Holy Holy Holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come (Revelations 4:2-8)

Today, I tried to draw the Throne of Heaven from Revelations 4:2-8.

It is a very complex image with fanciful creatures.

At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it. ³ And the one who sat there had the appearance of jasper and ruby. A rainbow that shone like an emerald encircled the throne. ⁴ Surrounding the throne were twenty-four other thrones, and seated on them were twenty-four elders.They were dressed in white and had crowns of gold on their heads. ⁵ From the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder. In front of the throne, seven lamps were blazing. These are the seven spirits^[a] of God. ⁶ Also in front of the throne there was what looked like a sea of glass, clear as crystal.

In the center, around the throne, were four living creatures, and they were covered with eyes, in front and in back. ⁷ The first living creature was like a lion, the second was like an ox, the third had a face like a man, the fourth was like a flying eagle. ⁸ Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under its wings. Day and night they never stop saying:

“‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty,who was, and is, and is to come.”

Prelude to the Flood (Genesis 6:1-12)

People have spread out from the Garden of Eden and multiplied.  The result of which displeases God.  Here is what happened:

* Total wickedness
People are wicked and every inclination of their thoughts is for evil.  (v. 5).  It is hard to imagine what the Bible means by such a statement.  We get a few details later on, but I think the only fair contrast is Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis 19.  There, we find two cities where visitors are almost raped.  We can assume that this, or possibly worse, occurred in the world, but on a global level.


* The Nephilim
The text states that sons of God intermarry with the daughters of men.  (v. 1-2).  This seems to create a race of people known as the Nephilim.  (v. 4)

Who were these people?  Most commentators I found believe that this was an angelic-human hybrid race.

We encounter them again in Numbers 13:33.  There, we learn they are giants that inhabit Canaan prior to the conquest of Joshua.

We can infer some things about them based on God's reaction to them.  First, they seem to be an attempt by humanity to reach immortality.  This I infer from Genesis 6:3, where God decides to limit the human lifespan to 120 years in the midst of discussing a hybrid human race.  So, perhaps copulation with an angel was one way to achieve immortal offspring, although it displeases God.

At this point, the echoes of the Greek myths where humans and gods copulated frequently.  It is also should remind of us the circumstances behind the birth of Christ.  If we take the Virgin Birth of Christ seriously, then perhaps we should not be surprised that angels and humans are having children.  We should understand as fallen angels, I.e., demons.

This also echoes a few other things we find in the early accounts of Genesis.  In that, it is the attempt by humanity to become like gods.  Being "like God" is what the serpent tempted Eve.  (3:4).  Looking ahead to the Tower of Babel, one of the stated reasons for its construction was to "reach the heavens".  (11:4).

Second, the existence of Nephilim is something that should be destroyed.  It displeases God in Genesis 6 and in Numbers 13, it is a condition that precedes the conquest.  God authorizes total war and annihilation of the inhabitants of Canaan.  Thus, the presence of the Nephilim is again associated with oncoming destruction by God.

Putting this together, it makes an interesting contrast to the other views offered by ancient near east mythology.  Here, the Bible assumes the existence of the ancient heroes and calls them the Nephilim.  But the God of the Bible is not happy with them and their existence is a prelude to the destruction, either of the earth or Canaan.  The Bible is saying that God is not with them, they are not gods like "God", and God can destroy them.


* Violence and corruption
The earth is corrupt and full of violence because mankind corrupted itself (vv. 5,11-12).  The corruption of man is so bad, that it has corrupted nature.  One wonders what exactly this means.  Perhaps, animals attacked humans on a level worse than today.  Or, perhaps there were more violent diseases.



The Effect
God's heart is filled with pain and he regrets creating mankind.  God plans to wipe out humanity, all but one man and his family.

The beginning of Genesis 6 sounds both harsh and strange.  It is harsh because God wants to destroy the world.  But it is strange because the earth seems to be filled with angelic-human hybrids and nature itself is corrupted.

It is time for a new beginning.

The Fall of Man (Genesis 3)

Man is told to "subdue" the earth back in Genesis 1:28.  Yet, the earth seems to be a peaceful paradise.  Plants produce food, wild animals come up to the man to be named, and water springs out of the ground.

What is there for man to subdue?

Here in Genesis 3, a crafty serpent appears on the scene.  We know the story.  The serpent convinces Eve to eat the fruit of the bad tree and she gives it to her husband, who eats it as well.

This serpent clearly needs to be subdued.  It is lying directly to Adam and Eve about God.

