Well, good afternoon again. I'm today hoping to cover all of Revelation chapter 9. I've originally had intended on perhaps trying to work in a little more, but chapter 9 is essentially at the end of the two and a half years, the first two and a half years of the Great Tribulation. And we are then sort of launching into the final year of events, which include the plagues here in chapter 9, and then the things that follow of chapters 10 and 11, and most of 12 are inset chapters, so it's kind of like, you know, it's time out for a minute explaining what's been going on in other areas. So we'll start here in Revelation chapter 9, which is the first woe, but the fifth trumpet. And we begin here, God allowing Satan to actually do harm to people, that people begin to suffer. The earlier plagues were primarily upon the earth and upon the physical creation. So we have this fifth angel that begins to sound here in Revelation chapter 9. It's important to understand the individuals who are mentioned here. The first is an angel that sounds. We understand that from our previous studies, but now we have a star falling from heaven in verse 1, and him was given the key to the bottomless pit. So chapter 9 and verse 1, the fifth angel sounded, I saw a star falling from heaven to the earth, and him was given the key to the bottomless pit. So he did not already have the key. It had to be given to him so he could open up this pit or this abyss. Some have it rendered as the shaft of the abyss or the sort of the tunnel, the access to go down into this abyss. But the star is a subject of much controversy. If you read Catholic commentaries or books, the Catholic Encyclopedia being one, they will say this must be a bishop or one of the popes that somehow in the future will have, you know, something to fall from. If you've written the history of or read the history of many of the popes, you'll find a lot of fallen angels, so to speak. We even have one who's still alive who is basically in hiding in the Vatican because if he were to leave Vatican City, he would be arrested, and so he's replaced now by this new fellow from down in Brazil. That was it. The new guy's from Brazil. But his predecessor actually had an arrest warrant out in the state of Germany, the nation of Germany, and because Germany and Italy have an extradition treaty, if he leaves Vatican City, then he would be one of these fallen angels for sure. That, by the way, was from Carmelo Anastasi, our minister in Italy, who understands these things because he speaks Italian and knows what's going on over there. But I think it was pretty well in the Italian news, so it may not be much of a new thing for you. At any rate, this star is not a fallen pope.
This star is not a fallen religious leader, as we know it. This star represents very simple, simply Satan the devil. The star is a him, and it is a being. Notice to him was given the key to the bottomless pit. And Satan falling is an important concept in the Bible that we need to make sure we understand, because it is mentioned in six places.
Let's go over to Luke 10 and verse 18. This case is a double-ontonary, double-meaning statement. But in Luke 10 and verse 18, Jesus Christ had sent the disciples out two by two to the twelve tribes that were scattered abroad, the twelve tribes of Israel. And he gave them authority over demons, he gave them authority over sickness. They were able to bring people to complete health, and also perhaps even raising some from the dead. And they came back very excited, saying, even the demons are subject to us. And so in Luke chapter 10 and verse 18 and verse 17, the seventy returned with joy, saying, Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name.
So they learned about the power of the name of Jesus Christ. And he said to them, I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Now, he meant that in two ways. Number one, historically, he had seen the fall of Satan, the devil, recorded for us back in the prophets of Isaiah and Ezekiel. And we'll look at those in just a minute.
But he also saw a spiritual development that the followers of the Messiah of Jesus Christ would be given authority over demons. And the demonic influence over the earth would begin to wane as the name of Jesus Christ and the power of righteousness that Paul talked to Timothy about is used to dominate over the demon world. And we've probably had hundreds, if not many hundreds, of examples of the power of the demonic world being dominated by those who are truly following God and those who have been ordained into his ministry.
And we probably, I've heard stories from many, many ministers. I know that one of my teachers at college one time went into a mental asylum to see somebody and some of the residents would stand up all the way across the room and yell his name, so they knew who he was. I had a few experiences. I did deal with a number of them down up in Alaska, the Alaska villages and their shaman system are essentially hotbeds of a huge amount of demon influence.
My wife used to talk about how weird my relatives are. We first got married and we went to visit my relatives and this naive little farm girl who, you know, grew up in a house where the word sex was never even mentioned much less talked about. And other than, you know, what was on the farm, all things that could be embarrassing were totally ignored and very, very pure, I would say, household in many, many ways.
Very, very blessed to grow up on a farm like that. She went to visit my family and came back sort of soft-serried and aghast at all the conversation and various things and she just said, wow, I'm glad you're coming out and you have a weird family. And then she started telling me about some of her family. She had an aunt that was a witch doctor in Africa. Also happened to be a Christian science practitioner, but she was kind of half and half.
So we went to this family reunion down in Boise, Idaho a number of years ago when some of her mother's family were getting together. And this particular aunt had come over from Kenya and was going to, had gone to some sort of a Wiccan convention in Atlanta for a few days before flying up to Boise to, you know, be part of the family reunion.
