A great multitude in heaven, saying. Rev 19:3-5.

One of the things we talked about in the last post is that God's judgments are true and righteous. You need to settle this in your mind – no matter what the judgments look like in your own life, God's judgments are always appropriate and righteous; this of course applies to Israel and the nations.

If you were, to be honest when you read about the judgments that are coming against Israel and the nations, many of you have entertained the thought that God is out of control and just angry.

How do I know that?

Because this is what Satan does, and we saw it in the Garden when he said to Eve, did He really say that? The question/challenge to Eve might as well have accused Adam of lying about what God said, and, it challenged the veracity of God. This scenario with Eve only makes sense because, when God gave the instructions about the tree of knowledge, Eve had NOT been made. Somewhere down the road, Eve is made from Adam's rib. She was cloned. The typical process of cloning has to allow for “natural” growth. Mind you, God does not have to operate on the normal time frame, because, He is God.

Adam had been given dominion of the earth.

And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moves upon the earth. (Genesis 1:26-28 KJV)

Dominion, according to Strong's concordance, is the Hebrew word râdâh. It is a primitive root that means to tread down, that is, subjugate; specifically to crumble off: - (come to, make to) have dominion, prevail against, reign, (bear, make to) rule, (-r, over), take.

For me, the two words that stand out and make sense is to reign and rule. It does not take much of a stretch to comprehend that Adam's role was to inform Eve of the rules and there was only one – don't touch that particular tree. So, when Satan approached Eve with that lousy play on words, he challenged both Adam's honesty and God's wisdom and “law” giving.

Question?

Remember I said that Eve was not present, and yet, here in Genesis 1:26 it appears that both Adam and Eve have been created.

How do you explain that?

Perhaps the best way to understand what transpired, is that the spiritual entities called 'âdâm, that is, a human being, mankind have been set into motion. Neither the man or the woman, have been created as yet.

Note what Genesis 1:27 tells us.

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. (Genesis 1:27 KJV)

Do we have a definition of what God is?

Yes, we do.

God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
(John 4:24 KJV)

So everything created in Genesis 1:27 looks like God, a Spirit.

• We do not have a physical man, made from the earth, until Genesis 2:7.

• The explanation of the Garden and the plants in it, particularly the tree of knowledge, are not made known to us until Genesis 2:9.

• And, we are not introduced to the woman, Eve, until Genesis 2:21-23.

If man had dominion, then why and how did someone else gain that control?

Awe, now that is the million-dollar question, and it falls back on Adam and God's righteous plan to regain humanity and to have Christ rule over the earth once again.

BECAUSE HIS JUDGMENTS ARE TRUE AND RIGHTEOUS; for He has judged the great harlot who was corrupting the earth with her immorality, and HE HAS AVENGED THE BLOOD OF HIS BOND-SERVANTS ON HER." (Revelation 19:2 NASB)

God, nor I, can say “He has avenged the blood of His bond-servants on her,” unless we can see that the seven-years of wrath have been God's judgment.

Once again, who is the her in this sentence?

Chapter 18 of Revelation called her Babylon, that great city. But we learned that Babylon was, like Damascus, to be destroyed and useless; so we are NOT talking about the physical kingdom of Babylon. We are, however, talking Jerusalem, and by extension Israel.

And thus we continue with Revelation 19, starting at verse three.

Revelation 19:3 NASB “And a second time they said, "Hallelujah! HER SMOKE RISES UP FOREVER AND EVER.”

Who is the “they” we see in Revelation 19:3?

It was something like the loud voice of a great multitude in heaven. If I tried to base my assumption that these were the previously martyred saints, on Revelation 19:1 alone, I could incorrect and misleading, therefore need more information.

“After these things I heard something like a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, saying, "Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God;”
Revelation 19:1 NASB

Previously, in Revelation 7 there is a reference to One of the elders asking John, who this great multitude were. The response was,

“Then one of the elders answered, saying to me, "These who are clothed in the white robes, who are they, and where have they come from?" I said to him, "My lord, you know." And he said to me, "These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.”  (Revelation 7:13-14 NASB)

One more witness. Revelation 12 tells us,

And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. (12:10 KJV)

This is almost word for word what we see in Revelation 19:1. The safe proclamation then is that it is the martyred saints that are cheering as salvation and the end of God's wrath has finally come. Even if I get this declaration wrong and it turns out to be the angels shouting out the praises of God, it is not a life-altering mistake.

