Revelation 9
Notes
Transcript
Revelation 9
Revelation 9
Good morning church! What a glorious day it is today! I say that, in the midst of us living in a divided land. I say that in a time and a place that the world is turning against the land of Israel. I say that in a county, that just last year, May of 2023, the surgeon general of the United States of America issued an Advisory calling attention to the public health crisis of loneliness, isolation, and lack of connection in our country. In the day and age of constantly growing social media choices, he said “Our epidemic of loneliness and isolation has been an underappreciated public health crisis that has harmed individual and societal health.
We were made and designed to be social creatures. To have relationship... with both our Creator and His creation. But as lack of true connection, isolation, and loneliness grows,…with that optimism fades and hope dies.
I begin with that today on a day that we are about to dive into some darkness, to explore some horrific things yet to come. We are approaching the halfway point of this book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ, and the book does just that, but also warns us of the apocalypse to come, this unveiling of evil and wickedness at a level that the world has never known.
In anticipation of that, how can I say it is a glorious day? Because it is not yet this day, that day which we are about to read about. These things are still yet to come. So today is a day of mercy. Today is a day of chance, a day of opportunity. For those that hear these things, that heed these things, it is not yet too late. There is no sin so large that my Savior can’t forgive, if you ask Him to forgive. His greatest desire is to save you, and He will, but you must ask. If you don’t ask, my Savior won’t save you, He will someday be your judge. The bible says...
1 And working together with Him, we also plead with you not to receive the grace of God in vain—
2 for He says, “At the acceptable time I listened to you, And on the day of salvation I helped you.” Behold, now is “the acceptable time,” behold, now is “the day of salvation”—
So what is receiving the grace of God in vain? Being given time and opportunity. Being given this day, today, to receive Him, rather than receive wrath and to vainly, to arrogantly, and pridefully reject His invitation. Essentially, you have to trip over Jesus, to march your way into hell. I tell you these things because of what is to come.
For the non-Christian my prayer is that the Holy Spirit causes you to hear these things like you never have. Perhaps this is your first time, what an amazing display of love that God would orchestrate space, time, and matter to bring you here on this day. Or maybe, maybe... you have been in church your whole life, and you have heard. You have heard it over and over and over again, but now, today, the Holy Spirit has opened your eyes to the fact that up until today... you have been receiving the grace of God in vain.
I want every single one of us in the room today, physically or virtually, to consider that God has you here for a reason and a purpose…His purpose. I believe that God is Sovereign. That He is bigger than you and I. And I believe with my whole heart that He brought you here today, and that He brought Me hear today... to hear and receive these particular things in Revelation chapter 9. So please join me in prayer as we ask Him to reveal that to each one of us.
Father God, we know that You are the God of Compassion, that You are gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness. But also righteous and just. Lord I believe Your desire for us is to hear these things today and have it result in us taking action from having heard it. SO Father, please give us understanding of your Word, as well as our personal assignment. And Lord if there is any, present today, that does not yet know You as Savior, Lord, please Save them today, this acceptable time, this day of salvation, in Jesus Name, amen.
If you have been with us throughout the entire study, then you know that we are in the middle of the second grouping of judgments, the trumpet judgments, and that last time we made it as far as the first 4 trumpet judgments. By way of reminder, so far we saw the first angel in chapter 8 the angel blew his trumpet and we saw that the vegetation was struck in a major, but also a measured way. A third of the earth was burned up, a third of the trees were burned up, all of the green grass was burned up, there was hail and fire, mixed with blood that was thrown down upon the earth.
The second angel blew his trumpet and the sea was affected. What looked like a great mountain was thrown into the sea and a third of it became blood, a third of the ships were destroyed, and a third of all living creatures in third sea died.
The third trumpet sounded and a great star falls from heaven, and now the fresh waters are hit, we saw the salt water struck, but now the fresh waters in the rivers and the springs were turned bitter and men died from the waters, we don’t know how many, but it too took more life.
When the fourth trumpet sounds, it is catastrophic, the sun, the moon, and the stars are struck, a third of each and the days and the nights are shortened and our climate as we now know it is altered in a way that impacts our weather and agriculture. But our chapter ended with a warning and it really it is the beginning of chapter 19 or the introduction of it, so allow me to read that and we will continue with our study. Chapter 8, vs. 13
13 Then I looked, and I heard an eagle flying in midheaven, saying with a loud voice, “Woe, woe, woe to those who dwell on the earth, because of the remaining blasts of the trumpet of the three angels who are about to sound!”
