Good evening and welcome to EBible Fellowship's Bible study in the Book of Revelation.  Tonight is study #16 of Revelation, chapter 9, and we are going to be reading 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.

We were looking at the figure of “five months” that God used in the previous verse and we saw that it was not a literal period of time, but it is a figure to represent the entire duration of Judgment Day, however long that might be.  We have found, as we have studied the Bible in these days, that there is a very good likelihood that Judgment Day will continue for 1,600 days and then conclude on October 7, 2015.  So when we read in Revelation 9:6, “And in those days shall men seek death,” it is referring to the “five months,” or the duration of Judgment Day of 1,600 days.  God is telling us that “in those days,” or in that period of 1,600 days (the most likely period we can find because we do not see the Bible point to any other time period), men shall “seek death, and shall  not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them.” 

When we first think of this verse, we tend to think “naturally,” and as we look at what it says, we think of the possibility of it being literal.  And, of course, if it were literal, that would cause it to stand out in the Book of Revelation (and in the Bible as a whole) because the Bible is a spiritual Book.  The Bible tells us that Christ spoke in parables and without a parable, He did not speak.

It is very much like God to write something that seems like it is very easy to understand, as many churches teach that you are to look for the plain, literal meaning and then look for no other meaning.  With that doctrine or philosophy and with that hermeneutic that they teach in seminaries, it will lead to a failure to understand great amounts of truth in the Bible because Christ spoke in parables.  Jesus, who is the Word made flesh, did speak in parables and the first thing that any reader of the Gospels should question is: why did He speak in parables?  The answer is that He did it to teach people how to understand the Bible, since He is the Word made flesh.  So, in giving parables and then explaining, at times, the spiritual meaning of those parables, He was teaching the readers of the Gospel accounts how to go about understanding the Word of God, the Bible. 

So when we come to a verse like Revelation 9:6, we have to remember that, first of all, the previous verses were talking about locusts and how they were given power as scorpions and, obviously, this is parabolic language.  Then the following verses pick up the discussion about locusts and the 200 million horsemen and their horses are breathing fire and jacinth and brimstone.  It is very clearly parabolic and so, too, is Revelation 9:6, and in order to help us realize that, God makes an outlandish statement – there is no other way to put it.  Let us read it again, 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.

This is an outlandish, incredible statement, if it were literal and if it were to be understood according to its plain meaning, because this world is full of “death,” and sin has brought death everywhere.  If there is one thing that men are very good at, it is seeking death and finding it.  The whole history of the world testifies to that.  Men can easily find death and if this verse had to do with the idea of suicide and someone killing himself, men have been doing that throughout the history of the world, too.  It is just not possible to think that “in those days” of five months when God is judging the world, men will attempt to kill themselves and not be able to do it.  That is not what God is saying.  That is the “natural” understanding of the words, but that is not the Biblical or spiritual understanding, and that is the first thing we have to do.  What else could be in view?  What could God have in mind, spiritually?  What could be the deeper, spiritual meaning of seeking death and not finding it?

We really do not have to go too far to find out.  We can turn to the Book of Romans and we read a passage which I think will help us understand perfectly what the Lord is saying in our verse in Revelation 9.  It says in Romans 6:1-8:

What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin. Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him:

Several times in these few short verses, God speaks of death: “baptized into his death;” in verse 3; “buried with him by baptism into death,” in verse 4; “planted together in the likeness of his death,” in verse 5; “the old man is crucified with him” (and if you are crucified, you would normally die); in verse 6; “he that is dead is freed from sin,” in verse 7; and “if we be dead with Christ,” in verse 8. 

We should quickly see that God speaks of salvation as being “dead in Christ.”  When Christ Jesus died for the sins of His people, He was bearing the sins of His elect and, in a sense, God accounts that those elect people were “killed” in Him and “dead” in Him.  That is why there is a reference to being “baptized into His death;” that is, to be baptized by the Holy Spirit in salvation and “planted together in the likeness of his death.”  Salvation, mysteriously, brings us into agreement with the condition of “death in Christ.”  Then we are freed from sin because Jesus died for our sins and we are dead with Him, as Romans 6:8 says: “Now if we be dead with Christ,” then “we shall also live with him.” 

