Good evening and welcome to EBible Fellowship's Bible study in the Book of Revelation.  Tonight is study #35 of Revelation, chapter 9, and we are going to read Revelation 9:20-21:

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.

That is the last verse of Revelation, chapter 9.  We are presently going to look at verse 20, where God speaks of the “rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues. “ This is interesting language and an interesting idea, because God had just been discussing the “third part” that was slain by the “200 million” that identified with “fire, smoke and brimstone.”  The “third part” was killed by those plagues, but the “rest of the men” were not killed by the plagues mentioned here in Revelation 9, despite the fact that God is judging, plaguing and destroying the “third part,” but it has no impact on the “rest of the men.” 

The “rest of the men” can only be unsaved individuals, and we know that because God says they are involved in sinful activities: idolatry, murders, sorceries, fornications and thefts.  These are the works of the flesh.  These are the things that unsaved people do.  Amazingly, in the Day of Judgment God is pouring out His wrath on a portion of mankind, the “third part” (and we know this is a reference to the those in the churches, or about two billion people), yet we know that the “rest of the men” are not troubled, or convicted, or fearful of God in this time of wrath, even though He has slain about two billion people; they just continue on in their sins.  They do not seem disturbed and they are not attempting to stop their sins and they do not repent of them.  So we want to take a look at this statement in the first part of Revelation 9:20:

And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands…

The Greek word translated as “rest” is Strong’s #3062 and it is the word “loipoi,” and God uses it in some interesting places.  For instance, He uses this same word in Ephesians 2:3:

Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.

The word “others” is a translation of this same Greek word, “loipoi.”  Here, in Ephesians 2:3, where it says that we “were by nature the children of wrath,” this is referring to God’s elect, and then it adds, “even as others,” which would refer to those that are not God’s elect.  Of course, those that are not God’s elect would far outnumber those that are, because the elect are only a remnant.  Now this is important because sometimes that Greek word “loipoi” is also translated as “remnant.”  But, here in Ephesians 2:3, we see that “others” refers to a far greater number than those that were initially in view (the elect).  The “others” would refer to billions of people.

Also, we find this same Greek word in Revelation 20:4:

And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.

Revelation 20, verse 4, is speaking of the “firstfruits unto God,” or all that were saved during the church age and that was a good number of people; we do not know exactly how many.  Maybe there were a couple of million, or five million, but we do not expect it to be too great a number, due to the language of the Bible.  But, in the next verse, God tells us of His plan to save a great multitude during the time of the Great Tribulation.  It says in Revelation 20:5:

But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.

The word “rest” is a translation of that same Greek word.  The “thousand years” is that time of Satan’s binding and once that period of time was finished in 1988, the Great Tribulation began.  Then the “rest of the dead” would live, according to this verse; that is, they would be come saved.  So, again, we have the greater number (the great multitude) by the statement, “the rest of the dead,” compared to the former group that were saved during the church age, so it is very possible that this word “rest” refers to a larger number than a smaller number.  (Since it is sometimes translated as “remnant” and we have that understanding of a remnant as a very little part of the whole, I think it is important for us to realize that.)

Now, in Revelation 19, we read of Judgment Day, and it says in Revelation 19:19-21:

And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army. And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.

The “beast” is another name for Satan that God gave him especially for his rule during the Great Tribulation period.  Satan is also “the false prophet,” but the churches and congregations which took upon themselves the “image of the beast” when God’s Spirit left them, so they could also be identified as the “false prophet.”  Here, in verse 20, God is indicating that He has judged Satan (the beast) and the “false prophet,” which would include the churches and congregations.  In other words, God destroyed the “third part” first, just as we find in Revelation 9.  They were destroyed along with Satan on May 21, 2011 – the beast, the false prophet and “the third part of men.” 