Consider what the voices say.

And a second time they shouted, “Hallelujah! The smoke from her goes up forever and ever!” (Revelation 19:3 TLV)

I can find NO reference to the first time they shout like this and with the same terminology.

So, again I ask you, what kind of mentality rejoices over such destruction?

Perhaps, these in heaven can see what has been happening here on earth and know that Israel will sustain two major attacks. Wait a minute, I thought that our entrance into heaven required a change, which for the church is associated with the Bema seat. As I sit here, unchanged, I know that I am a broken human being (thanks to Adam,) and that my brokenness often longs to revel in the destruction of the wicked. So, the logic doesn't work.

If one of those attacks was a part of Nebuchadnezzar's capture of the nations of Israel and Judah, then I have to incorrectly assume that he sacked both cities, and the smoke from those actions ascended forever. But that did not happen. Don't get me wrong, the land that is attributed to God's people, did get sacked, but it was after repeated attacks, from various Assyrian leaders. In none of those cases did the smoke go up from her forever.

I might note that nothing burns forever except for hell, and that, for most is an imperceptible concept. The “Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary” tells us that the Greek word aiōn represents a period of time of significant character; or a state of things marking an age or era. With that knowledge, I can see plainly that it burns until this time period comes to end. The in question is the end of God's wrath, which most refer to as the Great Tribulation.

As I sit here ( March of 2022) Israel seems to believe that she is in control of her destiny. Scripturally, Ezekiel 38, 39 predicts a massive and deadly attack on the nation of Israel, in which a prominent world leader titled Gog and his armies will die in the Megiddo valley. Two-thirds of Israel will be destroyed and killed, but not all by weapons, as some will die because of manufactured pharmaceuticals.

Revelation 19:4 NASB “And the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God who sits on the throne saying, "Amen. Hallelujah!”

I walked away from a church. The final straw came during a seven-week, crash course in the Revelation. When the pastor, in the third session, stood before the audience and authoritatively said, the twenty-four elders are representative of the church. He gave no explanation and moved on as though he were educated and we were not. When he did that I was done with him and I walked out. This is not the time or the place to flesh that out, but there had been a build-up of reasons and one of those had happened only weeks previous, when something this pastor said, brought many in the audience to their feet in applause. Me, I said out loud, you should be booing such a statement. Internally I was screaming, as your response demonstrates that you will fall for the lies that are coming. Sure enough, the Covid and its associated lies came, and that church shut down for a long time.

In time, I came to understand from Pastor John MacArthur, why the twenty-four elders are representative of the church, and let's just say that the answer stems from Revelation 4:4.

Around the throne were twenty-four thrones; and upon the thrones I saw twenty-four elders sitting, clothed in white garments, and golden crowns on their heads. (Revelation 4:4 NASB)

Pay attention to how they are attired, as this is the description of the church after the catching away.

Revelation 19:5 NASB “And a voice came from the throne, saying, "Give praise to our God, all you His bond-servants, you who fear Him, the small and the great.”

Verse five may come across as insignificant because we have seen loud exuberant accolades about God. It almost seems as if the heavens are getting ready for a great party. We, however, are directed to give Him praise, as we are included among the bond-servants and those who fear Him.

The way I was taught about God was commingled with fear and an inappropriate fear at that. It was demanded that when we say our prayers at night, we explicitly ask God to forgive us for childish sins, and apparently, by mom's standards, they were many. The premise was that if we died during the night, our failure to repent would send us to hell because we had made God mad. Can you imagine the imagery I had of God and how that might have impacted me for the rest of my life? As an adult, I had to make a decision to change that attitude, and that is how and why we found each other.

In the current world we live in, where the Marxist ideals of the BLM movement and the goals behind Critical Race Theory, nobody wants to hear the words bond-servant. I would like to say, there is no slavery, but slavery is alive; it thrives in the Muslim world, and sex trafficking, which involves the capture of young children for sexual perversion, plays into slavery.

