The
Seven Trumpets
Parts 7-9
(The Fifth
Trumpet)
Begin Text:
We have examined the first
four trumpets in Revelation 8. Today we will
study the fifth trumpet. Before we begin with
Revelation 9, I want to highlight the last verse
in chapter 8:
Revelation 8:13 As
I watched, I heard an eagle that was flying in
midair call out in a loud voice: “Woe!
Woe! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth, because
of the trumpet blasts about to be sounded by the
other three angels!”
If I translated verse 13
into conversational English, I would write it
this way: “The fourth living creature, the
one having the face of an eagle, cried out:
‘Because most of the world has rejected God’s
gracious offer of salvation, three horrible
curses are coming upon the wicked. The next three
trumpets shall be worse than the first four! God’s
wrath will be imposed on everyone who rejects His
offer of salvation, perhaps some will change
their minds and be saved.”
Two points:
1. The fifth
trumpet does not occur until the advance of
the gospel stalls. In other words, when the
Two Witnesses, working through the 144,000 have
done everything possible to get people to accept
Jesus as Lord and Master of their lives, the
gospel hits “a brick wall” in terms of
progress. When the gospel of Jesus cannot
overcome the control and persecution of Babylon
and gain any more souls, the fifth trumpet
sounds. I’ll show you from Scripture
later on.
2. This may come
as a surprise, but at any given time, there are three
groups of people on Earth:
(1) The saints
(2) the religious wicked
(3) the non-religious wicked
Let’s discuss this:
(1) God has children in
every nation, culture, religion and language.
These people are sincere and honest-hearted
toward God and man. The saints listen to the Holy
Spirit and obey His directives and they live up
to all they know and believe to be pleasing to
God. Because God has saints in all religious
groups, the saints don’t agree on very much
at the present time. In a sentence, one could say
that most of God’s saints are currently
opposed to each other because of their religion,
culture, language and racial differences.
(2) The term, religious
wicked is self-explanatory. These people who are
zealous and militant about their religion. They
are self-righteous, self seeking and critical of
those who do not understand God as they do.
Although these people are religious, they have
not been born again. Most of the Pharisees in
Christ’s day belonged to this group. (Even
though Saul was a Pharisee, he didn’t belong
to the religious wicked. Saul was a saint living
among the religious wicked! This is why Jesus
called him to be a disciple on the road to
Damascus. Paul wrote, 1 Timothy 1:13 “Even
though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor
and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I
acted in ignorance and unbelief.” As a
Pharisee, Saul’s heart was right and
honest toward God, even though his head was
totally wrong. At the present time, there are
large numbers of people in every religion
just like Saul.)
(3) The non-religious
wicked group is also self-explanatory. These
people have no use for religion or God. These
people are spiritually dead. They are slaves to
the carnal nature. Again, there are some saints
living among this group too! They are honest in
heart, but totally wrong in their heads!
One of the purposes of the
Great tribulation is to rescue everyone in these
three groups who will trust in God.
1. Saints
2. Religious wicked
3. Non-religious wicked
There’s a reason you
need to know about these three groups of people.
When the fifth trumpet sounds, Jesus begins a
process that will eliminate the non-religious
wicked from the Earth. By the time the seventh
trumpet sounds, there will only be two groups of
people left on Earth: Those worshiping the Lamb
(Jesus) and those worshiping the lamblike
(Lucifer).
Lucifer and his angels will
be permitted to exit the spirit realm (the abyss)
where he presently lives. When the fifth trumpet
sounds, a great horde of angles will suddenly
darken the sky and a glorious Lucifer will
descend upon Earth to address various nations
in a rapid sequence of glorious appearances.
It is a gross
understatement to say that the people of Earth
will be shocked! The wicked will be stunned and
speechless. Never has the world seen anything
like the show of glory that Lucifer will put on.
Attended by millions of hovering angels, and
performing miracles at will, the wicked will be
stunned and speechless. But, the saints will not
be surprised nor curious to see the devil because
they know who he really is.
Lucifer, illuminated with
supernatural light, pretending to be Almighty
God, and backing up his blasphemous claims by
calling fire from Heaven, will tell the people of
Earth that he has come to establish his kingdom
on Earth and there will be a thousand years of
peace as soon as the opposition is eliminated!