Now before we dive in, I just want to remind you of the pattern that we see. You know way back in chapter 1, John was instructed to write down the things that He saw, that being the revealing of the glorified Christ in chapter 1. The things which are,... and he wrote of the churches that existed in his day, actual churches and that was in chapters 2-3, and then the things which are yet to come, or after these things, chapters 4-22 which is the section we are in now.
Well in this section we should be observing a pattern emerge. In chapters 4, 5, and 6 we saw the first 6 seal judgments. In chapter 7 there is an interlude. In chapter 8 we see the 7th seal, but when we look back the 1st 4 of these judgments were announced by the 4 living creatures and the last 3 were unique and as I mentioned there was an interlude between the 6th and the 7th. Which then opened up the trumpet judgments in chapters 8 & 9. Here we see the first 6 trumpet judgments. In chapters 10 & 11 there is a second interlude and then following that we see the 7th trumpet in the latter part of chapter 11. So again, just like with the seals, we have the first 4 trumpet judgments grouped together textually, and the last three are unique.
So we see this cyclical pattern unfolding throughout these judgments that is just another way of showing us that God is pouring this out in a very measured and controlled way, with the hope, and the goal that people will repent and turn to Him. Now jumping ahead when we finish the trumpet judgments, we will see the pattern diverge just a little, but remain similar to what we have seen. In chapters 12-15 we will see the 3rd interlude, followed by chapter 16 which reveals the 7 bowl judgments and then the remainder of the book 17-22 which is the judgment of satan and the establishment of the Kingdom of God.
Hopefully that will help give you some understanding as we move forward through these things. Verse 1 of Rev chapter 9
1 Then the fifth angel sounded. Then I saw a star from heaven which had fallen to the earth, and the key of the pit of the abyss was given to him.
I want you to notice a couple of important things here. The Legacy Standard Bible is the proper translation of things here, some versions say I saw a star fall, here we have I saw a star from heaven which had fallen. In the original language it is very clear that this is an action that has taken place in the past. It is completed, and is permanent. Notice also that this star was a him, the end of the verse says the key was given to him. So we aren’t confused or distracted, understand the word star is used in at least three different ways in the book of Revelation, or at least three ways that we have seen so far.
In chapter 2:28, and again in 28:16 Jesus is called the bright and morning star, so there it is a reference to the Messiah. There are other times like in 3:1, 6:13, 8:12 the star is really a star, but then here in chapter 9 and in other places in the book we see this idea of a star being an angel, sometimes good and sometimes bad.
Here this angel is tasked with unlocking the bottomless pit. So it tells us something else, that currently this pit of the abyss is sealed, it is locked up and requires a key to be opened. And notice who has the key. The star here didn’t, and does not currently have the key, he will be given the key. Currently, today, right now God holds the key. So the Lord controls the opening of the pit, the closing of the pit, and the timing of those things.
Something else,... and we will get to our chapter, but I hope to clear up some confusion and maybe preemptively cut off some rabbit trails in your Growth Groups this week. The word that is translated in my Bible abyss in the Greek is the word. Abyssou or Abyssos - Abu sos, not applesauce Your bible might say bottomless pit
The understanding of this is that the abyss would be the lowest part of what the Hebrews would call Sheol. Sometimes called the underworld. The dwelling place of the dead and we will see the dwelling place of the demons, in our common language today it is what we would call hell.
For the dead, there are different places to which they are consigned. Before Jesus Christ everyone was consigned to the grave. Or the Hebrew word Sheol which means grave, but is also translated as hell. In the NT the word we see is Hades, which is the equivalent to the Hebrew Sheol, or the grave, it is the same place. According to Jesus in Luke chapter 16 was divided into two separate compartments.
One was a place were people were tormented and the other a place of comfort. Jesus tells the story there of a rich man that dressed in fine linens and ate of the good things of the earth. He also spoke of a poor man, who’s only was able to eat of the crumbs that fell from the rich man’s table. The poor man died and was carried by the angels to a place called Abraham’s Bosom (Buzum). The rich man also died and went to Hades, Hell , being in torment he lifted up his eyes and he saw in the distance Abraham and He also saw the poor man, Lazarus being comforted and he cried out...
24 “And he cried out and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus so that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool off my tongue, for I am in agony in this flame.’
