THE BOOK OF REVELATION
~ The Revelation of Jesus Christ

Revelation Chapter 9

 

In Revelation 8:12-13, after the Fourth Trumpet had sounded, a flying angel announced the coming of Three Woes that would strike the earth. Revelation 9:1-12 describes the events of the First Woe as the Fifth Trumpet is blown. These events will take place right in the middle of the last week of the Seventy Weeks of Daniel's prophecy. But, in this vision the Beloved Apostle John was shown the source of the wrath that would come upon the earth. Remember, John recorded the things and events exactly as he had seen them in his series of visions. And only by the Spirit of Revelation can we understand the significance of this vision. John was shown some particular demonic activities of a certain fallen star. Even now, what were shown to John are progressively taking place, but the height of total fulfillment of this vision would be reached during the first 5 months of the middle of the 70th Week of Daniel's prophecy (Rev.9:5,10).

 

The Fifth Trumpet

Verse 1:  And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit.

Unlike the star that fell upon the waters of the earth, under the Third Trumpet (Rev.8:10), which points to the cosmic disturbances brought about by the ministries of the Two Witnesses, this star is an angelic being, who is none other than Lucifer who was given the key of the bottomless pit. Lucifer had aspired to be like the Most High God. He was an original creation of God, yet he was deceived. Who deceived him? No one but he himself did it (cf. 1 Cor.3:18; Gal.6:3). He was cast down from his estate and became the Adversary of God.

In his fall, Satan dragged a third of all angelic beings down with him. Since then there has been constant wars in heaven between the angels who stayed loyal to the Creator and those who followed Satan the Devil (Rev.12:7-9 cf. 12:4a). Those who followed Satan became outcasts. They were stripped of their rightful estates and their privilege of direct access to God's Throne. They could no longer gain access to the heavenly places of God as those who remained loyal to their Creator could. They became earthbound. They were but trouble-makers who abused the powers they possessed. They were the spiritual hosts of wickedness in high places (Eph.6:12). Sinking as low as they could sink, their very thoughts and actions were only evil continually. Hence, the word devil — do evil.

This fallen star was given a key just as the Morning Star, Jesus Christ, was also given a key (Isa.22:22; Rev.3:7). Satan was given the key – the authority or badge of power – to do what he had to do, and would do, with the Bottomless Pit. He was the god of this evil world. Read Ephesians 2:2 and 6:12. And Satan, being what he is, would always impersonate every move of God to try and deceive God's elect, if at all possible. Didn't he even try to deceive Jesus Christ into worshipping him? Read Matthew 4:8-9. [Note: Some preachers disputed that Satan was given any key, that he had any power of authority. They believed that the star of Revelation 9:1 was not Satan but rather a holy angel who, upon given the key of the bottomless pit, flew down so swiftly to earth that gave the Apostle John the impression of a star falling to earth.]

We understand from the Scriptures that God has ordained a Kingdom – Holy City, New Jerusalem – to be built for His Only Begotten Son (Rev.21:1-22:5). The builder of this very beautiful spiritual city is God Himself. This Kingdom of God has a sure foundation who is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ (1 Cor.3:11; Heb.11:8-10). The key was given to Christ (Isa.22:22; Matt.28:18; Rev.3:7). He has absolute power and authority. And the Apostle Peter was the first among the disciples of Christ to receive the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven (Matt.16:15-19). From the Day of Pentecost, Peter and the other apostles began to open the Kingdom of Heaven, bringing forth and displaying the precious Truth of God's Eternal Life, Divine Healings, Spiritual Gifts, and other wonderful gifts. They had the authority and the power to do those works. When Satan set forth to impersonate the work of God, he began by impersonating this very Kingdom of Heaven, even from the time man was cast out of the Garden of Eden. His demons would even impersonate the true servants of the Lord Jesus. But notice, he was given the key of the Bottomless Pit.

