The Fifth
Trumpet Judgment
Chapter Four
- Verse Four
And it was commanded them
that they should not
hurt the grass of the earth neither any green
thing, neither any tree; but only those men which
have not the seal of God in their foreheads.
(Revelation 9:4)
God is the final
authority and the giver of life and it is He who commands and brings
forth. “Let all the earth fear the Lord:
let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him. For he spake, and it was done; he commanded
and it stood fast,” (Psalm 33:8-9).
These locusts are commanded NOT
to hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, nor any tree. The
Question:
Since God, in no uncertain terms, commands Satan and his hosts not
to hurt any green things, why then do we read in Revelation 8:7 that a third
part of all green grass was burnt up?
Revelation 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.
It does sound very
contradictory, but of course we know that can’t be. When God states that the third part of the
trees, along with the third part of green grass was burnt up, we have to first
stop and realize that the term third
part refers to the true Word of Christ (His Gospel) and at the same
time speaks of all true Christians. Please
see chapter twelve of this study.
Therefore if a third part of grass, trees, waters, rivers, oceans, etc.
are destroyed, we know that it can only be the silencing of the preaching of
the true Gospel. It can only mean the
silencing of the public proclamation of Christ’s words. This silencing will come in many different
ways. The radio waves will not broadcast
the truth. Television will not broadcast
God’s true Word. Congregations will no
longer be providing their flocks with God’s truth. On and on the sad story continues. This final worldwide silencing, hushing, or
muting of the only means to salvation is expressed in Scripture as the
destruction of the Third Part. When God commands Satan not to hurt
any grass, green thing, or any tree, we can rejoice in that as true believers
in Christ, our eternal salvation is sealed and the gates of hell can never
prevent us from inheriting our eternal future in God’s heavenly kingdom. Yes, the third part can and will be burnt up
or silenced for a “little season,” but it can never be hurt in the sense of spiritual and eternal destruction.
LOCUSTS COMMANDED:
HURT NOT ALL
God does indeed
restrain these locusts from hurting any of the trees, grass, or any green
thing. This word hurt, as it is
applied in this verse and others, carries with it a definite spiritual
implication. It can be defined in
Scripture as meaning: not to do spiritual harm.
Revelation 2:11 gives us a clear understanding of the word
hurt:
“He that hath an
ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith onto the churches; he that overcometh
shall not be hurt of the second death.”
This Greek word translated
as hurt is the same Greek word used in Revelation 9:4 of our study. To have victory in Christ guarantees us that
we will not be hurt of the second death.
And what did we say the second death represented? It is simply outer darkness but not annihilation. “Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the
first resurrection: on such the second
death hath no power,” (Revelation
20:6).
Revelation 20:13-14 -
13 - And the sea
gave up the dead which were in it; and earth and hell delivered up the dead which
were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.
14 - And death
and hell were cast into the lake of fire.
This is the second death.
The second death
then is clearly the eternal condition of those who do not partake of the first
resurrection. That is, those lost souls
who do not experience the resurrection of their spirits; the experience of
becoming a new creature in Christ. They
do not experience the miracle of being made spiritually alive in Christ,
1 Corinthians 15:22. They do not
partake of the wonders of being made “born again” by the Spirit of God (John
3:3, 7) and reigning with Him forever.
The second death is undoubtedly eternal hell.
At the sounding of
the fifth trumpet, Satan and his angels go forth throughout the earth for the purpose
of deceiving the nations (cf., Revelation 20:8). All those who do not truly know Christ at
that time will remain subject to this global deception. Those who are truly redeemed by the blood of
Christ will not be deceived by this onslaught, for God has promised His people
that nothing by any means shall hurt them, Mark 16:18. He also says, concerning the subtle deception
of this great tribulation: “…if it were
possible, they shall deceive the very elect.”