25 “But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that during your life you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus bad things. But now he is being comforted here, and you are in agony.
26 ‘And besides all this, between us and you there is a great chasm fixed, so that those who wish to come over from here to you are not able, and none may cross over from there to us.’
So Jesus here gives the description of Hades prior to His death.
Now if you were with us for our Wednesday night study of the book of Isaiah, you are familiar with the prophecy concerning the Messiah. And there it says in Isaiah…61
In the first verse that part of the ministry of the Messiah was to…bring good news..
1 The Spirit of Lord Yahweh is upon me Because Yahweh has anointed me To bring good news to the afflicted; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, To proclaim release to captives And freedom to prisoners,
Prior to the cross, there was only a covering of sin from the sacrifice of the animals, only a covering, not a cleansing that took place when Jesus Christ was crucified and spilled His blood. It took the blood of Jesus to put away our sins. So prior to the cross, all men and women who died went to this place called Hades, which was divided into the two compartments. The paradise side and the hell side.
When the pharisees asked Jesus for a sign…do you guys remember His response? Matt 12:39-40
39 But He answered and said to them, “An evil and adulterous generation eagerly seeks for a sign; and yet no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah the prophet;
40 for just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
Now this gets a bit complicated and confusing if we don’t address it, but in that incredible sermon that Peter gave in Acts chapter 2 that resulted in the birth of the church. He quotes David, speaking of the Messiah I think it is Psalm 16 but I’ll show you the quote from Acts 2 he says this.
25 “For David says of Him, ‘I saw the Lord continually before me; Because He is at my right hand, so that I will not be shaken.
26 ‘Therefore my heart was glad and my tongue exulted; Moreover my flesh also will live in hope;
27 Because You will not forsake my soul to Hades, Nor give Your Holy One over to see corruption.
a little further down in his message, vs. 31 and 32 says
31 he looked ahead and spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that He was neither forsaken to Hades, nor did His flesh see corruption.
32 “This Jesus God raised up again, to which we are all witnesses.
Paul in Ephesians 4 says…Eph 4:7-10
7 But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift.
8 Therefore it says, “When He ascended on high, He led captive a host of captives, And He gave gifts to men.”
9 (Now this expression, “He ascended,” what does it mean except that He also descended into the lower parts of the earth?
10 He who descended is Himself also He who ascended far above all the heavens, so that He might fill all things.)
The prophecy of Isaiah fulfilled in that when He ascended, he set the captives free and lead them into Heaven, so that Now…the child of God, because the way has been made by Jesus defeating death, so now when the christian dies, to be absent from the body means to be present with the Lord.
Paul wrote to the Corinthians…2 Cor 12:2-5
2 I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago—whether in the body I do not know, or out of the body I do not know, God knows—such a man was caught up to the third heaven.
3 And I know how such a man—whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, God knows—
4 was caught up into Paradise and heard inexpressible words, which a man is not permitted to speak.
5 On behalf of such a man I will boast, but on my own behalf I will not boast, except in weaknesses.
He goes on to write that he is now torn, because of what he had seen. His desire was to be in Heaven, but he knew for him to remain was helpful for the people. When Jesus completed His work on the cross that one part, the paradise side of the grave was cleared out, Jesus opened the door of heaven for the Saints of God.
Now there remains a second part, and that is this abyssou, or the bottomless pit. Remember when Jesus approached the demonic, after crossing to the other side to the region of the gadarenes, he asked the demon what was his name...
30 And Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Legion,” for many demons had entered him.
31 And they were pleading with Him not to command them to go away into the abyss.
It is also mentioned in Rev 17 when antichrist comes on the scene we are told he comes from the abyss.
At the end of this book when Jesus returns to the earth to establish the kingdom of God and comes with all of His Saints, Satan is taken and chained and throne into the abyss for a 1,000 years, this is in chapter 20, then after this he is let out temporarily, then he will be cast into Gehenna where the beast and the false prophet are.
One day death and hell will give up the dead to be judged before God again chapter 20 at the great white throne judgement, those whose names are not in the Lambs book of life will be cast into Gehenna. This is often also just translated as hell, so without a concordance it is difficult to tell if it is talking about Gehenna or Hades. They are different. Jesus describes it as the place of outer darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. It is the final place of incarceration fro evil spirits
The first to be cast there will be the beast and the false prophet when Jesus returns to the earth. He destroys them and they are cast into Gehenna. A thousand years later after Satan's short lived rebellion at the end of the Millennium then He is cast into Gehenna where the beast and the false prophet are. Not were, but are…it is eternal. Chapter 14 in Revelation says the smoke of torment goes up forever and ever.
