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Revelation chapter 14
Revelation 14:1-5, “And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father’s name written in their foreheads. And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps: 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 withersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the first fruits unto God and to the Lamb. And in their mouth was found no guile: for they are without fault before the throne of God.” [Underlined portion of verse 5 not found in most translations.] This is taking a snap-shot forward in time, into the Millennium, right after the 2nd coming where the 144,000 are granted eternal life. Whereas Philadelphia is granted the reward of being pillars in the spiritual temple of God, this group’s reward is quite similar to Laodicea’s (which if you remember was to be right at the throne, in the throne room of the risen Christ). Their reward is to follow and be with the Lamb, wherever he goes. This will include Christ’s earthly rule, but goes on forever, apparently. For those who believe that the righteous dead souls of those who die are conscious and in heaven, they see this as the 144,000 standing on the sea of glass (verse 2 of Revelation 15), having the harps of God, singing the song of Moses. Other’s, as I’ve said, see this as looking forward to right after the blowing of the 7th Trumpet when the 1st resurrection to immortality takes place. Whichever interpretation is correct, you won’t find out until either you die and find your conscious soul in heaven, or until the time of the 1st resurrection to immortality. That is what makes this a secondary doctrine and interpretation, either way.
Three proclamations, preliminary to the start of the
Seven Trumpet Plagues
Revelation 14:6-8, “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, 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. And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.” Along with giving one final proclamation of the gospel to the whole world, this one angel proclaims the arrival of God’s final judgment on the Beast Empire and all the nations which will be allied to it. i.e. He announces that Babylon the Great is about to fall. Revelation 14:9-11, “And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb: and the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.” Wow, that’s a pretty scary announcement. Another angel here proclaims swift punishment on all who worship the beast, its image or anyone who has the mark of the beast.
Coming Harvest of Death, Announcement of the Seven
Last Plagues
Revelation 14:12-20, “Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus. And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them. And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle. And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in thy sickle, and reap: for the time is come for thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe. And he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth; and the earth was reaped. And another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle. And another came out from the altar, which had power over fire; and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe. And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. And the winepress was trodden without the city, and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs.” The white cloud is a mark of identification for Jesus Christ, cf. Matthew 24:30. These verses show in symbolic language, metaphors, the coming harvest of death and destruction the returning Jesus Christ is going to bring on all who are part of or allied to the Beast Empire (which will end up being all of the world). In symbolic language, these six verses are announcing the Seven Last Plagues which make up the Seventh Trumpet Plague. This passage cross references to Isaiah 63:1-6, “Who is this who comes from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah, this One who is glorious in His apparel, traveling in the greatness of His strength?---‘I who speak in righteousness, mighty to save.’ Why is Your apparel red, and Your garments like one who treads in the winepress? ‘I have trodden the winepress alone, and from the peoples no one was with Me. Your iniquities and the iniquities of your fathers together,’ says the LORD, ‘who have burned incense on the mountains and blasphemed Me on the hills; therefore I will measure their former work into their bosom.’” J. Vernon McGee says here, “The picture in this verse is of spectators seeing that there is blood on our Lord’s beautiful garments as he had trodden the winepress. When Christ came the first time, he shed his blood for them, but they have rejected it. Now he is trodding down the wicked, and it is their blood that is shed. He will gather them, as we will see in Revelation 16:16, “into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.” It is not a single battle but a war---the war of Armageddon (Heb.: Har Meggidon).” [THRU THE BIBLE, Vol. V, p. 1013, col.1, par. 2.] Next J. Vernon McGee says, “‘Without the city’ means outside of Jerusalem. ‘Unto the horses bridles’ means about four feet deep in blood. ‘A thousand and six hundred furlongs’ is about 185 miles, and that is the distance from Dan to Beersheba. All of Palestine is the scene of this final war which ends in what is called Armageddon…Psalm 45:3-7 is an Old Testament prediction of this: “Gird on thy sword upon thy thigh, O most mighty, with thy glory and thy majesty. And in thy majesty ride prosperously because of truth and meekness and righteousness; and thy right hand shall teach thee terrible things. Thine arrows are sharp in the heart of the king’s enemies; whereby the people fall under thee. Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever; the sceptre of thy kingdom is a right sceptre. Thou lovest righteousness, and hate wickedness: therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.” Psalm 45 is a messianic psalm…This judgment must inevitably come on Christ-rejecters. Mankind has rejected Him, trodden under foot the Son of God, and counted the blood of the covenant as an unholy thing. If God is just (and He is) there will be judgment. The generation of today needs to hear this. Instead being given this, they are offered endless little methods of living the Christian life. My friend, there is nothing that will straighten out your life like knowing that our God is a holy God, that the Lord Jesus Christ is righteous, and that He is not going to tolerate sin in your life.” [THRU THE BIBLE, Vol. V, p. 1014, col.1, par. 6 and col.2, par 1.] That was J. Vernon McGee commenting on these verses. That last paragraph was addressed to Christians, not non-believers. He didn’t mince words either. I have felt a strong compulsion to do this commentary, and I am sure it didn’t come from my own pea-brained mind. I think the Lord wants the Body of Christ to spiritually wake up and smell the roses, before it is too late.
