Well, if everyone could turn to Revelation 9. In Revelation 9, this is a chapter that we have been beginning to learn more about over the last several months. I know for the first few months after we began to learn about the 5-month period, I did not want to talk about this chapter too much because there were a lot of things that I did not understand.
Well, I am going to read the first 11 verses and then I will explain a little bit more. In Revelation 9:1-11, it says:
And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit. And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit. 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. And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months: and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man. And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them. And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle; and on their heads were as it were crowns like gold, and their faces were as the faces of men. And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as the teeth of lions. And they had breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron; and the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle. And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and their power was to hurt men five months. And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon.
And I will stop reading there.
You know, one of the problems that some people are having (and I had this problem, too, to some degree at first) is in recognizing the difference in this language with other language that is found in many parts of the Bible—like, say, for instance, the book of Jeremiah or Ezekiel or many other places—where God is giving us information dealing with the end of the Church Age, the apostasy, the falling away of the churches during the time of the Great Tribulation.
And so when we come to Revelation 9 and we read about these locusts and that they were given authority and power as the scorpions of the earth have authority and power, much of the language here ties in and sounds exactly like the language of the false prophets and teachers who are in the churches.
In other words, it is not only very similar, it is the same. It is the same language, and so that is where some people are getting stuck. And, actually, to add to that, some people have the idea that the end of the Church Age doctrine is the all-important doctrine—that it is the big thing, that it is the major thing—and they see everything through the eyes of the end of the church. So it did not make sense to them that 1994 was the latter rain, the beginning point, because believers did not come out of the church in 1994. They came out of the church beginning mostly in 2001.
And so the idea that the Great Tribulation began in 1988 and went 2300 days, 6 years and about 4 months where virtually no one was being saved from 1988 to 1994—that is the first part, and then 1994, in September, would be the beginning of the latter rain—and it did not fit. So they began changing the timeline and saying, “No. The Great Tribulation began in 1994. And the latter rain period, which has to coincide with believers coming out of the church, began in 2001.” And, really, now, they are losing sight of what God is teaching at this time because they have to do away with the Biblical calendar of history, for the most part, because that points to 1988.
And so as we come to Revelation 9 or Joel 2 or Nahum 3, these passages that are dealing with the 5-month period, as well as others, and the language is so similar to the language of the end of the Church Age, they say, “I do not see any 5 months here. This is just pointing to the Great Tribulation,” and they are wrong. They are wrong. They are really wrong. They are going way off-base and they are not understanding what God is doing and they are not understanding the character of the 5-month period.
And so I thought we could take a look at this. We are not going to look at everything, but just looking at a few things. Number one is that what we read in Revelation 9 is different than what we read in Revelation 20 about the binding of Satan and being cast into a bottomless pit. It is different for a couple of reasons.
One, let’s go look at Revelation 20. In Revelation 20:1, it says:
And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.
Now, that is the Lord Jesus Christ. He has the key. Revelation 1 tells us that He possesses the key to Hell. He alone possesses the key. God has the key.
Revelation 20:2-3:
And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, and cast him into the bottomless pit…
And that is one Greek word, bottomless pit. It is abussos, where we get our English word “abyss.” And, actually, if you ever heard anyone refer to the depths of the ocean as the “abyss,” that is very accurate, because this word translated “bottomless pit” in Revelation 20 is translated “deep.” It is also in the Bible translated as the “deep,” and that is what it is pointing to.
So, here, Christ is the angel who possesses the key—nobody gave it to Him—and He is locking up Satan. He is going to chain him and bind him for the thousand-year period or the completeness of the whole Church Age, which actually works out to 1955 years.
But in Revelation 9:1, it says:
And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit.
So he did not have the key. He did not posses the key. It was given to him. And also, the Greek word “bottomless pit” is two Greek words, and those two Greek words are found throughout the next couple of verses in Revelation 9. It is the word abussos but there is another word that is front of it and I cannot remember how to pronounce it, but that word means “the pit.” So it is actually “the pit of the deep” or “the pit” of this abussos, and that is different than Revelation 20. It is different language. It is a different focus, so it is not talking about the same thing, as we see that Satan is bound in Revelation 20.
And then in Revelation 9:2-3:
And he opened the bottomless pit…
Or, the pit of the deep.
…and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit. And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power…
And that is also translated as “authority,” that word “power.”
…as the scorpions of the earth have power.
So the locusts come out of the pit of the deep. They come out of this bottomless pit. And locusts, you know, they are an interesting subject, if you look on-line and you just read about locusts. Even today, there are swarms of locusts in the world, from time-to-time.
Now, normally, a locust is of the grasshopper family and there could be two stages or two types of a swarm. There is one where they do not have wings and so they are hopping. That is when they are nymphs, and that is a band. They get together as a band. That is not called a swarm. But when they mature, when they get older and become adults and they begin to swarm, they fly. And that is the language that we find in some places in the Bible.
