FALSE PROPHET: See second beast and beast out of the earth

FIRE: Rev 11:5, Judges 9. From the Greek we see that fire can mean literal fire, supernatural fire, or it can represent God’s anger. Many of the judgments of Revelation are said to involve fire, burning sulfur, smoke, extreme heat, earthquakes, etc. Fire seems to be used in two ways in Revelation; as a destructive agent by the two witnesses and as a large area or worldwide agent for destruction. We will look at how fire is used throughout the Bible to help us understand what it means in context in Revelation. Fire is used to represent several things in the Bible including the following: (1) A purifying agent. A sacrifice made by fire was said to have a pleasing aroma to God; the fire in this case was a purifying agent in that it symbolically purified the Israelites of their sins. We might add that as a purifying agent it consumed something, the sacrifice. In Zech 13:9 God says that in the end times he will save one third of the people of Israel but that he will bring them into the fire, refine them as silver and test them like gold, in order to save them. This one third finally realize who Jesus is and accept him as their God. Mal 3:2 says the following of the end times, “But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner's fire or a launderer's soap.” Matt 3:11 says that Jesus baptizes us with the Holy Spirit and with fire. This fire is a cleansing and refining fire. (2) Something that consumes or destroys. At the end of the millennium in Rev 20:9 we see fire from heaven coming down to devour all of Satan’s devotees who come to make war against Jesus and his followers. In Isa 9:18 wickedness is said to burn like a fire. Here we see that wickedness or sin can consume. Rev 11:5 says, The two witnesses, like Elijah, have the power to consume their enemies with fire if their enemies try to hurt them. This fire is said to come from their mouths. In Zech 12:6 the leaders of Judah are said to be like a flaming torch among sheathes, who will consume right and left all of the surrounding peoples. The Holy Spirit was seen as a pillar of fire by night in the wilderness in Exodus and the glory of the Lord on the mountain was seen as a consuming fire. In Deut 4:24 the Lord God was said to be a consuming fire; a jealous God; also see Ps 79:5, 89:46, 97:3. Isa 10:17 says “The Light of Israel will become a fire, their Holy One a flame; in a single day it will burn and consume his thorns and his briers;” (the Assyrian, meaning the antichrist and his followers). Isaiah also says the following about what Jesus will do to the Assyrian and his followers when he returns in Isa 29:6 and 30:27-33; the Lord Almighty will come with thunder and earthquake and great noise, with windstorm and tempest and flames of a devouring fire; with burning anger and dense clouds of smoke; his lips are full of wrath, and his tongue is a consuming fire; with his arm coming down with raging anger and consuming fire, with cloudburst, thunderstorm and hail. Isa 30:33 says further on this subject of the Assyrian and his followers, “Topheth has long been prepared; it has been made ready for the king. Its fire pit has been made deep and wide, with an abundance of fire and wood; the breath of the Lord, like a stream of burning sulfur, sets it ablaze.” Isa 26:11 says “O Lord, your hand is lifted high, but they do not see it. Let them see your zeal for your people and be put to shame; let the fire reserved for your enemies consume them.” Isa 31:9 says, “Their stronghold will fall because of terror; at sight of the battle standard their commanders will panic," declares the Lord, whose fire is in Zion, whose furnace is in Jerusalem.” Isa 33:14 says that the consuming fire leads to everlasting burning. In Isa 66:15-16 God says this of the end times, “See, the Lord is coming with fire, and his chariots are like a whirlwind; he will bring down his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire. For with fire and with his sword the Lord will execute judgment upon all men, and many will be those slain by the Lord.” God goes on to say the following to Israel in Isa 43:2 concerning the time he will re-gather Israel from the world in the end times, “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.” God says he does this because he loves Israel and he will give other men in exchange for them. All of Amos chapters 1-2 are about how God will execute judgment on the nations of the world with fire because of their sins. 2 Thess 1:7 says the following of the return of Jesus, “This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels.” We know from 2 Peter 3:7-12 that the Lord will one day destroy the world by fire, including evil men, the present earth and the heavens and everything in them. The story of Abimelech and the citizens of Shechem in Judges chapter 9 seems to shed some light on the fire that came out of the two witnesses to consume their enemies. In Judges fire was said to come out of Abimelech to consume the citizens of Shechem and fire was said to come out of the citizens of Shechem to consume Abimelech. In the case of Abimelech he used literal fire to kill the citizens of Shechem while one of the citizens of Shechem dropped a millstone on Abimelech’s head and wounded him, leading to his death. So fire represented a means of one person killing another, generally by literal fire but sometimes otherwise. (3) The word of the Lord. We also see that the word of the Lord can be like fire. Jer 23:29 says, "Is not my word like fire," declares the Lord, "and like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces? (4) The destructive and punishing agent in hell. Throughout the Bible hell is described as a place of unquenchable fire where all the wicked and unbelievers will be thrown for eternity. (5) The eyes of Jesus. The eyes of Jesus are said to be like blazing fire several times in Revelation. What he sees he judges. Believers are purified by fire and unbelievers are executed or consumed by fire as Jesus determines.

