Revelation 9:1 - 11 Who are these locusts representing?

[The PuP]

Let me try to give you the bigger picture so that you can understand...
The 7 trumpet angels are the same angels that Jesus said of his angels [in the parable of the tares] that he would send to purge his kingdom [the kingdom of God and his Christ] of those which offend and commit iniquity, cf. Matt 13:41. This kingdom comes with the sounding of the 7th Trumpet:


Rev 11:15 KJV 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.

Being even more specific, the trumpet angels correspond to the seven Sabbaths of the feast of weeks leading up to the day of Pentecost, when "Rev 11:18 KJV 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.

It is the time of judgment and reward... for the dead, saints and prophets alike. This will occur on the day of Pentecost in the 4th year of the 70th week, with 3 plus years to go before Armageddon. Even more specific is that this 5th Trumpet sounds on the 5th sabbath of the feast of weeks. This will be on the 21st or 22nd day of the month Iyyar, 2 weeks before Pentecost. This turns out to exactly 42 months before the end of the feast of tabernacles, when the reign of the beast shall end and Armageddon takes place on the 22nd of Tishri, 3 plus years later. This king that ascends from the bottomless pit (at the 5th Trumpet) is the king that will reign over the kingdom of the beast for 42 months. The feast of weeks is the 2nd of three feast times that the lord requires all Israel to be present in Jerusalem, cf Deut

Deu 16:16 KJV Three times in a year shall all thy males appear before the LORD thy God in the place which he shall choose; in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles: and they shall not appear before the LORD empty:

The kingdom of God that comes with the sounding of the 7th Trumpet, will be absent of the children of Israel during the 42 months that Jerusalem is / was trampled on by the Gentiles l... until the day of Atonement that immediately precedes Armageddon when they will regather in Jerusalem to keep the feast of tabernacles.

Be Blessed
The PuP

 

[3 Resurrections]

5 months was also the approximate time of the siege in 70Ad and the average life span of a locus.

The 5-month period of "locusts" tormenting people cannot be the same as that occurring in AD 70 when Titus came to Jerusalem and took the city after his 5-month siege. There is a problem with that interpretation, because the 5th trumpet judgment has TWO MORE WOES that follow after it (Rev. 9:12). At the end of the 5-month Roman siege in AD 70, the battle was over, and there would not have been time for two more woes after that.

 

[TribulationSigns]

You are misunderstanding my reply, TS. The 5-month period of the Roman soldiers under Gessius Florus harassing and tormenting the Jews in Judea

I wasn't misunderstanding at all! I knew exactly what I was saying without explaining my position on Revelation 9. Your interpretation of the five months is flawed. First, you seem to misunderstand the significance of the scorpion's power, which torments people for five months when they seek death or wish to die but cannot find it. Do you understand what death is this they seek?! Physical? Seriousily? Also...the five months is not even a literal period of time—something you're trying to manipulate with your 70 AD timeline.

was NOT - repeat - NOT the "Great Tribulation". Those 5 months were the period of May through September in AD 66, which was just prior to that "Great Tribulation" / "Days of Vengeance" breaking out. That unequalled and unsurpassed Great Tribulation in Judea lasted from the beginning of the war in late AD 66 until AD 70.

You might not fully understand what the Great Tribulation actually is. This does not pertain to physical Judea. Selah.

Those 3-1/2 years were the time when Jerusalem / Babylon became "a habitation of devils" and "a prison for every unclean spirit" (Rev. 18:2), just as Christ and the prophets had foretold would happen to that "wicked generation" in its "last state" (Matt. 12:43-45). No nation or city will ever experience the likes of that kind of tribulation ever again.

Rev 18:2-3
(2) And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.
(3) For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.

So you think this Babylon is physical city of Jersualem? Do you even know what is the habitation of devils, hold of every foul spirit and a cage of EVERY unclean and hateful bird refers to? What did Jersualem in 70AD, you believe was her WORST every, have to do with all nations and the kings of the earth while your precious Roman soldiers were busy knocking some stones falling? LOL.

