Rev 20:1-6 Those Who Have Part in the First Resurrection, Pt 3

[Study Aired June 20, 2025]

Rev 20:1  And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.
Rev 20:2  And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,
Rev 20:3  And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.
Rev 20:4  And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
Rev 20:5  But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.
Rev 20:6  Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.

In this study we are continuing to demonstrate what the scriptures reveal this “bottomless pit” is.

The sixth symbol of the fifth trumpet of Revelation 9 is the bottomless pit itself. Where and what is this thing called “the bottomless pit?” All of the commentaries think this pit and its smoke is speaking of some great false spiritual leader, and indeed it is. However, this great false spiritual leader isn’t interested in sitting in a physical temple. What He wants is the real throne of God within the real temple of God. So that is where we will all find him in our own appointed time; sitting on Christ’s throne within each of us, and it is there that this entire revelation is taking place, including the revelation of this ‘bottomless pit’.

John Gill’s Commentary is a very typical take on what this bottomless pit signifies:

“Rev 9:2 And he opened the bottomless pit,…. With the key that was given him; he made use of his universal power over all bishops and churches, enacted laws, issued out decrees, made articles of faith, and imposed them on men’s consciences, and obliged all to submit to his hellish principles and practices; and this, as it may be applied to Mahomet, the eastern antichrist, may regard the publishing of his Alcoran, and obliging all his followers to receive it as the infallible word of God.” (End Quote)

If ever we need to remember that we are to “read, hear and keep the things written therein,” it is as we consider what the scriptures mean by “the bottomless pit.” All the comments and commentaries, such as this comment by Gill, serve only to further the function of the smoke that comes from this thing called “the bottomless pit” blinding us from knowing what it signifies. The last thing in the world the Adversary wants us to know is the correct location and the Biblical understanding of where this “bottomless pit” is.

Some teach that this bottomless pit doesn’t even really exist until the beginning of the millennium, when Satan is cast into the bottomless pit and restrained for one thousand years. The first three verses of this 20^th chapter are quoted to make that point:

Rev 20:1 And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.
Rev 20:2 And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,
Rev 20:3 And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.

As we just witnessed, the first mention of this ‘bottomless pit’ is in Revelation 9 where an angel is given the key to this ‘bottomless pit’ and is permitted to “darken the sun and the air by means of the smoke that arises out of the pit.” As we discovered in our study of Revelation 9, the smoke which comes out of the bottomless pit by which the Sun and the air is darkened is the 200 million ‘locusts”, which signify the false doctrines of all the false churches which obscure “The Light” of “the Truth” of Christ’s doctrines.

If we search for the phrase ‘bottomless pit’, we will find it seven times in the King James’ Version, and all seven are found only here in the book of Revelation. Here are those seven entries. The first three are right here in this ninth chapter of Revelation:

1) Rev 9:1 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 [Greek: abussos] pit [Greek: phrear].

2) Rev 9:2 And he opened the bottomless [abussos] pit [phrear]; and there arose a smoke out of the pit [phrear], as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit [phrear].

3) 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.

4) Rev 11:7  And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them.

5) Rev 17:8  The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.

6) Rev 20:1  And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.

7) Rev 20:3  And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.

The Greek word for pit is ‘phrear,’ Strong’s number 5421. This word is also found a total of seven times in the New Testament. Of those seven entries, four of them are found right here in verses 1 and 2 of Revelation 9. They are all emboldened above. It is also translated as ‘pit’ in Luke 14.

Luk 14:5 And answered them, saying, Which of you shall have an ass or an ox fallen into a pit [Greek: phrear], and will not straightway pull him out on the sabbath day?

The remaining two entries are found in:

Joh 4:11 The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well [phrear] is deep: from whence then hast thou that living water?
Joh 4:12 Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well [phrear], and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle?

So the only time this Greek word ‘phrear’ or ‘pit’ or ‘well’ is used in this entire book of Revelation is in these two verses of Revelation 9. There is no ‘pit’ – the Greek word ‘phrear,’ Strong’s number 5421 – mentioned in any of the other five verses here in Revelation where we find the English phrase “bottomless pit.” The other five times this phrase ‘bottomless pit’ appears in the book of Revelation, it is translated from the single Greek word ‘abussos,’ Strong’s number 12.

What is so interesting and revealing, is that when we go to our concordance, we discover that the Greek word ‘abussos’ (Strong’s number 12, translated “bottomless pit”), appears more than seven times. This word ‘abussos’ actually appears nine times in scripture, and it is those two extra times where the meaning of “the bottomless pit” is made clear. Here is the first of those two very revealing entries.

Luk 8:31 And they [the demons named legion] besought him [Christ] that he would not command them to go out into the deep [Greek: abussos, the sea].

Before we get to the last remaining verse where the word abussos is found in the New Testament, let’s take note of what this verse in Luke 8:31 shows us about the world of demons. This verse reveals to us that demons, and all false spirits, much prefer to be enthroned in God’s church rather than to be sent out into the deep sea of all the uncalled masses of mankind. What newsman wants to be stuck with reporting on the lives of the common man, when he could be at the United Nations, reporting on the lives of the leaders of this world. Like all of us, demons want to be where the action is, and in the spirit world the action is where God’s people are either learning Truth or being deceived. Demons always seek to be preeminent and so do the children of the adversary, who are typified by religious leaders who do not like the doctrine of Christ:

Joh 8:44  Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

Mar 12:38  And he said unto them in his doctrine, Beware of the scribes, which love to go in long clothing, and love salutations in the marketplaces,
Mar 12:39  And the chief seats in the synagogues, and the uppermost rooms at feasts:

Where demons really prefer to be is in God’s very temple and sitting on the very throne of Christ, in the hearts and minds of God’s people:

Luk 20:45  Then in the audience of all the people he said unto his disciples,
Luk 20:46  Beware of the scribes, which desire to walk in long robes, and love greetings in the markets, and the highest seats in the synagogues, and the chief rooms at feasts;

1Co 3:16 Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?
1Co 3:17 If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.

Diotrephes was possessed of the spirit of the adversary:

3Jn 1:9  I wrote unto the church: but Diotrephes, who loveth to have the preeminence among them, receiveth us not.

Now let’s look at the only entry for this word abussos which we have not yet considered. It is this entry which will reveal to us where the ‘bottomless pit’ is located.

Rom 10:6 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]:)
Rom 10:7 Or, Who shall descend into the deep [abussos]? (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.)
Rom 10:8 But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach;

Notice how this Greek word ‘abussos’ or ‘deep’ is translated when we go back to the Old Testament and read the verse from where Romans 10:7 is quoted:

Deu 30:11 For this commandment which I command thee this day, it is not hidden from thee, neither is it far off.
Deu 30:12 It is not in heaven, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go up for us to heaven, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it?
Deu 30:13 Neither is it beyond the sea, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go over the sea for us, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it?
Deu 30:14 But the word [Christ] is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it.

So where is the abussos? Where and what is this thing referred to as “the bottomless pit?” The ‘abussos’, the bottomless pit, just like ‘heaven’ and just like the Word of God, is not way out beyond the milky way. Neither is it in the depth of the physical oceans and physical seas. The ‘abussos’ is within each of us, “in your mouth, and in your heart.” That is where “the abussos”, “the bottomless pit” is located, and that is where the smoke originates signifying all the self-righteous lies and false doctrines which “darken the sun and the air” in this fifth trumpet judgment of Revelation 9:1-12, which we are to “read, hear, and keep.”

So when we read in Revelation 20 that Satan is cast into the ‘abussos’ and is imprisoned with a great chain, he doesn’t ‘go’ anywhere. He is simply restrained under ‘house arrest’ in the very carnal minds of mankind, unable to lie to and manipulate mankind until the time appointed to be released from the ‘abussos’ and be commissioned as ‘the Lord’s hand’ to go forth and deceive the nations again. According to Deuteronomy 30, both the abussos and heaven are “very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart.”

What is the function of this symbolic “thousand years”?

Why does God imprison the adversary and give the kingdoms of this world over to the rulership of His elect for ‘a thousand years’ and then release Satan upon that very same world? What good or what purpose is accomplished by this time of ruling the kingdoms of the world and then releasing Satan to deceive the nations again?

The fact is that this thousand-year dominion of the Lord’s elect over the nations of this world is a work of our heavenly Father which is expedient in accomplishing His plan and purpose of saving “all in Adam.” Before we see what that plan and purpose is, we need to understand the spiritual significance of the number one thousand. One thousand is a multiple of the number ten, which our studies of numbers in scripture revealed to be the full blossom and the perfection of the flesh.

Spiritual Significance of the Number Ten

As we are told, even at its very pinnacle of perfection, flesh and blood are still nothing more than “corruption” which “cannot inherit the kingdom of God.”

