Revelation Session 3 Chapters 8, 9, 10
The book of Joshua and Revelation
– establishes the Kingdom,
– Great battles
– 7 Trumpet sounds
– period of silence
– final trumpet establishes the Kingdom
there are many reflections of Revelation in the book of Joshua that is part of why I had us study it. Last week we talked about Kings in caves.
So we begin
8:1, 2 When He opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. 2 And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and to them were given seven trumpets..
As the nation of Israel began to take back the land of Canaan, they march around silently and then at the appropriate time the blast came. That was the beginning of the taking of the land a prelude if you will of what the Lord was going to do to conquer all of the land.
The trumpets are merely a prelude to what the Lord is going to do on the earth.
8:3-6
Then another angel, having a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. 4 And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, ascended before God from the angel’s hand. 5 Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and threw it to the earth. And there were noises, thunderings, lightnings, and an earthquake.
6 So the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound.
The incense always represents prayers and in this case it is the prayers of the saints especially the martyrs. In the temple and tabernacle the golden altar just out side of the holy of holies. There are two altars the first one you would encounter would be the brazen altar where the sacrifices were made and then altar of incense which was where the incense was burned day and night. It had to be tended 3 times/day.
The prayers are the prayers of the martyrs from the 5th seal that they would be avenged. The incensed being tossed to earth caused all the thundering, lightening and earthquakes to prepare for the trumpets sounding.
The trumpets are really just warnings of what is to come, they were bad but really a preamble of what was going to come.
8:6,7 Then the seven angels with the seven trumpets prepared to blow their mighty blasts. 7 The first angel blew his trumpet, and hail and fire mixed with blood were thrown down on the earth. One-third of the earth was set on fire, one-third of the trees were burned, and all the green grass was burned.
Vegetation is devastated not just a normal hail storm…this is real hail, real fire because 1/3 of all is burned up.
8:8,9 Then the second angel blew his trumpet, and a great mountain of fire was thrown into the sea. One-third of the water in the sea became blood, 9 one-third of all things living in the sea died, and one-third of all the ships on the sea were destroyed.
Most translation follow the Greek more closely, this should read “something like” or “something as” a great mountain. It had the appearance of a great mountain of fire (a very large meteor or something similar) there are approximately 30,000 ships in the world so 10,000 ships and a third of all the sea creatures are dead
8: 10,11 Then the third angel sounded: And a great star fell from heaven, burning like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water. 11 The name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters became wormwood, and many men died from the water, because it was made bitter.
The word star can mean a star like we understand it but it is also translated in scripture as an angel. Many scholars believe this to be a fallen angel and they also believe specifically that this is Satan. Isaiah 14, Ezekiel 28 we understand the origin and career of Satan. We know from the book of Job that because of his position he had access to the throne room and this very. There are about 100 principle rivers in the world 30 of them are in the United States.
Revelation session 3
8:10,11
Then the third angel blew his trumpet, and a great star fell from the sky, burning like a torch. It fell on one-third of the rivers and on the springs of water. 11 The name of the star was Bitterness. It made one-third of the water bitter, and many people died from drinking the bitter water.
Satan was fallen long before this, we don’t know when he actually fell but this, if this is Satan is showing us his access to heaven , he is there accusing usthat we see in Job has been taken from him.
However because of the type of destruction It has it could simply be another type of meteor. We will definitely see Satan later
4th angel – 8:12
Then the fourth angel blew his trumpet, and one-third of the sun was struck, and one-third of the moon, and one-third of the stars, and they became dark. And one-third of the day was dark, and also one-third of the night.
Something cosmic is going on here it is some kind of actual cosmic event that will blot out light. Some kind of intense cloud cover. We are seeing that with the fires on the west coast, we have seen it with volcanic eruptions but unlike those events which are mainly geographically limited, this will cover the earth
8:13 some translations have this as an angel but this is the actual translation an
eagle. Then I looked, and I heard a single eagle crying loudly as it flew through the air, “Terror, terror, terror to all who belong to this world because of what will happen when the last three angels blow their trumpets.”
The Eagle announces that what is coming up next is far worse than what has happened already. The three “Woes,” or terrors mentioned here are given because there are three more trumpets to blast.
9:1 Then the fifth angel blew his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen to earth from the sky, and he was given the key to the shaft of the bottomless pit.
