Good evening and welcome to EBible Fellowship's Bible study in the Book of Revelation.  Tonight is study #15 of Revelation, chapter 9, and we are going to be reading Revelation 9:5-6:

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.

Last time we had gone to Luke, chapter 16, and I want to go back there and pick up this again, before we move on.  We were looking at a related word to “torment,” and it was Strong’s #931, whereas in Revelation 9:5, it was Strong’s #928 and #929.  In the parable that Jesus gave of Lazarus and the rich man, we are told that the rich man “in hell” lifted up his eyes, and so forth.  We can learn certain principals about the “condition” of hell and we can see, as we are going through this parable and comparing it to some of the things we have learned (since we know we are living in the Day of Judgment), that there are certain striking similarities. 

For instance, we saw, in Luke 16:23, the rich man did “lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.”  You know, it was always questionable that if “hell” were not a place, why does God say he had eyes?  Well, we realized that it was a parable and in the parable God was just giving him eyes to illustrate certain points.  Now the world has been brought under the condition of hell, as “death and hell” are the characteristic of this time period of 1,600 days (which appears to be the likely duration of judgment on the world).  The main characteristics would be “death and hell,” just as the rider on the pale horse represents, back in Revelation 6:8: “and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him.”  That applies to our period of time. 

So God, in opening the bottomless pit, has brought the smoke of the pit up to the earth and it darkened the sun and the air by reason of the smoke of the pit and, thereby, cast the earth into a smoky darkness that basically matches the condition of the pit.  So “hell” has come to the earth, in the sense that God has now guaranteed the destruction of every unsaved individual by ending His salvation program. 

It also happens that men living presently in the world do have “eyes,” so we can see a similarity with that, too.  As the rich man in hell “lifts up his eyes, being in torments,” God says, in Revelation 9:5, that a characteristic of the unsaved is that they will be “tormented” by the locusts for five months and that five months is a figure to represent the entire period of Judgment Day.  So the “torments” also relate and identify with our present time.  Then it goes on to say about the rich man, in Luke 16:23:

…and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.

We went to Luke 13:24-28 and, especially, where the Lord Jesus says in Luke 16:28:

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.

That, amazingly, matches our present situation. While the unsaved people of the world cannot “see” (with their physical eyes) the prophets of God in His kingdom, some of the unsaved are hearing that all the elect have been saved.  Actually, that was the worldwide proclamation in the days leading up to May 21, 2011; you had up to May 21, 2011, to seek the Lord that you might possibly find His grace in salvation because on that date He would shut the door.  The implication was that He would save all the elect; that is, “Abraham, Isaac and Jacob” and “all the prophets” would be in the kingdom of God and, therefore, in the sense of understanding, or at least hearing, this teaching of the Bible, it can be said that they “see” Abraham, Isaac and Jacob or, as it says in Luke 16, they “see” Lazarus in Abraham’s bosom.  They see the elect in the kingdom and they see themselves thrust out.  There is this difference.  There is this distinction between them and these elect, so there is a request for mercy. 

This request for mercy is also something that fits perfectly with what is happening today.  We read in Luke 16, where Abraham, who typifies God the Father, receives the request from the rich man for mercy and just a drop of water, and he responds that it will not happen.  There is no way this will happen and, likewise, in Luke 13, when the door is shut, there are many that say, “Lord, Lord, open to us,” and it does not happen.  So these are in the “condition of hell,” and to be in this “condition of hell” is to be “in a flame without water” or to be “on the other side of the door of heaven,” that is, to be unsaved when God has completed His salvation program.  This is what places people in the “condition of hell” and there is an inability for them to enter in, and God makes it known.  He makes it known; in Luke 13, when they are knocking, 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; and he shall answer and say unto you, I know you not whence ye are:

Then it goes on to say in Luke 13:27-28:

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.

