Revelation 9:12 - How Much Worse Can It Get?
The Eerie Calm Before the Next Woe.
A "Calm" Before the Next Storm?
Revelation 9:12 "One Woe is past; and, behold, there come two Woes more hereafter."
The Locusts from hell have gone away and the whole world breathe's a collective sigh of relief. The Word does not tell us how much of a respite from the torment, if any, but we can gather from the evidence, the time is short lived. Think of it; the first four trumpet judgments upon creation, God did not consider worthy of the title, WOE. Our car breaks down, our freezer doesn't freeze or our "guy" does not get elected and we think, "woe is me". I am positive that during the first four trumpet judgments there was a lot of "WOE"ing going on! But in the light of the five months of the personal torment by the hellish locusts, many will wish for the "good old days" of fire, blood, poison and darkness.
Note: when a person lies dying in a hospital, racked with pain, desiring death to come quickly; they will quickly discover when death comes, that with the living there was hope. The pain of which they were so desperate to be rid of is nothing, again I say nothing, when pain is accompanied by hopelessness. It is hopelessness that drives so many to suicide and I believe the suicide rate during the second Woe will experience a dramatic worldwide rise, even by today's standards.
Cheer up, it could be worse! So the world cheers up and sure enough, it will get much, much worse. Behold, the second Woe stands at the door and the world will ask; "How could it ever get worse?" They are about to find out.
Are We Any Different????
A Lesson Not Learned.
Let's set some guidelines for "my" perceived dates, numbers and who are the players.
- The time I believe is right at the mid-point of the 70th Week, around the time of the heavenly, "one-sided" battle between Satan with his angels (demons) and Michael and his angels.
- As opposed to the 5th trumpet judgment, there is NO time limit given, save for the sounding of the 7th trumpet and the FINAL wrath of God.
- Apollyon's introduction was NOT a passing comment for he will have a major role to play in the coming events and his appearance coincides nicely around the time of Satan's permanent eviction from heaven. As we shall see, the devil is glad to have him back, for he has been a "workhorse" for Satan throughout much of history. More later.
- Numbers: the numbers are beyond staggering. It seems like such a simple statement, "the third part of men"; but we need to do a reality check. We know that "Death and Hades" will kill a fourth of mankind by violence, famine, disease and by the beasts of the earth. Let's say the population of earth at the beginning of the 70th Week is 8 billion; that would make the death toll from this "dynamic duo" around 2 billion. That would leave around 6 billion left for the army of the 6th trumpet judgment upon which to do their murderous rampage; making it another 2 billion deaths. FOUR BILLION dead in less than seven years. The stench, the diseases propagated, the fear and mental anguish of untold proportions and we still haven't seen the worst.
The Players
- The sixth angel with power from on high to loose the demonic foursome; the generals of the forthcoming army and the slaughter that ensues.
- The four demons that were bound (1210 - to knit); were in chains, in the Euphrates. Interestingly, they were being prepared for this specific event: the year, the month, the day and the hour. They only have one purpose for existence: to kill; not indiscriminately, but under the orders of their god, the devil and his cadre.
- The army, 200,000,000 strong. Though my KJV uses the term horsemen; I do not believe it is a mounted cavalry. The word for a horseman in Greek is hippeus; but the word used here is hippikon - which speaks of the force, the unit or its makeup. They kill with fire = pur2303 - sulfur. It is interesting that the root word for sulfur is theios2304- godlike. They kill with their mouths and do harm adikeo91 - to wrong, hurt or damage, with their tails. Though this is very descriptive of modern warfare, it is only speculation whether to attribute this massive army to an earthly hoard or a whole lot of demons.
- I hold that the four major demons and their army, are the henchmen (minions) of the devil and the Antichrist for the last half of the 70th Week. Target number one is to destroy Israel with a flood (200 million would do it); when that fails they turn to the next priority; the seed of Israel, the martyrs of the 70th Week. Lastly, they will try to kill anybody and everyone who opposes the will of Satan. The number will reach into the billions.
- A Sovereign God Almighty. This is His judgment upon a wicked, unrepentant mankind and has been orchestrated from before the foundation of the world. All mankind is without excuse; even in the face of fulfilled prophecy, the Gospel being preached and the two witnesses (coming soon) bringing plague after plague upon the earth; the mule has nothing on these people when it comes to absolute stubbornness and stupidity.
What is the world's take on all the events that have transpired and are about to take place?
- ...and they repented not!
- They continued to commit murder.
- They love their cocaine, heroin or whatever.
- Adultery, fornication and homosexuality are the preferred ways of life.
- Everyone is a thief. When even the essentials of life are in short supply, they will justify their wicked actions.
- They worship anything and most everything except God Almighty. They all become devil and his image worshipers. Mammon is king; when a loaf of bread goes for $20, you either have money, ill-gotten or not, or like Jean Val-jean, you steal to live.
During this period, I believe the ranks of the Martyrs will increase somewhat but the terror of execution will filter out those looking for a way out, any way but God's way.
God Places His Seal Upon the Fate of Man
The Little Scroll - Sad Sad News for Billions.
Revelation 10
This is an angel, not Christ. Revelation 10:6; Jesus would never swear by anything other than Himself. He is the Creator and the Author and Finisher of our faith and of all He has created. He brought everything into being and He will take it all out. The description of this angel is amazingly similar to our Lord, but it only proves one thing: he has been in the very presence of the Almighty and reflects His image. It could be either Gabriel or Michael; I favor Michael because this sounds like a warrior supreme rather than a pure messenger type.
Message to John:
- Time as we know it today is about to become extinct.
- In the days when the 7th angel is preparing to sound the final wrath of God, the mystery of God should be finished.
- All of this is as God's servants, the prophets have declared. Amos 3:7 - God will do nothing unless He has declared it via His chosen ones; including John.
- Eat the scroll; sweet to the taste, bitter to the soul.
- The prophecy of Revelation through the servant John will reach many peoples, nations, tongues and kings, those in power; no social standing is excluded.
My take: the Word is sweet to the believer for it is life, liberty and the pursuit of heavenly joy. But when we who are blessed with its fruit seek to understand what lies ahead for the world post-rapture; a sadness and urgency should fill our demeanor in our approach to the lost. The purpose for the Book of Revelation for today's believer is best expressed in 2nd Peter chapter 3 when he states, what manner of godliness and holy conversation should characterize us as we see these things approaching. We will not experience the horror of those days and we should not live as if we cared less about the lot of the lost in the days yet to come.
What else occupies the last half of the 70th week?
- The two prophets.
- The rise of the Antichrist as the world's new god and the false prophet.
- Three angels with the final messages for the world just prior to the final wrath of God including the Gospel.
- The FINAL WRATH of GOD!!
- The destruction of Babylon the Great.
- The return of Christ!
- The judgment of the Antichrist and his prophet.
- Judgment of the sheep and goats.
Stay tuned, we have a lot to cover.