Hello all! Christian Greetings! I am wondering if the of King James is active now for going back further in one's comments?
On another topic, in the past I have meditated on whether God's people on earth are always surrounded by hostile forces. I believe this thought with history can help us understand Daniel and therefore Revelation.
Hope everyone is doing well! Thanks for letting me know about Friends of King James.
It appears that there were at least 14 prayers of Moses; which I think I can safely say shows his prayers were more frequent and a more intimate relationship with the Lord than anyone besides David and of course Christ Himself; except perhaps John the Baptist. Exodus 33:11 speaks of the uniqueness of Moses who spoke face to face with the Lord and even got to view him from afar (his back quarters) in Exodus 33:20-23. We do well to "camp out" on these prayers to learn something about humility as we see was part of Moses' character; as well as his two faults listed in scripture.
Going back into history a bit; we can see through the prayers for offspring of Abraham and Sarah; and that of a wife for Isaac that the entire Biblical lineage as well as the foundation of the patriarchs who constituted the beginnings of the nation of Israel to come much later were established. We go further to Joseph who oddly enough from what I can see doesn't have any prayers listed although certainly lived a faithful existence. With Abraham we have promises of freedom of captivity after 400 years ( Genesis 15:13) which was finally coming to fruition with Moses being God's chosen vessel for this undertaking. Now we had an entire nation of Jews along with a multitude of others along with untold women and children exiting Egypt and basically wandering in the desert; punished by God so that only Joshua and Caleb remained of the original generation to be accompanied by the next generation. It is noteable that Moses' prayer or plea to God to enter the Promised Land was rejected; although He was allowed to view it from afar. ( Deut. 32:52). This was due to his sin at Meribeh ( Numbers 20:13-15). Moses only had one other sin listed; that of killing the Egyptian back before his own 40 years of exile and hiding in Exodus 2:12.
Themes of prayer for a corporate body in Exodus remind us of prayers needed for the church at large. We also need leaders today like this
Genesis 18 involves a conversation with the Lord (likely the incarnate Christ) about the fate of Sodom. Since technically a conversation with God is a prayer (but these days God doesn't appear and have interaction with us in that way) it can be said this is a prayer. The discussion itself was more of a "tit for tat" inquiry or inquisition as it were. This "testing" of God of course can be a dangerous thing; but we must keep in mind first and foremost Lot would have been on his mind; particularly in light of the destruction to come announced by the two angels who had just departed to see what was going on on the ground as it were.
Since Abraham was not privy to God delivering FROM disaster at this point and perhaps was too afraid to state the obvious he whittled down a righteous total to 10 and stopped; with God assuring him that the city would remain if 10 righteous people could be found. Perhaps he was counting on the son in laws if he was aware of them; the same ones who would ridicule the angels when the message was dellivered. He may have also thought SURELY SOMEONE else besides Lot and his immediate family would be justified; perhaps being as removed as he was from the wholesale depravity that had become the lifestyle of everyone in Sodom. He was desperate; no doubt. What he didn't realize; of course is that he stopped just ABOVE the true number of righteous there; in fact Lot's wife would famously turn back and Luke 9:62 seems a fitting epitaph for this pathetic woman who turned into a pillar of salt.
In this case; of course we had a pagan nation God had determined was time to destroy. We see a similar request of intercession after the idolotry in Exodus 32. Moses interceded in verses 11-13 and God relented. We might say that he THROUGH the power of the Spirit interceded and Christ would have foreseen through his future atonement how to cover their sin. This shows the mystery of the Godhead.
GENESIS 4:26 And to Seth, to him also there was born a son; and he called his name Enos: then began men to call upon the name of the LORD.
This verse is supposed to be a reference to prayers first being said. I never quite understood it that way but in any case nothing specific is said. It is noteworthy what is MISSING in the Antidiluvian era which is ANY reference to prayer at all; we don't even see anything stated for Noah a man of faith; perhaps this is why he silpped so easily into drunkenness after the event when he was tilling a vineyard.
IN the Believer's Portal (dot com) cite we find a list of 650 prayers in scripture. I would recommend that site to get a comprehensive overview of prayer in scripture. According to this cite Genesis 15 is the first prayer stated in scripture and involved Abraham's prayer for his offspring; with the next being Isaac's prayer for Ishmael; the third was Abraham's well known one involving God sparing 10 righteous if they existed in Sodom. This cite also gives the response; in the second prayer it wasn't according to God's will and hence wasn't answered.
Genesis 21 contains the first prayer of a woman (Hagar). This prayer expresses her concern for the immediate fate of her son; Ishmael born from Abraham's seed. She is given miraculous provision in the desert; then told of the future of her son in verse 12 to be a "wild donkey of a man". This sort of "sentiment" wasn't limited to her as others had less than favorable destinies in other familial "blessings".
These passages show that front and center was family posterity and generational blessings and cursings that were the result of prayers as well as frequent scripture themes of God's working with the early patriarchs. Since only a few families existed for God's righteous line it isn't unexpected these are prevalent subject matters of prayers at that time.
In the next post I will consider Abraham's prayer about Sodom and how he acted as intercessor.
This likely is the start of another lengthy series of postings. I fear that my sermon like "lecturing" isn't exactly working at times.
I felt it prudent to let the scriptures speak for themselves-and am unaware of anyone who has searched the scriptures both O.T. and N.T. for a comprehensive study of all times that prayer occurred and repeated themes and patterns that could be established.
Praying "in the Spirit" ( Ephesians 6:18 and 2 other references) is hard to precisely define. There are many theological discussions on what is "proper" or improper things to pray about; but I am unaware of any doctrinal statements that nail it down like there are on other church ordinances; and ceremonies. Interestingly as I have brought up several times on this forum there is no scripture that invokes a saint to pray for a SPECIFIC person to come to Christ. It seems the majority of prayers are personal in scripture. With that being said; intercession for the saints is a vital component ( Romans 8:27); and praying for the nation asking for mercy with national sins is another theme; associated with God's covenant promises being affirmed in the long run despite the disobedience as we see in the case of Daniel chapter 9.
As I may have mentioned in the past; a friend of mine a few years back started an early morning prayer group which I briefly attended before moving back home with my parents and stated that he was "desperate" for prayer. I know of at least one person in my current church who is in his 60s but gets up at 4 or so each day to pray and listen to a Bible study before working his full time job. I have known a couple others in the past who have done the same sort of thing. I'd like to be that way myself; rather than the "ZOMBIE" like state that I am in the early morning. My prayer is fairly consistent but later in the morning although traffic to work has cut that short recently.
In the end; whether by man's weapons of warfare; or God's supernatural destruction using perhaps volcanoes and other natural events to bring about destruction by fire and hail and earthquakes man is rarer than the "gold of Ophir" ( Isaiah 13:17).
