Robert McLaughlin Bible Ministries
The Angelic Conflict. Part 21. Nothing can happen in history apart from divine consent.
Friday, January 6, 2006
The third category of non-operational fallen angels: the second demon assault army stationed underneath the Euphrates river, REV 9:13-21.
The Euphrates river is 1700 miles long. In the ancient world it was the boundary between the land of Israel, given in the Palestinian covenant and Gentile nations, in GEN 15:18 and JOS 1:4.
GEN 15:18 On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your descendants I have given this land, From the river of Egypt as far as the great river, the river Euphrates:”
JOS 1:4 “From the wilderness and this Lebanon, even as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and as far as the Great Sea toward the setting of the sun, will be your territory.”
It is also the boundary between the Roman empire and the Persian empire.
In keeping with the concept of Hades below the surface of the earth, it is assumed that their prison is underneath the Euphrates and the 1700-mile river would be long enough to provide a barracks for 200,000,000 demons with bodies. This river originates in the mountains of Armenia where Noah’s ark is said to be located, and it flows all the way to the Persian gulf.
The first order from the elect cherub angel to the angel holding the sixth trumpet is to release the general officers, not to release the army; they will do that.
These demons were imprisoned separately not only because they were hard core but incorrigible or unruly and one of the fiercest of all demon armies in pre-historic times.
The Euphrates is one of the four rivers which flows from the Garden of Eden, hence, a river of great significance.
This army group will be composed of four hard core tough armies of fallen angels. Probably one sent to the North, one to the South, one to the East, and one to the West.
There will only be one group that they cannot kill, certain demon possessed unbelievers, members of the human race, will be exempted from their attack.
That final attack will be religion, Rev 17 and 18.
There is a certain group of demons in REV 9:20-21, who are involved in idolatry, religiosity, and the phallic cult; and they will be a part of the final attack of Satan against God’s plan in the human race.
“Have been prepared” - perf-mid-part - heitomazo = they have been kept in a state of readiness.
Nothing can happen in history apart from divine consent.
ISA 45:7 “I am the Lord. The One forming light and creating darkness, Causing well-being and creating calamity; I am the Lord who does all these.”
The exception are believers who have the wall of fire around them because they are living in God’s plan and unbelievers who are demon possessed.
Believers who have PVTD are protected.
1. While demons in the past have attacked the human race, the only visible attack occurred in the antediluvian civilization; it was a genetic attack, a demon invasion through sex. It involved the Nephilim, the fallen ones, and the angels called beni ha elohim, the sons of the gods.
2. The invasion of the human body is demon possession. The invasion of the human soul and personality is demon influence.
3. There will be a direct assault on the human race by demon armies with bodies, and they will be visible after Satan is cast out of heaven during the Tribulation period.
4. Once Satan is confined to the earth and no longer has access to heaven he has no need for the majority of those human servants who serve him in the cosmic system - believers and unbelievers.
5. Satan uses this second demon assault army group to destroy his own human servants.
6. Certain demon possessed unbelievers will survive this attack, but they do not change their attitude toward demon possession.
This is the dispensation of the greatest power struggle in all of history because it involves not only people but angelic creatures as well.
JER 30:7 - it is called the time of Jacob’s [Israel’s] distress.
JER 30:7 “Alas! for that day is great, There is none like it; And it is the time of Jacob’s distress, But he will be saved from it.”
Joel 2:1 - the Tribulation period is called the day of the Lord.
It is a period of divine judgement, ZEP 1:14-18.
REV 1:7 Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him; and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over Him. Even so. Amen.
One of the main reasons is because of the demon assault armies that are let loose and frustrated because they have lost in the angelic conflict for a second time.
If the armies are divided equally among the four demon generals that means that each one had 50,000,000 demons assigned to him.
These are shock troops, not invisible demons such as we have in the world today which are disembodied spirits and invisible.
Fire - puros = red
Hyacinth = blue
Brimstone = yellow
“And the heads of the horses are like the heads of lions” = a comparative connotation; it has the idea of power.
What we have here so far is mobility, fire power, and shock all together.
A lion runs the 100 yard dash in under five seconds.
A lion has tremendous power in his jaws, and there is fire power.
When a lion hits you, there is also the shock.
“Plagues” - plege = a killer.
This fire and smoke and sulfur are all killer agents.
Fire = weaponry like napalm.
Smoke = weaponry like chemical warfare.
Sulfur = anything related to gun power.
More than one third are killed during the Tribulation, because one fourth has already been killed, REV 6:8.
One third of mankind will be killed after one fourth of mankind have already been destroyed.
In totality one half of all mankind will have been destroyed up until this point.
It is Satan who does not regard the laws of divine establishment, and this demon assault army group will just completely ignore those principles.
This is Satan assassinating his own prisoners.
ZEC 2:5 “For I, declares the Lord, will be a wall of fire around her, and I will be the glory in her midst.”
The fire - the napalm, the smoke - chemical warfare, the sulfur - conventional gun powder weapons, and now the tails, fire power in the rear.
Death can be caused by things like napalm, painful chemicals, gun shot wounds, neuro-toxic or hemotoxin venom.
The fact that many unbelievers are demon possessed does not protect them from the demon army; there are some exceptions in verse 20.