Good evening and welcome to EBible Fellowship's Bible study in the Book of Revelation. Tonight is study #1 of Revelation, chapter 8, and we are going to be looking at Revelation 8:1:
And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour.
We are continuing to go, verse by verse, in the Book of Revelation. We saw back in Revelation, chapter 5, that God began to speak of a Book that was written within and on the backside and sealed with seven seals. Let me read this, again, in Revelation 5:1:
And I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne a book written within and on the backside, sealed with seven seals.
We spent some time discussing how this Book is the Bible and that God had sealed up His Word until the time of the end, as He had told Daniel, the prophet. In the Book of Revelation we find that “seven seals” are upon this Book and the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, begins to remove or open up the seals. Revelation, chapter 6, went into detail as six of the seals were opened. Then in Revelation 7, God was explaining and expounding on His salvation program throughout the New Testament era, the salvation of the “firstfruits” and then of the “great multitude” that were saved at the time of the end, which would identify with the Feast of Ingathering. So, there were the “144,000” (or firstfruits) that typified all those saved during the church age, plus the “great multitude” that typified all those saved during the “little season” of the latter rain.
Now, coming out of that chapter and into chapter 8, we are right back into a discussion of the “seven seals.” This is the “seventh seal” or the final seal. The other six have been opened and we discussed them. At this point, as the “seventh seal” is coming off this Book, the Bible, it would mean that the Bible is now an “open Book.” It is no longer sealed up.
Let me just explain that if you have seven seals and you remove the first seal, well, then the Bible is still “sealed.” And, likewise, that would be true when you remove the second or third or fourth seal, and so on; as long as you have any seals upon the Book, it is still sealed up. You cannot open it until all seven seals have been opened and removed.
That is the case when we read of the “seventh seal.” Finally, all seven seals are open and now the entire Book is open. This helps us to pinpoint the timing of the language that we find here in our verse, where God is telling us what happens once the seven seals have been removed; that is, the language of the “silence in heaven about the space of half an hour.” The “silence” takes place at the opening of the “seventh seal,” and, therefore, at the opening of the Bible as a whole. Now all the seals are off and the Bible is unsealed and this would, therefore, identify with the time of the end. God said to Daniel in Daniel 12:4: “Shut up the words, and seal the book, to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.” The implication is that at the time of the end, God would open up the Word of God to reveal information that was not previously known to His people. That is why He also goes on to say in Daniel 12:10: “None of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand.” If you understand something, you have learned it; you have gained knowledge and your knowledge has increased, but that is not the case for the unsaved people of the earth.
Now let us go back and read Revelation 8:1:
And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour.
Let us just look at this one phrase at a time. What would it mean when our verse says: “there was silence in heaven”? What does that mean? Again, it would infer that there was not “silence in heaven” before this seventh seal was opened. There must have been some sort of “noise” or some sort of (audible) activity going on in heaven, but now that the “seventh seal” is opened and it is time of the end (and we know these two ideas go together), now the Bible is an unsealed Book; and what God had told Daniel about the end of the world (the appointed time of the end season) was now taking place and, therefore, this “silence in heaven” took place for a period described as “about the space of half an hour.”
Let us look at some verses that show “activity” in heaven, where there is not “silence in heaven.” We read of this in Luke 15 in some of the parables that the Lord Jesus gives us, and it says in Luke 15:3-7:
And he spake this parable unto them, saying, What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it? And when he hath found *it*, he layeth *it* on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he cometh home, he calleth together *his* friends and neighbours, saying unto them, Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost. I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance.
Here, we have an example of God speaking of a sinner that repenteth and that is describing someone that became saved. They were granted the gift of repentance which is all part of the gift of God’s salvation. And there is a reaction or a response in heaven. Heaven is not “idle.” It is not a “disinterested” heaven and we could understand this to mean God and those that serve Him in that glorious kingdom. Heaven is very much concerned about the affairs of the Gospel on the earth; they are very interested in God’s salvation program and when even one sinner experienced the grace of God and God created a new heart within that person and gave him repentance to turn from his sins, then it says: “joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth.”
This idea is basically repeated in the next parable in Luke 15:8:
Either what woman having ten pieces of silver, if she lose one piece, doth not light a candle, and sweep the house, and seek diligently till she find *it*? And when she hath found *it*, she calleth *her* friends and *her* neighbours together, saying, Rejoice with me; for I have found the piece which I had lost. Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.
There is joy in the presence of the “messengers” of God and that could mean true believers that are in heaven in their soul existence, it could also include angelic beings and it could be God Himself, as the Lord Jesus is called the Messenger of the covenant. There is joy in the presence of the angels over one sinner that repenteth. It is repeated in this parable and, once again, this is describing the wonderful reaction in heaven when someone became saved.
There is a third example in this chapter, in which the Lord Jesus gave another parable concerning a father that had two sons. One of the sons was “lost,” just as the sheep was lost or the coin was lost. In this case one of the sons was lost – he wasted his substance with riotous living. Then he came to himself and he returned to his father; and that is a beautiful picture of how God works in the minds and souls of those He is dealing with, as He draws them to Himself. Then when this son came home, there was rejoicing and it says in Luke 15:21-24:
And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son. But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put *it* on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on *his* feet: And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill *it*; and let us eat, and be merry: For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry.
They had begun to be merry. It says in verse 25 that when the elder son came and drew nigh to the house he heard “music and dancing.” It was not “silence,” but there was activity. Of course, this is an earthly story to teach us a heavenly meaning. It is something to teach us concerning “joy in heaven.” It is a “noisy” time; it is something that is noticeable, as God rejoices and the Kingdom of God (the angels that are in the presence of God) rejoices over a sinner that is granted repentance of God. This, of course, was going on constantly, throughout the Day of salvation.
However, there was a “break,” as God did lay out His salvation program into “times and seasons” and, Lord willing, in our next study we will take a little time to discuss the “times and seasons” of the different “rains,” which the Lord speaks about in the Book of Joel. There was a time of rain, followed by a period of relative inactivity in the Old Testament, then a time of rain during the church age, followed by a period of inactivity, a time of “silence in heaven.” Silence in heaven would mean that the “joy” or “rejoicing” or the “making merry,” and all the tremendous response of God and all the inhabitants of heaven has ceased because there is no one being saved on the earth. We would say, “no one,” but the word translated as “silence” in Revelation 8:1 does allow for something less than total silence, because of the way the word is used in speaking of Paul, as found in Acts 21:40:
And when he had given him licence…
This refers to a Roman ruler that was allowing Paul to speak to the Jews that had wanted to kill him because they thought Paul was bringing Gentiles into the temple. But now Paul is being allowed to speak, and it goes on to say in Acts 21:40:
And when he had given him licence, Paul stood on the stairs, and beckoned with the hand unto the people. And when there was made a great silence, he spake unto *them* in the Hebrew tongue, saying,
Now Paul is speaking to them in Hebrew and they are listening – there is a great silence. And this word “silence” is the word we find in Revelation 8:1. But, in the next chapter in Acts 22, we get a few more details in the next couple of verses. It says in Acts 22:1-2:
Men, brethren, and fathers, hear ye my defence *which I make* now unto you. (And when they heard that he spake in the Hebrew tongue to them, they kept the more silence: and he saith,)
Then the Apostle Paul went on to make his defense, but since it was said (after they recognized he was speaking to them in the Hebrew tongue), “they kept the more silence,” this would imply there was a greater level of silence and there must have been some “noise” when we read in Acts 21:40 that there was “made a great silence.” So that allows for the slightest bit of activity and, therefore, the slightest bit of “salvation.”
So, when we read in Revelation 8:1: “And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour,” this would indicate that there is not the level of joy taking place in heaven as what would be typical of the early rain when God was saving individuals. He was not saving a “great multitude,” but He was saving more than He did in the Old Testament. But now this early rain has ceased and there was a relative period of inactivity. As a matter of fact, we can state absolutely (without hesitation) that no one at all was being saved within any (corporate) church in the world at the very beginning of Great Tribulation period and the end of the church, when judgment began at the house of God.
From the beginning of “about the space of half an hour” of silence, no one at all in any church or denomination (whether Catholic or Protestant or independent or house church) were being saved within those entities. That would have been impossible because at the very beginning of this point, the Holy Spirit left the congregations. Christ departed out of the midst of the churches and the candlestick within the churches went out. So it just cannot be that anyone could have been saved in that darkened spiritual condition. The language of “silence,” as we followed it into the Book of Acts, permits the idea of a relative “handful” of individuals that could have been saved during the period of “about a half hour.” (We will look at defining that period of time a bit later.) But if any were saved, it would have been outside of the churches in the world. Perhaps, someone could have heard someone outside of their churches and God maybe saved a “handful.” Now by a “handful,” I mean two or four or six people. The language of the Bible does not allow for very many at all; and it is possible that there were none at all saved. That is also very possible, according to this language.
What we know is that something drastic had changed and God’s program of evangelizing the world through the churches had come to an end. The church age had ended and the Holy Spirit had departed from the churches and the “abomination of desolation” (another name for Satan) had entered into the “holy place.” The “man of sin” took his seat in the temple. All of this language is really describing the same thing, this “silence in heaven,” in this beginning period of time, but why does it say “there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour”? No – not exactly a half hour, but it was “about” half an hour. That means it could have been less or, perhaps, more, than half an hour. We will see that the idea of less than “half an hour” fits best with the language of the rest of the Bible. It is said to be “about the space of half an hour,” because the Great Tribulation period itself (the entire period of God’s judgment on the churches) is called “one hour.” We read this, for instance, in Revelation 17:8-12:
The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is. And here *is* the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth. And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, *and* the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space. And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition. And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.
Now you might recognize some of that language and that is why I read a few verses leading up to verse 12, where it mentions the “one hour.” The name “beast” is the title that God assigned to Satan exclusively for his time of rule during the Great Tribulation period, which is typified as “one hour.”
It is the “last hour,” as we read in the parable of the workers in the vineyard that were hired at three-hour intervals, except for the special situation of those workers that were hired at the “eleventh hour” (and the work day is only twelve hours), so there is a difference that occurs at the end of the day for the final hour. That hour between the eleventh and twelfth hour, or that “one hour,” is representative of the entire Great Tribulation period. We have learned that the Great Tribulation actually worked out to be a full 23 years – a full 8,400 days in length – beginning on May 21, 1988 and continuing until May 21, 2011. That 23-year period is what is referred to as “one hour” wherein the “beast” ruled and Satan had taken his seat as the “man of sin” reigning in the temple (the churches and congregations of the world).
And that is why God speaks of about “half an hour” because the spiritual condition that had come upon the world at the beginning of the Great Tribulation (and remember, this was the point at which all seven seals were removed at the “time of the end,” the beginning of judgment on the house of God), was one of “silence in heaven,” because virtually no one was being saved anywhere on the earth for “about the space of half an hour.”
Yet, it was not God’s plan to allow that spiritual condition to continue throughout the entire Great Tribulation period, or else He would have said there was “silence in heaven for the space of one hour,” if He had not planned to save anyone during the Great Tribulation. But, actually, He had a plan to save a “great multitude” of souls, as we just finished reading about in the previous chapter. There was a great multitude from every nation and tribe and tongue that came “out of great tribulation.” They were saved during that period of time, so that is why God had to bring about a change after “about a half hour” of that horrible judgment in which virtually no one was being saved and He sent forth the “latter rain” to bring in that final harvest of souls that would identify with the Feast of Ingathering – and this would be that “great multitude.”
This is why God says in Matthew 24:21-22:
For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened.
Do you see what God is saying here? He is speaking of the Great Tribulation and He is saying that unless the character of those days be shortened (that is, if the silence in heaven continued throughout the entire hour), then He could not save that “great multitude,” and, therefore, He just “shortened” those days and finished His salvation program through the outpouring of the “latter rain” and the deliverance of that great multitude of souls from all the nations of the world. This is referring to God’s program outside of the churches; He never shortened the judgment upon the churches themselves. What happened to them at the very beginning of the Great Tribulation, as there was also “silence” in the churches and spiritual darkness, continued (in this condition) throughout the 23-year period of the Great Tribulation. None of the great multitude came from within the churches.
But outside of the churches, in the world, God brought about a vastly different scenario. He changed the condition from “silence” to there being “great joy in heaven” over numerous sinners that were granted repentance as God saved a great multitude from around the world.
Revelation 8 Series, Study #2
by Chris McCann, originally aired December 2, 2013
Good evening and welcome to EBible Fellowship's Bible study in the Book of Revelation. Tonight is study #2 of Revelation, chapter 8, and we are going to continue looking at Revelation 8:1:
And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour.
We were discussing this in our last study and we saw how the Great Tribulation is likened to “one hour,” in the Bible. God speaks of the “hour” of judgment. The “one hour” points to the time of the Great Tribulation and, therefore, when Revelation 8:1 speaks of there being “silence in heaven about the space of half an hour,” it is letting us know something about a “portion” of the Great Tribulation – it is not speaking of the entire Great Tribulation period, but just something that applies to a portion of it. It is not even speaking of “half” of it, or else God would have said “a half hour,” but it says “about half an hour.” We wonder what God could have to say about this. We know from the chapter in which this verse is found, as the Lord will go on to speak about the judgment on the “third part,” that we are correct that this is referring to the Great Tribulation and, yet, it has to do only with a portion of the Great Tribulation.
Well, this led us to Matthew 24:21-22:
For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened.
We are very much interested in this and we can see how it relates to the “about an half hour” of silence because, as we saw in our last study, when God would send forth His Gospel and repentance would be granted to His elect people and they became saved, there was “joy in heaven.” And following this period of joy, God speaks of this “silence in heaven about the space of half an hour;” and if there is silence in heaven, then no joy is taking place and no making merry and, therefore, it is because no sinners are repenting and no one is becoming saved. That is why Matthew 24, verses 21 and 22 are so interesting because, first of all, it is talking about the Great Tribulation, which means it is talking about that “one hour” the Bible speaks of and, secondly, it says, “And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved.” Therefore, God shortened the days for the elect’s sake.
We can understand this, as we lay out these verses and we ponder what God has done, we realize that the first part of the Great Tribulation was an extremely grievous period wherein virtually no one at all was being saved; and no one at all was being saved within the churches and congregations. And, yet, the language of the Bible (as we learned in our last study) does allow for the slightest bit of “noise” and, therefore, we have to make a little allowance for a handful of individuals that may have been saved during that first part of the Great Tribulation.
As we search the Bible, we find that a period of 2,300 “evening mornings” fits very well into that first part of the Great Tribulation. Actually, if any of you have been around long enough, you might recall that before the year 1994, Mr. Camping wrote a book titled “1994?” and he discussed these verses in Matthew 24. In that book, Mr. Camping had said that 1988 began the Great Tribulation and we would expect it to last for 23 years and it would go to 2011, but the Lord had “shortened” those days and, therefore, it was shortened from 23 years to 2,300 days (which worked out to six years and four months), starting from May 1988 to September 1994. That was one of the big reasons that Mr. Camping thought that Christ might return in that year and, yet, that was not the case. There was a misunderstanding of what God was saying when He said, “except those days be shortened.” God was not talking of shortening the Great Tribulation period itself, because that would continue for the full 23 years, from May 21, 1988 to May 21, 2011.
But the “shortening” had to do with the characteristic of the first part of that Great Tribulation wherein there was “silence in heaven about the space of half an hour,” in which virtually no one was being saved. God, necessarily, had to change the characteristic of that in order to bring in the “great multitude” that He intended to save from all the nations of the world during the “little season” of the Great Tribulation. Yet, the Great Tribulation’s 23-year period continued and judgment continued on the churches throughout that time, and no one at all was saved within any church in the world. The character of “silence in heaven” for the churches did continue for all of the 23 years.
But after the 2,300 “evening mornings,” God shortened those days outside of the churches and He began to send forth the “latter rain.” He began to pour out His Spirit once again and to stretch forth his hand a second time to recover the remnant of His people. He began the outpouring of the Second Jubilee, to deliver that great multitude; and that is where the 2,300 days fits into the picture and locks into place, because from the day before Pentecost in 1988 until September 7, 1994, was the 2,300 “evening mornings,” and on that day was “the first day of the seventh month” in the Hebrew calendar, a day that would signal the Jubilee period, and 1994 happened to be a Jubilee year. It was the 40th Jubilee since 7 B.C. when Christ was born.
Well, let us go back to a verse in the Book of Joel, in order to get an overview of God’s entire salvation program for the world. It will include His “times and seasons,” His periods of “rain” and periods of “famine,” which the “silence in heaven” is referring to. We read in Joel 2:23:
Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in JEHOVAH your God: for he hath given you the former rain moderately, and he will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain in the first.
(That word “moderately” is a word that should be translated “righteously.”) Here, we actually have three periods of “rain” that are in view. First, there is the “former, righteous rain,” and this period of rain can identify with the entire Old Testament era, especially the nation of Israel’s history, but it actually can apply to the entire Old Testament from the very beginning, up until the time of the Lord Jesus Christ. It was this “rain” that produced the Lord Jesus. Israel, in particular, was instrumental in bringing forth the Messiah, so that is why this rain could, perhaps, be limited to the timeline of the nation of Israel going back to Abraham. But the Old Testament also could be in view, as God was bringing events and circumstances to pass in order to achieve this one “fruit,” and that would be Christ, as He would enter into the human race. So it was as though the “rain” fell and produced the crop of the Messiah. This was Israel’s purpose, primarily. They were not called upon to bring the Gospel to the world, but God was bringing forth the Lord Jesus Christ through the line of the tribe of Judah in Israel, and Christ did finally come. He was born of the Virgin Mary in 7 B.C., which was a Jubilee year, yet the Lord did not begin his ministry until 29 A.D. and then He went about ministering the Word of God for three and one half years. These three and one half years actually can be likened to a “spiritual famine,” because we do not read of many people becoming saved. We read of the Lord doing mighty and tremendous miracles and of people being in awe of those things. Yet, after the Lord Jesus went to the cross, there were just a few in the upper room and there were a hundred or so; we only read of a scarce number of people that were saved. This followed a pattern that God established with the rain. The “early righteous rain” fell and produced the Lord Jesus Christ, and then there came a period of famine, the three and one half years of the Lord’s ministry.
Following this came another period of rain on the Day of Pentecost in 33 A.D., when God sent forth His Spirit. The work of Christ, which was the essence of the Jubilee, would now get under way in a very definite manner because God was sending forth the Gospel into all the world and the church age would bring the Word of God to the nations of the earth. Three thousand were saved on the Day of Pentecost. As it says in this verse in Joel 2:3, the “former rain” or the “early rain” would begin to fall and produce the harvest of “firstfruits,” and Revelation speaks of “144,000” that are sealed, twelve thousand from the twelve tribes of Israel, and they typify all of God’s elect that were saved throughout the long period of “early rain” as the Gospel went into the world via the churches for 1,955 years.
Again, just as the “season” of “early righteous rain” produced the Lord Jesus and then came a period of famine, so, too, after the falling of the “early rain” and the bringing in of the firstfruits, then came the end of the church age, which is also known as judgment beginning at the house of God, which is also known as the Great Tribulation period, and which also can be identified as “silence in heaven about the space of half an hour.” Actually, it did work out to be 2,300 days, the period of time in which virtually no one was being saved (six years and almost four months). God likens that period of time, in Revelation 11, to when the “two witnesses” are killed, as it says in Revelation 11:7-9:
And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them. And their dead bodies *shall lie* in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified. And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three days and an half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves.
Here, the Bible draws a connection and ties in to the “three and a half” figure, as the Lord Jesus ministered for three and a half years during that period that identified with a famine and ended the season of the “early, righteous rain.” So, too, once the church age came to an end and the season of the “early rain” concludes, then there is another famine that is 2,300 days in length, but God likens it to “three and one half days” in which the dead bodies of the “two witnesses” are lying in the streets. That is referring to the churches and congregations. The “two witnesses” are those which represent “the Law and the Prophets,” the ministry of the Word of God. God had used the “two witnesses” to minister in the churches during the church age and He blessed their ministry to produce the “firstfruits.” But now that period had come to an end and now was another famine following a “season” of rain.
Yet, it was not finished. God’s program was not done. He had another period of rain – the “latter rain,” and another final season of harvest. We know that the season of harvest involved “firstfruits” and then the final fruits that would come in at the end of the year during the Feast of Ingathering. So after the 2,300 “evening mornings,” which is likened to the “three and one half days” in which the two witnesses were lying dead, then God caused them to stand on their feet, as it says in Revelation 11:11:
And after three days and an half the Spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw them.
This is pointing to the power and the blessing of the Word of God, typified by the “Law and the prophets,” which represents the Bible itself; the power of God’s Word was restored because now the “season” had arrived and it was the first day of the Hebrew seventh month and the proclamation of the Jubilee, and now it was time to “proclaim liberty to the captives” across the face of the earth, which were located outside of the churches and the congregations. God began to save the “great multitude” for about the last 17 years of this Great Tribulation period – until the “hour” had been completed.
So, the “about half an hour” of “silence in heaven” ended, once the two witnesses stood upon their feet. “To stand upon their feet” is language indicating that God was sending forth His Word once again and the rain was falling – it was the Second Jubilee, another “season” of blessing and another time of bringing in the “precious fruit of the earth.” This is the wonderful and glorious way that God finished His salvation program, as He saved more in those (approximate) 17 years than He had saved in all the previous history of the world and all the previous periods of “rain” in sending forth His Word to bless the earth. Now God had saved the tens, upon tens, of millions that were all over the face of the earth. The “silence in heaven” had ended.
Then the Great Tribulation finished. It concluded and God’s “seasons of rain” also concluded; and the time for gathering the fruit by saving the elect, which He had predestinated to salvation, was all complete. And now is the period of Judgment Day and it appears very likely that God has a final program of judgment that will continue for a total of 1,600 days and will bring the sum total of His wrath upon the unsaved people of the world to 10,000 days. Then there is a likelihood that this world will end on the last day of that period of time – the 10,000th day – and the 1,600th day from May 21, 2011, which would also be the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles.
When we get together again in our next Bible study, we will continue in Revelation, chapter 8, and we will see how God pictures and describes the judgment that came from heaven upon the churches of the world during that “season” in which there was “silence in heaven,” and even afterwards, as the judgment continued throughout the 23-year Great Tribulation period.
Revelation 8 Series, Study #3
by Chris McCann, originally aired December 3, 2013
Good evening and welcome to EBible Fellowship's Bible study in the Book of Revelation. Tonight is study #3 of Revelation, chapter 8, and we are going to continue looking at Revelation 8:1-2:
And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour. And I saw the seven angels which stood before God; and to them were given seven trumpets.
We have been discussing “silence in heaven about the space of half an hour” and we saw how that relates to the first part of the Great Tribulation, a time when virtually no one was being saved anywhere in the world; and no one at all within the churches, but there may have been a handful of individuals outside of the churches.
Then that “silence” ended and God sent forth the “latter rain,” after the 2,300 “evening mornings,” and in September 1994 the “latter rain” began to fall and the Lord began to save a great multitude out of the nations of the world.
Let us continue on here in Revelation 8:2:
And I saw the seven angels which stood before God; and to them were given seven trumpets.
Now, once again, the number “seven” is appearing here in the Book of Revelation. There is nothing surprising about that; it has shown up repeatedly because God uses the number “seven” to describe or represent “perfection” of whatever He is speaking of and, in this case, it is “seven angels” which are given “seven trumpets,” so it is the perfection of angels and the perfection of trumpets.
But who, or what, do these “seven angels” represent? The answer (I think) can be found when we look earlier in the Book of Revelation and, also, as we look later in the Book of Revelation.
As we read about “seven angels” back in Revelation, chapters 1, 2 and 3, God used the figure of “seven angels” as He addressed an Epistle to each of the seven churches of Asia Minor. He addressed it unto the “angel of the church of Ephesus,” or unto the “angel of the church of Philadelphia,” etc. We saw as we tried to understand who the “seven angels” represented, there was one particular verse that helped us, in Revelation 1:20:
The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches: and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches.
Here, God makes the identification. He links together the “seven stars” with the seven churches. He says, “The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches.” If you have been following along in our study in the Book of Revelation, we spent some time talking about how the stars typify the believers, as God said to Abraham: “I will make thy seed as the stars of the heaven for multitude.” There are many other verses that make that connection between God’s elect and the stars (as a figure of the elect).
So God says that the “seven stars” are the “angels of the seven churches,” and it would be better for us to understand “angels” as “messengers,” because this Greek word “angelos” can be properly understood as “messenger” or “angel,” an angelic being. But, in this case, it would be better understood as “messengers” and it is pointing to God’s elect within the congregations during the period of the church age. One other thing that confirms this is also in this verse in Revelation 1:20:
The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand…
We took time to see that the “right hand” of God points to the Lord Jesus Christ Himself and relates to salvation. So the “seven stars” (as they are used to figure the true believers) are in the right hand of Christ and that would indicate salvation and, so, God addresses each of the Epistles to the seven churches unto the “angel” or “messenger” of each church. This means that God wrote to His people within the congregations and they are His messengers that carry His Word to the church as a whole – to the corporate body.
So that is one place where we saw that the “seven angels” were not angels at all, but they typify God’s elect. But there is another place in Revelation where God refers to “seven angels.” It says in Revelation 16:1:
And I heard a great voice out of the temple saying to the seven angels, Go your ways, and pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth.
Here, “seven angels” are carrying the seven last plagues (the seven vials full of the wrath of God) and this is describing God’s process of pouring out His wrath in the Day of Judgment, and “seven angels” are instrumental in carrying out the task of pouring out the judgment upon the unsaved people of the earth. Who are these seven angels? We are greatly helped in understanding who they are, when we look at Revelation 15:5:
And after that I looked, and, behold, the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened: And the seven angels came out of the temple, having the seven plagues, clothed in pure and white linen, and having their breasts girded with golden girdles.
So these are the same “seven angels” that are given the seven vials full of the wrath of God and they are instructed to pour out their vials upon the earth. Notice that God, in describing the seven angels as they came out of the temple, says they were “clothed in pure and white linen.” That is interesting because why would God tell us that if these were angelic beings (spirit beings that are sent forth to minister to the heirs of salvation)? Why would they be clothed in pure and white linen? That clothing does not fit with the idea of angelic beings – there is no need for them to be clothed in pure and white linen. Why not? Well, let us turn to Revelation 19, where we read of the “bride of Christ,” the New Jerusalem, and it says in Revelation 19:7:
Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.
You see, here, God defines what “fine linen, clean and white” refers to: it is the righteousness of saints – the righteousness of sinners for whom the Lord Jesus Christ obtained righteousness: “by the obedience of one, many shall be made righteous,” Romans 5 tells us. So we were sinners and we had no righteousness. The Bible says: “There is none righteous, no not one.” Therefore, we desperately needed righteousness in order to stand before God, so Christ made us righteous through His obedience and in taking upon Himself the sins of His elect and paying the penalty for them, completely fulfilling the will of God for His salvation program. Therefore, as it says in this verse, we are clothed “in fine linen, clean and white.” The great multitude in Revelation 7 was also clothed in that fine linen, as it says in Revelation 7:9:
After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands;
Then it says in Revelation 7:13-14:
And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they? And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
The pure linen, white and clean, has to do with the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ which is granted to God’s elect – and only to God’s elect – and that is why we can know (absolutely) that these “seven angels,” or messengers, are God’s elect, when we read Revelation 15:6:
And the seven angels came out of the temple, having the seven plagues, clothed in pure and white linen, and having their breasts girded with golden girdles.
These are God’s elect, just as we saw with the “seven angels,” concerning those that were the angels of the seven churches – they were “stars” in the right hand of Christ and they were also God’s elect. So, too, the “seven angels” at the time of the end during Judgment Day (the time of God’s wrath being poured out upon the wicked of the world) are utilized by God in carrying out the task of bringing the last vials full of the seven last plagues of the wrath of God.
Lord willing, when we get to that chapter, we will see how that relates to our present time, as God’s people are left alive, remaining upon the earth in the Day of Judgment. What are we doing? We are declaring and we are speaking forth the Word of God that is pronouncing judgment on the world. It is actually a fulfillment of what we read in Revelation 16.
But, right now, we are still in Revelation 8:1:
… seven angels which stood before God; and to them were given seven trumpets.
So, as we look back at the church age, we saw the “seven angels” identified with the true believers and, as we look ahead to the time of the Day of Judgment on the world, the “seven angels” also identified with the true believers, so we have no reason to think that the “seven angels” referred to here in Revelation 8:1 are not also true believers.