1Co 15:50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.

So if the number ten signifies the perfection of the flesh with its ten plagues (Exo 7-11), its ten commandments ‘for the unrighteous’ (Exo 20, 1Ti 1:9), and its ten rebellions against God (Num 14:22), then what is the spiritual significance of one thousand? One thousand is just a multiple of ten, and it therefore signifies nothing more than an amplification of the perfection of our corruptible flesh. One thousand is in fact ten to the third power. Three, of course is the process of judgment, and that is exactly what we will see is the purpose, the function and the fruit of this symbolic one thousand years of the rulership with an odious rod of iron over the fleshly kingdoms of this world at the hands of God’s elect.

It requires the very spirit of Christ and His Father within us to keep reminding us that these very words are “within our mouths and in our hearts” and are addressed to “he that hath an ear” within the seven churches. It requires Christ Himself living within us to remind us that it is we who are told to “read, hear, and keep the things which are written in this prophecy.” The natural man cannot see how “all things are ours” (1Co 3:21-22), but the spirit gives us the “key of knowledge” which reveals to those who are given “eyes to see” that even this symbolic thousand years of the hegemony of the Lord’s firstfruit elect is part of our reward, even as the first resurrection is ours.

Here are those who will be in that most blessed event:

Rev 20:4 And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and [I saw] the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received [his] mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
Rev 20:5 But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This [those who rule with Christ for 1,000 years] is the first resurrection.
Rev 20:6 Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.

“This is the first resurrection.” What is the first resurrection? It is those who John sees sitting upon thrones. It is those who are given to judge this world with Christ for a thousand years and then “judge angels” in a lake of fire which follows this thousand-year reign of God’s elect overcomers. We will be learning more about this ‘lake of fire’ later in this same chapter.

1Co 6:2 Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? [for a thousand years] and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters?
1Co 6:3 Know ye not that we shall judge angels? [in the lake of fire] how much more things that pertain to this life?

The first resurrection is first because it is “the resurrection of life” Christ spoke of in John 5:27-29. It is the “blessed and holy… resurrection” for all those who had already been judged in “this present time” (Rom 8:18). Those in the first resurrection were the first to die to the carnal mind of their old man. The resurrection of those who first died in Christ was for those who were sometimes literally and sometimes symbolically “beheaded for their witness of Jesus and for the word of God.” The first resurrection is the resurrection of those who were granted to judge themselves here and now, thereby becoming those who are the first to be judged while still in these vessels of clay. The first resurrection is the resurrection of those who were first to lose their physical lives in favor of the promise of life in a spiritual body.

Matthew 10:39 is a principle which applies to every man in both the first and second resurrections:

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

All judgment is the Lord’s chastening which will teach all men the Lord’s righteousness:

Isa 26:8  Yea, in the way of thy judgments, O LORD, have we waited for thee; the desire of our soul is to thy name, and to the remembrance of thee.
Isa 26:9  With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early: for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.

1Co 11:31 For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.
1Co 11:32 But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned [ to the “great white throne judgment] with the world.

1Pe 4:17 For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?
1Pe 4:18 And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?

“Where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?” They will appear at a later judgment to be “chastened of the Lord” which is the very purpose and function of Biblical ‘judgment.’

“Which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands” does not mean that these overcomers had somehow figured out a way to avoid keeping the things written in this book concerning the worship, image, number and mark of the beast. We know that is not what this means because we are told we are all “marred in the Potter’s hand… shapen in iniquity, and conceived in sin” and that all men, “both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond” will worship this beast and that he will “overcome and kill the saints.” That is the first state of all flesh:

Psa 51:5 Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.

Jer 18:4 And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.

Rev 13:7 And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.

Rev 13:16 And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:

You and I are both “shapen in iniquity and conceived in sin.” We are all  “made of clay.” “Both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond” is all inclusive. So what does “had not worshiped the beast, neither his image, neither had received [his] mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands” mean (Rev 20:4)?

Here is what that means:

Rev 15:2 And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, [and] over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God.

If we are granted “the victory over the beast, his image, his mark, and the number of his name”, then it can be said that we “had not worshiped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands.”

If verse 4 tells us that the overcomers reign with Christ and His father for “a thousand years” and verse 6 tells us the overcomers will be “reigning priests of God for a thousand years”, it is obvious that all others will come up in the great white throne judgment which is destined to follow the “little season” of rebellion and worldwide deception which immediately follows this symbolic millennium. It is the “rod of iron” rulership which precipitates this rebellion, and this rebellion is expedient to give the Lord the occasion He is seeking to destroy all flesh and to bring the function of death to its much desired end, fulfilling this prophecy by the apostle Paul:

1Co 15:12  Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead? [The doctrine of Hymenaeus and Philetus, (2Ti 2:16-18)]
1Co 15:13  But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen:
1Co 15:14  And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain.
1Co 15:15  Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ: whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not.
1Co 15:16  For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised:
1Co 15:17  And if Christ be not raised, your faith is  vain; ye are yet in your sins.
1Co 15:18  Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished.
1Co 15:19  If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.
1Co 15:20  But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.
1Co 15:21  For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.
1Co 15:22  For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
1Co 15:23  But every man in his own order: Christ the [first of the] firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming [The second firstfruits, (Rev 14:4)].
1Co 15:24  Then cometh the end [The final harvest “at the end of the year”, (Exo 34:22)] when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.
1Co 15:25  For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet.
1Co 15:26  The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. [The great white throne judgment/lake of fire/second death is the destruction of death, (Rev 20:13-15)]
1Co 15:27  For he hath put all things under his feet. But when he saith all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted, which did put all things under him.
1Co 15:28  And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.
1Co 15:29  Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? why are they then baptized for the dead?
1Co 15:30  And why stand we in jeopardy every hour?
1Co 15:31  I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.
1Co 15:32  If after the manner of men I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advantageth it me, if the dead rise not? let us eat and drink; for to morrow we die.
1Co 15:33  Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners.
1Co 15:34  Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame.

If the dead rise not at all… why are we baptized for the hope of the dead (Rom 8:23-26)? If the dead are raised, then there must be a resurrection to life for those who are being judged in this age. If there is a resurrection to life, then there must also be a resurrection to judgment, and those two resurrections must be separated by a literal kingdom of God’s elect ruling over the kingdoms of this world, followed by a rebellion which will give the Lord the occasion (Jdg 14:4) He is seeking to destroy all flesh:

Rev 20:7  And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,
Rev 20:8  And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.
Rev 20:9  And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them. [“the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth”]

Next week, if the Lord wills, we will see what happens when the world is ruled by the Lord’s elect with a rod of iron for a thousand years and then given back over to Satan.

Rev 20:7 And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,
Rev 20:8 And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom [is] as the sand of the sea.
Rev 20:9 And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.
Rev 20:10 And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet [are], and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.

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Rev 11:7-14, Part 1 – The Beast Overcomes And Kills The 2 Witnesses

[Study Aired Nov 3, 2024]

Rev 11:7  And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them.
Rev 11:8  And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.
Rev 11:9  And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three days and an half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves.
Rev 11:10  And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another; because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth.
Rev 11:11  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.
Rev 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.
Rev 11:13  And the same hour was there a great earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell, and in the earthquake were slain of men seven thousand: and the remnant were affrighted, and gave glory to the God of heaven.
Rev 11:14  The second woe is past; and, behold, the third woe cometh quickly.

Introduction

The “beast… ascends out of the bottomless pit”, which is “the abussos”, G12, in the Greek. We have demonstrated that the bottomless pit signifies the abyss or the sea of flesh from which we are all drawn.

Rev 13:1  And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.

This ‘abussos’ is the flesh and its desires which are within all men, including the flesh of the two witnesses. If that really is true, how then is it possible that the two witnesses can “ascend up out of the bottomless pit”, the ‘abussos’ and “rise up out of the sea… [G2281, ‘thalassa’], finish their testimony” and still be killed by “the beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit”? ‘Abussos’, and ‘thalassa’ are two Greek words for the same thing, the sea. We covered this subject of the bottomless pit in our study of Rev 9 and will not repeat that study here, except to reread that verse and to remind ourselves that the bottomless pit is in us all by nature, and the smoke from that pit darkens the sun and the air in every generation of mankind, including each of us in our own order.

Rev 9:1  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.
Rev 9:2  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.

As we consider these verses here in Rev 11, we once again just naturally slip into the frame of mind of the natural man who can only see one event following another, chronologically, instead of seeing the words of God from a heavenly perspective as spiritual words, which are unchanging and always applicable in every generation of mankind.

Mal 3:6  For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.

