FEAST OF TRUMPETS – 2005

Fred Coulter – October 4, 2005

And greetings brethren. Welcome to the Feast of Trumpets – 2005. And all the feast days are a tremendous understanding, and a step-by-step layout of the plan of God. And as we come to Leviticus 23 we know it starts out with the Sabbath (and the Sabbath brings a tremendous understanding), but then it immediately goes into the Passover and Days of Unleavened Bread and Pentecost. And now we come to the Feast of Trumpets, which is a profound and perhaps the most dramatic feast day of God.     

Let’s come to Leviticus 23 and let’s read that beginning in verse 23: “And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall ye have a sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, an holy convocation. Ye shall do no servile work therein: but ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD” (Lev. 23:23-25, KJV). Now there is a reason why it is a memorial of blowing of trumpets. Now the only other memorial feast that we keep is the Passover. And this is a special memorial feast – a memorial of blowing of trumpets. And as we will see this has a tremendous amount to do and actually shows all of the events culminating in the literal return of Jesus Christ to this earth. And of course all the saints with Him.

So before we get into the whole meaning of the Feast of Trumpets, let’s go ahead and take a pause and we’ll take up the offering. And we know that we’re always to come before God on the holy days according to the blessings that He has given us. So at this time we will take a pause and you can take up the offering.

(Pause)

Since this day of the Feast of Trumpets pictures war, famine, death, destruction, and every evil thing that is going to be perpetrated against God, against man, and against the earth, and what God has to do in bringing His vengeance and setting this world aright when Christ returns, I think it’s very important that we understand a little bit about how God operates and works.

Now I’m going to read to you from Appendix M in the New Testament, page 828 and 829 about what William Tyndale wrote concerning suffering and difficulties and things like this. And he had a very good insight. And also let me encourage you this: that all of the commentary in the first part of the book and the appendices at the back part of the book for the New Testament are all important vital reading for you to do. Now I know I talk to some who said they decided that with their fellowship group that they would sit down and they would read sections of both the commentary and the appendices. And these have an awful lot of information in it so it’s very vital that you set about on a program with the New Testament to be reading these things.

Now let me read what William Tyndale wrote. Now he single-handedly translated the Old and New Testament and he was martyred for doing so. And he understood what he was going through. And the very thing that he said, he said before he was choked and burned at the stake, he said, “God, open the eyes of the King of England.” And that happened. Within one year after he died, King Henry VIII made it possible to have the Bible in all the churches of England in English, which was forbidden before then. So we need to understand that out of all the death and gloom and doom there’s a blessing coming, and the blessing is going to be the Kingdom of God.

Now, he writes of the things concerning his experiences:

“This is written [the things in the Old Testament] for our learning: for verily he is a true God; and is our God as well as theirs; and his promises are with us, as well as with them; and he [is] present with us, as well as he was with them. If we ask, we shall obtain; if we knock, he will open; if we seek, we shall find; if we thirst, his truth shall fulfill our lust [desire], Christ is with us until the world’s end. Let his little flock be bold therefore. If God be on our side, what matter maketh it who be against us, be they bishops, cardinals, popes, or whatsoever names they will?

And we can add – authorities, policemen, whatever you want to put in there, governmental officials, soldiers, mobs, whatever – because all of those things, if we live much longer we are going to see take place. And we have to be fortified with the truth of God, the Spirit of God, the knowledge of God, and the Word of God, and we have to be able to realize how God works. And understand this: Christ died for us, and Christ also died for the whole world. And so we need to make up our minds and also understand that if Christ died for us and we want His death applied to us, if there comes a time, like William Tyndale, we have to die for Christ, then we be most willing.

Now continuing he writes:

“Mark this also, if God send thee to the sea, and promise to go with thee, and to bring thee safe to land, he will raise up a tempest against thee, to prove whether thou wilt abide by his word, and that thou mayest feel thy faith, and perceive his goodness. For if it were always fair weather, and thou never brought into such jeopardy, whence his mercy only delivered thee, thy faith should be but a presumption, and thou shouldest be ever unthankful to God and merciless unto thy neighbour. [Which describes this generation.]