Revelation chapter 15
Revelation 15:1, “And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous, seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath of God.” This verse ties right in with the last six verses of Revelation 14. (There are no chapter-breaks in the Greek.) Revelation 14 and 15:1 are basically an announcement that the Seven Last Plagues are coming onto earth now, and chapter 14 showed some of the effect they would have, as well as gave some serious warnings through angelic announcements.
144,000 and innumerable multitude
martyred?
Revelation 15:2-4, “And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God. And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvelous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints. Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy: for all nations shall come and worship before thee; for thy judgments are made manifest.” J. Vernon McGee thinks that the 144,000 and the innumerable multitude end up getting martyred for their witness and testimony. If that is true, when it says ‘they were sealed by God’ this probably refers to their receiving the Holy Spirit. “a sea of glass mingled with fire” J. Vernon McGee says this glassy sea of fire represents persecution the 144,000 and innumerable multitude come under during the tribulation. Remember, no one can buy or sell unless they have the mark of the beast? In his Olivet discourse Jesus said that if during the this time (in context with the Olivet discourse, i.e. the tribulation) whoever gives a cup of cold water in His name would not lose his reward. This would indicate that anyone who would so much as give water or food to one of the 144,000 would put his own life in extreme peril. And this situation has happened before, during the dark ages, where if the Catholic Church found anyone who knew of or was aiding a ‘heretic’, an Albigencian, Waldensian, Petrobrucian, Henrician, etc., he could end up being tortured to death on the Rack himself, or burned to death, as happened to whole French villages and cities that were sympathetic to these believers. Also, in Nazi occupied Europe this peril, danger existed as well for anyone found aiding or harboring Jews. As J. Vernon McGee says, “Those will be very difficult days.” It’s all in history guys and gals. Just have to connect the dots.
Song of Moses sung by the 144,000
Revelation 15:3-4, “And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvelous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints. Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy: for all nations shall come and worship before thee; for thy judgments are made manifest.” Cf. Exodus 15:1-21 and Deuteronomy 32:1-43, both songs of Moses, both speak of God’s deliverance, faithfulness and salvation. The Book of Revelation is Christ-centered, all about the awesome power, holiness and glory of the living Jesus Christ. He is the object which, who will become universally worshipped, all over the world. “Who shall not fear, Lord, and glorify thy name?” J. Vernon McGee says “In our day there is very little reverential fear of God, even among believers. We have been caught up in this love attitude, and I don’t think we should lose sight of the fact that God is love. God is moving in on churches and dealing with Christians as I have never seen Him do before. I am one Christian who can testify to that. If you are God’s child, you had better not do as you please. If you think God would mind sending you a little trouble, you are wrong. God is to be feared. Our God is a holy God.” “Nations shall come and worship before thee…” This is not true today. As a matter of fact our very own nation, as well as others, are going in exactly the opposite direction, removing all references to God and especially to Jesus Christ, and banning all public prayer that mentions the name of Jesus Christ. But there will come a time when every nation will worship Jesus Christ. For those who believe that the righteous souls of those who die are conscious and in heaven, they see this as the 144,000 literally standing on the sea of fiery glass (verse 2), having the harps of God, singing the song of Moses, singing the verse we just read (also in Revelation 14:1-5). Others, as I’ve said, see this as looking forward to right after the blowing of the 7th Trumpet when the 1st resurrection to immortality takes place. Which interpretation is correct? You won’t find out unless you die and find your ‘soul’ or ‘spirit in man’ conscious in heaven, or until the time of the 1st resurrection to immortality. That is what makes this a secondary doctrine and interpretation. Either way, it’s a secondary matter, and definitely not worth arguing amongst your Christian friends about, waste of time, which is precious and can be spent doing better things for the Lord.
