idea of spiritual warfare. There are good angels fighting against bad angels, and somehow those invisible battles intersect with the flesh and blood conflicts that happen in history. And we saw last time that both Jews and Romans were described during this period as turning into humans who were either insane (what the Roman historians think) or as being demon-possessed. We believe it was the latter. That perfectly explains the bizarre behavior of both populations during this period of time.
There is another little detail that I didn’t comment on in verse 17 – and that is that at least some of the demons ride on horses. It says, “And in the vision I saw the horses like this: those who rode them had breastplates of fiery red, hyacinth blue and sulfur yellow; the heads of the horses were like lions’ heads; out of their mouths came fire, smoke and brimstone.” So you have something like horses and something like riders of horses. And this is a repeated theme throughout the Old Testament and New Testament. Just as Revelation speaks of various kinds of good “living creatures” who worship and serve God, there are various kinds of evil “living creatures” who worship and serve Satan.
But I find it fascinating that the Bible speaks of horses and horse riders in the spiritual realm. And some people say, “Yeah, but the book of Revelation is just symbols. Those horses don’t really exist.” But keep in mind one of the early rules of interpreting this book that we looked at. We cannot dismiss either the symbol or what was symbolized from real history. We cannot spiritualise these things away. And the easiest example to remember is the symbol of the rock that Moses struck. It was a real rock that was really struck and from which literal water flowed, but it symbolized a real Jesus, who was really smitten by God, and because of His crucifixion, we have been given the Holy Spirit. So both the symbols and what is symbolized are real. That’s why we have been looking in history for both. We have seen that there are real symbols on the armies pointing to real demons. Well, if that is the case, then the inescapable conclusion is that there are good angels and good horses in the heavenly realms, and there are evil angels with evil horses as well.
Now, in case you question whether there really are spiritual horses, let me give you some Scriptures. 2 Kings 2:11 speaks of a chariot of fire drawn by horses of fire carrying Elijah up into the sky. You can’t explain that away as being poetic language. That is a historical book using historical language to describe a historical event. Four chapters later, Elisha prayed that his servant’s eyes would be opened to see the spiritual battles going on, and God did so. Immediately Elisha’s servant saw “the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha” (2 Kings 6:17). He was not just dealing with angels. He was dealing with spiritual beings that functioned like horses and looked a like horses. Psalm 68:17 speaks of hundreds of thousands of chariots in God’s heavenly armies, which means that we have multiplied hundreds of thousands of horses in God’s armies. Ezekiel 1 speaks of a whirlwind coming out of the north (which would be the region of the Euphrates) and in the midst of raging fire are these armies of angels similar to what we are seeing here in Revelation. Habakkuk 3:8 speaks of God’s horses and chariots. Zechariah 6 speaks of heavenly chariots (v. 1) being pulled by horses (vv. 2-4) and the horses are called spirits (v. 5) and these spirit-horses seem to have intelligence (vv. 6-8). And they too seem to be involved with angelic beings in earth’s drama and battles. We saw that the four horsemen of the apocalypse were demonic princes riding fallen evil horses. Some of these things are so weird and wonderful that it it hard to imagine. I think Spielberg would have a lot of fun depicting the angelic battles that the Bible describes.
But my point in bringing it up is not simply to point us once again to spiritual warfare (which obviously is an important topic), but to also point out that there is a vast and wonderful world of the unseen. The Greek word, ζῶον, the Greek word for animals, is used 17 times in the book of Revelation to refer to various strange and wonderful creatures that are neither human nor angel. That’s the word we get zoo and zoology from. The New King James translates the term as “living creatures,” but it is literally animals. If you were to translate it literally you would have spirit-animals in heaven. Yet, though some of these animals look like lions, oxen, horses, and eagles, they have intelligence and can talk. The Narnia trilogy may not be so far off after all. And these creatures serve redeemed man. We have a very truncated cosmology if all we think about is humans and angels.
Apparently one third of the angels fell with Satan (chapter 12 will talk about that), but they also dragged a lot of the other creatures with them. And this passage shows spiritual horses that are no longer serving God or man, but are fighting against God and against mankind. And whether they morphed into these ugly shapes (and we have already seen that angels can morph and change their own shape) or whether that was part of God’s curse upon them (just like he cursed plants with thorns), we are not told. But these creatures use their God-given powers to kill rather than to give life. Verses 17-18 describe some kind of fire that comes out of their mouths. That should not seem odd since even angels are said to have fire connected to them in some way. For example, Hebrews 1:7 says, “Who makes His angels spirits, his ministers a flame of fire.” But the Fall into sin turned good powers upside down and made them destructive. Verses 17-18 says,
17 And in the vision I saw the horses like this: those who rode them had breastplates of fiery red, hyacinth blue and sulfur yellow; the heads of the horses were like lions’ heads; out of their mouths came fire, smoke and brimstone. 18 By these three plagues a third of mankind was killed—by the fire and the smoke and the brimstone that came out of their mouths.
And I dealt with those verses at length in my last sermon. But take a look again at verse 19. Verse 19 shows the strange powers in the tails of these horses:
19 For the capability of the horses is in their mouths — and in their tails, because their tails are like snakes, having heads, and with them they do harm.
Keep in mind that these creatures were made for good and not for evil, yet the Fall has twisted everything around for evil. Evil has affected every aspect of creation. You might question that, but even the elect good angels, and horses, and other creatures are negatively impacted by the Fall in the sense that it grieves them and they have sadness and anger against sin and they must fight rather than bringing healing. They are not sinners – they are perfect, but they are negatively impacted by our sin. I believe this is why Colossians 1:20 says that Christ’s redemption is destined to eventually reconcile all things in heaven and earth. The good angels and creatures don’t need to be saved, but they do need to be reconciled to man as man becomes increasingly redeemed; they no longer have to fight against man. Let me read that Scripture. It is Colossians 1:19-20.
Col. 1:19 For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, 20 and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross.
Notice that it doesn’t say that all things will be saved, but all things will be reconciled. And I will point out that the phrase, “all things,” doesn’t mean “all without exception,” or we would see demons and Satan reconciled, which the Scripture denies. But it is “all without distinction.” In other words, every kind of thing is going to be reconciled. Well, the implications of that are profound. The Fall of Adam not only negatively impacted earth; it negatively impacted heaven. We saw that this is why heaven had to be cleansed, and Satan cast out. The whole universe is out of sorts, and the whole universe must enter into redemption – and the last chapters of this book will show that. So when Christ brings peace, there are unfallen spiritual creatures that will also enjoy that peace.
One question that came up is, “If there are spiritual animals, will there be physical animals in the New Heavens and New Earth? If there are spirit-horses, will there be horses of flesh?” And to anticipate a sermon near the end of this book I will say, “I don’t see why not.” The one reflects the other. I’m not saying that there are spiritual animals that correspond to every species of physical animal. I doubt that is the case. But here is the point – if Christ’s redemption reconciles all things in heaven and on earth, then even defining the “all things” as “all without distinction” shows that the animal life on earth will itself enter into the beneficial fruits of Christ’s kingdom. And I think Randy Alcorn’s book on Heaven does a nice job of showing how the physical world will be restored. Christianity is not Gnosticism, which escapes from the physical. Christianity believes that Christ’s redemption heals and restores even the physical. God made us for a physical world.
I know this is a rabbit trail, but why don’t you turn with me to Isaiah 11 to see this. This is a passage that begins with the First Coming of Jesus and shows how His kingdom will progressively bring more and more changes to planet earth as Christ’s redemption reconciles things that are currently at odds. Isaiah 11, beginning at verse 1:
1 There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse, And a Branch shall grow out of his roots. 2 The Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon Him, The Spirit of wisdom and understanding, The Spirit of counsel and might, The Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD.
And you will recognize that the whole of verse 2 is quoted by the New Testament as a reference to Jesus being anointed by the Holy Spirit at His baptism. It goes on:
3 His delight is in the fear of the LORD, And He shall not judge by the sight of His eyes, Nor decide by the hearing of His ears; 4 But with righteousness He shall judge the poor, And decide with equity for the meek of the earth; He shall strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, And with the breath of His lips He shall slay the wicked. 5 Righteousness shall be the belt of His loins, And faithfulness the belt of His waist.