The religious wicked will
think that Almighty God has come to live and
reign among men when they behold this glorious
being and many non-religious will be converted
on the basis of Lucifer’s deceptions and
they will join the religious wicked group!
You already know that the
fifth seal indicates there will be much martyrdom
after Satan appears on Earth because the saints
will not bow down and worship the devil. You
already know that the Great Tribulation will
begin with awesome judgments and spectacular
displays of God’s wrath…. So
thoughtfully consider the following statement.
I rarely say anything profound:
Nothing but the glory
and power of Jesus at the Second Coming can
eclipse the glorious and powerful release of
Lucifer and millions of his angels from the
spirit realm.
In other words, the arrival
of the Antichrist will be a rapid sequence of
glorious “road shows” designed to
impress a suffering world that indeed, a
magnificent Savior has just arrived. The
appearing of the devil will make the religious
wicked think that the Second Coming has taken
place.
(Note: Lucifer’s
appearing will be a series of “local road
shows” because Jesus does not permit the
devil to appear in the same manner as He will
appear. Lucifer will have to travel about,
presenting himself in different places at
different times. This is why Jesus said:
Matthew 24:23 At
that time if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here
is the Christ!’ or, ‘There he is!’
do not believe it.
Matthew 24:24 For
false Christ’s and false prophets will
appear and perform great signs and miracles to
deceive even the elect – if that were
possible.
Matthew 24:25 See,
I have told you ahead of time.
Matthew 24:26 “So
if anyone tells you, ‘there he is, out in
the desert,’ do not go out; or, ‘Here
he is, in the inner rooms,’ do not believe
it.
Matthew 24:27 For
as lightening that comes from the east is visible
even in the west. So will the coming of the Son
of Man.”
The coming of Jesus will be
visible from east to west, from horizon to
horizon. This is not the case for Lucifer.
The appearing of Lucifer in
the fifth trumpet is unlike the Second Coming
in two ways. First, during the seventh bowl,
the sign of Jesus and His angels will appear in
the sky for a period of about ten days and He
draws near the Earth. As Jesus draws near this
devastated planet, every eye will be able to
see Jesus and His angels because they will
encircle Earth and Earth will rotate beneath this
glorious entourage. Think of millions forming
a huge ring around the Earth. Night and day, as
Earth rotates, from horizon to horizon, from East
to West, the glory of the Second Coming will
illuminate Earth!
Revelation 1:7 Look,
he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will
see him, even those who pierced him; and all the
peoples of the earth will mourn because of him.
So shall it be! Amen.”
The second difference
between the appearing of Lucifer and Jesus is
that Jesus will not touch Earth at the Second
Coming. Instead, Paul clearly says the saints
will be called up to meet the Lord in the air.
Together, with Jesus, the saints will travel to
the Holy City, New Jerusalem. (John 14:1-3)
There, the saints will spend 1,000 years reigning
with Jesus in judgment. During this time, the
saints will determine the amount of restitution
that will be extracted from the wicked at the end
of the 1,000 years. (We will examine these
matters when we study Revelation 20-22.)
Nevertheless, the many
appearances of the devil with 200 million demonic
angels will be so grand, so brilliant, so
powerful, so overwhelming that if possible, the
very elect would be deceived! You may be
wondering, how do we know that Lucifer is going
to appear with 200 million angels?
Revelation 9:11 They
[Lucifer’s angels] had as king over them the
angel of the Abyss, whose name in Hebrew is
Abaddon, and in Greek, Apollyon. [Destroyer]
Revelation 9:16 The
number of mounted troops was two hundred million.
I heard their number.”
I think the number of angels
that were cast out of Heaven with Lucifer is
greater than 200 million. If so, it seems that
Jesus limits the number of demons that can attend
Lucifer or there would be more demons than
people.
Now let’s switch gears….
Here’s some history about the Antichrist
that you need to consider:
Christians have a variety of
ideas about the identity of the Antichrist. Most
Christians believe the Antichrist is coming, but
there is a great deal of confusion about who the
Antichrist will be.