We actually have further confirmation of this in an historical parable which God gives us in Ezekiel 9:1-2:
He cried also in mine ears with a loud voice, saying, Cause them that have charge over the city to draw near, even every man *with* his destroying weapon in his hand. And, behold, six men came from the way of the higher gate…
Now, notice this speaks of “men,” and it says in Ezekiel 9:2:
And, behold, six men came from the way of the higher gate, which lieth toward the north, and every man a slaughter weapon in his hand; and one man among them *was* clothed with linen, with a writer's inkhorn by his side: and they went in, and stood beside the brasen altar.
With this language it is not easy to see this, but it is actually speaking of “seven men,” because six men are carrying slaughter weapons and there is one man “clothed with linen, with a writer’s inkhorn by his side,” so that makes a total of seven. So this “one man” with the inkhorn would be the Lord Jesus Christ and the other six would be His people, as the Bible tells us, in 1st Corinthians 6:2: “Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world?” It also says in 1st Corinthians 6:3: “Know ye not that we shall judge angels? The Bible indicates that the Lord Jesus comes in judgment with His saints and this judgment began at the house of God – that is when the judgment process began.
So we find these “seven men,” just as we find “seven angels” in Revelation 8:1. So what happens in Ezekiel regarding this account? It says in Ezekiel 9:3-4:
And the glory of the God of Israel was gone up from the cherub, whereupon he was, to the threshold of the house. And he called to the man clothed with linen, which *had* the writer's inkhorn by his side; And JEHOVAH said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof.
What is God saying here? The man with the inkhorn is to “Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof.” Of course, the ones that “sigh and cry” because of the sins of the city of Jerusalem would be a reference to a child of God (someone that is born again) who is grieved by the apostasy and grieved at the “falling away” of the churches. At the time of the judgment upon it, the churches and congregations are going more and more astray and the true believers are grieved by the degree to which God’s Word is being dismissed, ignored and not hearkened to.
So the first thing God is going to do is to instruct the man with the inkhorn (and now we can see why that “man” must be a type of Christ) to “set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry.” This identifies very much with what we read in Revelation, chapter 7; before God would bring judgment on the churches or on the world, first something had to happen, and it said in Revelation 7:3:
Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.
Then we read that twelve thousand from each of the twelve tribes were sealed (a figurative “144,000” in all). The implication was that once they were “sealed,” then you may “hurt.” That is when God brought judgment on the churches and congregations – only after the “firstfruits” were safely gathered in and only after God had saved everyone He intended to save through the ministry of the church during the church age. Not until all of the “144,000” (which is only a figure to represent all the elect during the church age) had that “seal,” which pointed to the Holy Spirit and the earnest of their salvation, then judgment could begin on the church.
Likewise, not until the “great multitude” were saved could God bring judgment upon the unsaved inhabitants of the world, as the “great multitude,” too, had to be “sealed,” (even though Revelation 7 does not use that language of being sealed), but it means that they had to first be saved. So, here, in Ezekiel 9, Christ is the man with the inkhorn and He is the one that does the “sealing” and the saving of sinners, and He set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sighed within the churches. Now He has accomplished that task and saved all those He intended to save within the churches. Then what happens? It says in Ezekiel 9:5-6:
And to the others he said in mine hearing, Go ye after him through the city, and smite: let not your eye spare, neither have ye pity: Slay utterly old *and* young, both maids, and little children, and women: but come not near any man upon whom *is* the mark; and begin at my sanctuary. Then they began at the ancient men which *were* before the house. And he said unto them, Defile the house, and fill the courts with the slain: go ye forth. And they went forth, and slew in the city.
Notice, here, that God now has judgment without mercy. Notice who are the objects of His wrath: it is young and old, maids, and little children, and women. When God ended the church age and removed the Light of the Gospel and He stopped saving people among the churches and congregations, He knew full well that entire families would not hearken to Him; they would not come out of the church or leave their congregation and, therefore, they could never become saved. This meant “destruction” for old and young, male and female and even little children, some of which were born in the churches when the famine was taking place; it was a famine of hearing, so no one could hear the Word of God because the Holy Spirit was not there to open their ears so that they might hear unto salvation.
So a child could have been born in 1990 or 1995, for example, and they never experienced the situation of the “latter rain” that was taking place outside of the churches; they spent their entire lives within the congregations and some of these children may even have died after being born in the churches after the end of the church age and they died well before 2011. They died without the possibility of God blessing His Word to them because they were born within the churches during an awful period in history, and this is all part of the outpouring of the wrath of God. It is a terrible grievous, hard thing that God brought judgment upon the people called by His name.
The grave error of some today is in thinking that God would not do the very same thing to the unsaved inhabitants of the world. “Oh, no,” they say, “God would not abandon the world and He would not leave the world without the possibility that individuals could be saved. After all there are young children and young people in the world.” Yet, why would God not do that when He had already done this first with those “called by His name,” to those He had an intimate relationship with and that professed to be His people. If God would do this to His own people, then why would anyone think he would not do it to “strangers,” the wicked in the world with whom He has no relationship? It really is “backward thinking.” The idea is not that the world receives preferential or better treatment. God said He would begin judging those that were called by His name, then how much more would be do the same thing with those He had no relationship with.
So, this is what God did – He began to judge the churches and congregations and we see that the “seven men” are utilized by God to pour out this judgment, in Ezekiel 9, and they began to slay those within the city of Jerusalem, and that points to those slain within the churches and the congregations at the time of the end when judgment began at the house of God. That is what Revelation, chapter 8, is going to get into; just as those “seven” men went forth to slay, in Ezekiel 9, and they began at God’s sanctuary, so, too, the “seven angels” are going to go forth and begin to declare the judgments of God. They will “sound the trumpets” that they were given; they were given “seven trumpets,” and these point to the perfection of the declaration of His wrath, as we saw earlier in our study in Revelation 1, where the word “trumpets” came into view. At that time we learned what the trumpets relate to, as the Apostle John was speaking as He is beginning to receive the divine revelation that would become the Book of Revelation. It says in John in Revelation 1:10-11:
I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet, Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What thou seest, write in a book, and send *it* unto the seven churches which are in Asia…
Here, the link is made to this great voice and His voice is “as of a trumpet.” Of course, Christ is the Word made flesh and His voice completely identifies with the Word of God, the Bible. The Bible is the “trumpet.” This is why (when God opened the Scriptures and revealed the information concerning the approaching Day of Judgment in the days leading up to May 21, 2011) God also opened up the information that the “watchman,” the true believers, when they see a sword coming upon the land, they must blow the trumpet and warn the people. We witnessed this and we experienced exactly what that means. It means you must take the information that God reveals from His Word and share it with people. That is performing the “blowing of the trumpet.” That is accomplishing that task and putting the trumpet to our lips and sounding, spiritually speaking. When we share information from the Bible, we are blowing the trumpet.
The seven messengers are given seven trumpets and they will sound those trumpets and those trumpets are language describing the bringing forth of the message of judgment from the Word of God upon the churches and (then) upon the world. The first four trumpets blew and the judgment fell on the “third part” and then the last three trumpets blow and the judgment transitions to the world and all the unsaved.
Revelation 8 Series, Study #4
by Chris McCann, originally aired December 4, 2013
Good evening and welcome to EBible Fellowship's Bible study in the Book of Revelation. Tonight is study #3 of Revelation, chapter 8, and we are going to continue looking at Revelation 8:3-5:
And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer *it* with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, *which came* with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel's hand. And the angel took the censer, and filled it with fire of the altar, and cast *it* into the earth: and there were voices, and thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake.
Now this is very hard for us to understand because we are not used to this kind of language. We know that these figures of the altar and the golden censer and the incense come from the Old Testament sacrificial system which God instituted for the nation of Israel, but we really do not spend that much time (because we live in the New Testament era) with these “types and figures,”
so when we read a passage like this it does not instantly register with us regarding what God has in mind. Of course, if we were more familiar with these things, we would probably have a better idea of what God is saying.
So I think it is a good idea for us to familiarize ourselves (as much as we can) with this language of the altar and the incense, and so on. The only way we can familiarize ourselves with it is by reading what the Bible has to say about these things.
The Greek word that is translated as “altar” is Strong’s #2379 and it comes from a word that means “to kill” or “to sacrifice.” That makes sense because the altar would be a place of sacrifice, but that is one of the things we will hopefully learn when we go back to the Old Testament. We are going to find that there were often two altars that are in view and we have to understand which one is being discussed. You will see what I mean, as we go back to Exodus 30: 1-10:
And thou shalt make an altar to burn incense upon: *of* shittim wood shalt thou make it. A cubit *shall be* the length thereof, and a cubit the breadth thereof; foursquare shall it be: and two cubits *shall be* the height thereof: the horns thereof *shall be* of the same. And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, the top thereof, and the sides thereof round about, and the horns thereof; and thou shalt make unto it a crown of gold round about. And two golden rings shalt thou make to it under the crown of it, by the two corners thereof, upon the two sides of it shalt thou make *it*; and they shall be for places for the staves to bear it withal. And thou shalt make the staves *of* shittim wood, and overlay them with gold. And thou shalt put it before the vail that *is* by the ark of the testimony, before the mercy seat that *is* over the testimony, where I will meet with thee. And Aaron shall burn thereon sweet incense every morning: when he dresseth the lamps, he shall burn incense upon it. And when Aaron lighteth the lamps at even, he shall burn incense upon it, a perpetual incense before JEHVOAH throughout your generations. Ye shall offer no strange incense thereon, nor burnt sacrifice, nor meat offering; neither shall ye pour drink offering thereon. And Aaron shall make an atonement upon the horns of it once in a year with the blood of the sin offering of atonements: once in the year shall he make atonement upon it throughout your generations: it *is* most holy unto JEHOVAH.
Let us consider what we learned from this passage. This is an altar that incense was to be burned upon and it was an altar of shittim wood that was overlaid with pure gold. The location of this altar, according to Exodus 30:6, was to be “before the vail that is by the ark of the testimony, before the mercy seat.” Notice that God says, in verse 9, “Ye shall offer no strange incense thereon, nor burnt sacrifice, nor meat offering; neither shall ye pour drink offering thereon.” This golden altar was especially for “incense” and once a year Aaron, the High Priest, was permitted to enter in with the blood of the sin offering of atonement and he could offer that once a year. Otherwise, this altar was not for burnt offering. It was not for meat offering and it was not for drink offering. That means there had to be another altar (and there was). It says in Exodus 38:1-2:
And he made the altar of burnt offering *of* shittim wood: five cubits *was* the length thereof, and five cubits the breadth thereof; *it was* foursquare; and three cubits the height thereof. And he made the horns thereof on the four corners of it; the horns thereof were of the same: and he overlaid it with brass.
Now this is describing the altar of burnt offerings. The altar of incense was overlaid with pure gold and this altar was overlaid with brass. We need to keep in mind that there are these two different altars and sometimes God just refers to an altar and it is up to us to determine whether it is the brazen altar or the golden alter. God normally does give additional information that helps us to determine that. We read of these two altars being spoken of together in Exodus 39:38-39:
And the golden altar, and the anointing oil, and the sweet incense, and the hanging for the tabernacle door, The brasen altar, and his grate of brass, his staves, and all his vessels, the laver and his foot,
So, here, God is just describing the various items that are involved with the tabernacle worship and sacrifice and He is talking of both of these altars. We read in Exodus 40:4-5:
And thou shalt bring in the table, and set in order the things that are to be set in order upon it; and thou shalt bring in the candlestick, and light the lamps thereof. And thou shalt set the altar of gold for the incense…
This is very consistent in the Bible: when we see the golden altar, we can know that is for the incense.
And thou shalt set the altar of gold for the incense before the ark of the testimony, and put the hanging of the door to the tabernacle.
Again, the location is “before the ark,” and it is a golden altar involved with incense. Then it says in Exodus 40:6:
And thou shalt set the altar of the burnt offering…
Remember what God said about the “golden altar?” It is not for burnt offering. Therefore, the altar for burnt offering must be the brasen altar (and it is), and here we find it also has its own location.
And thou shalt set the altar of the burnt offering before the door of the tabernacle of the tent of the congregation.
So that altar was at a different location than the golden altar. The brasen altar is “before the door of the tabernacle of the tent of the congregation.” There they could slay the animals. They could offer burnt offerings upon that altar that was not to be done inside the “Holy of Holies” where the golden altar of incense was located.
Also, it says in Exodus 40:26-27:
And he put the golden altar in the tent of the congregation before the vail: And he burnt sweet incense thereon; as JEHOVAH commanded Moses.
Then it says in Exodus 40:29:
And he put the altar of burnt offering *by* the door of the tabernacle of the tent of the congregation, and offered upon it the burnt offering and the meat offering; as JEHOVAH commanded Moses.
(And let us just remind ourselves that this is a different altar.) So, we are seeing that God is consistent concerning the type of altar: one is “golden” and one is “brasen,” and also He is consistent as to what is put on each altar: the “golden” altar receives the incense and the brasen altar receives the burnt offerings. They also differ in location: one is by the “vail” and one is by the “door of the tabernacle of the tent” of the congregation.
When we go to the next Book of the Bible, in the Book of Leviticus, we find the altar mentioned repeatedly. Again, and again, God makes reference to the altar. In chapter 1 alone, there are thirteen references to the altar. Once we find the clue language, we can determine which altar is in view (and we could do this for the majority of references to the altar). But in Leviticus 1, we can know that all thirteen references are referring to the same altar, and it says in Leviticus 1:4:
And he shall put his hand upon the head of the burnt offering; and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him. And he shall kill the bullock before JEHOVAH: and the priests, Aaron's sons, shall bring the blood, and sprinkle the blood round about upon the altar that *is by* the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.
Now which altar is that? Well, that would be the brasen altar that is for burnt offering. Then it says in Leviticus 1:6-9:
And he shall flay the burnt offering, and cut it into his pieces. And the sons of Aaron the priest shall put fire upon the altar, and lay the wood in order upon the fire: And the priests, Aaron's sons, shall lay the parts, the head, and the fat, in order upon the wood that *is* on the fire which *is* upon the altar: But his inwards and his legs shall he wash in water: and the priest shall burn all on the altar, *to be* a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto JEHOVAH.
Again, we know the altar in view is the brasen altar and that is the case with all thirteen references in Leviticus, chapter 1, and into Leviticus, chapter 2. Actually, I made a quick survey and I think this is true: the altar that is mentioned up until Leviticus, chapter 16, is the brasen altar for burnt offerings. Then in Leviticus 16, we read of the golden altar and I will read Leviticus 16:11:
And Aaron shall bring the bullock of the sin offering, which *is* for himself, and shall make an atonement for himself, and for his house, and shall kill the bullock of the sin offering which *is* for himself: And he shall take a censer full of burning coals of fire from off the altar before JEHOVAH, and his hands full of sweet incense beaten small, and bring *it* within the vail:
Now Aaron has gone within the vail and now we know which altar is there; it would be the golden altar. Then it goes on to say in Leviticus 16:13-14:
And he shall put the incense upon the fire before JEHOVAH, that the cloud of the incense may cover the mercy seat that *is* upon the testimony, that he die not: And he shall take of the blood of the bullock, and sprinkle *it* with his finger upon the mercy seat eastward; and before the mercy seat shall he sprinkle of the blood with his finger seven times.
This is describing the Day of Atonement and we read back in the Book of Exodus how once a year there was to be atonement and incense offered by the High Priest, as he went into the golden altar. So it helps us to realize that every time we find the word “altar” it is not necessarily referring to the same altar. It could be either the brasen or the golden altar, for burnt offering or for incense offering, respectively.
Now in Revelation 8 we are reading of the incense altar and we are also reading of this “angel,” which would be pointing to Jesus, “came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer *it* with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne.” We can know this is picking up on the “figure” of the altar that was by the ark of the covenant; and the ark was inside the Holy of Holies where incense was to be offered, especially on the Day of Atonement, once a year, at which time the High Priest would approach the ark and sprinkle the blood upon the mercy seat. God is picking up that particular “figure” in the Book of Revelation.
I would also like to go in the Old Testament to Numbers, chapter 16, because there is an interesting account which relates to the altar and the burning of incense, and it also relates to the judgment of God upon the churches and congregations – upon those that are professed Christians, but are not true believers. We read of Korah, in Numbers 16:6-7:
This do; Take you censers, Korah, and all his company; And put fire therein, and put incense in them before JEHOVAH to morrow: and it shall be *that* the man whom JEHOVAH doth choose, he *shall be* holy: *ye take* too much upon you, ye sons of Levi.
Now this is picking up on a time when Israel had come out of Egypt and they have entered into a period of severe trial and testing from God in the wilderness; things are not easy for them at all. At first there was great joy, I am sure, when they came out of Egypt from cruel bondage and, certainly, they would have experienced great joy and relief that their time of bondage was over. But it did not last long at all and then the “hot sun” began to wear on them and God was leading them in a long journey to the Promise Land. God was intentionally trying them because He knew what was in their hearts. He knew that even though they came out of physical bondage, the vast majority of the Israelites were still in spiritual bondage to sin and Satan, so He developed severe trials for them. They failed these trials, repeatedly. In this case, Korah and these Levites began to think that Moses and Aaron took too much upon themselves. They said that all the congregation was holy, so God allowed Moses to present this test wherein they would take censers and “put fire therein, and put incense in them before JEHOVAH.” Now, remember what God had said back in Exodus: there was to be no “strange” incense presented; no burnt offering and no meat offering or drink offering and no “strange” incense was to come upon that altar. So these men were going to try it. They were going to put incense on and come before the Lord. Of course, we know it did not go well at all. It says in Numbers 16:16:
And Moses said unto Korah, Be thou and all thy company before JEOVAH, thou, and they, and Aaron, to morrow: And take every man his censer, and put incense in them, and bring ye before JEHOVAH every man his censer, two hundred and fifty censers; thou also, and Aaron, each *of you* his censer. And they took every man his censer, and put fire in them, and laid incense thereon, and stood in the door of the tabernacle of the congregation with Moses and Aaron.
Here, there are 250 men that are going to take their censers and put fire in them. It is significant to note that 250 breaks down into 5 x 5 x 10, because the number “5” relates to the atonement (the atoning work of Christ), and we saw that the golden altar had a lot to do with the Day of Atonement, as the High Priest was to enter in only once a year to offer that incense and to sprinkle blood upon the mercy seat.
But now these other men are saying that they, too, can do this. It is not only for Aaron and the priests, but they are saying that they, too, are “holy” and they, therefore, can perform this task. The number of the men is emphasizing that this has much to do with the complete atonement because the Lord Jesus is the one who is typified by Aaron the High Priest of Israel, and Jesus offered the “pure” incense, the only acceptable incense; all other incense would be as “strange incense.” When the Lord Jesus offered up Himself and His life (the blood typified the life) from the foundation of the world for the sake of His elect, that is the burnt offering and the altar of the burnt offering typifies that, as well as the offering of incense once a year as the High Priest went in once a year on the Day of Atonement. So, God, in using the number “250” is pointing to the completeness of the atoning work of Christ; and any other attempted work of atonement is not acceptable – it is not going to be received well at all by God; and that is exactly what happened.
To quench this rebellion, God, first of all, brought about an earthquake that swallowed up Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, and so forth. Then we read of the 250 men in Numbers 16:35:
And there came out a fire from JEHOVAH, and consumed the two hundred and fifty men that offered incense.
Fire fell from God and consumed, not the incense, but the men offering the incense, indicating God’s wrath upon them for offering strange incense before Him. They had approached unto the golden altar where they were not permitted to come before the ark of God. So God did pour out His wrath and destroy these men.
Let us also read from Numbers 16:41:
But on the morrow all the congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron, saying, Ye have killed the people of JEHOVAH.
Now you would think that the congregation of Israel would have seen that some new thing had happened, as God opened up the ground and swallowed up those wicked men and that the fire of God fell from heaven and burned up the 250 men that dared to offer incense when they should not have done so. You would think that after witnessing this, the congregation of Israel would have fallen on their faces and cried to God for mercy: “Have mercy, O Lord. We are rebels and we have sinned against thee. Forgive us.” But, no, instead they murmured all the more, telling Moses and Aaron, “Ye have killed the people of JEHOVAH.” These men were men of renown. They were famous in the congregation and they were looked up to by these Jews, so they are blaming Moses and Aaron. It is nothing but “blindness” that they cannot see the hand of God at work in bringing about this judgment, and that is why these Israelites typify those that profess to be God’s people, but, in reality, are not.
It says in Numbers 16:44-45:
And JEHOVAH spake unto Moses, saying, Get you up from among this congregation, that I may consume them as in a moment. And they fell upon their faces. And Moses said unto Aaron, Take a censer, and put fire therein from off the altar, and put on incense…
Now notice, again, that Aaron is taking a censer and taking fire from the altar and putting on incense. That is exactly what the 250 men had done.
Then it says in Numbers 16:46-50:
…and go quickly unto the congregation, and make an atonement for them: for there is wrath gone out from JEHOVAH; the plague is begun. And Aaron took as Moses commanded, and ran into the midst of the congregation; and, behold, the plague was begun among the people: and he put on incense, and made an atonement for the people. And he stood between the dead and the living; and the plague was stayed. Now they that died in the plague were fourteen thousand and seven hundred, beside them that died about the matter of Korah. And Aaron returned unto Moses unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation: and the plague was stayed.
Here, we see that Aaron is a great type of the Lord Jesus Christ as he takes a censer, puts fire therein from off the alter, and put on incense and made an atonement for them. This prevented the plague from destroying the entire congregation of Israel.
God gives us an interesting number here (14,700) and there are a few more things we would like to look at before we move on, but we have run out of time tonight. Lord willing, in our next study, we will come back to Numbers 16.
Revelation 8 Series, Study #5
by Chris McCann, originally aired December 4, 2013
Good evening and welcome to EBible Fellowship's Bible study in the Book of Revelation. Tonight is study #5 of Revelation, chapter 8, and we are going to be reading Revelation 8:3-5:
And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer *it* with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, *which came* with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel's hand. And the angel took the censer, and filled it with fire of the altar, and cast *it* into the earth: and there were voices, and thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake.
In our last study we were looking at the altar as God writes about it in the Old Testament. We saw that there was a brasen altar (bronze) that was used for burnt offering and there was a certain location where that altar could be found. There was also a golden altar, which is referred to here in Revelation 8, and it was before the throne of God and before the ark. Aaron, as the High Priest of Israel (and his descendents who would become High Priests), were to go in and offer incense on the Day of Atonement, once a year.
So we were just looking at how God speaks of these two different altars and we saw that their location is able to distinguish them; one was of bronze and one was of gold, and one was to have burnt offerings offered upon it and one was to have incense offered upon it.
That led us to Numbers 16 and there we have an historical account that God has recorded for us of a rebellion which took place in the wilderness, after Israel came out of Egypt. There were men of renown and famous in the congregation, and they rose up and accused Moses and Aaron of taking too much upon themselves because, as they said, “All the congregation are holy.” So a test was devised and the test had to do with every man taking a censer and putting incense and fire thereon and coming before the Lord with that incense. The 250 men of the congregation did come before the Lord, as we read in Numbers 16:35:
And there came out a fire from JEHOVAH, and consumed the two hundred and fifty men that offered incense.
Following this, the congregation of the children of Israel continued to murmur against Moses and against Aaron, saying, “Ye have killed the people of JEHOVAH.” So God continued to be displeased and He sent a plague, in which many of them were dying, and I want to read this, again, in Numbers 16:46-50:
And JEHOVAH spake unto Moses, saying, Get you up from among this congregation, that I may consume them as in a moment. And they fell upon their faces. And Moses said unto Aaron, Take a censer, and put fire therein from off the altar, and put on incense and go quickly unto the congregation, and make an atonement for them: for there is wrath gone out from JEHOVAH; the plague is begun. And Aaron took as Moses commanded, and ran into the midst of the congregation; and, behold, the plague was begun among the people: and he put on incense, and made an atonement for the people. And he stood between the dead and the living; and the plague was stayed. Now they that died in the plague were fourteen thousand and seven hundred, beside them that died about the matter of Korah. And Aaron returned unto Moses unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation: and the plague was stayed.
Here, we have a wonderful picture of Aaron as a type of Christ and he took the censer and put fire therein from the altar and put on incense, and as we saw previously, these were things that the High Priest would do on the Day of Atonement. God uses the language, “put on incense and go quickly unto the congregation, and make an atonement for them,” so it is picturing the atoning work of the Lord Jesus Christ; and that atoning work of Christ did “stay the plague,” the plague of God’s wrath against all the sinners that Jesus atoned for. God is using this event of the rebellion in the camp of Israel to teach us about the true and genuine atoning work of Christ for His elect. The murmuring Israelites that were spared are being used here as a picture of those elect, even though the vast majority of them will perish in the wilderness because they never became saved. But, in this picture, the ones that are spared in this particular plague are picturing those elect that Christ saved when He did make atonement for their sins from the foundation of the world.
So we have two pictures of atonement. We have the 250 men that were famous in the congregation; they also had censers and fire and incense and went before JEHOVAH and, yet, their sacrifice was not acceptable. It is similar to Cain and Abel, but in this case offering the wrong kind of offering led to their destruction, as they were burned up by the fire that came from the Lord. The atonement that the 250 men were presenting was a “false” atoning work and God, here, is typing those that come with other kinds of gospels, using the language of the Bible and claiming that sins can be forgiven through their kind of gospels.
The number of (false) gospels are so numerous; there is no sense to even try to name them all. You can get saved in many varied ways, according to the churches. If you go into one church, the pastor may say, “Well, here is what you have to do to get saved. Just come to our service, walk down the aisle and say the “Sinner’s Prayer.” Another church will say, “Just accept the Lord and you will be saved.” Another church will say, “We want you to come to church for a couple of months and then be baptized and you will be a part of our congregation.” Then another church will say, “You just have to be a member in good standing and partake of the Lord’s Table and you will be saved.” Then in another church, speaking in tongues is an evidence of the Holy Spirit…and on and on it goes, and it is all an offering of “strange fire” before JEHOVAH; and those people will be burned up, literally, on the last day when they are destroyed, unless at some point during the day of salvation, God would have saved them and they would have abandoned those types of gospels. But any that continued in the churches and congregations will be destroyed. God lit a spiritual fire in His anger that judged the churches and now has destroyed the “third part” of the unsaved people that were within these churches and congregations, as we have now entered into the Day of Judgment upon the world.
Let us look at one more thing before we move on and that is the number that God gives us in Numbers 16:49:
Now they that died in the plague were fourteen thousand and seven hundred, beside them that died about the matter of Korah.
God is saying it is “fourteen thousand and seven hundred,” plus those that died in the “matter of Korah,” and we know that to be 250 men, so the total number of those that died in this rebellion was 14,950. We wonder if there is any significance to that number, and when we break out our calculator and try to find the significant numbers that make up that number, we do find that it is a highly significant number. The number “14,905” breaks down to “5 x 10 x 13 x 23.” Each one of those numbers is of great significance. For instance, if we insert the spiritual meaning for each of the numbers, it would say: “At the end of the world (13), God will bring judgment (23) upon the complete number of them (10) that offer strange incense in relationship to the atoning work of the Lord Jesus Christ (5).” In other words, this points to the final judgment of God upon those that bring other kinds of gospels; the judgment that begins at the house of God, which God completed at the end of 23 years.
It is interesting how we have these very same numbers. After 13,000 years of history (13), God began judging the house of God (23); and after that, he completed the judgment (10) against those offering “strange fire” or false atonements (5).
Let us go back to our verse in Revelation 8:3:
And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer…
As mentioned before, this “angel” would be Jesus Christ.
… and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer *it* with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne.
The word “censer” here is a Greek word, but just as the term “golden altar” came from the Old Testament, so does the word “censer.” In the Old Testament (just to help us get a very good understanding of what this word means), the word “censer” is also translated as “firepan” in Exodus 38:3:
And he made all the vessels of the altar, the pots, and the shovels, and the basons, *and* the fleshhooks, and the firepans: all the vessels thereof made he *of* brass.
Now this “firepan” or “censer” would be made of brass because it had to do with the altar of brass for the burnt offering, but there are also censers for the golden altar. This is a very vivid description of what a censer is: it is where the coals of fire would be placed and the incense would be placed thereon, so it had to be something that would hold the fire, like a firepan.