And "immediately after those days" of the AD 66-70 Great Tribulation, Christ returned bodily to the Mount of Olives to take all His resurrected saints back to heaven with Him at His second coming, just as He had predicted He would do in Matthew 16:27-28.

Christ returned bodily to the Mount of Olives in 70 AD to rescue resurrected saints back to heaven?!?!?! Unbelievable! Just another Preterism speculation.

 

[TribulationSigns]

The 5-month period of "locusts" tormenting people cannot be the same as that occurring in AD 70 when Titus came to Jerusalem and took the city after his 5-month siege. There is a problem with that interpretation, because the 5th trumpet judgment has TWO MORE WOES that follow after it (Rev. 9:12). At the end of the 5-month Roman siege in AD 70, the battle was over, and there would not have been time for two more woes after that.

Read carefully:

Rev 9:1-2
(1) And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit.
(2) And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit.

Do you even know what smoke is this refers to? What sun and air? How did these get darkened by the smoke OF THE PIT? What pit is this? You need to do much better job at explaining this biblically and please don't get an interpretation from Josephus. Hint....it was not literal smoke therefore the locusts were not your army of the Roman soldiers. Selah!

 

[KUWN]

I am now attempting to understand the 5th trumpet in Revelation 9: 1- 12 - the first Woe.

Now this is complicated! Any thoughts on these fellows and don't forget to comment on what the 5 months means - it is repeated twice within these few verses. Thanks

These locusts are demons who were confined to the shaft of the Abyss until God allowed their release. The five months is exactly that, 5 months. These locusts could take instructions so they are not what we would call locusts. The only beings in the Abyss are demons.

 

[CTK]

I believe that revelation was written before 70AD there is no solid proof when it was written so after 70AD isn't a fact but a view and things change after the 5 months.

Joel & Revelation describe the very same thing and Peter tells us when these things happen. Add the fact that Peter Joel Revelation and the Olivet Discourse (which is the destruction of Jerusalem) use the very same symbolic descriptions sun, moon & stars.

Let the bible interpret the bible.

I am fairly sure he wrote this at the time of Domitian and not Vespasian. Can you attempt to take the rest of Revelation 9:1-12 and put all of this together into a complete interpretation? Then, can you include that interpretation with the rest of the 4 trumpets so they match seamlessly, and then take all of them so they walk perfectly into the rest of Revelation?

 

[CTK]

These locusts are demons who were confined to the shaft of the Abyss until God allowed their release. The five months is exactly that, 5 months. These locusts could take instructions so they are not what we would call locusts. The only beings in the Abyss are demons.

So, you are saying that this is not symbolic but literal?

 

[3 Resurrections]

You might not fully understand what the Great Tribulation actually is. This does not pertain to physical Judea.

Christ disagrees with you on this. To avoid the Great Tribulation that would be coming to Judea and Jerusalem, Christ warned His disciples to flee to the mountains immediately when they saw Jerusalem surrounded by armies. By the casualty records coming from this period of AD 66-70 compared to a Passover AD 66 census in Jerusalem, we can calculate that around 1-1/4 million people heeded Christ's warning and fled the country.

So you think this Babylon is physical city of Jersualem?

Of course it was. Scripture calls Mystery Babylon by the moniker of "that great city", and "the great city" is where our Lord was crucified (Rev. 11:8). Christ pronounced Jerusalem as guilty of all the righteous blood shed on the earth from Abel to Zecharias (Matt. 23:35), which is precisely the blood guilt that Mystery Babylon was accused of (Rev. 18:24). Mystery Babylon and Old Jerusalem were one and the same.

Do you even know what is the habitation of devils, hold of every foul spirit and a cage of EVERY unclean and hateful bird refers to?