In the first recorded encounter between people and this serpent, the serpent deceives both man and woman.  So, they neither subdue the serpent, but rather listen to it to disobey God.

The result of this is that the serpent is cursed, the woman is cursed, and the man is cursed.  We also see curse on nature emerge from these curses.

The serpent's curse
In the serpent's curse, he must crawl on its belly.  (v. 14).  Further, enmity is placed between the serpent and the woman's offspring.  If we understand this serpent is what man was to "subdue", then enmity was already between man and the serpent.  What could be going on?

Here is my theory.  It is commonly understood that the serpent represents the devil.  But I think this also represents a curse on nature.  Because the devil took the form of a serpent, in whatever form that is, biological snakes (I.e. reptiles) feel the result of this curse.  The result is that many people fear snakes or even reptiles in general.

The woman's curse
She is to bear children through pain and her husband will rule over her.  It is a mistake to say this imbalance in gender relations is what God intended.  Likewise, no one would think that painful child birth is something that God intended.  Rather, both are consequences of the events of Genesis 3.  If we use the analogy of hard work in the field for food (v. 19), then we should view this imbalance in gender relations as something we should work against.

The man's curse
The ground is cursed and he must work hard for food.  He still must eat, but it will be through painful toil.  Here, we see another curse on nature.  The paradise of the Garden of Eden is unraveled and he must fight with nature for his own survival.

The Aftermath
God kicks Adam and Eve out of the Garden.  God upgrades their fig leaf clothing with an animal skin.  We do not know if God killed an animal, or produced an animal skin from nothing.  But in this event, we see that the gentle companion relationship between animals and man from Genesis 2 is offset.  Now, humanity will view animals as a resource to exploit.

God sends an angel with a flaming sword to guard the way to the Tree of Life, lest man eat it and live forever.  This is the first time we learn of what the effect of eating the Tree of Life would have been - immortality.  It also indicates that man was intended to be immortal.


Nature's curse
Just to summarize, but several portions of text indicate that the balance between man and nature is forever upset.
* enmity between snakes and people
* the soil will produce thorns, it will fight man
* man will kill and exploit animals

Changes in humanity
* painful childbirth
* imbalanced gender relations
* knows good and evil (I.e., he is now capable of doing evil things)
* mortality
* wear clothing (out of shame, but once out of the Garden of Eden, people will get cold)


Unraveling the Fall by Jesus
We are most familiar with the concept of Jesus removing the taint of sin originally caused by Adam and Eve eating the fruit.  But there are some other specific things that Jesus does to unravel some of these things.

Victory over death
* resurrection of Lazarus (John 11:38-44)
* the promise in Jesus is everlasting life (John 3:16)
Restoring harmony between man and nature
* Providing food - feeding the 5,000 (Matthew 14:13-21) and 4,000 (Matthew 15:29-39)
* Jesus is the bread and water of life (John 4:10 and 6:35)
* Calming the storm (Luke 8:22-25)

Restoring gender balance
* teaching man should not abandon his wife for (Matthew 19:1-12)

Undoing our mortality and health problems
* healing many people

Knowledge of Good and Evil
* a new heart and a new spirit to people (Ezekiel 36:26)
* fruits of the spirit, drowns out evil (Galatians 5:22-23)
* nations will not train for war anymore (Isaiah 2:4)

The Epistle of Jude

The author identifies himself as "Jude, brother of James".  (v. 1).

Who are these people?

In the list of the apostles in Acts 1:13, there is a "Judas", but he is the "son of James.". From the list of Jesus' half-brothers, both James and Judas appears.  (Mark 6:3).  Based on this, we can infer that this means he is a half-brother of Jesus.

Interestingly, in the Epistle of James, the other half-brother of Jesus who writes in the New Testament does not identify himself as the half-brother of Jesus.  (contrast James 1:1)  Both James and Jude downplay that they were all raised together as brothers with Jesus.

I draw out two main principles from this very short book.

First, Jude is concerned about false teachers intermingling among the flock.  Specifically, these false teachers are (1) denying that Jesus is the one and only Sovereign Lord and (2) state that grace is a license for immorality.

Second, these people will be punished.

The Epistle of Jude contains some random and unexpected anecdotes.

First, in verses 14-15, it cites a non-canonical book, the Book of Enoch.  Why?  Who knows, it is strange.  Jesus cited a non-canonical book as well, the Wisdom of Solomon.

