Scripture reading: Revelation 9:13-15
This picture in Revelation 9 brings us back to the Tabernacle of Moses. The golden Altar of Incense is situated before the veil in the Holy Place, and the High Priest burns the incense on this altar before he goes into the Holy of Holies on the Day of Atonement. This is the fifth station in the Tabernacle. The sixth angel would then be the angel of the Mercy Seat. When he blows his trumpet to call you from the fifth to the sixth, he is, in effect, saying the offering of your soul is accepted, and it is time to come into the veil and under the shadow of the Almighty for hiding and safety. The Scripture clearly states in Matthew 24:21 [concerning this time that is before us], that unless God protects us no flesh would be saved. The most modern example of this protection from God that I know of is the case of the sisters in Switzerland. The story is told, that when the radiation was released in the Chernobyl nuclear accident, all the sheep, cattle, and crops were contaminated, except theirs. They prayed and believed God, and the radiation did not affect them or their farm. (It is indeed peculiar, that the word “Chernobyl” in Russian means “wormwood” (Ref. Revelation 8:11)).
Revelation 9:14 is saying that God has a special hour of a special day, of a special month, of a special year. This means that God has one special day and a special hour when He is going to let go His restraining hand that binds the angels of death and destruction and let them loose in the earth.
I asked the Lord concerning this thing about the “Euphrates.” “Why Euphrates?” The answer He gave to me is that it is a key. Whenever you see God mention things like that, it is a key, and once you get the key it is going to open a lot of understanding into many things. It is like the key word “Jerusalem,” meaning the many people of God who are temples of God making up a city of God; and like the key word “Babylon,” which means the many rebellious ones who are against God, and who join together to make up a land of rebellion against God.
The Lord said to me, “Open up the Bible map in the back of your Bible and look at the river Euphrates.” I began to write down the names of the different countries that are in and around the area through which the river Euphrates flows, and I found the list to be very interesting. It included all these hard-core Islamic nations: Iraq, Iran, Armenia in Russia, Syria, Turkey. It came to me that Islam and the spirits of violence which rule Islam have been bound, but they are going to be released and will bring destruction to the world.
Recently, they found a whole shipload of atomic weapons going to one of these Arab countries and arrested it. Now, that was the one they found. What about the many they did not? The Arab nations are arming themselves with atomic weapons. They hate Christianity and want to destroy the Christian world. They believe that Islam will rule the world someday.
So God says that these four spirits, which were bound in the river Euphrates, would be loosed at a specific time, and this time is now upon us. Be not terrified or afraid. God is going to pour out His Spirit upon us in a mighty way such as the earth has never seen anything like it before.
(Excerpt from The Omega Message, April 1997, pg. 21-22)
Thought for today: We thank God for His Word that gives us power to overcome every fear of things to come.
Sonlight Devotional 