Revelation
And the sixth angel sounded,
and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God,
Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet,
Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates.
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.
And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand
and I heard the number of them.
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.
By these three was the third part of men killed,
by the fire,
and by the smoke,
and by the brimstone,
which issued out of their mouths.
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.
And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues 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
Neither repented they of their murders,
nor of their sorceries,
nor of their fornication,
nor of their thefts.
*******
Again- taken from the book Daniel and Revelation by Uriah Smith--
Verse 12 One woe is past; and, behold, there come two woes more hereafter. 13 And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God, 14 saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates. 15 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.
The Sixth Trumpet.--"The first woe was to continue from the rise of Mahometanism until the end of the five months. Then the first woe was to end, and the second begin. And when the sixth angel sounded, it was commanded to take off the restraints which had been imposed on the nation, by which they were restricted to the work of tormenting men, and their commission extended to slay the third part of men. This command came from the four horns of the golden altar." [26]
The Four Angels.--These are the four principal sultanies of which the Ottoman Empire was composed, located in the country watered by the Euphrates. These sultanies were situated at Aleppo, Iconium, Damacus, and Bagdad. Previously they had been restrained; but God commanded, and they were loosed.
Late in the year 1448, as the close of the 150-year period approached, John Palaeologus died without leaving a son to follow him on the throne of the Eastern Empire. His brother Constantine, the lawful successor, would not venture to ascend the throne without the consent of the Turkish sultan. Ambassadors therefore went to Adrianople, received the approbation of the sultan, and returned with gifts for the new sovereign. Early in the year 1449, under these ominous circumstances, Constantine, the last of the Greek emperors, was crowned.
The historian Gibbon tells the story:
"On the decease of John Palaeologus, . . . the royal family, by the death of Andronicus and the monastic profession of Isidore, was reduced to three princes, Constantine, Demetrius, and Thomas, the surviving sons of the emperor Manuel. Of these the first and the last were far distant in the Morea. . . . The empress-mother, the senate and soldiers, the clergy and people, were unanimous in the cause of the lawful successor: and the despot Thomas, who ignorant of the change, accidentally returned to the capital, asserted with becoming zeal the interest of his absent brother. An ambassador, the historian Phranza,, was immediately dispatched to the court of Adrianople. Amurath received him with honor and dismissed him with gifts; but the gracious approbation of the Turkish sultan announced his supremacy, and the approaching downfall of the Eastern empire. By the hands of two illustrious deputies, the Imperial crown was placed at Sparta on the head of Constantine. [27]
"Let this historical fact be carefully examined in connection with the prediction [given] above. This was not a violent assault made on the Greeks, by which their empire was overthrown and their independence taken away, but simply a voluntary surrender of that independence into the hands of the Turks, by saying, 'I cannot reign unless you permit.' " [28]
The four angels were loosed for an hour, a day, a month, and a year, to slay the third part of men. This period, during which Ottoman supremacy was to exist, amounts to three hundred ninety-one years and fifteen days. Thus: A prophetic year is three hundred and sixty prophetic days, or three hundred and sixty literal years; a prophetic month, thirty prophetic days, is thirty literal years; one prophetic day is one literal year; and an hour, or the twenty-fourth part of a literal year year, or fifteen days; the whole amounting to three hundred and ninety-one years and fifteen days.
"But although the four angels were thus loosed by the voluntary submission of the Greeks, yet another doom awaited the seat of empire. Amurath, the sultan to whom the submission of Deacozes was made, and by whose permission he reigned in Constantinople, soon after died, and was succeeded in the empire, in 1451, by Mahomet II, who set his heart on Constantinople, and determined to make it a prey.
"He accordingly made preparations for besieging and taking the city. The siege commenced on the 6th of April, 1453, and ended in the taking of the city, and death of the last of the Constantines, on the 16th day of May following. And the eastern city of the Caesars became the seat of the Ottoman Empire." [29]
The arms and mode of warfare which were used in the siege in which Constantinople was to be overthrown and held in subjection were, as we shall see, distinctly noticed by the prophet.
Verse 16 And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them.
"Innumerable hordes of horses, and them that sat on them! Gibbon describes the first invasion of the Roman territories by the Turks thus: 'The myriads of Turkish horse overspread a frontier of six hundred miles, from Tauris to Azeroum, and the blood of 130,000 Christian was a grateful sacrifice to the Arabian prophet.' Whether the number is designed to convey the idea of any definite number, the reader must judge. Some suppose 200,000 twice told is meant, and then, following some historians, find that the number of Turkish warriors in the siege of Constantinople. Some think 200,000,000 to mean all the Turkish warriors during the 391 years fifteen days of their triumph over the Greeks." [30] Nothing can be affirmed on the point. And it is not at all essential.
Verse 17 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.
The first part of this description may have reference to the appearance of these horsemen. Fire, representing a color, stands for red, "as red as fire" being a frequent term of expression; jacinth, or hyacinth, for blue; and brimstone, for yellow. These colors greatly predominated in the dress of these warriors; so that the description, according to this view, would be accurately met in the Turkish uniform, which was composed largely of red, or scarlet, blue, and yellow. The heads of the horses were in appearance as the heads of lions, to denote their strength, courage, and fierceness; while the last part of the verse undoubtedly has reference to the use of gunpowder and firearms for purposes of war, which were then but recently introduced. As the Turks discharged their firearms on horseback, it would appear to the distant beholder that the fire, smoke, and brimstone issued out of the horses' mouths.
Quite an agreement exists among commentators in applying the prophecy concerning the fire, smoke, and brimstone to the use of gunpowder by the Turks in their warfare against the Eastern Empire. [31] But they generally allude simply to the heavy ordnance, the large cannon, employed employed by that power; whereas the prophecy mentions especially the "horses," and the fire "issuing from their mouths," as though smaller arms were used, and used on horseback. Barnes thinks this was the case; and a statement from Gibbon confirms this view. he says: "The incessant volleys of lances and arrows were accompanied with the smoke, the sound, and the fire of their musketry and cannon." [32] Here is good historical evidence that muskets were used by the Turks; and secondly, it is undisputed that their general warfare they fought principally on horseback. The inference is therefore well supported that they used firearms on horseback, accurately fulfilling the prophecy, according to the illustration above referred to.
Respecting the use of firearms by the Turks in their campaign against Constantinople, Elliott thus speaks:
"It was to 'the fire and the smoke and the sulphur,' to the artillery and firearms of Mahomet, that the killing of the third part of men, i.e., the capture of Constantinople, and by consequence the destruction of the Greek Empire, was owing. Eleven hundred years and more had now elapsed since her foundation by Constantine. In the course of them, Goths, Huns, Avars, Persians, Bulgarians, Saracens, Russians, and indeed the Ottoman Turks themselves, had made their hostile assaults, or laid siege against it. But the fortifications were impregnable by them. Constantinople survived, and with it the Greek Empire. Hence the anxiety of the sultan Mahomet to find that which would remove the obstacle. 'Canst thou cast a cannon,' was his question to the founder of cannon that deserted to him, 'of size sufficient to batter down the wall of Constantinople?' Then the foundry was established at Adrianople, the cannon cast, the artillery prepared, and the siege began.
"It well deserves remark, how Gibbon, always the unconscious commentator on the Apocalyptic prophecy, puts this new instrumentality of war into the foreground of his picture, in his eloquent and striking narrative of the final catastrophe of the Greek Empire. In preparation for it, he gives the history of the recent invention of gunpowder, 'that mixture of saltpeter, sulphur, and charcoal;' tells, as before said, of the foundry of the cannon at Adrianople; then, in the progress of the siege itself, describes how 'the volleys of lances and arrows were accompanied with smoke, the sound, and the fire of the musketry and cannon;' how 'the long order of Turkish artillery was pointed against the walls, fourteen batteries thundering at once on the most accessible places;' how 'the fortifications which had stood for ages against hostile violence were dismantled on all sides by the Ottoman cannon, many breaches opened, and near the gate of St. Romanus, four towers leveled with the ground:' how, 'as from the lines, the galleys and the bridge, the Ottoman artillery thundered on all sides, the camp and city, the Greeks and the Turks, were involved in a cloud of smoke, which could only be dispelled by the final deliverance or destruction of the Roman empire:' and how the besiegers at length 'rushing through the breaches,' 'Constantinople was irretrievably subdued, her empire subverted, and her religion trampled in the dust by the Moslem conquerors.' I say it well deserves observation how markedly and strikingly Gibbon attributes the capture of the city, and so the destruction of the empire, to the Ottoman artillery. For what is it but a comment on the words of the prophecy? 'By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the sulphur, which issued out their mouths.' " [33]
Verse 18 By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths. 19 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.
These verses express the deadly effect of the new mode of warfare introduced. It was by means of these agents--gunpowder, firearms, and cannon--that Constantinople was finally overcome, and given into the hands of the Turks.
In addition to the fire, smoke, and brimstone, which apparently issued out of their mouths, it is said that their power was also in their tails. The meaning of the expression appears to be that horses' tails were the symbol, or emblem, of their authority. It is a remarkable fact that the horse's tail is a well- known Turkish standard, a symbol of office and authority. The image before the mind of John would seem to have been that he saw the horses belching out fire and smoke, and, what was equally strange, he saw that their power of spreading desolation was connected with the tails of the horses. Anyone looking on a body of cavalry with such banners, or ensigns, would be struck with this unusual or remarkable appearance, and would speak of their banners as concentrating and directing their power.
This supremacy of the Mohammedans over the Greeks was to continue, as already noticed, three hundred and ninety-one years and fifteen days. "Commencing when the one hundred and fifty years ended in 1449, the period would end August 11, 1840. Judging from the manner of the commencement of the Ottoman supremacy, that it was by a voluntary acknowledgment on the part of the Greek emperor that he only reigned by permission of the Turkish sultan, we should naturally conclude that the fall or departure of the Ottoman independence would be brought about the same say; that at the end of the specified period [that is, on the 11th of August, 1840] the sultan would voluntarily surrender his independence into the hands of the Christian powers," [34] just as he had, three hundred ninety-one years and fifteen days before, received it from the hands of the Christian emperor, Constantine XIII.
This conclusion was reached, and this application of the prophecy was made by Josiah Litch in 1838, two years before the expected event was to occur. In that year he predicted that the Turkish power would be overthrown "in A.D. 1840, sometime in the month of August;" [35] but a few days before the fulfillment of the prophecy he concluded more definitely from his study that the period allotted to the Turks would come to an end on August 11, 1840. It was then purely a matter of calculation on the prophetic periods of Scripture. It is proper to inquire whether such events did take place according to the calculation. The matter sums itself up in the following inquiry:
When Did Mohammedan Independence in Constantinople End?--For several years previous to 1840, the sultan had been embroiled in war with Mehemet Ali, pasha of Egypt. "In 1838 there was a threatening of war between the sultan and his Egyptian vassal had he not been restrained by the influence of the foreign ambassadors. . . . In 1839 hostilities were again commenced, and were prosecuted until, in a general battle between the armies of the sultan and Mehemet, the sultan's army was entirely cut up and destroyed, and his fleet taken by Mehemet and carried into Egypt. So completely had the sultan's fleet been reduced, that, when hostilities commenced in August, he had only two first-rates and three frigates as the sad remains of the once powerful Turkish flee. This fleet Mehemet positively refused to give up and return to the sultan, and declared if the powers attempted to take it from him, he would burn it. In this posture affairs stood, when, in 1840, England, Russia, Austria, and Prussia interposed, and determined on a settlement of the difficulty; for it was evident, if let alone, Mehemet would soon become master of the sultan's throne." [36]
The sultan accepted this intervention of the great powers, and thus made a voluntary surrender of the question into their hands. A conference of these powers was held in London, the Sheik Effendi Bey Likgis being present as Ottoman plenipotentiary. An agreement was drawn up to be presented to the pasha of Egypt, whereby the sultan was to offer him the hereditary government of Egypt, and all that part of Syria extending from the Gulf of Suez to the Lake of Tiberias, together with the province of Acre, for life; he on his part to evacuate all other parts of the sultan's dominions then occupied by him, and to return the Ottoman fleet. In case he refused this offer from the sultan, the four powers were to take matters into their own hands, and use such other means to bring him to terms as they should see fit.
It is obvious that as soon as this ultimatum should be placed under the jurisdiction of Mehemet Ali, pasha of Egypt, the matter would be forever beyond the control of the Sultan, and the disposal of his affairs would, from that moment, be in the hands of foreign powers. The sultan dispatched Rifat Bey on a government steamer to Alexandria, to communicate the ultimatum to Mehemet Ali. The ultimatum was placed as his disposal on the eleventh day of August, 1840! On the same day, in Constantinople, a note was addressed by the sultan to the ambassadors of the four powers, inquiring what plan was to be adopted in case the pasha should refuse to comply with the terms of the ultimatum, to which they made answer that provision had been made, and there was no necessity of his alarming himself about any contingency that might arise.
The facts are substantiated by the following quotations:
"By the French steamer of the 24th, we have advices from Egypt to the 16th. They show no alteration in the resolution of the Pacha. Confiding in the valor of his Arab army, and in the strength of the fortifications which defend his capital, he seems determined to abide by the last alternative; and as recourse to this, therefore, is now inevitable, all hope may be considered as at an end of a termination of the affair without bloodshed. Immediately on the arrival of the Cyclops steamer with the news of the convention of the four powers, Mehemet Ali, it is stated, had quitted Alexandria, to make a short tour through Lower Egypt. The object of his absenting himself at such a moment being partly to avoid conferences with the European consuls, but principally to endeavor, by his own presence, to arouse the fanaticism of the Bedouin tribes, and facilitate the raising of his new levies. During the interval of this absence, the Turkish government steamer, which had reached Alexandria on the 11th, with the envoy Rifat Bey on board, had been by his orders placed in quarantine, and she was not released from it till the 16th. Previous, however, to the poet's [*] [boat's] leaving, and on the very day on which he [she] had been admitted to pratique, the above- named functionary had an audience of the Pacha, and had communicated to him the command of the Sultan, with respect to the evacuation of the Syrian provinces, appointing another audience for the next day, when, in the presence of the consuls of the European powers, he would receive from him his definite answer, and inform him of the alternative of his refusing to obey; giving him ten days which have been allotted him by the convention to decide the course he should think fit to adopt." [37]
The correspondent of the London Morning Chronicle, in a communication dated "Constantinople, August 12, 1840," says:
"I can add but little to my last letter on the subject of the plans of the Four Powers; and I believe that the details I then gave you compose everything that is yet decided on. The portion of the Pacha, as I then stated, is not to extend beyond the line of Acre, and does not include either Arabia or Candia. Egypt alone is to be hereditary in his family, and the province of Acre to be considered as a pachalik, to be governed by his son during his lifetime, but afterwards to depend on the will of the Porte; and even this latter is only to be granted to him on the condition of his accepting these terms and delivering up the Ottoman fleet within the period of ten days. In the event of his not doing so, this pachalik is to be cut off. Egypt alone is then to be offered, with another ten days for him to deliberate on it before actual force be employed against him. The manner, however, of applying the force, should he refuse to comply with these terms--whether a simple blockade is to be established on the coast, or whether his capital is to be bombarded and his armies attacked in the Syrians provinces--is the point which still remains to be learned; nor does a note delivered yesterday by the four ambassadors, in answer to a question put to them by the Porte, as to the plan to be adopted in such an event, throw the least light on this subject. It simply states that provision had been made, and there was no necessity for the Divan alarming itself about any contingency that might afterward arise." [38]
Let us analyze the foregoing quotations:
First.--The ultimatum reached Alexandria on August 11, 1840.
Second.--The letter of the correspondent of the London Morning Chronicle is dated August 12, 1840.
Third.--The correspondent states that the question of the Sublime Porte was put to the representatives of the four great powers, and the answer received "yesterday." So in his own capital, "yesterday" the Sublime Porte applied to the ambassadors of the four Christian powers of Europe as to what measures had been taken in reference to a circumstance vitally affecting his empire; and was told that "provision had been made," but he could not know what it was; and that he need not give himself any alarm "about any contingency which might arise"! From that day, "yesterday," which was August 11, 1840--they, the four Christian powers of Europe, and not he, would manage that.
On August 11, 1840, the period of three hundred ninety-one years and fifteen days, allotted to the continuance of the Ottoman power, ended; and where was the sultan's independence?--GONE! Who had the supremacy of the Ottoman empire in their hands?--The four great powers; and that empire has existed ever since only by the sufferance of these Christian powers. Thus was the prophecy fulfilled to the very letter.
From the first publication of the calculation of this matter in 1838, before referred to, the time set for the fulfillment of the prophecy was watched by thousands with intense interest. The exact accomplishment of the event predicted, showing, as it did, the right application of the prophecy, gave a mighty impetus to the great advent movement then beginning to attract the attention of the world.
Verse 20 And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues 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: 21 Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts.
God designs that men shall make a note of His judgments, and receive the lessons He thereby designs to convey. But how slow they are to learn, and how blind to the indications of providence! The events that occurred under the sixth trumpet constituted the second woe, yet these judgments led to no improvement in the manners and morals of men. Those who escaped them learned nothing by their manifestation in the earth.
The hordes of Saracens and Turks were let loose as a scourge and punishment upon apostate Christendom. Men suffered the punishment, but learned no lesson from it.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Fifth Trumpet Sounds - First Woe
Revelation
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.
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.
And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth
and unto them was given power
as the scorpions of the earth have power.
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.
And to them it was given that they should not kill them
but that they should be tormented five months
and their torment was as the torment of a
scorpion, when he striketh a man.
And in those days shall men seek death and shall not find it
and shall desire to die
and death shall flee from them
And the shapes of the locusts 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.
And they had hair as the hair of women
and their teeth were as the teeth of lions.
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.
And they had tails like unto scorpions,
and there were stings in their tails
and their power was to hurt men five months.
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.
One woe is past; and, behold, there come two woes more hereafter.
*******
Excerpt taken from--
Daniel and the Revelation by Uriah Smith
Verse 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.
The Fifth Trumpet.--For an exposition of this trumpet, we shall again draw from the writings of Alexander Keith. This writer says:
"There is scarcely so uniform an agreement among interpreters concerning any other part of the Apocalypse as respecting the application of the fifth and sixth trumpets, or the first and second woes, to the Saracens and the Turks. It is so obvious that it can scarcely be misunderstood. Instead of a verse or two designating each, the whole of the ninth chapter of the Revelation, equal portions, is occupied with a description of both.
"The Roman Empire declined, as it arose, by conquest; but the Saracens and the Turks were the instruments by which a false religion became the scourge of an apostate church; and hence, instead of the fifth and sixth trumpets, like the former, being marked by that name alone, they are called woes. . . .
"Constantinople was besieged for the first time after the extinction of the Western Empire by Chosroes [II], the king of Persia." [1]
The prophet said, "I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth; and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit."
The historian writes of this time:
"While the Persian monarch [Chosroes II] contemplated the wonders of his art and power, he received an epistle from an obscure citizen of Mecca, inviting him to acknowledge Mahomet as the apostle of God. He rejected the invitation, and tore the epsitle. 'It is thus,' exclaimed the Arabian prophet, 'that God will tear the kingdom, and reject the supplications of Chosroes.' Placed on the verge of the two great empires of the East, Mahomet observed with secret joy the progress of their mutual destruction; and in the midst of the Persian triumphs, he ventured to foretell, that before many years should elapse, victory should again return to the banners of the Romans. At the time when this prediction is said to have been delivered, no prophecy could be more distant from its accomplishment, since the first twelve years of Heraclius announced the approaching dissolution of the empire." [2]
It was not on a single spot that this star fell, as did the one that designated Attila, but upon the earth.
