Rev 9-13-16- Part 2- The Sixth Trumpet

[Study Aired Aug 25, 2024]

We said we would continue our next study by answering the question, What is the spiritual significance of “the great river Euphrates”?

What is “the great river Euphrates?”

The Euphrates is the river that fed and nourished Babylon. It was upon the waters of the Euphrates that the wealth of all the provinces of Babylon flowed and came into “that great city”. Babylon and the walls of Babylon actually spanned the entire width of the Euphrates River and it was to Babylon that God’s people were carried away as captives:

Psa 137:1  By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion.
Psa 137:2  We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof.
Psa 137:3  For there they that carried us away captive required of us a song; and they that wasted us [required of us] mirth, [saying], Sing us [one] of the songs of Zion.
Psa 137:4  How shall we sing the LORD’S song in a strange land?

Here is one of the “woes” placed upon God’s people by the prophet Jeremiah. In this ‘woe’ we see that God uses the Euphrates and Babylon to “mar” the girdle which should be used to cover our nakedness. The result is to make us “profitable for nothing”. We see that those who “sit on David’s throne” are caused by God to “stumble on dark mountains” and go into “gross darkness” and are carried away captive, and it is all the work of the Lord.

Jer 13:1  Thus saith the LORD unto me, Go and get thee a linen girdle, and put it upon thy loins, and put it not in water.
Jer 13:2  So I got a girdle according to the word of the LORD, and put [it] on my loins.
Jer 13:3  And the word of the LORD came unto me the second time, saying,
Jer 13:4  Take the girdle that thou hast got, which [is] upon thy loins, and arise, go to Euphrates, and hide it there in a hole of the rock.
Jer 13:5  So I went, and hid it by Euphrates, as the LORD commanded me.
Jer 13:6  And it came to pass after many days, that the LORD said unto me, Arise, go to Euphrates, and take the girdle from thence, which I commanded thee to hide there.
Jer 13:7  Then I went to Euphrates, and digged, and took the girdle from the place where I had hid it: and, behold, the girdle was marred, it was profitable for nothing.
Jer 13:8  Then the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
Jer 13:9  Thus saith the LORD, After this manner will I mar the pride of Judah, and the great pride of Jerusalem.
Jer 13:10  This evil people, which refuse to hear my words, which walk in the imagination of their heart, and walk after other gods, to serve them, and to worship them, shall even be as this girdle, which is good for nothing.
Jer 13:11  For as the girdle cleaveth to the loins of a man, so have I caused to cleave unto me the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah, saith the LORD; that they might be unto me for a people, and for a name, and for a praise, and for a glory: but they would not hear.
Jer 13:12  Therefore thou shalt speak unto them this word; Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Every bottle shall be filled with wine: and they shall say unto thee, Do we not certainly know that every bottle shall be filled with wine?
Jer 13:13  Then shalt thou say unto them, Thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will fill all the inhabitants of this land, even the kings that sit upon David’s throne, and the priests, and the prophets, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, with drunkenness.
Jer 13:14  And I will dash them one against another, even the fathers and the sons together, saith the LORD: I will not pity, nor spare, nor have mercy, but destroy them.
Jer 13:15  Hear ye, and give ear; be not proud: for the LORD hath spoken.
Jer 13:16  Give glory to the LORD your God, before he cause darkness, and before your feet stumble upon the dark mountains, and, while ye look for light, he turn it into the shadow of death, [and] make [it] gross darkness. [Smoke of the ‘abussos’ filled with locusts which dim the sun and the air, Rev 9:2-3]
Jer 13:17  But if ye will not hear it, my soul shall weep in secret places for [your] pride [iniquity, Eze 33:13]; and mine eye shall weep sore, and run down with tears, because the LORD’S flock is carried away captive.
Jer 13:18  Say unto the king and to the queen, Humble yourselves, sit down: for your principalities shall come down, [even] the crown of your glory.
Jer 13:19  The cities of the south shall be shut up, and none shall open [them]: Judah shall be carried away captive all of it, it shall be wholly carried away captive.
Jer 13:20  Lift up your eyes, and behold them that come from the north: where [is] the flock [that] was given thee, thy beautiful flock?
Jer 13:21  What wilt thou say when he shall punish thee? for thou hast taught them [to be] captains, [and] as chief over thee: shall not sorrows take thee, as a woman in travail?
Jer 13:22  And if thou say in thine heart, Wherefore come these things upon me? For the greatness of thine iniquity are thy skirts discovered, [and] thy heels made bare.
Jer 13:23  Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? [then] may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil.
Jer 13:24  Therefore will I scatter them as the stubble that passeth away by the wind of the wilderness.
Jer 13:25  This [is] thy lot, the portion of thy measures from me, saith the LORD; because thou hast forgotten me, and trusted in falsehood.
Jer 13:26  Therefore will I discover thy skirts upon thy face, that thy shame may appear.
Jer 13:27  I have seen thine adulteries, and thy neighings, the lewdness of thy whoredom, [and] thine abominations on the hills in the fields. Woe unto thee, O Jerusalem! wilt thou not be made clean? when [shall it] once [be]?

Here God is telling His people that ‘He will cause’ the righteousness of His people to become “marred” then, “after many days”, He will cause them to abuse His wine and be drunk. He will then “dash father against son… will not pity, nor spare, nor have mercy, but [will] destroy them…” He then causes darkness… makes it gross darkness… [and then He says] woe unto thee, O Jerusalem…” To which Isaiah adds:

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

Isa 63:17  O LORD, why hast thou made us to err from thy ways, and hardened our heart from thy fear? Return for thy servants’ sake, the tribes of thine inheritance.

As God’s people, we “lose our first love” and become the great harlot of the book of Revelation, who is revealed to be “the faithful city… the city wherein our Lord was crucified,” to which we all bear witness as we ‘look behind us’ to see all these details of the revelation of Jesus Christ, within us.

Rev 1:10  I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet,

Rev 2:4  Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.

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.[Isa 1:21]

We see “the Lord’s day” behind us. That is when we realize that we were “the great city… where our Lord was crucified.” These truths have no “ring of truth” to them until we have already lived and “kept the things which are written therein.”

Rom 4:25  Who was delivered for [Greek, dia, through] our offences, and was raised again for [dia, through] our justification.

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.

What does all of this have to do with the four angels being loosed from their bonds in the Euphrates River? It shows us that God’s own people who “believe on Christ” are the very people who are now Babylon itself, the great city wherein our Lord was crucified, and the very same people who want the christ of Christ, crucified to this very day (Joh 8:30-59).

Joh 8:30  As he spake these words, many believed on him.
Joh 8:31  Then said Jesus to those [many] Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;
Joh 8:32  And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
Joh 8:33  They answered him, We be Abraham’s seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free?
Joh 8:34  Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.
Joh 8:35  And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth ever.
Joh 8:36  If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.
Joh 8:37  I know that ye [“many Jews which believed on Him”] are Abraham’s seed; but ye seek to kill me, because my word hath no place in you.
Joh 8:38  I speak that which I have seen with my Father: and ye do that which ye have seen with your father.
Joh 8:39  They answered and said unto him, Abraham is our father. Jesus saith unto them, If ye were Abraham’s children, ye would do the works of Abraham.
Joh 8:40  But now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of God: this did not Abraham.
Joh 8:41  Ye do the deeds of your father. Then said they to him, We be not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God.
Joh 8:42  Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me.
Joh 8:43  Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word.
Joh 8:44  Ye [“many Jew which believed on Him”] 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.

As we “look behind us”, we see clearly “that great city” was each of us only yesterday, and this is what is being revealed in this trumpet woe to the inhabiters of the earth. This is what is seen by those who “keep the things which are written therein” (Rev 1:3). We have been the waters of Babylon, nourishing and sustaining her every desire with our doctrines and our substance.

What is “an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year”?

Rev 9:15  And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men.

Christ tells us “there are twelve hours in a day.”

Joh 11:9  Jesus answered, Are there not twelve hours in the day? If any man walk in the day, he stumbleth not, because he seeth the light of this world.

Of course, Christ is talking about walking in Him. He is “the light of this world”.

Joh 8:12  Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.

Joh 9:5  As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.

What does that make you and me if we follow in His footsteps?