1 John 2:18 Dear
Children, this is the last hour; and as you have
heard that the antichrist is coming, even now
many antichrists have come. This is how you will
know it is the last hour…
1 John 4:2 This
is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every
spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has
come in the flesh is from God,
1 John 4:3 but
every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is
not from God. This is the spirit of the
antichrist, which you have heard is coming and
even now is already in the world.”
Ok, the Antichrist is
coming. So, who is he?
Some Protestants today
believe the Antichrist is the pope. This view
became popular during the Dark Ages when the
Catholic Church persecuted anyone who tried to
reform the church or denounce its doctrines. From
a human point of view, it is easy to see how
people could think the pope was “anti-Christ”
and ultimately, The Antichrist. When people are
languishing in dungeons or dying at the stake
because of religious differences, it doesn’t
take a rocket scientist to figure out who is
evil.
After Martin Luther nailed
his 95 theses to the church door in Wittenberg in
1517, the Catholic Church became alarmed at the
rebellion and growth of Protestantism. The
church tried to combat the growth of
Protestantism by burning Bibles and having
Protestants put to death, but Protestantism
continued to flourish because Protestants were
able to demonstrate from the Bible prophecy that
a blasphemous power would arise out of the fourth
beast in Daniel 7 and it was predicted that it
would persecute the saints of God.
Since history leaves no
wiggle room on the succession of world empires,
the fourth beast in Daniel 7 can be nothing other
than the Roman Empire. Therefore, the little horn
power in Daniel 7 that persecutes the saints has
to be the Roman Catholic Church because it is the
only enduring religious and political power to
rise out of Rome. For three hundred years,
Protestants rallied around Daniel 7 as a common
doctrine indicating that the Roman Catholic
Church was Babylon, the Mother of Harlots, and
the pope was the predicted Antichrist.
Going to Martin Luther’s
day, I am sure you can understand how loyal
Catholics became furious at the Protestant
movement. Seventeen years after Luther nailed his
theses to the church door, Ignatius Loyola
founded a secret order in the Catholic Church
called the Society of Jesus on August 15, 1534.
Members of this secret order became known as
Jesuits. The Jesuit society formed out of a
single purpose: The destruction of Protestantism,
both physically and theologically.
The secret society of the
Jesuits caused enormous death, damage and grief.
In fact, the Jesuits became so notorious for
their wicked deeds that they were evicted from
Portugal (1759), France (1764), Spain (1767),
Naples (1767), and Russia (1820). Even with the
power to inflict a horrible inquisition on
Europe, the Jesuits were unable to stop the
growth of Protestantism.
I should also mention that
eleven years after the Jesuits organized, the
Catholic Church conducted a council that lasted
18 years in the city of Trent, Italy. One outcome
from the Council of Trent was the
development of a clever strategy to beat the
Protestants at their own game. The Jesuits
decided they would thoroughly study the
Antichrist doctrine taught by the Protestants and
the church would respond to Daniel 7 and the
finger-pointing tactics of Protestants with a
Biblical alternative. The church would offer an
explanation of the Antichrist that would confuse
Protestants and defuse their popularity.
A Jesuit scholar from Spain,
Francisco Ribera, studied into this matter and he
eventually came up with the idea that the
Antichrist would be an evil man who would come to
power down in the distant future, at the end of
time. This man would gain the favor of the Jews
and he would enable them to rebuild Jerusalem
and the temple. Ultimately, this man would
turn on the Jews and become their enemy. This man
would bring the world to a catastrophic and
through global war. Ribera’s commentary was
published in 1590, and Protestants
immediately rejected it – until the middle
of the 19th century.
Early Protestants knew the
Church was trying to “spin” Bible
prophecy so that the pope would not be the
Antichrist and this made their case and efforts
to expose the pope as the Antichrist stronger.
About two hundred years are
Ribera’s commentary was published the French
Revolution began. During this bloodiest of
European wars, the pope was taken prisoner by
General Berthier in February 1798. When the
papacy fell, 1,260 years of papal dominance over
Europe ended. The Roman Catholic Church was left
badly wounded and powerless.
About 30 years after the
French Revolution, in 1831, William Miller, a
licensed Baptist minister, began preaching that
Jesus would return to Earth around 1844. A
significant number of people in New England
(between 50-100 thousand) became followers of
miller and when nothing happened in 1844, the
Millerite movement imploded.
