Audio Download

Rev 9:3-6 – Part 4 of The Fifth Trumpet

[Study Aired August 11, 2024]

Rev 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.
Rev 9:4 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.
Rev 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.
Rev 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.

We resume our study on the meaning of the sixth of the nine symbols we find here in this fifth trumpet. We will never understand what the holy spirit is telling us in the symbols of this fifth trumpet until we are given the scriptural meaning attached to each symbol. This is not guesswork and we dare not “speak above that which is written” (1Co 4:6), nor take away from the words of the prophecy of this book:

1Co 4:6  Now these things, brethren, I have in a figure transferred to myself and Apollos for your sakes; that in us ye might learn not to go beyond the things which are written; that no one of you be puffed up for the one against the other.

Rev 22:18  For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:
Rev 22:19  And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.

Here again is that list of holy spirit inspired symbols of what comes out of the bottomless pit:

1) Our first symbol is smoke. 2) The second is locusts. 3) The third is the earth itself. 4) The fourth symbol is the power as the scorpions of the earth. 5) the fifth is the grass, any green thing, and trees of the earth. 6) the sixth is those men who have not the seal of God. 7)  The seventh symbol is those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads. 8) The eighth symbol is “they shall be tormented five months. 9) Our final symbol is “they shall seek death and shall not find it”.

We  have given the scriptural meaning assigned to each of the first five symbols describing the affect of the smoke of the pit upon the earth, the darkening of the sun and the air by reason of that smoke, and we are now seeking to know what the holy spirit proclaims to be the significance of the 6^th symbol which is “those men who have not the seal of God” being the target of the scorpions that come out of the smoke of the pit and hurt men with the sting they inflict of the those who are in the earth:

Rev 9:4  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.

6) The sixth symbol is “those men who have not the seal of God in their foreheads.” Who these men signify is revealed to us in the ninth chapter of Ezekiel. As is always the case, our challenge is to constantly remember that these men and all these events are within us, and each of us are required to “live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God, and keep the things written therein.”

Mat 4:4  But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

Rev 1:3  Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.

What that means is that an integral part of this revelation of Jesus Christ, requires that we are all King Saul who persecutes David, before we can become King David, and we are all Saul of Tarsus who persecutes God’s church, before we can become the apostle Paul who fills up in his body what is behind of the afflictions of the Christ.

Col 1:24  Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church:

Our understanding of this prophecy of Rev 9 is greatly enhanced by reading the prophecy of Ezekiel 9. This is what is taking place within those who have the mark of God upon their foreheads. This is what happens to those ‘men’ within us who are not yet “sighing and crying for all the abominations that be done in the midst of Jerusalem” which is above, and is also within us.

Eze 9:1  He cried also in mine ears with a loud voice, saying, Cause them that have charge over the city to draw near, even every man with his destroying weapon in his hand.
Eze 9:2  And, behold, six men came from the way of the higher gate, which lieth toward the north, and every man a slaughter weapon in his hand; and one man among them was clothed with linen, with a writer’s inkhorn by his side: and they went in, and stood beside the brasen altar.
Eze 9:3  And the glory of the God of Israel was gone up from the cherub, whereupon he was, to the threshold of the house. And he called to the man clothed with linen, which had the writer’s inkhorn by his side;
Eze 9:4  And the LORD said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof.
Eze 9:5  And to the others he said in mine hearing, Go ye after him through the city, and smite: let not your eye spare, neither have ye pity:
Eze 9:6  Slay utterly old and young, both maids, and little children, and women: but come not near any man upon whom is the mark; and begin at my sanctuary. Then they began at the ancient men which were before the house.
Eze 9:7  And he said unto them, Defile the house, and fill the courts with the slain: go ye forth. And they went forth, and slew in the city.
Eze 9:8  And it came to pass, while they were slaying them, and I was left, that I fell upon my face, and cried, and said, Ah Lord GOD! wilt thou destroy all the residue of Israel in thy pouring out of thy fury upon Jerusalem?
Eze 9:9  Then said he unto me, The iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah [ is] exceeding great, and the land is full of blood, and the city full of perverseness: for they say, The LORD hath forsaken the earth, and the LORD seeth not.
Eze 9:10  And as for me also, mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity, [ but] I will recompense their way upon their head.
Eze 9:11  And, behold, the man clothed with linen, which [ had] the inkhorn by his side, reported the matter, saying, I have done as thou hast commanded me.