FIRSTFRUITS: Rev 14:4. In 1 Cor 15:20 we see Jesus called the firstfruits of those who had fallen asleep. This referred to the fact that he had been the first to die, be resurrected and go to heaven with a glorified body. Verses 22-23 say that believers have the same hope; they too will be resurrected and taken to heaven when Christ returns. We see in Rev 14:4 that the 144,000 are called firstfruits, meaning that they had died, been resurrected and taken to heaven by Christ. We know that the very same thing happened to the two witnesses in Rev 11:11-12. The 144,ooo are a part of the two witnesses, in fact they are one of the lampstands making up the two witnesses.

FLAMING SWORD: See NAKED.

FOUR ANGELS: See angels.

FOUR HORSEMEN: Rev 6:1-8, 7:1-3. A figurative description of the means of destruction used in the first four Seal Judgments. The destructions are said to be applied by riders on a white horse, a red horse, a black horse and a pale horse. These riders are given the power to administer the first four judgments. There are four similar riders on horses described in Zech 6:1-8 and they are said to be the four spirits of God. They had just come from the presence of God in heaven and were seen going out all over the world. These apparently are four powerful angels of God. These four horsemen appear to be the four angels described in Rev 7:1-3 who control the application of God’s wrath upon the earth. The rider of the white horse in the 1st seal judgment is given a crown. This may parallel the discussion in Zech 6:9-15 following the discussion of the four horsemen in verses 1-8. Here we see the priest, Joshua, with a crown and the temple (the 2nd temple or Zerubbabel’s temple) being rebuilt. I suspect that implies that the rider on the white horse will empower the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem during the first half of the tribulation period. Also see crown.

FOUR LIVING CREATURES, CHERUBIM, SERAPHIM: Rev 4:6-11. Cherubim, Rev 4:6-11, Ezek 1:4-6, 10:20, in fact all of Ezek chapters 1 and 10. Cherubim are “certain highly regarded angels in the service of God in the spiritual realm.” They are often seen in situations where they are worshipping, praising and serving God. Two Cherubim are on the cover of the Ark of the Covenant, one on either end. We first see Cherubim in Gen 3:24 when God assigned them to the Garden of Eden after man’s fall to keep man from having access to the tree of life in the Garden. He also placed a flaming sword outside the Garden of Eden, and it is described as going back and forth to guard access to the tree of life. The tree of life is Jesus and the sword is the word of God, Eph 6:17. We now must go through the word of God to get to Jesus, to get to the knowledge of him that is required for salvation, Rom 10:1-4. Ezekiel says that the Cherubim can move in four directions which may imply that they can travel in higher dimensions and they can move into and out of the spiritual realm, seen by Ezekiel as a fourth direction. It may simply mean that they only go in one of the four directions in which their four faces are pointing. Ezekiel made a big deal out of this fact. It may be that they are the only angels that can physically appear on earth. I take that from the fact that they were placed “outside” of the Garden of Eden which is God’s garden in heaven, the current residence of the tree of life, Ezek 28:13. Satan was initially a guardian cherub, Ezek 28:14. Isa 6:1-7 also seems to be referring to the four living creatures and refers to them as seraphs, six winged creatures as opposed to the four wings of the Cherubim. The Cherubim were said to have something beside of them described as a wheel within a wheel. The wheels themselves did not move but they were said to be whirling. This is a perfect description of a gyroscope. The spirit or wind of the Cherubim was said to be in the wheels. This likely referred to the wind generated by the wheel within the two wheels. The word translated wind can also refer to an energy source. This gyroscopic device was the energy source associated with locomotion of the Cherubim. It was apparently attached to the Cherubim or a part of the Cherubim because Ezekiel says that wherever the Cherubim went the wheels went with them. The design of the inner wheel was likely such that it had moveable fins and the rotation of the wheel in concert with the rotation of the fins would provide directional motion as needed by the Cherubim. There was also a fire and hot coals described as being within the wheels. Two of the wings of the Cherubim were for covering their bodies and two were associated with their flying. Apparently they were used in concert with the wheels in some way. In contrast the Seraphim has six wings, two for covering their feet, two for covering their faces and two associated with flying. The four living creatures of Rev chapter 4 may be seraphim since their description matches the description of seraphim in Isa 6:1-7. Then again, they may be cherubim since cherubim are on the cover of the Ark of the Covenant, surrounding the throne of God. We will assume that they are cherubim.

FOUR WINDS: See winds, restrainer.