And it was a very, like a once in a ten-year thing. Her family did not get together a lot. They had a large tent that they had borrowed, a very large event tent, kind of a round tent. And so I was standing with my daughter, Bridget, who was only about 12 at the time and maybe 12 to 14, and I was talking to a few people, some of Patty's brothers, that I know very well. So this aunt, friend of my, aunt of my, my wife's aunt, who she hadn't seen in about 20 or 25 years, arrives and she's all the way across the tent. And she looks over and sees me. And I had never seen her before.
I knew I'd do who she was. So she makes this beeline and she walks all the way across this tent through all these people. There were probably 50, 80 people there. And she walks up to me and puts her face right in my face and she says, I know who you are. I heard about you when I was in Atlanta. And then she turns and walks off. And my daughter says, Dad! And she grabs me. Do you know what she said? And I said, don't be afraid. We have authority over these beings. And she thought, that's cool. Dad's not afraid. So anyway, I'm not saying we should be flipping or overconfident.
Our authority and our power over the demons is only because we live by faith and it's given to us by Jesus Christ. All I will say is that they are still very real. They're still out there. We could talk about a lot of other stories. I'm sure all the ministers here could give one or two accounts of people they've talked to or demons they've come into contact with. We shouldn't be afraid of them, but we should also understand they have a great influence on society and sometimes can be given more leash to do more damage than what they've been given in the past. And we'll talk about that in just a second. So Satan fell because Jesus Christ gave authority to his followers, his servants, over the demons.
And we'll find that even happening again. Let's go first, though, to Isaiah chapter 14. Isaiah chapter 14 and verse 12. Here we have one of two accounts in the Old Testament prophets about the fall of Satan the devil. God always gives us two witnesses to scriptural rocks to stand on, so to speak, on any very important topic. Isaiah 14 and chapter 14, verse 12, says, How are you fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning? So Lucifer, or light bringer or star, was the name of the one who became Satan the devil. In the Bible he actually has about 30 different titles, Abaddon, the destroyer, there's a whole number of others, even Leviathan. He says, O Lucifer, son of the morning, how are you cut down to the ground? So he was in heaven, now he's cut down to the ground. You who weakened the nations. Now, that would have only happened if there were nations of demons, nations of angels, before he fell. Or perhaps it is referring to the fall also recorded in Revelation 12, where after weakening for 6,000 years the nations of men and women, he's now cut down to the ground. So it could have a dual application. You have said in your heart, I will send into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars, above the other angels of God, I will sit on the mount of the congregation. He wanted to sit on the throne of God, on the mount of the congregation. On the farther sides of the north, I will ascend above the heights of the clouds I'll be like. Or some verses, some translations don't have the word like in there, I will simply be the most high. You shall be brought down to the grave. So he's brought from heaven down to the grave, to the lowest depths of the pit. Over in Ezekiel chapter 28, somewhat of a parallel account, but when Jesus Christ said, I saw Satan fall like lightning, the fall is very quick. It isn't a gradual fall. Lightning goes, we've all seen lightning. It all goes very, very quickly from top down to the earth. So Satan fell like lightning from heaven that would come down and scorch the earth. Ezekiel 28 and verse 11, wherever the word of the Lord came to be saying, Son of man, take up a lamentation for the King of Tyre. For the King of Tyre here is being likened to Satan. Thus says the word of God, you were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden the Garden of God, which the King of Tyre never was. So this tells us this is not about the King of Tyre, but about one whom he represents. In Eden the Garden of God was Satan. He became there as a stake on the surface of the ground.
Every precious stone was your covering. And he lists a number of them here, stones that are eventually going to be in the New Jerusalem. The workmanship of your timbrels and pipes was prepared for you on the day you were created. You were the anointed caribou covers. I established you. You were on the holy mountain of God. You walked back and forth in the midst of the fiery stones, in the midst of that shining glory of God that is at the base of his throne, what is later called the Sea of Glass. He says, you were perfect in your ways from the day you were created till iniquity was found in you. And so he was cast down.
Iniquity was found in him. And it says down in verse 18, you have defiled your sanctuaries by the multitude of your iniquities, by the iniquity of your trading. Therefore I brought fire from your midst and it devoured you. I turned you to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all who saw you. So there may be a punishment coming for Satan the devil that is more permanent than the one that other scriptures indicate, but who knows, we'll have to wait and see how that all works out. But certainly what he did and his works are all going to be burned up. So the Apostle's spiritual victory here represented a fall of Satan in a similar way to what is recorded for us in Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28. So this final fall of Satan the devil is one that's been going on in one sense since the time that Jesus Christ came and made the Holy Spirit available to us. Now let's continue over now in the book of Revelation. This talks about the bottomless pit. We have the key of the bottomless pit. So what is the bottomless pit and what other scriptures tell us what is in there? Well, let's go to Revelation 11, just over probably one page in your Bible. And it tells us, the beast ascends out of the bottomless pit, and this bottomless pit is a source of war. The abyss is a place that Satan the devil is given the key to. He is cast down. He opens this pit, and out comes an incredible army.
