| Home | Our Hope | |
| Bible Study |
|
January 28, 2023 |
| The Sixth Trumpet | ||
The Sixth Trumpet of Revelation covers the last 3.5 years before Jesus returns. At the beginning of that period the world is already a very much different place than we know today. At that time:
After these things, the sixth angel sounded, and I heard one voice from the four horns of the altar of gold, which is before God, 14which said to the sixth angel that had a trumpet: "Loose the four Angels imprisoned at the great river Euphrates." 15 And those four Angels were released who were prepared for an hour and for a day and for a month and for a year, to kill a third of the children of men. (Revelation 9:13-15)
This is the summary of the last major event before Jesus returns. Other things do happen in the sixth angel period that are not in this summary. Those will be described later.
The question with Revelation is always, which nouns are literal and which are symbolic?
Some of the nouns in Revelation are literal and can be read and understood. Others have been symbolized and required some level of wisdom to understand their meaning. These are the nouns in the verse above that we need to consider whether they are liter or symbolic. If they are symbolic, what do they represent?
The phrase "For an Hour, a Day, a Month, and a Year" indicates a spreading event that expands in stages. In this case it indicates the deaths happen in phases. That shouldn't be a surprise to us. Major disasters have always worked like this.
The disaster hits, people die immediately from it. If the disaster is great enough, it collapses the foundations of society, medical, transportation, banking, food, water
On the next day, people die who had less exposure to the disaster. They live on but many are essentially walking dead. The others could survive but they will die from their injuries due to the lack of medical care, food, housing, etc..
For the next month, people die from lack of food and water.
For the next year, people die from a collapsed society. Unburied bodies are everywhere and disease runs rampant. The area has become over-populated in that it can no longer support the number of people it supported before.
As time went on, there were too many victims, and too few drivers, to remove the bodies which began to be stacked up against the walls of houses. (Great Plague of London – Wikipedia)
And the number of the army of the horsemen was two-ten thousand ten thousands (200 million), and I heard their number. (Revelation 9:16)
Again we have nouns and must determine which are literal and which are symbolic. At the moment we don't have enough information to determine that. We'll start by pulling all the detail out of the verses.
And in this way I saw the horses in a vision, and those sitting upon them had breastplates of fire and Chalcedony brimstone, and the heads of the horses were like the heads of lions, and fire and brimstone and smoke proceeded from their mouths. (Revelation 9:17)
Now, we'll determine which nouns are symbolic and which are literal.
This is a commercially available breastplate. It is styled after a Roman Centurion breastplate.
Revelation was given to John during Roman times and the people would have understood the purpose and the insignia.
The breastplate was for protection of the vital organs in the upper body without compromising the movement of the arms or waist. The weapons of the time were swords, spears and arrows. Therefore, a solid piece of leather was pretty good protection. In our time, we still have body armor but it is designed to withstand different weapons.
Just as in our times and Roman times, the military divisions have insignia that declares who they are … to those who can read it. The breastplate was also the obvious place to wear the insignia for the division. In prophecy as well, the description of the breastplates tells us about the character of division.
And by these three scourges, a third of the children of men were killed: by the fire, by the brimstone and by the smoke that proceeded from their mouths, 19 because the power of the horses was in their mouths, and also in their tails. (Revelation 9:18-19)
Each of these three is described as a scourge (whip), fire, brimstone, and smoke. Who is scourging whom, though?
The power of the horses is in their:
Keep all of this in mind.
And the rest of the children of men who were not killed by the scourges did not turn from the work of their hands to not worship devils and idols of gold, of silver and of brass, and of wood and of stone, which do not see, neither hear, nor are able to walk. 21 And they did not turn from their murders or from their witchcraft or from their fornication. (Revelation 9:20-21)
It is God who is causing / allowing this scourging to happen and it is done for a purpose. It is the whip he is using (whip some sense into these people – the living). Obviously you can't whip any sense into those who are killed by the whipping. Therefore, the whipping is intended to benefit those who survive the whipping.
He wants the world to see the evil of their ways. As we see though, they do not.
This is similar to a whipping that took place in our time, the 9/11 attack. Did we see this as a sign from God to turn back toward God? Yes, sort of. For 2 or 3 weeks, the churches filled with people and there were mass baptisms. After that, the churches were soon back to crickets.
Only nuclear weapons can kill that many people in such a short period. That obviously assumes that the time is near and more powerful weapons will not exist. Could the horses be nuclear weapons?