Now, we know a little bit about locusts in the Bible. We know who ate them. Who ate locusts and wild honey? John the Baptist. That was his meal. They are actually nourishing and people still eat them today. On one website that I went to in finding this out, they had recipes at the bottom. I kind of skipped over that, but there were recipes. People in various lands do prepare locusts as dishes and serve them.
So we know that John the Baptist ate them. We also know that in one of the plagues that came upon Egypt, God sent locusts. And if we go back to Exodus 10:13-15, it says:
And Moses stretched forth his rod over the land of Egypt, and JEHOVAH brought an east wind upon the land all that day, and all that night; and when it was morning, the east wind brought the locusts. And the locusts went up over all the land of Egypt, and rested in all the coasts of Egypt: very grievous were they; before them there were no such locusts as they, neither after them shall be such. For they covered the face of the whole earth, so that the land was darkened; and they did eat every herb of the land, and all the fruit of the trees which the hail had left: and there remained not any green thing in the trees, or in the herbs of the field, through all the land of Egypt.
So the locusts came, and God had prepared them. Of course, it was supernatural in the sense that God brought them at that particular time.
But swarms of locusts have been going on since this and probably before, in these days of Egypt long ago at the time of the Exodus and up until today. And the interesting thing about locusts is their numbers, their numbers, like we see here. When God brought them upon Egypt, they darkened the land. You could look out on a field or look out on the trees and it was all dark because there were locusts on just about every little patch of land, there were so many. There are estimates that in some swarms in one kilometer, there could be 40-80 million locusts, and sometimes a swarm is several hundred kilometers. So we are talking about numbers that are really enormous. They are huge when they begin to swarm.
But if we go to Psalm 105:34:
He spake, and the locusts came, and caterpillars, and that without number,
One thing we see when we begin to learn about locusts is that they are vast. They are so numerous, you cannot count them. They are everywhere. They are all over the place when a swarm comes. And, actually, I think that is very significant, and we will take a look at how that relates to Revelation 9 and the 5 months a little later. So God wants us to know that for sure, that locusts are huge in numbers.
What is another thing that the Bible tells us about locusts? It is in the Proverbs. They have no king. Isn’t that interesting, that locusts do not have a king? If you go to Proverbs 30:27, it says:
The locusts have no king, yet go they forth all of them by bands;
So there is no leader. There is no leader. They don’t have one insect, or whatever they are. Creeping/crawling things is what they are called in Leviticus. That is actually how God identifies them. They are clean, creeping/crawling things, creeping/flying/crawling things. That is the definition that the Bible gives the locusts, and yet they do not have a king.
But what did we read in Revelation? It said in Revelation 9:11:
And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon.
But what have we been learning through Family Radio? And anybody can go to www.familyradio.com and listen to Mr. Camping’s studies on this and many other things. We are learning that this Apollyon and Abaddon, who are spoken of as a king over them, is not a real being. It is not a real person. It is death and destruction.
So both statements are true. The locusts do not have a king. They are on their own. They do not have a king. It is not Satan who is in view, as we are looking at that 5-month period. He is not the king of the locusts, at least not according to Revelation 9. But death and destruction are their king, because it is the time. On May 21st, 2011, what happened? God came for His saints, His people. He resurrected all of them across the face of the earth; all those who were alive were caught up. All those who had already died, their bodies were raised and they were resurrected to life. And yet all the unsaved, all the wicked who were in the graves, God supernaturally raised their remains up—their bones, their ashes, their dust, whatever—and He left them scattered across the face of the earth.
The wages of sin is death. God is making a point of showing that, and it is a great shame to mankind that this is the penalty, that this is the punishment that has come upon them. They have lost their inheritance. They have lost the hope of eternal life. It is death and destruction everywhere—Abaddon and Apollyon—and these locusts, also, are going to be destroyed at the end of the 5 months. So their king is not an actual person.
Well, while we are here in Revelation 9, I will read Revelation 9:3-4 again. Revelation 9:3:
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.
Now, if we go to Deuteronomy 8, we will read a little bit about scorpions. Deuteronomy 8:15 says:
Who led thee through that great and terrible wilderness, wherein were fiery serpents, and scorpions, and drought, where there was no water; who brought thee forth water out of the rock of flint;
So God is using that picture of the Jews going through the wilderness, and it is all spiritual language as we see the water coming out of the rock is representing the Gospel. And there were these fiery serpents, and the scorpions are picturing those who bring other kinds of gospels, the scorpions are. The drought where there is no water would be a lack of the Gospel and famine, and then God miraculously provides the Gospel for His people. This is what it is a picture of.
Also, go to Ezekiel 2. It is important that I read the first couple of verses so we see the context. In Ezekiel 2:1-2:
And he said unto me, Son of man, stand upon thy feet, and I will speak unto thee. And the spirit entered into me when he spake unto me, and set me upon my feet, that I heard him that spake unto me.
