Good evening and welcome to EBible Fellowship's Bible study in the Book of Revelation.  Tonight is study #32 of Revelation, chapter 9, and we are going to be reading Revelation 9:17-18:

And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone: and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone. By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths.

I will stop reading there.  Again, we have been going, verse by verse, through the Book of Revelation and now we have come to Revelation 9:17 where God is describing the “200 million” horsemen and their horses.  Both the horsemen and the horses identify with God’s elect.  Let me read, one more time, from Joel, chapter 2, which is a parallel passage; that is, it is another image that relates to the things we are reading about in Revelation 9.   We read of a “great people, and a strong,” God’s mighty army that is coming forth to battle, destroying.  We find in Joel 2:4:

The appearance of them is as the appearance of horses; and as horsemen, so shall they run.

God’s mighty army is likened both to “horses” and to “horsemen.”  So we find “200 million” horsemen and, yet, God is going into detail concerning the “horses” now.  We already saw that the horsemen (those that sat on the horses) had “breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone,” and we were able to recognize that the breastplate identifies with Christ and so does the “fire, jacinth and brimstone.”  It is all pointing to the characteristics of God in the day of wrath and in the Day of Judgment, as He pours out His fury upon the wicked.

Then it goes on to say at the end of Revelation 9:17:

… and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions…

God likens the heads of the horses to “heads of lions,” and lions are ferocious beasts; they devour their prey; they are fierce animals that you would not want to encounter in the open field.  Sometimes, in the Bible, God likens those that bring false gospels to lions and we know that Satan is said to go about “as a roaring lion.”  That is true.  But God also speaks of the Lord Jesus Christ as the Lion of the tribe of Judah.  We read this information in 1 Chronicles, chapter 12, and the verse that I am going to read is the verse I found which most identifies with the statement in Revelation 9:17, where it says the horses had “heads of lions.”  It says in 1 Chronicles 12:8:

And of the Gadites there separated themselves unto David into the hold to the wilderness men of might, and men of war fit for the battle, that could handle shield and buckler, whose faces were like the faces of lions, and were as swift as the roes upon the mountains;

Here, we see that these men of Gad (called Gadites) separated themselves unto David and became men of might – men of battle.  They could handle shield and buckler and they followed King David, and King David is a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ.  So these men that separated themselves unto him and went to battle with him would represent the true believers.  The spiritual battle that the Bible is most concerned about is between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of Satan, God’s people are with Christ and the enemies of God are with Satan.  So these Gadites are followers of David and they are said to have “faces like the faces of lions.”  Why?  It is because a lion is a destroying animal and these men were able to destroy the enemies of David in battle –they were fit for the battle.  We cannot forget that in Revelation 9, we are reading of the battle of Judgment Day.  Of course, it is not much of a battle, as far as competition goes, because the Lord Jesus is the victor; He is triumphant; He is exalted.  Satan is defeated, put down and deposed and the armies of Satan, the enemies of God, are also being destroyed in the day of battle, in Judgment Day.  Even though it is not much of a battle, it is, nonetheless, looked upon by the Lord as a battle.  Remember that image in Revelation 19:14: “And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.”  That is another picture of the “200 million” of God’s elect, riding upon their horses, and their horses had “heads like lions.”  Let us continue reading here in Revelation 9:17:

…and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone.

Again, God is repeating Himself.  He has made one substitution instead of “jacinth.”  And, remember, the only other place in the Bible where you will find that word is in Revelation 21, in connection with the New Jerusalem and, therefore, in connection with God’s people.  So that word “jacinth” has served its purpose in making that identification and God is giving a little help to the one reading that these “200 million” people are His people; then God substitutes the word “jacinth” with “smoke,” and now out of the mouths of these horses with heads of lions issued “fire and smoke and brimstone.”  It is basically repeating the same thing, but God is now adding the word “smoke,” which actually fits well with the whole idea of His wrath.

Notice that this is coming out of their “mouths,” and remember that the horses, as well as the horsemen, identify with the true believers, so when “fire and smoke and brimstone” issue out of their mouths, this is pointing to the people of God declaring the judgment of God, as God’s people are doing (and have been doing) since May 21, 2011.  Many took that information into their mouths prior to May 21, 2011, and warned the world of the approaching Day of Judgment. 

