So far, we have explored the first part of Revelation. This included the Churches, the Seals and the seven Trumpets. I attempted to show the parallel between them and the historical accounts that verify them as accurately predicting the course of history of the Christian experience down to our day.
We can even bring that down more accurately in verses 7-15 of Revelation nine. The Bible is so accurate that we many times fail to see the accuracy because we fail to study accurately. We listen to and read the surface events of history but fail to dig deep into the fullness of it. Too many times we have condemned the Bible based on what we know on the surface of history, only to find out later that a deeper search has proven the Bible accurate in all details.
Men of powerful thought and intellect, moved by the Holy Spirit, have put much time into the study of God’s word. They have searched out the historical aspects and brought together wonderful parallels between history and the Biblical accounts. I am simply bringing together much of what has already been revealed.
In Revelation 9:10 we read, “They had tails and stings like scorpions, and in their tails they had power to torment people for five months.” Five months? What does five months mean?
Remember what we learned about prophetic time? A day equals a year. Since a month equaled 30 days at the time of the writers of the Bible, five months would equal 150 days, or 150 years. As we studied earlier under the “Trumpets”, Revelation 9:10 was dealing with the Muslim power that began to emerge. Now we shall look deeper into this part of the prophecy.
“They had power to torment people for five months.” Have you ever been in school, or prison, where a bully tormented you or others? He wasn’t in charge, the teacher was, but he did his best to torment whenever he had the opportunity. This analogy fits fairly well the situation of the Ottoman Empire between July 27, 1299 and 1449.
“Osman I, 1258-c.1326, leader of the Ottoman TURKS, founded the dynasty that established the OTTOMAN EMPIRE. An Oghuz Turk, he ruled the small Osmanli (Ottoman) principality in northwestern Anatolia and in c.1290 declared his independence from the SELJUK Sultanate of Iconium. Osman waged constant war with the adjacent BYZANTINE EMPIRE. In 1326 his son Orkhan, who ruled until 1360, captured the Byzantine city of Bursa.” Grolier
“Among these Turkic groups that migrated into the Islamic Middle East were the Ottoman Turks. After establishing a Muslim principality in northern Anatolia, the Ottomans continued moving westward and crossed into Thrace in Europe by 1345 at the invitation of the Byzantine emperor who needed their assistance. For the next 100 years Ottoman history deals mostly with efforts to unify under their control Anatolian territories held by vassals, as well as efforts to expand Turkish control in the Balkans.” Grolier
“The Ottoman Turkish dynasty, founded by OSMAN I (c.1300), became a major world power in the 15th century, and continued to play a very significant role throughout the 16th and 17th centuries. The BYZANTINE EMPIRE, with which Muslim armies had been at war since the early days of Islam, came to an end in 1453 when Ottoman sultan MEHMED II conquered Constantinople. That city then became the capital of the OTTOMAN EMPIRE.” Grolier
“The Turkish conquest of Anatolia had caused a substantial displacement of the native Christian population there, where most moved to the cities. Little ethnic change resulted in southeastern Europe, however, except for areas of Serbia, Albania, and Greece, where the Turkish tribes settled, and in Bosnia, where the indigenous Slavic BOGOMILS converted to Islam because of previous Christian persecution. Muslims and Christians alike were allowed to retain their religious and national traditions within autonomous settlements. These ultimately became the centers for national movements and independent states that rose on the ruins of the Ottoman Empire in the 19th and 20th centuries.” Grolier
OK, let’s see if we can pull all this history together and come up with an understanding. As mentioned earlier, the Romans ruled the world until about AD 457. Then they began to break up into East and West Rome. The Eastern Roman Empire became known as the Byzantine Empire. It outlasted the Western Roman Empire which became the Holy Roman Empire ruled by the Catholic Church.
In the East, Constantinople was the seat of power for the Eastern Roman Empire which eventually became the Eastern Orthodox Religion. The Eastern Orthodox Religion was a branch of the Roman Catholic Church. However, in about AD 1000 they had a disagreement with the Catholic Church and split, forming their own church, which today is called the Greek Orthodox Church.
That is very important because the Bible is concerned only with religious matters; the war between good and evil. In this case, the false prophet religion of Islam and the Greek “Christians”. The Bible stated that for five months (150 years), the Muslim Turks of the Ottoman Empire would “torment” the Greek Christians. And that is what they did. They could not overcome them, but they could torment them with war here and there. This happened from July 27, 1299 until 1449.
