Statesman63
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 | | Subject: Revelation Chapter 9 (Part 50) (Verses 12 – 21) Sun Jul 09, 2017 1:57 am | |
| Revelation Chapter 9 (Part 50) (Verses 12 – 21)
Revelation 9:12 says, “The first woe is past; two other woes are yet to come.” Last time we went over the details of the first woe, which was heralded by the eagle when it said, “Woe! Woe! Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth, because of the trumpet blasts about to be sounded by the other three angels!” Today we are going to look at the second woe. The first woe was tied to the fifth trumpet blast. The second woe is tied to the sixth trumpet blast; and the third woe is tied to the seventh trumpet blast. We actually won’t reach the completion of the second woe until we get to Revelation 11:14, which reads, “The second woe has passed; the third woe is coming soon.” The third woe, which is tied to the seventh trumpet blast, consists of the seven bowls of God’s wrath. So today we are studying the beginning of the second woe, which is the sixth trumpet sound.
Revelation 9:13 says, “The sixth angel sounded his trumpet, and I heard a voice coming from the horns of the golden altar that is before God.” We are told that there is a golden altar that is before God in Heaven. Hebrews 9:23 says, “It was necessary, then, for the copies of the Heavenly things to be purified with these sacrifices, but the Heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.” The author of Hebrews tells us that the things that God had the Israelites make for the priests and the altar in the Old Testament were copies of Heavenly things that exists right now in Heaven. So by reading the first 5 books of the Bible (the Torah), we get a glimpse of what Heaven looks like right now. Revelation 9:13 gives us the Heavenly picture. Exodus 27:1-2 gives us the Earthly version of the Heavenly items. It reads: “Build an altar of acacia wood, three cubits high; it is to be square, five cubits long and five cubits wide. Make a horn at each of the four corners, so that the horns and the altar are of one piece, and overlay the altar with bronze.” What the Israelites were told to make was a replica of what is in Heaven. Note that this altar in Heaven speaks. Later we will see the altar speaks again in Revelation 16:7. That verse says, “And I heard the altar respond: ‘Yes, Lord God Almighty, true and just are your judgments.’”
Revelation 9:14 says, “It (the altar) said to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, ‘Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.’” And verse 15: “And the four angels who had been kept ready for this very hour and day and month and year were released to kill a third of mankind.” In our last study, we saw the king of the Abyss get released from the Abyss (along with all other incarcerated demons—which resembled locusts). Satan released them all when Jesus gave him the key to the Abyss. Here today, we learn of four more angels who have been chained at the great river Euphrates. These are 4 demons, bound somewhere along the Euphrates river. Personally, I am not one who wants to venture near the Euphrates. I don’t want to accidentally stumble upon these demons unaware. Recall our study of 4 good angels in Revelation 7:1 who were told to restrain the wind and destruction until the 144,000 were all sealed. Here, we have 4 demons who will be released without restraint. So God basically releases all of the top demonic prisoners so that they can afflict His wrath upon mankind. Satan was already free to roam the Earth. Now he has all of his top henchmen to join him. Verse 15 of chapter 9 says that God has kept these demons locked up for this specific occasion. Interestingly, they were not thrown into the Abyss, which is the prison for bad demons, but rather, God chose to chain them somewhere along the Euphrates river. “Bad demons”—silly oxymoron.
Just as a side note: the Euphrates river is central throughout biblical history. It was where Eden was located. It is where the first sin occurred. It is where the first murder took place. It is where the first secular city was erected, which was called Babel. The Euphrates river is 1780 miles long. That is quite long, considering that from the eastern seaboard to the western coast of the United States is 2,800 miles long. This river would span across two thirds of the United States. The Euphrates was in the original deal to Abraham from God. Genesis 15:18 says, “On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram and said, ‘To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt [that is, the Nile] to the great river, the Euphrates.’” Today we are studying the sixth trumpet, but later, when we get to the sixth, bowl, we get another reference to the Euphrates. Revelation 16:12 says, “The 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.” In fact, that verse connects us to the current spot we are studying in chapter 9. Revelation 9:16 says, “The number of the mounted troops was two hundred million. I heard their number.”
Just to be clear, God empties the Abyss when He allows Satan to unlock and open it. So it is not just these 4 top demonic generals who get released—all captive demons get released. Recall that the other demons were described as locusts as they got released from prison. And it is important to remember that any demon that makes it into the Abyss is there because they are among the hardest demons; they are most dangerous to man. The Abyss is a demonic prison, not their abode. Earth is the demonic abode, or home to all free demons. Because every demon will escape the Abyss, in that day, the Earth will be more degenerate, evil, and dangerous than it has ever been.