Mat 5:14  Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.

So for all who “walk in the day”, there are “twelve hours in the day”. But there are also twelve months in the year in which to “slay the third part of men”. What is this “year for to slay a third part of men” in the lives of God’s elect? Here is the only year in scripture that is given any special consideration.

Isa 61:2  To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn;

This ‘year’ was the topic of the very first sermon of Christ’s ministry. It was given in His own home town of Nazareth immediately after His temptation in the wilderness.

Luk 4:16  And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was [Notice that it does not say “according to the 4^th commandment], he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read.
Luk 4:17  And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written,
Luk 4:18  The Spirit of the Lord [is] upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,
Luk 4:19  To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.
Luk 4:20  And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him.
Luk 4:21  And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.

The “acceptable year of the Lord” is the year in which the whole of the gospel [four angels] comes to “heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised.” But Christ made it clear that before these four angels would be released from the River Euphrates within us, we must first come to see ourselves as being in Babylon, being the sick who need a physician, and the blind who need “recovering of sight.”

Mat 9:12  But when Jesus heard that he said unto them, They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick.
Mat 9:13  But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

If we see ourselves as “whole”, then the words of this trumpet are not for us, and we do not need a physician. So it is with our sight. If, while we believe lies, we think we see, then we are yet blind and our sin remains:

Joh 9:39  And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind.
Joh 9:40  And [some] of the Pharisees which were with him heard these words, and said unto him, Are we blind also?
Joh 9:41  Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth.

Until we see that we live by every word, that all things are ours, that we keep the things written therein, we are totally unaware of what God is doing. The “hour, day and month and year” of scripture are one and all parts of the process which comprises “the year of the Lord” spoken of by Isaiah and Christ in which ‘judgment is now on the house of God’:

1Pe 4:17  For the time is come that judgment [“The year of the Lord and the day of vengeance”] 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?

Isa 61:2  To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn;

Proclaiming the year of the Lord is to proclaim the destruction of the kingdom of our old man just as Israel and Judah were destroyed before they were made to “acknowledge [their] wickedness”:

Rev 9:15  And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men.

Jer 3:13  Only acknowledge thine iniquity, that thou hast transgressed against the LORD thy God, and hast scattered thy ways to the strangers under every green tree, and ye have not obeyed my voice, saith the LORD.
Jer 3:14  Turn, O backsliding children, saith the LORD; for I am married unto you: and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion:

What does “to slay the third part of men” mean?

We have already covered the spiritual significance of the number three when we did our studies on the various ‘thirds’ which are mentioned in chapter eight of this prophecy. Three in scripture signifies the process of being judged. If this trumpet is one third, then there must be two other thirds.

Rev 8:7  The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.
Rev 8:8  And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea: and the third part of the sea became blood;
Rev 8:9  And the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life, died; and the third part of the ships were destroyed.

We are not counting thirds, but we are being told that the process of judgment is taking place within us. The third part of the trees was burnt up, the third part of the creatures which were in the sea and had life died, and now the third part of men are to be slain by the fire, smoke and brimstone which issue out of the mouths of the horses that come out of the smoke of the bottomless pit. Each seal adds to the previous seal, but it is all the revelation of Jesus Christ. Each trumpet of the seventh seal adds to the knowledge that was revealed in the previous trumpet, but it is all “line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little” the revelation of Jesus Christ who is persecuted by each of us when we are in Babylon. When all the thirds are realized in our life, we will begin to be “crucified with Christ”, and we will be “dying daily” with our Lord as we ‘fill up in our bodies what is behind’ of His afflictions, and we too, will be “perfected the third day.”

Luk 13:32  And he said unto them, Go ye, and tell that fox, Behold, I cast out devils, and I do cures to day and to morrow, and the third day I shall be perfected.

Act 22:8  And I answered, Who art thou, Lord? And he said unto me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest.

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

Rev 9:18  By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths.

When will we be given eyes that see that all of these thirds of dying are nothing less than the progression of the revelation of Jesus Christ within us as we “keep the things that are written therein,” and “keep the saying of the prophecy of this book” (Rev 1:3 and Rev 22:7).

Summary

We have seen the scriptures which tell us the meaning of 1) the four horns of the golden altar, 2) four angels which are 3) bound in the river Euphrates, 4) which angels are commissioned to be loosed, 5) which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, 6) for to slay the third part of men.

1) The voice from the four horns of the golden altar, we saw signify both the whole and the strength of the words of the gospel of the revelation of Jesus Christ.

2) The four angels are the symbol of the whole of the gospel which has for so long been

3) bound in the river Euphrates, signifies the great river of deathly lies, which nourish and support Babylon and which are the subject of the two million horses and their riders in next week’s study.

4) The loosing of these four angels signify the release into our hearts and minds of the truths which necessitate that Babylon, with all of her smoke and horses and scorpions and lions and all of her lies begins to be judged within us.

5) It is the birth of this day of judgment within us that is the hour, day and month which make up the acceptable year of the Lord, also called the day of the Lord, within us.

Isa 49:8  Thus saith the LORD, In an acceptable time have I heard thee, and in a day of salvation have I helped thee: and I will preserve thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, to establish the earth, to cause to inherit the desolate heritages;

Isa 61:2  To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn;

Luk 4:19  To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.

2Co 6:2  (For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now [is] the accepted time; behold, now [is] the day of salvation.)

6) “For to slay a third part of men” is the symbol of the three part process of the judgment of the old man and his kingdom, with all the armies and principalities with which he rules within us.

Next week, Lord willing, we will discover why the armies of the darkness of the smoke of the bottomless pit are said to number two hundred million and why their breast plates are “of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone.”

Rev 9:16  And the number of the army of the horsemen [were] two hundred thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them.

Rev 9:17  And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone: and the heads of the horses [were] as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone.

Rev 9:18  By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths.

Rev 9:13-16 – Part 1 – The Sixth Seal – Loosing The Four Angels Bound In The Euphrates

[Study Aired Aug 23, 2024]

Rev 9:13  And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God,
Rev 9:14  Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates.
Rev 9:15  And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men.

Introduction

This sixth trump is also given the name “The second woe”. The last three trumpets of this revelation of Jesus Christ within us are called “three woes”. This is what we were told immediately following the fourth trumpet.

Rev 8:13  And I beheld, and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters of the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels, which are yet to sound!

So these three woes are directed specifically to “the inhabiters of the earth”. We have seen from many verses of scripture that “the inhabiters of the earth” are all men who are or have been “in Adam” and in a relationship with God. In other words, these words really are for you and me to “read, hear and keep… every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God” and out of the mouth of Christ, who happens to be the author of this entire book of the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Rev 1:1  The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified [ it] by his angel unto his servant John:

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.

So whatever this sixth trumpet is, we can know and be assured that it has been happening in the lives of all who are in Christ since the day these words were first penned, and if we are in Christ, then the words of this sixth trumpet, which is also called the second “woe” is to be read, heard and kept by those who are given to read, hear and keep the things written in this sixth trumpet which says “woe, to the inhabiters of the earth.”

Rev 9:12  One woe is past; [ and], behold, there come two woes more hereafter.

We are God’s people and this trumpet is for us for our good:

Isa 58:1  Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins.

If we are blessed of the Lord to acknowledge that these words must first be lived out and experienced in our own lives then, and only then, can the Lord use us as His mouthpiece to show others what has been loosed on earth and in heaven and what has been bound on earth and in heaven:

Mat 16:13  When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am?
Mat 16:14  And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets.
Mat 16:15  He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am?
Mat 16:16  And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.
Mat 16:17  And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.
Mat 16:18  And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
Mat 16:19  And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

Here is a much more accurate translation of verse 19 from the CLV:

Mat 16:19 I will be giving you the keys of the kingdom of the heavens, and whatsoever you should be binding on the earth shall be those things having been bound in the heavens, and whatsoever you should be loosing on the earth, shall be those having been loosed in the heavens. (CLV)

The fact that this blessing is for all who are in Christ is made clear when it is repeated in reference to all Christ’s apostles in Matthew 18:

Mat 18:15 Now, if ever your brother should be sinning [the ‘brother’ of anyone in the church of God], go and expose him between you and him alone. If ever he should be hearing you, you gain your brother.
Mat 18:16 Yet if ever he should not be hearing, take still one or two others along with you, that at the mouth of two witnesses, or of three, every declaration may be made to stand.
Mat 18:17 Now, if ever he should be disobeying them, tell it to the ecclesia. Now, if ever he should be disobeying the ecclesia also, let him be to you even as the man of the nations, and the tribute collector.
Mat 18:18 Verily, I am saying to you, Whatsoever you should be binding on the earth shall be those things having been bound in the heavens, and whatsoever you should be loosing on the earth shall be those loose in heaven.

