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| 1 And, the fifth messenger, sounded; and I saw a star, out of heaven, fallen unto the earth, and there was given unto him the key of the shaft of the abyss. |
The fifth angel – Under the Saracens. HG77:2
When Othman first invaded the Roman empire, July 27, AD 1299, ending in July 1449, and the independence of the eastern possession of the empire virtually passed away. Constantinople fell two years later, in AD 1451. HG77:3
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| 2 And he opened the shaft of the abyss; and there came up a smoke out of the shaft, as the smoke of a great furnace, and the sun and the air were darkened, by reason of the smoke of the shaft. |
The air – The Greek word here is used symbolically to represent government or controlling power over the earth. R152:6
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| 3 And, out of the smoke, came forth, locusts, upon the earth; and there was given unto them licence, as the scorpions of the earth have licence. |
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| 4 And it was bidden them that they should not injure the herbage of the earth, nor any green thing, nor any tree,–but only the men who have not the seal of God upon their foreheads. |
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| 5 And it was given unto them, that they should not slay them, but that they should be tormented five months; and, the torture of them, was as of a scorpion's torture, whensoever it smiteth a man. |
Not kill – This being a symbol, is political, not literal death. HG77:3
Tormented – During this 150 years, the Saracens murdered, robbed and taxed the people, while the government at Constantinople was too weak to give protection. HG77:4
Five months – Five months is five times thirty, or 150 days--in symbolic time, 150 years. HG77:4
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| 6 And, in those days, shall men seek death, and in nowise shall find it, and shall covet to die, and death fleeth from them. |
Seek death – The people earnestly desired political death, that their own government might be abolished. HG77:4
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| 7 And, the likenesses of the locusts, were like unto horses prepared for battle; and, upon their heads, as it were crowns, like unto gold, and, their faces, were as the faces of men, |
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| 8 and, they had hair, as the hair of women, and, their teeth, were, as of lions, |
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| 9 and they had breastplates as breastplates of iron, and, the sound of their wings, was as the sound of chariots of many horses, running into battle; |
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| 10 and they have tails like unto scorpions, and stings, and, in their tails, is their licence to injure men five months. |
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| 11 They have over them, as king, the messenger of the abyss, whose name, in Hebrew, is Abaddon [="Destroyer"], and, in the Greek, he hath for name, Destroyer. |
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| 12 The first, Woe, hath passed away, lo! there come, yet, two, Woes, after these things. |
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| 13 And, the sixth messenger, sounded; and I heard one voice, from among the horns of the altar of gold which is before God, |
The sixth angel – Under the Mohammedans. HG77:2
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| 14 saying unto the sixth messenger, who was holding the trumpet–Loose the four messengers, who are bound at the great river Euphrates. |
Euphrates – The people supporting the system of Babylon. Q720:4
The restraint of the Christian nations, the waters of the Euphrates, "the waters on which the harlot"--mystic Babylon--"sitteth," was to be let loose, or taken off from the Mohammedans so that the sixth trumpet or downfall of Constantinople and the east, might be accomplished HG77:5
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| 15 And the four messengers were loosed, who had been prepared for the hour, and day, and month, and year, that they should slay the third of men. |
An hour, and a day – 391 years, 15 days, commencing July 27, 1449, ending August 11, 1840. HG78:1
In August 1840 the combined Ally fleet knocked at the door of the Sultan at Constantinople. On that very day, the independence of the Turkish empire virtually ended. HG78:2
To slay – Not torment merely, but death, political death. HG77:6
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| 16 And, the number of the armies of the horsemen, was twice ten thousand times ten thousand–I heard the number of them. |
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| 17 And, thus, saw I the horses in the vision,–and them who were sitting upon them, having breastplates as of fire and hyacinth and brimstone;–and, the heads of the horses, were as heads of lions, and, out of their mouths, come forth fire and smoke and brimstone: |
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| 18 by these three plagues, were slain, the third part of mankind, by reason of the fire and the smoke and the brimstone, that proceedeth out of their mouths; |
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| 19 for, the licence of the horses, is, in their mouth, and in their tails, for, their tails, are like unto serpents, having heads, and, with them, they injure. |
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| 20 And, the rest of mankind who were not slain by these plagues, repented not of the works of their hands,–that they should not do homage unto the demons, nor unto the idols of gold and of silver and of copper and of stone and of wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk; |
Worship devils – Evil spirits, operating along the line of man's natural and religious instincts, have diverted his worship from God, sometimes directly to themselves, and sometimes to four-footed beasts. R3068:3
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| 21 Neither repented they of their murders, or of their sorceries, or of their lewdnesses, or of their thefts. |
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