When the 4 demons do get released, we are told that they will kill a third of mankind. Let’s take another census to see where we stand now regarding the population of the world at this time. There are currently about 7.3 billion people in the world. The first major world population decrease that we studied so far was the Rapture. The Bible does not give us an estimate of the numbers that will be raptured from Earth, but we can come up with an estimate based on today’s population of Christian saved people versus the unsaved. Wikipedia tells us that there is currently 940 million Protestants worldwide. So we can use that as our estimate. That’s close to a billion. So if the Rapture were to occur today, there would be roughly 6.3 billion people left on the Earth. Recall that Revelation 6:8 says, “...Death and Hades...were given power over a fourth of the Earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the Earth.” After Death and Hades have done their calling in Chapter 6, our number is now at 4.7 billion. We learned of the Great Multitude of Christian martyrs and the “many people” who died by the Wormwood asteroid, but we were not given numbers. But we are given numbers in Revelation 9:15, which says, “And the four angels who had been kept ready for this very hour and day and month and year were released to kill a third of mankind.” Without including the undisclosed numbers in between, our population count now stands at 3.1 billion.
The 4 demons will amass a huge army to kill a third of mankind. The next verse reads, “The number of the mounted troops was two hundred million. I heard their number.” John quotes a literal number. In biblical days, that is, when the Apostle John wrote the book of Revelation, there was no such thing as a two hundred million troop army. A Bing search reveals that at the time of Jesus, the population of the entire world was between 200 and 300 million. Today China is the only nation that can amass a two hundred million troop army, so it is believed by many interpreters (including myself) that Revelation 9:16 is referring specifically to China. Not only that, but when we revisit this army in Revelation 16:12, that verse refers to their leader as “the kings of the East.” China, along with Japan, are the only kings of the East from the perspective of Jerusalem that fit these passages. Note that verse 9:15 includes civilians, whereas verse 16 does not include civilians. Today, China has a population of 1.4 billion people, which includes approximately 58 million Protestants. Minus the 58 million (from the Rapture) would still leave a population of about a billion. The influence of this 200 million foot army will be demonic. As a side note and comparison, recall earlier that we looked at Zechariah 13:8, which says that in the whole land that 2 thirds will be struck down and perish. That passage is referring only to Jews and is therefore not related to our passage here in Revelation 9, however.
Revelation 9:17 to 19 describes modern warfare using preindustrial, biblical terminology. As I quote verses 17-19, picture today’s military nuclear helicopters that can shoot destructive explosives. It reads as follows: “The horses and riders I saw in my vision looked like this: Their breastplates were fiery red, dark blue, and yellow as sulfur. The heads of the horses resembled the heads of lions, and out of their mouths came fire, smoke and sulfur. A third of mankind was killed by the three plagues of fire, smoke and sulfur that came out of their mouths. The power of the horses was in their mouths and in their tails; for their tails were like snakes, having heads with which they inflict injury.” It mentions that “the heads of the horses resembled the heads of lions.” Dr. David Jeremiah pointed out that nuclear weapons on a military helicopter resembles the mane of a lion. “Horses” is a biblical term for a means of transportation. The word “vehicle” had not yet been invented in John’s day. John saw today’s military tanks, planes, and vehicles and described them to the best that his vocabulary allowed.
Verse 20 says, “The rest of mankind that were not killed by these plagues still did not repent of the work of their hands; they did not stop worshipping demons, and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone and wood—idols that cannot see or hear or walk.” Christians today often read the Bible as if the book is antiquity. We often study the Israelites of the Old Testament and see how they set up Asherah poles, worshipped idols, and kept idol trinkets in their homes and we decry or condemn them in our studies and say, “How could they?” Please note that what we are studying in Revelation 9 is still our future; it hasn’t yet occurred. Idols is not something of the past—it is our present day reality. Today we have idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone and wood—idols that cannot see or hear or walk. We just don’t call them “Asherah poles” or golden calves. Instead, we call them gold rims, Benjamins, Parnian furniture, bling-bling, etc. We have intangible idols: me, myself, and I; fame, notoriety, and prestige. Pride is idolatry. Notice that our verse says that they did not stop worshipping demons. Again, when we think of “worshipping demons,” most think of antiquity. Most think of how the early American Indians, for example, who would paint their faces and dance for false gods, hence to demons, and commit sacrifices for them. Who worships demons today?—we say. Psalm 106:37-38 says: “They sacrificed their sons and their daughters to the demons; they poured out innocent blood, the blood of their sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan, and the land was polluted with blood.” Abortion is the worship of demons. Today, even the Christian church is guilty of worshipping demons because we refuse to repent of the innocent blood that is on our hands. There is innocent blood on our hands because by our silence on abortion we are participating and condoning it. If we were to truly wake up and realize that these are real innocent human beings that are being split apart and squished to pieces, then the church would take a stand, that is, assuming that the Church has a conscience. Demons battle the Church with lies, and unfortunately demons are winning on this front, for the Christian church has bought their lie that we can do nothing regarding abortion but be silent about it and let it remain an issue that only Congress must deal with. Why are we waiting for sinners to correct evil laws? God is waiting for His people who call upon His name to take a righteous stand for the voiceless so that then He will heal the land. For if Christians are called to win souls they must first be born.