And Ephesians 6 applies those verses to our spiritual warfare as we advance the cause of Christ. Commentators point out that when we put on spiritual armor, we are really putting on Christ. But what is the end result of our spiritual warfare? The topsy turvyness introduced by the Fall begins to gradually be undone. Look at the impact upon animals in verses 6 and following:
6 “The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, The leopard shall lie down with the young goat, The calf and the young lion and the fatling together; And a little child shall lead them. 7 The cow and the bear shall graze; Their young ones shall lie down together; And the lion shall eat straw like the ox. 8 The nursing child shall play by the cobra’s hole, And the weaned child shall put his hand in the viper’s den. 9 They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain, For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD As the waters cover the sea. 10 “And in that day there shall be a Root of Jesse, Who shall stand as a banner to the people; For the Gentiles shall seek Him, And His resting place shall be glorious.” 11 It shall come to pass in that day That the Lord shall set His hand again the second time To recover the remnant of His people who are left, From Assyria and Egypt, From Pathros and Cush, From Elam and Shinar, From Hamath and the islands of the sea. 12 He will set up a banner for the nations, And will assemble the outcasts of Israel, And gather together the dispersed of Judah From the four corners of the earth.
Why do I bring this all up in chapter 9? Why not wait till Revelation deals with this reconciliation in the last chapters? And the answer is in part because I have been asked about it. But it is worthwhile to think about these things because these early chapters of Revelation show how spiritual warfare is absolutely essential if these wonderful prophecies are to be fulfilled. Just as Isaiah 11 begins with warfare and opposition and ends with a converted world, so too does Revelation. And by the end of the book not only physical animals but also heavenly animals will enjoy the fruits of Christ’s kingdom and shalom. Not only humans but angels too will enjoy the shalom that comes from the Gospel. It is in this sense and this sense alone that Christ reconciles all things to himself. It’s not universal redemption (as heretics claim), but a kicking out of the world of all that offends and a restoring of planet earth to all that was lost and much more. Every category of life ruined in Adam will be reconciled to Christ.
The purpose of judgments is to lead to repentance. When repentance is not forthcoming, only further judgments await them.
But God is very patient, and until humans repent and once again embrace God’s law, they will not enjoy the good fruits that this book points to. And the last two verses of Revelation 9 highlight this purpose for God’s judgments.
20 Yet the rest of the people, those who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, so as to stop worshiping the demons, even the idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone and wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk; 21 and they did not repent of their murders or their sorceries or their fornication or their thefts.
God’s patience and mercies go to even to rebellious pagans (“the rest of the people…”)
There are six things I want you to notice in those two verses. First, notice God’s patience even to pagans who are not yet converted. He says, “Yet the rest of the people, those who were not killed by these plagues.” He didn’t kill everybody, even though everybody deserved to be killed. We have been seeing God gradually heating up judgments in the seven seals and the seven trumpets. When pagans did not repent after the first seal, He brought a worse one. When they still did not repent, He brought an even worse one. God could have brought total destruction way back there in the beginning of chapter 6. But He is patient, and He gives opportunities to repent – that is the point.
We speak of these as redemptive judgments. They are judgments designed to bring repentance to some. It doesn’t bring repentance to all, but it does bring repentance to some. And as we go through this book we will see in later chapters that God drew millions to Himself as a result of the disasters brought upon Rome. There was a reason why God spared some. He did it for the sake of the elect.
Why is that important to understand? Because it is easy for Christians to miss the goal of repentance that is at the heart of God’s judgments and to go to one of two extremes. The first extreme is to become hard-hearted against the evil men and women who have led our country astray and to allow our language to show that we despise them; that we have just written them off. Well, that kind of attitude will not reach them. The other extreme is to withdraw from culture and to only be concerned with self-preservation.
Now, I will hasten to say that seeking to protect yourself if possible is not a bad goal. The fact that Christians were warned by Christ to flee from Jerusalem shows that self-preservation can be an OK goal. And we saw that they did indeed escape from Jerusalem and survived for three and a half years in Pella. We do need to prepare for disaster. But if you read the history of this period and beyond, you do not find that those Christians stayed in a ghetto. No. As disasters hit Rome, they were there to pick up the pieces and to show the love of Christ. They explained to the Romans how these were God’s judgments designed to bring people to repentance. And because they engaged with society and loved on undeserving humans, millions came to Christ during the next three hundred years. So there is an expectation of repentance in the midst of judgments. Henry Chadwick’s history of the first three centuries says that the kindness and mercy ministries of Christians during times of disaster was the single biggest reason for the growth of the church. They engaged.
Plagues were not just for Egypt – all nations can suffer (“plagues”; cf. Ps. 1)
The second thing to notice is that word “plagues.” Commentaries point out that this word occurs 15 times in the Greek. But more importantly, the way several of these chapters are constructed, they show that God is bringing upon Israel and upon Rome miraculous judgments in a similar way to how He brought them upon Egypt in the book of Exodus. For example, we saw that both Jewish and Roman historians describe the water being turned to blood and described other plagues that came upon them. Because I will be dealing with the plagues later, I won’t dig into it much here. But I will say that it illustrates that miraculous judgments are not a thing of the past any more than miracles are a thing of the past.
Too many Christians are skeptics when it comes to America being judged. They act like God has hands off of history. They act like Deists. They do not vote for God’s approval; they vote to avert trouble – as if trouble comes independently of God. No, God is the one who brings these troubles. And if God is the one who is bringing the statism, war, inflation, and other troubles upon America as judgments, then our goal should be to call the church and the nation to repentance. Elections will not save America. Nothing but repentance will save America from further judgments.
Notice how God applies both tables of the law to Gentile nations (vv. 20-21)
The third thing to notice is how God applies both tables of the law to Gentile nations. It is clear that the Romans were in focus here, not Israel, because it was the Romans who worshipped “idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone and wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk.” Chilton’s attempts to apply that language exclusively to Israel simply will not stand up. This is clearly not a description of Israel. It’s a description of the pagans. So both tables of the law were applied to pagans in this chapter. And that is significant.
You see, there are currently three forms of antinomianism in the American church. The first form says that Old Testament law no longer applies to anyone. But we have been seeing John applying Old Testament law over and over again. The sealed scroll of chapter 5 and following was the Old Testament canon, and God judged the nations in terms of it. Certainly in these verses we have a listing of the first, second, sixth, seventh, and eighth commandments.
The second form of antinomianism says that the law continues to apply, but it only applies to Israel. And a lot of Preterists only apply the judgments of this book to Israel. But it is clear here that God is calling Gentiles to repent of these things.
The third form of antinomianism says that only the second table of the law applies to Gentiles. So, in American politics, they refuse to apply the first table, and even with the second table, they don’t use Scripture to oppose immorality, theft, murder, and attacks on the family. They have a quasi-secular defense of the second table of the law. But in this passage we see that God is holding the Roman Empire accountable for their gross idolatry, worship, and sorcery. God is killing them for those things. He is bringing a covenant lawsuit against Rome for those things. That’s the first table. He is clearly applying both tables of the law.
Notice God’s definition of repentance (“repent…works of hands…stop”)
The fourth thing to notice in these verses is God’s definition of repentance. It is not simply saying, “I’m sorry.” Repentance requires an about face; a turning around of mind, will, and emotions. Just as there is a false faith called “easy believism,” there is a false repentance that could be called “I’m sorryism.” It involves feeling bad for getting caught and apologizing, but there is no action or fruit. As you are evaluating politicians who claim to have repented and become prolife, consider this definition.
How does verse 20 know that they did not repent? It is by their fruits. It’s the same way we know that people have not repented – they have not brought forth the fruits of repentance (as John the Baptist worded it). Nothing had changed with regard to the works of their hands. They did not stop their sin; the did not stop worshiping the demons. Proverbs 10:12 says, “He who covers his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy.” That’s the definition of repentance: confessing and forsaking sin. When there is no goal of forsaking our sin, there is no genuine repentance. And judgment can only be averted by repentance.