So hopefully you can separate these places in your mind and maybe make some better sense of things.
Lastly, there is one other place…mentioned only by Peter...
4 For if God did not spare angels who sinned, but cast them into the pit and delivered them to chains of darkness, being kept for judgment;
The pit here is the word Tartarus. Believed to be the deepest portion of Hell. They could be the four angels that have been bond at the great river Euphrates later in our chapter. Interesting that in the context, Peter is actually talking false prophets and those that lead others astray and comparing them to these angels…there are more but related to these chains of darkness, you can jot this one down as well Jude 6
6 And angels who did not keep their own domain, but abandoned their proper abode, He has kept in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day,
I know we aren’t going as fast as some of you would like, but I want to make sure we understand what is going on here. Back in chapter 1, part of Jesus’ introduction of Himself He says this…I am the First and the Last...
18 and the living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forever and ever, and I have the keys of death and of Hades.
So now in chapter 9, this Key that Jesus had is being given to this angel to unlock what you and I would call hell and release those things that as of right now are still being held there by the power of the Lord.
Now up to this point in time you have probably believed as the far majority of Christians believe that when Satan and all of the fallen angels that sided with Him were cast out of heaven, you probably thought that all of the demons just came down to the earth and started terrorizing everyone on earth making sin abound. The terrifying thing to me. Although we see the place of demons on the earth today and in the New Testament like in the passage I shared with you from the gospel of Luke. But when we read the bible and examine what it actually says, we learn that not all of the demons and fallen angels are free to roam the earth, yet. Woe, woe, woe, you ain’t seen nothing yet.
Many, many, many millions and millions have been imprisoned and will remain until this time during the tribulation when the key will be turned over and they will be released to unleash hell on earth.
Now verse 2
2 And he opened the pit of the abyss and smoke went up out of the pit, like the smoke of a great furnace, and the sun and the air were darkened by the smoke of the pit.
Somewhere on the earth there is a locked door, or a shaft that leads into the abyss. When this time comes, this angel that fell from Heaven opens it, smoke rises up out of the pit, so much smoke that the sun and the air are darkened. Out of this smoke comes these demonic creatures. John tries his best to describe them to us..he writes in verse 3.
3 Then out of the smoke came locusts upon the earth, and power was given them, as the scorpions of the earth have power.
Now, we don’t often have to deal with locusts in Maine, but often in the scriptures they are used in conjunction with judgment. Last year Nicole and I were traveling along the east coast and we started seeing these flying creatures and couldn’t tell what they were, until one landed on her leg...
Now that is not a picture of the actual demon, that guy didn’t actually survive, I tell you guys all the time not to mess with that woman, in fact that isn’t really a locust, it is a cicada, but neither are these actual locust as we will see in his description.
Verse 4
4 And they were told not to hurt the grass of the earth, nor any green thing, nor any tree, but only the men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads.
5 And they were not permitted to kill anyone, but to torment for five months, and their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it stings a man.
6 And in those days men will seek death and will never find it; they will long to die, and death flees from them.
As the pit opens and smokes rises into the sky so much that the sun is darkened. These demonic monsters like locus arise out of this pit. I say like locus because as we read here we discover that they are not like normal locus. Yes they swarm, and yes they devour the same way that locus that we are familiar with. Like when they destroy an area of crops or in the old testament where we read about the plagues and the torment of the locus.
But these guys aren’t feasting on the crops of Palestine. They were not permitted to hurt the grass or any green thing, or tree, but only those who were the unsaved and rebellious upon the earth. They are given the power of scorpions, the power of pain and torment really. But they can’t reach everyone, verse 4 tells us they can’t touch the people who have the seal of God on their foreheads. So who is that?
It’s an easy question to answer on the surface, but perhaps that answer isn’t complete. The quick easy answer if you were us last week. In chapter 7 we read that God saved 144,000 single, male, virgin, Jews and when He did that He wrote his name on their foreheads. In chapter 14, referring to these same guys we read last week.
1 Then I looked, and behold, the Lamb was standing on Mount Zion, and with Him 144,000, having His name and the name of His Father written on their foreheads.
