Welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the Book of Genesis. This is study #3 of Genesis, chapter 8 and we are going to read the first four verses. It says in Genesis 8:1-4:

And God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the cattle that was with him in the ark: and God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters asswaged; The fountains also of the deep and the windows of heaven were stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained; And the waters returned from off the earth continually: and after the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters were abated. And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat.

I will stop reading there. In our last study we saw that the English word “asswaged” used at the end of verse 1 is found five times in the Bible. In the Book of Esther, it is found twice and it had to do with the appeasement of wrath. In Esther 2, verse 1 and in Esther 7, verse 10 it was translated in one place as “appeased” and in one place as “pacified.” Once King Ahasuerus hung the evil Haman his anger was “pacified” and it had to do with the idea of the pouring out of wrath that accomplishes its goal of destroying the enemy. Haman was hung on the gallows he had built to hang Mordecai. Haman was dead and there was nothing else to do to him. Death is the final punishment for sin and there is nothing after that, so Haman’s death pacified the anger of the king.

Likewise, God poured out His wrath and fierce anger upon the inhabitants of Noah’s day through the waters of the flood. So it says that the waters were “pacified” or “appeased” (asswaged). We know this was after the 150 days because Genesis 7, verse 24 told us, “And the waters prevailed upon the earth an hundred and fifty days.” The purpose for the flood was accomplished and that was to destroy everything with the breath of life outside the ark. Therefore, the waters were “appeased.” There was nothing further to be done insofar as killing in a world that was already destroyed. It was a finished work.

That is why when we read verses 2 and 3 God is speaking of the flood sources, “the fountains of the deep” and “the windows of heaven.” If we go back to Genesis, chapter 7, we read about the beginning of the flood in 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. And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights.

These were the outlets from which the waters came to flood the earth and destroy everything with the breath of life. Again, the purpose was accomplished and, therefore, it says in our verse in Genesis 8:2:

The fountains also of the deep and the windows of heaven were stopped…

The Hebrew word translated as “stopped” is only used three times and two of the three times this Hebrew word is translated as “stopped.” In the Psalms it says that the mouth of the wicked will be “stopped” and that means they will speak no further. Likewise, no further rain would come to destroy the earth. Then it goes on to say in Genesis 8:2:

… and the rain from heaven was restrained;

The word translated as “restrained” is translated as “stayed” in Haggai 1:10:

Therefore the heaven over you is stayed from dew, and the earth is stayed from her fruit.

This means that there was no water and without water there would be no fruit. There was a restraint placed upon the sending of water to water the earth and it would result in a lack of fruit or harvest. Again, this word is describing the water. The rain from heaven was restrained or “stayed.” God stopped it. The waters had been appeased and they stopped. Then it says in Genesis 8:3:

And the waters returned from off the earth continually…

So the waters reached their high mark and after 150 days they began to return. Through the distilling process there would be evaporation and they would go back up into the clouds, so they went from whence they came. The waters had accomplished God’s purpose and they did not return void – they had finished the work God had sent them forth to do, so “the waters returned from off the earth continually.” It would have been going on from the 150-day point. After the 150 days, the waters were abated. God let us know in Genesis 7, verse 24 that the waters prevailed. Nine times God said the waters prevailed. The waters increased and increased to 15 feet above the highest mountain. It was victory for the waters that represent the Word of God. In chapter 8 it lets us know that after 150 days the waters have accomplished their purpose and, therefore, they are stopped or stayed. God is strongly emphasizing the fact that there will be no more water. Not only that, but the waters that had come upon the earth (representing the wrath of God against mankind and his sin) were now abating. It says at the end of our verse in Genesis 8:3:

…and after the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters were abated.

The word “abating” is Strong’s #2637 and it is a word that means to “lack” or “want.” It is the same word used in Psalm 23, where it says, “I shall not want.” So this is saying that the water is lacking or wanting. There had been a certain level of water and each day there would be less, so there was a “lack” to the water.

The same Hebrew word translated as “abated” is translated as “decrease” in Genesis 8:5:

And the waters decreased continually until the tenth month…

Without question, we know what it means that the waters “abated.” It is very clear that God is telling us that the waters are now going down. There is no one left to kill. Everyone that was to be killed had been killed and that means that the 150 days is very significant. God tells us when the 150-day point was reached in Genesis 8:4:

And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat.

We know the exact time the flood began. It was the seventeenth day of the second month of Noah’s 600th year. Then 150 days passed and God told us when that day took place. It was the seventeenth day of the seventh month of Noah’s 600th year. You could map that out very clearly on a calendar. It is an even five months. We have to search the Bible and we have to try to find out why God is indicating that His ferocious wrath continued for 150 days, an exact five months. Would all the people have been destroyed after three months? More than likely and after four months it would be certain, so why did God wait for five months before making that announcement? An announcement is really what it is. God was announcing that the waters were pacified and the wrath of God was appeased and the waters began to abate and return. But for five full months it was a terrible outpouring of His anger in the form of the waters, so we have to search the Bible to answer the question: “Is there any place else in the Bible that speaks of a period of wrath for five months?” And there is. It is in the Book of Revelation.

To start with, let us look at Revelation, chapter 8 where God begins to announce the blowing of four trumpets. The first four trumpets bring judgment upon the “third part.” We will not read all the verses, but if you read it you will find it constantly refers to the “third part” that has come under the judgment of God. The “third part” identifies with the true believers, but the true believers were in the churches and, therefore, the churches took on identification with the “third part,” even though during the Great Tribulation period when God brought judgment on the churches He commanded His people to come out of the churches. Then the corporate body continued to suffer the wrath of God, so the first four trumpets describe the judgment upon the “third part” (the corporate churches) as judgment began at the house of God. It says in Revelation 8:12:

And the fourth angel sounded, and the third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars; so as the third part of them was darkened, and the day shone not for a third part of it, and the night likewise.

