Revelation Part 5

[Unless in brackets, all of the message is by Bertrand L. Comparet.] Well, we’re still going in the Book of Revelation. And as you have seen, it is slow going because there is an awful lot in it. There are two thousand years of history in it. In fact, three thousand, as far as that goes, because it does cover the millennium. [At this point, your humble transcriber disagrees with Comparet, for the so-called “thousand years” (millennium) prophesied in Revelation is already past, but I shall not go into detail on that here, but only reproduce on paper what Comparet said on audio tape.]  We had gotten into the matter of opening the seven seals. You remember the only one found worthy to open the seven seals was the Lamb slain in sacrifice, which obviously was symbolic of Yahshua the Christ Himself. And as He opened each of these seals, you didn’t see what was read from the scroll; what was written on it. But an event took place which was symbolical of a great event or series of events in history, and we saw that these seals portrayed the final collapse of the Roman Empire – the fourth and last of the Babylonian succession of empires. We’d finally gotten down through the sixth seal.

Before we come to the seventh seal there is a little parenthesis thrown in there, because it doesn’t portray any stage in the collapse of the Roman Empire like the first six seals had. In Revelation 7, verses 1 to 3, we are told that four angels, having power to hurt the earth, were holding back the four winds of heaven so they couldn’t blow. They were told not to hurt the earth, the sea nor the trees till we have sealed the servants of our Elohim in their foreheads. Now if anybody thinks that Christianity is a new religion, that has discarded Israel, you should get your eyes opened immediately on this. This particular group, who are the servants of our Elohim, are Israel, as the book expressly says. The Bible has identified Israel, and only Israel, as Yahweh’s servants. Isaiah 41, verses 8 to 10: “But thou, Israel, artThou whom I have taken from the ends of the earth, and called thee from the chief men thereof, and said unto thee, Thou art my servant; I have chosen thee, and not cast thee away. Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy Elohim: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.” [See note #1 at end of lesson.] my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham my friend.

And Isaiah 44, verses 21 and 22: “Remember these, O Jacob and Israel; for thou art my servant: I have formed thee; thou art my servant: O Israel, thou shalt not be forgotten of me. I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins: return unto me; for I have redeemed thee.” Now both of these passages were written after the ten-tribed northern nation of Israel had disappeared into the Assyrian captivity. Nobody can say Yahweh cast off the ten-tribed Israel, because here He makes it very clear; He has redeemed them, He has blotted out their sins, He is with them [including many of Judah and Benjamin deported by Assyria]. [See note #2 at end of lesson.]

In the Book of Revelation, the servants of our Elohim who are sealed, are entirely of Israel. And Revelation 7, verse 4 says so: “And I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel.” Nothing about the Congolese cannibals, nothing about the Chinese, just the children of Israel. Now, verses 5 through 9 go on to enumerate the tribes; 12 thousand out of each tribe who were sealed. Here is something which some people have had considerable difficulty in understanding, that the number and names of the tribes don’t come out the way you would expect. But we will see, when we look into it, that after all, there is no real inconsistency there. All the tribes are named except the tribes of Dan and of Ephraim – those are not mentioned. Now actually, of course, there were 13 tribes of Israel including the tribe of Levi, the priestly tribe; Levi, having had no territory of its own, were scattered through all the other 12.

Looking upon them as independent states, you might say each with its own territory, there would be only 12, and Levi not included. But here, they’re not talking about land areas and government, but that out of each tribe were sealed a particular group of 12 thousand of each tribe. It doesn’t list Dan or Ephraim, but it lists the tribe of Joseph. Well now, originally, of course, Joseph was one of the tribes. But then on his death bed, old Israel himself split Joseph into the two tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh. The reason why Dan is not mentioned is cleary not that Yahweh had anything against Dan more than any of the other tribes. But all this phase of Revelation is dealing with the troubles and devastation that came upon the old Roman Empire, and by this time Dan was gone, completely outside it. Dan was in no more danger from these plagues than people on the American continent were, for Dan was already up on the shores of the Baltic Sea in territory that Rome had never controlled. Now as to Ephraim – the tribe of Manasseh is mentioned by name here as one of those from whom 12 thousand were sealed. Well, if you talk about the tribe of Joseph, who was left out of the tribe of Joseph except the tribe of Ephraim? Hence, actually, as it stands, Ephraim is really included in this. Dan, as I say, was clear out of the picture as far as danger was concerned. [See note #3 at end of lesson.]

I want to call your attention to one thing here. This chapter of Revelation speaks of two completely different and separate groups. First is the 144 thousand out of the 12 tribes of Israel who are sealed. Well now, you put your seal on something as a mark of ownership. These were the servants of Yahweh. Then it goes on, Revelation 7, verse 9: “After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands ...” [See note #4A at end of lesson.]