Now we’re brought right up to the
moment when the Seven Last Plagues are unleashed
Revelation 15:5-7, “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. And one of the four beasts gave unto the seven angels seven golden vials full of the wrath of God, who liveth for ever and ever.” This brings us right up to the moment when the Seven Last Plagues are about to be unleashed on the Beast Empire and all those allied to it (which will end up being all the armies of the nations in the world). It’s interesting that an alternate headquarters, just as big, and even a bit more modern, has been built in Vienna for the United Nations.) Notice these angels are clothed in similar manner as we see Jesus clothed in Revelation 1:12-13. These are heavenly priestly garments, similar to our High Priest, Jesus, in heaven. Revelation 15:8, “And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from his power; and no man was able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled.” This must have been a scary scene as John beheld it. The Seven Last Plagues, which occur in one day, right after the Seventh Trumpet sounds and the 1st resurrection occurs, will begin to be poured out. As we saw in 1st Corinthians 15:49-54 and 1st Thessalonians 4:13-17, all those in this massive resurrection to immortality will rise up into the upper atmosphere to meet the returning Jesus Christ. It is at this exact moment that the Seven Last Plagues will start to be poured out on the army of the Beast Empire and all those who have now become allied with it (and as we shall see, this will also be the eastern federation of nations).
Revelation chapter 16
The Pouring Out of the Seven Bowls which make up the
Seven Last Plagues
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.” Jesus Christ is in command here, he was the only one found worthy to open the Scroll with Seven Seals, and this is his voice giving this command to the seven angels holding the seven bowls or vials. Jesus through these “Seven Last Plagues” that make up the 7th Trumpet “plague” is about to destroy what remains of this “modern civilization” man has built. Just before the invasion of “Fortress Europa” at Normandy in June of 1944, thousands of sorties were flown by thousands of B-17, B-24 and B-25 bombers as well as by thousands of fighter aircraft, as well as their British counterparts in the RAF against all viable targets in and around Normandy, as well as all roads and railroads leading into and out that region. They were all destroyed. The military transportation infrastructure was demolished. Then multiple huge battleships and numerous heavy and light cruisers and hundreds of destroyers all opened fire on the beachheads of Normandy, giving the German gun emplacements a huge artillery shelling, all just before and as our landing craft and LST’s started making their way toward the beachheads of Normandy. Remember, all of the 7 Last Plagues are poured out in one day, maybe 24 hours, maybe 12. But Revelation 18 says the fall of this Babylonish system takes place in one day.
Start of the Seven Last Plagues, first plague, sores
on all who have the mark of the beast
Revelation 16:2, “And the first went, and poured out his vial upon the earth; and there fell a noisome and grievous sore upon the men which had the mark of the beast, and upon them which worshipped his image.” Now obviously, this group of people would include everyone in the military arms of the Beast Empire and their allies. This first bowl or vial plague compares to the sixth plague in Egypt. Exodus 9:8-12, “So the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, ‘Take for yourselves handfuls of ashes from a furnace, and let Moses scatter it toward the heavens in the sight of Pharaoh. And it will become fine dust in all the land of Egypt, and it will cause boils that break out in sores on man and beast throughout all the land of Egypt. Then they took ashes from the furnace and stood before Pharaoh, and Moses scattered them toward heaven. And they caused boils that break out in sores on man and beast. And the magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils, for the boils were on the magicians and on all the Egyptians. But the LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh; and he did not heed them, just as the LORD had spoken to Moses.” A very similar action is occurring here, the LORD, Yahweh was freeing his children Israel from Egyptian bondage. Israel was ready to be born as a true nation. That whole series of 10 plagues in Egypt, ending with the destruction of Pharaoh’s deadly modern (for it’s time, the most modern) chariot strike-force, brought the freeing of his children, the newborn nation of Israel. Now the post-Incarnate Yahweh, the risen immortal Jesus Christ is doing the exact same thing. As many prophecies show, all 12 tribes of Israel will be regathered into Israel proper at or right after Jesus Christ’s 2nd coming. And all of them must be in captivity within the Beast Empire, maybe in concentration/labour camps, similar to what existed in World War II Europe. Yahweh is about to make this modern-day Pharaoh let his people go. This plague is strictly for those who have been able to buy and sell and been well-off in this end-time society of this Beast Empire. Remember, none of the first 9 plagues in Egypt caused Pharaoh to give in and give up (although the 10th plague, the death of the firstborn, caused him to give in for a little while). Our incredible bombardment in Normandy didn’t soften the Nazi will to fight either. It just softened up the invasion area to keep our loses to an acceptable minimum. Eisenhower admitted later, the 10,000 lives we lost was well within that acceptable range. In this case it may be to keep the losses of physical living Israelites and Israelis to a minimum, so that no more are lost, in Israel proper or the concentration-labour camps I’m sure will exist again.