Now, that is similar to Revelation 11 and the two witnesses standing on their feet, to our day, to what is happening today spiritually.
Then in Ezekiel 2:6:
And thou, son of man, be not afraid of them, neither be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns be with thee, and thou dost dwell among scorpions: be not afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at their looks, though they be a rebellious house.
So there God is even more closely identifying scorpions with a rebellious house, with the churches and congregations. They are rebellious because they do not listen to the Bible. They do not listen to what God has to say. They give lip service to it, just as those we read about in Isaiah who want to be called by the name of God but they want to do their own thing, and so they are likened to scorpions.
Now, in Revelation 9:4, it says:
And it was commanded them…
And, actually, you can see this in the Interlinear Bible. Jay Green’s translation has what Mr. Camping has been saying, that “it has been said.” “It has been said,” rather than “it was commanded.” It has been said to them or unto them:
…that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree…
And it has been said, repeatedly. Repeatedly in the Bible, God has already said it to false teachers, false prophets. They are not to hurt the child of God. That is a Law. And they cannot. Remember, Matthew 24 tells us that there will be false Christs and false prophets who will be able to deceive the very elect, if possible—and it is not possible. They cannot hurt the green grass. They cannot hurt God’s people in any way with their poisonous water, with their gospel that looks like the true gospel but isn’t because “it has been said.”
And “it has been said,” for instance, in 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, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.
It has been said, right? Isn’t that what it says? And it has been said to them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth. That is what Jesus told the 70 when they were going out, as they came back joyful that even evil spirits were subject to their word. Christ has given His people power or authority over all the power of the enemy that they cannot hurt the child of God, the elect person. It is impossible.
Or if you go to Revelation 6:6, I understand at least this much of the verse, in the second half of Revelation 6:6:
…A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.
Because in Joel 2 when the latter rain goes out, you gather in your oil and wine. It is the fruit. It is the precious fruit of the harvest, which points to God’s people. Hurt not the oil and the wine. Not allowed, Satan. You are not allowed. You cannot hurt God’s people.
Remember Balaam? What did Balaam want to do? Curse. Yes, he flowered it up. He tried to make it look good. But, really, he wanted the reward, and the Bible tells us that in other places. He wanted the hire that he was going to get for cursing Israel. That is why he went. And yet, could he curse? Could he hurt Israel in any way? He could not curse because God turned the curse into a blessing. You see, that is how it is. So the character of the 5-month period, we should not be thrown off-track in any way.
But some people say, “Well, you see, it is saying to the locusts, ‘Hurt not the grass or any green thing,’ so the elect people still have to be here.” No. It has been said. It has been said all through history that God’s people are not to be hurt. And now, of course, they cannot be hurt because they are not on Earth; they are in Heaven. They are in Heaven serving Him for that 153 days.
Well, it goes on to say in Revelation 9:4:
And it has been said to 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.
We are not going to look at that too much. I think we are familiar with it. When God speaks of the 144,000 who were sealed, it says that they were sealed in their foreheads, because the forehead is where we have our mind and the mind in the Bible has to do with our heart, our will, our desires. And so those sealed in their forehead by God, their inward being, their new spirit and new heart seeks after God because they have been born again, even though, for now, their bodies are still seeing corruption.
And we also know that those in the churches and congregations also get a mark in their forehead, according to Revelation 13, indicating their mind and thoughts and desires are sold out to Satan. They are unsaved. Their hearts and minds are desperately wicked and deceitful above all things, and so they belong to him.
Well, then in Revelation 9:5:
And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months: and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man.
And this is that 5-month period that we have recently learned will be from May 21st in 2011 until October 21st in 2011. And, you see, yes, there is going to be an earthquake on May 21st, and all of the graves are going to open and there is going to be death and destruction everywhere. But even though God tells us that—in certain places, He speaks of earthquakes—He does not go into detail. He does not give us passages, except to show us that the dead are everywhere. Their corpses are littering the ground like dung.
God does tell us that, but He does not go really into detail about the buildings being all destroyed and people wandering around the streets. You know, that picture that really is going to happen, that picture of a destroyed society: a whole civilization in ruin. God does not really get too much into detail on that, but rather the focus of the 5-months is on those who are continuing to bring the Gospel in a false way. They are false teachers and false prophets.
You know, some people do not see the judgment on the churches, because there is not bloodshed. It is all spiritual. It is all poisonous spiritual water. “So I don’t see why I cannot go to my church, my local church? There is nothing going on there. I don’t see Satan seated in there. I don’t see any of that.”
But that has been God’s plan. His purpose is to bring judgment on the churches and congregations through the taking away of the truth of the Gospel and Satan substituting lies in their place. And so, too, when we think about the 5-month period, it is going to be a physical time of torment, but also, especially, spiritually like never before. Far worse than the Great Tribulation. Way worse than anything we have been experiencing.
Well, look at Revelation 9:6:
And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them.