Notice the connection of demons to idolatry
The fifth thing that I want you to notice is the connection of the demonic to idolatry. Verse 20 says that by worshiping idols they were automatically worshiping demons. He says, “so as to stop worshiping the demons, even the idols of gold, silver,” etc. Hosea 4:12 says that the Israelites of his day had been infected with a demonic spirit of harlotry that was causing them to stray, and he gives as his reason that they had worshiped idols. That worship had caused the demons to have a deep-seated stronghold in their lives that they could not shake. Idolatry is not an inconsequential thing. It always involves people in demonism. And at conversion idols must be destroyed. But Christians must destroy their idols as well, or they give a foothold to the devil.
Notice the irrationality of idolatry
The last thing I want you to notice is the irrationality of their idolatry. When God kept increasing the judgments over a forty year period (from chapters 6-9) it was absolutely irrational for them to continue in their rebellion. But they did. Even when it is self-destructive, humans don’t like to give up their sin. It is irrational. Likewise, to make idols that can’t see, hear, or walk is irrational. In fact, commentators point out that that is an allusion to Psalm 115:5-8 which says this:
Psa. 115:5 They have mouths, but they do not speak; Eyes they have, but they do not see; 6 They have ears, but they do not hear; Noses they have, but they do not smell; 7 They have hands, but they do not handle; Feet they have, but they do not walk; Nor do they mutter through their throat.
Then here comes the amazing punchline:
8 Those who make will become like them; Everyone who trusts in them.
Wow! You become more and more like what you idolize. In Herbert Schlossberg’s book, Idols for Destruction, he says,
When a civilization turns idolatrous, its people are profoundly changed by that experience. In a kind of reverse sanctification, the idolator is transformed into the likeness of the object of his worship. Israel ‘went after worthlessness, and became worthless’ (Jer. 2:5).”[2]
Hosea words it that Israel’s idolators “became as detestable as that which they loved” (Hos. 9:10) Those who refuse to repent become more and more like the irrational demons that move them.
I won’t repeat the descriptions I gave last time of the irrationality that overcame both the Romans and the Jews during this seven year war, but the hint is that when you see people doing irrational things, it may be (at least in part) explained by the demonic.
Conclusion
It’s been kind of an odd sermon of finishing up the bits and pieces of the chapter that were left, but let me end with four concluding exhortations.
First, do not doubt that God judges nations today just as He did back then. Some people act as if modern nations are exempt from judgment because they aren’t Israel. Well we have been seeing in this book that both Israel and Rome received God’s covenant lawsuit and His judgments. And we need to ask if we are any better than they were. I doubt it. And if God is the same yesterday, today, and forever, we can count on further judgments coming our way. The Scripture helps us to anticipate that by looking at the symptoms in our nation. And having examined the symptoms in America, I believe that apart from repentance, America is headed to a massive increase of judgment. I think it is inescapable apart from repentance. Winning an election will not save us. We must be on our knees.
Second, don’t fear God’s judgments on America. I have stopped praying “God bless America.” Instead I pray for repentance. I don’t want rebellion and statism to be blessed. I don’t want humanism to continue to be prospered. We want the tower of Babel to fall. Do not fear God’s judgments. He knows what He is doing.
Third, be prepared to step into the gap when humanism does fall. That might involve getting out of debt, becoming more mobile, for churches to be prepared to go underground overnight, for families to have reserves, etc. If you are only in survival mode during an economic collapse (for example, scrambling to put food on your table) you will not be prepared or have the energies to minister or to take advantage of humanism’s collapse. You are going to be a part of the mess. But if you have prepared yourself to survive an economic collapse so that you don’t need to be cared for, then you will be in the perfect position to minister to hurting pagans all around you.
God preserved the 144,000 Jews, but not so that they could selfishly live for themselves. He preserved them so that they would be in a position to take the world for Christ – and they did so. There will be many hurting people as a result of God’s judgments in America. If they have experienced the bitter fruit of humanism, Islam, or other isms, they will be much more likely to hate those things and to be open to your love and your positive Biblical answers to the problems they face. Romans 11 speaks of that as being jealous of the fruits of the Gospel. Those judgments will present a great opportunity for the church to grow. This is one of the reasons why the church is exploding in Iran. The Muslim citizens have grown to hate the oppression of Islam and they have been attracted to the Christianity of Christians who have fearlessly engaged with society. So be prepared to step in the gap. Pella was a kind of survivalist preparation that enabled the 144,000 to step in the gap.
Fourth, do as John did and bring the whole of God’s law (both tables of the law) to bear upon our culture wars. Without the first table of the law there is no definition of what theft, fornication, or murder are. Several Reformed people in recent years have strangely encouraged the church to not apply the first table of the law to civil government. That’s illogical. You cannot even define what murder is without the first table of the law. Why? Because everyone believes that murder is wrong, but they all have different definitions. Is war murder? And what kinds of war are murder? What about abortion? Everyone has different answers to those questions. Is oiling someone in self-defense murder? The Bible says “No,” but many people say “Yes.” Is vigilantism murder? The Bible says that it is murder whereas many libertarians and anarchists deny that it is murder. Same with raising the sword against a tyrannical king Saul. The Bible defines that as murder. But people have all kinds of opinions on that subject. I had a Hare Krishna tell me that eating animals was murder. Without the Bible of the God of the first commandment you can’t settle that issue. Other religions do not think the civil government is capable of murder, whereas the Bible does. Without the first table of the law committing us to loyalty to the God of the Bible you cannot even define the most basic of civil laws, such as murder. Nor can you define any of the other laws. Can you define what Washington DC is currently engaged in as theft unless the God of the Bible says it is theft? No. The moral law is a package deal and we must embrace it all. And as we seek to live it out by the power of the Gospel, may God bring a harvest of righteousness in our nation. Amen.
Translation of the Majority Text by Wilbur M. Pickering – The Sovereign Creator Has Spoken. The first word “And” was changed by me to “Then.” ↩
Herbert Schlossberg, <em>Idols for Destruction: Christian Faith and Its Confrontation with American Society,</em> (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1983), p. 295. ↩
Eschatology
Eschatology › Partial Preterism
Eschatology › Judgments
Eschatology › Hades or Hell
Angelology › Demonology
Support Dr. Kayser
Biblical Blueprints runs on donations and coffee. You can help Dr. Kayser stay awake while working by buying him and his team more coffee.
Want to know next time Dr. Kayser publishes?
By submitting this form, you are consenting to receive emails from: Biblical Blueprints, 5858 Wenninghoff Rd, Omaha, NE, 68134, US, biblicalblueprints.com. You can revoke your consent to receive emails at any time by using the SafeUnsubscribe® link, found at the bottom of every email. Emails are serviced by Constant Contact.
Contact us at info@biblicalblueprints.com
“All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.” – 2 Timothy 3:16-17
Home
Categories
Edit
Let’s move on to chapter 10.
READ REVELATION CHAPTER 10 all
Notice that during the first set of 7 judgments (the Seal judgments), the first 6 of the Seal judgments occurred one after the other in chapter 6. Then there was an interlude that is chapter 7, and then with chapter 8 the Seal judgments picked back up again with the words: “When the Lamb broke the 7th seal”. So it is that we find the same pattern with the 7 Trumpet judgments. In chapter 8, after the 7th and final of the Seal judgments is announced, the first Trumpet judgment happens with 6 of the 7 Trumpet judgments announced and happening one after the other. Then we have an interlude that is chapter 10, which continues well into chapter 11, and then the last (the 7th) of the Trumpet judgments is announced. However it is important that I remind you that when this Apocalypse was written, and for another 1000 years, there would be no such things as chapters and verses in the Bible; Old or New Testaments. So for us in our day, there is a kind of mirage that occurs when reading the Bible of there being a hard stop at the end of a so-called chapter, and a hard start at the beginning of the next so- called chapter. But in reality no such things as chapters exist in the Bible; they are late manmade additions. Adding in chapter markings (inserted somewhat arbitrarily by the way) can make it feel to the reader like time has passed, or the scene has changed, or one subject is ending while another is beginning. But when the chapter markings are removed, it all just flows together, naturally, as originally intended.