The provinces of the empire in Asia and Africa were subdued by Chosroes II, and "the Roman Empire was reduced to the walls of Constantinople, with the remnant of Greece, Italy, and Africa, and some maritime cities, from Tyre to Trebizond, of the Asiatic coast. . . . The experience of six years at length persuaded the Persian monarch to renounce the conquest of Constantinople, and to specify the annual tribute or ransom of the Roman Empire; a thousand talents of gold, a thousand talents of silver, a thousand silk robes, a thousand horses, and a thousand virgins. Heraclius subscribed these ignominious terms; but the time and space which he obtained to collect such treasures from the poverty of the East, was industriously employed in the preparation of a bold and desperate attack." [3]
"The king of Persia despised the obscure Saracen, and derided the message of the pretended prophet of Mecca. Even the overthrow of the Roman Empire would not have opened a door for Mahometanism, or for the progress of the Saracenic armed propagators of an imposture, though the monarch of the Persians and chagan of the Avars (the successor of Attila) had divided between them the remains of the kingdoms of the Caesars. Chosroes himself fell. The Persian and Roman monarchies exhausted each other's strength. And before a sword was put into the hands of the false prophet, it was smitten from the hands of those who would have checked his career and crushed his power." [4]
"Since the days of Scipio and Hannibal, no bolder enterprise has been attempted than that which Heraclius achieved for the deliverance of the empire. He . . . explored his perilous way through the Black Sea and the mountains of Armenia, penetrated into the heart of Persia, and recalled the armies of the great king to the defense of their bleeding country. . . .
"In the battle of Nineveh, which was fiercely fought from daybreak to the eleventh hour, twenty-eight standards, besides those which might be broken or torn, were taken from the Persians; the greatest part of their army was cut in pieces, and the victors, concealing their own loss, passed the night on the field. . . . The cities and palaces of Assyria were opened for the first time to the Romans." [5]
"The Roman emperor was not strengthened by the conquests which he achieved; and a way was prepared at the same time, and by the same means, for the multitudes of Saracens from Arabia, like locusts from the same region, who, propagating in their course the dark and delusive Mahometan creed, speedily overspread both the Persian and the Roman empires. More complete illustration of this fact could not be desired than is supplied in the concluding words of the chapter [from Gibbon], from which the preceding extracts are taken." [6]
"Although a victorious army had been formed under the standard of Heraclius, the unnatural effort appears to have exhausted rather than exercised their strength. While the emperor triumphed at Constantinople or Jerusalem, an obscure town on the confines of Syria was pillaged by the Saracens, and they cut in pieces some troops who advanced to its relief, an ordinary and trifling occurrence, had it not been the prelude of a mighty revolution. These robbers were the apostles of Mahomet; their fanatic valor had emerged from the desert; and in the last eight years of his reign, Heraclius lost to the Arabs the same provinces which he had rescued from the Persians." [7]
" 'The spirit of fraud and enthusiasm, whose abode is not in the heavens,' was let loose on earth. The bottomless pit needed but a key to open it, and that key was the fall of Chosroes. He had contemptuously torn the letter of an obscure citizen of Mecca. But when from his 'blaze of glory' he sunk into the 'tower of darkness' which no eye could penetrate, the name of Chosroes was suddenly to pass into oblivion before that of Mahomet; and the crescent seemed but to wait its rising till the falling of the star. Chosroes, after his entire discomfiture and loss of empire, was murdered in the year 628; and the year 629 is marked by 'the conquest of Arabia,' and 'the first war of the Mahometans against the Roman Empire.' '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. And he opened the bottomless pit.' He fell upon the earth. When the strength of the Roman Empire was exhausted, and the great king of the East lay dead in his tower of darkness, the pillage of an obscure town on the borders of Syria was 'the prelude of a mighty revolution.' 'The robbers were the apostles of Mahomet, and their fanatic valor emerged from the desert.' " [8]
The Bottomless Pit.--The meaning of this term may be learned from the Greek {GREEK CHARACTERS IN PRINTED TEXT}, abyssos, which is defined "deep, bottomless, profound," and may refer to any waste, desolate, and uncultivated place. It is applied to the earth in its original state of chaos. (Genesis 1: 2.) In this instance it may appropriately refer to the unknown wastes of the Arabian desert, from the borders of which issued the hordes of Saracens, like swarms of locusts. The fall of Chosroes II the Persian king may well be represented as the opening of the bottomless pit, inasmuch as it prepared the way for the followers of Mohammed to issue from their obscure country and propagate their delusive doctrines with fire and sword until they had spread their darkness over all the Eastern Empire.
Verse 2 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.
"Like the noxious and even deadly vapors which the winds, particularly from the southwest, diffuse in Arabia, Mahometanism spread from hence its pestilential influence--arose as suddenly and spread as widely as smoke arising out of the pit, the smoke of a great furnace. Such is a suitable symbol of the religion of Mahomet, of itself, or as compared with the pure light of the gospel of Jesus. It was not, like the latter, a light from heaven, but a smoke out of the bottomless pit." [9]
Verse 3 And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power.
"A false religion was set up, which, although the scourge of transgressions and idolatry, filled the world with darkness and delusion; and swarms of Saracens, like locusts, overspread the earth, and speedily extended their ravages over the Roman Empire from east to west. The hail descended from the frozen shores of the Baltic; the burning mountain fell upon the sea from Africa; and the locusts (the fit symbol of the Arabs) issued from Arabia, their native region. They came as destroyers, propagating a new doctrine, and stirred up to rapine and violence by motives of interest and religion." [10]
"A still more specific illustration may be given of the power like unto that of scorpions, which was given them. Not only was their attack speedy and vigorous, but 'the nice sensibility of honor, which weighs the insult rather than the injury, sheds its deadly venom on the quarrels of the Arabs; an indecent action, a contemptuous word, can be expiated only by the blood of the offender; and such is their patient inveteracy, that they expect whole months and years the opportunity of revenge.' " [11]
Verse 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.
After the death of Mohammed, he was succeeded in the command by Abu-bekr in A.D. 632, who as soon as he had fairly established his authority and government gathered the Arabian tribes for conquest. When the army was assembled, he instructed his chiefs on methods of conquest:
"When you fight the battles of the Lord, acquit yourselves like men, without turning your backs; but let not your victory be stained with the blood of women and children. Destroy no palm-trees, nor burn any fields of corn. Cut down no fruit-trees, nor do any mischief to cattle, only such as you kill to eat. When you make any covenant, or article, stand to it, and be as good as your word. As you go on, you will find some religious persons who live retired in monasteries, and propose to themselves to serve God that way; let them alone, and neither kill them nor destroy their monasteries: and you will find another sort of people that belong to the synagogue of Satan, who have shaven crowns; be sure you cleave their skulls, and give them no quarter till they either turn Mahometans or pay 'tribute.' " [12]
"It is not said in prophecy or in history that the more humane injunctions were as scrupulously obeyed as the ferocious mandate; but it so commanded them. And the preceding are the only instructions recorded by Gibbon, and given by Abubeker to the chiefs whose duty it was to issue the commands to all the Saracen hosts. The commands are alike discriminating with the prediction, as if the caliph himself had been acting in known as well as direct obedience to a higher mandate than that of mortal man; and in the very act of going forth to fight against the religion of Jesus, and to propagate Mahometanism in its stead, he repeated the words which it was foretold in the Revelation of Jesus Christ that he would say." [13]
Seal of God in Their Foreheads.--In remarks upon Revelation 7: 1-3, we have shown that the seal of God is the Sabbath of the fourth commandment. History is not silent upon the fact that there have been observers of the true seventh-day Sabbath all through the gospel age. But the question has here arisen with many, Who were those men who at this time had the seal of God in their foreheads, and who thereby became exempt from Mohammedan oppression? Let the reader bear in mind the fact already alluded to, that there have been those all through the Christian Era who have had the seal of God in their foreheads, that is, have been intelligent observers of the true Sabbath. Let him consider further that what the prophecy asserts is that the attacks of this desolating Turkish power are not directed against them, but against another class. The subject is thus freed from all difficulty, for this is all that the prophecy really asserts. One class of person is directly brought to view in the text, namely, those who have not the seal of God in their foreheads. The preservation of those who have the seal of God is brought in only by implication. accordingly, we do not learn from history that any of these were involved in any of the calamities inflicted by the Saracens upon the objects of their hate. They were commissioned against another class of men. The destruction to come upon this class is not put in contrast with the preservation of other men, but only with that of the fruits and verdure of the earth; thus, Hurt not the grass, trees, nor any green thing, but only a certain class of men. In fulfillment, we have the strange spectacle of an army of invaders sparing those things which such armies usually destroy, the face and productions of nature. In pursuance of their permission to hurt those men who had not the seal of God in their foreheads, they cleaved the skulls of a class of religionists with shaven crowns, who belonged to the synagogue of Satan. It would seem that these were monks, or some other order of the Roman Catholic Church.
Verse 5 And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months: and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man.
"Their constant incursions into the Roman territory, and frequent assaults on Constantinople itself, were an unceasing torment throughout the empire, which yet they were not able effectually to subdue, notwithstanding the long period, afterward more directly alluded to, during which they continued, by unremitting attacks, grievously to afflict an idolatrous church, of which the pope was the head. . . . Their charge was to torment, and then to hurt, but not to kill, or utterly destroy. The marvel was that they did not." [14] (In reference to the five months, see comments on verse 10.)
Verse 6 And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them.
"Men were weary of life, when life was spared only for a renewal of woe, and when all that they accounted sacred was violated, and all they held dear constantly endangered; and when the savage Saracens domineered over them, or left them only to a momentary repose, ever liable to be suddenly or violently interrupted, as if by the sting of a scorpion." [15]
Verse 7 And the shapes of the locusts 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.
"The Arabian horse takes the lead throughout the world; and skill in horsemanship is the art and science of Arabia. And the barbed Arabs, swift as locusts and armed like scorpions, ready to dart away in a moment, were ever prepared unto battle.
" 'And on their heads were as it were crowns like gold.' When Mahomet entered Medina (A.D. 622), and was first received as its prince, 'a turban was unfurled before him to supply the deficiency of a standard.' The turbans of the Saracens, like unto a coronet, were their ornament and their boast. The rich booty abundantly supplied and frequently renewed them. To assume the turban is proverbially to turn Mussulman. And the Arabs were anciently distinguished by the miters which they wore." [16]
"And their faces were as the faces of men." "The gravity and firmness of the mind [of the Arab] is conspicuous in his outward demeanor; . . . his only gesture is that of stroking his beard, the venerable symbol of manhood. . . . The honor . . . of their beards is most easily wounded." [17]
Verse 8 And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as the teeth of lions.
"Long hair is esteemed an ornament by women. The Arabs, unlike to other men, had their hair as the hair of women, or uncut, as their practice is recorded by Pliny and others. But there was nothing effeminate in their character; for, as denoting their ferocity and strength to devour, their teeth were as the teeth of lions." [18]
Verse 9 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.
"The cuirass (or breastplate) was in use among the Arabs in the days of Mahomet. In the battle of Ohud (the second which Mahomet fought) with the Koreish of Mecca (A.D. 624), 'seven hundred of them were armed with cuirasses.' " [19]
" 'The charge of the Arabs was not, like that of the Greeks and Romans, the efforts of a firm and compact infantry; their military force was chiefly formed of cavalry and archers.' . . . With a touch of the hand, the Arab horses dart away with the swiftness of the wind. 'The sound of their wings was as the sound of many horses running to battle.' Their conquests were marvelous both in rapidity and extent, and their attack was instantaneous. Nor was it less successful against the Romans than the Persians." [20]
Verse 10 And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and their power was to hurt men five months. 11 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.
"To Hurt Men Five Months."--The question arises, What men were they to hurt five months?--Undoubtedly the same they were afterward to slay (see verse 15), "the third part of men," or third of the Roman Empire--the Greek division of it.
When were they to begin their work of torment? The eleventh verse answers the question.
"They had a king over them." From the death of Mohammed until near the close of the thirteenth century, the Mohammedans were divided into various factions under several leaders, with no general civil government extending over them all. Near the close of the thirteenth century, Othman founded a government which has since been known as the Ottoman government, or empire, which grew until it extended over all the principal Mohammedan tribes, consolidating them into one grand monarchy.
Their king is called "the angel of the bottomless pit." An angel signifies a messenger, a minister, either good or bad, and not always a spiritual being. "The angel of the bottomless pit" would be the chief minister of the religion which came from thence when it was opened. That religion is Mohammedanism, and the sultan was its chief minister.
His name in the Hebrew tongue is "Abaddon," the destroyer; in Greek, "Apollyon," one that exterminates, or destroys. Having two different names in two languages, it is evident that the character rather than the name of the power is intended to be represented. If so, as expressed in both languages, he is a destroyer. Such has always been the character of the Ottoman government.
But when did Othman make his first assault on the Greek empire?-- According to Gibbon "it was on the twenty-seventh of July, in the year twelve hundred and ninety-nine of the Christian Era, that Othman first invaded the territory of Nicomaedia; and the singular accuracy of the date seems to disclose some foresight of the rapid and destructive growth of the monster." [21]
Von Hammer, the German historian of Turkey, and other authorities have placed this event in 1301. But to what date do the historic sources of this period testify? Pachymeres was a church and state historian, born at Nicaea, which was in the vicinity of the Ottoman invasion; and he wrote his history during this very period. He concluded his work about 1307, so he was a contemporary of Othman.
Possinus, in 1669, worked out a complete chronology of Pachymeres' history, giving the dates for the eclipses of the moon and the sun, as well as other events, recorded by Pachymeres in his work. Concerning the date 1299 Possinus says:
"Now it is our task to give the exact and fundamental epoch of the Ottoman Empire. This we shall try to effect by a thoroughgoing comparison of the dates given by Arab chronologists and the testimony of our Pachymeres. This last- mentioned author reports in the fourth book of this second part, chapter 25, that Atman [Greek name for Othman] grew strong by taking the command over a very strong band of bold and energetic warriors from Paphlagonia. When Muzalo, the Roman army commander, attempted to block his progress, he defeated him in a battle near Nicomedia, the capital of Bithynia. This city the lord of the battlefield henceforth kept as if it were besieged. Now, Pachymeres is very explicit in stating that these events took place in the immediate vicinity of Bapheum, not far from Nicomedia, on the 27th day of July. The year, we asseverate [affirm] in our synopsis, comparing carefully the events to have been of our Lord 1299." [22]
The synopsis to which Possinus refers gives the date of the uniting of these Paphlagonians with Othman's forces, which took place on July 27, as 1299 of the Christian Era, fifth year of Pope Boniface VIII, and the sixth year of Michael Palaeologus. The statement is as follows:
"Atman [Othman], the strap of the Persians, called also Ottomanes, the founder of the still reigning dynasty of the Turcs, grew strong by joining to himself a great number of fierce bandits from Paphlagonia." [23]
The Paphlagonians under the sons of Amurius joined Othman in this attack of July 27, so that Possinus gives the date for this event twice as 1299.
Gregoras, also a contemporary of Othman, supports Gibbon and Pachymeres in establishing the date 1299 in his account of the division of Anatolia. This division among ten Turkish emirs took place in 1300, as supported by reliable historians. Gregoras states that in the division of Bithynia, indicating that Othman had already fought the battle of Bapheum, and had conquered certain parts of this eastern Roman-Greek territory.
"The calculations of some writers have gone upon the supposition that the period should begin with the foundation of the Ottoman Empire; but this is evidently an error; for they not only were to have a king over them, but were to torment men five months. But the period of torment could not begin before the first attack of the tormentors, which was, as above [stated], July 27, 1299." [24]
The calculation which follows, founded on this starting point, was made and first published in a work entitled, Christ's Second Coming, by Josiah Litch, in 1838.
" 'And their power was to hurt men five months.' Thus far their commission extended, to torment by constant depredations, but not politically to kill them. 'Five months' [thirty days to a month, one hundred and fifty days], that is, one hundred and fifty years. Commencing July 27, 1299, the one hundred and fifty years reach to 1449. During that whole period the Turks were engaged in an almost perpetual war with the Greek Empire, but yet without conquering it. They seized upon and held several of the Greek provinces, but still Greek independence was maintained in Constantinople. But in 1449, the termination of the one hundred and fifty years, a change came," [25] the history of which will be found under the succeeding trumpet.
May God Bless and keep us as we continue to delve into the book of Revelation using the historians of the past to open our eyes to the truth of His words and the unfolding plan for our lives.
In Jesus, now and forever by His grace and mercy, in His love.
Amen
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.
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.
And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth
and unto them was given power
as the scorpions of the earth have power.
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.
And to them it was given that they should not kill them
but that they should be tormented five months
and their torment was as the torment of a
scorpion, when he striketh a man.
And in those days shall men seek death and shall not find it
and shall desire to die
and death shall flee from them
And the shapes of the locusts 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.
And they had hair as the hair of women
and their teeth were as the teeth of lions.
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.
And they had tails like unto scorpions,
and there were stings in their tails
and their power was to hurt men five months.
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.
One woe is past; and, behold, there come two woes more hereafter.
*******
Excerpt taken from--
Daniel and the Revelation by Uriah Smith
Verse 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.
The Fifth Trumpet.--For an exposition of this trumpet, we shall again draw from the writings of Alexander Keith. This writer says:
"There is scarcely so uniform an agreement among interpreters concerning any other part of the Apocalypse as respecting the application of the fifth and sixth trumpets, or the first and second woes, to the Saracens and the Turks. It is so obvious that it can scarcely be misunderstood. Instead of a verse or two designating each, the whole of the ninth chapter of the Revelation, equal portions, is occupied with a description of both.
"The Roman Empire declined, as it arose, by conquest; but the Saracens and the Turks were the instruments by which a false religion became the scourge of an apostate church; and hence, instead of the fifth and sixth trumpets, like the former, being marked by that name alone, they are called woes. . . .
"Constantinople was besieged for the first time after the extinction of the Western Empire by Chosroes [II], the king of Persia." [1]
The prophet said, "I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth; and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit."
The historian writes of this time:
"While the Persian monarch [Chosroes II] contemplated the wonders of his art and power, he received an epistle from an obscure citizen of Mecca, inviting him to acknowledge Mahomet as the apostle of God. He rejected the invitation, and tore the epsitle. 'It is thus,' exclaimed the Arabian prophet, 'that God will tear the kingdom, and reject the supplications of Chosroes.' Placed on the verge of the two great empires of the East, Mahomet observed with secret joy the progress of their mutual destruction; and in the midst of the Persian triumphs, he ventured to foretell, that before many years should elapse, victory should again return to the banners of the Romans. At the time when this prediction is said to have been delivered, no prophecy could be more distant from its accomplishment, since the first twelve years of Heraclius announced the approaching dissolution of the empire." [2]
It was not on a single spot that this star fell, as did the one that designated Attila, but upon the earth.
