Slides for this study

A reminder that fifth and sixth trumpet are the 2 longest trumpets with the most description of them all.

• 1^st trumpet – Revelation 8:7 – 1 verse
• 2^nd trumpet – Revelation 8:8-9 – 2 verses
• 3^rd trumpet – Revelation 8:10-11 – 2 verses
• 4^th trumpet – Revelation 8:12-13 – 2 verses
• 5^th trumpet – Revelation 9:1-12 – 12 verses
• 6^th trumpet – Revelation 9:13 – 11:14 – 34 verses
• 7^th trumpet – Revelation 11:15-18 – 4 verses

Recap:

• Timeline of the first 4 trumpets.
• Very minimal description is given. Only a few verses.

Now we will look at the 5^th trumpet, the first woe. This is the second longest trumpet of the 7.

 

The 5^th Trumpet: the first woe

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.

We see another star fall from heaven. It must be a leader of this tribe. But before identifying him, let us have a look a the bottomless pit.

What does the word bottomless pit mean?

• Meaning: from the Greek “abyssos”.
  • Deep, bottomless, profound and may refer to any waste, desolate, and uncultivated place.
• Where do we see something similar?
• Genesis 1:2
  And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
  • The word “deep” also means abyss.
  • The bottomless pit is something similar to what the earth was before God created anything.
• In this instance, it can be applied to the unknown wastes of the Arabian desert.
• It is pointing to the Ottoman empire that came from the desert. Today we know them as the Islamic or Muslim empire.
• We will see more evidence supporting the identification of this power as we read more in this fifth trumpet.

 

Revelation 9:2-3
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.

There arose smoke out from the bottomless pit and out of the smoke came locusts.

• What do we know about the locust?
  • Proverbs 30:27
    The locusts have no king, yet go they forth all of them by bands.
• They don’t have a king that they follow. They are guided and are at the mercy of the winds which push them a direction where they should go. They have an itinerant mode of life.
  • When the plague of locusts came upon Egypt, God send a wind to bring them. And when Pharoah asked for them to be removed, God sent another wind to push them away.
• This fitly describes the Arabs who also have an itinerant mode of life. And they also had no king.

“the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit”

• Locusts travel in such large swarms, to the extent that they are able to make it seem really dark because of the sheer size of their numbers.
• Their flight obscures the sun and casts a thick shadow on the earth.

Notice that even though it describes them as locusts, they have the power of the scorpion.

• Their attack was speedy and vigorous.
• It is interesting to note also that scorpions primarily live in the desert, same place that the bottomless pit would be referring So both creatures mentioned here, scorpions and locusts, can both be found in the desert.

 

Revelation 9:4
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.

Abu-bekr (632 AD)

• Commanded his armies not to destroy anything – trees, corn or cattle.
• Also kill not those that live in retired monasteries.
• And you will find another sort of people that belong to the synagogue of Satan, who have shaven crowns; be sure you cleave their skulls, and give them no quarter till they either turn Mahometans or pay ‘tribute.’

Even though it talks about the seal of God here, it is not referring to what we have studied in Revelation 7.

• God has had His “seal” on His people throughout history.
• It’s a way that He has separated those that are His from those that are not.
• The best example that we see is the Exodus. God protected His people from the plagues that fell on Egypt, even though the Israelites were living in Egypt as well.
  • The greatest example being the blood on the door post, the death of the first born.
• Noah as well. He was protected by God through the storm and rain and wind, while those outside were destroyed.
• The seal of God at the end of time is the Sabbath.
• But God knows who is His throughout every time of earth’s history.

 

Revelation 9:5-6
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.

Now we are introduced to a time prophecy. 5 months.

During this time, the Arabs were simply hurting and tormenting, not killing.

• It’s not often that you hear about people dying from scorpion sting. For the most part they are not deadly.

What is 5 months equal to?

• 1 day = 1 year.
• 5 months is 5 x 30 = 150 days.
• A time prophecy of 150 years.
• We will give a date to the 150 years at the end of the 5^th

 

Revelation 9:7
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.

“like unto horses”

• It is the Arabian horses that take the lead throughout the world.
• Skill in horsemanship is the art and science of Arabia.

Who did the Arabs descend from?

• Ishmale.
• How do we know?
• Genesis 16:11-12
  11 And the angel of the LORD said unto her, Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael; because the LORD hath heard thy affliction. 12 And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man’s hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.
  • Ishmael is called a “wild man.”
• What does the word “wild” mean?
  • Running wild, onager – wild (ass).
• If you look up the word onager in the dictionary it states the following:
  • “an animal of a race of the Asian wild ass native to northern Iran.”
  • Amazing! That is exactly the area where the Arabs are from.
• “and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.”
  • It is also interesting to note here that it is not referring to the brethren as the descendants of Ishmael, but his brother (or half- brother) Isaac that was soon to be born. And this fact is true that it has been both the Jews and the Arabs that have been the main people that have primarily lived in the desert.

“crowns of gold”

• Arabs wore miters. They were called turbans.
• This is a distinguishing mark of the Arabs.

 

Revelation 9:8
And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as the teeth of lions.

“hair as the hair of women”

• Arabs primarily left their hair uncut as tradition.
• This does not denote effeminate in character as their teeth were as the teeth of lions.

 

Revelation 9:9
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.

“breastplates of iron”

• Arabs wore a cuirass (breastplate) .

“sound of chariots of many horses”

• Main military force of the Arabs were cavalry and archers.
• Their attacks were rapid and instantaneous.

 

Revelation 9:10-11
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.

