Since these questions were first posed, we have begun the series on the book of Revelation which will completely answer these questions. Simply click on ‘Revelation’ in the upper left corner of the home page to peruse the chapters and topics.

If possible, I would like to study revelation with you, if you are not occupied with other things. I have a couple of things to ask starting with 1.) What about the moon turning as blood, sun as black as sackcloth, 144,000, and Rev 6:16,17 and the locust.

Thanks,

R____

Hi R____,

Thank you for your questions. I appreciate your enthusiasm for knowing the mind of God.

I have an article entitled ‘Who Are The 144,000?’ on the web page. Be sure to read that paper. As far as the locusts are concerned, here is their description in Revelation:

Rev 9:3 And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power.
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.
Rev 9:5 And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months: and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man.
Rev 9:6 And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them.
Rev 9:7 And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle; and on their heads were as it were crowns like gold, and their faces were] as the faces of men.
Rev 9:8 And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as the teeth of lions.
Rev 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.
Rev 9:10 And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and their power was to hurt men five months.

It takes very little spiritual perception to see that anything that cannot affect those with the mark of God, must then affect those who do not have that protective mark. They torment and hurt those without God’s mark. They have hair like a woman, teeth like a lion and their power to inflict pain is in their tails. Just being shown in scripture what these ‘tails’ represent will make all the other symbols come into clear focus. Look at what we are scripturally told “is the tail” in God’s Word:

Isa 9:15 The ancient and honourable [ in the church], he is the head; and the prophet that teacheth lies, [ in the church] he is the tail.

“The prophet that teaches lies HE IS THE TAIL.” God does not want His people to be the tail. God’s people should never be guilty of teaching lies. Yet that is exactly what is in God’s church. God’s church has “that woman Jezebel,” “the seat [ Gk- throne] of Satan,” the “Nicolaitans,” etc. It is these numerous locusts with heads like a woman, the constant symbol for God’s church, that blot out the light of the sun, the symbol of Christ and the Truth.

Another Biblical symbol for these false prophets whose lies blot out the light of the Sun of God, is a devouring lion. These false prophets “devour widows homes.”

It is the false fallen church of God, which is the moon, which “rules the lesser light of the night.” It reflects some of the sun’s light and rules over the night, but God’s fallen harlot church does not have the light of the sun within it. Its description as “turning to blood,” indicates the sad spiritual condition of a church so full of so many false prophets that the light of the sun is as “black as sackcloth of hair.” Part of Egypt’s destruction was turning what should have been nourishing waters into destructive blood.

The sad truth is that ‘the children of the night’ are these very false prophets and their followers, right in God’s church, which make the sun as “black as sackcloth of hair.” The “sun shall be turned into darkness” is the same as saying that “the sun became black as sackcloth of hair.”

If you want to know how God’s word is to be understood type in ‘understanding Revelation’ in the Google search engine at the top of the web page, and you will be given several letters dealing with this book. Be sure to read the letters on Preterism. They are very revealing as to how God’s Word is to be understood.

I hope this is of some help to you. Revelation is not a book about end time events an commonly understood. It is a book whose “sayings and prophecies we are to keep.” Here it is in the front of this book:

Rev 1:3 Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.

And here is how it ends:

Rev 22:7 Behold, I come quickly: blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book.

Mike