Then it says in Revelation 19:21:

And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse…

Who is the remnant?  This is the same word and it could be translated as, “the rest were slain with the sword.”  Again, we should not think that just because this word is translated as “remnant” that it means a “lesser number.”  This is “the rest of the men,” the rest of Satan’s kingdom and the rest of unsaved mankind, which number billions.  There were about two billion in the churches that identified with the “third part,” and that leaves over five billion unsaved people that are outside of the churches and they are the “rest of the men.”  They are, in this case, “the remnant,” according to this verse in Revelation 19:21 and God deals with them separately, apart from His dealing with the “third part” and the “false prophet.”  God deals with them in a different way.

Let us go back to Revelation 9 in our verse and read it again, in Revelation 9:20: “And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues.”  Do you see how God is speaking of the judgment He is bringing as “plagues”?  As soon as we hear the word “plagues” we think of what God did to Egypt and, certainly, it was an incredible display of the mighty power of God when God sent plague after plague upon Egypt.  It says in Exodus 9:13-15:

And JEHOVAH hardened the heart of Pharaoh, and he hearkened not unto them; as JEHOVAH had spoken unto Moses. And JEHOVAH said unto Moses, Rise up early in the morning, and stand before Pharaoh, and say unto him, Thus saith JEHOVAH God of the Hebrews, Let my people go, that they may serve me. For I will at this time send all my plagues upon thine heart, and upon thy servants, and upon thy people; that thou mayest know that there is none like me in all the earth. For now I will stretch out my hand, that I may smite thee and thy people with pestilence; and thou shalt be cut off from the earth.

And God did send plague after plague.  They were very literal, outward and physical plagues that afflicted Egypt and He brought the greatest nation of that time (with the greatest army) to its knees, in a matter of days, through these plagues.  That is one way the Bible describes plagues, as plagues of hail, plagues of water turned to blood and plagues of death upon the firstborn – all very literal plagues.

But God also tells us something about “plagues” in Revelation 11, when He is speaking of the “two witnesses” and their ministry during the 1,955 years of the church age, from 33 A.D. to 1988 A.D., after the Bible was completed and God was no longer performing mighty miracles such as He did in Egypt.  He would no longer bring plagues in that manner.  Yet, we read of the “two witnesses” in Revelation 11:5-6:

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. 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.

Again, there is no possibility this is referring to literal plagues, literal famines, or literal turning of water to blood.  It has nothing to do with that.  It cannot be anything other than a reference to the Word of God as it proclaimed in the mouths of God’s people during the church age.  The declarations and proclamations of that Word are what brings forth and accomplishes these “plagues” God is talking about. 

For instance, how can the Word of God bring about a plague of shutting heaven “that it rain not in the days of their prophecy”?  Well, if a church goes contrary to the Gospel as it is laid out in the Bible, then God’s Word issues forth an edict and a decree that it is no longer a true church and no longer possesses the true Gospel.  Therefore, the Gospel water stops flowing forth in that congregation.  The Word of God has condemned it and dried it up.  The Word of God has turned that flow of water off and heaven is no longer bringing forth its flow of Gospel water into that congregation, or even into whole denominations.  And this could happen “as often as they will,” as often as a church would go astray or a denomination would turn into another kind of a gospel and become a synagogue of Satan.  God could do these things – He could turn their “water” into blood and turn it into waters of judgment and smite the members of the congregations, in so doing.  You see, it is all “spiritual.”  It is all being done through the teaching of the Word of God.

Let us also look at Revelation 22, at a very familiar and fearful verse concerning plagues.  It says in Revelation 22:18-19:

For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.

We see a strong, definitive statement: “If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book.”  The plagues are written in the Bible, as God has recorded and written down those “plagues.”  Let us think about this.   This statement is telling us that the Bible is a “carrier” of plagues; the Bible is a “carrier” of the plagues of God and we have actually been witnesses of what God is saying here.  Again, the plagues are “written in this book,” and God had shut up the Words and sealed the Book until the time of the end, as it tells us in Daniel, chapter 12.  At the time of the end, what happened?  God unsealed the Scriptures and He opened up the Words of the Bible to the understanding of His people at the beginning of the Great Tribulation period and information began to come forth – truths began to come to light. 