Revelation 11, verse 7, says, When they finish their testimony, the beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit will make war against them, overcome them, and kill them. So this beast, this army referred to here, that ascends out of the bottomless pit will eventually be used to attack and kill the two witnesses. Let's go over to Revelation 17, which is also an inset chapter, which tells us, gives us a lot of details about the beast, about the great harlot and Babylon. Revelation 17, beginning in verse 8, The beast that you saw was and is not, and will ascend out of the bottomless pit and go into perdition, or go into a place of punishment, and prison. And all those who dwell on the earth will marvel, those whose names are not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world. So we have this beast coming out of this pit, and in this case to him, to the angelic being, Satan the devil was given a key to open that bottomless pit. So one way that God works to bring these plagues to pass is to allow Satan the devil to have more leeway.
Satan is somewhat like on a leash, like you would have a dog on one of these adjustable leashes. And every now and then, for his purpose, God allows Satan the devil a little more room to operate, and he gives him things to do. So he's still doing God's work, even though he thinks he's doing his own work.
Verse 2 says, He opened the bottomless pit and smoke arose out of the pit like the smoke of a great furnace. So we have this bottomless pit that is opened. The smoke comes out like a huge billowing pile of smoke, maybe something like when Mount St. Helens blew in 1980. It says, The sun and the air were darkened, and because of the smoke of the pit. So we have the army released. This apparently in the chronology of Revelation would be at the end of two and a half years of the three and a half year period that we know is covered in much of these chapters and is mentioned a number of times.
So this three and a half years here, if we understand this correctly, and it does seem to make sense, would be at the end of year two and a half. So the final year is also understood as the year of the Lord or the day of the Lord can be understood as a day or can be understood as a 12-month period or an entire era. But let's continue. We're told here the beast comes out of the abyss. This smoke is kind of like the beast, but the beast will have had power for more than two and a half years by this time, but at this time the restraining of his massive army is taken away, and the army is then released prior to the sounding of the fifth trumpet.
So we have this fifth trumpet blowing, and we have this locust or this huge army coming out. So the sun and the air were darkened because of the smoke of the pit. So a huge covering of the earth, you might say, certainly from the perspective of John, looked like a massive amount of just all sorts of vehicles and things.
We'll read about that. Then the smoke or out of the smoke locusts came up on the earth. So you can imagine a Hollywood film where we've got this massive explosion and dirt and dust and darkness in the air, and all of a sudden we have huge numbers of armies and machinery and various things coming out of the earth. To them what's given power as the scorpions of the earth have power.
So we have these locusts, the Greek word actually achris, a-k-r-i-s, which is the same thing where it says that John the Baptist ate locusts and wild honey. So these locusts that here John the Apostle saw, he said, well, they kind of looked like locusts to me. And he had a big challenge here trying to describe what we believe is a vision of a massive army of 21st century armaments and airplanes and various things, all sorts of helicopters and tanks and all the flying things in the air jet planes.
And he has a loss as to how to describe them. It's interesting, if you've been watching some of the developments in military, the Israelis especially have developed a lot of Star Wars-type robots. It could be that much of the fighting done in the future won't necessarily involve human casualties like it did in the past. The U.S. government, the Air Force and the Navy have all announced that the F-35 will be the last pilot in fighter aircraft.
But after that, everything will be simply remote control. And much of the fighting over in Iran and Iraq already has been done with drones. And the place where they fly them from basically is California or Nevada. All these pilots go to work and they sit there in this little control room and then they identify whatever they're doing by way of targets over in Iran and Iraq, and then they drop their bombs, whatever they do. And then they go back home, go out for dinner that night, and there are no human casualties on the side of those who are operating the drones.
So that's just a beginning as to what the future might hold. So some of these things, these items that John sees, could in fact perhaps not even be powered by men who are sitting in them, but perhaps they are some sort of remote control weapon. But out of the smoke these locusts come up on the earth, to them is given power to make people hurt as if they had been stung by a scorpion.
Now that is sort of interesting, because the scorpions really don't kill. The scorpions simply make a person very, very sick and make them hurt. So there's a lot of things about these scorpions that we need to look at. I'll give you kind of a list here. The scorpions eat no grass, vegetables, or trees, so they're not really ordinary locusts.
The Egyptian, the 8th Egyptian plague of ordinary locusts that destroy every green thing would be more in line with what we saw earlier in the fourth horseman that's riding when a number of people die because of famine. These scorpions, too, or these locusts have a king over them. They're not stifled by the smoke or the burning abyss. They go right through it. These are creatures. They're not confined now to some other place where they were confined, but now they are released.
