40: World News & Prophecy - Revelation 9:13-11:19

[Darris McNeely] Okay, we’re back, and we are in the midst of the fifth trumpet plague, the second woe. And we saw in the last class that this being comes down with the key to the bottomless pit and unleashes, as I said, hell on earth—demons out of this bottomless pit and demonic activity that seems to create some unusual events upon the earth. We’ll talk about those. But one of them is this torment that the locusts and their sting seems to create within the minds of men, and it says that they desire death but it doesn’t come. What you’re describing is demonic activity upon people who are not sealed, it says, and it’s almost like a mental illness and creating activity.

Now, I said it last class that God does not allow demons to indiscriminately, at will, wreak such havoc as described here upon the earth and upon individuals. There is demon possession and there is demon influence. The Bible talks about that. We have seen instances of that within and among people who are part of the church, and we’ve had to deal with that. I’ve talked about that in some other comments. But you and I go down the street, we go into a store, we go about our life, and demons don’t have the ability to just swoop in like a raven or a vulture and grab you by its talons and take you off.

But this seems to be a time when that force shield is removed and there will be an increase in that. Now, I will say that with activities and public policy, cultural trends that we have seen in recent years that have erupted—I use that term carefully, but I think accurately—to describe the eruption of a lot of the transsexual activities and desires of people who are demanding rights, demanding to be recognized, public policy at the highest levels of the government advocating, funding trans change, and all.

And I mean, just recently, I saw a group of trans people before some local civic, you know, city council, as a result of recent budget cuts at the high federal government level, and their fear that something was going to be taken back from them. And a whole cadre had gone into this city council meeting, and it was bizarre.

It was just bizarre. And I think we have to recognize that we’re dealing with mental aberration. But that has been legalized, it has been analyzed, it has been politicized, it has been deemed normal—where at one time, within the medical profession, psychiatric profession, it was labeled as a mental illness.

But I think that’s what we’re dealing with. It’s fortunately been kept low. It’s not, you know, taken over the culture. In fact, we’re seeing a backlash to it now in recent months, in defunding and just the whole change. It’s almost like people woke up—this is, you know, there’s only two genders, and there are not fifteen. But that doesn’t mean things go away. And so we’ve got the pendulum swinging back.

Maybe it’ll hit more normal trends, but things have changed in recent weeks, literally here as I’m talking now. But that, I think, is the only way to understand a lot of that. And we have to realize that. And it’s like I mentioned with the pandemic, the COVID pandemic, it was kind of a dress rehearsal for what larger times of pandemic described in the book of Revelation. It came and it went. Will we see larger ones? Yes, the Bible says we will.

We should learn from the times and whatever manifestation. As we read Revelation here, we can understand what’s taking place within human behavior, within the ecosphere, and certainly recognize that we’re dealing with spiritual battles. We’re dealing with spiritual warfare—in a sense restrained now, but what seems to be what I think is described here, all bets are off. The force shield is gone, and the demonic activity loosed upon the earth. When this happens here, as described by the fifth trumpet, you will want God’s seal of protection. You will want that, which is what we should be endeavoring to make sure we have now, lest we be caught unaware at a time like this.

And so my point is, the things that are happening in our world today—the cultural trends, the political trends, the pandemic, the wars—they’re all harbingers. And we need to take heed to that and do what we can to be prepared for that as it comes upon us. And that creates certain situations that we have to deal with even where it comes close. But we have to be armed with the spiritual knowledge of what the Bible tells us about human behavior, the spirit world, and God’s ultimate control of everything.

Let’s move on to the sixth trumpet here now in verse 13 of chapter 9. “Then the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God, saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, ‘Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates’” (Revelation 9:13–14). You can put in there, “Release the kraken,” if you want. But this is an unleashing of more spiritual forces. This is the second woe of your Rubik’s Cube. It says here, an army of 200 million people. Let’s read on. There’s an unleashing at the river Euphrates.