Old Jerusalem became a prison in which every member of the Satanic realm was imprisoned in those Great Tribulation years from AD 66 until AD 70. Christ had predicted in Matthew 12:43-45 that this would happen to His own first-century "wicked generation" of fellow Israelites in their "last state". The unclean spirits would return in seven-fold numbers more wicked than the ones which Christ had been casting out of Judea's inhabitants during His earthly ministry, rendering their "last state" worse than their "first state" when He had been among them.

Isaiah 24:21-23 had also predicted that God would punish the evil angelic hosts by imprisoning them for many days in Jerusalem, just like prisoners in a pit. After those many days, they would be "found wanting", which means GONE from existence.

Christ returned bodily to the Mount of Olives in 70 AD to rescue resurrected saints back to heaven?!?!?! Unbelievable! Just another Preterism speculation.

Christ predicted this Himself. It is not speculation. It was the fulfillment of Paul's 1 Thess. 4 prediction that all the resurrected saints would be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air to forever dwell with Him. And Christ predicted in Matthew 16:27-28 the timing for when He would return in His Father's glory with His angels, to give rewards to all according to their works. It was going to be while some of those He was directly speaking to were still alive. That means the second coming return of Christ was in that first-century generation.

 

[Verily]

I don't know what they are,but it wouldn't surprise me if they are man made.

Revelation 9
9 And they had breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron; and the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle.

Enlarge the picture to get a better view.

So what do you think, that the king of the pit has the remote control for these drones and begins taking out the unsealed?

And if so, how would he tell who were the unsealed since the sealed of God are spiritually sealed by the Holy Spirit (which is not a visible seal).

So someone controls the remote while the drones are told not to hurt those with the seal (of the holy Spirit) but only those not sealed (with the holy Spirit) and so how can drones discern this?

 

[TribulationSigns]

Christ disagrees with you on this.

No, Christ disagrees with your interpretation of "Jerusalem" in 70 AD. You have misunderstood the correct Jerusalem, the right Jews, and, of course, the identity of Babylon the Great.

To avoid the Great Tribulation that would be coming to Judea and Jerusalem, Christ warned His disciples to flee to the mountains immediately when they saw Jerusalem surrounded by armies. By the casualty records coming from this period of AD 66-70 compared to a Passover AD 66 census in Jerusalem, we can calculate that around 1-1/4 million people heeded Christ's warning and fled the country.

Typical Preterism interpretation which is wrong.

Of course it was. Scripture calls Mystery Babylon by the moniker of "that great city", and "the great city" is where our Lord was crucified (Rev. 11:8).

Wrong Jersualem. Wrong Israel. It was not a literal city that is called "Mystery Babylon". It was CONGREGATION ISRAEL. Thats why its a mystery to you.

Christ pronounced Jerusalem as guilty of all the righteous blood shed on the earth from Abel to Zecharias (Matt. 23:35), which is precisely the blood guilt that Mystery Babylon was accused of (Rev. 18:24). Mystery Babylon and Old Jerusalem were one and the same.

No, it's not. You also have the wrong generation. The generation of evil that has spanned since Cain did not end in 70 AD; it continues right to the end of time in the future.

Old Jerusalem became a prison in which every member of the Satanic realm was imprisoned in those Great Tribulation years from AD 66 until AD 70.

The spirit of Satan was imprisoned from 66 to 70AD? LOL. Okay...

Christ had predicted in Matthew 12:43-45 that this would happen to His own first-century "wicked generation" of fellow Israelites in their "last state".

I do not believe you understand what evil generation Christ talked about.

Read the article, "This generation shall not pass, till all these things are fulfilled."

The unclean spirits would return in seven-fold numbers more wicked than the ones which Christ had been casting out of Judea's inhabitants during His earthly ministry, rendering their "last state" worse than their "first state" when He had been among them.

Scripture please.

Isaiah 24:21-23 had also predicted that God would punish the evil angelic hosts by imprisoning them for many days in Jerusalem, just like prisoners in a pit. After those many days, they would be "found wanting", which means GONE from existence.

According to context:

Isa 24:1 Behold, the LORD maketh the earth empty, and maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof.