The provinces of the empire in Asia and Africa were subdued by Chosroes II, and "the Roman Empire was reduced to the walls of Constantinople, with the remnant of Greece, Italy, and Africa, and some maritime cities, from Tyre to Trebizond, of the Asiatic coast. . . . The experience of six years at length persuaded the Persian monarch to renounce the conquest of Constantinople, and to specify the annual tribute or ransom of the Roman Empire; a thousand talents of gold, a thousand talents of silver, a thousand silk robes, a thousand horses, and a thousand virgins. Heraclius subscribed these ignominious terms; but the time and space which he obtained to collect such treasures from the poverty of the East, was industriously employed in the preparation of a bold and desperate attack." [3]
"The king of Persia despised the obscure Saracen, and derided the message of the pretended prophet of Mecca. Even the overthrow of the Roman Empire would not have opened a door for Mahometanism, or for the progress of the Saracenic armed propagators of an imposture, though the monarch of the Persians and chagan of the Avars (the successor of Attila) had divided between them the remains of the kingdoms of the Caesars. Chosroes himself fell. The Persian and Roman monarchies exhausted each other's strength. And before a sword was put into the hands of the false prophet, it was smitten from the hands of those who would have checked his career and crushed his power." [4]
"Since the days of Scipio and Hannibal, no bolder enterprise has been attempted than that which Heraclius achieved for the deliverance of the empire. He . . . explored his perilous way through the Black Sea and the mountains of Armenia, penetrated into the heart of Persia, and recalled the armies of the great king to the defense of their bleeding country. . . .
"In the battle of Nineveh, which was fiercely fought from daybreak to the eleventh hour, twenty-eight standards, besides those which might be broken or torn, were taken from the Persians; the greatest part of their army was cut in pieces, and the victors, concealing their own loss, passed the night on the field. . . . The cities and palaces of Assyria were opened for the first time to the Romans." [5]
"The Roman emperor was not strengthened by the conquests which he achieved; and a way was prepared at the same time, and by the same means, for the multitudes of Saracens from Arabia, like locusts from the same region, who, propagating in their course the dark and delusive Mahometan creed, speedily overspread both the Persian and the Roman empires. More complete illustration of this fact could not be desired than is supplied in the concluding words of the chapter [from Gibbon], from which the preceding extracts are taken." [6]
"Although a victorious army had been formed under the standard of Heraclius, the unnatural effort appears to have exhausted rather than exercised their strength. While the emperor triumphed at Constantinople or Jerusalem, an obscure town on the confines of Syria was pillaged by the Saracens, and they cut in pieces some troops who advanced to its relief, an ordinary and trifling occurrence, had it not been the prelude of a mighty revolution. These robbers were the apostles of Mahomet; their fanatic valor had emerged from the desert; and in the last eight years of his reign, Heraclius lost to the Arabs the same provinces which he had rescued from the Persians." [7]
" 'The spirit of fraud and enthusiasm, whose abode is not in the heavens,' was let loose on earth. The bottomless pit needed but a key to open it, and that key was the fall of Chosroes. He had contemptuously torn the letter of an obscure citizen of Mecca. But when from his 'blaze of glory' he sunk into the 'tower of darkness' which no eye could penetrate, the name of Chosroes was suddenly to pass into oblivion before that of Mahomet; and the crescent seemed but to wait its rising till the falling of the star. Chosroes, after his entire discomfiture and loss of empire, was murdered in the year 628; and the year 629 is marked by 'the conquest of Arabia,' and 'the first war of the Mahometans against the Roman Empire.' '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. And he opened the bottomless pit.' He fell upon the earth. When the strength of the Roman Empire was exhausted, and the great king of the East lay dead in his tower of darkness, the pillage of an obscure town on the borders of Syria was 'the prelude of a mighty revolution.' 'The robbers were the apostles of Mahomet, and their fanatic valor emerged from the desert.' " [8]
The Bottomless Pit.--The meaning of this term may be learned from the Greek {GREEK CHARACTERS IN PRINTED TEXT}, abyssos, which is defined "deep, bottomless, profound," and may refer to any waste, desolate, and uncultivated place. It is applied to the earth in its original state of chaos. (Genesis 1: 2.) In this instance it may appropriately refer to the unknown wastes of the Arabian desert, from the borders of which issued the hordes of Saracens, like swarms of locusts. The fall of Chosroes II the Persian king may well be represented as the opening of the bottomless pit, inasmuch as it prepared the way for the followers of Mohammed to issue from their obscure country and propagate their delusive doctrines with fire and sword until they had spread their darkness over all the Eastern Empire.
Verse 2 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.
"Like the noxious and even deadly vapors which the winds, particularly from the southwest, diffuse in Arabia, Mahometanism spread from hence its pestilential influence--arose as suddenly and spread as widely as smoke arising out of the pit, the smoke of a great furnace. Such is a suitable symbol of the religion of Mahomet, of itself, or as compared with the pure light of the gospel of Jesus. It was not, like the latter, a light from heaven, but a smoke out of the bottomless pit." [9]
Verse 3 And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power.
"A false religion was set up, which, although the scourge of transgressions and idolatry, filled the world with darkness and delusion; and swarms of Saracens, like locusts, overspread the earth, and speedily extended their ravages over the Roman Empire from east to west. The hail descended from the frozen shores of the Baltic; the burning mountain fell upon the sea from Africa; and the locusts (the fit symbol of the Arabs) issued from Arabia, their native region. They came as destroyers, propagating a new doctrine, and stirred up to rapine and violence by motives of interest and religion." [10]
"A still more specific illustration may be given of the power like unto that of scorpions, which was given them. Not only was their attack speedy and vigorous, but 'the nice sensibility of honor, which weighs the insult rather than the injury, sheds its deadly venom on the quarrels of the Arabs; an indecent action, a contemptuous word, can be expiated only by the blood of the offender; and such is their patient inveteracy, that they expect whole months and years the opportunity of revenge.' " [11]
Verse 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.
After the death of Mohammed, he was succeeded in the command by Abu-bekr in A.D. 632, who as soon as he had fairly established his authority and government gathered the Arabian tribes for conquest. When the army was assembled, he instructed his chiefs on methods of conquest:
"When you fight the battles of the Lord, acquit yourselves like men, without turning your backs; but let not your victory be stained with the blood of women and children. Destroy no palm-trees, nor burn any fields of corn. Cut down no fruit-trees, nor do any mischief to cattle, only such as you kill to eat. When you make any covenant, or article, stand to it, and be as good as your word. As you go on, you will find some religious persons who live retired in monasteries, and propose to themselves to serve God that way; let them alone, and neither kill them nor destroy their monasteries: and you will find another sort of people that belong to the synagogue of Satan, who have shaven crowns; be sure you cleave their skulls, and give them no quarter till they either turn Mahometans or pay 'tribute.' " [12]
"It is not said in prophecy or in history that the more humane injunctions were as scrupulously obeyed as the ferocious mandate; but it so commanded them. And the preceding are the only instructions recorded by Gibbon, and given by Abubeker to the chiefs whose duty it was to issue the commands to all the Saracen hosts. The commands are alike discriminating with the prediction, as if the caliph himself had been acting in known as well as direct obedience to a higher mandate than that of mortal man; and in the very act of going forth to fight against the religion of Jesus, and to propagate Mahometanism in its stead, he repeated the words which it was foretold in the Revelation of Jesus Christ that he would say." [13]
Seal of God in Their Foreheads.--In remarks upon Revelation 7: 1-3, we have shown that the seal of God is the Sabbath of the fourth commandment. History is not silent upon the fact that there have been observers of the true seventh-day Sabbath all through the gospel age. But the question has here arisen with many, Who were those men who at this time had the seal of God in their foreheads, and who thereby became exempt from Mohammedan oppression? Let the reader bear in mind the fact already alluded to, that there have been those all through the Christian Era who have had the seal of God in their foreheads, that is, have been intelligent observers of the true Sabbath. Let him consider further that what the prophecy asserts is that the attacks of this desolating Turkish power are not directed against them, but against another class. The subject is thus freed from all difficulty, for this is all that the prophecy really asserts. One class of person is directly brought to view in the text, namely, those who have not the seal of God in their foreheads. The preservation of those who have the seal of God is brought in only by implication. accordingly, we do not learn from history that any of these were involved in any of the calamities inflicted by the Saracens upon the objects of their hate. They were commissioned against another class of men. The destruction to come upon this class is not put in contrast with the preservation of other men, but only with that of the fruits and verdure of the earth; thus, Hurt not the grass, trees, nor any green thing, but only a certain class of men. In fulfillment, we have the strange spectacle of an army of invaders sparing those things which such armies usually destroy, the face and productions of nature. In pursuance of their permission to hurt those men who had not the seal of God in their foreheads, they cleaved the skulls of a class of religionists with shaven crowns, who belonged to the synagogue of Satan. It would seem that these were monks, or some other order of the Roman Catholic Church.
Verse 5 And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months: and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man.
"Their constant incursions into the Roman territory, and frequent assaults on Constantinople itself, were an unceasing torment throughout the empire, which yet they were not able effectually to subdue, notwithstanding the long period, afterward more directly alluded to, during which they continued, by unremitting attacks, grievously to afflict an idolatrous church, of which the pope was the head. . . . Their charge was to torment, and then to hurt, but not to kill, or utterly destroy. The marvel was that they did not." [14] (In reference to the five months, see comments on verse 10.)
Verse 6 And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them.
"Men were weary of life, when life was spared only for a renewal of woe, and when all that they accounted sacred was violated, and all they held dear constantly endangered; and when the savage Saracens domineered over them, or left them only to a momentary repose, ever liable to be suddenly or violently interrupted, as if by the sting of a scorpion." [15]
Verse 7 And the shapes of the locusts 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.
"The Arabian horse takes the lead throughout the world; and skill in horsemanship is the art and science of Arabia. And the barbed Arabs, swift as locusts and armed like scorpions, ready to dart away in a moment, were ever prepared unto battle.
" 'And on their heads were as it were crowns like gold.' When Mahomet entered Medina (A.D. 622), and was first received as its prince, 'a turban was unfurled before him to supply the deficiency of a standard.' The turbans of the Saracens, like unto a coronet, were their ornament and their boast. The rich booty abundantly supplied and frequently renewed them. To assume the turban is proverbially to turn Mussulman. And the Arabs were anciently distinguished by the miters which they wore." [16]
"And their faces were as the faces of men." "The gravity and firmness of the mind [of the Arab] is conspicuous in his outward demeanor; . . . his only gesture is that of stroking his beard, the venerable symbol of manhood. . . . The honor . . . of their beards is most easily wounded." [17]
Verse 8 And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as the teeth of lions.
"Long hair is esteemed an ornament by women. The Arabs, unlike to other men, had their hair as the hair of women, or uncut, as their practice is recorded by Pliny and others. But there was nothing effeminate in their character; for, as denoting their ferocity and strength to devour, their teeth were as the teeth of lions." [18]
Verse 9 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.
"The cuirass (or breastplate) was in use among the Arabs in the days of Mahomet. In the battle of Ohud (the second which Mahomet fought) with the Koreish of Mecca (A.D. 624), 'seven hundred of them were armed with cuirasses.' " [19]
" 'The charge of the Arabs was not, like that of the Greeks and Romans, the efforts of a firm and compact infantry; their military force was chiefly formed of cavalry and archers.' . . . With a touch of the hand, the Arab horses dart away with the swiftness of the wind. 'The sound of their wings was as the sound of many horses running to battle.' Their conquests were marvelous both in rapidity and extent, and their attack was instantaneous. Nor was it less successful against the Romans than the Persians." [20]
Verse 10 And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and their power was to hurt men five months. 11 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.
"To Hurt Men Five Months."--The question arises, What men were they to hurt five months?--Undoubtedly the same they were afterward to slay (see verse 15), "the third part of men," or third of the Roman Empire--the Greek division of it.
When were they to begin their work of torment? The eleventh verse answers the question.
"They had a king over them." From the death of Mohammed until near the close of the thirteenth century, the Mohammedans were divided into various factions under several leaders, with no general civil government extending over them all. Near the close of the thirteenth century, Othman founded a government which has since been known as the Ottoman government, or empire, which grew until it extended over all the principal Mohammedan tribes, consolidating them into one grand monarchy.
Their king is called "the angel of the bottomless pit." An angel signifies a messenger, a minister, either good or bad, and not always a spiritual being. "The angel of the bottomless pit" would be the chief minister of the religion which came from thence when it was opened. That religion is Mohammedanism, and the sultan was its chief minister.
His name in the Hebrew tongue is "Abaddon," the destroyer; in Greek, "Apollyon," one that exterminates, or destroys. Having two different names in two languages, it is evident that the character rather than the name of the power is intended to be represented. If so, as expressed in both languages, he is a destroyer. Such has always been the character of the Ottoman government.
But when did Othman make his first assault on the Greek empire?-- According to Gibbon "it was on the twenty-seventh of July, in the year twelve hundred and ninety-nine of the Christian Era, that Othman first invaded the territory of Nicomaedia; and the singular accuracy of the date seems to disclose some foresight of the rapid and destructive growth of the monster." [21]
Von Hammer, the German historian of Turkey, and other authorities have placed this event in 1301. But to what date do the historic sources of this period testify? Pachymeres was a church and state historian, born at Nicaea, which was in the vicinity of the Ottoman invasion; and he wrote his history during this very period. He concluded his work about 1307, so he was a contemporary of Othman.
Possinus, in 1669, worked out a complete chronology of Pachymeres' history, giving the dates for the eclipses of the moon and the sun, as well as other events, recorded by Pachymeres in his work. Concerning the date 1299 Possinus says:
"Now it is our task to give the exact and fundamental epoch of the Ottoman Empire. This we shall try to effect by a thoroughgoing comparison of the dates given by Arab chronologists and the testimony of our Pachymeres. This last- mentioned author reports in the fourth book of this second part, chapter 25, that Atman [Greek name for Othman] grew strong by taking the command over a very strong band of bold and energetic warriors from Paphlagonia. When Muzalo, the Roman army commander, attempted to block his progress, he defeated him in a battle near Nicomedia, the capital of Bithynia. This city the lord of the battlefield henceforth kept as if it were besieged. Now, Pachymeres is very explicit in stating that these events took place in the immediate vicinity of Bapheum, not far from Nicomedia, on the 27th day of July. The year, we asseverate [affirm] in our synopsis, comparing carefully the events to have been of our Lord 1299." [22]
The synopsis to which Possinus refers gives the date of the uniting of these Paphlagonians with Othman's forces, which took place on July 27, as 1299 of the Christian Era, fifth year of Pope Boniface VIII, and the sixth year of Michael Palaeologus. The statement is as follows:
"Atman [Othman], the strap of the Persians, called also Ottomanes, the founder of the still reigning dynasty of the Turcs, grew strong by joining to himself a great number of fierce bandits from Paphlagonia." [23]
The Paphlagonians under the sons of Amurius joined Othman in this attack of July 27, so that Possinus gives the date for this event twice as 1299.
Gregoras, also a contemporary of Othman, supports Gibbon and Pachymeres in establishing the date 1299 in his account of the division of Anatolia. This division among ten Turkish emirs took place in 1300, as supported by reliable historians. Gregoras states that in the division of Bithynia, indicating that Othman had already fought the battle of Bapheum, and had conquered certain parts of this eastern Roman-Greek territory.
"The calculations of some writers have gone upon the supposition that the period should begin with the foundation of the Ottoman Empire; but this is evidently an error; for they not only were to have a king over them, but were to torment men five months. But the period of torment could not begin before the first attack of the tormentors, which was, as above [stated], July 27, 1299." [24]
The calculation which follows, founded on this starting point, was made and first published in a work entitled, Christ's Second Coming, by Josiah Litch, in 1838.
" 'And their power was to hurt men five months.' Thus far their commission extended, to torment by constant depredations, but not politically to kill them. 'Five months' [thirty days to a month, one hundred and fifty days], that is, one hundred and fifty years. Commencing July 27, 1299, the one hundred and fifty years reach to 1449. During that whole period the Turks were engaged in an almost perpetual war with the Greek Empire, but yet without conquering it. They seized upon and held several of the Greek provinces, but still Greek independence was maintained in Constantinople. But in 1449, the termination of the one hundred and fifty years, a change came," [25] the history of which will be found under the succeeding trumpet.
May God Bless and keep us as we continue to delve into the book of Revelation using the historians of the past to open our eyes to the truth of His words and the unfolding plan for our lives.
In Jesus, now and forever by His grace and mercy, in His love.
Amen
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Lord Please Help Us
As I study the book of Revelation I can't help but go back to the beginning of the book for reassurance. There is so much in this book that seems so confusion. There is so much I have to rely upon historians and such to guide me that I can't help but wonder how it's all supposed to work. I want God to guide me. I want God to help me. I want the Holy Spirit enlightening me, opening my eyes, covering my eyes with the eyesalve bought from Jesus Himself so that I may see. I have to trust that the Lord will guide me and keep me in Him. I have to trust that all the knowledge that I'm meant to have, I will receive. I know I can't stop studying and seeking to understand and I won't. I just need to refresh my heart so to speak by turning back a few pages and reading something that cannot be misconstrued.
Revelation
...
The Revelation of Jesus Christ
which God gave unto him
to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass
and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John
Who bare record of the word of God
and of the testimony of Jesus Christ
and of all things that he saw.
Blessed is he that readeth
and they that hear the words of this prophecy
and keep those things which are written therein
for the time is at hand
...
Blessed be the name of the Lord, all praise and glory unto Him!
Blessed are we that read and hear the words of this prophecy!
Blessed are we that keep the things which are written therein!
We need to read, to listen to the words, and we need to keep them.
I may not understand a lot of what is written but that shouldn't prevent me from reading, from listening, and from keeping these words. I might keep them and one day the full understanding needed will come, where if I don't keep the words I have no hope of understanding.
Lord please help us, help me to read, to hear, to keep all the things written in you words of prophecy.
By the grace and mercy of our Lord and our Savior now and forever!
Amen.
Revelation
...
The Revelation of Jesus Christ
which God gave unto him
to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass
and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John
Who bare record of the word of God
and of the testimony of Jesus Christ
and of all things that he saw.
Blessed is he that readeth
and they that hear the words of this prophecy
and keep those things which are written therein
for the time is at hand
...
Blessed be the name of the Lord, all praise and glory unto Him!
Blessed are we that read and hear the words of this prophecy!
Blessed are we that keep the things which are written therein!
We need to read, to listen to the words, and we need to keep them.
I may not understand a lot of what is written but that shouldn't prevent me from reading, from listening, and from keeping these words. I might keep them and one day the full understanding needed will come, where if I don't keep the words I have no hope of understanding.
Lord please help us, help me to read, to hear, to keep all the things written in you words of prophecy.
By the grace and mercy of our Lord and our Savior now and forever!
Amen.
Monday, September 14, 2009
2nd, 3rd, and 4th Trumpets Sound
Revelation
...
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.
...
Again - Taking from the book Daniel and Revelation by Uriah Smith--
*
The Second Trumpet.--The Roman Empire, after Constantine the Great, was divided into three parts. Hence the frequent remark, "a third part of men," is an allusion to the third part of the empire which was under the scourge. This division of the Roman kingdom was made at the death of Constantine, among his three sons, Constantius, Constantine II, and Constans. Constantius possessed the East, and fixed his residence at Constantinople, the metropolis of the empire. Constantine II held Britain, Gaul, and Spain. Constans held Illyricum, Africa, and Italy.
