The Revelation Explained Part 9

CHAPTER IX.

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.

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.

4. And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the gra.s.s of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of G.o.d in their foreheads.

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.

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.

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.

8. And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as the teeth of lions.

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.

10. And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and their power was to hurt men five months.

11. And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon.

The symbols of this trumpet are of a very peculiar character and peculiarly combined. They are not drawn entirely from the natural world, showing that we are not to look for their fulfilment in political events alone; neither are they drawn from human life in any such way as to indicate events in the religious history of the church. The leading characters in it, however, are living, active agents of such a destructive nature as to ent.i.tle them to the designation of a woe.

The first object presented in the vision is a "star" fallen to the earth. Our translation conveys the idea that this star was in the act of falling; but in the original it is different, being there represented as having fallen, its dejection from heaven to earth being complete. The only place that it appeared in view was on the earth, and there it is described as fallen. A star is a symbol either of a civil ruler or of a religious teacher, the symbols in connection deciding whether it is set in the political or the ecclesiastical firmament. But this was not such a star as He who walketh in the midst of the golden candle-sticks holdeth in his right hand, but it was a _fallen_ star, indicating that it was the propagator of a false faith.

To this star was given a key. In the Gospels the same figure is employed, where the ministers of Christ are represented as possessing the keys of the kingdom of heaven, showing that they acted in his name and by his authority. How appropriate, then, is this symbol as applied to a false teacher, who possesses, not the keys of the kingdom of heaven, but, instead, "the key of the bottomless pit"! Thus, under the symbol of the star and the key, we have the teacher and his authority set forth. Armed with this authority, this false teacher "opened the bottomless pit; and there rose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit." In the Scriptures Jesus is represented as the Sun of righteousness, while "the light of the _glorious gospel_ of Christ"

illuminates the world. But here we have something of the opposite character--a dense smoke eclipsing the sun and darkening the heavens.

Have we not here a fit representation of a delusive faith proceeding from its true source, "the bottomless pit"? And is not a fallen star an appropriate symbol of its propagator?

In representing a system of religion by these objects from nature we depart from the general rule first laid down--that objects of nature symbolize political affairs, while the department of human and angelic life is chosen to represent religious affairs. But the reader should bear in mind one important exception to this rule--that things prominently connected with the history of the people of G.o.d in former ages are frequently employed (regardless of the department to which they belong) to represent spiritual things, their interpretation being easily seen; such as candle-sticks, altar, temple, incense, etc. When the plague of "thick darkness" covered the land of Egypt for three days, "the children of Israel had light in their dwellings." In the exodus the Lord went before them "by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light." After the erection of the tabernacle the holy place was constantly illuminated. This natural light in the Jewish age const.i.tutes a beautiful type of the spiritual "light of the glorious gospel of Christ" that has "s.h.i.+ned in our hearts" in the Christian dispensation.

This spiritual light comes from Christ, the "Sun of righteousness," the "true Light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world"; and proceeds, also, from his people, who "s.h.i.+ne as lights in the world." But it is the "light of the _gospel_." This light proceeds in a special sense from G.o.d's ministers, who are represented as "stars" (chap. 1:20) and who possess "the keys of the kingdom of heaven." Mat. 16:19; 18:18.

How appropriate, then, that a _fallen_ "star," possessing "the key of the bottomless pit," should be a symbol of a religious impostor, and that the smoke which darkened the heavens, eclipsing the sun, the source of light, should represent a prominent delusive faith! I have already mentioned the fact that the symbols of this vision lead to a series of events entirely separate in their nature from the spiritual history of the church as developed under other symbols. We find its fulfilment in Mohammed and the delusive system he promulgated. In the year 606 Mahomet retired to a cave in Hera, near Mecca, and there received his pretended revelations, although it was not until six years later that he began to teach his doctrines publicly and to gain followers outside of the circle of his own family and personal friends. Gibbon, Vol. V., p. 121.