You remember, the four winds of heaven that were to bring disasters were held back until the servants of Yahweh were sealed, so they would be protected. In other words, they do not go through plagues. But, of these people in this great multitude out of all nations and kindreds and people and tongues, the remainder of chapter 7 speaks of these and says, “These are they which came out of the great tribulation, and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” Therefore, they are before the throne of Yahweh and serve Him day and night in His temple, and He that sits on the throne shall dwell among them. That’s particularly verses 14 and 15. Now, these have not been sealed to be protected from any plagues. These are people of this area of the Roman Empire who are going through these terrible judgments, and it will include those within the worldwide judgment that we are all about to enter. Not kept out of it, not saved from it, but they have gone through it without weakening in their faith. They have remained loyal. Thus, you can see how these are treated differently. In other words, people not of the Israel group have salvation opened to them. All that Christianity promises, in that way, is opened to them, but it still does not make them members of Israel with the particular job, and the pay for it, that is given to Israel. [Again see note #4A at end of lesson.]

[At this point, I am going to interrupt this message by Bertrand L. Comparet for a moment. Comparet has just unwittingly contradicted himself where he said, “Nothing about the Congolese cannibals, nothing about the Chinese, just the children of Israel.” Now I have to agree with him on about everything he has to say in these series of messages, but I take exception and object to the remark that he just said concerning Revelation 7:9 as being about non-Israelite peoples. Yes, it would appear that the terms “all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues” would seem to include all of the people upon the earth. Again, it is a matter of translation that is the problem. Now these “all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues” are the many nations of Israel, and Israel only. Other than this, the only “nations” which could be included in resurrection would be the Genesis 10 nations descended only from the White sons of Noah; Ham, Shem and Japheth. That is not the context here. Revelation 7:9 just simply means dispersed Israel nations, or Israel people, with different customs and manners and languages. The Bible Knowledge Commentary by J. F. Walvoord: “This is the same group mentioned in 6:9, but here they were wearing white robes and holding palm branches, apparently signifying righteous triumph.” And as Comparet implied in his Lesson #3, the “souls under the altar” were Israelites. End of transcriber’s comment.]

So that takes up the little parenthetical seventh chapter of Revelation. When we have gone into eight, we get back into the historical preview here. Revelation 8:1-4: “And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour. And I saw the seven angels which stood before Yahweh; and to them were given seven trumpets. And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before Yahweh out of the angel’s hand.” [Again see note #4A at end of lesson.]

In the tabernacle in the wilderness, and in the temple in Jerusalem, you had, out in the court of the Temple, the bronze altar (your King James Version says brass, but that’s a different alloy, it was bronze), the bronze altar on which the sacrifices were burned. But then, in the Holy of Holies there was the golden altar upon which incense – not sacrifices, but incense – was burned. Thus, you have here the same thing, the golden altar which was before the throne. Again, pure Israel symbolism right straight through. So when the seventh seal was opened, nothing in and of itself happened. It’s getting into a pretty solemn situation and there is silent consideration of this thing for about half an hour before any of these things start to happen. Then you see the seven angels, each given his trumpet, and this other angel who is offering up incense and the prayers of the saints. Then it goes on: “And the angel took the censer, and filled it with fire of the altar, and cast it into the earth: and there were voices, and thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake.”

This is the start of something even more serious in the way of trouble than what you had out of the first six seals. This is leading up to something big. The voices and thunderings and lightnings, of course, are the battle against what’s coming, and the earthquake, a great shake up of earthly institutions. Revelation 8:6: “And the seven angels which had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound.” So you see, you’re going now from the mere opening of a seal to the seven new stages, each of which is brought on by the blowing of a trumpet. Revelation 8, verse 7: “The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.” You remember that among the plagues brought upon Egypt when Moses was trying to do a little salesmanship job with Pharaoh, it included hail mingled with fire and it was destructive. It destroyed the crops of the Egyptians. Hence, here you have again one of Yahweh’s plagues coming upon the “ungodly.” What does “the third part of the trees burnt up and all green grass burnt up” mean? Now the fall of the Roman Empire was in thirds – separate historical periods occupying separate thirds of the empire. The western third took in west Germany, Gaul, Italy, Spain and Carthage in North Africa. The southeastern third took in North Africa, generally Egypt, Palestine and Syria. And the northeastern third took in Asia Minor and the Balkans. Therefore, these three thirds of the Roman Empire were dealt with separately.

Of course, the start of the empire was with the city of Rome, and naturally it came to its judgment before the easterly part, with its capital at Constantinople, it got its judgment. First, the Franks, who were a mixture of seven Germanic tribes of Israel, overran all of Gaul and then Spain. In Spain they seized ships in the ports and spread all over the Mediterranean shores, scattering their power in little colonies here and there, too small to do anything substantial. They only kept their power closely organized really in Gaul (France). Nevertheless, while they didn’t become a force in the Mediterranean itself, they did emphasize the weakening of the Roman fleets which were unable to stop it. Then, the German tribe of the Alemania overran northern Italy in 272 A.D. Another group of Germanic tribes, the Suevi, the Alemania, the Vandals and the Alans invaded northern Italy as far down as Florence in 406 A.D. Then they retreated back to Gaul and into Spain. The Alans were the first to be driven westward before the invasion of the Huns. [See note #12B at Lesson #4.]

