The Scroll that was placed in the hands of the Lion of the Tribe of Judah (Jesus Christ) was spoken of by all the prophets from earliest times.  We, who live in these last days are privileged to see these prophecies unfold today. 

As a quick reference to all that we’ve spoken of during this Study of Isaiah, we’ve included a brief explanation of the meaning of them.

 1^st Seal 

Rev 6:1-2 “I watched as the Lamb opened the first of the seven seals. Then I heard one of the four living creatures say in a voice like thunder, "Come!" ² I looked, and there before me was a white horse! Its rider held a bow, and he was given a crown, and he rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest.”

 The opening of this first Seal represents the first of four kingdoms that would arise – as spoken of by Daniel.  Daniel saw a great statue with a head of gold, and the rest of the statue was made of silver, bronze, iron and clay.  He spoke of each of these parts of the statue being kingdoms that would arise.  Daniel tells us that in the days of these kings a huge Rock would smash them all to pieces at the same time and take over all the kingdoms.  This Rock would then fill the whole earth and reign forever.  It will be during the reign of these four kings that the Kingdom of God will be set up – never to be destroyed.  So what Daniel described, we can expect to see in these end times. 

 The first of these four kings described by Daniel was the King of Babylon – Nebuchadnezzar.  He was the head of gold of the great statue, and the beginning of the reign of the other three kings.  What followed successively were a kingdom of silver, a kingdom of bronze, and a kingdom of iron together with feet mixed with clay.  All of them are destined to rule in the territories of Nebuchadnezzar.

 As prophesied by Daniel the first of these kings would arise in the time of the end, and this would begin with the king of Babylon.  Babylon is Iraq – the same territory ruled by Nebuchadnezzar.  An important thing to note here is that the King of Babylon was already ruling when the Prophet Daniel came on the scene.  Daniel told this ruling king that he was the head of gold.  The rest of the representative parts of the great statute would follow after him.  The Prophet Daniel was privileged to know that all these prophecies were to be sealed up until the time of the end (Dan 12:9).  This is why the Scroll was sealed, and Jesus Christ, the Root of David, is presently opening these seals.  The Scroll was scheduled to be opened when the Lord Christ became The Lion of the Tribe of Judah (Rev 5:5).

 And just to add something else in regard to The Scroll; it’s during the fulfillment of the prophecies in The Scroll that all the servants of God will be redeemed: Dan 12:9 “He replied, "Go your way, Daniel, because the words are closed up and sealed until the time of the end. ¹⁰ Many will be purified, made spotless and refined, but the wicked will continue to be wicked. None of the wicked will understand, but those who are wise will understand.”  As we’re about to find out, all the servants of God will be secured during this period of opening the Seals of the Scroll. 

 The opening of the 7^th Seal actually ends the unsealing process and refers to the next series of events – the Seven Trumpets, which we’ll get to shortly.

 And so the King of Babylon arose.  Note the words in the above verse (Rev 6:1-2) ‘he was given a crown’ which signifies a ruler of the spirit realm.  This was Saddam Hussein, and he rode out on a white horse “as a conqueror bent on conquest.”  A more tyrannical ruler you could not find!  If anything typified Saddam Hussein it was his obsession with conquest.  He attacked the Persians in an eight-year war, then he attacked the Kurds (Medes), and also the Kuwaitis.  It was feared that if he wasn’t stopped he would have conquered the whole Middle East.  He was utterly obsessed with destroying the Israelis, and managed to lob 39 scud missiles on their cities amid the conflict, even though the Israelis had no part in the war.  He even rewarded any suicide bomber who managed to kill Israelis.  Saddam liked to depict himself as Nebuchadnezzar.  Saddam typified all the tyrannical madness and obsession of Islam today.  It was his ruthlessness that inspired so many Muslims in this present-day.  He envisaged armies of suicide bombers killing Christians and Jews, and was even willing to pay a bounty of $25,000 for every successful attack.  He rebuilt ancient Babylon on the original site, building right on top of the ancient ruins – with special emphasis on completing the throne-room of Nebuchadnezzar.  All of which is now completed, though still unoccupied.