I’ve written about abortion before, but it should be reiterated. The Church today is in danger of an incredible hypocrisy. We say in church to love our neighbor. Abortion is hating our neighbor. We say in church to carry our crosses. But we refuse to pick them up to correct this evil. We say in church to make disciples of all nations, yet we are murdering potential disciples. We say in church that all needs saving. Obviously, we are not seeking to save all. A curious paradox arises when the Church celebrates Mother’s Day while at the same time not be appalled by the millions slain by their mothers each year. Although evil, the founder of Planned Parenthood, Margaret Sanger, made an accurate prediction in her stratagem against the church: saying, “Abortion will undermine the Christian Church.” She goes on to say, “I look forward to when the world is free from the tyranny of Christianity.” Now I find it peculiar that an evil sinner was able to diagnose the correlation between abortion and the Church, while the Church remains blinded to it. The Church today is blind. Jesus said we would be. He speaks of us when He refers to the Laodicean Church. Of us, He says, “But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.” Jesus said that we don’t even realize that we are doing evil. I wish that I could scream our sin loud enough that the Church could hear; loud enough so that our leaders, who believe that they are pleasing God with their work, realize that they are falling way short and that God is not pleased with us at all, particularly for worshipping demons through the shedding of innocent blood. While we are having Church on the inside, Jesus is on the outside of our Church, knocking, asking for somebody to let Him in.
The Rapture could be just the result of God simply giving up on us. Have you ever thought about that? Why is the Ladicean church the last church of human history? It is the worst church of all 7 listed! Why rapture at the worst church? The Rapture couldn’t be a reward for the Laodicean church, commemorating its efforts. It is the church that leaves Jesus outside of its services and has Him knocking on the Church door from the outside. This is an age where we have stopped evangelizing. We are mostly and almost exclusively only concerned about our own families and accumulating wealth. Idolatry has created and sustained abortion. We abort to save money. We abort for convenience. We abort to prevent deformity, which makes us God. Church, for the most part has become an entertainment sanctuary and social club. This is not the writer’s opinion. Jesus graded us Himself in Revelation chapter 3 and gave us an F grade. Jesus said we are wretched and pitiful. He said nothing good about us. Jesus said that we leave Him out of our worship services. Jesus said that we don’t even realize that we are blind. These things are so true. The greatest evil that mankind has invented has undermined the Christian Church. And please recall that Jesus threatened the first church by saying that He would potentially rapture them early. Jesus threatened them with the Rapture. He says in Revelation 2:4, “If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.” We saw in our study that the lampstand referred to the Church itself. In this instance, Jesus is speaking to the first church age, the Church of Ephesus. He said if you do not repent, I will rapture you completely away. The Rapture in a sense is actually a punishment for the Church even though it at the same time is a reward. When the Church loses its usefulness for the Kingdom of Heaven, the Rapture will occur. When the Church looks so much like the world, what use on Earth is it?
In many respects the issue of repealing abortion should take precedence over the worship service. God says before we come to him in worship that we must wash our hands of innocent blood. Isaiah 1:11 opens, “‘The multitude of your sacrifices—what are they to me?’ says the LORD. ‘I have more than enough of burnt offerings, of rams and the fat of fattened animals; I have no pleasure in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats. When you come to appear before me, who has asked this of you, this trampling of my courts? Stop bringing meaningless offerings! Your incense is detestable to me. New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations—I cannot bear your evil assemblies. Your New Moon festivals and your appointed feasts my soul hates. They have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them. When you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide my eyes from you; even if you offer many prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are full of blood; wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight! Stop doing wrong, learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow.’”
