Revelation 10, verses 5 to 11, the mystery of God should be finished

 

Revelation 10:5  And the angel which I saw stand upon the sea and upon the earth lifted up his hand to heaven, 6  And sware by him that liveth for ever and ever, who created heaven, and the things that therein are, and the earth, and the things that therein are, and the sea, and the things which are therein, that there should be time no longer: 7  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.

Human-centered history is about to end. It is all coming to a point of confrontation. In the ancient world time was not reckoned like we figure it. Events were hinged to political and religious events like a priesthood or kingship or from an historical event. It was not continuous, one year after another and on and on. In fact, it was even localized, only relevant to the place you were in, as there was no world-wide figuring of when events happened by an absolute year like 1956, the year I was born. For instance there is no date given for creation. The Bible does not say, in the year O or in the year 1. Such a thought would have been an absurdity at one time. The Bible gives time as relative to events not as a year with an absolute number.

1Kings 6:1   And it came to pass in the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel were come out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month Zif, which is the second month, that he began to build the house of the LORD.

Amos 1:1   The words of Amos, who was among the herdmen of Tekoa, which he saw concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah king of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash king of Israel, two years before the earthquake.

The Greek word for time in this passage, as a side note, is chronos from which we get chronology. There will be no reckoning of time in the human fashion in eternity.

 God’s wrath has been a rain of ruin on the world of men and women. The church has been promised that it will not face that, as those who belong to Christ have been granted eternal life. In the following the time of God’s wrath is the entire period you and I have been discussing as all included in God’s final judgment.

Matthew 3:7 ¶  But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8  Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance: 9  And think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. 10  And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. 11  I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire: 12  Whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.

 

But the church escapes the judgments, the gates of Hell, by God’s mercy and forgiveness.

 

Matthew 16:18  And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

 

1Thessalonians 1:10  And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.

 

The world is facing its inevitable fate.

 

Revelation 6:17  For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?

 

Revelation 11:18  And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth.

 

And so, the seventh angel will sound the trumpet but first...

 

Revelation 10:8 ¶  And the voice which I heard from heaven spake unto me again, and said, Go and take the little book which is open in the hand of the angel which standeth upon the sea and upon the earth. 9  And I went unto the angel, and said unto him, Give me the little book. And he said unto me, Take it, and eat it up; and it shall make thy belly bitter, but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey. 10  And I took the little book out of the angel’s hand, and ate it up; and it was in my mouth sweet as honey: and as soon as I had eaten it, my belly was bitter. 11  And he said unto me, Thou must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings.

John is told to eat the little book and it tastes sweet but is bitter in his stomach. We have other instances where prophets are told to eat written words but in this case they are bitter in the prophet’s stomach. See Jeremiah, chapter 15 and Ezekiel, chapter 3. John’s writings for the last two thousand years have been reviewed and studied by many nations, languages, and rulers hoping to understand their place in the end times.

Psalm 51, verses 14 to 19, the sacrifices of righteousness

 

Psalm 51:14 ¶  Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation: and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness. 15  O Lord, open thou my lips; and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise. 16  For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it: thou delightest not in burnt offering. 17  The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise. 18  Do good in thy good pleasure unto Zion: build thou the walls of Jerusalem. 19  Then shalt thou be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness, with burnt offering and whole burnt offering: then shall they offer bullocks upon thine altar.

 

David pleads with God to remove the stain of his murder of Uriah the Hittite. Here is a typical Old Testament Israelite making a deal with God. God’s deliverance of David’s guilt will result in David singing God’s praise.

 

No sacrifice nor offering can remediate David’s sins. He deserves to die. But see here what is called for in such an extreme situation in verse 17. Also see this previous verse;

 

Psalm 34:18  The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.

 

Do we mourn for our sin and for the sins of mankind in general? Are we not broken-hearted at our failures and weaknesses? Some commentators interpret the following from the Sermon on the Mount as referring to realizing we are morally and spiritually bankrupt before Christ and being exceeding sorrowful for how sin has separated us from God.

 

Matthew 5:3 ¶  Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4  Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.

 

What will please God are the sacrifices of righteousness, a humble spirit before Him and doing what is right in all circumstance.

 

Psalm 4:5  Offer the sacrifices of righteousness, and put your trust in the LORD.