In light of current events it isn't entirely implausible that due to political correctness and the efforts for one world "peace" that nuclear weapons could be curbed and once again horses literally could be used in warfare; as is mentioned once again in Revelation 19 in Armageddon. It seems in this event that air and sea weaponry is either not used or very insignificant; particularly in referring to the crossing over of the Euphrates as being a prime event. Many nations don't have a very sophisticated or extensive airplane or ship capability today in that part of the world; and those that do probably will be wiped out in the earlier Ezekiel 38 campaign.
As I said in the outset; where we are now has no guarantees but prayer is something we should bring to worldwide events as well as to individual situations. No doubt judgment has been delayed because the Lord heard our cry and allowed us to intercede through the Spirit much as Moses did to avoid God wiping out everyone at the time and starting over again. The biggest thing to watch out for is what Thessalonians calls "peace and safety (or security). There has to be enough APPARENT progress made in that area to fool the world through Antichrist. This would probably involve overthrow of many if not all of today's worldwide political structures that have long failed to deliver or at least complete overhaul. The existing structure will never be trustworthy enough at this point to sway the masses toward this Beast; he must appear to give everyone what they want and make them think they have actually achieved their "humanitarian" humanistic utopia of total freedom. Ultimately God and Christ are made to be the enemy.
The previous post seems to show horses; and old time warfare involving shields and bucklers. There has been some attempt here as with other verses in Revelation to say modern warfare is implicit here. The destruction by fire and hail that seems to relate to the sixth bowl event or perhaps some of the earlier trumpet events still emphasizes God's judgment SPECIFICALLY. It seems more likely these events are from God Himself particularly in light of this passage and others like it.
And so I will show my greatness and my holiness, and I will make myself known in the sight of many nations. Then they will know that I am the LORD.' (Verse 23 at end of Ezekiel 38). There is evidence in verse 21 of people fighting each other; again making an actual sword as a weapon more likely. There are also 1/6 that survive and I believe are submissive and bring captives back to Israel again and are part of the Millennial period. Hence they would NOT take the mark; and that would take away the validity of those who say Antichrist is King of the North. It would appear his part comes after this event when the nations from the North and East invade; although the beginning of that invasion could be with the northern army as to getting his attention.
ARMAGEDDON.
Before I continue; I should point out that Revelation 16:12 mentions the drying of the Euphrates NOT the sixth trumpet judgment. I erred in the last post. This would be the sixth angel; the SEVENTH would be the final hailstone and earthquake (may have said sixth in last posts also).
In any event; we see at this point actual armies being drawn to fight Christ; and it parallels Psalm 2 and doubtless other scriptures. As with Zechariah we see God supernaturally defeating these armies after judging the Beast and False Prophet while still alive with final judgment in the lake of fire. God shortens these days or no man would be saved ( Matt. 24:22).
2 Son of man, set thy face against Gog, the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him,
3 And say, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal:
4 And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws, and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords:
5 Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet:
6 Gomer, and all his bands; the house of Togarmah of the north quarters, and all his bands: and many people with thee.
7 Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them.
8 After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them.
This would seem to compare with these passages: Daniel 11:40
And at the time of the end shall the king of the south push at him: and the king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over.
Daniel 11:44 But reports from the east and the north will alarm him, and he will set out in a great rage to destroy and annihilate many.
The TIMING of this event is tricky; conceivably it could be BEFORE the Tribulation or at its onset; or be closer to the Midpoint.
Since Israel is in a land that appears to be at peace this would come as a surprise and couldn't be after the midpoint when Antichrist takes over. The seven year cleanup could go beyond the Tribulation.
The US government and the democrat media is in the business of pushing delusions. It's nonstop gaslighting, pushing false narratives and justifying it through logical fallacies and falsehoods. It's amazing that Nancy Pelosi was even caught on video explaining how the democrats lie through what she calls a "wrap up smear". It's even on YouTube, but I bet that if admins learn about it they will take it down because they try to censor everything truthful that hurts them politically.
So many people seem oblivious to this scripture and the warning signs around us. This world is quickly spiraling down and people are acting crazy with immorality. It is absolutely shocking to witness this first hand and see the huge changes from just 10 years ago.
Hello KJVonly , your name is unusual considering your question . When the books of the Bible were written humans had not invented or devised the concept of ' genre's' so the books are not divided in such ways . They are I suppose divided by the human scribes , Moses being the scribe of the first five books . The New Testament is comprised of personal letters . The Bible as a whole is to me the book of life and truth and peace . I think the best thing to do is to answer the question for yourself by reading it all .
Is.30:27-Behold,the name of the Lord cometh from far,burning with his anger,and the burden thereof is heavy:His lips are full of indignation, His tongue as a devouring fire:
Is.13:6-13
6Howl ye;for the day of the Lord is at hand;it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty
7Therefore shall all hands be faint,and every man's heart shall melt:
8And they shall be afraid:pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth:they shall be amazed one at another;their faces shall be as flames
9Behold,the day of the Lord cometh,cruel both with wrath and fierce anger,to lay the land desolate:and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it
10For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light
11And I will punish the world for their evil,and the wicked for their iniquity;and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease,and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible
12I will make a man more precious than fine gold;even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir
13Therefore I will shake the heavens,and the earth shall remove out of her place,in the wrath of the Lord of hosts,and in the Day of His fierce anger.
Is.33:10-15
10Now will I rise,saith the Lord;now will I be exalted;now will I lift up myself.
12And the people shall be as the burnings of lime:as thorns cut up shall they be burned in the fire.
13Hear,ye that are far off,what I have done;and,ye that are near, acknowledge my might.
14The sinners in Zion are afraid;fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites.Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire?who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?
15He that walks righteously,and speaks uprightly;he that despiseth the gain of oppressions,that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes,that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood,and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil.
4I also will choose their delusions,and will bring their fears upon them;because when I called,none did answer;when I spake,they did not hear...
2Thes.2:8-12
8And then shall that Wicked be revealed,whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth-His Word-,and shall destroy with the brightness of His coming:
9Even him,whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,
10And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish;because they received not the love of the truth,that they might be saved.
11And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion,that they should believe a lie:
12That they all might be DAMNED who believed not the Truth- believed not in JESUS-,but had pleasure in unrighteousness
Mat.24:15-25
15When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation,spoken of by Daniel the prophet,stand in the holy place,(whoso readeth,let him understand)
PRIOR ADVICE OF OUR LORD
16Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains
17Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house
18Neither let him which is in the field return back...
ABOUT STRONG PUNISHMENT
21For then shall be great tribulation,such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time,no,nor ever shall be.
22And except those days should be shortened,there should no flesh be saved:but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened
GREAT DANGER EVEN FOR THE ELECTS-THE FALSE MESSIAH
23Then if any man-Pastors,and Bishops,Evangelists,Missionaries, among others-shall say unto you, Lo,here is Christ,or there;BELIEVE IT NOT
24For there shall arise false Christs,and false prophets-FALSE PREACHERS OF THE WORD OF GOD-2Cor.11:13-15,and shall shew great signs and wonders;insomuch that,if it were possible,they shall deceive(even)the very elect
PUT THIS IN YOUR MIND - THE RED SEA AND THE RED DRAGON
I believe you know that the Hebrews had to cross the Red Sea,and walk through a desert,walk until they got to the Promised Land after 40 years of pilgrimage.What about GOD's people now or in this current time?