Thus you can see here, the Alans, coming ahead of any of the others, were moving into the Roman Empire. Some of the Visigoths under Alaric besieged Rome in 408 and were bought off with a big ransom. They took it in 409, and it was of so little consequence that Alaric, instead of calling himself emperor, now merely appointed one of his officers emperor. Then in 410 Alaric captured it again and allowed his troops six days to plunder in the city. Now if you think the things happening to Rome were rough on it, they were. But remember how many cities Rome had plundered and looted in the past centuries. Chickens come home to roost, and Rome was reaping a fair harvest of the crops she had sowed. The successor of Alaric, Adolph, led the Visigoths out to south Gaul and into Spain, where they set up the Visigothic Kingdom. That was the dominant one in Spain until they were overcome by the Moorish invasion in 711 A.D. The Suevi, the Alans, the Vandals and the Burgundians moved on out again, crossed through Spain, and settled in southern Spain. From there the Vandals, under Genseric, crossed to Africa, or specifically to Carthage in 429, and immediately commenced building themselves a powerful fleet.

Rome couldn’t do a thing about it, and five years later, 434 A.D., the emperor formally ceded North Africa to the Vandals, and there Genseric built up an enormous navy. Well, he just took over the whole Mediterranean Sea, was what he did. He harassed even the coasts of Italy and Greece. In 455 A.D., a Vandal fleet sailed up the Tiber river, captured and pillaged Rome, with fourteen days of looting. The Suevi, under their king Ricimer, also pillaged Rome in 472 A.D., and the last emperor of the western Roman Empire was deposed in 476 A.D. After that there never was an emperor in Italy anywhere. You’ll now remember this says “the third part of the trees and the green grass was burnt up.” Now these Israel tribes had an awful lot to avenge, and they did it thoroughly. They really devastated the land when they went through. That was one of the bitter complaints of the conquered about them, that in the course of the siege they cut down trees and all that kind of thing. Well, they left a fairly devastated land when they were through, but that was their job. Who was supposed to break the Babylonian succession of kingdoms? Who else but Israel? Jeremiah 51, verses 20 and 21 gives it: “Thou art my battle axe and weapons of war: for with thee will I break in pieces the nations, and with thee will I destroy kingdoms; And with thee will I break in pieces the horse and his rider; and with thee will I break in pieces the chariot and his rider.” Nations, powerful armies, all this would not stand against them. [Check also Daniel 2:44, which might even be better in describing these events.]

So, in a third part of the empire you had this devastation and the destruction of the western part of the Roman Empire. Then we come to the second trumpet, Revelation 8, verses 8 and 9: “And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea: and the third part of the sea became blood; And the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life, died; and the third part of the ships were destroyed.”

Now here again, you remember that one of the plagues visited upon Egypt was that the water of the river Nile and the water in the wells and cisterns turned to blood. Hence, here you can see consistent Israel symbolism going on in the last book of the Bible, the same as the second book [Exodus] of the Bible. Well, the Vandals, under Genseric, really took over the sea. You may be sure of that. They destroyed the western Roman navy. They laid waste the peninsula of Greece and Dalmatia, which is the eastern shore of the Adriatic Sea. They even threatened Constantinople. Genseric went there and threatened to besiege Constantinople – oh, he didn’t make any very serious attempt at a siege, and it wouldn’t have done much good if he had, because he didn’t know siege warfare. But anyway, the emperor Zeno, in Constantinople, had to make a treaty of peace with him, respecting his authority over most of the Mediterranean Sea – this was in 476 A.D. Therefore, the third part of the sea became blood, the third part of the ships were destroyed. Constantinople maintained a big and important navy, but they just about had to keep it in port to keep it from being destroyed.

Then you come to the third trumpet, Revelation 8, verses 10 and 11: “And the third angel sounded, and there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters (that is the headwaters of rivers): And the name of the star is called Wormwood (as your King James Versionapsínthon): and the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter.” From a plant called “wormwood” they get a highly poisonous substance called absinthe, and a drink is made of this absinthe. It acts somewhat like LSD and produces all sorts of wild hallucinations, and like LSD, if you use too much of it, it does very serious and permanent brain damage. Well, what is this which took over a third part of the rivers and the fountain of waters? The Huns occupied the valleys of the Danube, the Rhine and the Po. About 200 B.C., the Huns who were nomads – Mongol nomads – these Mongol nomads on the Steppes of central Asia overran the Chinese Empire, and for a time held it and ruled it. But it was too soft living, and their power weakened in the next century and it became evident that they weren’t going to be able to hold the Chinese Empire in subjection, so they migrated on to the Steppes near the Caspian Sea. [See note #4B at end of lesson.] says, it’s the word

After settling there a while, they were too numerous for that area to take care of their flocks and herds, so they separated. One group went southward through Scythia, which had previously been vacated by the Israel tribes. Now one thing may puzzle you a bit, if you read the works of various historians, written over a period of many centuries, you don’t stop to realize that changes take place in the course of centuries. There are a few of the later historians who talk about the Scythians as a very low type of Mongol people, but it was the Huns who were in Scythia long after all the Israel tribes had migrated out into Europe. Hence, [it seems to be] a case of a mix-up [on the part of the historians] as to what the Scythians were like during the period of the Israelite occupation of Scythia [and the later Mongols occupying that same area], for [the Israelites] were white men like ourselves. These Huns didn’t get in there until all the Israel people were gone. [See note #5 at end of lesson.]

