Good evening and welcome to EBible Fellowship's Bible study in the Book of Revelation.  Tonight is study #14 of Revelation, chapter 9, and we are continuing to look at Revelation 9:5:

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.

We saw in our last study that the reference to “five months” is a spiritual reference; that is, it is not a literal reference.  The “five months” represents the duration of Judgment Day and we have learned that there is a very good likelihood that Judgment Day will continue for 1,600 days, just as “seven months,” in 1^st Samuel 6:1, represents the Great Tribulation period, which actually turned out to be 8,400 days.  So when we put together the two figurative periods of time of “five months” and “seven months,” we get “one year” of vengeance or “one year” of judgment.  It is a figure and is much longer than that, but when we put the actual time periods together, we also get a number that fits perfect – 8,400 days, plus 1,600 days, equals “10,000 days,” which would point to the “completeness” of judgment.

So let us continue now to look at the second part of our verse in Revelation 9:5:

… and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man.

This is referring to the locusts.  The locusts typify the true believers, God’s elect, that God is using as a weapon in His hand to bring about the judgment of the unsaved, because God has saved all those that were to become saved.  The Lord is also using His people to share truth from the Bible in the Day of Judgment, which will bring “torment” to those that hear it.  And that “torment” was “as the torment of a scorpion.”  We looked at this when we were studying 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.

And that led us to look at 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.

This was referring to the “seventy,” or those that went forth two by two with the Word of God.  Christ gave His people power over “the power of the enemy,” the “serpents and scorpions.”  So the “serpents and scorpions” represent the enemy – they are part of Satan’s kingdom and would identify with false prophets and those that do not have the truth and those that bring gospels that cannot save.  Therein is the similarity or the likeness, and this is why God says that “their torment was as the torment of a scorpion.”  He is not saying the locusts are scorpions, but God’s people (typified by the locusts) begin to share the truth from the Bible in the Day of Judgment, as God reveals these things, according to Romans 2:5, about “the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God,” there is going to be one thing that is drastically different than at any other time in history; that is, the truths from the Bible will have no power to save. 

This is the situation we find ourselves in today.  It is the spiritual condition that the world is placed in when God shut the door to heaven and put out the light of the Gospel.   And now the Lord’s people are still on the earth, living in the Day of Judgment and we are still studying the Bible and still coming to truth, as God reveals it, but that truth has no power to save and no power to translate a sinner out of darkness and into the light, because God’s program of salvation has been concluded.  As a result, this makes the true Gospel that the true believers are sharing with others similar to false gospels: false gospels have never had any power to save; they have never changed a person’s spiritual condition from darkness to light, but now God has ended His program of salvation, leaving the true Gospel without power to save, for the simple reason that there are no more people to be saved.  So He can say that the locusts bring torment “as the torment of a scorpion when he striketh a man.” 

The Greek word translated as “striketh” is an interesting word.  It is found five times in the New Testament and four times in the Gospel accounts.  It is found in Matthew 26:68 and Luke 22:64, when they smote Jesus.  They smote him on the face when Christ was turned over for trial after being betrayed by Judas.  Jesus was “smitten.”

Also, it is found twice in the account when the servant of the high priest had his ear cut off , in Mark 14:47 and John 18:10.  They “smote” the high priest’s servant and that was when his ear was cut off.  So, there are four times when it is “smite” or “smote” and one time it is likened to a “scorpion when he striketh a man.” 

Now I do not know what we can make from that, except it is interesting that the high priest’s servant had his ear cut off and that could point to the fact that when someone gets their ear cut off they cannot hear and that points to “deafness,” which would spiritually point to someone who is not saved; typically, the deaf and the dumb and the blind and the lame typify individuals that are not saved.  That is why when Christ would heal their blindness or deafness, it was a picture of salvation. 

In the other two instances, when the enemies of Christ “smite” the Lord Jesus, we can see how that would relate to scorpions and serpents that are enemies of the kingdom of God.  They “strike” a man, so it would be a negative thing when a “scorpion striketh a man.”  The true believers are learning, as God opens the Scripture to their understanding in the “day of wrath and the righteous revelation of the judgment of God,” that as we share these things, it is bringing “torment” as the “torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man,” or as if it were “striking a man dumb or deaf.”  It is bringing no salvation.  That is the one element that is in view that we can understand.