Now GOD's people will have to go through(I mean win a war)against the Red Dragon,that's exactly it,a Red Dragon yes,this is no coincidence,it was predicted millennia ago.He's a false messiah who will soon manifest,just ahead,with great signs of lying,he will manifest in Israel like a lamb with two horns,he's a Jew,of course, and he'll speak like a Dragon. Revelation 12.3-17 and Revelation 13: 11-18.
Let's get ready to go through this not easy FINAL journey of GOD's people here until the glorious,marvelous,and day of exceedingly joy - the day 1335.Amen.
Remembering and understanding that the departure of the Hebrew people from Egypt was not without first having taken place a battle against Pharaoh(by the way,there and now is Satan himself),and when the march began for the departure of GOD's people from Egypt, then the enemy army persecuted the Hebrews,the same will happen now,initially the persecution will be by the man Beast of the sea,it is he who will first persecute the Christian believers- Revelation 13:5 - for 42 months,that is the first half of the last week, week 70th Daniel 9:v.27.This POINT is only and only the half of the way -3,5 years or 42 months,the GOD's people will need to march more 3,5 years,so the murch will last 7 years,it will not be easy this journey of course.
Again:Let's get ready to go through this not easy FINAL journey of GOD's people here until the glorious,marvelous,and day of exceendigly joy-the day 1335. Amen.
JESUS in His prayer to the Father,said: John 17:15 - I pray not that thou take them out of the world, but that thou keep them from the evil.
Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth. Matthew 5:5
Based in the Word of God, on GOD's six Days of creation and one Day of rest (a total of seven days) plus the Scriptures that teach that one Day is with the Lord as a thousand years, so MANKIND would go through six GOD Days of 1,000 years each (a total of 6,000 years) plus a Millennium of 1,000 years rest (now a total of 7,000 years).
According biblical Chronology, starting by Genesis 5,as follow:
Adam lived ..............................130 yrs and begat Seth
Seth lived ................................105 yrs and begat Enosh;
Enosh lived ...............................90 yrs and begat Kenan;
Kenanlived.................................70 yrs and begat Mahalalel;
Mahalalellived ............................65 yrs and begat Jared;
Jaredlived ................................162 yrs and begat Enoch;
Enochlived .................................65 yrs and begat Methuselah;
Methuselahlived.........................187 yrs and begat Lamech;
Lamechlived..............................182 yrs and begat Noah;
From Noahs birth until the Flood...600 yrs.
Total of years from Adam to the Flood=1656yrs
Notice that the table above is proved by the Word of GOD, Let us study the times until our days by the Word of GOD-the Word is
GOD. So, see the timetable below:
SIX PERIODS OF BIBLICAL TIMES ------------------ DURATION
I-From Adam to the Flood-( Genesis 5)--------------1656 years
II-From the Flood to Abraham-( Genesis 11&12)-----427years
III-From Abraham to Exodus-(Gal.3:17)-------------430years
IV-From Exodus to king Saul-(1King6:1(480-84)----396years
V-From Saul to the fall of Jerusalem -----------------508 years
VI-From the fall of Jerusalem to Jesus ---------------587 years
Thus,from Adam to the 1stcoming of Jesus --------4004 years
From Jesus to our days(Christian Calendar)---------2023 years
Total from Adam to our days -------------------------6027 years
So,we are living in the beginning of the seventh and last millennium.
But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets. ( Revelation 10:7).
This appears to be a time period that goes from the Rapture of the church to the end of the firstfruits; which includes the 144,000 as well as the two prophets. To gain further insight on the timing involved in the martyrdom and translation from the dead of these individuals we read this extended section from Revelation 11.
7 Now when they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up from the Abyss will attack them, and overpower and kill them. 8 Their bodies will lie in the public square of the great city-which is figuratively called Sodom and Egypt-where also their Lord was crucified. 9 For three and a half days some from every people, tribe, language and nation will gaze on their bodies and refuse them burial. 10 The inhabitants of the earth will gloat over them and will celebrate by sending each other gifts, because these two prophets had tormented those who live on the earth.
11 But after the three and a half days the breath[b] of life from God entered them, and they stood on their feet, and terror struck those who saw them. 12 Then they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, "Come up here." And they went up to heaven in a cloud, while their enemies looked on.
13 At that very hour there was a severe earthquake and a tenth of the city collapsed. Seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the survivors were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.
14 The second woe has passed; the third woe is coming soon.
This verse shows us the TIMING of this event as after the SECOND WOE (6th Trumpet) and before the 7th Trumpet which basically involves the final cluster of 7 bowl judgments. Many things happen simultaneously at this point in scripture; Antichrist invades the Temple; the prophets die and are raised and the mark of the beast.
The destruction of 200,000,000 demonic horses appears to be a one on one attack as even with world populations today; it would only be a handful of people who would die from each horse if say 5 billion remain after the 1/4 die in the seal judgments and other events. Those who purport such an event to be a worldwide war should consider this. We see no mention of earthly armies involved even in resisting these creatures; but along with the 5th Trumpet it is rather mysterious how such judgment would end.
It certainly is likely that Satan has ultimate control over all these events which God allows; thus perhaps he does have some sort of temporary control over ending these punishments from the underworld. We simply don't have that information so it is conjecture it appears. Again; we are left with the conundrum as to whether this should be interpreted as 1/3 of the world at large or a judgment confined to 1/3 of the world's surface. Judging by the following Armageddon event we could surmise that this would help to eliminate many nations so that those "of the East" (presumably the far east as it mentions the rising sun such as China and Japan) can begin their transport across a newly dried out Euphrates. The horses indicate no ocean trip.There is much controversy over the drying out NOW of the Euphrates. Some of what is going on currently is related to dams and such. No doubt the intense worldwide droughts at the Tribulation will cause this as well. As for now there is no clearly substantiated news reports of the strange events that are rumored to occur.
When we note the RESPONSE after these horrific judgments; we see nothing but intensification of sin. Verse 20 of Revelation 9 states:
20Now the rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues still did not repent of the works of their hands. They did not stop worshiping demons and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone, and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk.
The dire/horrible/heinous/hair-raising picture of the current world of Devil,as you so well have described,it is the reflection the wicked and devilish nations of the Devil's world are already descending into hell as a whole,by the power of the Word of GOD,except the sons of GOD- John 1:12-13-of course,in LITERAL fulfilment of Malachi 4:1-3:->1For, behold,the Day cometh(seventh and last GOD's Day or seventh and last millennium),that shall burn as an oven;and all the proud,yea, and all that do wickedly,shall be stubble:and the day that cometh shall burn them up,saith the Lord of hosts,that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.
2But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings;and ye shall go forth,and grow up as calves of the stall( Isaiah 43:2) .
