If I Were Told the Future - Lesson 43

Darkening of the Heavenly Bodies

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Darkening of the Heavenly Bodies

Welcome to this lesson! Let's pray together:

Our Father,

As we study the seven trumpets, we realize that their messages contain not only prophecies, but also valuable teachings.

Please guide us by Your Holy Spirit during this lesson, and show us the errors men made in the past, so that we may not imitate them, but always remain faithful to You.

In the precious name of Jesus we pray.

Amen.

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Revelation 8:10,11

Comments

Then the third angel sounded.

And a great star fell from heaven, burning like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water; and the name of the star is Wormwood.

In our last lesson, we have seen that the bright star fallen from heaven symbolizes Satan, the angel of light who rebelled against God.

Decisively driven out of heaven when Jesus, by His death and His resurrection, obtained victory over death and sin, Satan was cast down to the earth.

Full of bitterness, and eager to poison men with his lies leading to death and loss, he is compared to wormwood.

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Revelation 8:11	Comments
The name of the star is Wormwood; and a third of the waters became wormwood; and many men died from the water, because it was made bitter.	Satan managed to poison the fountains of water by bringing the Church to make many doctrinal compromises with paganism, in order to establish its supremacy over Europe. These compromises began as soon as the fourth century, as the waning Western Roman Empire progressively gave more and more of its authority over to the Church, whose power grew rapidly.

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Revelation 8:12	Comments
Then the fourth angel sounded. And a third of the sun was struck, a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of them were darkened; and a third of the day did not shine, and likewise the night.	What happened next? The fourth trumpet announces the following events, once again in a symbolic language. A careful and thorough study of the Word of God will explain the meaning of this prophecy, and allow us to understand the events it describes.

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John 8:12	Comments
Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, ŤI am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.ť	The fourth trumpet reports a darkening of the heavenly bodies. To find out the meaning of this fading light, we must first discover the source of light. And the Bible gives a very clear anwser: Jesus is the light.
John 12:46
I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in Me should not abide in darkness.

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Many times, the Bible testifies that Jesus is the light of the world:

ŤI must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.ť (JOHN 9:4,5)

ŤIn [the Word] was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. (...) That was the true Light which gives light to every man who comes into the world.ť (JOHN 1:4,5,9)

ŤI, the Lord, have called You in righteousness, and will hold Your hand; I will keep You and give You as a covenant to the people, as a light to the Gentiles, to open blind eyes, to bring out prisoners from the prison, those who sit in darkness from the prison house.ť (ISAIAH 42:6,7)

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2 Corinthians 4:5,6	Comments
For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake. For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.	During His life here on earth, Jesus, the light of the world, dispersed the darkness prevailing over the earth, and clearly revealed, as never before, the perfect character of God and His love for each one of us.

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When we choose to follow Jesus, we turn from darkness to light:

ŤI will deliver you from the Jewish people, as well as from the Gentiles, to whom I now send you, to open their eyes and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God.ť (ACTS 26:17,18)

ŤBut you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.ť (1 PETER 2:9)

ŤThe people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, upon them a light has shined. (...) For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder.ť (ISAIAH 9:2,6)

ŤWho walks in darkness and has no light? Let him trust in the name of the Lord and rely upon his God.ť (ISAIAH 50:10)

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Ephesians 6:11,12	Comments
Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.	Whereas light is linked with Jesus and the salvation He offers us, darkness is linked with Satan and his angels.
2 Peter 2:4
God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness.

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2 Corinthians 4:3,4	Comments
But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.	Satan, the ruler of darkness, has only one purpose: to prevent men from reaching the light, the way to salvation in Jesus Christ. And to manage it, his best strategy is to spread false teachings, leading people to believe that they don't need Jesus to be saved.

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Satan is always trying to darken the truth which leads to salvation:

ŤThis I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardening of their heart.ť (EPHESIANS 4:17,18)

ŤTo the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because there is no light in them. And they will pass through it hard pressed and hungry; and it shall happen, when they are hungry, that they will be enraged and curse their king and their God, and look upward. Then they will look to the earth, and see trouble and darkness, gloom of anguish; and they will be driven into darkness.ť (ISAIAH 8:20-22)

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2 Peter 1:19	Comments
We also have the prophetic word made more sure, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.	Since we are talking about light and darkness, let's remember that the prophetic word, which is the subject of this set of lessons, is also a reliable lamp! Now, let's come back to the fourth trumpet, in order to discover which events it describes.