 2^nd Seal 

Rev 6:3-4 “When the Lamb opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, "Come!" ⁴ Then another horse came out, a fiery red one. Its rider was given power to take peace from the earth and to make men slay each other. To him was given a large sword.” 

 After Saddam Hussein was no more, another power has emerged in the Middle East.  The Persians (Iran) have arisen to become a major, threatening power in the Middle East.  The Persians (Iran) represent the silver part of the great statue described by Daniel.  The 2^nd Seal has a very interesting description of him.  The Rider of this nation (horse) is given power to take peace from the earth.  Before he can do this however, he must remove the one who holds back the forces of evil that would take peace from the earth.  Who is the mightiest peace-maker on earth today?  Paul, Silas and Timothy wrote to the Thessalonians about this very peace-maker.  Naturally enough, they got their information from the only Scriptures that existed at that time.  They were referring to Ephraim, as we’ve seen from the study of the Book of Isaiah.  The mightiest power on earth today is Ephraim, the United States of America.  As long as the U.S. continues to enforce peace on all the nations, relative calm remains.  So you will find these words in 2Thess 2:7-8 “For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way. ⁸ And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor of his coming.”  There is only one power on earth in these last days that is holding back the secret power of lawlessness, and this power is the United States of America.  The Rider of this horse is given power to take peace from the earth, and the only way to do this is to take Ephraim out of the way.  And to do this, this rider has been given a large sword.  I think we all know what this weapon is – especially today!  For those who don’t closely follow the current news, Iran is developing nuclear weapons, and all their belligerent threats are against America and little Israel.  What is more, we find that the 2^nd Seal also mentions that Persia will cause men to slay each other.  This lawlessness will begin in America, when their glorious city, Washington, set on a fertile plain – as Isaiah describes it, is smashed to pieces along with all the law-makers in the capital.  Lawlessness, carnage, plundering, murder and mayhem will result across the whole nation, and no law-enforcement agency will be able to stop it.  The foreigners who are flooding into the country will be the head and the Americans the tail.  There’ll be no restraint anywhere.

 3^rd Seal

Rev 6:5 “When the Lamb opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, "Come!" I looked, and there before me was a black horse! Its rider was holding a pair of scales in his hand. ⁶ Then I heard what sounded like a voice among the four living creatures, saying, "A quart of wheat for a day's wages, and three quarts of barley for a day's wages, and do not damage the oil and the wine!" 

 Just to clarify the meaning of the term ‘horses’; the horses are the armies of the nations.  In Zech 12:4 God speaks of blinding the horses of the nations in a battle about to occur.  So obviously, the horse represents an army.  In this 3^rd Seal, the rider goes out with a well-provisioned army.  Four quarts of grain makes a lot of bread for one man.  They get to eat all the herds they find and other food stores, and all valuable plunder becomes their own property.  So the rewards for this army will be great.  It’s during this 3^rd Seal that Cyrus, a spirit ruler, is given power by Almighty God to rule the Kurdish-Iran (Medo-Persian) empire. 

The Kings of the Medes (Kurds) and Persia (Iran) ride out jointly with a great army, to ensure the protection of their oil reserves.  But they will maintain the ideology of Satan’s hordes, who drink the ‘wine’ of Satan, which has sent them mad.

 Cyrus the ruler will depart from the general obsession of Islam today, and will actually fund the rebuilding of God’s Temple and the restoration of Jerusalem.  Having plundered most of the Middle East, he will be in a good financial position to do so.  Believing in the adage of ‘Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown’ he will buy for himself limited protection from God.