So God is driving the point home, again, and again: “death in Christ.”  This is what happens when someone becomes saved.  Before salvation, can it be said of an individual that he is “dead in Christ?”  No – it is not until salvation is applied; then the atoning work of the Lord Jesus Christ is applied to that individual and “death in Christ” occurs as that person is “dead with Him.”  That fits perfectly with everything else we have been reading in Revelation, chapter 9, concerning the Day of Judgment, the darkening of the sun, the “condition of hell” rising up to the earth, the torment of the locusts as they bring torment for a period of five months, and then verse 6: “in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it.”

So now we understand it is not physical death; it is not killing oneself.  Men will always be able to find “death.”  They will always be able to die, physically.  There is nothing that will stop a man from that, especially in this world where “the wages of sin is death,” and the world is under corruption; men and their bodies are seeing corruption and the effects of sin, as men kill their fellow man.  It is all over the place.  Death is everywhere, so physical death is not in view in any way.  But spiritual death in Christ, which occurs at the time God saves a sinner, is another matter and “in those days,” men will seek salvation, we could say.  We could substitute that word “salvation” as a synonym, here, for death.  They will seek salvation and “shall not find it.”

Before we move on, I just want to quickly look at the phrase “in those days,” because even that statement is helpful and directs us in understanding exactly when this is taking place.  In Mark 13, the parallel chapter to Matthew 24, Christ answers the disciples’ question: “What shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?”  We read in Mark 13:24:

But in those days…

And that is the same phrase or wording that we have in Revelation 9:6:

But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light,

That agrees and matches Revelation 9:2: 

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.

So, in Revelation 9, which is following chapter 8, which detailed the judgment on the churches during the 23-year period Great Tribulation, God transitions to judging the world, and we read that “the sun shall be darkened,” exactly as Mark 13:24,  or as Matthew 24:29 tell us: “Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened.” 

Yet, even though Mark 13:24 is a parallel passage to Matthew 24:29, it is saying something slightly different which we might miss if we did not read very carefully.  Let me read it again, in Mark 13:24:

But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light,

The difference between this verse and Matthew 24:29 is that Mark 13:24 is speaking of a period of time referred to as “those days, after that tribulation.”  It does not tell us specifically how long this period is and our verse in Revelation 9 gives us a time frame of “five months,” and we understand that is a spiritual reference.  It is only when fitted to the Biblical calendar of history that an actual time period can be applied, which we strongly suspect will be 1,600 days.

So Mark 13:24 is telling us “in those days after that tribulation,” this will happen: the sun will be dark, the moon will not give her light, and so forth.  So that means that this will occur in a period of time known as “those days.”  There will be spiritual darkness in the world over the course of those days.  Obviously, it cannot be literal; you cannot have a period of “days” without the sun, moon and stars, which are the timekeepers.  This verse helps us to realize that Christ is speaking in parables and we must look for the spiritual meaning.  Those that take the surface meaning of Scriptures are often (if not always) going astray and away from truth.

So in Mark 13:24, God speaks of “those days, after that tribulation” and Revelation 9 is also speaking of a time period after the tribulation (after the judgment on the churches), which is “five months” and the same language is used in Revelation 9:6:

And in those days shall men seek death…

And, again, what did we learn from Romans 6?  We saw that “death in Christ” is in view.  Men will “seek death in Christ.”  For a long time, men have sought for “death in Christ,” but they have often sought it wrongly – seeking it through “accepting Christ,” seeking it through their church doctrines like “water baptism,” or “partaking of the Lord’s Table,” or whatever else their church might lay out that they must follow in order to enter heaven.  So men have often sought, wrongly, “death in Christ,” but there was always the “true way” that God laid out in the true Gospel, in which individuals could go to the Lord and beseech Him and cry for mercy: “O, heavenly Father, have mercy.  Have mercy upon me, O God.”  And God would, at times, save because He was drawing these individuals and moving within them – they were His elect people. 