Now, let me just pause right here. We do have on the map, this is the river Euphrates, okay? So we’ve got a definite literal spirit or physical location. “Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates” (Revelation 9:14).

Now, just an interesting historical note. During the time of the Roman Empire—you know, that great evil empire of the past—the Euphrates River was the eastern boundary of the empire. It never went beyond that. It came all the way from Rome, across North Africa, the Mediterranean, Asia, but this became the eastern boundary. And other nations were over here, but they were not under the control of Rome. And so, looking at this here, you know, other kings controlled these nations. And if the king of the north that we were talking about from the previous trumpet plague, the first woe, hears tidings out of the east and the north, well, there are other nations that are not necessarily under the complete control of this king of the north, possibly, who now gather, who now are moving, all right?

And so, let’s read on here. Yeah, let’s pause there. I want you to go to Revelation 16.

In Revelation 16, we have another reference to this. This is the timing of the sixth angel of the last seven down here at the very bottom. But that’s taking place at a very limited space of time. And we have a similar movement here. “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” (Revelation 16:12).

And then look at verse 13: “I saw coming out of the mouth of the dragon”—that’s Satan—“and out of the mouth of the beast”—that’s the political power—“and out of the mouth of the false prophet”—the false spiritual power—“I saw coming out of their mouths three unclean spirits like frogs. For 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” (Revelation 16:13–14). And verse 16 says, “They assembled them at the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon” (Revelation 16:16).

And that is a location in the state of Israel—Megiddo. I’ll save a lot further commentary on that until we get to Revelation 16. My point in going to it now is there’s a similarity to what we just read back in chapter 9 of the timing of the sixth trumpet and the angels that are massed here at the river Euphrates. There’s a movement of armies. And some think that we’re talking about the same event here, or different phases of the same event. And so regardless, they’re demonically inspired. Revelation 16 shows us that. Satan is moving his armies. And the king of the north is disturbed by tidings out of the east and out of the north (Daniel 11:44). And he goes out. So there’s a move, there’s a converging of military force that is being described here as we move along.

So let’s go back to Revelation 9, and let’s pick it up at verse 15. “So the four angels who had been prepared for the hour, day, month, and year were released to kill a third of mankind” (Revelation 9:15). How do you understand the hour, day, month, and year? Essentially the preciseness of God’s control and timing. We don’t try to put dates or much more to that. Our day and month and year—God’s preciseness in His mind and His purpose and in His plan of these movements.

And so there’s a release now of them to kill a third of mankind. This is almost like a counter. The second woe then is a counter to the movements of the king of the north in the first. And these armies are coming together. “Thus I saw the horses in the vision: those who sat on them had breastplates of fiery red, hyacinth blue, and sulfur yellow; and the heads of the horses were like the heads of lions; and out of their mouths came fire, smoke, and brimstone. By these three plagues a third of mankind was killed—by the fire and the smoke and the brimstone which came out of their mouths. For their power is in their mouth and in their tails; for their tails are like serpents, having heads; and with them they do harm” (Revelation 9:17–19).

So here’s this phantasmagorical imagery of these demonic forces moving through actual armies and men, and likely women, to create this time of great war and destruction. “But the rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, that they should not worship demons, and idols of gold, silver, brass, stone, and wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk. And they did not repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts” (Revelation 9:20–21).

Again, pointing up the fact that with all of these events—astral disturbances, waters turning to blood, nuclear-like explosions because of large asteroids possibly hitting the earth—there’s a segment of mankind that does not get moved to repentance, to acknowledging God. Repentance does not come. We’ll see that again later in chapter 16, which kind of falls back on us in the church. We do take repentance seriously, and we should. And we should in light of understanding God’s judgment for sin, which Revelation is showing us. Remember, to each of the seven churches God gave a message of repentance: repent, do the first works. Throughout all these times, there’s a refusal to do that.

And so this begins—what is working here through this sixth trumpet is a global conflict of massive proportion, bigger than anything we’ve ever seen. And it seems like when these begin to develop, we cross a divide, geopolitically among nations and from God’s judgment as well. Because now they begin to pour out, there’s great political military conflict that occurs on this.

