We were just talking about the four angels. I would like to just quickly look at the word “angels” again. In the Hebrew, it is the word mal'ak. In the Greek, it is the word aggelos. Again, if it is plural, if there is more than one angel, the ending of the word changes. More than one angel would have a different ending than aggelos. This is the base word, but endings and prefixes can change a word in the Greek.
God uses the word “angel” pretty much the same in the Old Testament as in the New Testament. It is translated as “angel” many times or as “angels.” It is also translated as “messenger” or as “messengers,” both in the Old Testament and in the New Testament.
For instance, in Haggai 1 we find this word mal'ak. We read in Haggai 1:13:
Then spake Haggai JEHOVAH'S messenger in JEHOVAH'S message unto the people…
So Haggai is Jehovah’s “angel,” because this is the same word translated as “angel” in other places in the Old Testament.
What the translators did was if there was a human being in view, they would translate it normally as “messenger.” If there was not or if they could not discern whether or not there was a human being in view, they would translate it as “angel.”
We know that they translated the word “angel” many times, both in the Old Testament and in the New Testament, when they were not angels. For instance, we read of “two angels” coming to Sodom in Genesis 19. It says in Genesis 19:1:
And there came two angels to Sodom at even…
In the previous chapter, three had come to Abraham and Abraham had called Him, the three, “Lord.” He called the three “Jehovah.” They were Lord. It is very clear that these three were God presenting Himself in the image of these three men.
Then we find in Genesis 18 into Genesis 19 that two of these three go to Sodom and they are called “angels,” when, actually, this is still God Himself. It is still the Lord, and so this is the Hebrew word mal'ak to describe God making an appearance as these two men.
Let us go to Malachi 2. Malachi is the last book of the Old Testament. It says in Malachi 2:7:
For the priest's lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth: for he is the messenger of JEHOVAH of hosts.
He is the “angel,” and this is translated “messenger.” Actually, this word mal'ak is translated dozens of times as “messenger” in the Old Testament. In the New Testament, aggelos is translated as “messenger/messengers” a few times, but not as often as in the Old Testament. It is the same thing.
Look at Joshua 6:17. This is speaking of Jericho, and it says:
And the city shall be accursed, even it, and all that are therein, to JEHOVAH: only Rahab the harlot shall live, she and all that are with her in the house, because she hid the messengers that we sent.
She hid the “angels.” This is that same word. These were the spies that Rahab the harlot hid.
Actually, if we look at James 2 we can see an example of how God uses this word for “angel” the same in the Old Testament as in the New Testament. In James 2:25, it says:
Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works, when she had received the messengers, and had sent them out another way?
This is the same word that we find in describing “four angels” or “seven angels,” etc. But obviously, these spies were not angels. They were not spirit beings. They were men.
In the New Testament, God uses this word as a word to explain or to point out that someone is bringing a message from God. It could be God Himself who is bringing the message, it could be men who are bringing the message, or it could be angels or spirit beings who minister to the heirs of righteousness who are bringing the message.
So the context determines how these words are translated; but in some cases, we just do not know. For example, we read of “four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates.” The translators would have been wondering if these were messengers or if they were angels. This is a very unusual statement. This is found in the book of Revelation (Revelation 9:14), and so they thought that they would be angels rather than messengers.
Look at Matthew 11:9-10:
But what went ye out for to see? A prophet? yea, I say unto you, and more than a prophet. For this is he, of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger…
This is the Greek word aggelos. It continues:
…Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee.
This is making reference to John the Baptist.
Now look at Luke 7. Some people might say that maybe this was just an exception in the case of John the Baptist; but, no. We read in Luke 7:24:
And when the messengers of John were departed…
These are the “angels” of John, but John could not command angels. He did have some disciples; and while in prison, he sent them to Jesus to find out, “Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another?” They carried John’s message to Christ, and yet this word is the plural form of aggelos, just like we find in Revelation 9:14 where it can be translated as “four messengers.” We are safe when we go with the word “messenger,” because even an angel can be a messenger.