 As you will notice, there will be a considerable gap in time between the 3^rd and the 4^th Seals.  America will be taken out of the way at the time of the 2^nd Seal, and Europe will be ravaged by the marauding hordes of Muslims that Europe, in their hypocritical fashion, seems to love so much today.  The men and the elderly will be slaughtered, and the young women and children will become unpaid prostitutes – in fulfillment of Satan’s promise of 70 virgins to each of his brood.  Muslims are not known for any sort of loving sexual foreplay and this will become evident in days to come.  American women and children won’t just have to contend with Muslims, they’ll also have millions of Hispanics and blacks as well – and they’ll be kept busy.  Then all the survivors will remember what might have been if they had chosen to believe their Creator God and obeyed Him!  Just don’t believe that any form of political correctness will save you.  This is what has destroyed you!

 But there is worse to come!

 4^th Seal

Rev 6:7-8 “When the Lamb opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, "Come!" ⁸ I looked, and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. They (Death and Hades) were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth.” 

 War and conquest tends to bring plagues and disease, and Death is the grand master of plagues: Hos 13:14 “I will ransom them (Ephraim) from the power of the grave (Hades); I will redeem them from death.  Where, O death, are your plagues?  Where, O grave (Hades), is your destruction?”  Here God is saying that He will ransom and redeem Ephraim from Death and Hades – in the fullness of time.  In order to be ransomed, they must first be in the possession of Death and Hades – which they will be!

 With the opening of this Seal, Death and Hades arise to command a third of the inhabitants of the earth.  We’re talking numbers like 2 billion here.  Death surges forth to take the whole Middle East in conquest, and finishes up inheriting the whole Muslim world.  Hades follows closely behind him, and causes everyone to worship the beast as some sort of messiah figure or god.  But this is not enough!  They want more than verbal assurances, in the same way that God is not interested in lip-service.  These two beasts want an outward display of allegiance and so the ‘mark of the beast’ is devised.  This is designed to clearly delineate those who are prepared to worship the Beast and those who won’t.  They set out to destroy everyone who doesn’t have the mark of the beast.

 This 4^th Seal depicts the re-emergence of the former Alexander the Great, who charges to the East as a Goat to knock down the Ram (Darius the Mede, the absolute ruler of the Medes and Persians).  Alexander represents the iron part of the statue described by Daniel.  This is exactly what will happen when this ruler comes again.  Not only will this beast come with a huge army, he will also recruit from the Muslim hordes he conquers and become a multi-national Empire in the same manner as Alexander the Great.  This is the meaning of iron mixed with clay.  Both his armies and constituents will worship him as a god – just as they did Alexander.

 5^th Seal

Rev 6:9-11 “When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained. ¹⁰ They called out in a loud voice, "How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?" ¹¹ Then each of them was given a white robe, and they were told to wait a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and brothers who were to be killed as they had been was completed.” 

 In the course of time, many will be killed for merely being obedient to God and these will be  gathered up by the angels and taken to the Mother ship, the dwelling of God, and are housed under the Altar where the Lord Christ serves as God’s High Priest.  Still others will be slain for refusing the mark of the Beast.  It’s expected that many of these faithful people will be from the Church that Jesus Christ built – called The Church of God.  (The whole Book of Revelation is directed to the Churches).  These few people will be the offspring of the House of David, and like the Son of David (Jesus), will go to their deaths like sheep to the slaughter.  And they will do it willingly in honour of their Creator God.  It’s these select few from the Church of God that will be the inspiration for the Tribes of Israel.  Then a select few from each of the Tribes of Israel will also turn in obedience to their Creator to become servants of God.

 6^th Seal

Rev 6:12-14 “I watched as he opened the sixth seal. There was a great earthquake. The sun turned black like sackcloth made of goat hair, the whole moon turned blood red, ¹³ and the stars in the sky fell to earth, as late figs drop from a fig tree when shaken by a strong wind. ¹⁴ The sky receded like a scroll, rolling up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place.” 

 This takes quite a bit of explaining.  As we’ve learned from this study of Isaiah, God intends to restore the surface of the earth.  If you migrate all the continents and landmasses back towards Jerusalem (which will remain in her place), you will find that is shows the shape of a triangle or a pyramidal shape.  But you’ll also notice that it’s upside down.  Rather than have the cornerstone, the uppermost part of the pyramid, at the top, it’s at the bottom.  So the earth must be inverted to correctly depict the pyramid symbol of God.  Jesus Christ is, of course, the Chief Cornerstone (Eph 2:20), which is depicted on American currency as the illuminated top stone of a pyramid.