And we’ll go back to verse 16: “Now the number of the army of the horsemen was two hundred million; I heard the number of them” (Revelation 9:16). No reason not to take that literally. That’s a huge army, larger than any modern army that’s ever been assembled. But there’s plenty of peoples in those regions, if you count men and women, to account for that in some way, shape, or form. And so at the very least, it is a massive movement of men and materiel and drones and everything else. Sometimes I’ve personally speculated that would that number include, you know, or be talking about the power of missiles and drones and others in that sense. That’s my personal speculation. But there’s certainly ample—if we look at it literally, 200 million persons—then there’s enough people to accomplish that.

And if what we’ve read here in chapter 9 and verse 16 are the same event or different phases of the same movement, then we’re seeing what Daniel 11:44 is beginning to talk about upon the earth. And so it’s a time of international war, the sounding of the sixth trumpet, and it’s a background to the remaining punishments in Revelation.

What you see is human culture and civilization still functioning. Armies are gathered. The kings of the earth go out and are influenced by Satan to move. Things are still happening. Planes are still flying. Fuel to move all of this is still available. Life is going on. But in the midst of all of this, these judgments, as they continue to ratchet up, we are coming now, if you’re looking at the unfolding of all of this, to a critical point.

Let’s continue right on in chapter 10 because there’s chapter headings here, but the flow is still there. “I saw still another mighty angel coming down from heaven, clothed with a cloud, and a rainbow was on his head. His face was like the sun, and his feet like pillars of fire. He had a little book open in his hand, and he set his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land, and he cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roars. When he cried out, seven thunders uttered their voices” (Revelation 10:1–3).

Seven thunders uttered their voices, all right? “Now, when the seven thunders uttered their voices, I was about to write, but I heard a voice from heaven saying to me, ‘Seal up the things which the seven thunders uttered, and do not write them’” (Revelation 10:4). So what did the seven thunders say? We don’t know. Why? Because he wasn’t allowed to write them. Now, what were they? We don’t know. We can speculate. We come to a point in the vision that God didn’t want this written down.

Now, that doesn’t take anything away from God’s pronouncement of judgment, God’s pronouncement of woe, God’s pronouncement even of His message of salvation or the gospel. It doesn’t take anything away from that. It just says that these were not written down. I mentioned in the last class that God will ensure that His message during these darkest of period times is still available and it is proclaimed. We haven’t got to the two witnesses yet, nor the angel that flies through the air with the everlasting gospel in Revelation 14:6. But John hears something like seven thunders.

Now, if you do a little bit of research into the little numbers in your center margin, you might see that there’s a reference to Psalm 29. And in Psalm 29 there is a mention of the voice of God seven times. I’m not going to turn and read it for lack of time here, but the voice of God says or thunders, and there are seven of them in Psalm 29. And they all seem to be connected with judgment. That’s just interesting. I’m not saying that that’s what was uttered here in Revelation 10, but it could be that this is a message of judgment. And we’ll have to leave it at that.

You know, if you remember in 2 Corinthians 12, the Apostle Paul talks about himself being the man who was taken up and had a vision of the throne of God. And he said in verse 4 of 2 Corinthians 12, “I heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter” (2 Corinthians 12:4). He couldn’t speak them. Why? You know, they were so fantastic, he was dumbfounded, whatever. He heard unspeakable words. And so that’s another occasion. In this case, John hears seven thunders, and he’s told not to write it down. So we’ll leave it at that. We’ll probably have that as one of the first questions that we could ask in the millennium in that first great Bible study at that time.

“The angel whom I saw standing on the sea and on the land raised up his hand to heaven and swore by Him who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and the things that are in it, the earth and the things that are in it, and the sea and the things that are in it, that there should be delay no longer. But in the days of the sounding of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, the mystery of God would be finished, as He declared to His servants the prophets” (Revelation 10:5–7).