Well, the other group [of Huns] went on to the basin of the Volga river and settled there for a considerable time. In the later three hundreds A.D. they drove out the tribe of the Alans who had lived between the Volga and Don rivers. And you remember, that in the four hundreds you had the Alans invading Italy, along with several of the other Germanic tribes. Thus they took over the space the Alans [had occupied], between the Volga and Don rivers. Then they pushed on west, later, driving the Ostrogoths and Visigoths westward before them to the Danube river, and you first pick up the Goths entering the Roman Empire when they moved in and took over most of the Danube valley. Rome tried in vain to hold it, but the Roman armies were just smashed. And so, Rome ceded to the Visigoths quite a territory in the Danube valley on condition they would stay there and give up their warfare. They made it part of the treaty that the Goths were to lay down their arms. So, of course, any time a people is disarmed invariably, the same thing happens. The Romans didn’t respect their word at all. They badly mistreated the Goths, and of course, in those days, it didn’t take much of a forge to produce weapons of war. You didn’t need a big hundred and fifty million-dollar factory to turn them out. Any blacksmith with a bit of iron and an anvil could turn out as good a sword as the next fellow had. Thus you find the Goths, then, pushed forward by the Huns behind them, moving on into the home of the Roman Empire in the early 400s.

The Huns kept moving in and spreading out. By 432 A.D. they were collecting a large annual tribute from Rome as a bribe to keep them from coming further west. When Attila came to power in 444 A.D., he spread out to the southward. He devastated an area from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean. He defeated the Byzantine emperor, Theodosius the 2nd, in three terrific, desperate battles. He even besieged Constantinople, but he wasn’t trained in siege warfare and he had none of the weapons necessary for besieging a walled city, so he finally had to abandon the siege. Theodosius, however, ceded to him a large amount of territory south of the Danube river, which put it on the southwestern side, and Theodosius also paid a large annual tribute to the Huns to keep them from coming back to Constantinople. Then in 451 A.D., in an alliance with Genseric, the king of the Vandals, he resumed his march westward. He invaded Gaul. Remember, in those days you didn’t have so much of a national identity as we understand it today. It wasn’t a nation, it was a kingdom. It was ruled by a king and it did what the king wanted to do. If the king decided to make war against some of their blood relatives, he led his nation out to war against them. Now here, Genseric had led his Vandals out of Gaul through Spain into Africa, and he knew that some of his fellow Germanic tribes were there. But that didn’t matter. He was out for loot. As long as he could reward his warriors with the loot of conquered places, he kept the army loyal to him.

They invaded Gaul and got as far as Chalons in France, where the Romans were assisted at this time by the Visigoths, and the Visigoth king Theodoric the 1st. The combined Roman and Visigoth force engaged in probably the most terrific battle in all history. Historians of that day say that over 200 thousand Huns were killed in that battle. Now I’ll admit that that was probably an exaggerated estimate, but even so, it ranks as one of the greatest, if not the greatest of all the battles of ancient history. So in 451 they were turned back, and the Visigoth and Roman forces pursued them back to the Rhine river. They had not only a good deal of the area of the Rhine, but of course they occupied all the way south, up to the headwaters of the Rhine, up near Switzerland. In the mountains that have their start up in that region, you come into the headwaters of the Danube, and then, as they poured down into Italy, you come to the river Po. The river Po has its headwaters in the great mountain ridge that runs north-south, down Italy, and it flows in a generally easterly direction until it empties into the Adriatic sea. So here, these three great rivers, with their sub-waters, the fountains of water, were covered by this terrible blight of the Hun invasion. A blight it was. It was Attila’s boast that “the grass never grew again where his horses’ hooves have trod.” And that’s about what he did to the land that he went through – total devastation – senseless. They didn’t know whether they wanted to stay and keep the land or whether they wanted to move on, so they devastated it until it was in such a condition that there was no point in their trying to stay there. [See note #13 at Lesson #4.]

Well, in 452 Attila invaded Italy and advanced on the city of Rome. But before he got there, the Romans sent a deputation out to meet him. The emperor offered an enormous tribute bribe to spare the city, and Pope Leo the 1st went along as part of the embassy. His diplomatic efforts are credited with probably being the persuasive thing that caused Attila to turn back. Anyway, Rome was spared from being occupied by the Huns. But the next year, 453, Attila died while he was preparing another attack on Rome, and the death of Attila broke up the Hun invasion. He was the one chieftain who could hold them all together. When he was gone, the other chiefs who were willing to serve under him were not willing that one of their own numbers should rise to a position of supremacy. Each one said, “well, I’m as important as he is. I should be the leader”, with the result, nobody was able to be a leader, and the Huns finally moved back into the Steppes of Central Asia. Not all of them, though. Some of them enlisted in the Roman army. Remember, by this time Rome was entirely unable to maintain an effective army made up of Roman citizens, and she was hiring mercenary soldiers, mostly from the various Germanic tribes. But when some of the Huns were willing to enlist in the Roman forces, they were taken in.  [See note #14 at Lesson #4.]