But of course God’s elect cannot be deceived by this spiritual deception
brought on by false doctrines. This is
virtually impossible, because God has sealed His people against all the works
of Satan. “And this is the Father’s will
which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing,
but should raise it up again at the last day,” John 6:39. God has commanded Satan and his fallen angels
not to hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any
tree.
GRASS,
GREEN THINGS, AND TREES
Thus far in chapter
nine of the Book of Revelation God has been revealing His truth through the use
of symbols. All of this highly symbolic
language can only be accurately interpreted by letting God define His own terms
within the pages of Scripture. There is
only one way to interpret Scripture, and this is by letter Scripture define
itself. In verse four of our study God
is commanding Satan and his hosts not to hurt the grass, trees, or any green thing. As we saw, hurt in many cases carries the
meaning of the Second Death; that is to be spiritually condemned to outer
darkness. God calls for the locusts
to hurt ONLY those who do not have
the seal of God in their foreheads.
Immediately we should realize that the context is in reference to human
souls, and not literal grass and green trees.
These are all people that are in view here. God clearly makes a distinction between two
types of people: One - those who do not have the “mark of God” in
their foreheads, whom he commands the locusts to “hurt.” Then there are the others. Two
- Those people whom God commands the locusts not to hurt. These are the true followers of Jesus Christ,
the true church represented by the terms or synonyms green, grass,
and trees. These two bodies of people (one spiritual,
the other worldly) are the wheat and tares spoken of in Scripture. In referring to them, Jesus states in Matthew 13:30:
“Let both grow
together until the harvest [Judgment Day]; and in the time of harvest I will
say to the reapers, gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in
bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.”
Why does God use
GREEN to symbolize the believers? Green
represents life, both in a spiritual and a literal sense. The same testimony can be said of Old
Testament Ephraim as is said of everyone who has truly been made a “new
creature in Christ” - Hosea 14:8
- “Ephraim shall say, what have I to do any more with idols? I have heard him, and observed him: I am like
a green fir tree. From me is thy fruit found.”
God refers to those
of His household as a green olive tree, fair and of goodly fruit.” Jeremiah 11:16. A similar statement is found in Psalm 52:8 - “But I am like a green olive tree in the house of
God: I trust in the mercy of God for ever and ever.” Recall
when God sent the plague of locusts upon
“For they [the
locusts] covered the face of the whole earth, so that the land was darkened;
and they did eat every herb of the land, and all the fruit of the trees which
the hail had left; and there remained not
any green thing in the trees, or in the herbs of the fields, through all the
land of Egypt.”
What a terrible
picture that is presented here. We are
warned and commanded throughout Scripture that when we see this abomination
that is making the church desolate (scripturally called “The Abomination of
Desolation,” we are to flee [Matthew 24:16] or “come out of her my people,” [Revelation
18:4]). Daniel 9:27, in referring to
this time declares that Satan will make the church desolate by the overspreading
of abominations. This will continue,
as Daniel declares: until “…the consummation, and that determined shall be
poured upon the desolate.” Yes, God is
warning man, even back in the Old Testament Book of Daniel, that there is
coming a time in which Satan would be allowed to deceive all unbelievers within
the corporate church (including the world), even desecrating the true church
itself, for a given time. The gates of
hell shall not prevail against the establishment and completeness of Christ’s
true Church. Nevertheless, the true
doctrines of salvation through Christ will be hushed, chocked off, and silenced
to such a high degree that the true vine of God will have been stripped away by
these locusts. The grass, green things,
and trees (characterized by true believes) will have been eaten up as Joel
chapter one tells us.
In the Exodus
chapter ten allegory of the Great Tribulation, we find that the locusts have
eaten all the herbs of the field; they have eaten all the fruit of the trees,
and all the green things. Let us first
look at the biblical definition of herb. It comes from the Hebrew word “eh’-seb” and
means: to glisten or to be green;
as the grass or any tender shoot.
