This is a condensed summary of a very detailed study of the letters, trumpets, bowls and seals of The Book of Revelation which goes verse by verse through the relevant sections of the Book. The Interpretations in the study and the summary below are based on the replacement of the numbers and Biblical symbols in the Biblical text with their interpreted meanings.
The seven seals appear to summarise the Church age from the viewpoint of a series of enfolding events. The opening of the seals reveals the state of God's people at their various stages, what is in store for them (declared by The Trumpets) and what the outcome will be (the Bowls) during that period in time. The opening of each seal details the successive external forces that would be at work, both collectively on the church as a whole, and individually, in the life of the followers of Jesus. They are called seals, because the events spoken of were sealed or hidden away, having been determined by the foreknowledge of God, but their contents hidden and unknown until they came to pass, or are revealed in prophecy, as is the case here.
The Trumpets are the declarations of the key events of that era relating to the followers of Jesus, both collectively and individually. They delineate the conditions which would characterize the successive stages in their progress.
The bowls represent what is "poured out" on the people of that era, and are therefore the consequences or outcome of the events taking place at that time.
The picture painted here is of the Church at its lowest ebb. Though the Church at Sardis has a name for itself and it is still alive, for all intents and purposes it might as well be dead. All that remains are like the dying embers of a fire, but the fire has not gone out completely. The believers are advised to keep the fire alive, and to those who continue to do this, the reward of living a spotless life is that, in spite of the spiritual death around them, they will be kept from it, and God will not abandon them. Sardis is the name of a precious gem. According to the book of the Revelation, it is the foundation stone of the New Jerusalem.
A woman adds three measures of leaven to her flour and pollutes it.
This parable seems on first reading to be about God redeeming mankind but there are too many anomolies in this short verse for that to be the explanation. The person who finds the treasure is not a king but a man, indicating that it is not God who finds the treasure; besides if it were God, he would have already known about the treasure, and its location. So who is this man who find a treasure in a field, he buries it and buys the field in order to obtain the treasure?
Given that the Fifth era must be towards the end of the Dark Ages (the fourth era) we have a rough time frame in which to find this person around which the parable, and more than likely, the whole Firth age in Church history revolves. One name springs to mind - Martin Luther. When studying the Bible, Martin Luther was startled by many of the truths he discovered there that the church had moved away from. His attempts to bring the church back into line from 1518 onwards led to his excommunication and the formation of the Reformed church based on the Bible.
Now let's interpret the symbols here to see if Martin Luther fits the description. The man discovers the treasure in a field (not the whole earth, but a large area with it). In the previous parables in this cycle, the field is the world to whom the gospel of Jesus Christ is preached. If he was a godly man with a compassion for people, and history records that he was, the treasure he might well have found buried in the field of the Holy Roman Church might well be christians whose hearts were towards God but were forced to worship in secret (buried).
Martin Luther had a high position in the Catholic Church but gave it all up (all that he had) and was excommunicated in order that the people in the Holy Roman Church who wanted to worship God in spirit and in truth (buried treasure, a pearl of great price in God's eyes) could do so, rather than submit to the stifling, spiritual rule of the Roman Catholic Church.
The cry of verse 10 - They called out in a loud voice, "How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?" - occurs several times in scripture, Ps 79:10, 119:84. But it is God who will avenge their blood, vengeance is not to be theirs, Deu 32:43, Rom 12:19. Their cry is a cry for justice, not retribution, just as Abel's blood cried out to God for justice, Gen 4:10. This cry is answered in Rev 19:2 when he condemned the great prostitute - in her was found the blood of the martyrs and all killed on the earth, see Rev 18:24. In 19:2 the same Greek word for avenge is used (ekdikeo, cf. Luk 18:3, Rom 12:19, 2 Cor 10:6).
Interpretation: Martyrdom seems like a setback but in fact it progresses the gospel. Those wearing the white robe of righteousness (Isa 61:10, see also Rev 7:13) are told to wait a little longer - because The Reformation is just around the corner! God's rescue is coming: read Isaiah 26: 19-21.
The Fifth Trumpet heralds the beginning of a very dark era. The people who serve God face what appears to be a never-ending era of persecution, imprisonment, injustice and martyrdom, not to mention The Inquisitions. On top of came the the Black Death, also known as the Pestilence and the Plague. It was the most fatal pandemic recorded in human history, resulting in the deaths of up to 75–200 million people in Eurasia and North Africa, peaking in Europe from 1347 to 1351.
Interpretation: Locusts are known for their ability to invade and strip the crops bare, hence the description here, bringing torment those who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. This torment is also like that brought by scorpions, an insect known for its deasdly bite and the sting in its tale. Those who dared cross the Roman Catholic Church in this era felt both its deadly bit and the sting in its tail. Curiously these locusts are told not to do what comes natural to them - eat every living pieces of plant life they find. They are instructed not to attack the food supply of the people (that spiritual food supply being the Word of God), but the people themselves. Like Pharaoh and plagues of Egypt with which this affliction has much in common, the Beast did not repent and those with the mark of the Beast were hardened beyond repentance.