This is basically the concluding statement describing the judgment on the “third part,” which represents the churches and congregations of the world. Then in the last verse of chapter 8, there is a transition statement. Following the judgment on the churches that went on for 23 full years, there was a transition from judgment on the churches to judgment on the entire world, as it says in Revelation 8:13:

And I beheld, and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters of the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels, which are yet to sound!

“Woe, woe, woe!” The last three trumpets are each identified with one of these woes. The three trumpets and the three woes are the same thing. It is a key statement: “Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters of the earth,” and this is the transition statement. It is no longer judgment on the “third part,” but judgment on the whole earth. It says in Jeremiah 25:29:

For, lo, I begin to bring evil on the city which is called by my name…

This agrees with the statement that judgment begins at the house of God. Then it goes on to say in Jeremiah 25:29:

… and should ye be utterly unpunished? Ye shall not be unpunished: for I will call for a sword upon all the inhabitants of the earth, saith JEHOVAH of hosts.

Then the following verses give information on God’s judgment on the entire world, but the phrase “inhabitants of the earth” is the transition from the judgment on the city which is called by God’s name (the churches). Likewise, Isaiah, chapter 24 describes God’s final judgment on the world. It says in Isaiah 24:17:

Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth.

Then it says at the end of the next verse, in Isaiah 24:18:

… for the windows from on high are open, and the foundations of the earth do shake.

We recognize some language from what we read about the flood account. God poured out His wrath from the windows from on high upon the earth. Here in Isaiah 24, it says, “Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth.”

So, in Revelation 8, verse 13 God is giving notice that after judging the corporate church, chapter 9 will begin to discuss the “three woes” or the final three trumpets, picturing the judgment of the nations, the “inhabitants of the earth,” that are unsaved and within the kingdom of Satan.

Now let us read in Revelation, chapter 9 and that is where we will read about the “five months.” It says in Revelation 9:1-2:

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. 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.

Remember that Isaiah 24, verse 17 said, “Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth.” The condition of the bottomless pit rose and came up to the earth and it darkened the sun. The earth took upon itself the condition that was previously in the pit alone, but “hell” or the “grave” has risen to the earth because it is Judgment Day. Then it goes on to say in Revelation 9:3:

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.

We have talked about this before, so we are not going to go into proving it again, but the locusts here typify God’s elect. They did not come out of the pit, but they came out of the “smoke,” which identifies with the fire and wrath of God and the locusts are bringing the wrath of God. They are God’s people that are left on the earth in the Day of Judgment and one of the reasons God left them was to carry out that task. Then it says in Revelation 9:4-6:

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. 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. And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them.

Let me explain verse 6. In this case, “death” is speaking of being “dead in Christ,” which occurs at the time of salvation. When God saved someone it was as though they died. Let us look at one support verse in Romans 6:3:

Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?

This is the “death” that comes with salvation. We “die” and our lives are hid in Christ with God in a figure. But “in those days” and this refers to “in those days after that tribulation,” men will seek “death” or identification with the death in Christ that occurs only with salvation, but they shall not find it. They will desire to “die” that death in Christ, but death shall flee from them. In other words, there is no more salvation.

Then it says in Revelation 9:10:

And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and their power was to hurt men five months.

Again, we find that reference to “five months.” Verse 5 said, “And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months,” and during that five months they have “power to hurt men.” What does it mean to have power to hurt men for five months? The Greek word translated as “hurt” is Strong’s #91. I would pronounce it “ad-ee-keh-o,” and it is the identical word that we find in Revelation 22:11:

He that is unjust, let him be unjust still…

The word “unjust” is the same word translated as “hurt.” It goes on to say in Revelation 22:11:

… and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still.

We have understood that in the Day of Judgment when God shut the door of heaven (May 21, 2011) every man’s spiritual condition was established or set and will not change. That is the only way we can understand this verse. Why else would God say to let someone that is filthy be filthy still and someone who is unjust be unjust still and someone who is righteous be unrighteous still? Is not the whole point of the Gospel that a man might be translated out of darkness? And we do not find this kind of language used elsewhere except in the “time and season” of the Day of Judgment when everyone’s spiritual condition is firmly fixed and cannot be changed.

The word “unjust” is the same word as “hurt” and it so happens that the way the words were translated differently in each case will help us. The translation “unjust” will help us in Revelation 9 and “hurt” will help us in Revelation 22. Let us go back to Revelation 9:10:

And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and their power was to hurt men five months.

Or, we could say their power was to “unjust” men five months. We can see that how it is used in Revelation 22, verse 11 is really set against “righteous,” so their power was to “unrighteous” men five months. That is the torment. It is the torment of the teaching of the Bible by the true believers (the locusts) declaring to the wicked of the earth that they would remain “unrighteous” with no possibility of salvation. That takes place over the course of the entire “five months,” that must be the (figurative) duration of Judgment Day.

In Revelation 22, verse 11, we substitute the English word used back in Revelation 9, verse 10. We could say, “He that is hurt, let him be hurt still.” Do you see how this goes along with what it said in Revelation 9, verse 6, where it said, “And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them”? They are “hurt.” They are “unrighteous.” They are “unjust.” And the Bible says, “Let them be unjust still” for the entire “five months” because God’s wrath must be appeased and His wrath will be poured out for the complete five-month period.