This transcript was generated automatically and may contain errors.

Bibleline Bibleline, here God’s word on Bibleline, everywhere, every time. Here God’s truth on Bibleline. Welcome to Bibleline with Dr. Ralph Yankee Arnold, pastor of Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida. Clearly declaring the Gospel of Jesus Christ through the radio and the Internet. Your regular prayers and monthly support make it possible for Bibleline to continue on the air. You can reach us toll free at the end of the day. He reaches toll free at 1-800-576-3771. Online donations may be made through the Bibleline website at calbryoftampa.org.

We pray that you will enjoy our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ and that today’s first part of this two-part message will be a blessing to you and your family. Let’s take our Bible and turn to the book of Revelation. The book of Revelation. I hope you enjoy the book of Revelation. I do. Tonight’s subject is a little on the difficult side. I’ll have to admit, it’s a difficult chapter for me to teach. I would rather teach any chapter in the book of Hebrews than the ninth chapter of the book of Revelation.

Revelation has a lot of symbolism in it, types, and it’s sometimes difficult to put all of it together. So don’t worry about what we don’t understand. Let’s just see how much we can understand. Sometimes people let a piece of a gristle. You know, they’re eating a tea bone steak and they get a piece of gristle and say, well, I can’t eat no more because I got this gristle. No, spit off the gristle and keep eating a good meat. That’s what I would do.

So you’re not going to understand everything that’s in it. I’ve only been studying it for right 50 years and I still haven’t figured it all out yet. But it is a tremendous chapter. It’s sometimes looked upon as the three trumpet woes, because these last ones, the fifth, sixth, and the seventh are the last three trumpets. And it’s also the last three woes. This is the worst period of time upon the face of the earth. And it’s going to describe it.

And there’s a few things here that I have not yet been able to figure out. And of course you’re going to help me You’re going to study this and drive yourself crazy Because I want to give you some things to think about Look in chapter 9 and verse 1 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 now It doesn’t mean that he had the key, but it was given to him to open up this bottomless pit and then there arose this smoke out of a pit, this abyss, like a big old well, a hole, but it doesn’t have a bottom to it.

That’s interesting. But I believe the star mentioned here is the devil himself and I have a few reasons for believing that. I want you to take your Bible and look there in the book of Luke chapter 10. Just hold your place here but look in Luke chapter 10. Matthew, Mark and Luke Luke and Luke chapter 10. Jesus Christ is talking to His disciples. He has sent them out two by two, about 70 of them. And they came back and they were all excited because even the demons were subject unto them.

So He says in verse 17 of Luke chapter 10, and the 70 returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us to thy name. And Jesus said, that’s nothing. Just those little devils, those little demons, the head of them is the devil, the devil himself, Satan. And I saw him fall. See there in verse 18, and he said unto them, I beheld Satan as a lightning fall from the heavens. Now, when he said it, it wasn’t so much that it either has already happened or maybe it was going to happen.

It’s just that whenever it happened, God saw it. He saw it in the Old Testament, you know, before Adam and Eve. He also can look into the future and he sees it happening when he’s cast out there. Now, go back to the book of Revelation and you’ll notice there in chapter 12, look in chapter 12. The devil has but a short period of time to do his damage. So in Revelation 12, look in verse 12, therefore rejoice ye heavens and ye that dwell in them.

Now, that’s in heaven, you can rejoice. But on the earth, whoa, to the inhibitors of the earth and of the sea, for the devil, get the devil, is come down under you having great wrath because he knoweth that he hath but a short time. So I believe that the angel that’s seen there in chapter nine is the devil. He is cast out upon the earth and his angels. And of course, there’s a big war with the the Lord’s angels and the devil’s angels.

And you can imagine who won. Now look there in chapter 12 and you’ll notice something else. In verse 3 of the same chapter and there appeared another wonder in heaven. The whole great red dragon having seven heads, ten horns, seven crowns upon his head. Now, who is this great, red dragon? If you look down in verse 9, it says, and that great dragon was cast out that old serpent called the devil and Satan. You see how scripture explains scripture.

The Bible will teach itself. You just have to look for the answer somewhere else. But he says that that devil is going to be cast out upon the earth. He knows he has but a short time. And so he’s really going to do all the damage that he can do. Well, what kind of damage is he going to do and who’s he going to do it to? Remember the tribulation period is a time of judgment upon the earth from God, poor not his wrath, the wrath of the Lamb.

And then you have the devil, poor not his wrath. And you have people, well, they got an old sinful nature and so that they’re just meaning ugly also. They didn’t want Christians around so okay that God took them out of here. So how is the world doing while we’re not here? You know we are the salt of the earth. It is the Christians, that’s the salt that the preservative is the reason God hasn’t judged this earth more than what he has.