“their power was to hurt men five months”

• Here we see the time period of five months again. 150 years.

“they had a king over them”

• Generally the Arabs had no king. Remember, they were simply guided by the winds of providence.
• Near the close of the 13^th century, Othman founded a government/empire, which grew until it extended over all the principal Mohammedan tribes, consolidating them into one grand monarchy.

“the angel of the bottomless pit”

• The word angel denotes messenger or minister.
• Religion – Modammedanism.
• Chief minister/sultan – Othman.

When did Othman make his first assault on the Greek empire?

• He commenced on July 27, 1299.
• And when you add 150 years, that ended on July 27, 1449.
• For 150 years the Turks/Arabs invaded the Roman Empire without ever conquering it. They seized several Greek provinces but still Greek independence was maintained in Constantinople. But in 1449, the termination of the 150 years, a change came, the history of which will be found under the next trumpet.

 

Overview:

• Introduction Of the Arabs from the desert whom we know today as the Muslims.
• The rise of Othman.
• 150 year time prophecy.
• Time: July 27, 1299 – July 27, 1449.

 

Revelation 9:12
One woe is past; and, behold, there come two woes more hereafter.

There are two more woes. Two more trumpets. Next, the sixth trumpet.

 

The Sixth Trumpet: the second woe

Revelation 9:13-15
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.

“the great river Euphrates”

• What do we understand about the great river Euphrates?
• It was the river that ran through Babylon.
• It was dried up in order for Babylon to be conquered.
• So when the river Euphrates is mentioned, it gives the understanding that a nation is about to be destroyed.
• This is not actual Babylon falling. But we see something similar taking place.

“the four angels”

• This is a continuation of the Muslim empire.
• It is the four principal sultans of the Ottoman Empire (Turkish empire) that was located around the river Euphrates.
  • Aleppo.
  • Iconium.
  • Damascus.
  • Bagdad.

And then it mentions a time prophecy.

• “an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year.”
• 1 hour = 15 days.
• 1 day = 1 year.
• 1 month = 30 years.
• 1 year = 360 years.
• When you add that all up together, you get 391 years and 15

What would happen during this time period?

• They would slay the third part of men.
• The Ottoman empire would gain much power and attack other
• It would seem like they would conquer the whole world.
• However, it would come to an abrupt halt at the end of the 391 years and 15 days.
• Was it exactly a third of men? We are not sure.

Where is the beginning point of this time prophecy?

• We take it from the fifth trumpet, as it also had a time prophecy.
  • Fifth trumpet: July 27, 1299 – July 27, 1449.
• So the start date of the sixth trumpet would be July 27, 1449.
• If you add 391 years and 15 days to this prophecy, you get August 11, 1840.
• This would be fulfilled exactly according to the prophecy.
• The Turks would come to an end on this exact date.

Josiah Litch.

• Two years before the end of the 391 years, Josiah Litch, who was a leading minister preaching about the second advent of Christ, would publish a paper.
  • This would be in 1838.
• The paper was on Revelation 9 and it would predict the exact year and date that the Ottoman empire would come to a halt.
• It was a public paper and many people would pause to see if this would come to fruition.
• At the very time specified, on the very day, 11 August, 1840, Turkey, through her ambassadors, accepted the protection of the allied powers of Europe, placing herself under the control of the Christian nations.
• The event exactly fulfilled the prediction of Josiah Litch.
• And when people saw that, they were convinced of the correctness of the prophetic interpretation that was applied by William Miller and those that followed.

Just 7 years before that, the last of the signs from the sixth seal were fulfilled.

• Remember the great earthquake and the sun not shining and the moon turning to blood.
• It was in 1833 that the stars of the heaven fell to the earth.
• Things were taking place that gave a great impetus to what William Miller was preaching about and the publishing of his views.
• And from 1840 to 1844, the work was rapidly extended.

So this time prophecy in the sixth trumpet is really important.

• And we can see from this why this is in the past and not in the future after the second coming.

 

Revelation 9:16
And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them.

We’re not sure of the exact number.

• Two hundred thousand, thousand – that is basically 200 million.
• But no doubt, it was a very vast and large army with many horses.

 

Revelation 9:17
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.

John now sees the description of the horses. What do they look like?

“breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone”

• This represented the Turkish uniform.
• Fire – the colour red.
• Jacinth – blue.
• Brimstone – yellow.
• These were the three principal colours that you would see.

“heads of the horses were as the heads of lions”

• This was denoting the fierceness, strength and courage.

“out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone”

• It was at around this time that they began to use gunpowder and firearms for war.
• And when they shot it from the back of the horse, it would look like there was fire, smoke and brimstone coming out of the mouth of the horse.

 

Revelation 9:18-19
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.

These verses clearly show the new method of warfare that was introduced which was the use of gun powder. It was because of this that Constantinople was finally conquered.

“power is in their mouth”

• This was the use of the guns.
• When they put the guns forward to fire, it looked like it would be coming out of the mouth of the horses.

Power in their tails:

• We’re not sure what that means. There have been differing interpretations. However, it is clear that this is pointing to the Muslim empire.

 

Revelation 9:20-21
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.

God wants men to make a note of His judgments and receive the lessons He designs to convey. But how slow are we to learn. The events that took place under the sixth trumpet led to no improvement of manners and morals of men

The sixth trumpet is not finished yet. This is the end of chapter 9 of Revelation.

• We will be looking into Revelation 10 next which is a continuation of the sixth trumpet.
• This chapter is sandwiched in there for a reason to show us the timing of when this would take place.