Good evening and welcome to EBible Fellowship's Bible study in the Book of Revelation. Tonight is study #3 of Revelation, chapter 7, and I am going to be reading the first three verses. It says in Revelation 7:1-3:
And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree. And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea, Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.
We have been looking at these verses for the last couple of studies and there is quite a bit of information here, so we are going to take our time, by God’s grace, and if it be His will. We have sufficient time to, hopefully, go through the entire Book of Revelation before these 1,600 days are completed, but that is according to the will of God. We are not going to hurry through it, but we want to take our time. If you have noticed, we have spent a lot of time on certain verses and we are doing a lot of “comparing of Scriptures.” We are not only showing one verse, but several verses, that prove the point or the doctrine that these Scriptures teach and we want to continue to do that as much as possible.
We were discussing the word “hurt,” the Greek word, Strong’s #91. We went to a few places where it was translated as “wrong,” such as in Acts 7, when Moses interceded between two men that were arguing and one man had done his fellow Israelite “wrong.” We have also seen how the word is translated as “hurt,” as the Lord Jesus said, in Luke 10:19, “nothing shall by any means hurt you,” which was indicating that nothing, spiritually, will “hurt” the child of God – no false gospel, no poison “water,” so to speak. Nothing can “hurt” the true believer because we are granted eternal life.
Then we saw what really is in view regarding this word “hurt” and this is the verse which really defines it, in Revelation 2:11:
He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.
That would be the ultimate injury or the ultimate harm that could be done to an individual: to experience the “hurt” of the second death and that “hurt” God will bring upon every unsaved individual. That is the context of Revelation 7 as the angel that was ascending from the east cried, “Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.” That is the “hurt” that will finally come with the second death at its conclusion and it is not to be unleashed until God has “sealed” his servants (saved His elect).
Well, let us look at a few other places in Revelation where the same word “hurt” is used. I want to look in this Book because it is going to help us understand where this word is found in other places and that is the whole purpose of our Bible study in this Book: to understand the Book of Revelation better than we do now. We want to understand it as much as we possibly can and as much as God allows, as He opens our understanding.
We read in Revelation 6:5-6:
And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand. And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.
We went over these verses when we studied Revelation, chapter 6, and we saw that the third seal and the black horse relate to the Great Tribulation period and, here, God is giving instruction concerning what is not to be “hurt,” just as we are reading in our passage in Revelation 7. He says, “See thou hurt not the oil and the wine.” Now “the oil and the wine” would be the fruits of a harvest or fruits of the earth. They, therefore, typify God’s elect and this is basically similar to Ezekiel, chapter 9. It is spiritually the very same idea. In Ezekiel 9 God is beginning to judge the “sanctuary” and we read in Ezekiel 9:4-6:
And JEHOVAH said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof. And to the others he said in mine hearing, Go ye after him through the city, and smite: let not your eye spare, neither have ye pity: Slay utterly old and young, both maids, and little children, and women: but come not near any man upon whom is the mark; and begin at my sanctuary. Then they began at the ancient men which were before the house.
This is the Old Testament passage that really helps us define 1st Peter 4:17. It is a commentary which aids us greatly in understanding what God means when He says, “Judgment begins at the house of God.” It means it is the corporate body: Israel of old or the churches of the New Testament era. Notice that God very carefully (before beginning the process of judging at the sanctuary and slaying all the people of the city) made sure a “mark” was set upon the foreheads of those that “sigh and that cry,” which would be indicative of the elect that were within. Once they were “marked,” then the order could be given to go forth to slay and kill, but do not hurt or harm any that had the mark. That is what Revelation 6:6-7 are saying when it says to “hurt not the oil and the wine,” and it is what our verse in Revelation 7 is indicating: “Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.” Once the “mark” of salvation has been applied, then the judgment can begin. Once God saved all the firstfruits that would come out of the church age, then He could begin judgment on the churches. Once He has saved the last of the elect whose names were recorded in the Lamb’s Book of Life, then He can begin the judgment on the world and that is what happened on May 21, 2011.