Just as Pharaoh could trust Joseph to do nothing which was not in the Pharaoh’s interest and for the Pharaoh’s benefit, typifying how Christ did nothing His Father did not want, and how we will do nothing Christ does not want, Christ has also bestowed the proper use of His powerful Words upon us:

Jer 1:9  Then the LORD put forth his hand, and touched my mouth. And the LORD said unto me, Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth.
Jer 1:10  See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant.
Jer 1:11  Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Jeremiah, what seest thou? And I said, I see a rod of an almond tree.
Jer 1:12  Then said the LORD unto me, Thou hast well seen: for I will hasten my word to perform it. [The almond is the earliest blooming of all fruit trees]

Jer 1:16  And I will utter my judgments against them touching all their wickedness, who have forsaken me, and have burned incense unto other gods, and worshipped the works of their own hands.
Jer 1:17  Thou therefore gird up thy loins, and arise, and speak unto them all that I
Jer 1:18  For, behold, I have made thee this day a defenced city, and an iron pillar, and brasen walls against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, against the princes thereof, against the priests thereof, and against the people of the land.
Jer 1:19  And they shall fight against thee; but they shall not prevail against thee; for I am with thee, saith the LORD, to deliver thee.

Joh 20:21  Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.

Six of the symbols of the sixth trumpet which is the second woe

The symbols of this trumpet total eight, but today we will cover only the six which are in the three verses of today’s study. 1) the four horns of the golden altar, 2) four angels which are 3) bound in the river Euphrates, 4) which angels are commissioned to be loosed, 5) which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, 6) for to slay the third part of men. So…

What are the four horns of the golden altar?

The number four signifies ‘the whole’ as we have already demonstrated. Throughout scripture horns are a symbol of strength and power. It is through the strength and power of the voice that issues from these four horns of the golden altar, that the ensuing events take place.

Rev 9:13  And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God,

The four horns of the golden altar symbolize both the spiritual strength and the wholehearted dedication of those to whom it is granted to “die daily” and to “keep the things which are written therein.”

Psa 119:2  Blessed are they that keep his testimonies, and that seek him with the whole heart.

Psa 119:34  Give me understanding, and I shall keep thy law; yea, I shall observe it with my whole heart.

Jer 24:7  And I will give them an heart to know me, that I am the LORD: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God: for they shall return unto me with their whole heart.

The function of the golden altar with its “four horns” was to burn incense upon it. That incense signifies the prayers of the saints:

Exo 30:1  And thou shalt make an altar to burn incense upon: of shittim wood shalt thou make it.
Exo 30:2  A cubit shall be the length thereof, and a cubit the breadth thereof; foursquare shall it be: and two cubits shall be the height thereof: the horns thereof shall be of the same.
Exo 30:3  And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, the top thereof, and the sides thereof round about, and the horns thereof; and thou shalt make unto it a crown of gold round about.

Rev 5:8  And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints.

Rev 8:3  And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne.
Rev 8:4  And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel’s hand.

Our strength and power certainly is not of ourselves. It is only in the demonstration of a life of “praying without ceasing”, which means that we live by the Words of our Lord.

Exo 15:2  The LORD is my strength and song, and he is become my salvation: he is my God, and I will prepare him an habitation; my father’s God, and I will exalt him.

Psa 118:14  The LORD is my strength and song, and is become my salvation.

1Th 5:17  Pray without ceasing.

“The Lord is our strength”, and we are God’s “habitation”. So the “voice from the four horns of the golden altar” is nothing less than the words of God, as they come into our lives and begin to open our eyes to see through the smoke that darkens our heavens and our air. That voice from the golden altar is the truth of what all these symbols mean. Understanding what the scriptures teach about each of these symbols begins to help us to see through the darkness and ignorance all around us. For example, if we have no idea where the golden altar is located within the tabernacle and in the temple, and what its function was, then this symbol will mean very little or nothing to us. On the other hand, if we realize that the golden altar was within the holy temple of God and was in the very center of the tabernacle and temple and that it was upon this golden altar where only the priests of God sprinkled the blood of the sacrifices and burned the finely crushed frankincense as a sweet savor to God, then we can begin to understand that, being that temple of God, the activities concerning this golden altar, which is in the center of the temple, right in front of the throne of God… all these activities are of necessity taking place within God’s elect who are His temple.

1Co 3:16  Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?

The activities of this sixth angel with the sixth trumpet, which is also called ‘the second woe,’ which releases the four angels in the river Euphrates, for to kill a third part of men, is all taking place within the temple of God “which temple ye are.”

It is right here at this inward altar, this golden altar, of which we are told “those who serve the temple have no right to eat.”

Heb 13:10  We have an altar [the golden altar within the temple], whereof they have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle.
Heb 13:11  For the bodies of those beasts, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned without the camp.
Heb 13:12  Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered [ was  ‘burned’, and was purified] without the gate.
Heb 13:13  Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp [“Come out of her My people”, Rev 18:4], bearing his reproach.
Heb 13:14  For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come.
Heb 13:15  By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.

Those “which serve the tabernacle” today are the masses of Christianity who come to God’s word with idols of their heart. That means you and me in our own time. These have no “eyes within,” and for many long years we saw no need to read, hear and keep the things written therein. Our goal at that time is to avoid keeping the things written therein. We want to somehow be raptured away from the things written therein. At this immature point of our walk, we actually believe and teach that “the things written therein” are for those who are not God’s elect, and we cannot see how God’s elect are the heirs of these things. We fail to notice that the suffering of Christ, the burning outside the camp, is accomplished by those who claim to believe in Him (Joh 8:30-49). In other words, they are accomplished by us when we did not believe this verse:

1Co 3:21  Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours;
1Co 3:22  Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours;

I remember well not appreciating the fact that that verse says “the world, and death are mine.” I was completely blinded to the truth of that verse. So those who have been blinded to the truth of God’s Word, think that the sixth seal with “the great day of His wrath,” is a “thing to come,” which certainly is not ours if we are in Christ. 1Th 5:9, which speaks of the salvation of all, is twisted by all of us, and by the entire Christian world, to deny that anything in this book which deals with God’s wrath upon all unrighteousness and ungodliness of men, is also upon the sins, unrighteousness, or ungodliness of God’s elect.

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.

Rom 1:18  For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;

1Co 3:21  Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours;
1Co 3:22  Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours;

1Th 5:9  For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,
1Th 5:10  Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him.
1Th 5:11  Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do.

“Whether we wake or sleep”, whether we are believers or in unbelief, “all things come alike to all… there is one event to the righteous and to the wicked, we are not appointed to wrath [in the end] but to salvation. Comfort yourselves together…” These verses enhance and complement each other. They are not contradicting each other. “All things are ours”. That means that we too, were once unbelievers. It is only by God’s grace and His plan and purpose that we now believe while others do not. But there is a  glorious purpose for this order of events, and that purpose is for the Lord to make of us ‘saviors’ as He Himself is:

Oba 1:21  And saviours shall come up on mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau; and the kingdom shall be the LORD’S.

Rom 11:30  For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief:
Rom 11:31  Even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy.

This second woe is proclaimed from within the temple of God, where the golden altar is located and where the prayers of the saints are offered. That means that this revelation is understood only within those who have acknowledged their blindness and who have been given “eyes within.” The masses of Christianity and each of us, in our time, have no “eyes within”. At that part of our walk these trumpets are all without, and are to be read, heard and kept by someone else, some “other man”, some blasphemous and evil “publican”.

Rev 4:8  And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within: and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.

Luk 18:11  The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican.