 

Notice also what we are called to as Christians;

 

Romans 12:1 ¶  I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

 

If truth be told we are all guilty of David’s egregious sin. It has been said that our sins put Christ on the Cross and that mankind used Roman government agency to murder Him no less than what David did to Uriah the Hittite, one of the Christ figures of the Old Testament. Old Testament sacrifices of animals will not compensate for our sin but only a living sacrifice to God in Christ to live our lives directed by Him.

 

Romans 10:4  For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.

 

Philippians 3:9  And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:

Revelation 10, verses 1 to 4, his face as it were the sun

 

Revelation 10:1 ¶  And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud: and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire:

This angel descends from heaven in a cloud and has a rainbow on his head, a face glowing like the sun, and his feet looking like they are on fire. We have to ask ourselves what is the meaning of what John is seeing. What does this angel represent or is this angel a literal, physical being? Below are interesting cross-references.

God appearing in some form in a cloud;

Exodus16:10  And it came to pass, as Aaron spake unto the whole congregation of the children of Israel, that they looked toward the wilderness, and, behold, the glory of the LORD appeared in the cloud.

Leviticus 16:2  And the LORD said unto Moses, Speak unto Aaron thy brother, that he come not at all times into the holy place within the vail before the mercy seat, which is upon the ark; that he die not: for I will appear in the cloud upon the mercy seat.

Psalm 97:2  Clouds and darkness are round about him: righteousness and judgment are the habitation of his throne.

The promise of the rainbow.

Genesis 9:13  I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth. 14  And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud: 15  And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh.

A rainbow around the throne of God.

Revelation 4:3  And he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone: and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald.

A face glowing like the sun.

Exodus 34:28 ¶  And he was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights; he did neither eat bread, nor drink water. And he wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, the ten commandments. 29  And it came to pass, when Moses came down from mount Sinai with the two tables of testimony in Moses’ hand, when he came down from the mount, that Moses wist not that the skin of his face shone while he talked with him.

Revelation 1:16  And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp twoedged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength.

Notice how the visions of heavenly beings are so profound and stark in contrast to the earthly.

Daniel 10:5  Then I lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and behold a certain man clothed in linen, whose loins were girded with fine gold of Uphaz: 6  His body also was like the beryl, and his face as the appearance of lightning, and his eyes as lamps of fire, and his arms and his feet like in colour to polished brass, and the voice of his words like the voice of a multitude.

Revelation 10:2  And he had in his hand a little book open: and he set his right foot upon the sea, and his left foot on the earth, 3  And cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roareth: and when he had cried, seven thunders uttered their voices. 4  And when the seven thunders had uttered their voices, I was about to write: and I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Seal up those things which the seven thunders uttered, and write them not.

Even if by some remote chance we would have all agreed on what the Seven Thunders said we aren’t going to get the chance to find out what they said. This angel has a small book open.

Genesis 7, verses 17 to 24, and all flesh died that moved upon the earth

 

Genesis 7:17 ¶  And the flood was forty days upon the earth; and the waters increased, and bare up the ark, and it was lift up above the earth. 18  And the waters prevailed, and were increased greatly upon the earth; and the ark went upon the face of the waters. 19  And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth; and all the high hills, that were under the whole heaven, were covered. 20  Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail; and the mountains were covered.

It is easy here to surmise that the upthrust of the great mountain ranges was a consequence of the violent cataclysm of the Flood. Rapid deformation of the earth’s surface as the fountains of the great deep were broken up took place rather quickly. When you consider that fifteen cubits would be in a range of 22 to 30 feet and we’ve already seen the theory that the water under the earth’s surface could cover the continents in 600 feet of water, it makes sense that this statement refers to there being upwards of 30 feet of water over the highest mountain or hill which would not have been in the range of what we think of regarding today’s mountains. It was an earth, before the Flood, consisting of one giant landmass and an ocean, with the only mountains being high hills and a worldwide tropical environment containing many times the biomass of plant and animal life we have on our beautiful but degraded earth.

Some very interesting comments about this theory regarding the evidence of recent mountain change uplift can be found if one is willing to consider it.[1]

Genesis 7:21 ¶  And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of beast, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, and every man: 22  All in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land, died. 23  And every living substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground, both man, and cattle, and the creeping things, and the fowl of the heaven; and they were destroyed from the earth: and Noah only remained alive, and they that were with him in the ark. 24  And the waters prevailed upon the earth an hundred and fifty days.

The context here shows that the definition of All in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land, died is all flesh and every living substance referring to things that breathed air on dry land. 