Thus, the third part of the rivers and the third part of the fountains of waters were occupied, and if ever an invasion was a bitter thing, this was it. The loss of life was extremely heavy. Many men died of the waters because they were made bitter. Now we go on to the fourth trumpet, Revelation 8, verse 12: “And the fourth angel sounded, and the third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars; so as the third part of them was darkened, and the day shone not for a third part of it, and the night likewise.” [See note #6 at end of lesson.]

This pictures the extinguishment of all the power and glory of the western Roman Empire within one century. In 379 A.D. the empire was first split into eastern and western portions. The western ruled from Rome and the eastern from Constantinople. Theodosius the Great ruled both halves from Constantinople between 392 and 395 A.D., but, thereafter there were always the two separate portions of the Roman Empire. From about 400 A.D. the provinces simply disintegrated into chaos and anarchy from the combination of the excessive taxation from Rome and the barbarian invasions. In History Of Nations, volume 4, page 116, it says of the condition during this period: “Gaul had suffered much from the incursions of the barbarians and from civil wars during the last half century. And this distress led to the insurrection of the Burgundians, or rustic banditi.” [See note #11 at Lesson #4.]

For several years the country was overrun with troops of famished and furious marauders who attacked all property, and in the case of  Autun, sacked and destroyed one of the chief centers of Gaulish civilization. The insurrection at length died out, but the imperial government failed to learn from it the urgent necessity of devising some less exhaustive system of taxation. It has been the history of all important nations that they were not truly conquered by force from without. They collapsed from internal rottenness to the point where it wasn’t too big a job to invade and conquer them from without. For a good century, in the provinces, there was very little law or authority existing outside of the walled cities themselves. The power of Rome was shrinking from the great boundaries of the empire, to just in and near the city of Rome. Out in the provinces, such power as did exist became simply that of these Germanic tribes who occupied the provinces. Odoacer, a chief of an alliance of tribes, had deposed the last Roman emperor of the west, Romulus Augustulus, in A.D. 476. Instead of claiming the title of emperor for himself, he was acclaimed king of Italy by his soldiers, and that title he took. Consequently, there is the final, total end of the western portion of the Roman Empire. This northwestern third of it had reached extinction. Thus, a third of the sun (the empire itself) was darkened, a third of the moon (the ruling power, the emperor) was lost, a third of the stars (the important people, the princes and generals and those in authority) had lost that authority. [See note #5 at Lesson #4.]

Now there remained roughly two-thirds, in area, of the empire still under the control, nominally at least, subordinate to Constantinople. But here, one third, as it points out, had simply reached total destruction. [This western part of] the empire completely ceased to be in that period. Thus, you can see that the symbolism of it portrays accurately what actually happened. Now in the Old Testament, very little of prophesy was given in that form. Mostly it was a plain statement of what was going to happen. Here the prophesy is given in symbolic form, but as you can see that symbolism was accurate – it was true prophesy. Does anybody have any questions? [See note #7 at end of lesson.]

[At this time there is a question from the audience:] “This question of a 144,000, does that refer to those that are to rise up when Christ is to return, when He comes with a shout and the voice of a trumpet?” [Answer:] Yes, evidently so. Now whether 144,000 should be taken as a literal number or not is open to question. There’s nothing else in the Book of Revelation that is to be taken literally, and so this 12,000 in each of 12 tribes makes 144,000. 12 multiplied by a thousand multiplied by 12 again to emphasize the 12 symbolism, which extends through the tribes of Israel. However, if it is to be taken literally, which could be, consider that the people who are to rule in the millennium under the Kingship of Yahshua the Christ, these who will be the administrative staff, are going to have powers such as no tyrant or dictator in all history ever had. Because they won’t be limited to sending out some soldiers to compel what they say to be done, they’ll have control over the forces of nature even. You remember the prophet Elijah, saying to Ahab, “There will be no rain in Israel these next three years, except when I give the word.” And he made good. He brought the nation to its knees through famine. Now, power of that sort cannot be trusted to people who are arrogant by nature and want to throw their weight around and “show how terrible and important I am.” On the other hand, that power is given because, at times, it has to be used drastically. And, if you put it into the hands of some timid Casper milk-toast, you have accomplished nothing at all. There are plenty of people who wouldn’t abuse that power. Some simply wouldn’t have the moral courage to use it at all and would be totally unfit, or morally unfit, to have that power entrusted to them. They’d be every bit as bad as the arrogant who would abuse it because they’d produce equal trouble. Now, starting with Adam and coming down to our own day, if you can find 144,000 thousand men out of all who lived in that time who are fit to be trusted with that sort of power, I’d say you are doing quite well. [See note #’s 1 & 8 at end of lesson.]

[Comment from the audience:] “You were saying some denominations like Jehovah’s Witnesses, they’re saying the 144,000 are the ones that are to be brought up to heaven to rule the kingdom on earth from heaven.” [Answer:] Well, the Jehovah’s Witnesses started out by saying that, of course, the 144,000 were entirely members of the Jehovah’s Witnesses Kingdom Church. Then, after a while, their own numbers exceeded 144,000 and they had the embarrassing concession that a great many thousands of their people weren’t fit.