The sounding of the second trumpet evidently relates to the invasion and conquest of Africa, and afterward of Italy, by Gaiseric (Genseric), king of the Vandals. His conquests were for the most part naval, and his triumphs were "as it were a great mountain burning with fire, cast into the sea."
What figure would better, or even so well, illustrate the collision of navies, and the general havoc of war on the maritime coasts? In explaining this trumpet, we are to look for some events which will have a particular bearing on the commercial world. The symbol used naturally leads us to look for agitation and commotion. Nothing but a fierce maritime warfare would fulfill the prediction.
If the sounding of the first four trumpets relates to four remarkable events which contributed to the downfall of the Roman Empire, and the first trumpet refers to the ravages of the Goths under Alaric, in this we naturally look for the next succeeding act of invasion which shook the Roman power and conduced to its fall.
The next great invasion was that of Genseric, at the head of the Vandals. His career reached its height between the years A.D. 428-468. This great Vandal chief had his headquarters in Africa. But as Gibbon states, "The discovery and conquest of the black nations [in Africa], that might dwell beneath the torrid zone, could not tempt the rational ambition of Genseric; but he cast his eyes towards the sea; he resolved to create a naval power, and his bold resolution was executed with steady and active perseverance." [5] From the port of Carthage he repeatedly made piratical sallies, preyed on the Roman commerce, and waged war with that empire. To cope with this sea monarch, the Roman emperor, Majorian, made extensive naval preparations.
"The woods of the Apennines were felled; the arsenals and manufacturers of Ravenna and Misenum were restored; Italy and Gaul vied with each other in liberal contributions to the public service; and the imperial navy of three hundred large galleys, with an adequate proportion of transports and smaller vessels, was collected in the secure and capacious harbor of Carthagena in Spain. . . . But Genseric was saved from impending and inevitable ruin by the treachery of some powerful subjects, envious, or apprehensive, of their master's success. Guided by their secret intelligence, he surprised the unguarded fleet in the Bay of Carthagena: many of the ships were sunk, or taken, or burnt; and the preparations of three years were destroyed in a single day. . . .
"The kingdom of Italy, a name to which the Western Empire was gradually reduced, was afflicted, under the reign of Ricimer, by the incessant depredations of the Vandal pirates. In the spring of each year, they equipped a formidable navy in the port of Carthage; and Genseric himself, though in a very advanced age, still commanded in person the most important expeditions. . . .
"The Vandals repeatedly visited the coasts of Spain, Liguria, Tuscany, Campania, Lucania, Bruttium, Apulia, Calabria, Venetia, Dalmatia, Epirus, Greece, and Sicily. . . .
"The celerity of their motions enabled them, almost at the same time, to threaten and to attack the most distant objects, which attracted their desires; and as they always embarked a sufficient number of horses, they had no sooner landed, than they swept the dismayed country with a body of light calvary." [6]
A last and desperate attempt to dispossess Genseric of the sovereignty of the seas, was made in the year 468 by Leo I, the emperor of the East. Gibbon bears witness to this as follows:
"The whole expense of the African campaign, by whatsoever means it was defrayed, amounted to the sum of one hundred and thirty thousand pounds of gold, about five million and two hundred thousand pounds sterling. . . . The fleet that sailed from Constantinople to Carthage consisted of eleven hundred and thirteen ships, and the number of soldiers and mariners exceeded one hundred thousand men. . . . The army of Heraclius and the fleet of Marcellinus either joined or seconded the imperial lieutenant. . . . The wind became favorable to the design of Genseric. He manned his largest ships of war with the bravest of the Moors and Vandals, and they towed after them many large barks filled with combustible materials. In the obscurity of the night, these destructive vessels were impelled against the unguarded and unsuspecting fleet of the Romans, who were awakened by the sense of their instant danger. Their close and crowded order assisted the progress of the fire, which was communicated with rapid and irresistible violence; and the noise of the wind, the crackling of the flames, the dissonant cries of the soldiers and mariners, who could neither command nor obey, increased the horror of the nocturnal tumult. Whilst they labored to extricate themselves from the fire ships, and to save at least a part of the navy, the galleys of Genseric assaulted them with temperate and disciplined valor; and many of the Romans who escaped the fury of the flames, were destroyed or taken by the victorious Vandals. . . . After the failure of this great expedition, Genseric again became the tyrant of the sea; the coasts of Italy, Greece, and Asia were again exposed to his revenge and avarice; Tripoli and Sardinia returned to his obedience; he added Sicily to the number of his provinces; and before he died, in the fullness of years and of glory, he beheld the final extinction of the empire of the West." [7]
Concerning the important part which this bold corsair acted in the downfall of Rome, Gibbon uses this significant language: "Genseric, a name which, in the destruction of the Roman Empire, has deserved an equal rank with the names of Alaric and Attila." [8]
Edward Gibbon, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
[6] Ibid., 481-486.
[7] Ibid., 495-498.
[8] Ibid., chap. 33, p. 370.
*******
Revelation
...
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.
...
Taken from the book Daniel and Revelation by Uriah Smith-
*
The Third Trumpet.--In the interpretation and application of this passage, we are brought to the third important event which resulted in the subversion of the Roman Empire. In revealing the historical fulfillment of this third trumpet, we shall be indebted to the notes of Albert Barnes for a few extracts. in explaining this scripture, it is necessary, as this commentator says, "that there would be some chieftain or warrior who might be compared with a blazing meteor; whose course would be singularly brilliant; who would appear suddenly like a blazing star, and then disappear like a star whose light was quenched in the waters. That the desolating course of that meteor would be mainly on those portions of the world that abounded with springs of water and running streams. That an effect would be produced as if those streams and fountains were made bitter; that is, that many persons would perish, and that wide desolations would be caused in the vicinity of those rivers and streams, as if a bitter and baleful star should fall into the waters, and death should spread over the lands adjacent to them, and watered by them." [9]
It is here premised that this trumpet has allusion to the desolating wars and furious invasions of Attila, king of the Huns, against the Roman power. Speaking of this warrior, particularly of his personal appearance, Barnes says:
"In the manner of his appearance, he strongly resembled a brilliant meteor in the sky. He came from the East gathering his Huns, and poured them down, as we shall see, with the rapidity of a flashing meteor, suddenly on the empire. He regarded himself also as devoted to Mars, the god of war, and was accustomed to array himself in a peculiarly brilliant manner, so that his appearance, in the language of his flatterers, was such as to dazzle the eyes of beholders." [10]
In speaking of the locality of the events predicted by this trumpet, Barnes has this note:
"It is said particularly that the effect would be on 'the rivers' and on 'the fountains of waters.' If this has a literal application, or if, as was supposed in the case of the second trumpet, the language used was such as had reference to the portion of the empire that would be particularly affected by the hostile invasion, then we may suppose that this refers to those portions of the empire that abounded in rivers and streams, and more particularly those in which the rivers and streams had their origin--for the effect was permanently in the 'fountains of waters.' As a matter of fact, the principal operations of Attila were in the regions of the Alps, and on the portions of the empire whence the rivers flow down into Italy. The invasion of Attila is described by Gibbon in this general language: 'The whole breadth of Europe, as it extends above five hundred miles from the Euxine to the Adriatic, was at once invaded, and occupied, and desolated by the myriads of barbarians whom Attila led into the field.' " [11]
The Name of the Star Is Called Wormwood.--The word "wormwood" denotes bitter consequences. "These words--which are more intimately connected with the preceding verse, as even the punctuation in our version denotes--recall us for a moment to the character of Attila, to the misery of which he was the author or the instrument, and to the terror that was inspired by his name.
" 'Total extirpation and erasure,' are terms which best denote the calamities he inflicted. . . .
"It was the boast of Attila that the grass never grew on the spot which his horse had trod. 'The scourge of God' was a name that he appropriated to himself, and inserted among his royal titles. He was 'the scourge of his enemies, and the terror of the world.' The Western emperor with the senate and people of Rome, humbly and fearfully deprecated the wrath of Attila. And the concluding paragraph of the chapters which record his history, is entitled, 'Symptoms of the Decay and Ruin of the Roman Government.' The name of the star is called wormwood." [12]
[9] Albert Barnes, Notes on Revelation, p. 239, comment on Revelation 8: 11.
[10] Ibid.
[11] Ibid., p. 240.
[12] Alexander Keith, Signs of the Times, Vol. I, p. 267-269.
*******
Revelation
...
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!
...
Taken from the book Daniel and Revelation by Uriah Smith--
The Fourth Trumpet.--We understand that this trumpet symbolizes the career of Odoacer, the first barbarian ruler of Italy, who was so intimately connected with the downfall of Western Rome. The symbols sun, moon, and stars--for they are undoubtedly here used as symbols--evidently denote the great luminaries of the Roman government, its emperors, senators, and consuls. The last emperor of Western Rome was Romulus, who in derision was called Augustulus, or the "diminutive Augustus." Western Rome fell in A.D. 476. Still, however, though the Roman sun was extinguished, its subordinate luminaries shone faintly while the senate and consuls continued. But after many civil reverses and changes of political fortune, at length the whole form of the ancient government was subverted, and Rome itself was reduced from being the empress of the world to a poor dukedom tributary to the Exarch of Ravenna.
The extinction of the Western Empire is recorded by Gibbon as follows:
"The unfortunate Augustulus was made the instrument of his own disgrace: he signified his resignation to the senate; and that assembly, in their last act of obedience to a Roman prince, still affected the spirit of freedom, and the forms of the constitution. An epistle was addressed, by their unanimous decree, to the emperor Zeno, the son-in-law and successor of Leo, who had lately been restored, after a short rebellion, to the Byzantine throne. They solemnly 'disclaim the necessity, or even the wish of continuing any longer the imperial succession in Italy; since in their opinion the majesty of a sole monarch is sufficient to pervade and to protect, at the same time, both the East and the West. In their own name, and in the name of the people, they consent that the seat of universal empire shall be transferred from Rome to Constantinople; and they basely renounce the right of choosing their master, the only vestige that yet remained of the authority which had given laws to the world.' " [13]
Keith comments on the downfall of Rome:
"The power and glory of Rome as bearing rule over any nation, became extinct. The name alone remained to the queen of nations. Every token of royalty disappeared from the imperial city. She who had ruled over the nations sat in the dust, like a second Babylon, and there was no throne where the Caesars had reigned. The last act of obedience to a Roman prince which that once august assembly performed, was the acceptance of the resignation of the last emperor of the West, and the abolition of the imperial succession in Italy. The sun of Rome was smitten. . . .
"A new conqueror of Italy, Theodoric, the Ostrogoth, speedily arose, who unscrupulously assumed the purple, and reigned by the right of conquest. 'The royalty of Theodoric was proclaimed by the Goths (March 5, A.D. 493), with the tardy, reluctant, ambiguous consent of the emperor of the East.' The imperial Roman power, of which either Rome or Constantinople had been jointly or singly the seat, whether in the West or the East, was no longer recognized in Italy, and the 'thirdpart of the sun' was smitten till it emitted no longer the faintest rays. The power of the Caesars was unknown in Italy; and a Gothic king reigned over Rome.
"But though the third part of the sun was smitten, and the Roman imperial power was at an end in the city of the Caesars, yet the moon and the stars still shone, or glimmered, for a little longer in the Western hemisphere [empire], even in the midst of Gothic darkness. The consulship and the senate ["the moon and the stars"] were not abolished by Theodoric. 'A Gothic historian applauds the consulship of Theodoric as the height of all temporal power and greatness;'--as the moon reigns by night, after the setting of the sun. And instead of abolishing that office, Theodoric himself 'congratulates those annual favorites of fortune, who, without the cares, enjoyed the splendor of the throne.'
"But, in their prophetic order, the consulship and the senate of Rome met their fate, though they fell not by the hands of Vandals or of Goths. The next revolution in Italy was its subjection to Belisarius, the general of Justinian, emperor of the East. He did not spare what barbarians had hallowed. 'The Roman Consulship Extinguished by Justinian, A.D. 541,' is the title of the last paragraph of the fortieth chapter of Gibbon's History of the Decline and Fall of Rome. 'The succession of the consuls finally ceased in the thirteenth year of Justinian, whose despotic temper might be gratified by the silent extinction of a title which admonished the Romans of their ancient freedom.' 'The third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars.' In the political firmament of the ancient world, while under the reign of imperial Rome, the emperorship, the consulate, and the senate shone like the sun, the moon, and the stars. The history of their decline and fall is brought down till the two former were 'extinguished,' in reference to Rome and Italy, which so long had ranked as the first of cities and countries; and finally, as the fourth trumpet closes, we see the 'extinction of that illustrious assembly,' the Roman senate. The city that had ruled the world, as if in mockery of human greatness, was conquered by the eunuch Narses, the successor of Belisarius. He defeated the Goths (A.D. 522 [*]), achieved 'the conquest of Rome,' and the fate of the senate was sealed." [14]
E. B. Elliott speaks of the fulfillment of this part of the prophecy in the extinction of the Western Empire, as follows:
"Thus was the final catastrophe preparing, by which the Western emperors and empire were to become extinct. The glory of Rome had long departed; its provinces one after another been rent from it; the territory still attached to it become like a desert; and its maritime possessions and its fleets and commerce been annihilated. Little remained to it but the vain titles and insignia of sovereignty. And now the time was come when these too should be withdrawn. Some twenty years or more from the death of Attila, and much less from that of Genseric (who, ere his death, had indeed visited and ravaged the eternal city in one of his maritime marauding expeditions, and thus yet more prepared the coming consummation), about this time, I say, Odoacer, chief of the Heruli--a barbarian remnant of the host of Attila, left on the Alpine frontiers of Italy--interposed with his command that the name and the office of Roman Emperor of the West, should be abolished. The authorities bowed in submission to him. The last phantom of an emperor--one whose name, Romulus Augustus, was singularly calculated to bring in contrast before the reflective mind the past glories of Rome and its present degradation--abdicated; and the senate sent away the imperial insignia to Constantinople, professing to the emperor of the East that one emperor was sufficient for the whole of the empire. Thus of the Roman imperial sun, that third which appertained to the Western Empire was eclipsed, and shown no more. I say that third of its orb which appertained to the Western empire; for the Apocalyptic fraction is literally accurate. In the last arrangement between the two courts, the whole of the Illyrian third had been made over to the Eastern division. Thus in the West 'the extinction of the empire' had taken place; the night had fallen.
"Notwithstanding this, however, it must be borne in mind that the authority of the Roman name had not yet entirely ceased. The senate of Rome continued to assemble as usual. The consuls were appointed yearly, one by the Eastern emperor, one by Italy and Rome. Odoacer himself governed Italy under a title (that of patrician) conferred on him by the Eastern emperor. And as regarded the more distant Western provinces, or at least considerable districts in them, the tie which had united them to the Roman Empire was not altogether severed. There was still a certain, though often faint, recognition of the supreme imperial authority. The moon and the stars might seem still to shine on the West with a dim reflected light. In the course of the events, however, which rapidly followed one on the other in the next half century, these, too, were extinguished. Theodoric the Ostrogoth, on destroying the Heruli and their kingdom at Rome and Ravenna, ruled in Italy from A.D. 493 to 526 as an independent sovereign; and on Belisarius's and Narses's conquest of Italy from the Ostrogoths (a conquest preceded by wars and desolations in which Italy, and above all its seven-hilled city, were for a time almost made desert), the Roman senate was dissolved, the consulship abrogated. Moreover, as regards the barbaric princes of the Western provinces, their independence of the Roman imperial power became now more distinctly averred and understood. After above a century and [a] half of calamities unexampled almost, as Dr. Robertson most truly represents is, in the history of nations, the statement of Jerome--a statement couched under the very Apocalyptic figure of the text, but prematurely pronounced on the first taking of Rome by Alaric,--might be considered as at length accomplished: 'Clarissimum terrarum lumen extinctum est.' 'The world's glorious sun has been extinguished;' or as the modern power has expressed it, still under the same Apocalyptic imagery--
'She saw her glories star by star expire.' till not even one star remained, to glimmer on the vacant and dark night." [15]
The fearful ravages of these barbarian hordes who under their bold but cruel and desperate leaders devastated Rome, are vividly portrayed in the following spirited lines:
"And then a deluge of wrath it came,
And the nations shook with dread;
And it swept the earth, till its fields were flame,
And piled with the mingled dead.
Kings were rolled in the wasteful flood,
With the low and crouching slave,
And together lay, in a shroud of blood,
The coward and the brave."
Fearful as were the calamities brought upon the empire by the first incursions of these barbarians, they were light as compared with the calamities which were to follow. They were but as the preliminary drops of a shower before the torrent which was soon to fall upon the Roman world. The three remaining trumpets are overshadowed with a cloud of woe, as set forth in the following verses.
Verse 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.
This angel is not one of the series of the seven trumpet angels, but simply another heavenly messenger, who announces that the three remaining trumpets are woe trumpets, because of the more terrible events to take place under their sounding. Thus the next, or fifth trumpet, is the first woe; the sixth trumpet, the second woe; and the seventh, the last one in this series of seven trumpets, is the third woe.
[13] Edward Gibbon, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Vol. III, chap. 36, p. 512.
[14] Alexander Keith, Signs of the Times, Vol. I, p. 280-283.
[15] Edward B. Elliott, Horae Apocalypticae, Vol. I, pp. 354-356.
[*] Edward Gibbon, in History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Volume IV, chapter 43, pages 273, 274, places the defeat and death of Teias, the last king of the Goths, in A.D. 533. This is the date usually accepted by historians, and is the one used by the author of this book. (See pages 127, 128.)--Editors.
*******
History.
Does it all fit? Only time will tell. Greater minds than mine have studied all this and put it together. I'm willing to entertain the idea that it fits and will continue to do so as I keep my mind open to be guided by the Lord to all truth.
May God continue to bless us as we seek to understand His word, putting things together as history unfolds.
...
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.
...
Again - Taking from the book Daniel and Revelation by Uriah Smith--
*
The Second Trumpet.--The Roman Empire, after Constantine the Great, was divided into three parts. Hence the frequent remark, "a third part of men," is an allusion to the third part of the empire which was under the scourge. This division of the Roman kingdom was made at the death of Constantine, among his three sons, Constantius, Constantine II, and Constans. Constantius possessed the East, and fixed his residence at Constantinople, the metropolis of the empire. Constantine II held Britain, Gaul, and Spain. Constans held Illyricum, Africa, and Italy.
The sounding of the second trumpet evidently relates to the invasion and conquest of Africa, and afterward of Italy, by Gaiseric (Genseric), king of the Vandals. His conquests were for the most part naval, and his triumphs were "as it were a great mountain burning with fire, cast into the sea."
What figure would better, or even so well, illustrate the collision of navies, and the general havoc of war on the maritime coasts? In explaining this trumpet, we are to look for some events which will have a particular bearing on the commercial world. The symbol used naturally leads us to look for agitation and commotion. Nothing but a fierce maritime warfare would fulfill the prediction.
If the sounding of the first four trumpets relates to four remarkable events which contributed to the downfall of the Roman Empire, and the first trumpet refers to the ravages of the Goths under Alaric, in this we naturally look for the next succeeding act of invasion which shook the Roman power and conduced to its fall.
