Good evening and welcome to EBible Fellowship's Bible study in the Book of Revelation.  Tonight is study #33 of Revelation, chapter 9, and we are going to be reading Revelation 9:18-19:

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. For their power is in their mouth, and in their tails: for their tails were like unto serpents, and had heads, and with them they do hurt.

I will stop reading there.  This is referring to the “200 million” horsemen and their horses, as they are going forth in the Day of Judgment and it is completely identifying them with “fire and brimstone and smoke.”  It has to do with His wrath.  Everything about the “200 million” horsemen identifies with the wrath of God and that is because the primary means by which God is bringing His wrath and punishing the unsaved people of the world is through the completion of His salvation program – through the fact that He has saved everyone He intended to save and there are no more left to be saved.  That is why the “200 million” have breastplates of fire, jacinth and brimstone.  That is why the horses, with heads of lions, issued out of their mouths fire, smoke and brimstone.  That is why God repeats it a third time in verse 18: “By these three,” because it is His purpose that “the third part of men” is killed; all those within the churches and congregations now have no hope whatsoever.  They were not in the place where the “latter rain” was falling outside the churches in the last part of the Great Tribulation, so they could not have been saved then, but now the overall program of God’s salvation program has come to an end and the door of heaven is shut – it is May 21, 2011 and the days after that tribulation and, therefore, no one is being saved.  And this slays the “third part” and they are finished, for all intents and purposes; there is no possibility of salvation for them. 

This is God’s purpose and He repeats it a third time: “By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone.”  In just a couple of short verses, we find the number “three” strongly emphasized.  It is not something out of God’s control and it is not as though God is powerless and things are happening contrary to His will – absolutely not.  It is His will.  It is the purpose of God to shut the door of heaven and end His salvation plan for this world and to allow “time” to continue a certain duration, in which judgment takes place.  The likely time scenario in which Judgment Day will unfold is 1,600 days (40 days x 40 days = 1,600 days).  God is indicating that the entire period of Judgment Day is a severe trial of faith and a severe test for all that profess to be His people.  At the beginning of this judgment, “by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone,” the “third part of men” is killed.

Notice, again, that the fire, smoke and brimstone “issued out of their mouths.”  Of course, that means it proceeded out of their mouths.  What proceeds out of the mouth?  Words proceed out of the mouth. 

We find this Greek word translated as “issued,” which is Strong’s #1607, in Luke 4, where Christ is speaking.  It says in Luke 4:21-22:

And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears. And all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth…

The word “proceeded” is a translation of the same Greek word for “issued” in our verse.  Obviously, “the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth” would be the Word of God. 

It says in Ephesians 4:29:

Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.

So this is a fairly common usage of this word.  Also in reference to Christ, it says in Revelation 1:16:

And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp twoedged sword…

The word “went” here is a translation of the same word, so it could be translated: “Out of his mouth issued, or proceeded, a sharp twoedged sword.”  Again, that would point to the Word of God because the Word of God is likened to a “twoedged sword.”

We read something very interesting in connection with this word and our verse, in Revelation 11, where God is referring to the “two witnesses.”  It says in Revelation 11:3:

And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth.

The “two witnesses” are typified as “Moses and Elijah” who represent the “Law and the prophets,” or the Word of God.  During the church age, God gave power or authority to His “two witnesses;” that is, God blessed the Word of the Bible within the congregations as they were caretakers of the Word and ministered the Word to the people.  In that way, God gave power to the “two witnesses.”

Then we read in Revelation 11:4-5:

These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth. And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth…

This is the same Greek word which is translated as “issued” in our verse in Revelation 9.  Here, it says: “proceedeth out of their mouth.”  Now let me read the entire verse in Revelation 11:5:

And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed.

Let us stop a second and consider what is being said here.  This is referring to the witness of the Word of God in the churches during the church age, after the Bible was completed.  So, obviously, no literal “fire” proceeded out of their mouth to devour their enemies and kill them.  This refers to a spiritual occurrence that God said took place during the 1,955 years of the church age – if any man would hurt the two witnesses, and that would mean that if any individual or congregation would go contrary to the Word of God, then the declaration of the Word of God itself would proceed out of their mouth and devour these ungodly ones, these wicked individuals.  It would, of course, be a spiritual occurrence.  It would not be literal. 