3And ye shall tread down the wicked;for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the Day(seventh)that I shall do this,saith the Lord of hosts( 1Corinthians 15:24-26).
As you know,JESUS in His prayer to the Father,said: John 17:9-10 and 15-17:
9I pray for them:I pray not for the world,but for them which thou hast given me;for they are thine.
10And all mine are thine,and thine are mine;and I am glorified in them.
15I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world,but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.
16They are not of the world,even as I am not of the world.
17Sanctify them through thy truth:thy Word is Truth.
Malachi 3:16-18
16Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another: and the Lord hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon his name.
17And they shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that Day when I make up my JEWELS;and I will spare them,as a man spareth his own son that serveth him.
18Then shall ye return,and discern between the righteous and the wicked,between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not.
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.
16 And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them.
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.
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.
The main point I brought up when starting these postings on Revelation was that most of the death and destruction appears to be from God's judgments. These verses seem to pretty clearly indicate that these creatures themselves kill 1/3 of mankind; and the 4 angels under the Euphrates who were in charge of these 200,000,000 creatures on what appeared to be horses do this destruction which comes from their mouths. We should note that it is not literately horses but horselike creatures that inflict the damage rather than those riding them. It appears these come also from the underworld; whether the same bottomless pit or another infernal region for nonhuman subjects. It would appear these creatures are able to survive in hell literally if they can spew fire onto people so it is possible there are creatures created to be adapted to that environment whether originally that way or having adapted to it.
And now we get to that great first woe. Let us examine the verses one at a time. 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. ( Rev. 9:1)
There has been some contention as to the identity of this angel being Satan himself; because this would give him authority over the bottomless pit even AFTER these five months and it would render Revelation 20:3 illogical which states
"And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season."
This would seem to identify this angel as the same who seals Satan himself in later. Ultimately; Jesus Himself has the keys of death and hell (actually Hades) as stated in Revelation 1:18.
It is easy to glibly identify these creatures as demonic hordes. They certainly appear to be different than the mutated genetic offspring of men and angels mentioned in Genesis 6. Nonetheless they are confined in the underworld where other demons will also be imprisoned in due season; which would appear to be the same time Satan is under the earth. ( Isaiah 24:21).
Apollyon is known as the destroyer who is king over these creatures and gives "marching orders". They are NOT allowed to kill however and perhaps there is some sort of immortality in suffering during the prescribed 5 month period.
Revelation 9:4 states 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.
This passage indicates the "sealing" of the 144,000 and the fact that they are still on the earth at that time. This will be the ultimate protection and obvious to the rest of the world who suffers the punishment of these tormentors. It is no wonder that they are ready for the Mark after
Brian I think what you just wrote is called blasphemy which can potentially be an unforgivable sin, so you might want to be careful. So you don't believe in the Bible that says Jesus is both God ( John 1:1) and the son of God ( Hebrews 1:8). If you don't believe the Bible what is your motive for going to a Bible website and posting anti-Bible things?
There are currently wars and rumors of wars. Ukraine+UN/Russia is the biggest currently.
Nation rising against nation. UN stands for United Nations and UN is against Russia and probably China and Iran who seem to be natural partners. The US is pushing WW3 hard with blowing up Russia's pipeline, funding nefarious labs in Ukraine, overthrowing their government, putting carriers close to strike, putting assets in south china sea. They are doing everything that a country would do if they wanted to start a world war. They are not moral peacekeepers by any means, that was an idea of the past. It's based on greed, lust for power and evil. Immoral lost people are in charge. Look at the Biden admin staff- the health director is an overweight transvestite. They are committing federal crimes in public such as treason and interfering in presidential elections by changing voter laws and human trafficking on a huge scale to bribe and import voting power. They took over all the DAs so they don't prosecute themselves and the supreme court are cowardly and are not challenging any of their open criminal activity.
I think the wars and chaos will cause famine. We saw how the covid scare created shortages and panic. Many in the US were artificially created such as locking down ships from docking from Long Beach harbor, and employee shortages. Prices are skyrocketing and there are now probably more homeless than ever in the US. Artificially forced minimum wage at high levels means more laid off workers and automation, but may lead to shortages and closures. There's currently minor pestilences from crickets, cicadas, and regional bug issues. Not aware of any mass earthquakes yet, but I agree that these are to come. I think it will be obvious when its happening. But as we saw with covid, fear causes people to act like irrational wild animals and cause us much harm.
Many think there will be a WWIII now,oh no,there will not be,absolutely.We just entered in the current seventh and last millennium,so there will not be WWIII,absolutely.JESUS listed the events that must happen in this beginning of the seventh and last millennium or seventh and last GOD's Day. Matthew 24:1-8:
PRE TRIBULATIONAL PERIOD-BEGINNING OF SORROWS
Verses 1- 2:->JESUS went out and departed from the Temple.His disciples came to Him and showed Him the building of the Temple. JESUS said:See ye these things?I say unto you,There shall not be left here ONE stone upon another.JESUS disappointed his disciples, evidently.
What JESUS prophesied about the Temple it fulfilled LITERALLY in the year 70AD, the Temple was destroyed,Israel was banned from their land and scattered around the world for 1.878 years, from 70AD to 1948AD, more than 100K died under of the Roman's attack.
JESUS went to the Mount of Olives, there the disciples privately asked TWO things to Him:
1-What shall be the sign of thy coming?
2-and of the END of the world?(END of the current Devil's world)
JESUS listed several events linked 1st:to His Coming;2nd: about END of this current Devil's WORLD.
Mat.24:4-8-JESUS said:
4-Take heed that no MAN deceive you;(this was the first concerns of JESUS)
5-For many shall come in my name,saying,I am Christ;and shall deceive many; (Soon will manifest the MAN Beast of the earth like a lamb,a false lamb,false messiah,AN IMPOSTOR,as said JESUS- John 5:43, 2Thessalonians 2:3-4, Revelation 13:11-18.
6-And ye shall hear of WARS and RUMOURS of WARS; ALL THESE THINGS must come to pass but THE END IS NOT YET.
7-NATION shall rise against NATION, kingdom against kingdom;(Will G7,G20,EU,UNO,be DISSOLVED from now on? Pe.3:7, Re.11:18, Micah 4:3).
-and there shall be famines;it is fulfilling LITERALLY
- and pestilences;In fulfillment;
- and earthquakes-divers places;
8 All these are the beginning of SORROWS(Pre-tribulational)
"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." ( Revelation 8:7).
This and the next 3 trumpets seems to be what the 144,000 were sealed to protect them against. Revelation 7:3 says: Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.
Trumpets 2 and 3 discuss the destruction of 1/3 of the sea in regard to life and commerce; as well as a third of the waters of the earth made bitter. The fourth trumpet gets into one third of the day AND night having no light. This certainly will trump any so called eclipse sign of God as it will be truly frightening. Clearly something will be blocking light from above the earth's atmosphere maybe related to what crashes into the sea in the earlier trumpet.