The Apostle Paul, a Jew who could have easily, said like his Jewish brethren, that I have been the slave to no one, introduced himself in his letters, on several occasions, as a bond-servant of Jesus Christ. Bond-servants typically have no rights and yet we, as believers, have the right to walk away from the Lord, if we were so foolish. And yet, guided by the moral standards of God, that is written upon our hearts, we have overwhelming freedom and liberty; and, it is all because of this relationship with Christ.

A - Admit you're a sinner.

Romans 3:23 "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."

B - Believe Jesus is Lord.

John 14:6 Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me."

C - Call upon His name.

Romans 10:13 "Whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved."

The number of the armies of the horsemen was two hundred million. Rev 9.

 

When I was a child watching cartoons on the television, the announcer, in some silly voice, would say, “When we last saw our hero, Dudley Dooright, he was trying to save Nel." At this point, they would show you Nel tied to the railroad tracks. Well, it is easy to lose your focus on who the hero is when everywhere you look in the Revelation there is death and destruction.

In short, God is trying to get the attention of the Jews who rejected Him; and, He is trying to get the attention of those people who are called the nations/Gentiles. To the Jews, this is everyone outside of the Jewish faith. If you were not born and raised a Jew, and, you accepted Christ into your life, you are adopted into the family and no longer thought of as part of the nations.

Look around you, what are the nations doing? Bombing, shooting and generally causing mayhem. Sadly, this is happening everywhere.

When we last look at Revelation 9 someone unidentified, has said to the sixth, trumpet-blowing angel, release the four angels who are bound in the great river Euphrates.

Revelation 9:14 NASB "one saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, "Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates."

Ponder this for a moment.

• Angels who are bound.

  There has to be a reason for this, and it cannot be good. The logical assumption is that they are dangerous, and we see the evidence for this, as they proceed to kill off one-third of the earth's population.

• If angels are God's created beings, then who would be the one to bind them?

  God/Jesus.

• One last thing. It only took one angel to kill all the unprotected firstborn in Egypt that night of the first Passover, so how much damage can these four pull off?

  The short answer, they kill off a third of humanity.

  • Why did I mention the unprotected? Because Moses made the declaration with the instructions that “God's people” were to put the blood of the Lamb upon their doorposts (there were a few other things they had to do – all of which were part of a training process necessary because these people, that were to be called Israel was effectively Egyptians.) Because we are selfish humans, you have to know that there were some that did not comply and they found out the hard way that God should not be challenged.

    At the opposite end of the spectrum, there had to be some Egyptian individuals and families that took shelter in the homes of the Jews. In case you did not know, Caleb was a Kenizzite and not a Jew, and yet we come to learn that he and his kinfolk made it out of Egypt after that night; and, Caleb was one of the 12 spies that went into Canaan to spy out the land. He, along with Joshua, came back with a good report about the land, while the other ten whined.

Revelation 9:15 NASB And the four angels, who had been prepared for the hour and day and month and year were released so that they would kill a third of mankind.

I want you to hold to a thought, “they, (the four), will kill a third of mankind. I am asking you to hold this thought because the next few verses may confound you. I tell you this because, if a church leader was brave enough to teach on this portion of the Revelation, they typically attributed the 2 million troops to the Chinese. Much like getting us focused on Gorbachev, the then president of Russia, with his red birthmark on his forehead, from in the early '80s, this misleading information about the Chinese enforced the idea that no one could understand the Revelation.

So, focus on what we do know.

We just saw that four, presumably, angry angels were released from the Euphrates, for the express purpose of wreaking havoc upon the earth.

Revelation 9:14 NASB ... "Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates."

All doubts about their mission was eliminated when we saw that the outcome of their work kills off one-third of humanity.

Revelation 9:15 NASB And the four angels, ... were released, so that they would kill a third of mankind.

If I went no further, I would say, I got it, but suddenly someone hit the pause button for a second, and when they came back they decided we need a full and detailed description of what these four angels are capable of dispatching.

