Reviews and Views

…in my opinion.

Book of Revelation – Chapter 10

We are now at another lull in the judgments. This break lies between the sixth and seventh trumpet blasts and continues throughout chapter 10 and into chapter 11, verse 14. Did you wonder what God and Satan have been up to during the blowing of the trumpets? We are about to find out. Be assured that God has not abandoned this besieged planet to His foes.

We now turn our eyes upon Jesus in the first three verses of chapter 10. Check out His character. “And I saw another angel (this is the Lord Jesus Christ) come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud and a rainbow was upon His head, and His face was as it were the sun, and His feet as pillars of fire.” A few things to notice:

(a) Christ, in His deity, is usually surrounded by a cloud. Refer to these passages: Psalm 97:2, Exodus 16:10, 19:9 & 16, 40:34 & 38, Matthew 17:5, Luke 21:27, Revelation 1:7.

(b) The rainbow pictures mercy amid judgment. After the great flood, God made a covenant with Noah by placing a rainbow in the sky, symbolic of His mercy.

(c) Often, pictured as One with a shining face like the sun is Christ.

(d) Christ’s feet as pillars of fire picture judgment. Refer to chapter 1, verse 15.

Verse 2 draws attention to Christ’s claims. “He had a little book open (containing the record of judgments to be unleased) in His hand, and He set His right foot upon the sea and His left foot on the earth.” Jesus Christ is preparing to take control of the earth and sea. They all rightfully belong to Him. At any moment, He will rise from the throne and make the formal assertion of His right to reign. But this is not His final coming, for other things must first occur. 

Verse 3 draws attention to His cry. The Angel “cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roars and seven thunders uttered their voices when He had cried.” This cry is a cry of warning of impending danger. John was about to write down what he heard the seven thunders said, but he was forbidden to do so by God. “Seal up those things the seven thunders uttered, and write them not.” We will know someday, but presently GOD commands that this one portion of Scripture be kept secret.

With the final trumpet blast, the Tribulation hour comes to an end. There will be no more waiting periods, no more delays from this point forward. We are now at midnight on the prophetic time clock. There will be great rejoicing in heaven at the proclamation of this news.

Taken out of Christ’s hand is the open book of judgments. John eats or devours the book (he studies and digests the information and knowledge in God’s Word). Absorbing God’s Word through study and personal application it’s both sweet and bitter at times, as it should be with us. John must prophesy before many peoples, nations, tongues, and kings. He is faithful to the end, proclaiming the good news and the bad, presenting the sweet and the bitter. He does this in the following chapters.

Special note to the reader: chapters 12 through 19:15 run concurrently with the judgments already discussed and are considered a repeat of chapters 6 through 11.

February 3, 2024 Posted by | Bible, Last Days, Love, Religion | , , , , | Leave a comment

Book of Revelation – Chapter 9

Next, we begin the three woe trumpets, with the first four war trumpets sounding. 

Fifth Trumpet – Woe #1, A Satanically Energized Belief

Humanity, already preconditioned, will look “to the occult for entertainment, enlightenment, and eventual enslavement.” John Phillips commentary, page 124. The star falling from heaven to earth is Satan. Given the key to the bottomless pit, opening the gate, he releases thousands of foul, evil spirits. Satan was given the key and had permission to release those terrible beings upon humanity. We cannot imagine what the earth will be like with the Church removed from the world. 

John Phillips’s commentary stated that we are told 13-things about these released spirits.

(1) they are incarcerated in the bottomless pit. God mercifully chained them there for humanity’s sake but now lets them loose upon the earth for judgment upon man. 

(2) these demons are infernal (hellish; diabolical). They are not ordinary locusts, for they are supernatural and are incapable of being killed.

(3) they are insatiable (impossible to satisfy). Locust-like in their appetites, they go after unregenerate, godless men, those who did not have the seal of God in their forehead. Those with the seal of God are not to be touched.

(4) they are intolerable. The sting of these locust-like demons brings great torment, so great that men scream for death but cannot find it. These tormented men cannot die yet are in anguish beyond words to describe. The torment lasts for 5-months. 

(5) they are intrepid (fearless) like horses prepared for battle; defiant, eager to torment godless men. 

(6) they are invincible. With golden crowns, these demons conquered all in their path. No weapons defeat them. 

(7) they are intelligent as men’s faces, exercising rational thought with a diabolical cunning. This curse would be like an intellectual virus that chooses who and who not to attack, and there is no cure.

(8) they are insidious. “As the hair of women” means something is attractive about these locusts. The occult fascinates humanity, but it will lure men to their doom. 

(9) they are inexorable (impossible to stop). These locusts have the teeth of lions. Nothing can pry them loose once these fearsome demons fasten to their human victims.

(10) they are insensitive. The locust-like demons have breastplates like iron. None of these monsters act with sympathy toward those suffering, crying, and in agony. Being unmoved, they are without heart, showing no mercy. 

(11) they are inescapable. Demonic locust-like wings were like the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle. These attackers move like the wind, flying swiftly and surely toward their prey. Men have no place to hide, no refuge, none at all. 

(12) they are injurious (causing damage or harm) with tails like a scorpion with stingers. Notice that this description is repeated twice in verse 10 and verse 3 for emphasis. Such a force has only one aim – to injure man for the next five months.

(13) they are indivisible. This destructive force has a king over them, the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek language has his name Apollyon, meaning “the destroyer.” One woe is not past, but two more woes are coming.

Sixth Trumpet – A Satanically Energized Battle Altering History

The apostle John heard the voice say, “Release the four angels bound in the great river Euphrates.” We know of angelic princes existing from Daniel 10:13, 20-21. These four angels get released to carry out a predetermined plan that God planned long ago for this hour. The “four” are a unique four of significant influence and power because they can marshal their armies by the millions the moment they are released. John heard their number as 200 thousand-thousand or as 200 million. God gave the “four” thirteen months and one day to slay one-third of the remaining humans on earth. This event is under God’s control, and nothing happens without His approval.

Something that we need to note. These 200 million are not the 200 million in chapter 16 at the battle of Armageddon. “The chief feature of that battle (Armageddon) is the involvement of the hordes of the Far East. Here in chapter 9, there is no reference to ‘the kings of the East,’ nor Armageddon. This battle array is another battle altogether, but one that is only slightly less important.” John Phillips commentary pages 130-131. 

This army of 200,000,000 are men driven by demonic forces. Driven mad, they march directly into battle with the latest modern weapons. The warfare will be gruesome as the carnage staggers the mind. This battle will leave more than 1 billion dead. At this point, the Beast is now in power and rapidly stepping forward to assume his role as this world’s god.

For more about this battle in chapter 9, we should refer to Ezekiel 38-39. Briefly, Russia invades Israel along with thousands and thousands of others. Joined with Russia are Libya, Iran, Ethiopia, to name a few. Who is the opposition? Only a few Western nations who wag their fingers and complain in front of a television camera. But the speed of the attack by Russia will leave them wondering how they missed this troop movement. When the smoke clears, Israel, left with a seven-year supply of captured fuel, will take over seven months to bury all the dead bodies of the invaders. Only 1 out of 6 Russians will make it out alive as they run home into Siberia, far away from the slaughter.

The survivors remained unrepented. Nor did they repent of their murders, sorceries, fornications, or thefts. They continued to worship devils, idols of precious metals, stone, and wood. 

Next, another parenthesis occurs in Chapter 10 with the Lord Jesus Christ placing His claim to the earth.

February 3, 2024 Posted by | Bible, Last Days | , , , , | Leave a comment