“If God promise riches, the way thereto is poverty. Whom he loveth, him he chasteneth: whom he exalteth, he casteth down: whom he saveth, he damneth first … If he promise life, he slayeth first [and that’s what baptism is all about]: when he buildeth, he casteth all down first.

And that’s what’s going to happen with the Feast of Trumpets. God is not going to come to this earth and just slightly modify and change a few things and voila, the Kingdom of God is on earth. No, He’s got to destroy it all. We need to understand that. And the fall of Babylon the Great, the whole world system which this day pictures, and the final judgment against us is going to be awesome and all inclusive and all destructive. We need to understand that.

Tyndale further writes:

“He is no patcher; he cannot build on another man’s foundation.

And everything that is in the world is on the foundation of the Satan the devil. And this end-time occult Satan-worshipping society is going to suffer the vengeance and judgment of God.

“He will not work until all be past remedy, and be brought unto such a case, that men may see, how that his hand, his power, his mercy, his goodness and truth, hath wrought altogether. He will let no man be partaker with him of his praise and glory [that is any other god, any other man]. His works are wonderful, and contrary unto man’s works. Who ever, saving he, delivered his own Son, his only Son, his dear Son, unto the death, and that for his enemies’ sake, to win his enemy, to overcome him with love, that he might see love, and love again, and of love to do likewise to other men, and to overcome them with well doing?” (The New Testament – A Faithful Version, pp. 828-829).

And of course, that’s going to be our mission after we return to the earth with Jesus Christ after the resurrection.

Now, let’s come to I Thessalonians 5 and let’s understand something as this relates to the return of Jesus Christ. We know the basic times and the basic seasons. Now how all of the days will fall together it’s going to be actually impossible (because of all of the things as we will see that will take place in the heavens) to know exactly when the day will be. And of course, as we will see, that’s what Jesus told His disciples was the authority of His Father.

Now I Thessalonians 5:1: “Now then, concerning the times and the seasons, brethren [because they understood through the seasons], there is no need that I write to you; for you yourselves understand perfectly that the day of the Lord [and that’s what this day pictures – it is “the day of the Lord”] will come exactly as a thief comes by night.” It’s going to come unexpectedly. “For when they say, ‘Peace and security,’ then sudden destruction will come upon them, as travail comes upon a woman who is with child; and they shall by no means escape. But you, brethren, are not in darkness that the day of the Lord should overtake you as a thief” (I Thes. 5:1-4, FV). See, God has given us understanding. And that’s part of the blessing that was given for reading the book of Revelation.

Now let’s come to Acts 2 and let’s overlap this because from Pentecost down to Trumpets the two are connected and all the time during Pentecost up to Trumpets are all the events that are laid out in the Bible, which lead up to the literal return of Jesus Christ. Now last time we got to where we were with Pentecost and the resurrection, and so we’ll back up a little bit and then we will pick it up and go on from there.

Now here is what Peter preached. And this comes from Joel 2: “ ‘ “And it shall come to pass in the last days,” says God, “that I will pour out My Spirit upon all flesh [and we saw how that would be with the great innumerable multitude and the 144,000], and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams; and even upon My servants and upon My handmaids will I pour out My Spirit in those days, and they shall prophesy…” ’ ” So God will always give us the strength. You need to understand that. God promises He will put us through nothing that we cannot endure and He will give us the help to do so.

“ ‘ “...And I will show wonders in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and vapors of smoke.” ’ ” And we’re going to see all of that because all the weapons of God are going to encompass all of the things that he’s talking about here – the moon, the sun, the stars and everything. “ ‘ “…Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord.” ’ ” (Acts 2:17-20, FV). And we’re going to look at that, and we’re going to see about that. We’ll see how this comes about.