So we read in Revelation 9:14 of “four angels [messengers] which are bound in the great river Euphrates”; and we saw that the number four has to do with the furthest extent of something or universality. The whole world is in view.
This is like the “angels” in Matthew 24:31 who gather the elect “from the four winds.” The “messengers” gather the elect from the four winds. We also have the number four in other places. Just like any other number, we let God define it. When we do, we see north, south, east, west, the points of the compass, or that the whole world is in view.
I would like to go back to Daniel 1, because we read of four Hebrew children. We read in Daniel 1:17:
As for these four children, God gave them knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom: and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams.
These are four Hebrew children: Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Daniel’s Babylonian name is Belteshazzar. These are also the Babylonian names of the other three.
So we read about four children in the book of Daniel, but we do not read of a fifth or any other. We do not read of anyone else’s name in this historical narrative. We read of these four children here.
Then in Daniel 2, we find the historical account of Daniel and his friends who are numbered amongst the wise men of Babylon. King Nebuchadnezzar has a dream. The dream goes from him, and so he calls the wise men to interpret the dream, which they agree to do once the king tells them his dream; but Nebuchadnezzar could not remember his dream.
I hardly remember any dreams. A lot of people are this way. King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream happened to be from God. But we wake up and we wonder what we just dreamed. We can almost get hold of it, but then we cannot. Our minds go to something else, and then it is gone. It is gone.
This is what happened with Nebuchadnezzar, and so the wise men say, “Tell thy servants the dream, and we will show the interpretation.” But Nebuchadnezzar said, “The thing is gone from me…ye…make known unto me the dream, with the interpretation thereof.”
His wise men were put on the spot and Nebuchadnezzar realized this. He was accurate when he said to them, “Ye have prepared lying and corrupt words to speak before me.” They were false wise men. The true wise men were Daniel and his friends.
Then the king hastily makes the decision that because they cannot tell him the dream or the interpretation of the dream, he is going to slay all of the wise men of Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar was a very cruel and ruthless ruler. He was fierce. This is how the Bible describes him.
If you remember, the last king of Judah, King Zedekiah, rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar and Nebuchadnezzar had him brought before him and “slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and put out the eyes of Zedekiah,” and so the last thing that Zedekiah saw was the death of all of his sons. Then they carried Zedekiah to Babylon.
Nebuchadnezzar was not a man to be messed with. One of his favorite expressions was, “Ye shall be cut in pieces, and your houses shall be made a dunghill.” We see later that in his fury, he takes Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and throws them into a fiery furnace and commanded that the furnace to heated “seven times more than it was wont to be heated.” He was definitely someone who was about to follow through; he would have killed them all.
So Daniel hears this, and then it says in Daniel 2:16-22:
Then Daniel went in, and desired of the king that he would give him time, and that he would show the king the interpretation. Then Daniel went to his house, and made the thing known to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, his companions: That they would desire mercies of the God of heaven concerning this secret; that Daniel and his fellows should not perish with the rest of the wise men of Babylon. Then was the secret revealed unto Daniel in a night vision. Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven. Daniel answered and said, Blessed be the name of God for ever and ever: for wisdom and might are his: And he changeth the times and the seasons: he removeth kings, and setteth up kings: he giveth wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding: He revealeth the deep and secret things: he knoweth what is in the darkness, and the light dwelleth with him.
Then Daniel is quickly brought before the king and he does reveal the dream and the interpretation of it.
I do not think that it is a coincidence that the book of Daniel is where we learned that the Bible had been sealed up. It is also the book of Daniel where we learned that God would take off the seals. We find here that even concerning a dream that the king could not remember, God gave the information.