Does that idea fit with everything in the Bible? Too many people make the mistake of finding an idea that lines up with a little of what the Bible says but not all.
Who will be Involved?
Note: There are other statements in the Bible that indicate these 10 kingdoms are not very unified. They are amalgamations of the countries that currently exist. Some of those who share a kingdom may not get along. Some who are in adjacent kingdoms may not get along.
There are 193 countries in the UN now. These will have been merged into the 10 kingdoms. Old rivalries are likely to continue. That's the way people are.
Almost certainly, the event described here will be an exchange between two nuclear powers. One fires on the other. The next day it fires back. Each one goes through it's hour, day, month, and year cycle.
It would be easy to expect that Israel would be involved in this exchange, but that cannot be. Physical Israel and the Euphrates river have a role to play, but Israel must survive because of future roles it must play. It cannot be a radioactive sheet of glass to fulfill those prophecies.
It is actually difficult to kill 2.5 billion people. The earth is a big place and nukes are not that powerful compared to the size of the earth.
Of note, this wouldn't be a tactical strike so much as a genocidal strike. Even so, how do you erase that many people? Most nations have large population centers that are spread out, but most of the people live a safe distance from them. Even if you nuked every major city, there would still be a large group of survivors.
Which countries have enough nuclear weapons that they could wipe out the major cities of another country? It turns out that most of the countries with large stockpiles of weapons have smaller populations that are widely spread out. Even if you had enough nukes to kill every American, you are no where near the 2.5 billion target (1/3 of earth's population).
This is a list of some of the nations with the strongest nuclear forces, their world rank based on size of population, their population, and the number of nuclear weapons they have.
One thing becomes very apparent from this. The only way to destroy 1/3 of the earth's population is for India and China to get into an existential, genocidal, nuclear exchange. That isn't at all unbelievable in our time. These two countries have had problems in their relationship before.
Only they have the population density to reach 1/3 of the earth's population. That raises another valid question. Where is the highest population density in the world? Or, stated another way, what is the smallest area you would have to nuke in order to destroy that many people?
We don't have solid explanations for some of the things that are described in the Sixth Trumpet. We do understand that some things in prophecy can't be understood until you are closer to the time. For example, until the advent of nuclear weapons, no one could imagine how it would be possible to kill 1/3 of the earth's population in a year, let alone start the process in an hour or a day.
It's also good practice to know there are unfitted pieces and what they are. It helps keep people from falling for interpretations of prophecy that do not fit well with the Bible.
These are the unfitted pieces:
The Euphrates, with its Hebrew meaning of something that spreads quickly, probably refers to an event that causes the attack. This could be an event like the Duke Ferdinand assassination. A single bullet started a World War 1.
It would also be very much like God to have two meanings to it. So the Euphrates symbol could be telling us about a failure to find peace at a meeting on the Euphrates river or maybe at a place with a name like the Euphrates club. An incident happens there that quickly spreads into 1/3 of the earth's population dying.
We talked before about the breastplate and how it is probably telling us something about the character of the people who decide that genocide by nuclear weapon is the best solution.
People love to convert these textual descriptions into drawings. I've seen some that were amazing works of art. There is no point, however, in drawing these pictures - nothing to be gained from them. The reason is clear when you think about it.
You've probably heard the saying, "a picture paints a thousand words." That means you can look at a picture and use 1,000 words describing it. The guy standing beside you would also use 1,000 words, but a different 1,000 words.
Paintings are very imprecise ways of delivering information that is expressed in text. They lose things like verb tenses, conditional expressions, sequentiality, multiple meanings of words, and many other qualities of text. God loses to use techniques like that.
It shouldn't be a surprise that he who said "make no graven images" wouldn't expect us to us a drawing to help us understand God's message to us.
These are the problems with translating prophetic text to a drawing:
In the drawing here, the artist makes these errors:
These are suggestions to help you understand prophecies.
The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever (Deuteronomy 29:29)
This concludes chapter 10. In Chapter 11, Revelation takes an interlude where it talks about the Little Book. Then it returns to the 6th trumpet. That is where we pick it up again.