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[1] Roger Gallop, “Catastrophic Worldwide Flood: Massive Igneous Mountain Ranges,” CreationSciencetoday.com, http://creationsciencetoday.com/11-Massive_Igneous_Mountain_Ranges.html (accessed 7.31.2016).

 

1John 1 comments

 

1John 1:1 ¶  That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life; 2  (For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;) 3  That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. 4  And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full.

The apostle John here gives a summary of his experience with Christ as God walked on the earth in the form of a man. From John’s Gospel

John 1:1 ¶  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2  The same was in the beginning with God. 3  All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4  In him was life; and the life was the light of men. 5 ¶  And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.

John emphasizes that, unlike the statements of Gnostics who denied that God could take on matter and be in the flesh as matter itself was evil, that Christ came in the flesh and they saw Him and talked to Him. This is eyewitness testimony certifying and confirming Christ’s physical presence.

John 1:14  And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

1Timothy 3:16  And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.

He confirms also that eternal life is found in Christ.

John 10:28  And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.  

John testifies of this and that Christ is the way to God the Father.

John 14:6  Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

Because He is God the Father in the flesh.

John 14:9  Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?

John wants to complete the joy of the disciples, that we should all experience, by confirming and attesting to these facts. Are you not joyful at these promises?

1John 1:5 ¶  This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. 6  If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: 7  But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.

John states that he is repeating the message that the Lord Jesus Christ presented to HIM. God is light, pure light, in which there is no darkness. Here are some examples of that thought in John’s gospel and in one of Paul’s letters.

John 1:4  In him was life; and the life was the light of men.  5  And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.,,9  That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.

John 3:16  For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17  For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 18  He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19  And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20  For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. 21  But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.

1Thessalonians 5:5  Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.

John is addressing issues of sin within the church and seems intent on correcting errors in thinking and doctrine that have come about. To say that one is in fellowship with Christ when one walks in darkness is to make that person’s declaration a lie. As a preacher once put it, it is impossible to pursue righteousness when one is zealously clinging to error.

But those who walk in Christ’s light have fellowship not only with Him but all other believers and it is Christ’s blood that cleanses us from the taint of sin. Again, an apostle has to weed out the tares, as Paul did in Hebrews, warning those who are only fooling themselves that to walk in sin is to betray one’s confession of faith in Christ. We are saved by the blood of Christ in that Christ died for our sins and rose again for our justification. Why then, would we walk in sin, in darkness, and not in the light given by Christ?

1John 1:8 ¶  If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10  If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

2Chronicles 6:36  If they sin against thee, (for there is no man which sinneth not,) and thou be angry with them, and deliver them over before their enemies, and they carry them away captives unto a land far off or near;

Ecclesiastes 7:20  For there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not.

It is important to understand the difference between sinning, which mankind is incapable of not doing, as in having a sinful nature and in the act of committing a sin and being someone who rejects repentance and defines themselves by their sin, reveling in it.

John will say;

1John 3:4  Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.

Paul presents this statement of fact.

1Corinthians 6:9 ¶  Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, 10  Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. 11  And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.

We cannot help but sin and Christ has provided the remedy for sin’s just and deserving punishment.

Romans 6:23  For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

For we are all sinners saved by God’s grace. We are now saved from the power of sin and God does provide us with a way out if we choose it.

1Corinthianss 10:13  There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.

If we confess our sins with a pure heart of repentance He will forgive us and cleanse us.

But don’t say you aren’t a sinner. Don’t dumb down sin and say, well I don’t lie, cheat, steal, murder, or commit adultery. Just because you have never robbed a bank or killed someone doesn’t mean you haven’t lied or taken something that was not rightfully yours. John has made a very explicit point here that we should keep in mind. Sinlessness is not achievable in this life but salvation through Christ is. You who say you don’t sin are calling God a liar.

Revelation 9, verses 13 to 21, having breastplates of fire

 

Revelation 9:13 ¶  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. 20  And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk: 21  Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts.

There are now said to be four angels bound in the Euphrates. When they are loosed they will kill a third part of mankind. This is effected by an army of, again, strictly spiritual or visible, a question we need to consider, creatures numbering two hundred million. The destruction does not make mankind repentant. They still worship their idols and do not repent of their murders, their sorceries, their fornication, or their thefts. So we have five things here of which mankind is guilty.

Idolatry literally here referring to worshipping actual physical idols might include in our modern understanding the veneration of religious statues or icons. Murder, we know, is to kill innocent persons who have not harmed or are not harming you.

Job 24:14  The murderer rising with the light killeth the poor and needy, and in the night is as a thief.

