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FIRE FROM THE ALTAR

(Verse 5) "And the angel took the censer and filled it with fire of the altar, and cast it into the earth (that is among the tribes of Israel), and there were voices and thunderings and lightnings and an earthquake, and the seven angels which had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound." The altar of burnt offerings and sacrifices was the altar from which live coals of fire were taken with the tongs and placed in the golden censer, or incense pan, by the priest. It was then placed by him upon the golden altar of incense which stood in the first apartment of the Tabernacle, but directly before the throne of the Lord which was within the second veil. In this manner the priests were required to burn incense before the Lord in the Temple service continually morning and evening while they trimmed the lamps. But once in a year the high priest was required to take the golden censer full of live coals of fire from off the altar of sacrifice, with incense in his hand, and enter within the second veil and burn incense before the Lord from above the mercy-seat, where it ascended up like a thick cloud from off the burning coals of fire before the Lord.

When, therefore, the angel took the censer and filled it with fire of the altar, and cast it into the earth, the altar from which this fire was taken is the altar of burnt offering. Now, as has been shown, this altar is a symbol of Christ, the altar from which they have no right to eat who serve the Tabernacle. And the fire of this altar is employed for two purposes, first to consume and to take away the sins of God's people, those who repent and are sealed with their Father's name in their foreheads. When the Prophet Isaiah (6:5-6) saw in vision the Lord sitting upon his throne attended by the seraphims, he exclaimed, "Woe is me, for I am undone, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips, for mine eyes have seen the king, the Lord of hosts.. Then flew one of the seraphims unto me having a live coal in his hand which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar, and he laid it upon my mouth and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips, and thy sin is purged."

This censer, therefore, which the angel filled with fire from off the altar and so scattered upon the earth, first takes away the iniquities of the one hundred forty and four thousand and purges their sins in one day, as the Lord testifies by the hand of Zechariah the prophet, saying, "For behold the stone that I have laid before Joshua, upon one stone (Christ) shall be seven

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Behold I will engrave the graving thereof saith the Lord of Hosts, and I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day" (Zech. 3:9). Again says of the remnant, "I have blotted out as a thick cloud thy transgressions, and as a cloud thy sins" (Isa. 44:22). Again the Lord speaks of them, saying, "In these days and in that time, saith the Lord, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for and shall not be found, and the sins of Judah and there shall be none, for I will pardon whom I reserve" (that is the remnant who are the true Israel in that day) (Jer. 50: 20).

Burning coals from off the altar to the wicked is a symbol of wrath. The fires of judgment purify the gold and the silver, but consume the dross and the chaff; insomuch that that which purifies the righteous will consume

the wicked. The righteous can stand fire and come through it like the three Hebrew children without even a smell of fire upon them, but the wicked cannot stand fire, but are like unto those who cast the three Hebrews into the fiery furnace; the flames licked them up like chaff. Therefore the wicked of the house of Israel cry under the sixth seal to the mountains and rocks, "Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of his wrath is come, and who shall be able to stand."

When the angel took the censer and filled it with fire from the altar and cast it into the earth, there were voices and thunders and lightnings and an earthquake. Fire from the altar signifies the wrath of the Lamb when he stirs up to anger the children of wickedness, and smites them with madness and blindness and obduracy of heart that they tear each other in pieces, as saith the Prophet Isaiah, "For wickedness burneth as the fire and shall devour the briers and thorns (that is the wicked), and shall kindle in the forest (forests of people), and they shall mount up like the lifting up of smoke. Through the wrath of the Lord of hosts is the land darkened, and the people shall be as the fuel of the fire. No man shall spare his brother" (Isa. 9: 18-19). Times like these where there is fierce and great commotion resulting in deadly strife and fighting among men are fitly represented by voices, thunders and lightnings, and earthquakes.

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CHAPTER V

THE SOUNDING OF THE TRUMPETS

(Rev. 8-11)

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First trumpet - Figurative "hail" and "fire"- Second and third trumpets Ravages of a cruel and blasphemous king - Fourth trumpetNo repentance — Fifth, or first woe, trumpet King, worsted, summons Gog from "bottomless pit"- His army described as locusts and scorpions Sixth, or second woe, trumpet - Voice from altar"- Loose "angels' bound in 'Euphrates". Their army Seven thunders -" Eating little book"- Mystery of God finished - What it is - Last trump-"Measuring Temple The two witnesses - Their work, power and fate - Great earthquake "- Overlapping of judgments - Seventh, or last trumpet-Christ's "everlasting" dominion-Twenty-four elders-Nations angry Resurrection - Wicked destroyed-Christ's coming-Symbolism of ark.

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THE FIRST TRUMPET (REV. 8:7)

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"The first angel sounded and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth, and a third part of the trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up."

The sounding of the first trumpet is the first signal to the four angels to let the four winds blow upon the earth, the sea, and the trees after the one hundred forty and four thousand have been sealed with their Father's name in their foreheads, out of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel. When that important work is accomplished and when there is nothing left of the twelve tribes of Israel but the rebellious and idolatrous element, then the Lord will punish them for all their iniquities. Then the winds of war will be let loose to blow upon them, not to fan or to cleanse, but to hurt the earth, the sea, and the trees, which are figurative terms by which the people of Israel are designated.