What “I change not” means is that the words of God apply to every generation, so that “the beast [is] ascending out of the bottomless pit” in every generation of mankind. The bottomless pit within us is being destroyed by the brightness of the knowledge of Christ and His Words and doctrines coming into our hearts and minds. But as that ‘bottomless pit’ is destroyed within the two witnesses in every generation since Christ, it is also simultaneously being strengthened and perpetuated in the next generation of those who are even now rejecting that very same witness to the testimony of the words of Jesus Christ, as those words continue to proceed out of the mouth of the two witnesses of every generation. As an example of this, Christ was asked if Elijah would return before the coming of the Messiah. Here is His answer:

Mat 17:10  And his disciples asked him, saying, Why then say the scribes that Elias must first come?
Mat 17:11  And Jesus answered and said unto them, Elias truly shall first come, and restore all things.
Mat 17:12  But I say unto you, That Elias is come already, and they knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they listed. Likewise shall also the Son of man suffer of them.
Mat 17:13  Then the disciples understood that he spake unto them of John the Baptist.

What it all amounts to is the simple fact that we all live the life of the first Adam, with all that is within him, and then in God’s own “predestinated” time and mercy, we will also live the life of the Second Adam, the life of Christ, with all that is in Him. What is so little understood is the fact that this is all accomplished within us and is expressed in prophecy in types and shadows, in signs and symbols and in parables. What is so little understood is that God’s elect are not exempt from one single word of God. “All things are ours…, it is near…, even at the door…, this generation shall not pass till all these things be fulfilled” is true in every man of God, in every generation of mankind (1Co 3:21-22; Mat 24:34-35), “each in his own order”:

1Co 15:22  For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
1Co 15:23  But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.

All men will die to their old man, but we will all experience that ‘death’… in [our] own order”.

Those who “die daily (1Co 15:31), offer [their] bodies as a living sacrifice (Rom 12:1), [and are] crucified with Christ” (Gal 2:20), in “this present time” (Rom 8:18), die first and will not “be hurt of the second death” (Rev 2:11), and ‘the second death will have no power over them’ (Rev 20:6) because they have already fulfilled that experience “in this present time”. Those who have died to their old man and all of his desires in this present time do so because they are given to be judged in this present time:

1Co 11:31  For if we would judge ourselves [in this present time], we should not be judged [at the great white throne judgment].
1Co 11:32  But when we are judged [now in this present time], we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world [to the great white throne judgment of all the rest of mankind].

1Pe 4:17  For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? [They will be judged at the great white throne/ lake of fire/ second death, judgment.]

That is why Christ tells us:

Joh 5:28  Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice,
Joh 5:29  And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life [in the first resurrection at the beginning of the thousand year reign of “our Lord and His Christ”, Rev 11:15 and Rev 20:5-6]; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation [G2920, ‘krisis’, judgment, the great white throne judgment of Rev 20:11].

These New Testament statements are based upon this revelation found throughout the Old Testament:

Ecc 9:2 All things come alike to all: there is one event to the righteous, and to the wicked; to the good and to the clean, and to the unclean; to him that sacrificeth, and to him that sacrificeth not: as is the good, so is the sinner; and he that sweareth, as he that feareth an oath.
Ecc 9:3  This is an evil among all things that are done under the sun, that there is one event unto all: yea, also the heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and madness is in their heart while they live, and after that they go to the dead.

The apostles of Christ remained faithful to the testimony of Jesus Christ to the end of their “course [Greek, aion – age] of this world”. But before they were made to be faithful, they too, “were by nature children of wrath, who denied him with an oath, and persecuted His disciples.”

Eph 2:2  Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course [Greek, aion, age] 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 the children of wrath, even as others.
Eph 2:4  But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,
Eph 2:5  Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)
Eph 2:6  And hath raised [us] up together, and made [us] sit together in heavenly [places] in Christ Jesus:
Eph 2:7  That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in [his] kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.

Mat 26:73  And after a while came unto him they that stood by, and said to Peter, Surely thou also art one of them; for thy speech bewrayeth thee.
Mat 26:74 Then began he to curse and to swear, saying, I know not the man. And immediately the cock crew.

Act 9:1  And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest,

“In time past you [and I] walked according to the age of this world”:

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 the children of wrath, even as others.

But Christ did not die just for those who were alive in His days. He died for all men of all time, and He prayed specifically for all those who would hear the words of those who believed on Him through the testimony of His disciples:

Joh 17:20  Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word;

So Christ’s disciples endure from generation to generation, and in this manner the two witnesses endure from generation to generation.

But this “My Words shall not pass away” principle is also true for “the children of disobedience” who “are of their father the devil”, which is just another name for the beast that “ascends out of the bottomless pit”. In every generation he too, will ascend out of the bottomless pit and will be killing God’s two witnesses who are tormenting them that are upon the earth.

We must remember that those two witnesses are symbols of all who witness for Christ in every age of mankind. We need to remember that the great city wherein our Lord was crucified, is later in this book called “Babylon the great”, where the blood of all of the saints, meaning the blood of Christ, is found.

Isa 1:21  How is the faithful city become an harlot! it was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it; but now murderers.

Rev 18:24  And in her [“Babylon the great, the mother of harlots”] was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth.

“The blood of the prophets and saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth” certainly includes Christ, and all those who are in Him. We are both those murderers first, and later we become those who are murdered and are killed by the harlot of chapters 17 and 18. So then “Babylon the great” is the type of God’s harlot church, and the symbols which explain all of this prophecy are all taken from the Old Testament scriptures concerning God’s own people as they turn themselves away from their own Lord.

Isa 1:1  The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.
Isa 1:2  Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for the LORD hath spoken, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me.

In the same chapter, only 8 verses later, we read:

Isa 1:10  Hear the word of the LORD, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah.

Still speaking of “the vision… concerning Judah and Jerusalem”, in this same chapter we read this.

Isa 1:21 How is the faithful city become an harlot! it was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it; but now murderers.

These are words proceeding from the mouth of God which we must live by (Mat 4:4, Luk 4:4). Our flesh, in turn, by the grace of God, will then be ‘killed daily’, and will die daily (1Co 15:50), by the fire of the mouth of the two witnesses. That fire is, of course, the spirit, which is “the words which Christ speaks to us” (Jer 5:14 and Joh 6:63). Here is the result of that fire:

1Co 15:31  I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.

Rom 6:3  Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?

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.

As we saw in our last study, the death of the ‘two witnesses’ was ‘read of, heard of, and kept’ by those who first read the sayings of the words of this prophecy in the day John put these words to paper and pen:

Rev 11:7  And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them.
Rev 11:8  And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.

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.

This entire 11th chapter is just a part of “those things which are written therein” which we must be read, hear and keep. All who are given the grace to do so will “keep the words of this prophecy for the time is at hand” to do so (Rev 1:3). This entire prophecy does nothing less than expand upon the words of the Lord’s prophecy of Mat 24, which makes the same point.

Mat 24:15  When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand: )

Only if God grants us “eyes that see, and ears which [can] hear” that we are that beast within “the holy place”, and we are that “man of sin” who sets himself up as God within that “temple of God”, will we ever know what is meant by the words “whoso reads let him understand… for the time is at hand”.

Mat 24:15  When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand: )

Mat 24:32  Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh:
Mat 24:33  So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.
Mat 24:34  Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.

2Th 2:3  Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come [the day of Christ’s coming to His temple within us], except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
2Th 2:4  Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
2Th 2:5  Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?

None of the apostles changed their doctrine from church to church. What Paul taught these Thessalonians “when he was yet with them” was that “you are the temple of God and the spirit of God dwells in you”, which is what he had also taught the Corinthians (1Co 3:16-17). This inward ‘temple of God’ is the same ‘temple’ Paul had in mind when he said this to these Thessalonian Christians:

2Th 2:3  Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
2Th 2:4  Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
2Th 2:5  Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things? [That “ye are the temple of God”]

Therefore these Thessalonians knew exactly what Paul meant by these words:

2Th 2:6  And now ye know what withholdeth [our crucifixion by this world with Christ, and our resurrection with Christ] that he [the man of sin] might be revealed in his time.

Gen 15:16  But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full. [When ‘the iniquity of our old man is full’ then Christ comes to destroy him]

2Th 2:7  For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth [Greek, withholds the coming of Christ] will let [will withhold the coming of Christ, as revealed in the next two verses], until he be taken out of the way.
2Th 2:8  And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:
2Th 2:9  Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,
2Th 2:10  And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
2Th 2:11  And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:
2Th 2:12  That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

“They that believed not the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness” is first our own ‘old man’. 2Th 2:6 is fulfilled in Rev 11, when the two witnesses are killed by “the beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit when their testimony is finished”. You and I have been that beast which is doing the killing of those witnesses, and you and I in turn become those two witnesses who will be killed by that beast.

