Revelation 8:10: “And the third angel sounded, and there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters;
11 And the name of the star is called Wormwood: and the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter.”

In this judgment it looks like another asteroid hits the earth. Unlike the last asteroid (which struck the ocean), this asteroid seems to break up and poison one-third of the rivers. This results in the death of many people.

Can you imagine how many people would die if one-third of the world’s water supply was poisoned? The death toll would surely be in the millions – possibly the hundreds of millions. A great many people will die.

By this point, large portions of the world have become uninhabitable. One-third of all forests have been burned to the ground. One-third of the oceans have become blood. One-third of the fresh water supply has been poisoned. The Earth is being turned into a wasteland, and countless millions have died – and there are still more judgments to come.

Some people say “There’s no reason to study all of this end-times stuff. As long as you’re ready you will be fine.” That sounds wise, but it is actually a very foolish thing to say. After all, what are you getting ready for? According to Preterism, Jesus came back thousands of years ago. According to Post-Tribulationalism, the Church is going to have to endure seven years of Hell-on-Earth. According to Dominionism, the Church is going to conquer the world with the gospel and usher in an age of peace. According to Pre-Tribulationalism, Jesus could return at any moment and remove the Church from the world. There is no such thing as “being ready” in a generic sense. Is Jesus going to come back soon, or is He going to come back in the distant future, or has Jesus already come back, or is He never going to come back at all? Is the Church going to conquer the world, or is the Church going to be removed from the world, or is the Church going to go through the worst period that the world has ever seen? If you don’t understand end-times prophecy and have no idea what is true and what is a lie then how could you possibly “be ready”?

Jesus said to be wary because many false Christs would come in His name. If you don’t know the truth then how can you tell a genuine Second Coming from a fake one? Do you know enough about the return of Christ to tell the genuine article apart from a fraud? If your knowledge of end-times prophecy is “I’m sure it will all pan out in the end”, then the answer to that question is no. People like Harold Camping have destroyed the lives of many people with false end-times prophecies precisely because those people did not understand what the Bible teaches. Other people have actually murdered their own children because they thought the Tribulation was starting and they wanted to save them. People’s lives have been utterly destroyed because they did not understand this subject and were led astray by false teachers. If you do not know the truth then you are open to being deceived by the next charlatan who comes along – and don’t think that it can’t happen to you. Just because you didn’t believe one lie doesn’t mean you won’t find the next one convincing.

This is one of the strangest passages I have ever run across in the Bible, and its implications are staggering. Until I started researching this issue I had no idea how strange this verse really was. This is truly a Biblical oddity – and it occurs in one of the best-known passages of the Bible. The only reason we miss it is because we’re not really paying attention.

Take a look at it for yourself:

Genesis 1:6: “And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.
7 And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so.
8 And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.”

Verse 7 is very straightforward: on the second day of creation, God divided the waters that were under the sky from the waters that were above the sky. That’s a bit odd, isn’t it? After all, there aren’t any waters above the sky. That is a well-established fact, and it’s not up for debate. There is no ocean in the sky.

Some people have suggested that the Bible is just referring to clouds. After all, clouds are made of water vapor, and there is a whole lot of water vapor in the sky. That sounds like a great theory, until you get to this verse:

Genesis 1:14: “And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:
15 And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so.”

In the first passage the firmament was created to divide two great bodies of water. In this passage God puts the Sun, Moon, and stars right in the firmament itself. Since the Sun, Moon, and Stars are in the firmament, and since there is a layer of water under the firmament and above the firmament, that can only mean that the entire universe is actually surrounded by a layer of water. In other words, if you went to the edge of the universe and poked it, you would find an ocean.

But that’s not all. Do you notice the word “firm” in FIRMament? The Hebrew word for “firmament” literally means something that is hard and has been beaten out (like a sheet of copper). If you don’t believe me you can look it up yourself: “firmament” is Strongs #7549, and according to my Lexicon it means “broad plates which have been beaten out”. It refers to something solid.

Some people have said that the waters above the firmament refers to some kind of water canopy that used to encircle the Earth above the atmosphere. There are several problems with this theory: not only would such a canopy be a gross violation of numerous physical laws, but the Bible clearly says that the Sun, Moon, and stars are within the firmament, and that there is a body of water above them.

