Rev 9:1 And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall
from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit.
The star is some kind of being, perhaps an angel that has the key to the
bottomless pit. We see from this that whatever this place is, nothing can escape
from it and it takes a key opened by a person authorized to open it. It appears
that the very moment the fifth trumpet sounds an angel falls from heaven.
Sometime’s Satan’s angels are referred to as stars but I don’t understand why
they would be given any keys. All this is done by the will of God. One bible
scholar says this person could be Christ since Jesus was given the keys to
heaven and hell meaning that through Jesus one can go to one and escape the
other. I sort of lean toward the opinion that this is an angel. Since we see
that star fall, it may be that Satan himself is the one who lets his angels
loose for a season. Then again this may be the same angel that binds Satan for
1000 years later in the book of Revelation.
Rev 9:2 And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of
the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened
by reason of the smoke of the pit.
This is a place of fire we see for it produces a great amount of smoke when it
is opened, so much so that the whole sky is darkened. This reminds me of some of
the weird movies that are out. They may have gotten some of their creatures and
ideas from this book.
Rev 9:3 And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto
them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power.
Rev 9:4 And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the
earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have
not the seal of God in their foreheads.
Here is the first plague that directly attacks the people. People died from the
previous events when the trumpet judgments were taking place but this is a
direct attack on individuals who were not sealed by God.
This is another reminder that God will watch over those that are faithful to
Him. He will not allow anything that we cannot bear.
Rev 9:5 And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that
they should be tormented five months: and their torment was the torment of a
scorpion, when he striketh a man.
Men were killed in the first judgments but here their lives were to be spared
but they were to be tormented for 5 months. Perhaps this was to get them to
repent.
Rev 9:6 And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and
shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them.
Here we see that people will actually be in so much pain that they desire to
die, not realizing that death is no escape from pain. The soul does not die but
will suffer eternally in some other place. At the time this takes place they
still do not see the mercy and grace of God that saves mankind from all these
things. If they would only repent of sin and believe upon the savior that God
sent to save us from this wrath to come, they could escape. It is sort of like a
person who visits a certain part of town where there is much violence and every
time he goes, he gets beat up yet he keeps returning to that place. A person
with common sense would stay away and avoid being beat up. We do not understand
at what point the soul and spirit leave the body but here we see that the soul
and spirit refuse to leave even in the midst of great pain.
I believe that when plagues and bad weather happen now, we can try to find other
reasons for the events like global warming for instance; but in the days of the
tribulation men will know who it is that is bringing evil upon them. We see this
in Revelation 6: 15, 16 when men wanted the mountains to fall on them because
they knew the judgment of the lamb of God was about to fall and they feared
facing the throne of God. They were without excuse. This seems like cruelty on
God’s part but actually it shows His mercy. He is showing these people what hell
may be like. Perhaps they might choose not to go there but as we see from the
scriptures to follow, they do not repent.
Rev 9:7 And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto
battle; and on their heads were as it were crowns like gold, and their faces
were as the faces of men.
Locust usually only destroy vegetation but these were weird creatures with long
hair, teeth like lion's and iron breastplates. They made a loud noise when they
flapped their wings. It sounds like something from a Star Wars movie. This is
not fiction however, it is a fierce judgment from God because these same people
persecuted, tormented and harmed God's people who were faithful to Him and tried
to preach the gospel to these same people. The law of sowing and reaping is in
effect here. Whatever a man sows that shall he reap. I doubt if any innocent
people are suffering here but those that killed the prophets and preachers of
the gospel.
Rev 9:8 And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as the
teeth of lions.
Rev 9:9 And they had breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron; and the
sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to
battle.
Rev 9:10 And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their
tails: and their power was to hurt men five months.
Rev 9:11 And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless
pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath
his name Apollyon.
Here we see one of the fallen angels that were usually bound in the bottomless
pit but were allowed to escape long enough to lead these creatures in their
attack against these wicked men.
The word Abaddon actually means destruction and destroyer. He is not Satan
because Satan has not been bound yet and then let loose. He has never been
bound. He is only hindered by the power of God at this time.
Some believe these descriptions are just symbols of something else that we see
in modern times but I usually take everything literally unless the bible makes
is clear that what is talked about is symbolic. When we try to spiritualize
everything and interpret things in other ways except by the literal
interpretation, it causes confusion. I take the bible literally most of the
time. When the bible uses symbolic language it is made clear that it is
symbolic. These locusts are intelligent beings capable of following orders. They
are real literal creatures. They are not ordinary locusts because they do not
eat vegetation like ordinary locusts, they have a king, smoke doesn’t bother
them like it would ordinary locusts and men usually do not fear ordinary locusts
but only fear the results of their damage.
While it is true that John has never seen modern airplanes,
automobiles and helicopters and if any of those things were in this vision, John
would have to use terms that he understands to describe what he saw but in this
case I believe these are literal just like the bible describes them to be. Men
flee from these things and they cause great fear and pain. Men would be used to
airplanes or helicopters but not these creatures.
We humans have a tendency to try to interpret the bible with human reasoning
that we can understand but notice that the makers of the crazy Star Wars and
Lord of the Rings movies have no trouble dreaming up the craziest, hideous
looking creatures. This is something they had not seen before that resembled
locusts. Helicopters do not come from the abyss. In the days of the plagues of
Egypt, they were literal and real so there is no reason to try to come up with
natural explanations for something supernatural. There is supernatural powers
and beings. Some of it is evil and some are good but the supernatural exists.
Rev 9:12 One woe is past; and, behold, there come two woes more hereafter.
The five trumpets have already sounded and one of the woes is past that was
mentioned in the last verse in chapter 8. There is much more to come.
This is frightful and sometimes hard to grasp when we think of the severity of
the wrath of God. Lest we think God cruel though we must remember that He first
comes in mercy and love. He saw His creation unable to escape the sin that was
destroying them. He saw them helpless to save themselves in any way. They were
lost and on their way to eternal hell and eternal separation from their creator.
He sent them His best, His beloved Son which was the same as sending Himself.
The apostolic church believes that He did literally send Himself. I don't
understand how they get that theory but sending His Son was sending Himself in a
way since they are so close, they act as one. God (the Son) became a man and
could feel pain just as we do. He was careful never to sin and always careful to
obey His Father's will in all things. If He would have sinned just once, He
couldn't have become the perfect sacrifice to die in our place. He had to be
blameless like an innocent lamb. When He died, He died sinless but yet took our
sins upon Himself so that we who believe in Him and turn from sin can inherit
eternal life. He made the way for us to escape all this judgment and also the
eternal judgment of hell. Yet so many choose to enjoy the temporary pleasures of
sin instead of choosing this good way provided by our creator.
We don't have to come to this place of judgment. We don't have to go to hell. We
don't have to face the wrath of God. There is a way out and only one way. Faith
in Jesus Christ.
Rev 9:13 And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four
horns of the golden altar which is before God,
Rev 9:14 Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels
which are bound in the great river Euphrates.
This is clearly four angels that had followed Satan in his rebellion against God
in ages past. God's angels are never bound because they do not need to be. These
may have been angels that previously overstepped their authority and did more
than they were allowed to do. I say that because Satan is not yet bound and
probably not all his angels are bound. Yet we see these four were bound for some
reason. Here God allows them to be set free temporarily.
Rev 9:15 And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour,
and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men.
We see here that they were not given power over all the earth or over all men
but only a third. At a fixed point in time they will kill a third part of men.
Perhaps this is similar to the death angel which struck the Egyptians in the
days of Moses.
The blood on the doorposts saved those in Moses' time from being killed just as
the blood of Jesus saves us from being lost for eternity. Jesus is our way of
escape. Any one who believed could have been saved in Egypt if they would have
obeyed the commandment to place blood on their doors indicating an act of faith
in the word of God.
All we have to do is believe God's word. If He says repent, we repent, if He
says believe in my Son, we believe in His Son. If He says I am coming again, we
believe He is coming again and has not delayed His coming but will come at an
appointed time.
Beloved, these are not just stories to scare us. These things is surely going to
come to pass. Did not the nation of Israel return again after years of being no
nation just as the bible said it would? All things will come to pass. Not one
prophecy given by God's true servants in the Old and New Testaments will fail to
come to pass. These are real events that are spoken of in this word.