But Christ knew the significance of having “eyes within”, and He tells us that our concerns and our chief enemies are not from without, but are from within:

Mat 15:19  For  out of the heart  proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies:

Mar 7:21  For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders,
Mar 7:22  Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness:
Mar 7:23  All these evil things come from within, and defile the man.

God’s elect, signified by the four beasts, are aware of this truth and “are full of eyes within.”

Rev 4:8  And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within: and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.

Christ also tells us that our concerns are not with the future, but are with the present.

Mat 6:34  Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

What are the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates?

Rev 9:14  Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates.

Once again the number four is telling us that the whole of the message of these four angels is being delivered to us. In other words, these four angels bring to us the overall picture of what God is doing with all of mankind. It is these four angels who show us that it is God who has “shaped us in iniquity, conceived us in sin, marred us in the hand of the Potter and caused us to err”.

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

Isa 63:17  O LORD, why hast thou made us to err from thy ways, and hardened our heart from thy fear? Return for thy servants’ sake, the tribes of thine inheritance.

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

Where have these angels with their message been bound? They have been bound “in the great river Euphrates” withholding the next step in the dying of our old man and our growth in the new man just as the man of sin withholds until the appointed time our acceptance of Christ and His purifying work in our lives:

Joh 3:30  He [Christ in us] must increase, but I [John the Baptist who typifies our old man] must decrease.

2Th 2:6  And now ye know what withholdeth  [G2722, ‘katecho’, restrains] that he might be revealed in his time.
2Th 2:7  For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth [G2722, ‘katecho’, restrains] will let, 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.

These ‘four angels’ have been bound by the lies and false doctrines that nourish and enrich Babylon.

These angels are four because it is they who show us the whole of the plan of God, and what they show us is that God’s plan involves both the first and the last Adam and all the warfare that is taking place between our Father Christ and our father the devil who are both, each in his appointed time, within us.

Joh 8:43  Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word.
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.
Joh 8:45  And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not.
Joh 8:46  Which of you convinceth me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do ye not believe me?
Joh 8:47  He that is of God heareth God’s words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye [our old man] are not of God.

We will pause at this point and continue this study asking, What is the spiritual significance of the great river Euphrates

The Prophecy of Isaiah - Part 71 Discussion

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Isa 19:2-7 Every One Against His Brother, And Every One Against His Neighbor

Isa 19:2  And I will set the Egyptians against the Egyptians: and they shall fight every one against his brother, and every one against his neighbour; city against city, and kingdom against kingdom.
Isa 19:3  And the spirit of Egypt shall fail in the midst thereof; and I will destroy the counsel thereof: and they shall seek to the idols, and to the charmers, and to them that have familiar spirits, and to the wizards.
Isa 19:4  And the Egyptians will I give over into the hand of a cruel lord; and a fierce king shall rule over them, saith the Lord, the LORD of hosts.
Isa 19:5  And the waters shall fail from the sea, and the river shall be wasted and dried up.
Isa 19:6  And they shall turn the rivers far away; and the brooks of defence shall be emptied and dried up: the reeds and flags shall wither.
Isa 19:7  The paper reeds by the brooks, by the mouth of the brooks, and every thing sown by the brooks, shall wither, be driven away, and be no more.

We will begin our study by repeating verse one from last week's study:

Isa 19:1  The burden of Egypt. Behold, the LORD rideth upon a swift cloud, and shall come into Egypt: and the idols of Egypt shall be moved at his presence, and the heart of Egypt shall melt in the midst of it.

Now we will begin to see how the Lord will begin moving the idols of Egypt and melting the hearts of the Egyptian in the midst of it, both within us first and then, in time, we will see these things all fulfilled outwardly in the world:

Isa 19:2  And I will set the Egyptians against the Egyptians: and they shall fight every one against his brother, and every one against his neighbour; city against city, and kingdom against kingdom.

Let's read this verse together with verse one to get the full force of what we are being told:

Isa 19:1  The burden of Egypt. Behold, the LORD rideth upon a swift cloud, and shall come into Egypt: and the idols of Egypt shall be moved at his presence, and the heart of Egypt shall melt in the midst of it.
Isa 19:2  And I will set the Egyptians against the Egyptians: and they shall fight every one against his brother, and every one against his neighbour; city against city, and kingdom against kingdom.

The inward application of what these verses are telling us is that when we begin to see the true Christ, at that very moment we also begin to see the conflict of "the Egyptian against the Egyptian... every one against his brother" which is inherent in the doctrines we all believed for so long. A good example of "Egyptians and the Egyptians" within our heavens was manifested in a church marquee which read: "God is love... sinners will burn in hell". That self-conflicting doctrine is to this day believed by millions of people who profess to be Christians.

"Every one against his neighbor" has a very clear outward fulfillment which tugs at the hearts of even God's very elect. As we witness the injustices of mankind against their brothers, it will take Christ within us to keep us aloof from "the affairs of this life" and keep us from being against our brother. We simply cannot stay aloof from the affairs of this life of ourselves, but we can do so through Christ who strengthens us:

Php 4:13  I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.

2Ti 2:3  Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.
2Ti 2:4  No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.

We will first take a closer look to see how Isaiah 19:2, "Egyptian against Egyptian is fulfilled within the kingdom of God within us, where our old man's Babylonian kingdom with all of its Babylonian lies is being invaded by the fiery words of the truth of the doctrines of Christ. My own person experience of "Egyptians against the Egyptians" began in my early twenties and continued for many years as I struggled with the scriptures I was being given to see for the first time in my life.

I first began to realize the meaning of the Greek word 'aion' and the Hebrew word 'olawm' in 1973. There were no personal computers to be bought at a local store, and there was no e-sword or any other such helps to search out how those words were used in the scriptures. Inwardly "the Egyptians [fought] against the Egyptians" for many years before that conflict subsided and Christ began to reign over all those conflicting doctrines within me which I had never before seen as contradictions.

The kingdom of our first old man is typified by the firstborn son of Abraham with his bond maid who was later cast out and of whom we are told:

Gal 4:29  But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now.
Gal 4:30  Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman.

We may find it hard to understand, but this "son of the bondwoman" is none other than our own first-born "old man", and as we continue to compare spiritual things with spiritual (1Co 2:3-14), we will see that he is described as "a wild man":

Gen 16:12  And he [Ishmael, Abraham's first born son by Hagar, his "bondwoman" wife] will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.

Our old man "dwells in the presence of his brothers" inasmuch as he cohabits with Christ as an "earthen vessel". He is decreasing as Christ is increasing, and our old man is dying daily (1Co 15:31) simply because he is that "earthen vessel" in which Christ dwells at this time. We must all contend with the beast, that "earthen vessel" within, and we must do so on a daily basis:

2Co 4:7  But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.
2Co 4:8  We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;
2Co 4:9  Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;
2Co 4:10  Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.

Notice carefully, "the dying of the Lord Jesus" and "the life also of Jesus" are both "manifest in our body".  "Christ in [us]" (Col 1:27) is dying daily to the pulls of His own flesh, meaning the flesh of each of us within these earthen vessels because:

Heb 4:15  For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.

As shown already, inwardly "brother against brother" first speaks of the conflict of the lies of the Babylonian "spiritual... Egypt", the kingdom of our old man within us, conflicting with and warring with the Truth of the Words of Christ which comes as a fiery sword to destroy those lies "with the brightness of His coming" within us (2Th 2:3-8). It is this inward struggle that brings us all "to [our] wits' end" as we saw earlier in:

Psa 107:25  For he commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof.
Psa 107:26  They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths: their soul is melted because of trouble.
Psa 107:27  They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits' end.

While Christianity and Islam will certainly have their part in the fulfillment of the work of this "wild man" in the outward fulfilling of the Lord "set[ting] the Egyptians against the Egyptians", it is nevertheless the spiritual beastly nature within every man which the Lord has always used and which He will continue to use to bring to pass this "every man's hand against his brother" prophecy of world-wide civil unrest, as these verses demonstrate:

Ecc 3:18  I said in mine heart concerning the estate of the sons of men, that God might manifest them, and that they might see that they themselves are beasts.

Jdg 7:22  And the three hundred blew the trumpets [symbolizing the Lord's elect], and the LORD set every man's sword against his fellow, even throughout all the host: and the host fled to Bethshittah in Zererath, and to the border of Abelmeholah, unto Tabbath.