Miller’s disappointment
is important within the context of this study
because two things confused Protestants in Europe
and the United States after 1844.
First, the historical
method of interpretation used by Miller proved
to be a disaster. Miller’s embarrassment
convinced many Protestant leaders that Bible
prophecy needed a fresh study.
Second, since the power of
the papacy had been destroyed, Protestants needed
another Antichrist. The pope was gone.
A number of prophetic
conferences were held in Europe and the United
States during the 19th century and
guess what? Protestants began to adopt the views
of Ribera written in 1590! Ribera’s views
did not become widely popular within
Protestantism until Cyrus Scofield published his
Scofield reference Bible around 1909, near the
beginning of the twentieth century.
During the past 100 years,
millions of Protestants have embraced the
counterreformation ideas presented by Ribera in
1590. This bit of history explains why millions
of Christians today believe the Antichrist will
be a man from Europe that rises to power. They
believe he will become powerful and prominent.
That he will befriend the Jews and help them
rebuild the temple. Then, half way through the 70th
week, they believe he will betray the Jews and
will cause Armageddon.
As I said, the Protestant
position on the identity of the Antichrist is
diverse. Some Protestants still believe the
Antichrist is the pope. They believe the pope and
the Catholic Church will control the world
someday and everyone who refuses to worship on
Sunday will be killed.
On the other hand, it
should be said that a few Protestants today think
the Antichrist was Nero, the Roman Caesar who
ruled from A.D. 54 to A.D. 68. He imposed a lot
of suffering, death and grief on early
Christians. Ironically, the view that Nero was
the Antichrist originated with a Jesuit priest.
His name was Luis de Alcazar (1554-1613). His
900-page theory, published in 1618 was designed
to nullify the doctrines of Protestants. (It is
fascinating that two contemporary Jesuit scholars
arrived a totally different conclusion about the
same time and the church blessed both efforts.
So, what does the Catholic Church really
believe?)
Now that you have a little
background on today’s Protestant confusion,
I hope you can understand why I believe a great
tragedy is in the making. The devil will
physically appear on Earth at the appointed time,
masquerading as Almighty God and deceiving
billions of people, and Protestants don’t
have a single Bible text to deal with the topic. Not
ONE! Zero.
The Antichrist predicted
in the Bible is far more powerful, far more evil,
and far more destructive than anything possible
for a mere mortal to do. The Antichrist to which
the Bible points are infinitely more powerful and
evil and destructive than any human being could
be!
The coming Antichrist has
been anti-Christ for thousands of years. He is
not to be confined by the limitations imposed on
human beings. Lucifer was the highest of the
angels, Lucifer was the brightest and the most
gifted of God’s creation. Lucifer chose
to become a devil and as such, he has used his
incredible gifts and talents for evil. For
thousands of years he has been doing everything
possible to thwart the plans and purposes of God.
He is the original
Anti-Christ and he will be given an opportunity
to fully present himself before mankind. I want
to lift up your thinking and put the appearing of
the Antichrist on a higher plane than Nero, the
pope or some man from Europe. The physical
appearing of the devil is a component of the
Great Tribulation which 99.99% of the Christian
world does not anticipate!
The world’s greatest
deception is about to take place and most
Christians are totally ignorant of this coming
event. This is terrible! Yes, most Christians
have heard that the Antichrist is coming, but
they don’t have a clue that it will be the
miracle-working devil, Lucifer, masquerading as
Almighty God. Even worse, most of the people on
Earth have no idea that 200 million giant angels
will attend Lucifer!
(Consider this, if the two
figurines in Solomon’s temple were made
life-size, and I think they were, at a minimum,
Lucifer’s angels will be about 15 feet tall.
See 1 Kings 6:26. Do you remember how one angel
killed 185,000 Assyrian soldiers one night? (2
Kings 19:35) Do you think that if all of the
armies of Earth were brought together to fight
Lucifer’s angels, a dozen of his angels
could destroy several million men in one night?
Sure! The point here is that the coming
Antichrist and his forces are supernatural.
They will dwarf the people of Earth in strength
and ability. This is serious!)
Why does Jesus permit the
devil and his angels to appear? Because God’s
actions are always multipurposed, Jesus has
several reasons for releasing the devil upon the
world. Here are three easy ones:
1.
