Good evening and welcome to EBible Fellowship's Bible study in the Book of Revelation.  Tonight is study #36 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.

We are continuing to look at Revelation 9, verse by verse, and we have come to the last two verses of our chapter.  We saw in our last study that the phrase “The rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues,” is a reference to all the unsaved people of the world (outside of the churches).  This statement followed a statement found earlier in these verses, where the “four messengers” were loosed to “slay the third part of men.”  Then, in that context, the “rest of the men” were not killed by these plagues – by the judgment of God upon those in the churches and congregations, which are typified by the “third part.”  They were killed, spiritually speaking, on May 21, 2011.  Their fate was sealed when God shut the door to heaven for the entire world (for all mankind) and, never again, would anyone become saved. 

All that were in the churches were slain by that act of God because they were in the churches during the “latter rain” period and there was no “latter rain” falling in the churches.  That means they could not possibly have become saved during the period of the “latter rain” because they were not in a place where they could have been blessed by it.  God has emphatically made the point that no one was being saved in any churches in the world during the 23-year Great Tribulation period when judgment began on the house of God; this means that as these people entered into the Day of Judgment, now they cannot be saved, so that sealed their fate, as I mentioned earlier.  It “killed” them. 

But “the rest of the men” were not killed by these plagues.  The “rest” would be the five billion, or so, outside of the churches, no matter what they were – whether Buddhist or Muslim or Shinto, or whatever religion other than Christian.  God was judging the churches; He was not judging the false religions of the world during the Great Tribulation.  It was judgment at the house of God, for those that profess to be His people, and it was not a judgment on Buddhists or Hindus and this means they were still a part of the world and part of the “rest of the men,” and they were, therefore, in a position where, potentially, God could have saved them when He sent forth the message of the “latter rain.” 

God commanded His people to “depart out of the midst” of the churches in order to experience the “latter rain.”  You could not be saved within the congregations, but there was no such command for individuals of other religions, which means they could have been part of their religion and then they heard the Gospel message somehow – over the radio, on the billboard, or on a tract – and God could have saved them, even though they were part of a false religion; they are a part of the “rest of the men.”  They could have been atheists, agnostics, secularists, or people that just wanted nothing to do with the whole topic of God and, yet, they are a part of the “rest of the men.”  Every unsaved individual in the world was a part of the “rest of the men not killed by these plagues” on the “third part.”

We looked at a couple of places where God used the word “plague” or “plagues.”  The word “plagues” is Strong’s #4127 and in the Greek we would pronounce it as “play-gay,” very close to our English pronunciation of “plague.”  It is that word in Revelation 22:18, where God warned: “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 and recorded in the Bible.  We discussed how the opening of the Scriptures also brought forth plagues upon the churches because it brought forth information concerning the end of the church age and that plagued every congregation in the world.  Now God is bringing forth truth from His Word concerning the characteristics of the world today; He is plaguing the Gospel water of the world; He has dried it up and turned it to blood, and so forth.

Now we want to look at a place where this same Greek word “plege” is used.  It is used in a very interesting way in the Gospel of Luke.  I am going to read a few verse here, in Luke 12:45-48:

But and if that servant say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; and shall begin to beat the menservants and maidens, and to eat and drink, and to be drunken; The lord of that servant will come in a day when he looketh not for him, and at an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him in sunder, and will appoint him his portion with the unbelievers. And that servant, which knew his lord's will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more.

Here, the Lord is laying down a Biblical principal that those that know their master’s will are more accountable to their Lord than those that did not know their master’s will.  Of course, this relates entirely to “professed Christians,” to those that say they are of Christ and that they have a relationship with God through Christ; they are “Christian” and they know they Bible, they are members of a church and they claim they have salvation.  They make all these claims and professions that they know the Lord’s will, but when the Lord reveals to them that the judgment of God is upon them (judgment begins at the house of God) and they must depart out and flee the congregation, they ignore it or dismiss it and do anything but obey it. 

Likewise, God graciously opened up this information concerning the Day of Judgment: “You have until this point to get right with the Lord and to “seek the Lord while he may be found,” because on May 21, 2011, He will no longer be found and He will shut the door to heaven.”  They dismissed that, too, and they said, “No man knows the day or hour,” and so on.  We do not have to get into this, again, as we know there are a great many professed Christians that are only Christian in name: “They have a name that they live,” and, yet, they are dead in sin.  Because they are still dead in sin, their sins are upon them; they have never truly been born again; they never truly had their sins paid for and purged.  Therefore, when Judgment Day came God had established a Biblical principal here in Luke 12:47: “that servant, which knew his lord's will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will…

Certainly, we can say that of those within the churches have failed to “prepare” and they have failed to do “his will.”  Then God says that those that were in that case:

… shall be beaten with many stripes.

Now the word “stripes” here is in italics.  It literally says, “beaten with many,” and it is not until the next verse that the word “stripes” is actually found, as it says in Luke 12:48:

But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes.