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Revelation 8:12	Comments
Then the fourth angel sounded. And a third of the sun was struck, a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of them were darkened; and a third of the day did not shine, and likewise the night.	The third trumpet announced that the fountains of living waters would be poisoned, and this is what happened when the Church, from the fourth century onward, mixed foreign and pagan doctrines with the Christian faith. The way was then prepared for the fourth trumpet, which announces a period of darkness.

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John 12:35	Comments
Then Jesus said to them, ŤA little while longer the light is with you. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you; he who walks in darkness does not know where he is going.ť	Jesus knew that, after His departure for heaven, a period of darkness would follow.
John 9:4
I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work.

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Revelation 2:18,20	Comments
To the angel of the church in Thyatira write, ŤThese things says the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and His feet like fine brass: (...) "I have a few things against you, because you allow that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, to teach and beguile My servants to commit sexual immorality and to eat things sacrificed to idols."ť	In the book of Revelation, Jesus, blazing with light, announces once again this period of spiritual darkness and generalized apostasy, in the letter to the fourth church, Thyatira, which is parallel to the fourth trumpet.

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Revelation 2:21,22	Comments
And I gave time [to Jezebel] to repent of her sexual immorality, and she did not repent. Indeed I will cast her into a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of their deeds.	The letter to the fourth church, Thyatira, had the same purpose as the fourth trumpet: calling to repentance the Church which, since the fall of the Western Roman Empire, was plunging deeper and deeper into apostasy. But unfortunately, during all the Middle Ages, it refused to repent.

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Isaiah 59:9,10,13

Comments

We look for light, but there is darkness! for brightness, but we walk in blackness!

We grope for the wall like the blind, and we grope as if we had no eyes; we stumble at noonday as at twilight; we are as dead men in desolate places. (...)

[We are] transgressing and lying against the Lord, and departing from our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood.

As a result of its apostasy, the Church of the Middle Ages was plunged into deep spiritual darkness, just as foretold by the fourth trumpet.

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God has often warned men that apostasy plunges into darkness...

ŤBut it shall come to pass, if you do not obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments and His statutes which I command you today, (...) the Lord will strike you with madness and blindness and confusion of heart. And you shall grope at noonday, as a blind man gropes in darkness.ť (DEUTERONOMY 28:15,28,29)

ŤRemember now your Creator in the days of your youth, before the difficult days come, and the years draw near when you say, "I have no pleasure in them": while the sun and the light, the moon and the stars, are not darkened.ť (ECCLESIASTES 12:1,2)

ŤGive glory to the Lord your God before He causes darkness, and before your feet stumble on the dark mountains, and while you are looking for light, He turns it into the shadow of death and makes it dense darkness.ť (JEREMIAH 13:16)

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... but, in spite of everything, men have preferred apostasy and darkness!

ŤMen loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.ť (JOHN 3:19,20)

ŤThey have forsaken the right way and gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness (...). To [these] the gloom of darkness is reserved forever.ť (2 PETER 2:15,17)

ŤWoe to them! For they have gone in the way of Cain, have run greedily in the error of Balaam for profit, and perished in the rebellion of Korah. These are (...) wandering stars for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.ť (JUDE verses 11 to 13)

ŤThus says the Lord concerning the prophets who make my people stray; who chant "Peace" while they chew with their teeth, but who prepare war against him who puts nothing into their mouths: "Therefore you shall have night without vision, and you shall have darkness without divination; the sun shall go down on the prophets, and the day shall be dark for them."ť (MICAH 3:5,6)

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Revelation 2:24	Comments
But to you I say, and to the rest in Thyatira, as many as do not have this doctrine, and who have not known the depths of Satan, as they call them, I will put on you no other burden.	Fortunately, some faithful believers escaped from the spiritual darkness of the Middle Ages, as foretold by the fourth letter and the fourth trumpet (only Ťa thirdť of the heavenly bodies were darkened).
Revelation 8:12
A third of the sun was struck, a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of them were darkened.

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Revelation 8:12	Comments
A third of the sun was struck, a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of them were darkened.	Only a third of the heavenly bodies is darkened, meaning that some people escaped from the darkness. Who are they? We can find the answer to this question by drawing a striking parallel between these two verses.
Revelation 12:1
Now a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a garland of twelve stars.

