Posted by AU on 10/4/2001, 2:12 pm

Posted by Author Unknown on 8/31/2001, 3:20 pm , in reply to "Re: one more chapter, more" Throughout Scripture the earth represents political strongholds while the sea depicts multitudes of people, languages, and nations. Even the terms ships and captains have figurative meanings. Jesus is the captain of our salvation. The devil’s fury will not be focused upon a literal sea—his woes will affect multitudes of people. Many among us will be looking for natural plagues coming in the days ahead and will fail to notice the more subtle deception Satan will be using. What we believe and what we profess and whom we hold our allegiance to are what the devil and his angels will be attacking. Their fury will be aimed at our faith in God and his Christ. A mountain on fire being hurled into the sea is speaking of Satan’s governmental forces impacting the nations, affecting multitudes and eventually burning out and coming to an end. “I am against you, O destroying mountain, you who destroy the whole earth,” declares the LORD. “I will stretch out my hand against you, roll you off the cliffs, and make you a burned-out mountain. (Jeremiah 51:25, NIV). This mountain that the LORD rolled off the cliffs—presumably into the sea—in time past was the Nation of Babylon. The same language used in Jeremiah illustrating how Babylon of old would be destroyed is also used in Revelation concerning modern Babylon’s coming destruction. Ancient Babylon did fall and its mountain burned out just as prophesied—the LORD cast its burning mountain into the sea, “figuratively speaking.” However, no one on earth saw a literal mountain descend into the ocean; that wasn’t necessary to fulfill the prophecy because it was a parable. Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him” (Mark 11:23, NIV). Christ was also speaking in figurative language. Jesus spoke in parables. If we are looking for a real mountain to be cast into the sea during the days of Revelation’s trumpet judgments, we will be missing out on the real wonder. Jesus Christ was talking about throwing down the powers of darkness and the spiritual forces of evil in heavenly realms—the mountain of Scripture is Satan’s kingdom. The creatures in the sea who die are men, women, and children, who die spiritually due to the strong pressure this mountain imposes upon their unstable faith. The irony is part of their lack of faith could be due to a misunderstanding of the Bible. After all, if they knew what to look for in the time of deception and how to prepare for it, why would they die in the sea? The Third Trumpet Sounds “The third angel sounded his trumpet, and a great star, blazing like a torch, fell from the sky on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water— the name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters turned bitter, and many people died from the waters that had become bitter” (Revelation 8:10-11, NIV). A popular theory on this plague taken from a literal viewpoint is that the star named Wormwood in our text is depicting nuclear material polluting our fresh water supply. This is a good theory; “Chernobyl” translated into English, spells Wormwood, Russia’s nuclear reactor by the same name once leaked massive amounts of radiation. It is likely the earth will see contamination from radiation again, before Armageddon, from a number of sources, including possible tactical nuclear exchanges from eastern nations. Yet this text is crying out a figurative meaning, and here are some reasons why: 1. This great star falls on rivers and streams and one third of the earth’s water is affected! From a strictly geological standpoint, it would be impossible for the star to affect only fresh water, because on a scale of this magnitude the oceans would also be impacted. 2. This star has a name; in the same book speaking of another trumpet plague we see another “star that had fallen from the sky to the earth. The star was given the key to the shaft of the Abyss.” (Revelation 9:1). This star also is called “the angel of the Abyss, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek, Apollyon” or in English Satan. 3. In our last point we did not focus on the point that the star of the Abyss also fell from the sky just like Wormwood did. This adds more weight to our star plagues being of a spiritual non-natural nature rather than one that would affect physical waters. 4. Bitter waters in Scripture are illustrations of spiritual deception, which can lead to spiritual death. What Do the Prophets Say About Rivers And Streams Jesus cried, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.” By this he meant the Spirit, (John 7: 37-39, NIV). Streams of fresh water depict the Spirit of God. In the last days, Satan and his whole host will pollute our spiritual environment. This is what the divine protection is for—without God’s seal on our forehead, we would be vulnerable to the bitter waters during these trumpet plagues. Why a seal in the forehead, could this place on our body be symbolic of where we hold our knowledge? A wise man seeking knowledge will find it, that is a sure promise from the word. Knowing the word is the key to surviving these plagues. Satan is so underhanded he wouldn’t be satisfied with just harming people’s bodies—he wants to thwart Christ’s coming victory where it hurts the most—in the souls of men. Spiritual darkness is coming. The Forth Trumpet Sounds “The fourth angel sounded his trumpet, and a third of the sun was struck, a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of them turned dark. A third of the day was without light, and also a third of the night” (Revelation 8:12, NIV). This trumpet plague is speaking of a great loss of light. Our source of light, “the sun,” that which reflects its light, “the moon,” and even the hours of the day, “time itself,” will be lacking in light by one third. Before we look for a symbolic application to this lack of light, let’s look for a natural physical explanation. A theory has sprung up over the years explaining how a huge celestial object will have struck our earth and how this object’s impact will have sped the earth up by one third. However, there are severe problems with this theory: 1. From a scientific standpoint: Any object with enough mass and velocity to speed earth’s rotation by one third after impact would also shatter the earth’s thin crust, causing liquid magma to spill out over most of the globe—killing all life on the planet. 2. Looking into Bible prophecy in the books of Ezekiel and Daniel during the last days before Armageddon, we see a list of nations—some protesting the siege upon Jerusalem and others, who are engaging in it. Yet if a large object had hit the earth and sped up its rotation up by one third, why are all these nations still in existence? Even if the object just hit the ocean it would still destroy most life on the planet. Also, the narrative in these books between these warring nations seems too calm if such a catastrophic event had indeed occurred. For those simple reasons, I would like to look in the Word for a figurative explanation. Darkness in Prophetic Scripture “ Therefore night will come over you, without visions, and darkness, without divination. The sun will set for the prophets, and the day will go dark for them. The seers will be ashamed and the diviners disgraced. They will all cover their faces because there is no answer from God” (Micah 3:6-7, NIV). It will be earth’s darkest hour before the dawn arrives. All of the underlying forces of evil knowing this is their last hurrah will be lashing out at everything they can. Satan is about to be cast into a dungeon. His whole entourage is about to be removed. The opportunity to deceive man and wreck havoc is coming to an end. So they will try to spoil what’s left of the domain, they will initiate a scorched earth policy and try to burn what remains. “Before them fire devours, behind them a flame blazes. Before them the land is like the garden of Eden, behind them, a desert waste— nothing escapes them. They have the appearance of horses; they gallop along like cavalry. With a noise like that of chariots they leap over the mountaintops, like a crackling fire consuming stubble, like a mighty army drawn up for battle” “Before them the earth shakes, the sky trembles, the sun and moon are darkened, and the stars no longer shine” (Joel 2:3-5 and 10, NIV).