The Mystery of Ephraim

Chapter 6 ended with “For the great Day of His wrath is come, and who shall be able to stand?”

And now John was to be prepared for the events “the great Day of His wrath which were to follow” the opening of the seventh seal. Though a bit late, would the Holy Ghost finally turn up?

Revelation 7

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. — and after these things…. after the opening of six of the seals of the sealed book, and these four angels parallel the four spirits of heavens, in Zechariah 6:5;

— these four angels could be four cherubim; as was it the case when Ezekiel saw them in Ezekiel 1?

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, — this mighty angel from the east seems to have more authority that the four in verse 1 because he gave command to the others;

— to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea: they had a commission from God to let loose the winds, or to bring on wars, devastations, calamities, and plagues, of various sorts, upon the earth, not only on the continent, but upon the islands, even all the nations, tongues, and all peoples.

³ saying, “Hurt not the earth, neither the sea nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.” — this mighty angel commands “Hurt not the earth, neither the sea nor the trees,” to the other four angels;

— sealing on the forehead; this could be a parallel in Ezekiel:9:4;

and the Lord said unto him, “Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men who sigh and who cry because of all the abominations that are done in the midst thereof.” — and you shall mark a sign: you shall mark a sign on the foreheads of the righteous men in order to show the destroyers those men whom they should not strike.

— Gill: it is a Rabbinical thought, mentioned by Kimchi that Gabriel had orders to write the letter ת (tav; the last letter of the alphabet) in ink upon the foreheads of the righteous, which signified תחיה, “thou shall live”. And for the wicked the same letter ת were written in blood upon the foreheads, but it signified תמות, “thou shall die”.

⁴ And I heard the number of them that were sealed: there were sealed a hundred and fortyfour thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel. — the context in verses 2 and 3 indicate that these 144,000 are sealed on earth, not in heaven.

⁵ Of the tribe of Judah were sealed twelve thousand; of the tribe of Reuben were sealed twelve thousand; of the tribe of Gad were sealed twelve thousand;

⁶ of the tribe of Asher were sealed twelve thousand; of the tribe of Naphtali were sealed twelve thousand; of the tribe of Manasseh were sealed twelve thousand;

⁷ of the tribe of Simeon were sealed twelve thousand; of the tribe of Levi were sealed twelve thousand; of the tribe of Issachar were sealed twelve thousand;

⁸ of the tribe of Zebulun were sealed twelve thousand; of the tribe of Joseph were sealed twelve thousand; of the tribe of Benjamin were sealed twelve thousand.

⁹ After this I beheld, and lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations and kindreds and people and tongues, stood before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes and with palms in their hands.

¹⁰ And they cried with a loud voice, saying, “Salvation to our God who sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb!” — God the Father and the Son are always around, and so are the others, but if the Holy Spirit is a person where is he? He seems absent all the time; maybe he has been travelling? Weird! We’re in the seventh chapter and we have yet to see how John will describe the Holy Spirit if he appears, but he hasn’t yet . . . maybe he has caught a flu and has gone to sleep?

¹¹ And all the angels stood round about the throne, and about the elders and the four living beings, and fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, — see, the angels are around, so are the 24 elders and even the four beasts, but where is the Third Person in the Godhead?

¹² saying, “Amen. Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving, and honor and power and might, be unto our God for ever and ever. Amen!”

¹³ And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, “Who are these that are arrayed in white robes, and from whence have they come?” — these 144,000 seems to be in heaven in the presence of God; so they must be resurrected?

¹⁴ And I said unto him, “Sir, thou knowest.” And he said to me, “These are they that came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. — these 144,000 are those that came out of great tribulation, but what about those that died before the great tribulation? Moses? Daniel? Elijah? to name a few? Could they be included?

¹⁵ Therefore, “they are before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple; and He that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them. — see, these must be in heaven, before the throne, and had been resurrected.

¹⁶ They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat.

¹⁷ For the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters, and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.” — if they are spirit beings then they are not subjected to physical needs or limitations;

— when the praise of God is sung, the angels couldn’t remain silent; and all the angels stood around the throne and the elders and the four living beings, and fell down before the throne upon their faces and worshiped God, saying, Amen,

— praise and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever, Amen. As in in earlier chapters, the angels are pictured as surrounding the throne and the elders and the cherubs, a great cloud of witnesses of the heavenly bliss. But the Holy Ghost remains missing!

Revelation 8

¹ And when He had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in Heaven about the space of half an hour.