Second Plague, oceans turned to
blood
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.” This corresponds to Exodus 7:2-25, where God turned the Nile river and all the potable water in containers to blood. But this is immensely more powerful than that plague in Egypt, and three times more powerful than the 2nd Trumpet Plague which turned one third of the oceans to blood. This brings on an ecological disaster to planet earth so great we can hardly imagine it. All life within and on the seas dies. First of all, within the oceans is the major biochemical carbon dioxide scrubber system God designed to keep CO2 at a bare minimum. Levels higher than 3 percent are deadly to life, causing pneumonia, and death. And we also have got serious Global Warming going on at this point, which is now taking place because earth’s cooling-radiator system has stopped, like the water-pump on your car engine totally failing. The warming that could occur in one day from that may be uncomfortable, but earth is going to heat up far more severely for another reason. (To view the science of how earth’s cooling system and CO2 scrubber systems works, log onto http://www.unityinchrist.com/warming/warming1.htm. It’s a bit of interesting earth science.) Also every single ship afloat, including warships and submarines stop functioning, as their engine cooling systems plug up and fail. Nuclear powered warships are taken out of service immediately as they are forced to scram their reactors or suffer meltdown. It says all die that are in or on seas. My guess is temperatures go ballistic onboard all ships. We’ll find out later. God is going to have to re-create all the life-forms that live in the sea, a repeat of much of Genesis 1:2-31. That will be interesting for us to watch.
Third Plague, rivers and streams
turned to blood
Revelation 16:4-7, “And the third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and fountains of waters; and they became blood. And I heard the angel of the waters say, Thou art righteous, O Lord, which art, and wast, and shalt be, because thou hast judged thus. For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and thou hast given them blood to drink; for they are worthy. And I heard another out of the altar say, Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are thy judgments.” Again, this compounds the plague of oceans turned to blood. Now all drinking water is blood. This is also poetic justice for all the precious blood of the saints which has been spilled by this seven-headed, ten-horned beast, from the Roman Empire of Paul’s and John’s day until this very point in time being prophecied about. Without potable water an army would grind to a halt in a few days, but God isn’t going to give those armies a few days, as we’ll see.
Fourth Plague, sun made seven
times hotter
Revelation 16:8-9, “And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire. And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give him glory.” The Old Testament fills in a lot of details about this fourth plague of the 7 Last Plagues. Let’s look at a few. Isaiah 24:6, “Therefore the curse has devoured the earth, and those who dwell in it are desolate. Therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men are left.” Isaiah 42:25, “Therefore He has poured on him the fury of His anger and the strength of battle; it has set him on fire all around, yet he did not know; yet it burned him, yet he did not take it to heart.” Isaiah 30:26, “Moreover the light of the moon will be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be sevenfold. As the light of seven days, in the day that the LORD binds up the bruise of His people and heals the stroke of their wound.” Malachi 4:1, “For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, and all the proud, yes, all who do wickedly will be stubble, and the day which is coming shall burn them up,’ says the LORD of hosts, ‘That will leave them neither root nor branch…” Being into amateur astronomy, all God would have to do is turn up the intensity, luminosity of the sun, quite an easy feat for the One who created and controls all the stars, the One who has named each and every one of them. Amos 5:8, “He made the Pleiades and Orion; he turns the shadow of death into morning, and makes the day dark as night…” Yes, Yahweh, Jesus Christ is in control of the stars, he made them. The very fact that the earth is not a frozen hunk of rock hundreds of degrees below zero or a furnace like Mercury is because Jesus, God the Son has our closest star, the sun, under fine-tuned control, not too hot, not too cold. Now all of this armed population has no drinking water, replacement coolant for their armoured vehicles. And all of a sudden it's hotter than blue blazes. As a matter of fact, maybe that saying isn’t too far off.
