The first two of the three woes. The three woes are the three last trumpets. CHAPTER 9 COVERS A PERIOD OF 3½ YEARS: IT COVERS THE FIRST TWO WOES BUT ENDS BEFORE THE DAY OF THE LORD. IN SUCCESSIVE CHAPTERS GOD LOOKS AT THIS SAME PERIOD FROM VARIOUS PERSPECTIVES. THE 3½ YEARS ACTUALLY STARTS IN REVELATION 8 (OR REVELATION 6 DEPENDING ON HOW WE LOOK AT THIS MATTER) WITH THE FIRST ANGEL OR TRUMPET BUT THE FIRST FOUR TRUMPETS HAPPEN IN QUICK SUCCESSION AT THE BEGINNING OF THE 3½ YEARS SO TECHNICALLY THE FIRST WOE IS STILL AT THE BEGINNING OF THE 3½ YEARS. BEAR IN MIND THAT THE WOES ARE REVEALED BY A SEAL REPRESENTING THINGS THAT CHRIST HAS TERMINATED. HERE HE APPEARS TO ELIMINATE WAR AND PESTS WHICH LEAD TO FAMINE AND SUFFERING.
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John is talking from the perspective of the Day of the Lord so he is observing what would have already happened. Here we continue the Seventh Seal which was opened in Chapter 8 and is comprised of seven trumpets. This chapter begins with the Fifth Trumpet/Angel of the seven, which is the first woe. The three woes are the three last trumpets, Revelation 8:13 says: 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 three woes include the Day of the LORD. When this final seal is broken the future of mankind can be unfolded or opened. What is commonly called the Great Tribulation is the final 3½ years of Christ's work building up to opening the scroll/book, and also covers the first to sixth trump or up to the end of the first two woes. The final woe is the Day of the LORD which is announced by the LAST TRUMP and is when the seals are broken in reality ending at Atonement as the High Priest/Lamb moves towards the Most Holy Place. After that the book gets opened and the Millennium begins. The three woes are not the same as the three warning messages in Revelation 14:6-13. Technically the three woes are not the last three trumpets either but are announced by them. This Chapter makes it clear that the source of the problem is Satan and his control over the Bottomless Pit
. I look into that phrase Bottomless Pit
further when I reach Revelation 11 but for now I propose that it is dealing with an unassailable barrier. We will see that it has a key so someone was preventing these developments form being unlocked until now.
FIFTH ANGEL (First Woe)
Fifth angel/trumpet = First woe = torment for 5 months. As was mentioned in chapter 8, smoke often represents the glory and power of the owner of the smoke. The source of this theory is Exodus 19:18 where the KJV says And mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the LORD descended upon it in fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly
. Coming down later to Revelation we see And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from his power; and no man was able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled
, in Revelation 15:8 [KJV]. So since the smoke in Revelation 15 is from the glory of God, and from his power
, and we see that demonstrated in Exodus 19-20, then a similar display of smoke from a different source should have the same application for that source i.e. it should represent the glory and power of that source. This smoke is from the bottomless pit (an unassailable barrier) now controlled by Satan and brings unknown mutated creatures possessed with supernatural powers that torment and kill for 5 months. Things from the bottomless pit are abnormal and can only be accessed through the power of Satan. I have written briefly about CRISPR in the context of COVID19. One of the most fearsome things about it is the willingness of governments to conduct dangerous experiments on the global population.
Now this angel/star falls (Satan). At this time he controls access to the bottomless pit. God has put barriers on mankind. It seems that Satan is allowed to breach those barriers, creating paradigm shifts, from time to time. Anything having to do with the bottomless pit is from him. He is also prince of all that breathes i.e. the power of the air
. He is also called destroyer v11. Normal locusts eat green things but these were mutants that tortured people for five months. The fifth angel is associated with Satan and darkness and tormenting pests. From Revelation 15:10 God out-does Satan in the end. Notice that whatever the mark of the beast is, it is something that can be manipulated en masse to affect only those that have it. These locusts are teenage mutant ninja locust-scorpions ☺.
SIXTH ANGEL (Second Woe)
In my articles Mickelson = Mickelson's Enhanced Strong's Greek and Hebrew Dictionaries.
