The Antichrist Appears

Then I stood on the sand of the sea. And I saw a beast rising up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and on his horns ten crowns, and on his heads a blasphemous name.
   Now the beast which I saw was like a leopard, his feet were like the feet of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion. The dragon gave him his power, his throne, and great authority.
   And I saw one of his heads as if it had been mortally wounded, and his deadly wound was healed. And all the world marveled and followed the beast.
  So they worshipped the dragon who gave authority to the beast; and they worshipped the beast, saying, “Who is like the beast? Who is able to make war with him?”13:1-4 

    John was watching another "video", and the scene he was seeing made it appear to him as though he was standing on the shore of The Mediterranean Sea.  It was mentioned before that symbolically "sea" represents hordes of people.  Out of that horde of people, one stood above all the others, he is known as the beast.  He will be the ruler over seven kingdoms.  In all, he will have subdued ten countries.  Concerning the phrase, on his heads (he had) a blasphemous name, Concordia writes, the title favoured by Domitian (for himself, was) “Lord and God”.  We, of course, are still expecting a blasphemous ruler in the future, we do not look for him in history.

In studying this section of The Apocalypse, it is of utmost importance to keep in mind, the difference between: 

The Dragon

The Dragon is Satan. In the story of the temptation of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, he is known as a serpent.

The Beast 

The First Beast, who is known as the Antichrist; is a beast of a man and he will be the world’s last great political leader before the return of Christ.  Listening to the news these days, one can not help thinking of North Korea in this regard.

Dr McGee, writing about the beast, seems to have overlooked 13:3 in his studies.  He writes, Who is he? Whom were we last talking about in the previous chapter? He is the same person, and that, of course, is Satan.  However, 13:3 distinctly says, The dragon gave him his power, his throne, and great authority.  Therefore, the word, him, cannot refer to the dragon, but rather to the First Beast, who is known as the Antichrist, and he was mentioned, in 13:1.  It is to him that the power was given by Satan, and not to the false prophet.

   I believe that the beast is the last political force that will fight against Christ and His army.  The beast's followers say, Who is like the beast? Who is able to make war with him? 

   Here, Concordia deserves to be quoted. As Satan is anti-God, so he has his anti-Christ, a world power in which his opposition to God becomes incarnate (the first beast). As the Holy Spirit witnesses to Christ and glorifies Him, so there is a satanic anti-Spirit to witness to the Antichrist and to glorify him.

   Many translations have he stood in place of I stood in 13:1.  Furthermore, some translations have moved this phrase, Then I stood on the sand of the sea to become the last words of 12:17. 

   I saw a beast rising up out of the sea, presumably to meet the red dragon, which was standing on the shore if we read this as he stood upon the sand of the sea.

   I saw one of his heads as if it had been mortally wounded,   There are those who say that the beast is the pope and that the deadly wound happened when the pope of the Roman church was carried into exile to Avignon, in 1798, at a great loss to the Roman church. 

and his deadly wound was healed.  However, the wound healed and the Roman church regained its power.  In stating his views, Mr Jim Crews, of The Seventh Day Adventists, makes a poignant case in, The Beast, the Antichrist and the Woman.  However, it seems that there may be other explanations, which may be even more logical.

The False Prophet

The Second Beast is the False Prophet, and many say he is the last head of the World church. However, it does seem strange that the leader of the world church would get such an important role at the end of time when we consider the small impact that Christianity is having in the affairs of Europe and the Eastern countries, and especially in the “Arab world”. Maybe, though, the term "world church" should no longer carry the connotation that it is based on the Christian foundation. It will be the "world church" in which the False Prophet will decide what everyone must believe and those that do not will be executed! 
  

   The false prophet is the last church leader, the one who endorses the last wicked theological position attested to by the last unified church; a church that would include Muslims, Buddhists, Christians, and any other body that would care to join?  

   We see the modern church going that way now.  Important doctrines that the Bible teaches and The Church has held dear are being swept aside in the name of universal peace.  Christ said that He did not come to bring peace, but a sword.  Why, then, is the church destroying itself in the name of peace?

  So they worshipped the dragon.  As Christians keep on slipping deeper and deeper into tepidity and immorality, Satan worship will keep on getting worse.  It is already prevalent in North America, and I predict that it will get even worse.

  The world worshipped the beast saying that he is the greatest and that there is no one that could fight him. 13:4.  Doubtless, there are those that would dare take up arms against the Lord of Hosts, saying, Who is like the beast? Who is able to make war with him.  Those that do, will be destroyed.