 

The Bottomless Pit

Contrary to some teachings, the Bottomless Pit is not Eternal Hell or the Eternal Lake of Fire. The words 'eternal' and 'hell'/'lake of fire' should not be equated with the words 'bottomless' and 'pit' respectively. A pit is a hole or an abyss. Every pit has a bottom. But here we see a Bottomless Pit, sometimes called the bottomless chasm or abyss. No, it is certainly not a hole that is dug deep down through the centre of the earth until it opens up on the other side. Also, no where on the earth is there such a pit that has a lid over it and padlocked. The pit, shown to John in this vision, speaks of a structure that is filthy, diabolical or fiendish. Having no bottom, it has no foundation. Any structure that has no foundation is utterly useless. Yes, it is worthless. Certainly, it would be futile for anyone, who is swept into this Bottomless Pit, to escape. In falling he would continue to fall and would find it impossible to get out of its trap.

Yes, Satan is building his unholy city, a religious impersonation of the real thing of God. As Lucifer, Satan was endowed with wisdom and knowledge (Ezek.28:12-15). But in conceiving his own seed of deceit – that he could be like the Most High – he became perverted (Isa.14:12-14). Satan now seeks to pervert the Truth of God. It is by his religious approach that he possesses the whole world. Having possession of the key of the Bottomless Pit, Satan has the power to counterfeit God's work by building himself an empire, a great religious structure that encompasses the whole world and deceiving all who look upon its so-called beauty. That unholy city is called MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH (Gen.11:4; Rev.17:4-5). And as John (who types the Beloved Bride of Christ) was shown the vision of the demonic forces of the Bottomless Pit, the True Church of God is given the revelation on how Satan and his spirits are working to accomplish Satan's plan. These demonic spirits are fallen angels that deceive the masses by religious flatteries. They chain the people and cause them to wear garments of God's Word mixed with men's. Their ultimate intention is to cause total destruction of the people.

Verse 2:  And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit.

With the authority given to him, Satan began to exercise his power. When he unlocked the Bottomless Pit he was able to display his power and his works. He began to build his empire – a great city, a great church – which has no foundation. As the key turned and the filthy system was opened, a great smoke came forth from the pit of hell like smoke which puffed out of a great furnace. It was so dense that the sun was obscured and the air was polluted.

What a great move! Satan counterfeited the very great cloud, or smoke, of the glory of God which God had often manifested to the children of Israel (Exod.16:10; 19:18; Num.9:15-16; 2 Chron.5:13; Isa.4:5). The Pillar of Cloud or Smoke shows the Presence of God. It is a covering for the children of God (Psm.105:39). With God's Glory Cloud came the Pentecostal Fire as was seen on the Day of Pentecost in the Book of the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 1:9-11; 2:1-4). (There is no smoke without fire, as the saying goes.) The Fire gives light to every true believer of the Living God in this world of darkness even as it cleanses them. However, this great smoke of the Bottomless Pit was not accompanied by any fire. There was no light. Notice, God's Glory Cloud (or Holy Smoke) came from above, Satan's unholy smoke came from below. But from afar, it might be difficult to tell them apart. Something as big as this  would certainly catch the attention of the onlookers just as God did with His Great Cloud.

The vision certainly does not speak of a literal smoke but a spiritual one. Yes, there are teachings which expound that this smoke and the locusts, with stings of scorpions in their tails (in verses 3 to 10), would literally come out of hell (a pit in the earth?) during the Great Tribulation and fill the whole earth, choking and inflicting sufferings upon the people.

Throughout the ages, Satan has always tried to outdo God. He is always devising a bigger and more attractive system than God's. He builds more attractive religious places of worship, makes more colorful clothes for his religious prophets and teachers, and creates many more alluring religious things to please the masses. Hence, the towering smoke of the Bottomless Pit speaks of false glory, a pretension that God is there in the system. But do the religious people understand what they are looking at? Do they know what they are really worshipping? Unfortunately the majority of them do not. Like the Samaritan woman whom Jesus conversed with at the well, they too do not know what they are worshipping (Jhn.4:20-24). Like the children of Israel in their exodus from Egypt, they too are so easily deceived into worshipping a false god (Exod.32:1-10). Sadly, because of the ignorance of the people, Satan is being worshipped in many churches today.

Man, by nature, is religious because Adam was created in the image of God. Man has the innate urge to worship His Creator. However, because of sin, man is corrupted in many ways. He is no longer spiritual. His approach to God is greatly affected by his sinful nature, as described in 2 Timothy 3:2-5 — “lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God, having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof”. With a personality tainted by corruption, man tends to worship God only on his own selfish terms. And Satan, knowing this weakness in man since the Fall, has been using it to his advantage to build his religious kingdom. Taking advantage of that weakness, Satan has created a system of traditional religions with great physical beauty and great intellectual display. He sprinkles it with just a little of God's Word to make it look godly and holy so he could please the religious emotion of men and women. It was enough for Satan to deceive countless souls with false hopes of salvation thereby leading them into his Bottomless Pit. Once a man falls into it, he is trapped. It is hard for him to get out; he will just keep falling, falling, and falling. And the deeper he falls, the harder it is for him to get out of that fiendish pit.