² And I saw the seven angels who stood before God, and to them were given seven trumpets. — and to them were given seven trumpets: every angel has one; which were an emblem of wars, and desolations, and calamities, which would come upon the whole world, at the blowing of each of them; the trumpet being an alarm, preparing for, proclaiming, and introducing these things; Jeremiah 4:19;

— these are said to be given them; either by the Father that sat on the throne; or by the Lamb that opened the seal.

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. — the prayers of the saints, rightly performed, are themselves compared to incense, being very grateful and acceptable to God, Psalms 141:2.

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. — so the the prayers of all saints ended up upon the golden altar, before the throne, before God.

⁵ And the angel took the censer, and filled it with fire from the altar, and cast it onto the earth; and there were voices and thunderings and lightnings, and an earthquake. — and there were voices, and thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake; which may be understood either of the nature, use, and effects of listening to God, having a Godly experience, speaking to the hearts of men by the sons of thunder, enlightening their minds, and shaking through our thick skulls; the like were at the giving of the law, Exodus 19:16.

⁶ And the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound.

⁷ The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth; and a third part of the trees were burned up, and all green grass was burned up. — and there followed hail and fire, mingled with blood; somewhat like one of the plagues of Egypt, Exodus 9:23; in which was hail mingled with fire, only no blood, but what was caused by its fall on man and beast. 

— the whole world is calling to mind the Israelites experience of their Egyptian plagues, now the whole world is been given an Egyptian experience.

⁸ And the second angel sounded and, as it were, a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea; and a third part of the sea became blood;

⁹ and a third part of the creatures which were in the sea and had life, died, and a third part of the ships were destroyed. — and the third part of the creatures which were in the sea…. the fishes; by whom men are meant, the inhabitants of the earth; see Ezekiel 29:4, where by fish the Targum understands mighty princes and governors:

— and had life, died; were put to death by these savage and barbarous people, who killed all they met with, men, women, and children, young and old, rich and poor, high and low.

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

¹¹ and the name of the star is called Wormwood. And a third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died from the waters, because they were made bitter. — Wormwood, an Ukrainian word for Chornobyl’, lit. ’black herb’), many have referred to the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in 1986, referring to a ‘star falling down and turning the waters bitter’ are interpreted as the radioactive fallout from the disaster poisoning the environment around Chernobyl, leaving it uninhabitable;

— and the third part of the waters became wormwood; that is, the inhabitants of the countrysides and cities were afflicted with grievous and bitter afflictions and calamities; so great distresses are called wormwood, and waters of gall given to drink, Jeremiah 9:15.

¹² And the fourth angel sounded, and a third part of the sun was smitten, and a third part of the moon and a third part of the stars, so that a third part of them was darkened; and a third of the day shone not, and the night likewise. — and the fourth angel sounded, and the third part of the sun was smitten; a fit representation to express the last desolation of God’s judgement to all earthly power and authority;

— darkening, smiting, or the setting of the sun, moon, and stars are for the setting of a kingdom; and when darkness is opposed to light, as light is a symbol of joy and safety, so darkness is a symbol of misery and adversity; according to the style of Jeremiah 13:16.

¹³ And I beheld, and heard an angel flying (one eagle flying in Greek 105 [e] aetou) through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, “Woe, woe, woe to the inhabitants of the earth, because of the other voices of the trumpets of the three other angels, which are yet to sound!” — one flying eagle (105 [e] aetou; a solitary eagle flying in many translations) could be one of the four living creatures in Revelation 4;

Woe, woe, woe; three times, to the inhabitants of the earth; all peoples, without exception: heavy calamities coming to all; answerable to the three trumpets yet to be blown; and which are therefore called the woe trumpets: and these woes are denounced.

~~~

More about the missing Holy Ghost; indeed he’s real and around; he was created full of wisdom and beauty, his head swelled up so much that he wanted to be like the Most High:

These clues are giving in the book of Ezekiel 28 and Isaiah 14;

Moreover the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,

“Son of man, take up a lamentation over the king of Tyre, and say unto him, ‘Thus saith the Lord God: “‘Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.

Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering: the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold; the workmanship of thy taborets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created.

Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth, and I have set thee so; thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire.

Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.” (Ezekiel 28:11-15)

“How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer (H1966 hêlēl), son of the morning! How art thou cut down to the ground, who didst weaken the nations!

For thou hast said in thine heart, ‘I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north.

I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the Most High.’ (Isaiah 14:12-14)

That’s why the “Holy Ghost” was missing all the while; cast down, heaven and those around the throne has no place for him! Such doctrine was invented by the Great Whore of Babylon, and shared widely by her numerous harlot daughters.

~ by Joel Huan on October 18, 2021.

Posted in Revelation