Revelation Chapter 9 - Charles
Brief introduction:
In this chapter we look at two trumpet woes.
In the last chapter, chapter 8, Apostle John sees an angel who announces that a peculiar intensity of woe and judgement is coming on the earth.
The last three trumpets are different from the other four... they being "woe" trumpets.
The 3 WOES are intertwined with the last 3 trumpets.
This particular section is weird and wild. It boggles the mind as we read through this chapter. All kinds of interpretations have been given of this section.
The things mentioned here should not to frighten us because if you are a child of God, you are not going through these things.
☆ Revelation 9:1...
5 "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 fifth angel blows his trumpet and John sees a star fall from heaven to the earth.
To this star was given the key of the bottomless pit.
What or who is this star?
And what is this bottomless pit?
Why was the star given the key to this pit?
This star is not a literal star from outer space like the previous stars mentioned.
This star is referred to as "him."
He is a being that acts with intelligence... and he is handed a key.
This star is Satan.
☆ Isaiah 14:12...
"How are you fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how are you cut down to the ground, which did weaken the nations!"
☆ Luke 10:18...
"And He (Jesus) said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven."
☆ 2 Corinthians 11:14...
"And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light."
These Scriptures confirm the position that Satan is in view here. John tells us later that Satan was removed from heaven and cast to the earth. ☆ Revelation 12:7-9...
The fact that he has been given the key to the abyss or bottomless pit means that God has given him permission to have it.
This abyss... the bottomless pit... and Hades appear to be one and the same.
The key denotes power and authority.
The Lord Jesus now holds the key to the abyss...
☆ Revelation 1:18...
"I am He that lives, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death."
Peter tells us the demons are imprisoned there...
☆ 2 Peter 2:4...
"For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgement...."
☆ Revelation 9:2...
"And he (Satan) 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."
With this key, Satan opens the bottomless pit (the abussos) and from it poured out a pall of thick black smoke... smoke as if it came from a great furnace (perhaps accompanying the smoke would be showers of sparks and tremendous heat).
The abussos is where the spirits of the dead go to.
The sun and air were darkened by the smoke from this pit.
☆ Revelation 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."
Next, John sees a horde of locusts coming out of the smoke and onto the earth. John recognised them as being locusts and called them locusts.
But... these were not ordinary locusts.
These creatures were given the same power as that of the scorpions of the earth. In other words they could sting and cause great pain and discomfort.
These locusts were also capable of devouring plant life.
I personally believe (and I could be wrong) that these creatures arising out of the bottomless pit are possessed by demonic spirits.
These locusts can be controlled and told what to do.
☆ Revelation 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."
These locusts were given very specific orders. (By whom I wonder?)
They were commanded not to devour... not to touch... not to hurt the grass of the earth nor the trees.
They were commanded to only hurt those men who did not have the seal of God in their foreheads.
The 144 000 with the seal of God in their foreheads were to be left untouched.
☆ Revelation 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 as the torment of a scorpion, when he strikes a man."
Further orders were given to these "locusts" not to kill these people, but to torment (torture) them for five months.
This torment was the same as the torment you get from a scorpion when it strikes (stings) you.
To suffer this sort of high pain for such a long period of time would be agonising.
Fact: about 25 species of scorpion have venom capable of killing a human.
☆ Revelation 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."
During the Great Tribulation... these men, because of the excruciating pain inflicted by the sting and the long duration of the torment from the poison of the sting... want to die (seek death).
And... as hard as they might try... death alludes them totally.
John now gives us a comprehensive description of these locusts.
☆ Revelation 9:7-10...
"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.
And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as the teeth of lions.
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.
And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and their power was to hurt men five months."
Note that John uses similies (words such as like or as) to describe them. He likens their parts to things we are familiar with.
These critters looked weird to say the least.
But in John's eyes they are still locusts.
▪ "Like horses prepared for battle"... they were restless and ready to strike.
▪ Their heads appeared to look like the face of a man with a crown of gold.
▪ Their antennae (feelers) looked like the hair of a woman.
▪︎ Their teeth were like the teeth of a lion. In other words they are very destructive... extremely so.
▪ They appeared as if they had breastplates of armour. If you examine a locust closely it does look as if it is armoured.
▪ The sound of their wings was like that of horses and chariots going into battle. When you have myriads of locusts on move, the noise they make is deafening.
▪ Their tails were like the tail of a scorpion. They had some sort of sting at the end of their abdomen. This sting had the power to inflict high pain lasting five months.
There are people who have said that these locusts are symbolic of military weaponry of the future... such as helicopters, drones, fighter jets and other military hardware. It could be so.
The Apostle John has an excellent track record in writing things honestly, with clarity, truthfully and exactly as he sees it.
☆ John 21:24...
"This is the disciple (John) which testifies of these things, and wrote these things: and we know that his testimony is true."
What John is trying to convey is that these locusts are frightening... that they are extremely dangerous... and they have been released for a specific purpose during the Great Tribulation.
I think he succeeded.
☆ Revelation 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 has his name Apollyon."
Locusts in the natural do not have a leader or commander.
However the Bible tells us that these locusts do have a king over them.
This tells us that these creatures John is describing are more than your everyday locusts.
These locusts are under the control of an evil spiritual being.
Remember where they came from?... the bottomless pit.
And it does say that the angel of this bottomless pit is in charge over them.
This leader (King) is given two names... very inglorious names.