Sixth angel/trumpet=second woe = Angels from Euphrates (on earth not from heaven) produce munitions that kill 1/3 of men. God announces the release of these angels
but He does not do the destruction. Bear in mind that the demons can also be angels, just not good ones. Angels are messengers and God can do and does use whomever He pleases. Something to bear in mind is that there is no evidence that God has angels bound in the sense of imprisoned anywhere on earth. The earth is Satan's and He has full control (Matthew 4:8-11). There are however restrictions as seen by Satan requiring permission to touch what God has reserved and Isreal, especially Jerusalem is God's. According to Mickelson, in Revelation 9:14 Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates
, the preposition translated as in
is Strong's G1909, Greek : epi = 1. (properly) meaning superimposition (of time, place, order, etc.) 2. (genitive case) as a relation of distribution (over, upon, etc.) 3. (dative case) of rest (at, on, etc.) 4. (accusative case) of direction (towards, upon, etc.)
. In this case I believe that a better translation is bound by the great river Euphrates
. They were somehow limited by the Euphrates and now those restrictions are removed.
These will kill with their heads and hurt with their tails. There is death from the front (heads) and suffering in their wake (tails). Remember that this is written from the perspective of the Day of the Lord looking back so these are all things that will not be allowed to happen again when this seal is torn off.
This sixth angel is associated with the demons of war trapped in the Euphrates (Revelation 16:12) but the trumpets and the vials are not the same. These entities from the Euphrates are a combination of demon and natural, maybe possessed people just like in 1 Kings 22 above. They are activated by the mouth of Satan but are from the beast empire supported by the religious power. Babylon was located along the Euphrates River in present-day Iraq. It was the original place where men wanted to challenge God by building a city and a tower. The Euphrates was also one of the original rivers out of Eden the original place where Satan led man against God. This is the source.
HORNS
I wrote of horns before in Revelation 4 and explained how they grew on males as an indication of their strength and power. Horns=scattering, power, warning of danger. For example the horns of the altar represent the strength and power of the altar and is a warning to approach with respect.
Jacinth/Dan
Using the Jewish Encyclopaedia for jacinth it corresponds to Dan the judge:
The stone Jacinth has been long established as a red transparent variety of zircon used as a gemstone. On the other hand Jacinth is also a flower which is reddish blue or deep purple (hyacinth). Based on the flower the biblical meaning is ascribed as a precious stone of the colour of the flower (Revelation 21:20) which is typically reddish blue or purple.
In Exodus 28:19 the first stone of the third row in the high priest's breast-plate (the Hoshen) is the leshem
. While that word is commonly translated as jacinth, from time immemorial there has been confusion over this stone and nobody actually has a definitive answer. The long-and-short of it appears to be that it is zircon and zircon comes in many colours, but we can assume that the version in the Bible is a reddish blue stone. Bear in mind however that the name Zircon has evolved from Persian Zargun
which means gold, which would be the standard colour of the jewel. For more information you might try Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacinth or Gem Encyclopaedia https://www.gia.edu/gem-encyclopedia .
Dan's stone is jacinth. In Revelation 7 when dealing with the 144,000 Dan was missing, indicating that those who followed the serpent were left out, but now his sign is active. We see that jacinth, as Dan, is simultaneously a judge, a serpent (murderous adversary and deceiver, Genesis 49:17, John 8:44) and a lion (conqueror and king, Deuteronomy 33:22).
There was a promise made to the serpent in Genesis 3.
The serpent was to bruise the heel of the seed. Then we also read Dan shall judge his people As one of the tribes of Israel. 17 Dan shall be a serpent by the way, A viper by the path, That bites the horse's heels So that its rider shall fall backward. 18 I have waited for your salvation, O LORD!
Genesis 49:16-18 [KJV].
So Dan represents Satan in this manner. He is complicit in Jacob's trouble so his sign is active. Also as lion and judge (Genesis 4:16) he is a challenger to Judah and the seed, . . .Dan is a lion's whelp; He shall leap from Bashan
Deuteronomy 33:22 [KJV]; but look what is said of Judah, Judah, you are he whom your brothers shall praise; Your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies; Your father's children shall bow down before you. Judah is a lion's whelp; From the prey, my son, you have gone up. He bows down, he lies down as a lion; And as a lion, who shall rouse him? The scepter shall not depart from Judah, Nor a lawgiver from between his feet, Until Shiloh comes; And to Him shall be the obedience of the people. Binding his donkey to the vine, And his donkey's colt to the choice vine, He washed his garments in wine, And his clothes in the blood of grapes. His eyes are darker than wine, And his teeth whiter than milk
, Genesis 49:8[KJV].