Yet, when God did not bring Judgment Day to pass in the manner they had expected and in a manner they could see with their physical eyes (and, instead, God brought a spiritual judgment), then that declaration that issued out of their mouths prior to that day stopped, and many of those people no longer speak about May 21, 2011, as the beginning of Judgment Day.  They would rather forget all about it; they are embarrassed; they are ashamed.  They want to put it well into their past, so no one sees their role in it or mentions it ever again. 

They are, of course, failing God’s test; they do not recognize the spiritual judgment, even though many of them would be the first to admit that a spiritual judgment had come on the churches and congregations.  They sort of liked that idea because many of these individuals are “independent-minded” and they liked being on their own when it comes to the Gospel.  They did not like someone, like a pastor or an elder, telling them what the Gospel is and it was not because those in the churches were telling them things contrary to the Bible, but it had more to do with their independent spirit.  They want to be the ones that determine what the Bible says.  It is sad to understand that, but we must understand that because as God has continued to bring truth, they are now rejecting these truths, just like those in the churches rejected the truth of God concerning the spiritual judgment upon them.  Now God has brought that same judgment (the same cup of wrath) to the people outside the churches and many are reacting in an identical manner to those that rejected the judgment of God upon them.  Therefore, it leads to evidence that these people do not have spiritual eyes to see; they cannot see with spiritual understanding the judgment that God has brought upon the world.

Yet, God’s people see because God gives spiritual sight and understanding to His people.  Remember what it said in Ecclesiastes 8.  We did not fully understand what this verse was saying until after May 21, 2011.  It says in Ecclesiastes 8:5:

Whoso keepeth the commandment shall feel no evil thing: and a wise man's heart discerneth both time and judgment.

God is indicating by “time and judgment” that there are two things that need to be discerned and not just one thing.  You cannot discern just the “time.”  And that was the problem, as God sent forth the Word into the world concerning the date, May 21, 2011, and some people got behind that: “Oh, wow!  We know the time of the end.  How exciting and, certainly, I want to be on the right side of this situation, if Christ is coming on this date.”  Therefore, they “joined up” and they began to proclaim this, too. 

But you must not only discern the time, but it says here: “a wise man's heart discerneth both time and judgment.”  So God brought the judgment at the time He said it would.  But, you see, if you are not truly a “wise man” and the Bible’s definition of a “wise man” is someone that has the Spirit of Christ within – someone that is truly born again.  If you are not truly a “wise man” and you do not have the Spirit of God, you are not going to discern both “time and judgment,” because the “time” came as revealed, but the “judgment” was of a spiritual nature.  Then they said, “Oh, no…this is not what I signed up for.  This is not anything that anyone can see.”  So many went back and many turned around.  They went back to their former occupation or former life or former path and they did not continue on. 

But God does grant discernment to a wise man’s heart concerning “both time and judgment,” even though this revelation may not have come right away.  Certainly, many of God’s people, if not all of them, were confused, confounded and troubled when May 21, 2011, came and things did not happen as expected.  But the difference between God’s people and those that are not God’s people is that the true believer “waits upon the Lord” and continues to search the Scriptures.  Then God, in His good time, slowly began to open up the eyes of our understanding to discern the “judgment” as well: “Oh, we did have it correct.  That was the Day of Judgment.”  And now the true believer is comforted and encouraged and realizes what God did.  But the individual who is not a true believer and does not have wisdom to discern “both time and judgment” has gone back – they are disappointed and discouraged and they never want to get involved in anything like that again.  Well, this was all according to God’s plan.

Now, in this Day of Judgment, this prolonged period of judgment which will likely be 1,600 days, God’s people go forth as “horsemen” seated upon horses and the horses have mouths “and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone.”  Now the child of God is sharing with others that a spiritual judgment began on May 21, 2011, and that is why the emphasis is upon the “mouth” and the issuing out of the “mouth.”

Let us go on to Revelation 9:18:

By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths.

We mentioned this earlier, but we cannot help but notice the strong emphasis upon the number “three” in verses 17 and 18.  There are breastplates of “fire, jacinth and brimstone” and the mouths of the horses are issuing “fire, smoke and brimstone.”  God uses the number “three” itself in our verse: “By these three was the third part of men killed,” and then He repeats it: “by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone.”  The number “three” indicates the purpose of God to bring destruction and to punish the wicked.  Surely they shall not be altogether unpunished, as He says in Jeremiah 25, but the cup of wrath will be taken from those that first drank of it in the churches and congregations, and then the cup will be handed to the nations of the world.  This is God’s purpose.  It is also His purpose that His people will declare these things: “By these three was the third part of men killed.”  Now, if you remember, this is really another restatement of what it said back in Revelation 9:15:

And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men.

