Why is it that Radio and Television Evangelists point out with great emphasis, and also with great zeal, that the prophecies in the book of Revelation, and all others of the New and Old Testaments, are to be taken literally, at face value? Why is it that they elaborate on the literal aspects of singled out words, or parts of Scriptures taken out of context, while the total context would prove clearly that the prophecy is given in a symbolic language? Why is it that Scriptures which obviously cannot be applied literally: are not being used, are being ignored?

Here are two short examples:

Is. 55:12  “The mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.”

Trees shall clap their hands? Mountains and hills shall break forth into singing? Surely, no one can believe this is to be taken literally!

Ps. 96:11–13  “Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad; let the sea roar [answer], and the fulness thereof. Let the field be joyful, and all that is therein: then shall all the trees of the wood rejoice before the LORD: for he cometh, for he cometh to judge the earth: he shall judge the world with righteousness, and the people with his truth.”

The heavens rejoice? heavens, plural? the earth be glad? the sea roar? the fields be joyful? the trees rejoice? before the LORD? Why? Because He shall judge the earth; He shall judge the world with righteousness, and the people with His truth!

Here, now, two more detailed examples:

Isaiah 24:17–23

:17  “Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth.

:18  “And it shall come to pass, that he who fleeth from the noise of the fear shall fall into the pit; and he that cometh up out of the midst of the pit shall be taken in the snare: for the windows from on high are open, and the foundations of the earth do shake.

:19  “The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly.

:20  “The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall, and not rise again.

:21  “And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth.

:22  “And they shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they be visited.

:23  “Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the LORD of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously.”

There are, of course, Scriptures which do refer to the literal earth; but is it possible to apply a literal meaning to the “earth” anywhere in this prophecy except the first verse? Considering that the written Word of God categorically declares that “the earth abideth for ever”, that God formed and made the earth “to be inhabited”, and that God will make the earth, his footstool, “glorious”, then surely the word “earth” in the above Scripture must have a different meaning — which it does, namely: the organized societies on earth. (Eccl. 1:4; Is. 45:18; Is. 66:1; 60:13)

This prophecy foretells a time of great tribulation, as specifically referred to by Daniel, and by Jesus himself. In Dan. 12:1 we read: “And there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time.” And the words of Jesus in Matth. 24:21 are: “For then [in the end time of this Gospel age] shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world [Adam’s world] to this time, no, nor ever shall be.”

Therefore, then, verses 19–20 again: “The earth [the established society] is utterly broken down [society is in total confusion], the earth is clean dissolved [the arrangements and organizations of society will be totally destroyed], the earth is moved exceedingly [the process of the destruction of society’s institutions is causing great upheavals]. The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard [society is vainly endeavoring to right itself, maintain a footing, and re-establish itself], and shall be removed like a cottage [to clear the way for the new building of God]; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it [upon these human establishments, systems, organizations and arrangements]; and it shall fall, and not rise again.”

Then, instead of it: “Behold, I make all things new.” (Rev. 21:5)

“For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind” (Is. 65:17).

In the coming, true Kingdom of God, there will be a new, different spiritual control (not any more the human, ecclesiastical, church control of the human society, the many “heavens”, but the spiritual King of kings and Lord of lords will be in control. And it is then: “when thy judgments are in the earth, [that] the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness” (Is. 26:9); and it is then, when “the earth [the new society] shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea” (Is. 11:9), that God’s will: will be done “in earth, as it is in heaven” (Matth. 6:10).

Here are a few more expressions which illustrate the symbolic language of the written Word of God:

Mountains  are kingdoms, as in Is. 2:2 for instance:

“And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD’s house [the true Kingdom of Christ] shall be established in the top of the mountains [will be the ruling power above all earthly kingdoms], and shall be exalted above the hills [the lesser established powers; Republics]; and all nations shall flow unto it” (during “the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the word began” — Acts 3:21).

To this, Rev. 11:15 adds: “The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.”

Sea(s)  As the “earth” represents a solid, stable society, so the “sea” represents the unorganized, unstable, moving society, as in Rev. 21:1:

“And I saw a new heaven [a new arrangement, a new kind of spiritual control, governing power] and a new earth [a new, different kind of society]: for the first heaven and the first earth [the ones preceding the one now to come] were passed away; and there was no more sea.” In Christ’s true Kingdom there will be no more restless masses. All mankind will be governed by the King of kings and Lord of lords.