Revelation 9:16-19 ERV I heard how many troops on horses were in their army. There were 200,000,000. (17) In my vision, I saw the horses and the riders on the horses. They looked like this: They had breastplates that were fiery red, dark blue, and yellow like sulfur. The heads of the horses looked like heads of lions. The horses had fire, smoke, and sulfur coming out of their mouths. (18) A third of all the people on earth were killed by these three plagues coming out of the horses' mouths: the fire, the smoke, and the sulfur. (19) The horses' power was in their mouths and also in their tails. Their tails were like snakes that have heads to bite and hurt people.

• Two million troops on horses and they looked like this:

• They had breastplates that were fiery red, dark blue, and yellow like sulfur.

• The heads of the horses looked like heads of lions.

• The horses had fire, smoke, and sulfur coming out of their mouths

• A third of all the people on earth were killed by these three plagues coming out of the horses' mouths.

  • The three plagues coming out of the horses' mouths: the fire, the smoke, and the sulfur.

We have nothing in the context that explains how we went from angels to two million troops on something similar to a horse.

Ezekiel might be able to demonstrate the prophetic pattern, as it speaks of similarly attired horsemen.

Ezekiel 38:3-4 ERV Tell him that this is what the Lord GOD says: 'Gog, you are the most important leader of the nations of Meshech and Tubal, but I am against you. (4) I will capture you and bring you back. I will bring back all the men in your army, all the horses, and horse soldiers. I will put hooks in your mouths, and I will bring all of you back. All the soldiers will be wearing their uniforms with all their shields and swords.

• Does Revelation 9:16-19 compare well with Ezekiel 38:3-4?

  Not exactly; they both have horsemen with breastplates, riding horses, but we do not see the riders of Ezekiel killing off a third of humanity.

  The horses in the Revelation have fire, smoke, and sulfur coming out of their nostrils, we do not see that in Ezekiel. If it proves anything, it proves that God has a theme and plausible means to accomplish and end result.

  Think about the practical side of a mounted Calvary; do you see anyone attacking on horseback? What you do see are artillery units, missiles, and unmanned drones.

• Revelation 9:7-10 tells us that “The locusts looked like horses prepared for battle.”

  We are comparing apples to oranges, so this is not the answer.

• While there is no contrast in the Psalms it does tell us that He punishes the wicked with fire and brimstone.

  Psalms 11:6 NASB Upon the wicked He will rain snares; Fire and brimstone ...

It is clear that God is using these angels to bring about some of His wrath; and, it is defined that the angels have enlisted a two million man Calvary of demonic horses and horsemen. These are NOT human by any stretch.

By the time we hit this point in the chronological rendering of the Revelation, we might assume that we are dealing with some point within the last three years of the time of wrath.

Wow, many might breathe a sigh of relief just knowing that you do not have to contend with the four angels. I, on the other hand, pity the fool, as Mr. T used to say, who has to endure this hellish pain and death. I can implore you, as so many do, to accept Christ into your life, so that you can come to the wedding supper of the Lamb. But I cannot make you do it. 

Notice how chapter nine finishes out.

Revelation 9:20-21 NASB (20) The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, so as not to worship demons, and the idols of gold and of silver and of brass and of stone and of wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk; (21) and they did not repent of their murders nor of their sorceries nor of their immorality nor of their thefts.

• “The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, … and they did not repent of their murders nor of their sorceries nor of their immorality nor of their thefts.”

We are made aware of four terms: 

• murders
• The word takes on a whole new meaning when you come to realize that it also means slaughter. We have nothing in our Bibles that defines the Islamic prophecies of how the same man we call the false prophet becomes the enforcer of Sharia. Under this man's leadership, he mandates that everyone bows to Allah or loses their head. Is this concept found in scripture? Absolutely, as Jesus, in Matthew 24, describes how God has to cut the time short or NO ONE would live.
• sorceries
• This is the Greek word pharmekia (sound familiar?) Look at what it means: employment of drugs for any purpose. Open your eyes. Many of you are voluntarily submitting to a "vaccine" (an illegitimate term for a concoction approved for emergency usage. It would have had to go through lengthy trials to gain the name vaccine, but by having it approved for emergency usage the drug companies got to bypass the trials, and those of you who have accepted this "vaccine" have become the lab rats.) Are you aware that this so-called vaccine failed miserably in lab animals, to the point that they were about to give up on it?
• immorality
• The Greek word is porneia. What a shock heh? The Word Study Dictionary states that " Symbolically it stands for idolatry, the forsaking of the true God in order to worship idols." However, it has most recently come to describe a vast number of acceptable self-driven perversions. Take for example the word illicit. Illicit means: That which was not permitted or allowed; prohibited; unlawful; as an illicit trade; illicit intercourse or connection. It was not permitted, but now it is.
• thefts
• This is the Greek word klemma and means a thing stolen or the act of theft. Oh my, where do I begin. We had church stolen from us, along with our health due to a manmade disease. How about our moral base, our nation, our safety, etc...