Psalm 10:8  He sitteth in the lurking places of the villages: in the secret places doth he murder the innocent: his eyes are privily set against the poor.

I point these verses out to underscore murder because of contextual issues as the poor are mentioned here and the third seal was applied to the food the poor needed but not the luxury items the rich used while I am about to show that thefts can be applied to labor. There can be a pattern here if one looks for it. Although a more general application of the verse is understandable.

Sorceries, in Revelation only, is a word that comes from the root for our modern word pharmacy. In other places it is translated from a word for magical arts. It is important to understand the use of hallucinogens in ancient rites of magic. A study of Central America is very helpful in understanding how such drugs were used in the practice of magic.[1]  A study of the use of drugs in ancient magic rites will expand our understanding of the use of pharmacological drugs in the end time, perhaps as modern medicine uses them today, to control behavior and make people more compliant. The Soviet Union was known for this as is America where many children are drugged for being considered hyperactive, a nuisance. I look for the use of drugs for control to expand greatly as history moves forward.

Fornication is any sexual activity outside of a marriage between a man and a woman and it is important not to confuse a government sanctioned license with an actual Christian marriage. You are not married before God just because you bowed to the state’s authority to get a license if there is no commitment before God in a covenantal relationship with your wife or husband for life. It is translated from the word from which we get pornography, porneia. It is linked with lasciviousness, uncleanness, and adultery. 

Galatians 5:19  Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,

Theft, stealing other people’s material possessions, can also include stealing their labor.

James 5:4  Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth.

This also applied under the Law given to Moses.

Leviticus 19:13  Thou shalt not defraud thy neighbour, neither rob him: the wages of him that is hired shall not abide with thee all night until the morning.

Of course, our traditional use of the word, theft, is outright stealing.

Exodus 22:1 ¶  If a man shall steal an ox, or a sheep, and kill it, or sell it; he shall restore five oxen for an ox, and four sheep for a sheep. 2  If a thief be found breaking up, and be smitten that he die, there shall no blood be shed for him. 3  If the sun be risen upon him, there shall be blood shed for him; for he should make full restitution; if he have nothing, then he shall be sold for his theft. 4  If the theft be certainly found in his hand alive, whether it be ox, or ass, or sheep; he shall restore double.

Consider how powerful men in the past have preyed on the poor from the ancient world through the feudalism of medieval times, to the early days of capitalism’s abuse of the working poor, and into socialism where capitalists are just given government authority and power to back them up and the powerful men are also government, as in Red China today. God has always remarked heavily against the oppression of the poor, not the sluggard or slothful, but the working poor, as any eyes-open reading of Proverbs will show.

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[1] Albert Hoffman, “Teonanácatl and Ololiuqui, two ancient magic drugs of Mexico,” Bulletin on Narcotics, Issue 1, 1971; 3-14 quoted on The Vaults of Erowid, https://www.erowid.org/plants/mushrooms/references/other/1971_hofmann_bulletin-narcotics.shtml. (accessed 12.30.2015).

 

Genesis 7, verses 13 to 16, and the LORD shut him in

 

Genesis 7:13 ¶  In the selfsame day entered Noah, and Shem, and Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah’s wife, and the three wives of his sons with them, into the ark; 14  They, and every beast after his kind, and all the cattle after their kind, and every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind, and every fowl after his kind, every bird of every sort. 15  And they went in unto Noah into the ark, two and two of all flesh, wherein is the breath of life. 16  And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him: and the LORD shut him in.

It is important to read this passage in light of the context it is in so that we can see that by saying this the sevens mentioned earlier are not excluded, just not a detail that is repeated. Representatives of all major groupings of living, land creatures that breathed air, even though that breathing is done somewhat differently in land animals, fowls, and, say, a grasshopper, breathing is done nonetheless, are preserved. This implies that the genetic variation within a family like the dog or wolf can eventually lead from a small population to a great variety of canines. Even evolutionists assume a wolf-like ancestor of both dogs and wolves so it is more likely, if such a beast existed, he would have been on the Ark.[1] If you consider the number of breeds of dogs that man has created by manipulation in the last two hundred years alone it is no stretch of the imagination to consider how rapid speciation can occur under God’s direction. And yet, as all creatures have boundaries set by the genetic code with great diversity within there are limits, boundaries which cannot be passed, kinds, so that a fish doesn’t become a lizard any more than a chrysanthemum becomes a butterfly.

Probably the most important thing to consider in this passage is that the Lord shut him in. It is God who saves humankind, not man himself.

