July 30 Book of Revelation 5th and 6th Trumpets Chapter 9 Part 5

All right, good morning, good morning, and welcome to the All Things Fulfill broadcast. I'm William Bell, and in just a few minutes we are underway with our study for today. We're going to be concluding the fifth trumpet and beginning the sixth and moving forward from there. So let's see if we can get through the information this morning. Good morning to those who've joined us, Eric, Carol, and Gail, and I'm sure there will be others who will come in along the way. Now, in last week's session, we showed the connection between the locust scene and the martyrs, the sealing of the saints, and the millennium, just to kind of give some correlation between the events that were occurring there. I didn't take a lot of time to mention the last few verses that were in chapter 7 verses 15 through 17 that parallel Revelation chapter 21, but that is also a connection that needs to be seen when seeing how we're going all the way to the end and then recapitulating somewhat in the visions that are shown in the book of Revelation. Good morning to you, Robin. Today we're focusing on the last part of chapter 9, but we'll touch on some things that we've covered just for your reminder and reiteration of those points. We talked about the locusts, that they are figurative descriptions of an invading army, as seen in Joel, and we also have seen some of the engagement of the locusts in terms of the mentioned in Exodus chapter 10, but there are also other Old Testament books that speak of locusts as well. I believe that they represent the Zealots and the Herodians in the time of the siege on Jerusalem. I know some people believe that they are the Romans. We'll talk about the Romans shortly and where I believe that they come in. The latter, speaking of the Zealots, were defeated by the Zealots, that is of the Herodians, they were defeated by the Zealots who became the ruling party that wanted all-out war with Rome. And the Zealots were divided into three classes, as we've said, those under Eleazar, the leader of the first Zealot sedition, those under John of Giskella, and those under Simon, the leader of the Arameans. These men and their followers inflicted much harm on the city and to themselves. So, we're in chapter 9, in case someone is wondering where we are focused on. Now, when we look at the result of the attack, we can see the severity of that attack would cause men to seek death. And the verse is verse 6, where it So, this just speaks to how severe the conditions were during that siege against Jerusalem and during the time of the Zealots. And Josephus describes a lot of that when you look at some of the things that were occurring. So, let's notice in Wars 5.1.5 of Josephus' history, he says, And now, as the city was engaged in war on all sides, from these treacherous crowds of wicked men, the people of the city between them were like a great body torn in pieces. The aged men and the women were in such distress by their internal calamities that they wished for the Romans and earnestly hoped for an external war in order to their delivery from their domestical miseries. The citizens themselves were under a terrible consternation and fear, nor had they any opportunity of taking counsel and of changing their conduct, nor were there any hopes of coming to an agreement with their enemies, nor could such as had a mind to flee away. For guards were set in all places, and the heads of the robbers, although they were seditious one against another, and in other respects, yet they did agree in killing those that were for peace with the Romans or were suspected of an inclination to desert them as their common enemies. They agreed in nothing but this, to kill those that were innocent. The noise also of those that were fighting was incessant both by day and by night, but the lamentations of those that mourned exceeded the other, nor was there ever any occasion for them to leave off their lamentations, because their calamities came perpetually one upon another, although the deep consternation that they were in prevented their outward wailing, but being constrained by their fear to conceal their inward passions, they were inwardly tormented without daring to open their lips in groans, nor was any regard paid to those that were still alive by their relations, nor was there any care taken of burial for those that were dead. The occasion of both, which was this, that everyone despaired of himself, for those that were not among the seditious had no great desires of anything, as expecting for certain that they should very soon be destroyed, but for the seditious themselves they fought against each other while they trod upon the dead bodies as they lay heaped one upon another, and taking up a mad rage from those dead bodies that were under their feet became the fiercer thereupon." And again, that's Wars 5.1.5. So, you can see the great misery to which the Jews were reduced, much of this by their own hands, and pretty much for this time of the war, it was by their own hands, by the zealots factions that had risen up in sedition, preventing even the people who wanted to escape from escaping, and they were very leery of anyone who expressed any desire to go over to the Roman side, or to try to preserve their own lives, and not fall in line with them in terms of the sedition that was going on. Now, in verse 10 of Revelation, in speaking of these locusts, and as we said, I believe these locusts refer to that part of Israel, these zealots who were doing the primary destruction involved in Jerusalem's fall from the very beginning. We've talked about them in terms of how they're described, the shape of the locusts, verse 7, was like the horses prepared for battle, on their heads were crowns of something like gold, and their faces were like the faces of men. They had hair like women's hair and teeth, their teeth were the teeth are like lion's teeth, and they had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the