But one of the days he’s going to take us out and and Katie borrowed the door. Now, notice what he says in verse four. And his tale drew the third part of the stars of heaven. So this is where we get the idea that the devil took at least one third of the angels with him. Because he is also seen as a star, Lord talks about it as a lightning, and it’s the devil and he’s coming down. And the Bible says, and he has an agenda.

If you understand the main agenda of the devil on the tribulation period, remember he wants to destroy the nation of Israel. He is working through certain nations today. And he’s slowly, well, I don’t know if it’s slowly anymore, working on America and upon Britain in a few other countries that are behind the nation of Israel. Well, slowly the Bible says, every nation shall turn against Jerusalem. It is every nation, but one, it says every nation. So it doesn’t look good for the nation of Israel.

And the devil behind the scenes is trying to destroy this nation of Israel. Israel is like here in chapter 12, like a woman. Now remember, Israel as a woman and God as a man, God as a man. It was Jehovah, God in the Old Testament that presented the law to Israel. And Israel says, all that thou commandest me, I will do. Well, that was I do and you do and you’ve got a marriage. So God took Israel to be his wife.

So you look at Israel as a woman in Jehovah and there was a marriage a long time ago. Well, they didn’t get along. The Lord would tell Israel what to do and his wife would not obey. He had a disobedient wife for about 1500 years. How would you like to have a wife that long? That was disobedient. And anyway, she wasn’t always faithful to the Lord. But God and this woman Israel, well, they had a child. And the child was born of this woman.

And they only had one kid. And he happened to be a perfect child. And it was, he was just like his father. wasn’t like his mother at all. Now, I might have looked a little bit like his mom, but he was in every bit of character like his daddy. So, God says that the Holy Spirit came upon this little woman one day, planted the seed into Mary, and this is that holy thing shall be called the Son of the Highest.

This is what we’re talking about at Christmas time. So Jesus Christ was born. But now notice who wanted to do him in when he was born. So you see here, so did you get the idea. Look in verse one, chapter 12. And there appeared a great wonder in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun and the moon under her feet and up on her head a crown of 12 stars. I believe that represents the 12 tribes of Israel. And she, this woman, been with child pride, travailing in birth and pains to be delivered.

So they kept wondering, when is this woman going to have this kid? So there were many prophecies given, but I can say this, and this is why the Bible words it this way in the book of Galatians. And the fullness of time Jesus was born in the fullness of time. Generally in the fullness of time, a child is born. We usually consider close to about nine months. And Lord behold, a woman’s going to have a baby. In the fullness of time, Jesus came and was born.

And look what happened. And there appeared another wonder in heaven, this old devil. And he had a goal. And that was in verse four. And his tale drew the third part of the stars of heaven. Did cast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman, which was ready to be delivered. For it get to the underlying to devour her child as soon as it was born. So did the devil want to destroy Jesus Christ from the very beginning.

Of course, you know, here it goes there and says, bring me word again that I may come and worship him also. Yeah, boy, he really wanted to worship him, didn’t he? Killed all the babies from two years old and under. Now, why was he doing that? Because he was stabbing at one baby. He killed all the babies, stabbing at one kid. Now, in his mind, he just, I’m the king and I don’t want another king. Where is he that is born king of the used.

But the devil was working behind the scenes and the devil can use people to accomplish his purpose. The Lord can use people to accomplish his purpose. So that’s why you and I have to be very discerning to see and who is using me. Is God using me or is the devil using me? So he says this in verse 5 and she brought forth a man child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron. Well, who do you think that was?

That’s Jesus Christ. And her child was caught up into heaven and to his throne. So there’s been about 2000 year gap since the time he was born and left this world and he’s been up in heaven. And the devil is still in for Israel. You see, it’s not just that there’s all those Arab nations that want to destroy Israel. There’s something behind it, something ugly behind it. There are pawns, there are tools in the devil’s hands, and so they’re doing their damage, and it’s going to shake the world.

So we look at it says in verse 6, and the woman fled into the wilderness where she had a place prepared of God that they should feed her there, a thousand two hundred and three scored eight. Let’s a lot of years pass between now and then. But it says this is three and a half years. And so she’s going to be taken into a certain place and looked after. Otherwise the devil would totally destroy this woman. You see over there in verse 13, when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, this is in the middle of the tribulation period, I believe, he persecuted the woman Israel, which brought forth the man child, Christ.

And so that’s why during the tribulation period, this is all about the devil behind the scenes trying to destroy the nation of Israel. And he’s working in nations today. But Hendrance is keeping him from being able to do so. Now go back to Revelation chapter 9. Revelation chapter 9 and it says here, was given the key of the bottomless pit. Now also I want you to look there in verse 11 and they had a king over them which in the is the angel of the bottomless pit whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Avaran but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollion.

