The Trumpets Continue to Sound.

 

The seventh seal was opened by the Lord. There were seen seven angels about the throne and they were given seven trumpets…

 

History reviewed.

 

The third angel sounds the third trumpet.

 

Revelation

Rev 8:10  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;

Rev 8:11  And the name of the star is called Wormwood: and the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter.

 

Taken from the book Daniel and Revelation by Uriah Smith (D&R)

 

'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.

 

*******

Rev 8:12  And the fourth angel sounded, and the third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars; so as the third part of them was darkened, and the day shone not for a third part of it, and the night likewise.

Rev 8:13  And I beheld, and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters of the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels, which are yet to sound!

 

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.

 

Rev 8:13  And I beheld, and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters of the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels, which are yet to sound!

 

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.

 

In His most amazing LOVE. Through the Holy Spirit may we be guided always! Please Lord let us see, let us know all we need to know, let Your love shine through to us in all things. We need Your wisdom, Your righteousness, Your love all by the grace of our Lord and Savior!

 

Amen.

My Thoughts On Sabbath Keeping.

 

My Thoughts On Sabbath Keeping.

 

God tells us- NOT man says- but GOD says…

 

Exo 20:8  Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 

Exo 20:9  Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: 

Exo 20:10  But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: 

Exo 20:11  For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.

 

We are to REMEMBER - meaning we are NOT to forget the Sabbath day.

We are to KEEP IT HOLY- meaning God has sanctified the Sabbath, and by His presence in the Sabbath it becomes holy- He alone constitutes holiness.

 

When we are told to be holy as He is holy (1 Pet 1:15,16) we are being told as our God is, to honor His ways.

 

Keeping the Sabbath holy is keeping it God's day, it is special, a day set aside, a day different from all the other six days that make up a week. It MUSTN'T be considered just another day as if it is not God's holy day. In attitude, in action, in all the observance of the entire day we must comprehend the day has the presence of God in it, as no other day of the week does. This makes the day holy and we keep it holy.

 

We are to HAVE six other days to do our workings WHATEVER they may be. We have six other days to do the ordinary tasks that make up our lives.  AND we are NOT to make anyone else do our work, or work on that day.

 

We are to keep in mind the reason for this weekly day of remembrance in which we set aside all ordinary tasks. The reason is to honor God as our creator who MADE it a day of rest- that HE chose to rest this day - not because He needed rest, but because He CHOSE to rest from all His work of creation by creating a rest. 

 

We are to know the seventh day is a day blessed and made holy by God.

 

Keeping the Sabbath day HOLY, SPECIAL, SET ASIDE, BLESSED, in ALL WE DO- allows us to REMEMBER forever our creature status, created by a beloved Creator who wants us to NEVER forget HIM as our CREATOR.

 

People dishonor the day when they use it as any other day to go about the day as if it has absolutely no significance.

 

It's not enough to take an hour or two of the Sabbath to remember God as creator- in doing so we minimize what God meant to be maximized. An entire day of rest in God.

 

Does this mean we are NOT to do anything on this day but live in a state of suspended animation directed towards God?

 

We look to our greatest example for the answer and that greatest example is JESUS who broke NO law and remained SINLESS His entire life.

 

Jesus honored the Sabbath by worshiping in the temples and synagogues as all the Jewish people of His day did. He was found teaching God's word on the Sabbath day, He was found fellowshipping on the Sabbath day. He was found eating on the Sabbath day and being fine with His disciples taking a food source readily available to eat from. He walked casually on the Sabbath day. He helped others on the Sabbath, going so far as to do what leaders of the Jewish people considered work by making a simple mud paste to heal the eyes of a blind man. Jesus taught that the Sabbath was a holy day- He was never accused of not keeping the Sabbath day entirely but that some of His actions were breaking traditions the Jewish hierarchy had built up around the basic Sabbath commandment. He wanted us to realize that the Sabbath wasn't meant to be bound up so tightly we could not live on that day without fear of taking a wrong step.  (Matt. 12:1-14, Mark 6:1-6, Luke 4:16,31)

 

Yes, the day before the Sabbath remained a day to prepare for the Sabbath- to do all the things you could do prior to the Sabbath so it wasn't a day of endless work tasks for anyone, but a day for all to equally rest and keep holy in constant remembrance of our God, our Creator, our Redeemer. (Luke 23:54-56)

 

To do just any old thing on the Sabbath day because we are bored, anxious, tired of not doing our ordinary things, is not what Jesus was telling us to do. To do God's work on the Sabbath day with God as our focus without making it a day of self-centeredness where we insist on pleasing ourselves in pursuits that take our mind from God, this is what we must do.