It also states that the archangel Michael disputed with the devil about what to do with Moses' body.  In Deuteronomy 34:6, it states that God buried Moses at a place where no Israelites knew.  Here in Jude, we find that the devil had other ideas.  Considering that the Israelites ended up worshiping the bronze snake that Moses had them make, they probably would have worshipped Moses' body.

Lastly, Jude says that we should be merciful to those who doubt.  (v.  22).   So, what is the difference between a person who doubts and a "false teacher"?  On one level, the difference is active teaching versus passive disagreeing.  But really, I don't think there really is an effective difference.  Either way, we should be merciful to them.


My prior text of August 2, 2011
Hey Jude

My reaction to the book of Jude:

The book seems to come of nowhere. I don't think Jude wrote any other books, plus this is one of the shortest at only 1 chapter. Yet, it is short and intense, dealing with eschatology and the ultimate victory of God over evil. It almost seems likes its primary focus is provide a prelude and segue from the rest of the Epistles to Revelations.

Test the spirits (I John 4: 1-6)

The chapter gives advice on the discernment of spirits.  It provides a simple a test - ask the spirit if Jesus Christ came from God in the flesh.  A spirit that denies it is not from God, whereas a spirit that acknowledges it is from God.

A spirit that denies is the "Antichrist".  Here, we have a definition of the loaded term.

Verses 4-6 provide another test to determine truth from falsehood.  This is to acknowledge the authority of the Apostles.  For us in the modern setting, it would be to recognize their written record that they left behind, in other words, the New Testament.

One thing that comes to mind in this is that even the Muslims believe that Jesus was a prophet.  Thus, they believe Jesus came from God.  They do not however believe that Jesus was the Son of God.  Can this be reconciled with I John 4?  After all, the spirit test in I John 4 makes no mention of whether Jesus was the Son of God, but rather that Jesus was sent by God.

I think this perspective would remove the test from the context.  For starters, a few verses down (v. 9) shows the author believes that Jesus was the Son of God and that God sent him.  Plus, much of what the apostles stated elsewhere is that Jesus was the Son of God.

Based on this, we could read into the spirit test that not only Jesus was from God, but that Jesus was God's son.

The King of Angels, part 2 (Hebrews 2)

What's all this angel talk? (vv. 1-4)
The second chapter of Hebrews begins with a warning against drifting away.  The example that Paul gives might provide some clarification about the reason for why Paul is writing and why Paul  discusses angels at length in chapter 1.

Paul discusses how the words of angels are not binding.  In particular, it seems that the angels said that "every violation and disobedience received its just punishment (v. 2).  Paul follows by discussing salvation through Jesus, which was announced by Jesus, and testified by the witnesses, miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit.

We can reasonably infer that people were receiving messages from "angels" that were contrary to the Gospel that Jesus preached.  Paul's response, at least here, does not distinguish between good and bad angels, but rather to state that Jesus was superior to all angels, so stick with Jesus said.

This might be somewhat reminiscent of Colossians 2:18, where he warns against worshipping angels.  But here, I think the focus is on countering the message that angels preached, or people believed that angels preached to them.

We actually do not know the details of the exact situation in either case, but given Paul's response, I think these are reasonable inferences.

On a side note, Paul states that signs, wonders, miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit testify to the reality of Christ (v. 4).  We can, and should, pursue supernatural encounters with God to increase our faith.  This contrasts verse 3 where the testimonies came from those who saw Christ in person.

Jesus became a man (vv. 5-18)
In the remaining verses of the chapter, Paul discusses how Jesus became "lower than angels", at least temporarily, so that he might be crowned with glory.  This refers to him becoming a man to share in our humanity to release us from the fear of death.  (v. 15).

The only thing I would add here is that these chapters show, for lack of a better term, God's hierarchy.  That is:

1.  Jesus (much superior to the angels, 1:4)

2.  Angels (ministering servants sent to serve those who will inherit salvation, 1:14)

3.  Humanity (a little lower than angels, 2:9; note, it does NOT say that angels rule humanity if anything 1:14 states that angels serve humanity)

4.  Rest of nature (ruled by humans, Genesis 1:28-30)

The king of angels (Hebrews 1)

The beginning of Hebrews focuses on the superiority of Jesus.  Hebrews 1 emphasizes the superiority of Jesus to the other angels, but also makes an inference that Jesus is superior to the prophets of the Old Testament.

About Jesus, this is what Paul says:

1.  He has spoken to us in these last days (1:2)
At this point, it has been several decades since the Resurrection of Christ, but Paul states that Jesus is still talking to "us".