So the easy quick answer is these are the guys, the saved from Israel that are sealed, they are safe from this trumpet judgement the locus can’t harm them. But the harder part of the answer, what about the gentile believers. Remember last week we read about a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues a crazy number of gentiles that get saved in the tribulation....so what about them? Revelation doesn’t specifically say here, but what about them are they sealed are they not sealed? It would have been a good Growth Group question....
Will Christians in the tribulation, those that get saved during that time, remember if you’re saved before that time, if you aren’t left behind, your favorite chapters so far should be 4&5 because that’s us, the church is already in heaven and doesn’t have to worry about any of this...
But an unmeasurable number will become saved, so will they suffer from these demonic locus and not be able to die for 5 months?
Here’s my answer, from my understanding of the bible. I’m going to take you to a couple of passages, but first I know that when we get to the end of this book and you can write these references down, the first in from chapter 21:24-27, and then 22:3-4 there is an interesting statement where it is talking about the new Jerusalem and the new Heaven and the new earth. The Kingdom age has been established, Satan is punished, the spiritual war is over, life is wonderful. There is a statement about the nations that are gathered before the Lord and the bible, every tribe, every tongue and it makes a reference to them having the name of Jesus being on their foreheads.
In the rest of the NT Christians are said over and over again to be sealed by the Holy Spirit, which will also happen in the tribulation period because it is a mark of salvation. I think that knowing what we know, reading what we read that we can be quite confident that it is not just the 144,000 that are sealed, but we can expound that to all believers in the tribulation. Another reason I believe that is remember again the purpose of these demonic monsters is to pour out a judgment plague. And why would God pour out judgement upon those that are saved? Their judgement has been paid for in full at the cross, amen?
But for those that are not saved, again...
5 And they were not permitted to kill anyone, but to torment for five months, and their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it stings a man.
6 And in those days men will seek death and will never find it; they will long to die, and death flees from them.
They will not be able to die, the suffering will not end. This is why the angel or the eagle flew and cried out woe, woe, woe. It was difficult before, but this is next level, this is painful.
7 And the appearance of the locusts was like horses prepared for battle. And on their heads appeared to be crowns like gold, and their faces were like the faces of men.
8 And they had hair like the hair of women, and their teeth were like the teeth of lions.
9 And they had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the sound of their wings was like the sound of chariots, of many horses running to battle.
10 And they have tails like scorpions, and stings; and in their tails is their power to hurt men for five months.
Lets absorb that for a moment. Again, John is trying his best to describe what he sees. We see over and over in the bible locust being a sign of judgement I won’t take you there this morning as we are running out of time, but you can look up Exodus chapter 10, Duet. 28, 1 Kings 8, Joel 1, Amos 4, etc.
Now if you were taught this even just a short time ago, many men taught and several commentaries still insist that John is describing our modern forms of warfare that he new nothing about. Many describe them as helicopters that John had never seen and could only try to make sense of. I don’t think so.
It is some kind of elite, futuristic weaponized army of men? When we get to verse 16 it tells us that the number of them was 200 million
I found a website
Defense Technical Information Center website has an unclassified report
Wortzel, Larry M. 1998 Oct 02 ARMY WAR COLL STRATEGIC STUDIES China's Military Potential
Wortzel, Larry M. 1998 Oct 02 ARMY WAR COLL STRATEGIC STUDIES China's Military Potential
China's standing armed force of some 2.8 million active soldiers in uniform is the largest military force in the world. Approximately 1 million reservists and some 15 million militia back them up. With a population of over 1.2 billion people, China also has a potential manpower base of another 200 million males fit for military service available at any time.
So is this a future army from the east? Red China, or a combining of forces with Japan? I don’t think so, although all of these theories are popularly held and taught by bible teachers, some within our own fellowship of churches. Here’s my problem with all of that…I think just a careful examination of our text in verses 2 and 3 tell us where they come from…they come out of the bottomless pit.
Not from China, or Russia, not from Iran…they are some kind of demonically empowered monsters of which the world has never seen, or at least John had never seen anything like it, that come up with the smoke to torment and torture the earth for 5 months. So, be very, very, careful. I know as we are reading through this book, especially this time through, with all of what is going on in Israel, it looks like what we are reading here is describing the headlines in our daily news. But we have to be careful not to manipulate the text that we are reading to try to make it fit our time or our headlines. This is terrifying enough. Tormenting demons being released from the bottomless pit, but that is exactly what they are.