 When the earth begins to quake, as the continents are migrated back towards Jerusalem, mountain ranges will collapse, dust and debris will head skyward, blackening the sun.  The moon will turn blood red from the smoke and dust.  When the earth is turned over, the stars in the sky will slowly recede like a scroll.  Just to confirm these things, note the words ‘and every mountain and island was removed from its place’.  Islands and continents are synonymous in the Bible.  An island is any landmass bounded by sea in the Bible.  It’s any landmass that can be traversed from sea to [shining] sea – just by way of a riddle.

 Rev 6:15-17 “Then the kings of the earth, the princes, the generals, the rich, the mighty, and every slave and every free man hid in caves and among the rocks of the mountains. ¹⁶ They called to the mountains and the rocks, "Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! ¹⁷ For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?" 

 At this point the restoration of the earth continues, and mountains begin to crumble as the continents begin their migration back to their original locations.  From the kings of the earth to the least of the inhabitants, they cry out to the mountains to fall on them to spare them from the wrath of God.  This is also the time when God seals His servants from the House of Israel in keeping with the promises He made to the Patriarchs.  He chooses 12,000 from each of the Tribes (with the exception of Dan.  Instead, Joseph is given a double-portion).  All 144,000 will refuse the mark of the Beast, and God rewards them by placing His Seal on their foreheads and they continue to live with God’s protection.  Naturally enough, these people will be faithful and obedient to God and His Laws and to His Holy Days.  These people will keep God’s Seventh Day Sabbath holy, and under the protection of God will send the message that Satan’s Muslim Friday must not be observed or any other day –  except  the Seventh Day.  At that time, they’ll truly be able to proclaim that ‘Salvation is of the Jews’, when they see the fight-back in the Holy Land occurring.  These servants of God will inspire vast numbers of people from all backgrounds including, hopefully, even the pretend Christians who loosely observe Sunday, the first day of the week in defiance of God.

 It’s during this period that the 144,000 from the Tribes of Israel will be sealed from the Great Day of God and the Lamb’s wrath, which unfolds at the time of the completion of the 7^th Seal.

 After this, a huge multitude from every nation, tribe, people and language follow their example and are likewise rewarded.  These came out of the Great Tribulation that afflicts the whole world.  In view of all this, you have to wonder what mainstream Christianity was thinking when they devised their silly ideas about salvation for doing nothing.

 The 7th Seal begins the Trumpet Plagues.

 7^th Seal

Rev 8:1-6 “When he opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. ² And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and to them were given seven trumpets. ³ Another angel, who had a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense to offer, with the prayers of all the saints, on the golden altar before the throne. ⁴ The smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of the saints, went up before God from the angel's hand. ⁵ Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and hurled it on the earth; and there came peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning and an earthquake. ⁶ Then the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared to sound them.” 

 The discussion and revelation of the Seven Trumpets is forbidden until the first six Seals are completed.  Obviously, the inhabitants of the earth are going to have enough to contend with during this period without considering the content of the Seven Trumpets.  It’s during the days of the opening of the first six of the Seven Seals that the servants of God will be chosen.  The Seven Trumpets are directed against all that remains of humanity and relates to the fulfilment of God’s Wrath.  It’s at the time of the 6^th Trumpet that the Mystery of God will be revealed, and this is not something that God wants revealed right now.