We read in Leviticus, chapter 10, of another historical occasion where some men attempted to offer incense and a very similar result happened, as it did with Korah and the 250 men of renown. It says in Leviticus 10:1-2:
And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took either of them his censer, and put fire therein, and put incense thereon, and offered strange fire before JEHOVAH, which he commanded them not. And there went out fire from JEHOVAH, and devoured them, and they died before JEHOVAH.
This was a lesser judgment, but it was a judgment for the very same reason. Just as those 250 men should not have done what they did, neither should Nadab and Abihu (even though they were sons of Aaron) have attempted to offer this incense; there was something wrong with their offering that caused it to be considered as “strange fire.” Now why would God call it “strange fire”? Well, “strange fire” would be any kind of offering of incense in a censer that was not according to the Law. It could be something that they did with the censer or, more than likely, it had to do with God wanting only Aaron to approach to the golden altar with the censer, fire and incense, and not his sons. So they may have taken something upon themselves that they were not qualified to do, just as those 250 men of the congregation. So they suffered the same fate: fire came down from JEHOVAH and devoured them, and they died before JEHOVAH.
So God is giving us these true historical examples to teach us the deadly serious nature of bringing the true Gospel of salvation – the Gospel the Bible defines – and not going beyond the boundaries and limits the Bible puts on that Gospel; that is, Christ does all the work; He is the one that offers up the atonement for the sake of His people and man can do no work of any kind. So we see that God took men’s lives and God could take anyone’s life at any time and be perfectly just in doing so, so He determined on occasion to take lives, like the example of the man that picked up a few sticks on the Sabbath Day and the Lord commanded that he be stoned to death. That man was a sinner; Nadab and Abihu were sinners; the 250 men of the congregation were sinners. God could take their lives because of sin at any point, so He determined that He would take their lives now because they are sinners and, while doing so, God will use it as a means of instruction. He uses their death to teach others that they might not die as these men die. God, of course, is just in all that He does and, here, it really is a good thing that God has given us these examples, so that we might not follow in the way that these men went.
Let us go back to Leviticus 16…and I say “back” because I would like to read it again, as it uses the word “censer” in speaking of the Day of Atonement and in regard to Aaron, the High Priest of Israel, and it says in Leviticus 16:12-14:
And he shall take a censer full of burning coals of fire from off the altar before JEHOVAH, and his hands full of sweet incense beaten small, and bring *it* within the vail: And he shall put the incense upon the fire before JEHOVAH, that the cloud of the incense may cover the mercy seat that *is* upon the testimony, that he die not: And he shall take of the blood of the bullock, and sprinkle *it* with his finger upon the mercy seat eastward; and before the mercy seat shall he sprinkle of the blood with his finger seven times.
This is illustrating the work of the Lord Jesus Christ, as the High Priest would enter into the Holy of Holies and he would bring “a censer full of burning coals of fire from off the altar,” full of this sweet incense; and then the cloud of incense would cover the mercy seat so that he could not see very well and then he would sprinkle the blood of the sacrificial animal. This would point to Christ as He gave His life for His people. This is the legitimate and prescribed Law that God gave concerning the offering of incense on the Day of Atonement. None others were qualified. It was only the High Priest and it was only once per year, and this pointed to Jesus Himself.
Let us go back to Revelation 8 and let us read, again, from Revelation 8:3:
And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer *it* with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, *which came* with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel's hand.
Is this not interesting how God associates the offering up of the incense along “with the prayers of all saints”? He says it twice, so that we take note of it and we cannot miss that there is some connection between this offering of the incense within the Holy of Holies on the Day of Atonement and “the prayers of the saints.” When we come back in our next Bible study we are going to get into this in more detail and think about this some more, as we see what God has in mind when He is directing us to consider “the prayers of the saints.”
Revelation 8 Series, Study #6
by Chris McCann, originally aired December 6, 2013
Good evening and welcome to EBible Fellowship's Bible study in the Book of Revelation. Tonight is study #6 of Revelation, chapter 8, and we are continuing to look at Revelation 8:3-5:
And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer *it* with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, *which came* with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel's hand. And the angel took the censer, and filled it with fire of the altar, and cast *it* into the earth: and there were voices, and thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake.
We have been looking at these verses for the last couple of studies and tonight we are going to look at the connection that God is making between the golden censer and the offering up of incense with “the prayers of the saints.”
We mentioned it before, but it serves us well to mention it again. The reference to another angel is a reference to Jesus Himself, who came and stood at the altar. He is the “messenger” that has the golden censer and is given much incense that he should offer it with the prayers of the saints. So this other “messenger” is the one offering up the incense in the golden censer upon the golden altar.
We learned from our look into the Old Testament that it was only the High Priest of Israel who was allowed to go into the Holy of Holies to offer the incense upon the golden altar on the Day of Atonement. God made a point of putting to death other individuals (250 men at one time) that rebelled against him in the wilderness, plus Nadab and Abihu that offered “strange fire.” God made a point of letting us know that the one who offered it must be the High Priest and, therefore, it would point to Jesus Himself, the great High Priest of His people after the order of Melchisedec and He is, without question, the other “messenger.”
Before we continue on, we want to consider why God is associating the offering of incense with the prayers of the saints. He does not just do it here, but we find similar language in Psalm 141:1-2:
A Psalm of David. JEHOVAH, I cry unto thee: make haste unto me; give ear unto my voice, when I cry unto thee. Let my prayer be set forth before thee *as* incense; *and* the lifting up of my hands *as* the evening sacrifice.
Here, we see that God is moving David to write that his cries unto Him (which are his prayers) be “set forth before thee as incense.” David is a type of Christ, so we can see the spiritual significance of this; that David, King of Israel, is a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is that High Priest that offers the incense. It is also the Lord Jesus Christ that prays for the sakes of His people: He prays not for the world, but He prays for His people. He is the one that intercedes on their behalves before God: “He ever liveth,” the Bible tells us, to make intercession for His chosen people on behalf of those whom He has redeemed. So, here, God is connecting prayers and incense.
Also, it says in the Book of Revelation, in Revelation 5:7-8:
And he came and took the book out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne. And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four *and* twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints.
Do you see how God, here, is not leaving out the prayers of His people, but He is remembering them? They are with the Lord Jesus Christ, with the “four living creatures” that are a representation of Eternal God Himself and with the twenty four elders, which typify all of God’s elect from the Old Testament and the New Testament. They have golden vials of odors. We can almost “see” a golden vial full of odours of the prayers of the saints being put into the “firepan” or into the “censer,” as the smoke of the incense is rising up with the prayers of the saints.
You know, we can see the similarity with that kind of idea: the smoke of incense ascends up and prayers also ascend up to the ears of God. We read of that in Acts 10:1-4:
There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of the band called the Italian *band*, *A* devout “man,* and one that feared God with all his house, which gave much alms to the people, and prayed to God alway. He saw in a vision evidently about the ninth hour of the day an angel of God coming in to him, and saying unto him, Cornelius. And when he looked on him, he was afraid, and said, What is it, Lord? And he said unto him, Thy prayers and thine alms are come up for a memorial before God.
Cornelius had been praying and now it was as though his prayers had “come up,” or as if they had “ascended” before God. The implication is that God was hearing them and God was acting upon those prayers. This is true of the people of God all through history. If we go back to the Book of Exodus, I think we will find something interesting concerning the prayers of the children of Israel. We are going to look at a couple of different verses in Exodus. God is speaking to Moses and it says in Exodus 3:5-7:
And he said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest *is* holy ground. Moreover he said, I *am* the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look upon God. And JEHOVAH said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which *are* in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows;
God has heard their cries and that would be their prayers. In this same chapter, it says in Exodus 3:9-10:
Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel is come unto me: and I have also seen the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppress them. Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt.
God heard the prayers of His people that were suffering cruel bondage, as they were greatly grieved and troubled and sorely tried; and they cried unto God and God heard their prayers. We read in Exodus 6:5-8:
And I have also heard the groaning of the children of Israel, whom the Egyptians keep in bondage; and I have remembered my covenant. Wherefore say unto the children of Israel, I *am* JEHOVAH, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will rid you out of their bondage, and I will redeem you with a stretched out arm, and with great judgments: And I will take you to me for a people, and I will be to you a God: and ye shall know that I *am* JEHOVAH your God, which bringeth you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. And I will bring you in unto the land, concerning the which I did swear to give it to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob; and I will give it you for an heritage: I *am* JEHOVAH.
That name “JEHOVAH” means “Saviour.” God is the “Saviour” and, here, He states that He heard the groanings of the children of Israel whom the Egyptians had kept in bondage. Why is that significant? It is significant because in Revelation, chapter 8, God is, once again, emphasizing the prayers of His people and we are about to read of God’s judgment beginning at the house of God, as He pours out His wrath on the “third part,” which typifies the churches and congregations; so that judgment begins the time of end, the time of the final judgment of God and the final program of God’s end-time plan, which would also include His salvation plan.
Notice, again, the Lord says in Exodus 6:5: “And I have also heard the groaning of the children of Israel.” Now that leads us to think of another verse and another place in the Bible where God speaks of “groaning” in relationship to prayer, and that is in the Book of Romans. I am going to read Romans 8:23-27:
And not only *they*, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, *to wit,* the redemption of our body. For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, *then* do we with patience wait for *it*. Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what *is* the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to *the will of * God.
Here, God is telling something amazing about prayer and that is that we really do not know what we should pray for. We do not know perfectly what is the wisest and best thing or the thing that we need the most or even what we should be praying for. We often end up praying for things that are not the best or wisest or most needful for us, but God says, “Do not worry about that. Do not be overly concerned that you do not know what you should pray for, because you have my Spirit dwelling within you.” The Holy Spirit indwells each child of God and that Spirit of God knows exactly what you need, what you require and for what you ought to pray. So “the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.” Remember, God said that He had heard “the groanings” of Israel; He heard the Spirit of God that interceded on their behalves, or, at least, that is the spiritual picture that God is painting which resulted in God taking action to send a deliverer, Moses, to free His people Israel.
Likewise, God has heard the cries of His Spirit concerning His elect, so we find in Revelation, chapter 8, the Lord Jesus (this other angel) “came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne,” and that would be the prayer that was assisted, or helped, by God’s Spirit Himself who perfects the prayer and knows perfectly what the prayer ought to be. It is as though the Lord Jesus Christ is offering up the atonement for the sake of all of His elect and then the prayers of all saints (the intercession of the Spirit of God) is taking place for each one that Jesus died for from the foundation of the world, for each one whose name was recorded in the Lamb’s Book of Life. It is especially important at this time of the end when judgment began at the house of God, when the Bible would be unsealed and God would soon (after the 2,300 evening mornings) send forth the “latter rain” and recover the remnant of His people through this second Jubilee; He will gather together in one all the elect from the four corners of the earth and they will experience the salvation of God. This is the prayer; this is why the judgment of God must begin. It is why judgment must take place upon the house of God.
Vengeance, also, must be exacted, as God pours out His wrath on the churches and congregations that were unfaithful and as a result of their unfaithfulness, it caused His sheep to wander upon every hill because the churches did not perform their duty in feeding and caring for the sheep, or even in finding the lost sheep of the house of Israel. So God is also answering that prayer of His people, the souls of those that are “under the altar,” and under the blood of Christ and the saving work of the Lord Jesus. So that is the beautiful picture that God is painting for us in these verses. As it says in Revelation 8:4-5:
And the smoke of the incense, *which came* with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel's hand. And the angel took the censer, and filled it with fire of the altar, and cast *it* into the earth: and there were voices, and thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake.
It was time now, finally, for the long-awaited end to come. Judgment would now shortly commence and God would complete His program – His final judgment of bringing His wrath upon the unsaved. His program of salvation would soon be complete, by the time this Great Tribulation period would come to a close.
Revelation 8 Series, Study #7
by Chris McCann, originally aired December 9, 2013
Good evening and welcome to EBible Fellowship's Bible study in the Book of Revelation. Tonight is study #7 of Revelation, chapter 8, and we are going to be reading Revelation 8:5-7:
And the angel took the censer, and filled it with fire of the altar, and cast *it* into the earth: and there were voices, and thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake. And the seven angels which had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound. The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.
We have been going through Revelation, chapter 8, verse by verse, and we have seen that the golden altar relates to the Holy of Holies where the Ark of the Covenant was, indicating God’s presence. The High Priest of Israel would go in once a year with incense and offer the blood of the sacrificial animal on the Day of Atonement.
Here, as we saw back in verse 3, another angel came and stood at the altar having a golden censer, and it should have been translated as another “messenger” and it is the Lord Jesus Christ, as He is the only one qualified to take the censer with the incense, just as the High Priest of Israel was the only one qualified to go inside the Holy of Holies on the Day of Atonement. So, we can be sure that this angel is Christ Himself. We saw that He took the censer “and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel's hand.”
We also saw how “the prayers of the saints” has to do with the Holy Spirit that intercedes on behalf of God’s elect and offers up prayers with “groanings” that only the Spirit Himself is aware of. We, after all, do not know what it best for us; we do not know how to pray as we should.
Then verse 5 tells us that this “angel” (who would be Jesus) “took the censer, and filled it with fire of the altar, and cast it into the earth.” This is unusual language and an unusual act for the angel to perform. Why did He take the censer with fire from the altar and why did He cast it into the earth? We are going to have to search the Bible and see if there are any other Scriptures that relate to what we are reading here. We do find, in Isaiah, chapter 6, some interesting happenings, as Isaiah the prophet is given a vision, in the year that King Uzziah died, of God seated upon a throne, in Isaiah 6:5-7:
Then said I, Woe *is* me! for I am undone; because I *am* a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, JEHOVAH of hosts. Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, *which* he had taken with the tongs from off the altar: And he laid *it* upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged. Also, I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here *am* I; send me.
The seraphim would be a reference to God himself, as we know that God is typified by many things in the Bible. He has many names and the “four living creatures” are Eternal God and the cherubim are Eternal God and, likewise, the seraphim are Eternal God. Since God is a triune God, we can speak of “one of the seraphim” as being One of the Persons of the Godhead, “having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar.” So we see that connection with what we are reading in Revelation 8, where fire was taken from the altar by the angel and cast unto the earth. Here, the coal, which would have been on fire, was laid upon Isaiah’s mouth and it took away his iniquity and his sin was purged. That is what is being pictured because, through the atoning work of the Lord Jesus Christ, the sins of His people are cleansed, so that idea is one we have to consider and this may be what is in view in Revelation 8:5 as the messenger took the censer and filled it with fire from the altar and cast it into the earth.
Let us look at how that idea has further support in Romans 12:19-21:
Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but *rather* give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance *is* mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.
With these words, God is identifying the sharing of the Gospel with the coals of fire from the altar. When we would share the Word of God with an individual, it could be that God would save him and, therefore, it was as if the coals of fire came upon him or upon the Lord Jesus Christ who would become his head, as 1st Corinthians 11 lays out that figure: “The head of every man is Christ.”
But either way, God is laying out the idea of the coals of fire (which would come from the altar) with the sharing of the Gospel, when we would give our enemies food or drink – the bread of the Lord Jesus Christ and the water of the Gospel.
In Revelation, chapter 8, the messenger took the censer and filled it with fire of the altar and cast it into the earth, and we know that Revelation 8 is preparing to begin discussing the Great Tribulation period, as that period of time began with judgment on the house of God. But the Great Tribulation period was also a time of great salvation and a time when God would save a “great multitude” of people out of the nations of the world, but that was not at the very beginning; we know that the first 2,300 “evening mornings” was a horrible time in which virtually no one was being saved. But it could still be that God is picturing the taking of the fire off the altar and casting it into the earth as though it is identifying with all those elect upon the earth that will be alive when judgment commences at the house of God and it is, therefore, identifying with the atoning work of Christ on their behalf. That seems to be in view.
Then it goes on to say in Revelation 8:5:
…and there were voices, and thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake.
We see that four things are mentioned and the number “four” points to the universal scope of the judgment on the churches, as it is a worldwide judgment. It is not just a judgment on the North American churches or the South American churches, but it is a judgment on all churches of the world, without exception, and no church is immune. No church is left out. This was actually one of the big questions early on when we were studying the end of the church age. We knew that the Bible spoke of an apostasy coming at the end of time within the churches and we knew God spoke of judging the churches, but the question always came down to “what degree?” How many of the churches would be apostate? Was it possible there could be a handful of congregations, here and there, that God was not judging? And, of course, with that idea, just about every church considered itself to be part of that remnant. No – we learned that Judah was to be “without inhabitant,” and when God judged Jerusalem and Judah, He commanded everyone to go into captivity; none was to remain.
There is a verse in Isaiah 1 and it is really the major verse that allows us to state that God’s judgment is on 100% of the churches all over the world and we do not have to visit each one, as some people would say, “You have never been to the vast majority of churches. You only have limited experience.” Well, we can say it because God says it, in Isaiah 1:21:
How is the faithful city become an harlot!
That is the question. How did the churches become Babylon? How did the churches become part of the kingdom of Satan? First of all, why was it ever considered to be a “faithful city” in the first place? The reason is that it had the Spirit of Christ dwelling in the midst and that is what made it faithful. So how did it become a harlot? It goes on to say in Isaiah 1:21:
… it was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it; but now murderers.
And, according 1st Corinthians 1:30, Jesus is “righteousness” and, again, that is what made the churches to be considered a “faithful city.” But then it goes on to say at the end of verse 21, “but now murderers;” that is, Christ no longer lodged in it. Christ departed from the churches and the Holy Spirit came out of the midst, as 2nd Thessalonians 2 tells us. The “daily” was taken away and that “daily” identifies with the light of the Gospel, which identifies with the Holy Spirit, and the “abomination of desolation” was set up. It is a universal and worldwide judgment upon all congregations, so God speaks of “voices, and thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake,” indicating the worldwide aspect of the judgment. There is not a church somewhere that is left out – all churches are being judged.
We find almost identical language in Revelation 16, where God is describing the judgment on the world as the “seven last vials full of the wrath of God” are poured out on the inhabitants of the earth. It says in Revelation 16:17-18:
And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done. And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake,
Now we see the similarity. We have four things listed in Revelation 8:5 and they are the same things: voices, and thunders and lightnings and an earthquake. The only difference is that Revelation 5 said “earthquake” and Revelation 8:5 said “great earthquake.” Then it goes on to say in Revelation 16:18-19:
…such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, *and* so great. And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath.
This explains what is going on. Here, Babylon typifies Satan’s kingdom of this world, which would, at this point, include the churches. The whole kingdom of Babylon has fallen and Babylon fell immediately after the Tribulation on May 21, 2011. Babylon had been victorious over the churches during the time of the Great Tribulation, during the time that God was judging the churches. But it was afterwards (just like after the seventy year period that typified the Great Tribulation) that Babylon fell and Judgment Day came and, at that point, “there were voices, and thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake,” and it is then that God gives to Babylon “the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath.”
It is the language of “the cup” that helps us to understand. God is using these four things to indicate that judgment begins at His house, as Jeremiah 25 reveals to us, and the Lord first judges the people called by His name (they are first given “the cup”) and following that, “the cup” is given to the nations of the world, as typified by Babylon. So we are not surprised to read almost identical language: voices, thunderings and lightnings and a great earthquake, and that is because it is the identical cup of wrath. It is spiritual judgment, first upon the congregations, and then a spiritual judgment that is transitioned and expanded to include all the world.
Let us continue in Revelation 6:8:
And the seven angels which had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound.
They “prepared themselves to sound.” The word “prepared” means just what it says: the seven angels made preparation for their sounding. This is curious and we wonder why do they not just take their trumpets and sound? The seven angels, or seven messengers, that had the seven trumpets….and, remember, we know the Bible makes identification between trumpets and the Word of God. So the seven messengers, the true believers, have the Word of God, so why is “preparation” necessary before they can sound? But that is what it says: “And the seven angels which had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound.”
This word “prepared” is used in Matthew 25:34:
Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:
As we read this verse, we understand that God is telling us that all preparation for His salvation plan was made from the foundation of the world: the ones that were to be saved, the elect, were predestinated to salvation before the world began; the Lord Jesus Christ then made payment and took their sins upon Himself and He died for them and rose from the dead from the foundation of the world; then, as the Son, He created this world and this universe. So all things necessary for the salvation of these souls was prepared in advance and now the Eternal King of Heaven, the Lord God is bidding, “Come, ye blessed of my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” We see how all the preparation was done in advance.
We also find this word three times in a few short verses in Mark 14. It says in Mark 14:12:
And the first day of unleavened bread, when they killed the passover, his disciples said unto him, Where wilt thou that we go and prepare that thou mayest eat the passover?
Then it says in Mark 14:15-16:
And he will shew you a large upper room furnished *and* prepared: there make ready for us.
It is the word “make ready” that is the same Greek word.
And his disciples went forth, and came into the city, and found as he had said unto them: and they made ready the passover.
There was “preparation” made in advance of Christ’s coming to the upper room for the Passover and that is the word “make ready” that we also find in Revelation 8:6:
And the seven angels which had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound.
They “prepared” to sound. What did they have to do before they sounded the trumpet? There is another verse in Revelation that may help us understand this and it will also further confirm that the “seven angels” are actually “seven messengers” which represent the believers. In Revelation, in a chapter where we are given that glorious look at the “bride of Christ” which is made up of the body of believers, it says in Revelation 19:7:
Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready.
Here, the term “made herself ready” is a translation of the same Greek word translated as “prepared.” Notice, in Revelation 7, it said that the seven angels “prepared themselves,” and in Revelation 19, the “bride of Christ” also “prepared herself.” What did she prepare herself for? She prepared herself for her marriage to the Lamb.
We can understand this if we think of the traditional wedding that many nations have, in which the bride does make preparation in advance before she goes to the groom and they are joined together in matrimony. That idea comes right from the Bible. It comes from this verse that says, “his wife hath made herself ready.” That is how things work in the world and we understand that, but how does this work spiritually, once we realize that the bride is made up of all of God’s elect and they are being joined through salvation to the Lord Jesus, the bridegroom? How is the bride involved in making herself ready for this wedding? Does not the Bible teach us that God does everything in the matter of salvation? Christ is the Saviour and we are saved by His faith and not by our own faith, so what part do we play in making preparation for the marriage to the Lamb? The answer is that God used His people to carry forth the message of the Gospel throughout history: “How beautiful are the feet of them…that bring glad tidings of good things,” the Bible tells us.
So the wife was commissioned and faithfully did carry the message of the Word of God to the nations of the world; and God’s elect within those nations heard and God blessed the hearing of that Word to their hearts; they then became saved and were added to that very same body – to the formation of the body of Christ. So, in that sense, the bride spiritually “made herself ready” for the marriage.
We see this in special detail in the time leading up to May 21, 2011. It was the bride of Christ on earth (the believers) that fervently and diligently carried the message of the Bible regarding the approaching Judgment Day to all the world. This enabled those elect that had not yet been redeemed by having the blood of Christ applied to their hearts to “hear” and the believers contributed by God moving in them to “will and to do of His good pleasure” in forming the “bride” and to, finally, make herself ready as all of the elect were saved and the “complete and total” bride was made ready. The preparation was done.
This is what is in view in Revelation 8, too. The “seven angels” or “seven messengers” are true believers and they have the seven trumpets of God and once the seven trumpets begin to sound, that signals the beginning of judgment at the house of God. But before they could sound, they had to “make preparation” for that sounding of judgment by being utilized by God in carrying the Gospel to the nations during the church age, in order that the “firstfruits” could be gathered and God could save all of those He intended to save before He could end the church age and bring about the “silence in heaven for about the space of half an hour.” Preparation was necessary, so they made themselves ready to sound by completing the task that God had given them. Then, as Revelation 7 put it, once the “144,000” were sealed, then the “hurt” could begin and the wrath of God could be poured out upon the churches and congregations of the world.
Revelation 8 Series, Study #8
by Chris McCann, originally aired December 10, 2013
Good evening and welcome to EBible Fellowship's Bible study in the Book of Revelation. Tonight is study #8 of Revelation, chapter 8, and we are going to be reading Revelation 8:6-7:
And the seven angels which had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound. The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.
The seven angels (or messengers) are beginning to sound. They had “prepared themselves to sound” by obeying God’s command to go into all the world with the Gospel, which finally resulted in the salvation of all the “firstfruits,” all of God’s elect that would be saved during the church age. Also, at the time of the Great Tribulation, God was going to open up His Word and after the 2,300 first “evening mornings,” He would pour out the “latter rain.” This also required the messengers, or true believers, to bring the Gospel to the world because the last three trumpets (five, six and seven), which are also identified with “three woes,” deal with Judgment Day, which occurred on May 21, 2011, and all these days thereafter. And Judgment Day could not take place unless the people of God, again, “prepared themselves to sound.” They had to first carry the message of the Gospel to all the world so God could complete His salvation plan outside the churches. So that is in view with both the salvation of the “firstfruits” and with the salvation of the “great multitude” during the last 17 years of the Great Tribulation period.
But now the preparation is finished and it is time to for judgment to begin and it is time for the first messenger to sound, and he does sound, “and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood.” Now the language here that talks of judgment to come (as it was cast upon the earth) directs us to the Book of Exodus, because this same kind of language is found when we read of God bringing the plagues upon Egypt: we read of hail and fire and blood. We do not read of hail and fire mingled with blood (where all are combined), but we do read of plagues of hail and fire and a separate plague of blood that came upon Egypt. Actually, I do not think we find anywhere else in the Bible where it says that “hail and fire” are mingled with “blood,” so this is unique, but it still, nonetheless, is directing us to Exodus 9:18-26:
Behold, to morrow about this time I will cause it to rain a very grievous hail, such as hath not been in Egypt since the foundation thereof even until now. Send therefore now, *and* gather thy cattle, and all that thou hast in the field; *for upon* every man and beast which shall be found in the field, and shall not be brought home, the hail shall come down upon them, and they shall die. He that feared the word of JEHOVAH among the servants of Pharaoh made his servants and his cattle flee into the houses: And he that regarded not the word of JEHOVAH left his servants and his cattle in the field. And JEHOVAH said unto Moses, Stretch forth thine hand toward heaven, that there may be hail in all the land of Egypt, upon man, and upon beast, and upon every herb of the field, throughout the land of Egypt. And Moses stretched forth his rod toward heaven: and JEHOVAH sent thunder and hail, and the fire ran along upon the ground; and JEHOVAH rained hail upon the land of Egypt. So there was hail, and fire mingled with the hail, very grievous, such as there was none like it in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation. And the hail smote throughout all the land of Egypt all that *was* in the field, both man and beast; and the hail smote every herb of the field, and brake every tree of the field. Only in the land of Goshen, where the children of Israel *were*, was there no hail.
Here we find God bringing a severe judgment upon Egypt – hail that is a destroying hail and it is mingled with fire. It was “a very grievous hail,” such as there was none like it in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation; and that statement reminds us of what God says about the Great Tribulation, in Matthew 24:21:
For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
With the sounding of the messenger in Revelation 8:7, it is signaling the beginning of the Great Tribulation period, as the Great Tribulation was a time of judgment upon the churches and congregations of the world, so God speaks of that time as unparalleled. Likewise, with the plague that God brought upon Egypt, as they had never seen such an awful plague of hail, with fire mingled with the hail. This was terrible and it was greatly destructive to their trees and cattle, and so forth, and God is relating it to His judgment.
When we read about the plagues that came upon Egypt, we wonder if God is describing these plagues in relationship to Judgment Day on the world or are these plagues that came upon Egypt describing the judgment that came upon the churches during the time of Great Tribulation? We wonder that because, just saw in Revelation 8, that it is describing God’s wrath beginning on the churches and the sounding of the first angel pointed us back to that plague which came upon Egypt: “The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood.”
Also, notice Revelation 8:8-9:
And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea: and the third part of the sea became blood; And the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life, died; and the third part of the ships were destroyed.
Now, again, this is something God did to Egypt. He turned their water to blood, so we can go back to the Book of Exodus and we can find tie-ins to this language concerning the judgment on the churches, but, also, if we go to Revelation 16, where it is discussing the seven last vials of the wrath of God that are being poured out upon the world, and we find it says in Revelation 16:3:
And the second angel poured out his vial upon the sea; and it became as the blood of a dead *man:* and every living soul died in the sea. And the third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and fountains of waters; and they became blood.