The second word “stripes” is italicized and not in the original text, but the first reference to “stripes,” where it says, “But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes,” is this word, “plege,” and that is the word translated most often as “plagues,” as we saw in Revelation 22:18 and it is also the word in our verse in Revelation 9:20.  Here, in Luke 12:48, God says that the one that knows the Lord’s will shall be beaten with many “stripes” or “plagues.”  The one that knows not the Lord’s will, but did commit things worthy of stripes, or worthy of plagues, will be beaten with few plagues.  It is “implied” and that is why the translators added the word at the end of the sentence to carry over the word that was actually used earlier in the verse.  So, God is applying the principal that there is more punishment for the professed Christian than the typical unsaved individual of the world – no matter who that person is, no matter what the religion, no matter if they deny God, curse God or care nothing about God.  The one that is a member of the Presbyterian Church, the Reformed Church, or any church that claims to be of the Lord Jesus Christ, are the ones, as it says here, that did not “prepare” and did not do the “will of God.”  They will be punished more severely than the rest of the people, the “rest of the men,” or the rest of mankind, and that is exactly what we found in Revelation 9:20:

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

Now, “these plagues” were given to the “third part of men,” and the “third part of men” was afflicted by them and smitten by them.  By the way, the “third part of men” did not actually die on May 21, 2011, but they continued to live and now continue to be plagued like the rest, but the “rest of the men” were not smitten by those particular plagues, and we can see a distinct difference in the meting out of the “stripes.”  There is a big distinction in the administering of the wrath of God; the plague is greater for the “third part” than it is for “the rest of the men,” and that fits perfectly with what the Bible tells us. God intends to punish those that are “professed Christians” more than any others.

Let us go on in 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, 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:

The “rest of the men” that have entered into the Day of Judgment, just like the “third part,” and, yet, it does not help them at all – they do not repent.  They continue on in their rebellious ways and, here, we see that they continue on in idolatry.  We read similar language in Acts 7:40-42:

Saying unto Aaron, Make us gods to go before us: for as for this Moses, which brought us out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him. And they made a calf in those days, and offered sacrifice unto the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their own hands. Then God turned, and gave them up to worship the host of heaven; as it is written in the book of the prophets, O ye house of Israel, have ye offered to me slain beasts and sacrifices by the space of forty years in the wilderness?

This is speaking of Israel, but it is also illustrating something for our day.  When God was testing Israel when Moses was up in the Mount to receive the Law of God, Israel failed the test and made something by the works of their hands – they made an idol – and, as a result, God gave them up.  Of course, mankind has done this in our day.  They have set up numerous idols to worship.  Some are actual idols in some religions, but most idols are idols that are developed in the minds of men – idols made of lusts and sinful desires.  Idols are everywhere today, as the unsaved people of the earth have been given up to them.  Remember what God says in Romans 1, where there is a passage that relates to our day, this time of the end during the time of judgment.  We read in Romans 1:21-32:

Because that, when they knew God, they glorifiedhim not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things. Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves: Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen. For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet. And even as they did not like to retain God intheir knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient; Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful: Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.

This is a description of our world.  It is a description of our modern society.  God has given man up – man who has changed the truth of God into a lie and would rather serve the creature than the Creator.  “For this cause,” the Bible says, “God gave them up to vile affections.”  All the things we read here are in tremendous evidence today in our society and in the world.  The ugliness of sin has magnified to such a tremendous degree that it is everywhere.  And, since it is everywhere, it is a very obvious and evident picture of the fact that God has given mankind up to their sin in the Day of Judgment.  He has turned them over. 

Notice it said that one of the sins of men is that they are “covenant breakers.”  When we went through the study in Isaiah 24, we came upon that kind of statement in Isaiah 24:5:

The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant.

Now we do not think of this too often.  We are more familiar with the churches and their relationship with God and His Word; we understand that the churches are obligated to keep that Law of God and God did find fault with the churches due to their unfaithfulness.  The typical individual that knows nothing of the Gospel or nothing of the Bible (and does not want to know anything about it) is not immune from accountability and it is not as though he has no relationship to the Law of God or that the Law of God has nothing that it can say against him.  That is not true.  The truth is that every human being, according to the Bible, is “married to the Law of God” and God has written His Law upon the hearts of all men.  All men have a duty and responsibility and obligation to obey the Law of God and to obey the one they are married to.  Of course, we all sin and fall short of the glory of God and we offend.  That is why God speaks of mankind as “covenant breakers.”  They have broken His Law and transgressed and this is why God speaks of mankind as “adulterers and adulteresses,” those that are in a marriage relationship with His Law, but have committed spiritual adultery with their sinful practices and activities.  So, yes, God fully expects every human being to repent.  God fully demands and commands that every human being repent of these sins and transgressions of His Law.  They are not immune and they cannot sin without consequence; God says they are obligated and responsible to obey, and that is why He says in 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.”  They did not “repent.” 

Should they have repented?  Yes, this is Judgment Day, a time that God is pouring out His fierce wrath and He is demonstrating His anger.  He has already destroyed the “third part of men” and, certainly, this ought to cause a sane man to say, “Oh, I have had enough of sin.  Oh, God, I do not know if I am saved or not.  I have been a man of the world, but I did hear of the message of Judgment Day going out over all the earth, so I just hope that, perhaps, you might have saved me before you shut the door to heaven.”  It ought to cause men to fear and to respond that way, but there is no repentance.  Notice that God adds emphasis to this fact in Revelation 9:21:

Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts.

They did not repent of murder, sorcery, fornication or theft.  Four terrible sins are listed to illustrate the “universal” fact that none of the wicked (none of the unsaved people of the earth) or none of the “rest of the men,” which numbered about five billion, repented – not in the North, in the South, in the East or the West.  Why not?  We can understand why not because “true repentance” from the heart is a part of salvation.  Repentance is a gift of God and He grants repentance to those He has saved; once He has saved them and given them a new heart, they turn from their sins.  First of all, they turn from the “gushing” of sin that had been coming forth from their hearts; they repent of all that sin because it is no longer coming forth.  Then there is also an ongoing process of repenting from sin that goes on in their lives.

But, now, the “rest of the men” do not repent.  Not one individual is repenting.  Remember, when one individual repents, there is joy in heaven, but, here, we do not even find one sinner of the “rest of the men” that is said to repent.  Rather, they continue on in sin because there is no more salvation and, therefore, no more genuine, true and Biblical repentance.