So we find in our verse in Revelation 9:18: “By these three was the third part of men killed.”  Again, just as we read in Revelation 11, when any would hurt the “two witnesses,” fire would proceed out of their mouth, devouring their enemies and “if any man would hurt them, he must in this manner be killed;” and this can only refer to a condemnation from the Word of God; God’s Word condemning these people; God’s Word condemning their gospel; God’s Word condemning their false doctrine and condemning the path they have taken and pronouncing “death” upon them if they continue down that path.   And it is all spiritual.

Likewise, in the Day of Judgment, when God is using His people as a means of judgment and as a hammer in His hand to crush the unsaved people of the earth, His people identify completely with “fire, smoke and brimstone.”  That is why our verse in Revelation 9:18 says: “by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths,” as the Lord’s people take into their mouth the teachings of the Bible and declare them.   Sharing the truth is really all the child of God is doing; he learns information from his study of the Bible and then he shares it with other people.  The truth God is opening up is special revelation that the Lord has reserved for the Day of Judgment itself, and the believers are sharing it with one another and with others because God encourages them to send it far and wide in order to feed sheep.  For those that are hearing these things but are not saved, it is a message of “fire and smoke and brimstone” for them.  It is a message that is issuing out of the mouth of God’s elect which is bringing destruction to the unsaved, to each individual that was not a recipient of God’s grace in receiving a new born-again soul.  God indicates that this is His purpose for the events that will unfold in the Day of Judgment.

Let us move on to Revelation 9:19:

For their power is in their mouth, and in their tails…

Again, the “mouth” is being spoken of – the “mouth” of the “200 million.”  God is adding emphasis that the people of God are not to be silent.  We are not to refrain from speaking of these things.  Remember what God said back in Jeremiah 50, as we began to study that chapter, and Jeremiah 50 describes the judgment on Babylon, which typifies the kingdom of Satan and of this world.  When Babylon falls it is like the fall of this world on the Day of Judgment when God’s wrath fell upon it.  We read in Jeremiah 50:1-2:

The word that JEHOVAH spake against Babylon and against the land of the Chaldeans by Jeremiah the prophet. Declare ye among the nations, and publish, and set up a standard; publish, and conceal not: say…

Now, let us not overlook that little word “say.”  What does that mean?  God is indicating that we are to take words in our “mouth.”  That is the only way you can “say” something.  So, here, God says:

… publish, and conceal not: say, Babylon is taken, Bel is confounded, Merodach is broken in pieces; her idols are confounded, her images are broken in pieces.

You cannot find a verse to offer more encouragement (and a commandment from God) to begin to “say” something, than this verse in Jeremiah 50, verse 2.  First of all, He says, “Declare ye among the nations.”  He did not say just to declare it “among the sheep,” but we are to “Declare ye among the nations.”  Why?  It is because that is where the sheep are and we do not know who they are, so how could anyone exclusively limit themselves to speaking to the elect?  That is impossible.  In order to obey God’s command to feed His sheep, we must declare it to the nations because that is where the sheep are located: “Declare ye among the nations, and publish.”  And how would they publish?  In the days of old, when they published a book, you had to have it bound and everything was written out; publishing it meant that you took it out of your drawer or out of your home (where you and your family were able to see it) and you put it out in the “marketplace,” or into the public sphere where everyone could, potentially, see it.  This is what “to publish” means.  We are to publish it “and set up a standard.”  A “standard” would be like a flag which would draw attention to it and to the words you wanted to publish.

Then it says, again, a second time, to “publish,” and God is telling us, again, and again.  He is directly speaking to the mistaken ideal that we fell into after May 21, 2011, for a little while, when we thought there was no need to share the fact that a spiritual judgment took place on May 21, 2011, for the people of the world; we thought to keep it all quiet and not “bother” any more; and that was a wrong idea.  Here, God addresses it specifically when He says, “publish, and conceal not.”  Do not hide these things; we are to share them.  We know very well what that means.  Tracts are a good means of sharing these things, or if someone wants to put the message on a tee-shirt or hat, or whatever.  We can share in many, many ways the information that God has opened up to us.  That is what God is referring to when the “fire and the smoke and the brimstone” issued out of their mouths, and then it says in Revelation 9:19:

For their power is in their mouth, and in their tails…

What does this mean that their “power” is in their mouth?  The Greek word for “power” is “exousia,” and it is Strong’s #1849.  It is sometimes translated as “authority,” for instance, in Matthew 8:8-9:

The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed. For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me: and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it.