The next great invasion was that of Genseric, at the head of the Vandals. His career reached its height between the years A.D. 428-468. This great Vandal chief had his headquarters in Africa. But as Gibbon states, "The discovery and conquest of the black nations [in Africa], that might dwell beneath the torrid zone, could not tempt the rational ambition of Genseric; but he cast his eyes towards the sea; he resolved to create a naval power, and his bold resolution was executed with steady and active perseverance." [5] From the port of Carthage he repeatedly made piratical sallies, preyed on the Roman commerce, and waged war with that empire. To cope with this sea monarch, the Roman emperor, Majorian, made extensive naval preparations.
"The woods of the Apennines were felled; the arsenals and manufacturers of Ravenna and Misenum were restored; Italy and Gaul vied with each other in liberal contributions to the public service; and the imperial navy of three hundred large galleys, with an adequate proportion of transports and smaller vessels, was collected in the secure and capacious harbor of Carthagena in Spain. . . . But Genseric was saved from impending and inevitable ruin by the treachery of some powerful subjects, envious, or apprehensive, of their master's success. Guided by their secret intelligence, he surprised the unguarded fleet in the Bay of Carthagena: many of the ships were sunk, or taken, or burnt; and the preparations of three years were destroyed in a single day. . . .
"The kingdom of Italy, a name to which the Western Empire was gradually reduced, was afflicted, under the reign of Ricimer, by the incessant depredations of the Vandal pirates. In the spring of each year, they equipped a formidable navy in the port of Carthage; and Genseric himself, though in a very advanced age, still commanded in person the most important expeditions. . . .
"The Vandals repeatedly visited the coasts of Spain, Liguria, Tuscany, Campania, Lucania, Bruttium, Apulia, Calabria, Venetia, Dalmatia, Epirus, Greece, and Sicily. . . .
"The celerity of their motions enabled them, almost at the same time, to threaten and to attack the most distant objects, which attracted their desires; and as they always embarked a sufficient number of horses, they had no sooner landed, than they swept the dismayed country with a body of light calvary." [6]
A last and desperate attempt to dispossess Genseric of the sovereignty of the seas, was made in the year 468 by Leo I, the emperor of the East. Gibbon bears witness to this as follows:
"The whole expense of the African campaign, by whatsoever means it was defrayed, amounted to the sum of one hundred and thirty thousand pounds of gold, about five million and two hundred thousand pounds sterling. . . . The fleet that sailed from Constantinople to Carthage consisted of eleven hundred and thirteen ships, and the number of soldiers and mariners exceeded one hundred thousand men. . . . The army of Heraclius and the fleet of Marcellinus either joined or seconded the imperial lieutenant. . . . The wind became favorable to the design of Genseric. He manned his largest ships of war with the bravest of the Moors and Vandals, and they towed after them many large barks filled with combustible materials. In the obscurity of the night, these destructive vessels were impelled against the unguarded and unsuspecting fleet of the Romans, who were awakened by the sense of their instant danger. Their close and crowded order assisted the progress of the fire, which was communicated with rapid and irresistible violence; and the noise of the wind, the crackling of the flames, the dissonant cries of the soldiers and mariners, who could neither command nor obey, increased the horror of the nocturnal tumult. Whilst they labored to extricate themselves from the fire ships, and to save at least a part of the navy, the galleys of Genseric assaulted them with temperate and disciplined valor; and many of the Romans who escaped the fury of the flames, were destroyed or taken by the victorious Vandals. . . . After the failure of this great expedition, Genseric again became the tyrant of the sea; the coasts of Italy, Greece, and Asia were again exposed to his revenge and avarice; Tripoli and Sardinia returned to his obedience; he added Sicily to the number of his provinces; and before he died, in the fullness of years and of glory, he beheld the final extinction of the empire of the West." [7]
Concerning the important part which this bold corsair acted in the downfall of Rome, Gibbon uses this significant language: "Genseric, a name which, in the destruction of the Roman Empire, has deserved an equal rank with the names of Alaric and Attila." [8]
Edward Gibbon, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
[6] Ibid., 481-486.
[7] Ibid., 495-498.
[8] Ibid., chap. 33, p. 370.
*******
Revelation
...
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.
...
Taken from the book Daniel and Revelation by Uriah Smith-
*
The Third Trumpet.--In the interpretation and application of this passage, we are brought to the third important event which resulted in the subversion of the Roman Empire. In revealing the historical fulfillment of this third trumpet, we shall be indebted to the notes of Albert Barnes for a few extracts. in explaining this scripture, it is necessary, as this commentator says, "that there would be some chieftain or warrior who might be compared with a blazing meteor; whose course would be singularly brilliant; who would appear suddenly like a blazing star, and then disappear like a star whose light was quenched in the waters. That the desolating course of that meteor would be mainly on those portions of the world that abounded with springs of water and running streams. That an effect would be produced as if those streams and fountains were made bitter; that is, that many persons would perish, and that wide desolations would be caused in the vicinity of those rivers and streams, as if a bitter and baleful star should fall into the waters, and death should spread over the lands adjacent to them, and watered by them." [9]
It is here premised that this trumpet has allusion to the desolating wars and furious invasions of Attila, king of the Huns, against the Roman power. Speaking of this warrior, particularly of his personal appearance, Barnes says:
"In the manner of his appearance, he strongly resembled a brilliant meteor in the sky. He came from the East gathering his Huns, and poured them down, as we shall see, with the rapidity of a flashing meteor, suddenly on the empire. He regarded himself also as devoted to Mars, the god of war, and was accustomed to array himself in a peculiarly brilliant manner, so that his appearance, in the language of his flatterers, was such as to dazzle the eyes of beholders." [10]
In speaking of the locality of the events predicted by this trumpet, Barnes has this note:
"It is said particularly that the effect would be on 'the rivers' and on 'the fountains of waters.' If this has a literal application, or if, as was supposed in the case of the second trumpet, the language used was such as had reference to the portion of the empire that would be particularly affected by the hostile invasion, then we may suppose that this refers to those portions of the empire that abounded in rivers and streams, and more particularly those in which the rivers and streams had their origin--for the effect was permanently in the 'fountains of waters.' As a matter of fact, the principal operations of Attila were in the regions of the Alps, and on the portions of the empire whence the rivers flow down into Italy. The invasion of Attila is described by Gibbon in this general language: 'The whole breadth of Europe, as it extends above five hundred miles from the Euxine to the Adriatic, was at once invaded, and occupied, and desolated by the myriads of barbarians whom Attila led into the field.' " [11]
The Name of the Star Is Called Wormwood.--The word "wormwood" denotes bitter consequences. "These words--which are more intimately connected with the preceding verse, as even the punctuation in our version denotes--recall us for a moment to the character of Attila, to the misery of which he was the author or the instrument, and to the terror that was inspired by his name.
" 'Total extirpation and erasure,' are terms which best denote the calamities he inflicted. . . .
"It was the boast of Attila that the grass never grew on the spot which his horse had trod. 'The scourge of God' was a name that he appropriated to himself, and inserted among his royal titles. He was 'the scourge of his enemies, and the terror of the world.' The Western emperor with the senate and people of Rome, humbly and fearfully deprecated the wrath of Attila. And the concluding paragraph of the chapters which record his history, is entitled, 'Symptoms of the Decay and Ruin of the Roman Government.' The name of the star is called wormwood." [12]
[9] Albert Barnes, Notes on Revelation, p. 239, comment on Revelation 8: 11.
[10] Ibid.
[11] Ibid., p. 240.
[12] Alexander Keith, Signs of the Times, Vol. I, p. 267-269.
*******
Revelation
...
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!
...
Taken from the book Daniel and Revelation by Uriah Smith--
The Fourth Trumpet.--We understand that this trumpet symbolizes the career of Odoacer, the first barbarian ruler of Italy, who was so intimately connected with the downfall of Western Rome. The symbols sun, moon, and stars--for they are undoubtedly here used as symbols--evidently denote the great luminaries of the Roman government, its emperors, senators, and consuls. The last emperor of Western Rome was Romulus, who in derision was called Augustulus, or the "diminutive Augustus." Western Rome fell in A.D. 476. Still, however, though the Roman sun was extinguished, its subordinate luminaries shone faintly while the senate and consuls continued. But after many civil reverses and changes of political fortune, at length the whole form of the ancient government was subverted, and Rome itself was reduced from being the empress of the world to a poor dukedom tributary to the Exarch of Ravenna.
The extinction of the Western Empire is recorded by Gibbon as follows:
"The unfortunate Augustulus was made the instrument of his own disgrace: he signified his resignation to the senate; and that assembly, in their last act of obedience to a Roman prince, still affected the spirit of freedom, and the forms of the constitution. An epistle was addressed, by their unanimous decree, to the emperor Zeno, the son-in-law and successor of Leo, who had lately been restored, after a short rebellion, to the Byzantine throne. They solemnly 'disclaim the necessity, or even the wish of continuing any longer the imperial succession in Italy; since in their opinion the majesty of a sole monarch is sufficient to pervade and to protect, at the same time, both the East and the West. In their own name, and in the name of the people, they consent that the seat of universal empire shall be transferred from Rome to Constantinople; and they basely renounce the right of choosing their master, the only vestige that yet remained of the authority which had given laws to the world.' " [13]
Keith comments on the downfall of Rome:
"The power and glory of Rome as bearing rule over any nation, became extinct. The name alone remained to the queen of nations. Every token of royalty disappeared from the imperial city. She who had ruled over the nations sat in the dust, like a second Babylon, and there was no throne where the Caesars had reigned. The last act of obedience to a Roman prince which that once august assembly performed, was the acceptance of the resignation of the last emperor of the West, and the abolition of the imperial succession in Italy. The sun of Rome was smitten. . . .
"A new conqueror of Italy, Theodoric, the Ostrogoth, speedily arose, who unscrupulously assumed the purple, and reigned by the right of conquest. 'The royalty of Theodoric was proclaimed by the Goths (March 5, A.D. 493), with the tardy, reluctant, ambiguous consent of the emperor of the East.' The imperial Roman power, of which either Rome or Constantinople had been jointly or singly the seat, whether in the West or the East, was no longer recognized in Italy, and the 'thirdpart of the sun' was smitten till it emitted no longer the faintest rays. The power of the Caesars was unknown in Italy; and a Gothic king reigned over Rome.
"But though the third part of the sun was smitten, and the Roman imperial power was at an end in the city of the Caesars, yet the moon and the stars still shone, or glimmered, for a little longer in the Western hemisphere [empire], even in the midst of Gothic darkness. The consulship and the senate ["the moon and the stars"] were not abolished by Theodoric. 'A Gothic historian applauds the consulship of Theodoric as the height of all temporal power and greatness;'--as the moon reigns by night, after the setting of the sun. And instead of abolishing that office, Theodoric himself 'congratulates those annual favorites of fortune, who, without the cares, enjoyed the splendor of the throne.'
"But, in their prophetic order, the consulship and the senate of Rome met their fate, though they fell not by the hands of Vandals or of Goths. The next revolution in Italy was its subjection to Belisarius, the general of Justinian, emperor of the East. He did not spare what barbarians had hallowed. 'The Roman Consulship Extinguished by Justinian, A.D. 541,' is the title of the last paragraph of the fortieth chapter of Gibbon's History of the Decline and Fall of Rome. 'The succession of the consuls finally ceased in the thirteenth year of Justinian, whose despotic temper might be gratified by the silent extinction of a title which admonished the Romans of their ancient freedom.' 'The third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars.' In the political firmament of the ancient world, while under the reign of imperial Rome, the emperorship, the consulate, and the senate shone like the sun, the moon, and the stars. The history of their decline and fall is brought down till the two former were 'extinguished,' in reference to Rome and Italy, which so long had ranked as the first of cities and countries; and finally, as the fourth trumpet closes, we see the 'extinction of that illustrious assembly,' the Roman senate. The city that had ruled the world, as if in mockery of human greatness, was conquered by the eunuch Narses, the successor of Belisarius. He defeated the Goths (A.D. 522 [*]), achieved 'the conquest of Rome,' and the fate of the senate was sealed." [14]
E. B. Elliott speaks of the fulfillment of this part of the prophecy in the extinction of the Western Empire, as follows:
"Thus was the final catastrophe preparing, by which the Western emperors and empire were to become extinct. The glory of Rome had long departed; its provinces one after another been rent from it; the territory still attached to it become like a desert; and its maritime possessions and its fleets and commerce been annihilated. Little remained to it but the vain titles and insignia of sovereignty. And now the time was come when these too should be withdrawn. Some twenty years or more from the death of Attila, and much less from that of Genseric (who, ere his death, had indeed visited and ravaged the eternal city in one of his maritime marauding expeditions, and thus yet more prepared the coming consummation), about this time, I say, Odoacer, chief of the Heruli--a barbarian remnant of the host of Attila, left on the Alpine frontiers of Italy--interposed with his command that the name and the office of Roman Emperor of the West, should be abolished. The authorities bowed in submission to him. The last phantom of an emperor--one whose name, Romulus Augustus, was singularly calculated to bring in contrast before the reflective mind the past glories of Rome and its present degradation--abdicated; and the senate sent away the imperial insignia to Constantinople, professing to the emperor of the East that one emperor was sufficient for the whole of the empire. Thus of the Roman imperial sun, that third which appertained to the Western Empire was eclipsed, and shown no more. I say that third of its orb which appertained to the Western empire; for the Apocalyptic fraction is literally accurate. In the last arrangement between the two courts, the whole of the Illyrian third had been made over to the Eastern division. Thus in the West 'the extinction of the empire' had taken place; the night had fallen.
"Notwithstanding this, however, it must be borne in mind that the authority of the Roman name had not yet entirely ceased. The senate of Rome continued to assemble as usual. The consuls were appointed yearly, one by the Eastern emperor, one by Italy and Rome. Odoacer himself governed Italy under a title (that of patrician) conferred on him by the Eastern emperor. And as regarded the more distant Western provinces, or at least considerable districts in them, the tie which had united them to the Roman Empire was not altogether severed. There was still a certain, though often faint, recognition of the supreme imperial authority. The moon and the stars might seem still to shine on the West with a dim reflected light. In the course of the events, however, which rapidly followed one on the other in the next half century, these, too, were extinguished. Theodoric the Ostrogoth, on destroying the Heruli and their kingdom at Rome and Ravenna, ruled in Italy from A.D. 493 to 526 as an independent sovereign; and on Belisarius's and Narses's conquest of Italy from the Ostrogoths (a conquest preceded by wars and desolations in which Italy, and above all its seven-hilled city, were for a time almost made desert), the Roman senate was dissolved, the consulship abrogated. Moreover, as regards the barbaric princes of the Western provinces, their independence of the Roman imperial power became now more distinctly averred and understood. After above a century and [a] half of calamities unexampled almost, as Dr. Robertson most truly represents is, in the history of nations, the statement of Jerome--a statement couched under the very Apocalyptic figure of the text, but prematurely pronounced on the first taking of Rome by Alaric,--might be considered as at length accomplished: 'Clarissimum terrarum lumen extinctum est.' 'The world's glorious sun has been extinguished;' or as the modern power has expressed it, still under the same Apocalyptic imagery--
'She saw her glories star by star expire.' till not even one star remained, to glimmer on the vacant and dark night." [15]
The fearful ravages of these barbarian hordes who under their bold but cruel and desperate leaders devastated Rome, are vividly portrayed in the following spirited lines:
"And then a deluge of wrath it came,
And the nations shook with dread;
And it swept the earth, till its fields were flame,
And piled with the mingled dead.
Kings were rolled in the wasteful flood,
With the low and crouching slave,
And together lay, in a shroud of blood,
The coward and the brave."
Fearful as were the calamities brought upon the empire by the first incursions of these barbarians, they were light as compared with the calamities which were to follow. They were but as the preliminary drops of a shower before the torrent which was soon to fall upon the Roman world. The three remaining trumpets are overshadowed with a cloud of woe, as set forth in the following verses.
Verse 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.
This angel is not one of the series of the seven trumpet angels, but simply another heavenly messenger, who announces that the three remaining trumpets are woe trumpets, because of the more terrible events to take place under their sounding. Thus the next, or fifth trumpet, is the first woe; the sixth trumpet, the second woe; and the seventh, the last one in this series of seven trumpets, is the third woe.
[13] Edward Gibbon, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Vol. III, chap. 36, p. 512.
[14] Alexander Keith, Signs of the Times, Vol. I, p. 280-283.
[15] Edward B. Elliott, Horae Apocalypticae, Vol. I, pp. 354-356.
[*] Edward Gibbon, in History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Volume IV, chapter 43, pages 273, 274, places the defeat and death of Teias, the last king of the Goths, in A.D. 533. This is the date usually accepted by historians, and is the one used by the author of this book. (See pages 127, 128.)--Editors.
*******
History.
Does it all fit? Only time will tell. Greater minds than mine have studied all this and put it together. I'm willing to entertain the idea that it fits and will continue to do so as I keep my mind open to be guided by the Lord to all truth.
May God continue to bless us as we seek to understand His word, putting things together as history unfolds.
Sunday, September 13, 2009
The First Trumpet Sounds
Revelation
So far in our study we have seen that the Seven Churches and the Seven Seals all follow a sort of parallel journey. We need to study the seven trumpets in the same light to keep consistent.
Before the Seven Angels with their trumpets sounded we were given a very solemn scene in heaven where there was silence and then the prayers of the saints in smoke from incense was sent up before God. The censer fire was then tossed to the earth drawing our attention once more back to the earthly and out of the heavenly.
We know factually that with these goings on representing history that we are being pointed to an eventual time when we will all be sealed and Christ will return for us. That same conclusion must be drawn in the seven trumpets as well.
Because history has played a key part in the others and the angels are sounding their trumpets from heaven not leaving heaven just as the angels to the churches revealed, and the seals were loosed in heaven, lets see if history doesn't coincide in some manner with the seven angels trumpets sounding.
The trumpets announce things- some good, some bad. They call to battle, they call to feasts, and even as they call to those things they are announcing them are they not?
Can it be that the announcing these trumpets represent are showing battle scenes?
Let's go to history and see if there isn't a time such as this would describe- political struggles, wars.
Please note- greater minds than mine have studied diligently to produce the facts related here. In fact many great minds have studied this and the concensus seems to be that it 'fits'. So if I point you to a number of things that I haven't personally dug up in the sense that I've become a historian overnight, please understand that I still believe what is being said based on the facts that history reveals so much and God will guide us as He needs to.
In the Seven Seals we were shown a parallel history with the Seven Chruches that for the most part aligned with each other to review the Christian era throughout time, God's people throughtout time. The Seven Trumpets seem to take on a different point of view and tell the history of the political structure through time.
...
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.
...
Taken from the book Daniel and Revelation by Uriah Smith-
'The First Trumpet.--The blast of the first trumpet has it location about the close of the fourth century and onward, and refers to these desolating invasions of the Roman Empire under the Goths.'
'Alexander Keith has justly remarked on the subject of this prophecy:
"None could elucidate the texts more clearly, or expound them more fully, than the task has been accomplished by Gibbon. The chapters of the skeptical philosopher that treat directly of the matter, need but a text to be prefixed and a few unholy words to be blotted out, to form a series of expository lectures on the eighth and ninth chapters of the Revelation of Jesus Christ." [1] "Little or nothing is left for the professed interpreter to do but to point to the pages of Gibbon." [2]
The first sore and heavy judgment which fell on Western Rome in its downward course, was the war with the Goths under Alaric, who opened the way for later inroads. The death of Theodosius the Roman emperor, occurred in January, A.D. 395, and before the end of the winter the Goths under Alaric were in arms against the empire.