Here we see the word star which should be translated angel again. This angel falls from the sky and “he” is given the key to the bottomless pit. He doesn’t have it but is given that authority.
When he opened it, smoke poured out as though from a huge furnace, and the sunlight and air turned dark from the smoke.
He then opens it and smoke fills the sky. It is worse than before as everything is dark.
Then locusts came from the smoke and descended on the earth, and they were given power to sting like scorpions. 4 They were told not to harm the grass or plants or trees, but only the people who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads. 5 They were told not to kill them but to torture them for five months with pain like the pain of a scorpion sting. In those days people will seek death but will not find it. They will long to die, but death will flee from them!
The locust are released, they have no power until God gives it to them to serve his purpose. Normal locust would strip the land bear but these are given a different task, they are to torment all of those without Gods seal on hem for 5 months. They will seek to die but God holds the power of death in His hands so they will not be able die during this time.
The locusts looked like horses prepared for battle. They had what looked like gold crowns on their heads, and their faces looked like human faces. 8 They had hair like women’s hair and teeth like the teeth of a lion. 9 They wore armor made of iron, and their wings roared like an army of chariots rushing into battle. 10 They had tails that stung like scorpions, and for five months they had the power to torment people. Their king is the angel from the bottomless pit; his name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek, Apollyon—the Destroyer.
Look at all the similes here. Looked as if they had crowns, as if they were men’s faces as if it was women’s hair, breast plates as if they were iron. This is the best description John could give. Didn’t have men’s faces, women’s hair but it looked like it. The noise was deafening! Proverbs 30:27 locust have no king! So these are not locust as we normally think of locust. The king is Abaddon/Apollyon- destroyer ( another name for Satan) they are demonically inspired. There was 5 months of this torment, exactly the same length of time as the rain poured down on the earth during the flood to eliminate every living thing
9:13 -21
Then the sixth angel blew his trumpet, and I heard a voice speaking from the four horns of the gold altar that stands in the presence of God. 14 And the voice said to the sixth angel who held the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great Euphrates River.” 15 Then the four angels who had been prepared for this hour and day and month and year were turned loose to kill one-third of all the people on earth. 16 I heard the size of their army, which was 200 million mounted troops.
17 And in my vision, I saw the horses and the riders sitting on them. The riders wore armor that was fiery red and dark blue and yellow. The horses had heads like lions, and fire and smoke and burning sulfur billowed from their mouths. 18 One-third of all the people on earth were killed by these three plagues—by the fire and smoke and burning sulfur that came from the mouths of the horses. 19 Their power was in their mouths and in their tails. For their tails had heads like snakes, with the power to injure people.
20 But the people who did not die in these plagues still refused to repent of their evil deeds and turn to God. They continued to worship demons and idols made of gold, silver, bronze, stone, and wood—idols that can neither see nor hear nor walk! 21 And they did not repent of their murders or their witchcraft or their sexual immorality or their thefts.
All of this may seem harsh, but the Lord is allowing it to gather people to himself that they might repent. We see something here that spirit beings can be very territorial, we see that in Daniel and other places but these spirits, demons, fallen angels have been bound for a specific time and a specific task, to slay 1/3 of the world. If you remember this was the traditional boundary of Israel, separation of the east and west. When the magi came to Herod he feared them as they were from the East. This area is where the first world leader came from, Nimrod ( I will rebel), the fountainhead of all idolatry, and false worship began here,
The description of the horses here could be some kind of weapon system or something spiritual, demonic. By these three are killed the fire, smoke, and the brimstone.
Our culture is like this today, not repenting but instead relishing in our sin. We murder every day in this nation, through abortion, and do not repent. Even pagan cultures made abortion illegal, abortion was punishable by death. Sorcery, use of drugs ( pharmakea) witchcraft, promotion of sex by today’s culture. It is the greatest preoccupation in the advertising industry, it is used in every arena. Theft is not just individual theft it is institutional theft, like losing your property due to government take over like we have seen during the COVID epidemic and generally what socialism does through he plundering of the productive by the unaccountable.