This should really be encouraging to every one of us, because we have the Bible text in front of us. It is not like we are going to God and saying, “O Lord, give me the text and give me the understanding of the text.” It is right here and we can go to Him. It is the privilege of any of us to go to God in prayer concerning any verse and any passage and to pray for wisdom, “O Lord, reveal this information to me if this is Your will,” and God may do this. He did this with Daniel.
So Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, four Hebrew children, are representative of all of God’s people; but where? The answer is in Babylon. They are in Babylon. Are they there by choice? No; they are not there by choice; it is not a vacation spot. They were taken captive. They were taken to Babylon. They are prisoners, are they not? They are bound in Babylon and they were not free to go. They could not walk out of the gate and return to Judah. They were captives and prisoners in Babylon. These were four children who were bound in Babylon, and it is not an accident that God does not give us a fifth name or a sixth name or a seventh name or that He does not give us a list of names. He gives us the names of four children who are bound in Babylon.
When we read the first five chapters of Daniel, we can see, time and again, how wonderfully they conducted themselves and how faithfully they behaved during their captivity in Babylon, which was not easy. This was not easy for them, and it has not been easy at all living through these 23 years of great tribulation; but in many ways, they had it much, much tougher than we did, even though their life in Babylon relates and parallels the 23-year great tribulation period.
Go back to Daniel 1. It says in Daniel 1:8-16:
But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king's meat, nor with the wine which he drank: therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself. Now God had brought Daniel into favour and tender love with the prince of the eunuchs. And the prince of the eunuchs said unto Daniel, I fear my lord the king, who hath appointed your meat and your drink: for why should he see your faces worse liking than the children which are of your sort? then shall ye make me endanger my head to the king. Then said Daniel to Melzar, whom the prince of the eunuchs had set over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah,
This was their Hebrew names. It continues:
Prove thy servants, I beseech thee, ten days; and let them give us pulse to eat, and water to drink. Then let our countenances be looked upon before thee, and the countenance of the children that eat of the portion of the king's meat: and as thou seest, deal with thy servants. So he consented to them in this matter, and proved them ten days. And at the end of ten days their countenances appeared fairer and fatter in flesh than all the children which did eat the portion of the king's meat. Thus Melzar took away the portion of their meat, and the wine that they should drink; and gave them pulse.
So four Hebrew young men refused to eat the king’s meat. They would not touch King Nebuchadnezzar’s meat.
We read that Daniel “purposed in his heart.” This means that even if it did not go well with the prince of the eunuchs and even if he had said, “No; you must - everyone else is doing this - you must do it,” Daniel purposed that he would not defile himself in this way.
We see later that the other three young men also purposed in their hearts that they would not bow down to the image that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up. They would not bow down. They told him, “O king…we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.” This is what caused Nebuchadnezzar to become so furious that he took them and threw them into that fiery furnace.
So we read of these four young men who picture all of God’s people during the 23-year great tribulation period when the churches became Babylon. This was when Satan was ruling in the churches and congregations and he had his own meat. He had his own food. He did not have heavenly manna or the pure water of the Word. He had his own types of gospels, his own meat; and those who remained in the churches fed on this and they bowed down to the image of the beast, as we see in Revelation 13. Anyone who remained in the church remained where Satan was. He was the one who took his seat in the churches. He was ruling there, just like King Nebuchadnezzar ruled Babylon.
Turn over to Revelation 2:10. It says:
Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.
So here are these four children in Babylon and Babylon is a prison, the whole of Babylon, and God’s people did not want to be there.
Do you remember what it says in Psalm 137? It says, “How shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land?” We read in Psalm 137:1:
By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion.
We know that there was a time of weeping. This is when we brought the Gospel and we sowed with tears. In Babylon, we wept; we wept. We shared the Word of God that God might save His people.
Then we read in verse 2, Psalm 137:2-4:
We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof. For there they that carried us away captive required of us a song; and they that wasted us required of us mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion. How shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land?
There is “a time to weep, and a time to laugh.” There is everything in its proper season. And there was a time to bring the Gospel, sowing in tears, while we were in Babylon.