Isn't it obvious that a shred of these fools that have stolen our lives, health, and liberty, have survived to this point?

So many have died up to this point that it is hard to say how many are left. One thing is for sure, those who are left seem to be hell-bent on murder.

How would you like that on your tombstone?

Locusts came out of the pit and stung like scorpions. Rev 9:1-6.

 

Assuming that you just stumbled onto this blog, we are studying the Revelation.

Why?

Because a great majority of the church has no idea what is in this book; and, even if you did manage to read it, do you have any idea who is the rider on the white horse, that we see in Revelation 6? We have already covered the answer to that question in a previous post, and it is fairly well identified so that you can go back and study that subject.

If you choose to understand, not only the Revelation, but any book of the Bible, you would do well to understand that the Bible is a Jewish-centered book. In the case of the Revelation, you can see evidence of that in Revelation 2:9 and again in Revelation 3:9. In both of those cases, the church bodies are referred to as the synagogue of Satan. I, in reading one day, noticed this and thought, most, among the nations (as a Gentile – non-Jew,) may not have a clue as to what a synagogue is, however, the Jewish reader has an immediate understanding. Inferences to God's chosen people, the Jewish people, and the nation of Israel are in virtually every book in the Bible. If this bothers you, then you better repent of your racism quickly and get used to change.

Quickly:

• Chapters 1-3 are a historic and spiritual description of the church as it has gone through the ages. Many of these churches were gone by the time John saw this vision, but in almost every way, these descriptions speak to some of us today.

• Revelation chapter four opens with these words, “After these things,” indicating an end of the church age and the migration into the time of God's judgment of Israel and the nations.

• Revelation chapter five seems as if it is going to be filled with grief, as, according to John, there is no one worthy to open the seals. Knowing what is to be revealed by the seals, it is hard to understand why anyone would be anticipating what is to come unless you have an expectancy of Christ's return for His bride. One of the elders comes to John and tells him, not to worry for the Lion of the tribe of Judah is worthy. Having that piece of information you would think that the next thing John sees would be something like Aslan of the Narnia chronicles, but what he sees is Jesus as the slaughtered lamb. Because of this disclosure chapter, five is one of the most glorious of the chapters.

• Revelation chapter six covers the beginning of God's wrath as represented by the opening of the six seals, which includes the introduction of the antichrist character.

  The seventh instrument of judgment, in this case, the sixth seal, is typically the announcement of the next phase of wrath, or, the final judgment, as we will see with the bowl judgments.

  Most importantly, you need to know that the wrath of God, was not and is not meant for those who are in Christ. That being said, it does not mean that you will not go through tribulation while you are on this alive on this earth, Jesus, so to speak, guaranteed that aspect. I will show you a verse, but first, let me say that most translated that as tribulations.

  John 16:33 NLT I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth, you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.”

  How anyone survives the seal judgments is beyond me, and yet there are two more.

End of page one.

• Revelation chapter seven gives you details of what has been happening behind the scenes during the seal judgments; and, it points out that a mass slaughter of people who have come to an acceptance of Jesus as the Messiah, during this time of horror has happened. This redemption process continues throughout the time of wrath, to the point that the dead, because of their testimony, become uncountable. Praise God for that.

  We are also told, here in chapter seven, that God has the destruction stopped for a moment as they mark/seal 144,000 Jewish young men who have not been tainted by the world's desires – they are referred to as virgins. By the way, we, who have accepted Christ, have been sealed by the Holy Spirit.