Isa 3:5. And the people shall be oppressed, every one by another, and every one by his neighbour: the child shall behave himself proudly against the ancient, and the base against the honourable.

1Sa 14:20  And Saul and all the people that were with him assembled themselves, and they came to the battle [against the Philistines]: and, behold, every man's sword was against his fellow, and there was a very great discomfiture.

Jer 25:30  Therefore prophesy thou against them all these words, and say unto them, The LORD shall roar from on high, and utter his voice from his holy habitation; he shall mightily roar upon his habitation; he shall give a shout, as they that tread the grapes, against all the inhabitants of the earth.

Eze 38:20  So that the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the heaven, and the beasts of the field, and all creeping things that creep upon the earth, and all the men that are upon the face of the earth, shall shake at my presence, and the mountains shall be thrown down, and the steep places shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground.
Eze 38:21  And I will call for a sword against him [Gog and Magog - vs 1-2] throughout all my mountains, saith the Lord GOD: every man's sword shall be against his brother.
Eze 38:22  And I will plead against him with pestilence and with blood; and I will rain upon him, and upon his bands, and upon the many people that are with him, an overflowing rain, and great hailstones, fire, and brimstone.
Eze 38:23  Thus will I magnify myself, and sanctify myself; and I will be known in the eyes of many nations, and they shall know that I am the LORD.

Hag 2:22  And I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms, and I will destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the heathen; and I will overthrow the chariots, and those that ride in them; and the horses and their riders shall come down, every one by the sword of his brother.

Zec 8:9  Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Let your hands be strong, ye that hear in these days these words by the mouth of the prophets, which were in the day that the foundation of the house of the LORD of hosts was laid, that the temple might be built.
Zec 8:10  For before these days there was no hire for man, nor any hire for beast; neither was there any peace to him that went out or came in because of the affliction: for I set all men every one against his neighbour.

Zec 14:13  And it shall come to pass in that day, that a great tumult from the LORD shall be among them; and they shall lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbour, and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbour.

"Egyptian against Egyptian" will be accomplished "throughout all [of God's] mountains" (Eze 38:21), which has the same meaning as "...all the nations in the four quarters of the earth".

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.

The Lord tells us His words "shall 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 these words concerning Gog and Magog have both a present and a future application, as well as being applicable at the time these words were written, just as surely as Joseph's brothers physically bowed down to him in his lifetime. These words in Psalms are also addressed to "the kings of the earth", and they are addressed to all nations who "take counsel together against the Lord and against His anointed", whether in the days of King David, at the time of the crucifixion of Christ, or at the time of the "little season" of rebellion against the rulership of the Lord's elect following the thousand years of the reign of God's elect over the kingdoms of this world.

Psa 2:2  The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying,
Psa 2:3  Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.
Psa 2:4  He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision.
Psa 2:5  Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure.

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.

Here is the application of these words at the time of Christ's crucifixion:

Act 4:26  The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against his Christ.

All these words are first to be applied within each of those in whom Christ will take up His abode. Then these words will also have a pre-millennial application when the kings of this world will resist the installation of the thousand-year reign of the Lord's elect over the kingdoms of this world:

Rev 11:15  And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.

Rev 19:19  And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army.

Then they will have a final outward application to the nations at the end of the "little season" of rebellion, which follows the thousand year reign of Christ:

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.

The rest of our study details the destruction of Egypt within and without:

Isa 19:3  And the spirit of Egypt shall fail in the midst thereof; and I will destroy the counsel thereof: and they shall seek to the idols, and to the charmers, and to them that have familiar spirits, and to the wizards.

When any of us first hear the truths of Christ, those truths sound so incredibly radical that we reject them out of hand as utter heresy. It just does not seem possible that so many of the people we know, love and respect could all be that wrong, and besides we have read the Bible for ourselves, and we, in our spiritually blind state, have never seen this doctrine there in the Bible. So we all at first rebel against Christ, and this is what we are told God thinks about that mindset:

1Sa 15:23  For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from being king.

It is our old man who turns to the idols of our heart, and in doing so we become guilty of the sins of witchcraft and idolatry. At that time, we are comfortable with our bondage to the traditions of men. We like paying tithes on our gross income, and we dearly love keeping days, months, times and years, for just two examples.

The story of Elijah and the four hundred prophets of Baal is actually a type of what will become of all the false ministers who are this very day making merchandise of the Lord's flock. The Lord had delivered Israel into the hands of an apostate king who had married Jezebel, the daughter of a pagan Zidonian king (1Kg 16:31). Jezebel was intent upon destroying all the Lord's prophets and was making good on her intention, so Elijah, with Ahab's apparent consent, challenged them to a showdown. Our old man has a showdown with Christ written in his book, and all the nations of this world also must face a day of accounting for turning away from their Creator to idols of their own hearts.

See if you can see your own old man in the confidence these prophets of Baal had in the doctrines of their god:

1Ki 18:25  And Elijah said unto the prophets of Baal, Choose you one bullock for yourselves, and dress it first; for ye are many; and call on the name of your gods, but put no fire under.
1Ki 18:26  And they took the bullock which was given them, and they dressed it, and called on the name of Baal from morning even until noon, saying, O Baal, hear us. But there was no voice, nor any that answered. And they leaped upon the altar which was made.
1Ki 18:27  And it came to pass at noon, that Elijah mocked them, and said, Cry aloud: for he is a god; either he is talking, or he is pursuing, or he is in a journey, or peradventure he sleepeth, and must be awaked.
1Ki 18:28  And they cried aloud, and cut themselves after their manner with knives and lancets, till the blood gushed out upon them.
1Ki 18:29  And it came to pass, when midday was past, and they prophesied until the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that there was neither voice, nor any to answer, nor any that regarded.
1Ki 18:30  And Elijah said unto all the people, Come near unto me. And all the people came near unto him. And he repaired the altar of the LORD that was broken down.
1Ki 18:31  And Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, unto whom the word of the LORD came, saying, Israel shall be thy name:
1Ki 18:32  And with the stones he built an altar in the name of the LORD: and he made a trench about the altar, as great as would contain two measures of seed.
1Ki 18:33  And he put the wood in order, and cut the bullock in pieces, and laid him on the wood, and said, Fill four barrels with water, and pour it on the burnt sacrifice, and on the wood.
1Ki 18:34  And he said, Do it the second time. And they did it the second time. And he said, Do it the third time. And they did it the third time.
1Ki 18:35  And the water ran round about the altar; and he filled the trench also with water.
1Ki 18:36  And it came to pass at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that Elijah the prophet came near, and said, LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, let it be known this day that thou art God in Israel, and that I am thy servant, and that I have done all these things at thy word.
1Ki 18:37  Hear me, O LORD, hear me, that this people may know that thou art the LORD God, and that thou hast turned their heart back again.
1Ki 18:38  Then the fire of the LORD fell, and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench.
1Ki 18:39  And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces: and they said, The LORD, he is the God; the LORD, he is the God.
1Ki 18:40  And Elijah said unto them, Take the prophets of Baal; let not one of them escape. And they took them: and Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishon, and slew them there.

It requires a miracle from God for any of us to come to Him. Paul's 'road to Damascus' conversion is not that different from any of ours, nor is it different from this story of Elijah and the prophets of Baal. We do not willingly come to God. Rather, He drags us to Himself (Joh 8:44, 65). In the same manner, it will require a miracle to strike the fear of God into the kingdoms of this world before they will give up their dominion over the Lord's elect. However, the Lord specializes in miracles, and His word is sure:

Isa 19:4  And the Egyptians will I give over into the hand of a cruel lord; and a fierce king shall rule over them, saith the Lord, the LORD of hosts.

Our old man is a cruel taskmaster who rules us with a rod of iron. It is because of how he abuses us that we are all brought to our wits' end and cry out for the Lord's mercy. In the same way the outward kings of this world think little of sacrificing the lives of the sons of other men and women to maintain their own power and pride, the Lord has also placed this whole world into the hands of the basest of men who are all "fierce kings" who will not hesitate to go to war and to "destroy the earth":

Rev 11:18  And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth.