Locusts are not necessarily confined. They sort of go where they want to go when they are on the move. Also, they are intelligent beings. They're capable of commands and leadership. When someone gives them a command, as we have here in verse 4, they are able to follow it. So they obviously are not locusts by that description. Their description proves them to be organized, that they move together so they are not a group of locusts that's simply going in a big swarm.
They have eight identifying attributes. They have bodies like horses, heads like men, crowns of gold, hair like women, teeth like lions, breastplates of iron, wings, and tails of scorpion stings. So these are literal somethings. Every statement about them proves to be real, improves them to be some sort of a military, monumental military group. They make a thunderous noise as they fly in verse 9. Their reference to the hair like women could be the smoke or the contrails coming out behind the airplanes.
We don't know exactly what John was looking at, but given our experience with modern military hardware, there are some very quickly identifiable parallels. The use of locusts on the earth actually goes back to the book of Judges in describing the Indian Army.
Judges 7 and 12, in referring to the Midianites that Gideon and his 300 men were able to defeat, says, The Midianites and the Amalekites, all the people of the east, were lying in the valley as numerous as locusts, and their camels were without number. So there was a large army that Gideon and his small army were able to attack with God's help and defeat.
So the power which Satan extends to these locusts is explained here beginning in verse 4. They were commanded not to harm the grass of the earth. Now keep in mind the grass had all been scorched back in the fourth horseman or the fourth seal being opened. But now we have two and a half years later, or probably a year and a half at least later, depending on how long the horseman rides, so to speak, at the end as those conditions rear up again, would have basically had probably enough time for some of the grass to grow back.
When they have fires like today we have in California, very large fires burning, it takes normally not that long for the grass to grow back and the trees begin to grow back. Mount St. Helens is an example of a place that grew back very quickly, the forest did after the explosions back in the 19...explosion back in the 1980s. Want to hold your place there and go back to Job chapter 1.
It's important that we understand that no matter what is happening here, God is always in charge. And the lesson I think we need to take home from this particular section is that God is always in charge in our own lives and what happens even in our church or even among his people here on the earth. Nothing is out of control. Things are not falling apart, things are actually falling together, as some people have observed. The prophetic events of the earth looks best like the nations falling apart, which it is.
The world is falling apart, which it is. But from God's perspective, things are simply falling together to finally establish the kingdom of God on the earth. In Job chapter 1, beginning in verse 8, well, in verse 7 it says, the Lord came to Satan, Satan came in among those who presented themselves to God. It says, For where do you come? Satan answered and said, From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking back and forth on it.
Remember, Satan was put in a place of restraint called Tartaroo. And it's described as here, he's able to go back and forth on the earth and walking back and forth on it. The Lord said to Satan, Have you considered my servant Job? There's none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one that fears God and shuns evil. So God brought up the subject of Job. Perhaps Satan had figured he wasn't going to get very far with trying to get Job to sin, so he left him alone for the most part.
Satan answered the Lord and said, Does Job fear God for nothing? Have you not made a hedge around him, around his household, and around all that he has on every site? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. But now stretch out your hand, and touch all that he has, and he will surely curse you. Notice the limitations that God puts on Satan in the next verse. The Lord said to Satan, Behold, all that he has is in your power, only do not lay a hand on his person. So God gave Satan permission to go a little farther on the leash, but no farther than the physical possessions and the family that Job had.
That's continued in chapter 2 and verse 6. The Lord said to Satan, Behold, he is in your hand, but spare his life. So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord and struck Job with painful boils from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. And so the leash was extended in chapter 2, and Satan was able then to go this far, but no farther. And so back in Revelation chapter 9, there are three restraints put on these locusts that come out of the earth.
Three limits. And this is, I think, a very fascinating observation about this army that boils out of this abyss once the key has been given to Satan, and he opens it. Satan would like this army to destroy the entire earth. He would like to kill all of mankind. He would like there to be no more potential for beings in the God family to usurp what he wanted and take what he thought was rightly his.
But there are three. Number one, who? Number two, how? And number three, for how long? So let's look at that. It says, verse 4, they were commanded not to harm the grass of the earth or any green thing or any tree, because those are now growing back a little bit, but only those men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads.
And we talked earlier about the sealing in chapter 7. The sealing, the pause in time, where those who are sealed, because they obey God. Also, how Paul wrote Timothy about the seal, have all those who know God, that they keep his commandments, that they depart from iniquity. So they have this seal in their foreheads that is recognizable by Satan the devil and these locusts.
They know who these people are. They were not given authority to kill them. So they are given authority to harm those who do not have the seal on their foreheads, but instead they have the mark of the beast. Or perhaps they are in other parts of the earth, like the Orient, where there's not much in the way of any European church influence.