You see, there was a plague of blood that God is speaking of, but this is judgment upon the world and not just upon the churches. It also says in Revelation 16:10-11:
And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast; and his kingdom was full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues for pain, And blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds.
That reminds us of the plague of darkness that came upon Egypt. Remember, after each of the plagues the Egyptians, headed up by Pharaoh, refused to repent and they would not submit to the will of God in letting His people go. It is the same with the plagues in Revelation 16 and we read that they “repented not of their deeds.”
So, what are we to make of this? How are we to understand the judgment on Egypt in relationship to the judgment on the churches or judgment on the world? The answer is that it can picture both. For instance, we know that God uses Egypt as a type and picture of the world; that is why He speaks of Egypt as “the house of bondage.” When the Jews were delivered and the Israelites were freed, it is a picture of God saving His elect from the kingdom of darkness, the kingdom of Satan. He is bringing them out of spiritual bondage to sin, to Satan and to this world.
But, also, the Bible can use Egypt as a type and figure of the churches. In Revelation, chapter 11, we read of the “two witnesses” and it says in Revelation 11:7:
And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them.
Now this would be pointing to the end of the church age, as God’s Word has finished its testimony in the churches and congregations. Then the Great Tribulation began and judgment began at the house of God and this means that Satan has been loosed; he is the beast that comes up out of the bottomless pit and overcomes the “two witnesses,” the witnesses of the Word of God within the churches.
Then it says in Revelation 11:8:
And their dead bodies *shall lie* in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.
So we have confirmation in two ways: first of all, the dead bodies of the two witnesses are lying in the streets and we know that this is referring to the witness of the Word of God within the congregations; and, secondly, it says they are lying “in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified;” and our Lord was crucified outside of Jerusalem, which identifies spiritually with the New Testament churches and congregations up until the time of the end. Then God gave them up and abandoned the churches and He came out of the midst and, immediately, the faithful city became a harlot and Satan began to rule. It was just as Pharaoh, a great type of Satan, ruled in Egypt. The church was cast into spiritual darkness and the churches became a “house of bondage” for all those that remained within. They are in spiritual darkness and there is no salvation taking place there at all.
There is a very interesting verse back in Deuteronomy 28, which vividly describes what happened on May 21, 1988, when God began to judge the churches. In the first few verses God speaks of the blessing of obedience, then from verse 15 to the end, He speaks of the “curse” that comes upon those that are disobedient or rebellious children; this would speak of those that identify with him – the corporate body – but were never saved. God says in Deuteronomy 28:68:
And JEHOVAH shall bring thee into Egypt again with ships, by the way whereof I spake unto thee, Thou shalt see it no more again: and there ye shall be sold unto your enemies for bondmen and bondwomen, and no man shall buy *you*.
What a frightful verse this is! First of all, ask the question: Has this verse ever been fulfilled, literally? The answer is, “No, of course not.” After all, this is saying that JEHOVAH is going to bring Israel again “into Egypt again with ships.” They will be sold to their enemies and no man will buy them, or redeem them. We know that this has never taken place. There is nothing in the Bible that comes anywhere close to a literal fulfillment of this verse. There is no one that can point to any place in the Bible and say, “Well, here is where God loaded those called by His name in ships and had them transported back to Egypt and had them unloaded as slaves and returned to their bondage.” You will not find that anywhere in the Bible. But, once we understand that the Bible is a parable (Christ spoke in parables and God hides truth everywhere in the Scriptures) and that Israel is a “type and a picture” of the New Testament churches and congregations, then it makes perfect sense. It makes terrible sense because it is just an ugly thing that God is saying, but we understand it perfectly. It reminds us of those verses in which God says, “In the latter days, ye shall consider it perfectly.” And a verse like this certainly could not have been understood before our time.
Here, we find that “JEHOVAH shall bring thee into Egypt again with ships.” Egypt would represent the kingdom of Satan and the kingdom of darkness, and it would be a return to bondage, spiritually. It will be accomplished. “Your return, churches and congregations and you professed Christians, will be accomplished by ships.” God likens the New Testament churches and congregations to “ships,” as we know from the account in Acts 27. That ship that was shipwrecked is picturing the churches at the end – it is destroyed and all of the passengers make it safely to land, which typifies God’s people coming out of the destroyed churches.
Remember, God spoke in 1st Timothy of two men that had made “faith shipwreck,” and that is a very important statement. It is letting us know, speaking of the churches and congregations, the way that the pastors, the elders and the deacons are leading the ship with the “little helm;” and then the Epistle of James tells us that the “tongue is a little member” and God relates it to the helm of a ship that steers the vessel.
So the teachers and the theologians and the seminary professors have set the course for their churches and denominations: “Oh, we will get you to heaven. We will find ultimate deliverance for you. Come and get on board. Sail with us!” And they set sail and all the corporate churches today in all the world – Catholic and Protestant, Presbyterian, Lutheran, Episcopalian, Independent and house churches – are sailing to “Egypt.” Not only are they sailing to it, but they have “arrived” at the city where the “two witnesses” were killed; and that great city, spiritually, is called “Sodom and Egypt.” They have returned to Egypt and they have brought themselves back into bondage and they have brought their wives and their children and their friends (if they have directed their friends back to the churches) back into bondage. And, there, God says, they will be sold unto their enemies for bondmen and bondwomen. They are slaves of Satan and of sin. Now, of course, at this time we can thank God that Satan has been put down and Christ is ruling with a rod of iron over the churches and the world, but He is still bringing judgment upon them.
And, finally, it says (and this is the worst of all statements): “No man shall buy them.” Obviously, the “man” is referring to Jesus. Remember, we are “bought with a price.” We are not our own. We have been bought with the price of the blood of Jesus Christ. He gave his life to buy us and to redeem us. But those in the churches that did not hearken to God’s command to “come out,” but remained, have ended up “in Egypt,” and, there, God has no plan to redeem them. Even during the 23 years of the Great Tribulation, within the churches, God was not redeeming anyone within the congregations – within “Egypt” itself. You needed to come out of the churches in order to, perhaps, experience the grace of God, but now God is not redeeming anyone anywhere.
But, here, we do see how God likens the churches to Egypt. Nothing else but the churches would fit and be understandable, spiritually. It cannot be literal – it must be spiritual, in Deuteronomy 28:68. Nothing else would fit except a corporate church that has returned, in their rebelliousness, to “Egypt.”
Let us go back to Revelation, chapter 8, and we will look at the second part of the verse in Revelation 8:7.
…and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.
Here, God begins, for the first time, to speak of the “third part.” He will make reference to the “third part” eleven times in chapter 8 and two times in chapter 9, totaling 13 times. The “third part” will represent those within the corporate church.
We will spend some time looking at this. It is interesting and it does have information for us today, when we look at what the Bible has to say about the “third part.” We will see how it is that God identifies the church as the “third part.”
Revelation 8 Series, Study #9
by Chris McCann, originally aired December 11, 2013
Good evening and welcome to EBible Fellowship's Bible study in the Book of Revelation. Tonight is study #9 of Revelation, chapter 8, and we are going to be reading Revelation 8:7:
The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.
In our last study we were discussing how the judgment of “hail and fire mingled with blood” relates to Egypt or, to put it another way, the judgments which God brought upon Egypt were historical occurrences the Lord used, spiritually, to teach about the judgment that will come upon the churches at the time of the end and which will also come upon the world.
We see similar language with the judgment upon the churches and with the judgment upon the world, and now we know why. The reason is that it is the same cup of God’s wrath and, here in Revelation 8:7, we read of “hail and fire mingled with blood” was cast upon the earth and it caused “the third part of trees” to be burned up and “all green grass” was burned up.
Let us begin by discussing the “third part.” How do we know that the “third part” really points to those within the churches? The only way we can know that is to search the Bible to see how God uses this phrase “third part.” Let us begin by going back to 2nd Kings, chapter 1. We are going to look at three different instances of God sparing a “third part” in the Old Testament. The first place we will look is 2nd Kings 1 and, here, we find that Elijah is being a hindrance to the King of Israel, so the King sends a captain and fifty men to Elijah to command Elijah to come before him. Of course, most people would shudder in fear and quickly go with the captain and his fifty, as this was an armed force. Yet, that is not what happened in the case of the prophet Elijah. We read in 2nd Kings 1:9:
Then the king sent unto him a captain of fifty with his fifty. And he went up to him: and, behold, he sat on the top of an hill. And he spake unto him, Thou man of God, the king hath said, Come down.
Here is the command and it is not just a “request” involved. It is not as though the King is asking Elijah for the pleasure of his company. It is an order: “Come down, thou man of God.” Then Elijah answers in 2nd Kings 1:10-11:
And Elijah answered and said to the captain of fifty, If I *be* a man of God, then let fire come down from heaven, and consume thee and thy fifty. And there came down fire from heaven, and consumed him and his fifty. Again also he sent unto him another captain of fifty with his fifty. And he answered and said unto him, O man of God, thus hath the king said, Come down quickly.
So another captain and his fifty go to Elijah and there is no difference with them than with the first captain and his fifty. Again, the captain is carrying the message from the King: “Come down quickly.” It is not a request, but it is, again, a command.
Then Elijah answers, again, in 2nd Kings 1:12:
And Elijah answered and said unto them, If I *be* a man of God, let fire come down from heaven, and consume thee and thy fifty. And the fire of God came down from heaven, and consumed him and his fifty.
So we have two captains and their fifty and both came demandingly to the prophet Elijah and ordered him to come with them. Yet, it was not God’s will and, so, Elijah was able to call down fire from heaven which consumed them. It burnt them up – both the captains and their fifties, which would be 102 men. Yet, the King is not taking “No” for an answer, even if it meant the lives of his soldiers. So, it says in 2nd Kings 1:13:
And he sent again a captain of the third fifty with his fifty. And the third captain of fifty went up, and came and fell on his knees before Elijah, and besought him, and said unto him, O man of God, I pray thee, let my life, and the life of these fifty thy servants, be precious in thy sight.
Here, we see a big difference. There is quite a difference in how this captain and his fifty approached Elijah. There was no command. There was no statement, “Come down quickly. The King wants to see you.” He did not dare say that. He knew that the previous captains and their fifties were killed and burnt up with fire from heaven, so he gave great respect and he came to Elijah exhibiting tremendous humility. Notice that he fell on his knees before Elijah, in 1st Kings 1:13-15:
…O man of God, I pray thee, let my life, and the life of these fifty thy servants, be precious in thy sight. Behold, there came fire down from heaven, and burnt up the two captains of the former fifties with their fifties: therefore let my life now be precious in thy sight. And the angel of JEHOVAH said unto Elijah, Go down with him: be not afraid of him. And he arose, and went down with him unto the king.
This is quite an account which God has given us. We can learn a few things from it. One thing is that Elijah, here, was in the place of God. When men go to God, man is in no position to dictate orders to God. Mankind is not the ruler. Man is not the authority. Man is not the determiner of what God will do.
We can see how this would apply, for instance, to those that develop gospels that attempt to manipulate and dictate to God and in these gospels they are saying, “Now, God, you must come down and save this man because he walked down the aisle. You must save this one because he ‘accepted’ Christ. You must save this one because he said the Sinner’s Prayer, or you must save because of this work of that work.”
And what is the answer of God? It is fire from heaven that will burn up and destroy wicked men that think they can command God; men that think God is subservient to them; men that think they can lay down the terms and dictate exactly how things will be with God. “We will be a Christian, God, but only on our terms. We will determine when we get saved and how we get saved and what happens afterwards.” God is not interested in those types of Christians. God is not interested in those that think they are the authority over the Bible or those that think that they can command God and He will simply do their bidding. No – here, God reveals that if you are going to come to God (as Elijah represents him here), you must come humbly. Yet, you can come boldly to the throne of grace. During the day of salvation if anyone came boldly to the throne of God, it was a bold act, yet God encouraged people to do so. He called to people to approach His throne to beseech Him for mercy and find grace in time of need and become saved, if it was according to His good pleasure.
So the third captain of fifty learned and he realized, “I am nothing and I am certainly in no position to tell God (or one of His servants) what He is to do. I will follow the King’s orders and I will go to this man of God, but I am going to go very humbly. I am going to fall on my face.” We see just how humbly this captain approached unto “God.” That is the picture and, here, God reveals the “third part,” as we see that there were three captains and their fifties. Two captains and their fifties were arrogant and they ended up being burned up. One captain and his fifty were broken and humble before Elijah. He dared not come in the same manner as the others. He came humbly to God and that typifies God’s elect. When God draws people to Himself, they come to Him brokenhearted, and they are crying out for His mercy in the day of His mercy. This is a wonderful picture of how God’s elect do come to God to find His salvation. So we see the “third part” was delivered, but two parts were destroyed. That is a theme that we will see repeated in the Bible. In 2nd Samuel 8, we read of King David and David is a great type of the Lord Jesus Christ. It says in 2nd Samuel 8:1-2:
And after this it came to pass, that David smote the Philistines, and subdued them: and David took Methegammah out of the hand of the Philistines. And he smote Moab, and measured them with a line, casting them down to the ground; even with two lines measured he to put to death, and with one full line to keep alive. And *so* the Moabites became David's servants, *and* brought gifts.
Here, we find David is victorious over the Moabites and he measured them with a line, and God likens His Word to a “plumb line.” Here the line would relate to the Word of God and he “measured them with a line, casting them down to the ground.” The Word of God is able to destroy and to kill, as well as to deliver and to save. That is why God’s people that carried the Word of God and were messengers and ambassadors of His Kingdom were identified as the savour of “death unto death” to some and “life unto life” to others, because it all depended on which way God had determined for His Word to cut, or what way the “line” was fallen.
Here, he “measured them with a line, casting them down to the ground; even with two lines measured he to put to death, and with one full line to keep alive.” It is very similar to the two captains and their fifties that were put to death and one captain and his fifty were spared and lived. And, here, one third of the Moabites were measured with this line and kept alive and they would be the Moabites that would become David’s servants “and brought gifts.” This is a picture of them being servants of the Lord Jesus Christ. So we can see that God is maintaining this type and figure of the “third part” representing the true believers and the two parts representing the unsaved.
Remember, in the Book of Revelation how God speaks of the “number of man” (of mankind) in Revelation 13:18:
Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man…
It should be translated “man,” not “a man.”
…and his number *is* Six hundred threescore *and* six.
Some people are frightened by that number, but it simply means is that “666” is a decimal that means “two thirds,” and that would leave “333” as the “one third” that is not the “number of man” (the “natural” man that is unsaved), but it is the number of the redeemed man, represented by the “one third,” that God keeps alive or the “one third” of the captain and his fifty that were not burned up by the fire that fell from heaven.
So we can see how God is consistent in applying this figure to His elect. We are going to turn to one more verse where we find this “one third” and “two thirds” ratio, in Zechariah 13:8-9:
And it shall come to pass, *that* in all the land…
(And the word “land,” here is translated at times as “earth.”)
And it shall come to pass, *that* in all the land, saith JEHOVAH, two parts therein shall be cut off *and* die…
So, two parts shall be cut off and die in all the land, or in all the earth.
… but the third shall be left therein. And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It *is* my people: and they shall say, JEHOVAH *is* my God.
Clearly, God is making identification again with the “third part.” They are His people and they shall say that He is their God. They are like gold and silver that are refined in the fire and this relates to our present time because on May 21, 2011, God “lit” a spiritual fire in all the land or all the earth; and that fire has cut off “two thirds,” the number of mankind. The “666” have been cut off when God shut the door to heaven and the Light of the Gospel went out and God fixed the spiritual condition of mankind so it would never change: he that was filthy would remain filthy and he that was righteous would remain righteous.
God had completed His salvation plan, so in shutting the door to heaven and ending His salvation program, God, in essence, cut off the wicked; He cut off mankind and guaranteed their eternal destruction. There is no change that can possibly take place that could ever translate them out of darkness and into the kingdom of God’s dear son. It is all past. It is all done and that is why God is speaking of a fire – and it is a spiritual fire on the unsaved. There is no literal fire at this time. It is a spiritual destruction in closing the door to heaven that brings about the spiritual effect of sealing the eternal condition of mankind. Nonetheless, as God says, “And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, saith JEHOVAH, two parts therein shall be cut off and die.” Mankind is now in the condition of “death and hell” and it will be finalized on the last day of the Day of Judgment with the “second death” of eternal destruction, when man will be annihilated and cease to be.
It goes on to say in Zechariah 13:8: “nut the third shall be left therein.” The one third will be left in the land. At the same time God is cutting off the “two thirds,” the “one third” or the “third part” is left therein. They are all in the same place, in other words; they are all in the land; they are all in the world at the time that the (spiritual) fire is lit and the world is coming under judgment.
Now the Hebrew word translated as “left” in Zechariah 13:8, is Strong’s #3498. It is occasionally translated as “remnant” and it is sometimes translated as “remain.” It is found in 1st Kings 19:10:
And he said, I have been very jealous for JEHOVAH God of hosts: for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, *even* I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.
This is Elijah the prophet, again, who is speaking under the inspiration of God. He is saying that those under King Ahab and Jezebel are seeking his life “and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.” The word “left” is the same word as in Zechariah 13:8, where it says “the third shall be left therein.” We can see it relates to “remaining” or being left alive.
It is also found in Leviticus 27:18:
But if he sanctify his field after the jubile, then the priest shall reckon unto him the money according to the years that remain, even unto the year of the jubile, and it shall be abated from thy estimation.
This word “remain” is the same Hebrew word that is translated as “left.” I will read one more verse in Isaiah 4:3-4:
And it shall come to pass, *that he that is* left in Zion, and *he that* remaineth in Jerusalem…
Here, it is the word “remaineth” that is our word, and not the first word “left.”
… and *he that* remaineth in Jerusalem, shall be called holy, *even* every one that is written among the living in Jerusalem: When the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof by the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of burning.
Notice here that God is speaking of he “that remaineth in Jerusalem,” or the one remaining, and this is what Zechariah 13 is saying of the “third part,” and I will read it again and use that word “remain”: “Two parts therein shall be cut off and die, but the third shall remain therein. And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried.” We know that God speaks in 1st Corinthians 3 of the day that will reveal who are gold, silver and precious stones and who are wood, hay, stubble. The fire that God has lit in the Day of Judgment will reveal it, because all are submitted to it and yet it is only God’s people, or the “third part,” that are brought through the fire. It is only the elect of God that are in view, as it says in Malachi 3:2-3:
But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he *is* like a refiner's fire, and like fullers' soap: And he shall sit *as* a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto JEHOVAH an offering in righteousness.
You see, the day of His coming is a day of fire that will refine those that are left (those that remain) therein. This greatly assists us in understanding what God is saying in 1st Thessalonians 4:15-18:
For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive *and* remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive *and* remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
Here, God is speaking of the “third part” that are alive and remain upon the earth in the Day of Judgment until the completion of the spiritual judgment of 1,599 days, if we are correct about a total 1,600 days of judgment; the 1,599 days will all be spiritual judgment, but the 1,600th day (or the 10,000th day of overall judgment and the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles) will be the day in which God destroys the world and He finally raptures His people that are alive and remaining upon the earth. They had been the “third part” therein that had been through the fire; and now it is time to take them out of the fire; they have been purified as gold and silver; and now they will be taken into the new heaven and the new earth. And, certainly, these words are very comforting to God’s elect.
Revelation 8 Series, Study #10
by Chris McCann, originally aired December 12, 2013
Good evening and welcome to EBible Fellowship's Bible study in the Book of Revelation. Tonight is study #10 of Revelation, chapter 8, and we are continuing to look at Revelation 8:7:
The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.
As we have been looking at this verse in the last couple of studies, we have seen that this is signaling the beginning of the Great Tribulation, the time that judgment began at the house of God. God ties together the judgment on the churches with the judgment of the plagues which came upon Egypt.
Also, we spent some time looking at the phrase “third part,” and we saw that in three places in the Old Testament (in 2nd Samuel 8:1-2, in 2nd Kings, chapter 1 and in Zechariah 13:8-9) that the “third part” identifies with God’s elect. It was the “third part,” or the captain and his fifty, that were spared and the other captains and their fifties were burned up. It was two full lines that were put to death (of Moabites) and one full line that was spared and lived to be servants of David. It was “two thirds” that were cut off in the land and “one third” that was brought through the fire and they were the people of God.
So we had all kinds of Biblical support that the “third part” relates to God’s elect and, therefore, we do not understand what is going on here in Revelation 8:7, where it says that “the third part of trees was burnt up;” or in verse 8, where it says that “the third part of the sea became blood; or in verse 9, where it says “the third part of the creatures that was in the sea and had life died,” and so on. Eleven times we read of the “third part” in Revelation, chapter 8, and we cannot say in any of these instances that it is something positive or something good – where we could think that God’s elect are in view.
As a matter of fact, we are certain there is no possibility that God’s elect could be in view, based upon this language of destruction: the third part of trees was burned up. That is quite different than the “third part” that goes through the fire and endures, or it is different than the captain and his fifty that were not burned up (as the other two captains and their fifties were burned up when fire fell from heaven). So we are very clear that the “third part” in Revelation 8 is not telling us anything about God’s elect. How can we understand this then?
We can understand this by the realization that during the 1,955 years of the church age (from 33 A.D. until 1988 A.D.), God’s elect that identify with the “third part” were found within the churches and congregations. If you wanted to find God’s elect, you would find them in the churches of the world. Therefore, the corporate church began to take on that same identification as the “third part,” and God, here, is letting us know that when the church age ends and judgment begins upon the people called by His name (the place that the “third part” had been found, historically), it is now the place of judgment. It is the judgment on the churches.
It is also true that God’s elect were within the churches during the first several years of the judgment upon the churches, but they themselves were not “harmed” or injured at all. You cannot injure someone that has eternal life and God’s elect are never being punished because they have already paid the price for their sins in the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ. But God is using the figure that He had used to relate only to His people in the Old Testament here in Revelation 8 to identify those that were “closely related” to the true believers – the professed believers or professed Christians found in the churches and congregations of the world.
We see in the second part of the verse in Revelation 8:7:
…and the third part of trees was burnt up.
Let us look at “trees” and see what could be in view. Why is God telling us that “the third part of trees” was burnt up”? We read something in Joel, chapter 1, which is a chapter that describes the judgment upon the churches; in Joel, chapter 2, we read of a devouring army that goes forth and enter in at the windows like a thief and this is describing Judgment Day. Joel, chapter 1, focuses on the judgment that begins at the house of God and Joel, chapter 2 (in the first eleven or twelve verses) describes the transition of that judgment to the world. It says in Joel 1:6-7:
For a nation is come up upon my land, strong, and without number, whose teeth *are* the teeth of a lion, and he hath the cheek teeth of a great lion. He hath laid my vine waste, and barked my fig tree: he hath made it clean bare, and cast *it* away; the branches thereof are made white.
Now this is referring to the assault of the Babylonians, under King Nebuchadnezzar, when they came against Judah. God is relating Judah to a fig tree and this, in turn, spiritually describes Satan’s assault against the corporate church at the time of the end. Therefore, the churches also would be identified with the “fig tree.” It goes on to say in Joel 1:10-12:
The field is wasted, the land mourneth; for the corn is wasted: the new wine is dried up, the oil languisheth. Be ye ashamed, O ye husbandmen; howl, O ye vinedressers, for the wheat and for the barley; because the harvest of the field is perished. The vine is dried up, and the fig tree languisheth; the pomegranate tree, the palm tree also, and the apple tree, *even* all the trees of the field, are withered: because joy is withered away from the sons of men.
In these verses, God is describing the ruined harvest that is found within the churches as the Great Tribulation began and the time of famine struck the churches of the world – not a famine of “bread and water,” but a famine of hearing the word of God. This is using the language of harvesting and fruit in order to teach us about the spiritual harvest that is ruined within the churches and congregations at the time of the end: “The vine is dried up, and the fig tree languisheth… all the trees of the field, are withered: because joy is withered away from the sons of men.” Why would the taking away of “joy” have anything to do with a literal harvest? Why would joy being “withered away from the sons of men” mean that trees and plants had withered away, literally? Well, it would have nothing to do with it, but once we understand that God is likening the spiritual “crop” of salvation in the churches to the joy of the sons of men withering away, then it makes perfect sense. According to the Bible, “joy” has to do with salvation. There is joy in heaven when a single sinner repents. Joy relates to salvation and when joy is “withered away from the sons of men,” that indicates there is no salvation. There is no fruit that is being brought in, spiritually speaking, and no sinners are becoming saved.
In Joel, chapter 2, God gives us further information and He is going to describe His program of times and seasons. It says in Joel 2:22-24:
Be not afraid, ye beasts of the field: for the pastures of the wilderness do spring, for the tree beareth her fruit, the fig tree and the vine do yield their strength. Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in JEHOVAH your God: for he hath given you the former rain moderately, and he will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain in the first *month*. And the floors shall be full of wheat, and the fats shall overflow with wine and oil.
Here, God is talking about a plentiful harvest and that is in contrast to what we read in Joel 1, and the reason is that God is describing the harvest of the churches in Joel, chapter 1. In Joel 2, when God speaks of the “latter rain,” He is describing the harvest that will take place outside of the churches in the world, as God saves a great multitude “out of great tribulation.” That is why we can read, on the one hand, of a harvest that is withered and destroyed and, on the other hand, in the next chapter God says the “floors shall be full of wheat, and the fats shall overflow with wine and oil,” and this was an abundant harvest. These two things are exactly what happened during the Great Tribulation: there was the corporate church harvest that brought forth nothing and there was no one being saved within any church in the world, and then there was a harvest outside of the churches (during about the last 17 years of this period when the “latter rain” was being poured out) that brought in much harvest.
So we can see what God is saying here, but as far as our verse in Revelation 8, we are interesting in “trees” because it said “the third part of trees” was burned up. We know that Revelation 8:7 is describing the judgment on the churches, the “third part,” at the beginning of the Great Tribulation and that judgment would continue throughout the period of Judgment Day. Likewise, Joel 1 is describing the same thing (the judgment that begins at the house of God), and Joel 1:12 also speaks of trees:
The vine is dried up, and the fig tree languisheth; the pomegranate tree, the palm tree also, and the apple tree, *even* all the trees of the field, are withered: because joy is withered away from the sons of men.
All the “trees are withered” is basically a way of saying they are all burned up. In either case, they are not going to produce fruit. If the “third part” of trees (which identifies with all trees) is burnt up, then you will have no fruit from those trees and if all the trees are withered, as Joel 1:12 is saying, they are dried up and they, likewise, have no fruit; there is no salvation that is taking place.
We also have an interesting verse in the Gospel of Luke, in chapter 21, which draws from the verse in Joel, concerning the trees. This is the chapter that is parallel to Matthew 24 and it is the response to the question posed to Christ: “What is the sign of thy coming and of the end of the world?” It says in Luke 21:29:
And he spake to them a parable; Behold the fig tree, and all the trees;
Notice it says “and all the trees,” and that is something a little different that we do not read in Matthew 24 or in Mark 13. What I mean is that it says it differently in Matthew 24:32:
Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh:
Here, it just mentions the “fig tree” and not “all the trees.” And it is the same thing in Mark 13. We only read of the fig tree, so, naturally, we understand that Israel identifies with the fig tree and, therefore, we can see how Israel being “in leaf” or becoming a nation again amongst the nations of the world (after almost 2,000 years of being scattered, Israel became a nation in 1948 and still exists as a nation in the Middle East), must be what God has in view when He speaks of the fig tree being in leaf.
But there is an additional statement given us in Luke 21:29-30:
Behold the fig tree, and all the trees; When they now shoot forth, ye see and know of your own selves that summer is now nigh at hand.”
Notice it is “plural,” when it says, “When they now shoot forth.” So it is not just the fig tree, but it is the apple tree and the pomegranate tree and all the trees of the field, as we read back in Joel. These trees identify with Israel of old and with the New Testament church. The fig tree and all the trees can identify with Israel and God is giving us a great signal in the Bible when HE speaks of the fig tree being in leaf and then we see that Israel did become a nation again. Something like this is almost unheard of. Nations that are scattered for nearly two millennium normally do not form as a nation again. I do not know if that has ever happened before, so that is certainly a big indicator.