We must not waste even a single day. Every day, there are 4,000 babies being murdered. If we do nothing, by this time tomorrow, it will be 8,000. By this time next week, it will be 28,000. If we prolong this for a month, it will be 112,000. If we tarry another year, it will be another 1.5 million. That means that every 3rd baby conceived in America is murdered in the womb. These are exponential numbers. We haven’t even a day to spare. The womb of one’s mother remains the most dangerous place to be in America. African Americans abort 50% of their own numbers each year. 43% of all who get abortions in America are professed Protestants. 94% of Evangelical Church leaders in America do not speak on abortion.
Satan has managed to pull the wool over the shepherds eyes. When the shepherds are blinded, the sheep scatter. Satan has gotten most of the church to call evil good and good evil. He has done a masterful job at surreptitiously creeping his darkness into the church so that the church adopts his world view, and the media’s opinions. The Church must expel Satan’s lies and deceptions from the church. As it stands right now, Christians will not be moved to boycott for righteousness sake because the leaders have not fully exposed the Truth and Satan’s lies. Satan hides behind the guise of some Truth. To reach full Truth, one must fully grasp all lies. As long as the lie is veiled, Truth cannot be clearly seen. We do not realize that we are an enslaved people. For if the Truth sets one free, then a lie keeps one in bondage. Truth does not conform to any particular denomination. Denominations must conform to Truth. This nation will never be ready for Truth; it is time for Christians to be. It shouldn’t be this hard to convince Christian leaders that we ought to follow Truth. Only the Christian Church can end abortion. But we must understand and operate in Truth. Truth is simply God’s viewpoint on a matter. Truth is what God says, not what the culture says. Since Truth does not placate to feelings or opinions, we must not be afraid of offending.
There is a false Christian doctrine that says that we are not supposed to offend another. Jesus said that we will be persecuted, but how can we ever be persecuted if we never offend? Only by looking different than the world will the world ever persecute us. Jesus often offended without apology. Truth offends. God’s Word offends. We must offend each other onto the right path. How can any get saved but we offend? Better to offend than to quietly observe a Holocaust. God is waiting for us to start offending. God forbid that there may exist preachers who are too afraid to broach the topic of abortion because they are too afraid of losing membership and money.
Many of these words regarding abortion I have been trying to share with preachers. I have been trying to start a movement. I have named it the BirthRight Movement. I wish that Christian leaders will wake up to the evil that they have been accepting for these past 44 years since the Roe v. Wade verdict. Jesus does not care about our bank account or how much wealth we accumulate. He is seeking true worshippers—people who are able to distinguish between good and evil, and between Truth and a lie. People who are willing to pick up their cross to sacrifice without compensation for a righteous cause. Today we are in need of a critical Church revival. It starts with the Christian leaders. They have been charged with dispensing Truth to their sheep. Unfortunately, they have been withholding Truth—Truth that the world wants us to keep hidden. Ugghhh!!! I could type on this forever. I’ll just end this here. I wish that preachers didn’t have that pride that keeps them from listening to a lay person as myself regarding this critical issue of abortion. Often I see them clam up when I request to speak to them regarding abortion. They don’t even want to hear what I have to say. They don’t even give me a chance to speak. They often say that they have so many meetings to attend, or functions, etc. Could it be that they are doing too much if they don’t have time to be concerned about such a blatant evil? Could it be that they are doing too much if they don’t have time to discuss such a thing with a layman? Could it be that we are doing our own will and not God’s and merely calling it Church agenda? Why are leaders open to discussions of how to make money and good investments, but refrain from discussions of overcoming evil? God will call each person to account for what they did or did not do in this lifetime for His Kingdom. He will start with the leaders. He will start with the Church. Judgment begins in the house of the Lord.
Oh...I got carried away. We have one more verse to conclude the chapter. Verse 21 says, “Nor did they repent of their murders, their magic arts, their sexual immorality, or their thefts.” Only the Gospel can change a person’s heart. Death all around does not move these people to repent, which is reminiscent of Ramses II when Moses sent the plagues of Egypt. The word for “magic arts” here is the word “pharmacia,” which is related to drugs and the occult. Please note that it says “thefts.” Recall that food is really scarce at this time because we studied that a third of the sea food and a third of the vegetation across the Earth will be wiped out. People will be stealing “to survive.” This will be a period with much dishonesty. We can conclude from verse 21 that life is cheap where the Gospel is not found. There will be many murders. Life will not be valued. In the Kingdom of Heaven series, we studied that Christians who live like verse 21 will not be fit to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Revelation 22:15 says, “Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.” Please see the Kingdom of Heaven series to get the details of what Revelation 22:15 is referring to.
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