In this case, our ‘death’ is not the “dying daily” death of our old man. In this story our death “in the street of the great city” is “the savor of death” which we are to “the beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit”. This is where you and I are at this very moment in the eyes and the nostrils of those in the great city of Babylon:

2Co 2:14 Now thanks be to God, Who always gives us a triumph in Christ, and is manifesting the odor of His knowledge through us in every place,
2Co 2:15 for we are a fragrance of Christ to God, in those who are being saved and in those who are perishing:
2Co 2:16 to these [those “in the street of that great city”], indeed, [we are] an odor of death for death, yet to those [in Christ we are] an odor of life for life. And for this who is competent?
2Co 2:17 For we are not as the majority, who are peddling the word of God, but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God in Christ, are we speaking. (CLV)

It is “all [who are] in Adam [who suffer the curse of] strong delusion [and who] believe a lie”. “All in Adam includes you and I who have “in times past” been sent that “strong delusion and [have] believed the lies” of Babylon, and have spiritually killed God’s witnesses and left their dead bodies unburied “in the street of the great city… where also our Lord was crucified”.

Rev 11:9  And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three days and an half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves.
Rev 11:10  And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another; because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth.

As we saw last week, we are “the earth”, and we are “those who dwell on the earth” and who rejoice and send gifts to one another to celebrate our liberty from having to hear the words of these men of God. But the rejoicing of our flesh over the man of the spirit is soon turned to sorrow when we witness our resurrection with Christ “in the days of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound”.

Rev 11:11  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.
Rev 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. (Eph 2:6)
Rev 11:13  And the same hour was there a great earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell, and in the earthquake were slain of men seven thousand: and the remnant were affrighted, and gave glory to the God of heaven.

Here is why we rejoice at the death of God’s elect. Here is how we are sent the “strong delusion” which causes us all to rejoice at the death of the true witnesses of Christ. This is how God sends His wrath upon us while we are “abiding in His wrath”. This is the reason why we never realize that we are deceived until we “look behind” ourselves to see this great revelation:

Psa 78:49 He cast upon them the fierceness of his anger, wrath, and indignation, and trouble, by sending evil angels among them.

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.

So when we read [with understanding] about all the plagues of God’s wrath which are cast upon the earth in the seals, trumpets and vials, we now know how that is being done. “He casts upon us the fierceness of His anger, wrath, and indignation, and trouble by sending evil angels among them”.

But those evil angels do not appear to be evil angels:

2Co 11:14  And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.
2Co 11:15  Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.

The symbols of these verses

So here are the symbols of verses 7-14:

1) The two witnesses finishing their testimony,
2) The beast ascending out of the bottomless pit making war against and
3) Killing Christ’s two witnesses,
4) Their dead bodies lying unburied,
5) In the street of the great city which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt,
6) Where also our Lord was crucified,
7) The people, kindreds, tongues and nations,
8) See their dead bodies,
9) Three days and an half, and do not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves.
10) Rather they rejoice over the death of Christ’s two witnesses, and send gifts one to another, celebrating the fact that these witnesses of Christ, who had been tormenting them, were at this time as good as dead, having no effect in the streets of the great city wherein also our Lord was crucified.
11) But after three and one half days, God’s witnesses are raised from their state of death,
12) Causing great fear to fall on those who see them.
13) At this point the two witnesses hear a voice from heaven telling them to “Come up here”, and so they
14) “Ascend up to heaven in a cloud, and their enemies see that they have done so.
15) It is at this point that there is a great earthquake, and the entire event begins to be repeated again, as
16) A tenth part of the city falls and
17) Seven thousand men are killed in that earthquake, and the remnant are frightened, and give glory to the God of heaven.

Having established that these are words which are for those who are given to “understand what we read” (Mat 24:15), and having established that those who read and hear are to keep these words (Rev 1:3), we will now simply list each symbol and the scriptures which define how that symbol is to be understood and kept.

1) The two witnesses finishing their testimony, like all of these symbols and indeed all of God’s Word, is something which is always “near, even at the doors, and does not pass away”.

Mat 24:32  Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh:
Mat 24:33  So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.
Mat 24:34  Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.
Mat 24:35  Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.

So it is we who first, by believing the doctrines of “many false prophets”…

2) … ascend out of the bottomless pit, within us, to make spiritual warfare with the truths which proceed from the mouths of God’s witnesses.

Eph 6:10  Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.
Eph 6:11  Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
Eph 6:12  For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high [places].

By simply withstanding the testimony of the two witnesses, which we all do while believing and teaching the doctrines of Babylon, we are thereby guilty of:

3) … killing God’s two witnesses. We need not kill any one literally, and the two witnesses are not literally two in number, neither do they need to be literally killed to “keep the things which are written therein”. Here is all that must take place literally for these verses to be spiritually lived out and spiritually kept by us all:

1Jn 3:15  Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.

4) If we hate the doctrine of the Lord’s witnesses then we have murdered them and their dead bodies lie unburied, because at this time in our lives, the word of God, which commands us to love our enemies (Mat 5:44), and bury our dead (Deu 21:23), and to bless and curse not (Rom 12:14), means nothing at all to us in our self-righteous, rebellious condition. God’s commandments are all ignored in favor of gloating over our physical dominance over the witnesses of God’s Word , while we are in great Babylon. The phrases “their dead bodies shall lie in the street of that great city” and “shall not suffer their bodies to be put in graves”, are both a type and a shadow of rebellion against the commandments of God which requires these things of us. Burying our dead is spiritually the sign and symbol of forgiving our enemies. We use the English phrase to this very day, “Let’s bury the hatchet”, and we simply cannot, at first, do so.

Deu 21:22  And if a man have committed a sin worthy of death, and he be to be put to death, and thou hang him on a tree:
Deu 21:23 His body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but thou shalt in any wise bury him that day; (for he that is hanged is accursed of God that thy land be not defiled, which the LORD thy God giveth thee [for] an inheritance.

5) “In the street of the great city which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt” is the city of God within us which has spiritually rebelled against His rulership and His commandments and has become a harlot (Isa 1:21). Both ‘Sodom and Egypt’ typify each of us as we are smarting under the rulership of our first love.

Isa 1:21  How is the faithful city become an harlot! it was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it; but now murderers. [Haters of The Truth, 1Jn 3:15, and those who bring us that Truth]

Lot, who was Abraham’s nephew and the son of Abraham’s own brother, typifies our own flesh before we become Abraham. Lot typifies us as we “pitch our tent toward Sodom” and eventually end up sitting in the gate of Sodom, judging Sodom, being grieved with the sins of Sodom, and attempting to save and improve a doomed city, which in the end we, having become Abraham, are forced to “come out of” and stand afar off and watch the smoke of spiritual Sodom arise from the fields of the plains. That is the spiritual significance of calling the city where our Lord was crucified, Sodom.

Gen 13:12  Abram dwelled in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelled in the cities of the plain, and pitched his tent toward Sodom.

Gen 19:28  And he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain, and beheld, and, lo, the smoke of the country went up as the smoke of a furnace.

Isa 1:8  And the daughter of Zion is left as a cottage in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city.
Isa 1:9  Except the LORD of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah.
Isa 1:10  Hear the word of the LORD, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah.

Rev 18:15  The merchants of these things, which were made rich by her, shall stand afar off for the fear of her torment, weeping and wailing,
Rev 18:16  And saying, Alas, alas, that great city, that was clothed in fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, and decked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls!
Rev 18:17  For in one hour so great riches is come to nought. And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off,
Rev 18:18  And cried when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, What city is like unto this great city. [“Spiritually called Sodom and Egypt”, Rev 11:8]

As Israel, God’s first born Son, we cry out to be delivered from Egypt, but just as Lot had come out of the land of the Chaldeans just to “pitch his tent towards Sodom,” so too, as God’s Israel, we must come out of Egypt, just to end up rebelling against God “ten times” and wanting to return to Egypt.

Num 14:3  And wherefore hath the LORD brought us unto this land, to fall by the sword, that our wives and our children should be a prey? were it not better for us to return into Egypt?
Num 14:4  And they said one to another, Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt.

Num 14:22  Because all those men which have seen my glory, and my miracles, which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tempted me now these ten times, and have not hearkened to my voice;

Hos 11:1  When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt.
Hos 11:2  As they called them, so they went from them: they sacrificed unto Baalim, and burned incense to graven images.

We are the ones described by these phrases: “Let us return to Egypt… and [you] have not listened to my voice… and burned incense to graven images”. That is the spiritual significance of God revealing to us that we are first “spiritually called Sodom and Egypt”. Here once again is what Isaiah said of Jerusalem in his day:

Isa 1:21  How is the faithful city become an harlot! it was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it; but now murderers.

Notice that it does say… “the faithful city”, just as Christ says “They have received… the words you gave me” just before the apostles forsake Him and leave Him to suffer His fate on the cross:

Joh 17:8  For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee,

The point of all scripture is that all men are first unfaithful, before the Lord causes them to be faithful.