 

We need to prepare BEFORE the Sabbath so the Sabbath can be geared towards God. We aren't to get to the Sabbath day unprepared and expect to be able to keep the Sabbath day holy as God is holy. 

 

We need to structure our Sabbath time- ahead of time if we are prone to giving in and mindlessly entertaining ourselves with things that aren't God focused, God centered.  If we are likely to get bored make sure you have a variety of things to choose from that you can do.

 

Prayer groups- reading prayer requests of others and making a real, deliberate effort to pray for people.

Study- have a subject you can do an in-depth study of from the Bible using all sorts of Biblical resources.

Elderly outreach-  bake several loaves of bread prior to the Sabbath and take them to a nursing home or two.  Gather a few bouquets of flowers and separate them as you please to distribute a flower to an elderly person.

Family- make a special effort to communicate with family members you might not have an opportunity to talk with during the week.

 

The thing is… pray about it and God will open the heart and mind to the things He would have us do so we may do HIS will and not our own.

 

If something is questionable that you think to do on the Sabbath- then you need to pray about it, take it to God's word, and ultimately for conscience sake err on the side of caution if you are not given direct confirmation for your actions.

 

We must call the Sabbath a delight- because in it we seek to do God's will not our own. We seek ways that honor our Creator.  Our Creator KNEW that we'd want to disobey the Sabbath commandment, that our human flesh following, spirit denying self, would seek to solely please self on that day as any other day. This is why it is so incredibly important for us to KEEP the day holy THROUGH Him, by the power of the Holy Spirit, CHOOSING to DENY SELF, to take up our CROSS with HIM- it's all a part of living for God, with Christ in US our hope!

 

If you are going to do something you're just not sure is acceptable on this holy, blessed day- lay it out in all truth before God as something you are going to do and while doing it honor Him, remember Him, keep Him right there with you in your thoughts the whole time you are undertaking the questionable.  If a serious doubt remains as you continue your actions you must inquire in prayer whether or not that IS the conviction of the Holy Spirit pressing right and wrong upon you. We do NOT want to deny the convictions of the Holy Spirit- as mentioned above, it's much better to err on the side of caution. We don't want to push the Holy Spirit away because ultimately that leads us to being spiritually blinded- deceived and among those who Christ will say He never knew. In truth if we follow the spirit of evil rather than the Holy Spirit we can't be known of Christ because we aren't His followers. We can be deceived into thinking we are Christ's when we aren't, we must PRAY that we aren't among those so deceived.

 

May we seek to do God's will fully, wholly, completely as we are shown His will, led to His will, guided towards His will and His will alone.

 

Forgive us, Father, forgive us - and give us all we need in our will, in our lives, in our actions, in our thoughts, in all of our lives to be Yours, wholly Yours now and forever!   All through our Savior, Jesus Christ! Amen.

First Two Trumpets Sound.

 

Read, Hear, Keep.

 

We continue our study of the book of Revelation.

 

We are to be blessed when we read, hear (understand) and keep the things within this book. May God bless us right now as we seek understanding as we read so we may keep all we need to keep. May the Holy Spirit bless us with insight, all by the grace of God!

 

Continuing after the seventh seal was opened… seven angels with seven trumpets are shown.

 

(Rev 8:2  And I saw the seven angels which stood before God; and to them were given seven trumpets.)

 

Rev 8:6  And the seven angels which had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound. 

 

Rev 8:7  The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up. 