[Another comment from the audience:] “It also excludes women because it is perfectly plain that these are male virgins, and if there are any Jehovah’s Witnesses who are women, they’ll be left out altogether.”

[Another comment from the audience:] “I don’t think so, because I know a woman who is supposed to be one of those 144,000.”

[Another comment from the audience:] “Unless she expects to become a male virgin.” [At this time there is a round of laughter. Answer:] Well, I don’t think there is any reason to believe they are two separate groups. That theory, it seems to me, if you are going to apply it, and say every time you come to another mention of the same number, or the same size, or people doing the same thing or something, it’s always a different one, it becomes destructive. You take this blasphemous thing called the Bible In The Hands Of Its Creators by the Jew Rabbi Moses Giborie [or something that sounds like that] (who by the way is living in Tel Aviv at present). He uses the typical Talmudic Rabbinical analysis of the Bible. He tries to prove that there are a practically infinite number of Yahwehs, or as he calls it “Jehovahs”, each of whom is a one and only God, because the way he analyzes it, every time the name is used it always is a different one. You notice how often in the Old Testament, especially in the books of Moses where the law is being given, Yahweh keeps emphasizing these commandments, “thou shalt do this”, or “thou shalt not do that”, I Am Yahweh thy Elohim. So two verses on, where He says the same thing again, Moses Giborie says “Well, you see, the two couldn’t be the same person, so it has to be the next in succession of these Yahweh Gods.” So, there is almost an infinite number of them, according to him. Well now, actually, if you accept the validity of that kind of reasoning, to get these two different groups of 144,000, you really haven’t much grounds for criticizing Moses Giborie, because he is using the same line of reasoning.

[At this time there is a question from the audience about the names of the various Israel people after they settled in their new homes in Europe. Answer:] Well, remember that in their march from Scythia – in fact, in Scythia we had no adequate indication that they really preserved their separate tribal identity. They very probably were somewhat mixed-up [by tribe]. The tribe of Dan undoubtedly left by sea, because it wasn’t too hard a job to move on to the Black Sea, and from there in ships go on out into the Mediterranean and around the coasts of Europe to Denmark. Probably some of them did not go that way and went overland. You’ll notice that there are a number of place names, particularly in the Slavic languages because they are mostly in the area that later was overrun and settled by the Slavs. They include Dan as part of a name like Danube, and so on, and there’s been speculation the name came from the fact that it was people of the Tribe of Dan who named it. There isn’t clear conclusive proof of the overland march of the Tribe of Dan, but certainly when they did get to what we call Denmark, which they called Dansmark, they still had the name, and evidently knew who they were. But the rest of them, coming around the north shore of the Mediterranean then up the Danube valley on into Germany, very probably were pretty badly mixed-up [not knowing their tribe]. Now they would break into smaller sub-tribes, unquestionably, because there had to be leadership in government. But they were unable to, I would say, organize on a great scale that would account for an entire tribe like Manassah or Ephraim or something of that sort. These were undoubtedly smaller groups, so that you have of these various Germanic sub-tribes. You’ll find they add up to more than the number of the tribes of Israel because they were sub-tribes rather than complete tribes. [See note #3 at end of lesson.]

[Question from the audience:] “Well, Frederick Haberman, in his book Tracing Our White Ancestors, who mentions that great numbers of Israelites left Palestine even before the Assyrian captivity and deportation, and also even before the Exodus, some of them migrated.” [Answer:] Oh yes, you had some of them that left Egypt before the Exodus. They moved on up the eastern shore of the Mediterranean and they founded the city of Troy, and another city that I can’t recall just now. So they did get out ahead of the general exodus of the rest of the tribes on several occasions. [See note #9 at end of lesson.]

[Another question:] “Was there a tribe of Greeks that were called Danoi?” [Answer:] Yes, the Danoi. Incidentally, their coming there was the civilization to Greece. What few inhabitants they had were evidently of a rather uncivilized sort, until suddenly Greek culture appears with the Danoi and a full blown civilization. The Greek story of these Danoi is that they had come from Egypt. Now the timing of it would be just shortly before the Exodus. (Miletus is the name of that city they founded in Asia Minor, I was trying to think of.) [See note #10 at end of lesson.]

[At this time there is a comment from the audience about these people being blue eyed, blond people. Answer:] Yes, undoubtedly they were our people, because Miletus founded a fair sized empire of its own. They occupied a large portion of Spain, and Milesian mercenary troops were hired by Egypt as border guards. Miletus had its own gold coinage with the lion of Judah stamped on it, by the way. And from Spain the Milesians moved on into Ireland, which they conquered. And, the Milesians were the ruling people in Ireland up until the conquest by the Norman English. Let’s see, that was around, oh, a little before or a little after 1,200 A.D. The Irish today, whose names begin with “Mac” or with “O”, are descendants of the Milesians. That’s where those names came from.

[At this time there is some comment from the audience as to someone’s argument against the British being Israelites, in particular being of the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh. Answer:] It never occurred to him that there might have been both Ephraim and Manasseh in the British Isles together for a while. [See note #11 at end of lesson.]