Does "us" mean Paul is referring to the Apostles?  Possibly.  But Paul is usually alone among the Apostles.

The immediate "us", I.e., the letter writers.  Timothy is the only other person mention in the concluding remarks, but it is does not indicate he is a writer (13:23).

Does "us" mean the recipient to whom Paul is writing the epistle of the Hebrews?  I take this approach and this would mean that Jesus was talking to the church in general, but I also believe that Jesus talks to the church today.

2.  He is the heir of all things (1:2)
I do not have much to add about this, but it is interesting.

3.  Through whom, God made the universe (1:2)
This is reminiscent of John 1:1 where it states that Jesus was integral of the Creation week from Genesis 1.

4.  He is the radiance of God's glory (1:3)
There is a lot here in terms of God demonstrating his glory through Jesus.

5.  Exact representation of his being (1:3)
In other words, Jesus was God on earth.  The same God of the Old Testament walked among us and the reaction of many of the people of the day was to reject Jesus.

6.  He provided purification of sins (1:3)

7.  He sat down at the right hand of God and became superior to the angels (1:3-4)
Finally, here it is.  Jesus is superior to angels.  It is interesting that this comes immediately after the purification of the sins.  This seems to indicate that the purification of sins made Jesus superior to angels.  This reminds me Revelations 5:3-10, where the only one in heaven worthy enough to open the scrolls is the slain lamb.  The reason the slain lamb is found worthy is because the lamb was slain to purchase men for God.


Praises concerning Jesus and angels (1:5-13)

The rest of Hebrews 1 focuses on applying psalms to Jesus and angels.  They seem to indicate the relationship between them.  Paul provides a contextual narrative to lead us.

A couple things stand out to me.

Paul cites several Psalms to say that God calls Jesus "God" and "Lord" (vv. 8, 10).

In verse 7, Jesus makes the angels winds and his servants flames of fire.  I do not think this means that angels are turned into wind or the servants are turned into fire.  Rather, it seems to indicate that these are a supportive role.  In other words, Jesus helps the angels and servants by providing wind and fire.

At the end of the chapter, Paul asks if all angels are ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation.  The question seems rhetorical and we can probably believe it is a statement to mean that yes, angels serve the church.  For after all, Jesus is the king of angels and Jesus purchased the salvation of humanity.  Although asked as a question, we can infer the angels serve the church since they serve Jesus.

The Colossus of Epistles (Colossians 1-2)

A giant statute, the Colossus of Rhodes, once stood at the port of Rhodes.  This giant statute became the inspiration for the Statue of Liberty in New York harbor.

This is not the same thing as Colosse or Paul's epistle to the church of Colosse.  However, there is an analogy.  

Colossians is, in my humble opinion, an overlooked book that explains the Christian faith in very simple and concrete terms.  It does not go into the detail that we find in Romans or 1 Corinthians, but stands as a precise summary of many essentials expounded on elsewhere.  It is a tiny book that casts a very large shadow, like a Colossus.

Paul did not establish the church at Colosse.  Rather, they heard the gospel from Epaphras (1:7) who reported to Paul (1:8).  For this, Paul prays continuously for the church of Colosse (1:9).  

A question to ponder - how often do we pray for other churches or Christians that we have never met?  Paul does not say we should, but he did "continuously".

Much of the first two chapters are about the supremacy of Christ.  I find the language beautiful.  Here is what stands out to me:

The Kingdom of the Son (1:13)

God rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us to the Kingdom of the Son. The Bible discusses a lot about the Kingdom of Heaven.  Christ's statements in the Gospels about it in Gospels tended to be strange.  In fact, they obfuscated the crowd of original hearers to the point they thought Jesus referred to a political kingdom.  

This verse does not address all the implications and characteristics of a Kingdom of Heaven.  But it does address a few.

First, we are in it.  The statement is a present-state description.  This fits the analogy I have heard that the world is "pregnant" with the Kingdom of Heaven.  It is here, but not yet fully come.

Second, it stands opposed to the "dominion of darkness".  There are two kingdoms, darkness and "of the Son".  To me, I think of heaven and hell clashing on the earth.

"He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all Creation (1:15)

The language of this is amazing.  How can something that is invisible cast an image?  God found a way.  That way is Christ.

That said, the text sparks to mind the creation of man in which man was made in the image of God.  (Genesis 1:26).  However, the author of Genesis did not specify that God is actually "invisible", whereas Paul does.  Paul further elaborates that Christ was the beginning of Creation and that Christ implemented Creation.