When two-thirds of the time allotted to the Great
Tribulation has passed and the advancement of the
gospel has stalled – Jesus will release the
devil and his angels from the abyss and the devil’s
actions will push a number of people “off
the fence.” In other words, some people will
wake up after beholding the reality of the devil
and his behavior and they will give their hearts
and lives to Christ. (Do you remember the story
of the serpents in the desert? Those bitten by
venomous snakes could go and look at the bronze
serpent that Moses put on a pole and they would
live. Numbers 21:8,9 The idea here is similar.
Many will realize the glorious being claiming to
be God is evil and they will turn to Jesus for
salvation to escape the devil’s torture.)
2.
After he arrives, the devil will level the
playing ground for all religions on Earth.
This is a most crucial point. You know how every
religion believes it is right and the others are
wrong. You should know that most of the religious
wicked worship their religion because it is an
extension of their self-righteousness. In other
words, religion is their idol. Now hear this:
When the devil appears, he will terminate all
of the religions of the world and this will
create a huge vacuum for the group called “the
religious wicked.”
What will they now worship?
Think about this: Catholicism, Protestantism,
Islam, Judaism, Eastern Mysticism, Paganism and
Atheism will be abolished after Lucifer arrives…
He will do this because there can be no room
for religious diversity when “God Himself”
lives among men..
The devil will claim to be
God. He will declare his teachings as truth and
his will as law and who will be able to argue?
Who will be able to differ without receiving a
severe penalty? Masquerading as God, the devil
will establish a new religion, a one-world
religion. He will claim to be God, he will
exercise the divine prerogatives of God and no
one will be able to stop him or kill him.
3. Jesus
releases the devil upon the world so the universe
can witness the huge contrast between the
government, the character and ways of a God of
love and the government, the character and the
ways of a god who loves only himself.
This contrast will be a
cosmic lesson studied throughout eternity. God
wants the universe to understand that His laws
are based on love that does not have one thread
of selfishness in it. God also wants the universe
to know that all three members of the Godhead
have committed their divine powers of
omnipresence, omnipotence, and omniscience to
ensuring that the universe will forever remain
governed by the law of love. These laws are
immutable and eternal because conformity to them
is the only way God’s children, forever
having the power of choice, can live happily ever
after.
I hope you are beginning to
see that the fifth trumpet is a very serious
topic and it warrants a close and through
investigation. Even more, if you have family and
friends who know nothing about this profoundly
important subject, you should introduce them to
the fifth trumpet as soon as possible.
This is a sad truth: We live
at a time when most of the world does not believe
that mankind has a supernatural malicious enemy,
a fallen angel called the devil or Satan. This is
very amazing. Think about this:
Lucifer has been able to
trash and thrash planet Earth for 6,000 years, he
has been able to cause unspeakable cruelty,
outrageous suffering, endless illness, abject
poverty, rampant arrogance and ignorance, not to
mention the death of everyone who lives here and
yet, most human beings are totally unaware of
his presence and his pervasive work. And even
if they do believe in a devil, most people regard
the devil as a fictitious character rather than a
vigilant enemy. He is one very clever devil. He
is unbelievingly deceptive! Were it not for the
Bible, we could not know God nor His relentless
adversary, Lucifer, the devil.
For the moment, I am going
to assume that everyone understands that Lucifer
was once in Heaven. He was a covering cherub,
that is, he stood on the left side of the throne
of God. Michael, the archangel – the other
covering cherub, stood on the right. Over time,
Lucifer became jealous of Michael’s higher
position and honor. Because Lucifer did not want
the other angels to know 6that he was jealous, he
began to undermine the authority and honor that
is due Michael through lies and doubts.
This is how Lucifer
became Anti-Christ because Michael is the same
member of the Godhead who lived in Heaven and was
born as Jesus Christ on Earth.
Eventually, Lucifer was cast
out of Heaven along with one-third of Heaven’s
host. Revelation 12:4 His tail [tale]
swept a third of the stars out of the sky and
flung them to the earth…
Lucifer’s History
1
2
3 4
5
x----4000----x—2000—x---x-----1000-----x
1. Cast out of
Heaven for rebellion
2. Cast out of
Heaven on Resurrection Sunday – no longer
represents Earth
3. Released from
the Abyss
4. Returned to
the Abyss for 1,000 years
5. Destroyed in
the lake of fire
Because chronological
order is a very important rule in apocalyptic
prophecy, I am going to go over to Revelation 12
where the birth of Jesus occurs so that I can
show you how the fifth trumpet in Revelation 9
unfolds.