Those who are destroyed by the destroying weapon are each and every one of us who have at our own appointed time accepted all the doctrines of all the men who have twisted and distorted the word of God down throughout the years of our time spent living our lives according to all of those false, lying Babylonian doctrines, signified by “the abominations that be done therein” in this verse:

Eze 9:4  And the LORD said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof.

This prophecy here in Ezekiel and the prophecy of the book of Revelation are both addressed to the Lord’s own people. Ancient Israel was but the type of the Lord’s elect. This prophecy of the book of Revelation is addressed to the seven churches of Asia, signifying the complete Christian Church. In both cases, typical Israel, and the true spiritual “Israel of God” are both being judged for forsaking their own Lord.

Rev 1:3  Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.
Rev 1:4  John to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace be unto you, and peace, from him which is, and which was, and which is to come; and from the seven Spirits which are before his throne;

It is each of us as the Lord’s own apostate people who are “those men who have not the seal of God in their foreheads.”

7) What is meant by “their foreheads.”

7) The seventh symbol is “those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads.” That “destroying weapon” of Ezekiel 9 is both “the fire” of “the sword of the spirit” which will “try every man’s works of what sort they are” and as “a flaming sword” it will burn up all that will burn, and it will purify all that is in need of being purified.

Jer 5:14  Wherefore thus saith the LORD God of hosts, Because ye speak this word, behold, I will make my words in thy mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them.

Jer 23:29  Is not my word like as a fire? saith the LORD; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?

1Co 3:13  Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.
1Co 3:14  If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.
1Co 3:15  If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.

This seal which is not in the foreheads is that same Words of God which are in the hearts and minds, and mouths of those who do have the seal of God. Those who have that seal at first did not have that seal  or ‘mark’. It is when we do not have the mark of the Lord in our foreheads that the Lord’s words are burning us up, with all the false doctrines of  apostate men and the apostate kingdoms and principalities that are all within us. That word is Christ, and Christ is in our forehead because our forehead is the symbol of the heavens of our hearts and minds.

Eph 6:12 Because our struggle is not against blood and flesh, but, against the principalities, against the authorities, against the world- holders, of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenlies. (REV)

“The spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavens” is also where we find the mark of the beast under which we all labor before we receive the mark of God in our foreheads. The great whore’s forehead is what keeps her from being ashamed:

Jer 3:3  Therefore the showers have been withholden, and there hath been no latter rain; and thou hadst a whore’s forehead, thou refusedst to be ashamed.

We have covered the symbol of the forehead in Rev 7:3 where the 144,000 are said to be “sealed in their foreheads.”

Rev 7:3  Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.

The spiritual significance of ‘the forehead’ is the heavens of our hearts and minds which is either being purified or is defiled with the false doctrines of Babylon and all the fruits of those lies and false doctrines:

Heb 9:23  It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.
Heb 9:24  For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us:

8) What is the significance of five months of torment?

8) The eighth symbol is “they shall be tormented five months… as the torment of a scorpion when he strikes a man.”

Rev 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.
Rev 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.

These are words which we are to read, hear and keep (Rev 1:3). It is each of us who symbolically are “tormented five months… as the torment of a scorpion when he strikes a man.”  Why are we said to be “tormented five months.” Why are we not tormented four months? Or why are we not tormented six months? Why are we told that we are tormented five months? As is usually the case, the number itself is never the point, just as the words themselves are never the point. The point of being tormented five months is that we are brought to our wits’ end in the faith of Jesus Christ, and in faith of Jesus Christ we are brought through God’s chastening grace and we learn to forsake ungodliness and worldly lusts:

Tit 2:11  For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,
Tit 2:12  Teaching [G3811, ‘paideuo’, chastening]us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;

Chastening “grace through faith” is the significance of the number five.

Heb 12:6  For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth [3811, ‘paideuo’], and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.

We have a series on the web site about The Spiritual Significance of Numbers in Scripture which deals, in depth, with the spiritual significance of most of the major numbers mentioned in scripture. Read that series of studies for an in depth study of this number 5, as well as all the other numbers mentioned in scripture. We will give but a few verses in this study but there are many more in this study on the number 5:

https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/numbers_five/

For the sake of this study, and to understand why we are tormented for five months instead of 6 months or 4 months or any other number, let’s take note of these verses which give us an idea of the spiritual significance of this number five.