But just as Israel, in the Bible, represents the church, we can understand the reference to the fig tree being in leaf as being a reference to the New Testament churches as well. Just as Israel is without fruit (they are in leaf, but there is no fruit on the tree; they have not turned to the Lord Jesus Christ), likewise, when we get to the point that the New Testament churches and congregations fall away and they become apostate; and when the “man of sin” takes his seat in the temple showing himself that he is God, that is also a big sign from the Word of God that “summer is nigh.” Summer identifies with harvest and harvest identifies with the end of the world, so the “fig tree and all the trees” is directing us back to Joel 1 where we can see in that context that it is referring to the assault of the Babylonians and it is referring to the judgment that came out of the north and that, in turn, identifies with the assault of the beast (Satan) that rises out of the sea at the time of the end; it is describing God’s judgment upon the churches.
Therefore, when you “Behold the fig tree,” and you learn from the sign of Israel, take note and when this occurs keep your (spiritual) eyes open, as we are very close. But once the fig tree, and all the trees shoot forth, then “ye see and know of your own selves that summer is now nigh at hand;” in other words, when the churches are also without fruit and the congregations no longer have any fruit within them, then the end of the world is right there and we are right at the end.
We can see what God is saying by the “third part of the trees” and why He is referring to them: “and the third part of trees was burnt up.” Let us look at this word “burnt” in a couple of places. In Matthew 13, the same Greek word is used and this is in the parable of the wheat and the tares. It says in Matthew 13:24-30:
Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field: But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also. So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares? He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up? But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.
Here, we find that the wheat and the tares were to grow together. This is referring to the entire church age. They were not to be gathered up the, but in the time of harvest the tares were to be bound in bundles to burn them. That is what we are reading in Revelation 8:7 about the “third part of the trees.” Remember, the trees are indicators of the summer being near and the summer is a synonym for harvest. In explaining this parable, Christ says, in Matthew 13:37-42:
He answered and said unto them, He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man; The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked *one*; The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels. As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world. The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.
The process of separating the wheat from the tares got under way during the time of the Great Tribulation. That is when God opened up the Scriptures to reveal that the church age was over and that His people were to depart out of the congregations and to leave their churches behind. This began the bundling process, but it would not be until the end of the Great Tribulation that it could be determined those that were officially tares, because anyone could have left their church up to May 21, 2011, when the Great Tribulation period ended. But on that date, after the Great Tribulation came to a close, then it was determined; the process of separating the wheat from the tares was complete and the tares could be cast into the fire and the “third part” could be burned.
So when we read in Revelation 8:7 that “The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up,” this is really describing something that began to take effect prior to Judgment Day, but would not be completed until Judgment Day came and then the “third part” could, finally, be destroyed.
Revelation 8 Series, Study #11
by Chris McCann, originally aired December 12, 2013
Good evening and welcome to EBible Fellowship's Bible study in the Book of Revelation. Tonight is study #11 of Revelation, chapter 8, and we are going to be reading Revelation 8:7-8:
The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up. And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea: and the third part of the sea became blood;
We have been discussing verse 7 for a few studies now and we are at the last part of the verse where it says, in Revelation 8:7: “and the third part of trees was burnt up.” We saw how God uses “trees” to typify the churches and the fact that they are burnt up is an indicator of His wrath upon the congregations. Then it says: “and all green grass was burnt up.” And this is a little surprising that God would say all green grass, because, after all, this is a chapter where the emphasis was on the “third part;” the “third part” of trees and the third part of the sea, and the third part of the creatures in the sea, and so on. So we wonder why God says, “All green grass was burnt up.” It does not seem to fit the focus of the chapter. There could be a couple of reasons for this and we could understand this in a couple of different ways, but, finally, it will just indicate that God’s wrath is on the churches.
But the Greek word translated as “all” is “pas,” Strong’s #3956, and it is translated as “all” or “often,” or “oftentimes” or “everywhere.” It is also translated as “any.” Actually, it says in Revelation 9:4:
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.
In both of these places where the English word “any” is used, it is the same Greek word, “pas.” We can see the similarity of the topic of the verse, here, in Revelation 9:4. God is describing Judgment Day and He is saying to the locusts, a picture of the true believers as God is utilizing them as a means of Judgment, 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.” That implies that the “grass of the earth” and “green thing” and “tree” are pointing to God’s elect. But, in Revelation 8:7, “all green grass was burnt up.” Again, just as the “third part” in the Old Testament would typically point to the elect of God, yet, in this chapter it is not (it is pointing to the corporate body or the unsaved in the congregations) so, too, would “green grass” normally identify with the elect, but here, it does not.
Why does it say “all” (or even if it said “any”) green grass? One way of understanding this is that it is referring to all that are within the churches and congregations of the world – all green grass within that limit and within the boundaries of the New Testament corporate body – is burned up. That would fit the context of chapter 8 and it would fit what God is describing here.
Another possibility is that since judgment began at the house of God and it began with a grievous 2,300 evening mornings in which virtually no one was being saved anywhere in the world, God may be using the word “pas” or “all” green grass as a way of expressing that the judgment which began at the house of God is not only grievous within the corporate church, but also outside of the churches for that first 2,300 days, or six years and (about) four months, from 1988 to September 1994. That is also a possibility, but I think the first way of understanding this is the correct way; it is simply referring to the churches themselves and the confines of the corporate church.
Let us move on to Revelation 8:8:
And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea: and the third part of the sea became blood;
In the Bible, mountains represent “kingdoms.” We have actually gone to many verses that show this in past studies, but let us go to one right now in Revelation 17:9-10:
And here *is* the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth. And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, *and* the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space.
These verses are describing Satan’s rule over this world throughout time. First of all, God says it is like “seven mountains” and notice how quickly He switches to “kings” in verse 10; after telling us that there are seven mountains, then he tells us there are seven kings. Why does He make that transition? It is because a King reigns over a kingdom and, basically, He is saying there are seven kingdoms and “five are fallen.” By the time that Revelation was being written and by the time God moved the Apostle John to write these things in the first century A.D., five of Satan’s kingdoms, it could be said, had already come and gone and, therefore, “five are fallen, and one is,” which refers to the present period of his kingdom from the time of the cross until the time of the end.
And what would happen at the time of the end? Well, that was the kingdom that was “yet to come,” when Satan was loosed and he took on great authority as God allowed him to enter into the churches as the “man of sin” and to rule as the “beast” in a supreme way within the churches and the world for a “little season.” That is why Revelation 17 says that “the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space;” that is, the “little season” of the Great Tribulation is the seventh kingdom and the seventh king and the seventh mountain. So we can see from these verses how God connects the two ideas of “mountains” and “kingdoms.”
Also, we find in Matthew 21 that the Lord makes a connection with the “fig tree” and a “mountain.” It says in Matthew 21:18-20:
Now in the morning as he returned into the city, he hungered. And when he saw a fig tree in the way, he came to it, and found nothing thereon, but leaves only, and said unto it, Let no fruit grow on thee henceforward for ever. And presently the fig tree withered away. And when the disciples saw *it*, they marvelled, saying, How soon is the fig tree withered away!
And we know that God likened Israel to a “fig tree” and we also know that Israel is a type and figure of the New Testament churches. It also happened that God cursed national Israel when the veil of the temple was “rent in twain,” He removed them from being His representative of the kingdom of God upon the earth. Israel was God’s representative to the nations of the world during many centuries that God had association with them, but in 33 A.D., at the renting of that veil, that relationship ended and, therefore, they no longer were God’s representatives of the kingdom of heaven to the people of the world.
Likewise, the New Testament church, at the time that Israel ceased to be God’s representatives, became God’s representatives to the world – the churches and congregations became the outward representation of the kingdom of heaven to the people of the earth, and that would continue until the Great Tribulation (when judgment would begin at the house of God) and God would abandon the New Testament churches, just as He had abandoned national Israel. He would judge them and forsake them and end that relationship; they would no longer be His representatives; they would no longer represent His kingdom to the people of the world.
So the “fig tree” is able to represent both Israel and the New Testament churches. Here, Christ curses the “fig tree” that it withers away. If something “withers away,” it normally means there is no water or nourishment coming to that tree and it dries up. Christ is the “root” and Christ is the One that all must be connected to, or else they will be like a withered branch that will be cast away. So God had left Israel of old and, recently in our day, He left the New Testament churches and congregations and they also have “withered away.”
After the disciples marveled, saying, “How soon is the fig tree withered away,” then notice what Jesus says, in Matthew 21:21:
Jesus answered and said unto them, Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this *which is done* to the fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done.
We cannot help but notice how the cursing of the fig tree is tied to the casting of a mountain into the sea. After all, Revelation 8:8 tells us:
And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea…
So we quickly see the link. We see the identification God is making with the cursing of the “fig tree” and its withering away and a “mountain” being “cast into the sea.” The “mountain” is the New Testament churches that are no longer God’s representation; they are no longer speaking for God or representing Him to the inhabitants of the world; they no longer have that close relationship with God. As a result, it is as though that corporate kingdom is destroyed; it is “removed and cast into the sea.” That is what our verse in stating in Revelation 8:8. The “great mountain” typifies the corporate New Testament church, 100% of it. It once gloriously represented God’s kingdom and now no longer does. No churches have God-given authority any longer to operate. They have no authority to feed the sheep. Remember in Ezekiel 34, God said He would cause them to cease from feeding the flock.
So He has ended the church age and removed all authority from them and has taken away their status as His representatives to the world. In a “figure,” He has set the mountain on fire because the churches are under His wrath and fire pictures the fury and anger of God against sin, so God’s wrath is upon the churches and congregations of the world for their unfaithfulness and for their failure to adhere to His Word and to obey to His commandments. Therefore, He has cast them, like a burning mountain, into the sea.
That raises our next question as we study this verse. What does the sea represent? We know what the “great mountain” that is burning typifies, but why was the mountain cast into the sea? The sea, in the Bible, can be used to represent God’s wrath itself, as the Egyptians were drowned in the Red Sea; they were destroyed in the sea. Yet, it also can picture unsaved people. It says in Isaiah 57:20:
But the wicked *are* like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. *There is* no peace, saith my God, to the wicked.
The unsaved people are likened to a “troubled sea.” Is it possible that God is saying He has taken those that once identified with Him (those in the churches) and He has given them to the wicked of the world? It is very possible that this is exactly what is in view: God has turned the churches over to Satan; we know that is a fact and what the Bible teaches. Satan has his emissaries and, basically, the churches today are run by the “tares,” by the wicked of the world that are unsaved individuals. All the true believers were commanded to come out and they did obey God and get out, leaving the tares behind. It is as though God took that great kingdom (which once represented the kingdom of heaven) and He lit it on fire to indicate His wrath was upon it, and then He simply turned it over into the hands of wicked men. This is what Revelation 8:8 is describing as it speaks of the “great mountain burning with fire” cast into the sea.
There are a couple of other bits of evidence which I think will confirm that. In Revelation, chapter 17, where we read of “mystery Babylon,” we read in Revealtion17:1:
And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters:
Notice that she is sitting upon “many waters.”
It continues in Revelation 17:2-5:
With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication. So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication: And upon her forehead *was* a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
So the woman – the great whore – that “sitteth upon many waters” is called “MYSTERY, BABYLON,” and so forth. This is picturing the time when the churches were overrun and given over into the hands of Satan and became a part of his kingdom of Babylon, the kingdom of darkness, and now the entire corporate church that once represented God no longer does; it now becomes an image to the beast.
Let us look a little later in the chapter and there it tells us about the “waters” that the woman was sitting up. It says in Revelation 17:15:
And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.
Again, the number “four” is in view because it is referring to the entire corporate church throughout the whole world; it involves all four points of the compass; it is a universal handing over of the corporate church to Satan, in order to bring about the judgment and destruction of the churches. The waters are where the whore sits (and “to sit” means to “rule”) are identified as “are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.” That is the “waters” or the “sea” which Revelation 8:8 is describing when the “great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea: and the third part of the sea became blood;” the sea, here, is again identified and defined by “the third part.” It is referring to that wherein there was once identification with God’s elect and where God’s elect were to be found for almost 2,000 years: in the local churches and congregations of the world. Their “water” or their “sea” or their “people” became “blood” and “blood” identifies with judgment and the wrath of God. When God turned the waters of Egypt to blood it was no good thing. It was an awful thing that they could not drink of the waters. And, here in our verse, “the third part of the sea became blood.” God’s wrath is upon the churches.
This really is unmistakable language, as we follow the Bible’s guidelines in comparing Scripture with Scripture and searching out these words, it is clearly revealing that God will judge the New Testament churches and congregations. Of course, we know that it has already occurred. We are living in the time when the judgment on the churches is past and now God is judging the entire world, including those within the churches and congregations, because He is judging all the unsaved individuals in all the earth.
Revelation 8 Series, Study #12
by Chris McCann, originally aired December 16, 2013
Good evening and welcome to EBible Fellowship's Bible study in the Book of Revelation. Tonight is study #12 of Revelation, chapter 8, and we are going to be reading Revelation 8:8-9:
And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea: and the third part of the sea became blood; And the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life, died; and the third part of the ships were destroyed.
We are continuing to go, verse by verse, through the Book of Revelation and we have come to chapter 8 and we have seen that this chapter is detailing God’s judgment upon the New Testament churches and congregations at the time of the end. He is using the term “third part” to let us know that it is the focus of His judgment – upon the New Testament corporate church.
We read in verse 7 that the “third part of trees was burnt up.” Now in verse 8, we read that “a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea.” We looked at this in our last study and we saw that the “great mountain” was a representation of God’s kingdom upon the earth which the churches did represent during their time period of almost 2,000 years (for 1,955 years of the church age). During the church age, if anyone wanted to know anything about God, they went to church, because the Bible was in the churches and Christ was also in the midst of the congregations. The congregations had the Light of God; they had the Truth. It was through those congregations that God was saving, but now it is the end of the church age and the end of that period of time wherein they were representatives of God’s kingdom, so the “great mountain” is burning with fire and it is cast into the sea.
We saw that the sea can typify people – wicked people: “The wicked are like the troubled sea.” God has turned the churches over to Satan and his emissaries, who are wicked people, and they are “having their way” with the churches during this period of time known as the Great Tribulation, which we have gone through and that time period is now past.
Then it says, “The third part of the sea became blood,” and this is speaking of people, but since it refers to the “third part” of the sea it is referring to wicked people within the congregations. I have been referring to Isaiah 57:20: “The wicked are like the troubled sea.” And, we also find in the Book of Jude, verses 11-12:
Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core. These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds *they are* without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots;
Now this is all describing false prophets or those that are going the same way that Cain and Balaam and Core went – those that had an outward relationship with God, but they never truly became saved. That’s what makes them false. Then God says in Jude, verse 13:
Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever.
So the “false prophets” or the professed believers (who are not true believers) are like “raging waves of the sea.” God, in Revelation 8:8, is saying that “a third part of the sea became blood,” and this sea identifies with the wicked unsaved people that populate the churches all over the world, and especially their leaders, the church authorities and rulers of the congregation; they have been “turned to blood” because blood indicates the wrath of God; the judgment of God is upon them.
Let us move on into Revelation 8:9 and we will see that this picture is continuing.
And the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life, died; and the third part of the ships were destroyed.
God just finished telling us that the “third part of the sea became blood” and it is almost a natural result that when the sea is turned to blood, then the “third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life, died.” And that is what we are reading here and, really, even as the “sea” typifies the unsaved within the congregations, so, too, does the “third part of creatures.”
Let us look at a few verses back in Exodus. We are going, again, back to the plagues that the Lord brought upon Egypt. It says in Exodus 7:17-21:
Thus saith JEHOVAH, In this thou shalt know that I *am* JEHOVAH: behold, I will smite with the rod that *is* in mine hand upon the waters which *are* in the river, and they shall be turned to blood. And the fish that *is* in the river shall die, and the river shall stink; and the Egyptians shall lothe to drink of the water of the river. And JEHOVAH spake unto Moses, Say unto Aaron, Take thy rod, and stretch out thine hand upon the waters of Egypt, upon their streams, upon their rivers, and upon their ponds, and upon all their pools of water, that they may become blood; and *that* there may be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, both in *vessels of* wood, and in *vessels of *stone. And Moses and Aaron did so, as JEHOVAH commanded; and he lifted up the rod, and smote the waters that *were* in the river, in the sight of Pharaoh, and in the sight of his servants; and all the waters that *were* in the river were turned to blood. And the fish that *was* in the river died; and the river stank, and the Egyptians could not drink of the water of the river; and there was blood throughout all the land of Egypt.
Here, God is striking the waters of Egypt and turning them to blood and, as a result, the “fish” in the river died and the river stank. The word “stink” really leads us to what it said of Lazarus in the Gospel of John when it was pointed out to the Lord Jesus Christ that Lazarus had been dead for four days already and he “stinketh.” Death brings forth a stinking savour and when the water was turned to blood, the fish could no longer live in that kind of water and they died. Actually, when we think of our verse in Revelation 8, where it speaks of “the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life, died,” we realize that, for the most part, the vast majority of creatures in the sea are “fish.” God, in striking the waters of Egypt and turning them to blood is emphasizing the death of “fish.” We also read in Psalm 105, where they are discussing the plagues brought upon Egypt, that it says in Psalm 105:29:
He turned their waters into blood, and slew their fish.
The turning of the water into blood and the killing of the fish go hand in hand. The fish could not survive this judgment of God. We have discussed this before and we have seen this figure of fish representing men. We are aware that the Lord Jesus called fisherman to be His disciples, saying, “Follow me and I will make you fishers of men.” That is the “type” that God is using when we read of fish in the sea.
We will go to one more verse, concerning “fish.” It says in Habakkuk 1: 13-15:
*Thou art* of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity: wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously, *and* holdest thy tongue when the wicked devoureth *the man that is* more righteous than he? And makest men as the fishes of the sea, as the creeping things, *that have* no ruler over them? They take up all of them with the angle, they catch them in their net, and gather them in their drag: therefore they rejoice and are glad.
Here, God is giving us one of those Scriptures where He defines a spiritual meaning in verse 14: “And makest men as the fishes of the sea.” So there is the spiritual definition of “fish.” We cannot say this would fit every instance where the word “fish” is found in the Bible, but we must certainly consider that when God is speaking of fish, he is spiritually referring to men. That is exactly what is happening in Revelation 8:9: “And the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life, died.” He is speaking of men in the churches, so they are identified as the “third part.”
Notice the word “creatures.” It says, “The third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and, of course, a fish is a creature in the sea. Let us look at this word “creature.” It says in James 1:18:
Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.
This is a very interesting verse because God is joining together the word “firstfruits” with the word “creatures.” And we know that the word “firstfruits” is a word that identifies with the church age – the 144,000 in Revelation, chapter 14, are called “the firstfruits unto God.” They typify all those that were saved during the church age, from 33 A.D. until its close in 1988. So, as God is linking the word “firstfruits” with “creatures,” we can see how that relates to our verse because the “firstfruits” would have been found within the New Testament church. That is where the “firstfruits” were gathered and that is where these “creatures” were found. The “creatures” are spoken of as “sea creatures,” but we know this is just a type and a figure that refers to people:
“And the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life, died;” and this is a very important statement; God points out that these “creatures” had life; that is, they once possessed life, because it is the “past tense,” and they have somehow lost their lives. So we can know, absolutely, that this cannot be talking about God’s elect. Remember, we saw that the “third part” in the Old Testament repeatedly identified with the elect, but we can know that it is not the elect in view here because these “third part” of creatures had life and they lost their life – that is why it says they died.
What does the Bible tell us regarding when someone becomes truly saved? And I do not mean “church saved” or “saved by profession” or by the works of men or by the belief of men. These things never saved anyone. We are saved only by the power of God and by the act of God upon us as He creates a new heart and new spirit within us. We have no power to say a few magic words like, “I accept you,” or “I believe,” and, then, as they say in the magic world: “Presto Chango,” suddenly we are a child of God. That never has happened. God has not given that kind of power to men, but it takes the Word of God to create, as He is the Creator. That is why David, in Psalm 51:10, was crying out to the Creator: “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.” He did not say, “Let me do it myself.” God had to do the work of creating and when God does that work and He saves an individual by giving that person a new heart and soul (a new resurrected spirit), then it is done – they are born again; they live; they have the gift of eternal life which they will never lose. If anyone could ever lose the gift of eternal life, what would that mean? It would mean that what they had received was not really “eternal life.” It was “conditional life,” and life for a time, perhaps, but it was not eternal because eternal means for ever and ever. Adam and Eve received conditional life: “You will live and continue living as long as you obey me and do not eat the fruit of that tree.” But they disobeyed. They had life and then they died.
This is what God is saying here (in our verse) when He says, “the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life, died.” Why does God say that? Well, it is because individuals take upon themselves the name of Christ when they say, “I am a Christian.” All the churches were populated with “Christians,” as people entered into the congregations and they began to take that name; and when you are say you are a Christian, you are saying, “I am born again. I am saved. I have a new heart and spirit. I have life.”
So, God basically takes people at their word with that. Of course, then when people do not measure up to that high standard of being a Christian…and how do you measure up? You have to have a “heart” that does the will of God perfectly and is without sin and has an ongoing desire to do the will of God. That is the nature of the heart that God gives His people and, if you lack that heart, it is certain you will not measure up. So when people fail to measure up, God indicates it is as though they “died” or “lost life.”
Or, look at it another way, as the Lord that forgave his servant, in the Gospel of Matthew 18:23-27:
Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king, which would take account of his servants. And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him, which owed him ten thousand talents. But forasmuch as he had not to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife, and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made. The servant therefore fell down, and worshipped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt.
There it is – it is as though the servant had life; he had “salvation.” But then this same servant goes out and he does not forgive his fellow servant for a much, much smaller debt. When the Lord, who had forgiven him much, heard of it, it says in Matthew 18:32:
Then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me: Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellowservant, even as I had pity on thee? And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him. So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.
Do you see how God uses the belief of the individual? “You say you are a Christian and that means all your sins are forgiven and you live.” God actually speaks of those that say they “have a name” and that they “live,” back in Revelation 3:1:
I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead.
God goes along with that and is, in effect, saying, “Very well, all of you people that profess to be Christians. Therefore, it is as if I have forgiven you, and now I expect you to be forgiving of others from the heart.” But, since the heart is still “deceitful above all things and desperately wicked,” because no change has ever taken place, this will not happen. So it is as though God, at the end, turns around and says, “You failed to live up to the standard that I have set for my children and, therefore, I will judge you.” But the truth is that they never had become saved. They never had their sins forgiven. They never had a new heart and new soul.
This is the idea, here, in Revelation 8:9: “And the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life, died;” They had always been dead; they were never spiritually alive, but in their profession of faith and in their belief (and insofar as God viewed them), they had “life,” but now judgment has come upon the churches and all of these individuals now “die.” The wrath of God is upon them and “the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life, died.”
It is really an awful judgment that God is describing here. We are reading of the trees and the third part of the sea and the third part of creatures, and it is “removed” really; it is using objects as “types and pictures,” but God is really talking about men and women and children; He is talking about people that we know. So it is a grievous thing. It is an extremely sorrowful thing and this is one of the reasons why Jeremiah the prophet (to whom God gave much revelation concerning Judah’s judgment which typified the judgment that would come upon the churches at the time of the end) was such a sorrowful prophet. He was known as the “weeping prophet” because it was such a sad thing that he had to pronounce these judgments upon his own people.
Likewise, it is not a pleasurable thing for the child of God today to declare what God is saying in His Word, but we must declare what God tells us. We are only reading what the Bible says and we are following God’s method for coming to truth, so we look at other places where God mentions “sea” and where He mentions “blood” and where He mentions “fish” and “creatures,” and so forth, and we see that this is what the Bible is teaching. There is no avoiding it. There is no escaping it. God is describing an awful time known as the Great Tribulation a time when judgment begins at the house of God. We have witnessed this time. We have been eyewitnesses to the Words of the Bible coming to life; we have seen the wrath of God poured out upon our modern day churches at the end of the world. They have been forsaken and they have been judged and destroyed by the Word of God.
Revelation 8 Series, Study #13
by Chris McCann, originally aired December 17, 2013
Good evening and welcome to EBible Fellowship's Bible study in the Book of Revelation. Tonight is study #13 of Revelation, chapter 8, and we are going to be reading Revelation 8:9:
And the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life, died; and the third part of the ships were destroyed.
We saw in our last study how God is emphasizing the “third part” in this chapter and that is because He is letting it be known that His judgment is upon the corporate church where the “third part” (the elect) were to be found for almost 2,000 years (for exactly 1,955 years, from 33 A.D. to 1988). The true believers identified with the “third part,” so the churches have taken on that definition, as God is describing His wrath that was falling upon them in the time that judgment began at the house of God.
“And the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life, died.” We also discussed this in our last study and we saw how “fish” are the predominant creature found in the “sea” and fish point to men; the sea itself are likened to the wicked. Here, these creatures that had life and die typify those within the churches and congregations that “have a name that they live,” but they never truly became saved. So when God’s judgment comes upon them, it is as though they died. Of course, they never had eternal life, as none that have eternal life can ever lose it. But in their association with the Word of God (and the Word of God itself is related to life), it was as if they “had life,” but they have “died,” once God removed His spirit and removed all the blessing involved with His Word being in the midst of the congregations.
Now it says in the last part of Revelation 8:9:
…and the third part of the ships were destroyed.
Here, we will take a look at the word “ship,” and if you have listened to our studies previously, you know that “ships” in the Bible typify the churches. We are not surprised at this “figure” that God is applying to the churches and we are not surprised that it is found here in this chapter that describes the wrath of God upon the churches. The “ship” oftentimes in the Bible will typify the corporate church. For instance, we find in Matthew 13 that Jesus does something interesting, as He is going to begin speaking many parables. We read in Matthew 13:2:
And great multitudes were gathered together unto him, so that he went into a ship, and sat; and the whole multitude stood on the shore. And he spake many things unto them in parables…
It is interesting that Jesus decided to enter into a ship and sit down to teach the people there. Of course, it was a wise thing. Those were days in which they had no microphones or voice amplification and no means of broadcasting sound to a great many people, but if you went into a ship, it would keep the people at a certain distance and the sound would carry very well. It was a smart thing for them to do in order for the multitude to hear the Words of the Lord Jesus Christ.
But, spiritually, what does it mean that Jesus entered into a ship and sat and began to speak in parables? We can see that this fits very well with the idea of the Lord Jesus Christ being in the “midst” of the congregations as the Light of the Gospel and His Word being in the midst of the congregations; we cannot separate Christ from the Word, as He is the “Word made flesh.” From that vantage point of being in the midst of the congregations, He taught. There is no denying that. For many centuries, the nations of the world heard the Gospel as the Gospel went forth from the churches of the world. The churches were established in just about every nation and from that position in villages and cities and states and countries of the world, God taught the people. He taught and He saved the “firstfruits” from all of these nations; they were gathered in the churches. The churches were once used of God to accomplish His purpose. They were rightfully instituted; God was the one that established them and used them to the degree that He determined to do so.
We also find this same picture in Luke 5:3:
And he entered into one of the ships, which was Simon's, and prayed him that he would thrust out a little from the land. And he sat down, and taught the people out of the ship.
Of course, to “sit” means to rule. Christ was the ruler of the churches and Satan was doing his best to infiltrate the congregations to usurp the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ because he (Satan) desired to take his seat as “the man of sin.” Is that not interesting how God puts that in 2nd Thessalonians 2, a passage describing the loosing of Satan at the time of the end and his assault against the churches, going into the temple of God “shewing himself that he is God,” and taking his seat there? And why not, because God had left at that point left the churches and He had departed out of the midst. He no longer was “seated” there and that left it available to Satan as the “beast” who was loosed for the purpose of bringing destruction upon the churches. But, here, we see that Christ sat down in the “ship,” typifying His rule within the churches and congregations during the time of the church age.
Let us go to James, chapter 3, where God gives us an interesting passage in this little Epistle. He will instruct us about our own tongue. We read in James 3:1-6:
My brethren, be not many masters…
(And “masters” would be “teachers.”)
… knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation. For in many things we offend all. If any man offend not in word, the same *is* a perfect man, *and* able also to bridle the whole body. Behold, we put bits in the horses' mouths, that they may obey us; and we turn about their whole body. Behold also the ships, which though *they be* so great, and *are* driven of fierce winds, yet are they turned about with a very small helm, whithersoever the governor listeth. Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth! And the tongue *is* a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell.