Let’s look at
Revelation 12:
Revelation 12:1 A
great and wondrous sign appeared in heaven; a
woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under
her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head.
Revelation 12:2 She
was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was
about to give birth.
Revelation 12:3 Then
another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red
dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven
crowns on his heads.
Revelation 12:4 His
tail swept a third of the stars of the sky and
flung them to the earth. The dragon stood in
front of the woman who was about to give birth,
so that he might devour her child the moment that
it was born.
Revelation 12:5 She
gave birth to a son, a male child, who will rule
all the nations with an iron scepter. And her
child was snatched up to God and to his throne.
Revelation 12:6 The
women fled into the desert to a place prepared
for her by God, where she might be taken care of
for 1,260 days.
Four establishing points of
reference are found in this prophecy:
1. The Woman
represents the people of God (this contrasts with
the other woman in Revelation, the great whore
who represents the wicked)
2. The great red
dragon with seven heads and ten horns represents
the devil
3. The male
child is Jesus who will rule all nations with a
rod of iron, and He was snatched up to God’s
throne.
4. Dragon
chased the women to the desert for 1,260 days
– a parallel reference to the time, times
and half a time mentioned in Daniel 7:25.
Time Line
1
2
3
4
---------x------------x----------------------x-------1,260--------x----
1. Jesus born
4 B.C. / Herod
2. Jesus
ascended A.D. 30
3. Dragon
chases woman 538
4. Papal
power broke 1798
Now that the time line in
verses 1-6 has been established [Remember,
according to Rule One, time lines are crucial in
apocalyptic prophecies because every event is
either date stamped or chronologically located] we
will continue with the next prophecy in
Revelation because it builds upon the time line
laid out in the prophecy found in verses 1-6.
Revelation 12:7
And there was war in heaven. Michael and his
angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon
and his angles fought back.
Revelation 12:8
But he was not strong enough, and they lost their
place in heaven.
Revelation 12:9
The great dragon was hurled down – that
ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who
leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to
the earth, and his angels with him.
Revelation 12:10
Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: “Now
have come the salvation and the power and the
kingdom of our God, and the authority of his
Christ. For the accuser of our brothers, who
accuses them before our God day and night.
Revelation 12:11
They [our brothers] overcame him by the blood of
the lamb and by the word of their testimony; they
did not love their lives so much as to shrink
from death.
Revelation 12:13
When the dragon saw that he had been hurled to
the earth, he pursued the woman who had been
given birth to the male child.
Revelation 12:14
The woman was given the two wings of a great
eagle, so that she might fly to the place
prepared for her in the desert, where she would
be taken care of for a time, times and half a
time, out of the serpent’s reach…”
Key question: When
did this war in Heaven between the dragon and
Michael occur? Many Christians think the war
refers to the original conflict between Lucifer
and Michael, but this is not the case! Watch
closely how this unfolds:
Revelation 12:7
And there was war in heaven. Michael and his
angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon
and his angels fought back.
Revelation 12:8
but he was not strong enough, and they lost their
place in heaven…
Revelation 12:13
When the dragon saw that he had been hurled to
the earth, he pursued the woman who had given
birth to the male child.”
Look again at verse 13.
This expulsion from Heaven has to occur after
the male child is born. But wait, there is
more! Look at these verses:
Revelation 12:9
The great dragon was hurled down – that
ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who
leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to
the earth, and his angels with him.
Revelation 12:10
Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: “Now
have come the salvation and the power and the
kingdom of our God, and the authority of his
Christ. For the accuser of our brothers, who
accuses them before our God day and night, has
been hurled down.”
If this war occurred before
the creation of the world as some Christians
claim, how could Satan be called the accuser of
our brothers when there weren’t any humans
to accuse??? But wait, there’s more!
Look at the words of Jesus:
John 12:26 Whoever
serves me must follow me; and where I am, my
servant also must be. My father will honor the
one who serves me.
John 12:27 “Now
my heart is troubled, and what shall I say?