An interesting feature of this new interlude (chapter 10) is that the same Pre-Tribulation Doctrine adherents who say that the interlude of chapter 7 that occurs between the 6th and the 7th of the Seal judgments means that chapters 6 and 7 are out of order and therefore chapter 7 must be put before chapter 6, oddly do not insist upon the same treatment for the interlude of chapter 10 even though this interruption occurs between Trumpet judgments 6 and 7. In other words, they do not apply to the Trumpet judgments the same criteria regarding the use of an interlude that they used for the Seal judgments. Why not? Because just as reversing chapters 6 and 7 is the only means to make their pre-determined End Times timeline work properly, they must also leave chapters 9 and 10 as is to make their End Times timeline work properly and ignore the interlude. What’s the difference between the two interludes? Nothing substantial. But such is the nature of dubious manmade doctrines that they cannot hold up when taking the Holy Scriptures as written.
So just as we are not going to reverse chapters 6 and 7, we’ll also not bother chapter 10. Either these interludes are indeed actual chronological interruptions in a particular series of judgments or these are additional things that are happening more or less in parallel with their
5 /9
Lesson 20 – Revelation 9 & 10
respective series of judgments. I confess that I do not have a rigid opinion on which it might be.
The first verse of chapter 10 re-introduces us to this “mighty angel” who makes another appearance. Earlier in Revelation 5 it was this mighty angel who, while at God’s throne in Heaven, asked who is worthy to open the scroll that was in the Ancient One’s hand. We learn that his appearance to John is that he was dressed in a cloud, had a rainbow over his head; his face was like the sun and his legs like columns of fire. Who is this angel?
First, I want to address an anomaly present here and I suspect some of you may have caught it already. Only if you have a CJB will it describe this mighty angel as having legs like columns of fire; all other translations have it as him having feet like columns of fire. Without doubt the CJB has it as intended. Let’s start with the logical: since when can we can compare feet to pillars? Feet don’t look anything like pillars nor do they operate as pillars; but legs do. The reason for this textual anomaly is that in Greek there are separate words for feet and legs, with podes meaning feet (that is what is found in the Greek New Testament manuscripts). However in ancient Hebrew there is only a single word that is used for both feet and legs: reglayim. John was a Galilean Jew; he thought in Hebrew. So somehow or another when writing down this vision either John or a scribe chose the Greek podes when clearly skele (legs) was more correct.
Second; as we look at the various descriptive attributes of this mighty angel we see him dressed (clothed) in a cloud; this is an OT description of God. He had a rainbow over his head; this matches with the description of the Ancient One sitting on His throne with a rainbow over His head from Revelation chapter 4. His face shining as the sun is found in Revelation 1:16. And yet this being is a mighty angel and not said to be God or the Ancient One or the Lamb. The only way to square all these attributes and come up with the answer to the question of who this mighty angel is, is to assume that he is the Angel of the Lord of the Old Testament. Or, as it more accurately states in the original Hebrew in the Tanakh : the Angel of YHWH.
In the Old Testament this angel speaks with the authority of God. Here, God’s very attributes and appearance are assigned to this angel. Because of most Bible commentators’ strict adherence to the Trinity Doctrine, they say that this mighty angel must be Christ; which is the same thing they say about the Angel of the Lord. To this I strongly disagree. The Angel of the Lord is, like the Shekinah, another manifestation of God separate from God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. When Dr. Feinberg was asked why he assigns Christ as the person of the mighty angel, he answers: ” He appears as an angel, because reference is made to conditions in Israel before their Messiah had been revealed in incarnation to them.” What? How can that be? Revelation reveals first and foremost that Christ is already risen and in Heaven with God as the Lamb; and that John’s vision is a glimpse of the future, and not of the past. Old manmade doctrines die hard, don’t they? And some of the most brilliant Bible scholars will at times offer some of the most fantastic solutions to make traditional doctrines fit with Scripture.
We also find that this mighty angel had a little scroll in his hand; this is NOT the scroll with the 7 seals that only the Lamb was able to open. This is something different. We’ll discuss this a
6 /9
Lesson 20 – Revelation 9 & 10
little more in our next lesson. The angel then planted his left foot on the land and his right foot on the sea; this was to show his sovereignty over all the earth. This prepares us for when that strange ungodly beast emerges from the sea in later chapters and reinforces that God rules above even the halls of Hell.
The mighty angel shouts as loud as the roar of a lion. And when he shouted 7 thunderclaps sounded and they too had voices that spoke. Thunder is usually a precursor to God making an appearance and/or to God bringing judgment. Some say that the angel shouting like the roar of lion is proof that this mighty angel is Christ because He is called the Lion of Judah. I can’t abide in that because at this point in Revelation Christ is known by one thing only: The Lamb that appeared to have been slain. Shouting like the roar of a lion in my opinion is more a metaphor for the loud terrifying roar of a lion as he captures his helpless prey. However I think the main point being made is that the voices heard are voices of deity.
John says he was about to write down what the divine voices said when he was told not to. John’s primary job since the 1st chapter of Revelation has not been to interpret these awesome visions but merely to faithfully record what he sees in them.
CJB Revelation 1:19 So write down what you see, both what is now, and what will happen afterwards.
John being told to seal up what he heard the 7 thunders saying reminds us of Daniel being told the same thing in Daniel 12. Did John understand what he heard? Probably to a similar degree as he understood all else he’s been told. However this knowledge died with John as God didn’t want us to know it in advance.
In verse 7 this mighty angel (that in the Old Testament goes by the title The Angel of the Lord) lifts his right hand towards Heaven and swears by the One who lives forever and ever. The One, the Ancient One, and God the Father are all names and titles for the same person of God. So it shouldn’t be difficult to imagine that the Angel of the Lord, a separate and different manifestation of God, would vow in the name of the Father. Yeshua did similarly as He regularly prayed to God the Father asking for the Father’s will to be done in Him even though He too, was God. The mighty angel has sworn to carry out that which God has commanded. And what he has been commanded is to carry out his assignment with no further delays. When the 7th Trumpet sounds the hidden plan of God will be brought to its completion. And the hidden plan is the Good News that Christ forgives sins and makes atonement for those sins that have already been committed. But to better understand the significance of this act of swearing by the might angel, we need to refer to Daniel 12:7 where we see something almost identical occurring.
CJB Daniel 12:4-9 4 “But you, Dani’el, keep these words secret, and seal up the book until the time of the end. Many will rush here and there as knowledge increases.” 5 Then I, Dani’el, looked; and I saw in front of me two others, one on this bank of the river and the other on its other bank. 6 One of them asked the man dressed in linen who was above the water of the river, “How long will these wonders last?”
7 /9
Lesson 20 – Revelation 9 & 10
7 The man dressed in linen who was above the water of the river raised his right and left hands toward heaven and swore by him who lives forever that it would be for a time, times and a half, and that it will be when the power of the holy people is no longer being shattered that all these things will end. 8 I heard this, but I couldn’t understand what it meant; so I asked, “Lord, what will be the outcome of all this?” 9 But he said, “Go your way, Dani’el; for these words are to remain secret and sealed until the time of the end.
What we see happening now in Revelation is what Daniel was told would happen at the time of the end. Daniel could make no sense of it because too much had to happen in between his time in exile in Babylon in the 500’s B.C. and when the events of Revelation, still future to us, actually come about.
What must become clear to the Church about this secret plan of God is that the final redemption is coming, but so is judgment and wrath; the two go hand in hand. Mercy is for those who love and obey God, while judgment is for those who do not; there is no middle ground. In reality what we see happening here in Revelation fulfills a promise made by Yehoveh centuries earlier than Daniel. In Deuteronomy He promised this to Moses:
CJB Deuteronomy 32:39-43 39 See now that I, yes, I, am he; and there is no god beside me. I put to death, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal; no one saves anyone from my hand! 40 “‘For I lift up my hand to heaven and swear, “As surely as I am alive forever, 41 if I sharpen my flashing sword and set my hand to judgment, I will render vengeance to my foes, repay those who hate me.