 The Prophet John revealed what he saw concerning the Seven Trumpets, and we can certainly read what he wrote.  But as for the explanations of it all, which are described by ‘seven thunders’ (angelic beings) who spoke, he was told not to write down what he heard.  This revelation from the ‘seven thunders’ relates to The Mystery of God.  This cannot and must not be revealed until the appointed time.  When it is revealed, it will not be written, but spoken by God’s two special servants, the two end-time witnesses in the City of Jerusalem, when they must prophesy yet again about many different peoples of all classes.  The Seven Trumpets are directed against all who live in the world.  Since judgment begins in the House of God, the consequences of God’s Wrath will be on the rest of the inhabitants of the earth.  As the reader will realize, once the Kingdom of God is established, there will be no point in leaving the rest of humanity unscathed to begin plotting the take-over of the Kingdom.  To this end, God will provoke them into a hastily-prepared fight and He will bring them all down the Valley of Megiddo.  This battle is called ‘The Battle of Armageddon’.  The destruction of this army of 200 million warriors will take the fight right out of the nations of the earth, and those who are left will have nothing to hope for except to sue for peace.  Then they will learn the terms of peace and it will begin with the enforcement of the Ten Commandments.

 This is the account of what happened after John witnessed the vision of the Seven Trumpets: Rev 10:1-11 “Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven. He was robed in a cloud, with a rainbow above his head; his face was like the sun, and his legs were like fiery pillars. ² He was holding a little scroll, which lay open in his hand. He planted his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land, ³ and he gave a loud shout like the roar of a lion. When he shouted, the voices of the seven thunders spoke. ⁴ And when the seven thunders spoke, I was about to write; but I heard a voice from heaven say, "Seal up what the seven thunders have said and do not write it down."  I know all about those who think they know what the seven thunders spoke, one of whom actually wrote a fictitious ‘little book’ about it, and gained a large following as a result.  It seems that these followers didn’t understand that their ‘little book’ was a pack of lies.

 The little Scroll that lay opened in the hand of the Mighty One was already open when it was handed to John.  This little scroll gives the detail of the 7^th Seal and relates to, and reveals, the opening of the Seven Trumpets.  V5-7 “Then the angel I had seen standing on the sea and on the land raised his right hand to heaven. ⁶ And he swore by him who lives for ever and ever, who created the heavens and all that is in them, the earth and all that is in it, and the sea and all that is in it, and said, "There will be no more delay! ⁷ But in the days when the seventh angel is about to sound his trumpet, the mystery of God will be accomplished, just as he announced to his servants the prophets."  God doesn’t announce anything to anyone other than His servants the prophets!  V8-11 “Then the voice that I had heard from heaven spoke to me once more: "Go, take the scroll that lies open in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land. ⁹ So I went to the angel and asked him to give me the little scroll. He said to me, "Take it and eat it. It will turn your stomach sour, but in your mouth it will be as sweet as honey." ¹⁰ I took the little scroll from the angel's hand and ate it. It tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it, my stomach turned sour. ¹¹ Then I was told, "You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, languages and kings."  Even at this point there will be two or three billion people on earth, and it they want to keep on living, then they must be told, and comply with, the rules – that is, God’s Rules!  As the reader will understand, after the blowing of the sixth trumpet, when a third of mankind will be killed, most of the survivors will be women and children.  Obviously, they will still have the numbers to muster a huge army of 200 million warriors.

 Obviously, the reader is at liberty to read all about the Seven Trumpets in the Book of Revelation, chapters 8, 9, 10, 11.  What is forbidden is to write about what the seven thunders actually said.  The prophet heard it but was forbidden to write it down.  Later he was told to eat the little scroll and to go and prophesy again about many peoples, nations, languages and kings (Rev 10:9-11).  During the course of this Bible Study we’ve spoken about many peoples – specific peoples – but there are still great hordes of people living on earth that we haven’t even mentioned.  These will be factored in for the final prophesying by the Two Prophets in Jerusalem.

 At the present time I’m not at liberty to be discussing the content of the Seven Trumpets or what the seven thunders said.  All that can be safely commented on regarding the Seven Trumpets is the reference to the Ark of the Covenant, which is mentioned in the 7^th Trumpet.  At this time, all remarks, with the exception of what is already recorded by the Prophet John, will be confined to that.  Almighty God doesn’t want the underlying message of the Seven Trumpets elaborated on at this present time.