As far as the “firmament” goes – is it really so strange to think that God may have put a solid boundary around the Universe, and that beyond that boundary might lie a vast expanse of water? I know how insane this theory sounds, but we need to keep in mind that this “ocean in the sky” is referenced in other Bible verses. For example:

Psalm 148:4: “Praise him, ye heavens of heavens, and ye waters that be above the heavens.”

The waters above the heavens! There’s another reference to that mysterious ocean. The psalmist is clear that there are waters above the heavens. Just as Genesis said, these waters are literally above the stars.

This verse is also a bit odd, if you think about it:

Exodus 20:11: “For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.”

If you read Genesis 1:10 you will see that God called the waters on the Earth Seas – plural. This makes sense because the Earth has more than one body of water. Exodus 20:11, though, doesn’t refer to “Seas”; instead it refers to one single body of water – something that is apparently separate from the heaven and earth, since it is listed as being distinct from both of them. God lists the heaven, the earth, and “the sea”. That looks an awful lot like a reference to the waters that are above the firmament.

What if this firmament is actually the boundary between the Universe and the place where God lives? After all, we find a very curious “sea of glass” in the throne room of God:

Revelation 4:6: “And before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal: and in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, were four beasts full of eyes before and behind.”

Revelation 15:2: “And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God.”

How do we know that this “sea of glass” is somehow connected to the firmament? Because that is exactly how the book of Ezekiel describes it:

Ezekiel 1:22: “And the likeness of the firmament upon the heads of the living creature was as the colour of the terrible crystal, stretched forth over their heads above.”

Ezekiel tells us that the firmament is like crystal – and Revelation 4:6 describes the sea of glass in exactly that same term.

There’s one more curious thing about this Sea that is above the firmament: one day it will be done away with. This is what the book of Revelation has to say about it:

Revelation 21:1: “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.”

Notice that this passage does not refer to “seas”, but to a singular Sea. Notice also the categories involved: there is the heaven, the earth, and the sea – as if the Sea is somehow separate and distinct from both.

Why would there be no more Sea? Well, consider this: right now the firmament divides the land of God from the land of Men. We desperately need that divider because mankind is simply not holy enough to live with God. One day, though, God will judge mankind and put a final end to sin and death. He will then remake the universe and dwell with mankind forever. When that day comes there will no longer need to be a dividing firmament or a Sea. It will have served its purpose and its time will have ended.

It’s something to think about, isn’t it?

Revelation 8:8: “And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea: and the third part of the sea became blood;
9 And the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life, died; and the third part of the ships were destroyed.”

Reading this over, it sounds like a large asteroid hits the Earth (or, specifically, one of the oceans) and causes all kinds of devastation. Just as one-third of all trees were destroyed in the previous judgment, this time one-third of sea life dies and one-third of all ships are destroyed. (I’m sure that this is accompanied by a large loss of life; at the very least, everyone on those ships is probably going to die.) The first judgment was upon the land; this judgment is upon the sea.

As if that was not enough, one-third of the sea becomes blood. In this case I don’t think that is symbolic; in Egypt when this happened the Nile actually turned into blood. As it says later in Revelation, the nations have been drunk with the blood of the saints so God has given them blood to drink. All of those beach resorts and island paradises are no longer going to be looking out over a blue sea; instead the sun will rise (and set) over a literal ocean of blood.

This is a truly massive disaster. As bad as the BP oil spill was, it only polluted a portion of the Gulf of Mexico. In this judgment, God destroys one-third of all sea life, and turns one-third of the oceans into blood. It is almost impossible to imagine this level of ecological devastation – but we are only at the second judgment. There are more to come.

Revelation 8:7: “The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.”

This is a truly devastating judgment! Not only was there “hail and fire mingled with blood” (which surely caused a lot of property damage), but one-third of the world’s forests were burned to the ground, and all of the grass was burned up. Apparently the hail mixed with fire caused massive forest fires that resulted in the destruction of tremendous swaths of the environment. There is no telling how many people died in this.

This is reminiscent of the plague of hail that fell upon Egypt. God has used hail in the past as one of His judgments upon sin, and here we see God doing it again.

It is easy to just casually read over this verse and move on, but I think it is worth stopping and thinking about what just happened. In the very first judgment (the very first one!), God destroys a third of all trees, and He also burns up every last bit of green grass on the entire planet. This is devastating. It would not surprise me if millions of people die in this judgment.