Why does God tell us these things? One reason is that He wants to us to be careful of what we say; He wants us to guard our mouths and be careful of things we say because it can get us in big trouble. This is an obvious truth that we have probably experience ourselves and we have seen others get in big trouble because of their “mouths.” They cannot keep quiet and they say things they should not say, and in a way they should not say them. It brings grief and trouble into their lives and the lives of others, so we can certainly learn that we need to be careful to “think before we speak.” It is even better to pray before we speak because we are asking God to help us. Sometimes even our thinking is off and we think something would be a good thing to say and then we find out, “Oh, that was pretty stupid and look at all the trouble that has risen up because of it.” Yet, if we would have prayed and thought and then spoken, it is as God tells us to be “slow to speak, slow to wrath.” We should never do what the world recommends and the world has the idea that it is a good thing (and something that will help a young boy or girl) by not inhibiting their speech; just let them talk and say whatever pops into their minds and encourage them to just speak – just talk. No wonder we have a world full of so many people that say so many evil and awful things that are hurtful. Many of them were never taught by their parents to watch what they say because words can injure. Be careful and make sure what you are saying is in accordance with the Word of God. That is not taught today. That idea would contradict the teachings of psychologists or psychiatrists that do no want people to have any inhibitions. Of course, that means that sin just runs wild. If you do not put any restrictions on your mouth, then you just have a mouth that gushes out evil things. God would not have His people to speak that way.
So, yes, we can learn that lesson, but, here, God is also making a tie-in between bits in horse’s mouths or the helm of a ship with the “tongue” amongst our members. The tongue directs the course of our body, just as the bit in the horse’s mouth can turn the horse. With a little helm you can steer a big ship. There are some enormous vessels that are turned by a little helm. It is a little instrument and, yet, due to its positioning and the way the ship is designed, it sets the course and is able to turn the ship on an established course to get the ship to its destination. That is the picture that God is giving us here and it fits very well with the ship as a representation of the churches and congregations of the world.
Who sets the course for the churches and for the various denominations? Who sets the course and destination? They would all say, “God does. The Word of God does.” That is true in theory and at the beginning, but who keeps the ship (the congregation) on course when sail has been set for that heavenly shore? Every church would tell you, “Come, and enter into our congregation. This is our destination to the Promised Land. Set sail with us and we will safely guide you on board this vessel to that glorious shore! We will sail smoothly through the rough seas of this life and we will bring you to your heavenly home.” That is what every church says and they say that the Bible is their guide and they are following it, but what happens is that the church’s confessions and creeds begin to influence the direction and course of the ship.
Then individual pastors and individual elders and deacons (the authorities within the church) begin to set the course of the ship with their teachings within each congregation. For instance, as a particular pastor is deceived into thinking we are saved by our own will through “accepting Christ,” and claiming you have to make a decision for Him, then that pastor is going to begin to teach his flock, “Here is how you get to heaven.” In other words, he is saying, “This is the way the ship will go. This is how you get on board and you will reach the kingdom of God. You must accept Him.”
And, immediately, that “little member,” the tongue, and the one doing the teaching and preaching in the congregation can be likened to that little member that is within the whole of the body which is (supposedly) the body of Christ; and it is like the helm of the ship that is turning the congregation away from their destination. It is turning from the true kingdom of God and the destination has changed. There are just so many ways that “little member” can set on fire the entire congregation and bring them to “hell,” to the grave and to destruction, as they follow him, thinking that it is a nice, peaceful voyage to the glorious kingdom of heaven. Yet, they do not know they are not going to the kingdom of heaven at all.
As a matter of fact, the way God pictures the end of the church age is not by a ship that safely travels and reaches its destination, but by “shipwreck.” We read in 1st Timothy, chapter 1, an unusual statement. It is unusual until we realize that it fits the whole idea of a church being likened to a ship. It says in 1st Timothy 1:19-20:
Holding faith, and a good conscience; which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck: Of whom is Hymenaeus and Alexander; whom I have delivered unto Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme.
What very curious Scripture God is giving here. He is relating “faith” with “shipwreck.” Then He speaks of two men who He has delivered to Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme. Once we realize that God is using these two men as a figure of the corporate church and that their “faith” (or the ruination of faith) means destruction. It means you do not have Christ with you any more and you do not have the salvation of God when “faith” is made shipwreck.
Shipwreck is also tied to being delivered unto Satan – exactly what God did at the time of the end, at the end of the church age when He loosed Satan and delivered over to him the churches and congregations in all the world, due to their apostasy and lack of faithfulness to His Word. He delivered, in a sense, Hymenaeus and Alexander over to the devil and the devil then took his seat as the “man of sin” in the temple (or in the church or in the ship). Where Christ once sat, Satan sat and this caused the ship to be “made shipwreck.”
There is no way when your ship is shipwrecked that you will make it to your destination. God describes, in detail, this situation (and it is a true historical account of a shipwreck) in the Book of Acts. This is the Bible and we wonder why God is going into such detail concerning this particular ship and the fact that it was “made shipwreck.” Why does He tell us, for instance, the number of individuals that were on board the ship? We read in Acts 27:37-44:
And we were in all in the ship two hundred threescore and sixteen souls.
That is 276 and that turns out to be 12 x 23 and “23” is the number of judgment, especially involving the Great Tribulation, as the Great Tribulation worked out to be an exact 23 years. And even within that 23-year period, the first part was comprised of 2,300 “evening mornings” that were particularly grievous. The number “23” represents God’s judgment on the churches because it was simultaneous with the Great Tribulation.
Then it says in Acts 27:38:
And when they had eaten enough, they lightened the ship, and cast out the wheat into the sea. And when it was day, they knew not the land: but they discovered a certain creek with a shore, into the which they were minded, if it were possible, to thrust in the ship. And when they had taken up the anchors, they committed *themselves* unto the sea, and loosed the rudder bands, and hoised up the mainsail to the wind, and made toward shore. And falling into a place where two seas met, they ran the ship aground; and the forepart stuck fast, and remained unmoveable, but the hinder part was broken with the violence of the waves. And the soldiers' counsel was to kill the prisoners, lest any of them should swim out, and escape. But the centurion, willing to save Paul, kept them from *their* purpose; and commanded that they which could swim should cast *themselves* first *into the sea* and get to land: And the rest, some on boards, and some on *broken pieces* of the ship. And so it came to pass, that they escaped all safe to land.
These 276 souls picture God’s elect that were once found within the churches and congregations. But once the ship is “made shipwreck” (faith is made shipwreck and the church is delivered over to Satan) and it is no longer seaworthy, it cannot take its passengers any further; there is no sailing in that ship any longer, bound for the kingdom of heaven. Now God has His people get out of the ship and go to the shore. And that is exactly what happened when the Lord ended the church age and opened up His people’s eyes to that truth; He revealed from His Word that the church age was over and He was no longer present in the congregations. It was time, therefore, for His people to get out of the churches and depart out of the congregations and “flee to the mountains,” because the abomination of desolation was standing in the Holy place.
Just look at the churches and their condition. Look at the terrible apostasy. Look at the failure of the churches to uphold the Word of God on point, after point, of doctrine. God’s people needed to get out of there for their own good, as they would never have made it to the heavenly shore by sailing in a vessel that was not “seaworthy” any longer. It is destroyed. It is shipwrecked. It was given to the devil to do with as he pleased for the 23 years of the Great Tribulation. God’s people left the churches and went into the world and began to serve and worship God there, fellowshipping with Him as individuals with the Word of God alone. They were no longer gathering in churches and congregations. This was a huge shift and a huge change that the people of God were now experiencing because God formerly had His people within the churches; they had been found within these “ships.” Christ Himself taught from this ship, but now the ship was ruined and the command was to leave and to flee.
That is why God is saying in our verse, in Revelation 8:9: “And the third part of the ships were destroyed.” The New Testament churches are destroyed. They are no longer able to accomplish the task of safely sailing the dangerous seas of this world and, therefore, the churches were “made shipwreck.”
Revelation 8 Series, Study #14
by Chris McCann, originally aired December 18, 2013
Good evening and welcome to EBible Fellowship's Bible study in the Book of Revelation. Tonight is study #14 of Revelation, chapter 8, and we are going to be reading Revelation 8:10-11:
And the third angel sounded, and there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters; And the name of the star is called Wormwood: and the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter.
As we have been going through Revelation, chapter 8, verse by verse, we have seen that God’s strong emphasis is His judgment upon the corporate church, the New Testament churches and congregations that He had warned and given them space to repent. God said in the Book of Romans that they ought not to be high minded, but fear, because if He spared not the natural branches (national Israel), then take heed lest He also spare not thee (the New Testament churches). Yet the churches did not fear God; they did not humble themselves and submit to the commandments of God, but they did as Israel before them and they developed “other gods,” which in the New Testament era took the form of other kinds of gospels and other doctrines. So, as a result, God came at the point in time that He had long determined to do and He came in judgment in the 13,000th year of earth’s history to begin the end time judgment process; judgment began at the house of God. That is what we are reading about in Revelation, chapter 8, and now in verse 10, the third angel sounded; and, remember, each time one of these trumpets sounds, it is as though the Word of God is proclaiming it because the trumpet is identified with the voice of Christ and He is the Word.
And the third angel sounded, and there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters;
Let us look at the language of verse 10. “There fell a great star from heaven,” and we need to try to identify who, or what, that star represents. When we think about it, we see that it is falling from heaven and, therefore, the star was located in heaven. We can think of some possibilities, based on that, but we find our answer when we search the Scriptures for language concerning a “star,” and not “stars,” because we know the true believers are represented by “stars” (plural). But this is “star” (singular) and we do find that God makes this statement in Numbers 24:17:
I shall see him, but not now: I shall behold him, but not nigh: there shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel, and shall smite the corners of Moab, and destroy all the children of Sheth.
This is actually a Messianic prophecy. “There shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel.” Now a sceptre is something that a King would have. A ruler would possess a sceptre to rule over his kingdom. This is a prophecy speaking of that King that will come, the King of all kings, the Lord Jesus Christ. We know this is the case because it is plainly declared in Revelation 22:16:
I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, *and* the bright and morning star.
“I am,” the Lord Jesus Christ says, “the bright and morning star.” So we have no doubt. The Bible confirms that Jesus is the “Star” (singular) and we also know that He is in heaven, so it fits very well that “there fell a great star from heaven.” The word “great” also has application to Christ, more so than anyone else. He is “the Great, the Mighty God” and, therefore, the “great star from heaven” and this great star fell from heaven, “burning as it were a lamp.”
Notice that it speaks of “burning” and “lamp.” When we check out the word “lamp,” we find it relates to the Word of God. Psalm 119 gives us a verse that defines the lamp, as we read of it in the Bible. It says in Psalm 119:105:
Thy word *is* a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.
The Word of God, the Bible, is a “lamp,” and Christ is the Word made flesh. He is the “great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp.” Why? It is because the Word of God is coming in judgment and in fiery wrath to begin judging the churches. They have been unfaithful; they are now objects of the wrath of God and the wrath of God is being poured out upon them; and the Lord Jesus Christ is the Judge that is executing judgment upon them, so He is likened to a “great star” that fell from heaven, “burning as it were a lamp.” Then it goes on to say, in Revelation 8:10:
… and it fell upon and it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters …
Now we also have a similar verse in the next chapter and I want to read this because we can see here, also, that Christ is in view. It says in Revelation 9:1:
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.
Revelation 9 is describing, in detail, the wrath of God being poured out upon the unsaved inhabitants of the world – the entire world – and Revelation 8 is describing the judgment that is targeting the churches only. But then in Revelation 9, it is transitioning and expanding to include the world and we have very similar language of a star falling from heaven. In both cases, it is the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the “Star.” He is the one falling and in Revelation 8:10, it said He “fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters,” to let us know that the ones that are experiencing God’s fury are the churches. Again, it is the “third part.” It is the “third part of the rivers” and the “fountains of waters,” as rivers and fountains of water identify with the Gospel and the teaching of the Bible within the churches, as they would proclaim and share the Word of God, the Gospel.
As they would share the Gospel with their congregations or in any form of outreach in their missions, God likens the sending forth of His Word to “water,” and God says, in Isaiah, that He opened up rivers of water in the wilderness and that was an image illustrating the sending of the Gospel into this dry land – this dry world. Wherever the Gospel went, it was this wonderful “water of life” that brought salvation, as God would save individuals through His Word. Just as people need water to survive physically, a sinner needs the Gospel water to survive, spiritually and eternally.
And now God is striking the water; He is bringing a judgment upon the water that is flowing in the churches and out from the churches in their outreach to the world – all the waters (“the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters”) are being struck by the star that fell from heaven, “burning as it were a lamp.” We can visualize that; just imagine a star falling from the heaven above, burning with fire, brightly illuminating the sky and landing “upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters.” It strikes the water and what happens? We see what happens in Revelation 8:11:
And the name of the star is called Wormwood: and the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter.
It is as though that star (whose name God gives as Wormwood) turns all the waters that it touches to wormwood. This is language describing the Lord Jesus Christ executing His plan of judgment upon the churches. It is language that indicates that the Gospel waters have been changed – they have been turned into something else; something not drinkable; something that will not bring life. Rather, it turns to wormwood “and many men died of the waters.” Waters that once brought life and salvation now are bringing death and hell. These waters are “made bitter.”
Let us look at some of the Bible’s language concerning “wormwood.” This word is used a few times in the Old Testament. Let us begin in Deuteronomy 29:18-19:
Lest there should be among you man, or woman, or family, or tribe, whose heart turneth away this day from JEHOVAH our God, to go *and* serve the gods of these nations; lest there should be among you a root that beareth gall and wormwood; And it come to pass, when he heareth the words of this curse, that he bless himself in his heart, saying, I shall have peace, though I walk in the imagination of mine heart, to add drunkenness to thirst:
Here, God is warning Israel (which, in turn, would be a warning to the congregations) that if they turn away in their hearts from serving the Lord and serve other gods in these nations…and keep in mind that in the Old Testament they would literally serve idols and false gods, but it is really a picture of the New Testament churches that develop “another gospel.”
Of course, the New Testament churches were not so “crude” as to carve an idol (a literal physical image) and say, “These be our Gods,” and bow down to them. But their theologians and their esteemed pastors and ministers create doctrines and form “other gospels” and this is done with words; it is done with some Scripture passages and misapplication of them; it is done through the minds of men as they write books and commentaries and confessions and creeds. These things take root within the congregation or within that particular denomination and then the church holds onto them above the Word of God and over the Scriptures. Their authority is no longer the Bible, and the Bible alone, but their authority is the Bible plus what their renowned theologian thinks about the Bible and what their church history has developed for their confessions concerning the Bible; these things, in addition to the Bible, become their gods – it becomes what they obey and what they serve – and an “idol” is developed. Every corporate church today has these “idols of doctrine.”
In the days when God’s people were in the churches and congregations during the church age, when they found out what that particular church taught and believed, you would find an “immovable” doctrine that the church would not budge on. It did not matter if they could show from the Bible that the particular doctrine was not true and that the Bible did not teach it. They still would not budge. They had held onto that teaching, perhaps, for hundreds of years: “Do you think you can come along and show us a couple of verses and cause us to leave that doctrine and that teaching? There is no way.”
This is why churches have opposing doctrine. They will not humble themselves and submit to the doctrines of the Bible only. They hold up these “high places” of other teachings. What form of worship took place in Israel’s high places? It was idolatry. That is what went on in the high places of Israel and that is what went on in the churches and congregations. So, this warning in Deuteronomy 29:18 applied to Israel and it applied to the New Testament churches; that if they did go and serve other gods, then there will come among them “a root that beareth gall and wormwood.”
The Lord says a little more about “wormwood” in the Book of Jeremiah. It says in Jeremiah 23:14-15:
I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem an horrible thing: they commit adultery, and walk in lies: they strengthen also the hands of evildoers, that none doth return from his wickedness: they are all of them unto me as Sodom, and the inhabitants thereof as Gomorrah. Therefore thus saith JEHOVAH of hosts concerning the prophets; Behold, I will feed them with wormwood, and make them drink the water of gall: for from the prophets of Jerusalem is profaneness gone forth into all the land.
Again, God is looking at not only Jerusalem of old, but at the sins of the corporate church and the error of their teachings and the lies they have put forth in place of His truth and He sees “Sodom” and “Gomorrah.” Therefore, God says: “Behold, I will feed them with wormwood, and make them drink the water of gall;” that is, “I am going to come upon you, falling like a star from heaven, and I will land upon the third part of the rivers and the fountains of waters, and I will smite the waters and turn them to wormwood. When you drink the waters, you will die. Men will die as a result of the polluted waters of these gospel waters that ought to have been pure in their flowing forth from my Word through your lips, through the teaching of your leaders and teachers. Yet, they were never pure. You have trodden upon my Word. Therefore, I will finish the job and I will make the waters no longer clean – no longer able to bring life – and only able to bring death.”
That is what God did. When God departed from the churches in May of 1988, in the 13,000th year of earth’s history, immediately, the Gospel waters in all churches all over the world (and we are talking about a lot of churches of every denomination – millions and millions of churches – and about two billion professed Christians within those churches) turned to “wormwood.” Instantaneously, at the moment the Holy Spirit departed out of the congregations, that is what happened.
Let us just look at one last verse concerning “wormwood,” in Proverbs, chapter 5. Here, the Lord is speaking of a “strange woman,” and it says in Proverbs 5:3:
For the lips of a strange woman drop *as* an honeycomb, and her mouth *is* smoother than oil:
This “woman” would be a representation of a corporate church that has the Word of God, because God likens His Word to “honey” or the “honeycomb.” So, she can quote the Bible, just as Satan and his emissaries do. Satan comes as an “angel of light” and his emissaries as “ministers of righteousness.” They come with the Bible and with the Word of God.
Yet, “her mouth is smoother than oil.” It is a very deceptive declaration of God’s Word. And it is extremely deceptive. Those of us who (by God’s grace) have learned the truths of the Gospel and know the things that God teaches in His Word, when we hear the churches teaching contrary to the Word of God, we are able to recognize it. But it is extremely deceptive and very hard to resist when someone comes speaking “smooth things” and kind things and gentle things. They seem so nice and everything is so positive: “This is really a wonderful gospel. God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life. Just think of all the wonderful blessings that will occur when you become a Christian and God is on your side. Look at the promises of the Bible and claim them as yours! Everything will go well.”
There is such a power to persuade men, because people want to think that God loves them. People want to think that once they choose God, then God is on their side and everything will go well. They want that to be true. So there are men that Satan has raised up within the congregations who will tell people what they want to hear. They will tell them “smooth things” and things that “tickle their fancy” and “tickle their ears.” They are not “hard things.” The true Gospel is so harsh, at times. It can be so hard to hear. Remember when Jesus would speak to the Jews, they would say, “Who can hear these things?” They were hard truths and difficult truths; God is just too honest and too straight-forward and our situation is so bad and so bleak, so when God tells us the honest truth of the matter, we just do not like it. Remember, when the mountain was burning, the Israelites said, “Let not God speak unto us. We cannot go before God.”
People prefer to hear the words of men over the Word of God. They prefer to hear the lie that will speak good and comfortable things to them than to hear the truth that grieves them and causes them to be troubled in mind.
So the “strange woman” fills the needs of a great many men that want her – they desire her. They want her over the “virtuous woman,” for instance, who is found later on in the Book of Proverbs and that typifies God’s elect. They do not want that woman; they would rather have a “strange woman.” Then it goes on to say in Proverbs 5:4:
But her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a twoedged sword.
Again, God first says, “Here is the sin – look at this “strange woman.” (The fact that she is a “strange woman” indicates that she is not the bride of Christ.) “She has dared to take my Word into her mouth and, as a result, in the end, her end will be bitter as wormwood. I will strike her waters and turn them to wormwood, making them bitter and causing all that drink of those waters to die.” Once again, it is just like the “burning lamp” fell; the great star, which was called Wormwood, fell as a burning lamp into the third part of the rivers. Here, God is also linking together the turning of the Gospel into “wormwood” and the bitterness of the water to His Word because the Word of God is likened to a twoedged sword. We know from Hebrews 4:12 that the Word of God is a twoedged sword. Here in Proverbs 5:4, God is joining the two ideas together – that His Word will perform the judgment at the time of the end.
That is precisely what God did when He opened up the Scriptures to reveal that the church age had ended. Immediately, God’s people realized that we had to get out of the churches. There is no salvation there. We cannot drink of the waters. We must leave and drink the waters outside of the congregations; there was abundant water in the world outside of the churches, but the waters of the churches was undrinkable; it was filthy, polluted water that was “bitter” and would only kill. So God’s people did leave the churches and it was the Word of God that struck the water of every church, as God opened up the Scriptures to reveal these things; and that is why it is as a “burning lamp,” and why it speaks of the sharp, twoedged sword in Proverbs, chapter 5.
Revelation 8 Series, Study #15
by Chris McCann, originally aired December 20, 2013
Good evening and welcome to EBible Fellowship's Bible study in the Book of Revelation. Tonight is study #15 of Revelation, chapter 8, and we are going to be reading Revelation 8:11:
And the name of the star is called Wormwood: and the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter.
We saw, as we looked at the word “wormwood” in our last study, that God is referring to the Gospel water that is within the churches and congregations; that He will strike it with His wrath, with the Word of His mouth (the twoedged sword) and He will turn it from a pure water to a “bitter” water.
We saw a similar statement and idea in Proverbs 5:3-4:
For the lips of a strange woman drop *as* an honeycomb, and her mouth *is* smoother than oil: But her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a twoedged sword.
Here, with the words “honeycomb” and “oil,” God is basically saying that this woman (even though she is a “strange woman”) has identification with His Word, which is “as sweet as honey,” as the Bible says in some places. “But her end is bitter as wormwood,” it says, because this “strange woman” typifies the New Testament corporate church. And what happens at the end to the churches? Judgment falls upon them: judgment begins at the house of God.
Why is God judging them? It is because they have not been faithful. They have not kept His Law, which they were obligated to do. The churches, for the most part, are under a gross misunderstanding; they wrongly believe that because God deals with individuals by grace (“By grace, ye are saved”), and through this grace and the faith of Christ, He forgives and pardons all his sins. So God could deal with an individual sinner and that sinner, after salvation, still commits sin, but those sins are forgiven – there is no loss of salvation and no loss of the grace bestowed upon that person: “There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus.”
The churches take that truth (which is only true regarding the relationship between God and individual elect believers) and they apply it in an extremely wrong way to the corporate church body, and they say: “Well, you know, no one is perfect. It is true we have not kept God’s Law perfectly.” They have to admit that, especially when it can be pointed out to them that their church says one thing and another church says another thing; they all disagree and they cannot all be correct, so, obviously, many of them are holding on to falsehood. So they say, “Even if that is true, and we admit we are not perfect, but that is alright because God is a God of grace and we stand by grace.” By doing so, they apply that which is only true of individual sinners whom God has predestinated to save, and they apply it to the corporate institution of the church, and that is not a true application. It is not the case.
The corporate body stands by “works,” just as national Israel, as a corporate entity, was in a works relationship with God; they had to maintain faithfulness to His Word and, if not, God could rightly judge them. Of course, when God decides to do that is up to Him and His timetable, so God put up with Israel until the fruit that He had intended for them to produce came forth. That fruit was the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ, the first of the “firstfruits.” Once Jesus came and went to the cross, then God was finished with national Israel, according to His timetable and now He would bring judgment because they were unfaithful. God could have brought that judgment at any time, but He had determined to do it in 33 A.D. God “rent the veil of the temple” to make it known that these (Israel) were no longer His people: “They no longer represent me. They no longer identify with me.”
God had warned the New Testament churches “to be not high minded, but to fear, for if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest He also spare not thee.” That was a very direct and clear warning and admonition to the New Testament churches not to think they were “above” that judgment which God had brought upon its predecessor and forerunner Israel. Yet, the church was arrogant, just as Israel was overly arrogant and proud, thinking that they were the people of God and, even to this day, they insist they are still the people of God.
The churches, likewise, in their arrogance, have dared to think that they can get away with anything; they can do anything they please, when it comes to the Gospel: they can make it a “freewill” gospel, an easy-as-pie gospel and they think they can get as many people saved as they please; they think they can add to the Word of God, with dreams and visions and tongues; or subtract from the Word of God by many of the Bible versions that are being put out, which just blatantly “cut out” whole sections of the Word of God so that they are not found in some of these Bibles. Churches have placed themselves over the Word of God, thinking they are the authority. After all, they think (incorrectly) that they are “the pillar and ground of the truth,” and we could go on and on.
If the churches of our day had “eyes in their heads” and if they could see the warnings of God and see their own sins (and they do recognize to some degree their lack of faithfulness) and the spiritual desolation and their failure, across the board, to keep the commandments of God, then they might not have been so high minded, but they might have feared. But, of course, it is too late now. God came and removed the “candlestick” from the midst of the churches; the Holy Spirit departed from them and He brought judgment upon them and her “end” became bitter as “wormwood.” The Gospel water was transformed from pure water to polluted water which slew men, as Revelation 8:11 says: “Many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter.”
Here, in Proverbs 5:4, it says, “her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a twoedged sword.” Now let us look at this word “bitter” for a little bit. It is Strong’s #4751 and it is also found in Exodus, chapter 15, and this account is not long after the coming out of Egypt, and we read in Exodus 15:22-25:
So Moses brought Israel from the Red sea, and they went out into the wilderness of Shur; and they went three days in the wilderness, and found no water. And when they came to Marah, they could not drink of the waters of Marah, for they *were* bitter: therefore the name of it was called Marah. And the people murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink? And he cried unto JEHOVAH; and JEHOVAH shewed him a tree, *which* when he had cast into the waters, the waters were made sweet: there he made for them a statute and an ordinance, and there he proved them,
Here, we find Israel came out of Egypt and they had no water to drink for three days. This was all part of God’s testing of them, which He began to do pretty quickly after they came out of Egypt. Remember, the entire wilderness sojourn was for forty years and the number “40” indicates “testing.” Right away the testing begins. There is no water. They had been rejoicing. Without question, they must have been overjoyed with the things they had just witnessed: the plagues on Egypt and the parting of the Red Sea. Yet, it does not take much for a man not truly born again to suffer as God applies some “heat” and begins to test that individual. It does not take much time for the unregenerate soul to begin to show itself, and that is what happened after only three days. Why would they think that God would forsake them and allow them to perish of thirst? After all, did they not realize the great deliverance that God had just worked for them? They saw all the miracles. Certainly God would provide water.
Yet they went three days and found no water and when they came to Marah…and, by the way, the word “Marah” is the feminine form of the word translated here as “bitter.” “Bitter” is Strong’s #4751 and “Marah” is #4785; it is a related word and the feminine form. It is the word that is later translated as “Mary” in the New Testament.
And when they came to Marah, they could not drink of the waters of Marah, for they *were* bitter: therefore the name of it was called Marah. And the people murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink?
What a lack of faith and a lack of trust, and of not waiting patiently upon God. This is similar in many ways to what happened on May 21, 2011. God saved all of His elect people and He delivered them out of the kingdom of darkness, just like these Jews were delivered out of Egypt from the hand of Pharaoh. God’s elect were delivered from Satan’s kingdom and from the hand of Satan and they came forth out of “Babylon,” spiritually, and all the prisoners were set free. Yet, amongst those that had helped proclaim May 21, 2011 as Judgment Day were a good number that were not saved, just like those that came out of Egypt, the overwhelming majority of which were not saved individuals. Once God began to test us through the nature of Judgment Day, by bringing about a spiritual judgment on the world, it did not take long at all for people to begin “murmuring.” They were, supposedly, those that had been delivered prior to May 21.
You would think they would have been thankful to God for His great salvation, no matter what else was happening; at least, God had had mercy upon them (supposedly) and had delivered them and they were now saved by the grace of God. Why else would they have looked forward to May 21, 2011, if they did not have salvation? They were, supposedly, looking forward to being raptured because God had had mercy on them. But, there was no rapture, as we had thought there would be, but there was still mercy; there was still salvation; there was still the new resurrected soul and the guarantee that at the end (whenever that would come), of being “taken up.” So, why was there cause at all for anyone to murmur? Yet, some did and they quickly turned aside. That is one thing we can learn from these verses.