 Seven Trumpets

 1^st Trumpet – Rev 8:7

2^nd Trumpet – Rev 8:8

3^rd Trumpet – Rev 8:10

4^th Trumpet – Rev 8:12

5^th Trumpet – Rev 9:1

6^th Trumpet – Rev 9:13

At this point, just before the 7^th Trumpet, the Mystery of God is revealed.

7^th Trumpet – Rev 11:15

The final outcome of this Trumpet is very good news, because this is when the Kingdom of the whole world will become the Kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He will reign for ever and ever (V15).

 This is also the time when God’s Temple in Heaven is opened to reveal the Ark of the Covenant (Rev 11:19).  The Ark of Moses’ day was an exact replica of the Ark in heaven.  The Ark of the Covenant is the receptacle that holds the two tablets of stone on which is written the Law of God as given by Moses: Heb 9:1-5 “Now the first covenant had regulations for worship and also an earthly sanctuary. ² A tabernacle was set up. In its first room were the lampstand, the table and the consecrated bread; this was called the Holy Place. ³ Behind the second curtain was a room called the Most Holy Place, ⁴ which had the golden altar of incense and the gold-covered ark of the covenant. This ark contained the gold jar of manna, Aaron's staff that had budded, and the stone tablets of the covenant. ⁵ Above the ark were the cherubim of the Glory, overshadowing the atonement cover.  But we cannot discuss these things in detail now.”  There are good reasons why Paul and Barnabas could not discuss these things in detail at the time.

 There were two cherubim of the Glory, and one of them was not Satan.  It’s true that Satan, who was formerly called Lucifer the light-bringer, and he was anointed as a guardian cherub over all God’s creation on earth, but it went to his head and he sinned against God.  Eze 28:14-15 “You were anointed as a guardian cherub, for so I ordained you.  You were on the holy mount of God; you walked among the fiery stones. ¹⁵ You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created till wickedness was found in you. ¹⁶ Through your widespread trade you were filled with violence, and you sinned.  So I drove you in disgrace from the mount of God, and I expelled you, O guardian cherub, from among the fiery stones. ¹⁷ Your heart became proud on account of your beauty, and you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor.  So I threw you to the earth; I made a spectacle of you before kings.”  This happened long ago, and before God re-created the earth for mankind, which began with Adam and Eve.  When God first cast Satan back to earth, the earth became a chaotic ruin.  The continents were all broken up and all life was extinguished.  Satan’s reptilian world was gone.  That was the world of the dinosaurs, and none of them survived.  Absolutely all life was extinguished and there remained nothing alive!

 Satan’s widespread trade and violence was certainly not conducted in heaven!  He ruled on earth, together with many of God’s angels.  As a matter of fact, the Mount of God was also on earth at that time.  Jacob actually viewed it in a dream: Gen 28:10-17 “Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Haran. ¹¹ When he reached a certain place, he stopped for the night because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones there, he put it under his head and lay down to sleep. ¹² He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. ¹³ There above it stood the LORD, and he said: "I am the LORD, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. ¹⁴ Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. ¹⁵ I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you." ¹⁶ When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, "Surely the LORD is in this place, and I was not aware of it." ¹⁷ He was afraid and said, "How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven." 

 The stairway was no longer there in Jacob’s day, but he actually saw in his dream what used to be.  God no longer lives on earth, but lives in self-imposed exile until His Son Jesus restores everything the way it used to be (1Cor 15:24-25).  God actually lives in a huge Mothership which is not far away:  Isa 40:22 “He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth, and its people are like grasshoppers.”  That’s how close God is to earth!  Even the people look like grasshoppers and can clearly be seen.  The mother-ship is composed of spirit and is not visible to the human eye.  It’s possible that planes sometimes fly right through it, but I can’t be sure of that.  God speaks of His dwelling-place, and this is where He lives.  In this dwelling-place, there is an Altar where the Lord Christ serves the Father.  There are many other things as well in this dwelling-place and it’s a huge craft, capable of assembling 100 million angels before God’s Throne.