These locust-like scorpions were like horses prepared for battle (The Crusades?), had crowns like gold on their heads (The Knights Templar, a favoured charity who protected Christian pilgrims?) but faces like the faces of men (The Crusaders?), they had hair of a woman (a reference to the mother figure that the church of Rome adopted) and teeth were like the teeth of lion (king of the beasts, known for paralysing its prey by the sound of its roar). There wore breastplates of iron (the metallic symbol of Rome) and were ready for battle (The Crusaders) and had a king over them (The Pope?). Apollyon means 'A place of destruction', or 'The Destroyer'.
Summary: The Hebrew word Abaddon used here is related to a root verb, which means to perish, or the realm of the dead. In a nutshell, that is what the Fifth Trumpet peoclaimed. Abaddon has also been identified as the angel of death, with its obvious connection to the plagues of Egypt and the last and worst plague that befell the Egyptians at the angel's hand. In the context of the firth era in Church history, this must surely be a reference to the Black death, a plague which crippled the Holy Roman Church this era.
The fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and his kingdom was plunged into darkness. Men gnawed their tongues in agony 11 and cursed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, but they refused to repent of what they had done
Interpretation: The fifth bowl represents more of the same for the Beast (The Holy Roman Church) and those who take on its mark. This time, the judgement of spiritual darkness is not only poured out upon the kingdom of the Beast but upon the Beast itself. Compare this with the agony caused by the stings of the locusts in the fifth trumpet (9:5). It is a time of affliction for the church from which there is no escape.
Summary: The Holy Roman Church (the beast) was given an opportunity to repent - the Reformation - which was instigated not to destroy the Roman Catholic Church or fragment it, but to bring it back to the true teachings of the Bible. But the Beast refused to heed the warning and repent for the way it had polluted God's word and was plunged into another period of spiritual darkness, resulting it its eventual loss of power and strength.
1300 - 1793 or 1798 AD
We now appear to be in the latter part of the Dark Ages, a period of war, strife and spiritual destitution where witchcraft abounded and when the Roman Catholic Church ruled with an iron fist. Human misery reached a chilling climax with the arrival of the Black Death in 1347-50, which killed off a massive portion of Europe's population. The plague was extremely effective as it attacked weakened people in Europe at the time already weakened by exhaustion of the soil due to poor farming, the introduction of more sheep which reduced the land available for corn, and persistent Scottish invasions. Fleas infected with the Bubonic Plague jumped from rats to travellers, killing millions and infesting the continent with world shaking fear. Normal people were tormented by the threat of death, causing them to change their views on leisure, work, and art. As this prophesy seems to predict, people and animals were affected by the plague but it had no effect on crops.
Western Europe's Plague, one of the groups that suffered the most was the Christian church. It lost prestige, spiritual authority, and leadership over the people. The church promised cures, treatment, and an explanation for the plague. They said it was God's will, but the reason for this awful punishment was unknown. People wanted answers, but the priests and bishops didn't have any. The clergy abandoned their Christian duties and fled. People prayed to God and begged for forgiveness. After the plague ended, angry and frustrated villagers started to revolt against the church. The survivors were also enraged at doctors, who didn't cure patients, although said they could. It is estimated that it took Europe 150 years to fully recover from the Black Death Bubonic plague, the same number of years predicted here as the duration of the plague of locusts.
The Roman Catholic Church eventually won back the loyalty of the people in the aftermath of the Bubonic Plague, but only then by force during the years of the Inquisitions. Those who denied the divine authority of the Church were burnt at the stake. The reference to the locusts looking like horses could also be a reference to the Crusaders who flushed out the heretics and Moors during this period. They rode on horseback as warriors and the Papal bulls upon which they road had a nasty sting in their tails - death to all who resisted them. The Protestant Reformation (commenced 1517-1698) began at time of great persecution, but within a hundred years, the Popes would lose their power over the nations of Europe.
Historically, the five months (5 x 30 years = 150 years) of torment announced by the fifth trumpet could be a reference to the fall of the Eastern Roman Empire (Eastern or Orthodox Church) to the Turks, which commenced on 27th July 1299 and reached its conclusion 150 years later, in 1449. It could also be a reference to the Jesuits; their rise and fall lasted 150 years (1618-1767). The Turks were Muslims, therefore the fallen star could well refer to the prophet Mohammed, the locusts that tortured the people being the presecution imposed on the Orthodox Christians by the Muslim invaders.
The Two WitnessesThe Book of Revelation tells of Two Witness who are killed, but are miraculously brought to life. Their story slots in at the end of the 1,260 year reign of the first Beast, which on our timeline is around the close of the Fifth Era of the Church Age, ie. around the year 1798 AD.
In the Old Testament God warned the Children of Israel through the prophets that, if they continued to turn to other gods, they would be punished by being removed from the land promised to them in His Covenant with Abraham. According to the prophet Ezekiel, when the Israelites refused to repent of their sins, this punishment was multiplied seven-fold from 360 years to 2,520 years. The 2,520 years began for the House of Israel in 722BCE, and finished in 1798 AD, a year already revealed as having immense significance by our study of the Sevens of the Book of Revelation.
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