42 I will make my arrows drunk with blood, my sword will devour flesh- the blood of the slain and the captives, flesh from the wild-haired heads of the enemy.”‘ 43 “Sing out, you nations, about his people! For he will avenge the blood of his servants. He will render vengeance to his adversaries and make atonement for the land of his people.”
Yes, the vengeance of the martyrs under the Altar in Heaven is underway; that is what we’re reading about in Revelation chapter 10. The oath that the mighty angel is making is that the delay is over. The time for giving a little more time for people of the Earth to repent and be saved is over. The end is no longer near; the end is now!
There is no lack of Pastors, Bible Teachers, and religious hucksters who pronounce that they have a “word from God” telling them the date of the end, or that they have discovered a secret code in the Bible and decoded it and know the time of the end (and for a few dollars they’ll tell you what it is!) I suspect that because God has given John so much information about the End Times, but upon hearing some other information John was told not to divulge it, that very possibly the information that was held back was about revealing the precise time. Back in chapter 9 we were told that the 4 angels bound at the Euphrates had been prepared to act at a very specific moment in history, right down to the day, month, and year. That date was set by God long ago. Can there be doubt that the date for all the events of Revelation, including Messiah’s return and the end of history as we know it, have also been set down to the day, month, and year? If this is true, then all that is happening right now that we see playing out on our TV’s is a divine process that is more or less on autopilot; nothing will stop it, and no one will
8 /9
Lesson 20 – Revelation 9 & 10
be permitted to know ahead of time the moment that the process reaches its climax. And no amount of guessing is going to lead any among us to that knowledge.
CJB Matthew 24:32-42 32 “Now let the fig tree teach you its lesson: when its branches begin to sprout and leaves appear, you know that summer is approaching. 33 In the same way, when you see all these things, you are to know that the time is near, right at the door.
34 Yes! I tell you that this people will certainly not pass away before all these things happen.
35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away. 36 “But when that day and hour will come, no one knows- not the angels in heaven, not the Son, only the Father.
37 For the Son of Man’s coming will be just as it was in the days of Noach. 38 Back then, before the Flood, people went on eating and drinking, taking wives and becoming wives, right up till the day Noach entered the ark; 39 and they didn’t know what was happening until the Flood came and swept them all away. It will be just like that when the Son of Man comes.
40 Then there will be two men in a field- one will be taken and the other left behind. 41 There will be two women grinding flour at the mill- one will be taken and the other left behind.
42 So stay alert, because you don’t know on what day your Lord will come.
We’ll finish up chapter 10 and get well into chapter 11 next week.
Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)
9 /9
The Fifth Trumpet (9:1-11)
There is no mistaking the fact that the locusts released from the abyss or the bottomless pit are demonic spirits whose purpose is to torment and destroy the lives of unbelieving men and women. We know this because they come out of the “bottomless pit” or “abyss” (vv. 1-3).
The Greek word translated “bottomless pit” or “abyss” (abussos) is used 9x in the NT, 7 of which are in Revelation (9:1,2,11; 11:7; 17:8; 20:1,3). The word literally means “without depth,” i.e., boundless or bottomless. Here the shaft of the abyss is portrayed as blocked by a door to which God alone has the key. The demons whom Jesus expelled from the Gadarene entreated him “not to command them to depart into the abyss” (Luke 8:31). Here in Revelation 9 the bottomless pit appears to be the abode of the demonic hosts. The idea of a “pit” with a “shaft” that is “opened” or “locked shut” (“sealed”) by a “key” held by an angel is obviously figurative language.
The “angel of the bottomless pit [abyss]” in v. 11, that being who exercises authority over the demonic hordes that dwell there (he is called their “king”), the one called “Abaddon” and “Apollyon”, is certainly evil and is most likely Satan himself.
As disturbing as this portrayal of demonic activity may be, and as much as you may be inclined to look away and ignore it, please don’t. John’s vision is designed to let us see beyond the material realm to the spiritual dynamics that alone make sense of what is happening in our society.
“Smoke” emerges from the abyss when it is opened so that the sun and air are darkened by it (cf. Joel 2:10,31; 3:15; cf. Exod. 10:15; in these texts such darkening is a sign of judgment). Smoke here likely points us to the deception and moral darkness in which most of our world is languishing.
Demonic beings are here portrayed as “locusts” to whom “authority” or “power” “was given”. This use of the passive voice is typical both in Revelation and in the rest of the NT. We see it again in v. 4 (“they were told”) and in v. 5 (“they were allowed”). These verbs in the passive voice point to divine activity. In other words, it is God (or the risen Christ) who has commissioned and authorized them. This authority is likened to that possessed by “scorpions.” People greatly fear scorpions because of their venomous sting, which is extremely painful and sometimes lethal.
The literal plague of locusts in Exodus 10:12-15 (eighth) also brought darkness on the land. There we read that “they ate all the plants in the land and all the fruit of the trees that the hail had left. Not a green thing remained, neither tree nor plant of the field, through all the land of Egypt” (v. 15; see Deut. 28:38; 1 Kings 8:37; 2 Chron. 6:28; 7:13; Pss. 78:46; 105:34-35; Joel 1:4; 2:25; Amos 4:9; 7:2; Nahum 3:15). But here the locusts are commanded not to harm the “grass . . . or any green plant or any tree” (v. 4). They are commanded only to hurt unbelievers, i.e., those who don’t have the seal of God by which one might be protected from such a plague.
This is an encouraging reminder that God has taken steps to protect his people against the devastating impact of these plagues, be they literal or symbolic. God’s people will never, ever suffer God’s wrath! This also proves yet again that the 144,000 in Revelation 7 and 14 who are “sealed” on their foreheads must refer to all God’s people, Jewish believers in Jesus and Gentile believers in Jesus. It would be wholly inconsistent with the character of God that he would protect only 144,000 Jewish believers from this horrid demonic attack and leave all the millions of other believers in Jesus to suffer this torment.
There is an additional two-fold limitation on their activity. First, they are not allowed to kill anyone (in contrast with vv. 15-20), but only to “torment” them (which sounds similar to what God allowed Satan to do to Job). Second, the torment will last for only “five months”. Some take this literally, but have no explanation for why such an odd number should be chosen. More likely the five months alludes to the five-month life cycle of the locust. Or “five” may simply be a round number meaning “a few.” We can’t be certain.
The “torment” they inflict is likened to that of a scorpion when it stings a man. Scorpions are a metaphor for punishment in 1 Kings 12:11,14. The word “torment” is used in Revelation for spiritual, emotional, or psychological pain (see 11:10; and perhaps 18:7,10,15). It comes as no surprise that John describes the suffering inflicted by demons as like that inflicted by scorpions, given the fact that Jesus himself referred to demons as “scorpions” (and “snakes”) in Luke 10:19.
The anguish of those tormented by the demonic hordes is any form of psychological or emotional suffering (physical too?) that provoked in them a desire for death. Yet they are unwilling actually to commit suicide, for surely if someone truly wants to die they can find the means to end their life. John appears to be describing that emotional and psychological depression, frustration, anger, bitterness, and sense of futility and meaninglessness and lack of value, etc. that drives people to the point of utter despair. They prefer death to life but lack the courage to take their own lives, perhaps for fear of the unknown beyond the grave. All of this, says John, is the result of demonic activity (cf. Heb. 2:14-15), like unto that of a plague of locusts unleashed into the earth!
Perhaps John is describing the horrid realization in the human heart that one’s belief system is false, that one’s philosophy is vain, that one’s values are empty, that one’s destiny is bleak, and thus that one lacks purpose in living,
that one is thus helpless and hopeless. Contrast this with the “peace of God that surpasses all understanding” (Phil. 4:8) granted unto believers who bring their burdens and anxieties to God in prayer.
People without Jesus are desperate to find meaning and dignity and happiness in any number of ways: complex philosophies, a self-indulgent hedonism, the New Age movement with its endless remedies for what ails the human soul, reincarnation, radical feminism, political agendas, homosexuality, drugs, sexual immorality, materialism, selfism, etc. Demonic “locusts” lead them into such pursuits, all of which are, at the end of the day, empty and lifeless.