So here’s a similar scene to what we had back in Daniel 12:7, where an angel lifts both hands there in that final scene that Daniel had in chapter 12 and pronounced an encouragement. So there’s a similarity here.

Going on to verse 8: “The voice which I heard from heaven spoke to me again and said, ‘Go, take the little book which is open in the hand of the angel who stands on the sea and on the earth.’ So I went to the angel and said to him, ‘Give me the little book.’ And he said to me, ‘Take and eat it; and it will make your stomach bitter, but it will be as sweet as honey in your mouth.’ Then I took the little book out of the angel’s hand and ate it, and it was as sweet as honey in my mouth. But when I had eaten it, my stomach became bitter. And he said to me, ‘You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, tongues, and kings’” (Revelation 10:8–11).

And so could this be telling us something about the prophetic word of God, the words of judgment that come from God? They can provide a certain level of sweetness like honey in the mouth as the word of God, God’s intervention, but later produce a bitterness, an aftertaste, or a kind of a churning within the stomach. In a way I look at this: it’s one thing for us in the comfort of our life today to read this and academically make our notes.

And I’ve got my notes and annotated pages that I bring into class every year. You write in your margins, and that’s what we should do, because what we can do is seek to understand the word of God. But it’s one thing to do that, and then to stop and think through the implications of what is being described upon people should create a certain unsettling, bitterness in the stomach as God’s words go out and cause us not to take any unnecessary pleasure in anything regarding the suffering of mankind and even the activities of the wicked. All of this should be very, very sobering to us.

Now we come to chapter 11. And chapter 11 is a chapter about the two witnesses. What we have here is an inset chapter, and we kind of have a pause. We haven’t yet covered the seventh trumpet. Remember that the seventh trumpet opens the seven last trumpet plagues. Part of the seventh trumpet also culminates in the return of Christ, the first resurrection. It is the third woe of the three that were previously, but we’ll come back to it. So there’s an inset. And now John is told about two witnesses, which I referenced earlier.

Understand this. Let’s go ahead and jump into it. “Then I was given a reed like a measuring rod. And the angel stood, saying, ‘Rise and measure the temple of God, the altar, and those who worship there. But leave out the court which is outside the temple, and do not measure it, for it has been given to the Gentiles. And they will tread the holy city underfoot for forty-two months. And I will give power to My two witnesses, and they will prophesy one thousand two hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth’” (Revelation 11:1–3).

So the city, Jerusalem, it is given to the Gentiles. This is the time when these armies have come in from Daniel 11:40, the king of the north comes in. Armies surrounding Jerusalem, Jesus talked about. They will tread the holy city underfoot. And “I will give power to My two witnesses” (Revelation 11:3). Notice in verse 3, if you want to underline, highlight in whatever color you use, God says, “My two witnesses”—meaning they belong to God.

He knows who they are. They’re in His hand. He controls them. They do His work. “They will prophesy for one thousand two hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth” (Revelation 11:3). They’re not going to be caught up with the trappings of money and luxury and everything.

“These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands standing before the God of the earth. And if anyone wants to harm them, fire proceeds from their mouth and devours their enemies. And if anyone wants to harm them, he must be killed in this manner. These have power to shut heaven, so that no rain falls in the days of their prophecy; and they have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to strike the earth with all plagues, as often as they desire” (Revelation 11:4–6).

These guys have got big wampum, big power, big mojo—whatever you want to call it. They got it. These are Elijah-like powers: to shut the heavens from rain during the time of their prophecy, to strike the earth with whatever, localized, after a period. All right, so what we’ve been reading about with these plagues and trumpet plagues, that’s backdrop. The two witnesses are going about their job. They are God’s two witnesses. They stand before Him. Nobody can touch them.