Locusts are likened to scorpions and, later on, the two hundred million will be likened to serpents.  So both of those creatures mentioned in Luke 10:19 are brought together in Revelation, chapter 9; the locusts are identified with scorpions and the two hundred million are identified with serpents because God’s elect are sharing information wherein there is no power to save.  This is similar to every false gospel – every gospel of the enemies of God lacks the power to save.  They have always lacked the power to save and now the true Gospel is like them in that manner at this time.

Let us just look at one more place where we find the word “torment.”  We find the word “torment” used two more times in Revelation 9:5:

…and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion…

This is Strong’s #929.  The earlier reference to “torment” in this verse was Strong’s #928.  There is another Greek word that is Strong’s #931 and it is closely related to these two words and it is found in Luke 16, where the Lord gives us the parable of the rich man and Lazarus.  Let us read Luke 16:19-26:

There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day: And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores, And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried; And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame. But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, thatwould come from thence.

I am going to stop reading here.  In this parable I want to look at certain teachings that we find here.  We find, for instance, that there are some principals that the Lord Jesus is laying down about the “condition” of hell.  Now it is a parable, so it speaks of hell as a place and in hell the rich man lifts up his eyes.  But we know that there is no place that God will create called “Hell” into which He will cast men, although we can say, based on what we have learned already in Revelation 8, when God opened the bottomless pit and there arose smoke out of the pit and came upon the earth that the “condition” of hell was, therefore, brought upon every unsaved inhabitant of the earth.  I suppose, in some ways, we could say that the earth has become “Hell,” and that is about as close to an actual place that we could ever get in this time of Judgment Day.  The unsaved people of the world have been placed in the “condition” of hell. 

In this parable in Luke 16, we are going to read of a man who is “in hell,” and we will learn some basic principals concerning the “condition” of hell.  Let us see how well they match and identify with what God is doing today, at this time. 

First of all, it says that the rich man is in “torments” in Luke 16:23.  He also says in Luke 16:45:  “for I am tormented in this flame,” and Abraham says in Luke 16:25: “he is comforted, and thou art tormented.”  Again, this is a slightly different Greek word, but it is closely related to Strong’s #928 and #929 in Revelation 9:5.  God identifies what He is doing today to the world, as He pours out His wrath and gives them the cup of the wrath of God, with being “tormented” by the locusts.  So we have that similarity.  The rich man in hell is “tormented,” and we learned from other Scriptures that it does not mean “tortured,” but that the Word of God is declaring judgment and condemnation and it is the instrument that brings unsaved man “torment.”  It troubles the mind of the unsaved.

Notice it says in Luke 16:23:

And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.

So the rich man, somehow, has the ability to look up and see the “saved,” as Abraham and Lazarus are pictures of God’s elect.  Of course, Abraham is being used here as a “type” of God the Father, but Lazarus is certainly representative of God’s elect.  The rich man sees Lazarus in Abraham’s bosom and, therefore, he sees Lazarus being comforted and in a better “condition.” 

Let us to back to Luke 13, where there is another passage where Christ is speaking, in Luke 13:24-25:

Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able. When once the master of the house is risen up, and hath shut to the door, and ye begin to stand without, and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, Lord, open unto us; and he shall answer and say unto you, I know you not whence ye are:

Here, God is saying the door is shut.  We know that statement identifies with May 21, 2011, after the 23-year Great Tribulation period.  God shut the door on the underlying Hebrew calendar date of 2-17 and that matches the day the flood came and God shut the door to the ark.  So God was emphasizing that on that day, 7,000 years after the flood and on that day after the Great Tribulation period has ended: “I will shut the door of heaven and just as I secured the safety of all in the ark, I am securing the safety of all my elect; just as all outside of the ark perished because they could no longer enter into the ark, so, too, all outside of the safety of Christ will perish in this prolonged period of judgment.” 