  With the opening of the seventh seal, there is a half-hour of silence. One would get the impression that it has been very noisy so far, and the first shofar has yet to sound.

• Revelation chapter eight shows us the seventh seal, which portrays, the prayers of the saints, being mixed with burning incense, in one of the heavenly censers; it is then thrown to the earth. What follows is: peals of thunder, sounds, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake. The seven trumpets or shofars begin to sound their judgments.

  The first shofar sounds.

  • Revelation 8:7 NASB The first angel sounded, and there came hail and fire, mixed with blood, and they were thrown to the earth, and a third of the earth was burned up, and a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up.

  • Revelation 8:8-9 NASB The second angel sounded, and something like a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea; and a third of the sea became blood, (9) and a third of the creatures which were in the sea and had life, died, and a third of the ships were destroyed.

  • Revelation 8:10-11 NASB (10) The third angel sounded, and a great star fell from heaven, burning like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of waters. (11) The name of the star is called Wormwood; and a third of the waters became wormwood, and many men died from the waters because they were made bitter.

  • Revelation 8:12 NASB The fourth angel sounded, and a third of the sun and a third of the moon and a third of the stars were struck, so that a third of them would be darkened and the day would not shine for a third of it, and the night in the same way.

  Revelation eight ends with an eagle, flying in mid-heaven and crying out with a loud voice, saying, woe woe woe to the inhabitants of the earth because of the trumpet blasts that are about to come.

  We ended our last post with this verse.

• Revelation 9:1 NASB Then the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star from heaven which had fallen to the earth; and the key of the bottomless pit was given to him.

  Pay attention to the choice of words. Scripture does not, as yet, put this angel into the bottomless pit, that comes at the end of the time of wrath and the beginning of the millennial reign.

End of page two.

The fallen angel, does, however, have the keys to Sheol, another name for the bottomless pit, and it should be known that the possessor of the keys controls the fear factor associated with the pit.

So, who is this fallen angel?

Because Jesus tells us that He saw Lucifer, the day-star, thrown to earth, then we are talking about Satan.

Does Satan still have the keys?

Without question, NO!

Revelation 1:17-18 NASB (17) When I saw Him, I fell at His feet like a dead man. And He placed His right hand on me, saying, "Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last, (18) and the living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades.

Because of that statement, we should no longer have any fear of Sheol.

With that introduction, let's continue on with the fifth shofar.

Revelation 9:1-6 NASB Then the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star from heaven which had fallen to the earth; and the key of the bottomless pit was given to him. (2) He opened the bottomless pit, and smoke went up out of the pit, like the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by the smoke of the pit. (3) Then out of the smoke came locusts upon the earth, and power was given them, as the scorpions of the earth have power. (4) They were told not to hurt the grass of the earth, nor any green thing, nor any tree, but only the men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. (5) And they were not permitted to kill anyone, but to torment for five months; and their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it stings a man. (6) And in those days men will seek death and will not find it; they will long to die, and death flees from them.

I feel confident that this star that had fallen is Satan.

Things to make note of:

• “The key of the bottomless pit was given to him.”

  To understand this you have to grasp how much authority Adam had, and how he gave all of it over to Satan, along with the keys, one of which opened the bottomless pit.

• “He (Satan,) opened the bottomless pit, and smoke went up out of the pit, …; and the sun and air were darkened by the smoke of the pit.”

  But notice in verse 9:2 that it says it is “like the smoke of a huge furnace.” Since we can understand that there is a fire that burns forever, then there must be fire.

It is wise to either do your background homework or, not add or interject thoughts into the mix.

• “the sun was darkened, and the sky too, by the smoke from the shaft.”

  The word used for Sun is hēlios and means the rays or light. We can often understand this by relating this to an overcast day. Can we see? Mostly, but if I used the aftermath of Mount St. Helens and the ash storm that overtook the city, it turned the day into night and people had to turn on their headlights at midday.

End of page three.

Darkened is the Greek word skotóō and also means to cover with darkness. In Revelation 16:10 it is symbolic of distress, calamity, destruction.

Based upon these translations I can understand this two ways, one being a situation where the light is definitely muted but filled with distress, calamity, and destruction.