This so-called 'presence of God', the smoke of the Bottomless Pit created by Satan, has literally taken the religious world by storm in this 20th Century. As soon as God had poured out His Spirit to revive His Church, Satan began to counterfeit those gifts of the Holy Spirit. Through the intellect of Satan's servants, the gifts of God are blatantly impersonated. The impersonations are so real that in almost every church gathering those gifts are much sought after by the people. Today, we see a so-called 'great revival' in many churches. Proclamations such as “the glory of God is here”, “we feel the presence of the Lord here”, and such likes are often heard among the worshippers just because they spoke in tongues, prophesied, or felt some sensations. They tend to believe that such manifestations are the results of the baptism, or the filling, or the gift, of the Holy Spirit.

Unfortunately, what we see is hardly the real genuine Baptism of the Holy Spirit. One question we should always bear in mind is: “What is the Holy Spirit given for?”  The answer could not be: “That we may speak in tongues, prophesy, have certain gifts, or just to feel good.”  The obvious answer is found in John 14:26 — “the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, HE SHALL TEACH YOU ALL THINGS, AND BRING ALL THINGS TO YOUR REMEMBRANCE, WHATSOEVER I HAVE SAID UNTO YOU.”  Amen! That's the purpose of the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Truly, all true born-again Bible believers are sealed unto the day of redemption by the Holy Spirit. Yet, many who claim to have the Holy Spirit have never felt led to be taught by the Spirit at all. Isn't the Holy Spirit given to guide us into all things that are Christ's and to glorify Christ? Read John 16:12-15.

Truly, by their fruits – the heart confessions of their faith – ye shall know them. A confession against the Word of God would come to light in that day of judgement. Jesus said: “A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things. But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned” (Matt.12:35-37 cf. Lk.6:43-46). “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity” (Matt.7:21-23).

Those words of our Lord should cause many Gospel ministers and miracle workers to seriously examine what they are doing. There are a great many 'Gospel Ministers' who are doing God a service without it being the Will of God. Many may claim that “God has called me” but the fruits of their mouth bear witness to the fact that their faith is not anchored in the Will of God. And the Will of God is found in the Word of God. Any faith that is contrary to the Word is not in the Will of our Heavenly Father. It is one thing for us to know Jesus Christ, but it is another for Jesus Christ to know us. One may confess that he knows Jesus yet does not do His Will. Hence, any great work done for God would be done in vain. It is important that Jesus Christ knows us intimately just like Abraham and Isaac knew their wives who were completely submissive to their husbands.

As the Apostle John viewed the vision, the great smoke got bigger and bigger until it blocked out the sun, and congested and polluted the air. Light as well as air are needed for all living things. If the sun is darkened and the air is polluted, natural life is threatened. Spiritually, this phenomenon speaks of Satan's move to darken the Glory of the Son of God and the Life of the Spirit in the realm of Christian Worship and Faith. As Satan fans his smoke and increases his counterfeit 'presence of God' in many churches today, including the Endtime Message churches, he is actually keeping the worshippers from seeing and glorifying the True Son of the Living God. With their eyes irritated by the smoke, the worshippers are getting a different revelation of the Lord God.

You may say: “O, aren't the people worshipping Jesus in the churches?” My question is: “Are they really worshipping the Christ of the Bible?”