There was a three and a half year drought at the time Elijah slew the four hundred prophets of Baal:

Luk 4:25  But I tell you of a truth, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the land;

The whole world is under just such a drought at this moment, but it is not a physical drought:

Amo 8:11  Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD:

We all live through the days when God truly does dry up the waters that nourish Babylon. At that time the ten horns upon the beast are burning the doctrines of the great whore with fire and are devouring her flesh:

Rev 16:12  And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared.
Rev 16:13  And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet.
Rev 16:14  For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.

When we come to see Babylon as 'spiritual Sodom and Egypt', then we will also see the drying up of the river of Egypt as the same thing as the drying up of the Euphrates. It is merely two ways of saying the same thing.

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.

The drying up of the waters of the river of Egypt and the drying up of the Euphrates River symbolize the rejection of the doctrines of Babylon and the doctrines of the religions of this world, which we honestly believe bring so much wealth to ourselves and to the coffers of the churches of this world. The Lord is at this very moment drying up the Euphrates and the Nile, and everything sown by the brooks of these rivers is beginning to wither away, 'to be driven away and to be no more'.

Isa 19:5  And the waters shall fail from the sea, and the river shall be wasted and dried up.
Isa 19:6  And they shall turn the rivers far away; and the brooks of defence shall be emptied and dried up: the reeds and flags shall wither.
Isa 19:7  The paper reeds by the brooks, by the mouth of the brooks, and every thing sown by the brooks, shall wither, be driven away, and be no more.

This is what must happen to the kingdom of our old man and to Babylon within us, and it will happen just this way because:

Rev 17:15  And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.
Rev 17:16  And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire.
Rev 17:17  For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled.

It was the waters of the Euphrates by which the riches of the kingdoms of Babylon came into that city, and it was by the Nile that Egypt was made rich. Those are outward literal rivers and countries, but water also symbolizes the Word of God and the doctrines of Christ:

Joh 7:38  He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.

Eph 5:26  That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,

As we have seen, when the water of the Word of God was taken from Israel, there was "a famine in the land".

Amo 8:11  Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD:

In the same manner, the revelation of Christ and His Truth within us and within this world will effect a famine of the lies and falsehoods of Babylon, and when that happens Babylon's source of nourishment and wealth will dry up and wither away.

Isa 19:6  And they shall turn the rivers far away; and the brooks of defence shall be emptied and dried up: the reeds and flags shall wither.
Isa 19:7  The paper reeds by the brooks, by the mouth of the brooks, and every thing sown by the brooks, shall wither, be driven away, and be no more.

King Cyrus turned the waters of the Euphrates and diverted them far north of Babylon. When the waters were no longer flowing through Babylon, his armies marched into the city through the empty channel which had been the Euphrates River and took the city without having to fight a battle. That is the outward fulfillment of the "drying up of the Euphrates". The spiritual fulfillment is coming in the form of the rejection of the doctrines of the Babylonian religions of this earth, and the eating of the flesh of that great whore and burning her with the fire of that rejection.

That is the deep darkness that comes just before the light of dawn. That is the great high waves which bring us and the kingdoms of this world to our wits' end just before we are brought to our haven of rest, and just before the kingdoms of this world are given into the merciful hands of the Lord's Christ.

Rev 11:15  And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.

We have read a lot about how the Lord melts the hearts of the men of Egypt and the inhabitants of the promised land. Here are more verses which make that a personal experience and give us a much deeper understanding of what must take place within us before it can take place outwardly:

Psa 107:25  For he commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof.
Psa 107:26  They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths: their soul is melted because of trouble.
Psa 107:27  They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits' end.
Psa 107:28  Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses.
Psa 107:29  He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still.
Psa 107:30  Then are they glad because they be quiet; so he bringeth them unto their desired haven.

It is He who "commands and raises the stormy wind", and it is also He, who at the time He has appointed for our good, will in the end 'makes the storm a calm and bring us into our desired haven of peace and safety' and "[His] rest" (Heb 4:1-5).

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.

Next week, Lord willing, we will continue to see more of the kingdom of our old man and his fate, presented to us in the form of the drying up of the river of Egypt.

Isa 19:8  The fishers also shall mourn, and all they that cast angle into the brooks shall lament, and they that spread nets upon the waters shall languish.
Isa 19:9  Moreover they that work in fine flax, and they that weave networks, shall be confounded.
Isa 19:10  And they shall be broken in the purposes thereof, all that make sluices and ponds for fish.
Isa 19:11  Surely the princes of Zoan are fools, the counsel of the wise counsellors of Pharaoh is become brutish: how say ye unto Pharaoh, I am the son of the wise, the son of ancient kings?
Isa 19:12  Where are they? where are thy wise men? and let them tell thee now, and let them know what the LORD of hosts hath purposed upon Egypt.
Isa 19:13  The princes of Zoan are become fools, the princes of Noph are deceived; they have also seduced Egypt, even they that are the stay of the tribes thereof.
Isa 19:14  The LORD hath mingled a perverse spirit in the midst thereof: and they have caused Egypt to err in every work thereof, as a drunken man staggereth in his vomit.
Isa 19:15  Neither shall there be any work for Egypt, which the head or tail, branch or rush, may do.

Video Links

Rev 9:13-16 – The Sixth Seal – Part 1 –
Loosing The Four Angels Bound In The Euphrates

Rev 9:13  And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God,
Rev 9:14  Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates.
Rev 9:15  And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men.
 
Introduction

This sixth trump is given the name “The second woe”. The last three trumpets of this revelation of Jesus Christ within us are called “three woes”. This is what we were told immediately following the fourth trumpet.

Rev 8:13  And I beheld, and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters of the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of t he three angels, which are yet to sound!

So these three woes are directed specifically to “the inhabiters of the earth”. We have seen from many  verses of scripture that “the inhabiters of the earth” are all men who are or have been “in Adam”. In other words, these words really are for you and me to “read, hear and keep… every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God” and Christ, who happens to be the author of this entire book of the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Rev 1:1  The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified [ it] by his angel unto his servant John:
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.

So whatever this sixth trumpet is, we can know and be assured that it has been happening in the lives of all who are in Christ since the day these words were first penned, and if we are in Christ, then the words of this sixth trumpet, which is also called the second “woe” is to be read, heard and kept by those who are given to read, hear and keep the things written in this sixth trumpet which says “woe, to the inhabiters of the earth.”

Rev 9:12  One woe is past; [ and], behold, there come two woes more hereafter.

We are God’s people and this trumpet is for us for our good:

Isa 58:1  Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins.

  Six of the symbols of the sixth trumpet which is the second woe

The symbols of this trumpet total eight, but today we will cover only the six which are in the three verses of today’s study. 1) the four horns of the golden altar, 2) four angels which are 3) bound in the river Euphrates, 4) which angels are commissioned to be loosed, 5) which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, 6) for to slay the third part of men. So…
What are the four horns of the golden altar?

The number four signifies ‘the whole’ as we have already demonstrated. Throughout scripture horns are a symbol of strength and power. It is through the strength and power of the voice that issues from these four horns of the golden altar, that the ensuing events take place.

Rev 9:13  And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God,

The four horns of the golden altar symbolize both the spiritual strength and the wholehearted dedication of those to whom it is granted to “die daily” and to “keep the things which are written therein.”

Psa 119:2  Blessed are they that keep his testimonies, and that seek him with the whole heart.
Psa 119:34  Give me understanding, and I shall keep thy law; yea, I shall observe it with my whole heart.

Jer 24:7  And I will give them an heart to know me, that I am the LORD: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God: for they shall return unto me with their whole heart.

Our strength and power certainly is not of ourselves. It is only in the demonstration of the Words of our Lord.

Exo 15:2  The LORD is my strength and song, and he is become my salvation: he is my God, and I will prepare him an habitation; my father’s God, and I will exalt him.

Psa 118:14  The LORD is my strength and song, and is become my salvation.