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Revelation 12:1,5	Comments
Now a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a garland of twelve stars. (...) And she bore a male Child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron.	As we will study in a future lesson, the pure woman of Revelation represents the Church faithful to God, from which Jesus came to the earth. Pure and loyal, she is portrayed as being surrounded with the same heavenly bodies as those listed in the fourth trumpet. But here, the heavenly bodies are not darkened, thus making this woman glorious and radiant.

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Revelation 12:5,6	Comments
And her Child was caught up to God and to His throne. Then the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, that they should feed her there one thousand two hundred and sixty days.	This prophecy foretells that, after the departure of Jesus for heaven, God's pure and faithful Church would experience difficult times for 1260 days. In our lesson ŤThe Four Mythical Beastsť, we saw that these 1260 days represent the period of 1260 years during which a persecuting power attacked the people of God, from A.D. 538 to 1798.

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Daniel 8:10,12	Comments
[The little horn] grew up to the host of heaven; and it cast down some of the host and some of the stars to the ground, and trampled them. (...) He cast truth down to the ground. He did all this and prospered.	In the book of Daniel, this persecuting power is represented as a little horn. ŤCasting down some of the stars to the groundť, and thus darkening truth, this little horn accurately confirms the message of the fourth trumpet. The identity of this little horn is now obvious: it is the apostate Church of the Middle Ages.

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Daniel 7:25	Comments
[He] shall persecute the saints of the Most High, and shall intend to change times and law. Then the saints shall be given into his hand for a time and times and half a time.	As the apostate Church was sinking into darkness, many believers chose to remain faithful to God. So they had to face the persecution of the apostate Church, during the 1260 years (3˝ times) of its reign.
Revelation 12:6
Then the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, that they should feed her there one thousand two hundred and sixty days.

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Daniel 7:21	Comments
I was watching; and the same horn was making war against the saints, and prevailing against them.	History reports that, during the 1260 years of its reign, the apostate Church killed about 50 million believers who refused to obey it. The message of the fourth trumpet is thus directly intended for the apostate Church, as a major persecutor of God's people, and invites it to repentance.
Isaiah 58:1
Cry aloud, spare not; lift up your voice like a trumpet; tell My people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins.

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Exodus 10:22,23,27	Comments
So Moses stretched out his hand toward heaven, and there was thick darkness in all the land of Egypt three days. They did not see one another; nor did anyone rise from his place for three days. But all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings. (...) And [Pharaoh] would not let them go.	Like the first trumpet, the fourth trumpet calls to mind one of the plagues of Egypt. The parallel is interesting, because, in both cases, darkness did not affect God's people. And unfortunately, also in both cases, the persecuting power did not repent following this curse.

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Revelation 8:13	Comments
And I looked, and I heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, ŤWoe, woe, woe to the inhabitants of the earth, because of the remaining blasts of the trumpet of the three angels who are about to sound!ť	Refusing to repent, to come back to light, the apostate Church will now be struck by the other trumpets, the subject of our next lessons.
Isaiah 5:20
Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who put darkness for light, and light for darkness!

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As for us, let's never abandon the light to choose darkness!

ŤDo not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever?ť (2 CORINTHIANS 6:14,15)

ŤFor you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth).ť (EPHESIANS 5:8,9)

ŤThe path of the just is like the shining sun, that shines ever brighter unto the perfect day. The way of the wicked is like darkness; they do not know what makes them stumble.ť (PROVERBS 4:18,19)

ŤThe night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light.ť (ROMANS 13:12)

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Let's close this lesson with a prayer:

Our Father,

David sang: ŤYou will light my lamp; the Lord my God will enlighten my darkness.ť (Psalm 18:28)

This song could also have been sung by the Church of the Middle Ages, but unfortunately, it preferred darkness to light, apostasy to Your truth.

May we never follow this example, and always remain faithful to You.

In the name of Jesus Christ, the Light of the world, we pray.

Amen.

Darkening of the Heavenly Bodies

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Darkening of the Heavenly Bodies

The test of Lesson 43 is waiting for you!

Click here to send us your questions or comments about our Web site and products. Copyright Š2002 Cyberspace Ministry

Click here to send us your questions or comments about our Web site and products.
Copyright Š2002 Cyberspace Ministry