John 1:12  But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: 13  Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

God closes the door on your salvation. You are sealed by the Holy Spirit provided, the means by which God dwells in everyone who trusts in Him.

2Corinthians 1:22  Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.

Ephesians 1:13  In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,

Ephesians 4:30  And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.

You are not saved by your good works or your kind nature or how much other people admire and like you. It is God who closes the work of salvation. You are saved by His mercy and grace.

Peter used this salvation from the flood as well as baptism as types of our salvation, the like figure in the passage below. Notice that as Noah was saved before the Ark was baptized in the Flood by being shut in we are already saved before we are baptized as it has no saving power but is a fulfillment and expression of our condition, the answer of a good conscience toward God.

1Peter 3:18 ¶  For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:19  By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison;20  Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.

 

21 ¶  The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ: 22  Who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him.

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[1] Raymond & Lorna Coppinger, Dogs: A New Understanding of Canine Origin, Behavior, and Evolution (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2001), 273.

 

Revelation 9, verses 2 to 12, men seek death, and shall not find it

 

Revelation 9:2  And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit. 3  And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power. 4  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. 5  And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months: and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man. 6  And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them. 7  And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle; and on their heads were as it were crowns like gold, and their faces were as the faces of men. 8  And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as the teeth of lions. 9  And they had breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron; and the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle. 10  And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and their power was to hurt men five months. 11  And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon. 12  One woe is past; and, behold, there come two woes more hereafter.

Smoke from this pit comes up so thick that the sun is darkened even more by it. Locusts come through the smoke that have the power to sting like a scorpion. They are not to hurt anything except all of the people on earth other than the 144,000 Jews. They aren’t to kill them but just make them suffer for five months. Men wanted to die, the suffering was so horrible, but could not.

The description of the locusts shows that they are not ordinary locusts but creatures with faces like men, long hair, and lion’s fangs, wearing breastplates of iron, with wings that sounded like chariots and horses coming to battle. You can imagine the great noise of hooves and wheels this would create. The king over them, the angel of the bottomless pit, is named Abaddon in Hebrew and Apollyon in Greek. But, it is not necessary that men should see them physically as we already have read of a star being not an astronomical body but a spiritual being.

Remember how Satan is referred to as a king over all the children of pride when God likens a dragon, the Biblical word for our modern dinosaur, to him in description?

Job 41:34  He beholdeth all high things: he is a king over all the children of pride.

Satan is the prince of the power of the air, the prince or ruler of this world, and the god of this world.

Ephesians 2:2  Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:

John 12:31  Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out.

2Corinthians 4:4  In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.

Paul warned that our warfare is against powers above us, which is typically associated with space, not with earthly rulers.

Ephesians 6:12  For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

Both the names Abaddon and Apollyon mean destruction and destroyer, according to Strong’s dictionary. Paul referred to the Hebrews in the Exodus.

1Corinthians 10:10  Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer.

Remember who God unleashed on the firstborn of the Egyptians.

Exodus 12:23  For the LORD will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when he seeth the blood upon the lintel, and on the two side posts, the LORD will pass over the door, and will not suffer the destroyer to come in unto your houses to smite you.

Are these locusts visible to mankind or are they spiritual creatures?  John is seeing the spiritual world in a way that we cannot.

Genesis 7, verses 5 to 12, all the fountains of the great deep broken up

 

Genesis 7:5 ¶  And Noah did according unto all that the LORD commanded him. 6  And Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters was upon the earth. 7  And Noah went in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons’ wives with him, into the ark, because of the waters of the flood. 8  Of clean beasts, and of beasts that are not clean, and of fowls, and of every thing that creepeth upon the earth, 9  There went in two and two unto Noah into the ark, the male and the female, as God had commanded Noah. 10  And it came to pass after seven days, that the waters of the flood were upon the earth.

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. 12  And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights.

The earth was covered with the water from both rain and from the eruption of great fountains of water under the earth’s crust. Skeptics used to ask where did this water from underneath come from and where did it go after the Flood. Those whose faith was solid did not worry about this question as they should not worry so much about any question regarding the Bible’s accuracy. If science is diligent it may catch up to the Bible in each point of question. This cataclysm also included volcanic activity of immense proportions.

Scientists now believe that there is enough water under the ground to cover the continents in 600 feet of water if it were above the ground, according to a November 17, 2015 news article on The Christian Science Monitor website.[1] A March 12, 2014 article on the Scientific American website also confirmed that scientists believe there is as much water in the earth’s mantle in a particular zone as there is in the earth’s oceans.[2]

God brought to the ark the creatures that He wanted preserved and in the six hundredth year of Noah’s life the deluge began.

