By Don Hollifield
Introduction:
The first four seals and trumpets presented judgments directed against the earth bringing tyranny, war, famine, and death on the earth, and the ecological destruction of the vegetation, seas, fresh waters , and the sky.
The last three seals focus upon heaven; the cry of the martyrs, cosmic disturbances and the heavenly prelude to the seven trumpets.
V1: And the fifth Angel sounded, and I saw a Star fall from heaven unto the earth, and to him was given the key to the bottomless pit.
John sees a star, or an Angel, fall upon the Earth (?) with the key to the bottomless pit. The bottomless pit is located within the earth. The star is the fifth angel to the various churches. Who has the key to the bottomless pit of hell???
V2: And He opened the bottomless pit, and there arose a smoke out of the pit as the smoke of a great furnace, and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit.
Could the smoke of a great furnace be nuclear power; or several meteors hitting the earth, or perhaps a giant meteor striking earth??? The smoke was so great it darkened the sun. When the Angel opened the bottomless pit, The Bible Code prophesizes a meteor striking the earth in the year 2012. Interesting!!! Great tribulations were released and are prepared to fall upon the earth.
V3: And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth. And unto them was given the power, as the scorpions of the earth have power.
Beasts of the earth are identified as locusts with great power. What could these creatures be??? The eight plague of Egypt (Exodus 10v14-15) were locusts, but these locusts are NOT normal locusts. Gog is often called the king of locusts. And Gog is presently the country of Iran, parts of Iraq, and Southern Russia, Interesting!!!
V4: And it was commanded them that they should Not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any trees, but only those men which have Not the seal of God in their foreheads.
They are told not to hurt nature, so they can Not be regular locusts as we know them. If they are not regular locusts, what can they be???
They can only hurt those men that do Not have the Seal of God in their foreheads. I believe the above 2 verses are very important and there is a key which identifies the subject.
First we know that these locusts are Not insects and they are only allowed to torment or hurt those that do Not have the Seal of God in their foreheads; and these locusts came from the bottomless pit which is where the devil and his fallen angels are kept under guard. God constantly uses various items as symbolic for various individuals; serpents, trees, animals, fish and even insects.
Shall we repeat verse 3: V3: And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth. And unto them was given the power, as the scorpions of the earth have power.
The locusts have to be symbolic for the fallen angels, and they are given power to attack those without the Seal of God in their forehead. Who can they attack??? They certainly won't attack those that serve the devil, and they can not attack Christians, so who does this leave???
As you know a scorpion first grabs his prey and then inserts its venom into it. The scorpion does not have a digestive stomach, so its venom literally digests the insides of an insect, and then when it is complete, the scorpion swallows it.
The scorpion is symbolic for the devil, and the devil uses the same procedure in capturing the souls of humans. He will first grab his conquest, and them insert lies and deception into his brain and he seals it with the seal of the beast. But please notice the scorpion or the 6th seal was not opened as of yet. The locust will gang-up and attack green vegetation and slowly devour it. The fallen angels or the supernatural army will use this same procedure in capturing the unsuspected.
I believe there are three types of people:
1. The Christians and selected Jews or those with the seal of God.
2. The evil ones or those with the seal of the beast.
3. And those in between, and they will be easy prey.
Do Not worry since we have power over them in: Mark 10v19: Jesus says, "Behold, I give you power to tread on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing shall by any means hurt you." What is the power??? Do what Jesus did when the devil tried to tempt Him, saying, "Get thee behind me," or "Get out of my life." Ask for it in the name of Christ. Try it!!! It works!!!
V5: And to them it was given that they should Not kill them, but they should be tormented five months, and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he strikes a man.
They can Not kill the ones without the seal of God in their foreheads, but torment them as a scorpion does over its prey, and for five months. Why??? They can't kill these men, but they can torment them with lies and false promises. The months of May through September are five months and are the months of the locust. Perhaps Jesus is talking about the members of the five Churches that Jesus is dissatisfied with, and tells them to repent. Interesting???
V6: And in those days shall men seek death, and they shall Not find it, and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them.
Death will offer No escape from the tribulations; like the sting of a scorpion, very painful but not fatal. For those of the Philadelphia and the Smyrna Churches, death leads to eternity; but for the others, death is like leaping from the frying pan into eternal fire. To some, they believe death is a way to eternity to receive numerous virgin wives, which is strictly a demonic deception.