What is going to be the occupation of just about everybody who is able to think things out and reason, if they are left behind?
Just think about it. You just saw maybe somebody in your family go up. We do not know how it is going to be, you know, how God is going to take them. We know that God is going to take them. We do not know in what manner and in what way. But people in your family, on your block, in your neighborhood, at work, they are going to be raptured. All across the face of the earth, all around the world, people are going to be raptured.
How many? Well, the Bible tells us that God’s plan was to save 200 million people throughout the history of the world. How many of those during this Great Tribulation? A great multitude, maybe 150, 175, 180 million people. We do not know the number. But tens of millions of people, all over the face of the earth, are simultaneously going to go up, and at the same time, the ground is opening. Earthquakes are everywhere. The world is a mess. The world is a mess, and what is going to be the preoccupation with everyone who is left behind?
God tells us that they began by crying out, “Lord, Lord! Lord, Lord! Don’t forget me! How can I still be here? I am the one who gave money for the ministry. I am the one who spent time ministering the Gospel. I am the one who prayed. I am the one who read his Bible 15 minutes/half hour a day, however long. I am the one who did this. I am the one who did that.” And Jesus is going to respond, “Depart from Me, all ye workers of iniquity. I never knew you. Ye must be born again.”
There is no way around it. No matter how desperately people try, that is the only thing that God looks at. “Ye must be born again”—not in your mind, not what you think—born again by a supernatural act of God, as He applies His Word to the heart of the person. The only way that anybody can be saved and anybody can enter into Heaven is if God truly saves them. Yet in those days, men are going to seek death—death. You know, death is everywhere, but not that death.
If we go over to Romans 6:3, it says:
Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?
And it goes on to give us more information. When someone becomes saved—and that is the baptism of the Holy Spirit and not water baptism—we are baptized into His death because He died for us. He took our sins. He paid the penalty for us.
And so, that is the death of:
…in those days shall men seek death…
They want identification with the death of Christ. They want salvation. They want the Blood of the Lamb applied to them, because it has all just been proven true. It has all been proven true when the rapture comes.
And who talked about that? The Bible. Does any other religion talk about a rapture? Any other religion talk about a resurrection of the just to life and a resurrection of the unjust to damnation? “What did we just witness? What did we just see? Do the Muslims get into that in the Koran? How about the Buddhists? Do the Buddhists understand anything about that? The Hindu? Definitely not the atheists.”
So every religion on the face of the earth is proven wrong instantaneously, in one fell swoop. In one fell swoop, they are all wrong.
We do not know much of anything, those of us who are left behind, but we just saw all of this. In their village, in their town, there were probably a couple of oddballs who they knew were Christians, and they were just taken up. They were just taken up, and the Bible talks about that.
Everybody, deep-down, knows that, that the Bible is the Word of God. So this is going to lead a great many people to seek the death of being identified with Christ, and yet God says that they shall not find it. It is impossible now. It is over. It is done. It is done.
God’s salvation plan has been completed and the door was shut on May 21st, 2011, which in the Hebrew calendar is the 17th day of the 2nd month, which identifies with Noah’s calendar in Genesis 7. In the day that God shut Noah and his family in the ark and the flood began for 5 months, we read in the last verse of Genesis 7, “the waters prevailed upon the earth,” making sure that everything that had the breath of life was dead, just dead, everything that had the breath of life—the people, the animals—completely destroyed at the end of that 5-month period. So people are going to seek death and not find it. Revelation 9:6:
…and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them.
No salvation.
If we go back to Joel 2—Joel 2 is before Amos and after Hosea—Joel 2 is a chapter dealing with the 5 months and there are certain key identifications that God makes. The darkening of the sun, moon, and stars is a key. Whenever we read that, it is not the Church Age or the end of the church, it is the 5-month period. And in Joel 2, we also are going to read about a very numerous army, just like in Revelation 9. With all of these locusts, there had to be a great band or swarm of these locusts. And in Joel 2:1-10:
Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of JEHOVAH cometh, for it is nigh at hand; a day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains: a great people and a strong; there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after it, even to the years of many generations. A fire devoureth before them; and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them. The appearance of them is as the appearance of horses; and as horsemen, so shall they run. Like the noise of chariots on the tops of mountains shall they leap, like the noise of a flame of fire that devoureth the stubble, as a strong people set in battle array. Before their face the people shall be much pained: all faces shall gather blackness. They shall run like mighty men; they shall climb the wall like men of war; and they shall march every one on his ways, and they shall not break their ranks: neither shall one thrust another; they shall walk every one in his path: and when they fall upon the sword…
The Word of God, the two-edged sword. Isn’t it?
…when they fall upon the sword, they shall not be wounded.
They will seek death, but they cannot die.
They shall run to and fro in the city; they shall run upon the wall…
The wall of salvation.