So we see that Judah is the one to set aside his role of bearing burdens to judge fiercely. His eyes become bloodshot and he bares the snarling teeth of the lion to defend Israel but Dan Judges Israel in the sense of punishing the disobedient in Israel. Dan brings calamity to Israel. Judah is the line of Christ the promised King and messiah but Dan is a contender. One of the places where the Golden Calf was set up in opposition to Jerusalem was Dan (1 Kings 12:25-33).
The breastplate
Breastplates sometimes carry an insignia. It is an official sign of rank or title. This could be coloured or painted on. Breastplates normally protect. The breast-plate is used to protect vital organs and hence life. In the armour of a Roman soldier, underneath the breastplate was the heart, lungs and other organs necessary for life. Fire protects from living creatures getting close so you have to fight from long range, also fire can only protect
by killing the danger before the danger kills you. This is brought out in Zechariah 2:4-5 [KJV] And said unto him, Run, speak to this young man, saying, Jerusalem shall be inhabited as towns without walls for the multitude of men and cattle therein: [5] For I, saith the LORD, will be unto her a wall of fire round about, and will be the glory in the midst of her
. Jacinth is in the breastplate of the High Priest representing Dan. The tribe of Dan (the serpent) is simultaneously an adversary, a deceiver, a conqueror and a judge, you don't really know where you stand so your protection is unreliable. Brimstone is another word for sulphur. Sulphur and fire together is deadly. Sulphur burns with a blue flame to form sulphur dioxide which is toxic with a pungent, stink smell. This can only protect you as a biological weapon by killing the enemy first. It seems the the protection is not from conventional weapons. The jacinth suggests employing the serpent's violence and deceit and the judge's law as a means of protection. The fire and sulphur suggests toxic gas or some offensive, long range use of biological weapons.
A third
Zechariah 13 begins by time stamping the period by in that day. I believe that this is the Day of the Lord. Further down in the Chapter it deals with portions of thirds.
In Revelation 9 we lose a third of the people on Earth during the 3½ years. That leaves another third to go during the Day of the Lord because God only intends to refine ⅓. This shows God's mercy because technically God only reserves 10%, i.e. a tithe.
Line by line breakdown of Revelation 9
| FIFTH ANGEL (First Woe - Genetically modified locusts) | Comment |
|---|---|
| [1]And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall {*1} from heaven unto the earth {*2}: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit {*3}. | 1__it does not fly. It is an angel that was of heaven but fell i.e. Satan (Luke 10:18). 2__Satan is being represented. The fall actually happened before but the symbolism is used to identify who this is. 3__Satan is given the key to unlock new developments (probably genetic atrocities) pictured by access to the bottomless pit. |
| [2]And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke {*4} 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. | 4__glory and power of Satan. |
| [3]And there came out of the smoke locusts {*5} upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power {*6}. | 5__they were locusts but not like normal locusts. They were givenpowers of scorpions. These are possibly the result of genetic modification gone wrong. These are only possible by the power of Satan. They are more like flying scorpions. 6__scorpions have power to sting but not eat grass as per v4. |
| [4]And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree {*7}; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads {*8}. | 7__locusts are normally plant eaters. 8__These eat animal material, maybe people, but not enough to kill people, they do not eat grass. We will see why they could not sting Christians in chapter 10. |
| [5]And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months {*9}: and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man. | 9__if the sixth angel is thirteen months (Since day and hour is insignificant by comparison we use year - 12 months - and month of verse 15 = 13 months ending at the day of the LORD) then this is eighteen months (13 from verse 15 + 5 months of torment from verse 5) away from the Day of the LORD, because that is when this army is used (Revelation 16:12). |
| [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 {*10}; and on their heads were as it were crowns {*11} like gold, and their faces were as the faces of men {*12}. | 10__shapes=likenessin Greek. The shapes of locusts plural, all together - was like horses in battle i.e. lined up and orderly. 11__Greek: stephanos= wreath. They had laurel wreaths indicating victory in battle. Note that the crown was on their head but not necessarily attached to their head. 12__like men's faces not actual men's faces but similar looking, possibly indicating above average intelligence but almost certainly an indication that they were created by men. |
| [8]And they had hair as the hair of women {*13}, and their teeth were as the teeth of lions {*14}. | 13__It did not say that they had the hair of any particular race but like women of any race. He could have said a mane like a lion. Hair possibly indicates that they had power of men on their heads (1 Corinthians 11:9-10) i.e. created for men, perhaps a genetic modification experiment intended for their benefit. 14__perhaps having something like canine teeth but the teeth are the power of the lion, indicating that, like the king of beasts, they could overcome any enemy. |