Notice how Joseph, an Old Testament type of Christ, favored and showed great grace to his full brother, Benjamin.

Gen 43:34 And he took and sent messes unto them from before him: but Benjamin’s mess was five times so much as any of theirs. And they drank, and were merry with him.

Benjamin is not guilty of selling his brother into slavery, and while we are all Joseph’s ten brothers before we become Benjamin, nevertheless Benjamin here is a type of God’s elect who, like Joseph did in type, partake of the Lord’s chastening grace in this present age:

Tit 2:11  For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,
Tit 2:12  Teaching [G3811, ‘paideuo’, to chasten] us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;

Heb 12:6  For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth [G3811, ‘paideuo’, to chasten], and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.

Another verse revealing the spiritual significance of this number five is:

Gen 45:22 To all of them he gave each man changes of raiment; but to Benjamin he gave three hundred pieces of silver, and five changes of raiment.

“Raiment” in scripture, in its positive application, signifies “the righteousness of saints” (Rev 19:8). Raiment is our spiritual clothing. In its negative application ‘raiment’ also signifies the unrighteousness of saints:

Zec 3:3  Now Joshua [the Lord’s high priest, vrs 1] was clothed with filthy garments, and stood before the angel.
Zec 3:4  And he answered and spake unto those that stood before him, saying, Take away the filthy garments from him. And unto him he said, Behold, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with change of raiment.
Zec 3:5  And I said, Let them set a fair mitre upon his head. So they set a fair mitre upon his head, and clothed him with [clean white linen, Rev 19:8] garments. And the angel of the LORD stood by.

The priests were to be clothed only with linen which does not cause sweat:

Eze 44:15  But the priests the Levites, the sons of Zadok, that kept the charge of my sanctuary when the children of Israel went astray from me, they shall come near to me to minister unto me, and they shall stand before me to offer unto me the fat and the blood, saith the Lord GOD:
Eze 44:16  They shall enter into my sanctuary, and they shall come near to my table, to minister unto me, and they shall keep my charge.
Eze 44:17  And it shall come to pass, that when they enter in at the gates of the inner court, they shall be clothed with linen garments; and no wool shall come upon them, whiles they minister in the gates of the inner court, and within.
Eze 44:18  They shall have linen bonnets upon their heads, and shall have linen breeches upon their loins; they shall not gird themselves with any thing that causeth sweat.

Our ‘raiment’ is what covers us. As priests of Christ clean white linen clothes covers our sins. Clean white linen raiment is a type of “Christ in [us] the hope of glory” (Col 1:27). What clothes are covering each of us? White linen robes are said to be the righteousness of the saints.

Rev 3:18  I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.

Rev 19:8  And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.

Benjamin was given five changes of raiment. In type, Benjamin was given five times as much of Christ as any of his brothers. Both the food and the raiment joseph bestowed on his brother, Benjamin, are types of Christ and His Word. Benjamin was given five times more food than his brothers were given even though they were also Abraham’s seed. Joseph had not been stingy toward his ten brothers who had sold him into Egyptian slavery. Like the workers in the vineyard who had been hired first, Joseph’s ten elder brothers, who had been born first, were shown loving grace, but it was not given to them first, nor was it given in the abundance which was shown to Benjamin. Like the workers who came in at the 11^th hour, Benjamin was singled out for special attention. The number five has everything to do with God’s people. There were five wise and five foolish virgins, and they are all God’s people. But like Benjamin, the five wise virgins typify those who are given grace through faith first and most abundantly. In Mat 25 we are given the parable of the talents. The most favored servant was given “five talents.”

Mat 25:15 And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability; and straightway took his journey.

It is in God’s great grace and through Christ’s own faith that we are all brought through the chastening torment, of ‘fiery scorpions’ to Christ. Five months has nothing at all to do with five literal  months any more than five messes had anything to do with Benjamin’s appetite, or five changes of raiment had to do with Benjamin’s need for clothing. ‘Five months’ signifies the fact that God is “in this present time” (Rom 8:18) bringing His elect to their wits’ end through the symbolic torment of the symbolic “sting of a scorpion”. It takes a symbolic five months of being stung by scorpions to bring us “to [our] wits end”, before the Lord can then “bring [us] to our desired haven”:

9) Why cannot those who are tormented die as they wish?