And a reed was given to me like a rod and the Angel was standing and said, "Rise and measure the Temple of God and the altar and those who worship in it, 2 and the inner court of the Temple leave out and do not measure it, because that is given to the Gentiles, and they will trample the Holy City 42 months." (Revelation 11:1-2)
A reed was a stick for measuring. This one was "like" a rod, meaning not exactly a rod but similar in purpose. A rod was 6 cubits long. There were different lengths for cubits, short cubit and a long cubit. Thus the length would have been 4.5 to 5 feet long. It doesn't really matter here as we'll see; this rod doesn't measure length.
He is instructed not to measure the inner court. This court was reserved for Jews but at this time has been given to the gentiles, who are "trampling" it.
This is reference to an event that is described in other prophecies. At the beginning of the 6th Trumpet, Jerusalem is conquered by the Beast. Some Jews escape. The rest are killed or captured and dispersed to other countries. They goal here for the Beast is to kicked the Jews out of their own country.
To understand what is being measured, we'll look at verse 1 again, but more carefully.
And a reed was given to me like a rod and the Angel was standing and said, "Rise and measure the Temple of God and the altar and those who worship in it. (Revelation 11:1)
The verse says "Those who worship in it" – people are being measured. Is God interested in their height or weight? No. This will be a spiritual measurement.
The Apostle Paul speaks of this relationship between our bodies and the temple in Jerusalem.
Do you not know that you are the Temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells within you? 17 Whoever destroys the Temple of God, God destroys; for the Temple of God is holy, which you are. (1 Corinthians 3:16-17)
He is told to measure the Altar. This was the place where sacrifices were offered. All worship is by sacrifice.
The meaning here is that the people of God (his worshipers, are being measured by their temples and their sacrifices. Really, their spiritual condition is being measured.
After verse 2 there is never another mention of this measurement. We are never told the outcome of it. Instead, the story of the Two Witnesses begins. It looks like the topic is changing without finishing the measurement story. This is so tricky of God, truly a test of those who would understand his words. The Two Witnesses are the measurement.
They will be measuring Christians (not Gentiles). Remember they were not to measure the inner court which was being trampled by gentiles. This is God's last chance for Christians. The Two Witnesses will be teaching truth, the measuring stick.
Christians will be measured by whether they accept the truth or not. Even in our time, it is obvious that most of the church is far away from God. An earlier trumpet told us that 1/3 of churches will be teaching blood at the time of the measurement, when they used to teach living water.
We are past verse 1 now, phew! Next we'll focus carefully on verses 2 and 3.
And the inner court of the Temple leave out and do not measure it, because that is given to the Gentiles, and they will trample the Holy City 42 months. 3 And I shall grant my two witnesses to prophesy 1260 days while wearing sackcloth. (Revelation 11:2-3)
Prophecy uses different units of measure to indicate that the measurement given is literal and not symbolic in some way. In this case it is talking about literal time. 42 months = 1260 days = 3.5 years
That might not be equal in your way of thinking but it makes sense. Prophetic months are 30 days long, years are 360 days long.
Sackcloth is mentioned. It indicates people who have humbled themselves or have been humbled. In addition to being spiritual, it's possible that this is literal. They may be wearing sackcloth or whatever the equivalent of sackcloth would be in our time.
Note this, when Jerusalem is conquered, the Two Witnesses show up.
These are the two olive trees and the two menorahs, which stand before the Lord of the whole Earth. (Revelation 11:4)
The olive trees are symbolic. They indicate that these two people have oil to give for anointing and for light.
The Menorah is symbolic. It indicates the guidance of the Holy Spirit that brings light into the lives where it resides. In this case it indicates that these two are guided by the Holy Spirit.
Stand before the Lord is more idiomatic than symbolic, but it isn't literal. It indicates someone who is under the close watch of God. Here, it means these two are under his care and watchful eye. No harm will come to them until their mission is complete.
And whoever seeks to harm them, fire comes out of their mouths and consumes their enemies and those that choose to harm them; so it is given to them to be killed. 6 And these have authority to close up the sky that the rain would not descend in the days of their prophecy, and they have authority to change water to blood and to smite the Earth with all plagues as much as they wish. (Revelation 11:5-6)
We need to determine if the nouns here are literal.
These three references are telling us that God is using these for a purpose as he did in the past. Then he was sending hardships on people who were refusing to do what he wanted. In this case the people are Christians, or at least people who think they are Christians.