We have all seen the terrible forest fires that occasionally rage throughout the country. Imagine a forest fire that is so vast that it covers one-third of all forests in the entire world. This is a fire the likes of which the world has never seen before. A huge portion of the world is reduced to ash – and the judgments are just beginning.

I have taken the time to revise and expand my paper on the Mosaic Law:

The Mosaic Law (PDF file; 26 pages)

This is something I’ve written about before (in fact, I have written an entire paper on it, which you can find here), but it is so odd that I think it’s worth mentioning in this column.

At the end of Paul’s letter to the Colossian church, the apostle tells them that after they’ve finished reading his letter they should forward it to the church at Laodicea. They should also get a copy of the epistle that was at the Laodicean church:

Colossians 4:16: “And when this epistle is read among you, cause that it be read also in the church of the Laodiceans; and that ye likewise read the epistle from Laodicea.”

That in itself makes sense. Paul wasn’t just writing his letters to the individual churches; he intended for them to be passed around (which is exactly what we do with them today). He wanted the Laodiceans to read the letter the Colossians had, and he wanted the Colossians to read the letter the Laodiceans had.

The problem is that as far as we know, Paul never wrote a letter to the Laodiceans. The only letter to the Laodicean church is found in the book of Revelation, and it was written long after Paul was martyred. So what on earth was Paul talking about?

There are a couple different possibilities. First of all, it is entirely possible that the letter the Laodiceans currently had in their possession was not written to them at all. They might have had a copy of the book of Ephesians, and it may be that that’s what Paul wanted the Colossians to read.

Another possibility is that Paul really did write the Laodiceans a letter, but it was just not included in the canon of the Bible. This may seem disturbing, but it wouldn’t be the first time that the Bible referred to a book that was not included in its text. The Old Testament referred to a number of books (such as the book of Jasher) that have been lost.

Keep in mind that just because a letter was inspired does not mean that it could not have been lost. Everything that Jesus Christ has ever said was inspired, but I’m positive that He said many things that are not included in the gospels. The Bible is not a complete collection of everything that has ever been inspired; instead it is a collection of inspirited writings that God has decided to give to us and preserve through time.

If there really was a letter to Laodicea then we obviously didn’t need it; if we had needed it then God would have made sure that it did not get lost. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 tells us that the Scriptures that we have been given are enough to equip us to do all good works. God did not leave out anything that we needed; He gave us a complete set of instructions.

This is one of those mysteries that we will never be able to clear up. Since this letter is only mentioned one time, there is no way to know what Paul was talking about. But we can know this: the Bible really does contain everything that we need.

This is the third collected volume of Sunday School lessons that I have put together, and it covers the papers that I wrote between 2012 and 2013. (These papers are also available in the Old Posts section of this blog, but now they are collected in one convenient place).

The book can be downloaded free-of-charge right here:

Collected Sunday School Lessons (2012 – 2013) (PDF file; 186 pages)

Printed copies are also available here.

Revelation 8:2: “And I saw the seven angels which stood before God; and to them were given seven trumpets.”

Here we see that something new is going on: seven angels have been given seven trumpets. These are the trumpet judgments.

Revelation 8:3: “And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne.
4 And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel’s hand.”

If you will think back to Revelation 6, there was a group of saints in Heaven who were crying out for vengeance. God heard their prayer and promised that when the rest of them had been killed He would judge the world for murdering them. It may be that those are the prayers that this verse is talking about, and it is possible that the judgments that follow is the revenge that God promised. After all, there has just been another period of martyrdom on the Earth; countless souls have been murdered for their faith in God. (Sometimes I wonder if the martyrs in Heaven will outnumber everyone else. Given how many Christians will be murdered during this period, it is at least a possibility.)

Revelation 8:5: “And the angel took the censer, and filled it with fire of the altar, and cast it into the earth: and there were voices, and thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake.”

These judgments don’t sound that bad, but think about it. At this point there has been relative quiet on the world; aside from intense persecution, not a lot has happened. But now, out of nowhere, there are voices – and those voices are accompanied by thunder, lightning, and an earthquake. Voices from the sky are enough to scare pretty much anyone, and when accompanied by everything else it is surely enough to get the world’s attention.

That is all this is, though; it’s just a prelude to what is to come. This is a warning to those on Earth that a new batch of judgments are about to begin.

Revelation 8:1: “And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour.”