"Abaddon"... Hebrew language meaning a destroying angel.
"Apollyon"... Greek language meaning a destroyer.
As mentioned earlier, I believe that these locusts are possessed by demonic spirits. These locusts can differentiate between a male with the seal of God in their forehead and a male without the seal of God in their forehead.
Demonic spirits are able to enter and possess creatures in the natural. Look at the Serpent in the Garden of Eden.
This destroying angel and his horde of demon possessed locusts wreak havoc on the earth.
And watch out if you are a male and don't have the seal of God in your forehead!
☆ Revelation 9:12...
"One woe is past; and, behold, there come two woes more hereafter."
One trumpet WOE down.
Two more to go!
☆ Revelation 9:13...
6 "And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God..."
Angel number six sounds his trumpet, and John hears a commanding voice coming from the four horns of the golden altar which is found directly before God.
The golden altar speaks of prayer. That is what it represented in the tabernacle here on earth.
This is where the angel with the golden censer offered prayer at the beginning of the blowing of the trumpets. ☆ Revelation 8:3...
☆ Revelation 9:14...
"Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates."
The commanding voice from the golden altar, tells this sixth angel with the trumpet, to release the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates.
Commanding voice from the golden altar?
This is none other than Christ Himself.
The four angels which are bound? What does that tell us?
These are evidently evil angels.
Releasing them... turns loose a flood tide of destruction on the earth.
The river Euphrates has a twin... the Tigris. Both were found in the Garden of Eden. Both are found today in the country of Iraq.
Why the Euphrates?
Much Bible history is located here...
▪ The sin of man began here.
▪ The first murder was committed here.
▪ The first war was fought here.
▪ Here was where the Flood began and spread over the earth.
▪ Here is where the Tower of Babel was erected.
▪ To this area were brought the Israelites of the Babylonian captivity.
▪ Babylon was the fountainhead of idolatry.
▪ And here is the final surge of sin on the earth during the Great Tribulation Period.
It is also historically regarded as one of the cradles of civilisation (Mesopotamia).
☆ Revelation 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."
The time frame is literal. There is no other way to interpret it.
When the trumpet is blown one third of the world's population is slain.
In ☆ Revelation 6:8 we had one quarter destroyed.
That means, over one-half of the population of the earth will be destroyed in the Great Tribulation Period.
Today (2021)... that would be over 4 billion people!
No wonder that the Lord Jesus said, "In fact, unless those days are shortened, all mankind will perish. But they will be shortened for the sake of God's chosen people."
☆ Matthew 24:22 (TLB)...
☆ Revelation 9:16...
"And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them."
Here we meet up with the army involved in this carnage.
Two hundred million horsemen is a phenomenal number.
But, John heard that number... and so it is... 200 000 000!
Which countries today could furnish an army of that size?
China and India could do so very easily.
What is spoken of here in this passage is the wholesale invasion of the earth. In this war every country will be involved. It will literally be a World War... WW3.
Again, I believe that what we have here is an invasion orchestrated by the demon world, which is a further result of Satan opening the door of the shaft of the bottomless pit.
☆ Revelation 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."
In his vision, John sees horses. Not "things" that looked like horses... but he actually saw horses.
And he saw that those that rode on the horses (horsemen) had breastplates of fire and of jacinth and brimstone. The breastplates of the riders were fiery red (fire) and dark dull blue (jacinth-hyacinth) and yellow (brimstone).
What we have here, I believe is the underworld making all out war on mankind. The things we see here are either demonic or demon controlled. Remember Satan is a murderer and destroyer.
The horses heads were like the heads of lions... I think that represents ferociousness.
Out of their mouths issued fire, smoke and brimstone.
We are given a literal description of them.
Frightning hellish forces will be at work on the earth during this period.
These three plagues mentioned here are literal plagues. The fire is literal fire, the smoke is literal smoke, and the brimstone is literal brimstone.
Point of interest:
When trying to interpret a visual prophecy...what should be the focus?
▪ It should not be on the how these terrible things are going to take place.
There are most likely many possibilities... many of them way off track.
Speculating and surmising can become a real bind... and be totally wrong.
▪ The focus of concern should be on the what that is going to take place... the what that will happen... the what that will be a certainty.
Bible students all to often get too caught up in the how.
William R. Newell makes this very timely observation, "Believe, and you scarcely need any comment."
The problem with men who come to Revelation and say that it is difficult to understand and impossible to interpret is that they do not believe it.
If you simply believe it and read it... it is very clear.
☆ Revelation 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."
So...the smoke, the fire and the brimstone which came from the horses' mouths killed one third of the world's population.
Out of control fire, thick black palls of smoke and acrid burning sulphur is going to cause a "hell of a lot of carnage"...
☆ Revelation 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."
At this point I am going to believe and accept what John saw...
The power in their mouths and tails cause a lot of hurt, damage, harm...
Surmising or speculating about tanks... missiles... atomic radiation... biological warfare... drones... could be part of this scenario... but, I'm certainly not going to lose any sleep wondering about it all.
Fact is... 1/3 of the world's population is going to be wiped out.
That's catastrophic and serious!
☆ Revelation 9:20-21...
"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...
Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts."
The survivors of these horrific plagues on planet earth won't even bat an eyelid as to what takes place. They will not repent of the foul deeds that they are involved in... worshipping of devils... their blatant idolatry... murders... sorceries... sexual sins... thefts.
Their hearts remain hardened towards God.
Selah!