We will pause at this point and continue our study of these verses concerning the Lord’s faithful witnesses in our next scheduled meeting.

Rev 9-1-2 Part 2 Of The Fifth Trumpet

[Study Aired August 4, 2024]

Rev 9:1  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.
Rev 9:2  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.

Here are the last two paragraphs of our last study:

If you search for the phrase ‘bottomless pit’, you will find it seven times in the King James Version, and all seven are found only in the book of Revelation. The first is right here in this ninth chapter of Revelation.

We will pause our study here, and we will examine the verses which contain the words “bottomless pit” in our next study. It is very revealing to discover that the Greek, G5421, ‘phrear’ translated ‘pit’ appears in only two of these seven entries containing the phrase ‘bottomless pit’

That is what we will do in this study. We will examine the seven verses containing the phrase ‘the bottomless pit’, and Lord willing we will come away knowing what the scriptures reveal to be this bottomless pit.

Here are those seven entries:

The first is right here in this ninth chapter of Revelation:

1) Rev 9:1 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 [G12. ‘abussos’, deep] pit [G5421, ‘phrear’ pit, well].

2) Rev 9:2 And he opened the bottomless [G12, ‘abussos’, deep] pit [G5421, ‘phrear’, pit or well]; and there arose a smoke out of the pit [G5421, ‘phrear’ pit or well], as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit.

3) Rev 9:11 And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, [Single Greek word, G12, ‘abussos’, deep] whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon [ Hebrew- Destroyer- Strong’s number 11], but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon.

4) Rev 11:7 And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit [G12, ‘abussos’, deep] shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them.

5) Rev 17:8 The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit [G12, ‘abussos’, deep], and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.

6) Rev 20:1 And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit [G12, ‘abussos’, deep] and a great chain in his hand.

Rev 20:2 And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,

7) Rev 20:3 And cast him into the bottomless pit [G12, ‘abussos’, deep], and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.

What do we see here with these seven verses containing the words ‘bottomless pit?’ What we see when we go to our concordance, is that the Greek word for ‘pit’,  [G5421, ‘phrear’ pit, well] appears only two times in these seven verses. Here once again are the only two times this word, G5421, ‘phrear’, pit, well] appears in this entire “revelation of Jesus Christ”, and it is used in conjunction with the word ‘abussos’ both times.

Let’s examine each of these entries and let the scriptures tell us what this phrase signifies. The first two entries are these first two verses of this ninth chapter of Revelation:

1) Rev 9:1 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 [ Greek, abussos] pit [ Greek, phrear].

2) Rev 9:2 And he opened the bottomless [ abussos] pit [ phrear]; and there arose a smoke out of the pit [ phrear], as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit [ phrear].

The Greek word for ‘pit’ in these two verses is ‘phrear,’ Strong’s number 5421. This Greek word is also found a total of seven times in the New Testament. Of those seven entries, four of them are found right here in verses one and two of Rev 9. They are all emboldened above. It appears a fifth time translated as ‘pit’ in Luk 14.

Luk 14:5  And answered them, saying, Which of you shall have an ass or an ox fallen into a pit [G5421, ‘phrear’], and will not straightway pull him out on the sabbath day?

The remaining two entries are found in…

Joh 4:11  The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well [phrear] is deep: from whence then hast thou that living water?
Joh 4:12  Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well [G5421, phrear], and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle?

So the only time this Greek word ‘phrear’ or ‘pit’ or ‘well’ is used in this entire book of Revelation, is in these two verses of Rev 9, which we are now considering. There is no ‘pit’; the Greek word ‘phrear,’ Strong’s number 5421, mentioned in any of the other five verses here in the revelation of Jesus Christ, where we find this English phrase “bottomless pit.” The other five times this phrase ‘bottomless pit’ appears in the book of Revelation, it is translated from the single Greek word ‘abussos,’ Strong’s number 12.

What is so interesting and revealing is that when we go to our concordance, we discover that the Greek word ‘abussos’ (Strong’s number 12, translated “bottomless pit”) appears more than seven times. This word ‘abussos’ appears nine times in scripture, and it is those two extra times where the meaning of “the bottomless pit” is made clear. Here is the first of those two very revealing entries.

Luk 8:31 And they [ the demons named legion] besought him [ Christ] that he would not command them to go out into the deep [ G12, ‘abussos’, the sea].

Before we get to the last remaining verse where the word abussos is found in the New Testament, let’s take note of what this verse in Luk 8:31 shows us about the world of demons. This verse reveals to us that demons and all false spirits much prefer to be enthroned in God’s church rather than to be sent out into the deep sea of all the uncalled masses of mankind. What newsman wants to be stuck with reporting on the lives of Chinese peasants, when he could be at the United Nations reporting on the lives of the leaders of this world. Like all of us, demons want to be where the action is, the action is where God’s people are being deceived. Demons seek rest in dry places on ‘the earth’, God’s people (Jer 22:29), which have been pushed up out of the sea. Demons really prefer to be in God’s very temple and sitting on the very throne of Christ, where Christ will give them “no rest”:/p

Mat 12:43 When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none.
Mat 12:44  Then he saith, I will return into my house from whence I came out; and when he is come, he findeth [ it] empty, swept, and garnished.
Mat 12:45  Then goeth he, and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there: and the last [ state] of that man is worse than the first. Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation.

Luk 11:24 When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest; and finding none, he saith, I will return unto my house whence I came out.

1Co 3:16  Know ye not that ye are the temple of God [“dry places” sought by evil spirits], and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?
1Co 3:17  If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.

Demons “walk through dry places” simply because they do not like ‘the deep’. They very much prefer ‘dry places’ where they can find rest and feel at home, just as Christ ought to feel at home within each of us.

Now let’s look at the only entry for this word abussos which we have not yet considered. It is this entry which will reveal to us where the ‘bottomless pit’ is located.

Rom 10:6 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]:)
Rom 10:7 Or, Who shall descend into the deep [ abussos]? (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.)
Rom 10:8 But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach;

Christ has just informed us that both ‘heaven’ and “the deep”, the ‘abussos’, are within us… “even in thy heart and in thy mouth…”

Now notice how this Greek word ‘abussos’ or ‘deep’ is translated when we go back to the Old Testament and read the verse from where Rom 10:7 is quoted:

Deu 30:11 For this commandment which I command thee this day, it is not hidden from thee, neither is it far off.
Deu 30:12 It is not in heaven, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go up for us to heaven, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it?
Deu 30:13 Neither is it beyond the sea, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go over the sea for us, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it?
Deu 30:14 But the word [ Christ] is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it.

So where is the abussos? Where and what is this thing referred to as “the bottomless pit?” The ‘abussos’, the bottomless pit, just like ‘heaven’, is not way out beyond the milky way. Neither is it in the depth of the physical oceans and physical seas. The ‘abussos’, just like heaven, is within each of us, “In your mouth, and in your heart.” That is where “the bottomless pit” is located and that is from whence comes the smoke to “darken the sun and the air” in this fifth trumpet judgment which we are to “read, hear and keep.

When we read in Rev 20 that Satan is cast into the ‘abussos’ and is imprisoned with a great chain, he doesn’t ‘go’ anywhere. He is simply restrained and is under ‘house arrest’ until the time appointed to be released from the ‘abussos’ and be commissioned to go forth and deceive the nations again. According to Deu 30, both the abussos and heaven are “very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart.”

What does this great furnace signify?

7) The seventh symbol is the smoke of “a great furnace.” What is this great furnace? It happens to be “a furnace of both iron and earth,” as we will see. Both are types of the image of the first man Adam. It is in this “great furnace” that the fire of God’s Word does its purifying work of burning out all that will burn, and it is in this “great furnace” that God’s words are being purified and lived out. Here is the simple Biblical definition of this “great furnace.”

Gen 15:12  And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, an horror of great darkness fell upon him.
Gen 15:13  And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years;
Gen 15:14  And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance.
Gen 15:15  And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age.
Gen 15:16  But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.
Gen 15:17  And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces.
Gen 15:18  In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates:

“When the sun went down and it was dark” signifies the “darkening of the sun and the air.” It is then that we enter into that “great furnace” that “a horror of great darkness, falls upon” us all because we begin to see with “a burning lamp” that we are mere slaves in Egypt and we begin to cry out to the Lord for deliverance:

Exo 2:23  And it came to pass in process of time, that the king of Egypt died: and the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up unto God by reason of the bondage.

Exo 3:7  And the LORD said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows;

It is during this time in our “experience of evil” when this ‘great furnace’ generates the smoke which darkens the sun and the air and keeps us in bondage to “that nation whom we shall serve”. But at the predestined, appointed and due time, “when the iniquity of the Amorites” is filled up within us, “at the time appointed of the Father”, we will no longer be in bondage to the elements of this world, and we will come out of Egypt and do so “with great substance”.