| [9]And they had breastplates {*15}, as it were breastplates of iron {*16}; and the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle. | 15__in the Greek it actually says thoraxbut by implication cuirasswhich is the armour from neck to waist. 16__the shell of their chest was like iron perhaps indicating protection from harm, i.e. hard to kill but iron rusts and decays on its own so while it is hard it is temporary. Also note that the breastplate of the High Priest had jewels but this breastplate is empty. The breastplate of the High priest kept Israel close to God's heart. These have hearts protected by iron but also lives protected by iron. |
| [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 {*17}. | 17__these are controlled directly by Satan. They are not normal. It is perhaps this food shortage that is the final straw which triggers the death blow to the seventh head that we read of in Revelation 13. |
| [12]One woe is past; and, behold, there come two woes more hereafter. | |
| SIXTH ANGEL (Second Woe - A counter-army to the Beast) | Comment |
| [13]And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God {*1}, | 1__the voice was coming from the whole world. The four horns represent everywhere and the Golden Altar is where the prayers go up in smoke to God. Either the voice was intended to reach God or it was God speaking to the world. The golden altar is also associated with the four living creatures but only war is needed here so that imagery is not used. |
| [14]Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates{*2}. | 2__The Euphrates is perhaps the boundary for those who oppose the beast since the Beast is defined by Jerusalem. Zionists, and the State of Israel, have been accused of plotting to expand Israel from the Nile to the Euphrates. Angels are messengers and humans sometimes act as messengers for God. The four could represent China, Russia, Iran and some other country east of the Euphrates which have been supernaturally constrained from assaulting the land of Israel. |
| [15]And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year{*3}, for to slay the third part of men. | 3__This could have several meanings: (1) they were prepared for a specific moment in time. (2) They would fight for thirteen months. (3) It could mean that the army is built over 13 months. The army is used in Revelation 15:12, If the sixth angel sounds at the beginning of the 3½ years then the whole period is marked by squabbling over the dwindling resources but if it refers to thirteen months the period of shortage is reduced by more than half. Technically an angel is just a messenger or emissary so these could be four men but since they are actually in the Euphrates that is unlikely. These powers were trained and equipped to kill 1/3 of men. The East includes India (18%), and China (19%) of the global population which is more than 1/3. A war against an advancing China could easily cause this. |
| [16]And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand {*4}: and I heard the number of them. | 4__it was an army of 200,000,000 people in all it seems and they could be fighting amongst each other, but I doubt that. I believe that this is one union of China, Russia and allies. This is years before Armageddon. |
| [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 {*5}: and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions {*6}; and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone {*7}. | 5__Another way of saying this is that it is protection by fire and brimstone and Dan. Those on the horses are those directing the action. This seems to be an army that fights from a distance with weapons of mass destruction (fire and brimstone) supported by or abusing some aspects of law (from Dan). Fundamentally this army understands that protecting itself does not lie in protecting the lives of individuals but in destroying the opposition by unconventional means. 6__lions are fierce devourers. They hunt as a pack or army. They kill quickly and have no natural enemies. Horses are not predators but these are individual predators, perhaps it includes guerilla warfare. 7__weapons of mass destruction, a bullet is designed to kill only one person. The fire burns you up instantly like a bomb. Smoke does not normally kill unless this is poisonous smoke like a nerve gas. Brimstone is sulphur and would not normally kill unless it burns and forms sulphur dioxide which is toxic gas, so the brimstone needs the fire to kill. |
| [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{*8}. | 8__The mouth is at the front and represents the initial destruction so this does not include the tail or aftermath. |
| [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 {*9}. | 9__serpents have venom that causes slow painful death therefore these creatures brought instantaneous death from the front but left a trail of suffering and dying. Interestingly serpents inject their venom. Some people believe that inoculations with scientific concoctions (not normal vaccines) are the way to solve the global problems. What happens if these inoculations have a more sinister side? |
| [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{*10}: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk: | 10__Even though they see that what they are doing by worshipping the establishment is wrong they will not relent. |
| [21]Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts. |
this would now be a world where food and arable land is scarce (first angel); the sea is polluted and dangerous (second angel); water is scarce (third angel); atmospheric problems reducing daylight to two thirds of normal (fourth angel); and now you have airborne pests that are resistant to normal methods of control (fifth angel) so your solution is to kill a third of the people perhaps so that you can get enough of what remains rather than turn to God.