Like the Samaritan woman at the well, like the Pharisees, like the Sadducees, and like the Scribes, they may claim they are believing the Word and are worshipping the God of the Bible. However, ninety-nine out of a hundred of them just do not know whom they are worshipping. Satan's counterfeit of the real “Holy Ghost” Gospel and revival has darkened the Light of God's Truth in their gatherings. Its smoke has smarted and blurred the eyes of the worshippers so much so that it has blinded them from seeing the Glorified Son of God. What else could the worshippers do but to blindly follow their blind leaders in the thick dark smoke of false glory, only to fall into the ditch (Matt.15:14). The air – atmosphere – of worship is simply thickened with shouts and cries of “amen”, “hallelujah” and “praise the Lord” to every strange teaching and manifestation. The Roman Catholics and all her “separated” brethren – the Lutherans, the Baptists, the Methodists, the Presbyterians, the Charismatics, and many others – have their respective shouts as they congregate together; the Jehovah Witnesses and the Mormons have their own strange declarations of faith; and not the least, the Branhamites have their quotes of 'The Spoken Word' books and tapes, crying, “The prophet said this…” and “The prophet said that…”  Not knowing that their lives, their souls, are being choked with pollutants of misleading doctrines and false teachings of self-righteous men and are in danger of death, the worshippers continue on like zombies in their worships. Truly, a strong delusion has come upon many assemblies of worshippers — “For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness” (2 Thess.2:7-12).

Verse 3:  And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power.
Verse 4:  And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads.
Verse 5:  And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months: and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man.
Verse 6:  And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them.

As Satan continues to smoke the churches with his bogus 'presence of God', his demonic spirits are working within that religious atmosphere. It is by these means that he is able to cause such a great deception among Christians. As God sends forth His heavenly angels to minister to His earthly servants, Satan also sends forth his hellish demons to minister to his own.

Satan's ministers are wolves in sheep's clothing — in every way they look like real spiritual Christians with good characters, humble, meek and caring. When they open their mouths to confess their faith, only then could a Bible believer know who they are.

These demonic angels were depicted as locusts in John's vision to show the frenzy and destructive nature of their ministries. We know that pests, such as caterpillars, palmerworms, cankerworms and locusts eat the greens of the fields. But the locusts do not just eat the greens, they are 'strippers of life' of the greens. And they do it bit by bit. When they gather in large groups, they tend to swarm from place to place. Farmers are completely helpless if a swarm of locusts comes upon their field of growing crops. The growing crops would just die at the mouths of the locusts. Within minutes, the field would be in ruins. That is exactly what these locusts (demons) from the smoke of the bottomless pit are doing. Taking advantage of human weakness, they prey on the minds of the intellectual, theological, seminary-trained ministers, who hold a string of degrees, and also those foolish self-styled ministers of God, who go about parroting the words and sayings of true men of God without any revelation of what they meant. These demons would agitate the ego of the puffed-up ministers and exert their influence over them. These men, in turn, would gradually sap the strength and life of the worshippers who congregate with them to listen to their teachings. Is this not the same situation for which our Lord Jesus had reproved the Scribes and the Pharisees? — “Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying, This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men” (Matt.15:7-9). “Woe unto you, lawyers [experts in the law of Moses]! for ye have taken away the key of knowledge: ye entered not in yourselves, and them that were entering in ye hindered” (Lk.11:52).

Oh, my! It happened even in Jesus' time. And since the beginning of the Church Age many false apostles have appeared with their false teachings (Rev.2:2). That same spirit of hypocrisy is also right here in our time. Believe this, my friend: if you do not come out of the organized religious system of “Mystery, Babylon the Great, The Mother of Harlots and Abominations of the Earth” now, you will be destroyed soon (Eph.5:5-17; Matt.22:11-14). If you have enough 'sheep sense' in your head, come out of her immediately and stop those nonsensical beliefs of saying what your denomination says, what your church says, what your pastor says, what your priest says, what your prophet says, or what your apostle says. They are not the Absolute Authority, the Word of God is! Oh yes, all their words may sound good and authoritative but the things of God are spiritually discerned (1 Cor.2:14). Their words cause death for they do not speak the truth. But the Spirit of the Logos gives life. Come right into the Light (Sun) and Life (Air) of the Living Spirit of Christ, the Word of God, and breathe the Life of the Spirit and receive His eternal life. Pray “that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him” (Eph.1:17). God is alive! Amen.

Normally, locusts do not have power to torment any living creature. However, these hellish locusts were given the power like that of the scorpions whose poisonous stings could cause excruciating pain in the body of man as well as numbness, dullness, confusion and delusion in his mind. “And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and their power was to hurt men five months” (Rev.9:10).