And now we are read, in Revelation 9:18, that “By these three,” (by the fire, smoke and brimstone) “was the third part of men killed.”  The “four messengers” were loosed to “slay the third part of men.”  The “200 million” horsemen go forth and fire, smoke and brimstone issue out of the mouths of their horses and they also “slay the third part of men.”  This is additional confirmation that we were correct in understanding the “four messengers” and the “200 million” horsemen as one and the same; they both have the same task.  They are synonymous groups.   

Let us go over the “third part of men” one more time, so we understand.  When God ended the church age and the Holy Spirit came out of the midst and Satan entered in, salvation ended for all in the churches; no one was being saved in any church of any denomination, in any country in the world.  For the entire period of the Great Tribulation (the entire period of judgment on the churches and congregations, which continued for 23 years from May 21, 1988 to May 21, 2011), no one became saved; it was impossible for anyone to have become saved within the churches during that time.  Outside of the churches, for about the last 17 years of that 23-year period, God was saving a great multitude, but no one within the churches.  This is why it was critical that when God opened up the information about the end of the church age and commanded His people to depart out of the midst and “flee to the mountains,” that God’s people obey; they were to leave and take their families.  If they did not, they would remain in a place where there was no “latter rain” and no salvation taking place. 

We know that very few were moved by God to come out of the churches; the overwhelming vast majority of church members remained and the number of people in those churches was about two billion.  It was an enormous number of people that did not hearken to God.  To hearken to God, according to the Bible, means to “hear with obedience.”  You hear the warning and you act upon it.  You respond and you do come out.  Many heard and many listened with their ears, but they did not act.  They did not leave.  They reasoned among themselves, perhaps, and talked about the end of the church age with their pastors (perhaps, the last person they should have talked to about it), and then they remained.  Then May 21, 2011, came and they were vindicated, were they not?  “Oh, those people that said the church age is over also said it would be Judgment Day.  And, look, nothing happened.  We were correct.  We told you that ‘no man knows the day or the hour,’ and we also told you the church age is not over.”  So, with confidence, they were no longer worried or concerned about that “end of the church age” information. 

Yet, the spiritual reality is that God said that all who remained in the churches are tares bundled for the burning and on May 21, 2011, the door (which had been shut only within the churches) was now shut all over the world outside of the churches, too.  Now that spiritual condition that was upon the churches was expanded and transitioned to all the world.  So for all those within the churches (about two billion people) on May 21, 2011, God ended all hope for all of them.  They could not have been saved within their churches since the latter rain did not fall there.  And now God had ended His salvation program for all the world, and now they cannot possibly become saved, which means that they were “slain,” for all intents and purposes.  They have been killed, spiritually.  God slew “the third part of men” and He slew them through the “200 million,” which is a figure to represent all God’s elect, all those whose names were recorded in the Lamb’s Book of Life.  All God’s elect were found and they all had the atoning work of the Lord Jesus applied to their hearts and minds and all were given their born-again souls.  

Now there are no more names written in that Book.  There is no more blood to be applied.  There is no more atoning work for the Gospel to apply to this individual or that individual.  It is all finished and this has killed “the third part of men” and they were killed “by these three,” the fire, smoke and brimstone, and that is all that is left.  It is the only “rain” that remains for those in the churches and congregations.  They did not experience the wonderful blessing of the “latter rain,” as God saved a great multitude.  None of those that remained in the churches are numbered in that multitude. 

Now they have the “overflowing rain” of fire and brimstone.  This is what God’s people have taken into their “mouths” and issuing forth: “fire and smoke and brimstone.”  There is no more grace.  There is no more talk of mercy.  There is not even a drop of water left for any of the rich men or any claiming to be a Christian when they say they are spiritually rich.  There is not even a drop of water that is permitted to be brought to them.  This comes down from the ruling on high, from the highest of authority, the Lord God: “When they knock, do not open the door.”   When they ask for a drop of water and they want Lazarus to go forth to bring it to them, we can only say there is a great gulf fixed between us and then “they which would come from hence,” cannot.  Even though we would and it is our desire to do so, we cannot perform the doing of it, because there is no ability.  There is no allowance from God.  God has said that it is now the Day of Judgment and He will have judgment without mercy.