So there’s another leader over something that comes up out of his pit. Now… I’ve always wondered, is this the devil? And then I had a question of two problems that always kind of bothered me. And that was in verse four, where it says, and he commanded them that they should not hurt the grass, but only those men which have not the seal of God in their forehead. Now, if you’ll read chapter 8, it already tells you that one third of the earth has been scorched.

One third of the trees and the green grass has already been scorched. You see there in verse 7 and 8, when you read that, you’ll notice there’s a and the third part of the trees, Berna. And then down it says in verse 8, the third part of the sea became blood. in verse 10, a third part of the rivers and upon the fountains of water. It seems like there’s something, if you pitch it the whole earth. One third of the earth.

It looks like it’s going to be unusable. And somebody has been annihilated. Talks about a third of the people being destroyed. So somewhere in this period of time, somebody is going to nuke somebody, but not all the trees and so forth were destroyed, because when these locus comes up out of this pit, and it says that they were not to hurt the trees or the green grass, well evidently there’s still some green grass, and it must not be in the Middle East, because these things are coming up out of the area of the river Euphrates.

So if you’re talking about the area of the river Euphrates and there’s green stuff there, then evidently that’s not the place that’s been bombed or annihilated, someplace else. So that means two-thirds of the landmass might be all right,, but what could have happened to the other third? I’ve often wondered, you know, How to put all the pieces of the puzzle together. But as I live, and the longer I live, I get a little bit here and a little bit there, but I’m not saying my views is always right.

But I like to stir people’s minds so you can think about it yourself and not have many nights where you can sleep. So that it bothers you, it makes you stay up all night long trying to figure it out. The angels, what about these angels? angels that God says that when He created them did not go in the rebellion. There were other angels that were in the rebellion. So we believe that a third of the angels went in rebellion against the Lord.

And the place we get that is found right there in chapter 12, look in chapter 12 again, and look there in verse for and that his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven. So we believe that this is a reference to the angels and in his rebellion he took a third part of all the angels in rebellion with him. Now not all of these angels, we call them little demons, not all the fallen angels were placed in the bottomless pit or in the place called Carter’s, but the Bible says that they were able to roam free throughout the earth.

And that there are in the days of Christ, especially Jesus, been able to see, know and understand what’s really going on in people’s lives, knew that a lot of people were possessed of the devil, indwelt by the demons, fallen angels. Angels desire bodies and if they can’t have a person’s body they want the body of an animal. When he was going to cast them out of this one individual they said can we go into that herd of swine? Remember the story?

So he let them go into a herd of swine. What did the swine do? They ran off of a cliff and jumped and they died. They died. That’s where you get devil’s ham. See you didn’t know some of this stuff. What else does it prove? It proves that people will put it with the devil when a hog won’t. See that’s what’s behind the scenes. But not all of the fallen angels were roaming free. But some have been placed in other places.

Look there in the book of Jude. The book of Jude right before the book of Revelation. And look in Jude and verse 6. And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation he hath reserved in everlasting change under darkness under the judgment of the great day. Now if this great day is a reference to the great white throne judgment, okay There’s gonna wait till then But what if the great judgment that God has talked about is the tribulation period and they will be there until God is Ready to use them to accomplish his purpose So remember the devil and fallen angels have limitations upon their power of what they can he cannot do They can’t just do anything they want to do The devil is not omnipotent.

He is not omnipresent. He is not all wise. There’s a lot of things He don’t know and a lot of things He cannot do. He can’t be everywhere at the same time But he got a lot of demons How many I don’t know I haven’t counted them. I really don’t care how many he got But he says here he had reserved in everlasting change under darkness until the judgment of the great day So there’s angels that are there now the place that it mentions look there in the book of 2 Peter and chapter 2 2 Peter chapter 2 and You’ll notice there in verse 4 It says for if God Spared not the angels that sin so angels were able to sin But cast them down to hell and this is the only place this word is found which is Tartarus not Tartarus sauce target and delivered them in the chains of darkness to be reserved on the judgment.

So they are there until God is ready. Now, is it the judgment of the angels or is it the judgment upon the earth and God uses them for his purpose? I don’t know. There is a scripture in the book of 1 Corinthians that talks about shall not we, the Christians, judge the angels. So there is a time coming where we are going to judge the angels. Don’t agree. I don’t know but that’s what the book says So go back there to the book of Revelation and chapter 9 chapter 9 Now remember out of this pit a lot of smoke Whether it’s because of no vapors wrong.