Demons love to play “follow the leader” game. When Satan fell from his heavenly estate, he made a third of the angelic beings to “follow his tail”. He is like “the prophet that teacheth lies, he is the tail” (Isa.9:15). Now, these fallen angels are as perverted as Satan Himself. They, too, are causing “Christians” to hold to their tails as they work through so-called servants of God. These “Christians” are so numbed by the stings of the locust spirits that their spiritual sense, if there are any left at all, have become confused, dull and delirious to recognize the Truth of the Word of God. They would simply ignore their bondage to the locust spirits and their torment in the hellish smoky system even when God's Truth is made known to them. In their delusion they are made to believe a lie. Yes, they are like the religious Pharisees, Sadducees and Scribes who, under the influence of the fallen spirits, were holding to, and teaching for doctrines, the traditions of men. How people can sometimes become so stupid and foolish! Without the Holy Spirit, they would just simply remain religious.

When hell is totally opened up in the middle of Daniel's 70th Week, all those locust spirits, which are manifesting themselves now, will really run wild on earth. That would be the First Woe. Like the Beast which carries the Great Whore, and later turns upon her (Rev.17-18), the locust spirits will readily and eventually torment the souls of all who do not have the Seal of God in their foreheads. These people would be so tormented and hurt that they would want to die. Yet, no matter what they would do to seek death, death will flee from them. In other words, they could not even find the courage to commit suicide. It would not be there in their spirit. Hence, their souls would have to bear the torment of the scorpion stings of the hellish locust spirits for five months. Yes, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matt.22:11-14).

Notice that “it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads”. This very statement verifies that the locusts in this vision are not natural locusts. Natural locusts eat and devour the green of the earth. Read Exodus 10:13-15. However, some may argue that these locusts with stings of scorpions are literal and that they are created by God to torment those who reject His Gospel. Friends, the Bible tells me that after God had finished all His creations He ceased from His works (Gen.2:1-2; Heb.4:10). These creatures which John saw were demons engaged in demonic activities upon the earth.

What then does the “green” here, such as grass and tree, refer to? The elect, of course! These are the green that the locust spirits cannot hurt nor touch. They are the green of the earth for they are planted by the rivers of the Living Waters of God's Word and Spirit (Psm.1:3; 23:2; 52:8; Hos.14:8). They have the Holy Spirit of Life! Amen. Satan's angels cannot hurt those who have the Seal of God in their foreheads. And in that first five months of the beginning of the Great Tribulation, when the First Woe is brought upon the earth, the locust spirits would also not be able to hurt those who are sealed under the ministries of the Two Witnesses, and the Foolish Virgins. They would only be able to hurt those men and women who do not have the Seal of God in their foreheads.

Verse 7:  And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle; and on their heads were as it were crowns like gold, and their faces were as the faces of men.
Verse 8:  And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as the teeth of lions.
Verse 9:  And they had breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron; and the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle.
Verse 10:  And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and their power was to hurt men five months.

There were no such locusts on earth and never will there be any.  Knowing this to be so, some prophetic teachers point the descriptions in the passage to some sort of literal war machines such as tanks and aircraft. This interpretation is supported by Revelation 9:17-19. Those are indeed military weapons of wars.

The shapes of the locusts from the Bottomless Pit as seen in the vision symbolize several things. Firstly, they were likened “unto horses prepared unto battle” which conveys the idea that the demons were sent forth to battle another principality – that of Christ Jesus – to destroy it (cf. Rev.19:11-16). “And the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle” depicts the swiftness of their attack in the battle. They are spiritual war machines, so to speak. Remember that these satanic spirits work in both realms. The Scriptures clearly tell us that there will always be spiritual warfares, in Heaven and on Earth (Rev.12:7; Matt.11:12) as long as God has not brought in the last elect into His Kingdom. So, “put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints” (Eph.6:11-18).