Now let’s come back here to Revelation 6 and let’s review just a little bit. Because right in the middle of the events that are taking place we saw the sixth seal open and the heavens rolled back as a scroll, and this is the first of the shaking of the earth that God is going to do. Then He intervenes and seals the 144,000 and the great innumerable multitude. This helps fulfill that “whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” Now also we need to understand that these things are prophesied in the Old Testament. We’re going to look at a lot of those now. We’re going to see how that the whole Bible is put together in such a way that when we put it together the way that God wants it to be put together it gives us understanding and knowledge, and it gives us the understanding of God’s will and how it’s going to be done.

Now let’s come to Amos 5 because there are a lot of ministers and preachers out there who want to… You know, they preach about the Day of the Lord, and yes we are to pray “Your Kingdom come.” It is to come, and it will come, and there is no doubt about it. But a lot of them use the Day of the Lord as a means of furthering their own ends. But that’s not the way that God wants it to be.

Let’s come here to Amos 5:18: “Woe unto you that desire the day of the LORD! to what end is it for you? the day of the LORD is darkness, and not light.” Now you see, if you’re not under God’s protection, and if you’re just out here in the world and you don’t know what’s going on, here’s what it’s going to be like: “As if a man did flee from a lion, and a bear met him; or went into the house, and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him. Shall not the day of the LORD be darkness, and not light? even very dark, and no brightness in it?” (Amos 5:18-20, KJV). So we don’t want to use it for our own means.

Let’s see what the Day of the Lord is going to be like. And let’s see why it has to happen. And why it has to be so absolutely destructive, and that it is literally going to shake the earth to it’s very foundations.

Now let’s come to Jeremiah 25. Let’s understand what the condition of the world is going to be in, that God has a controversy with all the nations. All the nations on earth are going to be involved. God is sending warning. He’s going to send more warning. And as we saw, the two witnesses are going to be doing their witnessing and so forth. Verse 26: “And all the kings of the north, far and near, one with another, and all the kingdoms of the world, which are upon the face of the earth…” So what is depicted by the Feast of Trumpets and the return of Jesus Christ is going to involve the whole world – all nations, all people. It’s not going to be done in a corner. There’s no such thing as a secret rapture. It just isn’t going to happen.

And this is what God is going to do. Let’s come down here to verse 30: “Therefore prophesy thou against them all these words…” Now this is meant for all the nations of the world. “…And say unto them, The LORD shall roar from on high, and utter His voice from His holy habitation [that’s what’s going to happen when the heavens roll back as a scroll, as we saw there in Revelation 6:12]; He shall mightily roar upon His habitation; He shall give a shout, as they that tread the grapes, against all the inhabitants of the earth.”

Now, we’ll see a little later the harvest of the wicked is likened unto harvesting grapes that are being tread out. And all of the juice that flows from the grapes is symbolic of all of the human blood that’s going to be shed by the armies that come to fight against Christ.

“A noise shall come even to the ends of the earth; for the LORD hath a controversy with the nations, He will plead with all flesh; He will give them that are wicked to the sword, saith the LORD. Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Behold, evil shall go forth from nation to nation, and a great whirlwind shall be raised up from the coasts of the earth.” We are going to see that. We’ll see that in Revelation 9. “And the slain of the LORD shall be at that day from one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth…” Now this just doesn’t mean land as you look at a landscape in the area of Palestine, because he says here in verse 26, as we read, “all the kingdoms of the world which are upon the face of the earth.” So when it says from nation to nation, it means just that. One end of the earth to the other. “…They shall not be lamented, neither gathered, nor buried; they shall be dung upon the ground” (Jer. 25:26, 30-33, KJV). It’s going to be a time like Jesus said that unless God would intervene (and He says those days are limited – God set aside the limitation at the end of three and a half years), He said if those days were not limited there would be no flesh saved alive. But for the elect’s sake (that’s you and I, brethren, and all of the saints that have been down through history) those days will be shortened. And also for our sakes, because after all the death and destruction that goes on, we are going to be given the job to bring the world back into the way that God wants it to be and to help heal all the wounds and help rebuild from all of the destruction.

Now let’s continue on and see what this is going to be like. Let’s come to the book of Zephaniah, because you see this time is called the “Day of the Lord,” which means it is the Lord’s day. This is when the Lord is going to fight. And it’s going to be a great day, and it’s going to be an awesome day. And we are going to see how spectacular this is going to be.