Now, when we look at this, there’s a lot of symbolism from the Old Testament, a lot of teaching. First of all, let me mention Deuteronomy 17:6 and Deuteronomy 19:15. God says if there’s an inquiry to be made, you establish something in the mouth of two witnesses, two or three witnesses. So these are God’s witnesses right here, okay? And if they’re His, and He’s using them, God is establishing something that is true—truth. The truth of the word of God. The truth of the plan of God. The truth of the power of God. And so they stand in that way.

You will remember from your studies in Zechariah 4 that there were two olive trees. And that was a type of this that is even referenced in verse 4—two lampstands before God. In Zechariah 4 there are also two individuals, Joshua and Zerubbabel, who worked for the good of the city of Jerusalem as it’s being rebuilt for a holy use. They are a type. We can understand Joshua and Zerubbabel as a type of these two witnesses. And even if God says that we are to be kings and priests, we in the church work as a collective community before God today, before the coming of the Kingdom, and our light is to shine. And so there’s a little bit of typology there.

What God is doing through these two is establishing a firm, conclusive witness to Satan’s two witnesses. Now, we haven’t come to Revelation 13, but in Revelation 13 there are two beings that we call the false prophet—or the beast and the false prophet. These two will be active during this time: a spiritual leader and a political power. They will be active. These two here are the antitype to God’s two witnesses. And the two witnesses will be testifying against the work of the beast and the false prophet in and about Jerusalem during this time. And they will be the thorn in the side. They can’t shut them up. They can’t cancel them on social media. They can’t unplug their connection to the internet. Whatever God is going to use to work with them and through them is going to continue on.

And they’re not going to be harmed. This is how powerful these two individuals are as they witness against the political-religious power of Satan during this particular time.

Now, verse 7 tells us: “When they finish their testimony, the beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit will make war against them, overcome them, and kill them” (Revelation 11:7). So this power that is an instrument of Satan will finally be allowed to kill them.

And it says, “Their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified” (Revelation 11:8). All commentators recognize this is Jerusalem. And Jerusalem is in contrast to Babylon that we’ll read about in chapter 17.

“Then those from the peoples, tribes, tongues, and nations will see their dead bodies three-and-a-half days, and not allow their dead bodies to be put into graves. And those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them, make merry, and send gifts to one another, because these two prophets tormented those who dwell on the earth” (Revelation 11:9–10).

So the protection is removed. They are killed. And everybody watches and sees their dead bodies. Looking at this, it’s kind of an indicator that this is an event of the time of the end because in John’s day, technology would not have allowed that. Again, we take Revelation 11 in a literal sense. And there are two witnesses, and they are then killed. Now, people who have been impacted by their witness, their work, are glad they’re dead.

Let’s read on in verse 11: “Now after the three-and-a-half days the breath of life from God entered them, and they stood on their feet, and great fear fell on those who saw them. And they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, ‘Come up here.’ And they ascended to heaven in a cloud, and their enemies saw them. In the same hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell. In the earthquake seven thousand people were killed, and the rest were afraid and gave glory to the God of heaven” (Revelation 11:11–13).

“The second woe is past. Behold, the third woe is coming quickly” (Revelation 11:14).

Now, this resurrection that is after three-and-a-half days in verse 11, and they’re caught up into heaven, we’ve always understood, we’ve always taught, that this is not a separate resurrection. This is the first resurrection. And they’re caught up in heaven just like it says in 1 Thessalonians 4:16–17, “For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.” That would be the same time when these two are resurrected and join the saints. I think that’s correct.

This is not any type of specialized, separate resurrection. It’s not indicated in Scripture. It makes far more sense, because of the timing within the book of Revelation, to put that and recognize it as the same. Which would mean that the 1,260 days of their preaching is over, and is not the same 1,260 days of what we’re going to read about in Revelation 12 of the church being in her place or the timing of the tribulation.

That the 1,260 days of the ministry of the two witnesses begins a little bit before that count would be, and they’re dead for this three-and-a-half day period, and then they’re resurrected. All right? Then they’re resurrected. And so we’re talking about two different 1,260-day periods: the timing of the two witnesses’ ministry, and the tribulation or the timing of the place of safety. That would seem to be the case here and would allow for that three-and-a-half day period, and then they’re resurrected at Christ’s return. So we’ll leave it at that. I don’t think we need to go into too much more regarding that particular area.

