Good evening and welcome to EBible Fellowship's Bible study in the Book of Revelation. Tonight is study #34 of Revelation, chapter 9, and we are going to read Revelation 9:19-21:
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. And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk: Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts.
We are continuing to discuss the “200 million” horsemen that God uses to illustrate the judgment upon the “third part of men” that are slain in the Day of Judgment. As we have noted before, this refers to May 21, 2011, the end of the Great Tribulation period, and, therefore, the end of the “latter rain.” The “third part” are all the people that remained within the churches and congregations where there was no “latter rain” falling and, therefore, they could not have been saved during that period of great salvation all over the world that was taking place outside of the churches. Now that the “latter rain” has concluded and God has shut the door to heaven, the fact that God has saved all those to be saved, in essence, slew the “third part of men,” about two billion souls. We have seen God emphasizing that truth in verse after verse in the latter part of Revelation, chapter 9.
We have come to Revelation 9:19: “For their power is in their mouth, and in their tails.” We were looking at this last time and we saw how God has put into the “mouth” of His people the Word of God. He has also opened up their understanding to the “righteous judgment” of God, as He has revealed additional truth concerning His end time judgment program. As God opens up these things and God’s people begin to share these things, they are taking it into their “mouth” and what comes forth is “fire and smoke and brimstone,” because that is all that is left. The people of God used to be a “savour of life unto life and death unto death.” Actually, we can say we still are, as the message of the Bible that God has saved all that He intended to save goes forth and it feeds the sheep, it is still a message of “life unto life” unto those that have become saved, unto the righteous that are “righteous still.” And to the rest, it is a message of “death unto death,” and it is a condemnation and a declaration of punishment. So we can still say that the believers are still used as a fragrance of “life unto life and death unto death,” but concerning evangelization with the intent that people hear to become saved, in that sense there is no more “life unto life,” but the message is a single focus and one dimensional – it is only judgment; it is only “fire and smoke and brimstone.” It is only the message of “death and hell,” as the Bible characterizes this period of judgment as a time of “death and hell.”
God has given power, or authority, and placed this Word in our “mouth.” Some people think, “How dare you say that God is no longer saving. That is not within your power to say anything like that. You are only a servant of God. You are only a man. You cannot say that God is no longer saving.” I agree with that 100% and I would never dare (of myself) to begin to make that claim or to say anything like that at all, if it were not from God. But, it amazes me that some people do not get this – they do not understand this – and they fail to comprehend that when God opens up information from His Word and we follow God’s method for coming to truth (comparing Scripture with Scripture), the Bible says, “the Holy Ghost teacheth.” That is God – God is the Holy Ghost; God is doing the teaching. God is the one that had concealed truth. Remember what He said to Daniel: “Shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end,” and God is the one that opens the Scriptures to reveal truth. Some people might nod their head at this and they understand it intellectually, but they do not seem to understand it practically. They think, when they hear these things, “Oh, it is just men who are daring make such huge claims.” They fail to understand that these things are coming forth from the Word of God and we are not adding to the Word or subtracting from the Word. We are using God’s proper method of coming to truth and, therefore, it is the Holy Ghost who is bringing forth these things. God is the one that has determined to shut the door to heaven.
Who was it that gave us the Biblical calendar of history which is found in the Bible? God did, since it is found in the Bible. Who was it that made sure the flood occurred on the seventeenth day of the second month of Noah’s 600th year? Who was it that thousands of years later opened up the Scriptures at the time of the end and graciously gave us information whereby we could pinpoint the Great Tribulation as beginning May 21, 1988 and concluding exactly 23 years later on May 21, 2011? Who was it that gave us the underlying Hebrew calendar date of 2/17 on that date of May 21, 2011? It was not me. I do not know how to do those kinds of things. I do not know any man that can orchestrate and manipulate to the degree which it would have to be in order to make these kinds of relationships exist. I do not know anyone that is smart enough or wise enough to make those kinds of things fall into place the way the Biblical calendar does fall into place. I do not know anyone that could arrange for the date of May 21, 2011, to have the underlying Hebrew calendar date of 2/17, exactly 7,000 years from the flood. Who did that? What is the significance of that? The significance is that on the seventeenth day of the second month in the 600th year of Noah, God shut the door of the ark and shut them in, and He brought the flood waters. Then 7,000 years later, on the date that ended the 23-year Great Tribulation, God, likewise, showed us the (spiritual) significance by shutting the door to heaven. Additionally, He gave us information that “Immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light and the star shall fall from heaven.” This is all language indicating that the light of the Gospel is put out and removed from the world and that matches perfectly with the idea of the door to heaven shutting.