Did this happen in 70 AD literally?

Isa 24:5 The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant.
Isa 24:6 Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate: therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left.

Was the everlasting covenant broken in 70AD? Did the inhabitants of the Earth burn with only few man left...in 70AD?! Did you believe that the verses only focus in Jersualem, not the whole world, humm?

Isa 24:17 Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth.
Isa 24:18 And it shall come to pass, that he who fleeth from the noise of the fear shall fall into the pit; and he that cometh up out of the midst of the pit shall be taken in the snare: for the windows from on high are open, and the foundations of the earth do shake.
Isa 24:19 The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly.

Doesn't sounds like a local event, didn't it? Who are the inhabitants of the Earth? Jews only? Did the whole Earth shake, broken down, dissolved, moved exceedingly in 70AD?

See...you do not understand what verse 21-23 really talked about. This has nothing to do with your 70AD local doomsday fantasy.

Christ predicted this Himself. It is not speculation.

But the question is, do you understand what Christ talked about? Otherwise, it is merely your speculation!

It was the fulfillment of Paul's 1 Thess. 4 prediction that all the resurrected saints would be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air to forever dwell with Him.

Haha! That's not true. This hasn't happened yet. Silly you!

And Christ predicted in Matthew 16:27-28 the timing for when He would return in His Father's glory with His angels, to give rewards to all according to their works. It was going to be while some of those He was directly speaking to were still alive. That means the second coming return of Christ was in that first-century generation.

Feeling sorry for you. You are really deceived by your man-made doctrine based on the book of heathen Josephus.

 

[Verily]

So, you are saying that this is not symbolic but literal?

The sort of locusts that were sent before of God are here

Exodus 10:14 And the locusts went up over all the land of Egypt, and rested in all the coasts of Egypt: very grievous were they; before them there were no such locusts as they, neither after them shall be such.

These ate trees, herbs and such green things

Exodus 10:15 For they 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 field, through all the land of Egypt.

Whereas these locusts

Rev 9:4 And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads.

How can a locust know? But evil spirits can reccognize the sealed of God

Acts 19:15 And the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye?

And proceed to pummel you

Acts 19:16 And the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, and overcame them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.

 

[TribulationSigns]

I don't know what they are,but it wouldn't surprise me if they are man made.

Revelation 9
9 And they had breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron; and the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle.

Enlarge the picture to get a better view.

Drones? As the smoke locusts of the bottomless Pit? SIGH!!!!

Boy, you guys are so pathetic for looking for interpretation in the book of Josephus, world news, YouTube, or Drone shows. Come on! Can't you find God's interpretation right in His WORD?!

 

[tailgator]

So what do you think, that the king of the pit has the remote control for these drones and begins taking out the unsealed?

And if so, how would he tell who were the unsealed since the sealed of God are spiritually sealed by the Holy Spirit (which is not a visible seal).

So someone controls the remote while the drones are told not to hurt those with the seal (of the holy Spirit) but only those not sealed (with the holy Spirit) and so how can drones discern this?

Who says those locusts can even see someone that is sealed.
They may be blinded by the light.

If someone who has received the holy Ghost can drink poison and it not hurt them ,then I wouldn't be surprised if those locusts couldn't as well.

 

[tailgator]

Drones? As the smoke locusts of the bottomless Pit? SIGH!!!!

Boy, you guys are so pathetic for looking for interpretation in the book of Josephus, world news, YouTube, or Drone shows. Come on! Can't you find God's interpretation right in His WORD?!

If man could make the abomination that causes desolation (and has already)why couldn't man make flying machines to attack people?
Oh wait They already have.

 

[Verily]

Who says those locusts can even see someone that is sealed.
They may be blinded by the light.

If someone who has received the holy Ghost can drink poison and it not hurt them ,then I wouldn't be surprised if those locusts couldn't as well.

I dont know why I ask you questions

 

[ScottA]

I am now attempting to understand the 5th trumpet in Revelation 9: 1- 12 - the first Woe.