“The Lord is our strength”, and we are God’s “habitation”. So the “voice from the four horns of the golden altar” is nothing less than the words of God, as they come into our lives and begin to open our eyes to see through the smoke that darkens our heavens and our air. That voice from the golden altar is the truth of what all these symbols mean, which understanding begins to help us to see through the darkness and ignorance all around us. For example, if we have no idea where the golden altar is located, and what its function was, then this symbol will mean very little or nothing to us. On the other hand, if we realize that this particular golden altar was within the holy temple of God and was the altar where only the priests of God sprinkled the blood of the sacrifices and burned the crushed frankincense as a sweet savor to God, then we can begin to understand that, being that temple of God, the activities concerning this golden altar are of necessity taking place within God’s elect who are His temple.

1Co 3:16  Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?

So the activities of this sixth angel with the sixth trumpet, called ‘the second woe,’ which looses the four angels in the river Euphrates, for to kill a third part of men, is all taking place within the temple of God “which temple ye are.”
It is this inward altar, the golden altar, of which we are told “those who serve the temple have no right to eat.”

Heb 13:10  We have an altar, whereof they have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle.
Heb 13:11  For the bodies of those beasts, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned without the camp.
Heb 13:12  Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered [ burned, was purified] without the gate.
Heb 13:13  Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach.
Heb 13:14  For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come.
Heb 13:15  By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.

Those “which serve the tabernacle” today are the masses of Christianity who come to God’s word with idols of their heart. That means you and me in our own time. These have no “eyes within,” and for many long years we saw no need to read, hear and keep the things written therein. Our goal at that time is to avoid keeping the things written therein. We want to somehow be raptured away from the things written therein. At this point of our walk, we actually believe and teach that “the things written therein” are for those who are not God’s elect, and we cannot see how God’s elect are the heirs of these things. We fail to notice that the suffering of Christ, the burning outside the camp, is accomplished by those who claim to believe in Him (Joh 8:30-49). In other words, they are accomplished by us when we did not believe this verse:

1Co 3:21  Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours;
1Co 3:22  Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours;

I remember well not appreciating the fact that that verse says “the world, and death are mine.” I was completely blinded to the truth of that verse. So those who have been blinded to the truth of God’s Word, think that the sixth seal with “the great day of His wrath,” is a “thing to come,” which certainly is not ours if we are in Christ. 1Th 5:9, which speaks of the salvation of all, is twisted by all of us, and by the entire Christian world, to deny that anything in this book which deals with God’s wrath upon all unrighteousness and ungodliness of men, is also upon the sins, unrighteousness, or ungodliness of God’s elect.

Ecc 9:2  A ll 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.

Rom 1:18  For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;
1Co 3:21  Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours;
1Co 3:22  Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours;

1Th 5:9  For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,
1Th 5:10  Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him.
1Th 5:11  Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do.

“Whether we wake or sleep”, whether we are believers or in unbelief, “all things come alike to all… there is one event to the righteous and to the wicked, we are not appointed to wrath [ in the end] but to salvation. Comfort yourselves together…” These verses enhance and complement each other. They are not contradicting each other. “All things are ours” so we too, were once unbelievers. It is only by God’s grace and His plan and purpose that we now believe while others do not.

Rom 11:30  For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief:
Rom 11:31  Even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy.

This second woe is proclaimed from within the temple of God, where the golden altar is located and where the prayers of the saints are offered. So this revelation is understood only within those who have acknowledged their blindness and who have been given “eyes within.” The masses of Christianity and each of us, in our time, have no “eyes within”. At that part of our walk these trumpets are all without, and are to be read, heard and kept by someone else, some “other man”, some blasphemous publican.

Rev 4:8  And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within: and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.
Luk 18:11  The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican.

But Christ knew the significance of having “eyes within”, and He tells us that our concerns are not from without, but are from within:

Mat 15:19  For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies:
Mar 7:21  For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders,
Mar 7:22  Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness:
Mar 7:23  All these evil things come from within, and defile the man. 

God’s elect, the four beasts, are aware of this truth and “are full of eyes within.”
He also tells us that our concerns are not with the future, but are with the present.

Mat 6:34  Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.
What are the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates?

Rev 9:14  Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates.
 
Once again the number four is telling us that the whole of the message of these four angels is being delivered to us. In other words, these four angels bring to us the overall picture of what God is doing with all of mankind. It is these four angels who show us that it is God who has “shaped us in iniquity, conceived us in sin, marred us in the hand of the Potter and caused us to err”. Where have these angels with their message been bound? They have been bound “in the great river Euphrates.” They have been bound by the lies and false doctrines that nourish and enrich Babylon. These angels are four because it is they who show us the whole of the plan of God, and what they show us is that God’s plan involves both the first and the last Adam and all the warfare that is taking place between our Father Christ and our father the devil who are both, each in his time, within us.

Joh 8:43  Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word.
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.
Joh 8:45  And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not.
Joh 8:46  Which of you convinceth me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do ye not believe me?
Joh 8:47  He that is of God heareth God’s words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God.

What is “the great river Euphrates?”
The Euphrates is the river that fed and nourished Babylon. It was upon the waters of the Euphrates that the wealth of all the provinces of Babylon came into “that great city”. Babylon and the walls of Babylon actually spanned the entire width of the Euphrates River and it was to Babylon that God’s people were carried away as captives:

Psa 137:1  By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion.
Psa 137:2  We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof.
Psa 137:3  For there they that carried us away captive required of us a song; and they that wasted us [ required of us] mirth, [ saying], Sing us [ one] of the songs of Zion.
Psa 137:4  How shall we sing the LORD’S song in a strange land?

Here is one of the “woes” placed upon God’s people by the prophet Jeremiah. In this woe we see that God uses the Euphrates and Babylon to “mar” the girdle which should be used to cover our nakedness. The result is to make us “profitable for nothing”. We see that those who “sit on David’s throne” are caused by God to “stumble on dark mountains” and go into “gross darkness” and are carried away captive, and it is all the work of the Lord.

Jer 13:1  Thus saith the LORD unto me, Go and get thee a linen girdle, and put it upon thy loins, and put it not in water.
Jer 13:2  So I got a girdle according to the word of the LORD, and put [ it] on my loins.
Jer 13:3  And the word of the LORD came unto me the second time, saying,
Jer 13:4  Take the girdle that thou hast got, which [ is] upon thy loins, and arise, go to Euphrates, and hide it there in a hole of the rock.
Jer 13:5  So I went, and hid it by Euphrates, as the LORD commanded me.
Jer 13:6  And it came to pass after many days, that the LORD said unto me, Arise, go to Euphrates, and take the girdle from thence, which I commanded thee to hide there.
Jer 13:7  Then I went to Euphrates, and digged, and took the girdle from the place where I had hid it: and, behold, the girdle was marred, it was profitable for nothing.
Jer 13:8  Then the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
Jer 13:9  Thus saith the LORD, After this manner will I mar the pride of Judah, and the great pride of Jerusalem.
Jer 13:10  This evil people, which refuse to hear my words, which walk in the imagination of their heart, and walk after other gods, to serve them, and to worship them, shall even be as this girdle, which is good for nothing.
Jer 13:11  For as the girdle cleaveth to the loins of a man, so have I caused to cleave unto me the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah, saith the LORD; that they might be unto me for a people, and for a name, and for a praise, and for a glory: but they would not hear.
Jer 13:12  Therefore thou shalt speak unto them this word; Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Every bottle shall be filled with wine: and they shall say unto thee, Do we not certainly know that every bottle shall be filled with wine?
Jer 13:13  Then shalt thou say unto them, Thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will fill all the inhabitants of this land, even the kings that sit upon David’s throne, and the priests, and the prophets, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, with drunkenness.
Jer 13:14  And I will dash them one against another, even the fathers and the sons together, saith the LORD: I will not pity, nor spare, nor have mercy, but destroy them.
Jer 13:15  Hear ye, and give ear; be not proud: for the LORD hath spoken.
Jer 13:16  Give glory to the LORD your God, before he cause darkness, and before your feet stumble upon the dark mountains, and, while ye look for light, he turn it into the shadow of death, [ and] make [ it] gross darkness.
Jer 13:17  But if ye will not hear it, my soul shall weep in secret places for [ your] pride; and mine eye shall weep sore, and run down with tears, because the LORD’S flock is carried away captive.
Jer 13:18  Say unto the king and to the queen, Humble yourselves, sit down: for your principalities shall come down, [ even] the crown of your glory.
Jer 13:19  The cities of the south shall be shut up, and none shall open [ them]: Judah shall be carried away captive all of it, it shall be wholly carried away captive.
Jer 13:20  Lift up your eyes, and behold them that come from the north: where [ is] the flock [ that] was given thee, thy beautiful flock?
Jer 13:21  What wilt thou say when he shall punish thee? for thou hast taught them [ to be] captains, [ and] as chief over thee: shall not sorrows take thee, as a woman in travail?
Jer 13:22  And if thou say in thine heart, Wherefore come these things upon me? For the greatness of thine iniquity are thy skirts discovered, [ and] thy heels made bare.
Jer 13:23  Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? [ then] may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil.
Jer 13:24  Therefore will I scatter them as the stubble that passeth away by the wind of the wilderness.
Jer 13:25  This [ is] thy lot, the portion of thy measures from me, saith the LORD; because thou hast forgotten me, and trusted in falsehood.
Jer 13:26  Therefore will I discover thy skirts upon thy face, that thy shame may appear.
Jer 13:27  I have seen thine adulteries, and thy neighings, the lewdness of thy whoredom, [ and] thine abominations on the hills in the fields. Woe unto thee, O Jerusalem! wilt thou not be made clean? when [ shall it] once [ be]?