sound of their wings was like the sound of chariots with many horses running into battle. And it also says they had tails like scorpions, and there were stings in their tails. Their power was to hurt men five months, so they were able to hurt from, you know, looking at the description of them, from both ends. They had mouth with teeth, and these hurt, and these were kind of like, you know, lions, if you please, who kill their prey with their mouths, but on the other hand, they had power in their tails as well, and this signified the points of attack and the method in which, you know, the city was destroyed in terms of what was taking place there. But it also says in verse 11, or in the latter part, excuse me, of verse 10, that they had, their power was to hurt men for five months. This means that the Jews who were instigating this war and the sedition against Rome were not permitted to bring their own nation to an end. It means that they were permitted to hurt and to torment all others except Christians, and we've talked about the fact that the believers were sealed for protection from this attack, and that they were only to hurt those men who did not have the seal of God in their foreheads. The meaning and significance of the five months found in verse 10, this was the literal time of locusts, and so it was the time from spring to summer, from May to September, according to Wallace's commentary, that's Ford Wallace Jr., on the book of Revelation. Arthur Ogden says that, in his book, which is the Avenging of the Apostles and Prophets, said that these human locusts would continue their development for the full duration of the term, and so this is the way they view the five months. Ken Gentry, in his book Before Jerusalem Fell on page 248, also states in his quote from F.F. Bruce, in his New Testament history, says, Titus began the siege of Jerusalem in April of 70. The defenders held out desperately for five months, but by the end of August, the temple area was occupied and the holy house burned down, and by the end of September, all resistance in the city had come to an end. And Josephus, by the way, also recorded the fact that locusts aided in the destruction, and he indicated that there were actually literal locusts that were involved during the time of the fall of Jerusalem as well. He says, there is also shown at the distance of six furlongs from the city a very large turpentine tree, and as the report goes, that this tree has continued ever since the creation of the world. Thence did Simon make his progress all over Edomia, and did not only ravage the cities and villages, but lay waste the whole country, for besides those that were completely armed, he had 40,000 men that followed him, insomuch that he had not provisions enough to suffice for a multitude. Now besides this want of provisions that he was in, he was of a barbarous disposition and bore great anger at this nation, by which means it came to pass that Edomia was greatly depopulated, and as one may see, all the woods behind the spoil of their leaves by locusts after they had been there. So was there nothing left behind Simon's army but a desert. Some places they burnt down, some they utterly demolished, and whatever grew in the country they either trotted down or fed upon it, and by their marches they made the ground that was cultivated harder and more intractable than that which was barren. In short, there was no sign remaining of those places that had been laid waste that they had had a being. So while they were fulfilling the figure of the locusts in terms of the vision in Revelation, there were literal locusts that were also eating up the vegetation and contributing to the destruction and the famine that was taking place. So maybe, you know, there was some type of correlation between that, that this happened during that time. Kind of amazing, you know, when you think about it from that perspective. Then in verse 11 it says, and they had a king over them, the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew is Abaddon, but in the Greek he has the name Apollyon. The angel of the bottomless pit, or the abyss, I believe, is Satan, who was personified in the persecutor that we see in Revelation chapter 12 verses 9 through 12, and also chapter 20 and verse 2. Reference was made in the earlier part of the book to the synagogue of Satan, or Satan's seat, in Revelation 2 9, and again in Revelation 2 and verse 13, and they also talked about the depths of Satan from which they speak, Revelation 2 and verse 24. When we look in Revelation 12 and verse 7, it says that war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought with the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought, and you see that indicated as well in terms of this end times battle. In Daniel chapter 7 and verse 21, when you had this war, and the little horn making war against the saints and prevailing against them until the ancient of days came, and a judgment was made in favor of the saints of the most high, and the time came for the saints to possess the kingdom. So during this time, you know, as we've already indicated, how starting back from chapter 6 and looking at the unfolding of these events that take us in chapter 7 all the way to the time of the end, which would be past the great white throne judgment of Revelation chapter 20, we can see how this would correlate and relate to Daniel chapter 7, when it says the court shall be seated, so there's your reference to the great white throne judgment, and they shall take away his dominion to consume and to destroy it forever, Daniel 7 and verse 26. Now of course, the dragon and his angels did not prevail against the church, and this correlates with the war that we see going on in Ephesians chapter 6 verses 11 and 12, where they did not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age. So that puts the war in perspective as it relates to time, because it was a war that was taking place in that age, and the church at