Many people believe that there is no such thing as time in heaven – but that is highly illogical. Time simply means that one event happens and then another event happens. If there was no time then nothing could ever happen; it would mean that there could be no such thing as a sequence of events. It would be like hitting the “pause” button while watching a movie: nothing else would ever take place. You can’t have events without the passage of time.

At any rate, this verse proves that time does pass in heaven. After all, it clearly says that “there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour”. If 30 minutes passed in Heaven then time must pass there.

But getting back to the subject at hand: when the 6th seal was opened, all sorts of terrible supernatural disasters occurred (earthquake, meteors, the sun was blackened, etc.). After those disasters took place people realized that God was judging the world, and they panicked. God then delayed the seventh seal and sent out 144,000 witnesses, who preached the gospel to the world. God used those Jews to save an incredible number of people – and those new converts were promptly martyred. Now the delay is over and seventh and final seal is opened.

Incidentally, we are still in the first half of the Tribulation. There is a great deal more that is yet to come.

I have taken the time to revise and expand my paper on the Old Testament sacrificial system:

The Sacrificial System (PDF file; 9 pages)

This book is a collection of the Biblical Oddities columns that I have been posting on my blog every Saturday. The columns have been collected into one place, revised, and expanded. The book also includes some articles that have not yet appeared on this blog.

The Bible contains many well-known passages that have become common knowledge. Stories such as Daniel and the Lion’s Den are commonly told and retold. However, the Bible also contains a number of highly unusual stories. You may know about the time God spoke to Moses through the burning bush, but did you know that God once tried to kill Moses?

This book takes a closer look at some of the strangest and most fascinating stories in the Bible. For example:

* Who are the Watchers?

* What is the Council of Heaven?

* What was Rahab the Dragon?

* Is there an ocean in the sky?

* What were the Urim and the Thummim?

* What are the Stones of Fire?

* What is Tartarus and why were certain angels sent there?

* Did Paul write a letter to Laodicea?

and many more!
 

This book can be downloaded free of charge right here:

Biblical Oddities (PDF file; 156 pages)
 

Printed copies are available here.

At one point in the book of Revelation the apostle John eats a book. Yes, that is not a typo. John really did eat a book:

Revelation 10:8: “And the voice which I heard from heaven spake unto me again, and said, Go and take the little book which is open in the hand of the angel which standeth upon the sea and upon the earth.
9 And I went unto the angel, and said unto him, Give me the little book. And he said unto me, Take it, and eat it up; and it shall make thy belly bitter, but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey.
10 And I took the little book out of the angel’s hand, and ate it up; and it was in my mouth sweet as honey: and as soon as I had eaten it, my belly was bitter.
11 And he said unto me, Thou must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings.”

Strangely enough, John is not the only person who did this. God told Ezekiel to do exactly the same thing:

Ezekiel 2:8: “But thou, son of man, hear what I say unto thee; Be not thou rebellious like that rebellious house: open thy mouth, and eat that I give thee.
9 And when I looked, behold, an hand was sent unto me; and, lo, a roll of a book was therein;
10 And he spread it before me; and it was written within and without: and there was written therein lamentations, and mourning, and woe.
3:1 Moreover he said unto me, Son of man, eat that thou findest; eat this roll, and go speak unto the house of Israel.
2 So I opened my mouth, and he caused me to eat that roll.
3 And he said unto me, Son of man, cause thy belly to eat, and fill thy bowels with this roll that I give thee. Then did I eat it; and it was in my mouth as honey for sweetness.
4 And he said unto me, Son of man, go, get thee unto the house of Israel, and speak with my words unto them.”

There are quite a few similarities between these two accounts. In both cases God commanded that the prophet eat the book. In both cases it tasted as sweet as honey, but in both cases it produced bitterness (Ezekiel reports this in verse 14). In both cases, after the prophet ate the book he was told that he would have to prophesy. The only difference seems to be the audiences that the prophets were sent to: whereas John was told to prophesy to many nations, Ezekiel was just sent to the house of Israel.

So what is the point of these bizarre passages? I think that this commentary explains it well:

This symbolical action of eating the roll teaches that, (1) the words of Ezekiel would not be his words but the Word of God; (2) the written word of God would become the very life of the prophet; (3) the eating of the roll by Ezekiel indicated his acceptance of the commission God was here giving him; and (4) that he would need to digest it, assimilate it into his very being, and speak nothing else, absolutely, to the people except as God would direct him. As Feinberg stated it, “He who gives forth the Word of the Lord must feed on it himself.”