Fifth Plague, intense darkness,
sun appears to go dark
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.” From intense heat and light to extreme darkness. Now J. Vernon McGee brings out an interesting point which may have a foundation in astronomy. “‘His kingdom was darkened’ indicates a strange darkness which might be called black light…as the sun’s wattage [luminosity] is increased, it grows darker instead of lighter.” The stars come in all sizes and colors. Some are blue, some red, some are even violet (very rare). A violet star would be letting off more intense heat in the invisible black light spectrum of ultraviolet, causing intense skin burns without much visible light. We don’t know exactly, but it sure looks like something to do with astrophysics here. Isaiah 60:2, “For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and deep darkness the people…” Joel 2:1-2, 31, “Blow the trumpet in Zion [7th Trumpet, by the way], and sound the alarm in my holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble; for the day of the LORD is coming, for it is at hand: a day of clouds and thick darkness…The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood before the coming of the great and awesome day of the LORD.” The moon takes on an eerie blood-red hue, while the sun is not emitting any visible light. That sounds like UV to me, or the sun going into invisible infrared, which is your heat spectrum, and quite invisible. During World War II the US Navy was using special infrared searchlights at night to spot U-boats on the surface without letting the U-boat lookouts know they were spotted. But it wasn’t perfect, the searchlights let off a very dim red light. If the sun were turned up to the point of only emitting infrared, the infrared light photons hitting the moon would loose some of its energy, dropping them back down into the visible light spectrum of visible red. This would explain Joel 2:31, and the fourth and fifth plagues. In the fourth plague, the sun’s intensity has been turned up seven times hotter, but it’s still as visible light. In the fifth plague, God continues to turn the sun up (for a short period of time) right up past the visible light spectrum into the infrared spectrum. It’s not black light in the UV spectrum that J. Vernon McGee thought, but the infrared spectrum instead. Any of you into astrophysics and astronomy, get on the Guestbook and drop me a line, let me know what you think. Jesus in his Revelation to John is showing us just exactly where many of these Old Testament prophecies fit into place in time-sequence.
Sixth Plague, Euphrates River
dried up
Revelation 16:12-16, “And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared. And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame. And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.” Some quotes from J. Vernon McGee, “The Euphrates is called “the great river” in the Bible just as the Mediterranean Sea is called “the great sea.”…It was called the cradle of man’s civilization and obviously will be the grave of man’s civilization. It was the border between east and west, eighteen hundred miles long, over half of it navigable. It was wide and deep, which made it difficult for an army to pass over it…The Euphrates River will be miraculously dried up, thus erasing the border between East and West, so that the kings of the sunrising might come to the battle of Armageddon…After the Euphrates River is gone, the great hordes in the East who have never moved west will come in a great crusade to Palestine. The bulk of the world population is in the East, and having only a smattering of the gospel, they will chose Antichrist. The picture is frightful. Can anyone doubt, with the hundreds of millions in Palestine [to do battle with the returning Christ], that the blood will be as deep as the horses’ bridles?” [THRU THE BIBLE, Vol. V, p. 1025, col. 2, selected sentences.] Now don’t forget, the 2nd Woe was the counter-attack of the forces of the eastern alliance nations against the Beast’s armies. They have mounted a counter-attack with a 200,000,000 man army. They may have moved as far as into parts of Europe in their counter-attack, just before the blowing of the Seventh Trumpet. Remember, in time-sequence, this 2nd Woe was in progress when the 7th Trumpet sounded, marking the beginning of the 3rd Woe and the Seven Last Plagues. All these armies, from both sides of the conflict are massed, maybe facing each other on the two sides of the Euphrates. But what brings this massive counter-attack from the eastern alliance nations to a screeching halt? These two power-blocks are in the midst of a life and death armed conflict with each other, which if allowed to continue, it would spell the end of all life on the planet. They could be ready to unleash total nuclear war on each other. Remember Jesus said in Matthew 24:21-22, “For there 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 [Moffat has “there should be no flesh saved alive.”]: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.” What shall shorten them? The blowing of the 7th Trumpet, the Seven Last Plagues, culminating in the literal arrival of Jesus Christ and the resurrected immortal saints back on earth, perhaps with billions of angels as well. Again, what brings this massive counter-attack to a screeching halt? Jesus Christ (and the resurrected immortal saints) are quite visible, on their way back down to earth as these Seven Last Plagues are being delivered. Out of the mouths of Satan, the Antichrist and the false prophet come three deceiving demons. If you were those two guys, what would you tell your foes in the opposing armies of the east who are about to come at you? ‘Hey look, up in the sky! We’re being invaded from outer space! It’s an alien attack from outer space!’ Wouldn’t be hard to believe, would it? The River Euphrates dries up, and then these three deceiving demons assist Satan, the Antichrist and the false prophet to get the opposing armies to come over to their side, to fight what they have been deceived into believing is an invasion of earth by an alien race coming down from outer space. It sure looks that way, even without any deception. But the two witnesses have been witnessing for three and a half years. Deception is needed. Jesus Christ not only allows it, but dries up the Euphrates, just to assist these armies coming toward the Holy Land. They will end up coming into all the land of Israel, using it as a staging area, preparing for this coming ‘space invasion.’ So they all join forces, the Beast Empire’s army and the eastern alliance’s army, combined with all the world’s armies that are able to be mustered and transported there. The Devil, Satan is gathering all of the deceived world that can possibly make it there, to do battle against the returning Jesus Christ and all the resurrected immortal saints, who can be seen in the upper atmosphere, their bodies glowing like the sun and stars (cf. Revelation 1:13-16; Daniel 12:1-3). Suddenly, at the beginning of one day, whether that be 12 hours or 24, I’d say no more, right as the 7th Trumpet blows, the bodies of the two witnesses come to life, and then start rising up in the air, glowing in their immortal bodies, as are the rest of the just resurrected immortal saints, rising in the air to meet the returning Jesus Christ, who himself is glowing brighter than the sun. This must be a frightening sight to all who dwell on earth. Now the beast (Antichrist) and false prophet are saying to the world that this is an alien invasion from outer space. It really looks like it is. Jesus said through Paul that Jesus would never come as a thief to the Church (1st Thessalonians 5:4). But the Great Day of the Lord’s Wrath, the 7th Trumpet with its Seven Last Plagues has come on the deceived world as a thief. The word here in Revelation 16 “Armageddon” is Greek for the Hebrew words Har Megiddo, which means “mountain of Megiddo”. This used to be a fortified mountain pass at one end of the plain of Esdraelon. It could block the movement of armies going either north or south through this pass high up on Har Megiddo. In Old Testament Bible history countless battles have been fought by the various Middle Eastern empires for supremacy in the Middle East in and around Har Megiddo and the Plain of Esdraelon. Now it has become a staging area for the final battle which in reality is going to be fought, at first, in Jerusalem, in the Kidron Valley.
Seventh Last Plague, pouring out
of the seventh bowl or vial
Revelation 16:17-21, “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,
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. And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found. [This earthquake drops major mountain chains,
which have been responsible for creating major deserts on the earth.] And
there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent: and men blasphemed God because of the plague
of the hail; for the plague thereof was exceeding great.” As of the writing of this, just a few
days ago, a major earthquake hit Port au Prince, Haiti, it’s capital city. As of today, the estimated death toll is at
200,000. 70,000 dead bodies have been
accounted for so far. That’s a lot of
people to us. But that earthquake was
nothing compared to this one predicted in verses 18-20 of Revelation 16. This one’s gonna drop whole mountain chains,
and move islands (or maybe drop them as well, I don’t know). This earthquake will be worldwide in scope,
not isolated to any one location on earth. This is the final plague of the Seven Last Plagues. Where are we and Jesus at the moment this
earthquake strikes? We have been on the
way back down to earth with the returning Jesus Christ. An Old Testament prophecy tells us exactly
where we with Jesus will be, and precisely where Jesus will be standing. We will cover this and the final battle,
often mislabeled the Battle of Armageddon, in Revelation chapter 19. This hail storm is just like the final bombardment
our battle ships would unleash on beachheads in World War II, just before our
Marines would storm the beaches in their landing craft. A talent in weight could be anywhere from 56
pounds to 114 pounds. The Greek talent
was 56 pounds, the Hebrew talent was 114 pounds. God has used a hailstorm for military
purposes previously in the Old Testament. Joshua, 10:11, “And it happened, as they fled before Israel and were on the descent of Beth Horon,
that the LORD cast down large hailstones from heaven on them as far as Azekah, and they
died. There were more who died from the hailstones than the children of
Israel killed with the sword.”
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