Let us also go to Revelation 9, where we read of locusts that come out of the smoke of the pit, as it says in Revelation 9:3-4:
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. 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.
We see how this is a similar command to the four angels in Revelation 7, except in Revelation 9 they are in the process of going about to deliver this “hurt” on the people. The difference is that in Revelation 9, the grass of the earth and green things and the tree are those that would typify the elect, but those that “have not the seal of God in their foreheads” are those that are not saved, not elect and never were born again; they may profess to be a believer, but in reality, in their hearts, there has been no change; they are the ones being “hurt.” As we read 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.
This is referring to the true believers that are likened here to a plague of locusts that are coming upon the earth. Locusts swarm in great numbers and God saved a “great multitude” that came out of Great Tribulation, so the locusts are likened to these creatures that have “tails like unto scorpions.” Now why would God say that the locusts (if they do, indeed, represent the true believers) have tails like scorpions? After all, we know that the Bible has little good to say (if anything) about scorpions. It said, back in Luke 10:19:
Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.
Now, here, the Lord is indicating that as the seventy return rejoicing because the devils were subject unto them through the name of Christ, that this was very much like treading on “serpents and scorpions,” so the devils (those in opposition to God and enemies of His kingdom) are likened unto “serpents and scorpions.” So why would Revelation 9:10 say they had “tails like unto scorpions,” if the locusts were truly the elect? 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.
Well, the reason is that false gospels…and there are just multitudes of them today. They are so numerous that if someone were to try, they probably could not catalog them all or list all their various errors and their various “twists” and variations from the truth. Really, I think it would be almost an impossible task because every church has different errors; every website has different errors; every TV evangelist has different errors. This applies to every false gospel (which would be typified by serpents and scorpions), no matter how close they can get to the truth, or no matter how far away they are from truth.
Sometimes, as believers, we hear of a gospel like the churches that involve themselves in “holy laughter” and they are falling down and laughing in the aisles or maybe they are dancing in the aisles. We shake our heads because that is so far from the truths of God that we wonder how anyone could be deceived by that.
There is a wide spectrum of errors; it goes from a gospel which is as “close as possible” to truth, where God even says that they might deceive the very elect if that were possible (Matthew 24:24), but it is not possible because God prevents that; He will not allow His people to be deceived in that way; He gives His people “ears” to hear His voice. Then there is the other end of that spectrum, where we find the most ridiculous and far out teachings imaginable.
Whether it be adding to, or subtracting from, the Word of God, or whether they believe God is still bringing divine revelation, or whether they believe their church is the authority, or whether they believe a man can do a work to get himself saved, they all have one thing in common and that is that none of them can “save.” None of them can deliver a sinner from their sins.
There is no salvation possible with any false gospel and that is why God is saying the locusts have “tails like unto scorpions,” because in these days of judgment (and there is a good possibility it will continue for 1,600 actual days), typified by the five months, there is no salvation possible. And even as God’s people share information from the Bible and even as we declare the things we learn (like we have always done) and even as we share truth with one another and we broadcast that truth in order to reach out to feed God’s sheep, there is no salvation and, therefore, it is like we have “tails like unto scorpions.” The true believers who share these truths from the Bible in this Day of Judgment have that in common with every “false gospel;” that is, there is no salvation anywhere. So God picked up on that “figure” to help us understand, once again, that there is no more salvation. Notice back in verse 5, as it says in Revelation 9:5:
And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months:…
That would be the “hurt,” as God describes this “hurt” as torment.
…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.
The “death” this is referring to is the “death” in Christ when the Lord saves someone; it is as though they have died in Him, as Romans 6 discusses in some detail. It is to be baptized into His death.
In those days, men shall seek “death,” or seek identification with Christ’s death (in other words, they will seek salvation) and they shall desire to “die in Him,” but “death shall flee from them.” We could substitute the word “salvation” here: “And in those days shall men seek (salvation), and shall not find it; and shall desire (to be saved), and (salvation) shall flee from them. There is no salvation and notice, again, how God refers to the “torment” of a scorpion when he striketh a man. This was a typical reference during the day of salvation to the scorpions and serpents as those that brought false gospels which Satan used in order to deceive man in hopes of destroying him.