I don’t care. I don’t know But it’s gonna come up somewhere there in the Middle East and And whenever it opens up and it comes up, it seems like the Bible says toward the end of the tribulation period, which is when some of these things begin to take place, that you will not be able to see the sun one-third, and you will not be able to see the moon one-third. And it’s going to be dark upon the earth, a third.

So we talked about a third, a third, a third, which is what you find in chapter 8 when it talks about, you know, a third of this was destroyed, third of that and so on. I haven’t put all of this together. I’m just being honest with you. I do have an inquiring mind and I wished I sure could, but I haven’t been able to do that. But now, are these locusts that comes up out of this of the real locusts?

I believe there’s a good possibility they could be supernatural locusts, not the natural locusts that we see, but able to do the same thing that locusts can do. But they’re prohibited from eating the green stuff and only to persecute the people that do not have the mark of God on their forehead. So my question was, that means if they’re not allowed to torment God’s people, but only those that are not God’s people, why would the devil torment his own house?

And that’s always bothered me. How can this be? If Satan is the angel that comes down and the angel that is the king of the bottomless pit When they come out, he’s under his authority. But why doesn’t he go after the believers instead of the unbelievers? Good question. And this is why I have a problem trying to figure all of this out, but believe that it will happen. I do believe it. Now look there in verse two and he opened the bottomless pit and there arose a smoke out of the pit as a smoke of a great furnace.

Now, whenever you read the book of Genesis in chapter 19, you’ll notice it talks about that when he got lot out of the city at Sodom and Gomorrah. The Bible says that there was a great fire and there’s great smoke. As of a great furnace. And it talks about the fire and the brimstone and whatever happened there. The same type is what he’s talking about right here. The smoke is of a great furnace. So it means it’s got to be hot and something’s coming up out of the ground.

And I believe that there’s something under the ground. Now when you read several scriptures, you’ll find out as mentioned twice in chapter five. It talks about those things that are in heaven and things on the earth. and things under the earth. You ever heard this scripture? And he hath given him a name which is above every name. That the name of Jesus every knee should bow, well the things in heaven, things on the earth, and things under the earth.

Is it possible there’s something under the earth? The Bible says there’s something under the earth. Now we know that whenever Christ died on the cross, He went to the heart of the earth. Now is the heart of the earth, mode and lava like they tell us it is, or as it could be a big ole core, where it’s like paradise was. Paradise had to be somewhere. And it had to be, as the Bible says, in the heart of the earth.

Now anywhere you go, when it’s a hole there, it’s like a bottomless pit, because there’s no bottom, it’s there, but where’s the bottom? Is it the bottom? I don’t know. It’s interesting trying to put it all together. I hope ywordpress. But there are angels that God said that were in the earth in a certain place, and there were believers from the Old Testament that were in the heart of the earth. And Christ told the thief on the cross, today shout out, be with me in paradise.

And he says in the book of Ephesians in chapter four, when he ascended, what is it that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth and led captivity? Yeah, so there were people there. But he only took out the believer. So that means a lot of other unbelievers all still there. When he says in the book of Revelation chapter one, concerning Jesus Christ, he said, I am the Alpha and, oh my God, I’m the beginning and the end.

I’m the first and I’m the last. And I have the keys of death, which is rough to the grave, and Hades is the word Hades. So if he has the keys that he can open up the graves and bring out the bodies, then there’s also something in Hades that are still there. Because what would be the point of saying I have the keys of Hades if all the believers are taken out and there’s nobody else there, but they are somebody there.

And one day at the Great White Throne Judgment, it says death and hell shall deliver up the dead. So there’s the souls, there’s the bodies and they’re going to come together and stand before God and that’s at the end, which is at the Great White Throne Judgment. So yes, there’s fallen angels and there’s possibility of something under the earth. You’ve been listening to Bibleline, a teaching ministry of Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida, with Dr. Ralph Arnold. We pray that you were blessed by today’s message.

Part 2 of this teaching will conclude with tomorrow’s broadcast. If you have enjoyed our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ, you can reach Bibleline and pledge your support to keep us on the air in your area by dialing toll free 1-800-576-3771. That’s 1-800-576-3771. If you wish to hear today’s program again or would like to download a free MP3 of today’s or any previous Bibleline program, go to BibleLineMinistries.org and click on the spinning globe in the upper right corner of our homepage.

If you’re in the area, we welcome you to visit us. The address for Calvary Community Church is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634. Our Sunday morning services begin at 1030 and at 6 o’clock on Sunday evening. Live broadcast of our services may be seen by going to our church website, calvaryoftampa.org. Thanks for joining us on Bibleline and now a closing thought from Pastor Arnold. Friends, one day it will happen. The trumpet will sound. We will be changed. Caught up to meet the Lord in the air.

So live today and every day. Believing that the Lord is coming soon. Just keep looking up.