9) Our final symbol is “they shall seek death and shall not find it.” What does that mean? Once again we can turn to Joseph’s brothers to show us the meaning of wanting to die but not being granted that wish. While we are not told Joseph’s brothers wanted to die we are told they feared dying all the years they were in Egypt while their father, Jacob, renamed Israel was still alive. Jacob signifies our own old man who has to die before we are delivered from the fear of death:

Gen 50:15  And when Joseph’s brethren saw that their father was dead, they said, Joseph will peradventure hate us, and will certainly requite us all the evil which we did unto him.
Gen 50:16  And they sent a messenger unto Joseph, saying, Thy father did command before he died, saying,
Gen 50:17  So shall ye say unto Joseph, Forgive, I pray thee now, the trespass of thy brethren, and their sin; for they did unto thee evil: and now, we pray thee, forgive the trespass of the servants of the God of thy father. And Joseph wept when they spake unto him.
Gen 50:18  And his brethren also went and fell down before his face; and they said, Behold, we be thy servants.
Gen 50:19  And Joseph said unto them, Fear not: for am I in the place of God?
Gen 50:20  But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.
Gen 50:21  Now therefore fear ye not: I will nourish you, and your little ones. And he comforted them, and spake kindly unto them.

It is not until after we want to die that we are granted the privilege of dying daily with Christ and being crucified with Him and being buried with Him in baptism. Only after we are tormented and “brought to our wits’ end,” through “the stinging of scorpions” are we found worthy to die with Christ and live in newness of a resurrected life.

Psa 107:24  These see the works of the LORD, and his wonders in the deep.
Psa 107:25  For he commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof.
Psa 107:26  They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths: their soul is melted because of trouble.
Psa 107:27  They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits’ end.
Psa 107:28  Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses.
Psa 107:29  He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still.
Psa 107:30  Then are they glad because they be quiet; so he bringeth them unto their desired haven.
Psa 107:31  Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!

We are one and all “brought to our wits’ end” at some point. That is the point at which the holy spirit takes over the throne of our heart and the man of sin begins to be destroyed with the brightness of His coming (2Th 2:8). But even then “judgment must begin at the house of God” (1Pe 4:17). Each storm we endure prepares us for the next trial as we “endure to the end… are being crucified with Christ… and dying daily.” (Mat 10:22; Gal 2:20; 1Co 15:31)

Rom 6:3  Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?
Rom 6:4  Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

Gal 2:20  I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

The stings of these scorpions are what bring us to despair of life and desire to die. It is in God’s mercy that we are granted that ability in spirit and we are able finally, only after five months of torment, to be baptized into Christ’s death and be raised with Him from among the spiritually dead, to walk in newness of life. A dead man is not tormented by scorpions, and those who “are [ being] crucified with Christ, are dying daily” with Him on His cross and no longer experience the hopelessness of being brought to their wits’ end. A person who is dying with Christ we now see a purpose in suffering and we rejoice in our trials:

1Pe 4:12  Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you:
1Pe 4:13  But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.

But it is a peaceful dying in which we rejoice in our trials, and rejoice that we have been counted worthy to suffer with Him because we know that we will also reign with Him.

Rom 8:17  And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint- heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.
Rom 8:18  For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

The inability to die begins to subside after the symbolic five months when we are granted a new mind which rejoices in being crucified with Christ, and can now begin to fill up what is behind of His afflictions in our own flesh for the sake of the church, which has rejected this straight and narrow way for the ‘smooth things’ like a rapture and never knowing God’s wrath upon our own sins and blasphemies.

Col 1:24  Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church:
Col 1:25  Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfil the word of God;
Col 1:26  Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints:
Col 1:27  To whom God would make known what [ is] the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:

Summary

1) Our first symbol was smoke, and we were reminded that smoke symbolizes that which darkens our sun and air, as do the desires of our flesh, and all the false doctrines which are so appealing to our flesh.

2) The second symbol was locusts, which come out of the smoke, and we saw that these locusts were used to destroy all that Egypt has produced within us. We saw that these locusts devour our substance and bring us into spiritual poverty and despair.