I don't want to read more into the text than is there.  But at the very least, Paul explains Christ role at the beginning of time in a similar way that John 1 expounds on "in the beginning".  

Paul struggles for the church of Laodicea (2:1)

In the context, Laodicea seems to be another church that Paul has not visited, but has a great interest in.  Paul does not explain what he means by his struggles for it.  It seems to me that he might want to write a letter to them.  If so, that letter is likely lost to history.  

However, the book of Revelations is a letter to Laodicea and six other churches.  From Revelation 3:14-22, we know the problem with the church at Laodicea is that it is "lukewarm".  This may be what Paul is referring to.  Granted, the situation in Laodicea may have changed because Revelations may have been written several decades after Paul died.  In short, we will never know precisely what Paul is referring, but yet again, Paul is concerned about churches and Christians he never met.

Problems with the church of Colosse

We can reasonably infer the problems with the church of Colosse relate to the advice that Paul gives them.  From this, we can gather the church had the following problems.

1.  Circumcision

Many other epistles deal with this, indicating it was a widespread problem that Christians thought they needed to be circumcised. Colossians is no different.  Paul goes further than other epistles and states we were "circumcised in Christ", implicitly by our faith in Christ.  

What is interesting about the statement is that it could apply equally to women, since it is a spiritual circumcision and irrelevant to anatomical differences.

A question to ponder - why is circumcision still so popular today among Christians?  In fact, I remember meeting a Christian who said he was circumcised as an adult.

Paul then goes very, very far.  He says the "written code" was cancelled and taken away by Christ and nailed on the cross.  (2:13-14) 

I grew up in a church that overlooked that statement, so this rings deep personally.  

It also clarifies the nebulous statement Jesus made in the Sermon on the Mount, that not one jot or tittle of the Law will be taken away.  (Matthew 5:17-18). Here, Paul explains what it means that Christ fulfilled the law, but yet it still exists.  

2.  Dietary laws, Festivals, Sabbath Days (2:16-17)

Paul gives the advice that no one should judge them with regard to what they eat, the festivals they keep, or of Sabbath days.  The reason is that these were a shadow of Christ.

I have kept track and this is the strongest statement in the New Testament about the freedom of keeping the Sabbath or festivals.  It is also a bold statement about the dietary laws, but I think it is on par with regard to Peter's vision when he visited Cornelius in Acts 10-11.

What it does now say?  It does not say we should never take a Sabbath or celebrate a festival for God.  Rather, it gives freedom to personalize them among cultural traditions or even individuals.  Likewise, it gives freedom to determine what exactly is a "Sabbath" rest to people.  

For instance, why drop the Jewish holy festivals that God gave to Moses in favor of Christmas?  This gives us the freedom to do so.  

The inverse is also true, that people are free to drop Christmas in favor of the holy festivals that God gave to Moses.  

3.  Worship of Angels (2:18-19)

It seems to come out of nowhere, but people are worshipping angels based on angelic encounters they had.  The people go into long detail about their encounters.  The same people have no actual connection to Christ, which would explain why they are worshipping angels and not God.

Personally, I think a lot of other religions and folk beliefs of the world can be attributed to someone interacting with some sort of "angel", quite possibly a fallen angel.  That kind of stuff has happened all throughout history and will continue to do so.

Angels exist, they interact with us, and they interacted with tons of people in the Bible.  Many of the people in the Bible explained in detail what the angel did, so that is not the problem that Paul wants to address.

I think Paul's point is that regardless of angel and angelic encounters, worship belongs to Christ, and Christ alone. 

1,000 years, resurrections, and the lake of fire (Revelations 20)

This chapter is strange.

Satan is bound in the Abyss for 1,000 years.  Then, he is freed and gathers an army.  Fire from the sky falls and consumes them all.  They then are thrown in the same lake that the beast and false prophet went into.

A central question is what to make of these 1,000 years.  Is that before or after the return of Christ?  Christ "returns" several times throughout Revelations, making a chronological sequence based on the order we find in the Revelations itself impossible.  

I think there are generally two accepted, but vastly different ideas of the Millennium.  

Literal (pre-Millennialist)  - the return of Christ will usher in a Millennium of peace accompanied by these various resurrections and judgments of people.  However, the text seems to suggest that the return of Christ will be after the Millennium.

Metaphorical - the Millennium stands as a metaphor, like much of the rest of what Revelations discusses.  One possible extrapolation is that the Millennium is the reign of the church in between Christ's victory on the cross and the ultimate return.  The binding of Satan in the abyss could also be a gradual process as the church and Kingdom of God expand across the earth until the ultimate return of Christ.