There is no doubt – no doubt; there is no opening of that door.  God is the one letting it be known to the ones knocking that He has no intention of opening the door once He has shut it.  What God has shut, no man can open, no matter how they press upon Him and no matter how much they may plead for it, just as Esau pleaded for the blessing once he learned that his brother Jacob had already received the blessing.  That is the nature of man.  After the fact and after it is too late, and once the blessing has already been given to Jacob, then Esau desperately wants it.  Of course, earlier he had despised that birthright and he had despised that blessing.  But, once God has shut the door, then, man will want the door open.  Once God has turned off the rivers of “water” that flowed forth and covered the earth as the waters cover the sea, then man wants “just a drop” after the fountain has been shut.  And after the light of the gospel has been put out, then they want just the least bit of light.  God indicates that the door will not open and there will be no mercy, as it says in Luke 16:24-26:

…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, that would come from thence.

You see, there is an inability and there is no way possible for passage to happen any longer from “thence to you,” or “to you from thence.”  It is over.  It is finished.  The “great gulf” has been fixed.  And what is another way that “great gulf” could be described?  It is interesting that we learned (not too long after entering into Judgment Day) what God meant in 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. 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.

In other words, as for Lazarus, he was in Abraham’s bosom and, therefore, “righteous,” and “ let him be righteous still,” and, as for the rich man in “hell,” he is “filthy” and “let him be filthy still.”  Now there is a “great gulf fixed” between these two spiritual conditions and as we see in what Abraham (who typifies God) said, in Luke 16:26:

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…

So the “righteous” cannot bring the Gospel to the “filthy.”  The saved can no longer bring the Word of God to the unsaved that they might be translated out of the kingdom of darkness and into the kingdom of God.  It is no longer possible.  Even those that “would,” cannot.  This is really an incredible thing: we are living at a time when the Bible’s statements concerning this “great gulf” and the ability of the one in “hell” to see those in the kingdom of God matches perfectly with the things the Bible is revealing at this time.  The ideas that the eternal condition of Lazarus is fixed and the eternal condition of the one in “hell” is fixed matches perfectly with what we have learned in the Bible. 

God has saved all His elect and, never again, will an unsaved individual be able to be carried into the kingdom of God.  It is done.  It is complete and each individual’s eternal state has been established and fixed and is immoveable; this is the “great gulf” that Luke 16 is speaking of and, in that sense, the “condition of hell” has come upon the world; Luke 16 reveals that when someone is “in hell” there is a “a great gulf fixed” that permanently seals and entrenches one’s spiritual condition.  They cannot be translated over to the kingdom of God and that is exactly what we have learned from the Bible at this time concerning the unsaved people of the world.  Is that a coincidence?  Is that just some sort of accident that these things we have learned match so perfectly to this teaching of the Bible?  Can you imagine any other scenario or any other end time teach that theologians have taught that could answer these things presented in Luke 16?  No – nothing fits so perfectly and we actually can see it being “lived out” in front of our eyes at this time.

So we find this amazing statement in Luke 16:26:

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, that would come from thence.

Now we can understand the rich man’s desire, no matter what scenario you understand concerning hell.  Certainly, anyone in that condition would want to get out of that condition and pass from that into the kingdom of God – now they understand and now they know that it is not a good thing to be under the wrath of God.  However, the first statement is the amazing thing: “so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot.”  The Greek word that is translated as “would” is Strong’s #2309 and it is translated as “will” or “desire” or “desirous.”  For instance, it says in John 16:19:

Now Jesus knew that they were desirous to ask him, and said unto them…

So the disciples were “desirous.”  It is a word that points to the “will” of whoever is in view.  Notice in Luke 16:26, it said, “And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would (are desirous) pass from hence to you cannot.”  So, why is that amazing?  It is not amazing from our perspective or vantage point of living on the earth in the Day of Judgment.  Of course, we would have a desire for someone that is in the “condition of hell” and being “tormented in the flame” that we could bring them even the least bit of water; that is programmed into us.  God has sent forth His people with the Gospel water for millennia.  The true believers have gone into the world with the Gospel and it has been our great desire down through history to bring, not just a drop, but as much water as possible to the thirsty, to the poor, lost sinner.  So, yes, we think nothing of it.