Now, Zephaniah 1:14: “The great day of the LORD is near, it is near, and hasteth greatly [and in our day today it’s nearer than it ever was], even the voice of the day of the LORD: the mighty man shall cry there bitterly. That day is a day of wrath…” And when God sets His hand for a day of wrath it is going to be that. “…A day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness, a day of the trumpet and alarm against the fenced cities, and against the high towers.” And we will see against all the armies of the world.

^“And I will bring distress upon men, that they shall walk like blind men, because they have sinned against the LORD: and their blood shall be poured out as dust, and their flesh as the dung. Neither their silver…” Now we’re going to see all of this when we get to the book of Revelation, and see that when God set’s His hand to bring His wrath and His vengeance, it is going to be awesome indeed. “…Nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the LORD’S wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of His jealousy: for He shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land” (Zeph. 1:14-18, KJV).

Now then he talks about the church here. Chapter 2 verse 1: “Gather yourselves together, yea, gather together, O nation not desired…” Now that’s talking about the resurrection. That’s when we will be gathered.

Hold your place here and let’s come back to Isaiah 66 and let’s see that that’s talking about us when it comes time for the resurrection. Now here is a promise from God, verse 5: “Hear the word of the LORD, ye that tremble at His word; Your brethren that hated you, that cast you out for My name’s sake, said, Let the LORD be glorified: but He shall appear to your joy, and they shall be ashamed. A voice of noise from the city, a voice from the temple, a voice of the LORD that rendereth recompence to His enemies. Before she travailed, she brought forth; before her pain came, she was delivered of a man child. Who hath heard such a thing? who hath seen such things? Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day? or shall a nation be born at once? for as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children.” That’s the resurrection. “Shall I bring to the birth, and not cause to bring forth? saith the LORD: shall I cause to bring forth, and shut the womb? saith thy God” (Isa. 66:5-9, KJV). No, of course not.

Now that ties in right here.. Come back to Zephaniah 2. So when he talks about “Oh nation not desired,” you see at the resurrection we become that nation which is called the Kingdom of God. “…Before the decree bring forth, before the day pass as the chaff, before the fierce anger of the LORD come upon you, before the day of the LORD’S anger come upon you. Seek ye the LORD, all ye meek of the earth, which have wrought His judgment; seek righteousness, seek meekness: it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the LORD’S anger” (Zeph. 2:1-3, KJV). So quite a time. Yes, that’s talking about the resurrection.

Let’s come over here to Joel 3, and we are going to see what God is going to do. Let’s pick it up in verse 1: “For, behold, in those days, and in that time, when I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem [that means bring them out of captivity], I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for My people and for My heritage Israel…” Because not only is there going to be the resurrection for the church, but this is also going to bring the liberty and freedom back to the children of Israel and bring them out of captivity because He scattered them.

Now let’s come over here to verse 9: “Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles; Prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let them come up: beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruninghooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong.” That’s what we’re seeing develop now. What do you think we’re seeing with North Korea and Iran, and India, and China, and all of those nations? And we’re going to see how they’re all going to be involved at the end time.

Verse 12: “Let the heathen be wakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat [and that’s the “valley of decision”]: for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about.” Now we’ll see this a little later in the book of Revelation. “Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe: come, get you down; for the press is full, the fats overflow; for their wickedness is great. Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision. The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining. The LORD also shall roar out of Zion, and utter His voice from Jerusalem [now that’s obviously heavenly Jerusalem]; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the LORD will be the hope of His people, and the strength of the children of Israel” (Joel 3:1-2, 9-10, 12-16, KJV). Now this is going to be something how this is all going to take place. I tell you, God is going to shake the heavens, shake the earth.

Let’s come back here to the book of Isaiah. God’s judgment is coming on this earth and it’s going to be something. Isaiah 13:6: “Howl ye; for the day of the LORD is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.” And it’s going to be awesome indeed, as we’re going to see. “Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man’s heart shall melt: and they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth: they shall be amazed one at another; their faces shall be as flames. Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and He shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it. For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine. And I will punish the world…” And this is what we need to understand: the Feast of Trumpets pictures, and the reason it is a memorial of blowing of trumpets is that it is that God’s judgment is coming on this world, and the whole world is going to fight against Christ.