But we also read here that the “bitter” waters were made sweet when the Lord showed Moses a tree and when Moses had cast that tree into the water; the water was made sweet and the people could drink of it. I wanted to read this because it shows us the opposite of what God did when He brought judgment on the churches. There had been sweet water, which could have been drunk by the people in the congregations during the church age, but then the water went from sweet to “bitter.” But, here, the water begins as “bitter” and then turns sweet. What turned it sweet? A tree made it sweet. Why did God write this? Why did God show Moses that tree? Why would a tree make “bitter” water sweet? It is because a tree was what Christ was crucified upon. The cross was a tree. It was the atoning work of Christ for the sake of His people, from the foundation of the world, which produced the sweet water of the Gospel which could be opened up in this desolate wasteland of a world. The water could flow forth and wherever the water came, as we read in Ezekiel 47, it brought life to God’s elect that were chosen before the foundation of the world to receive the salvation of God. Here, God is showing us that the water, apart from the atoning work of Christ, is all bitter. But when you apply the atoning work of Christ on the cross to the water, you have sweet water which can be drunk and which can bring life.
Let us go to Isaiah 5, as we continue to look at this word “bitter.” It says in Isaiah 5:20:
Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil…
Now do we know anyone that does that? Does that sound familiar at all? Is anyone in the world calling evil “good” and good “evil?” Well, yes, it is happening more and more. The world, in its blindness, in its darkened condition, in its foolishness and in its extreme arrogance in thinking that it can determine wisdom and what is right and good, has decided that things such as abortion are a good thing. It is good for a woman to have a choice and, yet, abortion is the killing of a baby boy or girl. If you do not have an abortion, then the baby grows and is born and you have a beautiful, little baby. The world says, “Oh, it is a good thing to have a choice to end a pregnancy.” They call the baby a “fetus” and they use other language to “dress it up” to make it palatable and acceptable to people. They use their worldly language and come up with a worldly morality that calls something that is extreme evil “good.” Anyone with eyes in their head would realize that abortion is not good; abortion is murder; it is the killing of an innocent child.
God is working to send people “strong delusion” today. He is giving people up to their own lusts, so man is losing sight, more and more, of morality. The Holy Spirit of God had kept immorality in check and restrained, allowing mankind to operate in a decent and moral way, for the most part, throughout the history of the world, until the time of the end. Now, at the time of the end, the Holy Spirit (the one that was “holding back”, according to 2nd Thessalonians 2:7: “He who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way”) is taken out of the way, and now the evil is called “good,” and good is called “evil.”
The Word of God would have prohibited these things by laying down His wonderful and beautiful Law; and His Law is not grievous; His Law is always good. When people say, “Oh, that is a terrible thing to force a young woman to have a baby.” The Law of God says a woman should give birth, if she finds herself with child. The Law of God says that only a man and a woman should marry. The Law of God says a male and female should not have sexual relations before marriage. The Law of God says that a man who is married should not have sexual relations with anyone but his wife; a woman should not have sexual relations with anyone but her husband. The Law of God says it is sinful to fornicate and sinful to commit adultery and sinful to engage in homosexuality. The Law of God says these things and the Law of God is “good” and the world today says, “Oh, no, how archaic! How awful these Laws are. How do you dare say these things? These are evil things.”
No – the only thing that is evil is the mind of man. It is the heart of man that is evil – the heart that is desperately wicked and deceitful above all things. So deceitful is the heart and mind of men that they are able to “twist” the good and make it evil. They are able to take the good and call it “evil,” and they are able to take the evil and call it “good.” We are witnessing this in our present time in an unparalleled way.
It goes on to say in Isaiah 5:20:
…that put darkness for light, and light for darkness…
This mainly applies to (false) gospels. When churches say, “Here is the Gospel of God. Here is the wonderful news. God loves you and He has a wonderful plan for your life.” They use “pleasant words” and good words and kind words and loving words, because they are trying to substitute something that is a dark and “evil” thing for something that is light and “good.” God’s Word is always good and the truth of God’s Word is always light, even if it is a hard thing and a difficult truth. It is always the light of the Word of God because it is truth, but the lies are dark and it does not matter how gently it is put or how kindly it is stated – it is still a lie that comes out of darkness.
So, today the light of salvation – the fact that God does all the work in the matter of salvation – and everything involved with that is substituted for man’s doctrine and, therefore, the light is changed to darkness. Now it is darkness that is being proclaimed, not light. Even if the church age were not over, if you look around at the churches, you find congregation, after congregation, that has made the substitution of a “works gospel” for a grace Gospel and, therefore, they are giving darkness for light and there would be no salvation there.
What the end of the church age means is that in those few remaining faithful congregations (by the time we reached the end), God departed from them, also. The fact that they continue to be a corporate church means they are placing darkness for light, as they have their “open door” on the entrance of their church building: “Come in,” they call, “come in and sit with us and we will bring you into the kingdom of heaven. Let us journey there together.” Yet, that is the lie. The truth is, “Come in, come in and sit with the congregation of the dead and remain in darkness with us, for you will never make it to heaven. You will be destroyed and your end will be bitter as wormwood and sharp as a twoedged sword.”
It goes on to say, here in Isaiah 5:20:
… that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!
These are all synonymous statements for “them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” This helps us to understand when “bitter” identifies with “evil” and “darkness,” and “sweet” identifies with “good” and “life.” That is the true Gospel; it is sweet; it is all life; and it is good.
The impure gospel – the gospel of men; the gospel of Satan; the gospel that is anything but the true Gospel – is a gospel that is “evil” and “dark” and “bitter.”
Therefore, when we read this awful language of Revelation 8:11, where it says, “And the name of the star is called Wormwood: and the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter,” it is an awful and terrible thing we are reading about what God has done. Remember, He is that “great star” named “Wormwood” that “fell upon the waters.” This is the judgment of God. The churches have lost the Gospel and they have lost the light; they have lost that which is good and they have lost the sweetness of the truth of the Word of God.
Revelation 8 Series, Study #16
by Chris McCann, originally aired December 23, 2013
Good evening and welcome to EBible Fellowship's Bible study in the Book of Revelation. Tonight is study #16 of Revelation, chapter 8, and we are going to be reading Revelation 8:11:
And the name of the star is called Wormwood: and the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter.
We have been looking at “wormwood” and the word “bitter.” We saw in our last study that it said in Isaiah 5:20: “Woe unto them…that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” We saw how this is referring to those that change the Law of God; of course, you cannot really change the Law of God – it is His eternal Word and it is unchangeable and unalterable – but men try to change it all the time.
Within the churches and congregations, they change their doctrines according to their ideas of what the Bible says. Maybe for quite some time they had a doctrine that was faithful to the Bible, and then after some time they say, “Oh, we just realized that homosexuals are to be included, in the sense that we should not say that it is sin and we are not to say that a homosexual cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven.” Of course, that goes contrary to what the Bible says; the Bible very definitely speaks of that sin, and other sins, and says that any that are actively involved in those sins will not inherit the kingdom of God. And, yet, the churches bend and yield to modern societal pressures and they adjust their teachings and begin to teach things that are palatable to the masses – to what people desire.
That, unfortunately, has been the great sin of the churches down through the ages: bending to the will of the people. That extends all the way back to King Saul, when God had given him instruction as to what to do to the Amalekites and, yet, Saul spared their king and spared their sheep, and so on. Finally, when Samuel questioned him about it, he admitted it was because of the people; the people suggested these things. Saul knew that the suggestions of the people were contrary to the command of God, but the pressure and the will of the people were too much for Saul to bear. That is normally the case in churches and congregations where there are not true believers. They will bend to the will of the people.
And now, today in the churches, there are no true believers. They are all out. They were commanded to depart and never to return. You will not find any of God’s elect within any of the churches today, so, of course, the churches are going to do the will of the world and the will of the society around them, more and more, because now there is no difference between what the world wants and what the people in the churches want due to the fact that they have never been “changed” and they have never come out of the world (as a result of salvation).
Let us just look at one more passage where God speaks of “bitter.” There is an interesting passage in Numbers 5, where God established a Law, a rather strange and unusual Law, we would have to say, as we read it and consider it. It is a Law of “jealously,” concerning a husband that would doubt the fidelity of his wife; he is thinking that, possibly, his wife has committed adultery. So God has devised a Law that would test the wife to discover whether it is true, or not. This would have been factual; God gave this Law and Israel was to carry it out; and it almost sounds like “magic” when we read it, but God would have worked it out so that the test would have been accurate, concerning whether the woman was guilty of adultery, or not. So God would have had to miraculously involve Himself in the working out of this test in the literal sense. Of course, no one should ever try this in this time after the Bible has been completed, especially in the New Testament age, but, nonetheless, God did write this Law and Israel was to follow it and there is a very important spiritual meaning to it. Let us read Numbers 5:11-14:
And JEHOVAH spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, If any man's wife go aside, and commit a trespass against him, And a man lie with her carnally, and it be hid from the eyes of her husband, and be kept close, and she be defiled, and *there be* no witness against her, neither she be taken *with the manner*; And the spirit of jealousy come upon him, and he be jealous of his wife, and she be defiled: or if the spirit of jealousy come upon him, and he be jealous of his wife, and she be not defiled:
God is recognizing in the giving of this Law the possibility that the husband is wrong – the jealous husband is incorrect in his suspicion. So the Lord developed this Law (which we will read more about later) and the woman is to drink this “mixture” and depending on her reaction to the “mixture,” it would prove whether she was guilty of adultery, or not guilty of adultery. The husband would know for certain which one was the case. So God gave this Law and as we read this, you will see that if anyone tried this without the help of God, it would prove nothing. It takes God’s working in this “drink” that the woman is to drink, in order for this to actually be a proof, one way or the other.
So, here we read of a man who is suspicious of his wife and the spirit of jealousy comes upon him and he wants to know if she is guilty, or not, so he will go to the priest with the matter. Now what is this saying? We know that God wrote the Bible in order to teach spiritual truth. What could be in view through this unusual Law regarding a husband’s jealously.
Well, let us start there. Who could a jealous husband represent? If we go to Exodus, chapter 20, we read of the Ten Commandments, where it is speaking of graven images and “other gods” that are no God, and it says in Exodus 20:5:
Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I JEHOVAH thy God *am* a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth *generation* of them that hate me;
God says He is “a jealous God,” and, therefore, to be jealous is not a sin when it comes to God. God reserves the right to jealousy. Actually, we read this a little further on in Exodus 34:14:
For thou shalt worship no other god: for JEHOVAH, whose name *is* Jealous, *is* a jealous God:
Not only is God a jealous God, but His name is “Jealous.” The Law of God everywhere demands faithful obedience. The Law of God demands strict adherence to every Law in the entire Bible (and the Bible is a Law Book from beginning to end) and it must be perfectly obeyed. There is not to be any transgression of any kind. If you transgress the Law of God just once (a single time), then you are guilty of all: “The wages of sin is death.” You will die. And why will you die? It is because God is a jealous God. Sin is the bowing down of a sinner to another god – no matter what the sin is. It is serving another god. It is serving sin and Satan. It is bowing down to the transgression rather than to God. When we submit to the Law of God found in the Bible, we are serving God and we are doing His will.
Of course, this means that all of mankind have transgressed God’s Law and, therefore, we are guilty of spiritual fornication; we are guilty of spiritual adultery, because all men are married to the Law of God and God recognizes this in the Epistle of James, where He says, “Ye, adulterers and adulteresses,” in speaking to the human race.
Yet, for God’s elect, the Lord Jesus Christ is the solution. He came and took their transgressions upon Himself and paid the penalty that the Law (the husband) required, due to the adulterous acts and the spiritual fornication of the sinners. The Law demands that the penalty for adultery is to be stoned to death, and Jesus was (figuratively) stoned to death for us, in our stead, and, therefore, the Law is satisfied only for the elect. For all others, the Law is a “jealous husband.” The Law of God and God Himself is jealous – His name is jealous.
When we read about this, we find that God’s jealousy is often associated with His anger. It says in Deuteronomy 4:23-24:
Take heed unto yourselves, lest ye forget the covenant of JEHOVAH your God, which he made with you, and make you a graven image, *or* the likeness of any *thing* which JEHOVAH thy God hath forbidden thee. For JEHOVAH thy God *is* a consuming fire, *even* a jealous God.
Do you see how God links together His nature (that He is a consuming fire) with the fact that He is a jealous God? That is because, as a result of His jealousy, He must punish the sinner with His fiery wrath. We read in Deuteronomy 6:15:
(For JEHOVAH thy God *is* a jealous God among you) lest the anger of JEHOVAH thy God be kindled against thee, and destroy thee from off the face of the earth.
We see God’s jealousy is joined together with His wrath and His anger. In the Book of Nahum, which we really do not read too often, it says in Nahum 1:2:
God *is* jealous, and JEHOVAH revengeth; JEHOVAH revengeth, and *is* furious; JEHOVAH will take vengeance on his adversaries, and he reserveth *wrath* for his enemies.
That is quite an emphasis upon the wrath and the anger of God and the reason for the vengeance of God upon the sinner – it all extends back to God’s jealously. Regarding His jealousy, it tells us in Proverbs 6:34:
For jealousy *is* the rage of a man: therefore he will not spare in the day of vengeance.
The “man” here is God – it is the Law of God. Jealousy is an expression of the rage of a man; God is very jealous for His Law. He is very particular that man (who is created in His image) obeys His commandments and God takes note of every failure and every transgression of the Law of God that man commits in word, deed and thought. God knows it all. In His jealousy, wrath is being stored up until the “day of wrath.” The day of wrath is now.
The day of wrath began at the house of God for the very same reason, because the churches and congregations had additional Laws that the world did not have. They had Laws that required them to be faithful in bringing the Gospel, faithful in doctrine and faithful in teaching. So, not only do they have the problem of keeping the Ten Commandments, like all men, but they have the additional sin of failing to maintain faithfulness to the Law that says there is not to be divorce; they have the additional sin of failure to make sure that only men do the teaching and that women do not usurp authority over the men; they have the additional sin of failure to limit the Gospel to only the Bible, and nothing else. So when they add or subtract from the Word of God, they have transgressed Laws that were designed for them to obey. This provokes the jealousy of God to wrath and He was provoked to anger for centuries, as the churches and congregations failed in these ways and many other ways. Doctrinally, they transgressed the Law of God and God waiting patiently and long-sufferingly, until the time came; and then, as a jealous husband, He provided a test for the congregations. The test that He gave them was based on this strange and unusual Law that we read about in Numbers 5:15. Let us just define some terms first, in this verse: 1) the “man” is God or the Law of God; 2) the wife, in this case, would point to those within the congregations that are married to God (not like Israel, that was married to the Law), but they also have the additional obligation to maintain the Laws given to the New Testament churches. 3) So God “suspects” the New Testament churches and congregations of the world of spiritual harlotry and of spiritual adultery, so He brings them to the priest. It says in Numbers 5:15-18:
Then shall the man bring his wife unto the priest, and he shall bring her offering for her, the tenth *part* of an ephah of barley meal; he shall pour no oil upon it, nor put frankincense thereon; for it *is* an offering of jealousy, an offering of memorial, bringing iniquity to remembrance. And the priest shall bring her near, and set her before JEHOVAH: And the priest shall take holy water in an earthen vessel; and of the dust that is in the floor of the tabernacle the priest shall take, and put *it* into the water: And the priest shall set the woman before JEHOVAH, and uncover the woman's head, and put the offering of memorial in her hands, which *is* the jealousy offering: and the priest shall have in his hand the bitter water that causeth the curse:
Here, God developed this test. It was, historically, a way for a man to “try” his wife and he would take his wife to a priest; and the priest would get some dust from the floor of the tabernacle and put it into the holy water (after uncovering her head) and it would be “bitter” water. And what would this point to? Obviously, the “holy water” is the Gospel, as God uses water to typify the Word of God. The Word of God is the holy Bible, so the water that flows forth from the holy Bible is “holy water.”
Yet, there was something added to the “holy water.” It was the dust from the floor of the tabernacle and what would the “dust” point to? Right away we think of Genesis 2:7:
And the JEHOVAH God formed man *of* the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
Dust is the element that man was made from. The Gospel, the “holy water,” comes down from above. The Word of God is spiritual and is heavenly by nature and when you take that which is spiritual (perfect, clean, pure and holy) and you “add to it” the element of the natural man, who is made of the dust of the ground, what will you get? If that man is not saved, he is a “natural-minded” man, and he is not spiritual at all, so you are going to turn the holy Gospel water into“bitter” water – into something that is good for nothing.
This is the test which God has devised to find out if the woman is guilty of adultery. Now if any would drink this water and they are God’s people, would they be harmed? No – just like a woman that is not guilty of adultery would not be harmed. And the only way that someone would not be guilty is if their sins were covered by the Lord Jesus Christ, so God made provision for the “guilty” and for the “not guilty.”
It goes on to say in Numbers 5:19-23:
And the priest shall charge her by an oath, and say unto the woman, If no man have lain with thee, and if thou hast not gone aside to uncleanness *with another* instead of thy husband, be thou free from this bitter water that causeth the curse: But if thou hast gone aside *to another* instead of thy husband, and if thou be defiled, and some man have lain with thee beside thine husband: Then the priest shall charge the woman with an oath of cursing, and the priest shall say unto the woman, JEHOVAH make thee a curse and an oath among thy people, when JEHOVAH doth make thy thigh to rot, and thy belly to swell; And this water that causeth the curse shall go into thy bowels, to make *thy* belly to swell, and *thy* thigh to rot: And the woman shall say, Amen, amen. And the priest shall write these curses in a book, and he shall blot *them* out with the bitter water:
Well, I find that I am rushing a little bit to try to complete this study, but I would rather not do that. We will just wait until our next Bible study and we will return to Numbers 5, Lord willing, and we will see how this perfectly designed test by God to discover an adulteress was applied to the churches and the consequences of this test: what would happen to someone who was “guilty” and someone who was “not guilty.”
Revelation 8 Series, Study #17
by Chris McCann, originally aired December 24, 2013
Good evening and welcome to EBible Fellowship's Bible study in the Book of Revelation. Tonight is study #17 of Revelation, chapter 8, and we are going to be reading Revelation 8:11:
And the name of the star is called Wormwood: and the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter.
We have been discussing this verse and looking at this chapter for several studies. We realize that when God is describing the sounding of the first four trumpets, each trumpet blast is language that is revealing the wrath of God upon the New Testament churches and congregations. They are typified by the “third part,” so the “third part” of trees and the “third part of waters, and so on, have been struck by the fiery wrath of God.
In this verse, a star called Wormwood falls and strikes a third part of the waters so that they become wormwood and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter. This led us back to Numbers, chapter 5, where we found that God had recorded in His Law a strange and unusual Law, whereby a jealous husband could take his wife to the priest and the priest would take holy water, add some dust to it, then give it to the woman to drink. This was done in order to discover whether, or not, the woman was guilty of fornication or adultery. We read in Numbers 5:17-18:
And the priest shall take holy water in an earthen vessel; and of the dust that is in the floor of the tabernacle the priest shall take, and put *it* into the water: And the priest shall set the woman before JEHOVAH, and uncover the woman's head, and put the offering of memorial in her hands, which *is* the jealousy offering: and the priest shall have in his hand the bitter water that causeth the curse:
The chapter goes on to explain that if the woman did go aside to another man, other than her husband, there would be awful consequences. It says in Numbers 5:20-22:
But if thou hast gone aside *to another* instead of thy husband, and if thou be defiled, and some man have lain with thee beside thine husband: Then the priest shall charge the woman with an oath of cursing, and the priest shall say unto the woman, JEHOVAH make thee a curse and an oath among thy people, when JEHOVAH doth make thy thigh to rot, and thy belly to swell; And this water that causeth the curse shall go into thy bowels, to make *thy* belly to swell, and *thy* thigh to rot: And the woman shall say, Amen, amen.
This is very horrible language. What a terrible thing it would be for a woman’s thigh to rot and her belly to swell. Yet, this is what would happen to a woman that was guilty of adultery. Now why is this the curse? Why would it affect her belly by swelling and her thigh by rotting?
The Hebrew word translated as “thigh” is also translated as “loins,” in Genesis 46:26:
All the souls that came with Jacob into Egypt, which came out of his loins, besides Jacob's sons' wives, all the souls *were* threescore and six;
Here, the word “loin” is the identical word translated as “thighs,” and we can see clearly that this would involve bringing forth children and the seed of Jacob. Actually, if you remember, in Genesis 24, Abraham was old and Isaac was born, but then later on, Isaac had no wife, so Abraham commissioned his servant to go and find a wife for his son Isaac. It says in Genesis 24:2-4:
And Abraham said unto his eldest servant of his house, that ruled over all that he had, Put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh: And I will make thee swear by JEHOVAH, the God of heaven, and the God of the earth, that thou shalt not take a wife unto my son of the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell: But thou shalt go unto my country, and to my kindred, and take a wife unto my son Isaac.
Why did Abraham make his servant put his hand under his thigh? If we read a little further, it says in Genesis 24:6:
JEHOVAH God of heaven, which took me from my father's house, and from the land of my kindred, and which spake unto me, and that sware unto me, saying,
We see that Abraham was concerned about God’s promise of the seed – that God would make his seed as the stars of the sky for multitude. Then it says in Genesis 24:7-9:
Unto thy seed will I give this land; he shall send his angel before thee, and thou shalt take a wife unto my son from thence. And if the woman will not be willing to follow thee, then thou shalt be clear from this my oath: only bring not my son thither again. And the servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master, and sware to him concerning that matter.
The rest of the chapter describes Abraham’s servant going to Laban’s household and he does find Rebecca as a wife for Isaac. It really is a spiritual picture of the Gospel going forth, as Abraham (who would typify God the Father) is looking for a bride for his son Isaac (his only son whom he had offered up and was ready to bring down the knife to slay him as a sacrifice), so Isaac represents the Lord Jesus Christ. Abraham very much wants a bride for his son, just as God the Father desired a bride for the Lord Jesus Christ, so Abraham sent his trusted servant into Haran in order to find this bride. Abraham has his servant place his hand under his thigh (or his loins) because it involves the “seed.” It is really a wonderful picture of the servant who typifies the believers as they are sent into the world; the believers are also the bride, but they also make the bride “ready,” as we read in the Book of Revelation. They find all of the elect that make up that body of Christ, which is the bride. Once they have found all the elect, they bring the bride to the Lord Jesus Christ.
So we see in Genesis 24 a glorious Gospel portrait that covers, spiritually, the formation of the entire bride of Christ – the sending forth of the believers to recover that bride; and, finally, the bringing of the bride to Him. It all involves an oath by putting his hand under Abraham’s thigh, or under his loins.
And that is why it is such an awful and horrible thing when we read in Numbers 5 of the woman who drinks the “bitter” water; the dust was added to the holy water, representing men and their “works” or false doctrines, as they pollute the Gospel of God and turn it “bitter.” That is what has happened in all churches and congregations in the world, once the Great Tribulation got under way; God left, leaving the “holy water” in the hands of men, under the power of Satan as he took his seat as the man of sin. Therefore, all the water in all the churches in all the world became polluted – it became “bitter” water and now all were made to drink: “Drink the water. This is a test.” It was designed and established by God to see if they had been faithful or unfaithful and to see if they had committed (spiritual) adultery, or not.
And, remember, God is a jealous God, whose name is “Jealous,” and the spirit of jealousy came upon Him; He waited unto the proper time at the end of the church age to exercised His Biblical right as the Law of God allowed a jealous husband to put his wife to the test. So God chose that point in time and He gave the “bitter” water that causes the curse to all within the churches and congregations. We read in Numbers 5:27-28:
And when he hath made her to drink the water, then it shall come to pass, *that*, if she be defiled, and have done trespass against her husband, that the water that causeth the curse shall enter into her, *and become* bitter, and her belly shall swell, and her thigh shall rot: and the woman shall be a curse among her people. And if the woman be not defiled, but be clean; then she shall be free, and shall conceive seed.
Now we see that the language of the thigh rotting and the belly swelling points to the fact that she will be childless. She will not be able to bear children. She will no longer bring forth “fruit” or “seed.” She will be incapable of having a child.
On the other hand, “if the woman be not defiled,” then she shall conceive seed and she shall bear “fruit.” We can see how, spiritually, this identifies with what God did with the churches. When the churches drank of the “bitter” water (after the Holy Spirit left the congregations), if they were guilty, they would no longer be fruitful and they would no longer bear spiritual offspring. That would mean that no one would become saved any longer, and that is exactly what did happen to the churches and the congregations. They were unfaithful; that is how God speaks of them in Revelation 2 when He was speaking to the church in Thyatira (which has application to all churches), as it says in Revelation 2:20-22:
Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols. And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she repented not. Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds.
This is the jealous husband, who in the day of vengeance, is taking vengeance upon an adulteress wife (for the spiritual fornication which the churches and congregations had committed) and He “cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation.” So judgment began at the house of God and the period of the end began back in May 1988.
But God also made provision that if a woman be not defiled, then the “bitter” water would not harm her and she would be free and conceive seed. This would refer to the elect within the congregations; when God began to strike the water with “wormwood” and all the water within the churches and congregations became “bitter,” where were the true believers? Where were the elect? Well, for the most part, they were still in the churches and congregations of the world and they were, therefore, subject to the same water as the unsaved within the congregations. God had not yet opened up the Scriptures regarding the command for His people to “come out.” That would not happen for many years, so this is a very important truth that God is telling us in this Law in Numbers, chapter 5, which states “if the woman be not defiled, but be clean,” then she is not guilty (if she is one of God’s elect); of course, God’s elect are guilty of sin like anybody else, but the difference that our sins are paid for and that leaves us washed and leaves us clean in the sight of God.
So, one woman would refer to the “woman” of the corporate church – all those that are tares, which identify with God outwardly, but are still in her sins. The churches have no answer for their sin; they have no Saviour to take away their sin. That is the plight of the outward, visible corporate church.
But, within the churches, was another “woman,” the invisible church, the invisible bride of Christ. When God gave all the “bitter” water to the churches, God made provision for her; since she was not defiled and she was not guilty, the “bitter” water would not harm her. She would conceive “seed,” but only later on as it relates to the “latter rain” period when God intended to save a great multitude of people from all the nations of the world outside of the churches and congregations. You see, “within” was the bitter water, but God would call His people out and He would use the Gospel that was going forth outside of the churches to save a great multitude, so that the eternal bride of Christ would conceive seed. The “bitter” water did not harm her; it did not destroy her, as it had destroyed the corporate body of the church.
Now this reminds us of what we read in Mark 16, where we see language in which God is describing the case for any individual child of God when they hear a “false gospel.” (And, remember, that when you add “dust” to the holy water, it becomes another kind of gospel and is no longer the true Gospel.) We read in Mark 16:17-18:
And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.
We are focusing on the statement: “If they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them.” You can have two individuals, like Jacob and Esau, and maybe they are children in the same household where the parents brought “another gospel,” or maybe, at first, they were in a church that was “another gospel,” like a tongues church or a church that added to the Bible – and this would all be poisonous water. Both individuals (using the example of Jacob and Esau, where one was elect and one was not elect) drank of the water and one was destroyed by the poisonous water – he stayed in the corporate church and never left the congregation. The other was “brought out” and found the true Gospel outside the churches and God saved that individual. So, both drank, but only one was harmed and the other was not, and that is what God is indicating with the “bitter” water that causes the curse, when He turns the third part of the waters to wormwood, as we read in Revelation 8:11.
When all within the churches began drinking the “bitter” water, notice that God says, “And many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter.” Notice that “many” died, but not all died. It is because, as the Bible says, “For many are called, but few are chosen.” So the “many” that are called by the Gospel are they which hear the Gospel call and they respond and take the name of Christ and they call themselves Christians, but they were not elect and they never were truly saved. They are the ones that die of the waters that became “bitter.”
But the “few” that were also called, but were chosen by God, are not harmed by these “bitter” waters and, finally, they come out of the corporate church and they conceive a “great multitude” of seed, as God completed His salvation program outside of the churches, in every nation and tribe and tongue.
Let us just read Revelation 8:12:
And the fourth angel sounded, and the third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars; so as the third part of them was darkened, and the day shone not for a third part of it, and the night likewise.
What a strong emphasis there is upon the “third part.” The “third part” of the sun, moon and stars were darkened, “and the day shone not for a third part of it, and the night likewise.”
We have discussed the “sun, moon and stars” many times, over the course of our studies at EBible Fellowship. The “sun” typifies God Himself. The “moon” typifies the Law of God or the Word of God, the Bible, and the “stars” typify the elect of God or those that identify with the elect of God.