Rev 9:16 And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred
thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them.
200,000,000 supernatural horsemen sent as a judgment from God is what is
pictured here. I do not believe this is the army of the anti-christ but a
literal army headed by the four previously bound angels of Satan. We see that
these beings literally were given the power to kill.
Rev 9:17 And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on
them, having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone: and the heads
of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire
and smoke and brimstone.
We see from this description that these are not ordinary men or any army made by
man.
Rev 9:18 By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and
by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths.
This is a preview of eternal hell. If man would only repent, they would not go
to such a place but as we see in the verses following, their hearts are hard as
rock, they do not repent. We see also that this comes upon only a 3rd part of
the earth and not all of it giving survivors a chance to repent. God still has
mercy even in the midst of His wrath.
One thing I think of here is that these things exist now some place in the
universe but our merciful God does not allow them loose at this present time. It
does show us that there is a lot of bad and tragic events that take place but
they would be worse if God just once removed His hand of protection.
Rev 9:19 For their power is in their mouth, and in their tails: for their
tails were like unto serpents, and had heads, and with them they do hurt.
Rev 9:20 And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet
repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils,
and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither
can see, nor hear, nor walk:
Rev 9:21 Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of
their fornication, nor of their thefts.
When I read these chapters years ago as a young person, I could not
understand who in their right minds would still be worshipping idols in this day
and age. Since then we have seen the arise of witchcraft, eastern religions that
do have idol worship, we've seen sorceries which involve the use of mind
controlling drugs, fornication or sexual sin is considered normal even among
those in the governments of the world. Theft is still not considered acceptable
yet but who knows what goes on behind closed doors. That they are guilty of
murder is apparent by the amount of martyrs we saw in previous chapters.
Since Idolatry is such an offense to God, I really hate to see churches use
images in their worship. Why take the chance? I'm not going to pass judgment on
them but when I drive pass some of the images or see images on the Internet that
is in their churches, it really gives me a creepy feeling. I was not raised in
that kind of environment but with the word of the bible so clear that we are not
to bow down to images, why do it? When I read the book of Acts, I do not see the
apostles worshipping in any way that most churches do today. I'm sure they were
not formal and they didn't practice any type of idolatry.
To the brave souls who risked their life and possessions to bring us out of the
established churches that existed in their lifetime, I think them from the
bottom of my heart. Both Catholic and Protestant churches who married the state,
lost their first love of Jesus Christ and began persecuting any dissenters, I
believe sincerely that they will bear judgment along with the heathen if they do
not repent. We who claim the name of Jesus should know His words better than
anyone. Jesus taught us by the example of washing His own disciple's feet that
we are not to establish hierarchies and lord over our congregations. Jesus
taught us to be wise and serpents but harmless as doves. He never authorized us
to harm those that disagree. He taught us to call no man father. He alone is
Lord and we have only one father in Heaven. There is only one mediator between
God and man and that is Jesus, not Mary, not another saint and certain not any
image. I say this in love, not hate. I want to see us make heaven. The word is
plain and simple and it is written for all to understand. We don't have to face
this judgment. Jesus Christ makes us free and when we are made free from sin we
can then worship in spirit and in truth either alone or with other believers.
Religion does not save one soul. Jesus saves and Him alone. No one has to be
lost and without God.
The sad part of these scriptures is that men do not repent even after all this.
The message of repentance is not taught as it once was. We do still hear the
part about accepting Jesus in our hearts and believing on the Lord Jesus Christ
but the word repentance is usually left out. Yet part of our salvation when
turning to Christ is turning away from sin. To be saved one has to repent and
believe in Jesus. We can’t believe in Jesus and have a heart that wants to hold
on to sin at the same time when the whole reason He died was to save us from
sin. I have said many times that to believe in Jesus is to believe Him. We can’t
believe in something and not believe in what they stand for, what they say and
who they are.
We can say that we believe that a certain person like our teacher exists but to
really believe in that person, we would have to believe in what they say, do and
teach. To believe Jesus exists is not enough to save. We have to believe why He
came, what He stands for and what He says.
Revelation 10