3) The third symbol is the earth. As we have seen so many times before, the ‘earth’ is God’s people who are living in rebellion against the ever present truths of God’s Word.
4) The fourth symbol is the power of these locusts to hurt those who dwell on the earth, with power as the scorpions of the earth have power. It is our own rebellious ways which chasten us, and it is our own sins and false doctrines which bring spiritual torments and spiritual bitterness and despair upon us.

Jer 2:19  Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee: know therefore and see that [ it is] an evil [ thing] and bitter, that thou hast forsaken the LORD thy God, and that my fear is not in thee, saith the Lord GOD of hosts.

5) The fifth symbol of this fifth trumpet is the grass, any green thing and trees which these locusts with the power of scorpions cannot hurt.  What we saw was that obedience to God’s doctrines and to His words removes the wrath of God upon us. The overcomers are this “grass, trees and any green thing” which cannot be hurt by these scorpion- like locusts which darken our sun and air and torment us as scorpions of the earth have power to “sting and torment”. Overcomers are not innately overcomers. Overcomers are those who were innately rebellious but were, by the grace of God, given to repent and do the things the Lord tells us to do. (Luk 6:46; Rom 9:15-16; Rev 15:2)

Joh 3:36  He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.

6) The sixth symbol is those men who do not have the seal of God in their foreheads. As unpopular as it is to have to say, we are all “the children of wrath” before we begin to “believe the Son.” So we are all hurt of these stinging locusts before we are granted  immunity from their power to sting and to hurt us.

Eph 2:1  And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;
Eph 2:2  Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:
Eph 2:3  Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature [by default] the children of wrath, even as others.

Col 3:5  Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:
Col 3:6  For which things’ sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience:
Col 3:7  In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them.

7)  The seventh symbol is their foreheads. We saw that both the mark of God, in the foreheads of those that sigh and cry for the abominations in Jerusalem of Ezekiel 9 and in the foreheads of the 144.00 of Rev 7, is the same mark. We also saw that the mark of the beast is also in the forehead, and that we all have ‘the mark of the beast… a whore’s forehead’ in our hearts and minds before we are given the thoughts and mind of  God “in our foreheads.”

Deu 6:6  And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart:
Deu 6:7  And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.
Deu 6:8  And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes.

Deu 11:16  Take heed to yourselves, that your heart be not deceived, and ye turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them;
Deu 11:17  And then the LORD’S wrath be kindled against you, and he shut up the heaven, that there be no rain, and that the land yield not her fruit; and lest ye perish quickly from off the good land which the LORD giveth you.
Deu 11:18  Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes.

It is the words and thoughts of our Lord which are His mark “as frontlets between our eyes” and as a “mark in our foreheads.”

8) The eighth symbol is “they shall be tormented five months.” We saw in this symbol that this torment lasts five months simply because it is connected with God’s chastening and scourging grace that is the stings of these locusts which drive us to our wits’ end and make us want to die to the things of this world.

Heb 12:5  And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him:
Heb 12:6  For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
Heb 12:7  If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?

9) Our final symbol is “they shall seek death and shall not find it.” We saw that this really is the revelation of Jesus Christ, and that Christ Himself was “weary even unto death,” and that according to Psa 107, we too, will be made “weary unto death.” But we will have to wait a symbolic five months before we are brought to the point that we are granted to be crucified with Him and in that way be relieved of that five months of torment:

Mat 10:39  He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.

We saw that once we relinquish this life and all of its false values, our own crucifixion with Christ (Gal2:20), and our “dying daily” with Christ (1Co 15:31) can actually come to be one of rejoicing in the certainty of our glorification with Him.

1Pe 4:12  Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial [dying daily] which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you:
1Pe 4:13  But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.

The mind of Christ can discern the things of the spirit which the natural mind cannot discern:

1Co 2:14  But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

Dying daily “by little and by little” (Deu 7:22) cannot be accepted by the natural mind as anything to “rejoice [in] inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings”. Neither is the natural man given the faith of Christ to “have respect unto the recompence of the reward as greater riches than the treasures of Egypt and better than the pleasures of sin for a season”.

Next week, Lord willing, we will learn more about the identity, the power, and the king of these locusts which come out of the bottomless pit and darken the sun and air.

Rev 9:7  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.
Rev 9:8  And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as the teeth of lions.
Rev 9:9  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.
Rev 9:10  And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and their power [ was] to hurt men five months.
Rev 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.