[At this time there is some more comment from the same person in the audience. The sound reproduction on the tape is so bad that it is not possible to understand the question, but here is the answer:] Well, all I know is, I’ve heard Dr. Swift say that. I wasn’t present at the time, but I’ve heard him say that.

[At this time there is more comment from the audience:] “Now you can get these National Geographic magazines. They’re a wealth of information if you know what you are looking for.” [Then this person speaks of something in Pompeii, Italy, and how it shows a ruling class, and how this ruling class is a fair skinned and blue-eyed Caucasian people. He also refers to the Grecian ruling class. Answer:] Yes, you found in almost any of the empires of that day, two layers to the cake. You had a ruling class and you had the general peasant type who were ruled by them, and they were often distinctly of a different race. [See note #12 at end of lesson. – End of Comparet’s Lesson #5.]

CRITICAL NOTES ON LESSON #5

Comments by William Finck initialed W.R.F.

Comments by Clifton A. Emahiser in brackets in lesson text as “your transcriber”

or initialed C.A.E. in critical notes.

Note #1: The majority of the people of the oikoumenê – the Greco-Roman world, were either Adamic Japhethites, Shemites, and probably some descendants of Ham, and surely the Canaanites were present in many places, and the majority of all these were of the children of Israel who settled in these places as Danaans, Dorians, Trojans and Phoenicians. So the Roman empire, while made up of Israelites and other Adamites, was still to suffer the judgment of Yahweh for its sins (Rev. 6:17).

The first 6 seals have already been opened – and these all represented internal strife within the Greco-Roman empire. The 7th seal will bring down the empire for good, and it is the children of Israel who are destined to do this thing (i.e. Daniel 2:44-45, 7:18). So just before the “barbarian” Israelites invade the empire (which also consists of many of their own brethren), 144,000 of these “barbarian” Israelites are “sealed” – a guarantee that they would suffer no harm through the coming battles and tribulations. That these are Israelites of the deportations, “barbarians”, and not Greco-Romans who are spared, compare Isaiah 49 in general, but specifically Rev. 7:16 to Isaiah 49:10. As soon as the 144,000 are “sealed”, the seventh seal is opened and the destruction of the Greco-Roman empire from the outside begins.

The “numberless multitude” are all of the other Israelites, aside from the 144,000, who did suffer through those tribulations but who “washed their robes and made them white”, and Yahweh has promised to “dwell among” none other but Israel (i.e. Jer. 31:33), so “all nations” must here be limited to all of the Israelite nations (Greek, Roman, Phoenician, Germanic, etc.) of the oikoumenê, and none other.

The white robes (Rev. 6:11, 7:9), the quote of Psalm 3:8 (Rev. 7:9), the mention of the elders and the four “beasts” or “living creatures”, symbolic of Israel (Rev. 7:11), all indicate that the great multitude here are only of Israel, and not even the other Adamic nations. Only men are counted here, because only men are ever counted in any census of Israel. Women are never counted in a census in Israel. Of course it can be safely inferred that there are women appropriate for all the men counted.

The idea that the 144,000 is some future “administrative staff” of the kingdom, or that these are select men from throughout our history is silly. Dead men don’t need to be sealed! Yahweh rules in heaven! We need to make things “on earth as they are in heaven.” These 144,000 must represent a historical entity, which I have discussed above. W.R.F.

Note #2: Comparet makes the same tired old mainstream error made since the days of Ezra, to consider the Israelites deported by Assyria, “ten-tribed” when actually it was most of all twelve tribes! W.R.F.

Note #3: Dan was not sealed because Dan never was deported by the Assyrians. Dan was in Ireland before they were in Denmark, and I doubt if they ever crossed northern Europe by land, but probably attained it by sea. The rivers of eastern Europe may have acquired their names from the earlier Danaans who came to Greece from Egypt, who were also colonists and travelers (The Argonauts, The Odyssey, tales about Danaans!) The Greeks traveled and had settlements on many European rivers and on the Black Sea long before any Scythian appeared in those places. W.R.F.

Note #4A: See note #1, Lesson 5 (above). A great many “Israelite” nations were destroyed in the time of the seven trumpets, overrun in Europe by the Israelite “barbarians”, but in the East, in Africa, and then the Balkans and southern Europe by the Arabs & Turks. These are the nations from whom came the great multitude who were not “sealed” (ensured survival to carry on our race here on earth) in Rev. chapter 7. Among these nations are: Parthia, Armenia, Iberia, Anatolia (Greeks & Kelts), Syria & Palestine (Greeks & Romans), Egypt & Cyrene (Greeks & Romans), Greece, southern Italy, Thrace, Macedonia, Illyria, Dalmatia, Carthage & Libya (Phoenicians & Romans & later Vandals), and Spain. All of these and others were Israelites or Israelite/Japhethite or Shemite nations overrun and destroyed during the seven-trumpet period! W.R.F.