• “ out of the smoke came locusts”

  As annoying and destructive as locusts can be, these are a horror unto themselves.

• “ and power was given them, as the scorpions of the earth have power.”

  What? In what way are scorpions like locusts? Locusts are eating machines, but they limit their eating to plants. The scorpion on the other hand is a hunter; they sting victims that resist their crushing claws, paralyze and eat them. Scorpions don't eat people, they defend themselves from people with the same toxic venom; that could kill someone like me.

• “ They were told not to hurt the grass of the earth, nor any green thing, nor any tree, but only the men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads.”

  Here again, is another wordplay scenario. What did we just discuss? The fact that these LOCUSTS were given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power. Revelation 9:4 tells us that they are not here to eat plants, but to attack any human that DOES NOT have the seal of God on their foreheads.

  So, how many people have this seal on their foreheads?

  144,000 Jews.

  If you are a Jehovah's Witness and believe that your “prophets” are a part of this marked crowd, you will have a rude awakening, for unless these high ranking people among your cult religion have a practical, working relationship with Jesus Christ, they are, in all likelihood, going into Sheol.

  Is it possible that some would argue that the antichrist has marked people and therefore, be confused with those that God has marked and therefore, be bypassed by these hellish locusts?

  A question like this is entrenched with fear and twisted logic. Oh sure, you can argue, but you are not going to change God's plan and direction; and, you must remember that these “stinging locusts” are a part of God's wrath. (Yes, there will be a point in time, in which God will pour out His wrath, contrary to some people's opinion.)

  So ask yourself, are you a part of the family of God - one who has accepted that Jesus died for you, or, are you still conjoined with the nations/Gentiles?

  If your answer is the Gentiles, then there is the possibility that you were never a part of the church anyway and, therefore, subject to God's wrath.

  Satan has always mocked and copied aspects of God's ways. We see this with the marking that the antichrist dispenses, however, there is nothing, that I see, in scripture that indicates anything like this happens.

End of page four.

• “And they were not permitted to kill anyone, but to torment for five months; and their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it stings a man. (6) And in those days men will seek death and will not find it; they will long to die, and death flees from them.”

  These things have a mandate to “hurt” the people of the earth.

  Who are they hurting?

  Anyone they can sink their teeth or stinger into, this includes those who will, in time, get martyred for their testimony, and it includes those who think their money can protect them. For some reason, I can see these things crawling through cracks and door openings as they hunt you.

  They ARE NOT permitted to kill anyone. I could be killed by a bee sting simply by going into Anaphylactic shock, and yet these things will NOT kill but merely bring a dreadful torment.

  “In those days men will seek death and will not find it; they will long to die, and death flees from them.”.

  Think about this, for five months it would appear that no one can die, merely suffer dreadfully.

Have you ever heard fools say, when it snows in hell I'll ski there too. You are either so blind, or foolish, to think that God's wrath and the ensuing hell is something to toy with; obviously, it is not.

It feels that the entirety of my reasons for trying to make the Revelation clear is to keep people from having to endure the wrath that is to come. It seems rather obvious that if you could bypass God's wrath, that you would bypass hell; and, since followers of Christ are to be caught up to heaven, then, we would be in heaven, with the Father.

An interesting parable is the one about the ten virgins. All of them got an invitation to the marriage supper, and yet, if you know how this story goes, you know that half of them did not take extra oil. I have heard the oil referred to several things, one of which would be the Holy Spirit. But there is a more practical side of this, and that would be, the callous attitude that those without sufficient oil demonstrated to the others. Those without the oil did not humble themselves, nor ask if they could follow after those who had plenty; they demanded that the other give them of what they had.

Since this life, we have in Christ, is, as so many expect, based upon the idea of what would Jesus do, we can assume that He would have had enough, or, at the least, allowed for others to follow Him. If you know the story, then you know that none of those without thought to ask that question.

What did they do?

They went about the dark community scrounging. I suspect that this did not go so well for them.

When they returned, after chasing around the village looking for oil they could buy, were they able to gain entry to the event they had been invited to? The answer is NO.

Why would you take that chance? Fill your tanks now by accepting Christ into your life.