Part II ~ Lesson 5 of 6 – Seals, Trumpets and Vials

The Sequence of Endtime Events

Equipping God's Saints (Believers of Christ) through the prophecies of the End Times …

Now comes the 5^th Vial. Revelation 16:10-11 says:

“And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast; and his kingdom was full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues for pain.

And blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds.”

This points out something that is very important. It appears that some of these Vials will not be worldwide. A lot of people have painted all these things as being worldwide, but in Ezekiel 38, when it talks about the Battle of Armageddon, it says there, “I will plead against Gog [speaking of Russia and her allies] with blood, with pestilence, with fire, with great hailstones.”

We know the prophecy of the great hailstones that weigh 125 pounds, apiece. Apparently, God is going to use all these things against the invading armies of the United Nations coming down against the nation of Israel. To say that hailstones weighing 125 pounds each would destroy the whole world. We know that doesn't happen because there will be people that live into the 1,000 year reign of Jesus Christ. This lets us know that some of these plagues will be localized.

“And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast;”

That appears that it will be poured out on the beast's headquarters. What all it will encompass, we don't know.

Where it says that the sea will be turned to the blood of a dead man, it says sea, singular. Does it mean all of the oceans of the whole world? That would be hard to visualize. It may mean just the Mediterranean Sea or some other specific sea. But to say that it is everything, we simply don't know. We are just going to have to acknowledge that some of these are localized things. Some people have said there is no way we could be here at this particular time because it is going to wipe the world out.

The truth of the matter is that the Bible is explicite that there is going to be something on this earth for the 1,000 years when Jesus Christ comes back. When He comes back, He is coming to rule and reign for 1,000 years. We are going to rule and reign with Him. The Bible teaches there will be mortals on the earth under the rulership of immortals and that Jesus Christ will rule as King of Kings and Lord of Lords for 1,000 years. So we know the world is not going to be totally wiped out by these plagues, even though they are going to be drastic.

Another element we want to point out under the 5^th Vial is that, “his kingdom was full of darkness.” Satan's kingdom is the earth.

The elements that provide light to the earth is the sun, moon and stars. Let's look back at the first chart we created in part 5 of these lessons:

	Earthquake	Sun Black	Moon Blood	Star Fall	Mtns. Islands	God's Wrath	Great Voices	Lightnings	Great Hail
6th Seal	x	x	x	x	x	x
7th Trumpet	x					x	x	x	x
7th Vial	x				x	x	x	x	x
Matthew 24:29		x	x	x				x
Ezekiel 38:18-22	x				x	x			x

We see here that Satan's kingdom goes dark. We see under the 6^th Seal and under Matthew 24:29 the sun being darkened ~ the moon stops giving it's light out by turning to blood ~ the stars fall from heaven.

In this chart we are seeing the fulfillment of the 5^th Vial. We will bring this all together later in this teaching.

The 6^th Vial is found in Revelation 16:12:

“And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared.”

How can the Euphrates River ever be dried up? Well, Dear Ones, the capability is already in place. And it's not even at the hand of God ~ it's at the hand of Man.

The Indianapolis Star Newspaper dated around January 13, 1990 reported on it's front page, “Flow Of Euphrates To Be Stopped For 30 Days.” The article went on to report about Turkey's Ataturk Dam. The waters were being stopped for 30 days while they filled up the reservoir.

What this means to us is that the mechanism for the fulfillment of this prophecy in Revelation 16:12 has now been put into place. Right now, if a person in Turkey pushes a button to raise the dam, the flow of the Euphrates would stop. Keep in mind, the Euphrates River is the major water source of the Middle East. It is no little stream. It's like saying the Mississippi River will be dried up.

In review, the 7 Vials are:

1. Sores on those who take Mark
2. Sea becomes blood
3. Rivers, fountains become blood
4. Men scorched by sun
5. Darkness fills Satan's kingdom
6. Euphrates River dries up
7. Wrath of God (Battle of Armageddon)

After the 6^th Vial is poured out, Revelation 16:13-14 goes on to say:

“And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet.

For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.”

This passage is between the 6^th and the 7^th Vial. The Euphrates River has been dried up to allow the kings of the east prophesied in Ezekiel 38 to come down against Israel for the Battle of Armageddon.

This scripture actually says there is more going on here than just political decisions. There are spirits that come out of the mouth of the dragon ~ Satan; out of the mouth of the beast ~ the Antichrist; out of the mouth of the False Prophet.

The Bible teaches there will be personages that will be prominent in the world during the time of the Great Tribulation:

1. A Political Leader ~ The Antichrist
2. A Spiritual Leader ~ The False Prophet

The Bible says there will be spirits that come out of these personages mouths. They will actually influence the people of the world and the kings of the earth.

They will actually be working miracles. A parallel passage to this is Revelation 13:11-12:

“And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon.

And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.”

We can prove, for sure, that the beast looking like a lamb, but speaking like a dragon, is a symbol of the False Prophet. You can read about the False Prophet in depth in my posting titled, “The Antichrist and The False Prophet”.

We are talking about a spiritual leader who has given his support to a political leader and he is causing the whole world to worship the Antichrist. Revelation 16:13-14 continues about this False Prophet:

“And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men,

And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.”

One thing this shows us that just because someone works miracles, we don't go running after them. We know that God can do miracles, and so can Satan. This False Prophet is actually going to pull fire down from heaven.

Even if an individual pulls fire down from heaven, or does some other miracle, it does not mean that person is sent from God. That is why Jesus said,

“Search the scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life, but these are they that testify of Me.”

Resources: The anointing of the Holy Spirit and God Almighty, of whom I am accountable to. I have prayed diligently and am led to follow and support the teachings of Pastor Irvin Baxter from Endtime Ministries and his teachings of Understanding the End Times. I encourage you to visit his website at endtime.com.