And so while the beast power has control of much of what we understand as the world in those continents, there may be many, many others who are not yet under his influence when this begins to occur. So only those men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads, they were given authority to kill them, or not given authority to kill them, so they cannot take their lives, but to torment them for five months. So there is a time limit of five months or 150 days.
Now, the only other significant 150-day period in the Bible is that the waters covered the earth in the flood of Noah. The waters of the earth were on covering everything for 150 days. And then it says in Genesis that the waters begin to abate. And eventually the Ark, of course, went down on Mount Ararat. So that's the only other sort of connection. There may be a connection with this 150 days and that 150, but right now I really can't say because I really don't know. But there was a five-month period that's given to them. Their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it strikes a man.
And according to the sources I could find, the scorpion would cause a lot of swelling, a lot of pain, in some cases, you know, fever and chills and muscular pain around the body, but not death. So the scorpion would cause a person to be suffering for a long time, but not fatal.
Notice in verse 6, in those days men will seek death, but they will not find it, and they will desire to die, but will instead be kept alive. So we have people who are really suffering a lot. They are hurting and they want to die. I've really won this one little section out of Barnes' notes.
When the scorpion has stung, the place becomes inflamed and hardened. It reddens by attention. It is painful by intervals, being now chilly, long-burning. The pain soon rises high and rages, sometimes more, sometimes less. As sweating succeeds, attended by a shivering and trembling, the extremities of the body become cold. The places on the body swell, the hair stands on end, the skin feels throughout the sensation of perpetual pricking as if by needles. So all I can say is that it's one more reason not to move to Arizona, because there's lots of scorpions down there. So that along with, I think, the high winds and the heat, but there are people that like it, so hey, more power to them. But in verse 9, Chapter 9 and verse 6, this is just an interesting possibility. The torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it strikes a man. In those days, men will seek death and will not find it. It is possible that this might be a description of biological or chemical warfare, where some sort of sarin gas or something is scattered around, perhaps by some high-powered explosions, and it would have some sort of an effect on those similar to scorpions. It wouldn't kill them, but it would certainly cause those who were affected by it to be obviously a great deal of pain. So we don't know exactly what this is as far as the, you know, how it's going to occur. You know, if it's chemical, we don't know if it's some sort of something that comes down in the clouds. But this army is able to cause this to happen to all those on the earth who have the mark of the beast or do not have the mark of God.
Okay, verse 6, In those days men will seek death, they will not find it, they will desire to die, and death will flee from them. So the suffering must be great. Verse 7 says, The shape of the locust was like horses prepared to battle.
On their heads were crowns of something like gold, on their faces were like the faces of men, and they had hair like women's hair, and their teeth were like lions' teeth. So John is doing his best to describe 21st century war implements in his own 1st century Greek vocabulary. It could be he's talking about long, sleek aircraft and helicopters and missiles and rockets and various things going off. And of course, it has the sound of chariots with many horses running to battle. That would be a sound similar to the rotor blades on a helicopter, I suppose.
They had tails like scorpions, he says, and their stings were in their tails, and their power was to hurt men for five months. So he probably saw all sorts of things going off, weaponry being fired, and didn't know exactly how to be describing it. Their power was to hurt men then for five months, so there's a time limit on what they are going to be doing. They have breastplates like breastplates of iron, so obviously it could be a description of tanks or armored vehicles of some kind.
And of course, the sound of chariots we already mentioned about that. Then it says in verse 10, they have tails like scorpions, and of course, lasting for five months. That's the second time that is mentioned. So maybe John is describing the tail section of an airplane or the back of a helicopter or some sort of remote-controlled rockets. We just really don't know. But in chapter 11, they had as a king over them the angel of the bottomless pit.
That's the one who was given the key to open the bottomless pit, so we know it wasn't a righteous angel. The angel of the bottomless pit, whose name is in Hebrew, Abaddon, but in Greek he is called Apollyon. And that word simply means destroyer. So the man or the individual whose name is destroyer, he is the king over this army that ascends out of the bottomless pit. And there are a number of places in Revelation that show that the beast power is given his power and authority by Satan the devil.
Then it says, verse 12, One woe is passed, behold, still two more woes are coming after these things. So verse 12 is basically a parenthetical observation, but it is one that is important here because, okay, this is the end of the second woe. We have this coming of this being, this Apollyon or Abaddon, to be coming out of the bottomless pit and tormenting all of the earth that doesn't have the mark of the beast, or that has the mark of the beast, doesn't have the mark of God, until it's time for the second woe.