God did all these things. God put His finger on that date of May 21, 2011, and “these days after that tribulation,” according to Mark 13:24, in which the characteristic is “darkness,” a spiritual darkness that overtakes the earth. God’s Word, the Bible, makes these statements. We did not write the Bible; we did not put these verses in the Bible. We are not the ones that said, in Revelation 14, when God is meting out the cup of His wrath, that “Here is the patience of the saints.” We did not say that. In Isaiah 24, God speaks of bringing judgment on the earth and “burning” the inhabitants of the earth, that there are “few men left,” and these “few” refer to the elect who are still here in the Day of Judgment. God said that. We could just go on, and on, with Scripture after Scripture, where God indicates that His people are to have “boldness in the Day of Judgment.” Imagine that. Why should we to have boldness in the Day of Judgment? It is because we are “left” and we are alive and remain in the world at the time when God is pouring out His wrath.
So, I would never dare to say that God has ended His salvation plan, if there were not conclusive evidence from the Bible – if God did not cause all these Scriptures to harmonize and come together to prove that this is the case. When He does so, then some still say it is presumptuous to say He is no longer saving. Oh, but what great presumption there is in that statement. Is it not presumptuous to say God is still saving if He no longer is saving? Is it not presumptuous to say the door is open when God is putting His finger on the fact that it is closed? Is it not presumptuous to say the “sun” is still shining brightly in this world when God says that “immediately after the tribulation” the sun is darkened? Is it not presumptuous for individuals to say, “Oh, come to the Lord and be saved,” when God is indicating that the “unjust” and “filthy” will remain “unjust” and “filthy?” He has ended His salvation program. There is no humility in saying God is still saving if God, in fact, is no longer saving. There is no humility. There is no love. There is no concern or care. There is no true and genuine compassion for souls to tell them to come to God and beseech Him for mercy that you might be saved today, if God has shut off that possibility and “cut off” the unsaved. Therefore, it is a lie. It is falsehood to say that God will save individuals today when God is indicating through His Word that He will not. It is no more compassionate, kind and loving to say, “Go to God today for salvation,” than it is for those that say, “God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life. God loves everyone. God is going to save everyone.” Oh, they sound like good things and kind things and loving things. It sounds wonderful and beautiful and who can say anything against those loving statements? The only problem is they are all lies. They are all untrue and there is not a shred of truth in them.
And, now today, we can add to that list those that say it is still the day of salvation, when the Bible indicates it is not. I am sorry. I would love to bring “a drop of water,” as in times past. All I am, like Lazarus, is an unworthy, lowly servant of God, as are all His people. We delighted in being servants to Christ and running forth, here and there, with the Gospel and carrying “buckets of water” and ministering to poor souls. We encouraged people to cry to the Lord and beseech Him “while He may be found.” People like to forget that part of the verse: “Seek ye, the Lord while He may be found.” (Isaiah 55:6)
God forewarned. He gave due notice to all the earth that the time to find Him had a limitation. That date by which you must come to Him in order to cry out that He might (possibly) save you was May 21, 2011. That is what God had His people to proclaim and all the earth heard it. Now that date has come and gone and God has been true to His Word – He has not wavered a bit and He would not have His people waver a bit. The day of salvation has ended and now we are in the Day of Judgment.
Let us return to Revelation 9:19:
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.
We saw a similar statement which was said of the locusts, back in this same chapter, in Revelation 9:10:
And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and their power was to hurt men five months.
This helps us, for one thing, to understand that the “locusts” and the “200 million” are one and the same. God is just looking at different aspects of the judgment concerning those that were being impacted: in the case of the “200 million,” it was the third part and, in the case of the “locusts,” it is torment for all the unsaved people of the world. In both cases they are said to have “tails,” and we looked at this when we were reading Revelation 9:10, but let us look at it again, in Isaiah 9:14-15:
Therefore JEHOVAH will cut off from Israel head and tail, branch and rush, in one day. The ancient and honourable, he is the head; and the prophet that teacheth lies, he is the tail.