So you have this witness that is given by God during this period of time. A lot more could be said about the two witnesses, but this is the gist of it. The work of God will continue on during the period of the tribulation, and through their work, people in the innumerable multitude and the 144,000 will be moved to a repentance that allows for the sealing that is described in those events and the plan of God.

Now, let’s move on to verse 15. We’ll finish the chapter here. “Then the seventh angel sounded: and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, ‘The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!’ And the twenty-four elders who sat before God on their thrones fell on their faces and worshiped God, saying: ‘We give You thanks, O Lord God Almighty, the One who is and who was and who is to come, because You have taken Your great power and reigned. The nations were angry, and Your wrath has come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that You should reward Your servants the prophets and the saints, and those who fear Your name, small and great, and should destroy those who destroy the earth’” (Revelation 11:15–18).

The timing of the seventh trumpet, as Christ said and Paul writes in 1 Thessalonians 4 and 1 Corinthians 15, is the timing of the resurrection. The seventh trumpet includes the resurrection and the rewarding of God’s servants.

“Then the temple of God was opened in heaven, and the ark of His covenant was seen in His temple. And there were lightnings, noises, thunderings, an earthquake, and great hail” (Revelation 11:19).

And so everything just kind of opens up in front of John here. The temple of God in heaven—Hebrews tells us that the earthly things were built upon the pattern of the heavenly things. So the tabernacle and the temple of the Old Testament were patterned after the temple of God in heaven. Here’s a full revelation of that, and the ark of His covenant. So if you saw the movie and wondered where the ark of the covenant is—it’s in heaven. That’s it. But some think it’s in a warehouse outside Washington, D.C. someplace, some government warehouse. But this is where it is.

Now, one final comment on chapter 11 and the temple. Go back to the beginning of chapter 11. John is told to take a measuring rod: “Rise and measure the temple of God, the altar, and those who worship there. But leave out the court which is outside the temple, and do not measure it, for it has been given to the Gentiles” (Revelation 11:1–2).

The great question is: will there be a third temple? Will there be a temple rebuilt in Jerusalem before Christ returns? When you put together all of the scriptures that talk about the timing of the end of the age, this is one of them. We’ve studied it. We have said that the two witnesses were literal, two men. What they do in calling down fire from heaven has to be literal. Their resurrection is literal. The city—Jerusalem—in which they are lying in the street for three-and-a-half days is literal.

Would we look at the scripture regarding the temple and say, well, that’s spiritual, meaning the church, or not really a temple but just a spiritual temple? That would not be consistent with our interpretation of the rest of the chapter, which we’ve taken literally. So if he is given a reed to measure the temple of God with an altar and everything, why would we not take that as literal and conclude that we’re talking about a temple of some sort there?

How far along it might be in progress, I don’t know. The idea of building a temple in Jerusalem right now would unleash armies upon Jerusalem from Arab nations immediately. There’s always been speculation about this. Years ago, when I was a young man in the Worldwide Church of God, we taught that there would be a third temple built in Jerusalem. Later on, that was sidelined, and I heard other speculation—that maybe just an altar would be built, because all you need, from the times of Ezra, to make a sacrifice is an altar. And that’s true. But here in Revelation 11, we read about a temple in some fashion, in a stage of completion, and we have to take that as literal.

The political conditions that would allow for that to be done today are not visible. But that could change. To fulfill chapter 11, a lot of things would have to change. So we’ll wait and see. The proper interpretation of chapter 11, to be consistent with the rest, would be that we’re looking at some type of literal temple in Jerusalem. But that would necessitate tremendous geopolitical change from the current condition. Yet, even now, as we watch events in the Middle East, there are all kinds of changes being speculated. So time will tell.

That takes us through chapter 11, and we will pick up in chapter 12 in our next class.