Here God is telling His people that He will cause the righteousness of His people to become “marred” then, “after many days”, He will cause them to abuse His wine and be drunk. He will then “dash father against son… will not pity, nor spare, nor have mercy, but [ will] destroy them…” He then causes darkness… makes it gross darkness… [ and then He says] woe unto thee, O Jerusalem…” To which Isaiah adds:

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

As God’s people, we become the great harlot of the book of Revelation, who is revealed to be “the faithful city… the city wherein our Lord was crucified,” to which we all bear witness as we ‘look behind us’ to see all these details of the revelation of Jesus Christ, within us.

Rev 1:10  I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet,

We see “the Lord’s day” behind us. That is when we realize that we were “the great city… where our Lord was crucified.” These truths have no “ring of truth” to them until we have already lived and “kept the things which are written therein.”

Rom 4:25  Who was delivered for [ Greek, dia, through] our offences, and was raised again for [ dia, through] our justification.

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.

What does all of this have to do with the four angels being loosed from their bonds in the Euphrates River? It shows us that God’s own people who “believe on Christ” are the very people who are now Babylon itself, the great city wherein our Lord was crucified, and the very same people who want the christ of Christ, crucified to this very day (Joh 8:30-59). As we “look behind us”, we see clearly “that great city” was each of us only yesterday, and this is what is being revealed in this trumpet woe to the inhabiters of the earth. This is what is seen by those who “keep the things which are written therein” (Rev 1:3).
What is “an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year”?

Rev 9:15  And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men.

Christ tells us “there are twelve hours in a day.”

Joh 11:9  Jesus answered, Are there not twelve hours in the day? If any man walk in the day, he stumbleth not, because he seeth the light of this world.

Of course, Christ is talking about walking in Him. He is “the light of this world”.

Joh 8:12  Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.
Joh 9:5  As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.

What does that make you and me if we follow in His footsteps?

Mat 5:14  Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.

So for all who “walk in the day”, there are “twelve hours in the day”. But there are also twelve months in the year in which to “slay the third part of men”. What is this “year for to slay a third part of men” in the lives of God’s elect? Here is the only year in scripture that is given any special consideration.

Isa 61:2  To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn;

This ‘year’ was the topic of the very first sermon of Christ’s ministry. It was given in His own home town of Nazareth immediately after His temptation in the wilderness.

Luk 4:16  And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read.
Luk 4:17  And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written,
Luk 4:18  The Spirit of the Lord [ is] upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,
Luk 4:19  To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.
Luk 4:20  And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him.
Luk 4:21  And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.

The “acceptable year of the Lord” is the year in which the whole of the gospel comes to “heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised.” But Christ made it clear that before these four angels would be released from the River Euphrates within us, we must first come to see ourselves as being in Babylon, being the sick who need a physician, and the blind who need “recovering of sight.”

Mat 9:12  But when Jesus heard that he said unto them, They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick.
Mat 9:13  But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

If we see ourselves as “whole”, then the words of this trumpet are not for us, and we do not need a physician. So it is with our sight.

Joh 9:39  And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind.
Joh 9:40  And [ some] of the Pharisees which were with him heard these words, and said unto him, Are we blind also?
Joh 9:41  Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth.

Until we see that we live by every word, that all things are ours, that we keep the things written therein, we are totally unaware of what God is doing. The “hours, days and months” of scripture are one and all the process which comprises “the year of the Lord” spoken of by Isaiah and Christ in which ‘judgment is now on the house of God’ (1Pe 4:17).

What does “to slay the third part of men” mean?

We have already covered the spiritual significance of the number three when we did our studies on the various ‘thirds’ which are mentioned in chapter eight of this prophecy. Three in scripture signifies the process of being judged. If this trumpet is one third, then there must be two other thirds.

Rev 8:7  The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.
Rev 8:8  And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea: and the third part of the sea became blood;
Rev 8:9  And the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life, died; and the third part of the ships were destroyed.

We are not counting thirds, but we are being told that the process of judgment is taking place within us. The third part of the trees was burnt up, the third part of the creatures which were in the sea and had life died, and now the third part of men are to be slain by the fire, smoke and brimstone which issue out of the mouths of the horses that come out of the smoke of the bottomless pit. Each seal adds to the previous seal, but it is all the revelation of Jesus Christ. Each trumpet of the seventh seal adds to the knowledge that was revealed in the previous trumpet, but it is all “line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little” the revelation of Jesus Christ who is persecuted by each of us when we are in Babylon. When all the thirds are realized in our life, we will begin to be “crucified with Christ”, and we will be “dying daily” with our Lord as we ‘fill up in our bodies what is behind’ of His afflictions, and we too, will be “perfected the third day.”

Luk 13:32  And he said unto them, Go ye, and tell that fox, Behold, I cast out devils, and I do cures to day and to morrow, and the third day I shall be perfected.

Act 22:8  And I answered, Who art thou, Lord? And he said unto me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest.
Col 1:24  Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of [ the] Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church:

Rev 9:18  By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths.

When will we be given eyes that see that all of these thirds of dying are nothing less than the progression of the revelation of Jesus Christ within us as we “keep the things that are written therein,” and “keep the saying of the prophecy of this book” (Rev 1:3 and Rev 22:7).

Summary

We have seen the scriptures which tell us the meaning of 1) the four horns of the golden altar, 2) four angels which are 3) bound in the river Euphrates, 4) which angels are commissioned to be loosed, 5) which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, 6) for to slay the third part of men.
1) The voice from the four horns of the golden altar, we saw signify both the whole and the strength of the words of the gospel of the revelation of Jesus Christ.
2) The four angels are the symbol of the whole of the gospel which has for so long been
3) bound in the river Euphrates, signifies the great river of deathly lies, which nourish and support Babylon and which are the subject of the two million horses and their riders in next week’s study.
4) The loosing of these four angels signify the release into our hearts and minds of the truths which necessitate that Babylon, with all of her smoke and horses and scorpions and lions and all of her lies begins to be judged within us.
5) It is the birth of this day of judgment within us that is the hour, day and month which make up the acceptable year of the Lord, also called the day of the Lord, within us.

Isa 49:8  Thus saith the LORD, In an acceptable time have I heard thee, and in a day of salvation have I helped thee: and I will preserve thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, to establish the earth, to cause to inherit the desolate heritages;
Isa 61:2  To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn;

Luk 4:19  To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.
2Co 6:2  (For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now [ is] the accepted time; behold, now [ is] the day of salvation.) 

6) “For to slay a third part of men” is the symbol of the three part process of the judgment of the old man and his kingdom, with all the armies and principalities with which he rules within us.
Next week, Lord willing, we will discover why the armies of the darkness of the smoke of the bottomless pit are said to number two hundred million and why their breast plates are “of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone.”

Rev 9:16  And the number of the army of the horsemen [ were] two hundred thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them.
Rev 9:17  And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone: and the heads of the horses [ were] as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone.
Rev 9:18  By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths.