[Revelation 9]

All things God made are good. Creation is a wonder to be studied and appreciated every day. We, the children of Adam, have never stopped naming and labeling the wonders God made for us to sustain our life and enjoy. Our process of naming and categorizing is what we call science and it is a source of awe and inspiration to any child of God, confirming the splendour of creation. 

Nature is an amazing and inexhaustible source of life and stimulation. Japanese researchers have established that just a 15 minute daily walk amongst trees, could reduce tiredness and improve mental health significantly.

In the previous chapters we have come under the impression of nature’s participation in the judgment of sin. Nature is fully synced with God and His plan and “waits” for the revelation of His fullness in renewing the earth.

For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. (Romans 8:19)

The last three trumpets are introduced by the phrase: I looked and I heard – the eagle that John sees. (8:13)

The wicked is directly impacted by the last three trumpets.  It is because they did not repent in the first four judgements. There is a spiritual heightening in the last three trumpets – direct involvement of demons.  It is punishment for breaking God’s ethical and covenantal patterns for the good of all people.

God compares himself to an eagle of protection in Exodus 19:4.  The goal of the eagle is clear: to bring people to God.

You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to Myself.

It is the same with the three woes announced by the eagle at the end of Chapter 8.

Then the fifth angel sounded: And I saw a star fallen from heaven to the earth. To him was given the key to the bottomless pit. ² And he opened the bottomless pit, and smoke arose out of the pit like the smoke of a great furnace. So the sun and the air were darkened because of the smoke of the pit. ³ Then out of the smoke locusts came upon the earth. And to them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power. ⁴ They were commanded not to harm the grass of the earth, or any green thing, or any tree, but only those men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. ⁵ And they were not given authority to kill them, but to torment them for five months. Their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it strikes a man. ⁶ In those days men will seek death and will not find it; they will desire to die, and death will flee from them.

⁷ The shape of the locusts was like horses prepared for battle. On their heads were crowns of something like gold, and their faces were like the faces of men. ⁸ They had hair like women’s hair, and their teeth were like lions’ teeth. ⁹ And they had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the sound of their wings was like the sound of chariots with many horses running into battle. ¹⁰ They had tails like scorpions, and there were stings in their tails. Their power was to hurt men five months. ¹¹ And they had as king over them the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, but in Greek he has the name Apollyon.

¹² One woe is past. Behold, still two more woes are coming after these things.

The fifth trumpet is sounded in the heavens with awful intensity. It is announcing something beyond nature – the demonic. The abyss, bottomless pit (reservoir of evil) is opened to release superhuman terror. 

In the ancient world, stars were regarded as living beings, celestial and divine in nature, but here they are described as evil. The fallen angel is Lucifer, known as the morning star and the leader of worship in heaven.  He is judged with the people he leads. (Isaiah 14:12-15)

He is given the key – Christ has the key to authority over the pit and can give it for the purposes of judgment. (20:1-3)  The Lamb had control over satan’s realm.  The saints should be aware of this. The abyss can attack, but in Christ we have the authority over the abyss. There is a grand plan and purpose with everything.

The abyss was regarded as the intermediate place of punishment for fallen angels, false prophets, satan, all demons and the beast – all things evil. (Revelation 9:1,2,11,11:7, 20:1, 20:3). The final place of punishment is the lake of burning fire and brimstone (Revelation 20:10,20:14-15). The abyss was part of the creation story. It was seen as the primeval waters mentioned in Genesis 1:6-7. 

It is the abode of God’s enemies. (Amos 9:3, Isaiah 51:9, Psalm 74:13) The prisoners in the pit are the disobedient hosts of heaven. (Isaiah 24:21,22) It is a place of horror and separation from God and therefore chaotic. 

Smoke depicts deception. The Sun (of righteousness) is darkened by deception – the act of propagating beliefs in things that are not true, or not the whole truth. It is a concept that presents itself as truth. The sun of truth that should bring light is darkened by the smoke from the pit. The atmosphere is changed into oppression and depression. It is when the “Sun of Righteousness” shines “with healing in His wings” that we are saved from deception. (Malachi 4:2)

Joel 2:10,31; 3:15 – the darkening of the sun is a sign of judgment.  (Isaiah 13:10)

Judgment formerly limited to the demonic realm is extended to the earthly realm.  The judgement is widening. (12:7-12;13:3-8;16:10;17:8)

Darkness in the NT is a symbol of spiritual blindness. 

(Luke 11:36; John 1:5;3:19-21; 8:12; 11:10; 12:35-36; Romans 13:12; 2 Corinthians 4:4; 1 Peter 2:9; 1 John 1:5)

Clear and wise vision is needed to expose deception. Through smoke one cannot see clearly. Vision and breathing are impaired. The revelation of Jesus is truth and the breath of God is the Holy Spirit. 

This is the core message of Revelation: Jesus as the king of heaven and of our hearts and the revelation of truth and clean air to breathe by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit changes the atmosphere in which we live, regardless of our circumstances.

The invasion of locusts is a symbol of destruction and described in Joel 1 and 2. Locusts bring starvations and destruction. Nothing escapes the utter devastation of locusts on the march. 

Power was given – God has full command over the plagues, just like the plagues of Egypt. 

The commentators agree that according to the natural characteristics of locusts Joel and Revelation are not exaggerating. The devastation they cause is beyond belief. All grass, bark of trees and every living thing are stripped away. Locust has the head of a horse, illustrated by their German (Heupferd) and Italian (cavaletta) names. In Hebrew they had five names:

• gazam – shearer – destroys vegetation
• arbeh – swarmer – immensity of the numbers
• caal’am – swallower or annihilator
• hargol – galloper – speed
• tslatsal – creaker – sound

They are loosed to attack men without the seal of God on their foreheads, not the vegetationof the earth. 

The terrors are not literal; demonic torment is being described. Demonic locusts have the power of scorpions added. They hurt with extreme pain, but cannot kill. Death will be seen as escape, but not available. 

God alone has power over death and life.  The sealed have protection from the fifth trumpet. They have confidence in their destiny and cannot be tormented by threats of death – thus do not suffer spiritually or psychologically.  Deuteronomy 28: 61 – also madness, blindness and confusion of heart  – the curses of disobedience. (28:28)

When we look around us the torment of the demonic in our society is vicious and merciless. Often death looks like the only way to escape the pain.

Five months are the life span of locusts. It is only a limited time of destruction allowed. They are being described as something coming from a sci-fi movie. John is struggling to describe what he sees.  Key words:  like and as it were. His description is an exaggeration of their physiology.  (Joel 2:4-7 – compares locusts to horses and men prepared for battle.

They resembled:

• horses equipped for battle – ready for a fight
• golden crowns – wealth and luxury
• hair like women – the adulteress luring the church into sin somewhat attractive like all evil. Harlots of ancient times showed hair to attract. Married women had to cover their hair to show commitment and fidelity to one man.
• tail – to sting and hurt with agony and distress. A scorpion is the symbol of excruciating pain – Luke 10:19.
• king whom is called in Hebrew Abaddon (destruction), and in Greek Apollyon (destroyer-king) linked to Sheol (Job 26:6; 28:22; Psalms 88:11; Proverbs 15:11; 27:20)
• Teeth like teeth of lions – Joel 1:6
• Breastplates like iron – (Job 39:19-20; Joel 2:4-5 – wings sound like many chariots)

In the anguish of sin the people will wish for death, but cannot die. (Job 3:21, Jeremiah 8:3)

The horror mounts in 9:13-21. Demonic torment is not to destroy but to lead to repentance. It is only in the deepest darkness and pain that some will turn and acknowledge the power of salvation and redemption.