The next object in the vision is the locusts that came out of the smoke, to which was given power like scorpions, or power to inflict a deadly sting like scorpions. To what living agents, then, did the delusion of Mohammedanism give birth--agents of a destructive nature like scorpion locust? Evidently, the Saracens,[6] those warrior followers of Mohammed who flocked to his standard. These locusts received the express command that "they should not hurt the gra.s.s of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of G.o.d in their foreheads." The successor of Mohammed, Abubeker, gave the Saracens a command that they should "destroy no palm-trees, nor burn any fields of grain; cut down no fruit-trees, nor do any mischief to cattle, only such as you kill to eat." This command was singular, yet it doubtless is not the fulfilment of the command to the locusts; for that would be adopting a literal meaning instead of a symbolic one, and to complete the picture we should have had literal Saracens instead of locusts. We can not consistently make a part literal and the remainder symbolical. In the explanation of the first trumpet (chap. 8:6, 7), we showed that gra.s.s and trees symbolized the inhabitants of a kingdom, gra.s.s representing the feebler and trees the stronger portions of society. The fact, then, that these locusts were not to destroy the green gra.s.s and trees show that they were not sent as a scourge upon the political empire only, as was the storm of hail and fire under the first trumpet. Had their mission been like that of natural locusts, to destroy every green thing, we should then conclude that they were sent as a scourge upon the empire alone, having nothing whatever to do with a system of religion. These locusts, however, were commanded not to do what natural locusts always do--eat green gra.s.s and trees--and were commissioned to do what locusts never do--"hurt men," but only those who have not the seal of G.o.d in their foreheads; that is, the wors.h.i.+pers of a false, idolatrous church, who are not known unto G.o.d as his true people. This is positive proof that the design of this vision is to set forth some awful religious imposture; for the "men" that they were to hurt are found in the department which by a.n.a.logy represents religious events.

[Footnote 6: "In earlier times the name of Saraceni was applied by Greeks and Romans to the troublesome Nomad Arabs of the Syro-Arabian desert."--_Encyclopaedia Britannica_. In the Middle Ages, however, Europeans began to call all their Moslem enemies Saracens. It is in the limited sense that it is here applied, designating the first followers of Mohammed before the rise of the Ottoman empire.]

The fact that their commission was to torment those "men which have not the seal of G.o.d in their foreheads," is a proof also of the wide-spread apostasies that had already taken place. This was the time when the pale horseman was careering over the world carrying desolation everywhere by his instruments of oppression--sword, pestilences, famine, and the wild beasts of the earth. "The churches both in the Western and Eastern empire were in the most deplorable condition, being corrupted with the grossest ignorance and idolatry; the virgin Mary, the saints, and miserable relics of every description being wors.h.i.+ped in the place of Jehovah, and superst.i.tion reigning with sovereign power over all minds."

The Saracen warriors of Mohammed were sent as a scourge upon apostate Christendom, overrunning the very territory where the gospel was first preached, and were commissioned to "torment" the false professors of Christianity.

In regard to the kind and the extent of the injury they were to inflict, it is said that "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. And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them." The Saracens, as here described under the symbol of the locusts, sustained a two-fold relation, and the careful and perfect manner in which the symbols are selected to set it forth is worthy of particular notice. In the first place, the Saracens were a political body. As such, locusts would fitly represent them. But they were also a religious body, and how could that fact be symbolically combined with the other? It is done by the locusts' being forbidden to act out their own nature in eating gra.s.s and trees, and their being commanded instead to "hurt men," thus changing the field of their operations into the department of human life--the department that is chosen to symbolically set forth religious events. Thus the politico-religious system of the Saracens is accurately set forth. This, also, is nearly as clear as a demonstration that the position already taken concerning the nature and the use of symbolic language is correct.

It was given that they should "not kill" men. We have already shown that killing men when used symbolically signifies the destruction of the political or ecclesiastical organizations and inst.i.tutions of society.

