C. 9i,§89₁156
Boek Openbaring §8,9,11,15,16, Oordelen Uitgelegd: Bazuin en Schaal van Thyatira-Gemeentetijdperk (4)
Shalom!
Prayer of them who know that by fearing God we receive extraordinary grace (Ps. 103:11), Bert
4$,4s: The revival of the fourth church, the Thyatirean revival, began in 606.
The contents of the fourth seal reveals, that then the believers of the local churches were confronted with the brutality of life. Only the religion led by the popes was allowed and any other way of believing was forbidden. Worldwide it had influenced. Around the believers was but death. All kinds of persecutions were everywhere.
¤ Each believer stood spiritually completely alone and depended on God from beginning to end.
There were no other options. Someone was a believer and lived to the fullest, or he was not a believer. Led by the Holy Spirit, or not led at all. Every now and then someone had to confess to being a black sheep and be prepared to suffer the consequences.
5$,4T: After a very long time and after entire nations had become ripe for it, the revival of the fifth church age, the Reformation revival, was born in 1520 (6i§6(8)10, 1-7$).
Almost at the same time, the fourth trumpet sounded in heaven. The judgments of the earlier trumpets had targeted lazy (Jewish and Gentile) believers. But outside of personal revivals, there had not been anymore other living church directions. That is one of the reasons why the spiritual war of this trumpet (and the spiritual wars of the following trumpets) from then on only targeted the Jews, Rev. 8:12, <Then the fourth angel sounded his trumpet, and a third of the sun and moon and stars were struck. A third of the stars were darkened, a third of the day was without light, and a third of the night as well.>
¤ Previously I had discussed that by means of the sun and the moon and the twelve stars God had spoken of His original chosen people. However, now is talked about many stars in addition to the sun and the moon (cf. 3a§12, Gen. 37:9-10).
Yet is talked about the same people. It can be understood in the following way:
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= “In the times of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, their descendants were seen as a nation of twelve tribes/stars. But believers are also called stars in the Bible. Thus, when Jesus Christ was crucified, there were already many more believers of the Jewish people (e.g. Gen. 15:5 and Dan. 12:3b).
¤ Since the birth of Jesus, the dragon / old serpent / Devil / Satan was focused on destroying Him (Rev. 12:9a), Rev. 12:4b, <And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, ready to devour her child as soon as she gave birth.>
First, Satan had sought to kill Him through King Herod (Mat. 2:13-23).
¤ Then he had personally tried to get hold of Him when Jesus began his ministry (Lk. 4:1-13).
Then, before the crucifixion, he had found Jesus' disciple Judas, into whom he had entered (3c§12, John 13:27a).
¤ Next, he had found the spiritual leaders of the Jewish people. Under their leadership the Jewish people had cried out (Mat. 27:15-26), Mat. 27:25, <“His blood be on us and on our children!”>
The people made a huge mistake, by which the dragon caught many in his hands. Then a third of the possible believers of that time, the stars of heaven, died in their sins (cf. John 8:24), Rev. 12:4a, <His [dragon's] tail swept a third of the stars from the sky, tossing them to the earth.>” =
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¤ It was the first sanctification process of the Jewish people, the beginning of the sanctification.
However, there had been prophesied that in total two-thirds of the people would die {Zec. 13:8---9 (7d§67₁14)}.
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4T: The judgment of the fourth trumpet speaks of the second sanctification process, the persecution that began around 1520/1521, among the exiled Jews. God permitted pressures and temptations to increase everywhere. As a result, a third of the Jews abandoned their roots and their Jewish way of life, so that their other relatives were left alone and were under greater pressure to assimilate.
Of course, the small part of them who received Jesus Christ as their personal Saviour did not leave their roots at all.
4B: Together with the judgment of the fourth trumpet, the plague of the fourth bowl began, Rev. 16:8-9, <Then the fourth {angel} poured out his bowl on the sun, and it was given power to scorch the people with fire. 9. And the people were scorched by intense heat, and they cursed the name of God, who had authority over these plagues; yet they did not repent and give Him glory.>
With the Reformation, God let His living Word become very bright, what scorched all borderline Christians outside of the Sardisean church revival. They had no chance to defend themselves against the new teaching of the Reformation. Just as God and His Word can also be compared to the sun, while the stars/believers reflect the light of the sun (Rev. 1:20).