Next, “on their heads were as it were crowns like gold and their faces were as the faces of men” depicts the false glory placed upon intellectual men whom the locust spirits use to build Satan's 'Church of God'. Just look at “Christianity” today, and you will see the BIG beautiful buildings, BIG programmes, and BIG everything. Then look at its leaders, and you will never fail to see the “holier than thou” image they have created for themselves. They are graduates of some prestigious seminaries, crowned with square hats and conferred strings of golden degrees which give them the rights to use various titles to their names. They are angels of light, aren't they? Look at their faces. Are they not faces of intellectual men, very much like the Pharisees, Sadducees and Scribes? They are nothing but hypocrites and wolves in sheep's clothing! Do they not have certain traditions in their religious stance that you just cannot fail to notice them as 'Reverend', 'Right Reverend', 'Very Reverend', 'Cardinal', 'Monsignor', 'Archbishop', 'Doctor', or many other suchlike fanciful titles, which are conferred upon them each time they completed some seminarial studies (Matt.23:1-7)? Even Isaiah spoke of them in chapter 65 and verse 5: “Which say, Stand by thyself, come not near to me; for I am holier than thou.”  But “these are a smoke in my nose, a fire that burneth all the day” saith the Lord. Now, was Christ known by such a stance? Not at all. He was just too ordinary to attract any notice (Isa.53:2-3). He did not come from any recognized ecclesiastical order of the day. “He could only be Baalzebub”, so they thought of Him, and called Him so. The same is true of Christ's disciples and the prophets of old. If they were here in our days, without 'Th.D.', 'D.D.', and other letters to their names, do you think that they will be accepted by the BIG mainstream religious Christian orders? Certainly not! O my, how time has changed people and religions!

In the first half of 1st Corinthians chapter 11, the Apostle Paul expounds the subject of headship and its glory. In verse 15, he says that “if a woman has long hair, it is a glory to her: for her hair is given her for a covering”. The long hair on the woman's head indicates the headship over her. It shows her submission to the authority over her and which covers her. Now, we know that the woman is a type of the Church that has been espoused to Christ (2 Cor.11:2), and Christ, the Man, is the Head of the Church, the Woman. Her glory is, therefore, Christ, the Word of God. The Church is crowned with the glory of the Word. Hence, if shame is heaped upon a believing woman for dishonoring her headship by cutting off (or trimming) her hair which is her covering, what consequences will the Church face if she cuts off (or removes) the glorious covering of God's Holy Word, which has been given to her, and substitutes It with some man-made creeds and dogmas? Undoubtedly she will face dire consequences. Obviously Satan had put to use whatever knowledge he had acquired. He simply made his locust spirits appear as if “they had hair as the hair of women” to impersonate the crowning glory of the Word of God. My, my! Make-believers, false teachers, false Christianity – all very religious – looking just like the real things! Yes, they are very attractive and seductive! But “their teeth were as the teeth of lions”! Oh, what powerful teeth they had! The better to kill, of course. Like roaring lions, they walk about, seeking whom they may devour (cf. 1 Pet.5:8; Ezek.22:25; Joel 1:6,7). That's right. For five months they will torment those without the seal of God in their foreheads before they seize their souls in death.

In order to withstand the attack of the enemy, the Bible believers are told by the Apostle Paul to put on the whole armour of God (Eph.6:10-18). The breastplate of righteousness, faith and love, (1 Thess.5:8) is a part of the whole armour. It protects that part of the spiritual body which holds our faith, love and righteousness in the Lord's Promised Word. Satan's demons also “had breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron”. But they were breastplates of might and standing in a BIG system. Look at Goliath of the Philistines who came to challenge the army of Israel to a duel. He was a BIG man and he had trust in the authority of the leaders of the BIG nation of the Philistines, and in the iron suit of armour that was specially designed and made for him. Big is Might. Iron is Strength. Together they symbolize Indestructibility. Especially with his breastplate of iron covering his chest to protect his heart, Goliath believed that no one could kill him. Ha! But all that faith was only inside his skull — the place of human intellect. (Wasn't the “skull” the place where they crucified Jesus Christ (Jhn.19:17-18)? Weren't there many seminary educated men who had crucified the Word of God in their intellectual skulls throughout the past history of the Church?) David had full knowledge of that when he confronted Goliath in the Name of the Lord. And with just one stone of faith properly placed, he put an end to that intellectual, egoistic and carnal adversary of God. Amen!

 

Abaddon — Apollyon

Verse 11:  And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon.

This verse needs no interpretation. It is obvious that every army has a leader or a king. The king of the locust spirits is none other than Satan, the Adversary of God. His name in the Hebrew tongue, Abaddon, tells us that he is a destroying angel, and in the Greek tongue, he is Apollyon, a destroyer who destroys utterly. Yes, Satan, a liar and a murderer from the beginning, seeks only to steal and to kill (Jhn.10:10; 8:44; Rev.11:7).