The locusts destroy and torment but cannot kill. In Luke 10:19 Christ gives us power over all.  Torment is confusion, despair, and death wish. 

Listen carefully: I have given you authority [that you now possess] to tread on serpents and scorpions, and [the ability to exercise authority] over all the power of the enemy (Satan); and nothing will [in any way] harm you. [Amplified]

Serpents and scorpions are symbols of demonic activity. That is what we are seeing around us in the world today – this present age. It is as Paul says:

You were following the ways of this world [influenced by this present age], in accordance with the prince of the power of the air (Satan), the [the unbelieving, who fight against the purposes of God]. (Ephesians 2:2, Amplified)

First woe is past – it refers to the visions and not the events. Verse 12

¹³ Then the sixth angel sounded: And I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God, ¹⁴ saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.” ¹⁵ So the four angels, who had been prepared for the hour and day and month and year, were released to kill a third of mankind. ¹⁶ Now the number of the army of the horsemen was two hundred million; I heard the number of them. ¹⁷ And thus I saw the horses in the vision: those who sat on them had breastplates of fiery red, hyacinth blue, and sulfur yellow; and the heads of the horses were like the heads of lions; and out of their mouths came fire, smoke, and brimstone. ¹⁸ By these three plagues a third of mankind was killed—by the fire and the smoke and the brimstone which came out of their mouths. ¹⁹ For their power is in their mouth and in their tails; for their tails are like serpents, having heads; and with them they do harm.

²⁰ But the rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, that they should not worship demons, and idols of gold, silver, brass, stone, and wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk. ²¹ And they did not repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts.

The voice from the four horns of the golden altar depicts divine displeasure. It echoes the sound of the cry for justice of the martyrs – (6:10) and indicates that that the sins of men must have been very great, when the altar, which was their sanctuary and protection, called aloud for vengeance. (Benson Commentary)

Revenge involves a harmful act for personal satisfaction without regard for justice. Avenge is to take retribution or punishment on behalf of someone or for a cause, implying a more righteous or just act. Vindication means to clear someone of blame or suspicion, proving they were innocent or correct. 

It is for vindication that the martyrs are calling.

The number four stands for completeness over all the earth and horns stand for power.

The four angels bound at Euphrates could be the four sultans living east of the former Roman Empire around the eleventh century. The Euphrates river was the border of Israel and later the Roman Empire with the rest of Asia. The angels might be from the distant lands outside Israel. (Countries have angels – Daniel 10:13).

Bound implies they have been restrained.  Trouble always came from the North in the vicinity of the Euphrates.  The Assyrian as well as the Babylonian powers that took first Israel and then Judah into exile, attacked from there – a symbol of attack.

The most dreaded warriors in the world were the Parthian cavalry who lived on the other side of the Euphrates. They were extremely effective soldiers for killing. Jews were familiar with the concept of angels carrying out punishment.

A third of mankind depicts a limit to the destruction – a significant minority. 

Looking back in history, the fall of the Turkish Empire, ruled by sultans, following the Roman Empire, comfortably fits into this description of the sixth trumpet. Their rule was “bound” by the river. They never extended into Israel or Europe because of the strong rule of the church in Europe and the crusades into Jerusalem, but established a false religion in the east. 

As quoted from Matthew Henry’s Commentary:

The sixth angel sounded, and here the power of the Turks seems the subject. Their time is limited. They not only slew in war, but brought a poisonous and ruinous religion. The antichristian generation repented not under these dreadful judgments. From this sixth trumpet learn that God can make one enemy of the church a scourge and a plague to another. The idolatry in the remains of the eastern church and elsewhere, and the sins of professed Christians, render this prophecy and its fulfilment more wonderful. And the attentive reader of Scripture and history, may find his faith and hope strengthened by events, which in other respects fill his heart with anguish and his eyes with tears, while he sees that men who escape these plagues, repent not of their evil works, but go on with idolatries, wickedness, and cruelty, till wrath comes upon them to the utmost. (Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary – my emphasis)

Benson’s Commentary meticulously follows the years of the conquests to underline the detail of this prophecy in the history of the Turks and the Greeks. 

