Hi everyone, My name is Jody Edwards and I have been a long time bibletruths reader and even a past forum member. I have recently re-joined the forum. The Lord has over the past two months been showing me many new spiritual truths in scripture that have really challenged me in the past. This morning I have been studying Revelation and in particular, Revelation Ch. 9. I believe I understand most of the chapter but I am having some trouble with verse 10: And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and their power [was] to hurt men five months. Can anyone give me a spiritual understanding of what is meant by hurting men for 5 months? I understand the pit to be the harlot church where Satan lives and for the locust to be her preachers/teachers. And from the locust's (preachers) scorpions like tails, they have power to hurt men five months. What does the number 5 represent? I have understood it to mean "chastising grace" but that doesn't seem to fit here. I know that our time in the wilderness (harlot church) is usually shown as 40 days/years. I believe the stings to be the false doctrines they teach but the number 5 is giving me trouble. Does anyone have the proper understanding?
Thanks for your help. I know I am going to benefit from the responses.
Also, I want to say hello to those people who remember me from the 2008 Nashville conference that my teenage son and I attended. Ray's conference was very beneficial and I enjoyed meeting everyone there.
Joe in Arkansas
Welcome to the forum Joe.
Here is an excerpt from our FAQ Board (
http://forums.bible-truths.com/index.php/topic,11637.0.html) regarding interpreting the symbolism in Revelation:
Prophecies of Revelation
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http://forums.bible-truths.com/index.php/topic,3912.msg29876.html#msg29876Dear Jay:
The answer to your question will demolish the chronology of accepted eschatology according to the Christian Church and many other cults.
This subject, however, is huge and cannot be answered in a short email. Besides, when I teach it I want to teach it in context with the accompanying prophecies. The answer to your question solves many enigmas in the Scriptures and the book of Revelation. Some of this is being covered in Part D of my HELL series. The first 20 pages or so should be posted next week. Sorry, but it would take me days to cover this subject. Hope you understand.
God be with you,
Ray
Excerpt from Lake of Fire Part 12 (
http://bible-truths.com/lake12.html):
(We will explain the symbols of "the beast," "his image," "his mark," "the number of his name," "the man of sin," "the two witnesses," "the second death," "the antichrist," etc.,
in upcoming installments of this series).
Also, here is a good statement from a member of the forum:
"We don't know for sure. Any answer I give you is speculation, and you don't want that. And that's why we have rules against any of us teaching outside of what we know for sure"
I would suggest the 12 Truths paper (
http://bible-truths.com/twelve.htm) to help in your own personal studies. But the forum rules are set up to steer away from anyone providing personal interpretation of the scriptures.
Hope this helps,
Marques