A few years ago I read a very crass comment written in response to a post in a blog.  Part of the comment, very much cleaned up here, ran along these lines.  If Jehovah is not afraid of the outcome of the last war why doesn't he start it already?  When he does, I am sure that we will make an end of him.

There will be more on the topic of the Dragon, the Antichrist and the False Prophet later.

The Fifth Bowl

                    

The angel of Darkness

   And they had as king over them the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, but in Greek he has the name Apollyon. 9:11. 

   Then the fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and his kingdom became full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues because of the pain. 

   They blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and did not repent of their deeds. 16:10-11 

One woe is past. Behold, still two more woes are coming after these things. 9:12

    The ruler of this army is the angel of the bottomless pit.   In English, his name is the Destroyer.  In my next post, I will repeat this statement, The First Beast (a beast of a man) is the world’s last great political leader, known as the Antichrist.

    To fulfil the fifth trumpet blast which coincides with the fifth bowl of wrath, which is the first woe the Destroyer appears on the world stage, ready to fight against Israel.  The countries of the world will take up arms; either for Israel and Jesus Christ or against them.  The Apocalypse says, And the rest were killed with the sword which proceeded from the mouth of Him (Christ) who sat on the horse.  He cried with a loud voice, saying to all the birds that fly in the midst of heaven, “Come and gather together for the supper of the great God, “that you may eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses and of those who sit on them, and the flesh of all people, free and slave, both small and great.” 19:21,17-18.

Anyone who has studied the Apocalypse realises that not everything in the book can be taken literally.  So let's modernize these two verses.

the rest - those that will dare fight against Christ
were killed with the sword - any type of modern war machine
which proceeded from the mouth - by Christ's command

He cried with a loud voice - as the Captain of the world's final army He gave the following command
to all the birds that fly - the warplanes in His army
Come and gather together - come, let's put an end to this battle once and for all
that you may eat - destroy
kings - the final word in all matters of the country
captains - the highest ranking soldiers
mighty men - leaders of armies serving under the captains
horses - methods of transportation 
those who sit on them - and their pilots
the flesh of all people - all those who serve as privates
free and slave - mercenaries and conscripted soldiers.

It will be a bloody war when Christ returns to head up the battle of Armaggedon


The striking similarities between the fifth trumpet blast                                http://ikefehr1939.blogspot.com/2013/04/the-fifth-trumpet.html 

and the fifth bowl of wrath are that both involve the throne of the beast and the ensuing darkness.  The severe pain and sores are also common to both the trumpet and the bowl of wrath.

Modern News Headlines

From a blog written by Marianne,  Heaven Awaits,                                                                  http://heavenawaits.wordpress.com/  comes the following insightful information.

   Whether right or otherwise, Marianne makes Joel 1:4, sound very up to date. She writes that the names of the places mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, when translated, become modern words; words which we have all learned from our generation's newscasts. (Bold emphasis are mine).  It is interesting to note that Joel prophesied about 2800 years ago!

so you are looking at Joel 1:4 and seeing this:That which the palmerworm (Gazam – Hamas) hath left hath the locust (arbeh-arab) eaten; and that which the locust (arbeh) hath left hath the cankerworm (yelak-terror cell) eaten; and that which the cankerworm (yelak) hath left hath the caterpillar (Chaciyl- Hezbollah) eaten.

Rewritten:That which HAMAS does not destroy, the Arabs will destroy.

That which is left by the Arabs, the terror cells will destroy.

That which is left by the terrorist cells, will be destroyed by Hezbollah.Joel 1:4

 

   The armies are gathered together in a place called Har Megiddo, meaning, hill or city of Megiddo.  

1. It was there that Gideon obtained the victory over the Midianites. 
2. It was there that King Josiah and King Saul were killed in battle. Unger++. 
3. It is located about fifteen miles from the Mediterranean Sea and about twenty-five miles South West of the southern tip of the Sea of Galilee. 

  We do not read here that the war happened; we read only that the forces were gathered together there.  I also read that har Megiddo (Armageddon - the place) has experienced more wars than any other place in the world.

This is the first woe, and also the first of three plagues since Satan was released from prison!
_________________________________

++ Unger’s Bible Dictionary, Merrill F. Unger

The Fifth Trumpet

The angel of Darkness

   Then the fifth angel sounded: And I saw a star fallen from heaven to the earth. To him was given the key to the bottomless pit. 