From their mouths – fire, smoke and brimstone – fatal judgement. (Genesis 19:24; Deuteronomy 29:23; 2 Samuel 22:9; Isaiah 34:9-10;  Ezekiel 38:22)

Fire from the mouths of the two witnesses in 11:5.  Fire is symbolic of the Holy Spirit.  We make war against evil with the testimony of the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives.  Our sanctified lives are a judgment on the unbeliever.

The more important theme here is that evil is under restraint – the concept of limitation. The presence of the church contains evil. 

Jesus gave us authority over evil as quoted above from Luke 10:17-19.  We keep the destruction at bay and with our armour in Christ bring down the principalities and powers of darkness. This is our true calling.

In the OT and Jewish writings scorpions and serpents were metaphorical images for false teaching.  Some would like to read the instruments of modern warfare into these passages.  Deception and spiritual darkness are more destructive than modern warfare and bloodshed.

The number of the cavalry is depicted as something beyond counting – twice ten thousand times ten thousand, which calculates as two hundred million – a symbolic interpretation as an overwhelming force would be more helpful.

The chariots of God are myriads, thousands upon thousands;

The Lord is among them as He was at Sinai, in holiness.  (Psalm 68:17)

They were armoured in the colours of flames; fire and brimstone coming out of their mouths always a symbol of evil and destruction. The horses have heads like lions and tails like serpents. Serpent-tails bring hurt and harm = spiritual torment.  Power in their mouths – demonic deception.  False teaching that gains legitimacy.  Deception leads to idolatry. (Isaiah 6:10-12; 29:9-14; 63:17; Psalms 115:8; 135:18; Romans 1:18-32; 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12)

The piling up of metaphors not completely consistent is not for the purpose of portraying a nicely systematic or logical picture but to bring an emphasis. [GK Beale]

The revelation of evil serves to clear the way for repentance. Harm and hurt must be brought to the Healer. His Grace is always available, even for last minute repentance and desperate pleas for mercy.

So often God is blamed for all the bad things in the world, without any personal knowledge of Him or turning to Him. The wickedness of idolatry is so deep and deceptive that idolaters refuse to repent in spite of the overwhelming evidence of God’s displeasure with them. (Psalm 115:8; 135:18). 

The unfortunate effect of sorrow and distress is in some people the hardening of their hearts.

The last verses of this chapter sound like a lament from heaven, mourning the unbelief of the people, while stating the facts of worship to the demons and idols of gold, silver and bronze that cannot see, hear or walk and the sins of murders, sorcery (drugs and intoxication), sexual immorality and robbery – a typical list of idolatrous practices.  This list closely echoes Daniel 5:4,23 but see also: Psalms 115:4-7; 135:15-17; Deuteronomy 4:28.

There will always be those who do not repent.  There will however be those who do and those who renew their faith after backsliding.  For those the Kingdom stand strong and welcoming to teach and strengthen. Jesus warned the compromising church and gave the remedy.  Throughout history the Church was purified and strengthened, invited to repent of dead works and come back to the Fold.

I thank God for the details of the vision that help me to understand the overwhelming evil in the world today and the consequences of destruction and disease. 

What a privilege to live in the realm of the Kingdom on earth, to know that there is a better life where my value as a person is not determined by my participation in a life of destruction. 

We, as children of God, live in the shadow and protection of our almighty Father and stand against the devastation.

Let us sing the ancient Song of Moses: (Exodus 15)

“I will sing to the Lord, for He has triumphed gloriously;

The horse and its rider He has thrown into the sea.

“The Lord is my strength and my song,

And He has become my salvation;

This is my God, and I will praise Him;

My father’s God, and I will exalt Him.

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