The first invasion under Alaric ravaged the Eastern Empire. He captured the famous cities and enslaved many of the inhabitants. Thrace, Macedonia, Attica, and the Peloponnesus, were conquered, but he did not reach the city of Rome. Later, the Gothic chieftain crossed the Alps and Apennines and appeared before the walls of the Eternal City, which fell a prey to the fury of the barbarians in A.D. 410.
"Hail and fire mingled with blood!" were cast upon the earth. The terrible effects of this Gothic invasion are represented as "hail," from the northern origin of the invaders; "fire," from the destruction by flame of both city and country; and "blood," from the terrible slaughter of the citizens of the empire by the bold and intrepid warriors.
After quoting at some length from Edward Gibbon's History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Chapters XXX-XXXIII, concerning the conquests of the Goths, Alexander Keith has presented an admirable summary of the historian's words emphasizing the fulfillment of prophecy:
"Large extracts clearly show how amply and well Gibbon has expounded his text in the history of the first trumpet, the first storm that pervaded the Roman earth, and the first fall of Rome. To use his words in more direct comment, we read thus the sum of the matter: The Gothic nation was in arms at the first sound of the trumpet, and in the uncommon severity of the winter, they rolled their ponderous wagons over the broad and icy back of the river. The fertile fields of Phocis and Boeotia were crowned [sic] with a deluge of barbarians: the males were massacred; the females and cattle of the flaming villages were driven away. The deep and bloody traces of the march of the Goths could easily be discovered after several years. The whole territory of Attica was blasted by the baneful presence of Alaric. The most fortunate of the inhabitants of Corinth, Argos, and Sparta were saved by death from beholding the conflagration of their cities. In a season of such extreme heat that the beds of the rivers were dry, Alaric invaded the dominion of the West. A secluded 'old man of Verona' [the poet Claudian], pathetically lamented the fate of his contemporary trees, which must blaze in the conflagration of the whole country [ note the words of the prophecy,--'The third part of the trees was burned up']; and the emperor of the Romans fled before the king of the Goths.
"A furious tempest was excited among the nations of Germany; from the northern extremity of which the barbarians marched almost to the gates of Rome. They achieved the destruction of the West. The dark cloud which was collected along the coasts of the Baltic, burst in thunder upon the banks of the upper Danube. The pastures of Gaul, in which flocks and herds grazed, and the banks of the Rhine, which were covered with elegant houses and well-cultivated farms, formed a scene of peace and plenty, which was suddenly changed into a desert, distinguished from the solitude of nature only be smoking ruins. Many cities were cruelly oppressed, or destroyed. Many thousands were inhumanly massacred. The consuming flames of war spread over the greatest part of the seventeen provinces of Gaul.
"Alaric again stretched his ravages over Italy. During four years the Goths ravaged and reigned over it without control. And in the pillage and fire of Rome, the streets of the city were filled with dead bodies; the flames consumed many public and private buildings; and the ruins of a palace remained, after a century and a half, a stately monument of the Gothic conflagration." [3]
After making this summary, Keith completes the picture by saying:
"The concluding sentence of the thirty-third chapter of Gibbon's History is of itself a clear ad comprehensive commentary; for in winding up his own description of this brief but most eventful period, he concentrates, as in a parallel reading, the sum of the history and the substance of the prediction. But the words which precede it are not without their meaning: 'The public devotion of the age was impatient to exalt the saints and martyrs of the Catholic Church on the altars of Diana and Hercules. The union of the Roman empire was dissolved; its genius was humbled in the dust; and armies of unknown barbarians, issued from the frozen regions of the North, had established their victorious reign over the fairest provinces of Europe and Africa.'
"The last word--Africa--is the signal for the sounding of the second trumpet. The scene changes from the shores of the Baltic to the southern coast of the Mediterranean, or from the frozen regions of the North to the borders of burning Africa. And instead of a storm of hail being cast upon the earth, a burning mountain was cast into the sea." [4]
[1] Alexander Keith, Signs of the Times, Vol. I, p. 241.
[2] Ibid.
[3] Ibid., pp. 251-253.
[4] Ibid., p. 253.
*
History by a renown scholar uncontested by others for it's factual content.
Also interesting is this website- http://www.pickle-publishing.com/papers/prophecy/seven-trumpet-chart.htm
*******
I'm no Bible scholar and certainly no historian, but I'm able to see when things seem to fit.
I could conclude that I'll never understand prophecy and stop looking, stop studying, stop reading, but I'm not going to do that. I'm going to continue to pray and hope that the Lord will guide me to all the truth I need to know so that I may be His when He returns. If as some suppose these prophecies have nothing to do with history time will tell that too but for now as the pieces of the puzzle seem to be falling into place we have to trust that we are being guided in the right direction.
May the Lord bless and keep us in Him now and forever, may the Holy Spirit sent to guide us and keep us in truth do so now and forever, by the mercy and the grace of Jesus Chirst, our Lord and Savior.
Amen.
So far in our study we have seen that the Seven Churches and the Seven Seals all follow a sort of parallel journey. We need to study the seven trumpets in the same light to keep consistent.
Before the Seven Angels with their trumpets sounded we were given a very solemn scene in heaven where there was silence and then the prayers of the saints in smoke from incense was sent up before God. The censer fire was then tossed to the earth drawing our attention once more back to the earthly and out of the heavenly.
We know factually that with these goings on representing history that we are being pointed to an eventual time when we will all be sealed and Christ will return for us. That same conclusion must be drawn in the seven trumpets as well.
Because history has played a key part in the others and the angels are sounding their trumpets from heaven not leaving heaven just as the angels to the churches revealed, and the seals were loosed in heaven, lets see if history doesn't coincide in some manner with the seven angels trumpets sounding.
The trumpets announce things- some good, some bad. They call to battle, they call to feasts, and even as they call to those things they are announcing them are they not?
Can it be that the announcing these trumpets represent are showing battle scenes?
Let's go to history and see if there isn't a time such as this would describe- political struggles, wars.
Please note- greater minds than mine have studied diligently to produce the facts related here. In fact many great minds have studied this and the concensus seems to be that it 'fits'. So if I point you to a number of things that I haven't personally dug up in the sense that I've become a historian overnight, please understand that I still believe what is being said based on the facts that history reveals so much and God will guide us as He needs to.
In the Seven Seals we were shown a parallel history with the Seven Chruches that for the most part aligned with each other to review the Christian era throughout time, God's people throughtout time. The Seven Trumpets seem to take on a different point of view and tell the history of the political structure through time.
...
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.
...
Taken from the book Daniel and Revelation by Uriah Smith-
'The First Trumpet.--The blast of the first trumpet has it location about the close of the fourth century and onward, and refers to these desolating invasions of the Roman Empire under the Goths.'
'Alexander Keith has justly remarked on the subject of this prophecy:
"None could elucidate the texts more clearly, or expound them more fully, than the task has been accomplished by Gibbon. The chapters of the skeptical philosopher that treat directly of the matter, need but a text to be prefixed and a few unholy words to be blotted out, to form a series of expository lectures on the eighth and ninth chapters of the Revelation of Jesus Christ." [1] "Little or nothing is left for the professed interpreter to do but to point to the pages of Gibbon." [2]
The first sore and heavy judgment which fell on Western Rome in its downward course, was the war with the Goths under Alaric, who opened the way for later inroads. The death of Theodosius the Roman emperor, occurred in January, A.D. 395, and before the end of the winter the Goths under Alaric were in arms against the empire.
The first invasion under Alaric ravaged the Eastern Empire. He captured the famous cities and enslaved many of the inhabitants. Thrace, Macedonia, Attica, and the Peloponnesus, were conquered, but he did not reach the city of Rome. Later, the Gothic chieftain crossed the Alps and Apennines and appeared before the walls of the Eternal City, which fell a prey to the fury of the barbarians in A.D. 410.
"Hail and fire mingled with blood!" were cast upon the earth. The terrible effects of this Gothic invasion are represented as "hail," from the northern origin of the invaders; "fire," from the destruction by flame of both city and country; and "blood," from the terrible slaughter of the citizens of the empire by the bold and intrepid warriors.
After quoting at some length from Edward Gibbon's History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Chapters XXX-XXXIII, concerning the conquests of the Goths, Alexander Keith has presented an admirable summary of the historian's words emphasizing the fulfillment of prophecy:
"Large extracts clearly show how amply and well Gibbon has expounded his text in the history of the first trumpet, the first storm that pervaded the Roman earth, and the first fall of Rome. To use his words in more direct comment, we read thus the sum of the matter: The Gothic nation was in arms at the first sound of the trumpet, and in the uncommon severity of the winter, they rolled their ponderous wagons over the broad and icy back of the river. The fertile fields of Phocis and Boeotia were crowned [sic] with a deluge of barbarians: the males were massacred; the females and cattle of the flaming villages were driven away. The deep and bloody traces of the march of the Goths could easily be discovered after several years. The whole territory of Attica was blasted by the baneful presence of Alaric. The most fortunate of the inhabitants of Corinth, Argos, and Sparta were saved by death from beholding the conflagration of their cities. In a season of such extreme heat that the beds of the rivers were dry, Alaric invaded the dominion of the West. A secluded 'old man of Verona' [the poet Claudian], pathetically lamented the fate of his contemporary trees, which must blaze in the conflagration of the whole country [ note the words of the prophecy,--'The third part of the trees was burned up']; and the emperor of the Romans fled before the king of the Goths.
"A furious tempest was excited among the nations of Germany; from the northern extremity of which the barbarians marched almost to the gates of Rome. They achieved the destruction of the West. The dark cloud which was collected along the coasts of the Baltic, burst in thunder upon the banks of the upper Danube. The pastures of Gaul, in which flocks and herds grazed, and the banks of the Rhine, which were covered with elegant houses and well-cultivated farms, formed a scene of peace and plenty, which was suddenly changed into a desert, distinguished from the solitude of nature only be smoking ruins. Many cities were cruelly oppressed, or destroyed. Many thousands were inhumanly massacred. The consuming flames of war spread over the greatest part of the seventeen provinces of Gaul.
"Alaric again stretched his ravages over Italy. During four years the Goths ravaged and reigned over it without control. And in the pillage and fire of Rome, the streets of the city were filled with dead bodies; the flames consumed many public and private buildings; and the ruins of a palace remained, after a century and a half, a stately monument of the Gothic conflagration." [3]
After making this summary, Keith completes the picture by saying:
"The concluding sentence of the thirty-third chapter of Gibbon's History is of itself a clear ad comprehensive commentary; for in winding up his own description of this brief but most eventful period, he concentrates, as in a parallel reading, the sum of the history and the substance of the prediction. But the words which precede it are not without their meaning: 'The public devotion of the age was impatient to exalt the saints and martyrs of the Catholic Church on the altars of Diana and Hercules. The union of the Roman empire was dissolved; its genius was humbled in the dust; and armies of unknown barbarians, issued from the frozen regions of the North, had established their victorious reign over the fairest provinces of Europe and Africa.'
"The last word--Africa--is the signal for the sounding of the second trumpet. The scene changes from the shores of the Baltic to the southern coast of the Mediterranean, or from the frozen regions of the North to the borders of burning Africa. And instead of a storm of hail being cast upon the earth, a burning mountain was cast into the sea." [4]
[1] Alexander Keith, Signs of the Times, Vol. I, p. 241.
[2] Ibid.
[3] Ibid., pp. 251-253.
[4] Ibid., p. 253.
*
History by a renown scholar uncontested by others for it's factual content.
Also interesting is this website- http://www.pickle-publishing.com/papers/prophecy/seven-trumpet-chart.htm
*******
I'm no Bible scholar and certainly no historian, but I'm able to see when things seem to fit.
I could conclude that I'll never understand prophecy and stop looking, stop studying, stop reading, but I'm not going to do that. I'm going to continue to pray and hope that the Lord will guide me to all the truth I need to know so that I may be His when He returns. If as some suppose these prophecies have nothing to do with history time will tell that too but for now as the pieces of the puzzle seem to be falling into place we have to trust that we are being guided in the right direction.
May the Lord bless and keep us in Him now and forever, may the Holy Spirit sent to guide us and keep us in truth do so now and forever, by the mercy and the grace of Jesus Chirst, our Lord and Savior.
Amen.
Saturday, September 12, 2009
There was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour.
Revelation
...
And when he had opened the seventh seal,
there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour.
...
Silence.
Up until this point there had been a constant revealing of things, one after the other. John was shown so much and kept busy. Then pointedly Jesus opens the seventh seal- the final seal on the book that held such importance that it needed to be sealed by these amazing seals that could only be opened by Christ Himself.
The story of mankind since Christ was born was told in the seals. The story of mankind since Christ was born and until Christ returns. These seals are Christ's to open because this is His time, time since He came to earth and gave salvation unto us all. Time foretelling what His people would do with the time, what would transpire over time, what special temptations would come and what trying obstacles would exist. Each seal was broken just as each Church was admonished, each time period foretold and why? So we could look back and see and know. Of course those living during the first seal might not have been able to see themselves so clearly, as well as the second, third, fourth, fifth and so on. Do we who live in the sixth seal understand the time we are in? We should, having the clarity of time in the past and yet there are many who are blind and unseeing because they refuse the eyesalve that Christ has to give, they refuse the blessing of the Holy Spirit in all truth.
The book of Daniel was pointedly shut up-
Daniel {12:9} And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end.
History had to take place before this book of prophecy could be understood.
If I took a book and read it then said this to you, what would you think- "I just ate that book right up!"
What would you assume from such a sentence? That I literally ate a book; paper, leather, ink, and glue? Even if it had no glue or leather and it was more of a scroll it's still paper I'm eating, right? People don't literally eat a book when they say they ate it all up. What they've done is 'read' the book. They've read it and did so in such away they devoured what was written inside for enjoyment or for educational purposes it doesn't matter really because they just read that book so fast it was noteworthy.
Why am I mentioning this at all? Because the little book of prophecy- Daniel's book which was sealed until the time of the end would be unsealed at the time of the end. And we find this in Revelation- a big book of prophecy compared to a book half its size such as the book of Daniel.
Revelation {10:9} And I went unto the angel, and said unto him, Give me the little book. And he said unto me, Take it, and eat it up; and it shall make thy belly bitter, but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey. {10:10} And I took the little book out of the angel’s hand, and ate it up; and it was in my mouth sweet as honey: and as soon as I had eaten it, my belly was bitter. {10:11} And he said unto me, Thou must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings.
When the book of Daniel was finally opened to be understood it was as if a curtain had opened upon the Lord's word. Back in the early 1800's this understanding started to emerge. Such understanding of the book unfolded that many, many believed whole-heartedly in what was being told to them about this heretofore undiscovered wealth of prophetic history.
This book, Daniel, another book of prophecy that clearly is understood in light of the history that took place before it could be fully comprehended.
In Daniel you find one revelation, that of the great statue with a Head of Gold, arms and breast of silver, belly and thighs of brass, legs of iron, feet iron mixed with clay. Daniel begins right in the prophecy to foretell what it means--
Daniel {2:31} Thou, O king, sawest, and behold a great image. This great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee; and the form thereof was terrible. {2:32} This image’s head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass, {2:33} His legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay. {2:34} Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces. {2:35} Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshingfloors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth.
{2:36} This is the dream; and we will tell the interpretation thereof before the king. {2:37} Thou, O king, art a king of kings: for the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory. {2:38} And wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the heaven hath he given into thine hand, and hath made thee ruler over them all. Thou art this head of gold. {2:39} And after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee, and another third kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all the earth. {2:40} And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron: forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things: and as iron that breaketh all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise. {2:41} And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potters’ clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay. {2:42} Andas the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken. {2:43} And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay. {2:44} And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever. {2:45} Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter: and the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure.
-- Do you see? The kingdoms through time until the end of time. We can see clearly what these kingdoms were and are- having the history of time on our side to do so but in the time of the King of Babylon they could scarcely understand that feasibility that there would ever be even a single kingdom other than their own that would reign. Tell me what kingdom wants to believe they might no longer exist in time? Do we even want to believe that one day we would have no distinction of our own? Aren't people still fighting wars even today to possess their own countries to rule? Yet history reveals there was another kingdom just like Daniel's interpretation of the dream revealed and then another and another.
Without the comprehenison of history we could not understand the things we understand today by the grace of God and mercy of Jesus Christ by the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
So here we have John witnessing Jesus opening these seals that are so amazingly important no other but He could do so. Seals that depicted time from the time Jesus returned to heaven as a human conquering death by God.
Just as an owner of a diary owns the key to the lock of that diary, Jesus alone could open the seals and reveal the truth in His word for us in these last days.
Why reveal the truth to us? Because before He returns there will be a group of people alive when He returns and they will be living in Him having never tasted death at all. These people would be translate by Christ and changed to immortality in the air as they meet Him when He returns and these people will know Christ and be known of Christ. These people will understand and know all that has transpired beforehand and they'll be ready for Christ, prepared by the grace of God, enlightened through the Holy Spirit in comprehension of all that is needed to be understood before Christ returns.
As this seventh and final seal on this special book of Christ's is broken there is silence in heaven the space of a half an hour, certainly a notable length of time whether a literal half an hour or prophetic.
Silence.
Perhaps a calm before the storm.
The period of transition for God's people being made ready in Him to their being finally sealed and then the way for Christ's return is complete and the wrath to follow unfolds.
Silence.
No more pleading on the behalf of sinners. All testimony is at an end.
Silence.
No talking. No music. No singing. No sound at all.
Silence for mankind. No admonitions to give because the time is over to listen to heed the warnings.
Some call silence omnious, a deathly quiet. What do they mean by a deathly quiet? They mean that the dead know nothing, to them the quiet is forever. This silence in heaven is only the space of a half an hour but what a noteworthy half an hour it is.
If at my birthday celebration I open all of my presents but one and each time I tell you what present is in that box I've opened you expect that when I get to the last present to do the same, right? Open it and look then tell you what I've received. If instead of doing that I open the last present then just simply stare at it for a half an hour saying nothing to you at all and you unable to say anything to me, unable to do anything but wait for time to pass and for me to reveal what is in that last present how long do you imagine that wait will feel like to you? Interminable, yes? Yet the wait is for John isn't it? He's the one being shown these revelations of Jesus Christ. And yet rather than just pick up after the wait without mentioning it, it was a wait that needed to be remarked upon for a reason.
We were told about this silence a space of a half an hour for a reason. In history during the lulls not many realize they are in a lull. When the chaos and strife ends it's with the hope there will be no more chaos- no more strife, not with the hope that it will reoccur at some point in time. When the lull is over between strifes only then can you mark it as a lull. This silence in heaven after the seventh seal is broken is a period of time and the fact it is in heaven- seen to be in heaven not as an earthy symbol we can only suspect that the silence is that transitional period before God's wrath is loosed. Perhaps there is a slight reluctance to have the beginning of the wrath unfold. Think about it. While it means glory and pure inexplicable joy for many it means the destruction of many, many more. And while Christ will be able to say He's done all He could do and be completely worthy in that, the sadness that the next curtain to rise is the last for a world of unrepetent sinners- sinners that He died for and would have covered with His blood and made white in His righteousness if they would only have let him- that sadness has to be tremendrous and beyond anything we could ever hope to truly comprehend. Even if we give analogies such as trying to convince people on a sinking ship, people you love with all your heart, to come into your boat which will take them to safety only to have them refuse, even such analogies fall short of the mark, far short. Christ would have us all and that same Christ wept at the grave of His friend Lazarus, even as he prepared to bring him back to life. The emotion of weeping is a heartfelt sorrow and if Christ wept then how great will be His sadness for the lost? Like the grief we know as humans it goes through stages and Christ's grief for the lost will be great but the victory to come will reign after the wrath of the Father is complete.