We could not consistently interpret it as literal slaughter, but as some a.n.a.lagous destruction. Now, the Saracen power was, as already stated, a politico-religious system, and its warriors were an infatuated set of religious fanatics, described by historians as "carrying the sword in one hand, and the Koran in the other." Thus, they had it in their power to kill either religiously or politically--destroy either the church or the empire--but they did neither, for their mission was not to kill, but to "torment." "They made extensive conquests and gained immense numbers of converts. But they did not overthrow the Eastern empire, although they repeatedly attacked and besieged Constantinople, suffering, however, uniform defeat in the attempt. Neither did they destroy the church, corrupt and apostate as it was. To idolators and infidels they put the alternative of the Koran or death; but allowed the Christians to retain their church organization, laying them, however, under severe contributions, and treating them to the ignominious appellation of Christian dogs." Concerning the character of Mohammed, Gibbon informs us that "he seldom trampled on a prostrate enemy, and he seems to promise, that on the payment of a tribute, the least guilty of his unbelieving subjects might be indulged in their wors.h.i.+p, or at least in their imperfect faith" (Vol. V, p. 129), and this, of course, would be the natural tendency of his followers. The Armenian and the Greek churches survived, and still exist in that portion of the world, but they have indeed been greviously tormented. "The proud Moslem, glorying in his prophet and religion, has heaped every possible insult and injury upon the Christians," yet he suffered them to live, but live only for him to torment. Surely the oppressions thus experienced are appropriately described by the words, "as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man." Under such torments the professed Christians might court death, but such is not granted; and still they survive, but only to be "tormented." The Moslem had "the Christian dog" completely under his foot.

We now turn our attention to the period of time during which these Saracen locusts were to continue their ravages. It is given as "five months," or one hundred and fifty days. As this description is entirely symbolic, we must consider the time symbolic also, for time certainly can be symbolized as well as anything else. It is very appropriate for days to symbolize years, for they are a.n.a.lagous periods of time; the diurnal revolution of the earth being taken to represent the earth's annual movement. Such a system of reckoning time was known centuries ago. When Jacob complained to Laban because he had been given Leah instead of Rachel, "Laban said, It must not be so done in our country, to give the younger before the first-born. Fulfil her _week_, and we will give thee this also for the service which thou shalt serve me yet _seven other years_. And Jacob did so, and fulfilled her week ... seven other years." Gen. 29:26-30. In this case it will be seen that a day was used to represent a year, since seven days, or one week, represented seven years. When the law was given, Moses recognized the week of seven natural days, the last day of which was const.i.tuted a Sabbath of rest for Israel; but he also inst.i.tuted a week of seven years, the last year of which was a sabbatical year of rest unto the land. This last fact will explain such expressions as "forty days, _each day for a year_"

(Num. 14:34), and "I have appointed thee each day for a year." Ezek.

4:6.

This period, then, of "five months," or one hundred and fifty days, would represent symbolically one hundred and fifty years. As before stated, it was in the year A.D. 612 that Mohammed began to expound his doctrines publicly and to gather adherents around his standard, from which point the locusts commenced, although the smoke had been let out of the pit a little previously. For a period of one hundred and fifty years from this date, they continued their ravages, until A.D. 762. Then they "built Bagdad, which became their settled seat of empire; and henceforth they became a settled nation, making no further conquests."

From that date their power began to decline. But during this one hundred and fifty years they spread over the country like swarms of devouring locusts. According to the well-known facts of history, "they overran Arabia, Palestine, Persia, Egypt, and the northern sh.o.r.es of Africa, from which they pa.s.sed to the conquest of Portugal and Spain." These were the countries that had been the most oppressed by a priest-ridden church and where especially were to be found those "men which have not the seal of G.o.d in their foreheads." Europe was trembling and filled with apprehension at what her fate might be at the hands of these fanatic warriors who fought with savage fury, under the promise of their prophet that, if slain in battle, they should be immediately transported to Paradise. At the zenith of their power, and confident of success, they pa.s.sed from Spain into France four hundred thousand strong. But here they exceeded their mission. The southern provinces of France contained many Christians who had the "seal of G.o.d" upon them, and this country became the seat of the Waldenses and Albigenses, of which interesting people we shall learn more hereafter. The invading host was met at Tours by Charles, grandfather of Charlemagne, who dealt them such a crus.h.i.+ng blow that he was ever afterward designated by the surname Martel--the Hammer. This battle was one of the fiercest recorded in history. The Saracens who had scarcely ever experienced defeat fought with the fury of despair, until, according to the accounts of that age, three hundred and seventy-five thousand of their number lay upon the field of battle with their general. This decisive victory saved Europe from her threatened subjection to the Mohammedan faith.