‘Father, save me from this hour’? No,
it was for this very reason I came to this hour.
John 12:28 Father,
glorify your name!” Then a voice came from
heaven, “I have glorified it, and will
glorify it again.”
John 12:29 The
crowd that was there and heard it said it had
thundered; others said an angel had spoken to
him.
John 12:30 Jesus
said, “This voice was for your benefit, not
mine.
John 12:31 Now
is the time for judgment on this world; now the
prince of this world will be driven out [of
Heaven].
Jesus hurried to
Heaven on Resurrection Morning. This is why He
told Mary not to hold on to Him. (John 20:17) He
returned that morning to the Father to expel
Lucifer and take his seat as Earth’s
representative in Heaven’s Congress.
As the prince of this
world, Lucifer had represented Earth for 4,000
years, but Jesus, on the basis of His sinless
life and shed blood, declared that he had earned
the right to represent the world. The Father
agreed with Jesus.
Lucifer and Michael/Jesus
fought over this position and Lucifer was
humiliated, defeated and forever cast out of
Heaven. No longer could he serve as Earth’s
representative. (See Job 1.) What does this have
to do with the fifth trumpet? Quite a bit
actually. John saw the cosmic battle between
Jesus and the dragon in vision. He saw:
KJV: Revelation 12:9
And the dragon was cast out, that old serpent,
called the Devil or Satan, which deceiveth the
whole world: he was cast out into the earth,
and his angels were cast out with him.”
The devil and his angels
were cast into the Earth. In other words, like a
stone thrown into a lake, the devil and his
angels sank out of sight after they were
cast into the Earth.
These demons have been
confined in the Abyss since resurrection Sunday
and at the fifth trumpet, the Abyss will be
unlocked and the devil and a large number of
his angels will pop out and be seen!
John saw this course of
events and later on, an angel spoke to him about
it:
Revelation 17:8
The beast [the dragon], which you saw, once was [visible],
now is not [visible], and will come out of the
Abyss and go to his destruction. The inhabitants
of the earth whose names have not been written in
the book of life from the creation of the world
will be astonished when they see the beast
[the dragon], because he was [visible], now is
not [visible], and yet will come [up out of the
Abyss and be visible].
So, what does the Bible
teach?
1
2
3
4
----------x-----------x--------------x------1,260-----x------------
4BC
AD30
538
1798
x--------out of sight-------------------------x
Cast
into Earth
At fifth trumpet
comes up out of Earth
Now that you have some
background information, let’s read
Revelation 9:1-11:
Revelation 9:1
The fifth angel sounded his trumpet, and I saw a star
that had fallen from the sky to the earth. The star
was given the key to the shaft of the Abyss.
Revelation 9:2
When he opened the Abyss, smoke rose from it like
the smoke from a gigantic furnace. The sun and
sky were darkened by the smoke from the Abyss.
Revelation 9:3
And out of the smoke locusts came down upon the
earth and were given power like that of scorpions
of the earth.
Revelation 9:4
They were told not to harm the grass of the earth
or any plant or tree, but only those people who
did not have the seal of God on their foreheads. [actually,
those in opposition to the claims of the devil
will be tormented, the non-religious wicked, the
devil cannot touch those having been sealed, nor
will he harm his followers]
Revelation 9:5
They were not given power to kill them, but only
to torture them for five months. And the agony
they suffered was like that of a sting of a
scorpion when it strikes a man.
Revelation 9:6
During those days men will seek death, but will
not find it; they will long to die, but death
will elude them.
Revelation 9:7
The locusts looked like horses prepared to do
battle. On their heads they wore something like
crowns of gold, and their faces resembled human
faces.
Revelation 9:8
Their hair was like woman’s hair, and their
teeth were like lions’ teeth.
Revelation 9:9
They had breastplates like breastplates of iron,
and the sound of their wings were like the
thundering of many horses and chariots rushing
into battle.
Revelation 9:10
They had tails and stings like scorpions, and in
their tails they had power to torment people for five
months.
Revelation 9:11
They had a king over them the angel of the Abyss,
whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek,
Apollyon.”
The words, Abaddon and
Apollyon mean the same thing, “destroyer.”