Rev 8:8  And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea: and the third part of the sea became blood

*******

Are you familiar at this point in our studies with the knitting back and forth that goes on? It's not a fancy ploy to confuse people. The reason is to expound on truth, on historical happenstances. Taking this book and simply reading without thorough, deep delving into the entire Bible is ludicrous. Many take a verse here and there and make it appear to say what they desire it to say. They take prophecy and project their own thoughts on the possibilities without daring to look back at history. They refuse to go back through other similar prophetic books and look for clues to what an interpretation may be. Truthfully, my mind wants to just take it all and put it in the future without any thought to history. Why? Because I'm NOT a scholar in any sense. I don't have the Bible memorized. I haven't devoted my life's work to knowing what the Bible says so that I can readily read a passage in one section only to realize there is great similarity elsewhere. My first instinct is to discount it all and it may be yours too. It could be just too confusing and take real thought and concentration, real deep prayer and study in order to have some sort of comprehension.  We NEED to READ, HEAR, and KEEP- remember?!

 

When these seven angels show up after the seventh seal is open I'm expecting to jump right into the time after probation has closed and Christ is on His way. What happens in reality is we are directed ONCE more back through history. Remember the seven churches? Remember how the seals being opened took us through history as well- the horses and their riders? We have to go again to history and we can find that the hand of history fit perfectly into the glove of prophecy.

 

Now for some insight from D&R-

 

First/Second Trumpets- Prophecy Fulfilled in History

 

Revelation 8

 

VERSE 6. And the seven angels which had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound.

 

The subject of the seven trumpets is here resumed, and occupies the remainder of this chapter and all of chapter 9. The seven angels prepare themselves to sound. Their sounding comes in as a complement to the prophecy of Daniel 2 and 7, commencing with the breaking up of the old Roman empire into its ten divisions, of which, in the first four trumpets, we have a description.

 

VERSE 7. The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.

 

p 478 -- Mr. Keith has very 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 performed 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 Revelation."    "Little or nothing is left for the professed interpreter to do but to point to the pages of Gibbon."

 

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, 395, and before the end of the winter the Goths under Alaric were in arms against the empire.

 

The first invasion under Alaric ravaged Thrace, Macedonia, Attica, and the Peloponnesus, but did not reach the city of Rome. On his second invasion, however, the Gothic chieftain crossed the Alps and the Apennines and appeared before the walls of the "eternal city," which soon fell a prey to the fury of the barbarians. 

 

"Hail and fire mingled with blood" were cast upon the earth. The terrible effects of this Gothic invasion are represented as "hail," from the fact of 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.

 

The blast of the first trumpet has its location about the close of the fourth century and onward, and refers to these desolating invasions of the Roman empire under the Goths.

 

I know not how the history of the sounding of the first trumpet can be more impressively set forth than by presenting the graphic rehearsal of the facts which are stated in Gibbon's History, by Mr. Keith, in his Signs of the Times, Vol. I, pp. 221-233:  -    "Large extracts show how amply and well Gibbon has expounded his text in the history of the first trumpet, the first

p 479 -- 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 crowded 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 by smoking ruins. Many cities were cruelly oppressed, or destroyed. Many thousands were inhumanly massacred; and the consuming flames of war spread over the greater 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

p 480 -- 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. 

 

"The concluding sentence of the thirty-third chapter of Gibbon's History is of itself a clear and comprehensive commentary; for in winding up his own description of this brief but most eventful period, be 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, issuing 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."

 

VERSE 8. And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea: and the third part of the sea became blood;   9.    And the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life, died; and the third part of the ships were destroyed.

 

The Roman empire, after Constantine, was divided into three parts; and hence the frequent remark, "a third part of men," etc., in 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 the Second held Britain, Gaul, and Spain. Constans held Illyricum, Africa, and Italy. (See Sabine's Ecclesiastical History, p. 155.) Of this well-known

 

p 481 -- historical fact, Elliott, as quoted by Albert Barnes, in his notes on Rev. 12:4, says:       "Twice, at least, before the Roman empire became divided permanently into the two parts, the Eastern and the Western, there was a tripartite division of the empire. The first occurred A. D. 311, when it was divided between Constantine, Licinius, and Maximin; the other, A. D. 337, on the death of Constantine, when it was divided between his three sons, Constantine, Constans, and Constantius."