V7: And the shapes of the locust were like unto horses prepared unto battle, and on their heads were as it were crowns like gold, and their faces were as the faces of men. V8: And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth as the teeth of lions. V9: And they had breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron, and the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle. V10: And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails, and their power was to hurt men five months.
What can these locusts be??? The repetition of the word "Like" indicates something other than natural locusts. But remember, this is what John saw and he described them to the best of his ability.
Try to visualized what he saw and describe it accordingly. He had never seen or heard an engine of any type, and he had never seen any sort of a mechanized vehicle. He had never heard the roar of jet engines. Could he be describing airplanes???
"Like unto horses prepared for battle." Horses would have armor plates on them like a plane.
"On their heads as crowns like gold." The cockpit of a plane would look like a crown.
"And their faces were as faces of men," which would be faces of pilots.
"They had hair as a women." Women had to cover their heads, like pilots
with helmets.
"Their teeth were as teeth of a lion." This sounds like the guns firing from a plane.
"Breastplates of iron." Airplanes would look like breastplates of iron.
"Sounds of chariots of many horses." The roar of planes would be deafening.
"Tails like a scorpions." The jets and tail fins would resemble a scorpion.
"Stings in their tails." Imagine the fire coming from the jets of a plane.
Also, why are they allowed to hurt for five months??? Could this be the time of the locusts??? May through September. And "hurt" means to treat unjustly and, includes injure, torture and beatings. Could this be 5 months before the devil is loosed???
V11: And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name, Apollyon.
This king the devil and his henchmen are in the bottomless pit being guarded by the Arch Angel Michael. Also, Abaddon and Apollyon mean the destroyer and to perish or to destroy, which are the Hebrew and Greek names for the devil.
V12: One woe is past, and behold, there come two woes more after. The first woe is past, the worse is yet to come. Paul writes about the fallen angels and the devil in:
II Corinthians 11v13-15: For such are false apostles, deceitful workers transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. V14: And no marvel, for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. V15: Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as ministers of righteousness whose end shall be according to their works.
The fallen angels and the devil will disguise themselves as ministers of righteousness; and the devil himself will come as the angel of light, or will come disguised as Jesus Christ, the true Angel of Light.
These ministers will distort the word of God, and turn many into receiving the false angel of light.
Are these false ministers here now??? Quite possibly. Some ministers preach what they think the congregation wants to hear. I have spoken to numerous ministers about the end-times, and they all believe we are either in the end-times or very near to it, but they won't preach it.
Let's return to: Revelation 9v13: And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God. The voice from the altar must be God.
V14: Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates. V15: And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men.
These four angels represent fallen angels of the devil, and they have been prepared for the hour, day, month and year, to kill one third of all mankind. Notice the actual date is unknown except to God. They do not know when they will be released, only God knows, but they are prepared. The Euphrates River is the traditional boundary between good and bad. It is the fountainhead of idolatry and false worship. Many false gods are worshipped east of the Euphrates River, including Iran, India, Indonesia, and China.
V16: And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand, thousand, and I heard the number of them.
An army of 200,000,000 sounds impossible, but it is certainly possible. Just combine the armies of Russia, China, North Korea with the army of Gog, and other Arab nations; this number is easily obtained. Russia, China and North Korea all have a part in helping Iran develop nuclear power.
V17: And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone, and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions, and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone. V18: By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which was issued out of their mouths. V19: For their power is in their mouth, and in their tails, for their tails were like unto serpents, and had heads, and with them they do hurt.
Once again we need to realize what John was seeing and visualize this army. Remember he had never seen modern weapons nor their armament. I believe he is describing tanks, having heavy armament, with fire and brimstone coming from the gun turrets. And with their cannons pointing to the rear when in motion, and these cannons would appear as the tails of scorpions.
I believe these tanks are also symbolic for the false ministers that blow smoke and fire in capturing the many souls of the innocent. I believe the fallen angels will attack the ones without the Seal of God both physically and spiritually. If you have the Seal of God in your forehead, you will recognize the lies that will bombard you, and you recognize the false messiah.
V20: And the rest of the men which were Not killed by these plaques yet repented Not of the works of their hands, that they should Not worship devils, and idols of gold and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood, which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk.
Now the actions of the false angels are called Plagues.
V21: Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts.
The men not killed continued with their evil ways, worshipping various idols. "Soceries" in the Greek is "Phmarakeia" which is where we get our "Pharmacist" or drug store, which includes drug users and dealers. They repented Not from their murders, drug usage, sexual immorality and thievery. Sound familiar???
AMEN
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