Now this is complicated! Any thoughts on these fellows and don't forget to comment on what the 5 months means - it is repeated twice within these few verses. Thanks

The timing was immediately after the fall in the garden, and the locus are evil spirits. "5 months" is a reference to the times of darkness (evil) upon the earth, God called 'night."

 

[TribulationSigns]

The sort of locusts that were sent before of God are here.

We do not deny that the plague of locusts did take place literally in Egypt in the Old Testament. But they have spiritual signifincation and it does not mean that the locusts of Revelation 9 will take place again literally! How. Yeah. kinda abstruse, isn't it?

It's a continuation of fanciful "literal" interpretations of an obviously symbolic book. Premillennialism, as well as Preterism are a continuation of the failed system of the Judaizers, looking for earthly reigns, kingdoms, liberty and nations. This particular one taking it to the ultimate degree by attempting to make the literal sores take place in a literally in Egypt, where the nation Israel literally is brought back into bondage to that nation. It just keeps getting "curiou-er and curious-er." This is the logical conclusion one comes to when they have an unsound hermeneutic that attempts to take prophecy of sores, battles, locusts, nations, stars falling to earth, frogs, famines and plagues, in a very literal way. One is forced to do all sorts of exegetical and hermeneutical gymnastics in order to get around the obvious inconsistencies of such a system. The fact is, Israel is NOT coming into bondage again in Egypt, the plagues are not poured upon the physical nation of Egypt, and the sores and locusts loosed upon the wicked are NOT Physical sores and locusts, nor do they represent flying attack planes, like that drone show or the physical skin lesions from nuclear radiation, space clouds or any other such speculation.

Just stop it! Think! The sores are spiritual ulsers illustrating those who receive them are unclean or spiritually sick! That's all they represent. And the Egypt upon which the plagues are poured is spiritual Egypt, the unfaithful church whose character has become spiritually "AS" Egypt. Christians need to stop with the idle speculations and private interpretations of Scripture and allow God's word to be the authority of what is in view.

Revelation 11:7-8

• "And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them.
• 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."

Is this a literal Beast, a literal abyss he and the locusts come out of, a literal Jerusalem? Not at all!! This city is spiritually the city of Jerusalem (which is the New Testament congregation of God) and it is characterized by spiritual bondage so that it has become spiritually as Egypt. It didn't turn physically into Egypt didn't she? But its character is just as Egypt's was! Thus, being "spiritually" as Egypt before God, He pours out upon it the judgment plagues of Egypt, spiritually, and the city falls and Babylon comes into remembrance before God.

Why aren't we listening? It is because there was no listening that this judgment was poured out in the first place!! There's no physical locusts, rivers of blood or sores of Egypt because there's NO physical Egypt in view here, and physical locusts don't come out of the smoke of an abyss! That is why many people don't get it! That whole idea is man's vivid imagination like I am reading here! Unbelievable! Will we also take the great Harlot and the kings who commit fornication with her literally, or is this just another of the inconsistent and unilateral (pick and choose) interpretations theologians uses to arbitrarily decide what is literal and what is symbolic? I keep hearing that the Beast is symbolic but the mark that the beast puts on people is literal? HUH?! How is that a consistent hermeneutic in any way whatsoever? NONE! It's just this type confusion that permeates the church and leaves everyone wondering ...where is truth! All the rampant speculations about these plagues upon the earth today are just that--speculation. Physical Nations at war with each other, A new Temples being built, attacks by Russia or Iraq on Israel, a Messiah coming to reign physically on a throne in middle eastern Jerusalem, it's all from the imaginations of men. Blah, blah, blah... Sadly, it is the same confusion that fell upon the children of Israel when Christ came the first time! Why? Because it was their eyes were also dim where they couldn't see the trees for the forest. Christ came to heal our spiritual blindness. May God open our eyes!

Exodus 10:14 And the locusts went up over all the land of Egypt, and rested in all the coasts of Egypt: very grievous were they; before them there were no such locusts as they, neither after them shall be such.