But in Psalm 126:1, we read:
When JEHOVAH turned again the captivity of Zion, we were like them that dream.
This is referring to something that would be wonderful and great.
Then it says in Psalm 126:2-6:
Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing: then said they among the heathen, JEHOVAH hath done great things for them. JEHOVAH hath done great things for us; whereof we are glad. Turn again our captivity…
When Israel came out of Babylon, the captivity was turned. This is actually a phrase that means salvation.
It continues:
Turn again our captivity, O JEHOVAH, as the streams in the south. They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.
This is now done. There is no more weeping. There is no more sowing. Now, there is laughter.
Babylon required mirth, but we could not do this. We were deadly serious. Men’s souls were at stake, so we were not going to make light of that. But after coming out of captivity, there is joy in Heaven over one sinner who repents.
If this is so, then how about 200 million? How much joy is there and how much wonderful thanksgiving and rejoicing is there going on in Heaven? This is spoken of in Luke 15 where it says, “There is joy in the presence of the angels [messengers] of God over one sinner that repenteth.”
Let us go back to Revelation. I just want to cover this. Daniel and his friends are a historical picture of the four messengers in Babylon who we read about in Revelation 9. We do not read that God calls these four Hebrew children messengers or angels, because He does not; but we do find Daniel bringing a message from God to Nebuchadnezzar. We also find Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego bringing a message from God to Nebuchadnezzar, to the Babylonian people. Then finally at the end of seventy years, there is a release of the captives. Revelation 2:10 told us:
…the devil shall cast some of you into prison…and ye shall have tribulation ten days…
In Daniel 1, we read that Daniel and his friends are tried and proven ten days. Of course, they are faithful. They come through this trial faithfully, just like all of God’s people came through the great tribulation. All of His elect people came through faithfully.
So let us go to Revelation 9:14. This says:
…Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates.
Turn to Joshua 1 and we will let the Bible tell us about this great river. We read in Joshua 1:4:
From the wilderness and this Lebanon even unto the great river, the river Euphrates…
This is a boundary of the kingdom of Israel.
We read in Genesis 15:18 where God is speaking to Abram:
In the same day JEHOVAH made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates:
This is speaking of the Promised Land. From the river of Egypt to the great river Euphrates, the boundary of Israel was set. They would have the land in between. But just because the Euphrates was a boundary, this did not mean that it belonged to Israel. Notice that the other boundary was the river of Egypt. This river did not belong to Israel. It was Egypt’s river. On the other hand, they had the boundary of the Euphrates, and the Euphrates did not belong to Israel either. If they were to go across the Euphrates, they would be in Babylon. On this side of the Euphrates, it was the Promised Land. On the other side, that was not land that God had given to them.
Turn to Revelation 16. It says in Revelation 16:12:
And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared.
We can make the connection that when Israel came out of Egypt, God opened the Red Sea, and they went over as on dry land. Then after forty years in the wilderness, God opened up the Jordan and they crossed into the land of Canaan on dry land. Both of these instances point to God’s people entering into Heaven. Now the great river Euphrates, Babylon’s river, dries up to prepare “the way of the kings of the east.”
If the great river Euphrates is Israel’s river, it makes no sense to think that they are going from Israel and crossing over to Babylon. But if you are in Babylon and the river Euphrates is Babylon’s river and their boundary; then when it dries up, you go from Babylon into Israel or into the land of Canaan.
This is the picture of the Euphrates. It is a synonym really. The great river Euphrates is a synonym for the great city Babylon.
Let us just go to one more verse in relation to this. Seraiah was getting ready to go into captivity into Babylon, and we read in Jeremiah 51:61-64:
And Jeremiah said to Seraiah, When thou comest to Babylon, and shalt see, and shalt read all these words; Then shalt thou say, O JEHOVAH, thou hast spoken against this place, to cut it off, that none shall remain in it, neither man nor beast, but that it shall be desolate for ever. And it shall be, when thou hast made an end of reading this book, that thou shalt bind a stone to it, and cast it into the midst of Euphrates: And thou shalt say, Thus shall Babylon sink, and shall not rise from the evil that I will bring upon her: and they shall be weary. Thus far are the words of Jeremiah.
