Revelation 8, verses 12 and 13, Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters of the earth

 

Revelation 8:12  And the fourth angel sounded, and the third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars; so as the third part of them was darkened, and the day shone not for a third part of it, and the night likewise. 13  And I beheld, and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters of the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels, which are yet to sound!

The fourth angel heralded a third part of the sun and the moon neither giving a third part of their light. The day and night are affected by this. But, an angel says that the remaining three trumpets are going to herald in even worse things.

Hail and fire mingled with blood kills a third part of the trees and all of the green grass. A mountain on fire is cast into the sea turning it into blood with a third part of creatures dying and a third part of ships destroyed. Wormwood makes fresh water poisonous. A third part of the light from the sun, moon, and stars is prevented from reaching earth and the day and night are affected.

It is interesting to note that commentators from a few hundred years ago like John Gill would present these happenings as metaphors and symbolic of issues within Christianity relating them to historical events like the decline and fall of the western Roman Empire and doctrinal disputes. I am taking these as literal physical events in space-time, however.

Genesis 6, verses 13 to 22, part 2, Thus did Noah

 

So, there is more than enough room in the ark for representatives of large modern-day classifications of animals and provisions to care for them. God could use the much-changed environment after the Flood to lead to rapid speciation as all of the characteristics required for variation within a kind are included within the genetic code already implanted by God. However, this produced a variety of cats, dogs, alligators, and pea plants and there is no evidence that if you introduce mutations into a group of flies that after thousands of generations that you still won’t have just very messed up flies and not lizards. The only way modern scientists can make their macroevolution happen is to divide creatures up into ever smaller groupings and say triumphantly if a fly develops characteristics of its own due to environmental pressures within the restrictions of its genetic code that it becomes something other than a fly. The fact is, all of the tools required for variation within a kind is already given by God in its genetic code. After all, have we not created many dozens of breeds of dogs within Animal Husbandry over the past 2-300 years and yet they are all still dogs and no new creature has been created?

You are, of course, free to look for the remains of the ark but there is no need for there to be any. It was, like the great fish of Jonah 1:17, specially prepared for a specific purpose. Looking for relics is a poor preference rather than reading and believing God’s word.

There was one door into the ark, the physical salvation of mankind. Christ is the one door by which we can have eternal life and be saved for eternity. There are so many great sermons to be had from this one passage. The ark was the vehicle by which a small remnant of mankind was saved. Christ is the vehicle by which a remnant of humanity is saved for eternity.

Verse 17 tells us that all flesh, wherein is the breath of life will die. Breathing is a significant action in God’s determination of what is living. Think of some things that we call life that do not breathe air, the act of respiration being a foundation of God’s definition of life. Think of things that have no sense of self-identity, no souls, that are driven merely by chemical impulses. Perhaps some things that mankind defines as living are mere biological machines with no soul and no spirit.

But, clearly, some creatures other than man to have a soul and a spirit or mind. Here is one statement about souls.

Job 12:10  In whose hand is the soul of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind.

Here is Solomon in his humanity questioning whether there is any difference between a man’s fate and a beast’s.

Ecclesiastes 3:21  Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth?

It would be useful to contemplate what God calls living without reading our definitions back into it. But, sadly, mankind all too often creates a God in his own head that is merely a reflection of himself and his own self-worship and has no interest in contemplating how the God of the Bible looks at a thing.

Everything that breathed air that did not have a place on the ark, was to physically die in this deluge. The verse clearly states that everything in the earth that has the breath of life shall die. All air-breathing land-animals die and must be preserved by representatives in the ark.

God makes a covenant, and there are several covenants in the Bible, with Noah and his family, promising them survival. He orders Noah to save at least two of every sort of creature, synonymous with kind, a classification discussed earlier. He also commands provisions to be brought into the ark for them.

Noah, being the man that he was, followed God’s instructions to the letter.

Revelation 8, verses 10 and 11, there fell a great star from heaven

 

Revelation 8:10  And the third angel sounded, and there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters; 11  And the name of the star is called Wormwood: and the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter.

Is this a star, in the sense of what we understand as a star, which modern scientific definitions are self-limiting and refer to specific things rather than categories, as ancient expressions would? Or, is this just a reference to some astronomical body like debris from a comet or an asteroid which poisons a third part of the rivers, the headwaters of drinkable water? In the next chapter such a thing will be an actual entity rather than an astronomical body.