   And he opened the bottomless pit, and smoke arose out of the pit like the smoke of a great furnace. So the sun and the air were darkened because of the smoke of the pit. 

   Then out of the smoke locusts came upon the earth. And to them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power. 

  They were commanded not to harm the grass of the earth, or any green thing, or any tree, but only those men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. 

   And they were not given authority to kill them, but to torment them for five months. Their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it strikes a man. 

   In those days men will seek death and will not find it; they will desire to die, and death will flee from them. 

   The shape of the locusts was like horses prepared for battle. On their heads were crowns of something like gold, and their faces were like the faces of men.

   They had hair like women’s hair, and their teeth were like lions’ teeth. 

  And they had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the sound of their wings was like the sound of chariots with many horses running into battle.

  They had tails like scorpions, and there were stings in their tails. Their power was to hurt men five months.9:1-10

   A short note just to avoid confusion. For the first four trumpets and the first four bowls, I had both the trumpet and comparable bowl together. I did not do that with the 5th, 6th and 7th trumpets and bowls because the Bible has much more to say about these last three and by joining them the posts would have become too long.

The Fifth Trumpet Blast

One Bible scholar noted that John wrote more about the fifth trumpet than he did about the first four all together.

    The sounding of the fifth trumpet heralded the opening of the bottomless pit in 9:1.  This may not be a pit at all, but perhaps rather a place.  The fact that it is called bottomless simply implies that it has an unlimited amount to horror and bloodshed.  Jehovah is preparing to pour out the wine of his wrath.  Some say that the star that fell refers to Lucifer and that he received the key.  We studied about this incident in, "A War in Heaven",12:7-10. 
See:   http://ikefehr1939.blogspot.com/2013/01/the-war-in-heaven.html

    Wuest# translates the word star as meteor as he also did in 8:10.  Perhaps, it could be supposed, that a giant meteor could have authority to damage the earth; it could also be argued that a meteor smashing into the earth could open up fountains of molten lava with its associated smoke.  But why would the smoke of molten lava produce locusts?

   John did not say that he saw the star fall; he saw a star fallen from heaven. The word key signifies authority.  According to my theory, after the pit was opened by Satan, a wicked army leader took over, under Satan's control. Associated with the smoke were locusts. 

   Some Bible teachers tell us that this smoke means spiritual delusion.    If the smoke represents spiritual delusion what do the locusts, the scorpions, the grass, and the trees represent?  If smoke refers to spiritual delusion why is the torment for only five months?  To me, it seems more logical to think of this scene as a preparation for the Battle of Armageddon.

   Enough smoke came out of the pit to obscure the sun and pollute the air as is seen in 9:2.  It seems that the picture here is that of chemical warfare. However, the chemical used does not kill people but it causes severe anguish, to the sufferers, for five months (whatever five months meant to John).  In fact, 9:5 says; the torment was like the torment of a scorpion.   The typical life span of a scorpion is five months. Concordia Bible Commentary 

    Out of the smoke (the origin of the chemical warfare) locusts came (not scorpions).   These locusts (flying military tanks, maybe in the shape of drones) had power, and in some sense, this power resembles the power of the scorpions. 9:10.  It is also interesting that these locusts attack humans, except those people that have the seal of God on their foreheads.   The locusts were forbidden to attack the greenery, even though that is what locusts normally do.

   Could this seal of God refer to those nations who refuse to take up arms against the Lord's anointed; because they do not take part in The Battle of Armageddon they will not be tormented by the chemicals?  This scene may be strictly physical and have no spiritual connotation at all.

Modern Warfare

   These locusts had the sting of scorpions in their tails but the shape of the locusts was like horses (a means of transportation) prepared unto battle.  

• They had faces like the faces of men (the men inside the war planes), 
• and they had hair like women’s hair (possibly those men, of that air force, grew their hair long to make a religious or political statement. 
•  They had something like crowns like gold on their heads, (these were their communication devices). 
•  their teeth were like lions teeth, maybe the writer looked directly into the front of a jet engine, and thought of it as having teeth! 
•  They had breastplates of iron, (the metal nose and sides of the plane), and they had wings.  Was John looking at some sort of a flying tank; 
• a tank that stings with its tail like the gun barrels of a tank do?

the sound of their wings was like the sound of chariots with many horses running into battle.  Here it is easy to picture the wings of an aeroplane with the engines on the wings, and it was the engines that made this sound of many horses running into battle.