This word is translated seventeen times in the Old Testament as herb and sixteen times it is
translated as grass. We see then that herbs do indeed correlate to
green things, and fruit of the trees all set forth and designate a picture of
the Gospel of Jesus Christ. In the physical sense, green, grass, herbs, and
fruit represent life. If they are
withered, they no longer have life.
Likewise, one spiritually has life eternal through the Gospel of Christ. He then has true life and produces spiritual
fruit. If Christ’s Gospel is cut off,
His Word withers as the literal grass, herbs, and trees. It is then impossible to bring forth fruit. Such will be the case during the Great
Tribulation.
“And now also the
axe is laid unto the root of the trees; therefore every tree which
bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the first,” Matthew 3:10.
Matthew 7:15-17, 20 -
15 - Beware of
false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are
ravening wolves.
16 - Ye shall
know them by their fruits. Do
men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?
17 - Even so
every good tree bringeth
forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.
20 - Wherefore
by their fruits ye shall know them.
In the Book of Jude we also read of these false
prophets. In verse twelve we read:
“Those are spots in
your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without
fear: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit
withereth, without fruit, twice dead
, plucked up by the roots.”
The above passage
in Jude is stating that these false prophets are twice dead. As we
said earlier in this study, to be twice dead is in reference to the second
death. To be twice dead is to partake of
the second death; to be spiritually consigned to hell.
Romans 6:22 - But now being made free from sin,
and become servants to God, ye have your fruit
unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.
Romans 7:4 - Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are
become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to
another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth
fruit unto God.
The reason God
commands these locusts of Revelation chapter nine not to hurt any green thing,
nor the grass of the earth, nor any tree is because these are all terms or
synonyms used in reference to the true Christian. The true believers cannot be deceived (hurt)
by these locusts. The following are
randomly chosen verses to further substantiate the claim that the Bible does
indeed associate the followers of Christ with trees, grass, and green things:
Jeremiah 17:7-8-
7 - Blessed is
the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is.
8 - For he
shall be as a tree planted
by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not
see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither
shall cease from yielding fruit.
Isaiah 61:1-3 -
1 - ¶The
Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach
good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to
proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that
are bound;
2 - To
proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God;
to comfort all that mourn;
3 - To appoint
unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of
joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they
might be called trees of
righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified.
Isaiah 55:12 -
12 - For ye
shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills
shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
Ezekiel 47:12 -
12 - And by
the river upon the bank thereof, on this side and on that side, shall grow all trees for meat, whose leaf shall
not fade, neither shall the fruit thereof be consumed: it shall bring forth new
fruit according to his months, because their waters they issued out of the
sanctuary: and the fruit thereof shall be for meat, and the leaf thereof for
medicine.
SERVANTS
OF GOD SEALED BEFORE SATAN IS LOOSED
The distinction has
already been made between the grass, green things, and trees as opposed to
“those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads,” Revelation
9:4. These two types of people represent
all of humanity; those who are truly saved and those who are not. Of those who are not saved, God says of
them: “Ye are of your father the devil,
and the lusts of your father ye will do..,” (John 8:44). However, God says of those who do belong to
Him: “All that the father giveth me
shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out,” (John
6:37). These two classes of people
represent all peoples of the world. The
difference being that most are still spiritually dead in their sins and
trespasses, thus remaining in bondage to Satan, while few in comparison have
undergone a spiritual conversion and have had their sins forgiven. The latter are the trees, grass of the earth,
and green things in opposition to those men that “have not” the seal of God in
their foreheads. It is these people
without the seal of God whom God pronounces judgment on, by allowing them to be
deceived (hurt) by Satan and his host.
In 2 Timothy 2:19 God defines in a
very direct manner His definition of His “seal.”
“Nevertheless, the
foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, the Lord knoweth them that are his. And, let every one that nameth the name of
Christ depart from iniquity.”