Silence.
...
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.
..
The seven angels which stood before God- Remember...
...
Revelation
Write the things which thou hast seen,
and the things which are,
and the things which shall be hereafter;
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.
...
These seven angels are standing before God- not in Christ's hand. Are they different angels? It's possible, yes? Then again the symbolic gesture could be that because they were in Christ's hand they were His- just as the seven churches are His people.
Regardless, seven angels stood before God and to them were given seven trumpets. These angels weren't in Christ's hand and they weren't standing before the Lamb that had been slain rather they were before God who was on sitting on His throne. God's angels.
Given trumpets. What is the symbolism of a trumpet in the Bible? It's used the most for making an announcement of a coming event of importance. The same word used here in Revelation is used in Matthew- 24:31 'And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.' And in Corinthians- 14:8 'For if the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle?' 15:52 'In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.'
An annoucing and what an announcment these angels will be making. The silence is over.
Just a note here, the angels when John saw them didn't have the trumpets already, they weren't seven angels holding trumpets- the seven angels were given the seven trumpets. By God?
...
And I saw the seven angels which stood before God
and to them were given seven trumpets.
..
...
And another angel came
and stood at the altar
...
The same altar where John saw the souls crying out under the fifth seal? The altar of incense- typifying the prayers of the saints.
...
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.
...
The angel stood before the altar with a golden censer- a censer was used to transport coals into the Holy Place of the temple where a special incense was placed upon the hot coals. The incense would make the offerings sweet to God. A golden censer was used on the Day of Atonement. This angel has a golden censer and he was given much incense, not just a tiny bit, or just incense of a normal amount, but MUCH incense- and he was to offer it with the prayers of ALL saints. All saints. People need to realize just how important prayer is, God hears our prayers we might not believe it to be so and find it hard to imagine someone listening when we seemingly never get a reply, but our prayers are heard. Here in this vision of John's he sees the seventh and last seal broken on the precious book only Christ could break the seals thereof and after a notable silence he watches an angel stand before the alter with a golden censer and sees him given much incense to offer it with the prayers of all saints on the golden altar before the throne of God. The prayers are made acceptable through Christ. The prayers- your prayers, my prayers are offered before God. Prayers offered - to be offered they must be made. Prayer is so important and must not be neglected. Our prayers can't be offered to God if they are not first prayed. Something to consider in these last days we live in.
...
And the smoke of the incense,
which came with the prayers of the saints,
ascended up before God out of the angel’s hand.
...
Visualize it, the smoke of the incense rising up before God out of the angel's hand- your prayers, my prayers, the prayers of the saints given to God.
...
And the angel took the censer,
and filled it with fire of the altar
...
Typically the censer is filled with coals from the altar of burnt offerings, but here it would see the fire burning on the altar of incense before the throne of God is where the fire is taken from. The prayers have ascended in the smoke, they are no longer there to be offered- they've already been offered and what's left is the fire. The fire which burned the incense which caused the smoke which held the prayers of the saints. The fire mingled with the incense making the prayers acceptable to God. The purifying fire. Christ's righteousness, Christ's sacrifice alone makes our prayers acceptable to God. After the prayers are offered only then is the censer- the carrying instrument- the transporting vessel used again and this time it is filled with fire- not the prayers of the saints but the purifying fire, the wrathful fire the can and will purge the earth.
...
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.
...
Cast to earth the fire ignites the cleansing that is to start. Think about it...
The fire purified the prayers of the saints and made them acceptable to God and now the fire of purification is cast to earth, it's cast there for a purpose. The breaking of the seventh seal on that very special book caused a silence, a prayer offering, all before the beginning of the end. The final seal is broken, all of God's children, all of God's people still alive on earth at this time are sealed and under the protection of Christ, and now the wrath will begin for those who have chosen to shun God, to shun the truths found in Christ and Christ alone.
After the fire is cast to earth there were voices, thunderings, lightnings, and an earthquake. Then and only then the seven angels with their seven trumpets lifted them to sound out.
Amazing! This vision, this prophecy. Nothing is hidden as so many suppose. There is no mystery, it's unveiled for us to see, to know, to understand. No wonder those who read are blessed. We are told this would happen and if we think for one moment that history which has proven the prophecies real will stop short of being fully fulfilled, we are in big trouble. Maybe this is a fairytale of nightmarish proportions to some, maybe it's laughable nonsense to others, but to those who truly believe in Jesus we could never toss aside something so important as this message of prophecy given to us to reveal to us what will be and what our part in it could be should we choose to believe.
Satan has done a number on people with the fantastical stories he's concocted making it so that any one who fancies themselves even a tidbit of an intellectual cannot believe in these words. He's done his job well but Christ did His job a million times better and the offer of salvation is real. The offer to live now for a better world to come, is real. The offer is there for all of us and we just have to grab hold of it and take Jesus into our hearts, minds, and spirit and ask for forgiveness, repenting of our sins and the gift of salvation is ours in Christ, through Christ now and forever.
May our hearts be open to Christ forever! May our prayers ascend to the Father! May we be sealed and accounted worthy only by the blood of the Lamb slain to save us. By His grace and His mercy, in His righteousness alone, by faith all through love.
Amen.
...
And when he had opened the seventh seal,
there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour.
...
Silence.
Up until this point there had been a constant revealing of things, one after the other. John was shown so much and kept busy. Then pointedly Jesus opens the seventh seal- the final seal on the book that held such importance that it needed to be sealed by these amazing seals that could only be opened by Christ Himself.
The story of mankind since Christ was born was told in the seals. The story of mankind since Christ was born and until Christ returns. These seals are Christ's to open because this is His time, time since He came to earth and gave salvation unto us all. Time foretelling what His people would do with the time, what would transpire over time, what special temptations would come and what trying obstacles would exist. Each seal was broken just as each Church was admonished, each time period foretold and why? So we could look back and see and know. Of course those living during the first seal might not have been able to see themselves so clearly, as well as the second, third, fourth, fifth and so on. Do we who live in the sixth seal understand the time we are in? We should, having the clarity of time in the past and yet there are many who are blind and unseeing because they refuse the eyesalve that Christ has to give, they refuse the blessing of the Holy Spirit in all truth.
The book of Daniel was pointedly shut up-
Daniel {12:9} And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end.
History had to take place before this book of prophecy could be understood.
If I took a book and read it then said this to you, what would you think- "I just ate that book right up!"
What would you assume from such a sentence? That I literally ate a book; paper, leather, ink, and glue? Even if it had no glue or leather and it was more of a scroll it's still paper I'm eating, right? People don't literally eat a book when they say they ate it all up. What they've done is 'read' the book. They've read it and did so in such away they devoured what was written inside for enjoyment or for educational purposes it doesn't matter really because they just read that book so fast it was noteworthy.
Why am I mentioning this at all? Because the little book of prophecy- Daniel's book which was sealed until the time of the end would be unsealed at the time of the end. And we find this in Revelation- a big book of prophecy compared to a book half its size such as the book of Daniel.
Revelation {10:9} And I went unto the angel, and said unto him, Give me the little book. And he said unto me, Take it, and eat it up; and it shall make thy belly bitter, but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey. {10:10} And I took the little book out of the angel’s hand, and ate it up; and it was in my mouth sweet as honey: and as soon as I had eaten it, my belly was bitter. {10:11} And he said unto me, Thou must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings.
When the book of Daniel was finally opened to be understood it was as if a curtain had opened upon the Lord's word. Back in the early 1800's this understanding started to emerge. Such understanding of the book unfolded that many, many believed whole-heartedly in what was being told to them about this heretofore undiscovered wealth of prophetic history.
This book, Daniel, another book of prophecy that clearly is understood in light of the history that took place before it could be fully comprehended.
In Daniel you find one revelation, that of the great statue with a Head of Gold, arms and breast of silver, belly and thighs of brass, legs of iron, feet iron mixed with clay. Daniel begins right in the prophecy to foretell what it means--
Daniel {2:31} Thou, O king, sawest, and behold a great image. This great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee; and the form thereof was terrible. {2:32} This image’s head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass, {2:33} His legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay. {2:34} Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces. {2:35} Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshingfloors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth.
{2:36} This is the dream; and we will tell the interpretation thereof before the king. {2:37} Thou, O king, art a king of kings: for the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory. {2:38} And wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the heaven hath he given into thine hand, and hath made thee ruler over them all. Thou art this head of gold. {2:39} And after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee, and another third kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all the earth. {2:40} And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron: forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things: and as iron that breaketh all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise. {2:41} And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potters’ clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay. {2:42} Andas the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken. {2:43} And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay. {2:44} And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever. {2:45} Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter: and the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure.
-- Do you see? The kingdoms through time until the end of time. We can see clearly what these kingdoms were and are- having the history of time on our side to do so but in the time of the King of Babylon they could scarcely understand that feasibility that there would ever be even a single kingdom other than their own that would reign. Tell me what kingdom wants to believe they might no longer exist in time? Do we even want to believe that one day we would have no distinction of our own? Aren't people still fighting wars even today to possess their own countries to rule? Yet history reveals there was another kingdom just like Daniel's interpretation of the dream revealed and then another and another.
Without the comprehenison of history we could not understand the things we understand today by the grace of God and mercy of Jesus Christ by the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
So here we have John witnessing Jesus opening these seals that are so amazingly important no other but He could do so. Seals that depicted time from the time Jesus returned to heaven as a human conquering death by God.
Just as an owner of a diary owns the key to the lock of that diary, Jesus alone could open the seals and reveal the truth in His word for us in these last days.
Why reveal the truth to us? Because before He returns there will be a group of people alive when He returns and they will be living in Him having never tasted death at all. These people would be translate by Christ and changed to immortality in the air as they meet Him when He returns and these people will know Christ and be known of Christ. These people will understand and know all that has transpired beforehand and they'll be ready for Christ, prepared by the grace of God, enlightened through the Holy Spirit in comprehension of all that is needed to be understood before Christ returns.
As this seventh and final seal on this special book of Christ's is broken there is silence in heaven the space of a half an hour, certainly a notable length of time whether a literal half an hour or prophetic.
Silence.
Perhaps a calm before the storm.
The period of transition for God's people being made ready in Him to their being finally sealed and then the way for Christ's return is complete and the wrath to follow unfolds.
Silence.
No more pleading on the behalf of sinners. All testimony is at an end.
Silence.
No talking. No music. No singing. No sound at all.
Silence for mankind. No admonitions to give because the time is over to listen to heed the warnings.
Some call silence omnious, a deathly quiet. What do they mean by a deathly quiet? They mean that the dead know nothing, to them the quiet is forever. This silence in heaven is only the space of a half an hour but what a noteworthy half an hour it is.
If at my birthday celebration I open all of my presents but one and each time I tell you what present is in that box I've opened you expect that when I get to the last present to do the same, right? Open it and look then tell you what I've received. If instead of doing that I open the last present then just simply stare at it for a half an hour saying nothing to you at all and you unable to say anything to me, unable to do anything but wait for time to pass and for me to reveal what is in that last present how long do you imagine that wait will feel like to you? Interminable, yes? Yet the wait is for John isn't it? He's the one being shown these revelations of Jesus Christ. And yet rather than just pick up after the wait without mentioning it, it was a wait that needed to be remarked upon for a reason.
We were told about this silence a space of a half an hour for a reason. In history during the lulls not many realize they are in a lull. When the chaos and strife ends it's with the hope there will be no more chaos- no more strife, not with the hope that it will reoccur at some point in time. When the lull is over between strifes only then can you mark it as a lull. This silence in heaven after the seventh seal is broken is a period of time and the fact it is in heaven- seen to be in heaven not as an earthy symbol we can only suspect that the silence is that transitional period before God's wrath is loosed. Perhaps there is a slight reluctance to have the beginning of the wrath unfold. Think about it. While it means glory and pure inexplicable joy for many it means the destruction of many, many more. And while Christ will be able to say He's done all He could do and be completely worthy in that, the sadness that the next curtain to rise is the last for a world of unrepetent sinners- sinners that He died for and would have covered with His blood and made white in His righteousness if they would only have let him- that sadness has to be tremendrous and beyond anything we could ever hope to truly comprehend. Even if we give analogies such as trying to convince people on a sinking ship, people you love with all your heart, to come into your boat which will take them to safety only to have them refuse, even such analogies fall short of the mark, far short. Christ would have us all and that same Christ wept at the grave of His friend Lazarus, even as he prepared to bring him back to life. The emotion of weeping is a heartfelt sorrow and if Christ wept then how great will be His sadness for the lost? Like the grief we know as humans it goes through stages and Christ's grief for the lost will be great but the victory to come will reign after the wrath of the Father is complete.
Silence.
...
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.
..
The seven angels which stood before God- Remember...
...
Revelation
Write the things which thou hast seen,
and the things which are,
and the things which shall be hereafter;
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.
...
These seven angels are standing before God- not in Christ's hand. Are they different angels? It's possible, yes? Then again the symbolic gesture could be that because they were in Christ's hand they were His- just as the seven churches are His people.
Regardless, seven angels stood before God and to them were given seven trumpets. These angels weren't in Christ's hand and they weren't standing before the Lamb that had been slain rather they were before God who was on sitting on His throne. God's angels.
Given trumpets. What is the symbolism of a trumpet in the Bible? It's used the most for making an announcement of a coming event of importance. The same word used here in Revelation is used in Matthew- 24:31 'And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.' And in Corinthians- 14:8 'For if the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle?' 15:52 'In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.'
An annoucing and what an announcment these angels will be making. The silence is over.
Just a note here, the angels when John saw them didn't have the trumpets already, they weren't seven angels holding trumpets- the seven angels were given the seven trumpets. By God?
...
And I saw the seven angels which stood before God
and to them were given seven trumpets.
..
...
And another angel came
and stood at the altar
...
The same altar where John saw the souls crying out under the fifth seal? The altar of incense- typifying the prayers of the saints.
...
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.
...
The angel stood before the altar with a golden censer- a censer was used to transport coals into the Holy Place of the temple where a special incense was placed upon the hot coals. The incense would make the offerings sweet to God. A golden censer was used on the Day of Atonement. This angel has a golden censer and he was given much incense, not just a tiny bit, or just incense of a normal amount, but MUCH incense- and he was to offer it with the prayers of ALL saints. All saints. People need to realize just how important prayer is, God hears our prayers we might not believe it to be so and find it hard to imagine someone listening when we seemingly never get a reply, but our prayers are heard. Here in this vision of John's he sees the seventh and last seal broken on the precious book only Christ could break the seals thereof and after a notable silence he watches an angel stand before the alter with a golden censer and sees him given much incense to offer it with the prayers of all saints on the golden altar before the throne of God. The prayers are made acceptable through Christ. The prayers- your prayers, my prayers are offered before God. Prayers offered - to be offered they must be made. Prayer is so important and must not be neglected. Our prayers can't be offered to God if they are not first prayed. Something to consider in these last days we live in.
...
And the smoke of the incense,
which came with the prayers of the saints,
ascended up before God out of the angel’s hand.
...
Visualize it, the smoke of the incense rising up before God out of the angel's hand- your prayers, my prayers, the prayers of the saints given to God.
...
And the angel took the censer,
and filled it with fire of the altar
...
Typically the censer is filled with coals from the altar of burnt offerings, but here it would see the fire burning on the altar of incense before the throne of God is where the fire is taken from. The prayers have ascended in the smoke, they are no longer there to be offered- they've already been offered and what's left is the fire. The fire which burned the incense which caused the smoke which held the prayers of the saints. The fire mingled with the incense making the prayers acceptable to God. The purifying fire. Christ's righteousness, Christ's sacrifice alone makes our prayers acceptable to God. After the prayers are offered only then is the censer- the carrying instrument- the transporting vessel used again and this time it is filled with fire- not the prayers of the saints but the purifying fire, the wrathful fire the can and will purge the earth.
...
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.
...
Cast to earth the fire ignites the cleansing that is to start. Think about it...
The fire purified the prayers of the saints and made them acceptable to God and now the fire of purification is cast to earth, it's cast there for a purpose. The breaking of the seventh seal on that very special book caused a silence, a prayer offering, all before the beginning of the end. The final seal is broken, all of God's children, all of God's people still alive on earth at this time are sealed and under the protection of Christ, and now the wrath will begin for those who have chosen to shun God, to shun the truths found in Christ and Christ alone.
After the fire is cast to earth there were voices, thunderings, lightnings, and an earthquake. Then and only then the seven angels with their seven trumpets lifted them to sound out.
Amazing! This vision, this prophecy. Nothing is hidden as so many suppose. There is no mystery, it's unveiled for us to see, to know, to understand. No wonder those who read are blessed. We are told this would happen and if we think for one moment that history which has proven the prophecies real will stop short of being fully fulfilled, we are in big trouble. Maybe this is a fairytale of nightmarish proportions to some, maybe it's laughable nonsense to others, but to those who truly believe in Jesus we could never toss aside something so important as this message of prophecy given to us to reveal to us what will be and what our part in it could be should we choose to believe.
Satan has done a number on people with the fantastical stories he's concocted making it so that any one who fancies themselves even a tidbit of an intellectual cannot believe in these words. He's done his job well but Christ did His job a million times better and the offer of salvation is real. The offer to live now for a better world to come, is real. The offer is there for all of us and we just have to grab hold of it and take Jesus into our hearts, minds, and spirit and ask for forgiveness, repenting of our sins and the gift of salvation is ours in Christ, through Christ now and forever.
May our hearts be open to Christ forever! May our prayers ascend to the Father! May we be sealed and accounted worthy only by the blood of the Lamb slain to save us. By His grace and His mercy, in His righteousness alone, by faith all through love.
Amen.
Friday, September 11, 2009
God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes
Revelation
And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal
and, lo,
there was a great earthquake
and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair
and the moon became as blood
And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth,
even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs when she is shaken of a mighty wind.
And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together
and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.
...
Again, there is no horse-no rider- no beast to portray this message to John rather as soon as Jesus opens the sixth seal John experiences a myriad number of sights all very physical in nature without. He beheld instantly- there was no 'coming and seeing', no 'and I looked and saw', these strange sights were seen one after the other in quick succession.