So here the man Seraiah is going into captivity in Babylon and Jeremiah tells him to wrap the words of this book around a stone and to cast it into the river Euphrates when he is in Babylon; and so the river Euphrates is representative of Babylon.
If we go back to Revelation 9:14 again, we read:
…Loose the four angels [messengers]…
These are God’s messengers who are across the four corners of the earth. These are God’s messengers who are all over the world. This is what is being said.
…Loose the four angels [messengers] which are bound in the great river Euphrates [Babylon].
Loose them. Free them.
We are not putting these words there. We are not making this up. God is the One who said that a great earthquake opened up the prison doors. God is the One who calls the bottomless pit a prison. God is the One using this language of loosing and binding.
Once again, in Babylon, in a prison, in a place where captives were found, God is loosing them like He loosed Lazarus. He is loosing them like He loosed the woman who was bowed over for eighteen years and who was taken captive by Satan.
So God is loosing four messengers, and then we read in verse 15, Revelation 9:15:
And the four angels [messengers] 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.
This is pointing to May 21, but we are not going to discuss the hour and the day, because it is insignificant right now. We knew that Judgment Day would be May 21, 2011. We knew the year, the month, and the day; and we thought that we knew the hour, and perhaps we did.
Why is this important? This is important because on that day, at that time, God loosed out of Satan’s kingdom, the kingdom of darkness, and translated the four messengers – whatever number they are, but we do read next that they are 200 million – “into the kingdom of his dear Son,” and they became free.
Then it says in verse 16, Revelation 9:16:
And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them.
This actually says “two myriads of myriads.”
This word “myriad” is a word that is translated “ten thousand” in Jude. We read in Jude 1:14-15:
And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints,
He is coming with “myriads of his saints.” But God is now defining this word. It means “ten thousand.” He is coming with “ten thousands of his saints.”
Jude continues:
To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.
So when God comes with “ten thousands of his saints,” this is to bring judgment.
This is found in the Old Testament, too. We read in Zechariah 14:5:
And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal: yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah: and JEHOVAH my God shall come, and all the saints with thee.
This does not say “ten thousand,” but remember that the number 10 in the Bible represents completeness. This does not change whether it is 10, 100, 1,000, 10,000, 100,000 or 100,000,000; and the Bible does speak of 100,000,000 in Daniel. This is all of God’s people, myriads of myriads.
In Revelation 9, it is 200 myriads of myriads or 2 x 10,000 x 10,000, which is 200,000,000. This is speaking of 200,000,000 messengers.
What happens when someone becomes saved? Remember Jacob’s ladder. Also, in the New Testament in John 1, Christ explains to Nathanael, “Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man.”
When God saves a person, they are immediately seated “in heavenly places in Christ Jesus” and then dispatched as a messenger back to earth to carry the Gospel message to the world. Of course, now at this time, God’s people have a different message to bring.
After May 21, was it not something that we heard from Family Radio and from Mr. Camping – and I think that we agreed with this – that no longer would Family Radio be warning the world about the coming destruction in October? This is what we heard from Family Radio.
I think, whether friend or foe, we would have to admit that Family Radio was the greatest evangelistic tool that the world has ever seen in their outreach of the Gospel over the last couple of decades. They reached the whole world. How many trips did Family Radio go on? How many countries did they visit with tracts? What about the ministry itself, which existed of shortwave radio and radio stations all over the world, the Taiwan station that reaches China and much of Southeast Asia, plus the Internet? What about all of those who listened to Family Radio and who were stirred up by God’s Spirit to get this message out to warn people?