…they shall climb up upon the houses; they shall enter in at the windows like a thief. The earth shall quake before them; the heavens shall tremble: the sun and the moon shall be dark, and the stars shall withdraw their shining:
You see, that is May 21st, and notice what that this army has one purpose, one single purpose. They are coming and they are assailing the wall and the houses, but they are not using the door. They are not going in the door, because the door is shut. The door is shut. What God has shut, no man can open. No matter how desperately, and it will be desperate, no matter how desperately someone is going to try to get into the Kingdom of God and try to escape what is happening on Earth and all of this ugliness that is going on, they can only do it like a thief. And Jesus tells us in John 10 that that is not going to work. “You are not going to get into the Kingdom through a window or climbing up a wall, like a thief and a robber. You have to go through Me. I am the Door. I am the Door. There is no other way.”
So this vast army, and God calls them an army, who are coming upon the face of the earth, are covering the ground like locusts, like locusts swarming, millions upon millions of them, because, well, you see, today, it is bad. It is really bad in the church. We know that. God has left the congregations. The light is removed. There is no salvation for about 2 billion people. But in the world, God is working and He is saving Hindus and He is saving people who were Muslim or He is saving people who were atheists or did not know anything. He is saving agnostics. He is saving people in India and China and Africa, and all across the face of the earth, outside of the church, outside of the congregation. But, you see, on that day, even though the Great Tribulation is sad and miserable because there is no salvation for nearly 2 billion people, that is going to extend to the whole earth, the whole earth.
Now, we do not know exactly how many are going to be raptured or taken up. Let’s say the full number, 200 million, let’s say all 200 million on May 21st go up. And due to the earthquakes, let’s say another 500 million people around the world die immediately. That would leave roughly 6 billion people still alive, still on the earth, and at that time, every one of them knows, except for maybe the little ones, everyone knows that the Bible is true. The Bible is the only thing that talked about this, nothing else, only the Bible, so let’s go find somebody who knows the Bible.
Where are you going to go? To the church. You are going to go to the church, to the pastor, the elder, the deacon or that person on your block who has been so religious. And one thing they know is that their religion cannot handle this, no matter what it has been.
If you go to Isaiah 2, God gives us a vivid picture of that in Isaiah 2:17, and this is also speaking of the 5 months. It is the Day of the Lord. Isaiah 2:17-21:
And the loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be made low: and JEHOVAH alone shall be exalted in that day. And the idols he shall utterly abolish. And they shall go into the holes of the rocks, and into the caves of the earth…
Just as we read in Revelation 6.
…for fear of JEHOVAH, and for the glory of his majesty, when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth. In that day a man shall cast his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which they made each one for himself to worship, to the moles and to the bats; to go into the clefts of the rocks, and into the tops of the ragged rocks, for fear of JEHOVAH, and for the glory of his majesty, when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth.
You see, they are throwing it all away, “We were wrong; we were wrong,” all of the idols, all of the false religions, immediately out the window. Now, “Let us find out what is going on and how we can be spared,” and they go to the church. And do you think that the church is going to say, “Well, all of those who just went up, they were the only ones who were God’s elect”? They are not going to say that. Are they saying the truth now? Are they saying the truth now? They are not going to say the truth then.
Actually, you know, there could be others besides those in the churches who maybe have come out of the church and they are also left behind. I know someone who has been very close to the truth, very close, and he has, since the teaching of the 5 months has come out and annihilation, he has backpedaled, and, really, by his own admission, he is going back to the world. He is going back to the world, and he said, because he has a lot of head knowledge, “Now, if Mr. Camping is right, what is to stop me from taking my family and going to some field, some field somewhere, away from buildings and bridges. If the earthquake occurs and we are out in this wide-open field, giving us a much better chance of surviving the earthquake, then if it happens, I will know that it is all true, it is all correct, and then me and my family can then find a peaceful way to end our lives, because we don’t want to face this horrible 5-month period.”
And, actually, that is not going to happen, in all likelihood. That is not going to happen. The earthquake is going to happen. He might go to a field somewhere on May 21st. That might happen, but the taking of his life probably won’t because what is going to happen is that, more than likely, he is going to be transformed into a locust because he has a lot of head knowledge about the Bible. And he is going to be come one of those who begin to swarm.
Scientist today do not know why locusts swarm. There is something that triggers it. Something triggers a swarm. They are not sure what it is. It might be that when the numbers increase, they have a theory that their hind legs are constantly being hit against one another, until something triggers it. Because, normally, they are more individualistic. But then, they change their whole behavior and they swarm and they go out and they attack a crop or a field or whatever.
You see, the trigger is going to be May 21st, 2011, that is going to turn a lot of professing Christians, spiritually speaking, into locusts, into locusts who maybe up until that point had been awful lazy about spiritual things. Maybe they failed to read the Bible as they should or pray to God for mercy as they should. But at that point, you see, once God is over and done with the world, then people are going to desperately try to obtain that salvation, just like Esau, just like Esau with tears, with tears after he had already sold his birthright and his father had already given the blessing.