So the first woe has a time period of 150 days or five months. Now, verse 13, we begin the second woe, I'm sorry, the second woe, and it's also the sixth trumpet. So the sixth angel begins to sound, and we have this second woe then beginning in verse 13. So the sixth angel sounded, and notice we have, I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar, which is before God. This is one of about a dozen unidentified voices in the book of Revelation. Some of them are identified as from an angel or from one of the angels or from one of the beings. This is one of a number of places where simply he hears a voice coming from the altar, which are the four horns of the golden altar, which is before God.
Now, we mentioned last time that this golden altar, which in the Tabernacle built by Moses and Aaron, that back at that time was about 18 inches square, with kind of little horns on each corner to hold the incense burners that were there, and was also about 36 to 40 inches high and was in front of the opening to go into the Holy of Holies. So it was right in front of the curtain there that separated the holy place from the Holy of Holies.
And that little altar represented the burning incense, which was the prayers of God's people, all down through history, for which record is being kept. So this voice coming out of the altar is once again reminding God of all of the suffering of his followers all down through history. And their prayers, as they were suffering or as they were dying, that are kept in store and reminded of from that place. So here's a voice from the four horns of the golden altar, which is before God.
And this voice says to the sixth angel who had the trumpet. So it's time for this sixth angel to blow the voice from behind the altar. This could be the voice of God the Father, could be the voice of Jesus Christ. The word we really don't know, but it's a voice from there. And it has authority to tell the angel to blow the trumpet. So saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.
Now keep in mind that righteous angels are not bound. Any angel or demon being that is bound is going to be a demon. It's going to be a demon that was cast down to a place of charteroo or restraint. So these are not righteous angels who are being released. These are unrighteous. These are demons who had been cast down and restrained by God, and now they're going to be released.
Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates, which goes from modern-day Turkey all the way down through Iraq and then down to the Gulf of Aqaba waterway, but to the north of Israel, obviously, northern border of the Promised Land. Going back. So since the beast will establish his throne in Jerusalem at Daniel 11, it seems these nations that are to the north and to the east of him that really were not part of the beast power yet are thinking about perhaps coming down and trying to usurp his authority and take over him. Notice the four angels are bound at the great river Euphrates. So the four angels who had been prepared for the hour and the day and the month of the year were released to kill a third of mankind. And the number of the army of the horsemen was 200 million. And I heard the number of them. So at this point we are six, seven months before the end of the three and a half year period and before the time when Jesus Christ would be obviously going to return. So we have this army from the east and from the north that has been restrained. It's an army led by demons, but it has been restrained by God. And God says to this angel, it's time for him to be let loose. Now there are several other accounts of this. I want you to hold your place there. Let's go back to Jeremiah chapter 50. It's important that we understand the prophetic perspective of the Old Testament prophets who also saw in vision the same thing, or at least were given by God knowledge of this so they could write it down for us.
Jeremiah chapter 50 in verse 9 says, Behold, I will raise up and cause to come up against Babylon. So the armies of resurrected Babylon are in the Middle East. They have established their place in Jerusalem. And down in chapter 11 and verse 40 at the very beginning of the three and a half years, they've been there. The beast power has been basically on the scene for two and a half years. But his army hasn't been released until recently, five months before, to do whatever they're doing to either attack or to punish those who are not part of that system yet, those who refuse to become part of that one world government. So we have this army that is sent here against Babylon. It is raised up and sent. Notice it is an assembly of great nations from the north country.
They shall array themselves against her, and from there she shall be captured. Now this does not describe the Medio-Persian empire that took over Babylon. Essentially, that was, you know, southern and eastern provinces, areas to the south and the east, not to the north.
So we have this north country that's going to be arrayed. There she shall be captured, meaning Babylon shall be captured. Their arrows shall be like those of an expert warrior. Men shall return in vain, and Chaldea shall become a plunder. All who plunder her shall be satisfied. Because you were glad, because you rejoiced, you destroyers of my heritage, so those who were destroying God's people and those who were called by his name, because you have grown fat like a threshing heifer, you will bellow like bulls. So he mentions here this prophecy about this army being raised up of great nations from the north country to come at Babylon. Also, chapter 50, let's drop down, he mentions it once again in verse 41. Behold, a people shall come from the north, a great nation, and many kings. She shall be raised up from the ends of the earth. So this great nation, many nations, shall be conglomerated together from the ends of the earth. They shall hold the bull and the lance, they are cruel and shall not show mercy. Their voice shall roar like the sea, they shall ride on horses, set in a ray like a man for the battle, against you, O daughter of Babylon. So this is going to happen against the resurrection, the daughter of Babylon, when Babylon comes to the fro the second time. So we have, let's go over also to Daniel chapter 10. Daniel also mentions this event here that is prophesied in Revelation chapter 9. In Daniel chapter 10, I'm sorry, chapter 11, and I say 10, Daniel chapter 11 and verse 40, It says, This is at the beginning of the three and a half year period. This is the triplier event, you might say, that really is definitely, in the Bible terms, obvious and irrefutable. King of the South will attack the king of the north, and they shall come, the king of the north shall come at him like a whirlwind. He shall enter the glorious land, and many countries shall be overthrown. But these shall escape from his hem, Edom Moab, and the prominent people of Ammon. So modern day Jordan will not be occupied by these forces coming down like a whirlwind from Europe. He shall stretch out his hand against the countries, and the land of Egypt shall not escape. He shall have power over the treasures of gold and silver and over all precious things. So this beast power is again described as having great wealth and buying and selling and trading. And of course, there are people, those who are part of that, being made very prosperous or very wealthy. The Libyans and the Ethiopians shall follow at his heels. But notice news from the east and the north. We just read prophecies about armies being gathered from the east and the north coming at the daughter of Babylon.