So the door is shut.  Then notice what it says in Luke 13:28:

Then shall ye begin to say, We have eaten and drunk in thy presence, and thou hast taught in our streets. But he shall say, I tell you, I know you not whence ye are; depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out.

Now we have an agreement.  Now we have a similarity.  In Luke 16, the rich man is somehow able to look up and see Lazarus, who typifies the elect, in Abraham’s bosom, which pictures the kingdom of God; and, in Luke 13, in the context of the door being shut, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth from those individuals that are saying, “Lord, Lord,” when they see Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God.  In the case of both the rich man and those that are knocking at the door, they are all outside of the kingdom of heaven.

How can we understand this?  How can we relate this to May 21, 2011, and these days after?  It is because the Bible is teaching that God has saved every one of His elect; all whose names have been written in the Lamb’s Book of Life to be saved, have been saved and, therefore, not seeing with physical eyes, but by hearing these things and understanding what is being taught by the Bible when God’s people proclaim that God has completed His salvation program, this is what is in view by the language that they “see” all the prophets in the kingdom of God; and this is hand-in-hand with the weeping and gnashing of teeth.  It provokes to anger when they hear the door is shut and God is no longer saving.  They do not like that at all, because they “see” these things, in the sense that God is referring to them.  Likewise, the rich man can “see” Lazarus in Abraham’s bosom, so we have a similar teaching in Luke 16, which is describing the “condition” of hell.

Let us look at another thing in Luke 16:24:

And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.

We just read that once the door is shut, it says in Luke 13:25

When once the master of the house is risen up, and hath shut to the door, and ye begin to stand without, and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, Lord, open unto us…

That is another way of saying, “Give me some water.”  It is a similar desire for salvation: the opening of the door or wanting a little water.  It really is a similar spiritual picture, as the water typifies the Gospel and the man is even saying, “Have mercy on me.”  We see that just as God says in Luke 13 that many will be knocking, this rich man in the condition of hell is knocking, in a sense, at the door of heaven.  He is asking God for mercy and if God were to have mercy, it would transport him out of that condition of hell.  He would have the water that he sought.  So we see a second similarity with the condition of hell and with what God is doing today in the world, which is in the condition of hell: when a man is in the condition of hell, he will seek “water” or he will seek the opening of the door of heaven, but it will not happen. 

Is it not amazing and incredible how the circumstances we presently find ourselves in match perfectly with the teaching of the Bible?  We find that we are here, in the Day of Judgment, when God is pouring out His wrath, and people are attempting to get saved and to find a little mercy, and to have a little drink of “water.”   And that is another thing: notice he does not ask for a large cup of “water.”  He is asking for the least thing.  He is asking for the littlest amount of water possible: “Have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue.”  He wants just the slightest bit of salvation.  If we were to apply that picture to the door being shut, just allow the door to be cracked open the slightest bit – just a fraction of an inch – so that it is not completely shut. 

Of course, we have seen people arguing these things.  Some people have presented their own particular ideas as to why God is still saving in a little way, such as saving children; that is a very sensitive area and a very emotional area and people want to open the door and make sure there is a little “water” for children that were born after May 21, 2011.  Actually, some children born after May 21, 2011, could possibly have been saved because they would have been in the womb; this would extend the possibility of God saving an infant for nine months after May 21, but for children conceived after May 21, 2011, it is a different story.  So there are some people that say, “Well, certainly God will have mercy.”  But God indicates that when He brings His judgment, there will be “judgment without mercy.”  Remember what God says concerning children in Isaiah 13:17-18:

Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them, which shall not regard silver; and as for gold, they shall not delight in it. Their bows also shall dash the young men to pieces; and they shall have no pity on the fruit of the womb; their eye shall not spare children.

The Lord even emphasizes this all the more in Ezekiel 14 when He discusses Noah, Daniel and Job being in the land in the time of His wrath and He says that they should deliver neither son nor daughter.  He states it three times.  It is God’s purpose and there is no exception.  The door is shut and the condition of hell has come upon the world.