 God actually gives us the number of angels that remained faithful to Him: Rev 5:11 “Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders.”  The Prophet Daniel also confirms this:  Dan 7:10 “A river of fire was flowing, coming out from before him.  Thousands upon thousands attended him; ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him.  The court was seated, and the books were opened.”  Ten thousand times ten thousand is 100 million angels – plus thousands upon thousands.  The exact number of the ‘thousands upon thousands’ is not known.  So the original number of angelic beings must have been 150 million+, of which, Satan inherited one third (50 million+) that rebelled with him against their Creator God.  So Satan has in excess of 50 million demons on earth.  Among these are the most powerful rulers of the spirit world, and then there are the lesser ones.  As with human beings, there are a great variety of them and they come in all shapes and sizes.  Most of them are endemically wicked and filled with violence, while others are more benign and in some cases even fearful.  There are some that like to terrorize human beings (as can be seen in haunted houses), and there are some who cooperate with humans (to perform magical tricks); these are generally called ‘familiar spirits’.  Others have dedicated themselves to perverting God’s Truth by turning the masses away from obedience to God.  With 50 million+ individual demons on earth, the reader can well understand that they come in all varieties of personalities and ambitions – in the same way as humans do.  It would be impossible to categorize them all.  People who hear voices in their heads are listening to demons.  Generally, the mentally ill are possessed by demons.  Compulsive liars are influenced by demons.  Savants are the home of demons – they live in their host.  Magicians who perform impossible tricks have a familiar demon that is able to materialize or dematerialize matter – including the bodies of the magicians.  All these things give you some idea of what we are dealing with.  So forget the fiction that ghosts in haunted houses are the spirits of the human-departed.  They’re demons!

 When these demon creatures try God’s patience too much, they are transported to a prison called the Abyss.  Some of the most evil creatures who have ever lived are imprisoned there.  In the days of Noah, a number of them were imprisoned in the Abyss and remain there even to this present day (1Pet 3:10, 2Pet 2:4).  When some of these creatures are released (as they will in the future), then you will know why God imprisoned them in the first place.  There is considerable evidence that the Abyss is located in or around Babylon near the Euphrates River (Rev 9:14).  The four angels that are bound there are four demon rulers who are ordered to be released.  As you will see from V1 of this chapter (Rev 9), the inmates of the Abyss will soon be in the process of being released.  These four evil demon creatures muster an army of two hundred million men, for the specific purpose of killing one-third of all mankind.

 So it’s hardly surprising that demons don’t want to be sent there.  Notice this account: Luke 8:26-31 “They sailed to the region of the Gerasenes, which is across the lake from Galilee. ²⁷ When Jesus stepped ashore, he was met by a demon-possessed man from the town. For a long time this man had not worn clothes or lived in a house, but had lived in the tombs. ²⁸ When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell at his feet, shouting at the top of his voice, "What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, don't torture me!" ²⁹ For Jesus had commanded the evil spirit to come out of the man. Many times it had seized him, and though he was chained hand and foot and kept under guard, he had broken his chains and had been driven by the demon into solitary places. ³⁰ Jesus asked him, "What is your name?"  "Legion," he replied, because many demons had gone into him. ³¹ And they begged him repeatedly not to order them to go into the Abyss.”  The last place in the world that demons want to be sent is the Abyss.  To them, it is a place of abuse, terror and cruelty – and they know who rules there!  And this creature is mentioned in Rev 9:11.

 And this concludes the Study of the Book of Isaiah.  I hope the reader has learned something from it.  What you have now read you will be held accountable for.  If you act on it then you will be rewarded; but if not, then you will be condemned.  God Himself taught this Brotherhood, and you are now privy to the very teachings that He has imparted to us.  In order to be of any use to God at all, you must have the Testimony of Jesus, which is the Spirit of prophecy – and you must believe it.  The mere act of believing God will credit you with righteousness.  If you don’t believe God, then you will return to dust, never to live again.  Importantly, don’t delay, because the beginning of the Great Tribulation is now at our doorsteps.  We’re entering a period when there will be no peace until the Kingdom of God is established.

 May the God of peace be with all His servants who serve Him.

 Neville Victor Stevens.

 

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