Yes, this pictures that there will be many more false prophets and christs than ever in the New Testament congregation (Church) today prior to Second Coming! Not 70AD!

These ate trees, herbs and such green things

Trees, herbs, and green things, as well as the river of water often refers to the Gospel that supports the city (Egypt)

Exodus 10:15 For they 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 field, through all the land of Egypt.

Whereas these locusts

Rev 9:4 And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads.

How can a locust know? But evil spirits can reccognize the sealed of God

Again, the false prophets and false christs will undermine the gospel, leading to the judgment of those in the congregation who have not yet been sealed by God. This includes individuals who may accept the mark of the beast in order to participate in buying and selling the false doctrines that originate from the mouths of these false prophets and christs. They will be the ones who will seek death (in christ) or have desire to die (in christ) but will not find salvation at that time!

 

[tailgator]

I dont know why I ask you questions

Drone swarms like this are driven by AI.
We could name him Abaddon like the AI in Halo.

Sound good to you?But like I said,these locusts may not be able to see someone with the holy Ghost.

Do you not understand that,?

 

[tailgator]

The sort of locusts that were sent before of God are here

Exodus 10:14 And the locusts went up over all the land of Egypt, and rested in all the coasts of Egypt: very grievous were they; before them there were no such locusts as they, neither after them shall be such.

These ate trees, herbs and such green things

Exodus 10:15 For they 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 field, through all the land of Egypt.

Whereas these locusts

Rev 9:4 And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads.

How can a locust know? But evil spirits can reccognize the sealed of God

Acts 19:15 And the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye?

And proceed to pummel you

Acts 19:16 And the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, and overcame them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.

Evil spirits with metal breastplates?
Metal breastplates sound manmade to me.

 

[Verily]

We do not deny that the plague of locusts did take place literally in Egypt in the Old Testament.

Who is "we"? And why would you think I think you deny the plague of literal locusts in Egypt?

But they have spiritual signifincation and it does not mean that the locusts of Revelation 9 will take place again literally! How. Yeah. kinda abstruse, isn't it?

I do believe they have a spiritual significance for our understanding when making comparisons between what was and the differences put between them. Something literal can be spiritual, or rather literally spiritual, or spiritually called something, for example Sodom and Egypt where also our Lord was crucified.

It's a continuation of fanciful "literal" interpretations of an obviously symbolic book.

I am not sure whether you believe I think there will believe literal locusts when I contrasted between what was with what the book of revelation shows

Premillennialism, as well as Preterism are a continuation of the failed system of the Judaizers, looking for earthly reigns, kingdoms, liberty and nations.

I am not familar with various isms myself, I havent studied them so forgive my ignorance concerning these

This particular one taking it to the ultimate degree by attempting to make the literal sores take place in a literally in Egypt, where the nation Israel literally is brought back into bondage to that nation. It just keeps getting "curiou-er and curious-er." This is the logical conclusion one comes to when they have an unsound hermeneutic that attempts to take prophecy of sores, battles, locusts, nations, stars falling to earth, frogs, famines and plagues, in a very literal way. One is forced to do all sorts of exegetical and hermeneutical gymnastics in order to get around the obvious inconsistencies of such a system. The fact is, Israel is NOT coming into bondage again in Egypt, the plagues are not poured upon the physical nation of Egypt, and the sores and locusts loosed upon the wicked are NOT Physical sores and locusts, nor do they represent flying attack planes, like that drone show or the physical skin lesions from nuclear radiation, space clouds or any other such speculation.

That which is spiritually called Sodom Egypt is where our Lord was crucified, which I do not regard as the nation of Egypt. Although, not sure about what the sores represent

Because we see here

Job 2:7 So went Satan forth from the presence of the LORD, and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown.

And Job had taken him a potsherd to scrape himself withal, but sores from the foot to ones crown are mentioned here likewise

Isaiah 1:6 From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment.