God wants Jew and Gentile alike (this is why
there the Hebrew and Greek language is used) to
identify this enemy.
Looking at God’s
use of Destroyer
Let’s start with
Revelation 9:11 since you already understand the
full cup principle. The full cup principle is
this: When a nation or group of people reach a
point where extended mercy does not produce a
redeeming effect, God sends a destroyer.
The destroyer may be called to impose redemptive
judgments or totally destructive judgments. Here’s
an example of the full cup principle:
God told Jeremiah:
Jeremiah 4:5 “Announce
in Judah and proclaim in Jerusalem and say:
‘Sound the trumpet throughout the land!’
Cry aloud and say: ‘Gather together! Let us flee
to the fortified cities!’
Jeremiah 4:6 Raise
the signal to go to Zion! Flee for safety without
delay! For I am bring disaster from the north,
even terrible destruction.”
Jeremiah 4:7 A
lion has come out of his lair; a destroyer of
nations has set out. He has left his place to lay
waste your land. Your towns will lie in ruins
without inhabitant…
Jeremiah 4:16
“Tell this to the nations, proclaim it to
Jerusalem: ‘A besieging army is coming from
a distant land, raising a war cry against the
cities of Judah.
Jeremiah 4:18
“Your own conduct and actions have brought
this upon you. This is your punishment. How
bitter it is! How it pierces to the heart!”
Jeremiah 4:22
“My people are fools; they do not know me.
They are senseless children; they have no
understanding. They are skilled in doing evil;
they know now how to do good.”
Jeremiah 5:15
O house of Israel,” declares the Lord,
“I am bringing a distant nation against you
– an ancient and enduring nation, a people
whose language you do not know, whose speech you
do not understand.
Jeremiah 5:16
Their quivers are like an open grave, all of them
are mighty warriors.
Jeremiah 5:17
They will devour your harvests and food, devour
your sons and daughters, they will devour your
flocks and herds; devour your vines and fig
trees. With the sword they will destroy the
fortified cities in which you trust.
Jeremiah 25:8
Therefore the Lord Almighty says this: “Because
you have not listened to my words,
Jeremiah 25:9
I will summon all the peoples of the north and my
servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon,”
declares the Lord, “and I will bring them
against this land and its inhabitants and against
all the surrounding nations. I will completely destroy
them and make them an object of horror and scorn,
and an everlasting ruin.”
Nebuchadnezzar, king
of ancient Babylon, was empowered by God to be
the destroyer of Israel. In a parallel
way, Lucifer, king of modern Babylon, will be
released upon the whole world to destroy Earth.
There is significance in
the Hebrew and Greek names: Apollyon and Abaddon.
This name represents a curse for Jew and gentile
alike. The devil will be physically released from
the Abyss [spirit realm] to bring the drama of
sin to a close. The Antichrist and his angels
will be on Earth 445 days.
2 Thessalonians 2:3
Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for
that day [the Second Coming] will not come until
the rebellion occurs [a world-wide rebellion
against the everlasting gospel will bring the
gospel of Jesus to a stand still] and the man of
lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to
destruction.
2 Thessalonians 2:4
He will oppose and will exult himself over
everything that is called God or is worshiped, so
that he sets himself up in God’s temple [receiving
the worship reserved for God], proclaiming
himself to be God.
2 Thessalonians 2:5
Don’t you remember that when I was with you
I used to tell you these things?
2 Thessalonians 2:6
And now you know what is holding him back, so
that he may be revealed at the proper time.
2 Thessalonians 2:7
For the secret power of lawlessness [rebellion] is
already at work; but the one who now holds it
back will continue to do so till he is taken
out of the way. [After corporate intercession
has ended]
2 Thessalonians 2:8
And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom
the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of
his mouth and destroy by the splendor of his
coming.
2 Thessalonians 2:9
The coming of the lawless one will [appear to be
divine and glorious, but it will] be in
accordance with the work of Satan displayed in
all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and
wonders.
2 Thessalonians 2:10
and in every sort of evil that deceives those who
are perishing. They perish because [they heard
and] they refused to love the truth and so be
saved.
2 Thessalonians 2:11
For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion
so that they will believe the lie
2 Thessalonians 2:12
and so that all will be condemned who have not
believed the truth but delighted in wickedness.”
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