The Roman centurion understood that he was under authority or power (“exousia”).  He had a general over him and the general said to him, “Do this,” and he would do it.  And he also had men under him and he was the authority over those men; he would tell them to “Go,” and they would go or “Come,” and they would come.  So he likened this to the Word of the Lord Jesus Christ, who could speak a Word to heal; so there was no need for Christ to personally travel, because He could just speak the Word, because Christ spoke with “authority.”  Remember, the Jews were amazed that He did speak “with authority,” not like the scribes. 

By the way, speaking with authority is an evidence of truth.  Christ spoke with authority and when we come to truth in the Bible and we learn a true teaching of Scripture, we are to speak it, likewise, with authority.  We are not to “hem and haw,” and we are not to present three possibilities – I have heard teaching like this that offers multiple possibilities.  It is, perhaps, widely accepted and some would view it as being humble, because they dare not make a claim as to what “truth” is.  Actually, that kind of teaching is boring.  That teaching is unprofitable and it leaves mouths without spiritual food.  People come away from that kind of teaching without any idea of what is true: was it option A or option B or option C?  Or, maybe, it was the last option that the teacher reserved when he said, “Now this is what I think.”  It is a waste of time.

You will find individuals today that do not like that EBible teaches with confidence and with authority and we say, “This is what the Bible teaches.”  So, they think, “Oh, have you not learned your lesson?  You should be more humble – you said the Bible guaranteed May 21, 2011.”  (In their eyes nothing happened.)  They think that ought to have taught us a lesson.  They would rather that we would say, “Maybe the church age is over,” and “Maybe there is a doctrine of annihilation, or maybe not…here is another possibility.  Let me lay out two or three things for you and you see which one you prefer.”  That is not humble teaching.  That is teaching that brings confusion and doubt and it is teaching that has nothing to do with the Lord Jesus Christ. 

When we study the Bible, if we cannot speak with confidence, with determination and with assurance, it means we do not know what we are talking about.  We should not talk about it just in order to minister questions.  That is not what God would have us to do.  He would have us to continue to study, to pray and to seek His guidance and will and His gracious opening of our understanding to what the Bible says, so that we can come to a faithful conclusion. 

We come to conclusions through the methodology He has ordained, comparing spiritual things with spiritual and making sure everything harmonizes.  Then we can say this is what the Bible is teaching.  We do our best and occasionally we will find that we did not fully understand something and we need to be corrected.  But, for the most part, we find that if we do follow the Bible’s method of coming to truth, then we are able to come to truth and we, therefore, can speak those things with single-mindedness.  We can speak plainly; this is what God is saying.  Of course, the humility comes in when we share what the Word teaches and not from our own mind.  We must also humbly be open to correction if additional information comes forth from the Bible.

So, this word “exousia” is translated as “authority” here in Matthew 8 and it is also translated this way in Mark 1:22:

And they were astonished at his doctrine: for he taught them as one that had authority, and not as the scribes.

It also says in Mark 1:27:

And they were all amazed, insomuch that they questioned among themselves, saying, What thing is this? what new doctrine is this? for with authority commandeth he even the unclean spirits, and they do obey him.

This word translated as “authority” is the Greek word “exousia” that is translated as “power” in our verse in Revelation 9.  It is also the word translated as “power” in Revelation 11, again, in reference to the two witnesses in Revelation 11:6:

These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy: and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will.

They have “authority,” God-given authority through His Word, as they study the Bible and as God is pleased to bring forth a particular teaching, that teaching could, potentially, “shut heaven.”  For instance, this applied during the period of the Great Tribulation when God opened up the Scriptures and revealed through His Word that the church age was over and the Holy Spirit had abandoned the churches and, therefore, no one was being saved in any congregation.  Basically, through His Word, He “shut heaven” in every church and every congregation in the world and He caused it not to rain – they had no “latter rain.”  He turned their waters to blood and smote them with all plagues, and this was all accomplished through the opening and revealing of the Word of God in the proper season.  What a powerful and mighty sword this Bible is in God’s hand, as He determines and purposes the teachings that come forth at the appointed time.