Literally, they are the celestial bodies which God, in creation, placed in the heavens above to lighten the earth: the sun to lighten the day sky and the moon and stars to lighten the night sky. They typify the light of the Gospel and the light of the Word of God, the light that shines in the darkness of this world. The world is dark because of sin and mankind’s rebellion against God and his sinful transgression of the Law of God, which has brought the condemnation of God upon man. It was the light shining into the darkness which was able to translate certain individuals out of that darkness and into the kingdom of God’s dear Son, turning them from serving sin and Satan to serving the Lord Jesus Christ. God typifies this by the language of the “sun, moon and stars.”
But, here, He does not want us to miss it and He mentions the “third part” five times in this verse, in order to stress it: “Do not miss this. It is the third part of the sun, the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars. The third part relates to the churches. I have not smitten the entire sun. I have not smitten the entire moon and I have not smitten the entire stars. And the ‘day’ was not smitten entirely, but only part of it.”
This indicates that the Gospel light in the churches is extinguished. It is no more and when we find this language of the “third part,” it indicates something that exclusively applies to the churches of this world. And, of course, this is a big thing because professed Christians number about two billion out of a world of seven billion people. It is quite a big thing that God has put out the light of the Gospel, impacting about two billion people – men, women and children. But it is not language describing a darkness that comes over all the earth. But that will happen when the judgment is complete upon the churches, and that is what we read about in Matthew 24:29: “Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven.” The sun and the moon and the stars are darkened, and then it is not just the “third part,” but it is the complete entire sun, the complete entire moon and the complete entire stars. That would relate to the expansion of God’s judgment from the “third part” to the entire world.
But that is not the focus of Revelation 8:12, where it says the judgment is on the “third part” and that darkness is on the “third part.” So on May 21, 1988, in the 13,000 year of earth’s history, after the 1,955 years of the church age, God put out the light of the Gospel. The candlestick was removed. The Light of Christ left the congregations. He departed out and Satan entered in, so darkness overwhelmed the churches everywhere in the world. This is a very grievous thing that begins that grievous period of the Great Tribulation (which we have now already gone through) and, here, God is emphasizing that this is the nature of what is in view in Revelation 8:12.
Revelation 8 Series, Study #18
by Chris McCann, originally aired December 27, 2013
Good evening and welcome to EBible Fellowship's Bible study in the Book of Revelation. Tonight is study #18 of Revelation, chapter 8, and we are going to be reading Revelation 8:12-13:
And the fourth angel sounded, and the third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars; so as the third part of them was darkened, and the day shone not for a third part of it, and the night likewise. And I beheld, and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters of the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels, which are yet to sound!
In Revelation, chapter 8, God has been describing the judgment which began on the churches and verse 12 is discussing the removal of the Light of the Gospel. Then verse 13 is going to be a transitional verse which will lead us from the judgment, which was exclusively on the churches, to now include the entire world.
Yet, at this time, we are just going to finish looking at verse 12 and then, Lord willing, we will look at the first part of verse 13.
Now in verse 12, this is now becoming familiar to us and that is good. When we discuss things often enough that it becomes familiar to us, that is a good thing, because that means we are becoming comfortable and knowledgeable about the things we are reading about. In this case, it is the “sun, moon and stars.” The Bible, in referring to the “sun, moon and stars,” gives us some very mysterious verses and it is rather complicated, so it is an excellent thing that we are getting comfortable with it, to the point that when we read about it we know exactly what is in view, spiritually.
The sun is a type of God Himself or the Lord Jesus Christ. It says in Psalm 84:11: “For JEHOVAH God is a sun and shield.” God is a “sun” and that is an obvious “type” that the Bible defines for us, because the Lord Jesus Christ is the Light that entered into the darkness of this world. The sun is the greatest of lights and God, of course, is the greatest of beings and the Light that He shines is typified by the light of the sun that enlightens the earth.
The moon is a type and a figure of the Law of God. It is more difficult to see how God uses the word “moon,” but we know that the moon was created to reflect the light of the sun and, likewise, the Law of God, the Bible, reflects the light of the one who spoke it – God Himself. The Law of God shines the light into the darkness of this world, just as Christ does. So the Gospel went forth into the world and the Word of God is a reflection of God Himself.
The stars (we went over this previously, in detail) can represent “false believers” and God does speak of “wandering stars” in the Book of Jude. But, for the most part, stars represent God’s elect. They are best typified by the promise given to Abraham that his seed would be as the stars of heaven for multitude. Believers carry the Word of God, the light of the Gospel, from God, so when we carry the Gospel to the world or shared the Gospel within the churches during the church era, we think (and correctly so) that it revolves around the Word of God. The “sun, the moon and the stars” really all relate to the Word of God, the Bible, and it was in the churches that God had placed His Word; they were the caretakers of the oracles of God, just as national Israel before them. If anyone wanted to hear the Bible, where would they think to go throughout the many centuries of the church age? If a man or a woman decided, “Oh, I want to learn about God and I want to learn about the Bible,” then they would go to a local congregation; that was where the pastors, elders and deacons (who were trained in the Word of God) would teach from the Word of God. So the Bible really is the light of the Gospel and when God speaks of the “sun, moon and stars,” it is all wrapped up in the Bible.
So, as it says here at the end of Revelation 8:12, when “the third part of them was darkened, and the day shone not for a third part of it, and the night likewise,” it implies that there was light; and in order for the third part of the sun, moon and stars to have been darkened, they must have, for a time, given light. Also, for the day and the night not to shine, this means that they once did shine.
This word “shone” is found in John 1:4-5:
In him was life; and the life was the light of men.
This is referring to Jesus, so we could say:
In him was life (Christ); and the life (Christ) was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it (him) not.
Christ came into the world as the Light of the world and He shone. God commissioned the churches and congregations to be the light bearers, or carriers, and that was where you could find the Bible – that was where you could find Jesus, since He was the Word made flesh. After He went back to heaven, it was only the Word that was left upon the earth to shine the light into the world of darkness. So the Lord Jesus Christ is completely related to the light of the Gospel and when God speaks of the darkening of the “third part” of the “sun, moon and stars,” we know He is speaking exclusively to the churches; He is not talking about the light of the Gospel in the whole world, but only to the churches, because the “third part” identifies with the churches.
Christ was once in the midst of the congregations, in the midst of the “candlestick” and He shone for the “third part” of the day and the “third part” of the night, but now the church age has ended and it is time for judgment to come; and the Lord Jesus departs and, immediately, since He is the “sun,” the “third part” of the sun is darkened.
But the moon reflects the light of the sun, so the moon, which typifies the Law of God, the Bible, is darkened. And the stars received their light from God, as God created them, and as they typify believers, the believers also carried forth the Gospel message which God gave them and since God was no longer in the congregations and the Light of the Gospel was no longer shining there, then the light of the believers is of no value in itself; they need the Light of God in order to share that light with others in order that others might become saved. Therefore, the “third part” of the stars was darkened. Again, this all revolves around the Word of God. God ceased to bring blessing upon the proclamation of His Word within the churches, so spiritual darkness overcame the churches.
From that point on, we can be sure no one was becoming saved any longer within any churches, as of May 21, 1988, the day before Pentecost. The church age which had begun on Pentecost day in 33 A.D. lasted 1,955 years; and that number breaks down to 5 x 17 x 23. The number “5” points to the atonement and those Christ had atoned for were gathered as they received the salvation of God during the many centuries of the church age; the number “17” points to “heaven” and all the “firstfruits,” which the Bible refers to as the 144,000, were found and did receive eternal life, which is the guarantee that they will all enter into heaven, either at the point of death or when upon Christ’s final return; the number “23” indicates judgment, because now it is time for judgment to come upon the congregations of the world. So 5 x 17 x 23 equals 1,955 years, and that ended in 1988, the 13,000th year of earth’s history. This is the time that was represented by the Israelites going around Jericho thirteen times and then the walls of Jericho came tumbling down. This would be a reference to the “wall of salvation” within the congregations, which came to an end in 1988; there was a collapse, just as Jesus had foretold when He said, “There shall not be left one stone upon another.” God was now finished using the churches as those that represented the kingdom of God.
Let us continue in Revelation 8:13:
And I beheld, and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice,
Before we move on to see what the angel is saying, let us look at the idea of “an angel flying through the midst of heaven.” Who would this be? And why is God using the language of flying? I do not know if we will be able to answer both questions, but we can know who it is, but why he is “flying through the midst of heaven,” is something I am not sure if we will be able to understand completely.
First of all, let us look at the word “flying,” just as we would look at anything else in the Bible. We search the Bible to see what God has in view with this language of “flying.” You know, this would have been an amazing thing for people to read throughout most of history. Today, we just read it off-handedly and it does not strike us as all that exciting that an angel is flying through the midst of heaven. After all, we live in the jet age and there are even jet packs and people are flying all over the world in our modern day, so the word “flying” is not as exciting to us as it would have been to previous generations. Of course, man was not able to fly for most of earth’s history; it was only relatively recently that mankind was able to learn enough to fly.
Let us look at 2nd Samuel, chapter 22, to look at the word “flying.” It says in 2nd Samuel 22:7:
In my distress I called upon JEHOVAH, and cried to my God: and he did hear my voice out of his temple, and my cry *did enter* into his ears.
Then it says in 2nd Samuel 22:10-11:
He bowed the heavens also, and came down; and darkness *was* under his feet. And he rode upon a cherub, and did fly: and he was seen upon the wings of the wind.
That is describing Eternal God and it is saying that God “rode upon a cherub, and did fly.” In this case, He was flying to protect His people – to watch over them and help them. Yet, the Bible is telling us that God flew upon a cherub.
We also find it says in Isaiah 6:2:
Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly.
These “seraphims” are a representation of God Himself, so we can gather that in some way this is indicating that God can “fly.” Now what is flight but traveling to places through space, quickly. Of course, God is everywhere present; He is “omnipresent,” which means it is as if He could “fly,” and that is one of the ideas behind the idea of God “flying.”
We read in Daniel 9:21:
Yea, whiles I *was* speaking in prayer, even the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, touched me about the time of the evening oblation.
“Gabriel” is another name for the Lord Jesus Christ and it is saying that He was “caused to fly swiftly,” so God can also impart information and He can protect His people, as though He were “flying” as a bird.
We read in Isaiah 31:5:
As birds flying, so will JEHOVAH of hosts defend Jerusalem; defending also he will deliver *it*; *and* passing over he will preserve it.
The image or picture that God is painting is of a bird, such as an eagle, that swoops down quickly to protect its young or to defend its territory, and that is another aspect of the Bible’s picturing of God as “flying;” He can fly to impart knowledge. He can fly to protect. He can fly to attack those that are causing harm to His people. It is all a matter of doing something very quickly, as a bird in flight or as a bird descends from the sky above and gathers speed as it is going for its prey. This is the idea. God is an omnipresent God and all-powerful and very protective of His people.
Let us just look at one more verse. It says in Revelation 4:7:
And the first beast…
And the word “beast” means “living creature,” and these four “living creatures” are, again, a depiction of Eternal God.
And the first living creature *was* like a lion, and the second living creature like a calf, and the third living creature had a face as a man, and the fourth living creature *was* like a flying eagle.
Here, again, God is typified by a “man” because the Lord Jesus Christ is a “man,” but He is also picturing Himself as a “flying eagle,” as a bird that can fly quickly to accomplish its purpose.
Going back to our verse, it says in Revelation 8:12:
And I beheld, and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven…
And this “angel” or “messenger” would be the Lord Jesus Christ, as we have seen several times already in the Book of Revelation, where a reference to an “angel” was actually a reference to Jesus. Here, too, He is the one “flying through the midst of heaven.”
We do not read of men “flying,” unless it is their soul flying away in death. We read more often of God “flying” than anyone else, so we would be led by the Bible to understand that this is speaking of God Himself, who is “flying.”
We have a similar verse in Revelation 14 and in the first few verses of this chapter God is referring to the “144, 000,” and then we read in Revelation 14:3:
And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders: and no man could learn that song but the hundred *and* forty *and* four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth. These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, *being* the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb.
That is a revealing statement to let us know that the “144,000” typify all those saved during the church age, which began on Pentecost, the feast that dealt with the “firstfruits,” so the “144,000” are gathered and all the “firstfruits” are brought in; and then we read in Revelation 14:6:
And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people,
Here, another angel, or messenger, is flying in the midst of heaven and it says in Revelation 14:7:
Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.
We have the very same ingredients: we have the angel flying in the midst of heaven, but this time it is in the context of the “144,000” having already been redeemed or gathered (the time of the “firstfruits” is over), and what comes at the end of the church age after the “144,000” have been brought in? At the end of the church age comes judgment upon the congregations and that is why this angel flying in the midst of heaven is signaling that it is now time to bring judgment and the hour of God’s judgment has come; the “hour” relates to the “one hour” of the Great Tribulation, the “one hour” in which the churches are being judged, exclusively. The world is not being judged at that time and the official judgment on the world has not yet begun.
So the angel flying in the midst of heaven is an indicator or signal concerning the judgment in the churches and, now, in Revelation 8, we have been reading about that judgment on the churches. So in Revelation 8:13, where we find an angel flying in the midst of heaven, “saying with a loud voice, Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters of the earth,” we see that God is repeating what He had done earlier; after He saved the “firstfruits,” an angel flew through the midst of heaven, announcing the judgment which first begins at the house of God.
And, now, even though we are not reading of the great multitude in chapter 8, God has completed the judgment on the churches, completed the salvation of the great multitude which were saved outside of the churches during the season of the “latter rain,” which fell simultaneously with the Great Tribulation (about the last seventeen years of that period) and now the angel flying in the midst of heaven is signaling the transition of judgment (which had been only on the churches) to all the world); and that is why three woes are pronounced to the “inhabiters of the earth.” It is not just for the inhabiters of the churches; it does not say, “Woe, woe, woe to the third part of the inhabiters of earth,” but all the unsaved inhabiters of the earth are in view. The judgment is transitioning, just as it did in Jeremiah 25. (We will hopefully look more at this in our next study, but for now, we will read it and it will be something for us to think about. It says in Jeremiah 25:28-29:
And it shall be, if they refuse to take the cup at thine hand to drink, then shalt thou say unto them, Thus saith JEHOVAH of hosts; Ye shall certainly drink. For, lo, I begin to bring evil on the city which is called by my name, and should ye be utterly unpunished?...
Here, God is speaking to the nations of the entire world, and it goes on to say in Jeremiah 25:29:
Ye shall not be unpunished: for I will call for a sword upon all the inhabitants of the earth, saith JEHOVAH of hosts.
Here is that transition: the “cup” was first given to the people called by God’s name. It is the “cup of the wrath of God.” They drank from it and then it says, “Shall you be utterly punished, ye nations of the world? Oh, no, you will not escape punishment. You will not be utterly unpunished, but you will certainly drink.”
So God gives the “cup of His wrath” and He brings the sword upon all the inhabitants of the earth. This is a time of woe, the “three woes” that are pronounced against the earth.
We will look more at this when we get together, again, for our next study in the Book of Revelation.
Revelation 8 Series, Study #19
by Chris McCann, originally aired December 30, 2013
Good evening and welcome to EBible Fellowship's Bible study in the Book of Revelation. Tonight is study #19 of Revelation, chapter 8, and we are going to be reading Revelation 8:13:
And I beheld, and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters of the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels, which are yet to sound!
We looked at the first part of this verse in our last study and we saw that God is typified in the Bible as “flying,” and we can understand that because He is omnipresent; He is everywhere at once; and flight is the quickest form of travel, so that is one reason He is said to “fly.”
Another reason is that God likens Himself to “flying,” in order to defend His people or to fight against the enemies of His people.
The messenger that is “flying through the midst of heaven” pictures the Lord Jesus Christ and He is saying, “Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters of the earth.” The Greek word translated as “woe” is also translated as “alas” a few times and we do find the Lord Jesus Christ pronouncing the “woes” in many places. We will just look at a couple. The first one is where Jesus is speaking, in Matthew 11:21:
Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works, which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.
Then it says in Matthew 11:22:
But I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment, than for you.
That is the reason for the “Woe,” to Chorazin and Bethsaida; it is language indicating something terrible and grievous – a judgment of God is coming upon them. It will not be a pleasant thing at all and it will be an awful experience for these particular cities.
We read of many woes that are pronounced by the Lord Jesus Christ in a chapter where the Lord is dealing with the scribes and the Pharisees, and it says in Matthew 23:13-16:
But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in *yourselves*, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows' houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves. Woe unto you, *ye* blind guides, which say, Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he is a debtor!
It continues with several more “woes” that are pronounced. What are these “woes” indicative of? Why is Christ pronouncing a “woe,” before declaring the condemnation against the scribes and the Pharisees? It is because it is a word that is describing a coming judgment or wrath of God and then the reason for it is given – this is why the scribes and the Pharisees will experience the wrath of God, regarding the “woe” that is being declared.
In the Book of Jude, it says in verse 11:
Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core.
Now this “woe” is being pronounced because they have gone in the “wrong way” and, tragically, this will result in their destruction; they have not gone in the “way” of Christ, but they have gone in the “way of Cain,” the one that thought he could perform some work and be pleasing to God. And, of course, it was not pleasing to God; God did not accept His offering.
This is just a small sampling of how God uses this Greek word that is translated as “woe.” In our verse in Revelation 8:13, the angel flying through the midst of heaven (the Lord Jesus) is saying with a loud voice, “Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters of the earth.”
I just want to look at one more place and this is where the word is translated as “alas,” in Revelation 18:10:
Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come.
Again, this would be “Woe, woe, that great city Babylon,” and then it says in Revelation 18:16:
And saying, Alas, alas, that great city, that was clothed in fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, and decked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls!
And it also says in Revelation 18:19:
And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas, that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate.
So three times, God doubles the “woes” in our verse in Revelation 8:13. The number “three” points to the purpose of God; it is God’s purpose that the cup which He had given to the churches to drink (the cup of the wrath of God which had begun at the house of God) would now expand and transition to judgment to include the entire world and all the unsaved inhabitants of the earth. So God repeats the “woes” three times in Revelation 18, in connection with the judgment upon Babylon, which is a representation of the kingdom of Satan which includes the world and the churches, which had already come under the “umbrella” of Satan’s kingdom of darkness.
Again, three times “woes” are pronounced, but each time they are “doubled.” Remember that principal that the Lord lays down in the Book of Genesis: when He doubles a matter, it is because He will shortly bring it to pass; and God has actually done this, as He began judgment on the world on May 21, 2011. At that point there were three “woes” and each one of those “woes” identified with a trumpet: the first “woe” is the fifth trumpet; the second “woe” is the sixth trumpet and the third “woe” is the seventh trumpet. We can show that from the Bible because, in chapter 9, the fifth angel sounds and we read of what is included in that, then God completes the passage by saying, “And the first woe has ended.” Then we read of the next trumpet sounding and then the second “woe” has ended, and so forth.
So God, here, is pronouncing “woes” to the inhabiters of the earth and, likewise, in Revelation, chapter 18, three “woes” are “doubled,” to indicate that the time has come and will “shortly come to pass.” Now that “time” is under way and we are in the process of God pouring out His wrath upon the world.
What we are reading in the Bible (and, especially, in the Book of Revelation) is very interesting and exciting to us. It is amazing that we can have personal and intimate understanding and knowledge of the things we are reading. When we read of judgment on the “third part,” we know exactly what God is saying because we have witnessed it and lived through it. And now that the judgment on the “third part” has concluded, in Revelation 8, and God is turning the gaze of His fiery eyes to the people of the earth with the announcement of these “woes,” upon them; we also have experienced this and we have gone through a portion of the judgment, as we are now well into the Day of Judgment. May 21, 2011, is now over two and one half years ago and it is still the day of the LORD, the Day of Judgment for this world.
Let us look at this language one last time, before we move on to our next chapter in Revelation 9. Let us conclude Revelation 8 by looking at the phrase “the inhabiters of the earth.” This is found in a very important place in the Bible, in Jeremiah, chapter 25. Why is it important that we find similar language about “the inhabiters of the earth” in Jeremiah 25? Well, it is because Jeremiah 25 is the chapter in which God spells out His complete judgment program where He refers to His wrath as a “cup.” Then it is His intention to give the “cup” first to those that have a close relationship with Him, where it says in Jeremiah 25:17-18:
Then took I the cup at JEHOVAH’S hand, and made all the nations to drink, unto whom JEHOVAH had sent me: *to wit,* Jerusalem and the cities of Judah…
Notice Jerusalem is mentioned first. That matches the Biblical principal that judgment begins at the house of God, just as we saw previously in Ezekiel, chapter 9, with the men that had the destroying weapons in their hands; and the Lord told them to go forth and slay and to begin at His sanctuary. This is the Bible’s “starting point” for the outpouring of the wrath of God. God is angry with the wicked, but that anger begins with those that ought to know better – with those that profess His name and claim to follow His commandments and, therefore, they have a greater responsibility and they will experience greater wrath for their failure. Therefore, God starts the judgment of all the unsaved with the corporate church; they would first drink of the cup of the wrath of God; and they have.
By God’s grace, He has opened up His Word and revealed to us the timeline for the Great Tribulation. It began on May 21, 1988 and on May 21, 2011, it concluded; it was an exact 23-year period, or a full 8,400 days of judgment upon the churches wherein they drank of the cup of the wrath of God. During the last (about) 17 years of that time, God worked to save a great multitude outside of the churches and congregations.
But there had to come a time (and the Bible tells us this) when the “cup” first given to the churches is transferred; it is turned from them to the rest of the nations. Actually, when I say it is “turned” from them, it is that God had a particularly fiery wrath to judge the churches with, which they alone would experience (and they have). Now God is judging all of the unsaved of the world and it should be noted that this includes the unsaved people of the churches. That is part of the reason that their punishment is greater, because they first went through the judgment on the congregations and then they have to endure the judgment on the world, as they are now part of the world, especially as the churches came under the rule of Satan and, therefore, under his kingdom of Babylon; and when God judges Babylon, He is continuing to judge the church, but they are no longer the specific target – the target is now the entire kingdom of Satan and of this world, of which the churches are now a part.
Further on in Jeremiah, we read in Jeremiah 25:28:
And it shall be, if they refuse to take the cup at thine hand to drink, then shalt thou say unto them, Thus saith JEHOVAH of hosts; Ye shall certainly drink.
Here, God is referring to the kingdoms of the world. I should have read Jeremiah 25:26:
And all the kings of the north, far and near, one with another, and all the kingdoms of the world, which *are* upon the face of the earth: and the king of Sheshach shall drink after them.
Then the statement is made: “if they refuse to take the cup at thine hand to drink, then shalt thou say unto them, Thus saith JEHOVAH of hosts; Ye shall certainly drink.” That is referring to the nations – the people outside of the churches. Why? Jeremiah 25:29 explains:
For, lo, I begin to bring evil on the city which is called by my name…
He is saying, “I started the judgment on my churches. I had a close and longstanding and intimate relationship with them; they were the caretakers of the oracles of God and they had much blessing in association with my kingdom; yet, I judged them; I judged those that were closest to me. And, you, nations that are far off and have no such intimate relationship with me as the New Testament churches and congregations did, do you think that you will escape?”
God goes on to say in Jeremiah 25:29:
For, lo, I begin to bring evil on the city which is called by my name, and should ye be utterly unpunished?
You know, there are some people that have completely the wrong idea. They are individuals that readily accept judgment on the churches and they say, “Oh, yes, God has judged the churches. God has forsaken the churches and abandoned the congregations; no one is being saved in the churches.” They recognize that, but now when God has done the same thing to the world by forsaking and abandoning the world and by not saving anyone in the world, these same people balk at this immediately, saying: “Oh, God would never do that.” They have it backwards and they have it completely upside down because God is saying, “Look, if I did it first to the people called by my name and the people I had that close relationship with for almost two millennium, do you think that you will be utterly unpunished?”
Do you think that God will not shut the door on the world, if He shut it on the church? Do you really think God will not put out the Light of the Gospel to this wicked world, if He has put out the Light of the Gospel in the churches? Do you think that God’s Spirit would not leave the world, after it already has left the churches? If so, you are completely misunderstanding God. You are completely misunderstanding the Word of God and the relationship that He had with His people Israel, with the New Testament “professors” (those within the congregations). God had a close relationship with them and, yet, He judged them.
God has no such relationship with the world. He has no commitment to them at all; they are a people “afar off,” and they have rebelled and grievously transgressed His Law. So God goes on to say in the last half of the verse in Jeremiah 25:29:
… Ye shall not be unpunished: for I will call for a sword upon all the inhabitants of the earth, saith JEHOVAH of hosts. Therefore prophesy thou against them all these words, and say unto them, JEHOVAH shall roar from on high, and utter his voice from his holy habitation; he shall mightily roar upon his habitation; he shall give a shout, as they that tread *the grapes*, against all the inhabitants of the earth.
Of course, that is a reference to what we read in Revelation 14, where the cup of the wrath of God is spoken of, and we read of the Lord Jesus Christ treading the winepress and the blood coming out by the space of 1,600 furlongs; and that relates to the duration of Judgment Day, which very likely will continue for 1,600 days, a time in which God has ended salvation for the world.
We ought not to be surprised or shocked. What was more shocking was that God did this first to His own people. In accomplishing and completing the judgment on the churches, God let it be known to all that He is very serious about the outpouring of wrath and the punishment of the wicked. He will complete it and that is one of the reasons why 1,600 days is so very interesting to us, because the judgment on the churches was 8,400 days; the judgment on the entire world would be 1,600 days; and that would total 10,000 days, the number of “completeness.” It is God’s “complete” wrath; both “cups” are then accounted for and the “full” judgment of the wrath of God upon unsaved mankind, inside and outside of the churches, would then be accomplished and carried out.
Let us just look at one more place, before we finish our study in Revelation, chapter 8. Let us look at Isaiah 24 and this is a chapter (which I encourage everyone to read) where God is spelling out His wrath upon the world. There is no question about that. It is not like we read in Jeremiah where you can pick out “Jerusalem” and “Judah” and you can realize that God, in using those figures, is speaking of judgment on the NT churches. But in Isaiah 24 the word you will find the most is the word “earth.” For instance it says in Isaiah 24:3-6:
The land shall be utterly emptied, and utterly spoiled: for JEHOVAH hath spoken this word. The earth mourneth *and* fadeth away, the world languisheth *and* fadeth away, the haughty people of the earth do languish. The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate: therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left.
We could go on and see more references to the “earth,” so there is no question at all what is in view, even though I have heard people try to make this identify with the churches. Some people are going to great lengths to desperately try to prove that God did not bring judgment on May 21, 2011, and they are willing to turn a “blind eye,” apparently, to the language of the Bible, if they think that Isaiah 24 is describing anything but God’s wrath upon the world.
Notice God says, “therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned,” and that happened beginning on May 21, 2011, when God kindled a spiritual fire in His wrath. It goes on to say, “and few men left,” and this is referring to the elect who are typified as the “few.” Anyway, we are not looking at that, in particular, but something else, where it says in Isaiah 24:15:
Wherefore glorify ye JEHOVAH in the fires, *even* the name of JEHOVAH God of Israel in the isles of the sea.
This is Hebrew parallelism; the “fires” is synonymous with the “isles of the sea,” and the isles are the continents, so it is saying that the whole world is “lit on fire.” God is addressing the believers when He says to glorify Him in the fires. As we faithfully endure and continue to trust in the Bible in the Day of Judgment, it will glorify God.
Then a little further down, it says in Isaiah 24:17:
Fear, and the pit, and the snare, *are* upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth.
There is that language again: “Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters of the earth.” Notice, here, that there are three things: “Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are upon thee,” and they very well could stand in the place of the woes: “Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters of the earth.” These things are describing what has taken place in the world, as we have made that transition from God judging the churches to now judging the world; God’s focus is not only on the Presbyterians and the Lutherans and the Catholics and the Episcopalians, but God’s focus is on all the religions of the world, the secularists of the world, the atheists of the world, the agnostics of the world and the man that does not even think about any of these things.
God’s wrath is on all unsaved mankind at this point and that needs to be our focus as we speak of these things; we are not to conceal them, but to publish that “Babylon has fallen.” We are to openly declare these things to all and, by doing so, God will feed His sheep and He will also carry out His other purposes. But our task is to feed sheep, so we must share this information.
In Revelation 8, God has now announced the transition. He has declared the movement of His wrath from the churches to the world. Then Revelation, chapter 9, is going to follow through and now the last three trumpets will describe that wrath upon the world. We are no longer going to be looking at the judgment on the churches – the judgment of their waters or their trees or their grass – but what we read in Revelation 9, and following, will apply to all the inhabitants of the earth.
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