“And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible. I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir. Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the LORD of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger” (Isa. 13:6-13, KJV). So it’s quite a thing that’s going to happen.

Now let’s see how this is fulfilled in the book of Revelation. Let’s come back to Revelation 8. Now just like we did for Pentecost, Revelation 7 is the next to the last Pentecost – the 144,000 and the great innumerable multitude. So you can make that one year from Pentecost to Pentecost. Now when we come to Trumpets, again you can make it one year from the next to the last Trumpets to the last Trumpets. Now I’m not saying there won’t be any more after that. I’m saying before the Kingdom of God is set up on the earth.

When we come to Revelation 8 we find that the wars really begin to change. Here is where God through Christ intervenes directly. When we have the seals that are opened, Christ opens them. But here beginning in Revelation 8 we have God’s direct intervention. And now instead of men fighting men it’s going to be the angels of God fighting against the demons of Satan the devil and men. So the whole thing changes and becomes far more intense. And the things that we just read, we will see, are being fulfilled beginning in Revelation 8.

Now let’s begin right here in verse 1. This is right after the 144,000 and great innumerable multitude are sealed, whatever space of time is there. “Now when He opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about a half hour.” Now how long that is in actual fulfillment, we don’t know, but I suppose we can figure it out if we sat down and put our minds to it. But even at that, that would just be a guess. So after the 144,000-great innumerable multitude are sealed then there is a respite.

Now after that is over: “Then I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them [one to each one]. And another angel, who had a golden censer, came and stood at the altar; and much incense was given to him, so that he might offer it with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar that was before the throne.” So this is before the resurrection. Remember we have Pentecost, next to the last Pentecost, sealing of the 144,000 and the great innumerable multitude, and then we have that space of time, a half hour, and that brings us down probably to Trumpets. Then we have the trumpet plagues are ready to sound. So the resurrection has not occurred yet at this point. So wherever we are, if we’re still alive, we are praying to God for His blessing, for His protection and watching over us and so forth. And of course at that time the 144,000 and the great innumerable multitude will also be considered the saints of God.

Verse 5: “And the angel took the censer, and filled it with fire from the altar [now this is coming directly from God], and cast it into the earth; and there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings, and an earthquake.” And what we see in the book of Revelation is this: many earthquakes. Because of all the things that are going on, of course there are going to be many earthquakes. Now then a spectacular sign – the beginning of God’s direct intervention in the affairs on earth from heaven: “Then the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound their trumpets. And the first angel sounded his trumpet; and there was hail and fire mingled with blood, and it was cast upon the earth; and a third of the trees were burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.” Now note “all the green grass,” because a little later we’re going to see it talks about green grass again, but remember what happens when you burn up all the grass, and then you have the rain and hail and fire, the grass isn’t going to just sit there and not grow again. So it’s going to start coming back, as we will see because these things occur over a period of time.

“Then the second angel sounded his trumpet; and there was cast into the sea as it were a great mountain burning with fire, and a third of the sea became blood…” Now we’ve seen a lot of things on television where even the scientists are predicting that there’s going to come a time when something is going to collide with the earth and they’ve seen how it’s happened in the past and they understand the great fantastic things that will take place when that happens. So here is where it happens. Now we don’t know what kind of tsunami waves are going to be a result of this casting into the sea, but it’s going to be awesome.

Now continuing, verse 9: “…And a third of the living creatures that were in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed.” You know, there are tens of thousands of ships plying the ocean all the time. So a third of them will be destroyed. “And the third angel sounded his trumpet; and there fell out of heaven a great star, burning like a lamp; and it fell on a third of the rivers, and on the fountains of waters.” Now if you watch the Discovery or History channel you will see that there was a time just right after the turn of the 19^th century as it began (I think it was 1903) that in Siberia there was star that exploded right over Siberia. And they have records of it, and it flattened vast areas of the forest. So this is what this is going to be like. So it’s something.