Remember, we were wondering how the “locusts” could be true believers (and now we can wonder the same thing about the “200 million”) if God is speaking of them having “tails?” (“The prophet that teacheth lies, he is the tail.”) This is something that needs repeating because God is repeating it; remember that there is now a similarity between false gospels and the true Gospel. One main characteristic of false gospels all through history is that they could never save; you could not get saved through a tongues gospel because they add to the Word of God; you could not get saved through a “free will” gospel because no man is justified by the works of the law; you could not get saved through a gospel that added a book or that found some long-lost book; you could not get saved through a gospel that denied that Christ was the Saviour, and so on. The gospels might have varied somewhat (or varied a lot) but what they all had in common was that there was no salvation in the gospels they were teaching. That is why they came under Satan’s domain and became part of Satan’s kingdom of darkness – they had no salvation.
The true Gospel had salvation during the day of salvation. But, now, in the Day of Judgment, the true Gospel has already accomplished its task to find all the lost sheep of the house of Israel and there are no more to be saved. But God has left His people on the earth to live in the Day of Judgment and, of course, He has left His Bible; He has continued to open up Scripture to His people, to help, encourage, comfort and admonish them, and other purposes. But one thing is lacking as the “200 million” (or the “locusts”) proclaim this Gospel in the Day of Judgment: there is no more salvation. Well, that makes it similar to all false gospels and that is why God uses the word “tails” to make that identification.
Not only that, but remember that the locusts had “tails like unto scorpions,” and now the “200 million” have “tails like unto serpents.” The “locusts” were likened to scorpions and the “200 million” to serpents. Let us go back to Luke 10:17-19:
And the seventy returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name. And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven. Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions…
Here are the two groups in view in Revelation 9, but now God is speaking to the “seventy,” which are those He has sent forth and He has given them power to tread on “serpents and scorpions,” and it goes on to say in Luke 10:19:
…and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.
Here, God is indicating that His people had power over the enemy of the kingdom of God, who are likened to serpents and scorpions, to “tread” upon them “and all the power of the enemy.”
The enemies of the kingdom of God did do “hurt” to the unsaved people, did they not? They could never bring a gospel that could “hurt” the elect, because it was not possible for the elect to lose salvation or to never obtain salvation – God would not allow that. But, now, the “200 million” and the “locusts” bring a Gospel that, likewise, “hurts” the wicked of the world. It does no harm to the elect, as God said back in Revelation 7:2-3:
And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea, Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.
The implication is that after the “sealing,” which would identify with salvation, then you can “hurt.” It is the same thing that is taught when God was giving instruction to the locusts in Revelation 9:3-4:
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 it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads.
Again, the implication is that it was given to them that they should “hurt” those that did not have the “seal of God in their foreheads.” The wicked are “hurt” by a Gospel that no longer brings salvation, because it is no help to them. What is their greatest need? It is the need for salvation. When false gospels would come, no matter what benefit they found, socially, and no matter if they were able to live a more upright, moral life, they were still “hurt” by these gospels because there was no salvation.
Now the true Gospel comes and the true Gospel is now of no ultimate value to them. As it says in Revelation 22:11…and, by the way, the word “unjust” in this verse is a translation of the same Greek word that is translated as “hurt,” so it could be read: “He that is hurt, let him be hurt still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still.” They are “hurt.” They have been injured and they have been done harm through the fact that they remain in their unsaved condition. But let them remain “hurt,” and that is the sorrowful thing concerning the information that God’s people share in this Day of Judgment. Again, it says in Revelation 9:19:
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.
Remember, it said of the “locusts” in Revelation 9:10: “And their power was to hurt men five months.” To bring a message that lacks salvation “hurts” only the unsaved, but it truly “hurts” them because there is no remedy for their ailment. We could say, “There is no balm in Gilead.” There is no mercy for those in desperate need of it. There is no “rain” for this parched land. Of course, the Bible is full of ways to express this same hard truth: there is no more salvation and this does do “hurt” to every unsaved inhabitant of the earth.