Note #4B: Now if we identify the star “wormwood” as Attila, which surely seems to make sense considering the first two trumpets and the progression of encroachments upon the empire first by the Goths and Vandals, and if Attila was a “mongol”, or rather – which I would think is more probable – led a mixed army of Japhethites and other Aryans – perhaps some of them Israelites – perhaps some of them mixed-race Tartars (very few such commanders of large, conquering & marauding armies have armies which are homogenous), or Turks or other aliens, then that would account for the “bitter waters” here which killed many men. The “bitter waters” are not literal waters, but perhaps mixed races of men – sort of like “bad figs” – which should not be “drunk”! [See notes #s 12-B and 14 at Lesson #4; and note 6 at Lesson #5 (below). W.R.F.

[Special note by Clifton A. Emahiser: Again, I repeat the note I made in lesson #4: There may be some who, when they read William Finck’s critical note #’s 12A & 12B at lesson #4 and note #’s 4B & 6 at lesson #5 pertaining to Attila, may think they see a conflict in what Finck is saying. But if one can grasp the context of his notes, there is no discord. Finck’s purpose in all these mentioned notes is to present a balanced view of Attila, as opposed to Comparet’s unbalanced opinion, since there are certainly two entirely different views of Attila’s character to consider, and therefore, it may be quite difficult to determine the truth of his identity, ethnographically speaking. What it all boils down to is this; Finck is endeavoring to present both sides fairly, hesitating to leap into false conclusions. Finck believes that once the facts are placed before the reader, it then becomes the reader’s responsibility to sort out the truth from the fiction. Above all, I would highly recommend that each reader seriously consider William Finck’s note #4B at lesson #5 concerning the term “wormwood.”]

Note #5: We have no idea of half of the things that went on in far eastern Europe and western Asia through most of history, because most of it is barely or was never recorded. The mongol states of Asia were all “islamized”, but these are all east of the Caspian Sea. Mongols under Genghis Khan captured much of the Ukraine and southern Russia – and held that land for over two centuries, but it wasn’t until after the first millennium. Comparet should have qualified his statement concerning “later historians”, i.e. How much later? Later than whom? W.R.F.

Note #6: Like “beasts of the earth” (see note 4, Lesson #4), Comparet here implies that the term “bitter waters” should be taken literally, an interpretation found to be quite wanting, or deficient, and also disappointing. W.R.F.

Note #7: Whenever it would reveal the identity of true Israel if literal language were used, the Old Testament prophets instead used symbols. Ezekiel 17 is an example of this. There is much prophecy with symbolism in the Old Testament, but enough using literal language to enable one to piece together the truth! W.R.F.

Note #8: See end of note #1, Lesson #5 (above). Comparet has no basis for connecting the 144,000 to some “administrative staff” in some “millennium”, at least not anywhere in Scripture! W.R.F.

Note #9: It is evident, even in Diodorus Siculus, that many Hebrews left Egypt for “Greece and certain other regions” (40.3.2), and in the tales of the Danaans (Danae) told by so many Greek poets. Yet the Greeks did not consider the inhabitants of Greece before the Danoi – the Pelasgians, Ionians, etc. – to be “uncivilized”, but described them as civilized and much like themselves, though it is the Phoenicians who were credited with bringing many arts and letters to Greece. W.R.F.]

Note #10: While Strabo tells us that Neleus, the father of Nestor of Pylos, founded Miletus (14.1.3), and Nestor was a Danaan – one of the warriors who fought at Troy (see Homer’s Iliad) – the Iliad has Miletus under the control of the Carians, and the men of Miletus as fighting in aid of the Trojans, which is quite a contrary set of circumstances to that presented by Strabo. The Milesians did have colonies in Spain, and also had invaded Ireland, – but by accounts I’ve read are reckoned as a different people, other than the Tuatha de Danaan, who arrived in Ireland before the Milesians. There are a whole list of cities founded by Israelites who left Egypt, and by Israelites who left before the Assyrian deportations, besides just Troy and Miletus, and Troy was not founded by Danaans! Comparet has over-generalized this discussion. W.R.F.

Note #11: Something has occurred to me concerning Manasseh that I could probably never “prove”, of course, but may become evident to you also. The original settlers, by which I mean pre-Revolution Europeans, of America were as much German in New England and Pennsylvania as they were English. In Palestine, Manasseh remained half on the far side of the Jordan, and half crossed the Jordan into the “promised land” of Canaan. Could it be that when England was settled, half of Manasseh stayed in Germany? And so, 1200 years later – if we are to read “America” onto Genesis 48:19 – our original colonists were drawn primarily from England and Germany. W.R.F.

[Comment by Clifton A. Emahiser: It is also interesting to note that America is divided by a major river as Jordan divided Manasseh in Palestine.]

Note #12: It is not true of the ancient nations, that a “fair-skinned and blue-eyed” ruling class ruled over lower classes of an alien race. This is not the normal progression of the nation. Rather, as an ancient nation waxed strong and became an empire, conquered alien peoples were eventually freed, given citizenship, and gained an equal status with the lower classes of the nation’s original citizens. This happened in America after the Civil War. Eventually, these former slaves would increase in stature – and this is what is seen in late Roman art such as that of Pompeii, and also in Egypt. This has been happening in America since perhaps the mid-1950’s. Nations rely upon ethnic nationalism for survival. Empires consider ethnic nationalism anathema. The process evident in America is the same process which happened in all former White nations–turned–empires, to varying degrees. W.R.F.