And here’s what’s going to happen: “Now the name of the star is Wormwood; and a third of the waters became wormwood; and many men died from drinking the waters because they were made bitter. Then the fourth angel sounded his trumpet; and a third of the sun was smitten, and a third of the moon, and a third of the stars; so that a third of them were darkened; and a third part of the day did not shine, and likewise a third part of the night.” Now think what that does to all calendar calculations at this point. That’s why I say you cannot know exactly and precisely when it’s going to happen. And furthermore all of that is reserved to the authority of God the Father. And so what we are reading, as we go through this we are reading how God exercises that authority to carry out what He has planned to do. And He’s letting men do the things that they’re doing, and all of this is going to lead up to these events that are prophesied in the book of Revelation.

Now, just when you think it can’t get any worse, you haven’t seen anything yet. Because you see, God is going to do a thorough job. Like William Tyndale said, “God is no patcher.” He’s not going to come back [and say], “Oh, well let’s just rearrange everything.” No. Before anything is done it’s got to be destroyed, and that’s what God is going to do.

Now verse 13: “And I looked; and I heard an angel flying in the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice [everyone on earth is going to be able to hear this], “Woe, woe, woe to those who are dwelling on the earth, because of the voices of the remaining trumpets of the three angels who are about to sound their trumpets” (Rev. 8:1-3, 5-13, FV).

 Now after this happens Satan gets all together now and he gets his armies going, demons held in prison and in captivity are released, and all hell begins to break loose on this earth. Satan knows that he has but a short time. The nations of the world are going to be preparing to fight against each other unto the death. That’s what we find in Revelation 9. Now verse 1: “And the fifth angel sounded his trumpet; and I saw a star that had fallen from heaven to the earth [now this is like an angel], and there was given to him the key to the bottomless abyss.” That’s where many of the demons are imprisoned. “And he opened the bottomless abyss; and there went up smoke from the pit, like the smoke of a great furnace [this is just showing all of the demons coming out of the darkness of their being imprisoned in the abyss]; and the sun and the air were darkened by the smoke from the pit. Then locusts came onto the earth from the smoke; and power was given to them, as the scorpions of the earth have power.” So they are going to unite with the different soldiers which are involved here, which if we understand the prophecies correctly happen to be the armies of the king of the north. So they are going to be greatly enforced with this power, and they are going to feel that they are going to be able to resolve the situation, control the world, fight against the aliens from outer space, because they’re going to begin to realize – yes, there is an invasion coming from outer space. And yes, there are aliens in outer space. Not as the world depicts it. God is an alien to them. Christ is an alien to them. The angels of God are aliens to them, are they not? Yes, indeed. And when the resurrection occurs we will also be alien to them. Now this is going to be something, what’s going to take place when all these demons come out.

“And it was said to them that they should not damage the grass of the earth…” Now before, it said all the green grass was burned up. Here it came back. See, with one third of the trees destroyed, one third of the waters in Wormwood and so forth, so now they have to conserve these things. “…Should not damage the grass of the earth, or any green thing, or any tree, but only the men who did not have the seal of God in their foreheads.” Now you see, that’s why the 144,000 and great innumerable multitude were sealed when they were. The only other men who are still alive in the flesh at that time who have not been martyred are those who are in the place of safety. Now, God sends a few to a place of safety. And don’t worry about going. Don’t wonder where it is. If you go you’ll know where it is when you get there. If you don’t go, you are going to give your life in martyrdom. So it is really knowledge that God has for Himself and it isn’t going to do you any good one way or the other if you’re not faithful to God.

Now here’s what’s going to happen: “And it was given to them that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months…” So whatever this is it’s going to be like a nerve attack for five months. This is the king of the north going against the kings of the east. So He’s going to stymie them for a while. For five months it’s going to look like he’s going to have time to gather his armies together and be victorious. “And in those days men will seek death but will not find it; and they will desire to die, but death will flee from them.” So this is really quite a battle that’s going on.