One last place, in Isaiah 23, and I think we will see how it fits in. Isaiah 23:14-17 says:
Howl, ye ships of Tarshish: for your strength is laid waste.
And Tarshish and Tyre are pictures that God uses of the church, the congregations.
And it shall come to pass in that day, that Tyre shall be forgotten seventy years…
And that is a figure of speech for the length of time that represents the Great Tribulation. And God has forgotten them, as it says in the Psalms, “Has Thou forgotten to be gracious, O Lord?” God has forgotten, because there is no salvation. They have been forgotten for 70 years.
…according to the days of one king…
And that would be Satan’s rule during the Great Tribulation.
…after the end of seventy years…
That is after the Great Tribulation, which comes May 21st. It is the 8400th day, after that.
…after the end of seventy years shall Tyre sing as an harlot.
I never understood these verses. If it is the end of the Great Tribulation and it is Judgment Day, how can she “sing as an harlot”? Is God going to allow that, with all of those ideas that we had of people standing before Him? Well, with 5 months, with 5 months, it makes sense, because to sing has to do with proclaiming the Gospel, and a harlot has to do with proclaiming a false gospel.
Take an harp, go about the city, thou harlot that hast been forgotten…
Now, she has really been forgotten because God came and closed the door on salvation.
…make sweet melody, sing many songs, that thou mayest be remembered.
That is, that you might obtain salvation.
And it shall come to pass after the end of seventy years, that JEHOVAH will visit Tyre, and she shall turn to her hire, and shall commit fornication with all the kingdoms of the world upon the face of the earth.
Worldwide. Worldwide. That is why God uses the language of the locusts. That is why He uses language that seems very familiar to us, that we relate to the apostasy of the church during the Great Tribulation, because it is even much worse. It is much worse during that 5-month period, where people are now developing other kinds of gospels for everybody across the face of the earth, not only confined to the church.
Okay. Let’s stop here and have a word of prayer and then we will have a hymn, and then if anyone has any questions or comments.
Dear Heavenly Father, we do thank You for Your mercy and graciousness and that there is still time and it is still a day of salvation. And, Father, how kind You are to forewarn us of things to come and to actually give us specifics so that we can know where we are in history and what is approaching for each one of us. No one is going to be able to escape this. No one is going to be able to not have this impact their life and their family and everything that they have in this world. But we pray, Father, that You would help each one of us to examine ourselves to make sure that we are in the faith, that we are in Christ, that we are truly saved and born again. And may You, if we are not, may You grant us Your grace to come before You, beseeching You and bringing words to You, crying out as You have outlined in the Bible. We do ask that we might cry as the Ninevites, that we might repent of whatever sins that we can and ask You for strength to turn from the sins, that these sins not interfere. How sad it is that here we are where we have to be sober-minded as anything to grab hold of these truths, and some are drunken and some are so caught up with the things of the world that they cannot even bear not to think about them for a short period of time. Father, we pray that You would help us to turn from whatever is in our life that is draining days away from us and time and causing such a big waste where we feel that we do not have time to go to You. We pray that You would have mercy on our children. And, Father, we thank You that they are physically healthy, if they are, and we thank You for the fact that they are under the hearing of the Gospel, and we just pray that You would convince them, that they need to realize that they bear personal responsibility before You. Each person bears personal responsibility before You, and we do ask that they might, for their own sake, begin to go to You in reading the Bible and praying in a way that they never have. Father, we ask for Your blessing also upon the rest of this day. May we do things that are pleasing to You, and we pray this in Christ’s Name. Amen.
Chris: If anyone has anything, whether here or on Paltalk, you are welcome to raise your hand and come to the mic and I will try to answer as best I can by going to the Bible.
1st Question: This is regarding the 5-month period, the tribulation and the 5-month period. I was wondering if you could go to Revelation 17:9. This is regarding the subject that we were on.
Chris: Okay. Let me read that verse. Revelation 17:9:
And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.
Is that the right verse? Revelation 7 or Revelation 17?
1st Question (continued): Revelation 17. I was wondering if this could relate to the tribulation period or the 5-months.
Chris: Well, notice verse 10. Revelation 17:10:
And there are seven kings…
These “seven mountains” are like kingdoms.
And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space.
And this is referring to the reign of Satan all through history. So 5 had fallen previously, up until the writing of Revelation. “One is,” and he would continue until 1988. And then in 1988, Satan is characterized as the “beast” who reigns during the Great Tribulation. So one presently was and then the one to come would “continue a short space,” which would be the “little season” of Great Tribulation.
2nd Question: Okay. I also had two more. Revelation 11:7. Tell me what that means.
Chris: Okay. Speaking of the two witnesses, Revelation 11:7:
And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit…
And that is the “abyss.” It is not two Greek words. It is one Greek word, just like in Revelation 20, because that is where Christ put him, figuratively.
…the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them.