_________________________________

# An Expanded Translation, K.W. Wuest

   

Satan's Release from Prison

The Worst is Yet to Come

  

   Now when the thousand years have expired, Satan will be released from his prison 
   and will go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle, whose number is as the sand of the sea. 
   They went up on the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. And fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them. 20:7-9

     

   When Satan's term in prison is up he will be released and he will go to all the nations.  This prophecy is obviously not only for the Mediterranean area, but possibly it is only for the four-corners of the then known world since it specifically mentions the lands that make up the territory of Magog.  

It is worthy of note that four trumpets have sounded and four bowls have been poured out, but so far no “woes” have happened.  Now with Satan’s release from prison, the horrible things that happen on earth are so much worse that they are classified as woes.   It is also notable that the angels with the trumpets are sequential, 9:11, like the angels with the seven bowls of wrath, are.

 According to some, Magog, means, the region of Gog.  Plainly, Gog is a person, or, the prince of an area that bears his name; Magog.  In the words of Unger++, Gog, the prince and Magog, his land, will invade Palestine by a great northern confederacy, ostensibly headed up by Russia.  Gog is described...as belonging to the land of Magog the situation of which is defined by its proximity to the isles of the Aegean.  

Allowing for some discrepancy between people who make maps, an atlas shows that the Meshech is the area between the Caspian and the Black Sea, which today is called, The Ukraine.  Tubal, known as Turkey, is directly south of the Black Sea.   Ezekiel chapters 38&39 have much to say about Gog and the last war against Israel. 

Thus says the Lord God: “Behold, I am against you, O Gog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal". Ezekiel 38:3  Isn't it interesting that Russia has taken Syria's side in a war that probably will spill over into Isreal?  If it does I think that we can expect Christ's return soon after Russia and the Northern Confederacy turn their eyes on Israel!

   In the neighbourhood of fifty years ago, when preachers would still explain Biblical prophecies relating to the end times, they told us that Gog referred to Russia and Magog to China.  What I found interesting about this, now, is that during the Syrian crisis, when the United Nations wanted to impose sanctions against Syria it was Russia and China who opposed the idea.

   Even though we have all this information about the chief prince of Gog, (the northern confederacy) we cannot accept that only those areas, just mentioned, which are north of Israel, will wage a war against the Jews at that time.  We just read that The Destroyer shall go out to the nations, which are in the four quarters of the earth. 

The Last Great War 

  This will be the last great onslaught of anti-Semitism in the history of our world, and unfortunate will be those nations that take up arms against Israel at that time.

   Satan will gather them together to battle, whose number is as the sand of the sea. 20:8.   This army was also predicted by Ezekiel; You will ascend, coming like a storm, covering the land like a cloud, you and all your troops and many peoples with you. Ezekiel 38:9.  We read that the army compassed the camp and the city but here we do not read that the war against the Jews actually happened.

“I will call for a sword against Gog throughout all My mountains,” says the Lord God. “Every man’s sword will be against his brother”. Ezekiel 38:21.  The picture I see is that of an army, composed of so many different nations and attitudes, and perhaps different reasons for being there, that before they engage Israel in war, they turn on each other with their weapons.

According to Christ Israel will certainly experience the agony of that war. Mat. 24:15  Therefore when you see the 'abomination of desolation,' spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place" ... then let those who are in Judea flee upon the mountains ... For then there shall be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until now, nor by any means shall be. Mat. 24:15-16+21  

   As was said earlier about the word “horses”, it can mean “a method of transportation”; in like manner, the word “sword”, can mean “any weapon used in war”, so that the word sword could include rifles, land mines, tanks, etc.  We also note that fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them. 20:9. 

   As noted several times already, the word, heaven means an elevated (or lofty) place.  Therefore the fire that came out of heaven may be something as ordinary as fire (bombs) from an aeroplane or perhaps extraordinary as fire from other airborne objects.  

About this same incident Ezekiel wrote, I will rain down on him, on his troops, and on the many peoples who are with him, flooding rain, great hailstones, fire, and brimstone. Ez. 38:18  A scene, perhaps, not too different than that which the Allied forces enacted in Libya in 2011.  Just because the Lord says He will do it, it does not mean that He will not use man made war machines to carry out His plans.

  Throughout these posts it is being maintained that the trumpets and the bowls of wrath go hand in hand; a trumpet sounds the warning and the associated bowl of wrath is poured out immediately after. 