Dogs could lick these sores

Luke 16:20-21 And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores, And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores

And ofcourse, Rev 16:10 And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast; and his kingdom was full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues for pain Rev 16:11 And blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds

Just stop it! Think! The sores are spiritual ulsers illustrating those who receive them are unclean or spiritually sick! That's all they represent.

I did not post what I thought of the sores, and so Job and Lazarus are to be considered spiritually unclean and as having spiritual ulcers?

And the Egypt upon which the plagues are poured is spiritual Egypt, the unfaithful church whose character has become spiritually "AS" Egypt.

Not sure about spiritual Egypt, but where our Lord was crucified is spiritualled called both Sodom and Egypt

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.

Christians need to stop with the idle speculations and private interpretations of Scripture and allow God's word to be the authority of what is in view.

I try to post only scripture and not speak from myself personally.

Revelation 11:7-8

• "And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them.
• 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."

Is this a literal Beast, a literal abyss he and the locusts come out of, a literal Jerusalem? Not at all!! This city is spiritually the city of Jerusalem (which is the New Testament congregation of God) and it is characterized by spiritual bondage so that it has become spiritually as Egypt. It didn't turn physically into Egypt didn't she? But its character is just as Egypt's was! Thus, being "spiritually" as Egypt before God, He pours out upon it the judgment plagues of Egypt, spiritually, and the city falls and Babylon comes into remembrance before God.

Not seeing how the New testament congregation crucified the Lord, but rather where he was crucified is spiritually called Sodom and Egypt.

Why aren't we listening? It is because there was no listening that this judgment was poured out in the first place!! There's no physical locusts, rivers of blood or sores of Egypt because there's NO physical Egypt in view here, and physical locusts don't come out of the smoke of an abyss! That is why many people don't get it! That whole idea is man's vivid imagination like I am reading here! Unbelievable! Will we also take the great Harlot and the kings who commit fornication with her literally, or is this just another of the inconsistent and unilateral (pick and choose) interpretations theologians uses to arbitrarily decide what is literal and what is symbolic? I keep hearing that the Beast is symbolic but the mark that the beast puts on people is literal? HUH?! How is that a consistent hermeneutic in any way whatsoever? NONE! It's just this type confusion that permeates the church and leaves everyone wondering ...where is truth! All the rampant speculations about these plagues upon the earth today are just that--speculation. Physical Nations at war with each other, A new Temples being built, attacks by Russia or Iraq on Israel, a Messiah coming to reign physically on a throne in middle eastern Jerusalem, it's all from the imaginations of men. Blah, blah, blah... Sadly, it is the same confusion that fell upon the children of Israel when Christ came the first time! Why? Because it was their eyes were also dim where they couldn't see the trees for the forest. Christ came to heal our spiritual blindness. May God open our eyes!

Yes, this pictures that there will be many more false prophets and christs than ever in the New Testament congregation (Church) today prior to Second Coming! Not 70AD!

That is sure predicted

Trees, herbs, and green things, as well as the river of water often refers to the Gospel that supports the city (Egypt)

I have never heard of the locusts in the context that I posted on them as eating a river of water. I only see where they ate the trees herbs and green things.

I do see where they are cast into the Red Sea

Exodus 10:19 And the LORD turned a mighty strong west wind, which took away the locusts, and cast them into the Red sea; there remained not one locust in all the coasts of Egypt.

Do you mean sea? I am probably missing you

Again, the false prophets and false christs will undermine the gospel, leading to the judgment of those in the congregation who have not yet been sealed by God. This includes individuals who may accept the mark of the beast in order to participate in buying and selling the false doctrines that originate from the mouths of these false prophets and christs. They will be the ones who will seek death (in christ) or have desire to die (in christ) but will not find salvation at that time!

Not sure where you might be coming from on all things but I just compare the scriptures and not conclude too early on many things until I am fully convinced for myself which I cant say I am for certain on some things. I just stick with how it is written and do try hard not to go beyond it or use my own words by which I could easily twist it.