So then, the “Seal of God” is indeed a spiritual
seal; it is marked by those who belong to God, and in belonging to God
we must strive to depart from sin. This
then is the true child of God; this is he who has the seal of God in his
forehead. In the Greek, this word seal means: a stamp or mark,
and can be used literally or figuratively.
Consider the following verse:
The Inkhorn of Sealed Faith
Ezekiel 9:3 -
3 - And the
glory of the God of Israel was gone up from the cherub, whereupon he was, to
the threshold of the house. And he called to the man clothed with linen, which had the writer's inkhorn by his side;
4 - And the
LORD said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of
Jerusalem, and set a mark
upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the
abominations that be done in the midst thereof.
Clearly a spiritual
mark is given to those who believe and obey the Gospel of Christ. “And I looked, and, lo, a lamb stood on the
mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his
father’s name written in their foreheads,” Revelation 14:1. The
redeemed of the Lord throughout history are signified by the invisible
and spiritual seal or mark that God has stamped upon their foreheads.
Revelation 22:3-4 -
3 - And there
shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it;
and his servants shall serve him:
4 - And they
shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads.
A Brief Look at Revelation
7:1-3
1- ¶And after
these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding
the four winds of the earth,
that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree.
2 - And I saw
another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: and
he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea,
3 - Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the
sea, nor the trees, till
we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.
It is necessary at
this time to point out the fact that God does indeed lift His Holy Spirit from
restraining Satan and his hosts at the time of this Great Tribulation. Let us examine verse one of the above
Revelation chapter seven. Here we read
of four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four
WINDS of the earth. To hold the four
winds of the earth means to hold back.
This word hold comes from a Greek word meaning to retain or to take. This word is used in conjunction with all
three definitions: hold, take, and retain. For example, we read in John 20:23 -
“Whosoever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whosoever sins ye retain [meaning to hold back or
to take back], they are retained.”
This word is also
used in meaning to take or to lay hold of, as we see in the
following verses:
“And consulted that
they might take [same Greek
word meaning “to hold back” or “to retain”] Jesus by subtilty,
and kill him,” (Matthew 26:4).
“And Jesus said
unto him, friend, wherefore art thou come?
Then they came, and laid hands of Jesus, and took [same word as retain or hold back] him,” (Matthew
26:50).
“But Jesus took [same word as retain
or hold back] him by the hand, and lifted him up; and he arose,” (Mark
9:27).
In returning to
verse one of Revelation chapter seven, we see the four winds of the earth being
held back. This word wind is rooted from the Greek
word “ah-ayr,” which we saw in verse two of our study means to breathe or to blow. In Revelation 9:2 this same word is
translated as air, and we saw
that this was in reference to the air (a synonym for the Gospel of Christ)
being darkened. Now we see this same
word being applied to WIND. Wind and air are both related in the Greek
language as well as in their figurative usage.
What does the wind
signify throughout Scripture? It
testifies to the Holy Spirit of God. We
read of the Holy Spirit being likened to the wind in the following verses:
John 3:8 -
The wind bloweth where it listeth,
and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and
whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.
Acts 2:1-4 -
1 - ¶And when
the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one
place.
2 - And
suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the
house where they were sitting.
3 - And there
appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of
them.
4 - And they
were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as
the Spirit gave them utterance.
In Revelation
chapter seven and verse one we have a picture of the Holy Spirit (represented
by the four winds) being held back; that it should not blow on
the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree.
The earth and the sea would consist of every square inch of the earth
itself. The number four in Scripture
usually symbolizes universality; the state of being measureless or
boundless. For example: “And they shall
come from the EAST, and from the WEST, and from the NORTH, and from the SOUTH, and
shall sit down in the
In verses two
and three of Revelation chapter seven we read:
2 - And I saw
another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: and
he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea,
3 - Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the
sea, nor the trees, till we
have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.
Scripture certainly
seems to indicate that this great spiritual tribulation cannot commence until
God’s elect have first all been brought into the
END OF CHAPTER FOUR