THE FIFTH TRUMPET continued

VERSE 10 “They had tails like scorpions, and there were stings in their tails. Their power was to hurt men five months.”

THEY HAD TAILS LIKE SCORPIONS . . . TO HURT MEN FOR FIVE MONTHS:

The tail of the scorpion is the part containing the stinger. The tail symbolizes the LAST PART of something. The point here is that, if the Sardis period had to rely on the Lollard’s to keep up the work, it would NOT have lasted the whole period, the 150 years. But the spirit and works of Wycliffe were carried all over Europe (again see Wordsworth’s sonnet).

The movement had TAILS — new peripheral movements springing up as far away as Bohemia! These tails — the continuation of Wycliffe’s message — are what kept things going for 150 years. These tails kept up the STINGING until Luther came along. These were the faithful ones of Rev 3:4 who continued to walk with Jesus — in white.

VERSE 11 “And they had as king over them the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, but in Greek he has the name Apollyon.”

AND THEY HAD AS KING OVER THEM: This “king” is Wycliffe. The next phrase says so:

THE ANGEL OF THE BOTTOMLESS PIT:

How is Wycliffe a “king?”

The term seems strange; but it is somewhat akin to the Matt. 24 account where the man is made “ruler” (Greek. = put in charge) over the Lord’s goods. We cannot argue with the verse; it SAYS the ANGEL of the pit IS KING over these locusts. The thought is NOT that he is king over the individuals, but king over the hordes. It is his leadership that began their movement and his leadership that continues to spur it on through the age. This is likely the thought of Prov. 30:27:

“The Locusts have no king, yet they go forth (margin: gathered together) all of them by bands”

In other words, no ONE locust is king or recognizes another as king; but they go together in groups by their common aim: food. Thus, the locust followers of Wycliffe do not recognize anyone as their king; but the aim of Wycliffe — the spread of the Gospel—is also their aim. He is thus king of the movement. The Greek word for king (basileus) thus has as its etymology the Greek word “basis” which has exactly the same meaning in English — a base or foundation. Wycliffe is the base or foundation man of the movement.

WHOSE NAME IN HEBREW IS ABADDON, BUT IN GREEK HE HAS THE NAME APOLLYON:

This is a beautiful verse. Wycliffe is given a name — a NEW name, so to speak. The POWER of this verse is that his name is given in TWO LANGUAGES — Hebrew and Greek.

How obvious can the Lord make it?

Wycliffe’s “kingship” is due to his faithfulness in translating and explaining and relying upon the TWO (Hebrew and Greek) Testaments. Both names have basically the same meaning: Destruction and Destroyer. By letting the Bible truths out of the abyss, he opened the door for truth to begin its destructive work against the lies of Papacy.

These names might not seem desirable at first; but if the thing being destroyed is ERROR, the names are most pleasant!

VERSE 12 “One woe is past. Behold, still two more woes are coming after these things.”

ONE WOE IS PAST:

(The First Woe), and it obviously did its work. Those who dwelt on the earth felt the stings sharply. The door is now opened for the next step of reformation, and THAT will open the door for the final step during Laodicea.

We move on to the Sixth Church in our next post.