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[1] Lucy Schouten, “Scientists Tally Earth’s Hidden Mega-stashes of Groundwater,” The Christian Science Monitor, November 17, 2015 (accessed July, 28, 2016).

http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2015/1117/Scientists-tally-Earth-s-hidden-mega-stashes-of-groundwater#

 

[2] Becky Oskin, “Rare Diamond Confirms that Earth’s Mantle Holds an Ocean’s Worth of Water,” Scientific American, March 12, 2014 (accessed July 28, 2016).

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/rare-diamond-confirms-that-earths-mantle-holds-an-oceans-worth-of-water/

Revelation 9, verse 1, the key of the bottomless pit

 

Revelation 9:1 ¶  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.

Yet, another star falls from heaven. This reveals to us a probable meaning of the stars of heaven earlier as this is a spiritual being come to earth. We should examine as we read references to things that appeared to be astronomical or geological events as perhaps symbolic for something happening in a world we cannot see from this side of the void between physical life and spiritual life. Remember evidence we have had showing events in the spiritual world that have an impact on historical events. In a battle in Judges Deborah, a judge of Israel, states that the stars in their courses fought against the loser of the battle;

Judges 5:20  They fought from heaven; the stars in their courses fought against Sisera.

We can’t see these things happening only the outcomes in the physical world so there is no point arguing about it.

This star is given a key to the bottomless pit. I believe that the bottomless pit is Hell itself.

What is a pit without a bottom? It is a sphere, like the center of the earth.

Matthew 12:40  For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

Deuteronomy 32:22  For a fire is kindled in mine anger, and shall burn unto the lowest hell, and shall consume the earth with her increase, and set on fire the foundations of the mountains.

Psalm 86:13  For great is thy mercy toward me: and thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest hell.

Revelation 20:3  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.

Isaiah 14:15  Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.

Genesis 7, verses 1 to 4, every living substance that I have made will I destroy

 

Genesis 7:1 ¶  And the LORD said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation. 2  Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee by sevens, the male and his female: and of beasts that are not clean by two, the male and his female. 3  Of fowls also of the air by sevens, the male and the female; to keep seed alive upon the face of all the earth. 4  For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights; and every living substance that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the earth.

Here, God gives Noah more specific instructions. Creatures that were considered clean, which were worthy of sacrifice to God (see 8:20), were commanded to be permitted in by sevens, rather than the twos that the common animals came as. Clean beasts were understood as different from other animals. Perhaps, could the difference between clean and unclean have to do with a genetic code that was corrupted by what was happening before the Flood? It is no coincidence that with Christ’s resurrection all animals were made clean.

Acts 10:9 ¶  On the morrow, as they went on their journey, and drew nigh unto the city, Peter went up upon the housetop to pray about the sixth hour: 10  And he became very hungry, and would have eaten: but while they made ready, he fell into a trance, 11  And saw heaven opened, and a certain vessel descending unto him, as it had been a great sheet knit at the four corners, and let down to the earth: 12  Wherein were all manner of fourfooted beasts of the earth, and wild beasts, and creeping things, and fowls of the air. 13  And there came a voice to him, Rise, Peter; kill, and eat. 14  But Peter said, Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten any thing that is common or unclean. 15  And the voice spake unto him again the second time, What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common.

In any case, it is clear that prior to the Law given to Moses there was an understanding of God’s standard of clean and unclean animals just as Abram knew to honor God at an altar and Job understood sacrifices for sin. There was a knowledge of God’s standards which became corrupted and which understanding He renewed in the Law given to Moses. Clean animals were brought into the ark by sevens and unclean by twos. The literal reality is far different than that in the popular imagination of all creatures being brought in twos. Still, these were probably not a huge variety of animals, based on the information given later in the Law. Birds are included in the groups of sevens brought in so what we would today consider in the taxonomic classification of “family” had its bird representatives.

Noah has a week before it starts to rain, something that this world may have not seen previous, based on the statement of how the earth was set before the Flood.

Genesis 2:6  But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground.

Notice that every living substance in verse 4 is conditioned by what God said previously and the whole context must be taken into account in order to get at what is really being said. Context and cross-referencing are essential to interpreting the Bible truthfully and faithfully if you do not have an agenda other than explaining what has been left for us, rather than some social or political purpose of manipulation and control.

We will soon see that more was involved than just rain.