But now it is Judgment Day and God is judging the world and all the saints with Him, so He has come, spiritually, in judgment and He is using the fact that He has saved all the company of the elect as a means (as a hammer or as an axe) to bring that judgment on the unsaved, so He likens all of the elect to locusts that bring “torment” as a scorpion, because there is no salvation. So we can see that this is the consistent teaching of the Bible: “Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven,” which is teaching: No salvation, no salvation, no salvation.
On that day of May 21, 2011 – 7, 000 years from the flood to the very day on Noah’s calendar of the 17th day of the second month and 7,000 years later the underlying Hebrew calendar date was 2-17 and that was the very day that God shut the door of the ark. And when we read of the door (and Christ is the door) being shut, that means “no salvation.” The Bible speaks of, “The light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee,” when referring to the judgment upon Babylon (this world), and that means “no salvation.” The Bible speaks of, “The voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee,” and that means “no salvation.” It is very consistent. It is awful and terrible, yes, but that is because it is the Day of Judgment and it is a very consistent message of the Bible. This will be the characteristic of Judgment Day.
Let us also go to Revelation 22:10-11:
And he saith unto me, Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book: for the time is at hand.
Let us stop there before we go on to verse 11. We know that God said to Daniel, “But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, to the time of the end.” The Word of God, the Bible, was to be sealed until a particular time in history known as the end of the world. The end of the world began once judgment began at the house of God. That began the end time judgment program of God for the 8,400 days of judging the churches, to be followed (it very much appears) by 1,600 days of judging the world, to bring it to a total of 10,000 days of overall judgment upon mankind for their sins. From the beginning of the judgment at the house of God on May 21, 1988 when God ended the church age and the judgment on the churches began, God “unsealed” the Book, the Bible. We have been learning all kinds of spiritual truths since then.
So, when we read, “Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book: for the time is at hand,” this indicates that what is being said has to do with that period of time at the very end of the world – with Judgment Day.
Then it goes on to say in Revelation 22:11:
He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: 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.
Now what does this mean? Why is God saying this and why is He saying it here, after having said: “Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book: for the time is at hand”? Well, the word “unjust” is an English translation of the same Greek word translated as “hurt” in the verses we have been looking at. So, here, God is saying, “He that is hurt, let him be hurt still.” That is really saying (if we take into consideration the other passages we have looked at) that only those without the seal of God – after all others have been sealed – can be hurt. Therefore, this is saying, “He that is hurt;” that is, the individuals that now are the objects of God’s wrath because He has already sealed all of His elect: “He that is hurt, let him be hurt still.” There can be no change now: “And he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still.” This is indicating that it is all “set.” Each one’s eternal condition has been established by God; God has concluded His salvation program; He ended it after the outpouring of the latter rain when the Great Tribulation concluded on May 21, 2011, after an exact twenty three years. Once that was concluded, that was it.
Now there are no more to be saved, so, therefore, anyone in their sins will remain in their sins and anyone that has been saved and has the imputed the righteousness of Christ will remain righteous. It is a statement indicating that each person’s eternal condition is “fixed,” as it says in Luke 16, “there is a great gulf fixed” so that one cannot come near the other. There is Lazarus in “Abraham’s bosom” and there is the rich man in hades (in the grave) and there is a great gulf fixed between them. There is no going from one place to the other. You can not come from hence and those that are here cannot go to you. Now the spiritual condition of all mankind is finally settled and will never change. Of course, this is grievous. There is no getting around that. This is very grievous for all.
For God’s people, in that parable in the Gospel of Luke, they would desire to “come from thence.” And we do have that desire: we loved sharing the Gospel with individuals during the Day of Salvation and we would desire, if it were possible and if God would allow, to bring a “drop of water” to any that are parched and in such an awful condition and, yet, we cannot. The great gulf has been established by God. The door has been shut by Him. The light has been put out by Him. The voice has been silenced by Him. How can we dare to go against what God has done?