We say “evangelistic” just to mean the sending forth of the Gospel. This is a political word in our day, as the conservatives are called this. But I am talking about just the sending forth of the Gospel into the world. Family Radio has been the greatest evangelistic tool that the world has ever seen.
So this instrument was used of God to broadcast May 21 to the whole world. This was a tool that warned everyone, every nook and cranny. Do you remember Carlos in the subway in New York City, the man who lived in that little cubby hole? I wonder if he is back there. It is alright if he is, because he probably has his radio turned on.
By the way, anyone who tells us to turn off Family Radio is wrong. Come on. Turn it back on. They are wrong. They are completely wrong and have no idea what happened on May 21 if they decided to turn off Family Radio.
So this tool that God used to warn the whole world has suddenly, almost immediately after May 21, said that they were not going to do this anymore. Do you realize that Family Radio is no longer printing tracts? There are no tract teams planned, no tract trips. What happened?
Is all of this because of great shame? Is this because of embarrassment? Are they afraid of the world? Are they afraid of what the media would say or what the churches would say?
If God wanted His people out there, we would be out there. But we heard it all prior to May 21. We heard it from the churches and we heard it from the world. But no matter what the world thought, we would be out there right now. This might be difficult and it probably would be, but God’s people, even unto death, which history proves, carry the message of God as messengers and as watchmen. Whatever God requires, we will do.
But suddenly, after May 21 and up until this present time, it is cut off. There is no declaration of the Gospel. We are not going out there and we are not bringing a message. We are not warning people about October 21 and we do not have a countdown. We had a countdown clock to May 21, but we do not have a countdown clock to October 21.
Why? Why not? The reason is that the task was completed. The job was to send forth the Gospel into all the world to warn them. All of the world had to hear this according to Matthew 24. The task was to bring the Word and God would accomplish its purpose of saving His people, and this is done. This is finished.
There is another task that God’s people are doing now and we do this by doing nothing. We do this by exactly what we have been doing now and by what we will continue to do until the last day.
We find that if we go to Revelation 9 that there is a change as God goes from these four messengers, which are loosed in order to “slay the third part of men,” to the 200 million horsemen. We read in Revelation 9:16-18:
And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them. 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.
“By these three,” by “fire, smoke, and brimstone,” we see God’s purpose. We see the number three; and when we checked this number out in the Bible, we find that this has everything to do with God’s purpose.
So it was God’s purpose that the 200 million were loosed on May 21. They had been captive in the world to sin and to Satan. They have been loosed. They now go forth out of their prison. They go forth and they are completely identified with fire, smoke, and brimstone, which is identified with the horses and with what is coming out of their mouths. Are fire, smoke, and brimstone falling now? Yes; yes.
Go to Psalm 11. We read in Psalm 11:6:
Upon the wicked he shall rain snares, fire and brimstone, and an horrible tempest: this shall be the portion of their cup.
This is referring to the cup of God’s wrath.
Revelation 14 also speaks of fire and brimstone. We read in Revelation 14:7-8:
Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters. And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.
“Babylon is fallen, is fallen “is a key phrase that points to May 21. The end of the seventy-year captivity identifies with May 21, the last day of the 23-year great tribulation. It is Judgment Day. The hour of judgment is come. Babylon is fallen.
This means that the king of Babylon is deposed. He is killed. It says in Isaiah 14, “How hath the oppressor ceased,” and then it speaks of how Babylon has also ceased, “The golden city ceased!” God has put them down.
Now look at Revelation 14:9-10:
And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels [messengers], and in the presence of the Lamb:
This is “in the presence of the holy angels.” “Angels” are the “messengers” and this word for “holy” is sometimes translated as “saint.”
So Babylon falls, and then those who did bow down to the image of the beast, to Satan, they are given “the cup of his indignation” and it is full of “fire and brimstone.”
Now go back to Psalm 11:6:
Upon the wicked he [God] shall rain snares, fire and brimstone, and an horrible tempest: this shall be the portion of their cup.