All this changed in Revelation 9 verses 14 and 15. Now the bully became the leader and was in charge. The bully killed the teacher. As you can see from the map, the Ottoman Empire grew from a local kingdom of Turks, to a huge empire. “It said to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, ‘Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.’ And the four angels who had been kept ready for this very hour and day and month and year were released to kill a third of mankind.”
Up to this time the angels had kept the Muslim religion “bound at the great river Euphrates.” But on July 22, 1449, the lawful successor to the Greek, Byzantine Empire, refused to ascend the throne without permission from the Turkish, or Ottoman sultan. Thus it was that on that date, the Byzantine Empire surrendered its power. “This was not a violent assault made on the Greeks, by which their empire was overthrown and their independence taken away, but simply a voluntary surrender of that independence into the hands of the Turks, by saying, ‘I cannot reign unless you permit.’” D&R
“The empire reached its peak in the 16th century. Sultan SELIM I (r. 1512-20) conquered Egypt and Syria, gained control of the Arabian Peninsula, and beat back the Safavid rulers of Iran at the Battle of Caldiran (1514). He was succeeded by SULEIMAN I (the Magnificent, r. 1520-66), who took Iraq, Hungary, and Albania and established Ottoman naval supremacy in the Mediterranean. Suleiman codified and institutionalized the classic structure of the Ottoman state and society, making his dominions into one of the great powers of Europe.” Grolier
The proverbial “Euphrates” river would no longer be a barrier to the Muslim armies. They now entered into Europe and became a mighty power in the world. From July 22, 1449, it would reign until the Bible said it would cease to have power. That happened 391 years, 15 days later as stated in Revelation 9:15, “for this very hour and day and month and year.” A year, based on the calendar of 30 days per month would be 360 days (years). A month would be 30 days (years). A day would be a day (year), and an hour would be 15 days. Add it all up in prophetic time and you have 391 years and 15 days.
“Abdul-Medjid (r. 1839-1861). Mahmud’s eldest son and successor, Abdul-medjid, was only 16 years old. Without an army or navy he was helpless before the superior forces of Mehemet Ali. He was saved by the joint diplomacy and forces of Russia, England, Austria, and Prussia. France at first favored the Egyptians but the concerted action of the European powers solved the impasse by allowing Mehemet Ali to have hereditary title to the governorship of Egypt under the nominal suzerainty of the Ottoman sultan, an arrangement contained in the Treaty of London of 1840 and confirmed by Abdul-medjid in 1841. In that latter year the London Convention of the powers agreed to the principle that no warship should enter the Dardanelles or the Bosporus while the sultan was at peace, and each power would rise to aid the sultan to defend his sovereignty over the Straits.” Collier’s
The Ottoman Empire came to an end, politically, on August 11, 1840. “Financial mismanagement and incompetence, along with national revolts in the Balkans and eastern Anatolia, the French occupation of Algeria and Tunisia, and the takeover by the British in Egypt and the Italians in Libya, threatened to end the very existence of the empire, let alone its reforms. By this time the Ottoman sultanate was known as the ‘Sick Man of Europe,’ and European diplomacy focused on the so-called EASTERN QUESTION—how to dispose of the Sick Man’s territories without upsetting the European balance of power. Abd al-Hamid II, however, rescued the empire, at least temporarily, by reforming the Ottoman financial system, manipulating the rivalries of the European powers, and developing the pan-Islamic and pan-Turkic movements to undermine the empires of his enemies.” Grolier
The Ottoman Empire was “Sick”. It got into a war with Egypt and was left without any real power to solve the problem. It was falling apart. It needed help to solve this war with Egypt. England, Russia, Austria and Prussia came to the rescue. They became the protectorates of the Ottoman Empire on August 11, 1840 when Egypt accepted their ultimatum on that day.
Here we have prophecy again being exactly fulfilled as prophesied. 391 years, 15 days: from July 22, 1449 to August 11, 1840. God is the ruler of the heavens and the earth. He knows what will happen in advance. All we have to do is just sit back and live His righteous, perfect, sinless life, and leave the driving to Him.
However, let me help you better understand what is going on in the world today between Muslims and the West and why there is so much hatred for the West by Islam. The Muslims used to be a great empire until the western nations divided it up.
They also see the conflict between themselves and the West as a battle between “gods”. They believe that their “god”, “Allah”, is the true god and will destroy the West. This conflict will be part of the end-of-the-world which brings the world under a one-world government just before the coming of Jesus.