The 1/3 mentioned here and later on in the sixth trumpet judgment is almost certainly related to the judgment to come on the 1/3 of the angels that fell with Lucifer that are to be cast down on the earth. Isaiah 24:21 says And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth.
In the fifth trumpet; we see the first judgment of demons that are directly affecting mankind. In this case torment only was allowed; and death withheld somehow. Immediately following this we have the event of the two prophets being killed; put on display and resurrected as proven by this verse: One woe is past; and, behold, there come two woes more hereafter. ( Revelation 9:12). I STRONGLY suspect that these individuals will be convinced once the Antichrist beast is "resurrected" that he both causes their suffering to cease and also that their inability to die will be proof that they are IMMORTAL because of the power OVER Apollyon ( Rev. 9:11) WITH THE MARK.
On another topic, in the past I have meditated on whether God's people on earth are always surrounded by hostile forces. I believe this thought with history can help us understand Daniel and therefore Revelation.
Hope everyone is doing well! Thanks for letting me know about Friends of King James.
Carleton
It appears that there were at least 14 prayers of Moses; which I think I can safely say shows his prayers were more frequent and a more intimate relationship with the Lord than anyone besides David and of course Christ Himself; except perhaps John the Baptist. Exodus 33:11 speaks of the uniqueness of Moses who spoke face to face with the Lord and even got to view him from afar (his back quarters) in Exodus 33:20-23. We do well to "camp out" on these prayers to learn something about humility as we see was part of Moses' character; as well as his two faults listed in scripture.
Going back into history a bit; we can see through the prayers for offspring of Abraham and Sarah; and that of a wife for Isaac that the entire Biblical lineage as well as the foundation of the patriarchs who constituted the beginnings of the nation of Israel to come much later were established. We go further to Joseph who oddly enough from what I can see doesn't have any prayers listed although certainly lived a faithful existence. With Abraham we have promises of freedom of captivity after 400 years ( Genesis 15:13) which was finally coming to fruition with Moses being God's chosen vessel for this undertaking. Now we had an entire nation of Jews along with a multitude of others along with untold women and children exiting Egypt and basically wandering in the desert; punished by God so that only Joshua and Caleb remained of the original generation to be accompanied by the next generation. It is noteable that Moses' prayer or plea to God to enter the Promised Land was rejected; although He was allowed to view it from afar. ( Deut. 32:52). This was due to his sin at Meribeh ( Numbers 20:13-15). Moses only had one other sin listed; that of killing the Egyptian back before his own 40 years of exile and hiding in Exodus 2:12.
Themes of prayer for a corporate body in Exodus remind us of prayers needed for the church at large. We also need leaders today like this
Genesis 18 involves a conversation with the Lord (likely the incarnate Christ) about the fate of Sodom. Since technically a conversation with God is a prayer (but these days God doesn't appear and have interaction with us in that way) it can be said this is a prayer. The discussion itself was more of a "tit for tat" inquiry or inquisition as it were. This "testing" of God of course can be a dangerous thing; but we must keep in mind first and foremost Lot would have been on his mind; particularly in light of the destruction to come announced by the two angels who had just departed to see what was going on on the ground as it were.
Since Abraham was not privy to God delivering FROM disaster at this point and perhaps was too afraid to state the obvious he whittled down a righteous total to 10 and stopped; with God assuring him that the city would remain if 10 righteous people could be found. Perhaps he was counting on the son in laws if he was aware of them; the same ones who would ridicule the angels when the message was dellivered. He may have also thought SURELY SOMEONE else besides Lot and his immediate family would be justified; perhaps being as removed as he was from the wholesale depravity that had become the lifestyle of everyone in Sodom. He was desperate; no doubt. What he didn't realize; of course is that he stopped just ABOVE the true number of righteous there; in fact Lot's wife would famously turn back and Luke 9:62 seems a fitting epitaph for this pathetic woman who turned into a pillar of salt.
In this case; of course we had a pagan nation God had determined was time to destroy. We see a similar request of intercession after the idolotry in Exodus 32. Moses interceded in verses 11-13 and God relented. We might say that he THROUGH the power of the Spirit interceded and Christ would have foreseen through his future atonement how to cover their sin. This shows the mystery of the Godhead.
This verse is supposed to be a reference to prayers first being said. I never quite understood it that way but in any case nothing specific is said. It is noteworthy what is MISSING in the Antidiluvian era which is ANY reference to prayer at all; we don't even see anything stated for Noah a man of faith; perhaps this is why he silpped so easily into drunkenness after the event when he was tilling a vineyard.
IN the Believer's Portal (dot com) cite we find a list of 650 prayers in scripture. I would recommend that site to get a comprehensive overview of prayer in scripture. According to this cite Genesis 15 is the first prayer stated in scripture and involved Abraham's prayer for his offspring; with the next being Isaac's prayer for Ishmael; the third was Abraham's well known one involving God sparing 10 righteous if they existed in Sodom. This cite also gives the response; in the second prayer it wasn't according to God's will and hence wasn't answered.
Genesis 21 contains the first prayer of a woman (Hagar). This prayer expresses her concern for the immediate fate of her son; Ishmael born from Abraham's seed. She is given miraculous provision in the desert; then told of the future of her son in verse 12 to be a "wild donkey of a man". This sort of "sentiment" wasn't limited to her as others had less than favorable destinies in other familial "blessings".
These passages show that front and center was family posterity and generational blessings and cursings that were the result of prayers as well as frequent scripture themes of God's working with the early patriarchs. Since only a few families existed for God's righteous line it isn't unexpected these are prevalent subject matters of prayers at that time.
In the next post I will consider Abraham's prayer about Sodom and how he acted as intercessor.
This likely is the start of another lengthy series of postings. I fear that my sermon like "lecturing" isn't exactly working at times.
I felt it prudent to let the scriptures speak for themselves-and am unaware of anyone who has searched the scriptures both O.T. and N.T. for a comprehensive study of all times that prayer occurred and repeated themes and patterns that could be established.
Praying "in the Spirit" ( Ephesians 6:18 and 2 other references) is hard to precisely define. There are many theological discussions on what is "proper" or improper things to pray about; but I am unaware of any doctrinal statements that nail it down like there are on other church ordinances; and ceremonies. Interestingly as I have brought up several times on this forum there is no scripture that invokes a saint to pray for a SPECIFIC person to come to Christ. It seems the majority of prayers are personal in scripture. With that being said; intercession for the saints is a vital component ( Romans 8:27); and praying for the nation asking for mercy with national sins is another theme; associated with God's covenant promises being affirmed in the long run despite the disobedience as we see in the case of Daniel chapter 9.
As I may have mentioned in the past; a friend of mine a few years back started an early morning prayer group which I briefly attended before moving back home with my parents and stated that he was "desperate" for prayer. I know of at least one person in my current church who is in his 60s but gets up at 4 or so each day to pray and listen to a Bible study before working his full time job. I have known a couple others in the past who have done the same sort of thing. I'd like to be that way myself; rather than the "ZOMBIE" like state that I am in the early morning. My prayer is fairly consistent but later in the morning although traffic to work has cut that short recently.