The description of these demonic spirits (vv. 7-11) reflects what we see in Joel 1-2 where a plague of locusts devastates Israel’s land. There, as here, a trumpet is sounded to herald their arrival (Joel 2:1,15). There, as here, the locusts are said to have “the appearance of horses” (Joel 2:4) prepared for battle. This judgment in Joel is itself based on the plague of locusts in Exodus 10. However, whereas the locusts in Exodus were literal (though they certainly symbolized something beyond themselves), and perhaps also in Joel (although there it may be a literal army that is compared to a swarm of locusts), here in Revelation they symbolize demonic spirits unleashed throughout the earth.
Let’s take each element one at a time. Their appearance was “like horses prepared for battle” (9:7). Cf. Jer. 51:27. On their “heads were what looked like crowns of gold” (9:7), a likely reference to their sovereign authority to afflict the non-Christian world. “Their faces were like human faces” (9:7), perhaps pointing to their intelligence. They had hair like “women’s hair” (9:8). In the OT, long and disheveled hair had at least three meanings: (1) it was a sign of uncleanness for people with leprosy (Lev. 13:45); (2) it was a sign of mourning (Lev. 10:6; 21:10); and (3) it was part of the sacrificial protocol for a woman accused of adultery (Num. 5:18). Their teeth were like “lions’ teeth” (9:8). The “teeth of a lion” is a proverbial expression for something irresistibly and fatally destructive (cf. Job 4:10; Ps. 58:6). They had “breastplates like breastplates of iron” (9:9), pointing to their invulnerability. The sound of their wings “was like the noise of many chariots, with horses rushing into battle” (9:9). This is strikingly similar to Joel 2:4-5. They have “tails and stings like scorpions” (9:10), a vivid way to portray the torment they inflict on the souls of mankind. And they have a “king” over them, “the angel of the bottomless pit [abyss]” (9:11). This is either the Devil himself or his representative.
First Explanatory Interlude (9:12)
In saying that “the first woe has passed” John does not mean “that the events have already transpired in history but only that the vision containing them is now past” (Beale, 505).
Conclusion
(1) As we look across the vast expanse of human history since the first coming of Christ, and in anticipation of his second coming, we see the concrete and all-too-real effects of God’s wrath against human sin, idolatry, immorality, and unbelief: widespread famine, devastating tornadoes, floods, infectious diseases, war, psychological and emotional torment, pollution of our natural resources, and the list could go on seemingly without end. And to what purpose? To warn mankind that God will not ignore the defilement of his glory or the calloused disregard for his mercy and longsuffering. If ever there were an incentive for personal evangelism, this is it!
(2) Yet in the midst of this earthly carnage and demonic assault, God’s children are kept safe and secure, having been “sealed” by the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. We may well suffer at the hands of the unbelieving world. Persecution, slander, imprisonment, even martyrdom may come our way. But we will never endure the wrath of God, for Jesus has satisfied God’s justice in our place on the cross! Let us praise God for his mercy!
(3) In the final analysis, God is unfathomable. As Paul said, “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! ‘For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?’ ‘Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?’ For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen” (Romans 11:33-36).
Perhaps it is with this doxology from Paul that we should conclude. We will never fully understand God and his ways. He so often remains shrouded in mystery that transcends our comprehension. But by his mercy and saving grace we know enough to justify our praise. So join me as we celebrate and declare the majesty of his holiness!
m Storms Bridgeway Church Revelation #21 December 5, 2017
Sermon Summary #21
He Shall Reign Forever and Ever! Revelation 9:13-21; 11:14-19
Today, December 10, 2018, is the second Sunday in the season we call Advent. It is the season of the year in which we turn our collective attention to the truths of Christmas, which is to say, the truth of the Incarnation of the Son of God, his conception in the womb of the Virgin Mary, and the ultimate purpose for which the Father sent his Son into this world.
I suspect that some of you are wondering to yourselves, “Why is Sam preaching from the book of Revelation during Advent? That seems so inappropriate. After all, what does the message of Revelation have to do with Christmas?” The short answer to that question is: Everything! Let me explain.
When we began our series in Revelation I told you that the theme or overriding emphasis in the book is actually quite simple: God wins! Revelation is all about a conflict between good and evil, between the Christ and the Antichrist, between the Lamb of God and the Beast, between the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ and the kingdom of Satan and all his demons. And the good news is that God wins!
Now, what does this have to do with Christmas, you ask? Simply this. Whenever we talk about the Incarnation of the Son of God, we have in mind the act whereby the second person of the Trinity took to himself human flesh and became a man. As John put it in his gospel, chapter one, verse fourteen, “The Word became flesh!” But it isn’t enough merely for us to assert this glorious and deeply mysterious truth. We need to press in more deeply and ask a follow-up question: Why did the Word become flesh? What was the purpose in God the Father sending God the Son in the power of God the Spirit to this earth to live and die and rise again? In other words, I’m asking the question: What is the purpose of Christmas?
You can’t answer that question by saying, “Well, the purpose of Christmas is to give us a good excuse to take off some extra time from work.” Nor can you say, “The purpose of Christmas is to provide us with an opportunity to give gifts to people we love and to receive gifts from them.” That may be the purpose of Christmas in the minds of non- Christians who simply don’t know what the Bible teaches, but for you and me Christmas means something far deeper and more profound than that.
We could answer the question about the purpose of Christmas and why the Word was made flesh by pointing to any number of biblical texts. I could direct your attention to John 3:16 which tells us that the reason God the Father sent God the Son in the power of God the Spirit was to demonstrate his love for a fallen world and make it possible for us to inherit eternal life. And that would be perfectly true. But there is more to it than that.
I could point you to what Jesus himself said about the purpose of his coming to earth. In Matthew 20:28 he said, “the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” And that, too, would be altogether true and accurate.
I could go on and on citing numerous biblical texts that describe the reason why Jesus came to earth through the womb of a young virgin girl in first century Israel. But today I want us to consider one other reason that most people would just as soon ignore. And this is the reason that ties in most directly to the overall theme or emphasis of the book of Revelation.
For this we must turn our attention to something else that the Apostle John wrote. In his first epistle, chapter three, he said this:
“The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8)
Yes, Jesus came to live a sinless life, the life that you and I should have lived but are unable to do so perfectly. But in order to live this sinless life Jesus had to successfully resist the temptation of Satan and defeat the Enemy’s efforts to undermine that obedience. Yes, Jesus came “to take away sins” (1 John 3:5) and did so by dying in our place on the cross. But it was by means of the cross, as Paul says in Colossians 2:15, that Jesus “disarmed the rulers and authorities [i.e., Satan and his demons] and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him [or better still, in or through “it”, that is, through the cross]” (Col. 2:15).
And of course it was by rising again from the dead that Jesus overcame and defeated the power of death and guaranteed for us that we too will one day be raised to an entirely new life in a new and glorified body. The author of Hebrews tells us that by dying and rising again Jesus destroyed the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and delivered all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery (Heb. 2:14-15).
So I hope you can now see that whatever else Christmas may mean, it means that God the Father sent God the Son in the power of God the Spirit to defeat and overthrow and ultimately destroy Satan and all his works. And that, I suggest, is also the primary emphasis or theme of the book of Revelation. And nowhere do we see this with greater clarity in Revelation than here in Revelation 9 and 11.
So let’s turn our attention to John’s vision of the sixth and seventh trumpet judgments, for in them we find a graphic and highly symbolic description of the activity of Satan in the earth and the ultimate triumph of Jesus Christ and his kingdom.
The Sixth Trumpet (9:13-21)
Whose “voice” is it that John hears (v. 13)? Is it that of Jesus (as in 6:6), or an angel (as in 16:7), or it the voice of God the Father? We can’t be certain, but the fact that the voice emanates from the golden altar connects this sixth trumpet judgment with the saints’ prayer for vindication in Revelation 6:10-11.
People in the OT “sometimes expressed a desire to seek safety and protection from others by holding on to the horns of the altar (1 Kgs. 1:50-51; 2:28-34). Could the ‘four horns of the golden altar’ here refer to the full power of God that will be expressed in answering the cry of the saints by judging the wicked in the following trumpets?” (Beale, 506). Perhaps.