It is no coincidence that “a smoking furnace and a burning lamp, are the symbols of both the third and fifth trumpets of the revelation of Jesus Christ:

Rev 8:10  And the third angel sounded, and there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters;

Rev 9:2  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.

Here is the “iron furnace” from which “smoke darkens the Sun and the air” through which we all must pass before we can become the children of light and the sons of God.

Deu 4:20  But the LORD hath taken you, and brought you forth out of the iron furnace, even out of Egypt, to be unto him a people of inheritance, as ye are this day.

Iron is the symbol of the legs and feet of the great image of Nebuchadnezzar, which image was destroyed by the stone that was cut out of the mountain without hands. The mystery of the bottomless pit, is no mystery at all when we know what the furnace is, out of which the smoke that darkens the sun and the air, comes. Great heat and a fiery combustion in a “furnace of iron” must precede the spiritual process of purification. The whole orthodox Christian world recognizes that Egypt symbolizes the world within us, and it is only through that “furnace of iron” and being made to “cry out to the Lord” that we are delivered from that world within.

Here is what a furnace accomplishes in our lives.

Pro 17:3  The fining pot is for silver, and the furnace for gold: but the LORD trieth the hearts.

Now notice where God’s fiery words are said to be purified.

Psa 12:6  The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.

We are that “furnace of earth” and every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God will be purified within us even as it purifies us through the seven seals, trumpets and vials of His wrath. Here is this same message in the parable of the sower and the tares.

Mat 13:37  He answered and said unto them, He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man;
Mat 13:38  The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked [ one];
Mat 13:39  The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels.
Mat 13:40  As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world. [G65, ‘aion’, age]
Mat 13:41  The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity;
Mat 13:42  And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth
Mat 13:43  Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.

We are the furnace of iron through which Egypt is burned up and destroyed. We are the furnace for the gold through which God tries our hearts. We are the furnace in which those tares are burned up. And we are the great furnace which produces “smoke, by reason of the pit”, the “smoke of a great furnace [which] darkens the sun and the air” which are also within us.

What is the air?

9) Finally, the ninth and last symbol of the first two verses of this fifth trumpet is the air that is also darkened by the smoke of the pit. What scripturally is the air? I wondered for many years what this verse meant:

1Th 4:17  Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

Meeting the Lord in the air sounded fine. But shouldn’t we go somewhere and do something after that? “So shall we ever be with the Lord,” just sounded a bit anticlimactic, and indeed, if we dwelt with the Lord in the literal ‘air’ that really would be anticlimactic.

There are two words translated as ‘air’ in the New Testament. The word here in Rev 9 is the Greek word ‘aer’, Strong’s number G109. The other, far more common word is ‘ouranos’, G3772, heavens].

Here is how that word ‘ouranos’ is used by our Lord.

Luk 13:18  Then said he, Unto what is the kingdom of God like? and whereunto shall I resemble it?
Luk 13:19  It is like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and cast into his garden; and it grew, and waxed a great tree; and the fowls of the air [ ouranos, heavens] lodged in the branches of it.

To understand the true Biblical meaning of “the air” and the air being darkened by the smoke from the bottomless pit, we must as always, place line upon line and precept upon precept.

With that principle in mind let’s look at Eph 2:2, and notice that the Greek word ‘aer’ is translated into our English word ‘air’ in this verse.

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 [G109, ‘aer’, air], the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:

So “the prince of the power of the ‘aer,’ is “the spirit that works in the children of disobedience.”  If we now carry the concept that the children of disobedience, are subject to the prince of the power of the air, over into the parable of the sower, we will find that it is “the wicked one” who “catcheth away that which was sown in his heart.”

So now we know that whether the Greek word behind the English word ‘air’ is the word ‘aer’ or the word ‘ouranos’, it does not matter, because “the wicked one” is, at this time, in both the ‘aer’ and the ‘ouranos.’ We know that to be true because of this verse and many others which confirm this to be so.

Eph 6:12 for it is not ours to wrestle with blood and flesh, but with the sovereignties, with the authorities, with the world- mights of this darkness, with the spiritual forces of wickedness among the celestials [ Greek, epouranios, the heavens].

The single most common phrase in scripture, containing the word ‘air’ in both the Old and the New Testaments, is the phrase “the fowls of the air.” Here is the first appearance of this phrase “fowls of the air” from both the Old and the New Testaments respectively.

Gen 1:26  And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

Mat 6:26  Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?

While the dove is a “fowl of the air” which brings the olive leaf back to the ark and descends from heaven and rests upon Christ, nevertheless, what is it that Christ Himself tells us “the fowls of the air” generally represent? If we can discover the meaning of the fowls of the air, then even though there are two Greek words for ‘air’, we should be able to understand what “the air” that is darkened by the smoke of the bottomless pit, means, because Eph 2:2, among many other verses, has tied both of those Greek words together.

Here now is what Christ tells us “the fowls of the air” signify. It is found in His interpretation of the symbols which He used in the parable of the sower. Notice what Christ says happens to the “seed that falls by the way side.” Here is the part of that parable which mentions the fowls of the air.

Mat 13:1  The same day went Jesus out of the house, and sat by the sea side.
Mat 13:2  And great multitudes were gathered together unto him, so that he went into a ship, and sat; and the whole multitude stood on the shore.
Mat 13:3  And he spake many things unto them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower went forth to sow;
Mat 13:4  And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, and the fowls came and devoured them up:

Who does Christ say the fowl of the air symbolize?

Mat 13:18 Hear ye therefore the parable of the sower.
Mat 13:19 When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which received seed by the way side.

By Christ’s own words “the wicked one” is signified by the fowls of the air.

But what is the air itself? To whom has the “air” of this present world been given? Here are those who have been given the power of the air at this time.

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:

The last vial of the seven last plagues, is not poured out into our earth. Instead it is poured out “into the air”.

Rev 16:17  And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done.
Rev 16:18  And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, [ and] so great.

It is in the air, the realm of the spirit, that the most permanent changes are affected. It is in the air that we are ever with our Lord, because, as we have seen, “the four winds of the heavens” are nothing less than the air in motion, so that the air and the wind are both the symbols of the spirit world. That world, at this stage of our walk, is darkened by the smoke that ascends up out of the bottomless pit.

Summary

We have seen that the symbols of the first two verses of this fifth trumpet are:

1)      The angel that sounds the trumpet. We have seen the scriptures which demonstrate that these seven angels which “stand before God of heaven” are defined by scripture as seven priests which blow the seven trumpets in Jos 6 and are the same seven angels that are in Christ’s right hand and are the same seven angels who are our brothers who keep the sayings of the prophecy of this book.

2) The second symbol is a star that falls from heaven to the earth and is given the key to the bottomless pit. Once again, we saw that this star is a spirit from heaven which darkens our understanding of spiritual matters and darkens our sun and air.

3) The third symbol is the heaven from which the star falls, and we have shown in depth that the heavens are the hearts and minds of the people of God, where every word of all the sayings of this prophecy must be read, heard and kept.

4) The fourth symbol is the earth to which the star from heaven falls, and we have demonstrated that wherever we see the word ‘earth’, we are talking about the people of God who are called but not necessarily chosen.

5) The fifth symbol is the key to the bottomless pit, and we saw that this key is the means by which the smoke that darkens the sun and the air is released out into our heavens. This ‘key’ is given us to keep us from receiving the “key of knowledge” before we are able to receive that life saving knowledge.

Luk 11:52  Woe unto you, lawyers! for ye have taken away the key of knowledge: ye entered not in yourselves, and them that were entering in ye hindered.

A ‘key’ both locks away, and reveals what is locked away. When the “key of knowledge” is taken from us, that is signified by giving us the key to the bottomless pit which will serve to darken our sun and our air.

6) The sixth is the bottomless pit itself., and we saw that the bottomless pit is simply the sea of our flesh, and the flesh of mankind as the first deceived and rebellious Adam who cannot hear the words of Truth. We saw that the imprisoning of Satan in that bottomless pit is nothing more that restraining him within us during the thousand years, with a rod of iron. We all have our own “rod of iron experience” as we rebel against the things of the spirit as “carnal babes in Christ” (1Co 3:1-4).

7) The seventh symbol is the smoke of a great furnace, which we saw was the fiery trials that are even now coming upon the house of God, as we are being brought out of Egypt, which is called “the furnace of fire” within us. We saw that this furnace of fire is a necessary part of our walk if we are counted worthy of being judged now instead of being judged at the great white throne (Rev 20:11-15).

8) The eighth symbol is the darkened sun, which is darkened by the smoke of the pit. The darkened sun is that time of our lives where we prefer lies over truth and the word that has been planted has been snatched away by the wicked one.