The next point in the vision to claim our attention is the particular description of these locusts. Some of the points mentioned might find a literal fulfilment in the personal appearance of the Saracens--such as the crowns signifying the turbans they wore, etc., but we must adhere strictly to the symbolic mode of interpretation and look for their fulfilment in Saracen character. Their being like war-horses denotes their warlike disposition. The crowns on their heads signify their great success and triumphs. Their faces of men and hair like women doubtless signify their boldness on the one hand and their effeminateness on the other. Their teeth as the teeth of lions show their ferocity of character. Their breastplates of iron indicate their invincibility or else their insensibility to injuries inflicted upon them. The sound of their wings like horses and chariots running to battle denotes the mult.i.tude and rapidity of their conquests. Their tails like scorpions, containing stings with which to "hurt men"--operating in the religious world--symbolize their position as propagators of a false faith. Thus they are set forth in their two-fold character--as invincible warriors and as the zealous professors of a delusion, whose sting was like that of a scorpion when he strikes a man.

"And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon." The following fact of history will explain this: "The Saracens had their Caliphs, the successors of Mohammed, who united in themselves the supreme civil, military and ecclesiastical powers. They were the high-priests of their religion, the commanders of their armies, and the emperors of the nation." This king over them signifies a succession of rulers, and they are well described as "the angel of the bottomless pit," for that is the very place where the delusion is said to have originated. Mahomet, as a fallen star, opened the pit and let out the smoke, and his successors, who grasped his power and authority, are fitly characterized as angels from the same place, bearing the name Abaddon or Apollyon, which terms both signify Destroyer.

Is not this a wonderful combination of symbols which can be carried out with surprising accuracy? What human ingenuity could have ever contrived such a marvelous series of events, and described them under such appropriate symbols? Finally, let me ask, Where in the whole compa.s.s of universal history can be found another series of events so perfectly meeting every requirement of the symbols? In this we must acknowledge the hand of G.o.d.

12. One woe is past; and, behold, there come two woes more hereafter.

This announcement, that one woe is past, meaning that the period of one hundred and fifty years during which the Saracens were to continue their conquests has ended, serves an important purpose in enabling us to fix the chronology of the events described. It proves that they succeed each other.

13. And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before G.o.d,

14. Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates.

15. And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men.

16. And the number of the army of the hors.e.m.e.n were two hundred thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them.

17. And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone: and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone.

18. By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths.

19. For their power is in their mouth, and in their tails: for their tails were like unto serpents, and had heads, and with them they do hurt.

20. And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not wors.h.i.+p devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and bra.s.s, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk:

21. Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts.

At the sounding of the sixth trumpet, or the second woe trumpet, a voice is heard from the four horns (all the horns) of the golden altar. This probably denotes that the very same altar where incense was offered up to G.o.d with the prayers of all saints was now crying out to him for vengeance upon an apostate church. That church had reached the summit of apostasy and iniquity, the virgin Mary, the saints, and thousands of idols in the form of miserable relics being wors.h.i.+ped more than G.o.d.

Because of these abominable idolatries, a voice is heard crying from the golden altar for the avenging judgments of Heaven, which were the loosing of the four angels bound in the river Euphrates. The symbols of this vision are also of peculiar character and drawn from different departments. We have four angels bound in the Euphrates, an immense army of hors.e.m.e.n, then a large number of horses with heads as of lions, and fire, smoke, and brimstone issuing from their mouths. The horses thus particularly described are evidently intended to have a definite symbolical signification, and being objects of nature, they would indicate a political or military power. The hors.e.m.e.n, being objects from human life, would point us to some religious body; while the angels signify the leaders that have control of these agencies. Their being commissioned "to slay the third part of men" show that they will overthrow some of the established inst.i.tutions of society. We are to look, therefore, for some politico-religious power that should invade and overthrow the empire. We are, of course, directed to the Eastern empire; for the Western division was subverted under the symbols of the first four trumpets. With these specifications before us, we shall have no difficulty in identifying the power intended--_the Turkish, or Ottoman, empire_. Its agreement with the symbolic representations of the vision will be manifest from a statement of the facts of history.