But “in those days, after that tribulation,” shall mean seek death in Christ, or salvation.  Remember what God says about “seeking” in Isaiah 55:6

Seek ye JEHOVAH while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near:

This verse strongly implies that there is a certain time period for the seeking of the Lord.  God allowed and permitted and encouraged and beckoned to sinners all over the earth: “Yes, seek me.”  Of course, He laid out His plan for proper “seeking” elsewhere in the Bible.  It had nothing to do with grabbing hold of Him forcibly and demanding to be saved and taking salvation to oneself, but seeking rightly and properly and humbly coming to Him and crying out and going boldly to the throne of grace, looking unto “the hills, from whence cometh my help.”  Oh, Lord, is it possible that you might have mercy?  God greatly encouraged that during the time period known as the day of salvation.  That was the time that the Lord could be found and that was the time when He was near.

But God also warned, in Zephaniah, and let us listen closely to the language of these verses, because even though He is encouraging men to approach Him, He is also giving a very definite warning in Zephaniah 2:1-3:

Gather yourselves together, yea, gather together, O nation not desired; Before the decree bring forth, before the day pass as the chaff, before the fierce anger of JEHVOAH come upon you, before the day of JEHOVAH’S anger come upon you. Seek ye JEHOVAH, all ye meek of the earth, which have wrought his judgment; seek righteousness, seek meekness: it may be ye shall be hid in the day of JEHOVAH’S anger.

Salvation, the Bible tells us, “hides” us, according to Colossians.  In salvation, our life is hid with Him.  Here, notice that God is saying to seek Him “before the decree,” and “before the day of JEHOVAH’S anger come upon you.”  He is saying to seek Him then.  Why?  Well, obviously, He is saying that if you wait until the “decree bring forth,” or if you wait until after the door is shut, or if you wait until the sun is darkened, or if you wait until the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride is not heard at all in her; that is, if you wait until after May 21, 2011, then you will not be able to find Him: “Seek ye JEHOVAH while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near.”

Of course, many men heard these things, as God proclaimed the message to all the world in an unparalleled way and in an unprecedented manner.   The whole world heard Judgment Day was coming.  They realized what that meant: you have until that date to seek God and you have until that time to possibly find Him.  And, remember, God was saving a great multitude, so men were encouraged to go the Lord and to His throne of grace.  But most men waited and waited and said, “Well, what do the churches think?  Oh, we cannot know the day or the hour.  Or what do these other men think?  Oh, do not be a fool.  There is no God.  You cannot know these things.  The Bible is an ancient book, full of tales.”  Men were listening to all sorts of things, on the right hand and on the left hand, and they did not hearken to the Word of God.  Then the door shut and now it is too late and the Bible indicates that now, at this time, we will find more and more individuals attempting to “seek” Him, as we read 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:

Do you see the similarity and agreement between Luke 13 and what it is saying of Judgment Day, when the day the door is shut?  This identifies completely with May 21, 2011, when once the Master of the house has risen and shut to the door.  Notice that God says, many will seek to enter in, but they will not be able.  Then notice what it says in Revelation 9:6:  “And in those days shall men seek death.”  They will seek “death in Christ,” or to put it another way, they will seek to enter into the kingdom of heaven and, as Luke 13 says, they will not be able.  And what does Revelation 9:6 say?  “And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it.”

Again, this is conclusive.  It is an absolute statement.  Once that door shuts, we do not find anywhere in the Bible that God will open it again.  He says of those that are knocking, that they will not be able to get it.  He says of those “seeking death” in salvation, that they shall not find it.  It goes on to say in our verse in Revelation 9:6:

…and shall desire to die…

They will desire to be born again.  They will desire to be saved.

…and death shall flee from them.

Not only are they not going to be able to obtain it, but it is actually working against them.  God is not allowing anyone to enter into His kingdom. 

This is the point that is under assault and it will continue to come under assault in the remaining days we have left.  People will “pound against it” and “rail against it” and seek every way possible to have this particular truth done away with.  Some will try to open the door just a little; some will try to open the door all the way, just as at any point in history, but the attempts will come, again, and again, and again, because that is the “seeking” that God is revealing here.  That is the “knocking upon the door” that God is telling us about.  That, too, is the desire of the “rich man in hell.”  He wants just a drop of water.

All these verses are teaching the same thing: man’s inability to accept what God has done and man’s attempt to “force the matter” and man’s attempt to change the thing that God has done when He shut the door.  But, like God says, what He has shut, no man can open.