Heaven(s)  The spiritual control over the human mind, human societies, as in:

2 Pet. 3:5  “By the word of God the heavens were of old [by the permission in the plans and purposes of God: the spiritual controls before the flood], and the earth standing out of the water and in the water:

:6  “Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished [those in spiritual control, and the existing societies, before the flood, were destroyed by the flood]:

:7  “But the heavens and the earth, which are now [ever since the flood], by the same word [also by the permission in the plans and purposes of God] are kept in store, reserved unto fire [until their time of destruction shall come] against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men [according to God’s plans and purposes, God’s “times and seasons”].

:8  “But, beloved [the true saints of God], be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the LORD as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.

:10  “But the day of the LORD [the day of God’s judgment upon the systems of this world, viz, the ecclesiastical heavens, and the societies of man] will come as a thief in the night [not recognized, not noticed, not expected by those in control of this world]; in the which the heavens [the ecclesiastical heavens, those in spiritual control of earth’s societies] shall pass away with a great noise [with great uproar, with great commotion], and the elements [the individual parts] shall melt with fervent heat [will be dissolved by this heat of human passion and wrath], the earth also [all human societies] and the works that are therein shall be burned up [shall be destroyed].

:13  “Nevertheless we [the true saints of God], according to his promise [God’s promise], look for new heavens and a new earth [a new, different kind of spiritual power then governing, and a new, different kind of human society, one designed and promised by God], wherein dwelleth righteousness.”

Revelation 9:3–11

Rev. 9:3–6  speaks of locusts to come upon the earth to torment “men” (not the earth, not society, but specific people) for a period of time. This Scripture is being used by preachers in Christendom, especially by radio and television evangelists, as a prophecy which foretells of a terrible pestilence coming upon the earth as a divine punishment upon an ungodly, law-breaking, totally immoral world.

But these preachers, in their endeavours to present literal fulfillments of prophecies, ignore (conveniently) the succeeding verses which would prove them wrong. These verses, in fact, prove beyond any doubt that this prophecy, like every one of the Bible’s prophecies, is written in a symbolic language which cannot be taken literally.

:7  “And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle; and on their heads were as it were crowns like gold, and their faces were as the faces of men.

:8  “And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as the teeth of lions.

:9  “And they had breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron; and the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle.

:10  “And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and their power was to hurt men for five months.

:11  “And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon.”

There are several specifics in these prophecies of the fifth trumpet:

1. A time is given; namely, the time when “the bottomless pit” is being opened, the same time when “the beast” of Rev. 17:8 shall “ascend out of the bottomless pit”.

   (The bottomless pit is not a place, but a condition of being powerless. The Papacy was sent into this condition by the action of Napoleon in 1799 when he put the pope into prison, after the Papacy had ruled with supreme power for centuries. Napoleon’s action stripped the Papacy of both its religious and its worldly powers. However, we are now living at the time in which the Papacy is coming back into power again: the time in which the process of coming “out of the bottomless pit” has begun.)

2. This process of “ascending out of the bottomless pit” is causing a condition of great darkness regarding the light of the Sun of Righteousness, regarding the true Truths of God with respect to the true work of Christ Jesus, in that the doctrines and commandments of God are being changed, and even replaced, by doctrines and traditions and rules, and ceremonies, and still other inventions of men: all of which are not according to the holy Word of God.

3. Those who are represented by the locusts are actually quite clearly identified:

   “Their faces were as the faces of men.” They represent human beings.

   They have, “as it were, crowns like gold” on their heads. Gold represents divinity. Therefore: these human beings operate as divine servants, under divine authority. (“As it were” is a typical phrase to indicate that what follows is not real, but symbolic)

   Their shapes “were like unto horses prepared unto battle”. In Scriptural symbolism, horses represent doctrines. Therefore: these human beings, who operate as divine agents, are prepared to stand up on behalf of God’s true doctrines.

   They have “hair as the hair of women”, signifying that these human beings actually belong to a Church, which in this case can only be the true Church of Christ. The faithful Church is being represented in the Scriptures as a virgin, whereas the apostate Church is spoken of as a whore, a harlot, fornicating with worldly powers.

   “They had breastplates, breastplates as it were of iron” — solid, unbendable determination.

   “They had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails … to hurt men five months.” These servants of God, these members of the true Church of Christ: are the only ones who can, or could, bring “torment” upon all those false teachers and preachers who, by their false teachings and preachings, assist the Papacy to regain that supreme power it once had.

4. They [these locusts, these true servants of God, these members of the true Church of Christ] have “a king over them … whose name … in the Greek tongue is Apollyon”, which means: Destroyer.

   And that is exactly what Christ, “the King of kings and Lord of lords”, will do during his second Presence: destroy all enemies of God, and then bring about and establish the true Kingdom of Christ, which elsewhere is referred to as: “the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began” (Acts 3:21).