A recent UK Guardian article was entitled, “Risk of comet hitting Earth is greater than previously thought, say researchers.”[1] The effects of such a disaster can only be reasonably assumed but it is clear that such an event is waiting to happen. Earth is being held off from certain horrible events, and it seems held off for a purpose, if we believe the Scriptures. It is not amazing that terrible things happen but that they don’t happen more often is amazing.

 

Wormwood is supposed to be what the word Chernobyl in Russian or Chornobyl in Ukrainian means. The town of Chernobyl was named after the plant which was said to have supernatural properties in folklore.[2]  Will this poisoning of the waters have anything to do with a man-made nuclear disaster, though? It doesn’t appear so, from a literal reading of the Bible, as this is a great star from heaven and on fire. Even if this is calamity is from the spiritual world it clearly comes from someplace else. It falls on the waters.

 

Fountains of waters may refer also to underground water, perhaps aquifers and fresh water supplies, or even oceans of water.

 

Genesis 7:11  In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.

 

Some scientists believe there is more water in the earth’s crust than on the surface, which would be where the flood waters receded to after the Great Flood. “Earth’s Mantle Holds an Ocean’s Worth of Water,” was the title of a recent Scientific American article.[3] Another article, this time in the Christian Science Monitor reports that all of the water under the ground could cover the continents in 600 feet of water so we are blessed that God said He would never unleash that sort of destruction again.[4]

 

Genesis 9:11  And I will establish my covenant with you; neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth.

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[1] “Risk of comet hitting Earth is greater than previously thought, say researchers,” The Guardian, December 22, 2015. http://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/dec/23/risk-of-comet-hitting-earth-as-bad-as-asteroids-or-worse-say-researchers.

[2] Mary Mycio, “Wormwood: Biblical Botany,” in Wormwood Forest: An Natural History of Chernobyl (Washington D.C.: Joseph Henry Press, 2005),  Kindle ed. chapter one.

[3] Becky Oskin, “Earth’s Mantle Holds an Ocean’s Worth of Water,” Scientific American, March 12, 2014. http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/rare-diamond-confirms-that-earths-mantle-holds-an-oceans-worth-of-water/.

 

[4] Lucy Schouten, “Scientists Tally Earth’s Hidden Mega-stashes of Groundwater,” Christian Science Monitor, November 17, 2015. http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2015/1117/Scientists-tally-Earth-s-hidden-mega-stashes-of-groundwater#.

 

Genesis 6, verses 13 to 22, the end of all flesh is come before me

 

Genesis 6:13 ¶  And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth. 14  Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch. 15  And this is the fashion which thou shalt make it of: The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits. 16  A window shalt thou make to the ark, and in a cubit shalt thou finish it above; and the door of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof; with lower, second, and third stories shalt thou make it. 17  And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and every thing that is in the earth shall die. 18  But with thee will I establish my covenant; and thou shalt come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons’ wives with thee. 19  And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee; they shall be male and female. 20  Of fowls after their kind, and of cattle after their kind, of every creeping thing of the earth after his kind, two of every sort shall come unto thee, to keep them alive. 21  And take thou unto thee of all food that is eaten, and thou shalt gather it to thee; and it shall be for food for thee, and for them.

Genesis 6:22 ¶  Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he.

God announces to Noah what He intends to do and commands Noah to build a ship. The dimensions of this ship, called an ark, depend on what the exact length of a cubit was, a point of uncertainty among scholars. If the cubit was 1 ½ feet long then it was around 450 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet tall. Perhaps, if the cubit was closer to 2 feet than it was 600 feet long, 100 feet wide, and 60 feet tall. There is no one on earth who can say for sure. Ancient peoples used varying lengths for cubits although it is said that the ancient Egyptians used the length from a man’s elbow to his fingertips.

This gives us a range for a ship large enough to certainly carry representatives of all creatures that were going to perish. It is important to remember, as I pointed out in my comments on chapter one, verse 11 that the kind of the Bible is a much larger classification than the “species” of modern taxonomy, of which there are literally a couple of dozen definitions. For representatives of a modern family or order, in a world where solar radiation had not taken its extreme effects and mutations were probably less frequent than they are now, it does not even take a stretch of the imagination to consider a primal cat family, dog family, or even alligator family having its representatives on the ark. It is foolish to read modern taxonomic classifications back into the Bible as the word, “family,” for instance, wasn’t used for biological classification until a French botanist used it in 1689.