9) Finally, the ninth symbol is the air which is also darkened by the smoke of the pit, and we saw that the air typifies the struggles we must endure in the realm of the spirit. We saw that it is mentioned last simply because it is that spiritual struggle “against the powers and principalities of the heavens” which follows our struggles upon the earth. Each struggle is a matter of life and death, but we saw that our Father prepares our hearts for every trial into which He leads us.

Next week, Lord willing, we will examine more of the symbols connected with this fifth Trumpet which is also called ‘the first woe’ which we are commanded to read, hear and keep.

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.

Lam 3:1-66  Part 3, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? (Psa 22:1)

[Study Aired August 26, 2023]

It is normal for the unspiritual mind to view the Book of Lamentations as only relevant to unbelievers and believers who have turned away, most eminently old Israel. However, for the Lord’s dragging us to see that we are the Beast, the man of perdition, we would remain dead in those strong delusions. In deep gratitude for His spirit of truth, the only form of righteously “looking back” is not in regret for the destruction of Sodom within, but fearing its embrace.

We can genuinely thank David, among many others, for going before us to have the Lord’s spiritual sword never leaving our house within. David’s adulterous adventure with Bathsheba, and her apparent weakness to resist his lust, typifies the camp of Israel which abides with us. There is no account given of Bathsheba crying out in resistance to David’s attention, and I’d find it hard to believe that his relative integrity would result in rape. Regardless, according to Deuteronomy 22, particularly verse 25, King David set the path of the Lord’s spiritual sword never to depart our house.

Deu 22:25 But if a man find a betrothed damsel [Bathsheba] in the field [a place away from observance or hidden among the populace], and the man force her, and lie with her: then the man only that lay with her shall die:
Deu 22:26 But unto the damsel thou shalt do nothing; there is in the damsel no sin worthy of death: for as when a man riseth against his neighbour, and slayeth him, even so is this matter:

From that account, David’s ‘forcing’ Bathsheba appears psychologically passive since death was proclaimed upon his house and not her.

David represents the Lord’s Elect, who are grateful for the sword never leaving their house within until all spiritually evil children are slain. Bathsheba represents adultery with our near kin, our Gentile Christian brothers and sisters who, like Bathsheba with apparent passivity, equivocate spousal allegiance. Our Lord will not suffer our intrigue for another Jesus, furthermore from another woman and her husband’s sacrifice resulting in a relatively innocent child sharing pitiless judgment in death for our sin (David’s bastard child).

In 2 Samuel 11:5, Uriah, Bathsheba’s husband, positively represents Christ, wittingly sent by decree of the Father to die at the forefront of our spiritual battles for our adulterous sins in bed with Babylon.

2Sa 11:14 And it came to pass in the morning, that David wrote a letter to Joab, and sent it by the hand of Uriah. 
2Sa 11:15 And he wrote in the letter, saying, Set ye Uriah in the forefront of the hottest battle, and retire ye from him, that he may be smitten, and die.

Psa 22:1 To the chief Musician upon Aijeleth [ah-yeh’-leth] Shahar, A Psalm of David. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring? 
Psa 22:2 O my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou hearest not; and in the night season, and am not silent. 
Psa 22:3 But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.
Psa 22:4 Our fathers trusted in thee: they trusted, and thou didst deliver them.
Psa 22:5 They cried unto thee, and were delivered: they trusted in thee, and were not confounded.

Chapter three of Lamentations is a variation of the same lamentable pattern depicting our journey in sin to becoming Christ. The overview presents the first twenty verses as definitive ‘lamentations’ of our wretched flesh born in sin, and the remainder of the Book is our wry hope (1Pe 4:18) in Christ and His account of why He temporarily chastises us. With that summary, we will launch directly into the hopefully relatively easy decrypting of our Lord’s word without first unnecessarily reading the entire sixty-six verses.

Great Is Your Faithfulness [is the KJV outcome of the chapter]

The following twenty verses identify a particular “he” who is our enemy, as portrayed in Part 1 of this study. That personage is Christ, yet, as we know, that “he” is negatively likewise us, ‘who is the man’ as Nathan told King David upon the earthquake of David seeing himself as the chief of sinners. Most remarkably, we all equate individually as ‘that man of sin’. The first verse speaks personally to us as Christ within judging ourselves and subsequently reflects upon who initiates the chastisement. As we look behind ourselves, these verses starkly relate to our brother Job’s experiences, who typifies us. Every ‘enemy’ mentioned in this Book is within and not some other evil person imagined more evil than ourselves. 

Lam 3:1 I am the man that hath seen affliction by the rod of his wrath. 

Thankfully, the Elect of God are given to receive the rod of judgment today in preparation for the First Resurrection, and not the Resurrection to Judgment.

Rev 20:6 Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.

Lam 3:2 He hath led me, and brought me into darkness, but not into light.
Lam 3:3 Surely against me is he turned; he turneth his hand against me all the day.
Lam 3:4 My flesh and my skin hath he made old; he hath broken my bones.
Lam 3:5 He hath builded against me, and compassed me with gall and travail.
Lam 3:6 He hath set me in dark places, as they that be dead of old.

We know that everywhere in scripture, darkness comes before light, directly corresponding to the same experience every human will endure. The “he” is Christ who gives us to come out of the ‘abussos‘, the deep, the bottomless pit represented by the ocean of directionless humanity.

Gen 1:1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
Gen 1:2 And the earth [directly corresponding to man] was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep [H8415 – 1. deep, depths, deep places, abyss, the deep, sea]. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

Rev 13:1 And I [John; and we upon looking back on our life] stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.

Our Lord gradually builds us up for destruction by the coming blinding light of His word. We see the seemingly endless destruction of our flesh everywhere in scripture to this day and to the First Resurrection when the downpayment of that ‘blinding light’ will manifest fully in our bodies as we instantly become as our Husband is.

The “gall” that is bile, stomach acid, responds to our adrenalin that results from fear. Our judgment manifests in spiritually broken bones, and skin and flesh all seem consumed by fire, adding to our initial bewilderment while coming out of the darkness of the abussos.

Rom 10:7 Or, Who shall descend into the deep? [Greek: abussos] (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.) 

The ‘abussos‘ is the realm of the dead. Descending into the abussos is the same as bringing Christ again from the dead. The people in the millennium are spiritually dead while they are physically alive. Christ entered the realm of the dead the moment He emptied Himself of His divinity and came into His physical mother, Mary’s womb, to be offered as the sacrifice for the sins of the whole world. Christ refers to all men living without knowing Himself or His Father as the walking dead: 

Mat 8:21 And another of his disciples said unto him, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. 
Mat 8:22 But Jesus said unto him, Follow me; and let the dead bury their dead.

From the outset, we are hedged in by the depths of the abussos of Babylon until we cry out, acknowledging our hopeless and lamentable condition. In His good timing, often decades later, He answers our prayers. Even after coming into and living His truth, we are assaulted by our lusts of the eyes and flesh, and worse, hold fast to our self-righteousness.

Lam 3:7 He hath hedged me about, that I cannot get out: he hath made my chain heavy. 
Lam 3:8 Also when I cry and shout, he shutteth out my prayer. 
Lam 3:9 He hath inclosed my ways with hewn stone, he hath made my paths crooked. 
Lam 3:10 He was unto me as a bear lying in wait, and as a lion in secret places. 
Lam 3:11 He hath turned aside my ways, and pulled me in pieces: he hath made me desolate.
Lam 3:12 He hath bent his bow, and set me as a mark for the arrow. 
Lam 3:13 He hath caused the arrows of his quiver to enter into my reins [H3629 – 1. kidneys a. of physical organ (lit.) b. of seat of emotion and affection]. 

The severing of our reins is the destruction of the ureteral tubes from our kidneys to the bladder. Mild pain, fever and infection to severe loss of kidney function causes death. Spiritually, our blood that gives life becomes overloaded with doctrinal toxins, and we figuratively die and are delivered from the Syrians within, as seen in 2 Kings 13 and highlighted in verse 17.

2Ki 13:17 And he said [Elisha to Joah, King of Israel], Open the window eastward. And he opened it. Then Elisha said, Shoot. And he shot. And he said, The arrow [H2686 – divide] of the LORD’S deliverance, and the arrow of deliverance from Syria: for thou shalt smite the Syrians in Aphek, till thou have consumed them.

Lam 3:14 I was a derision to all my people; and their song all the day 
Lam 3:15 He hath filled me with bitterness, he hath made me drunken with wormwood. 
Lam 3:16 He hath also broken my teeth with gravel stones, he hath covered me with ashes.
Lam 3:17 And thou hast removed my soul far off from peace: I forgat prosperity.
Lam 3:18 And I said, My strength and my hope is perished from the LORD: 
Lam 3:19 Remembering mine affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall. 
Lam 3:20 My soul hath them still in remembrance, and is humbled in me.