Now, that began in 1988, May 21st ended the Church Age, and then began the 23-year Great Tribulation. The beginning part was the 2300 days when the two witnesses were lying dead in the street. Here, it is spoken of as being three and a half days. And then following that, they stand upon their feet, and that is what is happening today as the Gospel is going out to the world, God’s people have stood upon their feet and God is bringing the latter rain to save that great multitude.
3rd Question: Okay. I also have Jeremiah 8:3. I was wondering if I could read this to you.
And death shall be chosen rather than life by all the residue of them that remain of this evil family, which remain in all the places whither I have driven them, saith the LORD of hosts.
What does this mean by this death that shall be chosen?
Chris: There is a little bit more to that verse. It kind of looks like it relates to Revelation 9:6, but I would rather not say right now, because I have not taken a close look at that.
4th Question: In your teaching on Revelation 9, if I understand correctly, on May 21st, 2011, the fifth angel gets the key to the bottomless pit and opens the pit. Is that correct?
Chris: Let me read verse 1. Revelation 9:1:
And the fifth angel sounded…
It is not the angel after that.
…and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit.
4th Question (continued): Right. That is Abaddon/Apollyon. On that day, he opens the bottomless pit and the smoke comes out?
Chris: You see, the pit actually relates to death. For instance, that word abussos is translated as the “deep.” I do not know if I have this verse in memory, but let me see if I can remember. Yes. In Romans 10:6-7, it says:
But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise, Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down from above:) Or, Who shall descend into the deep?…
That is the abussos. That is the same word as “bottomless pit” in Revelation. And notice what it says in parentheses:
…(that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.)
So the abussos has to do with the dead. It has to do with the grave. That is where Christ came up from.
I am still looking more into this. That is why I did not spend too much time on the first couple of verses. But it is not the Lord Jesus in view here like it is in Revelation 20. We know that. It is not Christ.
4th Question (continued): My confusion is…if it is confusion…yes, it is. The pit is opened in Revelation 9:2. That is on May 21, 2011?
Chris: The pit of the deep. Yes. When the rapture occurs and there are earthquakes and it is the time of the resurrection of the just and unjust, then for those left behind, this begins.
4th Question (continued): Okay. Now, going down to verses 4 and 5, when you corrected the translation in 4, “And it has been said to them,” the “them” is the locusts and scorpions of the earth.
Chris: Let me see if I can help with that. It has been God’s plan to allow all kinds of false teachings and doctrines and gospels, and that has been going on throughout history. But it is also that there has been a stipulation: you can come so far, but no further. When it comes to My people, you cannot hurt them spiritually.
Now, it is a different Greek word, but it has the very same idea. In Mark 16, where we read that they could drink poison and no deadly thing will hurt them, it is a different Greek word, but it is the very same idea.
You see, God has allowed, He has permitted it. He raised up Satan to come against the church. And so all of this poisonous gospel is out there, but it has been said—it was said to Balaam; it was said to false prophets in Jeremiah’s day and in our day—you cannot hurt the oil and the wine. You cannot hurt the elect child of God.
4th Question (continued): Right. And another example along that line would be God instructing Satan that he cannot kill Job. Now, that gets to my question that I started on. In the next verse, Revelation 9:4:
And it has been said to them that they should not hurt…
And down in Revelation 9:5, it is:
…they should not kill…
And my question is: God is the One who is stating this should suggest to me, “My advice is not to do this.” It is more than that. It is, “You can not or you will not or you are forbidden.” So “should” is the question that I have.
Chris: In Revelation 11, referring to the two witnesses that we were just looking at, it says in Revelation 11:5:
And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed.
The word “will” is expressing a wish. It is a desire: if any man would desire to hurt them. It is not that he can actually hurt them, but if any man would hurt them, he is killed by the word that comes out of their mouth, by the Word of God.
The word “hurt” is translated as “wrong” or “wronged” in several places, and it really has to do with bringing a wrong gospel. And they would desire, this is definitely Satan’s desire behind the scenes, to hurt the child of God, to hurt one elect person, to prevent one of God’s elect from becoming saved, and it is an impossibility. So they desire it, but they cannot accomplish it.
4th Question (continued): They cannot, not should not. They cannot. And I suggest that also in the verse you refer to in Revelation 11, that “will”—it does mean “desire” in places—but here, I would suggest that “will” means intent.
Chris: In where? In Revelation 11? Well, yes. They go hand-in-hand. They desire and that is their intent, but they cannot do it. And in Revelation 9:4:
And it has been said to them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth…
So this has been God’s, it is His stipulation. It is the limit He has set, as well as what He has set on the locusts for the 5 months, “You should not kill them,” meaning…actually, I want to check more into that. I am not sure how closely that relates to verse 6, but it is God’s stipulation in that case, too.
4th Question (continued): Well, in terms of tense, rather than “should,” I would think the word should be “could.” You could not. You cannot. Future…future tense.