And what did those truths accomplish?  God opened up the information that the church age was over and that it was His plan to begin judgment at the house of God.  What happened to the churches as a result?  When those Words came forth, the “plagues written in this book” came forth also and God plagued the congregations.  In a moment, in an instant, He turned the “waters” of all churches all over the earth to blood.  He dried up the wonderful streams and rivers of Gospel water that had been flowing forth from pulpits in the congregations to the people of the earth.  God dried them up in a moment of time, in an instant, as the plagues issued out of His Word and afflicted the congregations everywhere on the earth.  God brought “famine” upon them, a famine of “hearing the words of the Lord,” not a famine of bread and water.  The plagues that are written in the Bible were loosed upon the churches.  It was the divine revelation.  It was the understanding of the written Word in Jeremiah, in Daniel, in Revelation and elsewhere in the Bible that destroyed the churches.

God’s people realized that their “home and habitation,” where they were to be for nearly 2,000 years, was no longer where they should be.  They were to come out and “depart out” and “flee to the mountains,” because the churches had become a desolation as a result of the plagues the Word of God had brought upon them. 

But, more than that, God also recorded revelation that would come forth in the Day of Judgment, as He tells us in Romans 2:5:

But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath…

The “day of wrath” would be the Day of Judgment, our present time.

…and revelation of the righteous judgment of God;

Here, the “day of wrath” is joined together by a conjunction (and) to the “revelation of the righteous judgment of God.”  And that is exactly what the Lord has done, as we have entered into “these days after that tribulation.”  The Great Tribulation ended on May 21, 2011, and God has continued to reveal truth concerning the nature of His judgment, the purpose of His judgment and the fact that He has left His people in the world during the time of Judgment, and the reasons for that, and so on.  This opening of the Scriptures to give His people additional understanding of the Word of God has, likewise, brought “plagues” upon the world.  It has brought the plague of the slaying of the “third part,” as we read in Revelation 9.  It has brought the plague of “drying up of the waters” of Babylon, as Babylon now typifies the entire world; all the Gospel water of the world has been dried up.  It has brought the plague of “darkness,” as an intense, thick spiritual darkness has overtaken the world “immediately after the tribulation,” when the sun was darkened, and so forth.  The information from the Bible, once again, as we have learned it, is bringing the “plagues written in this book.” 

Returning to Revelation 9, it says in Revelation 9:20:

And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues…

The “rest of the men,” the five billion, or so, that were not in the churches were not killed on May 21, 2011, because the “third part” was killed as a result of remaining in the churches up until that day, in disobedience to God’s command to come out.  Therefore, there was no “latter rain” falling upon them within the congregations and no salvation was possible for them during the Great Tribulation when God was saving a great multitude outside of the churches.  So, when God ended salvation everywhere in the world at the end of the Tribulation, it slew the “third part.” 

But the “rest of the men” were not killed by that particular plague because they were out in the world.  They were in a place where the “latter rain” was still falling, so it was not known on May 21, 2011, or even well into the period of Judgment Day, whether, or not, any of these could have become saved in the “latter rain.”  In other words, the “rest of the men” have some hope and God’s people can have some hope toward them (the “rest of the men”).  Any individual who was an atheist or agnostic (or anything other than a Christian and was outside of the churches) could have heard the message of Judgment Day, and then that day came and went and now he hears there is no more salvation.  That individual was not a Christian, not a believer, and he could even have been a sharp critic of the Bible and a denier of God.  Yet, now he hears there is no more salvation and he develops an interest in the Gospel and begins to wonder, “What about me?”  Is there any hope for that man?  We would have to say there is a small hope that, perhaps, God saved him before He shut the door to heaven.  So that individual can hold on to that slight hope that, perhaps, God saved him.  That is why he was not considered as “killed” like the “third part” was killed. 

Of course, the vast majority of unsaved individuals were not saved and they continue to live as unsaved persons because there was no change in them.  This gives forth the evidence that they are also under the wrath of God and they also will be destroyed in the lake of fire.  But, as far as the plague upon the “third part,” they were not slain in that plague.

We will look at something the Bible has to say concerning “stripes,” and we will see how it relates to the fact that “the rest of the men were not killed by these plagues,” which did kill the “third part.”