"The Turks were of Tartar or Scythian origin, from the northern regions of Asia, whence also the Huns hived upon Europe during the fourth and fifth centuries. The latter pa.s.sed to the north of the Black sea from Russia, and swept the regions of the Danube and the Rhine. The Turks, pa.s.sing to the east of the same, fell upon the empire from that quarter.

They took possession of Armenia Major in the ninth century, where they increased, and in the s.p.a.ce of two hundred years became a formidable power, being at the end of this period combined into four Sultanies, the heads of which were at Bagdad, Damascus, Aleppo, and Iconium. The first of these was erected A.D. 1055; the two next A.D. 1079, and the last A.D. 1080--all of them within twenty-five years, and the three last within two."

These four Sultanies are doubtless signified by "the four angels" that were bound in the river Euphrates. The Euphrates here is employed as a symbol, not of the Turks themselves--for the hors.e.m.e.n are their symbol, as we shall see--but of the binding of the angels. The use of this word as a symbol is derived from a fact of history, being the object, according to Herodotus, that kept Cyrus back from entering the city of Babylon. While the Persian monarch surrounded the walls of that ancient metropolis of the Babylonian empire, with his army, he was held in restraint by the river Euphrates; and it was not until he had diverted its waters into an artificial channel that he gained an entrance. So, also, these Sultanies, or leaders of the Turks, were held under restraint as if bound by the river Euphrates, until the time appointed for them to go forth on their mission of conquest. Different causes held them back. For a long time they were involved in fierce and almost continuous wars with the neighboring Tartar tribes on the east and the north, and at the same time the Crusaders of Europe were carrying on a determined war with the Saracens for the possession of the Holy Land.

For two centuries the armies of Christendom poured into Syria and Palestine to recover from the hands of the "infidels," as they were called, the holy sepulchre and the country that gave birth to Christianity; but when Europe finally abandoned the project, then went forth the command to loose the four angels, "which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of man." To kill men symbolically, I have already shown, signifies the destruction either of an empire as a political body or of the church (that is, the so-called church) as a religious body. The locusts under the fifth trumpet were to do neither; but the symbolic characters of this vision are "to slay the third part of men," by which is set forth the fall and subjugation of the Eastern empire and church; just as, under the fifth trumpet, the fall of the Western empire was described by the darkening of a third part of the sun, moon, and stars.

Before considering the time-prophecy in this vision, we will pa.s.s on to notice a few particulars respecting the horses and their riders. The hors.e.m.e.n possessed breastplates of fire, jacinth, and brimstone; while out of the mouths of the horses proceeded fire, smoke, and brimstone.

There is evidently a special design in distinguis.h.i.+ng between the horses and their riders. These symbols, being drawn from different sources--the former from the natural world and the latter from human life--point out the two characteristics of the Turks as a politico-religious power. The symbolic description of the two is almost identical. The hors.e.m.e.n had breastplates of fire, jacinth (purplish or reddish blue), and brimstone.

This describes the character of the Turks as a religious system. Out of the horses' mouths proceeded fire, smoke, and brimstone, which represents the Moslems as a political power. The only difference is that the smoke is subst.i.tuted for the jacinth, but they very nearly agree in color. We are thus brought to the conclusion that the political and the religious power of the Turks is in harmony and agreement with each other--united in the closest manner possible, like a horse and its rider, and both animated by the same spirit. That spirit is perhaps their fierce, fanatical, aggressive, intolerant character.

The tails of the horses were like serpents with heads, their power being in their mouth and in their tails--the one a lion, the other a serpent.

It was by the fire, the smoke, and the brimstone that came from their lion-heads that the third part of men was killed, or their conquests were made; then with their serpent-like tails would they torment or "hurt" all those who would not adopt the Moslem faith, being in this respect like the scorpion locusts. Their lion-heads would denote their invincible strength and courage; and their serpent-tails, the tormenting sting inflicted upon those whom they subdued but who would not accept their religion. It is not said that the riders were the direct agents of destruction--not the Moslem faith as a religion--but it was the horses that accomplished the deadly work--the Ottomans as a political body.

This was the power that extended conquests and established their empire, although it was accompanied by the religious system, working in perfect harmony.