Parallel account here, news from the east and the north shall trouble him. Therefore he shall go out with great fury to destroy and annihilate many. He shall plant the tents of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain.
Yet he shall come to his end, and no one will help him. So the beast is established in Jerusalem at that point. But when this abyss is open and this locust described army comes out, tidings out of the north and the east trouble him. So he puts his army together and goes out with great fury to attack this army of 200 million. And so we have this army of 200 million, a literal army composed primarily of the nations of the east who have been tormented for five months. And John uses the term horsemen to describe their troops and how fast they are moving.
One more reference I think I want to look at it is Joel 2. Joel 2. You probably remember this. We used to sing this song. One of my favorite songs in the hymnal. You know, Blow the Horn, Let Zion Hear. For some reason not in our hymnal. Sometimes I get to wanting to hear it on trumpets, so we make photocopies and pass them out. Go ahead and sing it on to say trumpets.
But Blow the Horn, Let Zion Hear comes from Joel 2. It says, Blow the trumpet in Zion, sound an alarm in my holy mountain. So the beast power is in the holy mountain, Zion. There is a warning going on in Zion, this trumpet, Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of the Lord is coming. For it is at hand, and they have darkness and gloominess.
So this cloud of locusts, all the, looks like locusts, this army, is accompanied by gloominess and darkness and clouds and thick darkness, like the morning clouds spread over the mountains. People are coming great and strong, the like of whom has never been. There's never been an army of 200 million before. Nor will there ever be any such after them, even for many successive generations. A fire devours before them, and flame behind them burns. The land is like the garden of Eden, before them, and behind them, like a desolate wilderness.
Surely nothing shall escape. Their appearance is like the appearance of horses. Again, horses used to describe them. They run like swift steeds, so they run. They make a noise like chariots. Same thing that John said. They sound like chariots. Over mountaintops they leap, like the noise of a flaming fire that devours the stubble. Like a strong people set in battle array. And so Joel chapter 2 also describes this same event with these weapons of war that are described in chapter 9. Now let's go back to chapter 9, and we'll come down to verse 17. Describing again this army. Thus I saw the horses in vision. Those who sat on them had breastplates of fiery red, hyacinth blue, and sulfur yellow.
So all sorts of colors that we understand are the colors of exploding dynamite and a fire, and perhaps the fire burning in jet engines or rocket engines. The heads of the horses were like the heads of lions, and out of their mouths came fire and spoke in brimstone. And so even some of these helicopters that are attack helicopters kind of look like the heads of lions in the front, or if not, then they get them painted that way.
Notice it says in this battle, this war between the beast and his army, and this 200 million man army coming from the north and from the east, it says, by these three, a third of mankind was killed. So earlier we had one fourth of mankind killed in the famine, in the death of the fourth horseman. So if we start with eight billion people, we're down to six. Now we have a third of those killed, that's two billion more, so now we're down to four. Essentially, half of mankind is dead when this woe is over.
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. So the fourth seal killed one quarter of mankind. In this case, one third are going to die. Now there is a parallel of that I think we need to pause and look at also. Let's move over to Ezekiel chapter 5. And Ezekiel, as you know, was a man who God told to do a whole bunch of pantomiming.
And did you ever count the pantomimes where he had to act out and do various things in Ezekiel? Nathan, did you ever count those? I think I counted 27. I mean, the guy was a real actor. He would have made, you know, all sort of academy awards. And I liked the one where he had to dig a hole in the wall and put a backpack on, and then go in and out, and in and out, and in and out of this hole in the wall with the backpack on.
So everybody would ask him what he's doing, and he'd say, well, I'm showing what it's going to be like when they destroy Jerusalem and people have to escape. So one of the pantomimes, though, one of the first ones he had to do was Ezekiel chapter 5. Verse 1 says, Son of man, take a sharp sword, take a barber's razor, and pass it over your head and beard. Take your beard, then, and weigh it in scales.