And when their testimonies are complete, the Beast that will ascend from the Sea will make war with them and will conquer them and kill them. 8 And their corpses came into the street of the Great City, which spiritually is called Sadom and Egypt, where their Lord was crucified. 9 And then they of the peoples and generations, languages and nations will look upon their corpses 3 ½ days, and they will not allow their corpses to be placed in tombs. (Revelation 11:7-9)
The verse talks about the Great City that is like Sodom and Egypt, in a spiritual sense. We know this is a reference to Jerusalem because that is where Jesus was crucified. We know from elsewhere in Revelation that Jerusalem has become an evil place at that time.
We also see something interesting about the Two Witnesses - Jesus is their lord. These people are almost certainly Enoch and Elijah. So they have learned who Jesus is and accepted him.
We see a fractional number here that is seen in other places. It is used to describe time periods but the length of the time periods is different. Instead of using a fraction, it is sometimes express as "time, times, and a half of time. In these verses we see it used twice, as a 3 ½ year mission and as 3 ½ days as corpses. There is good reason to believe that Jesus' mission was also 3 ½ years long.
Another interesting statement is made about the entire world seeing their corpses. Until the 1940s, when TVs first became available, no one could understand how this could be possible. Live international broadcasts are an even more recent development. The Bible knew this would be possible long before mankind conceived of it.
And the inhabitants of the Earth will rejoice over them and they will celebrate and they will send gifts to each other, because of the two Prophets who tormented the inhabitants of the Earth. (Revelation 11:10)
We've already seen that the "inhabitants of the Earth" are people who call themselves Christians. There is a deeper understanding of why that is, but it is outside the scope of this study.
These so-called Christians will "rejoice and celebrate" over the deaths of the Two Witnesses who were sent to them to be a measure of them by teaching them the truth.
They will "send gifts to each other." The false Christians will celebrate by exchanging gifts. Why is a gift exchange worthy of mention in this prophecy? Why not just say they rejoiced and celebrated? Why say how? The Bible doesn't waste ink. What's there is there for a purpose.
We can't miss the connection between false Christians exchanging gifts and Christmas. But Christmas time is the only time of the year when Christians do a gift exchange. There is no reason to believe that this event is happening at Christmas. It is happening because of their deaths. We can see that this is meant to be a disrespectful act, a defiant gesture against the Two Witnesses. That only makes sense if the Two Witnesses have been teaching against Christmas but the false Christians were not about to give up their most sacred day. To show their rejection, once the Two Witnesses are dead, they exchange gifts.
God is using the Two Witnesses to separate the wheat from the chaff at the end of time. This is "last call." Jesus is about to return and salvation will not be available as it had been.
Notice one more thing in these verses. The Witnesses are now called Prophets. So they are also prophesying, that is, bringing God's word to his people. We know that Elijah was officially a prophet in his time.
And after three and a half days, the Living Spirit from God entered into them and they stood on their feet and the Spirit of Life fell upon them and great fear came over those who saw them. 12And they heard a great voice from Heaven that said to them, "Come up here." And they went up to Heaven in a cloud and their enemies gazed at them. (Revelation 11:11-12)
This phrase, "Living Spirit", appears elsewhere only in Romans 8:2. The phrase "Spirit of Life" appears nowhere else. something unique is happening with these two. The Second Coming is, at most, a few days away when they come back to life. We would wonder if they are being transformed? Perhaps, they are the first of many - a First Fruits offering of sorts.
And in that hour there was a great earthquake and [1/10th of the city] fell, and the names of men who were killed in the earthquake were 7000, and the rest were in fear and gave glory to God who is in Heaven. (Revelation 11:13)
Why is this worth mentioning? It looks like this verse could be removed from Revelation and we would never miss it. If it is intended as sign to people, it is coming very late.
It seems to be similar to the earthquake after Jesus' death. The difference here is that the Two Witnesses were resurrected, not killed at this time. It's hard to find meaning in that, though.
Where this earthquake strikes isn't really clear. The only city that has been talked about so far is Jerusalem, so we have to assume that is the city.
Why Jerusalem? We know it has become an evil place, in fact the center of the Beast's empire. Is this earthquake targeted against the enemies of God? That would make some sense.
Notice that the survivors in the city "gave glory to God." To have the remnant in Jerusalem recognizing God's working is a big change from the Sodom and Egypt titles they were given earlier. Perhaps that is the point here. In this last strike, God provides his last call for change, and some respond. This makes it similar to Jesus' death, when those around him recognize him as God and glorify him.