Verse 12:  One woe is past; and, behold, there come two woes more hereafter.

The Second and Third Woes actually follow right after the First Woe  but are only described in Revelation 11:7-14 and 12:7-17 respectively. In brief: the First Woe is when hell breaks loose completely with demons tormenting mankind; the Second Woe is when Satan kills the Two Witnesses, silencing the Word of God; and the Third Woe is when Satan is incarnate in the Man of Sin. Remember, all these Three Woes happen right in the middle of the 70th Week of Daniel. It will be the beginning of the Great Tribulation, a time when the dark forces of Hell break loose upon the world.

 

The Sixth Trumpet

Verse 13:  And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God,
Verse 14:  Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates.
Verse 15:  And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men.

Recall the vision that John saw of four angels standing on the four corners of the earth in Revelation 7:1. They are not chained to that area but rather they are held there in the River Euphrates by the Word of the Lord to hold back the four winds of the world so that the world would not enter into Armageddon until the 144,000 Jewish servants of the Lord are sealed. The River Euphrates symbolizes the chastisement of Israel and the shield or rampart that stands between nations. It is some time after the middle of the 70th Week of Daniel that this Sixth Trumpet is blown which means that the 144,000 Jewish servants of the Lord would have been sealed by the Lord and the Two Witnesses would have been killed by the Antichrist (which is the Second Woe). These four angels are told to let loose the four forces – political, religious, economic and military – so that they would bring about Armageddon, “which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year”, according to the time that God had appointed. The demonic spirits that are let loose upon the world to torment mankind would now begin to stir up the different nations, especially the powerful communistic nations of the Far East and the Beast system of the United European nations which is ridden by the Pope. (Later on in Revelation chapter 16 John saw another vision pertaining to this tempest that would bring an inevitable war that will end all wars before the Lord Jesus comes to reign over the earth.)

The demons will have their heyday as the four angels let loose the four forces at the sounding of the Sixth Trumpet. They will stir up the spirit of mankind to kill and destroy themselves by bringing the nations to Armageddon. War has always been fought since the Fall of Mankind in the Garden of Eden. It has always been fought on religious ground. It is one of Satan's ploys to destroy mankind. John's description of these happenings may appear similar to those at the sounding of the Fifth Trumpet. But a closer examination (of the Sixth Trumpet) will reveal that the things he saw, though demonic in appearance, are actually military. Remember, this will be the last move of Satan and his horde before they are seized by Christ at His Glorious Appearing and bound for a thousand years.

Verse 16:  And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them.

The armies of soldiers that will be geared up for the Battle of Armageddon are 200,000,000. That is the number that John heard in his vision. Centuries ago, the number of fighting men of this magnitude was unimaginable but with today's world population of 6 billions, the nation of China alone has that number of soldiers.

Verse 17:  And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone: and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone.
Verse 18:  By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths.
Verse 19:  For their power is in their mouth, and in their tails: for their tails were like unto serpents, and had heads, and with them they do hurt.

Deployed with the armies of soldiers, specially clothed and protected, will be “horses” — war machines such as tanks, artilleries, amphibians, missiles, etc. These war machines look like “lions” as they “roar” and spit fire, sulphur and smoke out of their mouths. Swinging turrets on some war machines such as aircraft and tanks are powerful “tails”. Guided missiles are like “serpents” gliding (snaking) to their victims. They pack powerful war-“heads” which “hurt” to kill. These “demonic” machines will hurt and kill a third of mankind.

Verse 20:  And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk:
Verse 21:  Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts.

Remember that God's Spirit will no longer draw men to Himself in that day of the Great Tribulation. The Gospel of Grace and Mercy would almost be finished with the Jews as Christ gets ready to come and fight the nations. There is nothing left for the wicked. Even after the calamity of Armageddon men who are filthy will continue in their filthiness; those who are unrighteous will continue in their unrighteousness; those who are unholy will continue in their unholiness; and similarly the rest of the people will live according to their own sinful lifestyles — stealing, fornicating, killing, practise sorceries, idol worshipping, etc. Man will even eat man in that day. They will not repent because they cannot repent. They will continue in their demonic delusion. The world will be in a chaotic condition. May God help us to be watchful and prayerful that we may not be caught in Satan's web of deception.

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Revelation Chapter 10

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