In the end; whether by man's weapons of warfare; or God's supernatural destruction using perhaps volcanoes and other natural events to bring about destruction by fire and hail and earthquakes man is rarer than the "gold of Ophir" ( Isaiah 13:17).
In light of current events it isn't entirely implausible that due to political correctness and the efforts for one world "peace" that nuclear weapons could be curbed and once again horses literally could be used in warfare; as is mentioned once again in Revelation 19 in Armageddon. It seems in this event that air and sea weaponry is either not used or very insignificant; particularly in referring to the crossing over of the Euphrates as being a prime event. Many nations don't have a very sophisticated or extensive airplane or ship capability today in that part of the world; and those that do probably will be wiped out in the earlier Ezekiel 38 campaign.
As I said in the outset; where we are now has no guarantees but prayer is something we should bring to worldwide events as well as to individual situations. No doubt judgment has been delayed because the Lord heard our cry and allowed us to intercede through the Spirit much as Moses did to avoid God wiping out everyone at the time and starting over again. The biggest thing to watch out for is what Thessalonians calls "peace and safety (or security). There has to be enough APPARENT progress made in that area to fool the world through Antichrist. This would probably involve overthrow of many if not all of today's worldwide political structures that have long failed to deliver or at least complete overhaul. The existing structure will never be trustworthy enough at this point to sway the masses toward this Beast; he must appear to give everyone what they want and make them think they have actually achieved their "humanitarian" humanistic utopia of total freedom. Ultimately God and Christ are made to be the enemy.
The previous post seems to show horses; and old time warfare involving shields and bucklers. There has been some attempt here as with other verses in Revelation to say modern warfare is implicit here. The destruction by fire and hail that seems to relate to the sixth bowl event or perhaps some of the earlier trumpet events still emphasizes God's judgment SPECIFICALLY. It seems more likely these events are from God Himself particularly in light of this passage and others like it.
And so I will show my greatness and my holiness, and I will make myself known in the sight of many nations. Then they will know that I am the LORD.' (Verse 23 at end of Ezekiel 38). There is evidence in verse 21 of people fighting each other; again making an actual sword as a weapon more likely. There are also 1/6 that survive and I believe are submissive and bring captives back to Israel again and are part of the Millennial period. Hence they would NOT take the mark; and that would take away the validity of those who say Antichrist is King of the North. It would appear his part comes after this event when the nations from the North and East invade; although the beginning of that invasion could be with the northern army as to getting his attention.
ARMAGEDDON.
Before I continue; I should point out that Revelation 16:12 mentions the drying of the Euphrates NOT the sixth trumpet judgment. I erred in the last post. This would be the sixth angel; the SEVENTH would be the final hailstone and earthquake (may have said sixth in last posts also).
In any event; we see at this point actual armies being drawn to fight Christ; and it parallels Psalm 2 and doubtless other scriptures. As with Zechariah we see God supernaturally defeating these armies after judging the Beast and False Prophet while still alive with final judgment in the lake of fire. God shortens these days or no man would be saved ( Matt. 24:22).
Verses 2-8 say:
2 Son of man, set thy face against Gog, the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him,
3 And say, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal:
4 And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws, and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords:
5 Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet:
6 Gomer, and all his bands; the house of Togarmah of the north quarters, and all his bands: and many people with thee.
7 Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them.
8 After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them.
This would seem to compare with these passages: Daniel 11:40
And at the time of the end shall the king of the south push at him: and the king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over.
Daniel 11:44 But reports from the east and the north will alarm him, and he will set out in a great rage to destroy and annihilate many.
The TIMING of this event is tricky; conceivably it could be BEFORE the Tribulation or at its onset; or be closer to the Midpoint.
Since Israel is in a land that appears to be at peace this would come as a surprise and couldn't be after the midpoint when Antichrist takes over. The seven year cleanup could go beyond the Tribulation.
So inspiring.
Happy Sunday to everyone.
Is.30:27-Behold,the name of the Lord cometh from far,burning with his anger,and the burden thereof is heavy:His lips are full of indignation, His tongue as a devouring fire:
Is.13:6-13
6Howl ye;for the day of the Lord is at hand;it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty
7Therefore shall all hands be faint,and every man's heart shall melt:
8And they shall be afraid:pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth:they shall be amazed one at another;their faces shall be as flames
9Behold,the day of the Lord cometh,cruel both with wrath and fierce anger,to lay the land desolate:and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it
10For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light
11And I will punish the world for their evil,and the wicked for their iniquity;and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease,and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible
12I will make a man more precious than fine gold;even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir
13Therefore I will shake the heavens,and the earth shall remove out of her place,in the wrath of the Lord of hosts,and in the Day of His fierce anger.
Is.33:10-15
10Now will I rise,saith the Lord;now will I be exalted;now will I lift up myself.
11Ye shall conceive chaff,ye shall bring forth stubble:your breath,as fire,shall devour you.
12And the people shall be as the burnings of lime:as thorns cut up shall they be burned in the fire.
13Hear,ye that are far off,what I have done;and,ye that are near, acknowledge my might.
14The sinners in Zion are afraid;fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites.Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire?who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?
15He that walks righteously,and speaks uprightly;he that despiseth the gain of oppressions,that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes,that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood,and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil.
Isaiah 66:4 - 2Thessalonians 2:8-12 - Matthews 24:15-25:
Isa.66:4:
4I also will choose their delusions,and will bring their fears upon them;because when I called,none did answer;when I spake,they did not hear...
2Thes.2:8-12
8And then shall that Wicked be revealed,whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth-His Word-,and shall destroy with the brightness of His coming:
9Even him,whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,
10And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish;because they received not the love of the truth,that they might be saved.
11And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion,that they should believe a lie:
12That they all might be DAMNED who believed not the Truth- believed not in JESUS-,but had pleasure in unrighteousness
Mat.24:15-25
15When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation,spoken of by Daniel the prophet,stand in the holy place,(whoso readeth,let him understand)
PRIOR ADVICE OF OUR LORD
16Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains
17Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house
18Neither let him which is in the field return back...
ABOUT STRONG PUNISHMENT
21For then shall be great tribulation,such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time,no,nor ever shall be.
22And except those days should be shortened,there should no flesh be saved:but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened
GREAT DANGER EVEN FOR THE ELECTS-THE FALSE MESSIAH
23Then if any man-Pastors,and Bishops,Evangelists,Missionaries, among others-shall say unto you, Lo,here is Christ,or there;BELIEVE IT NOT
24For there shall arise false Christs,and false prophets-FALSE PREACHERS OF THE WORD OF GOD-2Cor.11:13-15,and shall shew great signs and wonders;insomuch that,if it were possible,they shall deceive(even)the very elect
25Behold,I have told you before
I believe you know that the Hebrews had to cross the Red Sea,and walk through a desert,walk until they got to the Promised Land after 40 years of pilgrimage.What about GOD's people now or in this current time?