We see in v. 14 that “four angels” have been bound (deo; cf. 20:2) “at the great river Euphrates,” apparently restrained against their will. This would strongly suggest that these “four angels” are demons (cf. 9:1-3). It may be that what we read here is a rescinding of the command given back in 7:1-3 where “four angels standing at the four corners of the earth” were restrained from doing damage in the earth until the people of God had been sealed and made secure in their relationship with God.
In the time of John’s writing, the Euphrates was the eastern border of the Roman Empire, beyond which were terrifying and greatly feared horsemen of the Parthian Empire. But the Jewish people viewed the Euphrates as the northern frontier of Palestine, across which “Assyrian, Babylonian, and Persian invaders had come to impose their pagan sovereignty on the people of God. All the scriptural warnings about a foe from the north, therefore, find their echo in John’s blood-curdling vision” (G. B. Caird, 122). On this see especially Isa. 5:26-29; 7:20; 8:7-8; 14:29-31; Jer. 1:14- 15; 4:6-13; 6:1,22-23; 10:22; 13:20; Ezek. 38:6,15; 39:2; Joel 2:1-11,20-25; as well as Isa. 14:31; Jer. 25:9,26; 46-47; 46:4,22-23; 50:41-42; Ezek. 26:7-11.
These demonic invaders are coming at God’s appointed time: they had been “prepared for the hour, the day, the month, and the year.” This clearly reminds us that contrary to what you think, and contrary to all appearances, God is in complete control not only of what Satan and demons are allowed to do but also the precise time when they have been ordained by God to do it. Their aim is to kill a third of mankind. Is this numerically literal, such that precisely 33 1/3% of humanity are killed? Or is it John’s way of describing a preliminary, partial judgment that will only later, at the end of history, reach its consummation? I think it is the latter.
A Massive Demonic Army Unleashed
Although it isn’t explicitly stated, it appears from vv. 16-19 that these four “angels” have power over a massive demonic army of horsemen. The number of mounted troops is “twice ten thousand times ten thousand” or 200,000,000 (in all likelihood, symbolic of an incalculable number, an innumerable, indefinite group; see Gen. 24:60; Lev. 26:8; Num. 10:35-36; Deut. 32:30; 33:2,17; 1 Kings 18:7-8; 21:12; Dan. 7:10).
There is no basis whatsoever for trying to identify this “army” with the military forces of Red China that allegedly stand poised to invade Israel. It seems clear from what we saw in Revelation 9:1-11 and from the description of these horsemen that we are dealing with a symbolic portrayal of demonic hosts, not human soldiers.
Again, let us take each descriptive item in turn. In doing so, however, we must be careful not to let our concern for the particular elements of their makeup obscure the overall visceral impact that John intends. In other words, John’s point in piling up these monstrous metaphors is to underscore “that the demons are ferocious and dreadful beings that afflict people in a fierce, appalling, and devastating manner” (Beale, 510).
• The riders of the horses (and perhaps the horses themselves) “had breastplates the color of fire and of sapphire (or hyacinth) and of sulfur” (9:17).
• The heads of the horses “were like lions’ heads” (9:17). Again, this points to their fierceness.
• Out of the mouths of the horses came “fire and smoke and sulfur” (9:17). Elsewhere in Revelation “fire and brimstone” or “fire and sulfur” are descriptive of scenes of the final judgment of unbelievers (14:10; 21:8) and of the dragon, the beast, and the false prophet (19:20; 20:10). See also “fire, sulfur, smoke” in several OT texts relating to judgment (Gen. 19:24,28; Deut. 29:23; 2 Sam. 22:9; Isa. 34:9-10; Ezek. 38:22).
• In v. 19 the power of the horses is said to be in their tails, “for their tails are like serpents with heads.” John likens their tails to serpents, the heads of which are the source of the harm inflicted. That these are demonic armies is thus confirmed, for elsewhere in Revelation the “serpent” (ophis) is always a reference to Satan (12:9,14-15; 20:2). This reference to the serpent-like tail of the horses may specifically allude to their deception of unbelievers, for “the sweeping of the Serpent’s ‘tail’ [in Rev. 12] is symbolic of his [Satan’s] deception of the angels whom he caused to fall” (Beale, 514).
Again, the four angels who were bound at the river Euphrates, who are then released, employ this massive demonic army to kill 1/3 of mankind (cf. 9:15), utilizing the “fire and the smoke and the brimstone” that proceeded out of their mouths (9:18). The similarities with the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah are obvious (Gen. 19:24,28). Note that these three elements are now called “three plagues” (v. 18).
Whereas the demons, portrayed as locusts, in Revelation 9:5 were not permitted to kill anyone, but only to torment, this demonic army from beyond the Euphrates is permitted to kill. Is this a literal, physical termination of human life, or is it figurative for spiritual or emotional or psychological “death”? The verb translated “kill” (apokteino) generally refers to literal physical death in Revelation. That would seem to be confirmed by v. 20 (“the rest . . . who were not killed”). If that is the meaning here, John envisions this demonic host (under and subordinate to God’s sovereignty) killing a sizeable number of earth dwellers (i.e., unbelievers), whether through illness (perhaps outbreaks of infectious diseases), accident, natural disaster, famine, suicide, etc.
In v. 19 these demonic horses/horsemen are said to “wound” or to do “harm” (adikeo), the same Greek word used in 9:4,10 where demonic “locusts” torment, but do not kill, those who lack the seal of God (cf. also its use in 2:11; 7:3). Perhaps, then, the “wound/harm” here (v. 19) is not physical death but a variety of forms of spiritual and psychological torment and emotional anguish short of, but a prelude to, death itself.
Unrepentant!
Verse 20 does not explicitly say that the purpose of the demonic plagues was to induce or stir up repentance. Certainly such plagues serve as a warning, but one that goes unheeded. This highlights the hardness of heart of those who lack the seal of God on their foreheads. Michael Wilcock adds this insightful comment:
“The death-dealing horsemen of Trumpet 6 are not tanks and planes. Or not only tanks and planes. They are also cancers and road accidents and malnutrition and terrorist bombs and peaceful demises in nursing homes. Yet ‘the rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues’, still do not repent of their idolatry, the centering of their lives on anything rather than God, or of the evils which inevitably flow from it. They hear of pollution, of inflation, of dwindling resources, of blind politicians, and will not admit that the first four Trumpets of God are sounding. In the end they themselves are affected by these troubles, and for one reason or another life becomes a torment: the locusts are out, Trumpet 5 is sounding, but they will not repent. Not even when the angels of the Euphrates rise to the summons of Trumpet 6, and the cavalry rides out to slay – by any kind of destruction, not necessarily war – a friend or a relative, a husband or a wife: not even in bereavement will they repent” (99-100).
Here we have a typical OT list of idols according to their material composition: gold, silver, bronze, stone, and wood (see Dan. 5:4,23; Pss. 115:4-7; 135:15-17; Deut. 4:28). John portrays the worship of idols, in whatever form that idolatry might take, as the “worship” of “demons”. We should probably translate v. 20 – “so as not to worship demons, that is, the idols . . .” On this he agrees with Paul (1 Cor. 10:20) as well as several OT texts (Deut. 32:17; Ps. 96:5; 106:36-37), that all idolatry, whatever form it may assume, is ultimately energized by and representative of demonic activity.
In v. 21 they are described as not repenting of yet additional sins, a list obviously derived from the Ten Commandments. These particular four vices are often associated with idol worship in both the OT and NT (Jer. 7:5- 11; Hos. 3:1-4:2; Isa. 47:9-10; 48:5; Mic. 5:12-6:8; Rom. 1:24-29; Gal. 5:20; Eph. 5:5; Col. 3:5).
[Just as there was an interlude, a parenthetical pause, in 7:1-17 between the sixth and seventh seals, so also there is a similar parenthesis in 10:1-11:13 between the sixth and seventh trumpets.]