(from Coffman’s Commentaries on the Bible)

Incidentally, God asked Ezekiel to do all sorts of odd things – ranging from building a model of Jerusalem and attacking it (Ezekiel 4:1-2), to shaving his head and setting the shavings on fire (Ezekiel 5:1-2). Ezekiel did everything that God asked him – but Israel refused to hear anything that God had to say. As a result they were carried away into exile for 70 years. Rejecting the messages of God has consequences.

Fortunately, God no longer commands us to eat books or set our hair on fire – but we are still called to heed His messages. The method that God used to give His words to Ezekiel and John was quite unusual, but the message of judgment that He gave to them was quite serious. We would do well to listen to what God has to say.

Revelation 7:9: “After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands;
10 And cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb.”

Jehovah’s Witnesses claim that the 144,000 people that are mentioned in Revelation 7:4 are the only people who will be saved. Somehow they stop reading just before verse 9, which talks about “a great multitude, which no man could number”. Their claim is nonsense: the number of people who will be saved is an exceedingly great number. Salvation is not limited to 144,000 people.

So who are these people? Despite what you may think, this group is not a massive rally of everyone who has ever been saved. The passage explains that they are actually a very specific group of people:

Revelation 7:13: “And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they?
14 And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.”

Notice that the elders (which represents the Church!) calls this group of people “they” and not “us”. This group is not a part of the Church; they represent a different group. Remember, the Church is not composed of all believers who have ever lived; it only consists of those who came to believe during this Age. The Old Testament saints were saved, but they are not a part of the Church.

The elder goes on to say that “these are they which came out of great tribulation”. In other words, these are Tribulation saints who were saved after the Rapture. These people were saved thanks to the preaching of the 144,000 witnesses.

What this means is that the preaching of these witnesses (which I think will happen after the 6th seal but before the 7th) will be spectacularly successful. In a very short amount of time a tremendous number of people will be saved – “a great multitude, which no man could number”. These will be people from “all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues”. One could say that there will be a tremendous revival, of a type never before seen in history. It will be spectacular.

Now, it’s worth noting that verse 9 says that these people are standing before the Throne in Heaven. That means that they are not on Earth – and that means they were martyred. In other words, during the Tribulation there will be a tremendous revival, but those who are saved will be hunted down and killed. They will save their souls, but lose their lives.

God has a special promise for these people:

Revelation 7:15: “Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple: and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them.
16 They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat.
17 For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.”

This group of people will not be a part of the Bride, the Church. However, they will be blessed: they will serve God “day and night in his temple”, and God will dwell among them. Their days of suffering will be over: “they shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat”. God will feed them, and wipe away their tears, and give them joy. They will have rest from the intense persecution that they suffered.

So: after the sixth seal is opened and has taken effect, 144,000 Jews will preach the gospel to all nations. A great many people will be saved, and then martyred. These people will be given a special blessing – they will serve God in His temple, and God will take care of them, wipe away all their sorrows, give them joy and rest.

Revelation 7:4: “And I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel.”

At this point in history the Church is in Heaven, and therefore it is not preaching the gospel to the nations. In order to evangelize the world God appoints 144,000 Jews. He then seals them so that none of them can be killed until their job is complete. (After their job is completed, however, they are all killed – every last one of them.)

Note the timing of the passage. These Jews are deployed after the four horses of the Apocalypse take their turns ravaging the globe. It happens after half the world’s population is killed – and after a great many people are martyred for their faith. There were many people who were saved after the Rapture but prior to the ministry of these 144,000 Jews.

We also need to notice that the passage clearly identifies these people as Jews. These people are not Gentiles; they come from the tribes of Israel. The passage emphasizes this fact:

Revelation 7:5: “Of the tribe of Juda were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Reuben were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Gad were sealed twelve thousand.”

Twelve tribes are listed, but the tribe of Dan is left out. This is because Israel actually has 13 tribes, if you count the priestly tribe of Levi. The Bible often lists 12 tribes for symbolic reasons, and when you list 12 tribes instead of 13 you have to leave one out. There is no reason to believe that Dan was left out because of sinister reasons, or that the antichrist will come from Dan. I think it was done to preserve the symbolism of 12.

So, as we can see, the gospel will be preached during the Tribulation by 144,000 Jews. These Jews will be preserved from harm until they have finished their mission.