Finally, the chapter does speak of resurrections of the dead, when people receive whole bodies before final judgment.  

It distinguishes them into two groups, the first resurrection and the second.  (20:4-5).  One is before the start of the thousand years, the second after.

Christ's victory (Revelations 19)

Expounding the victory of Christ actually begins in Chapter 18 with the fall of Babylon.

The first part of Chapter 19 continues this theme with praise for the destruction of Babylon.

The Chapter then transitions to the man on the White Horse.  Verses 11-16 identify this individual as Christ, who has now become a composite of two images we saw before.  Earlier, we saw a White Horseman who was only described as a Conqueror, in contrast to three other Horsemen who caused death of people.  (6:1-2).  We also saw Christ ablaze with a sword in his mouth.  (1:16).  Here in 19:11,15, we have a composite of the two images as White Horseman has a sword coming from his mouth.

Using Revelations to interpret itself, this is why I think the earlier White Horseman from the first seal opening represents Christ.

What does this White Horseman do in Chapter 19?  His sword kills everyone who is aligned with the beast and the false prophet.  However, the beast and false prophet are captured and thrown into a fiery lake.  The text does not precisely specify who does this action since it is in the passive tense.  We can contextually infer that is the White Horseman that does this.

Finally, birds gorge on the flesh of everyone who has died.

Yikes.  I am not entirely sure what to make of the bird imagery. 

Babylon is destroyed (Revelations 17-18)

An angel comes and celebrates that Babylon is destroyed.  Another voice calls from heaven for the people to come out of Babylon.

This is a strange analogy.  I am not entirely sure what is going on here.

Taken literally, the destruction of Babylon happened centuries before the life of Christ.  Likewise, the return from the exile of Babylon happened centuries.

However, Revelations 17:5 links Babylon with the great beast emerging from the sea.  So, we can contextually infer that the angel is celebrating the destruction of the beast of chapter 17 and the sea beast took on a role analogous to that of Babylon.

Beyond that, I think it is hard to say what is going on without adding our own thoughts into the text.  From my own speculation, since I think the sea beast represents human governments at war with Christianity, chapter 18 celebrates a time when that will no longer happen.

Seven angels with seven plagues (Revelations 15-16)

One of the 4 angel creatures by God's throne gives to 7 angels God's wrath in 7 bowls of plagues.

These angels pour it out on the earth.  The effect of these things targets the same areas that were affected by the trumpets.

Plague 1 targets the land, just like the first trumpet. (contrast 8:7 and 16:2)

Plague 2 targets the sea, just like the second trumpet did. (contrast 8:8-9 and 16:3)

Plague 3 targets the rivers, just like the third trumpet did.  (contrast 8:10-11 and 16:4)

Plague 4 targets the sun, which was affected by fourth trumpet.  (contrast 8:12 and 16:5-6)

Plague 5 throws the beast into darkness.  This is a little different from trumpet 5, which effectively opened the Abyss and all the demons came out of it.  But maybe, the beast is being thrown back into the Abyss.  (Contrast 9:1-11 and 16:10-11)

Plague 6 targets the river Euphrates.  Trumpet 6 effectively released spirits bound at the river Euphrates.  (contrast 9:13-11 and 16:12-14)

Plague 7 is the final one and is preceded by "I come like a thief" and the effect results in a voice from heaven saying "it is done".  Trumpet 7 heralded the return of Christ.  (contrast 11:15-19 and 16:17-21)

My overall sense is these "plagues" are not directed to men so much, but the fallen angels.  These wraths by God seem to target the things that were affected by demons.  Men are dragged into the conflict and some men will not like what God is doing. 

The open little scroll (Revelations 10)

An angel descends from heaven with an open "little scroll".  This could refer to the scroll that had been sealed and is now open, but the first scroll was not identified as being "little".  

The angel speaks and seven thunders speak in return.  However, John is told not to write down what the seven thunders say.  

The angel tells John that the seventh trumpet will sound and "the mystery of God will be accomplished".  If the seventh trumpet has not sounded yet, this implies that the first six trumpets may have already sounded and we are living with the crazy angelic beings running that were loosed from the Abyss.

John then eats the scroll and he is to prophesy to all nations.  This could refer to the book of Revelations itself.  Perhaps the book of Revelations is the "little scroll" and this ritual is an angelic blessing on the book before John sends it to the seven churches.