Such is our devastation when comparing our alleged righteousness to our Lord’s; we are made as chaff and dust and blown away in the summer breeze.

Ecc 9:2 All things come alike to all: there is one event to the righteous, and to the wicked; to the good and to the clean, and to the unclean; to him that sacrificeth, and to him that sacrificeth not: as is the good, so is the sinner; and he that sweareth, as he that feareth an oath. 
Ecc 9:3 This is an evil among all things that are done under the sun, that there is one event unto all: yea, also the heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and madness is in their heart while they live, and after that they go to the dead. 

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? 

Even the babe in Christ profoundly equates with the deepest sighs of mourning in the first twenty verses. Upon looking behind, he and the maturing Christs see the milk of the all-too-common repeated pattern of our journey depicted in Lamentations. Our short-term pain is quickly overtaken by unspeakable joy when we acknowledge our sins and look to our inheritance in Christ. 

Lam 3:21 This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope.
Lam 3:22 It is of the LORD’S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.
Lam 3:23 They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness. 
Lam 3:24 The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him. 
Lam 3:25 The LORD is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him. 
Lam 3:26 It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the LORD.

We must wait in the fullness of time the Lord ordains for each of us for His specific purpose for the trials tailored for our endurance in chastisements and symbolised by seven x ten.

Jer 29:10 For thus saith the LORD, That after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place.
Jer 29:11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.
Jer 29:12 Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you.
Jer 29:13 And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.

Lam 3:27 It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth. 

Most parents find that timeless dictum dismissed by their children as their kids set about reproving, regrettably, what their parents had learned from their parents. Each child in his time can’t wait to buck the yoke of righteous guidance and, to varying degrees, experience wastage of his guidance upon riotous living and repeat the Book of Lamentations. Each Elect of God, in his own time and order, quietly reflects his past and gives God glory for the good and evil. He fills up behind the same afflictions as Christ, only in reproach.

Lam 3:28 He sitteth alone and keepeth silence, because he hath borne it upon him. 
Lam 3:29 He putteth his mouth in the dust; if so be there may be hope. 
Lam 3:30 He giveth his cheek to him that smiteth him: he is filled full with reproach. 
Lam 3:31 For the Lord will not cast off for ever: 
Lam 3:32 But though he cause grief, yet will he have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies. 
Lam 3:33 For he doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men.
Lam 3:34 To crush under his feet all the prisoners of the earth, 
Lam 3:35 To turn aside the right of a man before the face of the most High, 
Lam 3:36 To subvert a man in his cause, the Lord approveth not. 
Lam 3:37 Who is he that saith, and it cometh to pass, when the Lord commandeth it not? [We did in Babylon]
Lam 3:38 Out of the mouth of the most High proceedeth not evil and good? [Isa 45:7]
Lam 3:39 Wherefore doth a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins? [Isa 40:27-31]
Lam 3:40 Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to the LORD. [Psa 139:23]
Lam 3:41 Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the heavens. [Deu 4:29, Jer 29:13]
Lam 3:42 We have transgressed and have rebelled: thou hast not pardoned. [Isa 1:18]
Lam 3:43 Thou hast covered with anger, and persecuted us: thou hast slain, thou hast not pitied.
Lam 3:44 Thou hast covered thyself with a cloud, that our prayer should not pass through. [Isa 54:6-8]
Lam 3:45 Thou hast made us as the offscouring and refuse in the midst of the people.

It is appropriate to correlate these surrounding verses with 1 Corinthian 4:7-16. At its conclusion, can we, with good conscience, boldly say, as Paul, “be imitators of me?”

1Co 4:7 For who makes you to differ from another? And what do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?
1Co 4:8 Already you are full! Already you are rich! You have reigned as kings without us! And oh that indeed you did reign, that we also might reign with you. 
1Co 4:9 For I think that God has set forth us last, the apostles, as it were appointed to death; for we have become a spectacle to the world and to angels and to men.
1Co 4:10 We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are honorable, but we are despised. 
1Co 4:11 Even until this present hour we both hunger and thirst and are naked and are buffeted and have no certain dwelling place. 
1Co 4:12 And we labor, working with our own hands. Being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we suffer it; 
1Co 4:13 being defamed, we entreat. We are made as the filth of the world, the offscouring of all things until now. 
1Co 4:14 I do not write these things to shame you, but as my beloved children I warn you.
1Co 4:15 For though you have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet you do not have many fathers; for I have begotten you in Christ Jesus through the gospel.
1Co 4:16 Therefore I beseech you, be imitators of me.

Lam 3:46 All our enemies have opened their mouths against us. 
Lam 3:47 Fear and a snare is come upon us, desolation and destruction. 
Lam 3:48 Mine eye runneth down with rivers of water for the destruction of the daughter of my people. 
Lam 3:49 Mine eye trickleth down, and ceaseth not, without any intermission, 
Lam 3:50 Till the LORD look down, and behold from heaven. 
Lam 3:51 Mine eye affecteth mine heart because of all the daughters of my city. 
Lam 3:52 Mine enemies chased me sore, like a bird, without cause. 
Lam 3:53 They have cut off my life in the dungeon, and cast a stone upon me. 
Lam 3:54 Waters flowed over mine head; then I said, I am cut off. 
Lam 3:55 I called upon thy name, O LORD, out of the low dungeon. 
Lam 3:56 Thou hast heard my voice: hide not thine ear at my breathing, at my cry. 
Lam 3:57 Thou drewest near in the day that I called upon thee: thou saidst, Fear not. 
Lam 3:58 O Lord, thou hast pleaded the causes of my soul; thou hast redeemed my life. 
Lam 3:59 O LORD, thou hast seen my wrong: judge thou my cause. 
Lam 3:60 Thou hast seen all their vengeance and all their imaginations against me. 
Lam 3:61 Thou hast heard their reproach, O LORD, and all their imaginations against me;
Lam 3:62 The lips of those that rose up against me, and their device against me all the day.
Lam 3:63 Behold their sitting down, and their rising up; I am their musick [song].
Lam 3:64 Render unto them a recompence, O LORD, according to the work of their hands. 
Lam 3:65 Give them sorrow of heart, thy curse unto them.
Lam 3:66 Persecute and destroy them in anger from under the heavens of the LORD.

Those verses can leave us quivering for His dreadfulness. His curse is our flesh existing, sullying the purity of the Godhead’s spiritual realm whereby it needed laws of control (Gal 3:10-14). In effect and like manner, our Lord is righteously kicking against the annoying pricks our flesh inflicts on him (Acts 9:4-6 – Saul confronted by the Lord).

Jer 15:5 For who shall have pity on you, O Jerusalem? Or who shall weep over you? Or who shall turn aside to ask your welfare? 
Jer 15:6 You have forsaken Me, says Jehovah; you have gone backward; therefore I will stretch out My hand against you, and destroy you; I am weary with repenting.

The Lord’s expression that He is weary with repenting is that He has created Beasts that are diametrically opposed to Him, highlighting His earnest desire to finish His work, to “come quickly” and relieve us (and Himself) of our suffering flesh.

Psa 6:2 Have mercy upon me, O LORD; for I am weak: O LORD, heal me; for my bones are vexed. 
Psa 6:3 My soul is also sore vexed: but thou, O LORD, how long? 
Psa 6:4 Return, O LORD, deliver my soul: oh save me for thy mercies’ sake. 

For those who sigh and groan for ‘how long, oh lord…’ – likewise is our Lord mourning that He has to keep forgiving our endemically sinful hearts, and our continually going to Him for forgiveness.  It is the nature of being born sin from our mother’s womb. Our inherent nature is to indulge the temptation to indulge in innocuous things that can become sin and, most damningly, be tempted to partake of nocuous (unlawful) acts.

Our Lord’s repenting is a lamentation for having evil flesh existing in His eternal spiritual realm, an annoying kicking against us, yet a necessary and temporary wart on His very Body! (1Co 12:27, Eph 5:30)

Gen 6:5 And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth [in us] and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 
Gen 6:6 And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.
Gen 6:7 And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them. 
Gen 6:8 But Noah [the saving Christs’, His Body] found grace in the eyes of the LORD. 

2Co 5:10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad. 
2Co 5:16 Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more.

Rom 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

Lam 3:66 Persecute and destroy them in anger from under the heavens of the LORD.

With those understandings, we are grateful for our Lord’s persecution and destruction of our flesh, the earth under His heavens, to become one spirit in Him.

Isa 41:10 Do not fear; for I am with you; be not dismayed; for I am your God. I will make you strong; yes, I will help you; yes, I will uphold you with the right hand of My righteousness. 

Heb 13:5 Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.