Take time to compare these to he plagues of Egypt….Gods people were protected each time and each of the plagues here and in Egypt were to attack their reliance on false Gods
Patterns
Two witnesses that perform miracles Moses and Aaron and enemies Revelation 11,13
God protects his people through it all Revelation 7, 12, 14
Waters turn to blood in Revelation 8, 11,16
Satanic frogs Revelation 16
Plague of locust Revelation 9
Boils revelation 16
Hailstones revelation 8
Hearts hardened revelation 9
Darkness revelation 16
In chapter 10-14 pause, summary chapters
Revelation 10
1-3 Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven, surrounded by a cloud, with a rainbow over his head. His face shone like the sun, and his feet were like pillars of fire. 2 And in his hand was a small scroll that had been opened. He stood with his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land. 3 And he gave a great shout like the roar of a lion. And when he shouted, the seven thunders answered.
Who does all of this sound and look like? Rainbow over his head, face shining like the sun, feet like pillars of fire, shout like the roar of a lion….Jesus of course some scholars think it may be but I have a differing opinion which is in agreement with other scholars…we’ll get back to that in a moment
4) When the seven thunders spoke, I was about to write. But I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Keep secret what the seven thunders said, and do not write it down.”
This is got to be one of the most frustrating scriptures in the Bible for me. Why bother to tell us something was said if we don’t know what it is. There are some people that take guesses as to what was said but there is no way to know, to reference point to grasp. But this does give a quality theological argument.
There are some seminars that are staunch believers in spiritual gifts and others that oppose spiritual gifts, we believe in them here, not as they are abused in some ways but in their actual usage to build up the Body. In some of those schools that oppose spiritual gifts the belief for the ending of spiritual gifts is that they ended when the canon of scripture was closed. This verse causes a challenge to that argument, because until we know what those thunders said, the Canon is not completely finished, yes it is closed nothing can be added but the completion of the scripture itself is waiting for the discovery of the answer to what these thunders have said
5-7 Then the angel I saw standing on the sea and on the land raised his right hand toward heaven. 6 He swore an oath in the name of the one who lives forever and ever, who created the heavens and everything in them, the earth and everything in it, and the sea and everything in it. He said, “There will be no more delay. 7 When the seventh angel blows his trumpet, God’s mysterious plan will be fulfilled. It will happen just as he announced it to his servants the prophets.”
Here is where I feel the angels shows us that it is not the “angel of the Lord” Jesus. He swears by God. Now in several cases God does swear by His own name but the implication of this is that it is a lesser being swearing by God. But we still have all the allusions of Jesus in appearance. My guess is that this is Michael the archangel. (Michael means who is like the Lord) we have never really been given a description of Michael before when we have seen him in scripture but his name tells us he is a representative of God and may very well reflect Him in appearance.
The phrase “no more delay” means the time of repentance is over. It is time for God’s wrath to be poured out. Now if the church is still on earth at this time, what does that make God that he is pouring out his wrath on His children, remember 144,000 Jews have been sealed and will not feel the wrath but if the church is still here what kind of God pours out His wrath that has be building up for Satan and those that are his followers also on the church?
The mystery of God….mysteries in the scripture
Mystery of the Kingdom of heaven Matthew 13
Mystery Rapture 1 Corinthians 15
Mystery of Israel’s blindness Romans 11:25 relieved at the rapture
Mystery of His will Ephesians 1:9
Christ and the church Ephesians 5
Iniquity 2 Thessalonians 2
Faith…Godliness 1 Timothy 3
Greatest mystery is the mystery of the church Ephesians 3:8,9 If you compare the visions of the throne of God from Isaiah and Ezekiel and other places to Revelation we see missing in the OT descriptions the 24 elders around the throne because it is only revealed in the NT, the mystery of the church
8 Then the voice from heaven spoke to me again: “Go and take the open scroll from the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land.”
9 So I went to the angel and told him to give me the small scroll. “Yes, take it and eat it,” he said. “It will be sweet as honey in your mouth, but it will turn sour in your stomach!” 10 So I took the small scroll from the hand of the angel, and I ate it! It was sweet in my mouth, but when I swallowed it, it turned sour in my stomach.
11 Then I was told, “You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, languages, and kings.”
Most scholars see this scroll as the judgement because as John eats it it is sweet as in God is righting all the wrongs but the cost causes John great pain but it fills him with the ability to continue seeing and able to forth tell what he is about to see
Let me take a moment to emphasize something here. We are not just to read our Bibles, we are to assimilate them into who we are. We study to understand what it says and then what it means but that is all head knowledge he need to take God’s word and make it part of us, understanding that is changing us.