Chris: Well, you see, yes, but we have to look at the Greek to decide tense.
4th Question (continued): That is the reason that I bring the question, because you have done word study in the Greek, and I….
Chris: Well, maybe this week I will.
5th Question: In the rapture, when we are taken up, how will those left behind see us go up when we are in our spiritual bodies? Isn’t it true that they will be able to see the spiritual, or will we be lifted up in our human bodies first and then be transformed in the air, allowing for people to see this?
Chris: Well, we do not know a lot of what is going to happen, as far as the actual details of the working out of it. But we do know in Revelation 11:11, it says:
And after three days and an half the Spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw them.
Now, that is today. And then verse 12. Revelation 11:12:
And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld them.
That is what the Bible says: that we were taken up and the enemies saw it. They beheld it.
It also says in Luke 21:25-26:
And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars…
And that is the key phrase that tells us that this is the 5 months.
…and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.
So there are all kinds of turmoil in the world. They have seen the believers go up. I do not know if we can say in what fashion they saw them, how the child of God appeared, but it does not matter. The Bible tells us that they saw it. They saw it. They did behold it, and they knew, following that, what it was, because the Bible has talked about a rapture. 1 Thessalonians 4 is very plain language, that Christ will come on the clouds and He will lift up His people, and many people are familiar with that.
6th Question: I just want to make one comment. If you are standing on the Earth and you see 200 million people go up, you are going to see them, no matter where you are. So the witness is that people will see the believers go up.
Chris: And on top of that, your very foundation has been shaken because your home, as well as everybody else’s home, just experienced an earthquake off the chart. So, you know, when we put it all together, there is no mistaking. People are going to know that this is supernatural, that this is what the Bible talked about all along. And so whatever else they had been believing, they will throw that to the bats and the moles (Isaiah 2:20) and they will try to find somebody who knows something about the Bible.
Okay, one last one from Paltalk. Lord willing, we will be on tonight at 8:30, if anybody else has anything.
7th Question: Please recap concerning who the locusts are and what it means to seek death.
Chris: Okay. In Revelation 9, God gives us information about a 5-month period when locusts are coming upon the earth, and they are “given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power” to torment men 5 months. And “torment” is a word that is used as “toiling and rowing” in one place. It is used of Lot, that his righteous soul was “vexed” day by day. It is a word used of the two witnesses in Revelation 11, that they “tormented” them upon the earth. So it is not torture, as we understood this word previously. It is a vexation of soul, of spirit. There is great sorrow and sadness in what has been going on, and perplexity and confusion, and everything you can think of.
And these locusts, who are professing Christians—that is how we can finally describe them—they are professing Christians who are not saved now and will not be saved then, nor anybody who listens to them. They are en masse and they are coming up with ideas, because they know a little bit about the Bible, to try to help these Muslim people who are coming to them and these Hindu people and Buddhists people, and all the people in all the civilized societies who are beyond religion in Europe and in America. All those people are now running as fast as they can to anybody they knew who identified with the Bible, just like we all know in our workplace that there are certain individuals, a Jehovah’s Witness, a Mormon. To anybody who identifies with the Bible, they are coming and they are saying, “What happened? What happened?” They will probably start with that. “What is going on?”
And yet, what are these people going to do? They know something of the Bible. “Well, you know, in the Bible it says that today is still the day of salvation.” That verse is still going to be there. “And look! The sun is still in the sky.”
So they could start with something as basic as that and begin to tell people, to give them hope, “Here is what we have to do,” and it will be full of works. “Here is what you have to do to get right with God.” And yet it is far more terrible than today because, at that point, it is spread to everyone everywhere, and it is beyond anything that we are seeing today with the apostasy in the churches.
Okay. Let’s close and have a word of prayer, and I guess I can pray for the food.
Dear Heavenly Father, we do thank You for the Bible and for all Your blessings to us that we do not deserve and could never earn and never obtain by our own doing. And, Father, we do not know why You chose certain ones and not others. It is all according to Your good pleasure. We know that there was nothing in us and that before Jacob and Esau had done any good or evil, You chose Jacob and did not choose Esau. And, Father, we leave all of that in Your hands. We do not know who is elect and who is not, and we just pray, Father, that we might, each one of us, take a lesson from the locusts, that as they had a great urgency, as we see in Joel 2 and in other places, and a great zeal in carrying the message to a ruined Earth where there is no hope, that each one of us who is a true child of God and qualified and commissioned to bring that Gospel, while there is hope of salvation and people can still be saved, that we might get up out of our seats and that we might go forth with the Gospel in a very zealous way ourselves, of course, using wisdom and praying for Your leading and direction. We pray, Father, that You would move us to will and to do of Thy good pleasure. And we thank You for the food that the ladies have prepared and are preparing, and we thank You for providing physical food for us and for everything that You give us that is abundantly beyond anything that we have deserved. And we pray these things in Christ’s Name. Amen.