Ephesus was involved in that, because they were one of the seven churches that are mentioned in the book of Revelation, and to whom the book was written. So we cannot take the events outside of that first century generation, and outside of that age, which was soon to come to an end at the fall of the temple. That's what Jesus was speaking about in Matthew chapter 24 and verse 3, when the question was asked of him, when will these things be, speaking of the stones of the temple being thrown down, what will be the sign of your presence, or your parousia, and of the end or consummation of the age? So it was not a question about the end of the world, and people who are trying to project these events into some future time, which they've been doing since the first century. Just about every generation thinks that the end is going to happen in their time, but it was an end that was slated and scheduled for that first century that was connected to the fall of the temple that was then existing in Jerusalem, and we should never lose sight of that. That's why Luke said in Luke chapter 21 verses 20 through 22, when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation is near. Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, let those who are in the midst of her depart, and let not those who in the country enter her, for these are the days of vengeance that all things which are written may be fulfilled. And he talked about the war in verse 24, that Jerusalem would be trodden down of the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled, but he also said all those things would take place before that generation passed away. These are the statements that people generally don't like, because they are so emphatic and so direct in terms of telling us when these events would occur. But as it relates to that, we can see again that these references to the Satan in the book of Revelation are references to the Jews and to those who were leaders of them. Paul relates or speaks of them in 2 Corinthians chapter 11 quite explicitly when he talks about the ministers of Satan, and then later on in the chapter he says that they were Hebrews, they were Israelites, and they were the seed of Abraham. So we should definitely see the correlation of them in the book of Revelation, and they were definitely the persecutors of the church, and yet the Bible says when the Satan was cast out that he was very wroth and knew that he had but a short time, and so he went to persecute the rest of the seed of the woman. Now as we continue on in the text, we also see the six angel sounds in verse 13. And by the way, I didn't mention very much about the meaning of the terms, but those terms Abaddon and or Abeddon, however that's pronounced, and Apollyon just mean destroyer, and so this was the work of the Satan during that time working through the Jews who were destroying, persecuting the Christians, but also they were self-inflicting punishment on themselves from the standpoint of destroying the city, and this they did. Now when the sixth angel sounds, and just prior to that it says, We have this release of the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates, and the miseries that were described in the previous verses from the sounding of the fifth trumpet were the miseries of war, but as I said, I don't think that part of the vision referred to the war with the Romans, but that which was involving the zealots. However, when we talk about the verses that follow, I believe this is where the Romans are involved. The conditions that we see in the earlier part were developed while the Romans were withdrawn from the war, and thus in a state of inactivity, so they weren't the ones who were initially inflicting this punishment, and those conditions continued with the Jews until Jerusalem was totally destroyed, and when the Romans returned to the war bringing their forces against Jerusalem, the miseries of the Jews were multiplied. They were then receiving punishments from both the Romans and their own countrymen, and this was the development of the wrath of God against Israel as it moved from Galilee to Judah and Jerusalem, and that ended in the fall of the nation. Now, I want to read some comments here from Arthur Ogden's book relative to that as we wind down to a close, and this is what he says regarding the sixth angel, and particularly relating to the river Euphrates. When the text says this, he says, the other side of the conflict of the great day of God Almighty, the other side of the conflict was the Roman Empire. With all of its might, the Roman army of 60,000 men that Vespasian marshaled and guided to victory in Galilee had been dispersed to assist him in claiming the throne of Rome. After Vespasian was settled in his position as emperor, he sent Titus back to Syria to gather a new army by which to subdue the Jews. Titus was commanded to destroy Jerusalem if necessary in order to accomplish his orders. He returned to a place near Caesarea where he assembled an army of 80,000 men for the final assault on Jerusalem. There are two things in the present text of significance. Orders for the loosing of the four angels came from the four horns of the golden altar. The golden altar is the altar upon which the incense was offered with the prayers of all the saints after which fire was taken from the altar of sacrifice and cast into the earth. We saw that in chapter eight, verses three through five. The voice that came from the altar shows a relationship to the martyred saints. It is symbolic of the fact that the prayers of martyred saints had been heard and that judgment upon their persecutors was about to take place. It may further symbolize, as God promised in Isaiah 3.14, the martyrs joining God in this judgment as they were permitted to call up the instruments of wrath by which their avenging was to be accomplished. The voice calls for the loosing of the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates. I want to stop here for just a moment and