Revelation 8, verses 8 and 9, a great mountain burning with fire

 

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

Some say that if the volcano, Cumbre Vieja on La Palma in the Canary Islands, collapses a tsunami could seriously endanger the East Coast of the United States, though this would not cause world-wide destruction.[1] However, let’s look at whether or not this reference to the sea is a reference to all seas or just the Mediterranean. This is a great mountain on fire that causes a third part of the sea to become blood, killing a third of sea creatures, and a third of ships. These are general number as we have seen that numbers are not representing exact figures but general concepts of numbers.

A mega-tsunami hit the Mediterranean Sea in the fourth century with great devastation.[2]  Volcanoes like Stromboli in that area present a risk of a massive eruption at some future point. This scenario in Revelation is understandable based on our present knowledge and experience. There is clearly more to this than just one volcano erupting. For the waters to congeal like blood a great many would have to go off at once, wouldn’t they, with magma partially filling the sea? However, the text only mentions one being cast into the sea.

We need to also remember that when an ancient writer referred to the sea they typically were referring to the Mediterranean unless they specified another. When they referred to the earth they were referring to the earth they knew, the region around the sea, the Roman Empire. They would have had no understanding of the Western Hemisphere.

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[1] Douglas Main, “US East Coast Faces Variety of Tsunami Threats,” LiveScience, November 15, 2012. http://www.livescience.com/24813-east-coast-tsunamis.html.

 

[2] “A Mega-Tsunami Could Strike the Mediterranean Anytime,” Softpedia, http://news.softpedia.com/news/A-Mega-Tsunami-Could-Strike-Mediterranean-Anytime-80609.shtml. (accessed 12.24.2015).

 

Psalm 51, verses 7 to 13, create in me a clean heart

 

Psalm 51:7 ¶  Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. 8  Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice. 9  Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities. 10  Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. 11  Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me. 12  Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit. 13  Then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto thee.

 

Hyssop is an evergreen plant, a garden herb of the mint family. It is used to ritually cleanse in Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers. It is also mentioned in relation to Christ.

 

John 19:29  Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar: and they filled a spunge with vinegar, and put it upon hyssop, and put it to his mouth.

 

Note also a verse in Isaiah that I quoted for the first part of this Psalm.

 

Isaiah 1:18  Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.

 

Here, David’s sorrow is likened to broken bones and those bones, when healed, rejoicing, so there is no danger our misunderstanding this figure of speech. David seeks to have his sins blotted out as he has already stated in the first part of this Psalm.

 

For verse 10 see one of the promises we have, written by the apostle, John.

 

1John 1:9  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

 

Here David pleads also that God not remove His holy spirit, lowercase h and s, the wisdom, guidance, and understanding that God has given Him not a reference to God’s very mind, His Spirit, uppercase S, which came upon a person of the Old Testament rather than indwelling them.

 

See other times the spirit of God, lowercase s, is used.

 

Isaiah 11:2  And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD;

 

The best thing I can say is that this is a matter of emphasis and making sure we understand that this is  not about the very mind of God is not indwelling David but that God has given him wisdom and understanding and that spirit, lowercase s, from God, David pleads not to lose. It is a sweet and fulfilling relationship with his Creator and that connection to God that David does not want to lose. Notice though that for the Christian God’s Spirit, uppercase S, abides with us and inside each of us. Note the uppercase H and S in Luke.

 

Luke 11:13  If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?

 

And this promise from Christ;

 

John 14:23  Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.

 

And then these statements from Paul and Peter with the uppercase S for spirit;

 

Romans 8:9  But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.

 

1Peter 1:11  Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow.

 

So a lowercase spirit from God refers to an attribute, wisdom, knowledge, or understanding sent from God to man while the uppercase S refers directly to the very mind of God.

 

Here are passages where spirit and mind are linked. The Spirit is the mind and heart of God just as the spirit of man includes the heart, reason, emotions, intellect, and talents. For contexts where the Spirit of God or the spirit of man can be synonymous with mind please see the following;

Romans 8:27  And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.

 

Ephesians 4:23  And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;

 

Philippians 1:27  Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ: that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel;

 

2Timothy 1:7  For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

 

Salvation in verse 12, like in 99% of the Bible, is not a reference to eternal salvation but to the deliverance that David has experienced as God’s mercy was always so abundantly expressed in relation to David.

 

He wants to experience that joy again that he experienced when delivered from very bad things. I, too, have known that sense of wonder and gratitude that came from knowing that God’s hand was directly involved in my deliverance, usually from things I deserved. He declares, as we sometimes think, that his deliverance will be a testimony to others and will play a part in turning sinners like himself toward God.