This identifies with what we just read in Revelation 14 where we read of fire and brimstone in a cup. But what is the unusual word in this verse in Psalm 11? We read again:
Upon the wicked he shall rain snares…
He shall rain “snares, fire and brimstone.”
If God would literally rain “fire and brimstone” down, like He did with Sodom and Gomorrah, does this mean that He is also going to rain down “snares”? Snares are like gins or traps. Are these going to fall from Heaven on October 21 or whatever the last day is?
No. What is the trap? What is the snare? The trap and the snare is that nothing happened. Nothing happened. This is the snare.
God tells us in Luke 21:34-35:
And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares. For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth.
This is a snare that takes Babylon. This is a snare that takes the king of Babylon. We can see the trap; I mean, it is beautiful. We even fell into it. We did not realize it. We did not understand it. We thought, “Oh, what a disappointment!” Even Mr. Camping said that he was flabbergasted. What a sorrowful thing that God did not come to take His people out of this world! What a thing it was, and yet it was a snare. God rained down “snares” and also “fire and brimstone.”
We read in Jeremiah 50:23-24:
How is the hammer of the whole earth cut asunder and broken! how is Babylon become a desolation among the nations! I have laid a snare for thee, and thou art also taken, O Babylon, and thou wast not aware: thou art found, and also caught, because thou hast striven against JEHOVAH.
God laid a snare for Babylon, for Satan who rules Babylon, and he is caught. He has been taken in the trap.
So here we are progressing during this 153-day period to the end; but on May 21, the snare came and so did the fire, the smoke, and the brimstone.
If we go back to Genesis 19, we read of the account of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and the two other cities of the plain. God had told Lot to get out of the city. He was showing mercy to Lot in forewarning him, just like God showed mercy to the world in forewarning them that the door was about to shut.
Remember in the previous chapter, in Genesis 18, that Abraham intercedes on behalf of the righteous. He goes to God because he was concerned about his nephew Lot. We read in Genesis 18:23-26:
And Abraham drew near, and said, Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked? Peradventure there be fifty righteous within the city: wilt thou also destroy and not spare the place for the fifty righteous that are therein? That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right? And JEHOVAH said, If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes.
Then there is a countdown, all the way down. Abraham keeps going lower. He is familiar with Sodom and so he keeps going lower and lower and lower. God then turns abruptly and goes to Sodom in the form of those two angels, two messengers. He forewarns Lot and Lot is able to escape the destruction of the city.
Then it says in Genesis 19:19-25:
Behold now, thy servant hath found grace in thy sight, and thou hast magnified thy mercy, which thou hast showed unto me in saving my life; and I cannot escape to the mountain, lest some evil take me, and I die: Behold now, this city is near to flee unto, and it is a little one: Oh, let me escape thither, (is it not a little one?) and my soul shall live. And he said unto him, See, I have accepted thee concerning this thing also, that I will not overthrow this city, for the which thou hast spoken. Haste thee, escape thither; for I cannot do any thing till thou be come thither. Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar. The sun was risen upon the earth when Lot entered into Zoar. Then JEHOVAH rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from JEHOVAH out of heaven; And he overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground.
So here is Lot. We saw that Abraham interceded for the righteous, “Lord, You are not going to kill the righteous with the wicked; far be it.” Was there anyone righteous in the city? According to 2 Peter 2, Lot had his soul vexed and we read that Lot was “that righteous man dwelling among them.”
God is making sure that we understand that Lot was righteous, because Lot was picturing all of the righteous whom God intended to save. Plus, God did not destroy Sodom even after Lot left Sodom. God waited until Lot got to Zoar. Once Lot entered into Zoar, then immediately He rained down fire and brimstone. We do not have time today to look at this, but this is because Zoar pictures salvation in Christ.
So God was waiting for the righteous to get into Christ, which is typified by Zoar. Then He could safely call down the fire and brimstone and destroy the cities of the plain, which He did.