just point out the interesting correlation that he talks about the river Euphrates. This is, of course, the river where Babylon was built. As I've indicated several times that you see Israel being characterized as Mystery Babylon in the book, I think it's just a bit interesting that it's loosed from that particular area relating to Babylon. So that just may be a suggestion or suggestive, I should say, as it relates to that. But he says, and as I continue, as the four angels holding the four winds were symbolic of the fullness of God's storm to be loosed, so these four angels symbolize the fullness of the guard protecting the Euphrates. The river Euphrates was the eastern boundary of the Roman Empire and the only thing that separated from the hostile Parthians on the other side. The Parthians controlled all the territory of the east river, including all of the ancient countries of Assyria and Babylon to which the Israelites were carried captive centuries before. Many thousands of Israelites still lived in those countries. The Jews in Palestine were hoping an army from these countries would come and deliver them from the Romans. This Parthian threat dictated that the Romans kept a huge border guard at the Euphrates to protect the area against invasion. However, when Titus came to war against Jerusalem, he removed the border guards and took them with him to Jerusalem for battle. And so this is how the four winds were loosed and how at this great river Euphrates, they released these guards and these armies who were to come against Jerusalem. And that would be the Roman invasion. I'll read the end of the chapter just as a close for today's message, where beginning in verse 16, it says, now the number of the army of the horsemen was 200 million. I heard the number of them. We have people a day, you know, talking about, and they especially go to Revelation chapter nine, which is rather interesting. But they go here and they talk about black hawk helicopters. They talk about a 200 million man army that God is going to bring at some point and destroy whomever they deem their enemies are. It depends on who you're talking to in terms of who the enemies are, but they believe that this is something that is going to happen in our day and time. We've already pointed out the fact that this war was taking place in the end of the age. And that's, you know, documented even in some of the apocalyptic writings that we find outside of scripture, as well as in the Dead Sea Scrolls, you know, regarding this last day's war that was to take place between the sons of evil and the sons of God. But nevertheless, we should not extract or try to take the events of Revelation outside of the framework of the fall of mystery Babylon, which was Jerusalem and the fall of the temple. So he says, and thus I saw the horses in the visions. Those who sat on them had breastplates of fiery red, hyacinth blue, and sulfur yellow, and the heads of lions. And out of their mouths came fire, smoke, and brimstone. By these three plagues, a third of mankind was killed by the fire and the smoke and the brimstone, which came out of their mouths. For their power is in their mouth and in their tails. So here again, you can see where it speaks of them, where they had heads as lions. And then, yet at the same time, they had stings in their tails like the locusts. So it's kind of a combination of that in terms of destruction. And the Romans, when they destroyed the city, they came in initially from the beginning, you know, raising their engines against the walls, etc., and preparing those to be destroyed. And then, of course, at the end, they wound up, you know, finishing all the burning and the destruction of the people who were in the temple and destroying it. 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. But the rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, that they should not worship demons and idols of gold, silver, brass, stone, and wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk. And they did not repent of their murders, or their sorceries, or their sexual immorality, or their thefts. And that brings us to a conclusion on Revelation chapter 9. But as I said, this is where I see the Romans coming in, in the latter part of the chapter, that the zealots were a part who were destroying the city in the first part of the chapter. And that culminates in the fall of the temple, or at least leading up to that point. And yet, you can see that in the midst of all of this, and especially from some of the excerpts that I read from Josephus, where the people were in such dire straits, they still, as a whole, and the zealots for sure, did not repent of their sins. And this was this period of long-suffering that God had given them, so that they would not perish. And that's what Peter is alluding to in 2 Peter chapter 3, when he says that God was not willing that anyone should perish, but that all men should come to repentance. And so we should see a great message for us, that when God's grace and his goodness is extended to us, that we should be willing to serve him. And that when we fall under such judgments in life, or conditions that may lead us to change our ways, that we should be willing to do that and not be obstinate in those things from the perspective that we learn from these examples that we see in Scripture. Well, that's the message for this morning. I hope that you got something beneficial from it. We look forward to getting into chapter 10 on next week, so stay tuned for that. If you are disposed to, be sure and share the message with others. We will check out your comments. And how are you doing, Christopher? It's good to see you, Les and Don, Dale and Charles, or Chaz, excuse me. And who else is there? There's Thomas, Beatrice, and Ron, and of course, Robin. So I think we've spoken to all the rest, but again, greetings to all of you. May God bless you, and we'll see you again on next week for a continuation of the study in the book of Revelation.