 

The history illustrative of the sounding of the second trumpet evidently relates to the invasion and conquest of Africa, and afterward of Italy, by the terrible Genseric. 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 fulfil 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 "the terrible Genseric," at the head of the Vandals. His career occurred during 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 TOWARD THE SEA; he resolved to create a naval power, and his bold resolution was executed with steady and active perseverance."       From the port of Carthage he repeatedly made piratical sallies, and 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. Three hundred

 

p 482 -- long galleys, with an adequate proportion of transports and smaller vessels, were collected in the secure and capacious harbor of Cartagena, 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 Cartagena; many of the ships were sunk, taken, or burned, and the preparations of three years were destroyed in a single day.

 

Italy continued to be long afflicted 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 at 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 motion 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 cavalry.

 

A last and desperate attempt to dispossess Genseric of the sovereignty of the seas, was made in the year 468 by Leo, the emperor of the East. Gibbon bears witness to this as follows:      "The whole expense of the African campaign amounted to the sum of one hundred and thirty thousand pounds of gold, - about five million 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 designs 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

p 483 --

(picture not included)

p 484 -- destructive vessels were impelled against the unguarded and unsuspecting fleet of the Romans, who were awakened by a 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. While 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 fulness of years and of glory, he beheld the FINAL EXTINCTION of the empire of the West."   Gibbon, Vol. III, pp. 495-498.

 

Concerning the important part which this bold corsair acted in the downfall of Rome, Mr. 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." 

 

Next study begins with verse 10-

 

*******

 

Remember- prophecy is but future's history.  We see the fulfillment of prophecies in history and while we might not want to delve so deeply into history to have the prophecy puzzle worked upon, we have to.  To comprehend what has been is to leave what will be. We are living right now in the time of prophecy as all of us have to some extent throughout time.

 

We've discussed before during this study on the book of Revelation that we are living in an enlightened age, a time when the books of prophecy were opened to comprehension.  None who read this can dispute the historical fact the we lived in a horse driven society for thousands of years and then suddenly we are living in the age of steam engines, in fuel propelled vehicles that quickly made horse travel obsolete. Then in a blink of an eye we are traveling the skies in balloons, planes, and rockets.  The unbelievable leaps and bounds of sudden knowledge in all thing is HISTORY.   The Bible prophecies predicted the increase in knowledge and it has come to pass and then some.  We can't dismiss history and its proper place in Biblical prophecy.   No, you may not find the history/prophecy studies interesting but they are truth, they are fact, they are necessary for our comprehension of future prophecy which hasn't unfolded as yet.

 

May God bless us as we study His truth!  May our spiritual eyes be fully opened. By the grace of God may we read and keep what we learn from this book so we may receive the blessings we need.

 

All through our Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ, now and forever!

 

Amen.

 

 

 

 

 

We Are Christ's.

1Co 3:23  And ye are Christ's; and Christ is God's. 

 

We belong to Christ when we choose Christ.

Christ took us all to the cross with Him, dying for us all so we may have eternal life with Him.

 

Eternal life. Do you want eternal life? Most would say not if it's a life of continuous pain and heartache, sickness and death. They would want eternal life if it was a life of peace, health, happiness.

 

Eternal life.

 

We can have this, we can have eternal life and that life will be one of peace, health, happiness.

 

I have to, or rather, I choose to believe in the hope of an eternal life without sin at its core.  This world I have been born into currently has sin at its core.

 

Everywhere we turn sin results are present. We can't go a single day without being confronted with the results of sin. We need to recognize sin for what it is, the reality of sin. To dismiss sin is to dismiss the fact that life is not what it was intended to be. To accept this sin-filled existence as how life is intended to be lived surely brings a lot of hopelessness. I do NOT want to believe for one moment that human beings are intended to live with sin and its results, not for a moment!

 

All bad things are a result of sin. Some people don't agree, they say we use it as in excuse to pawn off badness on another and not accept responsibility for our own bad acts. Truthfully all bad has its origin in Satan, whether anyone agrees or not, I don't care. When we commit bad acts we do so as a result of being born into a world where Satan rules. We choose to act badly, we are not forced to do so. We make choices. We are tempted to embrace the bad and we can do so very easily. To be able to seek forgiveness for our bad acts when they occur so suddenly- like a harsh word brought on by a disgruntled thought- is necessary because it acknowledges the wrongness of what we've done. Recognizing sin in ourselves is something we need to do, because we need to repent of it, ask forgiveness for it, to desire NOT to sin, to not be a part of the badness that surrounds us at every turn.