Verse 11 in another reference so we know they aren’t actual locust. Verse 11
11 They have as king over them, the angel of the abyss. His name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in the Greek he has the name Apollyon.
There is a verse in the Proverbs that tells us that the locus have no king, even though they move in organized ranks. No they are not natural locust, they have a king that rules over them and that King is the King of the bottomless pit…the names are interesting Abaddon means destruction and Apollyon means destroyer. That is exactly what they come to do is bring destruction upon men. So this is either Satan himself or a highest rank leader of demons.
12 One woe is past; behold, two woes are still coming after these things.
So this is only the first of three. I am so glad that I will be taken up in the rapture with the other Christians. If you are not saved, get saved. You don’t want to be here for this. If you are saved, hearing these things, even if you’ve read them before and heard them before, Christian the Lord has you here today too for a reason. He has chosen to remind you to motivate you, to give you a burden and a passion to do the work of the Kingdom. To be a part of the Great commission and to make disciples. To be a part of saving souls, and to do that you need to tell them about Jesus.
So here the 6th angel and the 6th trumpet about a the mighty army....
13 Then the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God,
14 one saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release the four angels who have been bound at the great river Euphrates.”
15 And the four angels were released, who had been prepared for the hour and day and month and year, so that they would kill a third of mankind.
We know that the golden alter was the alter of incense that represents the prayers of the people of God. The four horns were at each corner of the alter and atoning blood was placed upon them. Scary here when we consider that there is more evil to be unleashed, more angels that have been bound. Some argue that these are good angels unleashing God’s judgment, I don’t know, but the fact that they too have been bound and now are released in conjunction with the others and the opening of the bottomless pit would cause me to think otherwise.
So the first plague here was given a mission to torment, and we see that these have a different mission. Their mission is to kill. A week or two ago I gave you some rough numbers of our current population of the world. I don’t want to do the math this morning, but I want you to consider that this all starts with the rapture of the church. I don’t have a clue how many actual Christians walk the face of this earth. Wikipedia says that Christianity is still the largest religion in the world with over 2.4 billion professed adherents. So giving a wide benefit of the doubt. 2.4 billion people disappear off the face of the earth, and with them the restraining force of the Holy Spirit within them. Then back at the breaking of the 4th seal we saw 1/4, 25% of all humanity killed. And then a 1/3 of the ships, and then men died because of the bitter waters. Now here with the 6th trumpet we loose another 1/3 of mankind, so well over half of our current population is gone.
16 And the number of the armies of the horsemen was two hundred million; I heard the number of them.
17 And this is how I saw in the vision the horses and those who sit on them: the riders had breastplates the color of fire and of hyacinth and of brimstone; and the heads of the horses are like the heads of lions; and out of their mouths come fire and smoke and brimstone.
18 A third of mankind was killed by these three plagues, by the fire and the smoke and the brimstone which came out of their mouths.
19 For the power of the horses is in their mouths and in their tails; for their tails are like serpents, having heads, and with them they do harm.
200 million of them strong doing harm upon mankind. According to Google AI, As of June 30, 2024, the United States military has approximately 1.3 million active duty service members. This includes members of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, Space Force, and Coast Guard. The U.S. military also employs around 754,000 civilians, giving it a total force of about 2.8 million.
The real terror in this chapter is in the next two verses...
20 And the rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, so as not to worship demons, and the idols of gold and of silver and of brass and of stone and of wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk.
21 And they did not repent of their murders nor of their sorceries nor of their sexual immorality nor of their thefts.
So the wrath continues…the list here is interesting did not repent of their murders.
1 John 3:15 says...
15 Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.
It mentions sorceries which is translated pharmacia. The taking of drugs that when we intoxicate our minds we open up our souls. Sexual immorality, any sexual activity outside of marriage. Sexuality isn’t just a physical thrill or release, it creates a spiritual bond. A hook for the enemy to exploit. Nicole and I were reading in Proverbs this week and we came across this verse. Whoever commits adultery with a woman lacks understanding;
He who does so destroys his own soul. Each encounter that you have puts a hook into your soul. Included on this list are thefts which are being justified more and more everyday.
Friend, do not receive the grace of God in vain, today is the day of salvation, don’t be deceived into thinking that you will stand for Jesus then, if you can’t do it today. Let’s pray.
Grace and Peace