Second Explanatory Interlude (11:14)
The Seventh Trumpet (11:15-19)
I can only speak for Ann and me, but when we are expecting company at the house we get a bit frantic. We divide up responsibilities, whether it be vacuuming the carpets, cleaning up the kitchen, wiping down the bathroom, taking out the trash, dusting furniture, etc. I have to confess that we don’t do this on a daily basis. It usually only takes place when we have reasonably high expectations that visitors are on their way. That isn’t to say my wife doesn’t keep a clean and tidy house! She does. But I trust you understand my point.
Preparing ourselves for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ ought to have a decidedly different effect on us. There is no doubt whatsoever that he’s on his way. I don’t know when that will be, but I’m absolutely certain it is certain to occur. Unlike friends here in OKC and elsewhere, who might call at the last minute to cancel their plans or reschedule them for a later date, Jesus is coming, and he won’t be a millisecond behind schedule. Our problem, as you know, is that we have no idea when this will be. My point is simply that in the case of Christ’s return to this earth, we need to be ready every minute of every day. I suspect that if you were told the Queen of England planned on visiting you sometime in the next two weeks, you would go home and immediately get things in order, even if it turned out that she didn’t arrive until the last hour of the last day. Knowing that Jesus is assuredly coming again ought to exert on our souls the most powerful sense of urgency to get our lives in order, to stir up our hearts in expectation, and to turn our eyes toward heaven as we await his appearing.
I say all this because the certainty of Christ’s coming again is clearly in view in Revelation 11:15-19 and the description of the seventh trumpet judgment. In his commentary on Revelation, Joel Beeke rightly points out that
“the passage in Revelation describing what will happen after the blowing of the last trumpet is proleptic or anticipatory. John is so certain of the fulfillment of what he prophesies that he speaks of it in the past tense, as though it were already an accomplished fact” (327).
Some contend that these verses do not describe the content of the seventh trumpet but simply anticipate it. The content of the seventh trumpet is then identified as the seven bowls. They argue that these verses portray no action but merely songs or hymns of God’s reign. But action is, in fact, portrayed in these verses. A song or hymn can depict the content
of a “woe” or trumpet judgment as easily as a vision can. Also, what could possibly be more severe or demonstrable than the last, climactic, judgment itself, regardless of how long it lasts? Also, the most natural interpretation of 11:14, where the third woe or seventh trumpet is “soon to come” is that 11:15-19 form its content.
Question: How could John have heard these “loud voices” if they occurred “in heaven” (v. 15a)? See also 12:10 and 19:1. Elsewhere he speaks as if from an earthly perspective and uses the phrase “from heaven” (10:4,8; 11:12; 14:2,13; 18:4). It would seem that on a few occasions John was either in a visionary trance state or bodily/spiritually present in heaven when he received his revelations.
The “loud voices” are either those of the angelic hosts worshiping God, or perhaps the saints in heaven (7:9; 19:1,6), or perhaps the twenty-four elders who are then portrayed as falling down in worship and speaking their praises in vv. 17-18.
The declaration is that what Satan formerly ruled, in a manner of speaking, as the “god of this world” (2 Cor. 4:4) and “the prince of the power of the air” (Eph. 2:2; cf. 6:12) and “the ruler of this world” (John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11), has now finally and wholly been taken by the Lord and His Christ! Note that in v. 15 we read of the “kingdom of the world” (singular) not “kingdoms” (plural). All the secular empires of this earth are actually one earthly kingdom ruled by Satan, but now under the sovereign sway of Jesus.
Whereas in 1 John 5:19 we are told that now, in some sense, in this present age, “the whole world lies in the power of the evil one,” a day is coming (this day, described in 11:15-19) when such shall no longer be! This is the consummate overthrow of all God’s enemies and the manifestation of the universal and cosmic extent of his rightful rule! Whereas the “world” could refer to the totality of creation it more likely “refers to the human world that had been in opposition to God and in conflict with his purposes” (Aune, 2:638). Interestingly, the only other verbal parallel to this phrase is found in Matthew 4:8 where Satan offers dominion of “the kingdoms of the world” to Jesus if he will only bow before him. The implication is that such dominion was, at that time, Satan’s to offer. But no longer! G. B. Caird explains:
“In one sense God’s sovereignty is eternal: he entered on his reign when he established the rule of order in the midst of the primaeval chaos (Ps. xciii. 1-4); he has reigned throughout human history, turning even men’s misdeeds into instruments of his mercy; and above all he reigned in the Cross of Christ (xii. 10). But always up to this point he has reigned over a rebellious world. A king may be king de jure, but he is not king de facto until the trumpet which announces his accession is answered by the acclamations of a loyal and obedient people” (141).
Four additional observations are called for. First, as I said earlier, the past tense “has become” in v. 15 is used proleptically, that is to say, a future event is so certain to occur that it is described as a reality of the past. Second, who is the “he” in v. 15 that “will reign forever and ever”? Is it God the Father, the “Lord” of v. 15, or God the Son, i.e., “his Christ”? Or is it both, as John envisions them as an inseparable unity? Third, a phrase parallel to “he shall reign forever and ever” is found in Revelation 22:5 where it refers to us in the New Jerusalem! God will reign forever and ever, but so will we . . . with him! Finally, this verse is not saying that political parties and positions of earthly power and authority will be taken over by Christians so that the world will finally be Christianized. Verse 15 does not refer to what will happen before Christ returns but what will happen when and after he returns. It describes not this present age in which we live but the future age of eternity.
The Declaration of the 24 Elders
The twenty-four elders once again resume their familiar posture: face down in the presence of God! Their cry is one of gratitude. They address God as the “Lord God, the Almighty” (cf. 19:6). The word “Almighty” (pantokrator) means sovereign ruler or ruler over all. The Roman Caesars presumptuously adopted this title for themselves. But this day will expose them as charlatans and usurpers as God exerts his rightful Lordship over all.
But something is missing. Their declaration “who is and who was” (v. 17) lacks the third element found earlier, “who is to come” (1:4; 4:8). In all likelihood this means that the final part of the threefold name for God (“is, was, is to come”) is not merely a reference to his sovereignty over the future or of his timeless nature, but specifically speaks of the end time, when God, by means of the return of Christ, will break into world history and overthrow once and for
all every opposition. The God who “is to come” has come! The promise of ultimate victory is so utterly immutable that John speaks of it as if it had already arrived.
The rage of the nations is provoked by the inception of God’s rule through his Christ. This is a clear reference to Psalm 2:2 – “The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against his anointed” (see also vv. 5,10-12). The word translated “wrath” (orge), which is said to have come, is always used in Revelation of the final outpouring at the end of history (6:16-17; 14:10-11; 16:19; 19:15). Note well: “the nations were enraged (lit., orgisthesan) and God’s wrath (orge) came.” This is an example of how the punishment fits the crime: their rage against God is met by God’s rage against them!
The fact that this is the time “for the dead to be judged” and the faithful rewarded proves that John has in view the end of history. The parallel in Revelation 20:12-13, which all acknowledge speaks of the final judgment, makes this inescapable. Again in v. 18 we see that the punishment fits the crime (sin), for God “destroys” (diaphtheirai) those who have sought to “destroy” (diaphtheirontas) the earth (the “earth” here is probably a reference to God’s people).
Believers, on the other hand, now receive their heavenly “reward”, part of which, perhaps, is bearing witness to the judgment of those who have persecuted them (and thus this, too, is God’s positive answer to the prayer of 6:9-11). For the response of God’s people (described in almost identical terms) to judgment of the wicked, see 18:24-19:5. For other elements of this “reward”, see 2:7 (22:14); 2:11; 2:17; 2:26-27; 3:5 (7:14); 3:12; 3:21; 7:15-17; 22:3-4; 22:14.
A Concluding Vision of Heaven Opened
Was the ark of the covenant somehow translated into heaven before the fall of Jerusalem in 586 b.c.? There is no way to know.
Walking by Faith 
The vivid imagery and intricate descriptions in your blog captivate the imagination, offering profound insights into prophetic visions. The blend of historical context and spiritual significance creates a compelling narrative, urging readers to contemplate deeper truths. Well done!