A Great Earthquake
Sun Black as the mourning symbol
Moon As Blood
Numerous Stars Fell Quickly to the Earth
Heaven Departs as a Scroll
Every Mountain and Island Moved
Tell me why this sudden departure from seemingly completely symbolic gestures to the physical signs in nature? Why the leap from following the time line of the Seven Churches to seemingly jumping in this time period straight to the end of all things? From the point in time after the sixth angel things would seem to happen very swiftly without slowing down right to the end of time, right? Seriously, think about it. In about the mid-1800's the knowledge of people all over the world seemed to suddenly spring to life. By the early 1900's people had invented things that would keep the ball in motion right up until where we are today, after thousands of years of seeming stagnation with only little bouts of inspiration. Seriously, the horse for transportation and such existed for thousands of years- thousands. The suddenly we have cars. The increase in knowledge didn't slow down either after a short burst. We didn't suddenly have one startling change such as having the printing press or other noteworthy yet seemingly singular invents taking place. We had this sudden outpouring of knowledge and it hasn't ceased to this very day and in show no sign of stopping- people are not getting dumber, or slowing down, the fount of knowledge hasn't been exhausted if anything it's increased exponentially and continues to do so. You take a person from the 1700, 1800's and drop them into the 1900's, or into the new millineum and there would be such shock it would be unbelievable.
The rapidity of events shown to John here in a very physical way are like markers in time. This will happen (when?), this will happen (when?), this will happen (when?), and so on right up to a point we haven't seen it happen and yet having markers along the way tell you something don't they? Think about it.
You're on a trail with markers along the path - will you expect the markers to remain true to form until you reach your destination? You would.
Here are markers in time that are so blatant that to ignore them is to risk ignoring the fact that Christ is returning and the world is as we know it is ending. Following markers is important even if there are varying lengths of time between them, right? If I'm on a path I keep on it and hope for the markers even if it seems like a long, long time since I've seen the last one. That hope for the last marker has to remain and it's through faith that hope stays firm. Christ admonishes the Ladicean church to buy of Him gold tried in fire- faith. Through the early time period of these markers it's easy to follow, to believe and the sixth church of Philadelphia has this remarkable renewal of faith, a clarity of these markers.
A GREAT EARTHQUAKE -
The 1755 Lisbon earthquake, also known as the Great Lisbon Earthquake, took place on 1 November 1755, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1755_Lisbon_earthquake)
SUN BLACK as the mourning symbol -
The Great Dark Day - New England's Dark Day refers to an event which occurred on 19 May 1780, when an unusual darkening of the day sky was observed over the New England states and parts of Canada. The primary cause of the event is believed to have been a combination of smoke from forest fires, a thick fog, and cloud cover. The darkness was so complete that candles were required from noon on. It did not disperse until the middle of the next night (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_England's_Dark_Day)
MOON AS BLOOD -
Moon Turned Into Blood - "The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the Lord come." Joel 2:31 May 19, 1780, stands in history as "The Dark Day." Since the time of Moses, no period of darkness of equal density, extent, and duration has ever been recorded. "The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the Lord come." Joel 2:31.
The moon became as red as blood on the night of the "dark day," May 19, 1780. Milo Bostick in Stone's History of Massachusetts says, "The moon which was at its full, had the appearance of blood."
(http://www.bibleuniverse.com/articles/second-coming-prophecies-fulfilled/moon-turned-into-blood.aspx
"New England's Dark Day" in The Weather Doctor Almanac 2004. Retrieved from http://www.islandnet.com/~see/weather/almanac/arc2004/alm04may.htm.
"An Account of a very uncommon Darkness, in the State of New England, May 19, 1780" in The Analytical Review, Or History of Literature, Domestic and Foreign, on an Enlarged Plan, p. 519.
^ Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society, p. 193 )
Numerous STARS FELL Quickly to the Earth -
Silliman believed the meteor had a cosmic origin, but meteors did not attract much attention from astronomers until the spectacular meteor storm of November 1833.[23] People all across the Eastern US saw thousands of meteors, radiating from a single point in the sky. Astute observers noticed that the radiant, as the point is now called, moved with the stars, staying in the constellation Leo
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meteoroid
The meteor storm of 1833 was of truly superlative strength. One estimate is over one hundred thousand meteors an hour,[2] but another, done as the storm abated, estimated in excess of two hundred thousand meteors an hour[3] over the entire region of North America east of the Rocky Mountains. It was marked by the Native Americans, slaves and owners, and many others. That same 1833 shower, near Independence, Missouri, was taken as a sign to push the growing Mormon community out of the area.[3]
(http://www.answers.com/topic/leonids)
***
Heaven Departs as a Scroll
Every Mountain and Island Moved
***
Now we come to a time when the heaven departs as a scroll- how does a scroll depart when it's rolled together? If you have a scroll laid out on a table you put weights down on the corners to hold it open, don't you? It's hard to study otherwise, unless you are just going to stretch out your arms and put your hands on it to keep the two halves from closing. What happens when you lift the weights, or your hands? It snaps back into place doesn't it? And very quickly at that.
So the heavens departing in a snap - has this happened? We've breached the atmosphere sending shuttles into space and still the sky doesn't snap away does it? Surely we'd know. We've set off atomic bombs which have sent mushroom clouds billowing upwards spreading the poison it contains for miles, but have the heavens departed? No.
This is a marker in time that hasn't oocurred- in fact the last marker would be in 1833 almost 176 years ago. Time indeed for the waters to become lukewarm.
This day is coming there is no doubt about it, and only those who are not lukewarm but found counciled by Christ will escape the dreadful coming of the end of times for those not found safe in the righteousness of Christ.
...
And the kings of the earth, and the great men,
and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men,
and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains;
And said to the mountains and rocks,
Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne,
and from the wrath of the Lamb
For the great day of his wrath is come and who shall be able to stand?
...
John saw this amazing trail of events and then it ended and he was seeing after those things - this:
...
And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth,
holding the four winds of the earth,
that the wind should not blow on the earth,
nor on the sea, nor on any tree.
...
The angels of God are holding in check the strife that would come upon the earth should they not hold it back. Why are they holding it back? Because of this...
...
And I saw another angel ascending from the east,
having the seal of the living God and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels,
to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea,
Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees,
till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.
And I heard the number of them which were sealed:
and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel.
Of the tribe of Juda were sealed twelve thousand.
Of the tribe of Reuben were sealed twelve thousand.
Of the tribe of Gad were sealed twelve thousand.
Of the tribe of Aser were sealed twelve thousand.
Of the tribe of Nepthalim were sealed twelve thousand.
Of the tribe of Manasses were sealed twelve thousand.
Of the tribe of Simeon were sealed twelve thousand.
Of the tribe of Levi were sealed twelve thousand.
Of the tribe of Issachar were sealed twelve thousand.
Of the tribe of Zabulon were sealed twelve thousand.
Of the tribe of Joseph were sealed twelve thousand.
Of the tribe of Benjamin were sealed twelve thousand.
...
Those that are God's in this time before the angels fully release winds of strife will be sealed. Sealed how? If I give my seal of approval it means nothing unless say you are my child- my son or daughter. They do something and I approve, giving them my seal of approval and it means a lot to them, it shows my approval of them which they hold in high esteem. If God seals us we are sealed His. We are given a mark that reveals that we are His and He approves of us, of our total reliance upon the Son of God for all things, for allowing Christ's righteousness to reign in us, for accepting fully the sacrifice of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.
After the sealing John was allowed to see this:
...
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
And cried with a loud voice, saying,
Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne,
and unto the Lamb.
And all the angels stood round about the throne,
and about the elders
and the four beasts,
and fell before the throne on their faces,
and worshipped God
Saying, Amen
Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might, be unto our God for ever and ever. Amen.
...
Amazing! Such a glorious sight! John witnessed the saints throughout time gathered before the throne of God, the angels, the elders, the beasts all of them fell before the throne and worshipped God! Truly this was an amazing sight to behold. God reigns forever in all blessing, all glory, all wisdom, all thanksgiving, all honor, all power, all might to God! Forever and ever!
Was John through with this vision yet? No. One of those 24 elders before the throne spoke to John as he witnessed the wonder of things to come.
...
And one of the elders answered, saying unto me,
What are these which are arrayed in white robes?
and whence came they?
...
The elder wanted to know what John thought he was seeing. He asked- What are those in white robes and where did they come from? John answers--
...
And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest.
...
He doesn't presume to know does he? He doesn't launch into some speech about who he thinks they are or where they come from but he tells the elder that the elder himself knows. He doesn't even ask that it be revealed to him, but lets the elder decide if that is something he wishes to reveal and he does...
...
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.
Therefore are they before the throne of God,
and serve him day and night in his temple
and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them.
They shall hunger no more,
neither thirst any more;
neither shall the sun light on them,
nor any heat.
For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them,
and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters:
and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.
...
How amazing! How beautiful! John is told the truth of the whole matter. Those who come through the great tribulation- for what other tribulation is there than to fight in the war of good and evil and prevail through Jesus Christ our Savior? This is a battle we ALL fight in, we are all called to war in it by our very birth.
Those who take their own filthy garments of unrighteousness and wash them in the blood of the Lamb are truly making them white in His righteousness, pure in the only righteousness that exists anywhere- the righteousness found alone in Christ.
Those who do this, who claim Christ's righteousness will stand before the throne of God- they will serve him always in his temple and that is wherever He dwells. No more hunger of any type! No more thirst of any kind! No more sun and heat to burn us and we will be fed by Jesus! We will be taken to the living fountain of water! And GOD shall wipe the tears from our eyes! Tears that we know so well, so deeply, agonizingly felt for all that goes on around about us.
May God bless and keep us! May God accept us through the righteousness of His Son Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, now and forever may we be found in Him forgiven by Him as we ask for forgiveness and repent of our sins.
By His grace!
Amen.
And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal
and, lo,
there was a great earthquake
and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair
and the moon became as blood
And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth,
even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs when she is shaken of a mighty wind.
And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together
and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.
...
Again, there is no horse-no rider- no beast to portray this message to John rather as soon as Jesus opens the sixth seal John experiences a myriad number of sights all very physical in nature without. He beheld instantly- there was no 'coming and seeing', no 'and I looked and saw', these strange sights were seen one after the other in quick succession.
A Great Earthquake
Sun Black as the mourning symbol
Moon As Blood
Numerous Stars Fell Quickly to the Earth
Heaven Departs as a Scroll
Every Mountain and Island Moved
Tell me why this sudden departure from seemingly completely symbolic gestures to the physical signs in nature? Why the leap from following the time line of the Seven Churches to seemingly jumping in this time period straight to the end of all things? From the point in time after the sixth angel things would seem to happen very swiftly without slowing down right to the end of time, right? Seriously, think about it. In about the mid-1800's the knowledge of people all over the world seemed to suddenly spring to life. By the early 1900's people had invented things that would keep the ball in motion right up until where we are today, after thousands of years of seeming stagnation with only little bouts of inspiration. Seriously, the horse for transportation and such existed for thousands of years- thousands. The suddenly we have cars. The increase in knowledge didn't slow down either after a short burst. We didn't suddenly have one startling change such as having the printing press or other noteworthy yet seemingly singular invents taking place. We had this sudden outpouring of knowledge and it hasn't ceased to this very day and in show no sign of stopping- people are not getting dumber, or slowing down, the fount of knowledge hasn't been exhausted if anything it's increased exponentially and continues to do so. You take a person from the 1700, 1800's and drop them into the 1900's, or into the new millineum and there would be such shock it would be unbelievable.
The rapidity of events shown to John here in a very physical way are like markers in time. This will happen (when?), this will happen (when?), this will happen (when?), and so on right up to a point we haven't seen it happen and yet having markers along the way tell you something don't they? Think about it.
You're on a trail with markers along the path - will you expect the markers to remain true to form until you reach your destination? You would.
Here are markers in time that are so blatant that to ignore them is to risk ignoring the fact that Christ is returning and the world is as we know it is ending. Following markers is important even if there are varying lengths of time between them, right? If I'm on a path I keep on it and hope for the markers even if it seems like a long, long time since I've seen the last one. That hope for the last marker has to remain and it's through faith that hope stays firm. Christ admonishes the Ladicean church to buy of Him gold tried in fire- faith. Through the early time period of these markers it's easy to follow, to believe and the sixth church of Philadelphia has this remarkable renewal of faith, a clarity of these markers.
A GREAT EARTHQUAKE -
The 1755 Lisbon earthquake, also known as the Great Lisbon Earthquake, took place on 1 November 1755, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1755_Lisbon_earthquake)
SUN BLACK as the mourning symbol -
The Great Dark Day - New England's Dark Day refers to an event which occurred on 19 May 1780, when an unusual darkening of the day sky was observed over the New England states and parts of Canada. The primary cause of the event is believed to have been a combination of smoke from forest fires, a thick fog, and cloud cover. The darkness was so complete that candles were required from noon on. It did not disperse until the middle of the next night (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_England's_Dark_Day)
MOON AS BLOOD -
Moon Turned Into Blood - "The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the Lord come." Joel 2:31 May 19, 1780, stands in history as "The Dark Day." Since the time of Moses, no period of darkness of equal density, extent, and duration has ever been recorded. "The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the Lord come." Joel 2:31.
The moon became as red as blood on the night of the "dark day," May 19, 1780. Milo Bostick in Stone's History of Massachusetts says, "The moon which was at its full, had the appearance of blood."
(http://www.bibleuniverse.com/articles/second-coming-prophecies-fulfilled/moon-turned-into-blood.aspx
"New England's Dark Day" in The Weather Doctor Almanac 2004. Retrieved from http://www.islandnet.com/~see/weather/almanac/arc2004/alm04may.htm.
"An Account of a very uncommon Darkness, in the State of New England, May 19, 1780" in The Analytical Review, Or History of Literature, Domestic and Foreign, on an Enlarged Plan, p. 519.
^ Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society, p. 193 )
Numerous STARS FELL Quickly to the Earth -
Silliman believed the meteor had a cosmic origin, but meteors did not attract much attention from astronomers until the spectacular meteor storm of November 1833.[23] People all across the Eastern US saw thousands of meteors, radiating from a single point in the sky. Astute observers noticed that the radiant, as the point is now called, moved with the stars, staying in the constellation Leo
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meteoroid
The meteor storm of 1833 was of truly superlative strength. One estimate is over one hundred thousand meteors an hour,[2] but another, done as the storm abated, estimated in excess of two hundred thousand meteors an hour[3] over the entire region of North America east of the Rocky Mountains. It was marked by the Native Americans, slaves and owners, and many others. That same 1833 shower, near Independence, Missouri, was taken as a sign to push the growing Mormon community out of the area.[3]
(http://www.answers.com/topic/leonids)
***
Heaven Departs as a Scroll
Every Mountain and Island Moved
***
Now we come to a time when the heaven departs as a scroll- how does a scroll depart when it's rolled together? If you have a scroll laid out on a table you put weights down on the corners to hold it open, don't you? It's hard to study otherwise, unless you are just going to stretch out your arms and put your hands on it to keep the two halves from closing. What happens when you lift the weights, or your hands? It snaps back into place doesn't it? And very quickly at that.
So the heavens departing in a snap - has this happened? We've breached the atmosphere sending shuttles into space and still the sky doesn't snap away does it? Surely we'd know. We've set off atomic bombs which have sent mushroom clouds billowing upwards spreading the poison it contains for miles, but have the heavens departed? No.
This is a marker in time that hasn't oocurred- in fact the last marker would be in 1833 almost 176 years ago. Time indeed for the waters to become lukewarm.
This day is coming there is no doubt about it, and only those who are not lukewarm but found counciled by Christ will escape the dreadful coming of the end of times for those not found safe in the righteousness of Christ.
...
And the kings of the earth, and the great men,
and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men,
and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains;
And said to the mountains and rocks,
Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne,
and from the wrath of the Lamb
For the great day of his wrath is come and who shall be able to stand?
...
John saw this amazing trail of events and then it ended and he was seeing after those things - this:
...
And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth,
holding the four winds of the earth,
that the wind should not blow on the earth,
nor on the sea, nor on any tree.
...
The angels of God are holding in check the strife that would come upon the earth should they not hold it back. Why are they holding it back? Because of this...
...
And I saw another angel ascending from the east,
having the seal of the living God and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels,
to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea,
Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees,
till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.
And I heard the number of them which were sealed:
and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel.
Of the tribe of Juda were sealed twelve thousand.
Of the tribe of Reuben were sealed twelve thousand.
Of the tribe of Gad were sealed twelve thousand.
Of the tribe of Aser were sealed twelve thousand.
Of the tribe of Nepthalim were sealed twelve thousand.
Of the tribe of Manasses were sealed twelve thousand.
Of the tribe of Simeon were sealed twelve thousand.
Of the tribe of Levi were sealed twelve thousand.
Of the tribe of Issachar were sealed twelve thousand.
Of the tribe of Zabulon were sealed twelve thousand.
Of the tribe of Joseph were sealed twelve thousand.
Of the tribe of Benjamin were sealed twelve thousand.
...
Those that are God's in this time before the angels fully release winds of strife will be sealed. Sealed how? If I give my seal of approval it means nothing unless say you are my child- my son or daughter. They do something and I approve, giving them my seal of approval and it means a lot to them, it shows my approval of them which they hold in high esteem. If God seals us we are sealed His. We are given a mark that reveals that we are His and He approves of us, of our total reliance upon the Son of God for all things, for allowing Christ's righteousness to reign in us, for accepting fully the sacrifice of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.
After the sealing John was allowed to see this:
...
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
And cried with a loud voice, saying,
Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne,
and unto the Lamb.
And all the angels stood round about the throne,
and about the elders
and the four beasts,
and fell before the throne on their faces,
and worshipped God
Saying, Amen
Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might, be unto our God for ever and ever. Amen.
...
Amazing! Such a glorious sight! John witnessed the saints throughout time gathered before the throne of God, the angels, the elders, the beasts all of them fell before the throne and worshipped God! Truly this was an amazing sight to behold. God reigns forever in all blessing, all glory, all wisdom, all thanksgiving, all honor, all power, all might to God! Forever and ever!
Was John through with this vision yet? No. One of those 24 elders before the throne spoke to John as he witnessed the wonder of things to come.
...
And one of the elders answered, saying unto me,
What are these which are arrayed in white robes?
and whence came they?
...
The elder wanted to know what John thought he was seeing. He asked- What are those in white robes and where did they come from? John answers--
...
And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest.
...
He doesn't presume to know does he? He doesn't launch into some speech about who he thinks they are or where they come from but he tells the elder that the elder himself knows. He doesn't even ask that it be revealed to him, but lets the elder decide if that is something he wishes to reveal and he does...
...
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.
Therefore are they before the throne of God,
and serve him day and night in his temple
and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them.
They shall hunger no more,
neither thirst any more;
neither shall the sun light on them,
nor any heat.
For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them,
and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters:
and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.
...
How amazing! How beautiful! John is told the truth of the whole matter. Those who come through the great tribulation- for what other tribulation is there than to fight in the war of good and evil and prevail through Jesus Christ our Savior? This is a battle we ALL fight in, we are all called to war in it by our very birth.
Those who take their own filthy garments of unrighteousness and wash them in the blood of the Lamb are truly making them white in His righteousness, pure in the only righteousness that exists anywhere- the righteousness found alone in Christ.
Those who do this, who claim Christ's righteousness will stand before the throne of God- they will serve him always in his temple and that is wherever He dwells. No more hunger of any type! No more thirst of any kind! No more sun and heat to burn us and we will be fed by Jesus! We will be taken to the living fountain of water! And GOD shall wipe the tears from our eyes! Tears that we know so well, so deeply, agonizingly felt for all that goes on around about us.
May God bless and keep us! May God accept us through the righteousness of His Son Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, now and forever may we be found in Him forgiven by Him as we ask for forgiveness and repent of our sins.
By His grace!
Amen.
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