So, too, God patiently and long-sufferingly waited for the “precious fruit of the earth.” He waited for the last one of His elect to be saved. Then following this, He immediately began to send fire and brimstone.
The interesting thing here is something that I had really never noticed before. God makes a point of telling us that the fire and brimstone overthrew “that which grew upon the ground”; not just the people, but “that which grew upon the ground.”
We cannot sow seed on land that has been destroyed by fire and brimstone. We cannot grow anything on land that has been destroyed by fire and brimstone. This just cannot be.
Look at Deuteronomy 29. We will stop after this, but this will give us something to think about. I am not doing to read this whole passage in order to get the context, but Deuteronomy 29:21-23 says:
And JEHOVAH shall separate him unto evil out of all the tribes of Israel, according to all the curses of the covenant that are written in this book of the law:
This is referring to those who break God’s Word, the law of God. It continues:
So that the generation to come of your children that shall rise up after you, and the stranger that shall come from a far land, shall say, when they see the plagues of that land, and the sicknesses which JEHOVAH hath laid upon it; And that the whole land thereof is brimstone, and salt, and burning, that it is not sown, nor beareth, nor any grass groweth therein, like the overthrow of Sodom, and Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboim, which JEHOVAH overthrew in his anger, and in his wrath:
Do you see what God is saying? He is saying that fire and brimstone would fall upon those who are cursed by this Book, and that when it falls, the land is not sown.
Look at Psalm 126:6 again:
He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.
We went forth weeping, bearing precious seed, as we sowed the Gospel.
I had this feeling that I am sure many of you did, also. Immediately, right after May 21, all of our tracts were useless. We had them. I still had some in my glove compartment. I used to pull out a stack to use wherever I went. I would take them with me if I went to the store or when I walked down the street. Really, it was a good thing. God tells us that we are to addict ourselves “to the ministry of the saints.” It was a good thing to have this. But then right after May 21, I realized that I could no longer give out the “May 21, 2011 Judgment Day!” tract, that I could no longer give out the “No Man Knows the Day or the Hour” tract, and that I could no longer give out the “God Gives Another Infallible Proof” tract. I had to ask myself, “What am I going to do?” But then you know what? I realized that I just did not think that I should anyway.
I will not say that we reacted to this instinctively or intuitively, because we are not good at this. We base our understanding on spiritual things, but God was in charge of this and the Gospel, as far as sending it out into the world in order to accomplish salvation, stopped.
I remember some people would be afraid and disgusted and would ask me why I was telling people about Judgment Day if everyone was going to die. I remember telling people that the hope was that they not die, that God might save them; but this hope is now gone. I remember saying a couple of times, “If this was only about judgment, I would not be here,” which was actually a true statement.
So, therefore, by putting down our plowshares, by putting down the tools, the tracts, the booklets, by putting down the sending forth of the Gospel into the world, we are recognizing and admitting that the land of the whole earth has fire and brimstone and snares rained down upon it and that it is not to be sown. We are not to bring the Gospel and give people any kind of a hope that there is still salvation. If we did, we would be denying that fire and brimstone began to fall on May 21 and that it is continuing to fall.
So by our inactivity, we are like these 200 million horsemen who are breathing fire, smoke, and brimstone. This is all according to God’s plan. Here in the presence of the holy messengers, God has given the cup of fire and brimstone into the hand of the wicked and He says that they will surely drink.
We are going to stop here.
Dear Heavenly Father, we do thank You once again, and may we be thankful that You are so merciful and gracious and kind and that You have wrought a wonderful salvation, a glorious victory. May we be obedient to what You would have us to do at this time. Father, we pray that You would feed Your sheep and that You would help us to continue to serve You in this task, and we ask that You would bless each one of us today and in the coming days. May You safely lead us on as sheep and guide us to the very end. We pray this in Christ’s Name. Amen.