So he must have had more hair than, let's say, a few of us in the audience here, otherwise it wouldn't have been enough to burn, or to weigh, for that matter. Because the scales they had back then were a little bit different. Verse 2, You shall burn with fire one-third in the midst of the city. When the days of the siege are finished, you shall take one-third and strike it with a sword, and one-third you'll scatter to the wind, and I will draw out a sword after them. And so the principle here of Jerusalem being attacked and one-third being killed goes back to this prophecy or this pantomime that Ezekiel did in Ezekiel 5.
Now, whether or not that was a description of the coming destruction of Jerusalem or if it simply was a type of the entire earth, because it says one-third of all mankind is going to be punished, and we'll wait and see. But certainly the principle is there, and we have in chapter 9 unequivocally stated that by these three, the word plagues was inserted in the New King James, a third of mankind is killed by these armies.
So a huge destruction, a huge punishment. Verse 20, 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 in gold and brass and stone and wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk. So we have the rest of mankind, the six billion or so that are left, or the four billion, about one-half of mankind, whatever that number turns out to be, they refuse to repent. Even though during this time the two witnesses are telling them and announcing to them, this punishment is coming from God because you have not repented.
But they simply refuse. The rest of mankind who were not killed by these, they simply hardened their hearts. Notice they worship demons and idols of gold, silver, brass, and stone and wood, just like they today do that in all of the cycles of sun worship and all the idolatry around the earth. And people, of course, who just say they are atheists or not religious, and so most of their life then trying to gather more gold and silver and brass and stone, that also was a type of idolatry that they need to repent of.
Notice verse 21, they did not repent of their murderers or their sorceries. The word is farmaquia also means drug use or hallucinations by drugs, or their sexual immorality or their thefts. Certainly describes the trends of modern society. Murders on the rise, drug use, rampant. And, of course, Washington and Oregon are leading the pack in making that type of thing legalized, along with California.
Their sexual immorality, everywhere except that it's normal, the subject of modern-day entertainment, it is an abomination in God's eyes. Or their thefts. And we certainly have a lot of thefts going on, and certainly even by those who say they are governing us for our good. It shows the need for the seventh trumpet. If we talk about later, which we will, we'll talk about the seven trumpets, seven last plagues. The need for that seven last plagues is given to us there in that verse, that men refused to repent of all of their evils, their idolatries, their murders, their immorality, and their thefts.
I want to end the day over in Hebrews 12, because we need to understand something very important before we go any farther in the book of Revelation. You have heard very well the most well-known or most often quoted verse in the Bible is John 3 16, for God to love the world that He gave His only begotten Son.
I think we could change it a little bit and say God so loved the world that He's going to send the seven last plagues. Because without those plagues, without this punishment on the earth, they would not repent of their sorceries and their murders and their thefts and their morality. So the purpose of all of which we're going to be reading in the next few weeks is God's mercy for God to bring them to repentance.
In the Hebrews 12 and verse 1, we have a talk about the chastening of the Lord and not to despise it. We have, in this case, the author Paul, I believe it was, certainly, the one who's telling us, look, this happens in your life individually, and there's a lesson here that we cannot ignore. Chapter 12 and verse 1 of Hebrews, therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, meaning all of those icons of righteousness in chapter 11, what we call the Hebrews of faith, let us lay aside every weight in the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.
It's an endurance race. Sin can easily ensnare us. Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, looking unto Jesus Christ for help, looking unto God the Father to send us more of His Holy Spirit to endure to the end.
Who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls. We shouldn't become weary or discouraged because we have yet to endure anything to that level. You have not resisted the bloodshed that's striving against sin, and you have forgotten. Notice, He tells these people who earlier He said, you should be teachers, but you're not. You should be eating meat, but you're still drinking milk spiritually. So this church that had lost part of its way in back of the throne, you might say, old and lost their first love, says, You've forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as sons. My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord. The world will despise it. Revelation tells us very clearly that the men blasphemed God, and they refused to repent of all their evils. But we should be different. It says, He very plainly, Do not despise the chastening of the Lord, nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him. Whom the Lord loves, He chastens. And God still so loves the world.
And God understands far more than we do the need for chastening so that they will be able to be received. Because it says here, He scourges every son whom He receives. And that's our goal, to be one of those sons whom God receives. Verse 11 says, No chastening seems to be joyful for the present but painful. We could all identify with that. Nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. And all that we are reading about God dealing with mankind when He sets His hand so that the arrow or the day of the Lord can take over, it is because He wants us to be chastened for our sake and for His, so that He someday can have the peaceable fruit of righteousness in all the earth and with all people. And of course, we are leading the way in understanding that lesson. And someday after all of this is over and the world begins to recover when Jesus Christ has returned, we can hopefully share this lesson with all of them and say, you know, God had to do that because you didn't repent. But from now on, things are going to be different. So next time we will get into three inset chapters that contain a lot of very understandable things and some things that are more difficult to understand. That will be chapters 10, 11, and 12.