 

Christ has made it possible for us to have eternal life, in Him.

 

We ask Christ to live in us, and we ask daily. We recognize that we live with Christ in us, our hope. Our hope isn't in ourselves, it is fully in Christ. We cannot save ourselves. We must be saved by Christ. We must ALLOW Christ to save us. It must be an active allowance, a constant allowance of Christ to live in us and in living in us be a PART of our lives. When you ask someone to live with you, you are inviting them to be a part of your life. You expect them to interact with you. Even if you have a tenant, a roommate strictly there for financial support and nothing more, you have interaction. We need Christ to be so much a part of our lives that He is with us always, in all we do, never separated from Him. He is our Savior and we need to want Him to guide ALL we do. All we do is for His glory, not ours!

 

We are Christ's.

 

 

 

 

Tortured.

Beaten bloody- tortured-crucified.

 

Christ was taken in the middle of the night, beaten severely, and sentenced to die on the cross.  Whipped and bloodied shoulders carried the wood that would ultimately hold a body wounded almost beyond recognition from thirty-one wicked stripes cut deep through flesh and muscle.

 

Christ ALLOWED Himself to be tortured to death.

 

When a person is facing torture they would do all in their power to make it stop, to keep it from happening. If there is any way out of being tortured they'd take it, right? I've never been tortured, and never faced torture. I have faced things like dental procedures, surgery and such which I knew would result in being given pain. The numbing for dental work requires a needle being inserted into sensitive gum flesh and often extreme pain. After surgeries you feel the pain from being sliced open. If you've suffered an accident you've felt pain. However, torture, the deliberate infliction of pain for whatever reason whose sole purpose is to induce pain is different. If you are being tortured you want to escape the torture, the pain, right? If you had a magic word to say to make all the torture stop, you'd say it, yes? How many people throughout history have given up secrets and such under torture just to get the pain to stop? A lot. Not all have the fortitude withstand torture, but some are able to and they end up dying before giving up any information being sought.

 

Christ was tortured and He had the means to end the torture.

 

He endured and He felt every last bit of the pain. There were NO pain buffers. There were NO supernatural interventions to prevent Him from feeling any pain. He suffered to the extreme.

 

Others were crucified throughout history, many, and they too felt the horrific pain of crucifixion. Jesus in His humanity felt it all, He was not exempt from pain.

 

Why, when He had the means to escape such pain did He endure it? For YOU, for ME. WE WERE WORTH THE TORTURE, WE WERE WORTH THE DYING FOR!

 

Sin would NOT steal humanity from God! Humanity would be offered a way to escape their eternal death sentence. The Love of GOD for us was so great He wanted to save us!

 

Jesus- God with God- took on flesh. Jesus- God and Man. Jesus willingly gave up His divine power to face life as a man. Jesus endured temptations to the extreme. Jesus suffered. Jesus took mankind with HIM to the cross. All humanity went to the cross with Jesus. Now mankind individually decides whether to accept the sacrifice made. We were CRUCIFIED with Christ on that cross. And we were buried with Christ and we were raised up with Christ.

 

We were given NEW LIFE. We were BORN AGAIN spiritually.

 

Christ is in US, the Spirit is in us!

 

Col_1:27  To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory

 

The mystery- Christ in us, our hope.

 

Col_3:1  If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.

 

Risen with Christ, we must SEEK those thing which are above where Christ sits at the right hand of God. We are to SEEK - actively SEEK the things which are with Christ in heaven!

 

Mat 6:20  But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal

 

Our TREASURES should be in HEAVEN.

 

Mat 6:33  But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. 

 

We should SEEK FIRST the kingdom of God!

We should SEEK FIRST God's RIGHTEOUSNESS!

 

Rom 8:6  For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. 

 

We MUST be SPIRITUALLY MINDED.

 

2Co 4:18  While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal. 

 

We are to believe on the UNSEEN things that are ETERNAL.

 

Php 3:20  For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: 

Php 3:21  Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself. 

 

Our CONVERSATION must be in HEAVEN.

 

Heb 11:16  But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city. 

 

A HEAVENLY COUNTRY- this is our DESIRE.