Now GOD's people will have to go through(I mean win a war)against the Red Dragon,that's exactly it,a Red Dragon yes,this is no coincidence,it was predicted millennia ago.He's a false messiah who will soon manifest,just ahead,with great signs of lying,he will manifest in Israel like a lamb with two horns,he's a Jew,of course, and he'll speak like a Dragon. Revelation 12.3-17 and Revelation 13: 11-18.
Let's get ready to go through this not easy FINAL journey of GOD's people here until the glorious,marvelous,and day of exceedingly joy - the day 1335.Amen.
Remembering and understanding that the departure of the Hebrew people from Egypt was not without first having taken place a battle against Pharaoh(by the way,there and now is Satan himself),and when the march began for the departure of GOD's people from Egypt, then the enemy army persecuted the Hebrews,the same will happen now,initially the persecution will be by the man Beast of the sea,it is he who will first persecute the Christian believers- Revelation 13:5 - for 42 months,that is the first half of the last week, week 70th Daniel 9:v.27.This POINT is only and only the half of the way -3,5 years or 42 months,the GOD's people will need to march more 3,5 years,so the murch will last 7 years,it will not be easy this journey of course.
Again:Let's get ready to go through this not easy FINAL journey of GOD's people here until the glorious,marvelous,and day of exceendigly joy-the day 1335. Amen.
JESUS in His prayer to the Father,said: John 17:15 - I pray not that thou take them out of the world, but that thou keep them from the evil.
Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth. Matthew 5:5
Get ready, yeah, get ready
Based in the Word of God, on GOD's six Days of creation and one Day of rest (a total of seven days) plus the Scriptures that teach that one Day is with the Lord as a thousand years, so MANKIND would go through six GOD Days of 1,000 years each (a total of 6,000 years) plus a Millennium of 1,000 years rest (now a total of 7,000 years).
According biblical Chronology, starting by Genesis 5,as follow:
Adam lived ..............................130 yrs and begat Seth
Seth lived ................................105 yrs and begat Enosh;
Enosh lived ...............................90 yrs and begat Kenan;
Kenanlived.................................70 yrs and begat Mahalalel;
Mahalalellived ............................65 yrs and begat Jared;
Jaredlived ................................162 yrs and begat Enoch;
Enochlived .................................65 yrs and begat Methuselah;
Methuselahlived.........................187 yrs and begat Lamech;
Lamechlived..............................182 yrs and begat Noah;
From Noahs birth until the Flood...600 yrs.
Total of years from Adam to the Flood=1656yrs
Notice that the table above is proved by the Word of GOD, Let us study the times until our days by the Word of GOD-the Word is
GOD. So, see the timetable below:
SIX PERIODS OF BIBLICAL TIMES ------------------ DURATION
I-From Adam to the Flood-( Genesis 5)--------------1656 years
II-From the Flood to Abraham-( Genesis 11&12)-----427years
III-From Abraham to Exodus-(Gal.3:17)-------------430years
IV-From Exodus to king Saul-(1King6:1(480-84)----396years
V-From Saul to the fall of Jerusalem -----------------508 years
VI-From the fall of Jerusalem to Jesus ---------------587 years
Thus,from Adam to the 1stcoming of Jesus --------4004 years
From Jesus to our days(Christian Calendar)---------2023 years
Total from Adam to our days -------------------------6027 years
So,we are living in the beginning of the seventh and last millennium.
This appears to be a time period that goes from the Rapture of the church to the end of the firstfruits; which includes the 144,000 as well as the two prophets. To gain further insight on the timing involved in the martyrdom and translation from the dead of these individuals we read this extended section from Revelation 11.
7 Now when they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up from the Abyss will attack them, and overpower and kill them. 8 Their bodies will lie in the public square of the great city-which is figuratively called Sodom and Egypt-where also their Lord was crucified. 9 For three and a half days some from every people, tribe, language and nation will gaze on their bodies and refuse them burial. 10 The inhabitants of the earth will gloat over them and will celebrate by sending each other gifts, because these two prophets had tormented those who live on the earth.
11 But after the three and a half days the breath[b] of life from God entered them, and they stood on their feet, and terror struck those who saw them. 12 Then they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, "Come up here." And they went up to heaven in a cloud, while their enemies looked on.
13 At that very hour there was a severe earthquake and a tenth of the city collapsed. Seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the survivors were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.
14 The second woe has passed; the third woe is coming soon.
This verse shows us the TIMING of this event as after the SECOND WOE (6th Trumpet) and before the 7th Trumpet which basically involves the final cluster of 7 bowl judgments. Many things happen simultaneously at this point in scripture; Antichrist invades the Temple; the prophets die and are raised and the mark of the beast.
The destruction of 200,000,000 demonic horses appears to be a one on one attack as even with world populations today; it would only be a handful of people who would die from each horse if say 5 billion remain after the 1/4 die in the seal judgments and other events. Those who purport such an event to be a worldwide war should consider this. We see no mention of earthly armies involved even in resisting these creatures; but along with the 5th Trumpet it is rather mysterious how such judgment would end.
It certainly is likely that Satan has ultimate control over all these events which God allows; thus perhaps he does have some sort of temporary control over ending these punishments from the underworld. We simply don't have that information so it is conjecture it appears. Again; we are left with the conundrum as to whether this should be interpreted as 1/3 of the world at large or a judgment confined to 1/3 of the world's surface. Judging by the following Armageddon event we could surmise that this would help to eliminate many nations so that those "of the East" (presumably the far east as it mentions the rising sun such as China and Japan) can begin their transport across a newly dried out Euphrates. The horses indicate no ocean trip.There is much controversy over the drying out NOW of the Euphrates. Some of what is going on currently is related to dams and such. No doubt the intense worldwide droughts at the Tribulation will cause this as well. As for now there is no clearly substantiated news reports of the strange events that are rumored to occur.
When we note the RESPONSE after these horrific judgments; we see nothing but intensification of sin. Verse 20 of Revelation 9 states:
20Now the rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues still did not repent of the works of their hands. They did not stop worshiping demons and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone, and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk.
Interesting reading. I have not
thought of this scripture in that light. Thanks for opening that up.
Greetings in Christ
The dire/horrible/heinous/hair-raising picture of the current world of Devil,as you so well have described,it is the reflection the wicked and devilish nations of the Devil's world are already descending into hell as a whole,by the power of the Word of GOD,except the sons of GOD- John 1:12-13-of course,in LITERAL fulfilment of Malachi 4:1-3:->1For, behold,the Day cometh(seventh and last GOD's Day or seventh and last millennium),that shall burn as an oven;and all the proud,yea, and all that do wickedly,shall be stubble:and the day that cometh shall burn them up,saith the Lord of hosts,that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.
2But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings;and ye shall go forth,and grow up as calves of the stall( Isaiah 43:2) .
3And ye shall tread down the wicked;for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the Day(seventh)that I shall do this,saith the Lord of hosts( 1Corinthians 15:24-26).