But, on the other hand, here is a man who is in the condition of being under the wrath of God and, “Oh, look, he is desirous of a little water now.  He wants Lazarus to come and just dip his finger into the water to cool his tongue.”  From our perspective of having been messengers of the Gospel and “water bearers” as servants of the Lord Jesus Christ, we would quickly run with a ladle full of water. 

But, yet, that is not the idea, according to many theologians; Lazarus in Abraham’s bosom is being referred to when it says that they which would pass from hence (from the kingdom of God) cannot, and, therefore, are they not in heaven?  Is this not at the end of time, Judgment Day?  Is that not when men are (supposedly) cast into hell and at that point, should not the people of God that are judging the world with God have the same mind as God?  Should we not all be desirous, not to bring them water, but be desirous that God’s perfect will be carried out in wrath with the pouring out of His fury upon the unsaved of the earth? 

But that is not what is being said here and, so, we see another similarity and another incredible match with what is happening today, because we find God’s elect (that are in the kingdom of heaven and, spiritually, are like Lazarus in Abraham’s bosom), and they understand the Bible’s teaching that salvation is over and God is no longer saving.  Yes, we see those around us and we may think, “What of these poor people?  What about some that seem interested in salvation?  Will you not open the door for them?  Will you not shine a bit of light into their darkness?  Will you not give them the least bit of water?”  All of God’s people have that “desire” built into us.  “Oh, we would, we would, if we could.  If it were possible, do you not think we would?  It is our longing and we are desirous to give a drop of water to our own children, to our own family, to our neighbors or to the stranger on the street.  We delighted in doing this!  We loved going forth with the Gospel.”

I know I did.  I do not think I had ever been happier in my life than at times when I was privileged, by God’s grace, to go on a mission trip.  I was able to go on several mission trips and I remember going to India twice and having a backpack full of tracts and a bottle of water and I would just go forth with some brethren, walking down dusty streets on the other side of the world.  I really cannot say I have ever been happier than when I was walking down a street with a bundle of tracts in my hand, going up to everyone that I met and offering a tract to each person:  “Would you like one?  Would you like a tract?  And they were taking them “like crazy,” and it was such a wonderful feeling because there were outstretched hands everywhere and you could not get the tracts out of your backpack fast enough to satisfy all those that wanted them.  God has blessed me to be able to share the Gospel in many parts of the world.  I have been in Canada, Europe, India, Japan and South America, plus various cities in North America.  I have always enjoyed and loved being able to share the Gospel that way. 

I have also loved having “the hope and expectation” that those receiving the Gospel might become saved – that, perhaps, of 100 or 500 or 1,000 tracts that were handed out, that maybe one or two of the recipients were God’s elect.  I tell you, if it were possible…if we “could,” we would, and I know that many others share that desire.  It is not out of a hard heart or bitterness or cruelty that we are saying that the door is shut, the light of the Gospel is out and the flow of Gospel water into the world has ceased, as it concerns salvation.  It is not out of any of those reasons, but it is only a desire to be faithful to what the Bible says.  We must be an accurate witness and testify exactly what the Bible says.  It is only out of the desire to be a (faithful) “doorkeeper” that receives his orders from above. 

We loved it when God said the door was wide open.  He was saving a great multitude and the door was flung open and all were called to come, for it is the day of salvation – it is a time of Jubilee – and the time of the latter rain: “I intend to save multitudes from the nations of the earth.”  What a joyous and wonderful time that was. 

Yet, the same Bible that revealed those things is now revealing that the door is shut.  As a doorkeeper, we rejoiced and took great pleasure when God was saving, just as God did; He delighted in saving; He chose individuals to be His elect, according to His good pleasure.  He takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked and neither does the true believer.  The child of God takes no pleasure or satisfaction in the fact that God has brought judgment on the world.  It is a grievous time.  It is a sorrowful time and, if it were possible, we would bring that water.  We would open the door, ever so slightly, that some might go in, but we cannot.  There is an inability and that is why it says in Luke 16:26:

…So that they which would pass from hence to you cannot…

We find this “inability” in the next verse in Revelation 9, as God, once again, puts an emphasis on this particular truth, as it says in Revelation 9:6:

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