When the first trumpet sounds the alarm of war against both the righteous and the wicked inhabitants of the land, it is said, "There followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth." The touchstone in this prophecy whereby we may interpret it, lies chiefly in understanding the various names and terms that the Spirit has employed in speaking of the same persons and people, cities and kingdoms, as the language is constantly changing. Christ is called by many different names, but they all refer to the same person. The Assyrian also is called by many different names; so is his army, such as the four winds of the earth, the hail, the locusts, horses, caterpillars, palmerworms, and others. The king of Israel in those times is likewise spoken of by many different names and similitudes; so are the people of Israel. Therefore if a person is not mindful of these things, he soon goes astray in trying to understand and interpret this marvelous prophecy.

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The hail that is spoken of under the sounding of the first trumpet which was cast upon the earth, the Lord speaks of by the Prophet Isaiah as follows, Behold the Lord hath a mighty and a strong one, which, as a tempest of hail, and a destroying storm, as a flood of mighty waters overflowing, shall cast down to the earth with the hand. The crown of pride, the drunkards of Ephraim shall be trodden under foot" (Isa. 28: 2-3). And again (verses 17-18) he says, "Judgment also will I lay to the line and righteousness to the plummet, and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place, and your covenant with death (the Assyrian) shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell (the grave) shall not stand."

This is the hail which is cast upon the earth, and by this hail afterwards will the crown of pride, the drunkards of Ephraim, be trodden under feet. Also when the Lord sends one nation against another to punish them, he speaks of it as sending a fire upon them. As an illustration he says (Ezek. 39:6), "I will send a fire on Magog and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles"; again (Amos 1:4), "I will send a fire in the house of Hazael, which shall devour the palaces of Benhadad"; again, “I will send a fire on Teman" and (2:5), “I will send a fire on Judah which shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem "; and as a destroying army is sent to shed blood, it is said under this trumpet, "There followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth."

The result of this plague is that in the section of the land where this applies, one-third of the trees were burnt up and all green grass was burnt up. The house of Israel is divided into twelve tribes, that is, twelve parts. Therefore one-third part would be four tribes, and the people represented by trees and green grass in those quarters would be consumed, as the Prophet Isaiah says (2:12), “For the day of the Lord of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up, and he shall be brought low; and upon all the cedars of Lebanon that are high and lifted up, and upon all the oaks of Bashan."

These trees are used to represent the great men of the house of Israel who have departed from the Lord, and whose names are written in the earth to perish, because they have forsaken the Lord, the fountain of living waters. The Lord speaks also of the men of Israel as a forest, and tells the prophet to say to the forest of the south, "Hear the word of the Lord, Thus saith the Lord God, Behold I will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall devour every green tree in thee, and every dry tree; the flaming fire shall not be quenched, and all faces from the south to the north shall be burned therein, and all flesh shall see that I the Lord have kindled it; it shall not be quenched." The Lord is here speaking by the hand of Ezekiel (20: 47) of the same things that he testifies of by John.

In the judgment which is inflicted upon the earth, the sea, the trees, and green grass, the Assyrian whose army is here spoken of as the four winds of the earth by one figure of speech, and as the hail by another, coöperates at first with the crown of pride, the king of Israel, called the great red dragon in John's vision, and the little horn upon the head of the fourth beast, in Daniel's vision. These two work in concert at first, in these times of judgment,

though in the end the king of Israel falls by the hand of the Assyrian when their minds are alienated from each other; but at first they are in accord as is shown by the symbol of the little horn being upon the head of the beast; and in the Revelation, the little horn under the symbol of the dragon is given as a mouth to the beast. Again Daniel says of the king of Israel, "And arms (the arms of the king of the north) shall stand on his part, and they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength, and shall take away the daily sacrifice, and they shall place the abomination that maketh desolate" (Dan. 11:31). Moreover it is while the little horn is upon the head of the beast that he makes war upon the saints for a time, times and a half, as well as the ravages that he makes upon his own people and the surrounding nations that dwell upon the borders of Israel's land, for at one point of time in the prophecy the Lord gives him such power and authority that it is said, "And power was given him over all kindreds and tongues and nations; and all that dwell upon the earth (Israel's earth) shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world."

THE SECOND TRUMPET (REV. 8:8-9)

"And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea, and the third part of the sea became blood, and the third part of the creatures which were in the sea and had life, died, and the third part of the ships were destroyed."

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Mountains, hills, and valleys are symbols of persons, as for example, in the preaching of John the Baptist. It is said of his Gospel, "Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low" (Luke 3:3-6). That is, all would be brought to a common level by confessing their need for forgiveness of sins. Valleys are taken to represent persons of low degree, hills those more elevated, but mountains represent persons in the highest positions among men. This burning mountain is a great and mighty king in Israel who, by reason of his great power and his mighty exploits, is inflated with success, proud and lifted up, and to whom the Lord speaks by the mouth of the prophet, saying, "Who art thou, O great mountain? before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain" (Zech. 4:7). Zerubbabel was governor of Judah on the return of the children of Judah from captivity in Babylon. He was employed in building the Temple by the command of the Lord. He represented another governor greater than he, who, in the latter days, will build the Temple of the Lord and bear the glory,— he who hath the seven eyes which run to and fro through the whole earth; he it is before whom that great mountain will be reduced to a plain after he has finished the work assigned for him to do.

Concerning this great mountain under the similitude of the king of Babylon, the Lord speaks by the hand of Jeremiah saying, “Behold I am against thee, O destroying mountain, saith the Lord, which destroyeth the whole earth, and I will stretch out mine hand upon thee and roll thee down from the rocks and will make thee a burnt mountain" (Jer. 51:25). This burning mountain, when it is rolled down from the rocks, falls into the sea; wherefore it is

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