As you know,JESUS in His prayer to the Father,said: John 17:9-10 and 15-17:
9I pray for them:I pray not for the world,but for them which thou hast given me;for they are thine.
10And all mine are thine,and thine are mine;and I am glorified in them.
15I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world,but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.
16They are not of the world,even as I am not of the world.
17Sanctify them through thy truth:thy Word is Truth.
Malachi 3:16-18
16Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another: and the Lord hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon his name.
17And they shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that Day when I make up my JEWELS;and I will spare them,as a man spareth his own son that serveth him.
18Then shall ye return,and discern between the righteous and the wicked,between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not.
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.
16 And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them.
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.
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.
The main point I brought up when starting these postings on Revelation was that most of the death and destruction appears to be from God's judgments. These verses seem to pretty clearly indicate that these creatures themselves kill 1/3 of mankind; and the 4 angels under the Euphrates who were in charge of these 200,000,000 creatures on what appeared to be horses do this destruction which comes from their mouths. We should note that it is not literately horses but horselike creatures that inflict the damage rather than those riding them. It appears these come also from the underworld; whether the same bottomless pit or another infernal region for nonhuman subjects. It would appear these creatures are able to survive in hell literally if they can spew fire onto people so it is possible there are creatures created to be adapted to that environment whether originally that way or having adapted to it.
And now we get to that great first woe. Let us examine the verses one at a time. 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. ( Rev. 9:1)
There has been some contention as to the identity of this angel being Satan himself; because this would give him authority over the bottomless pit even AFTER these five months and it would render Revelation 20:3 illogical which states
"And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season."
This would seem to identify this angel as the same who seals Satan himself in later. Ultimately; Jesus Himself has the keys of death and hell (actually Hades) as stated in Revelation 1:18.
It is easy to glibly identify these creatures as demonic hordes. They certainly appear to be different than the mutated genetic offspring of men and angels mentioned in Genesis 6. Nonetheless they are confined in the underworld where other demons will also be imprisoned in due season; which would appear to be the same time Satan is under the earth. ( Isaiah 24:21).
Apollyon is known as the destroyer who is king over these creatures and gives "marching orders". They are NOT allowed to kill however and perhaps there is some sort of immortality in suffering during the prescribed 5 month period.
Revelation 9:4 states 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.
This passage indicates the "sealing" of the 144,000 and the fact that they are still on the earth at that time. This will be the ultimate protection and obvious to the rest of the world who suffers the punishment of these tormentors. It is no wonder that they are ready for the Mark after
There are currently wars and rumors of wars. Ukraine+UN/Russia is the biggest currently.
Nation rising against nation. UN stands for United Nations and UN is against Russia and probably China and Iran who seem to be natural partners. The US is pushing WW3 hard with blowing up Russia's pipeline, funding nefarious labs in Ukraine, overthrowing their government, putting carriers close to strike, putting assets in south china sea. They are doing everything that a country would do if they wanted to start a world war. They are not moral peacekeepers by any means, that was an idea of the past. It's based on greed, lust for power and evil. Immoral lost people are in charge. Look at the Biden admin staff- the health director is an overweight transvestite. They are committing federal crimes in public such as treason and interfering in presidential elections by changing voter laws and human trafficking on a huge scale to bribe and import voting power. They took over all the DAs so they don't prosecute themselves and the supreme court are cowardly and are not challenging any of their open criminal activity.
I think the wars and chaos will cause famine. We saw how the covid scare created shortages and panic. Many in the US were artificially created such as locking down ships from docking from Long Beach harbor, and employee shortages. Prices are skyrocketing and there are now probably more homeless than ever in the US. Artificially forced minimum wage at high levels means more laid off workers and automation, but may lead to shortages and closures. There's currently minor pestilences from crickets, cicadas, and regional bug issues. Not aware of any mass earthquakes yet, but I agree that these are to come. I think it will be obvious when its happening. But as we saw with covid, fear causes people to act like irrational wild animals and cause us much harm.
PRE TRIBULATIONAL PERIOD-BEGINNING OF SORROWS
Verses 1- 2:->JESUS went out and departed from the Temple.His disciples came to Him and showed Him the building of the Temple. JESUS said:See ye these things?I say unto you,There shall not be left here ONE stone upon another.JESUS disappointed his disciples, evidently.
What JESUS prophesied about the Temple it fulfilled LITERALLY in the year 70AD, the Temple was destroyed,Israel was banned from their land and scattered around the world for 1.878 years, from 70AD to 1948AD, more than 100K died under of the Roman's attack.
JESUS went to the Mount of Olives, there the disciples privately asked TWO things to Him:
1-What shall be the sign of thy coming?
2-and of the END of the world?(END of the current Devil's world)
JESUS listed several events linked 1st:to His Coming;2nd: about END of this current Devil's WORLD.
Mat.24:4-8-JESUS said:
4-Take heed that no MAN deceive you;(this was the first concerns of JESUS)
5-For many shall come in my name,saying,I am Christ;and shall deceive many; (Soon will manifest the MAN Beast of the earth like a lamb,a false lamb,false messiah,AN IMPOSTOR,as said JESUS- John 5:43, 2Thessalonians 2:3-4, Revelation 13:11-18.
6-And ye shall hear of WARS and RUMOURS of WARS; ALL THESE THINGS must come to pass but THE END IS NOT YET.
7-NATION shall rise against NATION, kingdom against kingdom;(Will G7,G20,EU,UNO,be DISSOLVED from now on? Pe.3:7, Re.11:18, Micah 4:3).
-and there shall be famines;it is fulfilling LITERALLY
- and pestilences;In fulfillment;
- and earthquakes-divers places;
8 All these are the beginning of SORROWS(Pre-tribulational)
Wake up-Get ready,now time's still of sorrows.
"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." ( Revelation 8:7).
This and the next 3 trumpets seems to be what the 144,000 were sealed to protect them against. Revelation 7:3 says: Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.
Trumpets 2 and 3 discuss the destruction of 1/3 of the sea in regard to life and commerce; as well as a third of the waters of the earth made bitter. The fourth trumpet gets into one third of the day AND night having no light. This certainly will trump any so called eclipse sign of God as it will be truly frightening. Clearly something will be blocking light from above the earth's atmosphere maybe related to what crashes into the sea in the earlier trumpet.
The 1/3 mentioned here and later on in the sixth trumpet judgment is almost certainly related to the judgment to come on the 1/3 of the angels that fell with Lucifer that are to be cast down on the earth. Isaiah 24:21 says And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth.
In the fifth trumpet; we see the first judgment of demons that are directly affecting mankind. In this case torment only was allowed; and death withheld somehow. Immediately following this we have the event of the two prophets being killed; put on display and resurrected as proven by this verse: One woe is past; and, behold, there come two woes more hereafter. ( Revelation 9:12). I STRONGLY suspect that these individuals will be convinced once the Antichrist beast is "resurrected" that he both causes their suffering to cease and also that their inability to die will be proof that they are IMMORTAL because of the power OVER Apollyon ( Rev. 9:11) WITH THE MARK.