  It is also accepted that the trumpets are blown and the bowls of wrath are poured in the sequence in which they are written and that the last three trumpets will be blown and the last three bowls poured after Satan is released from the pit.  It seems that because of his presence and his desire to do damage and destruction, the effects of the last three bowls of wrath are more severe; severe enough to be referred to as woes.

_____________________________________

++ Unger’s Bible Dictionary, Merrill F. Unger

The Fourth Trumpet and Fourth Bowl

The Fourth Trumpet - Light Sources Smitten

   The name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters became wormwood, 
Then the fourth angel sounded: And a third of the sun was struck, a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of them were darkened. A third of the day did not shine, and likewise the night. 
And I looked, and I heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, “Woe, woe, woe to the inhabitants of the earth, because of the remaining blasts of the trumpet of the three angels who are about to sound!”8:11-13 

   The Signs^^, erroneously says that the Wormwood of 8:11 represents Satan and that the fountains of water of 8:10 represent the sources of spiritual life.  The Signs stated that Satan hindered the word of Christ to such an extent after the third “trumpet blast” that the dark ages (the striking of the sun) ensued with the sounding of the fourth trumpet.  

   The following prophetic Bible verses do not allow for that interpretation.  When the fourth angel sounds its trumpet, the world will not become 33 percent darker but it will become darker for thirty three percent of the time.

a) to the end that the day might not be illuminated for a third part of its duration and in like manner the night. Wuest#

b)  "It shall come to pass in that day,” says the Lord God, "That I will make the sun go down at noon, And I will darken the earth in broad daylight." Amos 8:9

   These texts distinctly say that one third of the day will not be enlightened. They do not say that all of the day and all of the night will be 33 percent darker like it would be if this had reference to the dark ages.

   And I looked, and I heard an angel.  The Greek text, Wuest and The American Standard have translated the word angel as eagle.  This might be referring to the fourth creature around the throne, which was like a flying eagle. 4:7

I heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, “Woe, woe, woe to the inhabitants of the earth, because of the remaining blasts of the trumpet of the three angels who are about to sound!” 

•  The three woes that follow are not separate from the three trumpet blasts that have not yet sounded.  
• The three woes are inherent in the remaining trumpet blasts.  
• The three woes that follow are not part of the fourth trumpet blast (as some teach).  This fact is specifically stated in 9:12; One woe is past. Behold, still two more woes are coming after these things.  
• Even though the first four trumpet blasts heralded negative events they were not in the same magnitude of destruction as the following three will be.  Therefore, the last three trumpet blasts are called woes. 8:13  

The Fourth Bowl - Light Sources Smitten

Then the fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and power was given to him to scorch men with fire. And men were scorched with great heat, and they blasphemed the name of God who has power over these plagues; and they did not repent and give Him glory. 16:8-9 

   The striking similarity between the fourth trumpet and the fourth bowl is that both affected the sun.

   The word him is a personification of the sun and does not refer to the angel, for it is the sun, and not the angel that is doing the scorching.  Environmentalists tell us that because the ozone layer is being depleted, the human race will be experiencing more direct rays of the sun and more sunburns.   In 16:8 we read about that grief in these words, The fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun…and men were scorched with great heat, perhaps because of the thinning ozone layer.

   Christ had predicted that just before the last days, earthquakes would increase.  The word earthquake is used six times in The Apocalypse.  That is twice as often as it is used in all the rest of the New Testament.

   We are hearing now that due to climate change, the world will be experiencing more violent and more frequent tornadoes.   In 7:1-3, we learned that the four angels, who hold the four winds, were not given permission to wreak their havoc until after the sealing of the 144,000.  They were sealed when the sixth seal was opened.  After that the typhoons and windstorms are free to blow more fiercely and produce greater devastation than before, probably because of the climate changes.

They blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and did not repent of their deeds. 16:11.  How much more can Jehovah do?   He has pleaded, He has waited, He has corrected in patience, and He has sent his son to a sin-riddled world as the redeemer.   Finally, He severely punishes mankind, thereby, trusting to gain repentance, but the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Jer. 17:9.  Humankind still does not repent of their sins even though it is The Lord, the one who wants to forgive, that has power over these plagues and He could stop them if there were to be genuine repentance.

___________________________________

^^ Signs of the Times Magazines: What the Revelation says about. March 1998. David C. James

# An Expanded Translation, K.W. Wuest.