 

More on this tomorrow by the GRACE of our LORD.

Christ Took Me To The Cross.

Christ took me to the cross with Him. (Gal.2:20) When Christ divested Himself of His divinity (emptied Himself),(Php 2:7) He did so in order to take on our flesh. He became man. He was NOT a man, He was God with God in heaven. He chose to empty Himself of what made Him God so He could put Himself in human flesh. He used NO power of His own while on earth, He'd emptied Himself! Of Himself He did NOTHING. The power He used was the Father's. (*) He had NOT lost His connection to the Father, that was the one thing He had that we'd lost when mankind sinned. Jesus had the oneness with God the Father that we'd given up. Sin separated us from God the Father, Jesus had no sin to separate Him from God. Jesus could be tempted and was tempted in ALL ways just like we are. (Heb. 4:15) Temptation at its very core stems from the same place. You say temptations today are worse than Jesus' day, no, not at their origin they are not.

 

Christ became human and through the Father was able to resist all temptations. Christ endured a life here on earth among sinners who only knew sin. His heart broke for those who hated the sin in themselves, and for those who turned their backs on God. He wept for mankind. (Luke 19:41-44)

 

He knew the power of temptation and He knew that a man separated from God was powerless to resist. Man needed to be reunited with God and this was why He went to the cross.

 

Innocent, He took on our guilt when He took us to the cross to be crucified with Him. Every one, He took us all to the cross with Him and we were crucified with Him. Faith. Believing this is true, believing Christ crucified and us crucified with Him- this allows us to no longer be separated from God. We are promised a Comforter, we are promised a new life in Christ.

 

We were not only crucified, but we were buried with Him and then we were raised with Him!   

 

(More on this tomorrow, by the grace of God!) All through HIS amazing LOVE!

 

Gal 2:20  I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

 

Php 2:7 ' but emptied Himself, taking the form of a slave, having become in the likeness of men' (LITV)

 

(*)Joh_5:19  Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise.

Joh_5:30  I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.

Joh_8:29  And he that sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him.

Joh_10:38  But if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the works: that ye may know, and believe, that the Father is in me, and I in him.

Joh_12:49  For I have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak.

Joh_12:50  And I know that his commandment is life everlasting: whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the Father said unto me, so I speak.

Joh_14:24  He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father's which sent me.

Joh_14:9  Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?

Joh_14:10  Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works

 

Heb_4:15  For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.

 

Col_2:12  Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.

 

Rom_6:4  Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

 

Christ In You.

Does Christ live in you? Are you in Christ?

 

In our lives, in our worship we can get so caught up in rituals, in forms, in acts that we imagine bring us closer to Christ, that we don't realize we've come to depend upon the **things** we do to save us and not Christ in us.

 

Gal 5:6  For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love. 

 

Gal_6:15  For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature.

 

Rom 8:1  There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. 

 

2Co 5:17  Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. 

 

(Excerpt)

'Now, the verse, "For in Jesus Christ."

Where?

Looking at Jesus Christ from the outside? going to Him as to a reservoir or a fountain and taking something out and taking it off with me outside? No.

"In Jesus Christ," in Him,  in Him, "neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but faith which worketh by love."

That is Christianity.

Anything less than that is ceremonialism in this day as well as in that day. Everything less than that is the mystery of iniquity.

 

Everything else than that is the mark of the beast.

 

And whosoever has not that living principle of the living power in his life will worship the beast and his image and thus all the world will worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world." Thank God for His unspeakable Gift.'

 

A.T. Jones 1895 G.C.Sermon #26 (End of Excerpt)

 

Ceremonialism blinds us to Christ. Rituals blind us to Christ. By the time Christ began His ministry the people who were considered God's people had become completely blind to God's truth, so blind they could not recognize the Son of God. All the things of God prior to Christ's birth and ministry were given to God's people to in fact help them recognize Christ. They were blind to Christ because they'd twisted everything God gave them until their hearts were stone. All their God given commands were meant to enlightened, instead the hardness of the hearts of the people kept them in darkness. They changed things so much they became completely unrecognizable. They moved further and further from Christ and today people have done the same thing.

 

Christ in us…

 

Col_1:27  To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory

 

More on this tomorrow by the GRACE of God!