 

Remember that David has done a very bad thing in committing fornication with Bathsheba and then murdering her husband  at the hands of Israel’s enemy. He is pleading for God’s mercy and restoration from a very bad place, a place that fortunately nearly all of us will never find ourselves.

 

Yet there are many things that we can relate to in this passage and in this Psalm. We don’t want the light of the Holy Spirit of God quenched within us and we want to experience again the joy we felt when we knew that God has saved us eternally. While, David, as an Old Testament Jew, would have meant one thing by what he has written here we can apply these very words to our present condition in Christ when we realize how badly we have sinned against a righteous and holy God.

Revelation 8, verse 7, hail and fire mingled with blood

 

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

Hail and fire mingled with blood reminds me of Exodus.

Exodus 7:19  And the LORD spake unto Moses, Say unto Aaron, Take thy rod, and stretch out thine hand upon the waters of Egypt, upon their streams, upon their rivers, and upon their ponds, and upon all their pools of water, that they may become blood; and that there may be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, both in vessels of wood, and in vessels of stone. 20  And Moses and Aaron did so, as the LORD commanded; and he lifted up the rod, and smote the waters that were in the river, in the sight of Pharaoh, and in the sight of his servants; and all the waters that were in the river were turned to blood. 21  And the fish that was in the river died; and the river stank, and the Egyptians could not drink of the water of the river; and there was blood throughout all the land of Egypt. 22  And the magicians of Egypt did so with their enchantments: and Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, neither did he hearken unto them; as the LORD had said. 23  And Pharaoh turned and went into his house, neither did he set his heart to this also. 24  And all the Egyptians digged round about the river for water to drink; for they could not drink of the water of the river. 25  And seven days were fulfilled, after that the LORD had smitten the river.

Exodus 9:23  And Moses stretched forth his rod toward heaven: and the LORD sent thunder and hail, and the fire ran along upon the ground; and the LORD rained hail upon the land of Egypt. 24  So there was hail, and fire mingled with the hail, very grievous, such as there was none like it in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation. 25  And the hail smote throughout all the land of Egypt all that was in the field, both man and beast; and the hail smote every herb of the field, and brake every tree of the field.

The seven seals began with a conqueror with a bow on a white horse followed by war, famine, and disease with the fourth seal reflecting the first three as well as adding the beasts of the earth. The fifth seal has a multitude of slain martyrs crying out for vengeance to God. The sixth seal has an earthquake and astronomical disturbances with the stars of heaven falling to earth either in a physical disaster of comet debris, asteroids, or a meteor shower, or perhaps referring to a spiritual invasion from outside of this world as stars are referred to also as angels.  Specific Jewish servants of God are sealed. Their purpose is not specified. But, a multitude is now in heaven praising God, perhaps the raptured saints.

Now, the trumpets have begun and there is going to be a great and terrifying result now that the saints have been harvested. Vengeance on a fallen world is coming to a head. Some would say that the first five seals are historical events that we can see and that we are waiting on the sixth seal. Once that great earthquake and the astronomic disasters begin or devils come to earth the world would know we are in the end times. There have been millions slain for the word of God in the last two thousand years and more Christians are being murdered each week in the world now than during the times of pagan Rome.

Read Matthew, chapter 24 in its entirety.

  Matthew 24:1 ¶  And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to shew him the buildings of the temple. 2  And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down. 3  And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?

    4 ¶  And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. 5  For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. 6  And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. 7  For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. 8  All these are the beginning of sorrows. 9  Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake. 10  And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. 11  And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. 12  And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. 13  But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. 14  And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come. 15  When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) 16  Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains: 17  Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house: 18  Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. 19  And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! 20  But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day: 21  For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. 22  And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened. 23  Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. 24  For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. 25  Behold, I have told you before. 26  Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not. 27  For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. 28  For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together. 29  Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: 30  And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. 31  And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

    32 ¶  Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh: 33  So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors. 34  Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled. 35  Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. 36  But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. 37  But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. 38  For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, 39  And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. 40  Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left. 41  Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left. 42  Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come. 43  But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up. 44  Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh. 45  Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season? 46  Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing. 47  Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods. 48  But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; 49  And shall begin to smite his fellowservants, and to eat and drink with the drunken; 50  The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of, 51  And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

If the historical interpretation is correct and if the translation of the church is a correct doctrine then this multitude in heaven was the church on earth now in heaven and the end is about to come down like a hammer with the five seals representing events of history as types.

Hebrews 12:22  But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, 23  To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,

Could the following events be happening very quickly, like the fall of the Soviet Union or the Berlin Wall in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s? Notice how devastating what comes next would be on humanity and the earth!