Chapter 9 is regarded by most as one of the most difficult passages in the Book of Revelation.
Verse 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."
We see the fifth trumpet sounded, the first of the “woe” judgements.
The word “fall” here can also be interpreted as “has fallen”.
The star mentioned here is a person because it is referred to as “him”
His authority is not complete because the key had to be given to him.
Most believe that this is either Satan himself, or one of his main angels.
In Luke Ch 10 vs 18 Jesus refers to Satan as lightening falling from heaven.
Verse 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."
So he has a key of the “bottomless pit”. This bottomless pit is the place where the angels that have sinned are kept. (see 2 Peter 2;4 refers to the same place, also Jude 1;6)
So these demons that have been bound are released into the world.
Verse 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."
These locust that we have here are not normal locusts, because as we will see in verse 11 they have a king, they are demons.
Verse 4 & 5
"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. 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 striketh a man."
So they are not allowed to kill those with God’s seal upon them, as we seen in chapter 7, but they are allowed to torment them for a period of 5 months.
The torment will be as if a scorpion has stung them. A scorpion’s sting is suppose to be one of the most painful things that you can endure, and lasts quite a long time.
We are unsure as to why 5 months, many have guessed, but nothing can be proven from scripture.
Verse 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."
This is one of the most puzzling verses in Revelation.
Men are so desperate that they would prefer to die, but no matter how much they try they cannot die.
We would think that if someone really wanted to die, they could not be stopped, but it says plainly here that they can’t.
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.
Notice the terms “like unto”, “as it were” and “were as”, so these are just descriptive terms not necessarily actual.
Many commentators get pictures of military vehicles and weapons, but remember we are talking about a demon army here and these locusts, the demons, are being described.
Natural locusts do have an appearance of horses equipped with armour.
Verse 7 & 8
"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."
Notice the terms “like unto”, “as it were” and “were as”, so these are just descriptive terms not necessarily actual.
Many commentators get pictures of military vehicles and weapons, but remember we are talking about a demon army here and these locusts, the demons, are being described.
Natural locusts do have an appearance of horses equipped with armour.
Verse 9 - 11
"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. 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 this name Apollyon."
The name Abaddon appears 6 times in the Old Testament in Hebrew, it is usually translated destruction
The Greek name Apollyon means destroyer and in John 10;10 Jesus identifies Satan as the destroyer.
Notice that these locust have a king over them. Proverbs 30;27 says that the locust have no king, it is talking about the natural locust. Another thing that shows we are not looking at literal locusts, but demons looking similar to them.
Verse 12
"One woe is past; and, behold, there come two woes more hereafter."
So the 5th trumpet judgement is complete and 2 more to come.
Verse 13
"And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God,"
This is the alter of incense that we seen previously. In Exodus 30;10 we discover that once a year there was blood applied to the horns of the alter.
Verse 14
"Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates."
Usually when we encounter the number 4 it has something to do with creation.
These angels are not good angels, or they wouldn’t have to be bound.
The river Euphrates has many implications in the Bible. It is the Eastern boundary of Israel (Genesis 15;18), this as still to be achieved.
These demons seem to have been bound since the time of creation, and this is a major gain for Satan to have these released.
All the demon religions have their origins east of the Euphrates, India alone is said to have 33 million gods. When you look at the other Asian religions and their gods it is not hard to get to the 200 million which we will see in the next verses.
Verse 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."
There are two interesting things here
1: There is a specific time appointed for this
2: Another third of men are to be killed, on top of ¼ already killed in ch 6.
So by the time we get to here over ½ of the world have been slain.
Verse 16
"And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them."
Many have viewed these as a 200 million man army coming from the Far East, which it may be, China has an amazing growth and could in years to come possibly, with the help of other Eastern nations field such a large army.
Each year there are approx. 100 million people added to the population of the world, the vast majority of them in the third world.
BUT remember we have been talking about demons and it s more likely that this army is an army of demons.
Verse 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."
The colours are fiery red, dark blue and bright yellow.
Verse 18 - 21
"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. 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. 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."
Death abounds, judgement is on the earth, a time like never seen before. Men are suffering terrible deaths, the earth is in turmoil, yet men are not willing to turn to God, they are not willing to turn from the worship of earthly things. They are so deep in sin that they do not feel guilt for the sins they have done.
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